Congratulations to Dundee FC who return to the top flight of Scottish football for the first time in seven years. Back in the 60s Dundee were a top European team. They won the league in 1962 and in the preliminary round of the European Cup they trounced West German champions, Cologne, 8-1 at Dens. Cologne put a more respectable face on the aggregate result two weeks later, winning 4-0 in front of 40,000 fans.
Dundee went on to beat Portuguese champions Sporting Lisbon 4-2 on aggregate in the first round proper, this while Portuguese runners-up, Benfica, retained the European Cup only five months earlier. If the Cologne result was the most enduring in the collective memory, the 4-1 win over Sporting at Dens was one of the all-time great results in Scottish football history.
Anderlecht were next victims, losing 1-4 in front of 65,000 fans in Brussels before the fairy tale ended in the semi final against eventual winners, Milan, at a packed San Siro. A Wembley final against Benfica was Milan’s prize, a tie Dundee would surely have fancied.
The result against Cologne is historically the most impressive but this was not the case at the time. This was a period before the Bundesliga when West German teams participated in regional leagues, with the winners playing-off to enter the European Cup. Once German teams were able to join a financially prosperous league instead of being shackled by historical custom, they never looked back. Dundee, like all Scottish clubs, are disenfranchised from the history they could be creating by the poor value of their TV market.
It’s time for a change, not just for the sake of Celtic! If only the guys running the show knew the history and heritage of the team promoted today, or believed in the potential of Scottish clubs.
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The Sun
ANDY DEVLIN reports
Published: 16th July 2012
THIS time last year there wasn’t a spare seat to be had.
The first-team dressing room at Murray Park was bursting at the seams.
And, having just helped secure a third SPL title in three years, all boss Ally McCoist could think of was ADDING yet more talent to his bumper squad of 32 players.
But, 12 heartbreaking months later, all of those dreams have been reduced to rubble.
With Dorin Goian, Carlos Bocanegra and Maurice Edu all expected to quit newco Rangers within the next few days, the Ibrox manager is facing up to the fact he could be left with just 12 players for the start of the new season.
The shell of a ravaged squad that could contain just five recognised senior pros.
And of that five, only Lee McCulloch and Lee Wallace featured regularly for the Light Blues last season.
Yet, somehow, this rag-tag bunch will be expected to hit the ground running and breeze to the Third Division title.
The reality may prove to be far removed.
Indeed, there are growing fears inside Ibrox that McCoist’s men could struggle to beat either Brechin or Forfar in the Ramsdens Cup on July 28 — much less deliver championship glory.
A senior Gers source told SunSport last night: “What condition the team will be in come the start of the season is anyone’s guess.
“We are unsure if the players that are here just now will be here by the end of the week.
“The drop to the Third Division may be too much for many.
“We appreciate that our lads want to be playing football at the highest level possible.
“The fact remains that everything is up in the air and forward planning is impossible.
“We can’t sign players and we can’t play pre-season games. How can we possibly prepare for the new season?”
The odds, clearly, are heavily stacked against Rangers.
Neil Alexander is a given to start in goal, with McCulloch expected to spearhead the attack.
Wallace could be asked to link up with Alejandro Bedoya in midfield, with Kirk Broadfoot more or less a cert to start alongside Ross Perry at the back.
But after that?
Well, your guess is probably as good as McCoist’s.
Youngsters like Kane Hemmings, Lewis MacLeod, Chris Hegarty and Andrew Mitchell could find the going tough against the hardened pros in the bottom tier.
But at least that quartet, along with midfielder Kyle Hutton, have first-team experience.
Those kids McCoist may be forced to pluck from the youth teams have none. And, as Alloa manager Paul Hartley warned in SunSport yesterday, the Third Division can be an unforgiving place.
It seems strange then that the SFA remain determined to keep Gers’ transfer embargo in place. Is demotion to Division Three not punishment enough?
It’s little wonder McCoist is at the end of his tether.
Humble and apologetic for the sins of the past, he craves the chance to restore Rangers and make them great again.
Last Friday, he even THANKED SFL chairmen for sending his beloved team to the bottom tier. There is a recognition and understanding on McCoist’s part that Gers MUST wipe the slate clean and start again.
Yet it seems many are unwilling to forgive so easily.
McCoist’s pre-season plans are in tatters after Le Havre, Southampton and the tour of Germany were all scrapped.
As things stand, Rangers are effectively banned from taking part in pre-season friendlies because the SFA still hold their membership.
It seems increasingly likely then that their first game will be that Ramsdens Cup clash with either Brechin or Forfar in just 12 days’ time.
Our source added: “The arrogance of the SFA is staggering.
“They wanted to put us in the First Division and then they expected us to walk to the title — still with a transfer embargo in place.
“The manager has lost something in the region of 20 players since January.
“He would need to add at least seven or eight to make us competitive in any league. Also, we are scrambling to organise closed-door games because pre-season friendlies are proving impossible.”
Owner Charles Green has still to set season-ticket prices for next year yet knows he must also address the contracts of senior players like McCulloch, Wallace, Alexander and Kirk Broadfoot.
Most earn more than £10,000 a week — a wage unsustainable in the Third Division.
Today’s SPL AGM should provide some much-needed clarity as everyone, not just those at Rangers, looks to move on.
I haven’t been able to read back but this is getting a wee airing on a few sites:
NACHO NOVO / Strong comments from a Rangers legend
“A lot of Celtic supporters wish for my death and that of my children”
“Celtic is a sham of a club calling itself Catholic but it’s not at all”
PABLO GARCÍA CUERVO. Madrid 07/16/2012
He cannot walk through the streets of Glasgow. Sometimes they have to close shops for him before the fans and onlookers descend. Nacho Novo, a Rangers legend, has returned with his family for a brief visit to the city where he made his name as a footballer. There he awaits his new destiny, having ended his contract with Legia Warsaw where he played for half a season and won the Polish Cup.
The reforming of Rangers in the Third division as a result of its debts has been met with absolute rage from some Celtic supporters – its perpetual rival – which have gone to the extreme of repeated death threats to Nacho Novo.
“It used to be a common occurrence but, since the invention of Twitter, the threats have multiplied. A lot of Celtic supporters every day wish for my death and that of my children and it is really unpleasant although it’s normal practice in Celtic, a sham of a club, calling itself Catholic but it’s not at all”, commented Nacho Novo.
“You only need to look at its recent history and see the shady events that club has had. It thinks it is fooling people. That’s why it’s an honour to be from Rangers, a team with values, with respect and with history. Whatever happens, it will always be the best team in Scotland”, he concluded.
lets not lose focus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CYTcQUKTVY
Lest we forget:
Byline: RON MOORE Chief Reporter
RANGERS star Nacho Novo Ignacio Javier Gómez Novo (born March 26 1979 in Ferrol, Galicia, Spain), simply known as Nacho Novo, is a Galician professional football player who currently plays for Rangers. He formerly played for Huesca, Raith Rovers and Dundee. moved in with a football pal – then stole his girlfriend.
Ross Matheson, 27, offered the striker lodgings when the pair played for Raith Rovers, a court heard yesterday.
But Novo “breached his friend’s trust” by stealing his partner, Donna Clark.
The love triangle A love triangle is a romantic relationship involving three people (known as a triad). While it can refer to two people independently romantically linked with a third, it usually implies that each of the three people has some kind of relationship to the other two. ended in court when Matheson threatened to hurl a brick at her car last June.
He was yesterday told he faced jail unless he stayed out of trouble.
Novo was struggling to settle in Scotland when Matheson invited him to stay with him and Ms Clark at their home in Kirkcaldy, Fife, the court heard.
The Spaniard did not speak much English, and the pair befriended him.
Defence lawyer Ellen MacDonald told Greenock Sheriff Court: “Mr Matheson had been in a long-term relationship with Donna Clark and had a successful football career. He took a team-mate and friend in as a lodger An occupant of a portion of a dwelling, such as a hotel or boardinghouse, who has mere use of the premises without actual or exclusive possession thereof. Anyone who lives or stays in part of a building that is operated by another and who does not have control over the rooms therein. and both the player and Ms Clark breached his trust.
“My client became involved in an acrimonious separation and the offence took place against this backdrop.”
Donna finally moved out last May to set up home with Novo.
Novo moved from Dundee FC to Rangers last summer and they now have a home in Inverkip, Inverclyde.
Matheson quit football last year and moved back in with his parents. He now works in a shipyard.
He was convicted of breach of the peace last month. He claimed Ms Clark was abusive when he tried to discuss a legal matter.
Sheriff Vincent Canavan deferred sentence for three months – pending good behaviour.
Matheson said: “I don’t want to talk about it any more.”
r.moore @mirror.co.uk
Bundoran Bhoy
Can you send me a wristband along with the CQN badge ;-)
hh
bjmac
Glasgow Rangers’ bankruptcy
You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone
Jul 13th 2012, 0:14 by C.S.W. The Economist
THERE is no such thing as a sure bet in sports. But it’s hard to get much closer than Glasgow Celtic’s chances of winning the Scottish Premier League (SPL) next year. The SPL has never been known for its competitive balance—since its inception in 1998 only two clubs have won the league title—but the 2012-13 season looks like a foregone conclusion before it even begins.
The two sides that have split the league’s 14 titles evenly between them are Glasgow Celtic, who have won 73% of their SPL games, and Glasgow Rangers, with 69%. The “
Old Firm” clubs’ fierce rivalry has been the league’s principal attraction. However, in February Rangers declared bankruptcy. And on July 13th Scotland’s football clubs voted to relegate them to the country’s bottom division, ensuring that they cannot return to the SPL until the 2015-16 season.Like most clubs today that are not subsidised by a profligate owner, Rangers have consistently spent more on payroll than they could afford in order to keep pace with Celtic. In the 11 years to 2010, they lost an average of £13m ($20m) a season. They managed to stay in business by borrowing money and by doing well enough in the SPL to qualify consistently for the Champions League in Europe, which offers generous payouts to participants.
In recent years, however, Rangers suffered three disruptions to this tenuous equilibrium. First, in 2008-09 they were upset in the Champions League qualifiers by FBK Kaunas, a modest Lithuanian squad. That cut their revenues by £10m. The following season, they recovered on the pitch to win the SPL. But by then Britain’s economic recession had taken its toll on their attendance and income.
The final blow was the unravelling of an ill-advised scheme intended to reduce the club’s tax liability. Rangers’ financial records show that from 2001-10 the team routed £48m to 87 players and staff through trust accounts held at a company in the British dependency of Jersey. The British government had generally considered such payments loans, which are not taxable until the employee withdraws the money from the trust. But because these transfers were incorporated into player contracts, the government viewed them as salaries, of which half is taxable for high-income workers like football players. As a result, Britain demanded that Rangers pay £21.4m of back taxes, pushing the club into bankruptcy.
On the surface, the demise of one of the SPL’s strongest teams would seem to bode well for Rangers’ former rivals. In fact, however, even though other clubs will surely win more matches now that Rangers are gone, Rangers may still drag the league’s weaker teams down alongside them financially. As the SPL’s marquee event, the Rangers-Celtic rivalry was responsible for an outsize share of the league’s overall television viewership, and the two clubs together provided 60% of the SPL’s fan base. Without it, the SPL’s broadcasters and corporate sponsors will surely demand that their contracts be renegotiated, and are likely to take the league to court if it refuses. The new deals will probably be worth around £16m less per season than their predecessors were. Four SPL clubs have already warned that the loss of those revenues will put them in financial peril.
For Celtic, Rangers’ downfall is a mixed blessing. On one hand, the coming season is likely to be a 38-match victory parade, which will delight their supporters and punch their ticket to the Champions League. On the other, the utter lack of suspense could easily cause SPL fans to tune out altogether, reducing attendance, rights fees and revenue across the board. After a century of sectarian bad blood between Rangers’ mostly Protestant backers and Celtic’s primarily Catholic Scots-Irish supporters—the two teams’ fans clashed violently on the pitch following a match in 1980—Celtic may be surprised to discover how much they miss their arch-rivals now that they have been reduced to toiling in the third division.
I totally disagree with people who are putting forward the argument that Celtic are guaranteed to win the title next season by a country mile.
Whilst I sincerely hope they do win the title, I also hope that the other clubs raise their game considerably.
I dislike all postings which maintain we are racing certainties. It smacks of the kind of arrogance which led to “The Great Demise”.
I look forward to a competition more akin to the 80’s. It is unhealthy for any competition to have a single dominant force.
I am sure that the MIB will be doing their best to ensure fair-play for all.
(I also believe in the tooth fairy!)
Mgt McGill:
Thanks for the info on Eric Riley.
However, I was looking for some information on what he is like as a person, not the official blub.
Is he the kind of guy who will stand up and fight (verbally) for the cause, with an eloquence of John Paul McBride, (if only).
In other words, is he the best candidate for the job of representing Celtic on the board of the SPL (or anywhere else)?
What part, if any, has he played in preventing the complete stitch-up which the SFA etc… wanted?
On the subject of all the hunnites who try to protect their mental anguish by claiming to be neither Oldco or Newco fans but fans of “The Rangers”:
So, tell us all, who are “The Rangers” playing in their next match?
What is the likely line up of “The Rangers” side?
Still look on the bright side, I am sure you could do a really good travel log for those wishing to see the Scotland’s rugged, rural landscapes….
Mea Culpa on 17 July, 2012 at 04:43 said:
I know. I was trying to allude to it in a perfunctory way by presenting official company data from external sources that I googled in 2 minutes. However, as usual anything emanating officially from Celtic PLC is worthless regarding the vision and description of its own members. So to summarize in a universal Celtic supporter kinda sorta way when it comes what we know about Eric Riley member of Celtic bored for the last 18 years and our critical representative on the SPL errrrr..naw you like me like may Tims basically …errrrrr….. dont know shit! Youre welcome to google more and get back to me and I’ll add it to my growing dossier of Celtic bored member public information. I’m on page 3.
and I dont mean tits!
yes I do!
Morning Celts
Song for today which is offered to Greens team.
Always look on the bright side of Life.
HH
Good Morning to all. The day shift is open,
It’s strange coincidence, the other Warsaw top league team Polonia Warsaw will be sold today, moved to the other city and name changed. No more derby here. Surprise for all in Poland. Me, rather not very happy becouse of that.
Vmhan, Good Morning,
Sometimes looks like we live in one house :-) Two minutes difference between two posts.
PHILVIS RETURNS
When your Gentleman’s Gentleman has roused you from your slumbers-gently,of course-you may wish to re-examine your reply to me at 1620.
Or,of course,you may not.
Should you give it a butcher’s,I know you’ll agree it was disingenious and filled with inaccurate comparisons.
Such as privatisation,when I clearly referred to compulsory tendering,or suggesting that I said Mrs T was reponsible for the welfare state when I equally clearly said that she was responsible for introducing policies which led to long-term unemployment and the dreaded benefit culture.
Anyone reading your reply would think you were legally-trained and adept at avoiding difficult questions.
Or a politician…….
First day in the rest of my life, and a spring in my step … happy days.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS on 17 July, 2012 at 05:38 said:
You’re wasting your time (thumbsup)
MARGARET McGILL 0628
Oh,come on Mags-I’m appealing to his better nature,and inherent sense of fair play.
Oh,wait………
Asgardstreasure
16 Jul 2012, 11:52 PM
Heard a whisper from a good source the night that the rumours going around crown office are that a well known scottish businessman who once owned a well known scottish football club is looking at a case to answer for money laundering. There is , I’m told, a south african connection.
this was mentioned weeks ago, i cant remember who said it or where it was heard from, possibly something on RTC?
nice if true
My source is but once removed from the corridors of crown office. This is coming almost from the horse’s mouth. Hearsay but in the first degree.
…………….
The above from KDS, whistle while you work.
Good morning fellow Celts from 0631 to Waterloo sun shining, blue skies and very warm
Holiday head on now stop Wednesday and off to Santa Ponsa with daughter and her friend. 2 fifteen yr old lassies …hauners!
Cannot understand why Dunfermline not back in SPL. Surely currants are technically relegated for cheating! This stinks if I was a Pars fan I would be creating merry hell. What are their board doing to argue their case? Is there any noise …anything!?
HH
VMHAN 0632
There are similar posts on KDS and RTC.
Is the info from the same poster who uses different names on different sites,as many including myself do,or is it a number of posters who are privy to the same information?
For me,it looks as though the person most responsible for dragging the Establishment’s prized sporting asset down to the gutter is about to be punished by that very same Establishment.
Not so much without fear or favour,but with extreme prejudice.
This could get messy-I hope!
SALTIRES IN SEVILLA 0641
Best of luck,but don’t ask for hauners……
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086973/
Zbyszek on 17 July, 2012 at 05:29 said:
…………….
Morning Zbyszek, it is the house of Celtica!
HH
BMCUW
Argaurdstreasure is the posters name, don’t know anymore details.
HH
Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan supports Kano 1000 on 16 July, 2012 at 22:45 said:
—
Superb on Joe McBride. I hope his family and friends have the pleasure of reading that wonderful tribute.
HH
Top of the morning to you all from a bright, sunny Fife.
BRTH 22.45 great tribute to the late great Joe McBride.
Huns have to be oldco transfer
Otherwise they can’t satisfy the criteria to gain admittance
Green on SSN right now ….nothing of note .., some BS about a friendly against Olympiakos and grovelling to Uefa re transfer fees outstanding and more moaning about what are clearly legitimate sanctions
Rangers have been punished enough. A self served punishment called death. Deed! Deed! Deed!
Anyone come up with a fitting epitaph?
Puuuuuuuuuuffffffffffffffff
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh
MWD
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-18863289
Scotland must be paradise in so many ways for Izzy
Rangers FC. Born in the dark age. Died in the dark age. With a face only a mother could love.
Mr Z. Will the new franchises fans follow the club?
MWD
Kalimera CQN,
Oldco/Newco etc
Are the Hun in administration? Soon to be liquidated? But so far still exist?
Are the Newco a new entity? Created in 2012 as a company? Named something totally different from the soon to be extinct oldco?
Now I accept TBB’s points about how they, ra peepul will want to interpret things, and also that a team playing blue, at the Bigotdome, will have their loyal and dignified support but
Surely until oldco is finally put to rest, then newco cannot adopt their persona. How can the Division 3 club that plays Brechin in the Ramsdens Cup be Ragers when BDO are still in the process of liquidating Ragers?
does that mean I can change my name to BlantyreKev and turn up at Aberdour CQN as the defending golf champion? Even though the real BlantyreKev ( mercifully) still exists and standing on the practice green with two ball Odyssey. A bit confusing for Taggysbhoy et al.
Or would it simply be ” naw you are EC67, you have won heehaw, now away and raffle yer doughnuts”?
Maybe I am missing something major but I cannot see how two entities can coexist claiming to be the one, without people pointing out this fact.
EC67
Good morning CQNers,
Finally some sunshine in MK this morning. Off to Dublin today to see the Boss on Wednesday night and I’m hoping the forecast thunder storms don’t materialise.
Irish Messi …..
Morning All, 14 degrees in Deutschland and cloudy. I see the Chicken Lickens at the MSM are telling us the SPL sky will soon fall in. Which stage of grief is that, I wonder?
Watching SSN there…. Yer man Scot Gardiners a real ‘glass half full’ kinda guy, eh?
murdochbhoy on 17 July, 2012 at 07:27 said:
The Irish Messi story so disappointing on so many levels
Mea Culpa on 17 July, 2012 at 04:31 said:
Wanting something and the likeliehood of that something happening are as you know, two completely diffferent things.
My auld man took me to my first game, the 1984 SC Final against Aberdeen when I was 6 yrs old. We lost 2-1 after an extra time winner from Mark McGhee. It was another 5 years before I was ‘allowed’ to go to a match against Rangers. But in the intervening years I attended most matches home and away. Whilst I was always desperate to experience an atmosphere against them, I was contented with matches against Aberdeen, Dundee Utd, Diets, Hibs etc and the odd European night because the games were (usually) always competitive with an atmosphere typical of a cup tie. As much as I would love to see a return to that level of competition in TFODs absence, I will be amazed if we do not indeed have the league all but won by January. This isn’t arrogance. The main problem the likes of Aberdeen, Hearts etc have now is not beating Celtic. Its beating themselves. For far too long they have bemoaned what they refer to as O** F*** domination. To expect them to turn round now and offer any sustained Championship challenge is wishful thinking.
Too many years of stinkin thinkin.