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Brilliant podcast. Honest opinions and great banter.

Hands down the best Celtic media production going. Banter, analysis, bias, disagreements… ticks all the boxes.

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The Preview – Hearts 31/07/2021

July 30, 2021

The Cynic Match Preview is now available for the league opener against Hearts at Tynecastle on Saturday evening. This content is available...

Instagram feed @90minutecynic

🍀Our Celtic Heroes🍀 Bryan McManus on his Celtic hero.... Tommy Burns “When I was first taken to Celtic Park I knew very little about football. I decided my two favourite players where the ones I would recognise, one had a beard and the other had a beard and the other had red hair. Turns out the one with the beard was one of the greatest full backs in history and the red head became my all time Celtic hero. Tommy Burns embodies everything I could ever hope to be as a Celtic fan but more importantly as a person. He was part of the fantastic centenary team which still gives me goosebumps when I think about the games that season. As a manager he allowed me to watch some of the most entertaining football I’ve ever seen. I was lucky enough to meet Tommy a few times when I was young. When I did he gave me all his time and attention, I was an awestruck wee Bhoy looking at my idol and with just a few words he made me feel ten foot tall. When I think of Celtic I think of Tommy, he’s one of the reasons we’re there and we’re always there.” Tommy Burns played 501 games for Celtic scoring 83 goals and rejuvenated the club when he came in as manager in 1994. Tommy Burns is Bryan McManus hero and he has this picture hanging as a constant reminder 🍀✊🏻
It’s not uncommon that players who go into management cite a coach from their playing career as a big influence. What is more unusual is that they use such experiences to adopt a completely different style, a polar opposite based on what they did not want to become. Roy Hodgson was by far the biggest managerial name Ronny Deila played under (1) and he loathed being a part of Hodgson’s Viking team. The Englishman was an extremely result-focused authoritarian who created an atmosphere where even the veteran Deila went into every game terrified of making a mistake. Having this fear overpowering his joy of football led Deila to become a coach who permits his players to try and fail, his only demand being that they end the season a better player than they started it. Deila joined local club Odd aged 17, with an early photograph of him still on the club site (2). The country’s oldest existing club had won 11 Norwegian Cup triumphs but all by 1931. Deila joined them while in the third tier, gaining promoted the following season (3) and was a crucial part of the team that reached the top-flight for the first time 32 years in 1999 (4), before winning their 12th (and most recent) cup title the year after (5 & 6) Highly regarded as teenage centre-back, Deila had just been capped by Norway’s U-21 team when he suffered a crucial ligament injury in 1996. Told by one doctor he’d never play football again, he went on to start over 300 senior games, but Deila says the inability to regain his speed meant he never reached the top level, either through a senior cap or playing abroad. He become a top domestic player over 15 years instead (7 & 8) joining Viking as a 28-year-old in 2004 (9). He battled with some of the highest scoring strikers in Norwegian history, including Harald Brattbakk, Steffen Iversen and his own brother-in-law, Sigurd Rushfeld. He also had to go in goals for one match when Odd’s keeper was sent off (10) After his experiences with Hodgson in Stavanger, Deila went to Strømsgodset in 2006 as player/assistent manager, starting the coaching career that would see him lead Strømsgodset to their first league title in over 40 years, before becoming Celtic manager
📸 Picture from Celtic vs Hearts at Celtic Park on 25th August 2019. @marcus.macleod recalls, “It was a scorcher of a day. The type that start to feel uncomfortable in the north stand without a cloud in the sky. Celtic beat Hearts 3-1 with Callum McGregor scoring from 25 yards and Hearts scoring two own goals. One of which came from a ball in from the pictured Ajer. He played right back that day and I thought he was going to break himself with the size and speed of stride he was achieving out of his tall frame. He was up and down the wing all day like this.”
Celtic Park in the sun 😎 Can’t wait to be back 🍀 (📸 @marcus.macleod )
📸 Picture before Bayern Munich vs Celtic in the Champions League on the 17th October 2017. @graeme.mckay recalls “Great trip. Drove down to Munich in the morning, all day in Marienplatz, Stuart Armstrong song, pyro, Augustiner. Game was a bust, but the day was amazing.”
In 1974 KNVB commissioned photographer Rob Mieremet to take portraits of their national team players before the World Cup in Germany. The collection stunningly captured one of football history’s most iconic teams and yet it’s the portrayal of an unassuming squad member that is the most instantly striking: a freckled face framed by a curly, side parted hair and low sideburns, 27-year-old Wim Jansen (1st picture) captured for posterity as a modern version of a painting by one of the Dutch masters. Jan Rooskat from Dutch Soccer Site wrote that if Cruyff was Messi and Van Hanegem was Iniesta then Jansen was more of a Busquets: ‘Very important for the team. Always diligent. Always aware. And always timing his challenges and positioning to perfection’. Celtic fans are painfully aware of Jansen’s part in denying the club a second European Cup in 1970 (2). He made his Feyenoord debut at 18, winning 4 titles, a Dutch Cup and the UEFA Cup in 15 years there. His club photo from 1970 (3) shows him with a steely, yet friendly gaze. Although they played for opposite sides of a fierce rivalry (4) Jansen and Cruyff became close, Rooskat describing them as having an understanding beyond words on and off the pitch. Jansen played every minute in the 1974 World Cup, pictured (5) lining up beside the East German team before a second round game. Unfortunately he would foul Bernd Hölzenbein (6) to concede the penalty Paul Breitner equalised from in the final. Jansen was also a key part of the team during the 1978 World Cup, playing at right-back against Argentina in the final. The following year he faced 18-year-old Diego Maradona (7) in one of his last international games. In 1980 Jansen left Feyenoord to play with Cruyff for the Washington Diplomats in the NASL (8). Cruyff then persuaded Jansen to join him at Ajax to help guide a new generation of talented players, including Frank Rijkaard (9) One of the first players to represent both Ajax and Feyenoord, Jansen returned to De Kuip as an away player with Ajax in December 1980 (10) and was hit by a snowball, damaging his eye. He retired from playing in 1982 after winning the Eredivisie with Ajax.
And those who inherit their name and their spirit Will march 'neath the banners of liberty then: All who love foreign law - native or Sassanach. Must out and make way for the Bold Fenian Men! 🍀✊🏻
Paul Elliot came to Celtic in 1989 and stayed till 1991. He was a classy and sophisticated central defender that won Scottish player of the year in his time here. A short stay but performances that bring evocative images to the fore, images that have lasted a lifetime. A player that was far ahead of his time and that would be plying his trade at the highest level in the modern game. This picture highlights two shining lights in a haze of painful memories
Read the roll of honour for our Irish Brigade 🇮🇪 It started with a Marist brother from Sligo called Andrew Kerins. Happy Saint Patrick’s Day 🍀✊🏻
Next season pivots to something completely different if we appoint an exciting, progressive coach that will bring their own distinct style and identity. Someone the entire support can get behind. That doesn’t guarantee success but it absolutely gives us a fighting chance.
🚨COMPETITION🚨 ***Available on TWITTER*** We’ve teamed up with @madebyfrankiedesigns and @rabbithatchet to offer some exclusive Riquelme prints. Simply FOLLOW both accounts below on TWITTER ⬇️ @madebyfrankie ✅ @RabbitHatchet ✅ And RETWEET the relevant tweet to be entered into the prize draw. Here are the AMAZING Prizes ⬆️
“You cannot afford to rely on history, you have to make it.” Happy Birthday to Saint Martin 🍀

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