Apologies for absence yesterday, the day got away from me. The blog would have said something like, “really pleased Celtic pushed back so vocally against the illiberal and ill-conceived Offensive Behaviour Act”, but with less brevity.
Shortly before Christmas we launched the campaign to fund the construction of a school kitchen in Malawi through Mary’s Meals to mark the 10th anniversary of Celtic Quick News. The project would cost £7000 and to get us there we scheduled a St Patrick’s Day dinner dance for next Friday, 14 March.
8 days out I am delighted to inform you the target money has been raised, Mary’s Meals already have £7000 in their bank, the project is officially funded and construction plans are underway.
That the money was raised ahead of the event was a surprise, although after 10 years of watching Celtic fans go about their business in this manner, it shouldn’t have been.
We received a remarkable donation from Patrick Foley’s Irish Bar & Restaurant in Gent, and Barney Vallely’s Irish Pub in Cologne, who between them raised €2600.
You don’t think of Gent and Cologne as being big ‘Celtic towns’. I’m sure they are not, but there enough Celtic fans in each city to form a proper community. Their work has been incredible and a real inspiration. Thank you to Patrick, Charlie and their patrons. Special thanks to Kolncelt, who orgainsed the entire effort, but has had to cancel his trip to Glasgow next week.
This gave us a problem, of course, The Show is going ahead next week, but the kitchen at the Kholoni Primary School is already paid for, what will be our focus next week. Here is a remind of what that £7000 is going to achieve:
Mary’s Meals feed 822,142 kids each day across some of the most impoverished areas of the world. The global average annual cost per child is £10.70, and is only £7 in Malawi, where the Kholoni Primary School is.
Kitchens are brick constructed and fully stocked with stoves, pots, serving utensils, mugs and cutlery. They also have a wall-mounted blackboard, so the room can be used as a classroom outside of meal times.
The charity started in 2002 when founder Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow met a mother dying of AIDS, and her child, whose only ambition was to have enough food to eat.
93% of money raised goes directly to the needy and, where possible, the 65,000 volunteers who keep the project running are drawn from parents and relatives of the children being fed.
The impact in Malawi, 17th poorest country by UN measures, is significant. Mary’s Meals provide a daily meal to 20% of the countries primary school aged children. The impact is more than just feeding the hungry, two years after a Mary’s Meals project in Malawi starts, school enrolment is up an average of 30%, leading to higher educational achievements, and a better chance in life.
I’m open to ideas on what to focus on next week but my instinct is to get back onto Mary’s Meals and ask where they next need a kitchen.
A couple of pairs of tickets have become available for Friday’s CQteN St Patrick’s Day at the Kerrydale Suite, Celtic Park. £50 per ticket, dinner, dancing, two acts, Irish dancers; it is shaping up to be quite an event. Email Tony if you want to be there, cqnbooks@gmail.com
We have a donations page for CQN Mary’s Meals’ projects, if you would like to help out, you can do so here.
Seville, The Celtic Movement, launches this month.
Order yours below:
[calameo code=0003901714cb03d5d5808 lang=en page=114 hidelinks=1 width=100% height=500]
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TD67
Who gets into Europe in that scenario depends on our quota if it is 4 club’s, 1 is the CL and 3 is the EL.
I’m not sure if failing the CL qualifying but qualifying for the EL affects the total under the quota.
What will not affect it is Sevco’s Scottish Cup performance. They will not be allowed a UEFA licence not having the necessary 3 years membership of the SFA that UEFA require under Article 12 of UEFA FFP rules.
Indeed given their current financial plight they might fail other rules, so if you are thinking a Sevco cup success means another club loses out it is nothing to be concerned about.
BRTH
Said a wee prayer for your Dad too!
Best wishes.
Would just like to express my ‘shock’ at DD’s stuff ?!?!
If we’re so brilliant – why is the stadium half-closed for a SC tie against the second best team in the country at present ?
Why are we on average – blowing £2 mill / £3 mill / £4 mill per summer window on players who will never make the grade at Celtic Park and, why are the scouts praised when they are such wasters ?
Why ala Paddy McCourt are players kept on the books – being a constant drain on resources – when they are obviously not gonnae be Celtic players?
Paddy McCourt was at CP for what ? 5 years ?
And yet he couldny get himself fit enougt to complete 90 mins in all of that time collecting what ? £1 mill / £1.5 mill in wages from the Celtic suport in that period ?
Bad – rank bad – management will be found on EVERY level of Celtic FC / PLC if you can manage to see your way through the assortment of smoke-screens in the way.
Btw, is it true that – the OHG – played in 11 cup finals for Celtic and, didn’t lose any ?
If true, surely that achievement is more deserving of a statue than there is for a wee Canadian guy who chased all the rebels and brought in shady DD to spin you all some yarns just in time for SB renewal time ?
Maybe DD need reminded that, the died huns will be playing in the SC this week while, the best run club in Britain will be sitting on the outside – looking in !
Just like the Celtic support who queued over-night to buy shares 20 years ago to build ‘their’stadium. And still, 20 years down the road…the Celtic support…are still on the outside, looking in !
What would you call a support like that ?
World Class ?
Best fans in the World ?
Faithful through and through ?
Turnstyle fodder ?
Mugs ?
Mugs – with bells on ?
Eejits ?
Eejits – with bells on ?
Why is it going to take another two years for safe standing areas to be approved and yet, the huns play in stadiums with standing areas every second week ?
If, you get taken-in by the PLC – don’t worry it happens.
If you get taken-in by the PLC year in, year out – your a dick !
The builders have just arrived so – see you all again in 2016 – the real centenary year.
All said an done, it WAS a sham.
Lawyers are often sceptical of media reports of court cases where the media express shock at the decision of a judge or jury. The view amongst the legal profession is that, without having seen and heard all of the evidence, and legal submissions in the case, one cannot offer a properly informed opinion. It is generally not especially constructive to comment upon a court case based only upon the limited reports of proceedings in the newspapers and on television.
However, every once in a while there comes a case where even lawyers will say “What the @#%* happened there??!!”
One such reached a verdict today, in the case against John Wilson, heard before a jury at Edinburgh Sheriff Court. Mr Wilson faced charges that, at a Hearts v Celtic match last season, he had assaulted Neil Lennon, the Celtic manager, and had caused a breach of the peace “by conducting himself in a disorderly manner, running onto the field during the match, running at the away team dug out, shouting, swearing, making a sectarian remark, all to the alarm and annoyance of others and causing further disturbance within the crowd” and that both offences were aggravated by religious prejudice.
The jury returned a verdict of guilty on the charge of breach of the peace, with the sectarian element removed, and not proven on the assault charge.
Bearing in mind that the incident had been seen by several thousand spectators at the ground, by hundreds of thousands on television, and by large numbers on the Internet, it seemed astonishing that Mr Wilson was contesting the charges at all!
That surprise however was overtaken by shock at the jury’s verdict. How could this happen?
The “perverse” jury is an age old phenomenon. John Liliburne was acquitted by a jury in 1649 on a charge of High Treason for his opposition to Oliver Cromwell, despite the clear direction of the court that he should be convicted. In Bushel’s Case in 1670 Edward Bushel had previously been a juror in the trail of the Quakers’ founder, William Penn. The jury had returned a verdict with which the judge had disagreed. The judge proceeded to “punish” the jurors, imprisoning and fining them. Bushel stood against this, and it was ruled that a jury could not be punished for the verdict it returned.
Even in recent years, such as in the case of Clive Ponting, who had admitted passing on “secrets” to Tam Dalyell, MP, juries have stood against what they consider to be oppressive behaviour by the State. Mr Ponting was effectively guilty of a “Strict liability” offence under the Official Secrets Act 1911. The judge at his trial in 1985 was minded to take the case out of the jury’s hands as no legal defence existed. However the prosecution, perhaps concerned by political implications of a conviction without the jury “rubber stamping” the verdict, insisted that the matter should be put to them. Despite directions that there was no defence, the jury acquitted Mr Ponting.
It might seem strange to cite these important cases in connection with that of Mr Wilson. This, at first, seems more akin to a recent case before a jury in a Scottish court where the accused faced two charges. The Sheriff directed that he could be convicted of either, or of none, but not of both. After long consideration, the jury returned to court to seek the Sheriff’s assistance. Could they convict the man on both charges, as that was what they were minded to do? The Sheriff repeated the direction that it was one conviction, or none. After a further short break, and as the clock ticked past 5.30pm, the jury returned. A “Not Proven” verdict was delivered on both charges! The legal process puts itself in peril if it prevents a Scottish jury getting its dinner on time!
Already the theories regarding Mr Wilson’s jury being packed with Hearts’ fans or Rangers’ fans are doing the rounds. But comments by David Nicolson, Mr Wilson’s excellent defence counsel, seem perhaps to make the mystery clearer. He is quoted as having said in court that his client had earlier been willing to plead guilty to breach of the peace and assault under deletion of making a sectarian remark and being aggravated by religious prejudice, but the Crown had not accepted his plea.
On that basis, as an acceptable plea could not be agreed, the case had to proceed to trial.
From the evidence reported, it seems that there was only one witness who spoke in support of the “sectarian remark” allegation. As a consequence it could be argued that there was never any prospect of a conviction on that basis, and the jury, it would appear, seemed to decide to “punish” the prosecution by not convicting the man for an assault he had effectively admitted!
Why would the prosecution have taken such a stance, with the consequences it appears to have had?
As has been made repeatedly clear by successive Scottish administrations, there are certain types of criminal offence which are of particular concern and which the police and prosecuting authorities focus on stamping out. Offences motivated by prejudice, such as those aggravated by racial or sectarian hatred, domestic violence, and knife crime are all areas where the decision has been taken that extra effort is required to reduce, or even end, these blights on our society.
As a result, prosecutors have been given ever more strict guidelines as to how to deal with cases where there is one of these elements alleged to play a part. This can mean that prosecutors no longer have discretion, on a local basis, to remove such a part of a charge, without clearance from Crown Office in Edinburgh.
The net effect, as we see here with Mr Wilson, is that cases go to trial which really ought not to, and verdicts are arrived at which, frankly, make the Scottish justice system look ridiculous. The jury’s decision vindicates that plea of not guilty tendered by Mr Wilson’s legal team.
To an extent, one can sympathise with the Crown Office who must feel that they are damned if they do, and damned if they don’t. Only last week they were criticised for not acknowledging a racial element in the killing of Mr Simon San.
However, it is clear amongst criminal defence lawyers that the approach taken by the Crown Office regarding these matters has resulted in verdicts which seem perverse, with victims having to give evidence in cases where they really ought not to have to, and to substantial additional costs in terms of court expense and Legal Aid. One of the vital elements of the Scottish criminal justice system has always been the discretion given to each local Procurator Fiscal, often deciding how to deal with cases “in the public interest” having taken account of local circumstances and conditions. A “one size fits all” approach is not the best here, I feel.
And also the insistence on the part of the Crown that the religious/sectarian aggravations stayed as part of the charges simply confirms what the late Sheriff John Fitzsimons discussed many years ago at a session for Dumbarton Faculty solicitors, where he was speaking about the difference between “racially aggravated offences” and “offences racially aggravated”. These “hate crime” aggravations have now been extended to other areas, as mentioned above, but the late Sheriff felt that these semantic distinctions, which were important as far as disposal of a case was concerned, were confusing enough for the Sheriffs, never mind the jurors who might be required to consider them in serious cases.
The chickens have come home to roost today and Mr Wilson has benefited, as far as his verdict goes anyway, from the apparent insistence of the Crown to have a sectarian element attached to his conviction, perhaps especially as this incident formed part of the shameful sequence of events surrounding football earlier this year which caused the SNP Ministers to promote the flawed Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill and had the First Minister referring to the “cancer” of sectarianism.
We now have a man who undoubtedly was guilty of an assault, aggravated by the circumstances in which it took place, cleared of that offence. This makes the campaign against the curse of sectarianism seem lacklustre.
Hopefully it will not provoke the Justice Secretary into deciding that the Bill referred to above should be revised to make it easier to gain such convictions.
Instead it would be better if the level of Procurator Fiscal independence, within the Crown Office framework as was the case of old, could be restored.
If not, I suspect we will see continuing cases where apparently ridiculous verdicts are returned, and whilst this is a good thing for newspapers and bloggers with space to fill, it undermines and demeans the whole justice system.
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One for the gowfers
http://vine.co/v/hbF9B6TgqaD ””
This article is from the law site, I blagged it.
Livibhoy. Something that is not broadcasted by Paul shhhh is that Gordon spent more than Mon
It was the start of the new policy to buy cheap which failed and failed as he had to keep on buying and buying
Mon bought about 5 or 6 big players in his first few years that kept playing and playing He left Gordon with players who 9 out of 11 were inherited tday won Gordon’s first title
Gordon left tony Mowbray with a goalie Spend spend spend on dross 2million players Pukki derk and Balde are continuous on of that policy. 7m!!!! On players who will never last 2 seasons
Minx-for your intention,JFH for your Mary,BRTH for your dad
a simple prayer offered.
Peace.
Ffm
Aye, but what ones?
Just reading back
Minx BRTH
Prayers said for your intentions guys
HH
No problem cobber, just follow me.lol
http://www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/General-Discussion/Chat/Faark-you-Jack-Im-alright/
Seems there’s a plague of “spoof” posters.
And none of them seem able to grasp that there are multiple points of view kicking around here every day.
It would make life easier for such people if we all pigeon-holed ourselves I expect.
Great to see their worthwhile contribution to debate – or is that lack of ability what the problem is? :))
FFM – I’m the only conspiracy theorist in the village)
Take your point on board about the funds splashed out this season. We have still spent less than we got for Victor.
I assume you also think it was shocking that the board dropped the season ticket prices by £100? We could have grouped that money up and gave it to Hooper or Victor to stay? Right? Wrong. Hooper, Victor and Joe Ledley had ample time to sign a new contract. They didn’t want to. The club they join is of little relevance. They go for the money. They hope that playing against the big clubs in England will do enough to get signed up by one of them and make seriously big money.
I don’t think I have bought into the myth at all that we have to make money. You are talking about risking sums that are 10 times what we can hope to make by winning the league title. CL group stages are not guaranteed. Do you want to risk putting the club in debt to maybe get one more round in Europe? Is it really worth it? We need to be prudent and hopefully over the years start to bring our own youngsters through.
I don’t want to get into the issue regarding the police. I have not been much in recent years and it’s not for me to say but I believe the clubs hands are tied with the presence of police in the ground.
I am forced to defend the board regularly. Why? I like to think it is because I am a Celtic supporter. Did you back the rest of the boards who have been in power at Celtic park? The board are not there to be popular. I don’t remember anyone having a poster up with the glorious board on it at anytime. This hero worshippping of boards and owners started with David Murray. It was never important before then. I would guarantee that most average fans couldn’t even name their board. It is an obsession in Scotland.
The media stir it up and we dive right in there. The board are not there to be popular. They are there to look after the best interests of the club. You don;t have to agree with the board. They are there to make the decisions from a business perspective. I know we don;t really wnat to talk about clubs in those terms but that is the reality. Look at the Man Utd fans who took a stance of walking away from their club and creating FC United of Manchester. Very noble indeed but they are going pretty much nowhere. Big business is a reality in football. Our board are not caught up in the excesses of it though. They go out to ensure the club is secure and that the team on the pitch can compete. We may not dominate but we do compete. Incidentally when we had Victor, Ledley & Hooper in the squad how many trebles did we win? The players don’t half get no flak while the board cop it! If nothing else the players get an easier ride while the board get panned by the support.
I respect your comments on this but I doubt we are going to agree.
LB
Auldbuddha
‘Trust is a two way tango. Toes may get trod on occasionally but to stop trusting is to stop dancing.’
What happens if lights go up and there is a fat burd standing on your feet?
SydneyTim
WGS was left with not very much when he arrived at the club. He bought well and sold well. He had to spend money. Gordon delivered titles cups and CL.
Both Gordon and MON were excellent Celtic managers in different ways. Gordon did not inherit the quality of players that MON did tho.
LB
new article posted.
No talking Irish taxi guy done.
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/mobile/news/taxi-driver-in-irish-rant-must-learn-manners-154737n.23614274
About the not proven verdict
The not proven option for a jury made an ass of the law in Wilsons case
If it was straight bat between guilty or innocent the jury would have had a bigger decision to make
Because an innocent verdict in this case would have made an ass of the jury
There is a guy I know of who is up on a breach of the peace rap because of a dispute with his neighbours over them using his driveway to reverse his car without permission (no trespass law in Scotland)
The guy in question challenged his neighbour and told him to politely gtf off his driveway. The neighbours wife who suddenly morphed bat ears and was now able to hear a pin drop from 50mts corroborated his neighbours statement to the cops
The charge is caused reasonable fear and alarm etc the one every fitba fan knows about
Now in this case not proven would be a reasonably fair judgement because the truth is somewhere between the accused and his neighbours version of events
FFM
How long did we have the players we sold before we sold them and did they want to stay?
That last bit is crucial because it matters not what you think of Norwich or Southampton compared to Celtic, what matters is what players think and if they wanted to go and they did, what do you do?
I think that if possible the sell on should be limited to one big deal. Foster is likely to be that player and how long has he been at Celtic?
Players dictate their future not the club’s and in any case we did qualify for the CL so I’m not sure of the point you are making.
Selling one player for big money is insurance against not qualifying for the CL. If we hold on to one’ fail to qualify and he then goes under freedom of contract we have a big hole in the budget to fill so I understand the necessity.
The problem last year was losing 2 players we had developed over 2 seasons to reach CL standard but not being able to replace like for like because like was also heading for richer leagues.
This is an inevitable consequence of develop and sell model, check Ajax European yo yo record to see what happens to clubs with that same develop and sell policy in terms of qualifying for Europe.
From what I have seen we will face this season’s qualifying stages with a more settled line up than we did last, injuries not withstanding but the following year might have to face losing players who like Hooper and Yanwama will by then have proved themselves at CL level.
It is cyclical but the consolation we have over Ajax though is in a less competitive league we are almost guaranteed a shot at CL qualifying for the next 3 years at least.
Phew
Tablet died right after I hit send.
Check Ajax for a develop and sell comparator to see dynamics at play.
Party Royal 14:55 Wolverhampton
Chepstow 320 Going Concern
Good luck everyone
HITCHENS 440 Wol for me.
Not the best day of racing,but plenty to come shortly!
Lads, naps here for Saturday 8th March…
Can you hear the rooooooooooooooaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrr ?
Cheltenham, 3 days and counting…
fleagle1888
CQN Saturday Naps Competition : Week 28/Feb 22nd & Week 29/1st March results & standings
Week 28 : PF Ayr (Wyck Hill @9/1), unionbearbhind (Grandeur @4/5)
Week 29 : Outstanding from tommytwiststommyturns & unionbearBhind (Night in Milan @14/1).
Other winners : green T (Rocking Blues @7/1), PF Ayr (Summary Justice @9/2), Som mes que un club (Shangani @3/1)
+£20.00 Rockon Neil Lennon (8)
+£10.98 PF Ayr (9)
+£ 8.50 valentinesday (7)
+£ 4.88 Som mes que un club (5)
+£ 3.00 tommytwiststommyturns (2)
+£ 0.00 leftclicktic (5)
-£ 1.50 Cathal (4)
-£ 3.63 BMCUWP (6)
-£ 4.63 green T (5)
-£ 5.00 BULL67 (4)
-£ 6.00 Bada Bing (3)
-£ 8.00 El Madrigal (3)
-£ 8.70 unionbearBhind (3)
-£10.13 bonbhoy (4)
-£10.50 fleagle1888 (3)
-£10.75 16 roads (3)
-£11.50 What is the Stars (2)
-£15.50 twists n turns (2)
-£16.75 Kilbowie Kelt (3)
-£19.25 Che (2)
-£21.20 Sponsored by Cheetah (2)
-£21.75 MHARK67 (2)
-£23.94 Burgas Hoops (2)
-£24.80 voguepunter (1)
*No selections (wk 28) : bonbhoy, Burgas Hoops, Che, fleagle1888
*No selections (wk 29) : bonbhoy, Che
*Non-Runners :
Cheers, fleagle1888
Lads, will also do a special Cheltenham naps if anyone is interested…
Cathal was last year’s winner !
Cheers, fleagle1888
Lads, my pre-Cheltenham nap is :
Vibrato Valtat (Sandown 15:15)
Good luck to everyone…
fleagle1888
FORWARD FLIGHT …16-50 Ayr ….
I’ll try little Jon in 3 15 Sandown race.
Good morning
Hitchens 16:40 Wolverhampton
Stable won this last year with Tarooq, Hitchens ran behind Tarooq last time out at Lingfeild £26k listed race in a near course record 1min 8 sec, so the fact they have chosen Hitchens and brought a 7lbs claimer only ride of day over from Ireland seems a good sign.
forgot too add Current Owners: Mr Laurence O’kane & Mr Paul Murphy
Baltimore Rock 3:15 Sandown…..fleagle, count me in for Chelters
comp.
Fleagle, can i join in for the cheltenham comp? HH
oops! stable mate Tarooq did win race last year, but S C Williams was the trainer at time, also Tarooq broke lingfield course record time before in its last race, and last time out was second fastest for course.
Gaillimh A Chroi 3:50 Sandown
A big price chance for today for me…
Loyalty (Currently 22/1).
1455 Wolves.
Fleagle.
Count me in for Cheltenham.
I’m in for Cheltenham!
Kasbadali 2.40 Sandown – good luck everyone.