Congratulations, Chelsea.

[noonan mckane]

The European Cup has been won by a London club for the first time ever!

Chelsea replace Aston Villa as Great Britain's southernmost European champions, and join Celtic, Manchester United, Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa as Britain's sixth different European Cup winners.

Chelsea overturned a 3-1 first leg deficit against Napoli in the quarter finals, and defeated holders Barcelona in the semis. They beat Bayern Munich in a penalty shootout in the final, the first time Chelsea have won a shootout in the European Cup.

They definitely deserved to win tonight. (Incidentally, every time the European Cup Final has been played in Munich, a first-time winner has won; Nottingham Forest, Marseilles and Borussia Dortmund all won the trophy for the first time in Munich. Marseilles were stripped of the title the year after their 1993 win, however, following a bribery scandal.)

[tyke71]

Congratulations to Chelsea this year, well deserved to win the cup.

[bjrespect]

footballs is for g a y s

[beef]

footballs is for g a y s

[NoobCannon]

chelsea- the team that no one [other than some chelsea fans] wanted to win..

that dirty cheating bunch of cnuts, john "the cnut" terry and Cheatba to name just a few!, just another team to have bought football. man city bought the premier league and chavski the champions league, how can a team that finishes 6th in the premier league deserve a guaranteed champions league spot?

just waiting for the financial rules come into effect to watch chelsea and man c drop back down the table into forgottendem.

rant over

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWPxaC3Gt3k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ydLHceb ... ure=fvwrel

[rover220]

chelsea- the team that no one [other than some chelsea fans] wanted to win..

that dirty cheating bunch of cnuts, john "the cnut" terry and Cheatba to name just a few!, just another team to have bought football. man city bought the premier league and chavski the champions league, how can a team that finishes 6th in the premier league deserve a guaranteed champions league spot?

just waiting for the financial rules come into effect to watch chelsea and man c drop back down the table into forgottendem.

rant over

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWPxaC3Gt3k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ydLHceb ... ure=fvwrel

bitter, not much!

[mark220gsiturbo1]

Wanted chelsea to lose dont agree that spurs not in champions league!

[Din]

footballs is for g a y s

[Pinkie15]

chelsea- the team that no one [other than some chelsea fans] wanted to win..

that dirty cheating bunch of cnuts, john "the cnut" terry and Cheatba to name just a few!, just another team to have bought football. man city bought the premier league and chavski the champions league, how can a team that finishes 6th in the premier league deserve a guaranteed champions league spot?

just waiting for the financial rules come into effect to watch chelsea and man c drop back down the table into forgottendem.

rant over

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWPxaC3Gt3k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ydLHceb ... ure=fvwrel

Oh, boohoohoo, get over yourself.


Absolutely fecking great night. I don't give a flying f*** that some think we were boring and played "anti-football". Just accept we had a squad that couldn't stand toe-to-toe with the opposition, so you play to your remaining strengths and provide an exhibition of how to play defensive football.

Yeah, I'd far rather we'd played attacking/flowing football, but hey you can't have everything. The great irony for me was that we didn't win it when we had a squad that did play this style of football.

Finally the team that's played the most CL games in the past nine years won it.

And we're not the first team in England to finish outside the automatic places and go in, Liverpool started that one.

And if you think the financial rules will have any impact you're living in cloud cuckoo land. Will affect Real Madrid & Barca just as bad. You honestly think UEFA have/would grow a pair big enough to disqualify them from the CL ??




And just add, congrats also to the Jambo's for burying Hibs in the SFA cup final. What a sweet, sweet day Saturday 19 May 2012 was.

[Hyper]

Have Chelski played more Champions League football than United then

[Pinkie15]

Since 2003, yep, Saturday night was their 100th CL game.

Next up is Barca who've played 91 in that time period.

Couldn't (easily) find out how many Manchester United have played

[vinny19791]

Since 2003, yep, Saturday night was their 100th CL game.

Next up is Barca who've played 91 in that time period.

Couldn't (easily) find out how many Manchester United have played

235 to be exact since 1957


Oddly enough the European cup started in 1955, not 2003 when roman took over and ploughed pots of cash into chelski

Man utd have played in 12 semi finals and 5 finals

Chelsea did nothing pre 2003 hence you don't want to compare appearances

Ryan gigs (139) alone has more appearances than Chelsea!!

Chelsea have had 6 semi finals. Oddly 2004,2005,2007,2008,2009 and 2012

We also have 17 years consecutive in the competition from 1997/98 to present day

[noonan mckane]

Vinny, I'm loving those stats...!

I feel I need to respond to one or two bits and pieces here, though. To wit:

* Football isn't just for gays. It's for everyone.

* I agree it seems ludicrous that a club finishing 6th in it's league can qualify for the "Champion Clubs Cup", but, of course, if said club are the holders of said cup, then that's how it should be. It's been a long time since The European Cup truly was the 'champion's' cup, of course. I think I'm right in saying that automatic entry for the holders had been done away with by UEFA, and was re-introduced to allow Liverpool to defend it in 2006. (Liverpool winning it in 2005: The ultimate example of it being won by "not the league champions"!!!!!! Personally, I no longer believe that Liverpool have ever won the league. Just because it says they did in the Bible, doesn't mean they ever have....)

I started to really resent the fact that UEFA want to reduce Scotland's CL entrants to just one, when it seems that half the Italian, French, German, Spanish and English top divisions walk right in. (I know Celtic and Rangers don't keep Barcelona and the likes awake much nowadays, but it takes 'seeding' to preposterous lengths. And only winds up with the champions of Cyprus reaching the last 8, and the 6th best team in England winning it.)

The "Champions League" (I've never, ever stopped calling it 'The European Cup', btw. And I've started to notice others reverting to it's proper name. I mean, it's not a league and it's not just for champions. It was always a kind of fudge by UEFA, a sort of compromise to placate the growing number of wealthy clubs clamouring for a European football league, and also to extract more revenue than was being generated by the old 2 legged, unseeded knockout cup (where there was the perpetual risk of Real or Man Utd being humped by St Patrick's Athletic in round one.)

Fact is, everybody, even those who want Chelsea, Spurs and bloody Arsenal involved (with Man Utd making up the ideal semi final line-up) is pretty much over the 'group stages'. It's essentially 3 months of dead rubbers (Genk versus Hapoel Tel Aviv, anyone? Me neither..) which are long forgotten in February, when the 'real' competition begins: And mon dieu, monsieur Platini, it's 2 legged knockout ties, with away goals, ET and pens, drama, excitement...you know, The European Cup....

I can honestly see it returning to a knockout competition again, albeit with seeding retained and the likes of Malaga getting a wee shot now and again (or Motherwell. Manchester City. Newcastle United. You know, the 'other' clubs....

I still fondly remember the 'pilot' Champion's League, of 1992-93. Just 2 knockout rounds, resulting in 2 'mini leagues', with the 2 winners of those contesting the final. I can still picture the smugness of one Howard Wilkinson, chewing gum on the telly after bringing his Leeds United up to Glasgow and returning to Elland Road 2-1 down (the 'priceless' away goal scored by young Eric Cantona) but supremely confident, only to have Walter Smith's Rangers side totally humble them 4-1 on aggregate.
That's right, kids: the first ever 'champion's league' had absolutely NO English clubs in it!!!!!

It was eventually won by a millionaire chairman bribing his club to victory.

Tradition is everything in football. The beautiful game!


*Statistically, (how else?!) Chelsea might now consider themselves to be as great as Celtic. They now have the same record in the European Cup (2 finals, 1 win.) They are exactly half way to being as great as Nottingham Forest. They have a long road to walk to be as great as Ajax, though.

Or Liverpool.

[Pinkie15]

Since 2003, yep, Saturday night was their 100th CL game.

Next up is Barca who've played 91 in that time period.

Couldn't (easily) find out how many Manchester United have played

235 to be exact since 1957


Oddly enough the European cup started in 1955, not 2003 when roman took over and ploughed pots of cash into chelski

Man utd have played in 12 semi finals and 5 finals

Chelsea did nothing pre 2003 hence you don't want to compare appearances

Ryan gigs (139) alone has more appearances than Chelsea!!

Chelsea have had 6 semi finals. Oddly 2004,2005,2007,2008,2009 and 2012

We also have 17 years consecutive in the competition from 1997/98 to present day

I know it started in 1955, because guess who were the first English team to qualify for it ?? Yep, good ole Chelsea, who were the old English 1st division champions for the 1954/55 season (with one of the lowest ever points totals). However the FA & FL refused to let them enter some daft, jumped up, knock out cup not invented by them.

Don't ever forget; lies, dam lies and statistics. I do also recall we qualified for the 3rd round qualifying stages quite a bit before 2003. Trouble was we'd crash out to FC Hokey Kokey, go into UEFA cup and promptly get dumped out of that by FC Hokey Kokey's nearest neighbours.

Always find it odd that the 2 times Manchester United (remember kids there are many other teams playing football with United in their name) have won the "Champions League", they've done so as the non-PL champions and largely been the worst team on the night of those victories.

Noonan some interesting points:

Fact is, everybody, even those who want Chelsea, Spurs and bloody Arsenal involved (with Man Utd making up the ideal semi final line-up) is pretty much over the 'group stages'. It's essentially 3 months of dead rubbers (Genk versus Hapoel Tel Aviv, anyone? Me neither..) which are long forgotten in February, when the 'real' competition begins: And mon dieu, monsieur Platini, it's 2 legged knockout ties, with away goals, ET and pens, drama, excitement...you know, The European Cup....

But you forget the joy of the couple of seasons when there were TWO group stages. What a farce, but I bet it was a nice little earner for the clubs.

[vinny19791]

Pinkie

In 1999 we were simply the best team in Europe

Our group had barcelona and Munich in and we beat two Italian giants.

We destroyed juventus in Turin led by the lion Roy keane

Sensational

Ps we were also unbeaten throughout and completed the treble

[Pinkie15]

Yeah I know how you got there, and how Spurs denied you the domestic treble by winning the league cup.

But on the night Bayern played far better than you did (possibly a result of Keane missing the final through suspension), created quite a few chances, but only put one of them away. Then we all know (endlessly hear of) what happened in the last few minutes. You could easily argue that that was lucky, or that you make your own luck by being steadfast, resilient and not giving up.

Quite a few parallels there with how things went for us on Saturday night. If only we'd done better with the free kick at the death of normal time.

Biggest difference here is that in '99 that team was coming together, whereas our team is on the point of breaking up (parallels with England's rugby world cup winning squad).

[pengy_666]

[mark220gsiturbo1]

Pinkie

In 1999 we were simply the best team in Europe

Our group had barcelona and Munich in and we beat two Italian giants.

We destroyed juventus in Turin led by the lion Roy keane

Sensational

Ps we were also unbeaten throughout and completed the treble

[noonan mckane]

When Celtic became the first British club to win the European Cup, they did it with a completely homegrown squad of players. They were the first Northern European club to win, and remain it's northernmost winners. Between 1967 and 1974 Celtic were rarely out of the last 8 of the European Cup, and more than once in the last 4. To win the European Cup during this period, you were required to beat Celtic, and only the very best were able to do this.

[vinny19791]

Ahem man utd 1968....

[noonan mckane]

Man Utd weren't required to beat the reigning champions in their 1967-68 run to the final. Celtic were inexplicably put out in the first round!

One has to surmise, however, that had they been drawn together there would have been a reasonable chance that Celtic would have done them. Far, far better teams than Manchester United failed to get the better of Celtic during this period. Nearly 150,000 people were at Hampden Park in 1970 (a never to be beaten record crowd for a European club football match) to see the 'invincible' Leeds United side of the time played off the park.

This was Celtic. This was undoubtably Scottish football's golden age. For that 5 year spell, between 1967 and 1972, Celtic Park became a 'centre of excellence' of European football. The greatest minds of Italian, Spanish, German and French football were practically queuing along London Road, eager to learn how Jock Stein had turned the 2nd or 3rd best team in Scotland into the best team in the world in such a short time.

It's still largely unknown how this came to pass. It's most probably that old chestnut: A bunch of truly great players. Popular mythology (rightly) has elevated guys like Jimmy Johnstone and Billy McNeill, but the likes of Bertie Auld, while largely unsung, are the players which make a good team a great team.

Bertie was, if you will, the Roy Keane of Stein's Celtic. (Remember when 'Keano' quit Man Utd and fulfilled his "boyhood ambition" of playing for Celtic? We really appreciated that. It was great to have a truly world class player sign for us, aged 36 and with a niggling back injury. We didn't feel in the slightest bit patronised by his telling the press that he had always been a Celtic supporter. We were happy to pay him god knows how many thousands of pounds a week and never once thought to ourselves 'where the f**k were you when you were 26?'
A few years later Roy's namesake Robbie, on loan from Spurs, also fulfilled his boyhood ambition of playing for Celtic. Another massive amount of cash well spent. 4 months later Robbie's back to London, considerably wealthier and with a Celtic jersey with his name on it to hang in his billiards room. It's amazing how many top drawer football players, especially Irish players, who "love" Celtic, but will not entertain the notion of playing for them while there is still a chance that they can be paid more by someone else. It's easy to say that great players will want to play in leagues that are more competitive than Scotland's, but it's the exact same league that Celtic were playing in during the 'golden age' mentioned earlier. When Celtic took Craig Bellamy on loan in 2005, an (English) friend of mine said "he's far too good a player to be playing in Scotland.", and I replied "He's far too good a player to NOT be playing in the Champion's League. Newcastle United can't offer him that."

Celtic are one of the biggest football clubs in the world. The record attendance at Celtic Park is 92,000. The modern, all seated stadium holds 60,000, and is always filled. Worldwide, for every Liverpool or Manchester United supporter, there are three Celtic supporters.

As Bill Shankly said: "Glasgow Celtic is the most successful football club in the world."

(I just love Celtic.)

[Roboscot]

As a Dundee Utd fan suffering after reading all that May i take this opportunity to remind everyone that we are the only British team with a 100% record against Barcelona in Europe with 4 wins from 4, home and away

[SubCat001]

Worldwide, for every Liverpool or Manchester United supporter, there are three Celtic supporters.

What source are you using for these figures? In all the ones I looked at Celtic don't even figure in the top ten in terms of most supported.

[noonan mckane]

Well, my 'source', I suppose, is practically the entire east coast of the USA, a massive chunk of the population of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, and, well, just about anywhere in the world large numbers of people of Irish descent can be found. You can't go 10 yards in Boston, Philadelphia or NYC but someone's shaking your hand and welling up with tears, telling you their great great aunt was from County Cork. It's the Celtic jersey, see. It's green and white and it's got a shamrock on it, so it makes no odds to them that Celtic FC are from Scotland. I got the impression from a lot of them that they possibly thought Ireland and Scotland were the same place, to be honest, or that one was perhaps a suburb of the other, or something. For every tearful O'Brien, you'd be pretty sure there would be a McPherson nearby, who'd tell you he loved Robert Burns and had been to Edinburgh and Loch Ness.

But I digress. This is the huge global fanbase I'm on about. Right reason or none, Celtic are identified by, and connect emotionally with, a huge amount of people all around the globe, and the fact is the majority of them have no idea of <a class="inlineAdmedialink" href="#">football</a> or any interest in finding out what it is. They identify with Celtic's "Irishness", or at least it's 'Celticity', or at least it's 'cultural otherness', or at least it's being something from the 'old world', ie "culture". Something of value which somehow transcends capitalism (which I think they sometimes get a bit fed up with, bless them.)

Sky, Setanta (RIP), ESPN, they pay a lot of money to broadcast Celtic v St Mirren on a dreary February Saturday. For why? To who? Who'd want to see that kind of th......oh, wait, of course: There are at least 3/4 million plastic paddies in Boston and it's environs who will pay to watch that. While drinking Guinness and singing 'toora loora loora'.

I was on my holidays in Florida, in Fort Lauderdale, in 1993. Now, remember this was when the USA was preparing to host the 1994 World Cup, and folks were just generally trying to 'get into' 'soccer'. I was sat in a shoe shop while my wife tried on shoes, and I was wearing my Celtic jersey (like ye do. Brits abroad. It's the law) when out the corner of my I suddenly was aware of a guy lurching toward me. For a wee second I got a genuine fright, as he seemed to be pushing and climbing his way past people, and I thought there was going to be aggro. As I turned to look at him, he's pointing at my Celtic jersey, and he says:
"Hey, buddy! You missed St Patricks Day already!" Then he went all serious and sat beside me and went "No, I'm kiddin'. It's soccer, right? I love soccer. I was watching a <a class="inlineAdmedialink" href="#">game</a> last night. Brazil. You know Brazil? They are the guys! It was tied, I think, or one-zero. They are the guys! See ya later buddy. You have a great day, now."

I swear to god. At least he wanted to talk about football, though, bless his wee <a class="inlineAdmedialink" href="#">heart</a>. Many times in the USA, wearing my Celtic jersey, I've been drawn into discussions about how "we" can "defeat the British", to my cringeing embarrassment.

There are Celtic Supporters Clubs all around the world. They all have to pay a royalty (irony is not lost, promise) to Celtic FC to be affiliated as official clubs. The waiting list is years long to start a new 'CSC', and Celtic will only sanction a new club if an existing one folds, which is not <a class="inlineAdmedialink" href="#">very</a> often. In 1999, I joined with a group of fellow Celtic supporters to set up a CSC in my home town. We were disappointed when Celtic told us they could not affiliate us as a CSC (and offer the accompanying benefits, like allocations of season <a class="inlineAdmedialink" href="#">tickets</a> and the like) as no vacancy existed, but they recognised the fact that our part of the world (Ayrshire. Rangers-ville) should have a focal point for Celtic supporters. We are recognised by Celtic FC, but have to call ourselves Irvine Celtic <a class="inlineAdmedialink" href="#">Sports</a> Club. Our club was officially opened by Willie Wallace. We've nigh on 1,500 members now. It's as full of 'plastic paddies' as anything you'll find in Boston or Auckland or Sydney or Johannesburg.

Toora loora loora. etcetera. Hail, hail the Celts are here!!