Celtic moved 20 points clear at the top of the Scottish Premier League this evening with a 2-0 victory over bottom team, Dunfermline at Celtic Park in one of the most one-sided league encounters of the season. A screamer of a goal from Charlie Mulgrew in the first half and a James Forrest effort 15 minutes from the end were the two polished incidents while Kris Commons battered the Dunfermline goal throughout the game without success.
Playing against a packed defence, the Celtic game-plan was clearly to have shots flying in from outside the box and Ki tested Chris Smith from fully 40 yards early on. Scott Brown played an inch perfect forward pass into space for Cha to run onto before the full back crossed but Anthony Stokes was unable to get on the end.
Gary Hooper was sent clear by a magnificent Stokes pass after 20 minutes but shot wide, although the referee incorrectly awarded a corner kick. Stokes was next to try his luck from outside the box before the ball was worked to Kris Commons for his first, and possibly worst, attempt of the night.
Commons turned provider next with a deep cross into the box which Hooper headed and forced a save from Smith. Charlie Mulgrew opened the scoring on 33 minutes. Cha’s cross was cleared to Mulgrew who shot from 33 yards high into the net giving Smith little chance.
Commons and Ledley continued to find space to create chances while Ki’s passing was the most impressive feature of the game. Dunfermline’s only moment inside the Celtic box in the first half was a corner 5 minutes from the break which eluded the Celtic defence beyond the back post, allowing Alex Keddie to get a header on target.
An incredible miss fell to Stokes early in the second half. Ki’s 40 yard pass split Dunfermline open for Izaguirre to cross. Stokes brought the ball down 7 yards from goal but with the keeper stranded on the line, shot wide. Hooper was equally culpable when Joe Ledley’s shot was blocked and the striker shot over with the goal gaping.
The entire stadium seemed to will Kris Commons to score his first goal of the season. The fact that it didn’t happen was not for the want of trying. He even came close with an in-swinging corner which was cleared off the line. The points were secured when Gary Hooper controlled a loose ball and sent in an excellent cross from an unlikely-tight position, which James Forrest knocked over the line from three yards.
Dunfermline’s second moment of possession inside the Celtic box came late in the game with another corner kick. Neil Lennon will be concerned that it resulted in another free header at the back post which was cleared off the line.
In a gesture which tests the boundaries of the word magnificent, the Celtic fan who paid £5000 towards the Vanessa Riddle Appeal for the signed Celtic jersey we auctioned last week asked us to put it back up for auction again.
Auctions are a magnificent way to help get Vanessa the lifesaving treatment she needs but the cost of participating at the business end soon gets out of the reach of many fans. With this in mind, we have started an eBay raffle; you can win the jersey for the cost of a £1, or the entire purchase price of Rangers FC PLC.
There are no excuses to sit this one out, Vanessa needs your help, you would like to own a signed Celtic jersey, and you too can afford the kind of money Craig Whyte used to buy Rangers. Click here to participate.
Thank you for the dozens of response to the request for writers for CQN Magazine. I’m still working through them, will be in touch soon. Issue six, our Fit and Proper edition, is set to become a landmark collectors item. You can browse the magazine online here but you can buy your own hard copy by clicking on the link below. Fill your boots…..
You can support the online edition by making a discretionary donation here.
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Good morning friends from a damp drizzyl and very unseasonally warm (11 degrees on a February morning??) East Kilbride.
Roll on Saturday and a 23 point lead!
Jobo (waving away ;-))
Just made another pledge of the saverangers site. It’s fantastic the fun you can have on there. You need to leave an email address and phone number. That is the sort of sh!t google was actually invented for.
Once you’ve a suitable email and number you can then get inventive over the pledge.
They are so too late with this it is almost, I say almost, sad. In reality it’s magic.
San Diego Bhoy,
will do cheers
hail hail
I am amazed by the Rangers’ administrators’ public comments, although I am sure they have a Baldrickian “cunning plan” up their finely tailored and expensive sleeves to ensure full compliance with their obligations.
It is very hard to keep up, but here are a few thoughts on their Tuesday statement.
Day 7 (Tuesday) – The Rangers (In Administration) Saga Continues – Conflicts of Interest and the Right Against Self-Incrimination
http://scotslawthoughts.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/day-7-tuesday-the-rangers-in-administration-saga-continues-conflicts-of-interest-and-the-right-against-self-incrimination/
The Day 8 (Wednesday) analysis will appear IN DUE COURSE!
BlantyreKev
Tut! Tut! Tut!
Here we have a situation were one of this fine countries INSTITUTIONS (institution I tell ya) could be going to Hell, whose fans (without the ICF) have managed to organise a website (own up the Tim that set it up) to determine whether there is an appetite amongst their follow followers to save their club with a no obligation, no payment now, tell us how much you would like to pay Craig Whyte question (Alex Salmond – pointer for referendum question). Anyway Blanyrekev. What it is that I’m trying to say is that you wouldn’t find me putting in false representations 20+ times to fool the intelligent guys because in these times of austerity that just would not be right. Now would it?
MWD
.
VHman..
I’m sure You Predicted 2-0 as I Agreed with Your Reasoning.. Pars Park a Bus..
SoS
.
Players and Staff to be Paid today @ iPox.. SSN live at the Ground this Hour..
Summa
Paul McC
Your doing a Grand job?
Or should that be a Thousand Job?
Or a Million Job?
Or was it a Billion Job?
Or was it a Gold Bullion job?
MWD
Morning all. Damp but mild in Morayshire. Just watched highlights of last night’s game and given that I knew the result I was was driven to laughing out loud on several occasions by our comedy finnishing. Had the situation been different and we really needed the points I would have been pulling what little rermains of my hair out. Lovely build up play though and a screamer from Chaz. Good to see use of the squad as well with Cha , Izzy, Ki and Commons all getting valuable game time. Wonder what will transpire in the wonderful world of orcdom today.
Hail hail
SIALF
All his media hype about people ready to step in and take over Rangers is missing one major point . . . Nobody will spend “one thin dime” on buying Rangers until AFTER liquidation.
That is why vultures like King and Murray are hovering around Ibrox waiting to swoop on the corpse of Rangers FC.
Nobody in their right mind would buy the club with the Big Tax Case hanging over it.
As soon as the club goes into liquidation, someone will buy out Craig Whyte and take over the Newco for a pittance. Whoever that may he is certainly not going to do it now or any time soon. Anyone serious about taking the club off Whyte would be telling the Administrators – I am interested, but only after liquidation and a fresh start – which might explain McCoists grim demeanour when he and King exited Ibrox yesterday.
Summa
Are they going to show it live?
£10, £20…£9990,£9990.20,£9990.40…£9991.10…£9999.99,£10,000.00.
Right Ally. Your next.
MWD
Good morning fellow Celts from very mild North Hampshire
No Jacket required
Haven’t seen game and even sounded like we were in control on shortbread !
Watching on Celtic tv this evening
Paul67 great news about the eBay auction we can match that 5k @ only 1 ranker a
Only 1 ranker a go on ebay
We can get another 5k between us …surely?
HH
M
My post at 5:59 would have made mair sense if I typed 2-0 instead of 1-0 :>)
Weather … Really mild for this o the year.
V
.
VHman..
Ha.. Told Ye..2-0..
Summa
.
Moonbeams..
We Could see the Return of the Pay Packet..aka Lucky Bag..
Miss the Brown Pay Packet..
Summa
Paul67
Just went onto the eBay link to buy a few raffle tickets, but saying it is unavailable(sold out)? Is that correct or have we just hit the 1000 originally listed?
Hail Hail
TBhoy
Thanks for the commentary Paul McC, it’s invaluable and adds another dimension to CQN.
rip Frank Carson who passed away last night, met him at a do in Blackpool a few years back, great bloke.
V
Good morning CQN from the 2nd of this mornings fast trains.
BlantyreKev, you must be travelling somewhere today getting up that early.
I will be passing Snake Mountain shortly, what odds on lights being out….
Paul67 – who do I complain to about bullying? HT & BRTH on Tuesday, Googybhoy & CRC last night (albeit by email) ;-)
hh
bjmac
Morning Bhoys, Wanyama injured last night or Neil drop him as he was looking tired? Awesome last night even though the fifers up’d their game against us. Motherwell will be right for it because of the mullet. But back to last night, Ki, Joe,scotty, Hooper and Big charlie all looked good and Izzy and KC will get back to best for next season. still have my doubts over Cha though. Thought Sammy and Brozek would have got a full game last night. 20 clear adn don’t give an inch bhoys. Hopefully another day of revelations. I heard on Radio Scotland last night that AJ has sent another letter to the police last night, no details were given though, No honour amongst thieves and all that…..
KLV
Shambolic huns.
Vannessa Appeal, tried e-bay and it’s closed, any info on why?
Hail Hail
king is saviour of the day today. they still really dont get it.lol
klv
Rangers in crisis: Administrators in desperate hunt for £4.5m to keep Ibrox club alive.
Good luck with that.
EXCLUSIVE: Fears are growing that stricken Rangers could hit the buffers within days – because Craig Whyte’s lawyers won’t show them the money.
What money?
Another Ran**ers in crisis headline dont any of you get bored with this??????
Nope,,,me neither :D
Hail hail
Craig Whyte is an innocent man!!
Sixteen roads to Golgotha says:
23 February, 2012 at 08:32
Craig Whyte is an innocent man!!
____________________________________________________________
So you are saying that Craig Whyte is in fact Tom Sellick???
http://i43.tower.com/images/mm106985103/innocent-man-tom-selleck-dvd-cover-art.jpg
lol :D
Hail hail
I thought Dunfermline defended well last night and made it difficult for us. The first goal was sublime and the second a surprise. A Hooper cross for Forrest? We were a bit generous in not taking our chances when they came but you have to give Smith credit in goal. but for him it would have been at least 8.
The stats speak for themselves.
Possession 72/28 in our favour.
Shots 27/3 in our favour. 16 of ours on target. We also had 16 corners.
Cha has some pace but no final ball. A pity. some of his runs last night were superb, and the balls to him from Ki were spot on. The difference to me from September/October last year is we are playing as a team and with confidence.
Still, it is difficult sometimes to understand how Sammi keeps the ball. I’m sure sometimes he doesn’e even know what he’s going to do next, but he is entertaining and is playing with confidence which is great. One example was the ball through to him over the top that he took, stumbled with, beat three defencders, turned and shot from a tight angle almost on the goal line. He just never gives up.
Man of the match for me was Ki. What a player he is when he’s up for the game.
ibleedgreenandwhite1 says:
23 February, 2012 at 08:36
PMSL
A 25 point turnaround without the Huns administration -10 deduction.
Multiple clean sheets
Rest 4 influential youngsters last night.
20 points clear.
A treble definately on.
No’ bad Lenny, no’ bad son.
EC67
Can Lenny take credit for What Is The Stars tips?
paul67 your link to the jersey say that the listing has ended it shows 1000 tickets sold ???
Great to get another 3 points last night, Thought Broonie was excellent…again! Well done Captain.
24m from Ticketus is 20m plus VAT.
It went through Wavetower. Now, I can’t do flowcharts on here, but let’s address the questions this throws up.
Either Wavetower paid the VAT on the Ticketus deal, or it didn’t.
If it did then then there is no money missing at all. £18m to Lloyds, £2m to a band of highly paid advisers and £4m in VAT. That’s £24m.
If they didn’t pay the VAT I’d expect HMRC to be all over Wavetower too, but at the minute it is only RFC PLC (IA) they are chasing. £9m debt by Rangers since Wavetower took over. Given the wage bill there is no room for £4m of VAT on the Ticketus deal to be included in this unless they are only behind a couple of months of PAYE and NIC, but word is he hasn’t been paying for most if not all of the 9 months.
If Wavetower was able to sell the asset of the tickets, what sort of deal has been done between it and RFC PLC (IA) to allow that to happen? This one is still to unravel.
If Wavetower was not able to sell the asset but instead sold an asset of a VAT registered entity {RFC PLC (IA)} then has that VAT been included in the submissions of that entity? Apparently not since Duff and Phelps had ‘no visibility’ on this.
This is a new ball game, not failure to remit, but failure to declare. Error? OK, so let’s say error and not fraud. The penalty for deliberate and concealed error is up to 100% of the tax involved. The Ticketus deal could therefore add £8m VAT to the already discovered £9m PAYE and run-of-the-mill VAT debt. That’s £17m tax, without the wee, or the big, tax case! What do we call this, the medium tax case?
So in summary, we are told officially the deal was £20m plus VAT. So this was an asset sale, VAT does not apply to finance deals.
Either Wavetower paid the VAT and to do so must have owned the assets. The question is how was that structured – who owns Ibrox?
Or it didn’t, and RFC PLC (IA) couldn’t have because D&P had no visibility. So in that case it is outstanding, ergo becoming the medium tax case. And I claim dibs on the scoop :-)
Hey Bhoys,
A bit of a random question but I’ll be shipped out to Beijing with the company on Monday and there ain’t no way in Gods green earth that I’m missing the next 3 months of Celtic. So…
Plan 1: I watch the games on Celtic TV in my apartment :(
or
Plan 2: I get out and share some jelly and ice cream with the celtic family in Beijing. My favourite option :) Anyone know of anybody out there or any CSC’s I could contact? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
ShaneBhoy
We were flying last night. Well up for it and – crucially against a 10 man behind the ball team – our tempo was good right from the start.
No passengers in th entire team and the whole midfield unit were awesome.
Probably mentioned previously but great to see 2 excellent products of our youth system scoring the goals – well done bhoys.
tully
One question. Whyte’s statement the other night, which HMRC completely refuted, suggested that he had offered to pay £500000 of the tax up from then £125000 per month. He also said he’d offered to pay the FTT/EBT costs at £2.5m per annum.
Does this suggest he knows that Rangers lost the case? Why else would he be proposing a payment profile if Rangers had won the case?
What is the stars…….. Cheers for the tip about source of light
means i can but lots more jelly and ice cream
Hail Hail
will keep an eye out for it running again