There should be no surprise that Vakoun Issouf Bayo was omitted from Celtic’s Europa League squad. He has not played for over two months and will be well short of fitness when Valencia arrive in Glasgow. Even when he is fit enough to play, expectations should be tempered while he adjusts to live in Scotland.
It is more important that Jeremy Toljan is fit. For that, Brendan Rodgers will be grateful for games this week against Hibernian and (of course) St Johnstone.
I hoped we would see Leigh Griffiths back by now, only a few days short of also not playing for two months. Leigh has trained alone throughout this period, but will be well short of match fitness when he returns to the first team squad.
Valencia loom on the near horizon, but this week has a pivotal feel to it. Two home wins on those games against Hibs and St Johnstone will see us with at least a six point lead in the league and a place in the Scottish Cup quarter final. Valencia has the glamour and the money, but I could make a case that the other two games are more important.
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Tin Hat in place…
I don’t know Jermain Defoe.
I know that he’s a great football player that I would have been happy to see in a Celtic shirt.
I know that he’s had tragedies in his own personal life to contend with – such as the murder of his brother in East London.
I know that he keeps himself fit & normally off the front pages of the tabloids.
I know that when he played for Sunderland he had no hesitation in immersing himself completely into the world of a terminally ill Sunderland supporting wee boy called Bradley Lowery & wept openly at his funeral.
I know that he is a practising Roman Catholic & that he had to disguise his act of blessing himself when he stepped onto the field in a Newco top for the first time. The video is out there.
I know that he fell to one knee when Paul McGinn’s knee connected with his knee as he ran past him inside the box. But I also know that he instantly got up to carry on playing & did not appeal for any decision from Dallas. There was contact as a tabloid has piublished the photo.
Other than signing for them, he’s not done too much wrong that I can see – just my opinion.
Steve Clarke didn’t name the player he thought was in the same category as Jordan Jones, but since Defoe was apparently referred by the Compliance Officer everyone assumes it was Defoe.
To my mind he was referring to Candeis & their last penalty. Candeis has previous for diving & a close examination if “his” penalty shows that he dived. He also contrived the offending contact with the St Mirren player – he engineered the leg tangling just like so many players now do: throw your legs out towards where you know the defender is or will be – then fall.
Professional players are contributing to the current controversies about referees – the usual suspects are at it every week but get away with it. No one wants to call them out. Jones is one such player so we’ll see how Gerrard’s position moves when he’s at Newco next August. Clarke was right to call it out. Gerrard knows this & he knows that Clarke also called out a Celtic player during his reasonable comments about the awful standard of refereeing in Scotland.
The culprits in “4 pens in one game” were some Rangers players & the officials. Gerrard could have supported Steve Clarke, especially since he himself has moaned about them this season. Gerrard is a ned, thinks like a ned & often acts like a ned.
Tommy Boyd came out in support of Clarke, as did Steve Conroy but since everyone is watching to see what the establishment club does – it’ll just drift away on the breeze. That club make it personal to them and not to the generality of football teams. That speaks to their own agenda & their own mindset. The rest of us will have to plough on without them. As much as we all know that Tom Boyd is reflecting the views of Celtic when he speaks this way, it is an indictment of the game in Scotland & how tribal it is – that no club has publicly come out to say what we all know needs to be discussed & changed.
Increasingly, it looks like Clare Whyte is a patsy. Referring players should be done carefully and with reasonable grounds. Her record is not good so far & some faces in FootballScotia are turnignagainst her. I doubt that she will be in post in 12 months.
HH to all & have great rest of the day.
The issue being s
Where’s Milne’s take on the meeting he demanded ?.
Gutless.
Lá breithe shona duit BP. ?
A proper Celtic gentleman and a scholar.
HH. ?
Jermain Defoe is a zombie. ?♂️
Hey B.P.
Happy Birthday.
I hope you’re having a blast.
Hail Hail
16 ROADS AND JIMMYNOTPAUL, thanks ghuys, getting a wee bit tipsy now.hh.??
Steve Clark initial comments were on how his team were refereed on Friday night, and decisions against Kilmarnock
Which team benefitted From those refereeing decions on Fri night ?
Steve Clarke knows exactly what is going on, and letting FtSFA know that he knows
There was an earlier post, commenting that FtSPFL, run by Doncaster and his member clubs, should request referees from the Professional Organisation of Referees. – to referee games in FtSPFL games
Great idea
Let FtSFA provide it referees to the rest of Scottish football and see if any of them can make the professional referee grade and the big bucks ( not that £880 a game as presently paid is not big enough bucks for them)
Hail Hail
I’m not sure it’s realistic to expect CFC to man the barricades over every injustice. For a start the MSM has no appetite for discrimination stories which focus on Celtic. Secondly, the 1999 ‘league decider’ was an object lesson in what you can expect – a bigot referee transformed overnight into a national hero and Celtic’s own investigation treated with derision.
My own feeling is that we should go after the ‘knowns’ which are generally unknown to the wider public. We should hammer home the sinister influence secret societies exert on the national game. Personally, I don’t think that would be too difficult.
We could also raise the possibility that secret society membership may be a factor in decisions such as penalty awards, dismissals, sporting preferences of match officials and, just as importantly, of SFA officers.
It would be against human nature if membership didn’t influence decisions.
As much as I want Sevco to lose every game they play, I would take a Celtic victory against them in the Scottish Cup Final at the end of May to clinch the treble treble.
I would even take Kilmarnock above Aberdeen for second and third place in the league.
If you can’t day dream on a Tuesday night…
Absolutely loved how Celtic let Aberdeen win the last game of last season.
Even though I suspect it might not have been intentional, you can’t imagine the pleasure I took from advising “disgruntled” Sevco supporters, “Why wouldn’t they let Aberdeen win? You’re talking about the most despised, hated team in the country getting pushed down to third.”
I enjoyed that night.
HOT SMOKED on 5TH FEBRUARY 2019 10:33 AM
I had a bottle of 19 Crimes, The Uprising, Red wine on Saturday and enjoyed it so much, I had a little look on Google. This made me smile:
” Story behind the label: A Fenian Exile from Skibbereen Ireland who took a prominent part in the Fenian movement from its very infancy. Arrested in 1864, found guilty and sentenced to ten years’ penal servitude.”
The history adds to the taste !
JJ
***********
Bought a bottle this afternoon on your recommendation to celebrate the passing of one of our ancient Shetland ponies, Annabelle. Didn’t disappoint and, as you say, the history definitely adds to the taste! Uprising and Uplifting.
HH Annabelle CSC
FOOL TIME WHISTLE @ 4:07 PM & 7:45 PM,
Well, yes, you must say getting crucial decisions wrong is not good, if those decisions change match results the impact is forty fold!!
Still, rugby referees have a completely different attitude to Scottish Football refs and they get the respect from players because of this. His mea culpa would be the norm…
Twas comparing that to Scottish Football refs. They are totally unaccountable for their actions, they feel they should be beyond criticism, many legitimate questions when raised are dealt with by contempt, censure or even punishment.
Steve Clarke has said what he’s said with a suspended two match suspension over his head. No doubt there to shut him up… didn’t work:))
Your post is excellent and logical, Defoe is a professional. However he’s there to win set plays and penalties as well as take Sevco Rangers’ goal chances.
The disrespect Steven Gerrard has shown since coming to Scotland is breath taking, he would never get away with it if he was with any other Club. To call out Steve Clarke’s reasoned protestations is, in this regard, quite despicable.
Hail Hail
NORRIEM @ 8:39 PM,
Quite, Steve Clarke is not about to have the excellent work he’s doing at Kilmarnock be jeopardised just because he’s not allowed to finish above Steven Gerrard’s Sevco Rangers.
Fair play to him… literally…
Hail Hail
I just watched that documentary about the Masonic refs in case you wondered what brought the last few posts on.
FRITZONG,
If you had the bones of that documentary taken out and reframed, removing all the emotional stuff about Celtic, related in a non Glasgow, accent, (Sorry, but most people can’t help their ingrained prejudice against folks from outside their own parish), then republish it on as many media platforms as possible – then that would make a huge start.
Big Packy
????
Scaniel and JJ,
I got as far as researching the wine….
19 Crimes…
Can be bought it in its variations in most supermarkets…
I think The Uprising is one of them.
I’ll be on the lookout next time on a supermarket. Not just for the making a statement intent…. I noticed some of them get matured in old rum casks. That’s worth a go on its own account.
On Friday, 04 January 2019 Celtic released a statement asking that Beaton be allowed to explain his decisions.
The next day, Saturday, 05 January 2019 the SFA issued a statement stating that “in the last 24 hours, we learned of one of our match officials having had threats made against him and his family”.
The story was broken by Andy Newport of the Press Association.
“We are trusted because we are fast, fair and accurate” – PA website.
On the same day – Saturday, 05 January 2019 – John Beaton was given a police escort to Ayr.
A very busy 24 hours indeed.
Tumbleweed ……..
31 DAYS LATER, there have been no updates from Police Scotland. There are no reported suspects and there have been no arrests.
PA have not broken any new exclusives.
John Beaton is currently employed as Media Relations Manager at Scotrail Alliance.
Rumours that Beaton and Newport went to school together are unconfirmed.
JJ
I don’t suppose you have any of that case of Coto De Imaz vino you bought, worth a few bob now, nearly 35 euros in the supermarket the other day ;-)
Aldi do a wine that is worth investing in, not for the money but for the wine itself, it’s called Epulum, it’s a Rioja, they do different coloured labels, it’s cheap and it keeps for years, the bottom of the range keeps for 5-10 years and the top keeps for 10-20 years, I had a bottle of the cheap one at the weekend, I bought it eight years ago and it was exquisite.
Currently on my way north…and in the old house.
Drinking botanical gin – with a dash of blackcurrant cordial.
It’s all the bairns left me from new year here unsupervised.
To be honest, they don’t drink whisky. It would have been all the, “Why’ s yer faither no here?” guests….
NORRIEM, cheers once again, so many of you ghuys taking the time to wish me happy birthday is really humbling, ive just drunk 6 bottles of peroni lager, so I might be on soon to bore you to death.hh.
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL,
You’re on the nail with that one…
Serious offence committed.
No updates?
Either an update….
.. or a confirmation of another Masonic red herring.
Where are the journalists?
Anthony Ralston involved in a car crash near Lennoxtown this afternoon ,not badly injured seemingly
It goes against the grain , but maybe it is time for Celtic players to adopt the game in game out tactic of Rangers players in intimidating the ref.
To wit , surround the ref. with an aggressive display of inyerface fury.
It sure works for them .
Mind you , would the refs be as tolerant of us as we are of them ?
Was it Boughera who pulled down Thompson`s card holding hand ?
Outrageous , but he got away with it .
CHAIRBHOY on 5TH FEBRUARY 2019 8:52 PM
FOOL TIME WHISTLE @ 4:07 PM & 7:45 PM,
Well, yes, you must say getting crucial decisions wrong is not good, if those decisions change match results the impact is forty fold!!
What makes you think they got them wrong?
Outcome is often beneficial to the best wee countries favored team.
SCULLYBHOY on 5TH FEBRUARY 2019 5:21 PM
https://celtsarehere.com/major-champions-league-shake-up-set-to-be-announced-reports/
*This rule was introduce initially in the ECWC to deter “parking the bus” in away games, it worked well at first.
It was then brought tae the Big Cup the following season but only as far as the semis. The day after the Wispy show when we beat Dukla 3-1 a young Vale of Leven Academy FP engineer had a go at me saying Dukla just need tae score 2 at home and we’re oot. Not so said I and reminded him of the ruling, his face drapped.
By the time Lisbon came roon I couldnae gloat as he’d got the sugar lump, a maisonette, which is still there incidentally, which he laid out was off square (nae pun intended). A wee Celtic supporting apprentice brickie, along with a couple of Tim joiners, noticed it as he was building a fire wall to separate occupancy from storage rooms and they were laying a floor in the former.
I heard about that a few hours ago, it’s just around the corner from me, but chose not to say anything, until details were made public .
The road is still closed so likely was a bad accident
trust the daily rainjurz to fly out with it.
HH
Thomson knew Boogie was just trying to deliver a masonic handshake so just felt the love,
ASUPPORTERWHOGOTLUCKY- ditto mate,rags say he’s ok,not sure if anyone else involved
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/13040832
Macjay. 9.47 pm
I think the ref was Callum Murray.
I was at the game, we mollicated them . Whitaker was sent off , then came the Boughera incident. I couldn’t believe my eyes. He lost the plot, physically grabbed and held the referees arm .
When he appeared in front of the beaks at Hampden, NO punishment, just a reprimand, as Callum Murray stated he felt no personal threat !!!
I can honestly say that, that incident and the resulting hearing and verdict go down as one of the biggest mis carriages of justice witnessed in Scottish football.
I’ve yet to see anything remotely like it , in other countries, that doesn’t result in a hefty ban / suspension / and fine . It stunk then & still does
!!BADA BING!! on 5TH FEBRUARY 2019 9:46 PM
Anthony Ralston involved in a car crash near Lennoxtown this afternoon ,not badly injured seemingly
——–
I’ve seen the other car, it’s horrific and no chance the driver survived.
Tontine Tim on 5th February 2019 9:48 pm
SCULLYBHOY on 5TH FEBRUARY 2019 5:21 PM
https://celtsarehere.com/major-champions-league-shake-up-set-to-be-announced-reports/
*This rule was introduce initially in the ECWC to deter “parking the bus” in away games, it worked well at first.
It was then brought tae the Big Cup the following season but only as far as the semis. The day after the Wispy show when we beat Dukla 3-1 a young Vale of Leven Academy FP engineer had a go at me saying Dukla just need tae score 2 at home and we’re oot. Not so said I and reminded him of the ruling, his face drapped.
By the time Lisbon came roon I couldnae gloat as he’d got the sugar lump, a maisonette, which is still there incidentally, which he laid out was off square (nae pun intended). A wee Celtic supporting apprentice brickie, along with a couple of Tim joiners, noticed it as he was building a fire wall to separate occupancy from storage rooms and they were laying a floor in the former.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Glentoran drew 1 – 1 with Benfica at the Oval in 1967, after a 0 – 0 in Lisbon. Benfica went on to lose the final to Man.Ure. I was at the game – in those days some Catholics did watch the Glens.
AG- remember Myth said when Bougherra and Spit the Dog,went to Hampden, ‘i hope they’re sensible, we’ve got asmall squad..’
The Glens manager was an ex-Celt.
AG, Bada
They didn’t even serve a suspension.
Both thugs transferred in summer 2011.
Was going to respond to Macjay’s post about cheating … but, after reading the comments about the AR accident, I will simply say that I hope everyone is okay.
Everything else can wait another day.