I looked into the world of Scottish football betting yesterday. Betting on Celtic to win the Scottish Premiership is less rewarding than putting your money in an interest bearing account, which, I suspect, is an approximation of what bookmakers will do with any such bets. In short, our league is not so much a sport as a secure investment.
Betting gets really interesting if you meander onto what is referred to as the Without Celtic market, or who will win the league if Celtic are taken out of the equation. Favourites are Aberdeen, closely followed by Motherwell and then Dundee United and Hibs (hmm….).
Can you imagine what a league title like this would do for these clubs? Aberdeen, Motherwell and United actually vying to become champions?
Some hold a notion that Celtic are the great benefactors of Scottish football, which is dependent on you and me for the occasional home game and TV money. This is rubbish. Celtic inhibits Scottish football more than we can imagine. We are a competitive poison making it impossible for historically significant football teams to thrive.
Keeping a clean sheet away from home is an achievement for any team. Doing so twice, in Europe, and winning both games, is outstanding for St Johnstone. Well done. I can only imagine their absence from the top of the Without Celtic betting chart is a result of bookmakers anticipating their run to the Europa League final in Turin will hinder their league challenge.
I have to express my sheer delight at yesterday’s pronouncement by the chief executive of Rangers International FC PLC, Craig Mather. We can be confident of this guy’s credentials and that he is worthy of following in the footsteps of Charles Green, Tommy Cooper and other comedic greats.
Mather issued a statement on the club’s web site noting punishments handed out to Hearts and Dunfermline for entering administration were different from the punishment handed out to Rangers International’s predecessor club (the player registrations and current penalties Newco Rangers were allowed to inherit) – for a completely different series of offences.
Those penalties were imposed for a variety of misdemeanours, including failure to declare the club appointed a director who had been struck off, failure to comply with stock market rules and multiple counts of bringing the game into disrepute. The SFA disciplinary panel responsible for the penalties found that “only match fixing in its various forms might be a more serious breach”.
Would you not feel a wee bit embarrassed by this? Mr Mather asks for clarification but I suggest we don’t trouble him by directing him to the aforementioned SFA panel’s ruling. Better that he operates in the version of reality he is most comfortable with, and that he keeps his followers away from looking into the real issues……..
To that effect, our thanks to all the media outlets who unquestioningly reported the Mather comments without hint of irony, apart from those pesky online types at STV, who had the temerity to address the question. Cease and desist immediately.
Flag Day tomorrow, another historic moment in Celtic history. Get in early, or late afternoon, as it happens. Hoping to see some of our new guys make their claim for a start in Sweden.
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Good morning all and a Big Happy Flag Day from a dry but grey and breezy EK.
…for the record……. (ahemmmm!)
“Impeach Grimmond McCrummoch”
Asonofdan…………….as you say, Walter is more or less just the Janny, no disrespect to Jannies by the way.
Asonofdan
Chairman Smith has been very quiet indeed…. sure the zombs expected him to take over big mouth carlo verdis place as spokesman for ra peepil
Just read the Ogilvie interview in the Herald, away for a shower.
Tonyd
Just had an image … waldo has cast off his dark blue cardigan… replaced with a brown dustcoat … carrying a bucket of sawdust ….
No another billionaire, Keith…..whit ur ye like ?
hebcelt
07:21 on 3 August, 2013
&&&&&&
Opposite Carnegie hall on W57, just down from Salisbury Hotel at 117, Angelo’s Pizza, pure gallus!!!!!
Before I go, bonkers bet today is Forfar to draw with Sevco over 90 minutes. Only thing that will bust it is a Forfar win. No dodgy trialists today.
Heb…………
:)))
I’m gutted……….
Especially Prime Burger………..old quirky joint……with a cast of charcaters working behind the jump….straight out the movies…….
If it’s been turned into a Starbucks, I may go ‘postal’………….
Me ‘an the missus will be over there next week – perhaps we should get tips from your daughter!
:)
HH.
67heaven … i am neil lennon..!!.. ibrox
belongs to the creditors
lol!
I wonder if Charlie is sending Mather to Coventry?
Bankiebhoy1 I,ll let you know what she finally chose and give some feedback. hail Hail hebcelt
The Herlad is fair goin’ for it this mornin’…………….
That dick, Campbell…………………and the boul’ Grimmond…………
“Jackanory, Jackanory……………………..Jack…”
Morning all. Grey and windy down here today.
Apropos of my rant last night, there is one honourable exception in my opinion to those who never give Celtic an even break in the media: Phil Gordon. He wrote sometime ago a very fine article about our manager.
If you bet Forfar to win, or a draw you still gonna come out on top Sonofdan
Luis Suarez will consider a formal transfer request and the possibility of court action if his Liverpool dispute is not resolved.
Don’t know how court action would help him
Bankiebhoy
I used to be a regular Herald reader
Found myself too busy thro the week but got it both days every weekend
Wouldn’t take it in a gift now …the sports journos are uninhibited Hun cheerleaders …bloody Sevco news
Parkhead …..
Gibbons is ok
Heb,
Cheers!
HH.
Why John Keane will unfurl the flag…
“Administration was unthinkable. It would have been a slur upon the name of the Club.”
John Keane
PF
in general I agree
what do you think about Hugh MacDonald? He’d get – pass marks mibbe?………….
One wonders what steps the SFA and the SPFL are making to accomodate that team who ply their trade in Govan when they die another day……..I think we should be told. Ogilvie will have seen how the wind is blowing; it won’t be ignorance on his part, whatever they come up with. Can we not charge him with bringing the game into disrepute?
Injury news today.
Doubts over Samaras, Wilson, Forrest, Lustig . Tom Rogic out with ankle injury.
Dutch boy fit and raring to go.
PFayr,
He is, as is Hugh MacDonald, on occasion. I guess there are some out there.
Bankiebhoy
He’s ok …that G McPherson character is embarrassing
hebcelt
thers an irish bar dinner on 46theast off broadway..great foot 2mins from time sq..also great food in the rest.under radison martinique on 34than broadway just across from macies at mclean sq h.h
67
Im gonna write a letter to keef …. see if he can track down a billionairess for me ;)
Asonofdan
Who comes in
Matthews …..Lustig
Derk…Forrest
Myoloko(sp) or Mulgrew ……Wilson
Big choice re Sammy …Watt or Balde
.
tonydonnelly67
08:43 on
3 August, 2013
Asonofdan…………….as you say, Walter is more or less just the Janny, no disrespect to Jannies by the way.
..
Hey..!!
I’m the Unofficial (Oh make that Unpaid)..;-) Janny of My Wee Ghirls School..
It’s a Hard Job especially that My Chainsaw is on the Blink..Need to Ration My Sawdust..Ha
Strange but True..
They don’t have Jannies in Victoria..Australia..?
Summa
asonofdan
09:04 on 3 August, 2013
John Keane = unsung hero extraordinaire
……..will be roaring my head off when he unfurls the flag to the chant ……. “One John Keane, there’s only John Keane”….!!!!!!!!
….pfayr
09:17 on 3 August, 2013
I’d rest Sammi for Wednesday….
.
Courtesy The Record..
Chris Sutton: Gary Hooper could have made a big difference to Celtic’s adventures in Europe
GARY HOOPER could have scored the goals that would ease Celtic’s passage into the group stages of the Champions League, CHRIS believes.
If my old team-mate Neil Lennon takes Celtic to the Champions League group stages it’ll be a bigger achievement than making the last 16 of the competition last season.
The reason I say that is logic dictates if you lose your most potent goalscorer, and sell a midfield player for a club record transfer fee that signifies his worth to the team, you’re automatically weakened.
I would hazard a guess and say if Gary Hooper had been playing for Celtic against Elfsborg on Wednesday night they would have won the first leg of their tie by a more convincing margin than 1-0.
Losing Hooper to Norwich has been a massive blow for Neil because he hasn’t been able to get a like-for-like replacement.
The manager is not yet at the stage where he has complete confidence in Amido Balde, the striker he did get to sign from Vitoria Guimaraes.
That’s not to say Balde should be condemned without a fair trial. The time to assess him will be midway through the season, not now.
And the difficulty Balde, Derk Boerrigter and Virgil Van Dijk will experience to begin with is that they don’t have the level of understanding or the cohesion with the other players that I did when I was playing for Celtic with the likes of Neil, Henrik Larsson and Stiliyan Petrov.
I knew how Stan would play the ball to me and I could sense where Henrik could be found in and around the box.
Balde’s still feeling his way and he’ll get better the longer he’s away from Portugal and the players and systems he was used to there.
The fans, meanwhile, have still to identify with the new boys and the players have yet to realise the true size of the club they have joined.
I was on holiday in Sardinia this summer and bumped into the legendary Italian defender Paolo Maldini.
Our conversation turned to my old club and Paolo told me he rated the atmosphere at Celtic Park as the equal of anything he had encountered anywhere in the world.
And we’re talking about a man who won the World Cup with Italy and the Champions League, or European Cup, with AC Milan no fewer than five times.
When someone like Maldini carries around memories of Celtic Park in his head it’s a helluva compliment to the club.
I can still remember the first time I looked about me during a game at Celtic Park and got the wow factor.
It was the day Celtic beat Rangers 6-2 when I scored the first and last goal in Martin O’Neill’s debut Old Firm game.
I’d never known anything like the noise I heard that day and the experience is still ingrained on my mind 13 years later.
I still retain my affection for Celtic and speak to Neil regularly about the team.
He lifted the whole of Scottish football last season with the run in Europe that included a never-to-be forgotten win over Barcelona in Glasgow and culminated with a place in the last 16 of the competition.
And it will be a tremendous personal achievement for him if he gets past Elfsborg and the final play-off round to reach the group stages this time round.
My hunch is Neil will go with a 4-5-1 in Sweden that leaves Georgios Samaras on his own up front and means the team plays on the counter attack.
Everyone would have wanted a bigger cushion for Celtic than the single goal they have in their favour on Wednesday night, but not conceding an away goal was a huge plus in their favour.
The big difficulty Celtic face is the synthetic surface that gives Elfsborg a massive advantage because they’re used to it.
These surfaces are designed for slick passing and you have to be so exact with everything you do.
Personally speaking, I couldn’t stand them because they made my knees and joints ache afterwards.
I remember Dunfermline had one when I was at Celtic and we used to play a direct game there.
Neil’s side will need to adapt to the surface quickly in Sweden and get a foothold in the game, and the sooner they can get a goal the better it will be for everybody’s peace of mind.
That would mean Elfsborg would need to score three times to go through and my gut feeling is Celtic will have too much experience to let that happen.
There’s no point in denying there will be one or two scary moments along the way, but Celtic will come back from Sweden still in the tournament.
I’ll be willing them on because I still feel attached to Celtic and I always follow the team’s progress. I know the Celtic fans are second to none, but what Neil understands is they apply a heavy degree of pressure to a manager’s shoulders on occasions like these in Sweden.
Top class players have gone and not been replaced like-for-like. That makes the gaffer’s job harder because expectation levels don’t drop as a form of compensation.
And it’s a fact of life that the game in Scotland needs another shot in the arm of the type that qualification for the group stages can bring.
And I also want to offer my congratulations to St Johnstone after the result they pulled off in midweek against Minsk in the Europa League qualifiers.
They have been a breath of fresh air and I hope the responsibility of being in the driving seat when the second
leg is played in Perth next Thursday doesn’t affect their nervous system.
Is it harder to defend a one goal lead at home or on the continent, as Celtic have to do? I suspect one job is just as hard as the other.
It works in Neil’s favour that Elfsborg are a goal behind and the onus is on them to come out and make the running.
That will conspire to put Celtic safely through to the draw for the next stage.
Summa
Re that “story” as regards of the worlds greatest football administrator, am I reading this correctly, he was being pushed aside at ibrox, realised it was time to go, so sought and took an ebt as a form of pay off?
If that’s correct he knowingly took a “loan” knowing full well it would never be paid back.
Dignified from top to bottom.
morning troops in the hoops
happy flag day to you all !!
met izzi,big frazer and mikel lustic yesterday at Paradise when i was up sorting sb out,mikel said he was fit as i asked them all the same question and they were rerring to go..got great pics with them ..great one with izzy is on twitter..right gym time,leg day oooch! h.h
Sheik Yerbouti
07:52 on
3 August, 2013
I’m a good guy
Eh not the point
http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/ebt-was-abbreviation-for-strife-but-ogilvie-still-spells-out-his-innocence.21772611
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Good morning and happy flag day to all.
Sheik,
Just read the herald article. Succulent lamb journalism is alive and kicking.
JackIrvineCSC
PF , aye………………..he’s a fan,
eh!
( an’ so is Grunt) a disciple of Darryl.
Morning all.
Happy flag day to all Tims wherever they may be.
Ghod bless John Keane.
Derk to start?
Several injury doubts I see.
C’mon the Hoops!
HH!!