As news of the goal deluge from the Bernabeu arrived last night it must have caused some reflection at Celtic. Real Madrid thumped Malmo, our eliminators, 8-0. Malmo are not, after all, this season’s surprise packages.
European football is an unforgiving environment, not just for the minnows. Roma, who are currently second in their Champions League group, lost 6-1 in Barcelona two weeks ago. That result came on the back of Bayern Munich taking a 0-5 lead inside 36 minutes in front of 70,000 fans in Rome in last season’s tournament. Bayern went on to win 1-7 in what was supposed to be a game which changed Roma’s ways.
Roma are a good team, currently fourth in Serie A, but their expansive tendencies have earned them humiliating results against teams capable of exploiting them.
Rule No. 1 in Europe is to be defensively disciplined. If you don’t have that aspect of the game figures out, you are as well not competing.
While John Collins was no doubt sincere in saying he could see tonight’s game far enough, he should be relishing the opportunity to test his defence against a European team. This is our last chance before next season’s qualifiers. It is a precious occasion to test tactics.
Thanks to everyone who has bought Winds of Change, and for the fantastic feedback on what was an incredible era to be a Celtic supporter.
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BT what time you meeting Statler Waldorf etc
and is your new number the 757 ending or the 88
WDH
Not meeting anyone today, it was in reply to that auld stoat mags .:-)
757 is my current number
Morning gossip.
Fenerbahce coach Vitor Pereira believes Celtic have been unlucky in the Europa League this season.
The Hoops will finish bottom of Group A after taking just two points from their first five fixtures – one of which came from the 2-2 draw with the Turkish side in Glasgow, where a two-goal lead was surrendered by Ronny Deila’s men.
Norwegian side Molde have already qualified for the knockout stages ahead of the final set of fixtures and second-placed Fenerbahce need just a point to guarantee joining them.
Speaking through an interpreter at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium, their Portuguese boss claimed things might have been different for the Hoops had they had the rub of the green.
“Teams need luck and Celtic have not had that small element of luck so far,” Pereira said.
“Luck was not with them.
“They paid hugely for small errors – sometimes a stopped ball or counter-attack cost them.
“Against Ajax, Celtic wanted to score but they made one error and Ajax scored. But it was an even match.
“We have been in a challenging group. Before the group started people did not know Molde and they say they are surprised by them, but Molde has proven that they are a dangerous team.
“The first game at Celtic was very challenging for us. We had lost our balance and the minute we lost control of the game we lost two goals but then we were lucky enough to have a tie.
“Our aim is to win tomorrow but I am sure Celtic will be fighting for their honour and they are going to try to prove that they don’t deserve to be in this position in this group.
“It will be a challenging match but as a club we have a strong spirit.
“Our fans, just like those of Celtic, are passionate about their team. It will be a wonderful atmosphere and hopefully we will walk away with three points.”
Pereira refused to rule star striker Robin van Persie out of the match, despite missing the 2-2 draw against Gaziantepspor at the weekend with a thigh injury.
“There is one more training session and then we will see who is in the team,” he said.
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“We will assess Van Persie’s condition but it is not very serious.”
Former Manchester United winger Nani and Denmark defender Simon Kjaer are out through suspension.
James Forrest.
POSTED ON 9 DECEMBER, 2015 BY JAMES FORREST
Sevco: A Storm Off Starboard
ratsI just got done having watched the final season of Deadliest Catch, perhaps the best reality TV show I’ve seen. It reminded me, in many ways, of having read Sebastian Junger’s wonderful book A Perfect Storm last year.
After I’d finished reading that book I wrote an article for this site on the Sevco crisis in which I used a number of examples from the story to highlight issues relating to the club.
I called it Storm Front Coming, and it was prescient in a number of ways, especially in relation to the intentions of a man named Mike Ashley, who some of the media were telling us wanted Sevco as a valuable asset, to be competitive, that he saw value in “Champions League exposure.”
All nonsense, of course, as most of us were well aware.
That piece was well received by non-Sevco readers; I got a lot of nice emails and good comments about that one.
It went down like a lead weight with their fans, though, who took serious offence to any suggestion theirs wasn’t a sound ship, and to the notion that Ashley was only interested in sucking the marrow off their bones.
Yet look where we are now, on the day before Dodgy Dave King goes head to head with Ashley’s lawyers in court.
Much has changed in the year and a bit since I posted that piece.
Yet much remains exactly the same.
This vessel is still sailing in the stormiest of seas.
There’s little good to say about them on or off the park at the moment; their fans will say that’s ridiculous, when they are top of the second tier and in the third tier cup final, but actually some of them realise things aren’t going terribly well.
For all the “great start” they’ve made to the season, Hibs are perilously close to them in the title race and winning the third tier cup competition at the fourth time of asking – if they do – is not going to satiate the appetites of fans who stupidly bought into the Survival Myth and still expect to see this club playing in Europe in the near future.
Their League Cup exit came as a drastic, and sobering, shock although they and their manager try to laugh it off as though it were a minor matter.
The longer you watch this club, and the more you listen to these gullible fans, the more you come to understand what the Survival Myth really is; not a comfort blanket, as some have stated, but a drug they can’t manage to shake, a continuing act of psychological self-harm that combines the worst elements of obsession, arrogance and delusion.
And of course, it has affected all of Scottish football, with our governing bodies willing to bend over backwards to accommodate those who have a vested interest in promoting it.
The dark clouds on the horizon haunt the SFA as much as Sevco, because a lot of people at Hampden are deeply involved in the goings on up at Ibrox. The water level is rising around them. They are, literally, in this up their necks.
We know they were aware that Craig Whyte intended to crash Rangers, and that this would leave hundreds of creditors, great and small, out of pocket.
We know they looked the other way when allegations surfaced in relation to Green, even giving Sevco a green light to investigate itself.
We know too that they breached their own regulations to allow King a seat on the Ibrox board.
I could go on. And on. And on.
There is no hiding place for them if this Force 12 blows across the deck.
This will overwhelm them.
Yesterday, Roger Mitchell, the former SPL CEO, went public with his view that Sevco will come to regret putting King on the board, that he is “damaged” and ought not to have been granted “fit and proper person” status.
I agree with him, but King is just a symptom of the bigger problem.
The bigger problem is at the SFA itself.
After years of studying this stuff, I often ponder just what kind of state Sevco would be in if we had an association that treated them like any other club.
A big part of what makes the coming storm so destructive is that the SFA are about to be swamped at just the moment the Ibrox operation might need them most.
It is inconceivable to almost all of us that Stewart Regan can survive his own court appearance against Ashley in April next year. The Sports Direct supremo has him in the gun sights and he is a dead shot.
The SFA may try to buy him off, or to get him to quit, by throwing King on the fire as a sacrifice, but this isn’t likely to cut much slack with a man so set on winning.
The hurricane sweeping across the sea towards these people is going to blow away everything in front of it.
By the time it passes, the wreckage will stretch over miles of flat, calm ocean.
The scenario we’re looking at is one where Regan has gone and possibly takes a few others with him; it’s one where the clubs are flexing their muscles; where the league’s governing body is under pressure to play by the rules; where the media has been exposed as complicit in the whole Sevco scandal (as they are) and has no moral authority to even attempt to influence the debate, and where the Ibrox club is impoverished and endangered.
Removed of the association CEO who has protected them, without Ogilvie on hand to offer his own brand of “look the other way”, and with Doncaster exposed to the harsher realities of his own position with a mood amongst the other clubs that is in no way sympathetic to another attempted stitch-up, Sevco will be alone, its leaders standing on the deck of a floundering ship, staring out into the rain.
Reform will be possible then, real reform, and not the phony kind that’s raised its head this week.
I mean a reformatted League Cup, to create a group stage, but one which excludes the clubs playing in Europe?
Why does the cynic in me see a clear motivation of providing “more money for Sevco” in that arrangement?
Why, when I contemplate which club will gain the most out of that, do I think of them first?
Could it be that I see most of the matches in this competition being played in front of three quarters empty grounds?
That I see no real benefit to other clubs except more games?
Some of those clubs are already complaining about this, saying they weren’t consulted. Other clubs say they were, but you know what? Regardless of whether they were consulted or not, I have limited sympathy for the leaders of a lot of our teams right now; Doncaster and others only exist because these people haven’t acted decisively and removed them.
What, precisely, will it take for them to act?
When he and Regan all but destroyed the game here as a commercial endeavour in 2012 with their “Scottish football is worthless without Rangers in the top flight” guff, that ought to have been that; jotters, ta-ta, pack your pencils and beat it.
The fans knew it. The fans wanted it.
The clubs failed us all.
You can’t have followed these events and doubt it.
Today, secure in his job, with the “confidence” of the teams, Doncaster is singing that old familiar song about a 14 team top flight, coincidentally as Sevco and Hibs are within touching distance of each other.
I mean, seriously?
These people will do anything to see their beloved Ibrox club in the top flight, and if the directors of other teams haven’t twigged that yet – that their own wishes and ambitions will be subservient to that one – then I don’t know what to say to them.
This failure is theirs too, and if the day ever comes and the duopoly that almost destroyed them is restored they can explain to their own fans why it was allowed to happen.
Sooner or later the directors of other clubs have to wake up. Stewart Regan standing in court, fumbling his words, whilst Doncaster waits on his own turn in the dock as a witness for Craig Whyte … well, yes, that ought to do it.
In the short term, it will barely matter anyway.
This League Cup wheeze has a shelf life of five minutes, and if clubs are complaining about it before it’s even started I have doubts it’ll be more than a one season wonder. Whatever attraction it does have will wane quickly, once the novelty wears off.
The idea isn’t terrible, by the way, but the costs of putting on these games will be higher, in many instances, than the clubs can bring in at the gate, as fans offer their own verdict on the changes.
At Ibrox this is more acute than elsewhere, as the huge expense of match-day can turn a possible source of profit into a loss-making endeavour before you know it, and that this might not even benefit Sevco financially is hilarious to me.
The governing bodies have bent over backwards for this club in the last few years and not one decision they’ve taken has made life at Ibrox better.
Why should this be any different?
Rangers was like a sword boat that the Department of Fish & Game allowed to leave port overloaded with more gear than any other ship in the fleet. It was against regulations, those which existed to protect other vessels from unfair practices, but it also ran against those safety rules which were in place to protect the boat itself.
For years the captain and crew rode their luck, but when the hurricane swept over them in 2012 they went down like a steel anchor.
In a similar fashion, Sevco is like a ship holed below the waterline, allowed to leave port although the authorities are aware of the cracks in the superstructure. Furthermore, it’s one which is captained by a notorious character who cheated other regulatory bodies and was partly responsible for Rangers’ sinking.
As such, he ought never to have been given command of a boat again.
The authorities know this too, and have spent the last year crossing their fingers that everything would be alright on his watch anyway.
That it’s so swiftly gone bad must be haunting their every waking moment, and when this ship starts to sink they’ll do anything to keep the stink of the scandal from their own door.
Anything, that is, except do the only thing that can save Sevco, which is the spending of copious amounts of money.
Without that, their ability to direct influence events once this ship runs into trouble is much as it was when Rangers began to slide below the surface; in other words, zero.
With no Coast Guard cutter on the horizon, what is this club going to do?
One of the things I learned from Sebastian Junger’s book is that sending out a “mayday” quite literally means that everyone on the ship has given up and they’ve accepted that they’re going down.
The word itself originates from the French, “m’aidez”, which in English means “help me”.
For a while now that signal has been getting pumped out of the Blue Room on a fairly steady rhythm.
King’s wee visit to Hampden last week was either them answering or his making sure it was being properly heard; either way, they’re not the people he really wanted to be talking to.
A little sympathy, and maybe the promise of league reconstruction talks, is all they’re able to offer, and he needs those things, but not as much as he needs the money, and besides a change in the weather and he’ll no longer be able to rely on them.
In the meantime, they just keep on repeating the message;
“Mayday, mayday, this is the HMS Sevco … we are in urgent need of assistance … Mayday, mayday …”
But Jim McColl isn’t picking up the phone.
Brian Kennedy is slinging them a deafy.
The “Rangers minded businessmen” who King talked about, but conveniently didn’t want to name, haven’t been forthcoming.
The current board members are keeping things rolling along with soft loans, but they’ll last only as long as their patience does.
When the next distress flare goes up from Ibrox, the one to signify that there’s water in the engine room, shorting the circuits and turning out the lights as well as silencing the radio, it’s more than possible that storm will already have changed everything around them.
There they’ll be, friendless, alone, in the midst of the big waves, waiting for the ship to go down.
King can’t save them, and no-one else wants to, but what will hurt most of all will be that lengthy wait for the Coast Guard … followed by the realisation that help is no longer going to come.
This is the Perfect Storm.
Hell mend everyone caught in the path of it.
(Writing is my full time job friends and neighbours, and the support of my readers is vital. If you want to support it, you can make a donation at the link. If every reader was able to donate a small sum every year that would keep the site going strong well into the future. Many thanks in advance.)
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ADMINISTRATION 2, CELTIC, CHARLIE CHUCKLES, DODGY DAVE KING, EDITORIAL, MIKE ASHLEY, RANGERS, SFA REFORM
TAGGED CHARLES GREEN, COURT CASES, CRAIG WHYTE, DODGY DAVE KING, HURRICANE, IBROX, LEGAL ACTION, MIKE ASHLEY, PERFECT STORM, SEVCO, SFA, SPORTS DIRECT
BT will mail you
Joe Filippis Haircut on 10th December 2015 8:54 am
_____________________________________________________
Hail Hail Joe.
Joe, I asked Paul 67 a long time ago….”Who’ll win ?…Celtic FC…or, the masons ?”
He answered me….”The good guys will win.”
I so hope that he’s right.
But, the thing is….4 years ago when the huns were almost being kept in the same league as us….the good guys were prepared to look the other way and….let it roll….until, the Celtic support made the announcement that, they’d boycott if the huns were to remain and, other clubs fans said that they would also boycott.
What seemed to be lost in the moment was that…Celtic’s directors were prepared to take it on the chin!
The same directors who were ‘surprised’ at the outcome of LNS.
The same directors who were, still ‘surprised’…only weeks ago.
The same directors who, sat at the back of the bus and, let a group of Celtic fans put a ‘statement’ into an, anti-Celtic newspaper to try to smash the same club pish.
The same directors who turned the recent AGM into an assault on the supporters…branding them…racists…whilst the clubs appointed football manager had blown what now amounts to – £40 million in lost CL-money…was again…let off the hook.
At least Rory Bremner had the day off.
To conclude…yer point about Glibby…the establishment know that, they dont need to punish him coz….they’re not under any pressure form anyone to do so coz….there aint no Celtic board, driven by rebellious Celtic fans who dont kowtow.
A wee point about the Govt-Summit….after the ‘shame game’….Celtic’s directors were summoned by, the establishment and, the board kowtowed like meek little sheep.
The same establishments police force….summoned the Green Brigade to Celtic Park to have a meeting about song-lists…at the meeting would be, the cops, Paul McBride(working for the board) and,
lawwell.
The Green Brigade told them to go and get efffed!
The Green Brigades cojones are what, Celtic FC/PLC…dont have and, the establishment know it….be prepared for all sorts of rabbits being pulled out of ‘magic-hats’ were…it’ll be announced that – “Rangers canny be punished….it’s too late…etc…blah, blah.
No Celtic rebellion = An easy ride for the establishment.
Game….Set….and,….no stripped trophies….cheats rule!
HH
tony
One of the things I learned from Sebastian Junger’s book is that sending out a “mayday” quite literally means that everyone on the ship has given up and they’ve accepted that they’re going down. The word itself originates from the French, “m’aidez”, which in English means “help me”.
=====================================================================
Thanks.
Didn`t know that.
“Love” in tennis is from ” l`oeuf “….the egg……zero.
Away oot for the messages……
http://www.leggs.es/?lang=en
Before 2012, I read on sites like this and Phil`s , that Rangers were likely to disappear. I did not really believe it. Then, amazingly, astonishingly, it happened. Then , less amazingly and less astonishingly, it `unhappened`.
Since then , I have been reading that Sevco will disappear and, like then, I do not really believe it.
We are critical of Rangers/Sevco fans for being gullible . They believe that their Club will be fine because they desperately want to believe that that is the case. Is it not the case, though, that Celtic fans are equally desperate to believe that Sevco are going to disappear anytime soon……and equally gullible?
JJ
PS In case anyone does not know, we are on a BT Freebie tonight. My prediction? 0-0.
PPS ….or 3-2 !
JJHS
I agree.
Even if sevco go the way of their ancestors, there will be some new new club….version 3 if you like.
But…do we just accept the way things are?
Nobody wants to see a rigged league, of course.
But then again, it has always been rigged:)
HH
JJ
The thing is you let it run its course, it like one of the strangest books ever written, and if ever published would it be under, Crime,?Drama? Comedy,True Story, History, Fairy Tail, Thriller, Who Done It, the list is endless , just enjoy it till you see …The End, or….To Be Continued :))
Macjay1
On the subject of eggs.
Scots always have 2 boiled eggs for lunch whereas one egg is un oeuf for a Frenchman………..
Whitedog
Gastronomy for you.
Legs and co. for me.
Each to his own.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JmSzSS6i_U
Coney
Aw naw.
No ovum puns ,s`il vous plait.
Thom
Braade – can walk to Donegal International in 3 1/2 minutes. Bonners for a beer – Sharkeys for the fitba.
Scottish fitbaw gossip. The Scotsman.
Leigh Griffiths set for new deal, Mark Warburton linked with Swansea move and Libor Kozak a target for Celtic.
Leigh Griffiths set to be given new Celtic deal
Striker Leigh Griffiths is ready to commit his future to Celtic amid transfer links with a host of Premier League clubs, reports say.
The 25-year-old Scot has already racked up 19 goals in 29 appearances for Celtic this season and has attracted the attention of several English clubs.
Crystal Palace and Swansea are said to be monitoring Griffiths ahead of a possible January deal, but their interest appears to be futile as The Sun report that the former Wolves star is hoping to pledge his future to Celtic. (Newsshopper)
Mark Warburton linked to Swansea job
Rangers manager Mark Warburton has been linked to the vacant Swansea manager’s job following the departure of Garry Monk.
Ajax assistant Dennis Bergkamp and former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers are also in the running (Various)
Celtic interested in Libor Kozak
Celtic assistant manager John Collins has confirmed the club had revived their interest in Aston Villa striker Libor Kozak. (Scotsman)
New contract ties Jamie Walker to Hearts until 2018
Hearts have signed up Jamie Walker on an extended contract, which ties the winger to the Tynecastle club until the summer of 2018. (Scotsman)
Naismith frustrated with lack of Everton starts
Scotland international Steven Naismith insists he has never experienced a more challenging season than the one which currently finds him on the outside looking in at Everton despite being 100 per cent fit.
Naismith has made just four starting appearances in the Premier League this seasonand has not played in a league match since being substituted at half-time of the 3-0 defeat at home to Manchester United two months ago. (Scotsman)
Rangers target Dundee’s Greg Stewart
Rangers are lining up a New Year swoop for Dundee star Greg Stewart.
The Championship front-runners have targeted the highly-rated 25-year-old striker as they eye a dream return to the Scottish top-flight. (Record)
Read more: http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/rumour-mill-leigh-griffiths-mark-warburton-libor-kozak-1-3971686#ixzz3tuXrJr60
Follow us: @TheScotsman on Twitter | TheScotsmanNewspaper on Facebook
It’s offi-shell, egg puns are cracking…
TGM
Yes, we must keep chipping away.
TD
There was a film in the 80`s (?) called,” Never Ending Story “. That would would be an appropriate title for the book 0:-)
Cheerio for now.
JJ
Spot the difference! Quite funny, really 0:-)
“Celtic assistant manager John Collins has confirmed the club had revived their interest in Aston Villa striker Libor Kozak.” (Scotsman)
“Rangers are lining up a New Year swoop for Dundee star Greg Stewart. ” (Record)
I don’t think Griffiths would be too concerned with a move to the EPL , much the same as it doesn’t seem to have interested Scott brown.
Good to see smart pro’s realising it’s not all about the money and the grass isn’t always greener elsewhere.
Anyone interested in James Doleman’s coverage of Kings vs. Sports Direct on Twitter – it just began
If in France you want to buy 2 eggs ask for twa oeufs.You will be given 3 then just give one back,Simple
What exactly is the King V SD about?
JJ
Could be an egg-sighting transfer window, half the clubs in the EPL in a err scramble to sign Griff, I for one hope he doesn’t get ahem poached.
In France, Efe is called Egg.
This is feckin hilarious.
https://www.facebook.com/SonsOfStruth/posts/1710993975798390
Sports Direct seeking £200K in damages, nice one Mike
Sports Direct/Mike Ashley claiming that Sevco/King breached a confidentiality contract on the retail deal.
– See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/defending-in-europe/comment-page-10/#comment-2734169
TD67,9:49
just enjoy it till you see…The End,or…To be Continued……….Resolution 12??
HH
SD getting humped by the judge here, looks like glibby will be fine
!88 days tae Easter………nae eggs in the shops ….Panic!!
HH
Expat_Celt
Thanks.
JJ
I don’t believe in coincidence.
And it just so happens, that on the eve of court case against a glib and shameless liar, Big Mike quite rightly gets exposed by the guardian.
Big Mike aint a nice man.
This sevco mob are slippery.
Nothing sticks.
HH
JJ
Personal View.
I believe we need the competition from Rangers back.
Unfortunately Rangers are died and can never come back and will never come back.
MWD said thats all he has to say on that.
macjay1 for Neil Lennon on 10th December 2015 9:21 am
tony
One of the things I learned from Sebastian Junger’s book is that sending out a “mayday” quite literally means that everyone on the ship has given up and they’ve accepted that they’re going down. The word itself originates from the French, “m’aidez”, which in English means “help me”.
– See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/defending-in-europe/comment-page-9/#comments
Interesting stuff. This is what the German Coastguard thinks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MUsVcYhERY
Looks like SD getting a doing in court.
Johnjames 0 from 3 predictions so far it looks like
Mike Ashley canny be in the lodge then.