I suppose we should start by heading the warning from Sevconian under-performer, Ian Black, who suggested that the Third Division is harder than the SPL. By this logic, Second Division Arbroath will terrify the life out of the Celtic defence ahead of their Scottish Cup tie tomorrow, they did, after all, put three goals past Inverurie Locos in the Third Round tie, and again in the replay.
Only Montrose
Having previously experienced the delights of Brechin, Forfar and the Dundee clubs, after tomorrow, the only Tayside club I will not have seen will be Montrose. These opportunities don’t come around often enough!
In all seriousness, Second and Third Division football is not difficult, it is essentially Keep Fit on the cheap. Celtic must deal with the sincere endeavour of their opponents while giving an opportunity for several fringe players to grace Celtic Park.
With our midfield already stretched by injury and suspension ahead of the Spartak game, Neil Lennon will want to guard this area of the team in particular. Spartak play their last game before heading to Glasgow tonight, at home to Zenit, who sit five points about them after 17 games. This is a huge game for Spartak and interim manager Valery Karpin, who will either succeed as interim, and be made permanent boss, or to fail and to also lose his general manager position.
Unusually for the Champions League, they have five days to recover before facing Celtic, a game Karpin is keen to win. Celtic will technically only have four days rest but the bulk of players likely to play in midweek will surely be rested tomorrow.
Spartak will be without striker Welliton, who travelled to Germany for an operation this week. Emmanuel Emenike, who scored twice against Celtic last month, is likely to lead the line. Emenike is a penalty box striker who is more than capable of exploiting gaps in the Celtic box. Karpin may instead opt to play target-man Artyom Dzuba as a sole striker. Dzuba is not a prodigious goal-scorer but he is able to hold play up and bring others into the game.
I loved media suggestions today that Sports Direct have a fight on their hands from other firms if they want their brand used to rename Ibrox. You have to admire the intellectual endeavour that goes into news coverage in this country. Sports Direct area THE key business partner for The Rangers. The only issue open to question is how much skin they are in the game for and what they get in return. Remember this when you’re buying sports kit for Christmas!
Lower league clubs will all surely be quaking in their boots at the news The Rangers will not only bring in well over £20m in a share issue, but could also earn countless riches from stadium naming rights. The leaked IPO PowerPoint presentation suggested the Offer for Subscription would commence on Monday. I am sure it is on-plan.
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Talking of books ….ol’ Nigella Lawson was doing a book signing in WH Smiths on Argyle St. this week… and I missed it!
guttedcsc
Good morning fellow Celts – lovely Winter’s day – but wrap up, it’s Bertie outside!
C’mon the Hoops today v Arbroath!
Paul67
Just heard the reassuring clatter of the CQN Annual dropping through my letterbox …the comments on here had raised my expectation levels, and first flick thro’ reassures me I will not be disappointed.
The front cover alone is worth the tenner (it’s a big smile moment:-) the texture, colour & layout is mouthwatering and it goes without saying the content will be outstanding.
Fellow Celts- do yourself a huge favour and get hold of a copy before they run out. I ordered mine on Tuesday using the link above and it arrived today PA5 (Saturday)
A huge thank you to the talented team involved in putting it together.
HH
Kit – I read it about 20 years ago and I was unaware of the depths that the “dirty tricks” campaign had reached. It certainly enlightened me.
I read that at about the same time as Yallops “In God’s name”
I trust nobody………hehe
Probably about 25 years ago come to think of it.
Where do the years go?
tomtheleedstim:
I read Yallops In God’s Name back then too, I thought it was naff
email inbox ; groupon, groupon, groupon,
anybody know you get them to pack it in?
Good morning. Been away for a few days and come back to find that the link to purchase the CQN annual has gone. Am I too late?
Kitalba- I read Yallop’s book about football, ‘How they Stole the Game’
I didn’t finish it, although it’s a subject dear to my heart.
Just smelled the ole woolly Cellick hat.
It’s for the wash afore Wednesday.
DBBIA/CompoCSC.
No rest for Victor
Extremely stupid huns:
“Amid the clamour of the past ten days, the most striking aspect of the reaction to the tax tribunal’s declaration has been the near-total absence of anger among Rangers fans at the revelation that £48 million had been given to the beneficiaries of the EBT system. Not only did these rewards take the form of “loans” that appear extremely unlikely to be paid back, but they were made to some seriously moderate players; could it really have been a matter of urgency to pay £1.2 million – and this in addition to his wages – to keep Nacho Novo sweet?
It is a shock in itself that Ibrox supporters are not shocked to the point of staging demonstrations of their resentment at such wastefulness.”
I imagine that’s because orange zombies simply flail about in aimless rage, at times launching into one another with gay abandon.
Dontbrattbakkinanger:
Pity, because at the end it all ended in an expose of Scotland’s Shame.
Good morning,
Looking forward to a good display from the hoops today.
Zaluska in goal.
Adam, Thomas, Efe, Izzy.
Dylan, Kayal, Vic, Lassad,
Tony, Miku.
5-0
EC67
MultilayerfurlinedtroosersCSC
Post1001, get in
From a poor friend of ours ‘The Telegraph’
An outbreak of anti-popery
12:01AM BST 17 May 2007
Damian Thompson reviews The Power and the Glory: Inside the Dark Heart of John Paul II’s Vatican by David Yallop
In 1984, the British journalist David Yallop published In God’s Name, in which he ‘discovered’ that Pope John Paul I, the smiling pontiff whose reign lasted only 33 days, was poisoned by the Vatican because he was about to expose its corruption and change doctrines. Rome dismissed his book as trash, which suited Yallop just fine.
Then along came John Cornwell, an ‘independent’ author unsympathetic to the Vatican, who checked out Yallop’s case. It crumbled into dust like an ancient parchment exposed to sunlight. The ‘murder’ of John Paul turned out to be just another conspiracy theory, glued together with innuendo and non sequiturs. Cornwell’s book A Thief in the Night, which demonstrated that John Paul I had died of natural causes, left Yallop’s theory looking jolly silly.
Admittedly, In God’s Name has sold six million copies, and therefore made Yallop nearly enough cash to bail out the Vatican bank; but no one likes seeing his pet theory attacked, and Yallop is an angry man. (If you doubt that, just check out the new edition of In God’s Name, in which he rages against Cornwell.)
The Power and the Glory: Inside the Dark Heart of John Paul II’s Vatican is Yallop’s second book about the Roman Catholic Church. I love that subtitle. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that promises to take me ‘inside the dark heart’ of something that doesn’t turn out to be nonsense. This is certainly no exception.
Now, admittedly, John Paul II wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea – he certainly wasn’t mine – and one of these days someone is going to write a biography of him that properly balances his astonishing achievements against his misjudgments (such as his slow reaction to the clerical abuse scandals at a time when he was obsessively concerned with the sexual practices of the laity). Cornwell tried to produce such a work a couple of years ago, but the result, The Pope in Winter, was too coloured by his personal dislike of John Paul to be taken entirely seriously. Compared with The Power and the Glory, however, it was a model of impartiality.
Reading this book is like being trapped by a bore at a party, and an all-night party at that. David Yallop’s tone never varies: it’s Glenda Slagg-style ‘Karol Wojtyla, don’tcha hate him?!!!’ for more than 500 pages.
Needless to say, Yallop doesn’t allow John Paul any credit for fatally weakening Polish Communism and therefore setting in motion the collapse of the Eastern bloc; in fact, there’s even a suggestion that the Pope was unwittingly following a script written by Moscow. Moreover, he brushes aside the considerable evidence that the Soviet Union was behind the 1981 assassination attempt – which is a bit rich, given that his own account of the ‘murder’ of John Paul I is pretty much evidence-free. But that’s conspiracy theorists for you.
Yallop’s distaste for his subject is such that he frequently descends into melodrama. Poor John Paul doesn’t have colleagues, he has a ‘cabal’ who (as is their wont) ‘surround’ him. And the author is so keen to take the shine off the late Pope’s many gestures of reconciliation to the Jewish community that he bizarrely ends up juxtaposing them with Mel Gibson’s drunken anti-Semitic tirade when he was stopped by the LA police. Eh?
Only one of Yallop’s allegations made me sit up, and it doesn’t even relate to John Paul II. He claims, intriguingly, that St Maximilian Kolbe, the Polish priest who died in place of a young married man at Auschwitz, had previously endorsed the anti-Jewish ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion’. That’s amazing, if true, so I looked for the relevant footnote.
There wasn’t one. Not surprising, really, when you consider that there are just 13 footnotes in the entire 530 pages. Two possible explanations spring immediately to mind. One is that Yallop’s sources are too secret to be revealed. The other is that he’s a lazy writer whose publishers let him get away with murder. Make up your own mind.
There might be one or two noticeable absentees from the ole Gazebo today as they’ll be shaving off their moustaches.
‘Spooks’ is fiction.
But a SAS killer, essentially just walking away from gun crime and stashing 300 rounds of lethal ammo, some of it armour piercing, while his edl-type pals big him up outside court, says it all. (Some truly rigorous selective amnesia at work, disguised as a ‘poor me’ saga)
That, and the fact Nick Griffin can post peoples names and addresses on Twatter with impunity in his sleekit Fat Sally impression is one more indication of the darkness in the soul of the ukip friendly crypto-fascist mainstream Anglo mindset.
And we wonder at the audacity of the huns and their p.r. wing in the msm?
TheCornishRepublican@TheCornishRep
Royal Babylon: The Criminal Record of the British Monarchy http://fb.me/20skP9k5n
doctor whatfor
10:51 on
1 December, 2012
Good morning. Been away for a few days and come back to find that the link to purchase the CQN annual has gone. Am I too late?
—–
Try going back to an older article…
‘Joy for Inverness rekindles memories ……’
Still has the link – it might work
Good luck mate
HH
Hilarious quote from ally –
“I’m not seriously for or deadly against either option, but I do believe the fans should have a say in it. If it did go to the option where it was re-named, I would definitely be of the opinion Ibrox should still be in it, although I clarify that by saying I’m not nailing my colours to the mast by saying that.”
He’s clearly been learning the old 3 cup shuffle from chuckie green, “Where’s my opinion? Is it under the middle cup, or maybe the left cup? You’re wrong! I don’t have one.”
doctor whatfor –
what are you haverin’ aboot, man the links within Paul’s article above?
Kit – sorry, am at work so slow reply.
I thought it was a right good read but I was but a bairn.
Art Of War
Bobby Sands, Nothing But An Unfinished Song
by Denis O’Hearn
Bobbys’ life story,amazing book
brought me right back to the horror of the H Blocks
having actually been in there at the time it gave me an “outside perspective”of the whole
H Block struggle
BB
sonsoferin:
>>>>>
“He who walks in the middle of the road gets hit by traffic going both ways.”
: > )
Jobo
Doh!
I thought he meant the above link wasn’t working :-)
Saltires,
It is still there on Paul’s article.
How long do those CQN annuals take for delivery, generally?
Euro champs
Yep mate cheers
I thought Doc Whatfor said it wasn’t working :0)
HH
Sonsoferin
I ordered Tuesday morning arrived this morning -4 days
HH
Bigbones8867 – thx. What is your view/take on the role that Mo Mowlem played in the H-blocks?
Ignore that if you want, just interested how she was perceived.
HH
Morning all.
Hoping for a comfortable win today, with no new injuries.
Also would like to see Dylan get 90 mins.
Good Morning,
No telly for the game today?
gsu
Doctor whatfor feels the wrath of assorted gazebonians.
The Vast Majority Of Decent Citizens In Our Enchanted Sceptred Isles….
Are Totally Supportive Of The Decision To Release Our Beret-Wearing Hero From The Glasshoose….
Then We Have Oor Mad-Mental Miki67….
The ‘Human Gadfly’…….
(ThumbsUp?)
making my usual blinkered donation to Wm Hill, Efeto score anytime 8/1 but noticed hooper hat trick at 10s,
onlyforaninterestcsc
Morning team.
Interesting to see Lenny asking the SFA to make a statement to clarify what managers are allowed to say about refereeing decisions.
The link below is to a section of the SFA’s website entitled CEO statements. Maybe it wouldn’t be for chief executive, Stewart Regan, to make the kind of statement Lenny is talking about. Maybe it would.
What’s interesting however is that in the course of this most momentous year ever in Scottish football, Stewart Regan has only made seven statements, compared to 17 in 2011. The 2012 statements so far are all on one subject, a former football club from G51.
In the early part of 2012, the SFA chief executive seemed sufficiently concerned about the situation at the former football club to make formal statements on February 13, 14, 17 and 21 and again on March 2 and 8.
On April 24, Stewart Regan spoke out again to give a much-needed SFA formal response to the findings of the judicial panel tribunal that said Craig Whyte fell somewhat short of the association’s benchmark for ‘fit and proper’.
That takes us to seven. Since April 24, this section of the SFA website has not been updated. So all the way through the turbulent close-season and the Charles Green show, and throughout the 2012-13 season so far, Mr Regan has had nothing to say.
I think he is still in the job, but it’s hard to be sure.
http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa_news.cfm?page=2550
I”d go for a;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;Zaluska;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
Matthews;;;;;;;;;;;Ambrose::::::::::::Wilson;;;;;;;;;;;;Mulgrew
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;:::::
McGeouch;;;;;;;;;Wanyama::::::::::Ibrahim::::::::::Commons
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Watt::::::::::::::::::George::::::::::::::::::::::::::
No need for a quiz next Friday. One of the contestants on Mastermind has a specialist subject of “The history of Celtic F.C”.
Good luck to him, and if it’s a lurker on here, hail hail.