Tomorrow’s Annual General Meeting of the Scottish Premier League is set to be the third great football meeting in the last two weeks. The Prophet of Armageddon, chief executive Neil Doncaster, will face his shareholders and either have to declare he was being truthful when he told them, and Scottish Football League clubs, the SPL would be unable to fulfil their contractual obligations if Sevco were denied a place in the First Division, or that this was a cunning ruse designed to manipulate clubs and fans alike.
Doncaster was surely encouraged by some in the SPL to adopt his confrontational stance but support from SPL clubs was certainly not universal. No representatives from Celtic participated in any meetings or conversations regarding the contents of the presentation made to SFL clubs, nor was the club informed or consulted on it.
Well done to the Aberdeen fans who kicked off the Sell-out Saturday initiative. They hope to sell-out Pittodrie for their 11 August game and want to as many fans as possible to buy season tickets. The idea has been picked up by clubs throughout the league.
I get the feeling that if supporters groups got together we could use this unique moment, when camaraderie among fans coincided with unparalleled fan power over the clubs, to define a framework for the game we wanted, not something a dreamt up by a Norfolk MBA.
Even if we couldn’t get every fan group pulling in the same direction, a few productive bilateral relationships is all it takes to establish an powerful pressure group.
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Reading back through the blog i mistakenly thought todays game was a champions league qualifier, turns out it was a friendly, oh well, maybe take a wee minute to consider
Unlike some we wont be playing 3rd Divisions teams every week. (IF theyre lucky)
Mon the Hoops
Philbhoy – It’s just the beginning! on 15 July, 2012 at 21:02 said:
Thanks boss.
Just being realistic.
I believe in this wee Celtic team,and our manager.
Sixteen roads to Golgotha20.59
I think we will win it.HH
Sixteen roads…..
Me too!
Take care.
From the BBC
Scotland and the 1950 World Cup
The story of Scotland’s self-inflicted absence from the 1950 World Cup Finals in Brazil is almost incomprehensible to the modern-day football fan.
It is made all the more incredible on painful recollection of Scotland’s subsequent World Cup traumas: at the 1974 Finals in West Germany when Scotland became the first country to be eliminated despite being undefeated; in Argentina four years later, when Scotland were 3-1 up against eventual runners-up Holland in their final first-round game, requiring just one more goal to go through…when Rep scored to kill off the country’s hopes; in Spain in 1982 when Scotland were eliminated for the third time in a row on goal difference; worse, in the 1990 World Cup Finals in Italy when a goal from Brazil eight minutes from time in Scotland’s last first-round match, and an improbable 2-1 win for Costa Rica over Sweden, meant either third-placed Scotland or Austria could still make it through to the knock-out stages if South Korea could hold out against Uruguay… Yes, you guessed it, the South Americans scored in injury time.
With that assortment of nightmares in mind, the toes curl and the chest tightens all the more when you realise just how Scotland failed to make the trip to Rio for the first World Cup Finals since the Second World War. Scotland, it can surely be argued, invented the World Cup exit.
The four British football associations – those of Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales – had withdrawn from football’s governing body FIFA back in 1920. There had been arguments over the suitability of playing teams with whom Britain had recently been at war, and more importantly a general feeling that there was now too much foreign influence in what was surely a British game!
This disassociation from FIFA meant that there was no participation in the trio of World Cups that were staged before the Second World War.
Pre-war, Scotland hadn’t played many matches against continental teams, but the record stood at two defeats in 15 games. Interestingly, Scotland’s first defeat abroad was by Austria in 1931, and it was that country that would give Scotland its first defeat by a non-British team at Hampden, a few months after the 1950 World Cup qualifying debacle.
A year after the war ended, FIFA made a real effort to get Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales back playing international football. They offered the vice presidency of FIFA to an SFA member, as well as giving a place on the executive to the UK associations.
On top of that, FIFA offered the winners of the 1950 British International Championship a place in the World Cup Finals of that summer, thus guaranteeing the presence of one UK team in the Brazil. This was by far the most generous concession made to any country or set of football associations. Other nations had to play home and away matches in qualifying rounds. For the UK teams, though, they need only play three games. In Scotland’s case, they had to play Northern Ireland away, then Wales and England at Hampden. In effect, then, the Home Internationals were doubling up as a World Cup qualifying group.
As if that wasn’t enough, FIFA subsequently offered a World Cup invite to the runners-up in the 1949/50 Championships. Two teams out of four could be heading to Brazil!
Unbelievably, George Graham, secretary of the Scottish Football Association (SFA), declared that Scotland would only accept the FIFA invite if they went as British champions. Second place was no use: Scotland would have to top the group if they were to take part.
The first game went well, with Scotland thrashing Northern Ireland 8-2 at Windsor Park in front of 50,000 fans in October 1949. Henry Morris of East Fife scored a hat-trick on his international debut, yet incredibly he was never picked again for Scotland.
The second match, a month later, saw Scotland triumph 2-0 against Wales in Glasgow. A crowd of almost 74,000 watched as Celtic’s John McPhail and Clyde’s Alec Linwood got the goals to set up the decider with England. Despite scoring on his Scotland debut, Linwood, like Morris, was never to play again for Scotland.
England meanwhile had been doing even better than their old northern foes. They had trounced Northern Ireland 9-2 at Wembley and beaten Wales 4-1 away. However, goal difference at that time was not taken into account in the championships, so with Scotland and England each on four points, a draw would be enough for Scotland to become joint winners of the tournament and therefore they could go to Brazil as “champions”.
Sensibly, England, with second place at the very least guaranteed, had already told FIFA that they would be going, so the pressure was on Scotland for the deciding match, and 134,000 fans were there at Hampden on Saturday 15 April 1950 to remind them of it
The previous year Scotland had beaten England 3-1 at Wembley, though in 1948 the English had visited Hampden and left with a 2-0 victory. The match was likely to be close.
In 1950 there was no Scotland football manager per se; the international selection committee had the power to choose the team. Scotland’s first manager, Andy Beattie, wasn’t appointed until 1954. Club officials, who in effect ran the SFA, were used to choosing which players should play for their teams every Saturday, so there was no great outcry at the time for a manager to be appointed with the power to pick the team.
Despite that, the selectors don’t appear to have been operating with a great degree of consistency. Eighteen players were used in the three games against Northern Ireland, Wales and England, and only five played in every tie. Incredibly, some of the selectors had never seen Willie Moir of Bolton Wanderers play. In season 1948/49, Moir was top scorer in the English First Division, so presumably this was enough to convince the committee that he could handle such an important game for his country. In addition to Moir, the other debutants were Ian McColl of Rangers and Willie Bauld of Hearts.
The teams at Hampden that day were as follows:
Scotland: Cowan (Morton), Young, Cox, McColl and Woodburn (all Rangers), Forbes (Arsenal), Waddell (Rangers), Moir (Bolton), Bauld (Hearts), Steel (Derby), Liddell (Liverpool)
England: Williams (Wolves), Ramsey (Tottenham), Aston (Manchester United), Wright (Wolves), Franklin (Stoke), Dickinson (Portsmouth), Finney (Preston North End), Mannion (Middlesbrough), Mortensen (Blackpool), Bentley (Chelsea), Langton (Bolton).
The first half at Hampden ended goalless, but after 63 minutes Chelsea’s Roy Bentley shot from inside the box after getting clear of Woodburn. Cowan got a hand on it but it was too powerful and ended up in the net.
Scotland had to find a goal from somewhere if they were to reach the World Cup. Bauld came closest, hitting the bar, and with minutes remaining Willie Waddell smacked the ball inches over the bar. Scotland simply could not conjure up a goal and when English referee R Leafe blew for the final whistle, England were the champions. The inquest and begging began.
Scotland captain George Young, encouraged by England captain Billy Wright, pleaded with the SFA executive committee to accept that they had been foolish in saying they would only go to Brazil as champions. However, SFA secretary George Graham was adamant that Scotland had given their word and that they would not go back on it.
We have heard it many times since: the World Cup was over for another four years at least.
There are three interesting footnotes to this sorry tale. First, England’s trip to Brazil ended in embarrassment, for they lost 1-0 to the United States and were beaten by Spain to make a premature exit from the tournament. Before the England game the US manager Bill Jeffrey had said, “We ain’t got a chance against your boys,” yet a headed goal by Gaetjens gave the States their astonishing victory.
There is a certain irony here: Jeffrey was a Scot who had emigrated to America, played for a works team against Penn State College and got his chance in football management when he was later asked if he fancied coaching that same college side.
Secondly, FIFA managed to get only 13 countries to come to Brazil, instead of the 16 it sought. France had been edged out by Yugoslavia in their qualifying group, but were then invited to take the place of Turkey. They declined because of the distance they would have to travel. Austria pulled out because they said their team was too young, and India qualified but refused to come. Argentina had fallen out with the Brazilian FA and so they boycotted the tournament.
Thirdly, for the 1954 World Cup, the qualifying arrangements were the same for Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales. In ’54 Scotland finished runners-up to England, yet they went to the World Cup. Perhaps Switzerland was a more preferable destination for the SFA executive committee than Brazil had seemed.
It is hard to fathom the stance of the executive committee. Perhaps it was arrogance or pride; it may even have been over-confidence in the abilities of its players; or possibly it was a lack of vision at how football was developing. Then again, the main issue may have been one of financing the national team’s trip to South America.
However, we can say with certainty that by missing out on Brazil 1950, Scotland lost the chance to gain international experience, something that would haunt them in the early ’50s as they began to lose to continental sides that for decades they had assumed they could beat.
Philbhoy
am guessin 11am, as per usual
i may be wrong but all of these
meetings so far have been at 11,
with lunch at 130pm
good to be talking about football again today, terrific
loved the wee turn and sprint by James Forrest at the start of the 2nd half
as for CL, i agree very much with TET in the sense that we should be aiming high, having very high standards and that includes being set to go from the off for qualification
nonetheless, we do have to be realistic
perhaps for another season or two, we are a decent Europa League team, then, with hard graft, good scouting etc, we can progress up to being CL material
one other thing…if we were given the chance to join the the German 3rd Division…would we take it ? never gonna happen, but interesting idea
we’d of course play the likes of Stuttgart Kickers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuttgarter_Kickers
fanadpatriot on 15 July, 2012 at 21:07 said:
Can’t see it myself chara.
We did however play very well against some excellent European teams in last season’s Europa League,teams of a far higher calibre than any of the sides we are due to face in these two qualifying rounds.
KTF
I was at Kilmarnock for the weekend and met many Killie fans, some ST holders. Did not meet one who wanted their chairman to abstain on the sevco vote – all wanted him to vote no.
Can only imagine that Murphy hasn’t been freed is to be a make weight in a deal for a football player.
Bada bing
D Murphy ….why.?
Proven garbage …..
Canamalar aye that’s what I’m pointing out, the Celtic supporters mean nowt when the club can take away a Sat game against real Madrid which I consider to be worthless in our quest for trophies, great for bonuses though.
HH
ET see above :>)
HH
From sevco media CLASSIC HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN LOL
Today I attended the Bomber meeting to represent the clubs I am a member of – the Hong Kong RSC and the Phuket Bawdeep Loyal RSC. I won’t go into details on the meet itself as that is for other threads, however there was one very interesting point that came out about the FF and their latest expenditure.
Apparently their latest purchase has been towels for the first team.
WTF I hear you cry – indeed.
It seems that Jimmy Bell asked the club repeatedly for new towels for the returning players and was refused/ignored/put off/etc.
As a result the FF stepped up and fulfilled this requirement. Well done.
The point which amazed me even more was the cost that had caused so much debate and gnashing of teeth in the corridors of Green’s empire – a whopping GBP 507.00 (five hundred and seven pounds).
I would seriously like to know if this is true as the FF men present did not dispute it at all.
If Green cannot supply his players with towels at 500 quid I would suggest there may be issues ahead, and all is not well. There were multiple ex-players present at the meeting and they literally gasped when this was mentioned. Says it all really.
Vmhan on 15 July, 2012 at 21:24 said:
It has been stated that the club will earn somewhere in the region of $1million dollars from that game.
Lads any ideas how many seaons books we have sold ?
toibhoy
“Phuket Bawdeep Loyal RSC”
Is that for real?
!!Bada Bing!! on 15 July, 2012 at 21:17 said:
Ipswich manager Paul Jewell wants to sign Murphy on a permanent basis,but he is claiming that the club can’t afford the transfer fee.
Murphy can take a good penalty kick.
Did Campbell Ogilvie peep over the weekend? Not even an eensie weensy baby peep? Nothing?
An organisation in crises and the whole customer base in revolt and the intrepid el presidente calms the nation by creeping through the drama in (an EBT induced) silence. Well if nothing else it is quaintly unorthodox, no other country in the world can do it like Scotland can.
“Phuket Bawdeep Loyal RSC”
Raman Bawbags is the president “>)))
Kitalba
I’m guessing you’re saying we’re a business? That’s ok with me but I believe we could be one of the biggest clubs in world football.
It’s my opinion that we need to be successful in Europe before we become a big club in Europe, I think we dilute our chances of success by playing a game in the USA instead of playing Dundee united at home…… Oh and I’m pissed off that it’s another game I will miss off the ST.
Kitalba, it’s Sunday and nice to have a wee Vmhan rant :>)
Can we push SPL fan power one step further?
Of course Paul 67 they have already powered the so called establishment team all the way down to the bottom
Anything is possible now if they all keep together to carry on the momentum of change
Football without the fans football is nothing and this is an opportunity for the fans to get what they want
Maybe we could get going to the football again at 3pm on Saturday only this time its also live on TV
wedontneednostinkinbadges.csc
Kit successful in Europe before we become a big club….. Again in the world stage…… Ach ye ken whit a mean.
Sixteen roads to Golgotha
By the look of things,we will have a similar budget to Ipswich :}
Why would Charles Green sanction the spending of £507 on new towels for the first team squad of thirteen.Even Charlie kows he can get 13 towels for a £1 each at the Barras £13 job done. Charlies nobodys mug.H.H.
Okay, I give up, how do they do it? No matter how many times Gordon Smith is on the telly I just can’t see the strings. Special effects these days?!
£507.00 pounds for towels ,for the first team.They only have 5/6 first team players,what quality of towels do they buy.
toibhoy67 on 15 July, 2012 at 21:25 said:
I gasped too! That it took an incident like that for them to understand that “…all is not well…”
Scary stuff!!!!
Book :))))
Toiboy that has to be investigated, 500 quid for 6 towels!
within the past hour, Spain just won the u19 euros cup
1-0 v Greece
http://www.uefa.com/under19/season=2012/matches/round=2000212/match=2010328/postmatch/report/index.html
Vmhan:
What I’m saying mate is that they see things their way, sometimes it works for the best and other times maybe not so.They don’t see their actions through the eyes of a long distance travelling supporter who lives within a budget.
To my mind commited supporters should take precedence over hypothetical supporters.
If I was the Dakota,I would be checking the laundry cupboard tonight.
It must be for real a copy and pasted it from there lol classic
Bookies pen- the best 1 for me was when whyte was reading out the statement at ibrox about them entering administration and a hun shouted out ” Weres your club tie ”
Priorities csc
!!Bada Bing!! on 15 July, 2012 at 21:35 said:
I know mate,feel a wee bit sorry for Lenny on that score.
Even without Ki,we still have a very strong first team though.The defense,if we pick up one or two injuries would be a worry.We should still have more than enough quality to compete in the league.
I still can’t decide which players to start in attack for us.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: FF ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ROGNE :::::::::: 67 :::::::::::::: CHUCK ::::::::::::::::::::
::::::::: MATTHEWS ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: EMILIO :::::::::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: BROWN ::::::: KAYAL :::::::::::::: JL ::::::::::::::::::::
Two places remain in attack.Who do we pick: Wee Jamesy,Hoops,Sammi,Commons,or Stokesy?
Are we sure theyre not trying to sign Richie Towell?
cards on table time.
i don’t think we will rompp the league. in fact i think it will be harder than this year. we can like to saints killie and hearts. we can get knocked out of any cup.
complacency is already our enemy.
some team will fill the void. its what happens.
Here you are, 500 quid. Go buy towels.
Straight to Asda, 100 quid worth of towels bought? Purely speculating of course….
lose to saints killie and hearts.
stupid phone.
its a HUNSUNG
Sixteen roads to Golgotha on 15 July, 2012 at 21:27 said:
Vmhan on 15 July, 2012 at 21:24 said:
It has been stated that the club will earn somewhere in the region of $1million dollars from that game.
…………………….
I’m not sure if you think that’s a good thing or bad?
I wonder what the drop off is for a Dundee hrs game at 3pm Sat against a midweek game that supporters from North of Scotland, Wales, Ireland, England etc can’t manage, do the club give a …. Do they care?
I can’t see the benefit other than our club maximising profit whilst our supporters are put out.
Faithful Through and through doesn’t mean we have to be cash cows….. Or stupid cash cows.
It’s a good time now to let the football supporters have a say.
Let the people sing CSC
Thought that mob threw the towel in a while ago….