An article on STV this week brought an old memory to mind. Days before Rangers’ goalkeeper, Chris Woods, was set to break a Scottish shut-out record across all competitions he gave a media interview when he said, “I just hope when we do lose a goal it is not an important one”.
Woods duly broke the record in a Scottish Cup tie against Hamilton Accies but that game, 27 years ago last week, is not remembered for the achievements of Chris Woods, it’s remembered for the fact that Accies left back, Adrian Sproat, found himself in nosebleed territory as he thrashed the only goal of the game into the net. Records count for nothing when you’re knocked out of the cup.
Fraser Forster has demonstrated remarkable concentration in recent games, when he has been called upon to make incredible saves after long periods of inactivity, but there are only so many times he’ll be able to pull off ‘save of the season’ acrobatics. We need to protect him and close down space well away from the Celtic goal.
These records may matter little if they are recalled through an embarrassing defeat but, just consider how often and fondly we refer to the 25 league game winning run in season 2003-04. History is always worth making.
Many thanks for everyone who for getting your seats confirmed for our CQteN St Patrick’s Day Dinner at the Kerrydale Suite on 14 March. As we stand there are a few non-confirmed but from tomorrow we’ll be able to allocate seats to the waiting list. Will let you know if we have space available soon.
The dinner is to raise funds to build a kitchen for Mary’s Meals at the Kholoni Primary School in Mchinji, Malawi, which has 1200 students and no catering facilities. Children often are faced with the choice of working to eat of going to school. With a kitchen in place this dependency will flip, those who go to school and get an education, will also get a meal – often their only reliable meal of the day.
Marys’ Meals perform minor miracles, feeding each child in Malawi for £7 per annum, while employing locals to work in the kitchens (which will be used as a classroom outside of meal times). It will be a remarkable legacy to mark the first 10 years we’ve had out of CQN.
Two new badges will launch at the CQteN dinner to record the decade and raise funds for the Malawi kitchen. The designs have now been approved (see here) and they are about to go into production. If you would like to register interest, email Celticrollercoaster on cqnbadges@gmail.com
If you would like to read the new CQN Magazine, GO HERE to read properly, and for FREE, the graphic below is just a taster.
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Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan supports Oscar Knox, MacKenzie Furniss and anyone else who fights Neuroblastoma
21:07 on
6 February, 2014
At the risk of ostracising myself from damn near everyone on this blog, can I explain why I cannot share in the unbridled joy of all things “Fergus”?
There is no doubt that in a truly dark hour Fergus McCann stepped up to the plate and saved Celtic football club from an ignominious fate at the hands of those who would have harmed our club.
As some others have pointed out, he did so with the help of others such as John Keane.
Others take umbrage at Fergus because he perhaps did not support Tommy Burns as much as he might, and others still because he interefered and effectively derailed the signing of David Ginola.
Some may criticise the appointment of certain managers or the inability to retain a successful managerial partnership after winning the league.
Yet others may complain that he made a profit and then walked away.
I raise none of those complaints, yet I believe that in the long term the tenure of Fergus McCann may be just the worst thing that happened to Celtic Football Club.
I was never a fan of the old board, or of the families who for the better part of a century ran Celtic for their own financial benefit. Sad to say, whilst I recognise the charitable ethos of Walfrid and of many founding fathers of the club, it was always the supporters that carried through that ethos—- not the club itself— and Walfrid and many of the original committee men walked away from the club having seen the original idea hijacked for personal gain and the emphasis changed from a club which would raise money for charitable purposes to a club which would be professional and successful with little or no emphasis on charity bar lip service.
However, Celtic always retained that magic– that aura of being a club of the people and for the people– even although it was a private concern. At least the people whop owned it were fans and on occasion showed that they were of the same mindset as the support.
Sweep forward to the share launch by Fergus where he stated that he was going to ensure that Celtic were always going to be owned by the fans.
Firstly, I will admit that I bought absolutely zero shares– simply because I dream of Celtic and i’m afraid my dreams were not Fergus’ to sell. I will always be of Celtic and I don’t need a share certificate to tell me that— a share certificate that I would have to pay for.
Secondly, I am sorry but I could not agree with the PLC route because as soon as you go down that route you lose control of just who the ultimate owner will be. There are caveats in place for that first share issue, but there was never anything in place to prevent any further share issue or the dilution of the original shares.
Accordingly, in my humble opinion, Fergus’ promises of perpetual fan ownership were worthless and could not be guaranteed.
Today we sit with a situation whereby relatively few people control the vast majority of the shares in Celtic PLC.
Should we ever ” get out of this place” then the temptation for those people to sell and make a killing will be huge. DD is a capitalist — that is how he gained his vast fortune. he may be “our” Capitalist at this moment– but what happens if he dies, gets hit by a truck, or suffers a Heart attack — his shares will be sold– just the same as everyone’s shares may be sold—- and you or I are powerless to determine who the buyer will be.
Sooner or later, the shareholding of our club will be available for sale — and just who will buy is anyone’s guess. But bear in mind we have healthy books that will be an attraction to the city investor types — who may or may not have any interest in the soul and spirit of Celtic Football Club.
All of this could have been avoided had Fergus chosen to raise his money another way prior to his walking away.
Money will always talk, but when I see people arguing about the actions of the board I have to ask why oh why we have a board at all.
Fergus McCann should rightly be celebrated by our club, but he may just have been the architect and engineer of unmitigated disaster in the future.
I am sorry if this reads as a damp squib but the reality is that the vast majority of the support are absolute hostages to fortune — and it was Fergus who put us here.
—————————————————————–
BRTH –
Just to be clear, your main issue with Fergus is that he took us down the PLC route and the reason that is an issue is that there is always a risk that Celtic fans will have little ownership or control of the club?
A wee song for the Orcs……
The Clash – Armagideon Time [Single] – YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAM7dnEcptg
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748704584504575615851441465896
I think a lot of the Stornoway black pudding lovers would find a friend in botifarra it’s catalan cousin -see above.
As for a wine match I would favour an Amarone with boudin noir to wrestle the body and temper the spice but I’d drink Amarone with sports mixtures.
Billy bhoy 05
That ain’t a big politico post is it?
Thought you’d took moonbeams advice yesterday.
http://www.thefootballlife.co.uk/post/75832447524/why-wont-fans-buy-rangers
On fan ownership and why the Sevconians are no longer capable of telling the difference between a false dawn and a real one.
ross kemp extreme worlds
gets a lot of parody
but following the orange bands last year
jeese oh, you couldny make it up
Kelvinbhoy
22:41 on
6 February, 2014
natknow – supporting wee oscar
22:07 on 6 February, 2014
Was thinking same myself mate. Entirely stage managed by Irvine’s puppets. Simple arithmetic not only lost on The Rangers but obviously the journos in attendance.
————————————————-
Arithmetic is not their strong point is it?!
Big-Cup Winners
Cracking photo, and well said
HH
NatKnow
I love drinking a good red with a curry, many don’t and prefer beer, imo, nothing better than a good red with a good hot curry, I also like sausages and marmalade, try it, it’s wonderful.
Our local butcher makes a mean black, no as good as the one from hebcelt mind you, close tho.and the white here is boak inducing >}
HH
Steinreignedsupreme
22:43 on
6 February, 2014
NatKnow – Supporting Wee Oscar 22:23 on 6 February, 2014
I heard the Michael Stewart stuff on the radio a couple of weeks back.
Stewart is obviously not intimidated by Sleekit in any way, and he made it clear in his comments that he was never going to be either.
Sleekit simply can’t handle any criticism at all. He is accustomed to laughing hyenas kissing his fat arse, and takes the huff when someone exposes his obvious shortcomings.
I thought it was groovy when Stewart said of Sevco: “You can tell the players are not coached by the way they play.”
———————————————————
Well put. I’d like to hear more from Michael Stewart. Much more!
TET
can you get a deep fried pizza supper over there?
big-cup-winners
22:48 on 6 February, 2014
Can I have Raspberries:
Ok 9:15 it is.
Some CQNer, would say man but not sure in who is what or doing to who or voting for whatever on the blog lately,
ryecatcher
22:47 on 6 February, 2014
More relevant Clash lyrics.
Wrong Em’ Boyo.
Stagger Lee met Billy and they go down to gambling
Stagger Lee throwed seven
Billy said that he throwed eight
So Billy said, hey Stagger! I’m gonna make my big attack
I’m gonna have to leave my knife in your back
Why do you try to cheat?
And trample people under your feet
Don’t you know it is wrong?
To cheat the trying man
So you better stop, it is the wrong ’em boyo
You lie, steal, cheat and deceit
In such a small, small game
Don’t you know it is wrong
Billy Boy has been shot
And Stagger Lee’s come out on top
Don’t you know it is wrong
To cheat the trying man
To cheat Stagger man
You’d better stop
So you must start all over again-all over again
You got to play it, Billy, play, you got to play it, Billy, play
And you will find it is the right ’em boyo
But if you must lie and deceit
And trample people under your feet
Don’t you know it is wrong
It is the wrong ’em boyo
Just on, so haven’t read back yet…….however, I don’t know why the Police are bothering with an investigation into the bigoted, hate-fuelled attack on our Manager……the last time they apprehended, charged and sent a guilty perpetrator of the same sectarian type of offence (who pled guilty), he was found not guilty……..why bother, eh …….. disgusting…
…..and why do pundits / journalists still say they don’t know why this is happening to NEIL …? they know it’s because he is the Celtic Manager, and an Irish Catholic …… How sad are these peepul….
Yet another brilliant blog from James Forrest…..
In 2008, I wrote an article for E-Tims called The End Of Rangers? It was one of the first pieces I ever published online, and is more wordy than even my longest piece on this site, spectulative in parts, and in others curiously prescient.
Note the difference between the title of that one, and the title of this one.
Last time I was asking a question. This time I am not. You get the point of this piece already, right?
In that article, I floated the possibility that the banking crisis, combined with the spectacular losses of the Murray International empire, could bring down Rangers Football Club.
I was asking two questions. First, was it possible? Second, what should Celtic do if it came to pass?
In that article, I borrowed a phrase from Ray Kroc, a guy who bought a fledgling hamburger restaurant business from two brothers in Monrovia, California, and turned it into a global empire. The McDonald brothers were the founders of the chain, but McDonalds was built by the former milkshake salesman who took it off their hands for $2.7 million.
He had something of a ruthless business mentality, and the phrase I borrowed was a reference he made once to his competitors.
“If they were drowning to death,” he said, “I’d put a hose in their mouth.”
I thought that was nice, and I thought it was apt. Furthermore, I thought I saw signs at Celtic Park that not only were we willing to stick the hose in their mouths but that there were people at our club who couldn’t wait to turn the tap on.
When Celtic were in financial trouble in the mid 90’s, nobody was interested in saving us. A national newspaper sent a hearse to our door, and ran a lovely photo of it on the back page. There was no talk of financial Armageddon hitting the game.
We, the club who brought the greatest glory to this country that it will ever see, were an afterthought as the people who covered our national sport salivated over the succulent lamb on the menu across town.
I suggested that Murray would have drowned us just to watch us die, that he would never have considered the future of Scottish football in doing so, that it would have been the furthest thing from his mind, as it was in every year he was at Ibrox. In that time, Murray held Rangers’ financial superiority over us, brandished it like a weapon, forcing us to choke on it over and over again. Even then we suspected it was all built on credit but that didn’t make it easier to take. The End of Rangers? was my examination of whether or not those days were done, and I thought the evidence was overwhelming; they were.
I didn’t get everything in that piece right. Rangers, not Celtic, took the title that year for a start … and yet in a curous way even that tied into the theme, as it was one of the catalysts for what came sometime down the road.
A year after I wrote it, one of the predictions I made in the piece came to pass and we found out that Lloyds were not as “understanding” of Murray’s creative funding of the club as had been the Bank of Scotland, and the brakes were applied, although not as firmly as they might have been.
Apologists in the media still squeal like pigs when it is mentioned, with the bank being turned into the bad guys for having the sheer nerve to insist that debts were paid in full, and that the club could no longer conduct its affairs like a street-hustler, shuffling a pea between blue plastic cups. Yet, for all that wailing, the bite was not as severe as it might have been. Certainly, the myth of “Walter having to work with a reduced budget” is grounded in reality only if you compare what he worked with to what others before him had, on someone else’s money.
When Lloyds best efforts to make sure the club was fortified for the Big Tax Case, and any other financial storms which came along, were thwarted when the club splashed out on a raft of players including Steven Davis and others, when the following season they spent even more money on Jelavic, there was notable consternation at Lloyds.
When Murray was looking for a buyer, the bank made it clear that they wanted paid – in full – before green lighting a sale.
Lloyds is still Public Enemy Number One in the eyes of many Rangers fans, and I have heard Chick Young and others in the media berate them with an anger which is scarcely believable. Lloyds did nothing more than perform for their shareholders. They delivered a full return, which in light of what happened next makes them the smartest kids in the classroom.
We all know what happened next, and what has happened since. Rangers was sold to Whyte for one pound. Not a soul in our intrepid sporting press stopped to ask what kind of deal that was, instead choosing to build Whyte up as the billionaire who was going to return the Grand Old Days of Yore. When Whyte’s tenure ended in wholly predictable disaster (many of us were screaming it from the rooftops from the start) and Green waltzed out of the mists and took control the same media was right behind him, and when he sussed that he could play to the gallery and the Rangers’ fans money would follow like night after day it was only ever going to end badly for their fans.
They had both deployed heavy duty PR campaigns, but Whyte’s background was all out there for anyone who wanted to look, and before long the Celtic sites were awash with all the information anyone who wanted to make an informed choice needed. His Glasgow offices were found to be locked rooms filled with dust gathering empty file cabinets. His headquarters was a portacabin in a field of cows.
His history was littered with the debris of collapsed businesses.
Green made even less a secret of what he was about, talking about his “big Yorkshire hands” and how they were made for grabbing money. His own history included as many failed businesses as Whyte’s, and he even had a football club’s fans wanting his head on a plate for good measure before he arrived in Govan. Yet, all he had to do was accuse the SFA and other clubs of having pursued a sectarian agenda against the club, tour the orange halls and mouth the old war slogans and the man was welcomed with open arms by fans who’s eyes should have been wide open.
This is how the newco has come to this shattering pass, where, after years, I can remove the question mark from the name of this article.
Many people on both sides of the fence have asked me if I really do believe Rangers Football Club died in 2012. I can say yes with no dubiety. I am not stating an opinion, I am stating a fact. But I tell those same people that, to me, it doesn’t matter at all whether the club lives or died, whether the history continues or not. If the fans believe in it, that’s all that’s required, and it seems to me that they do. Strip away the legal arguments, the debates over form, and what you have left is the notion that a football club is an idea. Airdrie fans make no distinction, even though their club does not carry the history of the one which came before it, because it’s the spirit, the idea, that remains.
An entire generation of Rangers fans has grown up in the shadow of Murray, knowing nothing but the riches he bestowed. When that era ended – as it effectively did in 2008, with the transfer of their historical bank debt from HBOS to Lloyds, shortly after I penned my speculative, questioning piece – the jolt that should have come with that never came. The club acted as it always had, going on one last great splurge before Whyte arrived.
They were lulled into believing his purchase would usher in another period of living high and fast, of multi-million pound signings, of transfer war-chests.
The bafflement that none of this came to pass, the shock of administration and the shame and ignominy that accompanied their failure to get a CVA and the certain of death was forestalled by the efforts of some in our game to secure them a soft landing. Their fans were told that the First Death was nothing but a brief hiatus, that it would soon be “business as usual.”
Not even the NewCo having to start life in the lowest tier in the game brought home to them the reality of life as they should have been getting used to it. Instead, they were spoon-fed stories about how they would climb the leagues, building their financial strength, to reach a top division crippled by debts accrued in their absence, a game on its knees where all, including Celtic, would have all but collapsed without them. There, they would be the only genuine power.
It was nonsense, obvious nonsense, but they believed every word, and they were encouraged to keep on believing as McCoist accumulated players at a rate which should have been scaring the Hell out of everyone at Ibrox. Yes, these players were not the high profile big money signings of days gone by, but that was explained away as the club plying its trade in the lower leagues. The club was behaving just as it always had, albeit on a smaller scale.
And, of course, the big money signings would be along in no time at all. The club would climb back to the top, more investors would pour money in and before long the good times would be rolling all over again. Fantasy. All of it.
The reality of where they are, what they are, how things have changed, is yet to hit home.
Before this season ends, reality is going to hit like a sledgehammer.
Rangers, to all intents and purposes, is now dead.
If, as I’ve said, a football club is nothing but an idea, the supporters idea of what their club is will soon be forced to undergo a staggering, profound and fundamental transformation.
The behemoth that David Murray once called “Scotland’s biggest institution after the church” has been obliterated. All that’s left is a name, and a badge and the memories of what once made them great. The history may or may not go with those things, but it barely matters now. The future will in no way resemble the recent past.
Dept of nicknames for Glesga Workers.
Two soups – Real name Campbell Baxter
The parachute – Lets everyone down at the last minute
Cashline / An inexperienced young lass that is open 24 hours a day
Vaseline – Real name is Willie Burns
Brewers Droop – Real name is Willie Falls
The Gas Man – He’s serviced loads of old boilers
The Woodpecker – He’s always tapping
Mussolini – Woman in Glasgow office who has loose morals. ( The great Dicktaker )
High Noon – Every Friday morning when he goes into work he says, ‘I’m shooting at twelve today
Continued……..
The behemoth that David Murray once called “Scotland’s biggest institution after the church” has been obliterated. All that’s left is a name, and a badge and the memories of what once made them great. The history may or may not go with those things, but it barely matters now. The future will in no way resemble the recent past.
A new era is about to begin at Ibrox, like none their fans has ever seen before. The rest of the country knows it as austerity. Loosely translated, it’s a strict diet of pain.
It can no longer be avoided. Only delayed.
And not for very much longer, at that.
THE EXILED TIM
22:52 on
6 February, 2014
NatKnow
I love drinking a good red with a curry, many don’t and prefer beer, imo, nothing better than a good red with a good hot curry, I also like sausages and marmalade, try it, it’s wonderful.
Our local butcher makes a mean black, no as good as the one from hebcelt mind you, close tho.and the white here is boak inducing >}
HH
———————————————-
Yeah – beer seems to be the drink of choice for many when having a curry, but it’s to fizzy and too filling for me. If I have a beer with curry I’m unable to eat any more than a few mouthfuls. I go for red wine myself.
Now. I have not tried sausages with marmalade. I usually take mustard with mine. Know what I’ll be trying for brekkie at the weekend now though… I’ll let you know how I get on!
This is brilliant.
m.imgur.com/F22yhAt
From Palacio67 on FB
http://m.imgur.com/F22yhAt
ryecatcher –
Can ye no jist gie us a link to James’s blog?!
Fingers sore from all the scrolling here!!
Thanks for all the comments ghuys,I ,ll have a ball trying the various the recommendations. Ernie thanks for reminding me about Bulls Blood, have,nt tried it for years,on my must buy list now. hail Hail Hebcelt
S.F.T.B.
Fergus is not a Legend but he was a necessary “evil”. He was our tight-fisted Capitalist bassa. He kept us alive and for that we thank him.
——————————————————————————————————–
Evil? Someone who kills you.
Legend? Someone who keeps you alive.
Capitalist? Celtic F.C.and their supporters.
Delusional……………………..?
:-)
southside
22:59 on
6 February, 2014
That’s a good cover by The Clash. Think the original was by The Rulers :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNp9ymVrugQ
Ryecatcher
… you can run, but you can’t hide …. tick tock
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeper_agent
Macjay
“Evil? Someone who kills you.”
Naw “evil”
You have to read the quotation marks too.
Doc
Heh! Heh!
BCW
I have never seen a chippie here apart from on the costas, so I doubt it >}
HH
setting free the bears supports Res. 12 & Oscar Knox
23:10 on
6 February, 2014
They were taken as read. :-)
macjay
I thought you were querying whether I was delusional
Might make you boak !!!
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=dcub1w&s=8#.UvQXuWJdVvg
The Bunnet unfurls the flag with backing by the Wolfe Tones ; What’s not to like?
Not wanting to rock any boats ,but I think it is a disgrace that there are tickets still available for Saturdays game.What have we become?.The Dons allocation sold out,yet we struggle to fill around 30,000 odd thousand seats!!!!.In a time of hardship and unemployment,diminishing crowds,instead of trying to bring more people through the gates,we are stopping them getting in.To all those fans who brandished attendances for Xmas periods throughout the years,when the park was half empty,what is your excuse now?.Xmas shopping is long gone.
We have a cup tie against the second strongest team in the league,and we struggle to sell tickets!!!.
Its about time the board looked around them and wondered why the top half of the stadium is closed,and why the bottom tiers are not full.They can only keep their head in the sand attitude going for so long.The Policing,the Stewarding,the ridiculous ban on innocent fans ,is driving many fans away,yet they still adopt the “Bunker”mentality.It is not going to get better.What will it take?..20,000 season tickets sold next year?.We should be riding the crest of a wave,but we are wallowing beneath them.A disgrace.What with the shennanigans of last week with Lenny,the importance of the game,I find it hard to believe we cannot fill the WHOLE stadium.This board needs to lift their heads up and see what is going on around them.We have done well in the transfer market but this ongoing war with the fans is nonsense.Tony Donnelly will disagree,but even he cannot fill every empty seat.
BRTH @21:07
You have explained where you are coming from very well but It has to be said that thanks to Fergus’s expertise, action and drive to see the job through ensured that we actually have a Celtic to support today. Absolutely no one came forward articulating ideas such as your in 1994 when the decisive action had to be taken.
You said,
“All of this could have been avoided had Fergus chosen to raise his money another way prior to his walking away.”
I am disappointed that you have not outlined any alternative ways that could have been introduced in 1994.
You also said,
“Fergus McCann should rightly be celebrated by our club, but he may just have been the architect and engineer of unmitigated disaster in the future.”
In 1994, absolutely no one worried about these issues that you outlined. We were all glad that the sinking ship that was Celtic FC was saved and 20 years later we appear to be in rude health compared to the behemoth that was plundering all before it in 1994 just across the river. We are very lucky to be alive and playing football in Scotland and in Europe instead of being dead and just a fond memory. What a luxury it is for us even to consider problems of being taken over by super rich businesses or businessmen in the future. We will no doubt rend our garments with angst if and when this ever happens. It certainly doesn’t look likely to me that we will lose any sleep over it any time soon.
Finally, “I am sorry if this reads as a damp squib but the reality is that the vast majority of the support are absolute hostages to fortune — and it was Fergus who put us here.”
What exactly where you hoping for? Some sort of Utopian football club that had the answer to all ills? Come off it. Fergus saved Celtic from obliteration. He is the founder of the modern Celtic.
Johnniem
If Ryecatcher is a Bluenose he disnae spend much time at all follow-following. He’s on CQN 24/7.
Dooby dooby doo
Doo dooby dooby
Turkeybhoy
I know it is a harder fixture but our attendance at the equivalent SC fixture last year was 7,144