Craig Burley makes dire Celtic comparison as he lifts lid on the 'politics' behind astonishing unravelling

Cannon fodder...such as Caley Thistle B-D

What’s the script with Burley? Is he a jump the dyke? I know Lambert is but not sure about this gumsy dick.
 
Cannon fodder...such as Caley Thistle B-D

What’s the script with Burley? Is he a jump the dyke? I know Lambert is but not sure about this gumsy dick.
Yes, he is 100% a jump the dyke. Same as David Hannah, Darren Jackson (he was a boyhood Rangers fan, his dad was a Hearts fan) and Paul Lambert.
 
Ive seen Burley quite a few times doing the pundit gig over here. He isnt that bad. At least he doesnt sound like one of the bitter tramp ex-players like most of them.
On the contrary, I think he sounds very bitter. . . . . towards the mhockits
 
A most agreeable read.
The one thing that did shock me is that they paid almost £6m for Berkovic. He was dire up here, I genuinely thought he was a Bosman.
 
If he were ever a Bear, then he wouldn’t have played for them.
Pish. This type of comment is so brain dead. He was a professional player with a relatively short career. Would they have been his first choice? No. But they were probably his best option at the time to make money playing football. This is how pros work.

Neil McCann was brought up a Celtic supporter. Is he not a valid Ranger?
 
Craig Burley might be living in the middle of nowhere but the plight of his former club is being talked about everywhere.

And from his home in a little town in Connecticut – where the former Celtic midfielder has carved a successful TV punditry career on the other side of the pond – Burley has been watching the unravelling of the Parkhead club’s 10 In A Row bid and the disintegration of the hierarchy’s relationship with its fanbase.


Particularly as comparisons are being made with the implosion suffered in season 1999/2000 when he was part of the ill-fated John Barnes experiment.

It ended with Burley leaving two months before the Liverpool legend was sacked and replaced by director of football Kenny Dalglish – only for Celtic to end the campaign 21 points behind Dick Advocaat’s Rangers.

Craig Burley, Stephane Mahe, Henrik Larsson and Darren Jackson are unveiled at Celtic in 1997
Under Barnes, Celtic had accumulated 40 points from their first 20 games and they suffered the ignominy of a cup defeat at home to Inverness.

This season, under Neil Lennon, it’s 43 points from their first 20 league games and a home cup defeat to Ross County.

The similarities are there for all to see and Burley knows that Rangers’ rampant league form is on a par to that which his team experienced at the turn of the century.

“I still keep in touch with things,” Burley said. “I was reading pieces online the other day and there’s a lot of interesting stuff going on.

“The comparison with the team I played in that year is being talked about and I get that. All I can say is I don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors at Celtic Park these days.

“But some of the stuff that was happening back then – the politics – played a huge part in how the season unfolded.

“Kenny had come back to the club and appointed John Barnes, with Terry McDermott beside him. It was very political – some were getting new contracts, others weren’t getting new contracts and there were divisions, without doubt.

“One of the reasons I left was the politics and that’s why that whole regime unravelled from top to bottom. I left in December and it got even worse.

“The team certainly had the potential to do well but it wasn’t a happy camp.

“People like Eyal Berkovic, and one or two others – I’d describe them as selfish, whereas the team of 18 months earlier was built on unity. That was part of the issue. The dressing room wasn’t as united as it could have been.

“Allan MacDonald had come in as chief executive earlier that year and was trying to shift people like me, so they could sign guys like Rafael Scheidt.

“Certain people wanted to move me on anyway and that’s fine. Players come and go.

“But Celtic paid more than £5million for Scheidt, which back in the day was a huge fee, so there was a concerted effort to get finance in to pay for that.

“They knew they could get money for me. They could’ve got money for other people but they didn’t want to sell some of the others. So I was let go and, to be honest, I was happy to go because I wanted away from some of the stuff.

“In hindsight, I maybe rushed into the move to Derby and that wasn’t my best decision because I could have gone elsewhere.

“But I got a good offer from Jim Smith and Celtic were delighted with the fee, so that was part of their plan.

“I don’t think anything would have been said if the player coming in had been a success.

“But for that kind of money, Celtic didn’t get anything back. I don’t know how many games that fella played but it wasn’t many. In Brazil at the time, they were giving players a few international caps so they could be flogged for huge fees to European clubs and that’s what happened with Scheidt.

“There were other things, though. The juggling act between Berkovic and Lubo Moravcik was a difficult one.

“Barnesy is on record as saying that if he’d known how good Moravcik was, he wouldn’t have signed Berkovic.

“But he spent nearly £6m on him and that gave him a huge problem because Lubo was so talented he couldn’t be left out.

“And if he left Berkovic out, he knew he’d have a problem in the dressing room because he was kind of that way inclined. All of a sudden, you’ve got a side with two very similar players being shoehorned into a team.

“That is fine when you’re beating the cannon-fodder but when playing in Europe and against the top Scottish sides, it was a problem.

“The chemistry and balance in that squad wasn’t very good and that was the difference. It wasn’t a lack of talent.


“You have to look at what you’re up against sometimes and when you look back at the standard of opposition that season, Rangers were strong.

“It was Dick Advocaat’s second season and he had brought world-class players like Arthur Numan and Giovanni van Bronckhorst from Holland. Stefan Klos in goal, Porrini came from Juventus.

“So did Celtic fail that year? Yes but as it unravelled you have to look at the benchmark and Rangers were an extremely strong benchmark.”

Fast forward a couple of decades and the 49-year-old believes change will come at the end of the season.

Burley said: “The club has been accused of resting on its laurels and I’m guessing at the end of the season there will be a managerial change.


“But I don’t know if there will be a change of stewardship above that level. You can win all the titles you want when nobody is putting you under pressure but the first year that Rangers have upped their game, and the points will tell you that, Celtic have been found wanting.

“That’s why I take all the glory, glory stuff like the quadruple Treble with a pinch of salt. Yes, they still had to win them but how were they going to handle a serious challenge?

“I would rather have won the title in 1997/98, against the backdrop we were dealing with and doing it on the last day of the season, than win titles when everybody else was imploding.”
Nice - never want to waste too much of my time on the soap dodgers troubles but always welcome hearing the truth from someone who knew about it
..
 
You must not remember his punditry from back in the day. His abuse of Weiss particularly memorable for me. He once criticised his delivery on a corner we actually scored from, such was his stupidity.
Burley wrote one of the best articles in 2012 when we were sent to the back of beyond and down the divisions..
When every Tom dick and Harry was sticking the boot into us he was one of the very few who came out and defended us along with hammering the mhanks and their double standards..
Went up in my estimation after that.. Especially since I hated the toothless cvnt when he wore the green and grey
 
Lets see - I’m going to name a player for being selfish to illustrate my point. Now, who do I pick? I know, the Jewish one!

Never change, former Celtic players, never change.
That point would carry some weight if Berkovic wasn’t a renowned arsehole
 
The best bit.
£5million for Scheidt.
B-D B-D B-D B-D B-D B-D
His wiki page has this info.

"Scheidt won three caps for Brazil in 1999 shortly prior to his transfer to Celtic. These games were friendlies and rumours later surfaced that Brazilian based players at that time were being handed caps in return for sweeteners from their clubs wanting to sell them to European clubs for large transfer fees"

B-D
 
You must not remember his punditry from back in the day. His abuse of Weiss particularly memorable for me. He once criticised his delivery on a corner we actually scored from, such was his stupidity.

He also had racist words about Diouf too I remember. Ex players having a dig is great but CB is just another rabid.
 
Full text below but this is the highlight:


“You can win all the titles you want when nobody is putting you under pressure but the first year that Rangers have upped their game, and the points will tell you that, Celtic have been found wanting.

“That’s why I take all the glory, glory stuff like the quadruple Treble with a pinch of salt. Yes, they still had to win them but how were they going to handle a serious challenge?"

EDIT: Honourable mention to £5m for Scheidt :cool:
Amazing. That won't go down too well
 
His wiki page has this info.

"Scheidt won three caps for Brazil in 1999 shortly prior to his transfer to Celtic. These games were friendlies and rumours later surfaced that Brazilian based players at that time were being handed caps in return for sweeteners from their clubs wanting to sell them to European clubs for large transfer fees"

B-D
Scheidt's loan spell at Corinthians came to an end in 2002, and he maintained his hope of making it at Celtic, informing the Sunday Herald that "I want this year to be known as the Scheidt year"

B-D
 
I’ve noticed this in regards to tims who go out into the wider world. Kevin Bridges, James McAvoy etc. don’t seem to have any bitterness about them. Which I understand. When I went on holiday to America, it struck me how insignificant our little rivalry here was in the grand scheme of things. Whereas like how the worst anti smokers are ex smokers, there’s nothing worse than the enthusiastic convert ala Rod Stewart.
Or Spiers.
 
He makes a good point.
Their entire collection of trophy’s without is tainted. They shouldn’t actually count
 
I read an interview with Burley some years back and someone asked about his loyalty to Celtic. He said he didn't have any. He was a professional paid to do a job and did his best. End of.

After leaving the club he said felt nothing towards them. Hartson, Sutton etc he definitely is not. In fact I get the impression he's got no time for the mhanks at all.

A lot of their former players seem this way. That mob definitely don't get the love from former players like we do. Absolutely no way.
 
First anyone has really came out in the media and told the truth. He's spot on.

They won most of these titles in a one horse race / against a severely decimated Rangers squad.

Rodgers was excellent for them, but their quadruple treble is nonsense given that the League Cup Final was won with an offside goal. The title was decided via Zoom call and the powers that be gave them a wee chance to do the 'treble' by allowing last year's Scottish Cup to be played...even though it meant Hearts would be playing with a squad from a lower division.
 
Pish. This type of comment is so brain dead. He was a professional player with a relatively short career. Would they have been his first choice? No. But they were probably his best option at the time to make money playing football. This is how pros work.

Neil McCann was brought up a Celtic supporter. Is he not a valid Ranger?
So playing for Chelsea wasn’t a good option for this pro?

come on...
 
“It was Dick Advocaat’s second season and he had brought world-class players like Arthur Numan and Giovanni van Bronckhorst from Holland. Stefan Klos in goal, Porrini came from Juventus.
Wasn't Porrini a Walter Smith signing?
 
Wasn't Porrini a Walter Smith signing?
He was. We got him at the same time as Amo in our failed 10IAR bid.
Burley’s mind obviously playing tricks on him there.

The main point of his article is pretty much spot on though. Other than this being Celtics first challenge. I’d say it’s their 2nd. They got a challenge last year as well but we imploded after New Year.
 
Didn't we spend the mid-day KO draw at Berwick bating him?
Berkovic had another version of events, alluding to anti-Semitism at Celtc.
Has Wrighty not also implied racism was rife in the Chamber of Secrets?
Yes, IW did. Pretty sure Berkovic was hated for being an Israeli.
However, Burley shows just how much of a shambles that lot can be. His comment about Porrini being an Advocaat signing is an easy mistake to make. As for their Brazilian I heard that due to contractual reasons with Nike Brazil had to play so many games they couldn’t always count on the 3 Rs etc. So they’d punt any old scheidt in.
 
Craig is probably happy he lives abroad, can't be doing with any of that talk in the Scottish press.
 
His wiki page has this info.

"Scheidt won three caps for Brazil in 1999 shortly prior to his transfer to Celtic. These games were friendlies and rumours later surfaced that Brazilian based players at that time were being handed caps in return for sweeteners from their clubs wanting to sell them to European clubs for large transfer fees"

B-D
That was true, plus the filth had never seen him play, all based on videos and those three caps. And that £5m must be the equivalent of £10m now :p
 
He was left out the FA Cup final squad in 1997 and said it was time to leave them especially with the 1998 World Cup on the horizon.
And? He couldn’t get another gig in England? Or Europe? Ra Sellick was his only option? Yeah ok
 
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