Celtic have lost in the game immediately after three of their previous four European games, shipping nine points which could be crucial in determining the destination of the championship, so it was not surprising they were below par for much of the game yesterday. Fortunately, the Aberdeen goal came early enough to allow Celtic time to raise their game and respond.
How Celtic respond after European games will become even more crucial in the weeks ahead as they have visits to Motherwell, Dundee United and St Johnstone due after our next three Europa League games. Any slim championship aspirations will be extinguished in these games if Celtic are unable to improve performance for the league challenge.
Ally McCoist is defying early predictions and grinding out impressive results for Rangers, who will seldom have started the league with such an impressive defensive record. Six away wins from six games without conceding a goal is the kind of form it takes to win leagues.
Our more immediate challengers, Motherwell, dropped two points on Saturday, meaning we can go two points clear of them if we win our game in hand, however, the teams meet at Fir Park a week on Sunday (three days after Celtic play Rennes), in what looks like being a key game in our season.
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THE EXILED TIM 25 October, 2011 at 11:06:
The only thing that is niggling the back of my mind is who is the mystery backer with the offshore account. If they don’t stump up more cash then it has to be curtains.
The Honest Mistake (Sickened) says
Much has been made of the advantages they have supposedly gained over us through what, at this moment in time, remains alleged cheating.
However, a coupe of weeks ago a post to this site put a different slant on things.
It claimed that over the last few years THEY had only spent around a million pounds more than us on player recruitment.
If this is indeed the case, results on the park would suggest that, ‘Boring Holy Willies’ or no, THEY know a bit more than us about spending money wisely.
Emergency ward 10 this week
Fleagle , triple leg facture(genuine)
Gordon_J, ????I forget????(geniune)
Blantyretim, bad back (all in his heid)
Get well soon lhads
craig whyte guising for pennies
quonno says:
25 October, 2011 at 11:11
They know a bit more than us on how to spend money they don’t have.
Rangers fans’ groups have expressed concerns over the running of the club following the departure of John Greig and John McClelland from the board.
Former Ibrox captain and manager Greig and ex-chairman McClelland on Monday resigned as non-executive directors after feeling they had been excluded from the corporate governance of the club under the ownership of Craig Whyte. Eight board members have now left since Whyte took over in May, with only South Africa-based Dave King remaining from the Sir David Murray era.
The acting chairman of the Rangers Supporters Trust, Gordon Dinnie, said: “We regret the resignation of John Greig and John McClelland from the club board. One is a club legend, the other is one of Scotland’s most distinguished businessmen. We’re greatly concerned that these resignations raise issues of governance and transparency within the Rangers board.”
He added: “It’s important that the club moves quickly to appoint replacements and the chairman should be looking at candidates who have a credible Rangers background and relevant business experience.”
The board now comprises chairman Whyte along with King, chief operations officer Ali Russell, director of football Gordon Smith and non-executive director Phil Betts.
Although Smith is a former player, supporters are concerned about the impact of the loss of Rangers icon Greig, who was voted the club’s greatest ever player and is immortalised in a statue outside Ibrox. News of Greig’s departure also came as a blow to John Macmillan, secretary of the Rangers Supporters Association.
quonno 25 October, 2011 at 11:11
Much has been made of the advantages they have supposedly gained over us through what, at this moment in time, remains alleged cheating.
I think you might be outing yourself here
However, a coupe of weeks ago a post to this site put a different slant on things.
It claimed that over the last few years THEY had only spent around a million pounds more than us on player recruitment.
Since when? And the point is that without cheating, they should have been spending a lot less than us
If this is indeed the case, results on the park would suggest that, ‘Boring Holy Willies’ or no, THEY know a bit more than us about spending money wisely.
They know how to cheat and convince people that they don’t cheat.
googybhoy/THM
I don’t see any advantage of stumbling along for another month, or even two, all he will be doing is throwing good money after bad.
It is now inevitable that they will go down, so why struggle on, much more financial sence to pull the plug now, and only pay pennies in the pound.
If the bookies had a book on it, I would plump for this month.
A couple of thoughts for DD and PL.
Yesterday I spoke to a fifty five years, home and away through thick and thin Celtic supporter. Unlike me, he is generally of a ‘things are not that bad’ demeanour.
However, he said that in the aftermath of Sunday, he has seldom or ever experienced the current level despondency that pervades the Celtic support.
As I only buy the Herald and Sunday Herald I cannot comment on the content of other newspapers.
Over the last couple of months neither of the above has carried letters from disgruntled Celtic fans.
This would suggest that a usually critical support has simply given up.
I would suggest to DD and PL that it6 this level of indifference that will eventually bring about their downfall.
voguepunter says:
25 October, 2011 at
The problem is even when we have it, we don’t spend it well.
Voguepunter- yes, posting on CQN is more injurious to your health than being a pal of ole George Galloway.
BT
You’d do anything for time off work. :o)
MWD
Reading about the late and great Bobby Murdoch in this week’s match programme reminds me of what great players we have produced. I believe we have to go back to basics and produce teams with 7 or 8 home-grown players. At the A.G.M. we were told that we had 27 internationalists in our youth system. How many of them will make it through to the first team. In recent years only Aiden McGeady and James Forrest have done so. We need more home-grown talent in the first team. It worked for the Lisbon Lions!
Looks like the passing tramp steamer might be about to run out of coal before it reaches port.
Wonder if the Titanic is still limping along behind?
One of the issues the latest RTC blog emphasises is Ranger’s absolute dependence on UEFA money to their survival, not just gloating rights, but survival. This dependence creates conditions when anything can happen
Did The SFA Deny Celtic A Place In The Champions League?
and the fact such ideas arise at all is not good for our game.
Kit
Who published that nonsense?
Rangers have 3 remaining registered Directors – Whyte, Betts and King, with Withey registered as Company Sec.
Smith and Russell are not Directors.
Phils latest tweets:
Phils latest tweets:
@rangerstaxcase provides forensic evidence that Rangers will simply run out of money very soon. Game over.
web • 25/10/2011 10:55
Junior staff at Ibrox being told that administration ” would be no bad thing.”
Oh dear…
web • 25/10/2011 11:03
quonno – THEY know a bit more than us about spending money wisely.
I LOL’ed.
They’ve spent their money so wisely that they were sold for a pound to a shadowy character with a string of business failures and unpaid employees behind him and allegations of criminality and association with convicted fraudsters being raised against him by a national broadcaster.
They’ve spent money so wisely that they’re being hounded by sheriff officers, dragged through the courts, having their bank accounts frozen, and loyal servants of the club are leaving them.
The huns have spent their money about as wisely as that lottery-winning ned did. Blow it all on cheap baubles and immediate gratification and end up impoverished within a few years. (thumbsup)
The Battered Bunnet, along with a host of other news outlets… The Scotsman. Is it rubish? I don’t know, but it is fun.
By Alan Pattullo
Published on Tuesday 18 October 2011 22:31
RANGERS legend John Greig has ended an association with the club stretching back five decades after resigning yesterday in frustration at being “excluded” from club affairs since Craig Whyte’s takeover in May.
Former captain and manager Greig quit as non-executive director along with former chairman John McClelland. It means that only South Africa-based Dave King, who has previously been linked with takeover attempts at Ibrox, remains from the Sir David Murray-era board.
The departure of Greig heralds the end of more than just a link with the Murray period. The 69-year-old was once voted “Greatest Ever Ranger” and played over 800 first-team games for the club. A bronze statue, depicting Greig in his days as centre-half, stands in Edmiston Drive, on the corner of the Main Stand and the Copland Road Stand.
While he is immortalised forever in statue, Greig felt he had become marginalised by the club in recent months. It is understood that the board has not met since the summer, meaning Greig and McClelland felt further isolated. The current board now comprises of chairman Whyte along with King, chief operations officer Ali Russell, director of football Gordon Smith and non-executive director Phil Betts.
A light remained on in John Greig’s office at Murray Park yesterday, and the door was ajar, as reporters made their way to a press conference prior to tonight’s friendly match with Liverpool at Ibrox. Although this gave the impression of a quick exit a precisely-worded statement revealing both Greig and McClelland’s resignations had been released to the Press Association earlier. “[The resignations] result from John McClelland and John Greig both being of the opinion that since the change of ownership they have been excluded from participating in corporate governance at the club,” read the statement.
“Therefore they have decided not to continue in their positions as non-executive directors.”
The resignations were also communicated by letter to Whyte and, the club confirmed, were accepted by the chairman. Rangers, who are involved in two separate tax disputes with Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs, resulting from issues before Whyte took over, offered no other comment.
Their departures ultimately came as little surprise given the large turnover in personnel in the board since Whyte assumed control from Murray in May. Both Greig and McClelland were members of the independent board committee, set up to vet takeovers, which initially delayed Whyte’s buyout and then expressed scepticism over his financial muscle hours after the deal was completed. This caused bad blood to rise between Whyte and those with links to the old regime and he set about severing ties with the old board.
Eight board members have now departed since the Lanarkshire-born venture capitalist assumed control on 6 May.
Donald Muir and Mike McGill, who were closely associated with Lloyds Banking Group, left on the same day. Former chairman Alistair Johnston and Paul Murray, who launched a rival takeover bid, were removed later that month and Martin Bain and Donald McIntyre both resigned from the board after being suspended from their positions. Both have launched legal action against the club.
However, Greig’s departure has been felt most markedly given his status at Rangers. “It’s sad the way this has come about, and for them having to leave the way they have been forced into it, or appear to have been forced into it, is pretty disappointing,” said John Macmillan of the Rangers Supporters Association. “Most companies, when a new man takes over, want to bring in new people, but it’s just sad the way it has happened. John may not have had a great influence in the overall decision-making at the club, but there is no doubt he had some sort of say and he was always a link to the supporters.”
There a guy called Craig on to the money advice expert on clyde 2 just now!
The Honest Mistake (Sickened) says:
25 October, 201
If the post I referred to is any way accurate, can you honestly say that our lot have made the best use of the resources they have.
They are so inept that in, the space of six months the the wave of goodwill generated towards them by the Neil Lennon affair, has been completely dissipated.
TEENAGERS who drink fizzy drinks are more likely to be violent or carry a weapon.
University researchers have found levels of aggressive behaviour among teens becomes higher with every can of non-diet sugary drink they drink.
Those who drink to excess by having upwards of two cans a day are more than twice as likely to be violent, especially towards their partners, friends or siblings.
Consumption of fizzy drinks is also linked to smoking and drinking alcohol, with those who guzzle pop “significantly more likely” to have drunk stronger drinks or used tobacco in the previous month.
Study author Dr Sara Solnick, of Vermont University in the US, said: “Drinking more of the soft drinks is leading to more violence. If you drink two cans it can make you more violent. We found people who were drinking more soft drinks were more likely to engage in violence and carry a weapon.
Diet coke now has a limit of two cans……………………………………………………..
God bless Malmo.
The Honest Mistake (Sickened) says:
25 October, 2011 at 10:33
Estadio Nacional 25 October, 2011 at 10:22
“I see your and others points and I like to see the huns suffer but it seems very much like accounts over football much like how our board think, for us to laugh at their accounts while theres nothing funny about the football is a bit two faced.”
Try and think of it another way, without cheating, spending money they didn’t have, fatally wounding themselves in the process, we would have won the league the last three years, and be nearly 40 million pounds richer.
Our football team would be 40 million pound richer than the team on the pitch today. Nothing funny on the football field is a direct consequence of the cheating and fatal risk taking that they have been partaking in. There is nothing two faced about the schadenfreude displayed when the chickens come home to roost
=============================
Thi should be a “sticky”. The Rangers business model depended on DEPRIVING Celtic of the rewards the beak even policy would have brought had Rangers played by the same rules.
The table here
The Role of Deb (and EBts) in Winning Titles
shows the role debt does play in who wins and when we try to match theirs Celtic are most often winners. It was our refusal to match theirs that has plagued us over ther last three seasons and produced the type of lower standard players we (rightly) complain about. The consistent argument for having a go at Celtic has been Ranger’s football success (despite it being bought with other people’s money). If as a result of their having to play to the same rules history reasserts itself, what argument will replace that one?
What we are seeing is the economics of football asserting itself. Economics favour neither Board nor supporters, they just are.
quonno 25 October, 2011 at 11:40
If the post I referred to is any way accurate, can you honestly say that our lot have made the best use of the resources they have.
I’ve not seen the post you refer to and have no idea of the figures involved.
They are so inept that in, the space of six months the the wave of goodwill generated towards them by the Neil Lennon affair, has been completely dissipated.
You would like to think so but at the Rennes game all I seen was thousands of Celtic supporters in good voice singing songs and getting behind the team we love, Celtic.
Exiled TIM
Here is a scenario from RTC.
AllWhyteOnTheNight says:
25/10/2011 at 11:19 am
Here is a possible scenario :-
Administrator appointed Thursday.
Players not paid Friday while Administrator reviews cash flow projections etc
Following week Administrator announces raft of redundancies (only of players with no resale value, also best to hang on to cheap squad fillers as well).
At same time comes out and appeals to the fans, “no money to continue trading from week to week, we have no option but to cancel all season tickets and ask that everyone pays in at the gate.”
Give them a breakeven attendance figure for the games, so everyone knows what they are aiming for.
Set up a donations scheme through the Rangers Supporters Trust and ask them to start raising funds. “If they can’t get £xk per week then no option but to let more players go or worse.”
Start negotiating with the SPL for an advance on the TV money (they did this with Gretna so no reason it can’t be done here). They will be desperate to see fixtures fulfilled.
All the time you are pleading for interested parties to make themselves known.
A few will come forward, you will start talking to them, they will see the amount needed to come out the other side of admin and run a mile.
So you have managed to get through to January. Now you start your firesale, if you can manage to raise £10-15m that should be enough to see you through to the end of the season plus some profit for the floating charge holder.
You might get someone who comes forward with an offer for the club that allows you to put together a CVA proposal but you probably won’t get that through (good to be seen to try though as it means you can blame HMRC).
Once you have done all that then at the end of the season you sell off the assets as best you can and someone tries to put a newco together and apply for a league place.
You the administrator walk off with your £2-3m fee (at least) and Rangers fans have a newco in the 3rd division (or if they are very lucky and because they are applying in the close season the SPL).
Before everyone shoots me down, this is just how I would play it, plenty of other ways this will go.
No more e-dandelion and burdock for me.
voguepunter says:
25 October, 2011 at 11:43
and Maribor. I was as happy as a p in s when those results came in, I knew how much Rangers depended on UEFA money and when that happened AND we got our hands on a small EL pot I thought God’s a Tim again.
What we need after it all unfolds (unless auld Nick intervenes) is a Celtic Rally where club and support rally together to face whatever new challenges the next few years will bring because at the end of the day all we have is each other.
right off for a walk along the prom….
WDH
Is that a NEW Jersey Grand Prix or a New Jersey grand prix
it’s all in the detail
googybhoy
That would do for me, and in light of Phil’s tweets, could just be what the Dr ordered.
Phil tweeting that
Junior staff at Ibrox being told that administration is no bad thing
Oh Dear….
If Rangers go under then, after a short but climactic release of blogging ecstacy the only three certainties left in life will be Death, Taxes and a return to about 12 posts a day on CQN.
I suppose we could launch a fusillade of ire at Tynecastle, and after they are gone Motherwell, Kilmarnock, East Fife and eventually settle down to a League with Celtic, Dundee United, Hibs, Aberdeen and Albion Rovers.
That’ll get the fans excited again and do wonders for the season book sales!
Without competition the game, already on dying mans leg, is pointless. Oh wait a minute….let’s join another league.
Ah the saviour that is the EPL/Atlantic League/ or whatever.
Well once the precedent is set and cross border affiliation becomes the norm,. what is to stop Man U, Barca, Milan, and the usual suspects who get into the latter stages of European competition simply upping sticks and setting up another exclusive closed shop of a league, while we continue to labour to stay one step ahead of Bolton, Wigan and West Ham and sup a foaming pint of nostalgic mirth at Rangers or the SFA or The Refs or some other insidious conspirators.
I have little empathy for the direction we are being taken by the board and money men, but when Peter Lawwell issues a change or die! warning to Scottish football, he is actually talking about Celtic. No competition ….no money….no football….no Celtic ! That is what the PLC are concerned about and that is what we as fans should be urging them to address.
Perhaps we can’t. Perhaps it’s too late and the first fateful domino has tipped over.
Perhaps I’ve got a massive depressing black crow on my shoulder pecking the last vestiges of a poisonous hangover from my screaming black hearted eyes. I tried the ‘head in the oven job’, but we’re all electric! Mind you the power has been cut off anyway so I suppose it is back to sitting on the settee, staring at the chimney on the roof opposite and checking yellow pages to make an appointment for the grim reaper to do a home visit.
Doomed I tell you.
Hail hail
Estadio
Auld Neil Lennon Heid or anyone else
If rangers do come back as a Newco are they allowed to play in Europe?
I seem to recall an incident a few years ago in the North of Ireland when Coleraine went out of business but came back under a slightly different name. They then qualified fir Europe the following season but UEFA didn’t allow them to play as they needed to be going for at least 4 years before they could play in Europe.
Does this ring any bells?
SFFS
BT, that mean you WON’T be out for a beer tomorrow for the game…? :-)
HH
Giggs
Where will they go?
The bulk of them will return to the teams they should be supporting like Ayr and Kilmarnock
A good portion of them will go back the the Jambo’s
A little will return to their home team St Johnstone
Due to geography both Thistle and St Mirren may inheret a few.
Junior football may benefit with Cambuslang rangers being a big winner and perhaps Pollock also.
But the good news is none of them will return to Celtic FC
Estadio
Chin up mate… life could be worse… BB’s might buy out Sharkey’s!!
Kittoch
copied and pasted the headline straight from the article
Kit
That’s just about done it!
Him that runs BB’s could teach the Somalians a thing or two about Piracy.
Time to walk the gangplank.
Wait a minute, the sun has come out and I’ve found a tenner. Splice the mainbrace time!!
Hail hail
Estadio
Kittoch
I’d guess the majority would be lost of football forever.
If Celtic folded back in 94, I would have never followed Clyde, Thistle or Queens Park, I would have enjoyed watching fitba on the telly, but I couldn’t support another team.
I am a Celtic fan first, second and last!