It’s been six weeks since Celtic have had something to play for: 1 May, a five goal win over Dundee. Since then we wound down the remaining Premiership games before cranking up a fortnight ago at our new second home in Paisley, but it all comes into focus on Wednesday at Celtic Park, when we are expected to humble apparent Champions League whipping boys from Iceland.
People at Celtic have complained for years about having to play such important games in the middle of July, but I’ve never bought that argument. If we have to face Legia-type opposition later this month, we can’t have an early enough test. The challenge is known, it’s the responsibility of the club to be ready.
Stjarnan are likely to be the least resourced team we will face this summer, but if we get a comfortable win on Wednesday, these two games, as well as the friendlies against Eibar and Rennes, should provide ample opportunity to physically and tactically ready for the real test.
A few weeks back we discussed the game of brinksmanship involving Greece and it’s analogy in Scottish football, “Those sitting at the Syriza side of the table know they may be marching their citizens off the edge of a cliff”.
8 days ago Tsipras won his referendum mandate but quickly accepted that you can’t play poker if you don’t have any cards, never mind aces. I wondered if he hoped to ‘lose’ the referendum. I wonder if others hoped the SFA would find ‘against’ them a few months back. As we mentioned, it was “one of the classic failures of leadership – telling people what they want to hear in order to gain power, without any way of delivering on the promises made”.
If the Greeks had said ‘Yes’ Tsipras could have capitulated, blaming the will of the people. If the SFA said ‘not Fit and Proper’, others could have declined to invest, blaming Peter Lawwell and his ‘cronies’ at Hampden. I’m sure you could write the script yourself.
Populism’s easy, until you are given control, then it’s harder than granite. We’ll see the same lesson played out in Scottish football in the months to come. You need five aces in your hand to play poker with a billionaire, even then, don’t make assumptions.
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HAPPY HOOOOOOOPY BIRTHDAY
to
OLDTIM67
A scholar and a gentleman of the highest order. And my Dad is the first to agree.
I’ve always thought that King, once he had a look under the bonnet, wanted the SFA to find him ‘not fit and proper’ that way he could’ve walked away and waited for Sevco to be liquidated and therefore banish big Mikes onerous contracts and hence pick up the scraps for very little.
I also thought that the SFA were always running scared & would never find him ‘unfit’ – the aftermath would have been calamitous and the repercussions would have been unbearable.
It’s all worked out fine though.
King is in.
SFA are in the clear.
Big Mike is as happy a mucky pig.
We’re still smirking because we all knew that King was potless.
LiviBhoy
12:10 on 13 July, 2015
The Herald are reporting that former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is to be offered a specially-created role within the Scottish FA in which he will promote and develop the game in Scotland.
Thoughts???
LB
——————
The cynic might be tempted to think that he will come out and say we need a bigger top division. And who would dare to argue with the view of such an expert………
HH
there’s a buzz about the place…. Having a party in the Champions League..
HH
So five were found offensive but not criminal, hmm
Hamiltontim
12:59 on 13 July, 2015
Just on train back from court. 5 of the 7 got absolute discharges. Basically it means that they’ve been found guilty but they’ll remain without any criminal record!
###
That sounds like a message from the bench that they shouldn’t have been prosecuted in the first place.
Ach well, if people will vote SNP this is what you get.
Right off oooooooooot tae the
Ticket office
Cmon the HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPS
Good Afternoon.
There were two pretty ridiculous pieces about Ronny in today’s papers. Here are some thoughts on them!
https://theclumpany.wordpress.com/2015/07/13/eur-having-a-laugh/
https://theclumpany.wordpress.com/2015/07/13/false-teeth/
Enjoy the rest of the day!
5 Aces?
All they have is a bunch of Jokers!
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/iceland
Advice for any supporter going to Iceland
Now here’s where it get tricky, what will the club do about bans ?
James Forrest
Your Wealth of Kings article was excellent. Just goes to show what can be done when time is used for good old research rather than eating lamb!
Spiers is a strange one, as he was actually one of the very few journos to be critical of Murray. But for some reason he can’t seem to connect the unsustainable debts Murray built up with the success they had at the time. I really can’t fathom how he thinks the new club can have the same success without the freebie bank money.
Italiabhoy,
Predictably those giving cyber high fives to the people of Greece last week have now gone quiet.
Such a shame for the people of Greece that they will be consigned to years of financial hardship but the idea that they could just wish the debt away because it’s unfair was fanciful.
The deficit and oil figures that have emerged since the Scottish independence referendum are frightening. The only accusation that could be levelled at the No campaign’s economic argument is that they were not pessimistic enough about independence.
For me the decision the board makes, is the decision that matters and will send out a message as to whether they back the bill, that will end the rhetoric once and for all.
Sandman
and others…thanks.
KODI BOX BHOYS!
The eagle has landed.
I will be in touch tonight regarding delivery and payment.
I’m based in the city centre so can meet etc….
Spec – They are Amlogic S812-H best chip to date for streaming Quad core 4×2.0ghz. They have 2 gb DDR3 and Andoid 4.4 but are due to get 5.1.1 as the beta is out just now. They have 8gb emmc and have gigabit Ethernet & Dual band WIFI. 4k & 3d capable.
Pretty much the highest spec available other than the minix x8h+ which is £140 that has slightly better wifi and 16gb storage.
4x USB ports & one micro sd card slot. They power external USB hard drives no bother.
Speak soon!
AoW
Green pinta you asked why the SNP passed the OB? Because Scotland is institutionally racist. They admitted they did it to criminalise Celtic supporters.
It’s simple.mbut hey Scotland votes for the SNP. But then again the vast majority in Scotland are racists too. What I don’t get is how any Celtic supporter can vote for them.
I also have to laugh at Paul’s lead article again.
So it was a master stroke of the SFA and Lawwell to find king fit and proper? Absolute nonsense and a reinvention of history. Those who run Celtic are part of the SFA cabal and they want the Huns back. They want you to be discriminated against. It’s good for business.
That Celtic supporters, after all we have been through, can buy into this tripe disgusts me.
King was never fit and proper. That is clear and obvious by the sfas own rules. But our leaders at Celtic just want the money so who cares about rules or ethics.
Celtic supporters are now helping prop up the racism they espouse to fight against.
Isn’t that bizarre?
ernie lynch 13:12,I will continue to vote SNP, which party gets your vote?
Oh and i might have some free time Mon/Tues next week…….
……..STRIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Modren Amlogic S812-H best chip to date for streaming Quad core 4×2.0ghz. They have 2 gb DDR3 and Andoid 4.4 but are due to get 5.1.1 as the beta is out just now. They have 8gb emmc and have gigabit Ethernet & Dual band WIFI. 4k & 3d capable.Is rubbish
DBBIA- haha……sesquipedalian loquaciousness at it’s best!
“But then again the vast majority in Scotland are racists too.”
Oh dear…time to leave the blog.
Manchester United complete the signing of Bastian Schweinsteiger from Bayern Munich.
Cracking name for the ole commentators.
LB
NegAnon2
Is there anything out there that isn’t PL’s fault?
early send there…user error…
a lot, of the rest of the post makes sense as well….still time to go though.
the honest coverup,
I still firmly believe Greece would have been better being masters of their own destiny, they have now taken on the mantle of oppression for the next 5 generations.
Germany’s export boom has been at the expense of the weaker nations which is why they are so adamant these weaker nations must stay in the euro and bear the burden.
Had Greece walked away Germany would have felt it immediately with the artificially low euro being forced up. It is and has been their only strategy which is why they are so hostile to anything that might increase its value.
There was absolutely nothing stopping Germany and France reducing the burden on all of the countries carrying major debt, easier repayment methods would have helped each and everyone as it did their own country when they were forgiven their debt but that did not suit their masters in the banking sector which is exactly who now runs the euro zone.
It’s strange to see people celebrating the Greek problem for the sake of claiming to have been correct especially when it couldn’t be further from the truth.
Greece democratically stated no, the Greeks were/are abused by the corporations and banksters, they were then condemned by their so called partners and now are expected to pay for the collusion of forces which should never have been given the power by European Union to undermine democratically elected governments but it suited the stronger nations, their time is coming as is ours and nothing will be done about it. Enjoy, this was IMO the last chance for Europe to wrest power back from the banksters and they failed miserably because of narrow minded self interest. Next will be the TTIP and that will be the end of it. You can spend the rest of your existence tugging your locks and swallowing what ever you are fed and you’ll be sued if you don’t like it. What a future
jmccormick
13:42 on
13 July, 2015
“But then again the vast majority in Scotland are racists too.”
Oh dear…time to leave the blog.
——————————————————————————————————————–
Yeah.
Lets hear the outrage about anti-Scottish racism.
On the other hand,under no circumstances make the slightest remark of a derogatory nature about Ireland .
Hunnish double standards.
Christy Moore playing the Usher Hall in Edinburgh in October.
LB
Very sedulous, very sagacious, very pertinacious.
James Sanderson
Research by the renowned Carnegie Institute of Sheboygan has found that
78% of the “Hamely Tongue” is made up gibberish, with the remaining 25%
Consisting of nonsensical rubbidge.
Ulster Stats.
‘IT’S FRIGHTENING READING IF YOU ARE IN THE NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY’ – See more at: http://www.cqnmagazine.com/?p=6327
whats a newspaper ?
I find it distasteful making comparisons between a so called football club and a country on it’s knees were hundreds of thousands are being forced into poverty, forced onto the streets to live and the suicide rates are going through the roof.
And as for those comparing the situation in greece to what might have been if Scotland chose to be independant, take your heids oot of the Daily Mail you nutters.
MWD said AYE
I see, after a 3 year ‘journey’ through the backwaters of Scottish football, Lee McCulloch has finally made it to the SPFL Premiership.
He could have saved himself a lot of time and hassle by signing for Killie in 2012.
The SNP are so far cohesive as a unit of traditional scottish nats ( the tartan army plus folky Bloke idealists) tartan Tories and the recent referendum converts.
The test will be when the real decisions need to be made on Council tax, income tax. The issue of centralised police power and associated new laws on football supporter behaviour will only change when the SNP become disparate. I would suggest that the apparent SNP analysts thoughts that the time is right for a right of centre controlling Christian Democratic Party to rule Scotland is a thing of fantasy. Time will bear that out and we will see a new party emerge which contains a hybrid of new SNP and the staunch labour side that has lost its way.
What’s the best android thingy to buy and do you need a Google play account?
So Lynesy Sharp appeases the people
who all normal people cross the road
to avoid,
Does she realise that if you don’t finish first your a loser,
The sporting world will always remember big Jock,
I don’t think they will remember her,
Livibhoy
Any Glasgow dates?
Denayer has signed a 5 year deal with Man City.