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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Barca game turned over. Cannot abide listening to in my opinion the most dislikeable character ever in Scottish football.
Dallas
Thanks for that. Surrounded by jotters so I’ll find it tomorrow mate.
Marrakesh, the last straw for me With Sally was his behaviour at the so called shame game. After that I couldn’t listen or look at him. Horrible creature.
Since the blog title is “Defending in Europe”, think for a moment how the Olympiakos fans feel tonight. They are at home with a full house. To progress to the knock out stage, all they need to do is avoid a 2-0 defeat to Wenger’s team.
Result, they are down 0-3 and out. Awful defending, and the English commentator triumphant.
It has a certain inevitability to it.
Josh Out for 6 weeks fractured metatarsal Big boot on for protection.
Roma qualify with 6 points
Roma alsp
Oops Roma also conceded 16. goals
TET…
Did you read johnjames blog today on Houston & his ned pal?
Almore,
Thanks for coming back, hope the concert goes well, I love those school gigs.
I probably will nip down the pub, pesky 6pm kick offs are not good when working in town
Almore, your story about the kids and getting to heaven made me smile, a rare occurrence on CQN these days.
It also made me think about my life over the last few years and the efforts I’ve made to change. I’ve had a lot of soul searching to do over the years for a variety of reasons.
One of the things that I had to do was decide whether to give the church a place in my life, since I was young I was always made to go, made to become an alter boy and tbh I hated the place. I saw it as a punishment, somewhere I was made to go against my wishes.
A couple of years ago a good friend died and I found myself at his Mass. For some reason I knelt and prayed for him, it seemed the right thing to do at the time as I knew he’d done things in his life that he wasn’t proud of so I thought I’d ask God to look at all the good things he’d done, the friends he’d made and helped out, as well as the joy he’d brought to many of his friends lives when they were at a low ebb.
As we followed his coffin along the road to the cemetery I couldn’t help feeling good about what I’d did. I had prayed from time to time before that I remember that this was the time that I began to enjoy praying. Just after that I used to find a quiet place, in the car at the side of a road or just in the house when no one was about and I’d pray. Not always saying prayers but just asking God to look out for certain people or as was mostly the case to help me make the right decisions in life.
I still pray now and I now find myself going to Mass on a regular basis. I think about heaven a lot these days, maybe it’s because I’m getting older and health issues are giving cause for concern. I’m a smoker and find it impossible give up. I often wonder how things in my past will affect me, I’ve been doing various things in my spare time to make amends but I know I do these things through guilt and I’m a fraud as I’m only doing them for selfish reasons.
Anyway your wee pupil was right we wont know one way or the other till we die.
I absolutely hated Naismith as a Rangers player. Wee dirty, diving b*stard. But, off the field he is examplary.
HT…
Just “TIC” all the kids answers, think how happy you and the kids will feel :)
Sipsini
Haven’t read him today, been busy, it should be good tho, he disny like them.
HH
eddieinkirkmichael…
A very honest and heartwarming post that a lot of us can relate too.
Keep your chin up mate, no one is perfect, I’m sure we have all made mistakes in the past that can’t be changed, I know I did. HH
From johnjames…
A man for no seasons
by sitonfence
Chris Union Jack, who runs a King fanzine that masquerades as journalism, has surpassed himself with his serialization of a novel by Craig Houston. I have had occasion to drop by the SOS Facebook page. On each occasion I have found a marked inability to write even one grammatically correct sentence from what passes as editorial control.I can only assume that he found someone to either ghost write or edit his output.
Mr Houston seems to believe that he is in some way important in the recent narrative of Rangers. He was no more than an irritation. He backed both Whyte and Green and finally settled on King. He led a disparate group of the unemployed to deliver a postcard to Ibrox, only to discover that Rangers use an off-site PO Box. This episode sums up how effective he has been. Mr Houston has engaged in the excoriating criticism of the Easdale Brothers who never took a penny from Rangers. They both engaged in the £3m equity release that kept the lights on and later loaned £500,000 to the club interest free.They did not engage in first class fares from Johannesburg or five star stays at The Shard Shangri La. They did not take in games at Chelsea. They travelled the length and breadth of Scotland at their own expense to support Rangers. Despite this, Houston referred to them as ‘rats.’
Mr Houston is quick to promote King due to the fact that our career criminal chairman lost £20m. He has conveniently overlooked the fact that King was engaging in tax evasion at this time and how he had plundered a pension fund to create his wealth. Mr Houston is evidently very forgiving to those he counts as friends. His co-founder of SOS, Mr Chugg, was sent down for drug dealing and was a renowned football ‘casual’ who engaged in a slew of violent acts. He will soon be on trial for what others have referred to as his reverting to type.
Mr Houston is attempting to make a career out of his support for King. He is currently promoting his SOS t-shirts and has in the past sold season card holders. This work of fiction is just his latest attempt at making money. It will sink without trace, but the serialization rights will lead to his biggest ever payday. I assume it was much easier writing eighty thousand self-aggrandizing pages than his usual occupation cleaning ovens.
Apparently John’Bomber’ Brown wrote an introduction to Mr Houston’s opus. I shudder to think how Mr Houston could consider that John Brown would add gravitas to his tome. Phil Mac Giolla Bhain’s book ‘Downfall’ had an introduction from Alex Thomson, not a former player with a limited vocabulary. Angela Haggerty edited this book, and as a result was subjected to the most vile and at times criminal abuse.
Which leads me back to Mr Houston. He was the ring-leader of a protest that resulted in a woman steward being punched in the mouth and losing a tooth. I’m sure he will dismiss this as the action of the more militant ‘Union’ bears but he will not acknowledge the fact that he made the ‘call to arms.’
Mr Houston and Mr Chugg are regarded by Phil Mac as a ‘fascist underclass.’ I have done my utmost at this site to promote the theme that many who support Rangers are intelligent individuals who rise above his pejorative stereotype.
However what chance do I have of changing hearts and minds when individuals such as Houston and Chugg are feted by our press?
SOAL, Steven Naismith’s help towards those less fortunate in Glasgow and Liverpool is to be lauded. Like you i’m not keen on his on pitch personna but his off pitch one is to be respected.
Eddieinkirkmichael:
Your email resonated with me. I was reminded of an occasion many years ago when I was the subject of a ‘roast’ when leaving the UK. A good mate of mine got on his feet and waxed lyrical on the power of prayer. We all wondered where he was going with it. Then he followed with, “IniquitousIV (sic) doesn’t pray very much – it causes too much helpless laughter in Heaven.”
I’ll get ma coat.
Sipsini
Aye, he sure don’t like them :-)
HH
This is quality, from a poster a while back on KDS.
Dear Sons of Struth
As requested, please find below, The Truth.
No one likes you. But you don’t care, so that’s okay.
This is, in part, due to 8 decades of institutional sectarianism and bigotry at the club you supported, instigated by the man whose stern features adorn the wagon you are driving around town, the purpose of which remains unclear. Are you trying to jog the memory of the Man in the Street, hoping he will deliver new insights into what has happened at Ibrox in the past couple of years?
Well, here’s a short version. Don’t thank me, it’s been a pleasure watching it.
Rangers were run into the ground over a period of decades, not the last two years. David Murray came in and bought your club, which had won three championships in 20 years. It was a club that, on the face of it, appeared to be on the way up after those two decades of ritual humiliation. For the next ten years, David Murray fed the delusion of ‘we are the people’ with grandiose boasts and unsustainable spending. When one of your directors tried to enlighted the fans, he was lambasted. Only last year, he was dismissed as a doddery old man when he spoke of the culture of ‘cheating’ that everyone behind the scenes Ibrox knew of and embraced. When he died, his memory was besmirched.
All for trying to tell you the truth. As it turned out, he was right. The club was hammered into the ground and sold for a pound. You threatened Lloyds bank and demanded they clear the way to install Craig Whyte, because he was touted as your saviour. He was carried down Edmiston Drive on the shoulders the grateful fans. Attempts to enlighted you were met with anger and derision. The BBC was picketed for running a story, with the demand for ‘parity of esteem’, another bizarre soundbite where implied dignity obscures meaning and relevance.
Craig Whyte burned you, as predicted. ‘But nobody told us, why didn’t anyone tell us?’ you wailed. Well, you were too busy standing behind banners on the picket line to see the obvious.
No one, not the fans or the ‘billionaire’ businessmen who are suddenly full of moral fibre, wanted to step up and ‘save’ the club and pay the money owed to the taxpayer. Remember that. It’s important, if you want to know The Truth.
A deliberate decision was made to kill the club and stiff the general public of money that could have been used for services (maybe equipment for those soldiers cavorting around the pitch on Armed Services day?).
Charles Green clearly stated that the club would die and all of its history be wiped out if a CVA wasn’t agreed. Still, no one stepped up. The club died and the fans allowed it to die. Maybe if you had driven around with a van at the time demanding the truth, things would have been different. Probably not, right enough. It’s only a van. Not a vehicle for real change.
Charles Green was rightly suspected, but a few choice digs at Celtic and Neil Lennon and you all loved him. That shows you up for the utter lack of intelligence of your entire support. That no one could see past him anymore, simply because he had found out that bigotry was the glue that held your club together.
The truth is that Rangers exists no more than a succulent lamb breathes on a plate.
You have sat and watched your new Company be torn to pieces and you have done it with a smile on your face, backing one asset stripper one minute, then backing another a minute later. You do not have the wherewithal to make up your own mind, instead buying the stories of scheister after scheister as long as someone with ‘Rangers best interests at heart’ testifies on their behalf.
Whether that’s Ally McCoist or Walter Smith depends on whether they are walking away, threatening to walk away, or meeting themselves coming back.
You are idiots, led by idiots. The smart people associated with the defunct club and the soon to be defunt replacement company are those who left with their pockets full, to the wailing of ‘why us?’ ringing in their ears. Well, why not you? You are a soft target. You have been fooled, duped, laughed at, and duped again. Not just by the well-known businessmen, but by football in general and society at large.
It has been no surprise to hear of your zombie incarnation beaten by the likes of Annan, the only surprise was it took 3 or 4 days to learn of such ‘shock results’. Because no matter how you try to keep your ugly mugs in the paper, the fact is your Sevco is truly an irrelevance.
William Burroughs said this in an interview:
“The nasty sort of power: white junk, I call it—rightness; they’re right, right, right—and if they lost that power, they would suffer excruciating withdrawal symptoms. The picture we get of the whole [Rangers FC and fans], people who are exclusively preoccupied with power and advantage, this must be an addiction. Suppose they lose it? Well, it’s been their whole life.”
Study that and you get close to The Truth. The day your club was liquidated, it lost it’s status in society as a self-proclaimed ‘institution’ second only to the Church of Scotland in importance (another multilayered soundbite that was gobbled up by the easily outfoxed Ibrox fodder). Get used to it. It’s not coming back.
Any further versions of the ‘the company’ are just like the whiff of mint sauce in the air as the plate gets cleaned.
You’re finished. And that’s The Truth.
eddieinkirkmichael
I feel I should get some credit for you seeing the light. That Saturday in Govan when we were leaflettting must have convinced you that if you didn’t see the light you would end up an old heathen like me!
If you get comfort from your faith you are a lucky man.
Seriously now, though I am poor at matters spiritual I am not too bad at matters temporal, at least as regards tobacco. Hardest thing I ever did but I am free of the curse for over 20years now & if I can do it you can too.
Go for it E,
This week a homeless man was found dead in one of the lanes in Glasgow City Centre,I thought of this when I read of the very generous contribution Steven Naismith made to sponsoring the annual meal for homeless men and women.To me its irrelevent how he was regarded by us when he played for Rangers.
TET…
I hadn’t read that before, the bhoy nailed it…cheating bassas.
Hope your goodlady and yourself are grand. HH
Kip time from me.
Big Nan, strange how although that was the only time we met I still regard you as a friend. The fags are an ongoing struggle, I can stay off the drink no bother these days but just can’t seem to get away from the cigs.
Trump pulls out of golf course development in Argyll, citing fears about the radical Mullah Kintyre
https://twitter.com/CelticFCSLO/status/674720403802206208
Bother in Istanbul seemingly
THE EXILED TIM – First time I’ve read that as well, the guy has nailed it. Kept for future reference…thanks.
eddieinkirkmichael – I’m off the cigs over 3 years now, moved over to e-cigs and feel much better for it. Also saving a fortune, I was a 25 – 30 a day Marlborough Red. No more feeling out of breath or coughing fits. Hope to give these up some day as well…plus you can puff them in the pub so don’t need to stand out in the cold..
Eddieinkirkmichael
Fine post, Sir. Was it you who posted wonderful story about Dad who was footballer, who passed about two years back?
Keep fighting tobacco. I smoked 25 years. Tried to give up few times before but won in May this year. Smoking is one of the stupiest things we can start doing. I cannot imagine I will start again. I know I can not do it. Good luck with your good fight.
SOAL
that plooky Campbelltown mullah Rasheed ?
TET
Those words of William Burroughs describe them perfectly.
Good read.
Eddieinkirkmichael
Smashing post, it will resonate with many I suspect.
I’m sure all those who you care for are extremely proud of you.
Eddieinkirkmichael
If you say fags are bad you know you must beat them. It good for the start. This is why I said – keep fighting.
Eddie
Great post bud.
Feeling guilty about my duty free gift for you now. ;))
IMHO this blog is dying on its feet because:
1. Celtic are dying on their feet
2. Most CQN remnants are pensioners looking for a drinking or chapel buddy.
3. Except for hard core Lawwell believers plus the usual green huns most the majority of Celtic supporters realize that there will be no consequences to the most outrageous cheating in the history of sport here in Scotland and are gardening, fishing doing something else. Something more personal and less corrupt to spend their ever diminishing cash on.
Eddie, Let us assume for a moment That Jesus was the genuine article, that he was divine and there is a Heaven, If there is no place for those that sinned, there will be very few there,
Everyone of us on here have “sinned” every one of us has made mistakes and have done things we are not proud of. The very fact you are concious of mistakes you have made and are trying to be a better person is a credit to you. Remember the words of Jesus ” there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance”
I’m starting to feel like Petec, so I’ll stop there. Have no fear Eddie, you will be fine.
I have respect for Naismith, as he has stood by his principles.
Helping those who are less fortunate and declaring on Scottish TV that he left Ibrox as Rangers were dead and he had no contract with the new club.
Did anyone post the extract from the SOS book yet?
It was on FF this morning, what a read! If it’s not been on here and anyone wants to read it let me know and I’ll go get it.
Got a message from Giggsy who as well as being a CQNer, runs the Tommy Gemmell CSC. The bus on Sunday have organized a collection for our initiative to get Tommy all sorted for watching the games when he comes out of hospital. Apparently a few of the other buses going up to Perth on Sunday are doing the same, so we might get enough to get him a new television too! I think that the model Tommy has was made in the year he last scored in a European Cup Final!
Today we found a decent reconditioned HP laptop for only £140 on Groupon and that has been purchased.
Finally some news on the server speed, this is now getting sorted and you should see a big difference in the next few days. We\re also looking at data usage and some other issues that have been mentioned.
If anyone is having particular difficulties please email me and we will try to assist. Usually we can do this straight away.
WC
Great news all round. Thank you.
Eddie
Keep the Faith and battle on my friend.
There is never a right answer or a wrong path, just sometimes a long way round :-)
HH
CRC