Celtic FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2014/15 Mod Warning post #6011

CELTIC Football Club today announced that Fergus McCann is to be welcomed back to Celtic Park for the first home league match of next season as the Club’s Guest of Honour.

This year, 2014, marks the 20th anniversary of Fergus’s takeover of Celtic, the beginning of a period where he revitalised the Club and ensured Celtic’s proud history and tradition at the top of Scottish football continued.

Celtic Chief Executive Peter Lawwell said: “We are delighted that Fergus has agreed to be our Guest of Honour at our first home match of next season.

"2014 is a very special year for Celtic, with a great deal happening for the Club, but not least it is a year of real significance, as it marks the 20th anniversary of Fergus’s takeover of Celtic and it is absolutely right that the special contribution he made to Celtic is marked in this way.

“Fergus’s intervention in 1994 delivered the current Celtic Park, at the time the largest club stadium in Britain and ultimately, he re-established Celtic as a footballing force by winning the Scottish Premier League in season 1997/98.

"He enabled supporters to take a stake in the Club they loved, to be part of something and once again have pride in their team. He energised and motivated our support and our supporters responded brilliantly by backing his vision.

“Fergus was also instrumental in revitalising Celtic’s charitable traditions, establishing a Charity Foundation which has now become one of the most successful in world football as well as personally delivering financial assistance to causes close to the Club’s heart.

“A true Celtic supporter, Fergus delivered huge personal investment, sound leadership and tremendous vision during his tenure at Celtic. He showed unwavering determination and resilience to ensure his Club could once again flourish and his contribution has led directly to the position of health which our Club is in today.

“I know I speak for thousands of Celtic supporters when I thank Fergus sincerely for all he achieved at Celtic and I am sure we will join together in August to remember and celebrate his magnificent achievements.”

Celtic Manager Neil Lennon said: “It is absolutely right that we show our respect and gratitude to Fergus McCann, someone for whom I have enormous respect. Fergus showed tremendous foresight and, indeed, courage to tackle the situation the Club was in at the time in 1994.

"No-one can deny that Fergus absolutely delivered. He did what he believed in and achieved all that he said he would.

“The first time I met Fergus was at Fenway Park in Boston. It was a pleasure to meet him and I felt it was very important that the players met him too on that occasion. He was very humble about all his achievements, something which says a lot about him as a man.

“There are many great figures in Celtic’s proud history and for me, Fergus McCann is right up there as one of our most important.”

Fergus McCann said: “It is very kind of the Club and supporters to think of me and to offer this gesture.

"I am sorry I can’t be with you at the match on the 1st of March due to unavoidable commitments in America but I will be pleased and honoured to attend a match at the start of next season. It is incredible to think that 20 years have passed since the takeover.

“It gives me great pleasure to see Celtic as such a successful and well-run club as it is today. That is credit to the faithful backing of the supporters, also the investors, and, since I left, the vision and management of the Board, Peter Lawwell and Neil Lennon and their staff and players.”

The Club is already planning to mark Fergus’s contribution to Celtic at our home match against Inverness Caledonian Thistle on March 1, 2014.

This date is our nearest home match to the date of the 20th anniversary of Fergus’s takeover which took place on March 4, 1994. Further details on the arrangements for this matchday will be announced shortly.

Unfortunately, due to unavoidable commitments in the United States Fergus will not be able to attend the match in March.

However, we are delighted that he has agreed to be our Guest of Honour in August and we are sure this will be a day when we can celebrate the wonderful 20th anniversary of his achievements and herald a man who is undoubtedly such an important and influential figure in Celtic’s history.

Scott Brown speaking to the press ahead of this Saturday's Scottish Cup tie at Celtic Park against Aberdeen. (PC)

Scott Brown: It's going to be a hard game. Aberdeen are playing really well but so are we, so it should be a good game. (PC)

SB: 'We want to keep the unbeaten run and the clean-sheet record going for as long as possible.'

Scott Brown on Leigh Griffiths: I've been his chauffeur this week so I'm looking forward to him passing his driving test.

SB: Leigh's been doing well in training this week. He's got pace and he's an intelligent player who can also hold the ball up well.

SB: I saw Willo Flood & Barry Robson day in, day out when they were here & they're both good players who bring some experience to Aberdeen.

SB: We've got experience and youth in our side too, and in James Forrest we've got a player who is on fire just now.

SB: Cup games are huge. We'd love to get to the next round but we know it's going to be a hard game against Aberdeen on Saturday..

Manager press conference at Lennoxtown today: Adam Matthews is touch & go after being out for 3-4 weeks, while James Forrest is a doubt.(PC)

Neil Lennon: Leigh Griffiths is fully fit but maybe has a bit to do to catch up because of lack of games, but he’s in the running to start.

NL :Aberdeen have been playing well this season. Derek McInnes has recruited well and they've got a lot of experience in their side.

NL: They played well last weekend in semi-final & look dangerous on counter-attack. Pressure is always on us & we’re always the team to beat

Neil Lennon on last weekend's incident at Tynecastle: 'I'm not happy with some of the stuff that’s come out this week in terms of myself.'

NL: Journalists saying I attract it, that it’s my confrontational & controversial nature. For me, that’s very irresponsible towards me.'

NL: 'I'm no more confrontational than any other manager in the SPFL. However, when it’s an issue regarding me, it seems to me imbalanced.'

NL: You cannot have people throwing coins at you when you’re trying to do your job, yet some people seem to think it’s my fault.

NLI don’t think it’s fair on Aberdeen. I have a great relationship with Aberdeen. We do as a club, and I get on very well with Derek

NL: This won’t sour the relationship between me and Derek, or me and Aberdeen, but I want the people who did this accounted for.

NL: I don’t think it will have any effect on the atmosphere tomorrow. Both sets of fans are looking forward to the game.

Now Lennon is no wallflower. That’s for sure.

There’s more than a touch of the street fighter about him. He’s a wind-up merchant too.

In fact there is a part of him that seems to thrive on chaos and combat and yes, there are times when this high-viz approach to management makes him a target for opposition support. That’s fine. In football, it’s business as usual.

Heaven knows Lennon has even traded words with his own supporters which just goes to show he could probably start a fight in an empty dugout.

"I don't want it," the former Northern Ireland international said.

"I don't need it. I'm not happy with some of the stuff that has come out regarding myself in terms of journalists saying, 'He attracts it, it's his controversial, confrontational nature'.

"For me, that's very irresponsible. I am no more confrontational than any other manager in the SPFL. However, when it's an issue regarding me, it seems to be imbalanced.

"You cannot have people throw coins at you when you are sitting there trying to do your job. And yet some people in the back of their minds think it's my fault. Why this happens, I don't know.

"In the past there is no question there were sectarian elements to what happened to me. People want to bury their head about that. I don't, I want it said and I want something done about it. Last week there was no evidence of a sectarian element, but certainly a hooligan element."

Lennon added: "It's getting harder to comprehend because I don't think I have done anything to warrant it. I think my players, myself, my backroom team conduct ourselves in the best way.

"When there are flashpoints, which happens to every manager, it gets highlighted and blown into the stratosphere.

"I see managers every week losing the rag. I don't complain because I understand how they feel. But there's no pictures of them the next day going up to the fourth official and being abusive or squaring up to another manager. But when I'm involved it's front and back page.

"I look at some of the comments - 'He was a thug on the pitch'. No I wasn't. I never lifted my hand to anyone, never two-footed anyone, never elbowed anyone. I played the game aggressively, which was my job.

"'He brings it on himself.' In what way? Do I go down the street looking for it? Anyone who knows me away from football knows the type of person that I am. Anyone who knows me within the game knows that I want to win, and I'll do anything I can within my power to do that. People don't like it and people use other excuses to vent their fury on me."

"I have certainly tried to do that and it's not working," the 42-year-old said.

"I don't think the condemnation is enough. Sometimes I get the feeling that, 'It's Lenny, he can take it, he's a stand-up guy, he's a street-fighting man'. All that c**p. I'm fed up with it.

"I don't go street-fighting. I look after myself and my friends and family. I live my life as quietly as I can away from football but I'm in the public eye.

"But a lot of the stuff has been almost life-threatening and the condemnation has been nowhere enough."

"I don't know, I don't know. It's a lot to give up and I don't really want to do that if I can avoid it."

After a pause, Lennon added: "No, it hasn't come to that point yet, certainly not. What will determine it is if things go wrong on the pitch. And that will be determine by other people, not me.

"It may be my decision further down the line, but I'm not picturing that scenario. I want to be as successful as I can for as long as I can.

"I love being the manager of Celtic. It's a privilege, an absolute honour. And I don't want to give it up because I worked very, very hard to be in the position I'm in.

"That's the reason why I haven't walked. It's a prestigious job, a precarious job if you look at what's going on in England, a lot of sackings.

"Being the manager of Celtic, there are only 17 other people who have done it, and that means a lot to me."

"I don't think it's fair on Aberdeen," he said. "I have a great relationship with Aberdeen, we do as a club. I get on very well with Derek, I have tremendous respect for him. This isn't going to sour those relationships.

"However, I want the perpetrators accounted for."

Lennonist wrote: »

The 1st tie is a handy game v a semi professional outfit. The second tie might be a bit trickier but we should sail through even with what we have now. The qualifier could be difficult, last season we drew the lowest ranked side in the draw - Shakter Karagandy - and made heavy work of beating them.

We might lose players this summer before the qualifiers again. Some of our players will be at the World Cup as well. We should qualify but it's not a foregone conclusion and it's vital for morale and progression that we qualify.