safcrhys Posted August 14, 2014 Share Posted August 14, 2014 Championship Manager 03/04 is my favorite manager game of all time and as a result I have decided to do a lengthy career mode, starting in Scotland with Celtic FC. Leagues Loaded England - First Division (Championship) and above. Scotland - First Division and above. Spain - Premier Division only. Germany - Premier Division only. Italy - Premier Division only. Club Name The Celtic Football Club Nicknames The Bhoys, The Hoops, The Celts Founded 1888 Stadium Celtic Park Capacity 60,355 Record Attendance 83,500 (1st January 1938 v Rangers) Opened 1892 Renovated 1994-1998 Brief History Celtic FC was founded in 1888 by an Irish Catholic Priest called Brother Walfrid, the club was formed for charitable purposes in an effort to aid the impoverished immigrant Irish community in the East End of Glasgow. The club quickly established itself as the pre-eminent force in Scottish football, winning a then record 6 titles in a row between 1905 and 1910. One of the club's early playing heroes Jimmy McGrory took charge of Celtic in 1945 and led the team to victories over Arsenal, Manchester United and Hibernian to win the Coronation Cup in 1953 - a one off tournament to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. In the 1957 League Cup final played between Celtic and Rangers at Hampden Park, the Bhoys defeated their fierce rivals by a scoreline of 7 goals to 1, a record that still stands in the competition to this day. The 50's were a largely barren spell in the history of this great football club however, with just one title secured in 1954 although they did manage to win the league and cup double in that year. As a result of Celtic's relatively poor performances in the league, the board appointed Jock Stein as manager in 1965. It proved a masterstroke as Stein immediately led the club to a league title in 1966, one of nine in a row the club would secure. That feat alone is impressive in itself but in the 1966/67 season Stein wrote himself into the history books alongside his young team of players that all came within a 30 mile radius of Glasgow. The club won every competition available to them that season and saw off the mighty Internazionale team of Helenio Herrera by a scoreline of 2 goals to 1 in the European Cup final in Lisbon. With Celtic dominating in Scotland, they reached a second European Cup final in 1970 against the great Dutch side Feyenoord. With Celtic the clear favorites to win the competition however, the Bhoys underperformed and despite taking a lead, Feyenoord came back and won the game 2-1. It was around this time that another young crop of exciting youngsters emerged playing a thrilling brand of football. They included future Liverpool player and manager Kenny Dalglish and future Manchester United player (and Celtic manager) Lou Macari. After more than a decade of unrivalled success, Jock Stein left his beloved Celtic in 1978, the man tasked with filling the huge void left at the club by its most successful ever manager was Stein's former captain Billy McNeill. McNeill managed to keep Celtic competitive and won the title in 1979. In the 1980's the "New Firm" of Aberdeen and Dundee United threatened the stranglehold Celtic and Rangers held on Scottish football, Celtic did however manage to wrestle the crown away from their main rivals in 1981, 1982, 1986 and crucially in 1988 - the club's centenary year. There was to be no more success for a while however, as Celtic's very existence was threatened by crushing debts. The off the field problems led to problems on the pitch as key players were sold to try and ease the financial burden on the club, as a result, silverware remained elusive for a long time. Matters came to a head in early 1994, the club were just hours away from bankruptcy when Scots-Canadian Fergus McCann came to the rescue and bought out the families (the Whites and the Kellys) who had owned Celtic for more than a century. He immediately began a massive renovation of Celtic Park, turning the stadium into one of the finest on the Continent with a capacity of more than 60,000. With McCann more focused on ploughing funds into the stadium project however, money for new players remained limited. However, under the managership of Celtic favorite Tommy Burns in 1995, the club won its first piece of silverware for 7 years in the form of the Scottish Cup. Rangers stranglehold on the league remained strong though, and the Ibrox club had matched Celtic's own record of 9 titles in a row in 1997. A fierce battle between the two old rivals ensued in 1998 as Rangers sought their tenth title in a row whilst Celtic gave everything to prevent such an event occurring. The Celtic manager at the time was Dutchman Wim Jansen who was part of the Feyenoord team which defeated Celtic in the 1970 European Cup final. The title race went to the final day but Celtic came out on top in the end with club legend in the making Henrik Larsson proving himself pivotal up front. Celtic's first title in ten years and 36th overall was perhaps the most important the club had ever won. The early 2000's proved to be some of the most exciting years in recent memories for the Celtic fans. With Martin O'Neill as manager anything seemed possible and dominance at home was matched with some impressive performances in Europe. In the 2002/03 season the team beat off the likes of Liverpool, Blackburn and Stuttgart to reach the final of the UEFA Cup in Seville against José Mourinho's Porto. 80,000 Celtic fans descended on the city to see their heroes hopefully end a wait of 36 years for a European trophy. In a thrilling game it was Porto who came out on top, winning 3-2. With a team featuring the likes of Henrik Larsson and John Hartson, one of the biggest and best stadiums in Europe and a healthy bank balance, the future certainly looks rosy for Celtic Football Club. Honours European Cup Winners: 1967 Runners-up: 1970 Intercontinental Cup Runners-up: 1967 UEFA Cup Runners-up: 2003 Scottish League Titles 1893, 1894, 1896, 1898, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1919, 1922, 1926, 1936, 1938, 1954, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1988, 1998, 2001, 2002 Scottish Cups 1892, 1899, 1900, 1904, 1907, 1908, 1911, 1912, 1914, 1923, 1925, 1927, 1931, 1933, 1937, 1951, 1954, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1980, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1995, 2001 Scottish League Cups 1956–57, 1957–58, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1974–75, 1982–83, 1997–98, 1999–2000, 2000–01 My Objective My objective at Celtic is to win the club's first European trophy since 1967 and ensure a Jock Stein level of dominance in Scotland by winning as many championships in a row as possible. I don't see myself sticking with Celtic forever but I do want to spend a good few years at the club. 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safcrhys Posted August 15, 2014 Author Share Posted August 15, 2014 August and Transfer Window Update The first thing I did as manager of Celtic was sign Morten Gamst Pedersen on a season's long loan from Tromso. I would like to make it a permanent deal at the end of the season, guarenteed 15+ goals a season given how good he is at set-pieces. A slightly more drawn out affair was the protracted signing of Kevin McNaughton from Aberdeen, I initially bid £850k for the young full-back but the Dons would not budge from a £1.8m asking price. Given that my transfer budget was only £1.5m this proved a troublesome stumbling block, in the end I had to bite the bullet and sell centre-back Bobo Baldé to French side Lens for £1.9m in order to get the funds to sign McNaughton. The loss of Baldé was a bit of a blow, however he wasn't in my long term plans for the club and with young centre-back John Kennedy full of potential, there was no need to go and splurge more cash on a replacement. Our quest to qualify for the Champions League began in the 2nd qualifying round against Bosnian side Leotar with the first leg at Celtic Park. I thought it would be a relatively simple tie, and after we went 1-0 ahead in the 3rd minute from an own goal I expected to win the game comfortably. To my annoyance though we failed to really trouble the goalkeeper anymore. A 1-0 win at home with an away leg to come worried me a little but we blew Leotar away in the second leg, 2 first half goals from Chris Sutton and Stan Petrov killing the game off and seeing us progress through to the 3rd qualifying round. The draw for that 3rd qualifying round came just before the start of the Premier Division season, I was hopefuly of a relatively easy draw given just how crucial the Champions Cup revenue is to the club. In the end though we were tasked with trying to knock out a strong Newcastle team featuring the likes of Craig Bellamy and Alan Shearer. Before that game though we faced Aberdeen away to start off the domestic campaign, a relatively easy game produced a 2-0 win with goals from Sutton and a Morten Gamst Pedersen penalty the difference in a 2-0 success at Pittodrie. The first leg of the 3rd qualifying round for the European Cup against the Magpies was played at Celtic Park, I was hoping for a good result and at least a clean sheet. In the end though we produced a staggering performance and won the game 4-0 with 2 goals either side of half time from Hartson (2), Larsson and Valgaeren. Before the second leg at St James' Park we had league dates away at Dundee United (2-0 win) and Hearts (3-1). 9 points from a possible 9 to start the season was probably what I would have expected but given that we had to start the season with successive away matches I was quite pleased, especially with Rangers floundering, the Ibrox men losing at home to Hibs on the opening day before drawing away at Dundee. The second leg of that European tie with Newcastle started badly and got worse. Newcastle scored 4 goals in 12 minutes! I used all three substitutes after half an hour in an effort to turn the tide of the game and we performed a little better, restricting Newcastle to long range shots. Just when I thought I had somehow thrown away a seemingly unassailable position from the first leg however, up popped Henrik Larsson in the final quarter of the game to send us through to the group stages with a 5-4 aggregate victory: Too close for comfort in my opinion, I was absolutely furious with the performance and decided to make massive changes to the team for our next game at home to Partick Thistle in the league, the players responded and even though the score was 0-0 at the break we ran riot in the second half scoring 5 goals. At the end August we have played four and won four and sit comfortably 4 points clear of our nearest challengers Kilmarnock, whom we play in our next game away from home. The draw for the Champions Cup Group Stages has not been kind to us, Chelsea, Porto and Bayern Munich are our opponents. I'll obviously struggle to make the knock out rounds but I am hopeful of perhaps making it into the latter rounds of the UEFA Cup by finishing 3rd in the group. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
safcrhys Posted August 16, 2014 Author Share Posted August 16, 2014 September 2003 Update September began at Rugby Park against Kilmarnock, we dominated the game and eventually triumphed 4-2. Both of the goals we conceded were from long range and I was especially disappointed with the second goal though as it seemed to go straight through the goalkeeper. Our scorers in the game were Henrik Larsson, Johan Mjallby and a brace from promising young striker Shaun Maloney. The first home game of the month was against Old Firm rivals Rangers, we dominated the game in the first half having numerous opportunities but only managed to score the one goal, Henrik Larsson following up a spilled shot from the goalkeeper to tap in. In the second half it was more even but Rangers dominated the last 10 minutes, hitting the frame of the goal twice, in the end I was delighted to hear the final whistle. Our Champions' Cup adventure started away to Porto, we struggled from the off and it was no surprise to see Porto eventually go in front after 40 minutes. To my delight though their lead only lasted 4 minutes, Henrik Larsson doing what he does best poaching in the box. After the break though the Portuguese team got themselves on top and two goals in the 60th and 67th minutes secured them the three points, in truth we had no-one who could cope with Deco's presence in their midfield. Back to Scotland then and our good form in the league was maintained with a comfortable 3-0 win over Dundee at Dens Park, all the goals coming in the second half. We finished September with a comprehensive 3-0 win over Hibernian at Celtic Park. At the end of the month then we have played 8 and won 8 and are currently 11 points ahead of Hibs who are second and 12 ahead of fierce rivals Rangers who are third. Bottom of the league are Partick Thistle with three points and they are yet to win a game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
safcrhys Posted August 17, 2014 Author Share Posted August 17, 2014 October 2003 Update Our Champions Cup campaign continued with a home game against Chelsea, we were the better team in the first half and led at the break through Henrik Larsson but for some reason we were really poor in the second half and the Blues turned the screw, scoring twice to take home the spoils. We dropped our first points of the season away at Motherwell in our next league game, a dour game ending in a 0-0 draw. We returned to winning ways at home to Livingston, Stan Petrov scoring two screamers and Gamst Pedersen scoring a penalty and also missing one in a 3-0 win. Bayern Munich came to Celtic Park in our next European game and their extra class throughout the game was telling, we defended a lot better though and managed to scrape a 0-0 draw to get our first point on the board in the group stages. We dropped points for the second domestic away game in succession however, drawing 1-1 at Dunfermline who only managed two shots all game yet somehow one of them ended up in the back of the net. We are a force to be reckoned with in front of our own fans though, they saw us comprehensively trounce Dundee United 4-1 in our next game, Shaun Maloney and Henrik Larsson scoring a brace each before Derek McInnes scored a late consolation from a corner. Our first League Cup game was away to lowly Clyde, I rang the changes to the squad and we managed a 1-0 win although the home team caused us far too many problems for my liking, dominating possession and having more shots than us. We are away to Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the next round. The couple of away games that we could only draw in coupled with a strong run by Hibs has cut our lead at the top of the table to 7 points with Rangers in 3rd a further 3 points behind. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
safcrhys Posted August 18, 2014 Author Share Posted August 18, 2014 November and December 2003 Update November kicked off with an away trip to Germany to face FC Bayern in the European Cup, we were completely blown away, Bayern being 3-0 up at half time, I made sweeping changes after the break but it didn't help matters much. The final scoreline of 4-0 confirming that we wouldn't be playing in the knock-out rounds this year. I was still hopeful of making it into the latter rounds of the UEFA Cup though by finishing 3rd in the group. The defeat seemed to spark us into form however, Hearts were dismantled 4-1 at Tynecastle before we beat Aberdeen 5-0 at Celtic Park. Porto visited Glasgow in our next European game and we needed to win the game by 2 goals or more to move off the foot of the group table. We put in one of our best performances of the season to crush José Mourinho's team 5-0, meaning we just need to match their result in our last group game to qualify for the UEFA Cup because of our vastly superior goal difference. The team rounded off a fantastic November by battering bottom of the table Partick Thistle 4-0 away from home. After such a fantastic month it was perhaps inevitable that December would start with a mini slump, we faced lowly Inverness in the League Cup quarter final away from home, as a result I made sweeping changes to the team believing that even a second string line up would be good enough to see off Caley. In the end we suffered an early blow when Jackie McNamara was sent off and it was an uphill task from there. In truth we had the better of the game but just couldn't force the issue as I had to play just one striker up front after the sending off. Caley took the game to penalties and to my annoyance managed to win the game 4-3 on spot kicks. In our next home game we laboured to a pathetic 1-1 draw at home to Kilmarnock which really annoyed me. Our Champions Cup Group Stage came to a close with an away game at Stamford Bridge. As you might expect from the home team Chelsea dominated the early stages of the game but we hit them twice on the break before half time and managed to take a 2-0 lead into the second half. A pathetic display in the first 16 minutes of the second period though saw Chelsea score 3 times. Thankfully Henrik Larsson struck a late leveller and we drew the game 3-3. With Porto losing at home to Bayern it meant that we would be playing in the UEFA Cup 3rd round, in the end we were drawn to play Feyenoord and the first leg is to be played at De Kuip in late February. Back to the league and Dundee were our next opponents at Celtic Park, there seemed to be an unlikely shock in store when they took the lead in the 14th minute however Shaun Maloney equalised virtually straight away. It was 1-1 at the break but we turned on the style in the second half, Maloney ended up getting a hat-trick and we won the game 4-1. Next up was an away trip to face Rangers at Ibrox, the toughest game of the season so far. The Gers started brightly and had a series of chances in the opening exchanges but we took the lead against the run of play thanks to a Chris Sutton header. In the second half Rangers really went for it but we caught them on the break again late on, John Hartson making sure of the points whilst Craig Moore was sent off for the home side. December ended with another tough away trip against third placed Hibernian, we left Easter Road with 0 points after an inept display saw Hibs comfortably win the game 2-0. We end the year 10 points clear of second place Rangers having amassed an impressive 48 points. At this time of the year there are usually some decent players who can be signed on a free transfer at the end of the campaign, I offered contracts to several Premier League players including Joey Barton from Manchester City. In the end the only player I could secure was promising young midfielder Brian Kerr from Newcastle. In order to secure the services of better players it is imperative that I boost the club's repuation by performing well in Europe. We have the makings of a decent team but a concern is the amount of players on the books who are on massive wages despite being in the Autumn and perhaps even Winter of their careers. I will be looking to move the majority on in the Summer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
safcrhys Posted August 21, 2014 Author Share Posted August 21, 2014 January and February 2004 Update 2004 began in fine style with a comfortable 4-1 success over Motherwell at Parkhead. Our Scottish Cup campaign began at home to Dundee United, a dull game was decided in the final moments by a wonder strike from Morten Gamst Pedersen, thankfully preventing a tricky replay away from home, we have been drawn at home to Livingston in the fourth round. The warm up for that game took place in our next league game, with a trip to the City Stadium. Livingston are no great shakes currently sitting second bottom of the table but they put a good fight in this game, controlling it for long periods. We took the lead in the first half Hartson but after holding on to our slight lead for virtually the entire game the floodgates suddenly opened and we scored 3 times in the last few minutes to give the score a somewhat harsh look on the home team. Dunfermline beaten 1-0 at Celtic Park, Paul Lambert's 8th minute goal proving enough before a John Hartson double saw off Hearts in another home game. February began with that aforementioned Cup game against Livingston and they actually took the lead in the 16th minute but we took the game by the scruff of the neck after that, 2 second half goals from Gamst Pedersen and John Hartson turning the game on its head. The draw has again been kind to us and the quarter-final will be played at home against Dunfermline. Two tough away fixtures up next, first a harrowing trip to Tannadice to face Dundee United. I had a bad feeling before the game and it looked as if my worst fears were going to be realised when they took an early lead through Paterson. Conceding that goal seemed to spark some life into us however and we controlled the rest of the match but it seemed like we were destined to lose until Henrik Larsson poked home from close range following a teasing ball in from Gamst Pedersen on the left flank. A point was the least we deserved in all honesty. The next away game was against Aberdeen and every time in the first half we shot it seemed to go in, indeed we were 3-0 up at half time with goals from Gamst Pedersen (2) and John Hartson. We sat off in the second half and the game finished by the same scoreline however there was a sending off late in, Didier Agathe giving me a selection headache for our next game after receiving a straight red. To the UEFA Cup now then and the first leg of our tie against Feyenoord played at De Kuip. Feyenoord have some great players on the game and they showed plenty of initiative in the early stages but we defended brilliantly. Our strategy paid off and early in the second half Henrik Larsson scored from close range to give us a prescious away goal, to my delight he did it again just a few minutes later and we managed to hold off a late siege from the home side to take a prescious 2 goal advantage into the second leg at Parkhead. February ended with us beating hapless bottom of the table with 6 points Partick Thistle by three goals to nil at home. We are currently 18 points clear of Hibs who are second, Rangers are having a terrible campaign and are currently battling it out with Kilmarnock for third place. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
safcrhys Posted August 22, 2014 Author Share Posted August 22, 2014 March, April and May Update March began with the second leg of our UEFA Cup third round tie with Feyenoord. With all the hard work done from the first leg we could relax a little and played some entertaining stuff, Henrik Larsson scored in the 7th minute and that killed off any hopes the visitors had of getting back into it, the final aggregate score was 3-0. The draw for the fourth round was relatively kind to us, as you can imagine there are some big clubs involved in the latter stages of this competition so for us to be pulled out of the hat to play Zagreb in the fourth round was a real coup. We celebrated by demolishing Dunfermline 5-0 at home and there were five different scorers in the game, Larsson, Sutton, Hartson, Smith and Petrov all getting in on the act. Back to the UEFA Cup then and as expected, we beat Zagreb comfortably at home in the first leg, the final scoreline of 3-0 not flattering us. Dundee were then beaten 2-1 at Dens Park before we showed just how far ahead we are of the chasing pack in Scotland by wiping the floor with second placed Hibs, it was 3-0 going on about 10 in all honesty. Zagreb fared little better at home against us, Jackie McNamara getting a surprise early goal before Gamst Pedersen sealed a 5-0 aggregate scoreline with a 74th minute screamer. Another kind draw for us in the quarter final, this time against Metalurg Donetsk! There were two home games to play before that tie though, firstly the small matter of an Old Firm derby against Rangers at Celtic Park, we dominated the game from start to finish but for some reason the ball just wouldn't go in and it finished 0-0. We put things right in our next game against Livingston, two Paul Lambert goals early in the second half proving enough to warrant the three points. That game marked the start of April and our attentions were turned back to Europe, Henrik Larsson has been outstanding this year and he underlined just how important a player he is for us with two brilliant finishes to give us a healthy 2-0 lead to take back to Celtic Park for the second leg. We didn't have another league game in between so 6 six days later Metalurg visited Glasgow and eked out a 1-1 draw despite us battering them for 90 minutes. Normally I would have been annoyed but we were through to the semi-finals so I wasn't too fussed although we were paired with the mighty Barcelona in the next round! The Scottish title was wrapped up in fine style with a 3-0 hammering of Motherwell away from home, that was followed up with another away win against Dunfermline. I was obviously pleased to win the league but of course it is what is expected of Celtic every year so I didn't read too much into it. To the Nou Camp then for our UEFA Cup semi-final first leg, I was expecting a battering to be honest but it was a decidedly even encounter. The home team did eventually take the lead in the 54th minute through Simone Perrotta but we responded well. It looked as though we were going to lose 1-0 however (a result I would have took at the start of the game) when Henrik Larsson burst clear of the defence in the 90th minute, rounded the goalkeeper and popped the ball into the bottom corner! I had barely finished celebrating though when Javier Saviola ran clear at the other end, shot and hit the bar... just as I thought I had got away with one though the ball bounced off our keeper Magnus Hedman and ended up in the back of the net. Complete heart breaker! Both goals came in injury time at the end of the game. I was confident though that we could beat them at Parkhead. The Scottish Cup semi-final was our next big game, Motherwell were the opponents at Hampden Park and we controlled the game scoring two early second half goals, John Hartson and Morten Gamst Pedersen the scorers. The final Old Firm derby of the season was up next and Rangers had regained some composure over the past couple of months and were now second although looking over their shoulders at Hibs and Kilmarnock who were just a couple of points behind. Another exciting end to end game somehow managed to ended goalless though. The UEFA Cup has become a welcome side story to the season and what a game the second leg was in front of a packed Celtic Park. It was a game in which Henrik Larsson probably wrote himself into the history books as maybe being Celtic's greatest ever player! He scored after 16 minutes to make it 2-2 on aggregate and give us the upper hand on away goals but Barcelona responded through Saviola in the 27th minute. Just three minutes had elapsed when Larsson struck again to put us 2-1 up on the night but again Barca came back and scored through Fernando Navarro in the 35th minute. It was 2-2 at the break and 4-3 to Barca on aggregate whilst they also had the advantage on away goals. We had to win by two clear goals to go through in the second half, I wasn't all that confident to be honest but Larsson just morphed into something like Pele and Maradona in the second half. He scored in the 54th, 76th and 78th minutes to give us a fantastic 5-2 win and 6-4 aggregate victory on aggregate! We were through to the final against Parma! Hibs and Dundee United were beaten (2-0 and 3-1) before that final against Parma, I think Barcelona are a better team on the game so I was quietly confident I could win it despite them having players like Adriano up front. My confidence was boosted by a brilliant performance on the night by the team, we just couldn't score though and extra time loomed, we were again the better team over the extra 30 minutes but just couldn't score. The final stats showed we had 4 times as many efforts on goal as Parma. The game went to penalties and our luck completely deserted us. We lost the game 3-2 on penalties, I was devastated to be honest, it meant Celtic had lost in the UEFA Cup final in both 2003 and 2004. Totally deflating to lose the final in that manner but some silverware was won against Clyde in the Scottish Cup final at Hampden Park, the 2-0 win probably what the fans would have expected against such lowly opponents. Our league season came to a close with a draw away at Kilmarnock and a 3-1 home win over Hearts. Not a bad opening season in charge of Celtic to be honest! The challenge starts now though as I phase out a lot of the older stars in the Summer, including perhaps Larsson if a decent offer comes in as he is 33 years old now and Man Utd are apparently interested. My player of the season is obviously Henrik and I'd say Morten Gamst Pedersen would be the young player of the season, he was fantastic all year and someone I am definitely going to try and sign permanently in the Summer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
safcrhys Posted August 22, 2014 Author Share Posted August 22, 2014 2003/04 Review Scottish Premier Division Winners: Celtic Runners-up: Kilmarnock Relegated: Partick Thistle Just the one league defeat for Celtic in this campaign, Rangers were well off the pace in third place. A massive points gap between the champions and the rest. Of the clubs challenging at the top aside from obviously Rangers I see Hibs as a potential challenger in the years ahead as they have some quality young players coming through a few of which I am interested in signing. At the bottom Partick Thistle were well adrift all year but they were particularly poor over the first half of the season indeed I think it took until January for them to a win a game, they obviously rallied a little but it was far too little too late. Scottish Cup Winners: Celtic Runners-up: Clyde Scottish League Cup Winners: Hearts Runners-up: Dundee ---------- Other Competitions Scottish First Division Clyde pipped Inverness Caledonian Thistle to the title and therefore promotion by 5 points, at the other end of the table there was misery for both Ross County and St Mirren as both clubs were relegated to Division 2. English Comps Arsenal finished top with 92 points, 4 ahead of nearest challenger's Chelsea. The other two teams to finish in the Champions' Cup positions were Manchester United and Spurs, Newcastle were in fifth whilst Liverpool had a terrible season, finishing 11th. Relegated were Portsmouth, Charlton and Leicester. In the First Division West Brom blazed a path to promotion finishing top on 102 points with Sunderland in second whilst Cardiff went up via the play-offs. cash-strapped Wimbledon finished bottom of the table and joining them in the Second Division are Walsall and Rotherham. Aston Villa comfortably saw off Man Utd in the FA Cup final, winning 4-1 but United did manage to pick up some silverware in the form of the League Cup, Southampton being their victims in a 2-0 win. Spain Real Madrid beat off Deportivo by a point to secure the Spanish title whilst there was relegation heartache for Valladolid, Santander and Albacete. Osasuna were the surprise winners of the Spanish Cup. Germany Bayern Munich finished 8 points clears of runners-up Borrussia Dortmund whilst at the other end two big clubs in the form of Gladbach and 1860 Munchen were demoted a long with Rostock. FC Bayern somehow managed to lose 2-1 to lowly Cottbus who aren't even in the top flight in the German Cup final. Italy An exciting title race saw AC Milan beat off the challenge of Juventus in a Serie A play off after the two teams had finished level on points! Milan's feat all the more impressive given they had to do it away from home too. Roma finished just a point behind both clubs in 3rd. Brecia, Ancona and Siena were the teams who filled the bottom three positions. In the cup, Juventus beat Roma 6-2 on aggregate over two legs to secure some silverware. Champions Cup An all Milan final in this year's European Cup, the spoils went to the red and black half of a Milan though, the Rossoneri beating Inter 2-0 in the final. UEFA Cup Parma beat Celtic on penalties after a 0-0 draw in the final. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
safcrhys Posted August 25, 2014 Author Share Posted August 25, 2014 2004/05 Review Youngsters Get Their Chance Transfers In: Morten Gamst Pedersen - £1.6m Brian Kerr - £1m Marc Bertran - £1.3m David Bellion - £1.8m George Forsyth - £1.7m Out: Henrik Larsson - £7.5m Chris Sutton - £750k Summary: Manchester United followed up their reported interest in Henrik Larsson with a £7.5m bid and for a player who would be 34 come the end of the season I thought it was an offer that I just couldn't turn down, it boosted our original transfer budget of £4m and allowed me to totally reshape the squad. The aim is to refresh an ageing squad with youth and all the players we signed are under the age of 22 years old. Indeed of our usual starting XI 8 of them are under 22 whilst Stan Petrov is still only 25. Scottish Premier Division A season of transition for us as we look to bed in as many youngsters as we can, John Kennedy was a bit part player last year but I decided to thrust him into the starting line up this season even though he is still only 20. George Forsyth is an up and coming good goalkeeper with Marc Bertan and Kevin McNaughton both decent young full-backs with plenty of potential. The midfield pretty much picks itself with Agathe on the right, Pedersen on the left and Petrov and Kerr in the middle. Up front I generally partnered Shaun Maloney with David Bellion or John Hartson depending on the opposition. We started the campaign with a disappointing 1-1 draw at home to Dunfermline but we soon got into the swing of things, beating Dundee 1-0 away before trouncing Hearts 6-0 at home. We drew more games than last season but defeats were again few and far between, indeed our first defeat of the campaign didn't arrive till February 26th meaning we had went an amazing 13 months without suffering a league defeat. Notable victories before Xmas included a 4-0 win over Aberdeen and a 5-1 destruction of Dundee. Our performances in the Old Firm games were okay, we drew 1-1 with Rangers away from home in the first one but defeated them 3-1 in the game at Celtic Park before Xmas. The dual with Rangers for the title was a lot closer this year, we were neck and neck up till that result but for whatever reason our win seemed to knock the stuffing out of them and they faded over the second half of the season. Motherwell were the team who beat us for the first time in February, they fully deserved their 1-0 win. We went through a little sticky patch after that and also suffered a 2-0 defeat to Rangers but we took revenge on them in April, our 2-0 away win confirming the title. We ended the domestic season in fine fashion with a 4-0 win over Aberdeen and a 2-0 win over a Dundee United team who were surprisingly relegated. League Cup A fairly simple run to the League Cup final saw us beat Aberdeen 3-0 to lift the trophy at Hampden. Scottish Cup The domestic cup competitions have been kind to us this year and another rather simple run to the final set us up to play Livingston at Hampden. We had by far the better of the game but the dogged tenacity of the opposition meant we struggled to break them down. Into extra time and I was having nightmares about perhaps losing on penalties like we did in the UEFA Cup final last year, John Hartson forced the ball home in the 115th minute before Gamst Pedersen missed a penalty as we won the game 1-0. Champions Cup Unlike last year we managed to make it out of the Group Stages, Spurs, Roma and Ajax were the opposition for us in another tough looking group. We garnered 8 points not losing at home but unfortunately only picking up 1 point away from home. It was a real concern for me that we could outplay an Ajax team with players like van der Vaart and Ibrahimovic and beat them 3-0 but we could capitulate 4-1 in a game at Roma. Our run in the knock out stages was ended at the first time of asking by Arsenal. We lost 2-1 at Highbury before drawing 0-0 at Celtic Park. Top Goalscorer John Hartson - 27 goals for the season campaigner even though he spent a lot of the time on the bench. Player of the Season Morten Gamst Pedersen - 17 goals and an incredible 25 assists from the 23 year old who is only going to get better. Other Competitions Scottish First Division Winners: Falkirk Relegated: Stenhousemuir and Ayr English Premier Division Winners: Arsenal Champions Cup: Man Utd, Newcastle and Chelsea Relegated: Wolves, WBA, Bolton English First Division Winners: Millwall Promoted: Preston and Norwich Relegated: Bournemouth, Grimsby and Burnley FA Cup Winners: Man Utd Runners-up: Middlesbrough League Cup Winners: Arsenal Runners-up: Wolves Bundesliga Winners: FC Bayern Relegated: Kaiserslautern, Nurnberg and Duisburg German Cup Winners: FC Bayern Runners-up: Wolfsburg Serie A Winners: Inter Relegated: Empoli, Genoa and Modena Italian Cup Winners: Milan Runners-up: Lazio La Liga Winners: Barcelona Relegated: Tenerife, Espanyol and Alaves Spanish Cup Winners: Barcelona Runners-up: Sevilla UEFA Cup Winners: Tottenham Runners-up: Parma European Cup Winners: Manchester United Runners-up: Arsenal Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
safcrhys Posted September 3, 2014 Author Share Posted September 3, 2014 2005/06 Review Rebuilding Transfers In: Mirko Vucinic - Free Cha Doo-Ri - £3m Aaron Lennon - £1m Out: Various youth players and some senior players such as Neil Lennon, Paul Lambert and Johan Mjallby all on free transfers. No money was received by the club in the form of transfer fees. Summary 2 of the 3 players we brought in were on pre-contract agreements although we still had to pay a fee for Cha Doo-ri in the form of compensation because of his age. Vucinic was the other we signed on a pre-contract agreement. I've been waiting for Leeds to go into administration on the game because they always do and yet for some reason this time they haven't. Luckily with James Milner coming through in the same position as Aaron Lennon they accepted our bid of £1m for the latter. I really wanted Lennon because of his potential and also because last season I was deeply unimpressed with the performances of our other right winger Didier Agathe. Lennon would take his place in the team and performed admirably over the course of the season. We let a lot of senior players leave on free transfers at the end of 2004/05 because they were getting on a bit and in the case of the likes of Johan Mjallby they were on as much as £30k per week. We freed up a lot of money on the wage budget with the deals we have done. Season Review The season began with a trip to Pittodrie to face Aberdeen and we eked out a tight 2-1 win. We ended August with a 1-0 win over Hibs at home and a 2-1 victory over Falkirk. The winning run carried on with a 1-0 win over Dundee at Celtic Park before a comprehensive 4-1 thrashing of Livingston at the City Stadium. Five wins on the bounce then and with Vucinic and Cha Doo-Ri up top we always looked like threatening teams. Unfortunately our winning run came to an end with a disappointing 1-1 drat home to Motherwell who would spend the majority of the season rooted to the foot of the table before eventually scraping enough wins together to stay up by 2 points. Our Champions Cup campaign started with a group stage game at home to Benfica and we played well in recording a 2-1 win. The other two teams in our group were Djurgarden and Juventus. Back to Scotland then and Rangers were defeated 2-1 at Parkhead before a nervy 0-0 away draw with Clyde. We swept past Djurgarden 3-0 in our second group stage match to put us in a good position in the group but we then lost our first game of the season at Hearts 2-1 on the 9th October. We returned to winning ways against Kilmarnock in our next home game. Our third Champions League group game as at the Delle Alpi against Juventus and the Italian giants tought us a lesson, controlling the game and winning 2-0. I'd take second spot in the group anyway but it would still be nice to finish above Juve. 2 successive 1-0 wins over Dunfermline and Dundee United (the latter in the League Cup) were followed with a 1-1 draw with Hibs at Easter Road. Juventus then visited Glasgow and dominated us even more than they did at their own place, winning 3-0. Thankfully results in the other group game had been favourable to us and we were still second. We responded to that defeat well, beating Falkirk and Aberdeen 2-0 and 3-0, both games being played at Celtic Park. We then faced Benfica and booked our place in the Champions Cup knock out stages with a convincing 3-0 win. Dundee were our opponents in the next two games as we were due to play them in the League Cup quarter final aswell as the league. The first one was in the league away from home and they held us to a 1-1 draw but in the cup game we played well in front of our own fans and won 3-1. We then beat Livingston 3-1 at home in the league before the European Cup group stage came to a close with a 0-0 draw at Djurgarden, we finished second in the group with 10 points, 8 behind Juventus who won every game. We got a measure of revenge on Hearts for the defeat earlier in the season by stuffing them 3-0 at Parkhead before the Xmas program got underway with a brilliant 4-0 demolition of Motherwell away from home on Boxing Day. New Year started with the traditional Old Firm derby, this time at Ibrox and we emphasised our superiority over our local rivals by also stuffing them 4-0. Clyde were then beaten 2-0 at Parkhead as we moved 15 points clear at the top of the table. Our Scottish Cup campaign began with a visit to England to face Berwick! Incredibly the minnows held us to a 1-1 draw, thankfully we performed a lot better in the replay to win 4-1. Kilmarnock and Dunfermline were both beaten 3-0 before our brilliant run continued with a 1-0 away win at Falkirk. A pulsating League Cup semi-final ended up with us winning 3-2 against Livingston and then Morten Gamst Pedersen scored a 94th minute winner against Hearts in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup at Tynecastle. Perhaps our packed schedule caught up with us however as we then lost for the second time of the season away from home at Aberdeen. We wouldn't lose again domestically. In truth February proved to be a poor month for us as we failed to beat Hibs at home (0-0) and then drew 1-1 at Dundee. On the 1st of March we travelled to Milan to face the Rossoneri in the first leg of our European Cup first knock out round game. We actually took the lead against the run of play through Vucinic but they equalised shortly before half time and score two more late goals to win the game 3-1 and give us a massive task in the second leg at Celtic Park. We returned to winning ways away at Livingston with a good 2-0 win in the league and then we travelled to Ibrox once more for a Scottish Cup quarter final with Rangers. We were poor on the day and Rangers took the lead but Cha Doo-Ri grabbed a late equaliser to set up a replay at Celtic Park. Before that game we had the small matter of the 2nd leg of our European Cup tie with Milan and a League Cup final to play. Against Milan Cha Doo-Ri scored in the first half and then nabbed a second with 20 minutes left meaning we were in pole position to go through on away goals. We were the better team by miles but Shevchenko struck 5 minutes from time to win the tie for Milan 4-3 on aggregate. We picked up our first silverware of the season by beating Kilmarnock 2-1 at Hampden in the League Cup final before we booked our place in the Scottish Cup semi final after defeating Rangers 3-1 in the quarter final replay. Curiously the Gers were our next opponents in the league too, we were 2-0 up and cruising when John Kennedy stupidly got himself sent off early in the second half. Rangers immediately turned the tables and were 3-2 up before Aaron Lennon scored a late equaliser in a thrilling 3-3 draw. Struggling Motherwell were then seen off at Celtic Park before Hearts were beaten 1-0 at Tynecastle in the first league game of April, we then drew 0-0 with Clyde away from home. Our 1-0 home win over Kilmarnock on April 15th confirmed us as champions for a third year running and immediately I received two job offers from Liverpool and Betis, I was tempted to take the Liverpool job but decided against it, I want to win a European trophy with Celtic before I move clubs. Liverpool would end the season in 8th place in England. We drew 0-0 with Dunfermline before smashing Kilmarnock 4-0 at Parkhead. Bottom of Division One Queen of the South were then beaten 2-0 in the Scottish Cup semi final to set up a final with Dunfermline. The league season ended with 2 wins and 2 draws, including another convincing win over Rangers, this time by three goals to nil, we were were 3-o up before half time. I was desperate to beat Dunfermline in the Scottish Cup to complete the treble but we were poor and fell behind early on. Petrov equalised before half time but the game ended up going to penalties and thankfully this time we prevailed, winning the shoot out 3-2. Another great season then and with the club's financial position getting better every year I am hopeful of adding two more really good players to an already quality squad. I need another to class centre back to partner young prodigy John kennedy in defence as Valgaeren is coming to the end of his career and I also want a top quality central midfielder to partner Petrov as I don't think Brian Kerr is good enough for the first team although he'd make a good squad player. The offers have been coming in for Gamst Pedersen, Parma bidding £14m for him in January but he simply isn't for sale unless I get an outrageous £20m+ bid for him, his head hasn't been turned either and I am listed in his favourite personnel so I am confident he will contine to perform at his best for the club, he won the player of the year award for the third year in succession. Player of the Year: Morten Gamst Pedersen Top Goalscorer: Cha Doo-Ri (32 goals in all competitions) Other Competitions Man Utd triumphed in England, knocking Arsenal off their perch but the Gunners did win the European Cup for the first time in their history this year. Bayern's domination of Germany continues whilst in Italy Inter remain the team to beat. Real Madrid won the Spanish title whilst elsewhere there was glory for Manchester City in the UEFA Cup, they beat North West rivals Everton 2-0 in the final. Dundee United made an instant return to the SPL winning the the Scottish First Division comfortably. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
safcrhys Posted September 12, 2014 Author Share Posted September 12, 2014 2006/07 Review European Glory Transfers In Borut Semler - £1.3m from Kaiserslautern Barry Fergsuson - £4.3m from Arsenal Simon Francis - £6m from Bradford City Out Craig Beattie - £200k to Livingston Mirko Vucinic - £6m to Piacenza Cha Doo- Ri - £16m to Schalke Brian Kerr - £4m to Fulham Jackie McNamara - Free - Charlton Jamie Smith - Fulham - Free Summary In the Summer we could only get Borut Semler over the line in a £1.3m deal, the striker going on to have a fantastic season and becoming a central member of the team, scoring more than 30 goals. Piacenza came in with an offer of £6m for Vucinic which I thought was too good to turn down. Most of our deals were done in January. Schalke offered silly money for Cha Doo-Ri and although he was a vital member of the team I just couldn't turn the offer down. Schalke also offered £25m for Gamst Pedersen and although I was tempted at that price I decided it would be better to keep the Norwegian given we were in the latter rounds of the Champions League and he is by some distance our best player. Former Rangers captain Barry Ferguson arrived from Arsenal for a bargain £4m whilst young English prospect Simon Francis was brought in for more than I would have liked to pay from Bradford. I also couldn't turn down an offer of £4m for bit part player Brian Kerr from Fulham. Season Review We were phenomenal from the start of the campaign and despite faltering a little towards the end of the season we had built up such an advantage over Rangers that it didn't matter. At one point the lead was 17 points but a few dropped points after the title was secured meant it ended at only 11 points. Ironically three of our six league defeats were inflicted by Rangers if I remember correctly. We started the season with two away games, firstly we beat Hibs 2-0 at Easter Road before thrashing Dunfermline 4-0. We then enjoyed three home games and they all yielded three points. Aberdeen were comprehensively stuffed 5-1, Dundee United 3-0 and Motherwell beaten 2-0. Our European Cup adventure began away to Bohemians, the Irish team somehow making it through to the Group Stages! They were seen off on their own park by 4 goals to 0. In Scotland we continued our winning run with Kilmarnock and Livingston before Genk were smashed 6-0 at Parkhead in our second Champions League group game. We had been handed a decent group in all honesty although Man Utd were the other team we were still to play. Hearts and Dundee were beaten 3-1 and 3-0 before the trip to Old Trafford. In a sign of the quality we have in the team we performed well and held the English champions to a 1-1 draw. The winning in Scotland continued as Rangers were beaten 3-1 at Ibrox in the first Old Firm game of the season, we then inexplicably suffered defeat at Parkhead in the League Cup Third Round against Forfar of all teams, meaning our quest for the quadruple fell at the first hurdle. We returned to winning ways in the league beating Clyde at home before United came north for our fourth group game, the score finished 1-1 again but we were by far the better team. Back to domestic matters and Dunfermline were smashed 4-1 before we dropped our first points of the season at Pittodrie, Aberdeen earning a 1-1 draw, it was the 19th November and brought to an end a sequence of 12 straight league wins, the title seemed all but secured already! Hibs were beaten 3-0 at home before Bohemians were beaten by the same scoreline in Europe, a result which confirmed our progression to the knock-out stages. Our first defeat of the season came at Tannadice Park against a struggling Dundee United team, much to my annoyance. We recovered to beat Kilmarnock 2-1 at home and then brought the curtain down on the Group Stage in Europe by thrashing Genk 3-0 away from home, we had finished top of the group following United's inability to beat Bohemians in Ireland. I would be offered the job at Old Trafford at the end of the season. Motherwell were beaten 2-0 away from home on December 16th before another away game at hapless Livingston, we beat them 2-0 and their fall from grace has been quite spectacular, they never won a game until the last day of the season and didn't even reach double figures in terms of points. Hearts were beaten in Glasgow on Boxing Day and Dundee beaten away from home on December 30th. In January we made two key signings in Barry Fergsuon and Simon Francis, both made their debuts against Rangers in early January but it was an unhappy occasion, especially for Ferguson who used to be Rangers captain. The Gers hit us on the break twice and we just couldn't break them down. Cha Doo-Ri was sold for a club record fee after the game and in came John Hartson from the cold, the Welshman would have a massive influence on the rest of the season. Our Scottish Cup defence got off to a better start than our League Cup one, we won 3-0 against Partick Thistle in the third round. Clyde then gave us a scare coming back from two goals down before we managed to find a late winner to win 3-2. Dunfermline and Aberdeen were then seen off and it seemed like we were going to be on our way to setting a points record in Scotland. We beat Hearts 3-1 in a difficult Scottish Cup fourth round game at Tynecastle, Dundee United were beaten 1-0 at Parkhead before we suffered our second league defeat of the season against Hibs in Edinburgh on February 21st. Thankfully we bounced back straight away and defeated Motherwell 2-0 at home. To the exciting end to the season now and we played incredibly well against Hamburg in the first leg of our European Cup first knock out round at Celtic Park, winning 2-0 despite losing John Kennedy to a red card, it wasn't the first time the 23 year old's poor temperament had seen us reduced to ten men. Kilmarnock were seen off by 1 goal to 0 away from home before Hibs were beaten by the same scoreline in the Scottish Cup quarter final. In Hamburg for the second leg we put in another spirited performance, Hartson put us 1-0 ahead to give us a commanding lead on aggregate and meant HSV had to score 4 times to go through because of our away goal. In the end the game finished 2-2 and 4-2 to us on aggregate. The draw for the quarter-final was decent, pitting us against Shakhtar. We took 7 points from our next three away games against Hearts, Livingston and Dundee (2-0, 6-1 and 2-2) before the trip to Donestk. We were the better team but could only manage a 1-1 draw, still a vital away goal was secured. We lost against Rangers again by 1 goal to 0 but our minds were on the second leg of our tie with Shakhtar, we put ourselves into a commanding position racing into a 2-0 lead but we couldn't increase it further and they scored a late goal to leave us floundering a wee bit. Thankfully that was the end of the scoring a we progressed through to the semi final against Roma. Falkirk were beaten soundly 3-0 in the Scottish Cup final to set us up a final with Dundee United. Clyde were then stuffed 3-0 at Parkhead in late April to confirm us as Scottish champions for a fourth year in a row. To more important matters now though and a tight, tension ridden game against Roma at Parkhead looked like it was going to end goalless until Shaun Maloney scored a clever header in the dying seconds to hand us an invaluable 1-0 win. We then travelled to Hearts and won 1-0 but then suffered two defeats in a row in the league against Kilmarnock (1-0) and Rangers (2-0). The European Cup semi final second leg would be played at a no doubt vociferous Olympico stadium, they came at us from the off but we held firm and towards the end of the first half got our reward as Borut Semler curled a beauty around the goalkeeper to give us a vital away goal. Roma huffed and puffed in the second half but we caught them on the break three times in the second half with goals from Semler again and two for Hartson. A fantastic 5-0 aggregate victory saw us through to our first European Cup final since the early 1970's and even better it was against the same team that Celtic had beaten in their only European Cup victory way back in 1967 - Inter Milan! The Premier League season ended with a 2-1 win over Dunfermline and a 1-1 draw at Motherwell. We then bossed the Scottish Cup final against Dundee United, winning 3-0 to set us up nicely for our European Cup final with Inter, which would prove to be an unforgettable occasion: We were absolutely battered for 90 minutes and only managed four shots but ended up winning 3-0 thanks to John Hartson! Revenge perhaps for us losing the UEFA Cup final in 2004 after dominating Parma for the entire game. A fantastic achievement for a team in Scotland but we do have some great players and I have already achieved my main objective with Celtic after this trophy win. Player of the Year Morten Gamst Pedersen Top Goalscorer Borut Semler (32 goals in all competitions) What Now? I turned down the Man Utd job at the end of the campaign, I am willing to relocate following that European Cup win but I don't want to move to a club that had a period of success in recent years. My preference would be for a big club who have been struggling, a club I can build up from the bottom and return to greatness. Someone comparable to Hamburg in Germany, we'll see what happens! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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