Earlier this month we discussed the English Football League, where Championship clubs are in particular danger. Unlike the SPFL there is little leadership from “the centre”. Clubs and the League hope to complete the season and only yesterday published a plan on what to do in the event that is not possible.
Completing the season will require investment in blanket testing which will cost hard-up clubs millions of pounds, players would need to be taken off furlough (where applicable) weeks before games are played, and there will be zero ticket money generated.
All this helps clubs, fans and everyone else feel better about the sporting integrity of their competitions, but it will only compound the financial crisis afflicting the sport if they undertake the process and, as is very possible, some or all clubs need to isolate due to positive tests. This could lead to a later curtailment of the league, with unnecessary illness (or worse) and cost.
The contrast with the SPFL is stark. The Scottish League took medical and legal advice and went on the front foot with a strong recommendation to clubs, which was overwhelmingly supported. These decisions are horrible and inevitably unfair on someone, but good leadership means you need to make yourself unpopular at times.
What happens with the English Premiership is largely immaterial to Scottish football. Our more immediate competitors occupy the leagues below. This is where Scottish clubs have lost most of their talent to. There will be opportunities for Scottish clubs as a consequence of how the two leagues reacted to the crisis. Keep your eye on what happens here.
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!!BADA BING!!
…….or Henke?
Neil`s comment was just perfect:
`McCoist made his feelings known on the situation, but Lennon hit back when his former Parkhead team-mate Chris Sutton asked what he would like to whisper in his ex-rival’s ear – a reference to their infamous 2011 Scottish Cup bust-up.
The Irishman smiled and answered: “Stay off the Buckie.” `
It shows Neil in a relaxed, controlled manner and highlights the irrelevance of McCoist and his views.
Penny for your thoughts Martin?
Celebrating nine on line was a nice family show, mainly for youngsters there was some serious goal footage, a thoughtful contribution or two, with Celtic media 40,000 logged on for lockdown, where there is after all, only so much you can do.
Peter Lawwell popped by, to pat himself on the back for getting things right for nine, we could have been offline and nineless, if Rafa had really swung by and signed a few more, but we averted all that, with the miss called, by so many, so often dreaded alleged downsizing.
Neil Lennon, gets down and dirty preserving Celtic continuity he protected us from the unknown, he revitalised another mans deserted win weary squad, tweaked it, to silence his doubters, defeat all comers on the pitch, and thwart SMSM SFA SPL bias.
It was great the Celtic IT brigade reached stuck at home Martin O’Neill even although he was clearly suffering from some form of Covid cabin fever. O’Neill’s superior style honed during a lifetime of England’s green and pleasant land, couldn’t be more contrasting with anybody else’s, never mind little Neil, whom he playfully satirised with fulsome praise throughout.
Martin’s time, unlike Neil’s was apparently up against an incredibly strong great Rainjurz, or so he kept reminding us, perhaps a code, along with his use of tongue in cheek asterisk. Anyway, he eventually skipped past the end bit, or causes of their greatness, to the weaker watered down version wee Neil had just managed to put to the sword.
Red rag and bullshit stuff, plus irony, in an all Celtic production, we didn’t believe Dermot Desmond either, no idea here what prompts the Great Rainjurz, other than in a satanic link? Martin always good value in his musings rises above the divide in which mere mortals have to swim, and he’s careful to bring nothing on himself. Instead of being just a Celtic great, he could easily have been a politician in a pandemic with sermons to the rest of the UK, and all their zoomers.
Scott Brown is also great but like a lot of us badly needs a haircut.
HWG TIAR
Good luck to Damien Duff.
Strange decision yes maybe, but if his love of his family is involved then their can only be one real decision and Damien has made the right choice.
Bring in Henke to help our forward thinking players out.
D. :)
The Damien Duff could be the result of threats, there was a recent leak about threats that was silenced, on here.
The previous round of threats against Neil Lennon were silenced, who would be surprised if it was happening again?
Apparently Andreas Thom, Andy Hinkel, Jorge Albertz and Stefan Klos were interviewed on German TV yesterday and asked if they would like to congratulate Celtic on winning 8 in a row. They all said “Nein”……😉
No doubt they 2 will be getting threats.
Shame on Scotland again.
It’s bad enough getting threats but covering it up and not investigating and dealing with the perpetrators properly, now there is the diabolical crime in itself.
D. :)
2 being NFL and DDuff
D. :)
If Henrik did return, a couple of bad results, and the clamour for him to replace Neil would start, so it’s a no from me.
I am always in awe of ” foreign ” players love for Celtic.
At times they put those of us born into or Celtic minded to shame.
HH to all.
Many happy returns to Vogue Punter on his special birthday today. HH🍀
The SMSM response to Celtic’s fabulous achievement is to dredge up every ex Ranger and EBT dosser from all corners of the globe to tell us how Rangers* can stop the ten .
It’s actually an unintended compliment that they’re so worried.
Vogue Punter – many happy returns – on this day 45 years ago England beat Scotland 5-1 at Wembley
Oh and I got married to the now Mrs Gene 😍
VOGUE PUNTER
Best wishes!
Hope you have a great day!
Morning All.
I didn’t see yesterday’s celebration is it to be found online or on iplayer?
Auldheid/David17
On the question of the 5 way, we have never been able to pin down an absolute final and signed copy. Therefore we can only speculate as to what it says or doesn’t say, although we have a fairly good idea from the earlier unsigned drafts.
However, what can be said with absolute certainty is this;
If there is any type of agreement or contract which says that New RFC cannot and will not be liable for footballing omissions and/or rule breaches performed and conducted by old RFC (or whoever owned and operated it) and that document was signed by the SFA among others – any others – then it is obvious that any dispute about the interpretation, meaning and effect of that document cannot be ruled upon by one of the signatories to the document or any tribunal which is appointed by that same signatory.
That is pretty basic law and indeed was the subject of a fairly extensive counsel’s opinion which I passed to Auldheid some time ago because of its relevance.
From the very outset, Res 12 asked Celtic to refer the entire matter to UEFA because the SFA were not trusted and were likely to be compromised.
That was the position from the beginning and it was at the insistence of Celtic PLC that the matter remained with the potentially conflicted body who ultimately ruled that it would do nothing for reasons of expediency rather than natural justice or because it felt there had been no breaches of its own rules.
Whether Peter Lawwell saw the agreement, signed the agreement, of took it to his bed each night, is irrelevant when looking at the ultimate disposal of the charges brought by the SFA.
PL’s knowledge of the agreement only comes into play because of the comment made to Celtic Shareholders where he said that he hadn’t seen it.
Now, I wasn’t there but did he say he hadn’t seen it and had no idea what was in it?
Or did he simply say that he hadn’t seen it and leave it at that?
Celtic are not adverse to consulting lawyers and advisers. The Company Secretary is an experienced solicitor and he is assisted in house by another lawyer and between them they regularly refer various things to different firms of solicitors. They are also not beyond canvassing opinion and advice from people they know in various professions.
(By the way I have said for years that for an organisation of Celtic’s size and complexity to have a legal department consisting of two qualified people is a disgrace as they cannot possibly cover the myriad of topics and detail that will be involved in running such an organisation – but that is another story)
So, against that background somebody somewhere must have been curious about the 5 way, and even without knowing its detail someone somewhere should have figured out that the SFA may — just may — have been compromised and have a conflict of interest in which case the whole thing should go somewhere else such as UEFA or CAS.
I can’t see an organisation such as Celtic not being able to see that possibility – yet still they insisted that they did not want to go to UEFA and that the matter should remain with the SFA.
Some will recall that they stated that they thought there should be an SFA instructed inquiry and after the Whyte trial they and the SFL (PL AND ND) call for such an Independent Inquiry.
Why would you call for an independent inquiry to be conducted by a body whom you know, or should know, is likely to be compromised and conflicted?
The only feasible explanation for all of this is that either Celtic PLC never thought this through, never saw any conflict coming and didn’t understand the implications of the 5 way (whether they had seen it or not) – despite the fact that we had been for calling in UEFA from the outset
OR
At the start (post the initial rubbish responses sent by Regan) someone somewhere told them that the SFA could deal with the issue and would deal with it.
I was at a meeting when Celtic assured us that the word coming from Hampden was that this would definitely go to CAS — “Why wouldn’t it!”
That later changed to “We can’t get anyone else interested or to support it going to CAS”
So, either Celtic and the SFA were asleep at the wheel when it comes to the implication and consequences of the 5 way — or The Celtic Board have been done up like a kipper by the SFA — OR A MIXTURE OF BOTH!
Either way whether PL has seen or not seen the 5 way is irrelevant as far as the actual issue goes but is important if there is evidence which suggests that he misled shareholders in that regard.
Although I beg the question that if he did mislead shareholders — what should be the consequence of that and why.
On a separate note, I am not at all sure that the Craig Whyte trial was a “game changer” because the witnesses in that trial said exactly what they had said in evidence before, or what we, at least, expected them to say.
There was not a lot that was new in the evidence itself.
What was new was that no one, including the SFA, could continue to deny the truth or the provenance of what was said – hence Regan immediately coming out with the theory that while Whyte had been acquitted he was guilty of something in the eyes of the SFA who “may have been misled”.
At that stage at the very least someone should have thought of the terms if the 5 way – especially when the decision was made to bring charges.
The SFA were also in a bind because the only party they could bring charges against is and was “Rangers Football Club” because The Rangers Football Club Ltd and Rangers International Football Club Ltd are not members of the SFA and so outwith their jurisdiction.
The SFA being involved at all was a bollocks from start to finish and certain people tried to tell all concerned that in plain terms — Particularly Canamalar whose forward vision was ignored and whose occasional industrial and vehement advice and explanations fell on deaf and less well educated ears who seemingly knew better!!
BRTH
GENE
I was at that game.
Sitting near Jimmy Jewell and David Essex.
There were other famous names but my memory aint that good.
Sean Maloney is due a return…..
Hoopy Birthday to the True Celt that is Voguepunter 🥂
Happy birthday Voguepunter
Remember u get an extra 25p on your
Pension when you get to 80 😉
Happy Birthday Vogue Punter
45 years ago today England beat Scotland 5-1 at Wembley and I was there ………….
And at 4-1 I witnessed PF Ayr’s uncle John Banjoing the living daylights out of 5 somewhat annoying and threatening Scotland fans of a blue hue who were intent on doing the said Uncle John a degree of harm because of his allegiance to a team whose colours were Green and White.
The poor dears were not to know that Uncle John was the British and Commonwealth Flyweight Champion at the time — but they soon found out!
Enjoyed Neil’s quip re Swally. More and more the usual suspects don’t even seem to be hiding their hate towards us. A telling comment by Dodds yesterday on sportsound. It was subtle but, again, telling. He said it’s up to all other clubs to stop ten. Not to “try and stop”(which is fair enough- it is sport) but stop it as if it a must. In contrast Griff was quite happy to accept and expect challenge from everyone, as, well it appears he accepts it’s sport and should be fair from the off and everybody should and could have a chance. Their entitlement and poor opinion of us and anyone linked to us is clear, whether it is a chosen or unconscious bias- sometimes difficult to tell. Here’s to trying for ten, doing it fairly and hopefully entertaining – looking forward to it YNWA
On what basis will the huns be extant next season?
Thur skint.
Not a lot happening today. Taking a look at the Bert Kassies UEFA site, we’re in a fairly sound place for next season even with the outstanding ties to play.
From 34pts we’re only giving up 3 (Ronny D’s second campaign) to start at 31pts. We’ll be ranked round about forty and with results similar to those recorded during the past four campaigns we have a shot at the top thirty.
Some well-kent names are heading through a trapdoor to start below us; Braga (-15), Lazio (-14), Gent (-16), PSV Eindhoven (-18), Wolfsburg (-24), Anderlecht (-10). Athletic Bilbao (-17), Krasnodor (-9).
Here we go to 10IAR. Still two to go.
Thanks Bhoys for the good wishes HH
Happy Hoopy Birthday Voguepunter.
HH
HOOIOOPY Birthday to a special bhoy,VOGUEPUNTER.HH
VOGUE PUNTER….Have a very Happy Hoopy Birthday mate.
HWG10IAR,
HH.
……..
I missed the 9 in a row party yesterday due to feeling unwell the last few days ( NOT Covid-19 ..hopefully !) and I dont do “Twitter” anyway.
This is now my 67th Day of self isolation…and I am angry at the arrogance of those Tories or anyone else for that matter who think they can do whatever they like, and that RULES dont apply to them.
When this Tory Govt said “Stay at Home”…that was NOT just a “Guidance” it was an “Instruction”…I have followed that instruction for 67 days…Two days BEFORE Nicola told the Pubs to close which was Friday March 20th. ( as have Millions of others)..as the last time I was out and in my local Pub was Wednesday 18th March…and on the subject of pubs opening…I am looking forward to the Pubs opening again ( for selfish reasons), but I do think its correct to assume that maybe in the next couple of weeks it will be ONLY Pubs that have a Beer Garden etc….with arrangements made for social distancing in their Beer gardens and for use of Pub Toilets etc.
I am still concerned though that SOME Pub owners who are allowed to open with Beer Gardens etc, then see fit to raise their prices in order to “Cash In”, on demand and that other Pubs are still NOT allowed to open…I hope that I am wrong about that…but obviously we will need to wait and see ?
I would be prepared to get Taxis to and from Pubs that have a Beer Garden ( My Local Pub 20 yards away does NOT have a beer garden) but due to the obvious demand that those pubs will face with folk wanting to go to any Pub etc, I could find myself wasting time and money trying to get to one, only to be refused service as the Beer Garden is full etc ?
Sadly, the latest easing of some parts of Lock Down make NO difference to folk like myself due to my poor health and mobility etc. The only place that I tend to go to is my local pub just 20 yards away, as I am unable to walk any distance without feeling ill and exhausted etc.
Cummings should be SACKED…….and Alex Rae is STILL a Stunt Double of QUARK from Star Trek !
HH
HWG10IAR.
Pretty sure Ian Bankier has a legal background, 15-20 years in corporate land McGrigor Donald before he graduated to selling whisky.
His nine years at Celtic have coincided with a period of turnover and profits trebling for that business. There’s an expression to sum up his contribution to Celtic. Trebles all round!
Happy birthday W, have a great day. Good to see G64 on here again too.
Happy Birthday to legendary CQN’r Voguepunter.
Have a wonderful day.
🍺🎂☘️
Very H888py Birthday to both
Voguepunter & VFR
🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🍀2
Hoooooopy anniversary to Mr & Mrs Gene.HH
GUYFAWKESAFOREVERHERO on 24TH MAY 2020 1:29 PM
You are correct I had forgotten that the Chairman had been at McGrigor’s although I am not sure that he would say that is still his area of expertise.
Couple of snippets from the 9IAR show last night.
Callum McGregor and James Forrest are held in high esteem by Manager and colleagues. Quite rightly.
John Kennedy got a lot of mentions. He seems to get the blame for every goal we lose, but whatever he does is appreciated by the current manager and obviously those who have retained his services over the years. Pleasing,
Hooooooooopy birthday to VFR.
Sorry to be negative, but i listened to Neil Lennon on BT last night say he’s not a great believer in shape, he believes that players and man management win you games. I thought that was an amazing comment to make. When you look at how ragged we were against Cluj and Copenhagen (and the huns), particularly after conceding goals from mistakes, it explains a lot. We lost those games because we lost our tactical discipline. Neil Lennon is an excellent Manager but we will need more tactical nous if we want to avoid a repeat of recent European disappointments. Maybe we should be looking to replace Damien Duff with someone from a continental background, someone with good knowledge of tactics and shape.
canamalar
From earlier. Can I think the concept of “appropriate person” works in the construction industry as part of the H&S at Work Act, but I know you know that. Someone on site for example who was responsible for supervising lifting operations or even first aid. Do not believe the analogy works in relation to an agreement between various Parties, such as the 5WA. That said Neil Doncaster appears to have decided that Peter Lawwell was an appropriate person to receive an email with a version of said agreement attached.
nb Thanks again for posting a copy of another secret document, the leaked Labour Party report, which might well have been renamed the enemy within.
https://twitter.com/JimSpenceSport/status/1264519425891450880?s=08
I wonder who he means?