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.
180 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- »
Bed time.
Quick Q before I go.
If you were 20 months into a 36 month contract worth £65k per month and your club wanted to terminate …
How many months pay off would you want?
My guess (no intel) is Carlos has just “walked away” with close to a cool half million of the mugs’ money.
Good night and hail hail.
similar to mike in Toronto, was going to post a piece of trivia but it can wait till another day, pray everyone is ok.hh,
The only guy who got banned after Salmonds ‘shame game ‘,was Neil Lennon…..
SCULLYBHOY on 5TH FEBRUARY 2019 10:10 PM
Tontine Tim on 5th February 2019 9:48 pm
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.
*I know a lad that sat on the bench for the Glens that night, very pally with a couple of Tims, both RIP, I knew.
FOOL TIME WHISTLE on 5TH FEBRUARY 2019 7:45 PM
Gotta love a voice of reason.
Power to your pen. HH
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL on 5TH FEBRUARY 2019 10:13 PM
AG, Bada They didn’t even serve a suspension. Both thugs transferred in summer 2011.
*they left hunden laughing along with the cheeky chappy, sleekit effer.
ANGELGABRIEL on 5TH FEBRUARY 2019 10:07 PM
Thanks for the correction re. Murray.
Like you , I found it incomprehensible that Boughera got off virtually scot free.
Just underlined what we all know . That they ARE the people. And continue to be so .
Couldn’t believe Paul 67 header yesterday claiming a reduction of standards.
If only that’s what we’re dealing with then the problem would be easily fixed.
What we have in Scotland is a handicap system against Celtic.
We must have a title race, we must have Celtic challenged.
What we’re seeing is that our refs have the job of engineering such title race.
The only doubt in my mind is where the motivation comes from, is it money (I notice they sold the rights for our league’s games) or is it bigotry, i think its both.
Anyway don’t take Sid of CQNs view of it take SFA president and Masonic lodge member Alan McRae. I think theirs a photo of our president with none other than SKYs Kris Boyd with Masonic handshake and all doing the rounds , enough to give you the dry book.
SFA president Alan McRae reckons it will be a ‘very boring and dreary’ season in Scottish football if Invincible Treble winners Celtic aren’t challenged.
And McRae would welcome the return of a ‘good, strong Rangers’ to see questions asked of the all-conquering Hoops.
Alan McRae hopes Rangers give Celtic a fight next season
The Hampden chief has been as impressed as anyone by the way Brendan Rodgers quickly improved Celtic’s fortunes on the pitch.
A 30-point gap separated them from second-placed Aberdeen, with Gers a further nine points adrift.
While Celtic fans will understandably continue to lap up their stranglehold on the domestic scene, McRae believes competition would help the game in general and he hopes to see someone step up next term.
He said: “It’s difficult for the other clubs to compete with Celtic because at the moment they’re flying high.
“It was a fantastic achievement to come through both cups and the league being undefeated, especially on the 50th anniversary of the Lisbon Lions. It is quite amazing what’s happened.
“They have done it once. Hopefully it won’t happen again next season because we’ve got to have competition. They know you need to have people challenging. Otherwise it will get very boring and dreary.”
Aberdeen have been the clear best of the rest in recent seasons and the likes of Hearts, Hibs and St Johnstone will all hope to have a say when the various medals are dished out.
But Gers’ resources mark them out as the team naturally best placed to at least claw their way closer to Celtic.
McRae knows they still have a lot of work to do, despite Pedro Caixinha bringing in a raft of summer signings.
But he hopes they, and the other teams around them, can make the top flight a little less predictable.
He said: “We definitely need a good, strong Rangers. They are back, but they still have a bit to go.”
SID on 5TH FEBRUARY 2019 10:43 PM
Hopefully it won’t happen again next season
That particular phrase caught my attention . McCrae is a crafty wee member of the craft and knows full well he (they) can’t simply rely on hope.
That is why we are now seeing a plan of action being implemented by the SFA and their agents with whistles.
SID on 5TH FEBRUARY 2019 10:43 PM
Amazing piece of mind boggling stupidity on the part of Mc Rae.
As president of the SFA is he not supposed to be neutral or to at least give the public appearance of neutrality ?
No wonder his minions in the refereeing fraternity try to please their master .
Presumably this was at the end of Brendan`s first season .
The Record.
Celtic defender Anthony Ralston has been involved in a car crash close to the club’s Lennoxtown training ground.
The accident happened near the village of Milton of Campsie on Tuesday afternoon.
The defender, 20, who broke into the first team ahead of last season’s Champions League clash with Paris Saint-Germain, was not injured in the crash.
A club source said: “He was not injured. Thankfully he did not need to go to hospital.”
The accident closed the A891 at Milton of Campsie at 2.45pm, a mile from Celtic ’s Lennoxtown training base.
East Dunbartonshire Council tweeted details of the accident, saying: “Police Scotland has closed the A891 from Scott Avenue, Milton of Campsie, through to the A803 Kilsyth Road between Kirkintilloch and Kilsyth due to a traffic collision. Traffic will be required to go to Milton of Campsie via Kirkintilloch.”
One fan spoke on twitter of his hopes that Ralston was not hurt.
The fan tweeted: “Really bad accident in Milton of Campsie today about a mile and a half from Lennoxtown, spoke to a couple of people that seen the cars and said it was horrendous. Hope he wasn’t involved in that.
Wee bit long but I’ve been thinking about this for a while and even though I can recall some horrific officiating, even in reserve games, this season has far exceeded the cheating by a long shot especially the last 5 weeks, so here goes:
The Football League was created in 1888 by Aston Villa director William McGregor as a result of the support for professionalism.
The 12 founding members consisted of six from Lancashire (Blackburn Rovers, Burnley, Bolton Wanderers, Accrington, Everton and Preston North End) and six from the Midlands (Aston Villa, Derby County, Notts County, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers).
As a result of many Scottish players, known as the “Scotch Professors”, moving to the English league clubs to receive the relatively high salaries on offer prompted Scottish clubs into thinking about forming their own league.
In March 1890, the secretary of Renton, Peter Fairly, 2 years after being acclaimed World Champions having beat WBA 4-1 at Cathkin Park 9 days before we beat the kinning park side 5-2 in our opening game having borrowed 2 players James Kelly and Cornelius McCallum from the World Champion side, wrote to the thirteen other clubs inviting them to discuss the organisation of a league.
All of the clubs accepted the invitation, except Queen’s Park and Clyde although the latter would join a year later followed by the Spiders, whose nose was out of joint, 10 years after (sounds like a 70s group there).
Prior to this organised football in Scotland began in 1873 with the formation of the SFA. During the next 15 years or so challenge matches were arranged between clubs as well as cup games including the Scottish, Glasgow and Glasgow Merchants Charity Cups, the latter’s name being shortened tae the Charity Cup which was initially open tae all local clubs and not just those from the Dear Green Place.
NOTE BENE: ALL GAMES WERE PLAYED UNDER THE REGULATIONS OF THE SFA.
The Scottish Football League (SFL) was inaugurated on 30 April 1890 with future Celtic Vice-President and Chairman John H. McLaughlin (the Peter Lawwell of his day) on being recognised as one of the prime movers of the League head hunted by the management team; this included a certain baillie ure-primrose, as Secretary.
Scottish football was anti-Celtic, until 1920 at least, as a result of the hostility felt by the SFA on our involvement and running of the SFL, we as a “Johnny” or should I say “Seannie Come Lately” came to the forefront, at the request of the other clubs including a wee kinning park based one as a result of our board’s professional expertise, of the game.
The SFA, were allowed to retain its supremacy over football in Scotland including player registration, they are also responsible for appointing referees to matches in all senior competitions, Scottish Junior FA football and Scottish Women’s Football, keep this in mind.
Back to the english who started all this professionalism in the game. Despite significant European success in the 1970s and early 1980s, the late 1980s marked a low point for english football, stadiums were crumbling, supporters endured poor facilities, hooliganism was rife, and english clubs were banned from European competition for five years following Heysel.
The Football League First Division, the top level of english football since 1888, was behind leagues such as Serie A and La Liga in attendances and revenues, and several top english based players had moved abroad.
In 1990, the managing director of LWT, Greg Dyke, met with the representatives of the “big five” football clubs, Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham, Everton and Arsenal, over a dinner, the meeting was to pave the way for a break away from The Football League.
Dyke believed that it would be more lucrative for LWT if only the larger clubs in the country were featured on national television and wanted to establish whether the clubs would be interested in a larger share of television rights money.
The five clubs agreed with the suggestion and decided to press ahead with it; however, the league would have no credibility without the backing of the FA and so Dein of Arsenal held talks to see whether the FA were receptive to the idea.
The FA did not enjoy an amicable relationship with the Football League at the time and considered it as a way to weaken the Football League’s position. So 104 years after the formation of the EL on 20 February 1992 the EPL was formed.
The Premier League is now the most-watched sports league in the world, broadcast in 212 territories to 643 million homes and a potential TV audience of 4.7 billion people. Prior to that we all looked to the “continentals” for the best fitba,
With that came the professionalism of the referees who officiate matches that range from local football to Premier League matches. There are currently eleven different levels of referees that correspond to the ability, age and activity of the official, for a referee to move from one level to the next, both theoretical and physical assessments are taken.
The refs in the EPL and Championship are professional, the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) group officiate all these matches.
This association was originally formed to improve refereeing standards, they officiate across all the Premier League, English Football League (EFL) and Football Association (FA) Competitions, all three organisations fund it.
The training, development and mentoring of 110 referees and 175 assistant referees are run by Managing Director Mike Riley (a former PGMOL referee) and a team of managers and coaches.
Currently, PGMOL have 65 Select Group who are full-time professional match officials, these are broken down between Select Group 1 Referees, Select Group 1 Assistant Referees and Select Group 2 Referees.
Meanwhile, we up in Scotland have a racist, sectarian bigot who was kicked out of the national stadium still pulling the strings by virtue of dangling the UEFA carrot in front of the current officials no matter how poor they are. He should have been hunted fae Nyon as well but as I’ve previously said the tentacles of the ludge stretch far especially in calvinist Switzerland.
At one time there was hardly any of the big teams in England that didnae have at least one Scottish player in their side, Brendan’s oul team’s supporters still sing about King Kenny who has replaced another Scot Billy Liddell as their all time hero.
It should also be noted that 2 of the early UK based players to be transferred to Italy were Aberdeen born Denis Law and Liverpool born but Motherwell raised Joe Baker.
Although their time in Italy was mixed, Denis was voted number one foreign player ahead of teammate Joe, Fiorentina winger Kurt Hamrin (who starred for Sweden in the 1958 WC) and Inter Milan midfielder Luis Suarez (who was the world’s most expensive player when Barca sold him tae Inter and if the truth be told we were so glad he was injured and missed Lisbon).
Joe who was only 6 weeks old when the family moved back up the road was the first professional player to be capped for england while playing for a club outside the english football league system.
He was also the first player to play for england without having ever played for an english club, Calgary born Owen Hargreaves is the only other player to have done this.
Scottish players had a high pedigree and were well in demand down south, 8 of the illustrious Wembley Wizards played down there and one of the home based Scots Jimmy Dunne of the Hibbees via St Anthony’s would move tae the Toffees after this game.
We took the game around the world, Europe (Johnny Madden the father of Czech football) and South America (Gorbals born Alex Hutton is known as the father of Argentina football, incidentally the great grandmother of “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina fame Juan Peron was Ann Hughes Mackenzie).
When the US caused a major sensation by beating england, alf ramsey, billy wright and all, 1-0 in the 1950 WC their coach and captain were born in Edinburgh and Greenock respectively.
Look at Scotland now, we are the country who invented the modern world, where would we be without the young boy fae Greenock who watched the kettle boil on the hob, and yet we allow an antiquated boys club tae run/ruin our lives, a secret society that is failing elsewhere and now has an open door policy.
An organisation by virtue of its tangerine hue, © Big Nan onetime of this parish, has disparaged members of a 1.3 billion organisation to the detriment of the country. It was once said to me around 25 years ago that Scotland is the only 1st world country to become a 3rd world one after discovering oil.
We are also the laughing stock of the football world; the craft ruined the manufacturing, mining, construction and shipbuilding industries by their jobs for the boys’ policy and now our greatest gifts fitba and golf.
Let’s not forget that when dedico were kicked out of the game, oh yes they were, and allowed back in again as sevco one of their conditions was that only SPL refs officiate all their games even in the lower sectors.
It has been said on here fix the refs and that will fix the game, that’ll no happen with that cabal at hunden, just like the top clubs in england did we should remove all responsibility for the game from them, only then will the country and the game move on. We have the money, expertise and intellect to can do this.
Don’t forget that as I said the Scots invented the modern world but the Irish saved western civilisation and Celtic FC are a product of those once proud nations.
Sunderland series on Netflix is worth a watch…
CELTIC have been given an injury boost – with James Forrest set to avoid a long lay-off.
The Hoops winger pulled up with a hamstring problem against St Johnstone on Sunday.Search
Search The Sun
Close
Menu
Hide the menu
Sign in to The Sun
TOP STORIES
FOOTBALL
SPORT
TV & SHOWBIZ
NEWS
FABULOUS
RADIO
MONEY
MOTORS
TRAVEL
TECH
DEAR DEIDRE
PUZZLES
VOUCHERS
TOPICS A-Z
HAVE YOU GOT A STORY?
We pay for your stories and videos
Get in touch
Got a question?
Visit Help Hub
Get more from us at The Sun
Sign up
More from The Sun
THE SUN
THE IRISH SUN
DREAM TEAM
HOLS FROM £9.50
SUN FAVOURITE
SUN MOTORS
SUN BINGO
SUN GIFTS
SUN SAVERS
Services
Sign Up To The Sun
Terms and Conditions
Editorial Complaints
Clarifications and Corrections
Syndication
Advertising
Contact Us
Help Hub
Cookie Settings
News Corp
WSJ.com
New York Post
The Australian
News.com.au
Storyful
Harper Collins
Realtor.com
Hide the menu
RUN FORREST RUN Celtic star James Forrest set to avoid long injury lay-off after hamstring scare
The winger pulled up against St Johnstone at the weekend but scan results showed the injury is not as bad as first feared
By David Friel
5th February 2019, 9:31 pm
Updated: 5th February 2019, 11:41 pm
CELTIC have been given an injury boost – with James Forrest set to avoid a long lay-off.
The Hoops winger pulled up with a hamstring problem against St Johnstone on Sunday.
James Forrest’s injury isn’t as bad as first fearedALAMY LIVE NEWS
1
James Forrest’s injury isn’t as bad as first feared
But SunSport understands scan results showed the injury is not as bad as first feared.
Forrest hasn’t ruled out being available for next week’s Valencia Europa League match – if treatment goes to plan.
But Brendan Rodgers is unlikely to take any major risks with his fitness, given the winger’s previous history of muscle injuries.
Oops
TONTINE TIM on 5TH FEBRUARY 2019 11:25 PM
Lots of good stuff to be absorbed there.
My ould mum , maiden surname Murphy , used to say that her uncle had gone to Hungary to teach them how to play football.
I feel that Celtic would need the cooperation of other Clubs to make the changes you suggest.
Unless you could get the assistance of politicians.
And that would require them to make @ ” courageous ” decisions.
@ Yes Minister.
Tontine Tim
Robert Burns was a freemason. Tommy Burns wasn’t. Robert aspired to be a slave master. Tommy didn’t.
Big grudge match kicks off in half an hour.
Trump the tweet V Po faced Nancy ” cunctator ” Pelosi .
Good morning CQN from a damp and chilly Garngad
Right bring on the Hibees. My guess at an injury hit starting 11:
Bain
Toljan. Bitton Simo Izzy
Brown
Nitcham. Cal Mac
Burke. Sinclair
Weah
That’s if Boyatta doesn’t make it and Christie and Lustig are injured.
Subs:
CG
Bayo
Johnson
Don’t know who else is fit
D. :)
Tontine Tim – great read/post as usual sir.
Cap doffed. ??
D. :)
Good morning, mild, fresh, winters morning in the Chilterns…
A grand day for going top, top…
FAN-A-TIC @ 9:48 PM,
That particular quote was referring to Rugby Union and the fact that their referees are accountable and apologise for mistakes… your point is well taken though.
Scottish Football is officiated very differently…
Hail Hail
C`mon now Sheepies.
Not a lot to ask .
Send the blue huns homeward tae think again .
Brendan
BIG night for us. Hubs without Lennie. There for that taking . No mistakes now .
Tontine Tim
Thank you for that excellent post.
It is clear that the current governance of Scottish football is dominated by people who are addicted to anti Irish/Catholic behaviour. I use ‘Addiction’ deliberately- no reasoning or logic will sway their compulsion – public displays of bias, incompetence and downright hostility cannot erode their approach. Like an anorexic seeing a fat person in the mirror, they cannot acknowledge the issues or begin to address them.
They need to be removed from the equation. Our biggest problem is that many of our fellow Clubs, like Pilot Fish are wuitryhappy to live off the Shark.
morning bhoys from a chilly but sunny Cheshire,, tontine tim once again superb post.hh.
Good morning, friends, and Happy Matchday from a dry and fairly bright looking East Kilbride.
The US first shipment of humanitarian aid consisted of ?
Yep you got it in one – guns and bombs
Belated happy birthday to Big Packy 1. Late as usual
Superb post from The Tontine Tim
Socialism writ large.
This is the reality of socialism.
Supported by the CQN Stalinist clique.
Do they have any shame ?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6667889/Rich-Kids-Venezuela-including-Socialist-leader-Hugo-Chavezs-daughter-flaunt-wealth.html
Aye the mail, ha ha ha,
stalanist clique he he he ha ha ha seriously our resident white supremacist imperialist really believes he has an argument yet at every question he runs away.
TE
My Coto De Imaz has been well supped. :-))
Macjay
The rather obvious and quite ridiculous nature of that article does more for Canamalar`s argument than it does for yours !
Unfortunately ( or maybe not !) , I have to dash just now otherwise I would do a Practical Criticism of the peice to support my point. For the moment, I will just say that the word `rumoured ` used early in the piece sets the tone.
Incidentaly, although I don`t share your political views, I feel you come over as a bloke whose company I would enjoy. There are few quiet moment when Left Wing and Right Wing guys share a pint :-))
Cheerio for now,
JJ
Don’t fancy the sheep tonight.
Aberdeen have a Hun manager, a hun captain, in a game with a hun referee and the hun need to win.
Hope I’m 100% wrong but..
Looking forward to taking my seat in Paradise this evening.
Loads ‘n loads of layers.
Eurochamps67
`peice` ? Good heavens. maybe just as well I have to dash !!
JJ
For the reality of socialism read wikipedia’s history of Venezuala from 1999,
Raised living standards, education and pretty much destroyed poverty, sending humanitarian aid to the USA :)
All claims are covered in the citation section and all can be check, unlike anything our nazi supremacist offers as information. Propaganda sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Venezuela_(1999%E2%80%93present)
socialist cliques.
tinker, taylor, miner, manager.
https://michaelgreenwell.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/jock-stein.jpg
Canamalar/Macjay
Just received this from BMCUW. In a rush so I have only scanned it but it looks like the it does a good job highlighting the point I was making about the Daily Mail article (!).
Cheerio again !
JJ
http://www.brasilwire.com/if-uk-media-wrote-about-the-uk-like-it-does-latin-america/?fbclid=IwAR38vM0LJYgULPQM_pG7Z1wg_iL78Jr-cDTgIjK0aJTsWNUIqTyzxEeeugY
Tontine Tim
Thanks for your writing great reading for me,always an addition to my Celtic knowledge.
You mentioned the name Hutton and the impact of Scots in bringing the game to Argentina.
Tim Vickery,football reporter for beeb in South America often talks of their impact.he talks of “la scossesy “(phonetically said),the impact of the short burst of dribbling which went on to become maradona .he was saying it’s always been there since those early days. Talking of the hi tempo short interpassing game.
He talks of a lot of Argentine teams originated in the docks.the Scots,welsh,Italians Spanish.porteugese.all adding to them growing fast.
Hope yir well still laughin at Slippy broth mooth lol
HH
HOT SMOKED on 6TH FEBRUARY 2019 9:27 AM
No problems.
You express no criticism of Maduro`s ” government ” while the civilised world condemns it.
Why not ?
You seem to feel that this is about two CQN nonentities and ” winning ” an argument .
Not for me it isn`t ,
It`s about the disastrous plight of Venezuelans and the removal of the fascist who rules them .
That`s all .