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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A new day
And still no resignation down Hampden way?
malceye says:
Seems to be takin a while doesn’t it but I’m enjoying everything the admins are slowly finding under the tables at ibroke
Trossary Bhoy, Steviebhoy66, thanks for the nod on the eBay raffle, it’s not closed. I’ll get it resolved.
bjmac, that would be MWD.
Frank Carson,some mhan.
My mate and I met him outside paradise before a Glasgow
derby,talking to frank for a minute or so then said our goodbyes.
Mate says “who’s that”?
Among the many gems on follow follow was the post last night from the guy who,upon hearing the news regarding the sale of the Arsenal shares,proclaimed that this was the last straw,he had,until that point,RETAINED FAITH,in whyte,believing that even now,after the admission of lying about the ticketus money,and all the other shady dealings,he still believed that whyte was working with a cunning plan.In other words,whyte admitted,right to this guys face,that he had misappropriated approx,24,000,000 pounds,and this numpty was ok with that,but,selling a paltry few shares in Arsenal,now THAT is beyond the pale.Is it any wonder they were so easily duped?
Blantyre
Wavetower could hold the cash for R*ngers. The club invoices Ticketus and is accountable for the VAT. Hypothetically, Wavetower can charge management fees (all be it VAT would be accountable on these) and then owe the Club nothing and are not accountable for the VAT.
I also believe Johnston is simply on the long list of hurting Huns. I think his main gripe should be with SDM as he used him as the face for the last year or so. As I have said before he should be taken to task re his statement at the last AGM that they were confident of winning. In his poistion there is no excuse for not making himself aware of all the facts and could have been at least less robust. Also the infamous due diligence that Whyte undertook “discovered” the wee tax bill. Did Johnston not know of this to speak to at the AGM? Did he (as part of the board) attempt to not highlight a material matter for to the proposed purchasers?
RTC and the Scotslaw have both published extracts from the purchase agreement that would suggest that if there is any actual right for restitution if Whyte reneges on acquisition then that falls to SDM to get the shares back. I can’t think why anyone else would benefit. That clearly is not going to happen.
If as Johnston is hinting that he might allege at some point that there was criminal wrongdoing then Whyte and his cohorts will be in a lot of bother but the situation for Them will simply drag on and will not make ant difference to the amount that they owe to HMRC.
So effectively, and lon wind-edly, Johnston is just spouting urine and wind to distance himself from any wrong. When SDM told him he was selling to Whyte he could have resigned there and then but chose not to.
Re: Frank Carson – RIP
Can anyone else recall Frank doing the Paradise Windfall draw back around the beginning of the MON era?
I have a hazy recollection of him telling a riddle of which the final line was:
“And that’s the reason why, the grass they have at Ibrox comes from the fields of athenry”
For me the outstanding question re RFC PLC ( IA )is who owns the assets.From that answer may emerge the clue as to what happens and with whom when the inevitable good ship dignity hits the proverbial iceberg.
At this stage we can only speculate.
Guys, the CQN Vanessa signed Celtic shirt has now sold all 1000 tickets. In one day, actually in about 10 hours. Incredible.
I’ll post details of the draw and a full account of the amount raised. If you haven’t paid, please do so before Monday 27 at 7pm. I’m sorting out a few invoices at the moment, but all good news.
It all boils down to money. The Huns owe lots & lots of it. They don’t have any money and no one is going to give them any. Everything else is just hot air.
Morning Paul/ Bhoys and Ghirls
Great performance last night despite wasting loads of chances – 2-nil going on ten. Just how creative are this team??
Very, very excited about just how good this young Celtic team can become. Neil Lennon is building something special and these players can go as far as they want to in the game (i just hope they’re wearing green and white hoops while they do it!)
It’s probably too early to compare these guys to the Seville Team or WGS’s bhoys who came within a bad penalty decision of skelping AC Milan, but give them a season or two in the Champions League and who knows.
One happy hoop here.
do you think Falkirk MP Eric Joyce was in the mps Bar in Westminster all day after his meeting with the (saviours) of rfc(ia) and was drowning his sorrows at what he was told before he caused a rammy and got nicked ???
taggsybhoy says:
23 February, 2012 at 09:25
I was going to buy some tickets last night but saw it had closed at 1000. Any prospect of adding more, or is that it?
glassford03 said at 09:04
“Whyte’s statement the other night, which HMRC completely refuted, suggested that he had offered to pay £500,000 of the tax up from then £125,000 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?”
——-
Under the terms of the ‘purchase’ of RFC plc ([now] in adminsitration) is the MBB allowed to negotiate with HMRC about the BIG tax case … ?
FF
Player of the Year – Charles Patrick Mulgrew
That is all.
Folly Folly
It’s rather far fetched to believe that Whyte has been in touch with HMRC.
Another stinker of a morning here in North Ayrshire.
I see Johnston has written to the Administrators asking for the debt that Rangers owe whyte should be written off, is there any extremes this lot wont go to to wriggle out of their illgotten pile of debt ? In other words we want the £18m paid to Lloyds to disappear and anything else we can get out of as well so we can continue being ra peepil, at any cost cos we dont care.
I truly hope my bad feelings on their level of “sneekiness” is miscalculated, you really couldnt give any of them a brass neck with a blow torch
Mon Hector … do your job !!
Taggsybhoy – i think we could sell more. I haven’t bought any yet. Might be an idea ot hold it open for a few days?
RogueLeader says:
23 February, 2012 at 09:41
Player of the Year – Charles Patrick Mulgrew
OR
Joseph Christopher Ledley
our two most consistent players over the whole season
jock steins celtic says at 09:26:
“It all boils down to money. The Huns owe lots & lots of it.”
Today is payday at Ibokes and, if my understanding is correct, everyone of them can expect to get paid (although this will probably be the last one for many of them).
I wonder if PAYE and NI will be deducted … ?
FF
Strange game last night but a great performance. When our strikers are not at the races, it’s very encouraging that there are goals in this team everywhere you look!
What a hit from Chaz! Really pleased for the big guy.
Were Rogue and Wanyama injured¬? Anyone know?
I get the feeling Neil has got the team fired up to keep the run going! Hail Hail!
What am I saying: of course it will.
I assume it will be passed on, too …
tooheys new says:
23 February, 2012 at 09:22
So effectively, and lon wind-edly, Johnston is just spouting urine and wind to distance himself from any wrong. When SDM told him he was selling to Whyte he could have resigned there and then but chose not to.
As Moonbeams is getting away without scrutiny so is Mr No surrender, why didnt AJ and Paul Murray buy out the bank debt? the package they put together in the days before the Whyte deal was finalised ignored the debt Rankers owed LBG, Mr no surrender, his board and his football managerial staff ridiculed LBG in public statements, oh what a payback LBG gave him and his board, selling to Craig Whyte.
Kayal33 says:
23 February, 2012 at 09:44
RogueLeader says:
23 February, 2012 at 09:41
“Player of the Year – Charles Patrick Mulgrew
OR
Joseph Christopher Ledley
our two most consistent players over the whole season ”
It’s Joe for me. Tireless, professional team player. Unselfish and undemanding.
He adds balance and endeavour without being flash. How much did he cost again?
@ Paul67 & Taggsybhoy
Can you clarify if Vanessa raffle will be re-opened? I went on to buy tickets today and would still like the opportunity to do so if possible.
cheers
BB
Kayal33 & tomtheleedstim – I was in a quandary between those two gentlemen myself and I used the favoured scientifically proven method to make my selection. I flipped a coin. Chico won.
Folly Folly
I assume PAYE has to be passed on or HMRC would go after Duff & Phelps.
Does anyone have our top scorers for the season, All if possible thanks.
Michael Kelly: Alex Salmond wrong to take sides in Rangers fiasco
Celtic fans: unhappy with Salmond’s comments. Picture: SNS
Published on Thursday 23 February 2012 00:00
First Minister has ensured no Celtic fan will be voting his way after backing crisis-hit club amid Old Firm bigot-fest, writes Michael Kelly
I am a big fan of conspiracy theories. There are many strands to be separated from the continuing Rangers’ saga. One is the establishment conspiracy that Celtic fans see is being organised to save Rangers. They argue that, when Celtic were in trouble, no-one from the banks, the media or politics was preaching how much their club’s demise would harm Scottish football. In fact, one tabloid in the middle of the struggle held a mock funeral complete with coffin outside Celtic Park. And I certainly do not recall any sympathy, never mind support, from the SNP.
Another theme is the depressing re-emergence of the religious intolerance which has surrounded the Old Firm for decades. Last Saturday, Ibrox saw the worst display of sectarian singing for years, with at least half the 50,000 supporters joining in. Yet there was only one arrest inside the ground for an alleged sectarian offence. How come the leniency?
The new anti-football law was one that the police welcomed. Yet they refuse to enforce it. And the First Minister, whose idea it was to restrict freedom of speech at football, has said nothing.
But, of course, sectarian singing was, for him, last year’s issue. The police raised it in the hope of getting more resources. Salmond outmanoeuvred them beautifully by turning it into an issue of new legislation. Now the police either cannot or will not implement it – and not just at Ibrox. Offensive songs were also clearly heard from the Celtic end during the TV coverage of the match from Easter Road.
But prosecutors are dropping sectarianism from charges because of the difficulty of proving it – as we saw last year with the one-man attack on Neil Lennon at Tynecastle. The new law has actually worsened the position. Before, judges were able to take into account any sectarian aggravation if an offence was proved. Now, unless it is there in the charge, they can’t.
This is characteristic of Salmond’s approach to problems. Seek a quick public relations success and move on, ignoring the long-term impact of his actions. Why otherwise would he not be up in arms about the police’s inactivity?
Now after doing nothing on Saturday, the police want to intervene in the timing of the next Old Firm game. The role of the police is to be told what events will take place and when. It is then their job to cover them, not bicker about time and location. We’ve got things the wrong way round.
As the First Minister becomes more and more complacent with his parliamentary majority behind him, we can see this once sure-footed politician beginning to make mistakes.
The first was to alienate both sets of Old Firm’s fans with his attempts to stop them enjoying themselves. Now he’s compounded this by his overt support of Rangers. Why? He surely cannot have misled himself into thinking that by saying a few sympathetic words about their team he will persuade the loyalest, most vigorously Union-Flag-waving section of Scottish society to vote “Yes” in his referendum?
He’s certainly ensured that no Celtic fan – people who might have had some sympathy with him – will now.
But much more fundamentally wrong than making a gesture of understanding towards Rangers was his plea that the tax authorities found some way of going easy on the club. This is a blunder, not of tactics, but of political principle.
The First Minister is the man who wants to have control of all of Scotland’s tax revenue. Yet at the first public challenge to the authority of Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs – and Craig Whyte has renewed his criticism of the taxmen again this week – he wants Rangers off the hook. His own team, Hearts, have been having their own tax troubles – no intervention call for them. And has he spared a thought for Dunfermline? They are owed £80,000 by Rangers. Obviously given the precarious financing of Scottish football, they are going to need a big chunk of that money to pay their taxes. Are they too to be a special case.
And what about me? I’d rather spend my VAT and PAYE on a skiing holiday, repaying it to the government over five years. Is that OK, Mr Salmond? He says he wants Rangers given time to meet their obligations. He has misunderstood the whole situation. The reason Rangers went into administration was to avoid their obligations. And liquidation could be the next step in that direction. Indeed, one wonders why the administrators seem so desperate to avoid a solution that would eliminate all of Rangers’ debts. For a business in these dire circumstances the focus must be on the creditors and not the customers. However, I would rule out any conspiracy as regards the company being allowed to appoint a “friendly” administrator who had previous business links with it. It seems to me unwise that a large international firm like Duff and Phelps would want to attract even the perception of a conflict of interest. But the statutory obligations on an administrator are so clear and with the penalties so personal that, especially in a high profile case like this with HMRC breathing over their shoulders, it is certain this process will be carried out to the letter of the law.
The tax authorities too will do their duty resisting the influence of the man who likes to think of himself as the UK’s most brilliant politician. Meanwhile, Rangers as a club and a team will carry on while a new owner is sought. Let us hope that the new owners not only run Rangers more prudently than in the past but that they make a commitment to end the sectarianism which hangs heavily around the fringes of the club. There are many people, including many Celtic fans, who want to see Rangers’ financial problems resolved. But they also want to see the bigotry which simmers just below the surface pulled out by the roots. Equally, Celtic must ensure that the triumphalism currently being enjoyed by the fans is not used as an excuse for unacceptable behaviour.
RogueLeader says:
23 February, 2012 at 09:49
Chico is the most improved player by a mile and has had a great season to be fair to him. He’s played in a few different roles as well as Joe, but Ledley is brilliant.
I bet Ledley gets the players’ player of the year award.
Celtic FC are now Scottish footballs big hope for taking the game forward, with excellent initiatives such as the Next gen tournament being brought to Scotland now Celtic are hosting an international coaching convention, Scotland should be proud of the wonderful ambassadorial role Celtic does in the international scene for Scottish football
Celtic host international coaching convention
By: Newsroom Staff on 23 Feb, 2012 09:25
CELTIC are hosting a conference this week for a number of international youth coaches which will showcase the club´s youth development programme.
The 25 coaches will come from football clubs and football associations throughout Scotland, Ireland, England and from much further afield, including countries such as the USA, Holland, Kuwait and Israel.
The conference will allow Celtic to showcase its excellent work and will cover areas such as Fitness, Sports Science, Injury Rehabilitation and of course coaching Methods.
Covering two days, the programme of events will be both theoretical and practical, with coaching sessions taking place at Lennoxtown Training Centre.
Chris McCart, Celtic´s Head of Youth Development said: “We have had a magnificent response to this event and it is clear that there is great interest in seeing the work which we are involved in at Celtic.
“In recent years our youth development programme has seen excellent results producing quality international first-team players such as James Forrest, Charlie Mulgrew, Aiden McGeady, Shaun Maloney and Stephen McManus.
“We feel this initiative will allow us to engage in a meaningful exchange of ideas between coaches from a variety of backgrounds and indeed a range of footballing cultures to hopefully benefit everyone involved.”
Celtic Manager Neil Lennon said: “This is a great idea which has been generated by the club and will be an event which brings together a range of ideas.
“Our youth development programme has been very successful in recent years in bringing players through and I know there are some more players on the verge of coming through towards the first-team.
“I´m sure this conference will be a very positive initiative, allowing us to share our ideas and also allow our coaches to gain knowledge from other areas.”
And Celtic Chief Executive Peter Lawwell added: “Celtic makes a substantial commitment to youth development each year and we are pleased in recent years that this investment has been achieving such positive results.
“We have quality people in place who are committed to producing the Celtic stars of the future and it is great that there is so much interest in seeing the Celtic model.
“Clearly, events such as this are also very useful in sharing ideas which can also only assist the club longer term.”
Craig (shoulders) Beattie joins Hearts.
Yes, I remember Frank Carson doing the half time draw.
Told a joke about a Christmas fancy dress party and a guy turned up at the front door with a box of knickers.
“What’s that go to do with Christmas?”
“They’re Carol’s!”
It’s the way he told them. RIP.
Re: vanessa Raffle,
I agree with the earlier poster that we should at least try and equal the £5k already raised.
I have sent the e-bay link to quite a number of people here in England who are genuinely taken with this. I say we go for £5k
HH
RogueLeader says:
23 February, 2012 at 09:49
I really can’t pick between the two either. For me Chaz slightly edges it cos he has a better song. But then I feel guilty….
So they are dead even in my book. I think it is a contest in who can do the most hun skelping between now and the rest of the season. If they get the chance that is!!!
Strangest piece of text commentary ever?!
86:53 Effort from 18 yards by Gary Hooper. Save made by Fraser Forster.
@Dobbo 10.06
With the standard of shooting last night, some of the shots could have ended up at Big Fraser’s feet……