I’m as interested in a good game of football as you, but when Atletico Madrid’s comeback was stopped in its tracks late in the first half of last night’s Champions League semi-final, I was happy for some old friends.
Despite a complete lack of empathy for them, it is impossible to dispute that Atletico are an incredibly well run football club which has achieved beyond all reason for several seasons now. They won La Liga in 2014 against two of the finest teams ever assembled. This was achieved despite an exhausting run to the Champions League final, which they lost in extra time, after allowing a lead to slip away in the final moments of the regulation 90 minutes.
A year later their Champions League adventure ended at the quarter final stage, but they were back in the final in 2016, this time losing on penalties.
For any team this period should be remembered throughout their history with enormous pride, but there’s a sting in the tale for Atletico: it was neighbours and rivals, Real Madrid who eliminated them from the Champions League on each of these occasions.
Atletico have great players, an incredible manager, have humbled many of Europe’s finest clubs, but city rivalries are zero sum games. In years to come fans will largely look back on this era with frustration and regret.
Were it not for their fiercest rivals strength, Atletico would be part of the European Champions club, instead of being multi-times losers.
What I’ve admired most of Real during these seasons is their appetite to get the job done against a formidable opponent.
With six-in-a-row under our belt, this is a trait we’ll need. I know you think that this is easy, but human nature doesn’t work like that. If you want to be ruthless when merely efficient will do, you need to work at it.
This season there is every chance we’ll inch ahead of the record-breaking points total we achieved when we destroyed all before us in season 2003-04. 12 months later an appetite for success was the last observation evident on a field in Lanarkshire. The end of every great season is the time to up your game.
I’ve incredible respect for those who left Celtic Park early this morning bound for Lisbon on their bikes this morning, and for the others who will join them along the way, led by our very own Mouldy67. Read about them here.
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Afternoon Celts
Babasonicos71
Ditto…CL leaves me cold…..bores me when the bhoys arent there
Real are a great team….but i hate them:)
One things for sure…Real are no Celtic:)
Celtic Park…best arena in the CL….bar none
HH
HH
TGM…
The seeding system is a total farce,assistance given to the least needy.
And now there’s a chance that five (that’s 5) English clubs will be in it next season.Absolute joke.
The Celtic Park experience is the best thing that happens in the CL.
HH
Withey: “What Ticketus want Ticketus get, if they wanted me to dance around naked I would have done it”
James Doleman @jamesdoleman
Withey “Ticketus were aware their money was to be used to pay off the bank debt.”
Judge “I know we are all feeling a bit unwell, there are lots of coughs and splutters”
Withey “Am I speaking loudly enough?”
Lady Stacey “Not really, to be frank”
Withey agrees that Whyte could not sell seats to Ticketus until he was the owner of Rangers
Lunch break – way down south- ( soundtracked by this LP -Love -Forever Changes (Elektra ) -an absolute gem from 1967 -a very good year !.
Maybe Victorian Dad will ask why Collyer Bristow were so keen to give the Motherwell Born Billionaire a big discount on their usual rate ?.
Back to work.
Judge “I know we are all feeling a bit unwell, there are lots of coughs and splutters”
—–
One halve of the jury is pis*ing themselves, the other halve are sick.
Babasonicos71
Its totally bent….plaything of the rich.
Ignore all sorts of corruption, sell the brand.
Its a farce.
If it was fair….Celtic would win the CL:)
HH
On second thoughts is Stewart Regan in the courtroom….
If Ajax win the Europa League and Feyenoord win the Eridivisie there will be 2 Dutch teams in next season’s Champions League Group stages .So much for that co-efficient thing !!!
Modern football is a bit dull
I enjoy Celtic’s success because of a deep connection to the club and a feeling of indignation towards decades of cheating.
They filmed the Nuremberg trials for posterity, might be much more parochial… but I wish they’d filmed the Whyte trial for hilarity.
THETIMREAPER:
“On second thoughts is Stewart Regan in the courtroom….”
Not yet.
TGM…
If it was fair….Celtic would win the CL:)
—
If football was fair we’d be on about 30+ in a row. ;)
===
SoT…
Forever Changes…class choice fhella.
I have a suspicion that this witness (an ex-employee of Craig Whyte called as a prosecution witness) has a story to tell if only he was asked the question. Twice already he has stated such only for the Advocate Deputy to swerve swiftly away. I hope Mr. Findlay QC revisits the issues that his opposite number hasted away from with expediency.
http://theroadtolisbon.com/personal-interest-story-peter-and-grace/
Now that is a damn fine bike!
PORTUGAL PEDALers,
Well done to all concerned, only wish i was fit enough and young enough to take part ?
Hopefully…fingers crossed I may be able to make some small donation at alter date depending on legal cases currently ongoing ?
HH
Champions League without Celtic? Couldn’ae care less, never watched the semi finals. If I had to choose a winner it would be Juventus as I have good friends who are big supporters and I cant stand Royal Madrid.
I also don’t want Man Utd to win the UEFA cup, can’t stand Mourinho, Porto apart his achievements are those of a chequebook manager,wasn’t it a couple of years ago he criticised Rafa Benitez when he won the UEFA cup with Chelsea saying it was a mickey mouse competition? Hope they get gubbed, also won’t be watching it.
THE GREEN MAN SAYS SACK THE BOARD on 11TH MAY 2017 1:08 PM
Babasonicos71
Its totally bent….plaything of the rich.
Ignore all sorts of corruption, sell the brand.
Its a farce.
If it was fair….Celtic would win the CL:)
HH
______________________________________________
I thought you were talking about the Whyte trial till I saw the last line!
KTF
SOT
just got my 17 yr old Niece vinyl forever changes for her birthday
listening to The Magpie Salute
TAX CASE !
I received a letter from HMRC yesterday ( out of the blue ), demanding payment of a “tax Issue” from 2009…………
I called HMRC this morning, and suggested that “Don’t they have much bigger “tax issues” to deal with at this time, instead of harassing someone who has disabilities and is unemployed long term through no fault of his own, and who would struggle badly to attempt to pay back an amount that was paid NOT into his bank account,……. but that of his ex wife’s” ?
The HMRC Advisor was rather speechless .
In the end, it looks as if I will have to pay albeit by monthly installments.
I think I will become wan of those tax exiles…whats Craig Whyte’s phone number ?
HH
VFR
Same thing:)
FIFA-UEFA-Hun Justice
The stench of rotting fish.
HH
The Daily Record BY TONY CLERKSON
Italian giants Juventus are in line to join an exclusive European club started by Celtic .
If the Bianconeri manage to secure success in the Champions League, Serie A and in the Coppa Italia, then they will be joining an elite band of clubs who have managed the historic feat of the continental treble.
Juve have already just about nailed down their sixth league win in a row, sitting seven points clear of Roma with only three games left to play.
Massimiliano Allegri’s men can then secure a domestic double if they overcome Lazio in the Coppa Italia next Wednesday.
And having eased past Monaco 4-1 on aggregate in the Champions League semi-final, a date with destiny awaits in Cardiff, where the Italians will be hoping to secure their third European Cup win against Spanish giants Real Madrid .
Only seven clubs have ever won the illustrious treble, with the Hoops being the first two (sic) do so 50 years ago in a season where they lifted every trophy available to them.
Jock Stein’s Lisbon Lions were followed by Ajax (1972), PSV Eindhoven (1988), Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United (1999), Barcelona (2009 and 2015), Inter Milan (2010) and Bayern Munich (2013).
SOUTH OF TUNIS on 11TH MAY 2017 1:08 PM
I find that album somehow a bit dark and chilling. It sort of captures a feeling that there is going to be a price to pay for the summer of love. That there’s a dark under belly to it all.
The Daily Record BY KEITH MCLEOD
Craig Whyte’s takeover lawyer says he was surprised Rangers deal contained clauses about club going bust
The lawyer hired by Craig Whyte to negotiate his takeover of Rangers did not trust Sir David Murray’s Murray Group because of the talks over the share purchase agreement.
And Gary Withey said he knew nothing about Craig Whyte before he met him but thought he had “substantial wealth” and could be part of the Whyte & Mackay group.
Withey, 52, said the deal he was being asked to negotiate through the share purchase agreement (SPA) was unusual because it contained clauses relating to the possibility of Rangers “going bust”.
And he told the High Court in Glasgow, that while the agreement was shorter than he would have expected, it was negotiated “over and over again”.
Withey, who was a partner at London lawyers Collyer Bristow, was giving evidence at the trial of Whyte.
The 46-year-old denies fraud and a charge of “assistance” under the Companies Act, relating to his takeover of the Ibrox club in May 2011.
Withey told prosecutor Alex Prentice about the SPA hammered out between Whyte’s team and the Murray Group.
He said: “There were many, many revisions. They’re all different.
“It seemed to me to be almost over-negotiated.
“It is a fairly short document. It was very much shorter than I had expected.
“Despite the sparcity, it was just negotiated over and over again.
“I didn’t trust MIH (Murray Group). We couldn’t get under the bonnet.
“Then there was, ‘What if the club goes bust?’ I had never seen that before.”
Withey told the court of his first meeting with Whyte. He said he had invited Whyte to a corporate event in 2010, as a potential client.
Withey told Prentice: “Mr Whyte was portrayed as someone with substantial wealth.”
He said that was Whyte’s reputation in London and added: “One person confused Mr Whyte with the Whyte & Mackay group.
“At one point, I would have said that’s who I was dealing with.”
Moving to the deal to buy Rangers, Prentice asked Withey if Collyer Bristow held funds to permit to the purchase to complete on May 6, 2011 – the day the deal was done. Withey said: “Yes we did.”
Asked by Prentice if he held the funds on a unconditional basis to settle the deal on that date, Withey said: “Yes, I believed I did, subject to completion.”
He said the funds had been sourced through ticketing company Ticketus, a financial company and a pension fund.
A joint minute of agreement – in which both the prosecution and defence agree the facts – had been read to the jury earlier.
It said that Collyer Bristow held £2.95million from the Jerome Pension Fund, £1million from Merchant Turnaround, and £18.5million from Ticketus in their account.
Withey said he understood the cash was in connection with Whyte’s planned takeover of Rangers. Withey added: “I didn’t deal with the financial side of things – we had an accounts department who dealt with that.”
Prentice asked: “What were Ticketus going to get in exchange for their funds?”
Withey said: “The Ticketus agreement, which sold season tickets to them.”
Prentice asked who the tickets belonged to. Withey said: “They belonged to the football club.”
He said the cash held was to pay-off Rangers’ debt to Lloyds Bank.
Prentice asked: “Was it an essential part of the agreement that the bank debt be paid?”
Withey said: “Yes it was, it was fundamental.”
Prentice referred the witness to point 6.13 of the share purchase agreement.
He asked if it meant that the funds from Whyte and third-party sources were immediately available.
Withey said: “No it is not, it is saying once we complete.”
Prentice said: “Subject to completion, that’s all that’s required?”
Withey said: “Yes. But it also has to complete on the Ticketus agreement.At this stage, the Ticketus agreement would have been signed-off. All that would be needed would be a board meeting of the football club.
“All had been signed-off beforehand.”
Prosecutors allege that Whyte used cash from future Rangers season ticket money, mortgaged to Ticketus, to fund the takeover.
Earlier, the court was shown a letter from Collyer Bristow to lawyers acting for the Murray Group.
It was headed “Project Charlotte” and dated November 8, 2010.
The court has heard earlier that “Project Charlotte” was the plan to sell off Murray Group assets after the financial crisis of 2008.
Murray Group owed bankers Lloyds “hundreds of millions of pounds”, and were technically insolvent, the court heard.
In the letter, Withey told Murray’s lawyers that £33million was available to fund the takeover. Prentice asked if this was true.
Withey said: “As at November 7, not at completion. The requirement was to do X,Y,Z, which resulted in £33million.”
Prentice said: “You assert in this letter that £33million is available to complete the proposed transaction?”
Withey said: “That’s correct, yes.”
The letter said that £27.5million was available to settle Rangers’ debts, leaving £5.5million to acquire the “issue of the target” – Rangers shares.
Prentice said: “So from an early stage, it appears that repayment of the club’s debt is an essential component of this transaction?”
Withey said: “Yes, it was.”
Asked if he believed the cash promises to be true, Withey said he did.
Withey said Whyte told him the Merchant Turnaround money would be coming in and later it did.
He was asked about the Jerome Pension Fund. Prentice said: “Did Mr Whyte explain what connection he had with the trustees?”
Withey said: “I can’t recall the specific conversation. I had a lot going on at the time.”
Prentice put it to him that the Jerome Pension Fund money went into the lawyers’ account on April 7, 2011, the same day as the Ticketus money. The Merchant Turnaround money went in on March 30, 2011.
Asked about the Jerome Pension Fund, Withey said: “I didn’t realise it was pension fund money until much later.
“I didn’t really think of it as a pension fund.
“I wasn’t aware. So much was happening with the deal I was being swamped.
“I think I took my eye off it.”
The trial, before Lady Stacey, continues.
Lisbon Update
On 25th May the Estadio Nacional will be in full preparation for the Portuguese Cup Final between Benfica and Guimares which will take place the following Sunday.
Given the nature of the Cup final, the level of interest it generates in Portugal and the perceived necessity to accommodate a heavy (over 1,000 officers) Police presence, ambulance crews and various other agencies including television crews, it will be necessary to build a number of temporary structures in and around the Estadio prior to the match.
Further, as part of the pre-match entertainment, there will be an Olympic-like opening ceremony with over 3,000 singers and dancers participating on the pitch, and obviously, they will have to rehearse and prepare.
Notwithstanding all of the above the Jamor complex, the stadium management and the Portuguese FA wish the visit of the Celtic fans on the 25th to be as enjoyable as possible as it is recognised that the 1967 European Cup Final was an important point in Celtic’s history and should be celebrated.
Similarly, the cup final was an important event in the history of The Jamor, The Estadio Nacional and The Portuguese Football Association.
Accordingly, every effort will be made to accommodate the Celtic fans who have been invited to visit the stadium between 3pm and 5pm on the 25th of May.
The plan will be for the main body of fans to arrive at the stadium at 3pm and then to welcome in the cyclists, who left Glasgow today, at around 3:20pm.
The fans will also welcome Barry and Martin and their Hillman Imp — Wee Jinky.
During the two hour stay fans will be able to take photographs of the stadium and the surroundings although fans should note that there will be some obstructions and equipment present due to the Portuguese Cup Final on the following Sunday.
If it is possible we will provide some entertainment and hopefully we will have a big cup to be photographed with.
Most fans will arrive at the stadium by Train from Cais do Sodre station in the centre of Lisbon.
The train leaves regularly from Platform Two (normally) and the line runs to Sintra passing Estoril and Cascais.
The stop for the Estadio Nacional is Crus Quebrada – all directions and details can be found here:
http://www.stadiumguide.com/estadio-nacional/
After the stadium visit has been concluded, visiting fans should head back into Lisbon to the Cais do Sodre Area and in particular to Rua Nova do Carvalho or “Pink” street as it is known locally.
This is because the bar and restaurant owners in the street have come together to create an area that has similarities to Ashton Lane in Glasgow’s West End, though it is not quite so quaint, and they have marked the boundaries of their cumulative association by painting the roadway pink!
NB Yesterday, The local authority in Lisbon granted the Pink Street operators a special one night licence to hold a party for all visiting Celtic fans.
This will take the form of the erection of an open air stage, the provision of Live Music, and allows the Celtic fans to gather in one area to take in the atmosphere of Pink street and enjoy the bars and restaurants etc in the street.
The music will be provided by the same guys who are performing at The Casa on Wednesday night.
It is hoped that this party will start at around 6 pm.
It should be noted that both BBC and STV may well want to do a live 6 pm broadcast from Pink Street.
Given that the street stays open until around 4:00 am or later there will be ample opportunity for a party.
The street itself is no more than 10 minutes walk from some of the hotels many of us are staying in though it should be noted that those staying in Baixo Chiado will have to walk up the hill when staggering home.
Before the stadium visit, there will be the commemorative mass in the centre of the city and the details of this are still being worked on at diocesan level, however, this hurdle will be cleared soon enough.
Following upon a meeting at the Casa do Alentejo yesterday it has been agreed to extend the deadline for final numbers for the dinner until next Monday.
This is because of the numerous enquiries that are still being made about attending and to give those who have not confirmed yet time to make arrangements.
Over 320 Celtic fans have already confirmed that they will be at the former 17th-century palace to eat, drink, sing and be merry on the 24th.
If anyone wishes to join them then e-mail me very quickly.
More as the details progress.
jjoe88@hotmail.co.uk
Cheers
BRTH
PICTURE The Scene…..?
BBC Scottish News at 1.30pm today,
Reporter outside the High Court giving his report of CW Trial LIVE…
As he was speaking ….the noise in the background sounded like someone with a Hammer and Chisel…grafting away….
My immediate thought, whilst laughing was that , somebody is trying to TUNNEL their way out of The Court !
Hahaha.
okay…you would have to have seen it.
HH
Ernie Lynch
Any thoughts on Labour’s leaked manifesto?
Im rather surprised and impressed, should set the cat amongst the pigeons:)
Tories quite silent so far….how long before the Marxist mudslinging:)
Real socialists…who would have thought it eh:)
HH
PORTUGAL “PINK STREET”…..BMCUWP….You better wear your PINK Celtic Jersey mate..just to blend in you understand ?
hahaha.
HH
Love – Forever Changes
https://youtu.be/Q1L11Y0I5E0
THE GREEN MAN SAYS SACK THE BOARD on 11TH MAY 2017 1:56 PM
Ernie Lynch
Any thoughts on Labour’s leaked manifesto?
Im rather surprised and impressed, should set the cat amongst the pigeons:)
Tories quite silent so far….how long before the Marxist mudslinging:)
Real socialists…who would have thought it eh:)
HH
………………………………………….
MAYBE The Labour Manifesto was leaked ” DELIBERATELY”…..A Cunning Plan ?
I dunno ?
HH
Big Jimmy
If that manifesto is real.
Its huge imo.
Some people think Corbyn is clueless….I dont.
He has got some good people round him….dont see that in Scottish Labour though.
Lets see.
HH
I thought we’d only hear of leaks from Plaid Cymru. ;))
THE GREEN MAN SAYS SACK THE BOARD on 11TH MAY 2017 1:56 PM
It seems to strike the right chord.
If the right wing of the party weren’t determined to undermine Corbyn at every opportunity there might be a chance of victory.
Big Jimmy…TAX EXILE ?
It’s got quite a ring to it….might attract a few wummin ?
HH
Ernie Lynch
I totally agree.
Auld anarchist that i am….id vote for that manifesto.
Real socialism….that will do for me.
HH
Ernie Lynch
My only concern here.
Will Kezia and pals back Jeremy and John Mc?
I hope so.
HH
I Hate feckin Ruth Davidson…every bit as much as Theresa May and her Woody Allen /Arthur Askey hubby.
Likewise Thatcher and her brood.
Can someone refresh my memory…….when it was revealed that John Major was having an affair with Edwina Currie, she ( if I remember correctly) claimed that they sometimes “conducted” their ” Affair” in rooms in Westminster ?
If true, why were they never hauled before a Westminster Committee and TAXPAYERS, and asked to explain if they indulged in such behaviour whilst being paid by The Taxpayer ?
Is that not fraud ?
HH
Most of the policies in the Labour manifesto are quite agreeable. They’ve gone down the populist route. Tuition fees particularly will be a vote winner in England. Someone obviously thought it was a good idea to leak it, it would have been in the public domain next week anyway. Possibly some people were trying to water it down internally, now that’s it’s in the public domain it’s a lot harder to do that.