24 Sep 2016 21:19:56
They won 6-1. I hate to admit it but we are not yet ready to challenge for first I'd take second right now
Other teams seem to lie down to them we must beat the sheep tomorrow they 3 points are badly needed.
24 Sep 2016 22:00:15
How can you say Killie lay down to them when a few weeks ago we got pumped by a similar scoreline!
Let's face facts, Celtic are the reigning champions and are dominating domestically as champions should. It's down to us to close that gap as the reality is teams like Aberdeen and Hearts, for all their efforts, just don't have the capacity to challenge Celtic. (financially, retaining players, youth development etc)
I'd take top 4 this season. Can see consistency being an issue for us this term.
24 Sep 2016 21:48:37
We won't get 1st this season anyway. 2nd place and qualify for europe. League cup would be a success judging where we were last couple of seasons too.
24 Sep 2016 22:08:37
Humey no panic it is a long season, yes it will be great to
get the three points but if we don't and play well then it's not the end of the world .
Europe main aim this year ( 3rd) phase then move on, as I have said before Ashley is holding us back and until we see the back of him we have to go the way we are .
Got a good feel about the squad and the back room / scouting staff etc, let's give them realistic time to gel and see where we are in three months .
24 Sep 2016 22:36:13
Agree Brian -p let's have some patience and have realistic target for this season.
25 Sep 2016 06:37:16
I totally agree with Ashley holding us back without retail we are never going to compete with Celtic financially.
Wish there was a clear cut way of getting out of the deal but seems not.
Until then it will be a hard job to finish above them in all honesty.
We'd need to have great vision in the transfer market/ bring thru top class youngsters plus keep our best players.
25 Sep 2016 10:34:20
On commercial terms Celtic are miles ahead of us at the moment and they only made 4.3 (maybe 4.7 million) profit from merchandise according to their recent set of figures.
Now if we assume that we could do as well (which we wouldn't) then that means we would have an extra 4.3 (4.7) million added to our turnover. So while this would help us out financially, we would still have to borrow to meet operating costs. Please keep in mind that our debt has risen 24.1 million in a 13 month period since King took charge. If we had a better retail deal, it would have meant it only rose about 20 million.
Our current retail deal with Ashley is being used as a smoke screen and is being used to blame all our financial woes on, which as I have just highlighted is simply not the case.
To those thinking that a more preferable retail deal would mean we could compete with Celtic consider this.
Celtic are on course to have a turnover in excess of 70 million this season and we are on course to have a turnover of 25 million this season. Adding 5 million to our turnover would mean there is still a 40 million difference between us and Celtic. So as you can see the retail deal is not the only thing we need to sort before we can compete with Celtic.
25 Sep 2016 21:57:17
It is a long season and so long as every player that plays gives 100% and takes no prisoners and we play as a team then the league is a long way from over. We shouldn't give the league to them until it is mathematically impossible for them to win, as a species we are better than them and we should never forget it.
25 Sep 2016 22:27:32
Second spot is being realistic anything less is not good enough
We got beat because we put the rong team out and tactically got it rong and big send getting sent off didn't help
I have patience I've waited four years we have a good enuff team to challange no pre season slowed us down and injurys I understand that
But we need those 3 points tomoro to keep the momentum going into this semi final.