Celtic faced a familiar problem yesterday. Hearts packed the midfield, which sat close to their defensive line, making it difficult for Celtic to get through, over or wide. Their best chance in the first half actually came from a Hearts corner kick, one of the few occasions the visitors ventured forward.
Sure, we need to beat Rangers, but dealing with the challenge of teams sitting tight and packing midfield will be key to winning the SPL, and that starts at Perth on Sunday. St Johnstone will not be in confident mood after their 0-3 pasting at home yesterday, so you can expect them to sit three central midfielders in front of the defence.
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philvis
Ginger things up
If Hearts can’t pay their employees’ wages as and when they fall due then they are insolvent.
So obviously the SPL and SFA will do nothing.
The response would be different if the huns weren’t in the same boat.
Surely that Leckie article above is a wind up?
He is implying it is OK for them NOT to pay the tax man and he also seems very confident of them coming out of the tribunal as winners. Why?
Tell me it’s a joke…please
Ernie
interesting one.
Romanov´s taxes are paid in full and cant afford to pay his players.
Whyte is not paying Taxes or National insurance but can afford to pay his players.
Should the SFA under Ogilvie urge Hearts to avoid paying their taxes to enable them to pay their employees ?
We all know what slabbering Bill Leckie thinks.
Hail Hail
Aw Naw
Leckie the great humanitarian eh?
When are the Laptop Loyal going to get it right, Romanov is not Lithuanian as his surname proves, he a blooming Russian who made his money in Lithuania. Real Lithuanians don’t even like the guy that much AND he went on the Lithuanian Strictly Come Dancing got voted off and then changed the show’s panel to get reinstated.
What a scoundrel.
jimmci says:
12 December, 2011 at 09:38
No it is not a joke that is exactly what Bill Leckie thinks.
Hail Hail
Awe_Naw
I don’t read these guys, ever, and accidentally before I knew it I had starting reading that article you pasted.
1. Don’t expect a Christmas card
2. It is worse that I ever even dared remember. Leckie takes ‘moron’ to a new level. That is absolutely stunning in its hungufferiness. Beyond words, comprehension or reason.
If rangers fans are getting away with singing sectarian nonsense i think i would venture into whatever stadium they are playing in just to record the tinks in full flow. no one else seems to be bothered by their behaviour.
bournesouprecipe – My theory of gingertivity:
More ginger = more better. (thumbsup)
Some dirty rat in my house has used that last of the Starflower and Pomegranate Shower Gel.
Snake Plissken @ 8 06
Samaras to Palermo —–?
Nothing doing in the Palermo media. Nothing doing in the Italian media .
but ——-Samaras has been in the Italian rumor mill since late 2009 —– to date he has been linked with Juve, Lazio , Napoli and Palermo . He has consistently been linked with Palermo .
Palermo will have money to burn if ,as predicted , they sell the excellent IIicic.
Snake
he is a born Russian but he is a Lithuanian citizen
Hail Hail
BlantyreKev
A present instead ? OH good !!!
Hail Hail
Having watched the BBC highlights, I felt moved to make this complaint. I would suggest any others of a like mind do similar. We really must point out this bias.
“Hearts were awarded a penalty. The ball was not on the spot. Samaras pointed this out in a calm manner. The commentator said : “They call this gamesmanship.” He did not point out that Samaras was correct therefore “gamesmanship” was inaccurate and unfair. Bias?
The penalty came after Samaras had put the ball out for a throw in so that Majstorovic, lying injured in the box, could receive treatment. Traditionally, the Hearts player would throw the ball back to Celtic. He chose not to do this and from the resulting long throw, a penalty ensued. BBC (Scotland) decided that this was not worthy of being highlighted. This was not a game full of “highlights” so why was this “gamesmanship” not shown? Bias?
This is the first time I have complained to the BBC re anti-Celtic bias but it is most certainly not the first time I have been aware of it. The BBC is quite impressive in its reporting. BBC (Scotland) is ridiculously biased in favour of Rangers and against Celtic. Something really ought to be done about this matter.”
James A Barr
Snake Plissken – AND he went on the Lithuanian Strictly Come Dancing got voted off and then changed the show’s panel to get reinstated.
He also employed the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. (thumbsup)
Good Morning to the Celtic Family from a dry but dull Central Scotland. There must be a game against Rangers coming up as the papers have Palermo after Sammi Liverpool after Kayal and Mathews and Murdo McLeod writing about our support and the song debate.Its the same old same old from the press and they never learn that it just doesnt work.I do think players will move on in the transfer window as our squad is to large but we will also bring in a couple of players who moves in and who moves out only Lennie and the sharp suited man will know.H.H.
Jungle Jim
I agree, and posted as much on Saturday, sadly we have Celtic Fans congratulating Samaras on his ‘gamesmanship’.
It would only have been ‘gamesmanship’ if the ball was correctly spotted in the first place.
So Calum Murray gives a penalty and the replay shows his view was completely blocked by a Hearts player – How transparent.
bournesouprecipe says:
12 December, 2011 at 09:48
It was strange that the ref who was able to see the hand/ball connection whilst unsighted was unable to see that the ball wasn’t on the spot.
I think we should all write to Specsavers and ask for an explanation.
Aw Naw
I’m going to be a Slovak citizen eventually but I’m still Scottish.
Stuart Bathgate: SFA and SPL must act now for Hearts players
For the players, there is an obvious risk of speaking out. For the SFA and SPL, no such risk exists except that anything they say may set a precedent with regards to Rangers present financial difficulties.
THE fall of a Rangers player in the penalty box gets Scottish football’s authorities rushing into action. The drop of a hat gets some of them tweeting. But the failure of a club owner to honour his employees’ contracts and pay their wages produces no discernible reaction in either the SFA or the SPL.
The crisis at Hearts is the primary responsibility of one man, majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov. But given that man’s refusal or inability to solve it, or at least to deal with it honourably, the onus surely falls on the game’s governing bodies to act – if not for the sake of the individual players, then for the integrity of the game. Romanov cannot uses Rangers tax difficulties to deflect from his own obligations and neither can the games governing bodies.
Instead, all we have had from the SFA and the SPL alike is a repeated insistence that they cannot get involved. Only when one or more players make a formal complaint, they insist, will they be able to take action.
Or at least, that is how they are interpreting their own regulations. Several weeks ago, for example, The Scotsman pointed out to the SPL that those regulations contain a paragraph which gives the organisation the power to hold an inquiry into any relevant matter.
The league’s response? Yes, they do have the power to hold an inquiry, they said, but that does not give them the power to act. And with no power to act, what’s the point in holding an inquiry?
But, as they do not tire of telling us, the SPL is made up of its member clubs. They write their own regulations. They can interpret them as they see fit, and change them should they wish.
In the case of Hearts, that means that they can hold an inquiry, and then come to a conclusion based on it. If necessary, they can convene a meeting of member clubs to ratify that conclusion. They are of course entering treacherous waters and want to avoid at all costs any precedent that might in teh very near future affect how they will handle the situation with Rangers FC which is completely understandable.
The SFA, meanwhile, has wide-ranging powers to deal with club officials. Romanov used to escape sanction because he is not an office-bearer at Tynecastle, but more recently he has been brought under the scope of those rules. And again, as is the case with the SPL, the SFA can do a lot if it has the will. If they can question Craig Whyte at Rangers I see no reason why they do not bring Romanov to account.
It is understood that some Hearts players have approached both organisations and sought informal meetings. Nothing on the record, no all-day talks in a locked boardroom somewhere, just a chat. Perhaps no more than a calm exchange of views, or some friendly advice on how to deal with an increasingly intractable situation. So far, those players have not been granted their wish due to schedule for informal clandestine meetings being fully booked discussing other matters presumably due to Rangers Newco.
And so the crisis has dragged on and on, to the extent that the players have now resolved to walk away from their club on 14 January if the situation has not been resolved. If Hearts are then either unable to fulfil their fixtures, or able to do so only by fielding a patently understrength team of teenagers, will that do sufficient damage to the game to prod the SFA and prod the SPL out of their Catholic torpor?
We can only hope it is does not come to that. In the meantime, faced with the inactivity of the governing bodies due to their instinctive need to protect the Old Firm, the poor Hearts players are coming under increasing pressure to escalate their own action. Some of them would be willing to do so if there was complete unity within the squad but their is not, others remain fearful of how Romanov might react.
It might be suggested that if an employer is already failing to pay your wages, there is no risk in putting your head above the parapet, but for at least some Hearts players it is not quite so simple. Let us say that a named player makes a complaint to hs union, PFA Scotland, who then initiate some kind of legal action against Romanov if that can be done without creating a silly precedent that might affect the Rangers situation with the big tax case. The club owner could settle the dispute with that player immediately, by paying his salary up to date.
If that player had some time to run on his contract, the fear is he could be frozen out of the first team, with the result that his career could be damaged. Players have fallen out of favour at Tynecastle before for doing a lot less than bringing a complaint against their employers. Indeed, there is at least one case in which a player no longer with Hearts still has no idea whatsoever why he suddenly fell out of favour with Romanov.
That is why even those players who are most inclined to take action do not want to do so unless there is unanimity or something close to it within the squad. They know that Romanov is trying to implement a divide-and-rule policy against them. And they know too that Hearts’ current ban on speaking to the media has prevented them from addressing the club’s supporters openly to explain their case.
So for the players, there is an obvious risk in speaking out. For the SFA and SPL, no such risk exists except with any precedent that might inadvertently be set with regards to Rangers FC´s tax appeal. So I am afraid for the time being. Well until at the very least until the Rangers financial situation is clearer then the Hearts players will just have to grin and bear it.
And another thing.
Can any of the Scot Brown fas explain what the point is in having a go at/winding up Hearts players after the final whistle?
I can’t see what advantage is to be gained from it.
The most likely outcome is that you get disciplined for it.
Is there a point to it or is it just stupidity?
ernie
Absolutely blatant cheating no other words for it, I was at the game but miles away from it, and could see the ball was well forward of the spot.
The decision to give a penalty for something you didn’t see was Collumesque.
Meanwhile ‘they’ are demanding a penalty a week, to tide them over till Christmas.
ernie lynch – Can any of the Scot Brown fas explain what the point is in having a go at/winding up Hearts players after the final whistle?
It all started when Scott dropped a pound note, and the Hearts players mistakenly thought it was payday. (thumbsup)
Having seen the penalty Murray was able to detect have one suggestion for all Celtic players.
Wear short sleeved shirts. Makes it more difficult to “detect” which hand may have apparently made contact with the ball.
Noticed it also went directly in the direction of the Hearts player attempting to head yet murray still detects a hand.
Amazing MIBbery!
MONDAY 12 DECEMBER 2011 TEXT SIZE SFA worker in row over Pope email loses his job
Paul Hutcheon
Investigations Editor
An SFA staff member at the centre of the Pope email scandal has lost his job, The Herald can reveal.
Tim Berridge, who used to be a video analysis expert for the national team, is believed to have agreed a confidentiality clause as part of his redundancy deal.
Labour MSP Michael McMahon said the SFA had “a duty” to explain the reasons for Mr Berridge’s post being axed.
Five SFA employees were sacked last year after being accused of forwarding an email which suggested the Pontiff was involved with child abuse.
The image contained in the email was of a road-crossing sign with an adult holding a child’s hand, next to the message: “CAUTION: The Pope is coming.”
The most high-profile sacking was Hugh Dallas, at that point the SFA’s head of referee development, who was lost his job after the Catholic Church intervened in the row.
One of the staffers, mailroom manager Bob Bryan, did not appeal his dismissal.
However, the three others who were initially sacked – Mr Berridge, secretary Amanda Macdonald, and administration assistant Marco McIntyre – got their jobs back after successfully contesting the decision.
It is understood trade union representatives for the trio provided evidence of other spoof emails sent around the SFA, including one on so-called paedophile priests.
Harry Donaldson, a GMB official, said at the time: “The outcome of the appeal was clearly based on the belief that the decision was too harsh and severe under the circumstances.”
Speaking in January, Mr Donaldson said the three individuals would return to their posts at the end of the month.
However, it has now emerged Mr Berridge left the SFA last month after he was made redundant.
The Herald understands that three posts have been axed in recent months.
Of the 140 or so individuals employed by the SFA, the redundancies amount to around 2% of the workforce.
It is believed the football governing body is making structural changes to bring the organisation into the digital age.
A former audio-visual technician at Dundee University, Mr Berridge joined the SFA in 2005.
He was responsible for video production for the national team, the football development department, and for the communications and referee development teams.
One of his tasks had been to record and edit games for Scotland boss Craig Levein.
His Linkedin profile states that he is now a freelance cameraman and editor.
Brian Johnstone, Mr Berridge’s union representative, said: “Tim left as part of a compromise agreement.”
Mr McMahon said he believed the initial email had been “in-appropriate” but not a sacking offence.
He said the SFA had questions to answer about Mr Berridge’s subsequent departure:
“If it was just about cost-cutting and reducing staff numbers, the SFA could have done this through voluntary redundancy,” he said.
“Was that option considered, or were they looking specifically to get rid of particular posts, and his just happened to be one of them?
“The SFA has a duty and a responsibility to talk to the trade unions and justify why these posts are being made redundant.”
Mr Berridge said: “I’ve got no comment to make.”
ernie lynch: 12 December, 2011 at 09:58
“And another thing.
“Can any of the Scot Brown fas explain what the point is in having a go at/winding up Hearts players after the final whistle?”
Did he wind up the Hearts player or were they both exchanging views?
Seemed like a nothing incident to me – not sure what the big fuss is about.
Ernie Lynch
He was on CQN at half time & was still angry after reading all the abuse he gets on here from his own supporters.
Give me that anger and fight from all 11 players during and after every game, Atleast he is standing up for Our Club.
Awe Naw 09.57
I see the word “Catholic” has been removed from the article in the Scotsman. Was it there in the first place, or are you at the kidding?
HH
Monaghan
Parkheadcumsalford @15 05.
Yes —— it was me who listed Claudio ‘Gadaffi ‘ Gentile as being a defensive great.
Hard as nails . Uncompromising . Certainly not afraid to mix it. Interestingly for a player labelled ” a thug ” he was rarely booked and even more rarely sent off.
World Cup Winner. Winner of 6 Serie A titles . Winner of 2 European trophies. Manager of the Italian under 21 team that won a European Under 21 competition . Manager of The Italy team which won bronze at the Athens Olympics.
Famous for his man marking of Maradona in the 1982 World Cup —— interviewed on Italian tele after the game —- the interviewer stated that he had seen Gentile talking to Maradona throughout the game and asked Gentile what he had been saying to Maradona —
Gentile replied ” I kept telling him this is football not ballet “.
Remember seeing an interview with Maradona in which he said that Gentile was the best defender he had played against. Asked whether he thought Gentile was dirty he replied -no — I was treated far worse by Spanish ,German and Brazilian defenders .
Hearts had two goalies – but there’s only Wan Yama.
photograph @paddimir
Monaghan1900 says:
12 December, 2011 at 10:17
I just checked and you are right I think it was proof read and resubmitted without any grammatical mistakes and with a few words removed.
Have the two prods been removed as well ?
I just cut and paste it.
Hail Hail
Is McCoist being investigated for his comments?
Is his support being investigated for their singing?
Are the media analysing the hearts penalty?
We should be told.
One of you clever peeps sometimes posts highlights of the game from BBC for those outwith the UK.
Thanks if someone could point me to a link.
Corrib04
I think there is a link already up somewhere on the last 4 pages
Ernie
Re Brown
Stupid does as Stupid does and to think he is the Captain of Celtic Football Club!
Corrib04
Bigjie 19:34 page 5
Thanks Serge, Ill have another look.