Balde, Hooper, summer challenges

1119

13 June and Celtic have signed a striker!  Do we have some important games coming up early in the season?  6’4” Amido Balde joined Sporting Lisbon three years ago but never made an appearance for the club.

After three loan deals he joined Vitoria Guimaraes a year ago, where he caught the eye of Celtic scouts.  At 22-years-old, he is right in the sweet spot of Celtic’s recruitment strategy: fully developed physically, old enough to be considered prime first team material but with many years of prime football ahead.

Playing for Celtic is quite different than playing for Vitoria Guimaraes, so it may take Amido a period of adjustment to settle into life as a Glasgow sporting celebrity, but he is clearly the man Neil Lennon and the scouts wanted.  Based on that, I’m happy.

Despite what could be described as cover, and the fact that the player has declined a new contract, I’m still not happy to sell Gary Hooper.  We have lots to do this summer before that moves up the agenda.

Welcome to Celtic, Amido.

The raffle for a signed Celtic top in aid of 1254125 ends early tomorrow morning. THIS IS THE LAST CALL FOR TICKETS, which cost only £1 each. Get in there…..

Pick up a book, Heart of a Lion, a manual, if you like, on how it’s done here:


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1,119 Comments

  1. Celtic_First on

    ScotPatsFan

     

     

    No, round one is for Kilbirnie Ladeside, Civil Service Strollers, Edinburgh University and teams like that.

  2. Bigjock67

     

     

    A week ????? give me a couple of months ,this working for a living not

     

    all it’s cracked up to be.

     

    Game of Thrones ,I Claudius and Borgias just starting….need to take some time off.

  3. Stan Le Man ‏@RFCSwitcheroo 13m

     

    How the feck can any Tim get themselves arrested at a Celtic v Juventus game? Whit for? http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2013/06/4590/4

     

     

     

     

    Retweeted by Beyond the Waves

     

    Total

     

    268 100.0

     

     

    3.17 Table 8 shows the number of charges at football stadiums. The 3 largest football stadiums in Scotland were the locus for over half (52.7%) of all charges: there were 40 charges at Celtic Park (24.2%), 33 at Ibrox (20.0%) and 14 at Hampden Park (8.5%).

  4. BT – first time you have referred to me as a lady! I would say those meds are working just fine now!

     

     

    Lionroars67 – Not yet but I will over the weekend looking forward to it!

  5. Awe_Naw_No_Annoni_Oan_Anaw_Noo on

    The financial help for Sevco will come from ignored criminal activities

     

     

    And the TV companies

     

    The SFA

     

    UEFA

     

    HMRC

     

    There retarded support

     

    Mibs = prize money

     

    UEFA licensing = 20m

     

     

    I agree with JFH

     

     

    Where have you people been these last 6 years ?

     

     

    Please list the punishments ?

     

     

    I AM NOW COMING AROUND TO THE POSSIBLITY THAT PmcBride QC was murdered.

     

     

    We are now entering those realms.

     

     

    They cannot be punished.

     

     

    So far we have only witnessed cause and affect. And UEFA and FIFA dwarf the hun criminal activities to such an extent that it is negligible in their mind set

     

     

    HH

  6. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    CHAIRBHOY

     

     

    I will book a couple tomorrow,without fail.

     

     

    A few Swindon guys promising to get over,but I intend to meet-at least-one of our goodfellas from this site at Euston

     

     

    Navigate him round to West London hopefully in time to meet up with any CQNers then a six hour swally before the last train to Swindon

     

     

    Which has rarely gone well in the past,to be precise it has gone before me,much like my reputation!

     

     

    Hopefully we will hook up,bud.

  7. ‘Not Another Thin Dime !’. From a top bloke @LWordSmith Cracking email to me.

     

     

    With the production of these Charlotte tapes, tapes which fan the flames of deep seated paranoia over the so far ‘alleged’ relationships between media, footballing bodies and the many ‘Rangerses’ football clubs now created, and the utter dereliction of main stream media in investigating and searching for answers, is it not time for a full Scottish Government inquiry into the relationships between those bodies above stated and the ‘alleged’ conspiratorial connections that are now being widely asserted throughout the public domain ?.

     

     

    It’s all well and good the Scottish football association, the main stream media and even ‘The Rangers/Sevco’ fantasists making statements of intent to investigate potential conflicts of interest or worse, by in some cases, (ridiculous though it may seem) investigating themselves.

     

    But can the wider public and the football supporter, be assured those investigations will bring anything other than the no case to answer results as recently seen in the latest Sevco Independent inquiry over the Craig Whyte/Charles Green connection.

     

    (Results that may well leave the average bloke totally bewildered.)

     

     

    (So obviously predictable in my own opinion, that the bookies could have been hammered on that very no case to answer outcome)

     

     

    It seems only logical to conclude any investigation into oneself by oneself would reveal nothing other than the total absurdity of expecting any other result than not guilty or no case to answer.

     

    I mean come on, nobody is actually going to investigate themselves, find themselves guilty and then actually severely punish themselves are they ?.

     

     

    Seriously ?.

     

     

    The truth of the matter is nobody but nobody outwith the interests of these bodies believes a word they say or what these so called investigations conclude, especially when these Charlotte recordings and other forms of information relay appear to contradict those results with astonishing ease, at least to those of us perhaps regarded as less intelligent.

     

     

    No case to answer, Wow ?.

     

     

    So many wrong and so few right eh, yet I suppose it’s possible given that the age old question of the possibility of life after death has been cracked here in Scotland in the year of Our Lord 2013. !

     

     

    The silence produced from the main stream media guys while social media outlets dissect analyse and then conclude indeed cases to answer, is in itself but fueling the conspiratorial perceptions for so long dismissed and denied.

     

     

    It seems to most normal folk that by saying and doing nothing to question each revelation over the conduct of these bodies as seen inappropriately, at the very least reveals an unhealthy connection to each other, yet still silence is the only answer.

     

    This silence dampens not the growing discontent or increase in question, it leads only to more supposition, even belief that a large scale cover up is playing out behind scenes. The questions that arise are not to be simply brushed aside as easily as the years of accusation over the perception of a tight knit pal’s act pact which has been believed to be the case over many years.

     

    (as always the questioners but declared merely paranoid to back them off).

     

     

    No, to the average bloke and untrained eye see that there are unsavoury details that appear to link certain individuals perhaps even groups representative of ‘The Ranger-Sevco’/ the SMSM/ and indeed the footballing authorities in what could be taken as a type of ‘Great Rock n Roll Swindle’ scenario.

     

     

    We, the public, the fitba fans, seem to be constantly told to ‘Never mind the bollocks we’re the SFA’ and are still expected to fund the great game.

     

     

    Well, that’s just not going to happen now is it ?.

     

     

    Indeed something does appear to be ‘Rotten’ to the core and it’s not a lead singer called Johnny and I for one have had it with paying for the bum notes.

     

     

    If not already, this is becoming the biggest scandal ever to hit the footballing World. Many massive sums of money are at play and being questioned as being abused.

     

     

    The very need for journalism in respect of modern times, and their methods of investigation and the perceptions of the fair play competition in sport, are being completely trashed on an almost daily basis. They are being dismantled and trashed not only in Scotland but across the globe as UEFA & FIFA show no signs of interest in intervening into what seems to be a totally dysfunctional and corrupted system. (The illness spreads and nobody seems willing to even attempt an antidote)

     

     

    Even political inaction and silence is being questioned, muted as a sort of silence of consent. The football fan involvement into the clear out of the self interested is growing, as more an more begin to say ‘no more !’.

     

     

    The bodies mentioned above ‘SFA/Media/Politician, who have relied upon the football fan and his/her continued support both in attendance and with much needed finance based mostly to their own emotional club ties and the continued ignorance of their own common sense, may not be able to rely on those costly emotions for very much longer.

     

     

    These same fans who have long been blamed for any and all wrongs and ills within the game rather than being the games saviours with their financial input, have continued time and again, to fund it even though those previous assertions are now being revealed as an utter nonsense.

     

    Indeed ‘Football without fans is nothing’.

     

    It’s also nothing without the money they spend on it whilst expecting a fair game and that blind expectation of funding surely cannot be relied upon for very much longer ?.

     

     

    Disillusionment is at an all time high and more and more are turning their back on the game, many now are tearing up season tickets and are refusing to feel mugged for their hard earned cash for the sake of watching over paid folk run around chasing an inflated ball as part of an over inflated emotional necessity, they do indeed love their clubs but also expect fairness and equal opportunity within competition.

     

     

    As can be heard or read in the Charlotte communications, the invisibility in comment of the actual act of kicking the ball, supporting the clubs or being concerned about supporters thoughts feelings and welfare, other than their cash from the many interactions from the business end, is actually very telling. At least it is to me.

     

     

    It tells me that the first last and only consideration from those within the corridors of footballing power is to the £ sign and I don’t follow my club or football in general, just to be seen or ignored or taken for granted as a Cash Cow.

     

     

    It is indeed all about the money for these people, as I see it.

     

     

    In my opinion there are grubby greedy dirty hands reaching into my pockets and trying to convince me or maybe you the fan of football, that that’s only proper and necessary to advance the game. Well I say to that, complete and utter bunkum.

     

     

    For me it’s a ridiculous idea to continue to ply these guys in suits with my hard earned cash when I don’t trust them.

     

    I have no confidence in them whatsoever and frankly I do believe them to be corrupt. The re-election of any of them doesn’t come from any vote I was invited to offer.

     

    It must be great to have so many friends in support though.

     

     

    So, love my club though I do, I have decided not to offer any financial incentive to make myself feel used, disrespected or insignificant again.

     

     

    I will not go or pay toward another game until this SFA ( the people not the furniture) are dismantled from top to bottom and a total restructure of the game with club rules and regulations that are stringently applied to all, regardless of club size or finance, is created & importantly for me, with supporter input.

     

     

    This is my personal choice and you can make your own.

     

     

    For me, it’s not good enough to simply change the seating arrangements or office space or re-elect in these offices viewed so secretly, whilst the same bums continue to be sat in those same seats. They have made enough of a mess in my opinion.

     

     

    I will also be doing my very best to make sure my children and their children and theirs, don’t feel as I do and feel stung for their cash either until such time as they believe the people controlling their cash input, are doing so in a transparent and honest fashion for the good of the game and not their own careers, reputations or favourite side.

     

     

    Fitba in Scotland is on life support, but make no mistake it is dying.

     

     

    The fella’s tasked with keeping it alive are failing miserably and hastening it’s demise and now I refuse to pay for that.

     

    A full Independent inquiry should have been and still should be ordered and conducted by a Scottish government body with no connection to Sevco or Scottish main stream media and it might be an idea just for once to ask the opinions of the fans that have paid and indeed still pay so dearly for it.

     

     

    Until then ‘Not another thin dime !’.

     

     

     

    Lwords & GGW.

     

     

    I have been banging on about the financial starvation point for over 2 years now. There are far too many Celtic fans that see it hurting the club rather than making the club defend the rights of their fans. Some don’t /won’t get the logic over the emotion.

     

    All they are doing is propping up the corruption for it won’t stop until the cash well runs dry, only then will the heads roll that are seen as conflicted, mistrusted and /or bent.

     

     

    I’m afraid those fans cannot see that they are simply assisting those that have overseen the biggest scandal in modern times and find no fault, to stay in positions of power that can and do effect every single supporter that expects fairness for their hard earned.

     

     

    For me, the club by not objecting is supporting that structure and those that take our cash for granted. They insult our intelligence and I for one will no longer play ball.

     

     

    ‘Not another thin Dime’ to club or the body within which it plays.

     

     

    Lwords & GGW.

  8. minx1888

     

     

    14:27 on 14 June, 2013

     

     

    You are definitely a Lady and a very courteous one. A right rebellious wan as well. ;))

  9. BMCUW @ 14:31,

     

     

    Sounds good, I’m not sure how we are getting up there yet, we have a few options from Wycombe, but normally we just take the train-up to Marylebone, so we won’t be a million miles from Euston.

     

     

    It will be good to catch up, I will keep you posted.

     

     

    Hail! Hail!

  10. When you consider the amount of resources the polis used on the green brigade only, 40 arrests seems like a joke, was that my tax money they were wasting

  11. Awe_Naw_No_Annoni_Oan_Anaw_Noo

     

    14:30 on

     

    14 June, 2013

     

     

    Spot on mate.

     

     

     

    Top QC Paul McBride ‘killed’ according to Sports pundit slip up, BBC edits out remark as questions remain over loss of brilliant legal mind

     

    McBride killed in Pakistan ? BBC Scotland edits out claim of Sports pundit. An interview on BBC radio’s Sportsound programme with the host of Celtic Quick News heard a claim from BBC Sports pundit Chic Young that Paul McBride was “tragically killed” on a trip to Pakistan in March of this year. The words spoken by Mr Young on the live broadcast have since been edited out by the BBC who uploaded a ‘podcast’ of the interview to their own website. It has previously been claimed Mr McBride was on a trip to Pakistan with lawyer Aamer Anwar to visit a wedding. However, it transpired Mr McBride was in Pakistan to consult with a client “Imran Immy Hussain” who stands accused of defrauding the UK Government of THREE HUNDRED MILLION POUNDS in a VAT carousel fraud which is now likely never to reach UK courts.

     

     

    Since the tragic news of Mr McBride’s death was reported back in March, there have been increasing suspicions over events surrounding the case and the varying explanations & inconsistencies which have sprung up since his body was discovered in a ‘locked’ hotel room, initially reported by SLR HERE

     

     

    A private recording of the interview, in which Mr Young speaks the words “tragically killed” corrected to “died”, can be found online here : http://soundcloud.com/jinkylarsson/paul-from-cqn-on-rs where at about 6 minutes & 7 seconds into the interview, the now edited remarks can be heard. The BBC’s edited version of the conversation which has removed the word “killed” can be downloaded or listened to on the BBC’s own website here : http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/scotfoot

     

     

    Whether the live on-air incident related purely to a slip of the tongue by Mr Young, or a personal belief there is more to the highly questionable death of what was perhaps Scotland’s brightest member of our legal community, BBC Scotland have offered no explanation as to why the word “killed” was edited out of the recording of the broadcast.

     

     

    Scottish Law Reporter has since learned a complaint has been filed with the BBC about the editing out of the remark made by Mr Young, given nature of Mr McBride’s death and the reluctance of anyone in authority in Scotland to order a proper inquiry into what occurred in that hotel room in Pakistan.

  12. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on

    AWE NAW. 1430

     

     

    Never really been a fan of conspiracy theories,tbh.

     

     

    Also never been big on coincidences either.

     

     

    His death was a tragedy for all who knew him.

     

     

    Whether it was timely for those he crossed is beyond dispute.

     

     

    But there is no benefit from speculation,only pain for those who held him dear.

     

     

    Allow all involved the peace they deserve-please….

  13. Voguepunter

     

     

    Right ma pal see how you asked me to get yer book signed last night by the great Mr Wallace through in Greenock???

     

     

    Well it’s like this ye see, the great Wullie isnae so good at hearing these days, and with my softly spoken tones and the noise from the bar there’s been a wee bitty of a mishap with the signing ol pal.

     

     

    Aw ra bset BOABpunter from HT :-)

  14. I’ve watched the first 2 series of Breaking Bad.

     

     

    I’m not being a contrarian for the sake of it but I’m very underwhelmed considering the hype attached.

     

     

    Much of it, especially regarding Skyler, is like a standard soap.

     

     

    A lot of it is very predictable e.g. Jessie getting together with his landlady.

     

     

    It’s racist – Hispanics are almost exclusively bad guys.

     

     

    It glamorises drug taking.

     

     

    It makes a hero out of Walt who is really spreading misery amongst the USA’s meth addicts.

     

     

    I could go on.

     

     

    Watchable but not much more.

  15. Awe_Naw_No_Annoni_Oan_Anaw_Noo on

    Hen1rik

     

     

    First class post.

     

     

    I HAVE not hoven Celtic plc money directly for over three years. I continue with my charitable contributions but now tepel strongly about encouraging children to get involved with the sport of football. It does not sit right with me. I refuse the temporary frontal labotomy required to follow it.

     

     

    I refuse the offer of UEFA tickets for internationals. This year was my first year watching only Celtic in the CL and the final. I never watched another game in the competition.

     

     

    I love the game but I think I have now chucked it.

     

     

    I am only interested in this narrative and have protected my bhoy from becoming a fanatic.

     

     

    HH

  16. Was it Nelson who stood on the poop deck of HMS Victory, held the spy glass to his glass eye and announced,

     

     

    “I see no lady!!!!”

  17. Awe_Naw_No_Annoni_Oan_Anaw_Noo on

    Hoven=given

     

     

    Predictive text on an ICE train. Nightmare

     

     

    HH

  18. Scottish Law Reporter

     

    Reporting on news & issues of Justice, Law & Politics, from Scotland.

     

    Friday, April 13, 2012

     

     

     

    DEADLY DEAL : Secret negotiations involving Lord Advocate on £300 Million tax dodge case led to ‘questionable’ death of QC Paul McBride in Pakistan

     

    A client too far : Secret deals over tax fraud case led to death of Paul McBride. SECRET NEGOTIATIONS between the highest ranking staff at Scotland’s Crown Office including the Lord Advocate, various Police forces, & Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in attempts to bring back to Scotland Imran “Immy” Hussain, 34 originally from Glasgow, who has been on the run from UK tax authorities for SIX YEARS after being accused of a THREE HUNDRED MILLION POUND TAX FRAUD, led to the untimely, and now increasingly questionable circumstances surrounding the death in a Pakistan hotel room of one of Scotland’s most celebrated lawyers, the late Paul McBride QC, who travelled to Pakistan with solicitor Aamer Anwar to meet Mr Hussain.

     

     

    The Sunday Mail newspaper reported earlier this week “McBride told a friend that he was going to Lahore to meet a wealthy client wanted for a major fraud in the UK. Legal sources and friends of the lawyer, who was found dead in his room at the Pearl Continental Hotel, believe he met Hussain. McBride travelled to Pakistan with solicitor Aamer Anwar, 44, who said the lawyers attended a wedding during their stay.”

     

     

    The late Mr McBride was to have represented Imran Hussain in any prosecution to take place in Scotland, however it has transpired the negotiations between McBride, who apparently “had authority from the Crown Office to deal on the case” did not play well into Mr Hussain’s wishes, who instead prefers to pay large fines rather than be sentenced to a lengthy stay in jail.

     

     

    A legal insider who claims to know of the discussions said he believed parties within the negotiations had “got lippy over what was on offer and things did not go well from then on in”. Mr McBride was later found dead in his hotel room, the cause of which has not been accepted (at least in private) by some of his colleagues and legal observers.

     

     

    A source has since come forward claiming he has copies of emails identifying a political dimension to the story, alleging an msp from [a party] was involved in some aspects of the negotiations. The source also suggested donations may have been made to the msp’s party, “depending on a result in the case had things gone better”. It has also been alleged the Scottish Government’s Justice Department “at it’s highest level” knew of the discussions between the late Mr McBride and the accused tax fraudster.

     

     

    However, the Crown Office record on complicated fraud charges is poor, so poor one senior advocate has told Scottish Law Reporter he is “prepared to place a bet the Crown Office would rather make an offer in return for a guilty plea”. The advocate went onto claim he had heard papers relating to the Crown Office discussions with McBride had been destroyed after Mr McBride’s death, for fear of the material leaking to the media.

     

     

    Was this case and the secret negotiations worth the life of Paul McBride QC ? Scottish Law Reporter thinks not.

     

     

    The Sunday Mail reports :

     

     

    DEAL ME IM : £300m tax dodge fugitive launches bid to return to Scotland

     

     

    Apr 8 2012 Exclusive by Derek Alexander

     

     

    SCOTLAND’S wealthiest fraud suspect is trying to strike a deal to return from Pakistan but keep his cash, we can reveal. Imran “Immy” Hussain, 34, has been on the run from HMRC investigators for six years over a VAT scam in which he allegedly stole £300million from UK taxpayers. It is understood that top QC Paul McBride, 47, met fugitive Hussain during the trip to Pakistan where he died last month.

     

     

    Former sunbed shop boss Hussain has been in Pakistan since being forced out of the millionaires’ playground of Dubai. But associates have revealed that playboy Hussain is desperate to return to his home city of Glasgow to see his friends and family.

     

     

    One source said: “He has everything he could wish for in Pakistan but it’s not home. “He has effectively been on the run since the end of 2006 and it’s time to come back but he will only do so if he can get the right deal. “He wants to come home – but not to spend 20 years in a cell. “His preferred outcome would be to hand over a large amount of his money and do a light sentence – that way, the authorities could say justice has been done and point to the cash seizure as a success.”

     

     

    McBride told a friend that he was going to Lahore to meet a wealthy client wanted for a major fraud in the UK. Legal sources and friends of the lawyer, who was found dead in his room at the Pearl Continental Hotel, believe he met Hussain. McBride travelled to Pakistan with solicitor Aamer Anwar, 44, who said the lawyers attended a wedding during their stay.

     

     

    Hussain had been living the high-life in Dubai, where he owned two luxury houses, a fleet of cars and a yacht. He also travelled to Europe by private jet. He spent fortunes on wild parties and thought nothing of buying Rolex watches for his pals. But he was forced to leave the desert kingdom when HMRC investigators were sent to track him down.

     

     

    Hussain, from Newton Mearns, Glasgow, had already been in contact with HMRC about a possible deal. Sources have described communication between Hussain and HMRC as “very sensitive”. One legal source said: “Paul was in Pakistan in his professional capacity as an advocate. “He was there to meet a Scottish Asian who is wanted for VAT fraud and wants to come back to Scotland. “His contacts at the Crown Office were at the highest level and he operated and negotiated at such a level.”

     

     

    Another associate of Hussain said: “Things got a lot more difficult for him when he had to leave Dubai. He realised that HMRC weren’t going to give up on him and he has now been in Pakistan for the last couple of years.”

     

     

    Hussain is suspected of heading a Europe-wide operation who set up hundreds of bogus firms linked to VAT fraud, also known as carousel fraud. Gangs claim back VAT on goods they say were imported and then exported. But the goods – usually small but high-value items such as computer chips and mobile phones – never existed.

     

     

    Huge bill for the carousel fraud gangs

     

     

    Britain’s carousel fraudsters cost taxpayers £3.5billion a year at the height of their operations. That was how much the gangs – most of them based in Glasgow – stole in the import-export scam. The crooks claimed to bring in high-value small goods such as mobile phones or computer chips VAT-free from the EU. A VAT-registered firm would then “sell” the items in the UK to a criminal associate and add 20 per cent VAT. The items are then re-exported and re-imported, with the conmen able to continually claim multiple VAT rebates on goods that don’t exist.

     

     

    Britain suffered its worst year at the hands of the fraudsters in 2006, losing £3.5billion. David Odd, of HMRC, last year said the figure had been reduced to between £500million and £1billion annually. This was largely due to an extended verification programme which postponed VAT repayment claims. Several hundred officers were also deployed to investigate traders who dealt in mobiles and computer chips and had a huge turnover in a short time.

     

     

    http://scottishlaw.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/deadly-deal-secret-negotiations.html?m=1

     

     

    Click link if anyone interested in reading comments…

  19. Awe_Naw_No_Annoni_Oan_Anaw_Noo

     

     

    14:30 on 14 June, 2013

     

    ___________________

     

    Neil was Mr Unbreakable when PM QC was by his side…..now Neil imo…falls down almost all of the trap doors placed in front of him by the establishment.

     

     

    Oor Neil’s too clever for that…int he ?

     

    HH

  20. Anyone on twitter follow the gentleman that wrote that post @LWordsmith…

     

     

    He emailed me yesterday and i asked him today if i could post it on here..

     

     

    Top class post from him….

  21. BMCUW,

     

    There’s also the possibility that the same loved ones have similar misgivings but are afraid to speak out.

  22. Lhads,

     

     

    when it comes to this “same club/newclub” debate, we need to be careful not to restrict the terms of reference of the debate to how the football authorities treat “sevco”.

     

     

    The football authorities, surprise surprise, will tie themselves in knots, by an application of administrative hystrionics so divorced from commercial reality as to border on the hysterical, in order to maintain the “same club” narrative. There is commercial motivation for them to do so.

     

     

    I have seen alot of mentioning of the SFA’s transfer of membership as being an important part of the debate, perhaps even determinative of the issue; the fact is that it is a new entity which has the membership. Otherwise how can membership transfer? The only way that this issue can be concluded as determinative of the “same club” argument is if one accepts a club is, in its totality, defined by its SFA membership.

     

     

    Personally, I have always seen Celtic as a club which does alot more besides hold an SFA membership. I have certainly never considered membership of the SFA as a sine qua non of Celtic’s continuing existence. For heaven’s sake, we have spent the better part of 15 years trying to leave behind our SFA membership in favour of pastures new!

     

     

    The truth is they must come to the same conclusion when it comes to the Sevco membership transfer. The SFA may well regard Sevco as a sporting continuation of Rangers, but take a step back and ask yourself just how commercially sensible that sounds. If the “new club” position, based entirely on the membership point, is taken to its logical conclusion, it must mean that sporting history is a matter entirely removed from commercial performance. The “company” that supposedly owned and operated Rangers did things like operating bank accounts, owning property, having employees, selling tickets, merchandise and catering, generating commercial revenues, producing accounts, having a share price, carrying debt. All of these things, cummulatively, have in effect nothing to do with sporting performance if one is to take its natural conclusion the argument that membership of the SFA is determinative of the “new club” debate.

     

     

    Common sense tells us that that is nonsense. It is a farce. Commercial performance is the main reason why Celtic are better than St Mirren, and why Barcelona are better than Celtic. The fact of the intimate relation between commercial performance and sporting performance is so obvious that it barely needs to be stated.

     

     

    Let them weave a cloak from invisible administrative hystrionics for their new Emperor all they like; they know, we know, and we know that they know. The Emperor has no clothes. Sevco is a new club

  23. South Of Tunis on

    AWE NAW @ 14 08 .

     

     

    Couldn’t escape the publicity this winter re AC Milan’s Charity celebrating a decade of existence and the raising of 8 million euros for charity. .

     

     

    I have failed to find anything on line which suggests that the AC Milan Charity received anything from the Charity game in question..

  24. Awe Naw…

     

    _________

     

    Do you think we might be entering the realms of – Pat Finucane territory ?

     

    Apologies to anyone offended – that’s not the intention.

     

    HH

  25. Awe_Naw_No_Annoni_Oan_Anaw_Noo on

    Kevjungle

     

     

    I think Neil knows the narrative and is willing to play the patsy when needed. I also think he is very intelligent and very well informed.

     

     

    He is representing us showing them we are not intimidated and we will see this through. His football know how imho is secondary to his unintimidated role at this juncture.

     

     

    Thankfully he is getting better at that too.

     

     

    He is representing us well.

     

     

    HH