Celtic face either Aberdeen or Newco in the Scottish Cup semi-final on 13 or 14 April. Both potential opponents must have developed a nervous disposition at facing Celtic at Hampden recently, such as been the imperious form of the champions. This draw is perfect for Celtic.
In the event they overcome Aberdeen in the quarter-final, Steven Gerrard’s men have a punishing schedule before the semi: Hibs (a), Aberdeen (h), Kilmarnock (h), Celtic (a), Hearts (h), Motherwell (a). That’s each of the other top six teams in succession, followed by a trip to Fir Park, where they dropped points earlier this season. If Gerrard has hopes of winning the Cup, he would have wanted Celtic at the end of the season, when he would be able to rest some legs.
On Sunday Derek McInnes all but accepted Aberdeen were out of the title race. They are now 16 points off the pace, although they have an easier run immediately before the semi-final date, facing Celtic (a), Newco (a), Livingston (h), Hearts (a), Motherwell (h) and Dundee (a). Their form has dropped off a cliff and were it not for their ability to repeatedly mug Newco in Glasgow this season, they would have little hope of reaching the semi.
Celtic have one game fewer than Aberdeen and Newco (who have a replay), and face Aberdeen (h), Dundee (a), Newco (h), St Mirren (a) and Livingston (h). By the semi-final we should have McGregor, Christie, Rogic, Ntcham and Benkovic back. We will be as ready as we can be.
I’m still working on my nervous disposition when facing Inverness in the Scottish Cup, but that’s for another day.
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The czhurnalism over Morelos will now be in overdrive until season ends.
20 million???
Why not 50?
Got to be a bargain for the world’s bestest.
The Turkish footballer who ran around slashing people may have offered them hope that they have a willing employer available as the Turks go to thug will probably get a lifetime ban.
The stamping, elbowing and overall thuggery should impress them and the wee hint of him being good with a necktie should seal the deal.
£32M in debt from 2012
Seethen Gerrard’s signings
Arfield FREE✔️
McGregor FREE ✔️
Goldson £3M ✔️
Murphy ❌
Barisic ❌
Katic ❌
Flanagan ❌
Lafferty ❌
Grezda ❌
McAuley ❌
Loans
Kent ✔️
Ejaria ❌
Sadiq ❌
Coulibaly ❌
Worrall ❌
Davis ❌
Defoe ❌
Now that’s what I call a main rival CSC
GTTS @ 1.40
The whole hotel plans looks very me – too.
Taking someone else’s idea and putting it on London Road.
Our match day offering is very poor.
The Free Pie seats are fully booked and the KD Suite has been a success but that is it.
What the budget is for the current hotel plan — £15mill for 200 rooms and a bigger museum?
Not sure why we would want to involve an outsider in the branding of the hotel.
Regarding the running of the hotel I would think there are a few options.
If we are going to spend money then is a hotel the best use of resources?
Would more match-day hospitality generate a bigger return?
Would it have some non match-day use as well?
Too easy for the property establishment to pour cold water on our plans.
The issue here is providing services and facilities that offer value to the world and do not pander to the support.
We are in a poor position at the moment — CP match-day catering is terrible.
The poor grunts at the sharp end are grossly undertrained.
And the white collar / supervisory layer are just low paid fans with ties.
We could double the takings with little effort apart from a good few boots up a few well targeted erses.
GTTS @ 1.40
What would £10mill get us behind the JS Stand in terms of hospitality and indoor facilities?
We own the land so it would just be build costs.
Next step would be the projected revenue — 30 home games per season?
Plus any money that can be made during the week.
Away games shown …
The KD suite should be able to provide a few pointers to possible revenue figures?
£10mill build = 10K M2 under cover.
Some very basic, some fully fitted out?
4 Levels — 80M wide x 30M deep?
Double height on the ground floor?
Training pitch on the roof?
20 Million won’t buy Morelos…..and I’m one of them. ©️Tommy Doherty re Colin Stein.
One another note.
If Callum and Ryan are fit at the International break, I would be quite happy to see them join up with the Scotland squad.
A couple of sub appearances would get them match fit for the run in.
Great to see Commper playing for reserves today.
It’ll be like a new signing.
Field of Drams, thanks.
An Tearmann,
I’m fine. The extensive surgery means that I will always have complications with my restructured plumbing but at least I don’t have cancer. Thank god.
My post re Lenny was, I felt, meant to be supportive of him.
I clearly stated that I do not wish for him to be the Celtic manager heading for the ten.
I have many reasons for this but my main purpose is to protect Neil from what will be the unprecedented level of vitriol heading his way, if he were to take on the task.
He will be alone and unsupported.
(I do not consider keyboard warriors and clearasil brigadiers as meaningful support, offering merely rhetoric and ill thought out and hopelessly inarticulated and ultimately vacuous defence).
Celtic FC, PLC board have never stood up against the rampart sectarian, racist, anti Catholic, anti Irish establishment of Scotland.
I do not see how they will now change to support Lenny. They have said little about honest mistakes, assaults on our players, (Morelos, McKenna & Naismith), abuse of our fans etc.
The SFA and SPFL have never shown any inclination to address the core problem of Scotland ‘s Shame, I.e. anti Irish, anti Catholic racism and bigotry.
One could argue that being society’s problem the game’s governors have a free pass on this issue.
That their hierarchy is clearly conflicted with their numbers heavily weighted with officers who care little for the effect of Scotland ‘s Shame on our game and showing no desire to investigate the veracity of our claims.
The Scottish government have shown absolutely zero inclination to address their country ‘s shame, blithely opining that we are the best wee country in the world. So no assistance forthcoming from that source. They know they are institutionally racist but it suits them in this climate where they rule.
The Judiciary, through, I believe, fear of retribution, fail to act on existing laws where clear criminality, ( in the case of object throwing and singing of banned songs), has taken place. Even to the extent that the Supreme Court can rule on a massive tax fraud, yet they take no action against the perpetrators, because they are the establishment club.
Police Scotland, even though official figures show that 59% of all racist/sectarian crimes are perpetrated upon the 15.9% of the population that is Catholic, show little appetite to address the core issue. Celtic fans appear to me to be more vigorously policed than other elements, say for example, the frequent orange order hate fests that seem to proceed unhindered by our constabulary.
The MSM actively pursue a “whataboutery” policy of equivalence where when, e.g. Stevie Clarke objects to a large percentage of the 50,000 attending Ibrox racially abusing him, this juxtaposed with Kris Boyd ‘ experience re Celtic.
( this where I get extremely vexed with the faux rebel clearasil element of our support who allow this equivalence to be used, due to their moronic behaviour).
They will not address the issue. Goodness they cannot even address the word Liquidation. Nor the biggest tax fraud scandal ever to besmirch UK sport.
Were some of the above bodies to shift their stance to begin to address this blight that is Scotland’s Shame, I would feel encouraged.
None have stepped forward.
The massive elephant in the room is the overtly racist and sectarian nature of the club that plays at Ibrox, weekly singing anthems of anti Irish, anti Catholic hate, wearing obsequious orange strips, maximising the bigot pound, that is not addressed in any meaningful way. “What are they like huh?” To continue in this vein there will need to be some tangible success, I.e a trophy win, to keep the excesses under nominal control. They can pretend all they wish about financial solvency and perceived superiority but with continued footballing failure, there must come some semblance of hurtful reality.
Now this the nub of the Neil Lennon question for me.
Neil is a good man, a good football manager and a decent human being. He is strong willed, passionate and likes to participate on a level playing field. ( I’m sure many can offer a much better description of Neil).
He is also the absolute embodiment of all that the anti Irish, anti Catholic hoard loathe and detest.
A highly successful Irish Catholic managing Celtic. Winning trophies, denying them any semblance of footballing success.
For this he will be attacked and abused. Of that I am certain.
And when he reacts, (as is his nature), he will be vilified, from all quarters.
And none of the people I mention above will, on all previous evidence, move to assist and support him.
Neil is a courageous man, a great Celtic legend.
Do you honestly believe that when the inevitable threats and attacks come, that Neil will be adequately supported.
I don’t.
Eurochamps67
Youth!
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/47422209
Allan ans and Bayo score for Academy side
EC67
? absolutely nailed it there.
HH
EUROCHAMPS 67
I agree with almost all of your post.
Except -((I do not consider keyboard warriors and clearasil brigadiers as meaningful support, offering merely rhetoric and ill thought out and hopelessly inarticulated and ultimately vacuous defence))
The inarticulate and vacuous dig at fellow Celtic fans lessened the credibility of your argument..
Oxo Flex scores….4-0
EC67 @ 2.46
Your comments on NL — have to agree with you.
It is not fair to put him in the spotlight after all he has suffered.
Fanatic,
No it doesn’t.
People who offer our enemies whataboutery equivalence through their unhelpful actions do not help our case.
Chants of ob and lobbing flares onto the pitch, seriously?
FORMER official Derek Crothers has accused the SFA of nepotism, bullying and cronyism.
Crothers decided to hang up his whistle after 13 years in the game at the end of last season.And he has blasted the governing body as he hit out at Andrew Dallas’ breakthrough to top-flight matches.
He told the Daily Mail: “Scottish refereeing is in crisis. The key issue is that guys are not getting to the top level on merit.
“The FIFA-level referees in Scotland have had a very bad season.
“The Lanarkshire Referees Association I am a member of used to feel like being part of a family. We were there to support each other. It’s not like that now.”Hugh Dallas is now second in command with the UEFA referees.
“If the SFA put their nominations to UEFA, it’s Hugh Dallas who is in a position to influence those positions.
“And it’s no coincidence that John Beaton, Frank Connor and Alan Mulvanny are all friends of Andrew Dallas. And all four are FIFA officials.
“In my opinion, they have not been appointed to that level through ability.
“If you position yourself with the right person you have a good chance of making it in Scottish refereeing.”
“Training pitch on the roof”
Moonbeams CSC
Now that the dust has settled slightly, I’m curious as to the consensus regards to Celtic Manager position long term.
The Neil Lennon factor has been great, short-term.
But as much as he deserves a great degree of credit for the 2 Edinburgh victories… so do the players and likes of John Kennedy.
I feel I know what Neil Lennon can bring to the party.
Personally I would still be looking at a level above Neil, as our medium to long term solution.
If Lenny secures the treble, and extends our points gap over 2nd place, then of course he will be in contention.
F-A-T @ 2.54
There are elements in our support that are so stupid and deluded that you have to wonder if another agenda is not now in play — not so much false flag as wee stupid boys taking part in a Children’s Crusade.
Pawns being used to generate a more even handed narrative.
The GB and their much touted antifa credentials are now in tatters with their continual singing in praise of a certain Mr South who had his issues regarding his world view and what should happen to move things on.
EUROCHAMP67
I disagree.
It was a very well written post diminished by you allowing your personal animosity to some Celtic fans to show.
Neil Lennon is big enough to decide his own future. He walks into Paradise with his eyes wide open.
To suggest otherwise could be considered patronising in the extreme.
Nannystatecsc.
Madmitch
Im not disagreeing with you in any respect, i was just passing on second hand information, it seems that the bigots that have influence refuse to tender for it, though that might be a lot of guff
SP @ 3.04
It would have a certain level of schadenfreude if this idea ever came to fruition.
Just a case of using up space to generate a return …
… and reminding TFOD2.1 of what could have been.
MADMITCH
There is no denying that some supporters have behaved badly.
Youth is clearly a factor and there have been ill judged moments.
But to tarnish a whole section for the few?
GTTS @ 3.07
Cover pricing at its most egregious ?!?
However given our history we should not be short of people who can handle a shovel.
Branding of the hotel or hotels would need a bit of thought and planning.
To all you practising RC’s out there remember tomorrow, Ash Wednesday, is a day of abstinence.
This means you must refrain from eating meat but you can eat Brendan Rodgers
F-A-T @ 3.09
The GB sing as one — they have the drum and the megaphone.
Glorifying Mr South and his neo fascistic view of the world is beyond irony given their professed world view.
Not everybody who has professed a love for the 32 counties is worthy of praise.
Hard lesson that too many need to learn.
Regarding the YT — 18 to 35 / All hard of thinking — element of the support and their support of the Colombian economy it is an interesting story in the context of knife crime in the south.
2004 / Glasgow — YT are very insular and inward looking.
For laughs and kicks they stab each other.
2019 / Glasgow — YT are more engaged with what goes on around them.
Getting more involved with the football / Ultra nonsense.
For laughs and kicks they annoy / shock those around them.
Less YT on YT stabbings — more YT on the rest of the world aggro.
Progress of a sort?
MadMitch on 5th March 2019 3:23 pm
Celtic fans have been singing the Sean South song since the sixties.
Who knew there were so many anti Semitic proto fascists among the support?
Just wait till Margaret Hodge finds out.
EL @ 3.28
Regarding Mr South and his place in the song book — I have probably joined in the chorus myself in years gone by.
However my understanding of the man at that time put him vaguely in 1798 or 1918 based on these were the defining moments of Irish nationalism.
My ignorance and lack of desire to find out the detail meant that 1962 was not on my agenda.
Consequently thank heavens for Wikipedia and some interwebbing.
However now that the bio and world view of Mr South is well known I think we need to move on.
We now have the seriously antifa GB singing about him on a regular basis — Oh the irony.
And now we have big chunks of the support spouting about IndyRef stuff on a regular basis — Oh the irony and the stupidity squared.
We live in a strange world at the moment.
Eurochamps67
I am glad your here mate and enjoying every minute of life,it sounds like it.small steps in your recovery and with the added bonus of watching Celtic. :-) HH
‘re your post on Neil,it was your humanity for Neil shown in a protective way against the onslot he will face(already started?) against the raging anger of self entitlement.it also highlighted the isolation he will face and I agree totally he would be.
Thank you for your post
HH
MadMitch on 5th March 2019 3:37 pm
I think you just have to face up to reality.
You’re getting on in years and envy the youthfulness of the GB.
Let it go.
It’s pathetic to hear elderly people bemoaning the behaviour of the young.
EC67,
A very well stated post and not much to disagree on.
When you line up all the Levels of Scottish society, who are responsible for the safeguard and welfare of the nation, it is difficult to whom Celtic can meaningfully address their concerns or complaints.
I agree, that any individual or group who act in a manner that harms the club, in the pursuit of their business, is, by definition, not a supporter of Celtic.
Any individual who uses Celtic to promote a particularly viewpoint, whilst decrying alternative ones, is not supporting the Open to All mission of Celtic.
Fanatic,
I admit to feeling animosity towards those that will harm Celtic. I make no apology for that.
I have never shown animosity towards an entire section.
I reserve the right to dislike the offensive chanters and missile throwers.
Their actions make it more difficult, near impossible, to get the authorities to address Scotland ‘s Shame; anti Irish, anti Catholic racism.
Which in turn leads to a very likeable, intelligent, hard working, brave, dedicated Irish Catholic manager of Celtic, Neil Lennon, being severely disadvantaged when trying to go about his job.
An Tearmann, thanks.
I’ll be on Celtic Way with a bucket on Saturday if you are around.
Eurochamps67
Do Celtic live up to their Open to All mission statement?
Or they just another corporate entity with a clever slogan?
EUROCHAMP67
To be clear it was not you my animosity to an entire section post was directed.
I also agree you have the right to dislike elements of our support.
But was just pointing out that for me what was a very good and lucid post on the Neil Lennon situation was diminished by you allowing your personal feelings on some Celtic supporters to impact the message.
EL @ 3.37
Your children must love you.
The Free school 70’s vibe of letting children do what they want.
Great until they realise that the world doesn’t work that way and you have to engage with those around you and they might not agree with you.
The GB are second rate wallopers at the moment.
St Als Sixth Form Common room transposed to CP.
No envy from me only pity.
I think it’s a win/win for Lenny. Bolton went sour and after a very decent couple of years the Hib’s gig went a bit sour as well , Lenny’s stock was not at it’s highest and it was hard to see where his options were.
Now he is back in the limelight, I have no doubt he will pocket a fair wedge for 3 months work, then it is either get the job permanently or else move on. But if it is moving on, it is from a winning major Club, so his options will be hugely improved.
I think if he completes the treble, he will get a contract to oversee the ten in a row and no better man to be at the helm when it happens.
F-A-T @ 4.02
Open to all ?!?
How do you deal with the haters?
The people who do not want to follow our example?
Can you be fair and open with closed and selfish?
EUROCHAMPS67
Pressed send to early so to continue.
(Their actions make it more difficult, near impossible, to get the authorities to address Scotland ‘s Shame; anti Irish, anti Catholic racism.)
Surely you don’t think the Celtic supporters have any impact on the authorities actions towards the club or anti Irish/Catholic racism?
The same authorities that buried/lost 10 years of stats proving such.
The same people who watched our captain being attacked on the field at Ibrox,our players being pelted by missiles and SS being subjected to racist abuse and precisely said NOTHING!!!!
When they have had no reason to hate us they have made one up.