I got my haircut today. Sitting, waiting in line, usual habits were cast aside and I picked up a newspaper; what an alarming read. Neil Lennon was quoted as saying, “I’m not big on tactics. It’s about the players and they have to go out onto the pitch and apply that.”
I couldn’t disagree more. It’s all about the tactics. Players need to be sufficiently fit, fast and fearless but all the talent in the world can be ripped asunder if it’s not tactically well organised. I had been watching Celtic tactics closely for 20 years before Martin O’Neill arrived. Back in 2000, watching Celtic was like going to school. My eyes were opened to how a defence is organised, how to stage an attack that fits your strikers and how to buy with a playing strategy in mind.
We had seen plenty great players since our last great team: McStay, McClair, McGrain, McAvennie, Burns, Nicholas. We’d seen courage and directness: the Bear, MacLeod and Provan, and cameos from Moravcik and Larsson, but we were forever found out, a plucky team who would flatter to deceive. Celtic would regularly dominate Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen – who understood too well the importance of tactics – and lose 1-0, and we went 30 years without beating a team from a major European league.
Martin O’Neill clearly demonstrated that successful football teams are all about tactics, not the players, nor courage, not even an aggregate ocean of skill.
>90% of football games are won and lost before kick-off.
As for the on-going orgy that is dominating front pages (good grief). Get used to it. As I’ve said many times, positions are absolutely entrenched when it comes to the songs debate. Neil Lennon and Ian Bankier are in for a disappointment if they think they, or any of the rest of us, can “self-police” those who object to being inhibited from singing about the IRA. I’ve encouraged this so often I’m not going to waste my your time with it anymore.
Celtic are set for an extended period when its reputation will suffer, there is no avoiding this. Unfortunately, not everyone listens. My great sympathies go to the £X per hour Celtic stewards who have to put themselves in the front line of this confrontation.
If I can offer any advice on a related subject… Songs and banners affect individuals, who will often be selected randomly for exclusion. Lateral movement in the stands, which happened last weekend, will get an entire section of the stadium closed by Health & Safety. If this creeps back into Celtic Park there is a real risk of council action. I’m pretty sure Michael Davitt didn’t place the sod on Celtic Park before bouncing left to right and back again. It’s not a key part of our heritage, don’t pick fights you’re going to lose.
CQN Magazine, issue 5, will be out soon. After 4 issues online and shipping single copies from Magcloud in the US, we’ve ordered a print run locally. You can order now with credit/debit card or Paypal and buy direct from the UK for only £5 by clicking on the link below.
1,194 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29
- »
up_over_goal says:
18 December, 2011 at 10:45
Ha ha!
Look forward to your post match analysis- always a good read- don’t always agree mind you!
Palacio67 says:
18 December, 2011 at 10:3
Wise me up what does JCGE stand for
Barca 2-0
Awesome stuff.
FF for me. Cmon the hoopsbury them
Tim Jim
JCGE
Just Can’t Get Enough
Watching Barca v Santos on the web. Great football.
I am married to Celtic for life, for better or worse.
However, were I to have an extra marital affair, it would be with Barca.
marvin
Thanks for that what is it a advert for,I have not seen it yet
No live TV today,expect to get nothing from the ref,is anyone close to suspension,cards today could mean missing the huns game..Not to excited about this one..1-0 with Stokes getting the goal..Wee Beram or Big Victor to walk..
it’s for Sky Sports. Just a montage of fans singing the song, including some hoops. Usual sky stuff. Sparkles and glamour
Is it worth pointing out that any manager out there who has or has had connections with Rangers carry in their hearts the hope that they might one day manage their team in Govan. McCoist’s appointment makes this more tangible for the Butchers and the McCalls of the world.
Like Rangers in the Champions League and uber critic Souness turns around and says ‘I’m not going to slag Rnagers off. I would never slag Rangers off.’
Butcher will be a lot more circumspect with his fey outrage at any decision not given against his dream team.
On another matter – Rangers in Europe – Naka ate my banner – the ITV studio commentators laughed – it is on record – yet F the UEFA gets us hot under the collar.
Double standards – it’s expected from them – but us????
U
Etims (Gaudds) take on the new legislation.
Written by Gaudd
Friday, 16 December 2011
THE CHICKEN LITTLE SONG DEBATE
“This is Alex Salmond’s first own goal, if you’ll excuse the pun. He should have listened to Parliament and dumped it last summer when he had the chance.” – Iain “Last sane voice at The Herald”MacWhirter, The Herald, 15/12/11.
“We must remember why we are acting. Songs are being sung at football matches in Scotland which have nothing to do with football and everything to do with hatred, violence and bigotry. Bombs have been sent through the post to individuals because of their links to particular football clubs, and death threats against a football manager posted on the internet.” – Roseanna “anti-Irish bigot apparently” Cunningham, Community Safety Minister.”
“Yesterday we moved that little bit closer to being a police state. When the Scottish Government used its majority to ram through its bill, our civil liberties were pared back a bit and the police got a few more powers to repress the citizenery.” – Michael “Fight the Pigs, Smash the State” Kelly, ex-Junta leader, now in exile.
Today I witnessed a terrible sight. Terrible. After a torchlight meeting held at the Saltire bedecked MacReichstag building in Edinburg (newly renamed) passed the infamous Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill, I witnessed the sight of hundreds of cattle trucks rattling their way to the newly built “detention camp” being erected on London Road. Wandering nearer for a closer look I could spy large piles of stripped pyjama bundles being unloaded by vicious looking, black uniformed security guards, while deadly quantities of banned non-alcoholic, blue-label Becks were furtively whisked away by others wearing protective clothing. It’s clear to me now that this bill is nothing more than the first stage of a hideous ethnic cleansing atrocity that…. hold on…. what just happened? I sat down, ate that piece of funny smelling bread and then woke naked in this field with a feeble grasp of reality and a persecution complex that could impress a paranoid Zionist.
Actually that’s a lie, I didn’t eat any whiffy bread, nor did I wake up naked in a field, well not this week, what I did do though for some insane reason was meander my way through some of the Celtic blogs and forums to read opinions on the aforementioned bill. I wish I hadn’t bothered. While this bill may be unwelcome, handing over any further powers to the police is unwelcome, to try and claim that it is somehow anti-Irish (yawn) or anti-Catholic, let alone anti-Celtic, is to completely misunderstand the bill, wilfully or otherwise. In fact the bill does not target any particular organisation or group of individuals, aside from football supporters in general, and if that fails to correlate with the more foaming-mouthed lunacy out there then too bad, isn’t reality a bitch?
The more straitjacket-freeopposition focuses on the civil liberties aspect of the new law, but it does so in a rather confused manner by defending the right to do something that is already illegal. Let’s get one thing straight, singing songs in praise of the IRA is already against the law. The bill does not introduce new criminality as far as that’s concerned. The Terrorism Act 2006 specifically makes “condoning or glorifying terrorism” an offence, and the IRA is included in the British government’s list of such proscribed organisations. Similarly “expressing or inciting religious, racial or other forms of hatred” and “threatening behaviour or behaviour which would be offensive to any reasonable person” are obviously also already illegal – the latter covered by Breach of the Peace, and in 2010 the wording of that offence was changed from “the lieges” to “a reasonable person”.
So too, as we have seen thanks to recent prosecutions, is the second offence created by the bill, that dealing with “serious threats – including murder – made on the internet and elsewhere, and threats intended to incite religious hatred”. Again if you posted on Facebook pre-bill passing threatening to burn down chapels, you could hardly look incredulous when Plod arrived at the door or cite the right to free speech. Online hate promotion did not suddenly become illegal when all the Yes buttons were pushed at Holyrood.
The justified civil liberties concerns are not with criminalising already illegal behaviour, but primarily in the vague wording of the bill that could be abused by the police if they chose to do so, and secondly the actual requirement for further legislation. The recent conversion of some to the cause of civil liberties protection is to be welcomed, especially when it comes from the Labour Party and their disgusting shower of chancing hypocrites. Let’s not forget it was Labour governments who launched what was without doubt the greatest assault on civil liberties this country has witnessed in peacetime since Cromwell decided everyone was invited to the Puritan annual piss-up (lemonade only). The same shrill voices of protest were noticeably absent when Labour under the guise of anti-terrorism legislation, nearly demolished the right to peaceful protest and effectively turned the country into the police state that Michael Kelly was so fearful about (hey Mike, stable door, horse, bolted).
Even the normally excellent Iain MacWhirter misses the point when he states: “It is threatening and offensive to freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of thought and to personal liberty. It hands discretionary powers to the police that are wholly inappropriate in any civilised society, effectively giving individual officers the power to deprive people of their liberty if they don’t like the way they are behaving.” I’ve news for you Iain, they could do this before the bill was passed and you can thank Labour for that. In fact, they could do this well before Labour’s Bonfire of the Liberties. I remember once back in 1982 wandering through the St James Centre in Edinburgh in my punk attire, being stopped by a cop and charged with a completely fictitious breach of the peace, and then held for hours at the High Street station. That particular cop just didn’t like punks messing up the scenery. Anyone attending a peaceful protest, those that are allowed these days, is well aware of the ability of the police to do anything they feel like doing. So Iain you can help Michael look for that horse.
The SNP have sought to allay civil liberties concerns by dismissing the more lurid claims of national anthems being banned, country flags being seized, comics being rounded up, satirists being shot at dawn, and all the rest to no great avail as the critics hold up Chicken Little who squeaks that the sky is indeed falling down. Yet the same Chicken Littlers (note to self, use that more often), when asked to provide alternatives have noticeably failed to produce the goods. James Kelly, Labour’s community safety spokesman, voiced their preference for docking points from guilty clubs: “Docking points would apply if a club repeatedly failed to get its act together. It is time for the SPL and the clubs to take responsibility and make it clear that our football stadiums are no-go zones for bigots.” Yet as we’ve seen the clubs can argue that they have genuinely tried and thus if the singing continued could not be touched. It’s also highly doubtful whether the SFA would act on the matter especially with regard to Rangers.
Similarly the opposition statement released after the MacReichstag atrocity outlined their preferred collective alternative: “We believe a far more effective response is to focus on education and young people, working with the churches and football authorities on positive, practical, evidence-based measures that tackle the root causes of sectarianism as well robust application of existing laws.” But all that has been ongoing for some time and unfortunately the net gains have been minimal, in short it’s a lot of words amounting to a small pile of SFA. Why there has been no “robust application of existing laws” is something for the police to answer, but presumably that is the very issue the bill is meant to address.
So while there are genuine civil liberties concerns about the bill,caused in the most part due to vague terminology, its opponents present a pretty confused picture. When it comes to certain political songs for example, Celtic supporters cannot wave a fist at the criminalisation of an already criminal act, and certainly cannot build a protest movement over the banning of said political songs domestically while having to accept such prohibition on the European stage. Recently both Zenit St Petersburg and Celtic were fined by UEFA for their supporters breaching the rules, and the UEFA ruling cited Article 11 (2e) of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations which states that “disciplinary measures may be taken for the use of gestures, words, objects or any other means to transmit any message that is not fit for a sports event, in particular if it is of a political, offensive or provocative nature.”
Now that is pretty clear cut and while I have to laugh at the idea of a message having to be fit for a “sports event”, Celtic do have to abide by the rules and consequently so do the support or it will be the club that suffers. Phil Mac GiollaBhain covering the UEFA ruling and its consequences touched upon this very subject in his blog: “The Celtic family are rightly proud of the club’s Irish roots. Opposing this chant does not equate with wanting Celtic to divest itself of our Irish heritage, however persisting with it will strengthen the hand of those who wish to do just that…Tonight in Italy the Celtic fans there can chose to support “the ra” or they can choose to support Celtic, they can’t do both.”
Anyone who has read my words of infinite wisdom in the past will be well aware of the fact that I oppose the banning of political songs, and also find the necessity to strip both Celtic and Rangers of their cultural identities to be utterly wrong. I have always stated that targeting football is an easy cop out, and will do nothing to eradicate the problem of sectarianism in Scottish society. What will greatly reduce sectarianism is to tackle the root causes, not this peripheral manifestation, but that would take considerable guts from a government willing to face a hysterical backlash from both sides – and politics just doesn’t work that way. No government is going to take on multiple powerful organisations when it can find a headline grabbing easy cop out instead, especially one that is approved of by the majority of the voting public.
So if we are going to get all shirty about this bill, let’s do so for the right reasons, and not ill-informed outrage over matters already decided before the legislation was passed. Civil liberties in this country, as I said, have been under direct and sustained assault since Tony Thatcher..er.. I mean Tony Blair (you were right the first time – Ed) lead a howling Labour mob, of which our esteemed ex-chairman was a not inconsiderable part, into a vociferous totalitarian glee trip. It’s not over yet, only recently Lord Carloway’s review of Scotland’s justice system recommended that corroborated evidence will no longer be required in criminal cases. So let’s put Michael Kelly’s comment “Yesterday we moved that little bit closer to being a police state. When the Scottish Government used its majority to ram through its bill, our civil liberties were pared back a bit and the police got a few more powers to repress the citizenery,” into its proper perspective of near obsolete concern.
The truth, of course, is that this new found love of civil liberties so passionately expressed by some of the SNP government’s critics is about as genuine as a Naismith penalty claim. It’s especially laughable when Tory spokespersons decry handing more powers to the police – this from a party that would have us all with numbers sewn onto our backs if the cops asked for it. The reality is that the opposition parties have sniffed out a chance to give Salmond a rare black eye and have went for it with an enthusiasm that’s only tempered by the annoying fact that the bill is genuinely popular amongst the general electorate (or appears to be). Given the track record of both the Tories and Labour on the civil liberties issue (and piss poor, knee jerk legislation) then their political opportunism can be seen for what it is. Only the Greens are without doubt genuine in their defence of civil liberties but since no one cares about them then I won’t dwell on that.
The bill does appear to be a bad bill, it does appear to hand the police even more power than they already have, and it could lead to further civil liberties erosion if the assurances given by the Scottish government turn out to be worthless. We, as supporters and voters have to make sure that those assurances are kept and that the police are not allowed to follow their normal M.O when it comes to additional powers. That is the real issue here, not those other issues that have been already decided by other people, in other places at other times, and certainly not the ludicrous posturing of brass-necked hypocrites.
http://www.etims.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3437
Biggest story in history of Scotland about the SFA granting rangers a euro licence when owing to tax
authority.
Get it out there.
This story could be explosive and could rock Scottish football for good.
Protestant referees in this country are corrupt and the SFA.
Get it out there boys we need change in this country.
marvin says:
18 December, 2011 at 11:09
Thanks again,I have heard it watching EPL games.I am sure we will not hear it at Ipox unless we are visiting
Amazing control and pass by Messi to set up 3rd Barca goal against Santos. HT 3-0.
Barca 3-0 at HT.
Messi 208 goals in 295 games.
Not bad.
Scorers Messi, Xavi and Fabregas. What a combination of talent.
Henr1ck
That post is out of order. Religion doesnt come into play as far as celtic supporters are concerned, besides Catholic referees aren’t much better
Afternoon bhoys, warm and hun free as ever.
What a joy to watch are Barca,
Won’t be easy today, no easy playing against 14 men.
A Tory MP who attended a stag party where guests dressed as Nazis has been sacked as a Commons aide for “offensive” behaviour and placed under investigation by David Cameron.
Aidan Burley had expressed “deep regret” at the “inappropriate” actions of guests, including toasts to the Third Reich, with whom he partied at a French ski resort.
But he was removed from his post as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to Transport Secretary Justine Greening after fresh allegations were made linking him to the behaviour.
Lucky man there isn’t legislation criminalising his offensive behaviour
I don’t care if it’s out of order, will you be saying that if we lose the league to more honest mistakes.
I forgot Hugh Dallas the head of the referees I’m sure he was a catholic who just lived the pope.
At least I’m trying to do something about it, whereas people on here all they do is talk talk talk talk talk.
You won’t think I’m out of order of Neil loses his job because of these corrupt clowns.
That’s the reason why its being going on for years because to many people say nothing and they get away with it.
Get them down a division and that will sort it out.
Beep beep!!
Taxi for hen1rik.
Funny how people have very different priorities in life.
I just handed my beloved her advance christmas present – a ticket for this afternoons game .
Imagine my surprise at her reaction .
NOOOO ! Please NOO. No No ……..It’ll be freezing. I dont want.
Maybe she’ll come round to the idea , if not I’ll have a spare.
“Bombs have been sent through the post to individuals because of their links to particular football clubS” Eh..naw actually.
hen1rik says:
18 December, 2011 at 11:15
Protestant referees in this country are corrupt and the SFA.
All Protestant referees? How about those of other religions or of none? And how do you know the religious views of all referees in the first place?
At best your allegation is an oversimplification; at worst a piece of blatant sectarianism
THE EXILED TIM says:
18 December, 2011 at 11:25
Won’t be easy today, no easy playing against 14 men.
LoL, I wonder if this ref today is a Protestant with his wee proddy linesmen.
There is no Old Firm
Paul …..good haircut…….
Look forward to today’s game and hope we continue to rack up wins…….the cheating on the other side of the city will continue unabated…..so just keep a record for the day of reckoning (not that far off in my opinion)
Interested in the reaction to this weeks banner debate and the boards inactivity on the gripes…..everyone knew the SNP were planning this …..so did you vote at the last election (average polls are around 25%) with the main opposition to it being the Catholic Church and the dedicated fans forums noone else opposition political parties only challenged at the last moment…..not to stop it only refine it……clearly the boards fault!
We have just been fined by UEFA and some want to hit back? The same people will moan when we can’t sign new players or our debts raack up! That’ll be the boards fault too!
We want to join other leagues….get out of this cheating league ….well who’ll want us with a PR machines that purports support for terrorists…..yes that’s how we’re now portrayed and why ? This wasn’t why Brother Walfrid founded our club……the past is the past the futures ours to form……if you want to change the law use your vote to affect political change….take the chip off you shoulders and think of the whole Celtic Family however much you don’t agree with the role of others outwith.
As I type this Barcelona are destroying Santos playing a brand of football we can only dream of good fiscal management will help us get their as the rest succumb to their debts!
Those going to the game today enjoy it safe journey and celebrate a good win
Hail hail
Let’s all see if any honest mistakes happen on the 28th and see if you are sympathetic towards these clowns.
Honest Hugh Dallas is catholic he loves the pope honest honest honest honest honest.
Hen1rik,
Disgusting post. Totally unworthy of a Celtic supporter.
Hen1rik.
It turns out you are a bigot. Take your sectarian crap elsewhere.
hen1rik
I wouldn’t carry down the route you are going with this.
Celtic are open to all, Catholics, Protestants, Muslims whatever religion, we are not a sectarian club.
Gordon_J backing Neil Lennon says:
18 December, 2011 at 11:27
hen1rik says:
18 December, 2011 at 11:15
Protestant referees in this country are corrupt and the SFA.
All Protestant referees? How about those of other religions or of none? And how do you know the religious views of all referees in the first place?
At best your allegation is an oversimplification; at worst a piece of blatant sectarianism
share
I think this country is a dead giveaway after all are we not living in a Protestant country with 16% catholic population hmmm says it all really.
How many Protestant Celtic supporters in average, not many I guess.
hen1rik says:
18 December, 2011 at 11:29
THE EXILED TIM says:
18 December, 2011 at 11:25
Won’t be easy today, no easy playing against 14 men.
LoL, I wonder if this ref today is a Protestant with his wee proddy linesmen.
__________________________________________________________________
Are you at the wind up,,,if not give it a rest eh FFS!!!
Hail hail
henr1k- we all share your frustrations about the standard of refereeing and the amount of honest mistakes enjoyed by one team, but bringing religion into is way off the mark.
Some of the worst decisions have come from Messrs Collum & Conroy.
The club need to put pressure on the SPL & SFA to make all top flight officials accountable for their “errors”.
Unfortunately this will never be completely eradicated until we use officials from outwith Scotland.
Henrik
all you need to do is change “proddy” to masonic………….sorted.
Just as bad as the media in this country, I suppose they even themselves out honest honest honest.
As I said let’s see if any more decisions cost Neil his job and let’s see what you have to say about that.
Talk talk talk that’s all you do on here, well it’s bullshite.
I suppose the next time it happens then you will all be fine with this, that’s the reason it goes on because no one ever questions it.
hen1rik,
There are many non Catholic Celtic supporters who post on here. And we are welcomed – if you don’t understand this then you really don’t understand what our club is all about.
hen1rik says:
18 December, 2011 at 11:15
You missed out the corrupt ones of other faiths and no faith at all. If you have just watched highlights of the Huns game and seen what I have only read about, your reaction is understandable but still not right.