I’ve no fondness for Stuart McColl but I’m disappointed the wheels have fallen off Motherwell’s bogey this season. Delivering two consecutive second place finishes in a league populated with mostly better finances teams was exceptional. Over the last three years they have lost players instead of paying money they couldn’t afford, otherwise they would almost certainly be challenging at the top of the table.
I like Gordon Strachan. One of the things I like about him is he is almost impossible to get on-message. Talk about manipulating football in order to get the ‘right’ teams in the top division is ludicrous, Gordon knows this, or he wouldn’t have used a word like “manipulate”. On a substantive note, I think he’s wrong on this point.
The game changed when Rangers were liquidated, and it changed again when Hearts and Hibs were relegated. Fewer people buy tickets as there is not genuine competition for the league title, but some things we can do without.
Scottish football survived without the ticket money these clubs brought them, and the country’s streets, pubs and A&E departments have benefited from not having to cope with the sheer hassle we used to put up with.
I’ve enjoyed our four lower tier-only games this season, they were atmospheric and entertaining. If this was our future, I’d bite your hand off for it before I’d want to go back to the old ways.
Celtic, Motherwell, Aberdeen and the rest are defined on their own merits, and many of us are enjoying our football.
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Strewth !
Holy
Yessssss!!!!! Never got 1st.
Moly
PeteTheBeat
Watch out mate the miserablists will be after ye!!!
Just seen some pictures of the amount of food and buckets of cash donated and collected by the the Celtic family on Saturday and I echo this comment
“Huge,huge credit to the Green Brigade (many of whom missed most of the game) for having the faith that this would be so massively supported”.
Stunning but not suprising effort by all.
Be proudCSC
Till later all
HH
Hits the bar again
I’d forgotten about Sleekit’s gamblers list. My point is invalid.
Has a slight parallel with NL though, who said an offer was made to Samaras, and yet Samaras had received no offer.
bawsman, hi mate;))
We’re better off without them.
petethebeat
Apparently you’re nothing more than an egocentric, immature buffoon of a podium chaser!!!
Don’t ever change! I like you better this way!
Congratulations
HH jamesgang
GlassTwoThirdsFull (12:25): “Would CG even have been interested in Sevco…?”
Didn’t he say he had decided to try to get back into the game at the highest level possible. There are many levels higher than the gutter!
Only way is up!
Happy Monday.
HH!
Phils’ latest alludes to both the fears expressed for the safety of Celtic fans and the media frenzy
http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/reasons-to-be-fearful/
Thoughts on that League Cup draw …
The Scottish Sports Media’s Big Lie
so its celtic v inter (rifc, and a nice wee reminder why they changed their name)
We neither need not want them!
HAIL!HAIL!
Token
I shall add ‘podium winner’ to the Achievements section of my cv.
“Nor” not “not”
Paul67,
I do so agree with your sentiments. Football is a game to enjoy; it is part of the entertainment industry. Matches shouldn’t be occasions of fear and hate.
Disappointed at Gordon’s comments. Manipulation and sport don’t mix. Maybe if Scotland qualify ahead of Germany he will offer them our place in the finals…..
What was it that was said on here “any part of my club that is dependent on RFC(or whatever they call themselves today)*” is a part I can live without” or similar words,
True then, true now ,
Talking about manipulation. It’s a bit of a joke that Aberdeen cut the Celtic allocation on Sunday. No luck in the ballot. Unusual.
Agree with you Paul
Unfortunately voices like ours are drowned out by the MSM who tell everybody we are excited.
While I didn’t want to draw the Zombies now we have I was pleased to hear that the team cheered when they were drawn against them. For me that shows that they will be up for the game. Despite the nonsense in the newspapers from Supper and Boyd we have 10 players that have been there before Brown, Commons, Mulgrew, Lustig, Forrest, Zaluska, Matthews, Izzy, Kayal and Stokes. That’s more than enough to drill into the rest of the squad what this game is going to be about. In addition some of those experiencing it for the first time like Denayer, Van Dijk and Guidetti are class operators who should thrive in this sort of fixture. As long as we are up for the battle our class should tell.
PeteTheBeat
You may lose your podium as you never used the singular word “me” :)))))
well done
BarryBhoy
All of our players (and theirs) will be experiencing this fixture for the first time.
I must have got it wrong because I understood that Hearts and Hibs were playing in the Championship because, apart from anything else that happened to them, they just weren’t very good.
Why then should they be manipulated back to the premier?
Predictions still on track
– Celtic will qualify from Europa group stage
– Celtic will go on a winning run through November to Christmas
– Celtic will be well clear by Christmas
– Scepovic will come good
Good on you Ronny Deila. We are playing a brand of football domestically that relies on us taking risks and creating lots of chances. Even if we don’t always take our chances.
Just read Phil’s latest. Much he writes is so true. How any one could want that hatred back baffles me.
I think anyone going to the “game” should turn up in period costume,
I mean – its a scoddish foo’balling homage to the last century, isn’t it?
:)
bankiebhoy
Some of us are wearing clothing styles that would qualify as period costume.
oldcodgers csc
Chrisvancoupon
had you been online this morni g you could have grabbed yourself a couple..
tricoloured ribbon
12:53 on 3 November, 2014
tom mclaughlin
02:27 on 3 November, 2014
Tricoloured Ribbon said:
Time for Peter Lawwell to nail down the best striker we have had since Larsson.
That’s right Peter. The transfer window is closed for another 8 weeks but “no excuses”. Get him signed now.
……………
You know fine well what I meant.We can be active behind the scenes trying to put together a good deal to secure the lad.
No need to be a smart ass.
I must say I’m glad the Bad Captain on the TSFM kept a copy of TBB’s classic post
bad capt madman says:
November 2, 2014 at 11:18 pm
28 1 Rate This
Just looking back on some saved posts from RTC, and thought we might all like to be reminded of the ire from that time – thanks to “The Battered Bunnet” on 30 June, 2012 at 17:34:
“Senior Hampden source tells #c4news cannot see how RFC were allowed to play last season at all. Doesn’t believe they met finance criteria…”
Alex Thomson’s tweets yesterday re ‘senior Hampden source’ casting doubt on Rangers’ eligibility to obtain a Club Licence last year were rather intriguing.
We have by now a clearer picture of the failure of governance at Rangers through the David Murray/ John McClelland/ Alastair Johnston/ Craig Whyte years, albeit we await further definitive details from the judgement of the Tax Tribunal. Essentially, over a period spanning 2 decades, the means that Rangers used to sustain its football operation utterly disregarded the requirements of both corporate governance and football regulation. While the scandal related solely to payments and procedures within Rangers, we could hope that it was contained internally.
However, the revelation that Rangers paid former manager Souness via EBT while he was manager at Blackburn Rovers confirmed for the first time that the scandal had become external. I understand that RangersTaxCase and Alex Thomson have further information on the extent of payments to Souness and also to Walter Smith, and look forward to the details being revealed, but it is now clear that the Rangers ‘toxin’ had leached out of the club by 2001.
The compelling question now is: How far did the toxin spread?
Was it contained within the ‘outer circle’ of former Rangers employees, however inexplicable such payments may appear? Or did it extend beyond that outer circle, and contaminate senior figures in the Game in Scotland. The contamination does not relate solely to payments from Rangers’ offshore trust, but more subtly perhaps, the behaviour of individuals in positions of influence.
We know that Rangers’ Executive Chairman John McClelland was an SPL Board member during the startling ramp up of EBT use from 2003 to 2005, and was himself a beneficiary of the scheme.
We know that Rangers’ Chief Executive Martin Bain was an SPL Board member 2008 to 2011, coinciding with the receipt by Rangers of the HMRC assessments on the EBT scheme, of which he was himself a beneficiary.
We know that current SFA President Campbell Ogilvie was simultaneously an SFA Director and Executive Director and Company Secretary of Rangers, and was a beneficiary of the scheme.
These parallel functions of course present a profound conflict of interest for each man, at once implementing a scam on the Game to disguise a fraud on the Revenue, while owing specific legal duties of care to the Game being scammed.
So far, so shabby.
Thomson’s tweets yesterday indicate a doubt on the part of a ‘senior Hampden source’ that Rangers were eligible to hold a Club Licence last season, thus disqualifying them from participating in European competition, and perhaps Scottish Football too. Is this doubt grounded in a retrospective review of the licence qualifying criteria given what has emerged recently? Or was there a ‘blind eye’ turned by the SFA’s Licensing Committee to information in the public domain at the time of the Licence application? In this respect the ‘Wee Tax Case’ represented a fundamental failure against at least one Licence criterion.
The proposals to the SFL clubs this week make it plain that should the SFA conclude the outstanding Disciplinary issues against Rangers with either suspension or expulsion of Rangers from the SFA (perhaps the only sanctions remaining available to the SFA following Lord Glennie’s Judicial Review) that the Game will face ‘financial meltdown’.
Concurrently, the SPL has adjudged Rangers to have a prima facie case to answer in respect of SPL rule breaches on player registration, the outcome of which will confirm that the club fielded ineligible players in upwards of 400 SPL matches. The only possible disciplinary outcome given such a sustained breach of SPL rules, corrupting the completion as it did from its inception in 1999 to 2011, is expulsion from the SPL.
As a consequence, the SFA, as the authority responsible for implementing FIFA’s Rules on the Registration of Players, will be required to act on these breaches of FIFA rules. Again, expulsion for what amounts to Championship fixing is inevitable.
Curiously, the SFL, this week asking its members to vote to admit the Sevco Rangers club into their top tier, has the same issue given that its League Cup competition featured dozens of ineligible Rangers players through the years, and further claims by Hugh Adam that its ‘Premier Division’ competition during the 1990s was similarly bent through the use of ‘off the books’ payments to players by Rangers.
The scale of it all is breathtaking, and were the rules of the Game to be applied, Rangers FC would be expelled from each Governing body in turn, before we even consider the extraordinary breaches of faith and duties by co-serving Directors.
But according to the SFL/SFA/SPL circular to clubs, “Rangers Terminated or Suspended’ will cause “Financial Meltdown”.
To avoid this meltdown, it is proposed by the Executives of the combined SFL/SFA/SPL that the rules of the Game are not applied to Rangers, and that the clubs effectively rewrite the rule book to permit what remains of the club to compete at the top of the SFL.
In effect, according to the Governing Bodies, the Rules of the Game CANNOT be applied to Rangers or the Game’s finances will ‘meltdown’.
The corollary question this raises is: For how long have the Governing bodies been so unable to apply the Rules of the Game to Rangers? Is this a new epiphany, or a longer standing recognition?
When Rangers submitted their allegedly ineligible application for a Club Licence in 2011, did the SFA recognise that Rangers failing to participate in Europe would cause the club to fail, as it subsequently did? Were the Rules ignored to avoid ‘financial meltdown’ then?
How far did the toxin spread?
Did this recognition extend back to the period following the disintegration of Murray International, hitherto Rangers’ source of continuing funding? Was the season of ‘Honest Mistakes’ some absurd, dutiful reaction to the recognition that should Rangers fail, Scottish Football would melt down?
Was the ineligible status of so many of Rangers’ first team players noticed prior to the SPL’s Inquiry commencing on 5th March? Was it noticed in an Audit as part of the SFA’s Club Licensing process some years ago? Was it noticed by the recent SFA Chief Executive Gordon Smith, who as an Agent had represented players on Rangers’ books through his Directorship of Prostar Management and other Agencies?
Beyond the duplicity of Ogilvie, McClelland and Bain, were Rangers’ irregular practices known to others at the SFA and SPL, others who chose not to address the matter, thus further contaminated the Governing Bodies with the Rangers toxin?
It is heartening that the Liquidators of Rangers plc will be instructed to examine all of the circumstances surrounding the failure of Rangers as a corporate entity. Equally, perhaps the detail contained in the Tax Tribunal judgement will reveal further connections, hitherto unknown.
What is likely to remain hidden from view though, is the full extent to which key influencers at the Governing Bodies were aware of Rangers’ conduct and circumstances, and how this affected their behaviour and their decision making in applying the rules of the Game to that club.
What we can say with certainty now though is that the people holding office at the Governing Bodies are unable or unwilling to apply the Rules of the Game to Rangers, despite the breaches being fundamentally and profoundly corrupt. The SFA and SPL, despite having outstanding disciplinary cases against Rangers that will, in all other circumstances see the club expelled from the Game, are intent to delete the cases provided the SFL clubs accept the Sevco Rangers into the SFL’s top division.
The Rules of the Game cannot be applied to Rangers.
When the rules cannot be applied, the Game itself is broken, and we can say now with some certainty that the Rangers toxin has spread beyond the club, its former employees and Directors of the Governing Bodies, and contaminated the very Game itself. The Office Bearers of the SFA, whose FIFA mandate requires them to “protect and foster the Game” in Scotland, and “protect it from abuses”, have contrived to do the contrary, to the point where the Game is stricken.
It is for this reason that a thorough clear out of the Office Bearers in the Governing Bodies is now a prerequisite to the Game recovering from the poison inflicted upon it by Rangers. The dissolution of the Governing Bodies is perhaps appropriate.
Clear your desk Gentlemen, the bus to ignominy departs shortly.
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Loved reading that again, although it made my angry…again.
Who was that masked man?
That was “The Battered Bunnet”
( for all you old timers who watched the Lone Ranger, actually not very appropriate, sorry)
Paul67
I sense you don’t want to see them in our stadium again?
Glad you’ve enjoyed our four lower tier games, and the condensed sense of ‘atmosphere’, but sorry can’t agree because of the empty mausoleum like attic up above, where I’m parked, since the stadium was rebuilt, it’s a permanent reminder the game here is dying.So is covering the empty green seats with “ A club like no other banners “
Are you not normally up there too?, in the Ghods where we idolised Larsson Moravcik, Sutton, Hartson et all.
No armageddon, no half closed stadiums, no lower tier only Celtic, this has sent out the wrong message to Celtic fans, and it became the norm for certain games. It’s an admission that the game in Scotland is broken, and Celtic are in damage limitation only mode.
Relaunch and remarket the match day experience, don’t indoctrinate the support into thinking they can’t be bothered.
Let’s present the club properly
They all want to come back and see Celtic
Hail Hail
It would be funny if they found themselves out of business again before the end of January. (Not that it will happen).
Actually having just written that, what would be even funnier is that Ashley gets full control and all the zombie fans thinks he’s going to bring in some ‘names’ in the January window but instead he gets rid of all their best/highest paid players as a cost cutting exercise.