THE POET'S CORNER RETURNS...
Welcome to The first Poet’s Corner on the relaunched ACSOM Blog. Hopefully this will be a weekly column - I make no promises - and there is only one place to start this week. Munich!
That was a sucker punch. We all love a last-minute winner -though it wasn’t a match winner, but a tie winner which adds gravitas to it – so I don’t begrudge the Munich fans celebrating like they did.
We would have done the same as what has gone before is forgotten in that moment and we just bask in the glow of winning and mock the opposition. It sucks when you’re on the other end of it though. Seems apt that we use the German word schadenfreude to describe such a feeling.
I didn’t know how much I wanted or needed extra time until it wasn’t there. It was so close that I could smell it. It was cruelly snatched away by a lucky break allowed to happen only due to fatigue. The players deserved extra time. The manager deserved extra time. I’m unsure how we would have fared as the Bayern goal seemed to be in the post for the last 15 minutes of the game, but we deserved the chance to find out.
We weren’t outclassed over the two games. They were the better team for 70 mins in the first game, we were the better side in the second game for 70 minutes until we never had the energy or the strength of depth to take the next step.
We can argue that if we had a better January transfer window then we might be sitting in the last 16 now. We will never know but the facts are that we can’t allow a lawyer and an accountant to try and conclude transfer business with proper football clubs and some board members should not question the manager's judgement and get in the way of player recruitment this summer if we want this warm glowing feeling to be a regular occurrence.
We all need to dream.
SCHLUPP DOGG
Being a bit haphazard in doing transfer deals means that you sometimes stumble over a gem that you only thought about on transfer deadline day and because you had dealt with the agent previously – Adam Idah – you manage to get a deal done quickly.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Jeffery Schlupp!
I said on the ACSOM Bulletin that I didn’t think Brendan would be considering selecting Schlupp but what do I really know about team selections and tactics? I like the big man, he has a physicality that I think we miss in the midfield and my cynicism in the claim he could play left back is looking foolish.
He handled Bayern’s best player well, but you can’t keep quality quiet all the time. He could be another Aaron Mooy if he decides, and we want him, to extend his stay past this summer, but he will have other offers, ones who can pay more but offer a far lesser and enjoyable experience. We need Joe Hart and Kasper to get in his ear.
Folk ask whether he would want to be KT’s understudy and to that I answer, on his showing so far, I think he has more to offer than just being KT’s understudy and that’s what Brendan will sell him.
RAMBO
Paul John has already told the tale about us meeting Alan McInally who demanded that I call him 'Rambo'. Anyway, him and Edson Braafheid are the only players to have played for both Celtic and Bayern’s first team. I know other players have been at both clubs, but they are the only two who were named for Bundesliga games.
Rambo was always behind Judas and Brian McClair in the pecking order and left just before the fairytale centenary season. He was a pacy, powerful forward with an old school shot but, in the days when Shoot! magazine was the gateway to the football world, he became better known for his exploits at Villa Park where he got them promoted and then his surprise move to Bayern where he scored ten goals on the way to winning a Bundesliga title.
He remains the only Celtic player to have won a Scottish Premier League and a Bundesliga. Not a bad two medals to have in your collection.
Until next week!