I’m not going to laugh at results against Luxembourgers or Lithuanians – it’s not so long since Gibraltarians bloodied the nose of a team who went on to become invincible treble winners. Scottish clubs have a long history of pitching up in June and July wholly unprepared for European football.
These results only retain the ability to concern if they are not resolved by remarkably improved performances. Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic grew in stature last summer until they became a competitive Champions League team in the autumn. Others may do the same this season.
What will be clear long before the lottery of the European play-off rounds, is where the gaping chasm exists in Scottish football: are Celtic our only team competitive in Europe, or is there at least one other?
Neither you nor I care who competes in the Europa League, but failure there if Celtic progress to the Champions League will compound an already acute challenge for the Scottish also-rans.
——————————–
Episode 2 of ‘A Celtic State of Mind’ finds Paul John Dykes and Kevin Graham discussing a variety of topical subjects concerning Celtic Football Club, including:
* Callum McGregor: The Youth of Today;
* Death of the Cult Hero;
* Norwegian Wood – Ronnie Deila’s Exit Interview;
* Farewell to The Stone Roses;
* Hillsborough: The Truth.
Paul John Dykes also chats to SFA President, Alan McRae, to challenge him over recent comments made about Celtic’s domination of Scottish football.
Connect with A Celtic State of Mind @PaulDykes and @CQNMagazine or just listen using the link below…
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As it is Monday.
I’m Happy.
I wrote for Luck
Halleh Falujah
Constance Cumbey Town.
Massive
Dinnae ask me
PETEC on 3RD JULY 2017 2:14 AM
macjay1 is a dude I’d backup because he is old. :P
==========================================
No THAT old . :-)
Just a wee thing I`d like to mention .
Never respect your elders because of their age.
Obviously Mik played well after a very poor start to last Season. The young Lad Ralston is going to be the next Kieran T… I have nae doubts about that.
I hope Craig isnae as bold as he is against poor players.
The CL… The Strikers and mids are Sensational at reading the game.
Craig cannae play the game against the best like he does against SPL teams.
Brendan will try and get Celtic to hold the ball, and quite rightly, Craig isnae a fitba player… he will have to hoof it in the Big games.
WOW
Front page of the online Herald .
Never thought I would see the day.
There may be hope after all.
macjay1,
I am learning so much from my Son.
He is a wee Genius.
Obviously took lots of traits from his Mum.
He has had to deal with his wee Brother being taken away from him whilst he is doing important exams.
Who cares really.
He is Solid, just like his Mum is.
Wee Dominic is back Home now where he belongs.
I’m not as keen for Aidan to go to Uni as his Mum is… I just see Debt being laden.
I know nothing though Bro.
*eltic
More stars to come
Real Stars.
Painters?
Respect.
Rude Ruud Bhoy?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUTJCIPsWwE
PETEC on 3RD JULY 2017 3:00 AM
A great old expression : ” The child is father of the man. ”
Glad to hear about your boy and his progress and the joy that provides you .
My own attitude to UNI is simple.
Ideally do a course which qualifies you to get a job .
Debt for your kids is just what you do.
Sometimes it takes a long time to appreciate things.
Praise the Almighty.
Great news for Oz.
Bad news for Brits.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/television/yassmin-abdelmagied-says-she-is-moving-to-london-in-an-aussie-rite-of-passage/news-story/26810d9fa055991e8743a33b3eb7122c
VAR
Not the system at fault.
Just how it was implemented.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/40474969
“Building bridges takes us further than building walls.”
DaShanne Stokes ( Anthony`s father ? !).
JJ
Good morning CQN from a warm, broken clouded East Devon.
Word of The Day(Waiting for Wednesday & the Takeover Panel case…..)
estreat /ɪˈstriːt/
noun
1. a true copy of or extract from a court record
2. a true copy or extract of an original writing or record, as of a fine
verb (transitive)
3. to enforce (a recognisance that has been forfeited) by sending an extract of the court record to the proper authority
4. to make an estreat of (a fine, levy, etc.) for prosecution.
5. to levy (fines) under an estreat or exact (something) by way of fine or levy.
Word Origin
C14: from Old French estraite, feminine of estrait extracted, from estraireto extract
KTF
Listened to the new podcast ……… my honest view, …. oh, dear ….. insipid……
embarrassing. ……
hi bhoys. good morning from a cloudy west cheshire.
Good morning from Carvajal, Costa del Sol. Already 23*. A day on the beach beckons. Hopefully there will be good news about Celtic when I check back in later. Adios amigos.
Good morning and happy birthday to the CQN weather reporter Jobo ☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️
Good morning and a big happy birthday to our weather reporting deserter, Jobo :-)
Sunny here in G77, but no idea about East Kilbride!
HH
CRC
A very HOOPY Birthday to JOBO HH !
Orange Order claim Sturgeon’s referendum plan “shot to pieces” as thousands march in Glasgow
The Herald: Peter Swindon
THERE was the usual expected trouble when supporters of the Orange Order took to the streets of Glasgow yesterday for their annual Battle of the Boyne commemorations, with several arrests after ugly drunken brawls.
But it was the unexpected General Election result and the deal between the Tories and the hardline DUP, that seemed upper most in the minds of Orangemen yesterday. Keeping their hangers-on in line, wasn’t as important as triumphalism.
The members of the Orange Order who brought the streets of Scotland’s biggest city to a standstill seemed to have a spring in their step. They swaggered to Glasgow Green with renewed purpose.
Thousands gathered in the public park to hear triumphalist speeches which attacked First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and “Republican sympathiser” Jeremy Corbyn, but talked up the rise of the DUP as an indication that “the future is Orange”.
Cheers erupted when the crowd was told the SNP “got a kicking” and Sturgeon’s plans for a second independence referendum were now “shot to pieces”.
The day began at George Square where around 300 people gathered for a low key remembrance service. Children wearing full Rangers strips ran around on the grass while groups of adults sporting orange sashes shook hands and embraced as street vendors sold union flags.
The full parade duly arrived shortly before 10am and bemused tourists – unaware of the significance of the procession – took selfies.
Hundreds of onlookers followed the parade to Glasgow Green, many of them wearing Rangers tops and swigging Buckfast straight from the bottle.
One young woman wearing the football kit said: “We’re a Protestant team and this is a Protestant organisation so we’re connected.”
However, another onlooker said the Orange Order don’t want people turning up in football colours because they’re “drunk idiots who spoil it for the rest of us”.
Around 60 flute bands converged as the cacophony of whistles and drums grew deafening. Band after band from across Scotland and Northern Ireland took more than an hour to reach the park. The total number of demonstrators and supporters was estimated to be around 9000.
The Truth Defenders, the Crown Defenders, the Protestant Boys, the Protestant Martyrs, the True Blues, the Young Loyalists, the Sisters of Truth, the Crimson Star, the Loyal Daughters – these just some of the band names.
Well-wishers waving Red Hand of Ulster flags lined the streets. One group had a life size cardboard cut-out of the Queen.
Political speeches began at Glasgow Green under “Orangefest” banners but numbers here were fewer than expected, with many empty chairs in front of the stage. Barriers were hastily removed and stewards appealed to people to take empty seats.
The leader of the Labour Party the first to come under fire.
In the so-called “State of the Nation” speech, Depute County Grand Master Brother Stephen Brown warned that “Republican sympathisers like Jeremy Corbyn and his cohorts continue to plot and scheme”.
Brown said seeing Tory MPs unseat Alex Salmond and Angus Robertson “was greeted with delight” in the Orange Order, which brought applause from the crowd.
“What a kicking the SNP got,” he said. “As far as the Orange Order is concerned, it could not have been a better outcome. Nicola’s immediate plans for an independence referendum are all but shot to pieces and the sudden rise in stature of the DUP can only be good for Northern Ireland and, inevitably, for unionism and loyalism.”
He added: “From an Orange perspective, we can benefit from a situation where our Orange voice can be heard in the highest of courts. Sisters and brethren, the future is most definitely Orange.”
The guest speaker was Brother Reverend Mervyn Gibson, Grand Secretary of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, who began by congratulating members who were “elected to public office as councillors and other who do not hide their support for the Orange institution”.
He then condemned charities who refuse donations from the Orange Order as “sectarian bigots”.
Gibson also took a swipe at the First Minister and the SNP. He said: “You have your own home-grown nationalists to face. Much tamer than our lot but just as determined to see the United Kingdom destroyed. Proud Nicola’s army who the voters just recently sent home to think again. Well she did think again and postponed seeking another referendum. Although it would have been better if she’d taken it off the table altogether.”
He ended his tirade by urging members of the Orange Order to stand up against Scottish nationalists.
Gibson said: “To defeat their ambition to break up the United Kingdom we need to work together, supporting one another as you supported us during the Troubles.”
Alcohol was banned from the gated Glasgow Green but there were no bag checks and many people were drinking.
As tension grew between rival factions a group of around 20 young women were involved in a scuffle. Men joined in then police pulled them apart. The aggressors were told to walk away in different directions.
A similar brawl involving young men in nearby Saltmarket saw an arrest made for an alleged serious assault.
A spokeswoman for Police Scotland said: “Eight people were arrested for alleged minor disorder and alleged alcohol-related offences. A man is currently detained in connection with an alleged serious assault in the Saltmarket.”
She added: “We estimate there were 4500 participants and 4500 spectators.”
Happy Birthday to our intrepid weatherman and excellent CQN’er Jobo..
HH
Marianne Taylor: Why I’ve changed my mind on Orange marches
The Herald:
Marianne Taylor Features writer and columnist
IN 2002 I bought my first home, a flat just off Duke Street in Dennistoun, in Glasgow’s East End. I loved the high ceilings and cornices, the big rooms. I had lovely neighbours and there was a strong sense of community. Living there took me back to my roots, too; I was born in Duke Street Hospital and we’d lived in a nearby tenement before moving to Fife.
What I didn’t love about that flat, however, was the problem that eventually resulted in me moving away: its proximity to Glasgow’s sectarian heartlands. Not only did I live across from a practise hall for Orange bands, but every year a small but significant section of the warm, close-knit community I had come to know and love split itself along religious lines and transformed into a two-sided choir of hate.
At the height of the marching season Duke Street and the surrounding districts would become a tense, sometimes aggressive cauldron. Over the years I was mugged, jeered and leered at by drunks, inconvenienced on countless occasions by noise and street closures. The last straw for me came on one marching day when I witnessed a cute, smiling three-year-old shout “Fenian” at a wee boy in a Celtic strip.
I started my own campaign, complaining to environmental services about the noise of the bands, urging the Scottish Government to ban all things related to sectarianism including, I recall, two rather well-known football clubs. But mostly I wrote letters to the Council demanding an end to the marches. It’s their right to march, is it? What about my right as a non-religious person to a peaceful life devoid of sectarian nonsense, I would bash out on my computer, probably in capital letters. Needless to say, I got nowhere, and defeated and deflated I moved to the south side of Glasgow, where there is far less marching. I’ve never regretted it.
I thought of my previous existence as “furious from Dennistoun” as I watched the 4,500 sashed and gloved Orange Order members stride towards Glasgow Green accompanied by flutes and drums on Saturday. Did I feel the same the anger and offence 15 years on? My reaction took me by surprise; I didn’t feel anything much at all, other than a bit embarrassed when I saw the confused tourists.
In fact, I even felt a pang of sympathy for the marchers, trying to retain the pride and self-importance provided by their closed little world, but increasingly marginalised and deemed irrelevant by the changing society around them. They probably know in their heart of hearts their days are numbered.
On Saturday there were a few related drunken skirmishes, but just eight arrests were made – all for minor offences – down from last year’s 13, also a relatively small number. I visited friends in Dennistoun in the late afternoon and Duke Street was notably normal – high-spirited yes, reeking of sectarian hatred, no. It felt so very different from the tense, menacing place it would morph into years ago.
Clearly something is changing around the tone of Orange marches and the effect they have on both sides of the sectarian divide. But what? In my view the diversification of Glasgow’s population over the years, its reinvention as an arts and culture hub that attracts people from all over the world, the more confident Scotland with its own parliament, the fact we are all grappling with far more important divides, such as Brexit and whether or not we want to be an independent country, have all made the Protestant v Catholic dynamic seem increasingly archaic and daft. The growing influence of women on society and the embracing of identities outside of religion have also played their part, I reckon. Indeed, a recent social attitudes survey found that a record 58 per cent of Scots described themselves as having no religion, up from 40 per cent in 1999.
Watching the march at the weekend also made me realise that I was both naïve and wrong to demand the banning of such events. It was still inconvenient and embarrassing for many Glaswegians, and it was still hard for me to understand why anyone would still choose to hold sectarian views. But it is their right to march for what they believe in, no matter how outdated, even offensive, others may find it, as long as those taking part don’t try to force their views on others.
If anti-austerity or pro-independence groups are allowed to march and hold rallies, which also cause inconvenience to drivers and pedestrians, then the Orange Order and their supporters must have their day, too. No platforming not only goes against free speech, but diverts attention away from debating the real issues, whatever they may be.
If Scotland continues to change and progress, as I hope it will, it is likely that Orange marches will be perceived as even more odd and irrelevant, eventually fizzling out of their own accord.
Calling for a ban simply makes those who organise such events feel even more righteous and sinned against. Better to turn the other cheek and concentrate our scrutiny on the only Orange men and women that hold any real influence these days: the DUP.
My friends in Celtic,
Interesting reading back about Sevco players being banned from wearing green boots. I find that funny. Pathetic but funny.
My favourite colour I think is blue.
On a recent trip to the beautiful island of benbecula, I went to the local church to reminisce. The church, which was welcoming to all, was immaculately adorned in blue as a tribute to “Our Lady” . All the statues at the side of the road in Uist were protrayed in blue.
I am happy to wear blue, and no dinosaurs from the 17th century will change that. And if our players want to wear blue boots and it floats their boat; who cares.
HH.
Glorious this morning.Back to a beautiful 35 degrees with a fantastic breeze.Ahhhhhhhhh.
Glad to hear Lustig admit how bad he,and the team were on Saturday.Looking for big improvement tomorrow.We have time.
Praying and hoping we get Charly signed up quickly before some Stoke like team come in with silly money.Boyatta praising the boy to high heaven today.Anyone have any idea whats happened to Eboue?.
Could be the start of a great week for us.A good performance tomorrow from us,a crap one from “The peepul”and the appeal dismissed on Wednesday.Sometimes God is good.
PatSean
Red white n” Sssshhhoorly some misssthakes there.
Maybe the chaps involved here https://www.endole.co.uk/company/SC200222/hampden-park-limited?page=people
Those directors involved in dos,
rfc dead,
ther anger2012
5 way squintisential
‘lied’nimmo smith(startwithanswerNworkback) a cheat of a report about inculcated cheating.
Wee sideline in concerts
Aye their works teams 9 minute into swirl into liquidation.
Wonder who most of them supported?
:-)
Hope your good
HH
67 Heaven
Agreed. Utterly pointless ” interview ” with McCrae.
‘Challenged’ re his need for a “strong Rangers” he sticks to his guns in what he said. ” I respect that” was the reply.
No probing questions. Did he feel the same when Rangers were dominant? We will never no.
Re the information that came out in the Craig Whyte trial?
He wouldn’t comment.
” I respect that”
Boak inducing stuff.
*Never ‘know’
I see the “Peepul”slogans are all done out in Orange White and Blue over at the Bigotdome.Looks like one of their tacky Orange Halls.Of course we are supposed to believe that the idiot managing the team concocted this.Yep,a Portugese Catholic would be well versed in all of their inherent bigotry.This is all the work of fat Traynor and the Bigot Board,who realise they have appointed a coach,who is fast living up to his reputation as a 3rd class nonentity with a hint of madness thrown in.Trying to get the Hun hordes onside before realisation dawns on them,they have been conned again.This will be the sweetest failure of all time.
Twists and turns
Exactly ….. after about 2 minutes of listening to ‘that’ interview, I ‘tuned out’ ……. also raised an eyebrow when, at the start of the podcast, the 2 ‘speakers’ agreed that Brendan had made a mistake playing his son in the ‘fitness’ friendly, and both of them weren’t happy about it ….. what a load if old shoite …..numpties … !!!!!! hahahahahahaha
No green boots at ‘them park’ saddos .Without ‘them’ life would be dull.
CQNers will be interested to note that I visited the Boyne battle site about 8pm last night.
The river was alive with salmon leaping happily from the clear waters at a place the locals call the ‘Curly Hole’ pool just a few yards upstream from where the battle took place.
Just a lovely summer’s evening in Oldbridge, County Louth.
I’m not into fishing but even I could be tempted in that serene place.
A bit further upstream are the Neolithic Tombs of Brú Na Bóinne, Dowth is the nearest. It’s accessible for free and the visitor can marvel at the 5,000 years old, Neolithic stone carvings.
The ruins of Old Mellifont Abbey (founded 1142) are also nearby. That’s where the Treaty of Mellifont was signed in 1603 by Hugh O’Neill after the Battle of Kinsale. That treaty led to the Flight of the Earls. William of Orange later based himself there it’s a stunning place too.
The walkway along the Boyne is fantastic too.
For the Fisherman/woman,
http://www.fishinginireland.info/salmon/east/boyne.htm
For The Historian,
http://www.worldheritageireland.ie/bru-na-boinne/built-heritage/dowth/
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/ireland/mellifont-abbey
So it’s a lovely spot and no offensive, itchy crimplene on parade either… :)
WATP- “We are the payroll?” “We are the Portuguese?” “We are the Papists?”
Who Knows??
Duty Calls & HH