At around 13:16 tomorrow afternoon Fraser Forster will hopefully break the 40-year record of Aberdeen’s Bobby Clark for not conceding a goal in Scottish league football. Clark’s record is next up for the Celtic keeper but the British and European records are not too far away.
Apart from Celtic Park itself there would be no better place to break this record than at Tynecastle, but the most important part of the day is to secure a win. Concede early but win the game and we have done our job. Break the record and leave pointless and we will have nothing to celebrate.
Clarity has never been a prominent feature when it comes to the analysis of football finances. 2012 threw up a slew of ‘experts’, practically all of whom swallowed lines from PR people instead of explaining HMRC’s published rules on voting for or against Company Voluntary Arrangements.
Journalists were briefed on HMRC’s intentions, which filtered to the ‘experts’, soon this PR version of events was accepted an a reality. The same was going on inside football. One journalist called me back then to dispute my challenge to his assertion that Celtic would have vote to allow Newco Rangers into the SPL, and that the SPL itself was absolutely certain to vote them “back” (sic.). Celtic were never going to that way and by then the SPL tide had turned.
It was not in Celtic’s interests to have Newco parachuted into top flight football, which has become clear in the subsequent years, although many in Scotland, including a sizeable chunk of the Celtic support, thought otherwise, and that the club would vote in favour.
It was, therefore, refreshing to watch BBC Reporting Scotland last night without the 2012 flops. A new expert was found to ask the pertinent question, a £1.5m loan is fine for a short-term fix but what about the enormous long-term problems?
Many thanks to everyone who participated in the CQteN Dream Team. We have now passed the 125 team target, which has triggered a £1000 donation from a longstanding CQN’er, who is a shining example of what Celtic is all about.
The Dream Team is your chance to select your team from those who have played 10 or more games during the CQN decade.
Select 11 players in either a 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 formation; you’ll need a goalkeeper, two full backs, two central defenders, 3 or 4 midfielders and 2 or 3 forwards. You also need to select a manager from the decade.
The team judged as the strongest will be announced at the CQteN St Patrick’s Dinner on 14 March. The event is open to bloggers and lurkers but you can only enter ONCE. Closing date is 3pm, Sunday 9 March. There will be prizes!!
For a comprehensive list of players who are eligible for selection, see CRC’s comment here. Email your entry to Doc here, and remember to include a manager: doccqten@gmail.com
If you would like to read the new CQN Magazine, GO HERE to read properly, and for FREE, the graphic below is just a taster.
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There are none so blind as those that cannot see, and applies to a number of Unionists on this site.
For the hundredth time independence is not about Salmond…or..,,SNP……
It is quite simply about independence.
Still awaiting an economic argument against Independence from a Unionist
am i looking to much into this
story on the ofeeshial site about the under 14s winning all 4 games in a tourney in blackburn
all good so far
but then the coach said he was particularly pleased with the win over liverpool, especially because of the pressure his team were put under at times because of liverpools ball retention
why cant our pups be taught ball retention. it manifests itself when we play in europe that our ball retention isnt great and causes us problems
if the young teams dont get taught it when they are still acne ridden and dont need to shave then they are unlikely ever to be able to play in that style once their stanes drap and voices break
Big cup winners
Do you have any examples of dirty deeds by the Modern SNP Party against Catholics? If you have please let us have them rather than by your inference.
Thanks in anticipation of receipt
hoopy-do
Fair comment.
Its however still good to learn how to play when the opposition are on top and not giving the ball away. Because in this match Liverpool had the ball in this match does not necessarily mean we can’t do it too.
Also, despite the ball retention, the ‘retainers’ lost!!!
Quonno
Thanks for posting the Jim Sillars film. On balance, I find it hard to disagree with him and most importantly he does not want the halfway house, mini uk as he calls the SNPs plan.
Fair pay to him and his principals in supporting full Indy with real power.
Anyhoo. Good news is I’ve managed to score a ticket to next Tuesdays game at Pitoddrie. Through on the Moray Emerald supporters bus so doubtless a few beers before the game.
HH
corkcelt, if you’re still around, I think there’s a decent chance that we could win the league on the night of CQTEN.
Motherwell
If Motherwell lose tonight (and they’re 1-0 down just now) they’ll be on 47 points, 1 behind Aberdeen with both having played 25. Win their remaining 11 games and they’d finish on 80.
Aberdeen
Aberdeen can get to 81. But if we win there on Tuesday night they can only get to 78
Celtic
We are currently on 69. Win tomorrow, Tuesday and next Saturday (home to ICT) would have us on 78 points. So another 3 (away to Killie) would clinch the title.
All of the above (apart from tonight’s outcome) is entirely in Celtic’s hands.
I think ;-)
With the UTT starting next week will we have a Heidi Poon Monday ;))
As United go 2 up – woo-hoo!
2-0 DU. Gunning
2-0
Skyisalandfill
Those bhoys have been in KSC a couple of times.. Good bhoys and ghirls..
K33-he will be red hot fav for PL,no compo and controlable.Wouldn’t give him the time of day.The Mighty Burnley was too strong a pull for the Bolton Legend (54 starts)
Bet Gunning 1st goal…33/1
BB 05
I think you will find the saying is ‘ not so blind as those who will not see.’
Good crowd at Tannadice too
Bass
It was his first unfortunately not the first…
How can BT Sport have such a biased summariser as Craigen for a Motherwell game? Aside from the fact he talks utter garbage and his voice gives you a headache, there is no impartiality in anything he says.
Apologies to the rest of the blog- Please scroll by but I have a problem when idiocies appear as fact.
TSD @17.31
I really do have better things to do with my time than clear up your hysterical failure to process thoughts.
You link to Simon Johnson’s newspaper report on the Law Society’s deliberations on a Bill they seem to have barely read and whose prior application, they have patently not researched.
Firstly “The individual, who would most likely be a social worker or head teacher,”
Wrong- Social Work is not a Universal Service and a SW would only be a Named Person in circumstances where they are already the major professional point of contact for the child i.e. in the small minority of cases where a child is under a legally enforced Supervision Order because of offending behaviour or other social reasons, or where they are already in care with foster families, kinship carers or in residential childrens homes. Nobody will be allocated a Social Worker via or because of this Act. It is a mad thought.
Thereafter we are presented with a raft of ill-considered speculation:-
the Law Society warned the move could be illegal under Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights
Morag Driscoll, convener of the society’s family law committee said the legislation’s intentions are “admirable” but could result in interference with “a parent’s rights and responsibilities.”
It could be interpreted as disproportionate state interference.
While minister do not intent to intrude on the tradition family, the experts warned the legislation could be deemed to amount to “disproportionate state interference”.
That’s a lot of coulds, might be’s, Maybes Aye Maybes Naws, and general speculation. Are these lawyers all in the Speculative Society.
We are also unclear about how this legislation will work in practice.
Well, research it. It has been rolled out for the past 3 years in Highland Region and parts of the Lothians. They have provided summary reports and data on its operation. Did it have the impact you fear? Naw- you weren’t even aware it was happening. Have the state been secretly removing weans from Inversneckie and Dingwall and keeping it all quiet? Whit??? It didnae even make The Sunday Post? Jings & Crivvens ma boab!
In your second article, Stuart Waiton, whose general views you would not like, TSD, says
“It will take very little to trigger an investigation into a child and from there a false picture can easily be arrived at”, he said.
He said innocent aspects of a child’s life such as what they eat or the views they express can make “good parents fair game” in the eyes of “health and safety zealots, obsessed with risk management”.
These risks already exist. Teachers and other professionlals, in fact, all of us as neighbours, are already charged to be on the look out for strange and disturbing behaviours which may indicate that a child has been subject to abuse or neglect. Inventing the concept of a Named Person does not add or subtract to those powers or the limitations under which they are granted. Just try getting your neighbour’s kids taken away from them because you do not like the way they speak. It ain’t gonna happen and it’s fantasy to believe it goes on.
If such H & S zealots did abound in our Education and Health Services, there would be a spate of such nit-picking attacks on the family, but there have not been, have there? This is a classic “reds under the beds”, bogeyman, “they’re coming to get you” scare. I can see how it fits in with your stereotypical world view that sees all Islamists as potential terrorists and enemies.
Mr O’Neill also described the Bill as “universal in scope” and said the “blanket” provisions allow the state to assign a guardian without assessing a child’s individual need.
So what? If there is no need for the assigned NP to get involved, your harm has not been increased one jot. Your child name will appear somewhere with a blank entry next to it, just as it already does on the customer lists of all those capitalist companies you worship, who have him/her down as a potential customer.
Under the Bill a named person would be able to share information with a wide range of public authorities and intervene without parental consent.
Currently, information can be shared without parental consent only if there is a danger of significant harm, but the Bill would enable data to be passed on to a named person without permission if there is a risk to a child’s “wellbeing”.
Information is already shared between agencies and many parents consider it a good thing. You don’t want to be telling your medical and educational history to every new professional you have to work with if your child has needs that have to be supported by the state, e.g. learning or physical disability, social or emotional issues of a significant degree. Parents and childrens support groups have been actively campaigning for just this type of improvement for years. Everybody is given information only on a need to know basis. If your Head Teacher receives sensitive personal information on your family, as a Named Person, it will be because someone has identified a risk factor that they need to be aware of. This will not be kept back from you for any additional period of time, under this new Act. All information about risks to a child have to be collected, weighed up as to reliability, investigated and, if there are proven grounds, shared with you, so that you can refute or agree with them.
He said it is “startling” that the proposal “appears to be predicated on the idea that the proper primary relationship that children will have for their well-being and development, nurturing and education is with the State rather than within their families and with their parents”, he added.
Except that it isn’t predicated so. The family is still placed first and centre and the Named Person is very much an ancillary position unless your primary care givers, your family and parents, prove unable or unwilling to provide you with a safe, stable, caring relationship.
The move, which has been included in the The Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill, could be too much for overstretched councils.
At last, something I can agree with. Pity it contradicts all the scaremongering which you have cited before. Thankfully, most families manage to sail through life with only the usual minor misfortunes befalling them and, therefore, they have no need to seek state involvement in their families. The over-stretched support workers of the state are grateful that we have so many resilient families that manage without their help.
The net result would be local authorities overseeing children who do not need help while youngsters who need assistance are neglected, they suggested.
And just when some sense has been reached, we revert back to the idiotic, brainless idea that workers in the state Education, Health and Social Work professions are going to overlook all the genuine cases of people with hardship and disabilities in order to chase up and harass people who have no problems.
Really?? Is that your position?? Is that meant to be an intelligent reading of how people behave??
God give me strength.
Away and read something, ya trumpet.
Away and educate yourself on a topic that takes your interest.
Look at how this has worked in practice because it is already here and has been here for years.
But no! You will go on preferring to raise the spectre of doom and terror. Of East Germany and North Korea. Of One World Government.
How much did your parents pay to send you for that education at Amplefunds College? A good lawyer should be able to sue the arse of them for the thinking skills they gave you. Or were your brain cells knocked out earning that Rugby Blue you boasted about?
I’m away to watch the 6 nations.
You can go back to hiding under the bed because Modern Life, with all they different coloured folk, just scares you too much.
Bada even.
Mrs BT has my tablet so using my old one. That plus the ole cape red tonight are my excuses…
Ron Bacardi
20:11 on
21 February, 2014
I’m in your club, never re-watch us losing the games I’ve recorded, just pressed the delete button………..
Baca bing
Malky Mackay would have no compo either, but there’s a reason these guys are available.
Dundee United have been very good. The ref has been hopeless.
Blantyretim. Long time no see. How’s the hip comin on?
Re the Emerald boys, I only really know one of them well. Seem a decent, hard drinking bunch. I’ll be playing catch up with the pints.
HH
Seeing James McFadden playing made me remember a prediction, a long time ago, by a friend of mine, that McFadden and Mark Burchill would be Celtic’s front two. Where did it all go wrong for Burchill as he looked really special when he first appeared and his scoring stats were pretty good?
Really delighted Utd are winning and dominating murderwell
Sky.
Too busy last week or so to even lurk..
Monday was in Lark Hall as sponser to my parks wee girl as she was confirmed. Turns out Mrs BT was sitting next to the maestros mother…small world indeed..
Hope to c u before end of season. U attending cqn10?
scullybhoy
20:35 on 21 February, 2014
I thought Burchill was too lightweight, and a bit lacking in ‘direction’ (only my opinion, though)
Greetin’ Hun Craigen (“Looking forward to being there” (talking about East Fife v Sevco live game)) at D Utd v Murderwell game getting orgasmic about shoulder- to-shoulder challenge he thought was a ‘stonewaller’ penalty for his Hun buddies, McColl and Lasley (who took only about 10 minutes to draw blood).
Sound off !!
Billy Bhoy 05
Watch this from 7 minutes in
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khJBYkQa_OY
Still amazes me and has me shuddering to think these people can legislate and attack young Celtic fans to promote their agendas……….
Billy Bhoy 05
20:23 on
Well I would have to say that the Offensive Behaviour at fotball act is an anti Catholic bill by default as it primarilly targets Celtic fans who are probably followed by more Catholics than other religions.
Jobo Baldie 20.27
If Motherwell fail to win tonight Celtic would still need 19 points to win the title because Aberdeen can still achieve 87 points. It may be later in March before that can be achieved. :-)
Billy Bhoy 05 @ 20:19
For the hundredth time independence is not about Salmond…or..,,SNP……
It is quite simply about independence
Thank goodness people are getting this through to those who do not seem to understand – you are voting for Independence and self-determination for Scotland and NOT for the SNP.
Once we have Independence, we can vote for whoever we want to run the country based on their policies, as with any election.
SFTB…And His Ilk…..
Proof-Positive That Dear Saint Patrick Overlooked A Wee Corner Of Gweedore…..
When He Drove Them Slithery Sepents Oot Of The Emerald Isle….
Back In The Day….
C’Mon The Dundee Hibs!
Where did it all go right for Owen Coyle when he ‘rejected’ Celtic?
billy bhoy 05
http://davidtorrance.com/letters-reveal-snp-crisi-over-bigoted-presidents-anti-catholic-diatribes-from-the-times-11-9-2010/
Good night bhoys and thanks!
SFTB
Brilliantly observant posts, both earlier and just now.
TBB directed me to your earlier offerings and those in conjunction with other’s posts had me on the verge of entering the debate.
Sadly, after reading TSD’s post I decided that any discussion would be based largely on links to, at the very most, one ‘academic’ and accusations and allegations without real knowledge or insight.
embramike
In effect, we are only voting to decide the boundaries of “our country” and who are “our people”. It will change nothing else of its own volition.
However many changes will be forced upon it, not of its own choosing.