As the darkest clouds descend over Ibrox with news that medals in their trophy room have been poinded by sheriff officers, sentiment in our half of the city is no brighter. Celtic’s best chance to win the league this season lies not in outpointing everyone else, or seeing their principle rivals lose 10 points, it is in the complete obliteration of Rangers, allowing us to take our chances with Motherwell, who can open up a six point gap between second and third against Celtic on Sunday.
Whatever the following weeks bring for Rangers, if Celtic winning the league is a consequence, we cannot allow the title to disguise the abject failure to be competitive so far this season.
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hamiltontim – Ça plane pour moi. (thumbsup)
Imagine a Celtic player had made the same tackle as Naismith do you think Craig Brown would have commented thus?
Aberdeen manager Craig Brown reckons Naismith’s injury is a terrible blow for Rangers and Scotland but reckons the player only has himself to blame. The Ibrox star went in late on Rob Milsom, in a challenge which resulted in both players having to go off.
Brown admitted: “I am sorry for Naismith and for the Scotland supporters because he has a bad injury. It was self-inflicted sadly.
“He left Milsom in a terrible mess, it was a gash right down the shin, through the shinguard, and a bruised ankle.
“I like Naismith as a guy and a player and I wouldn’t want to condemn him, as he was going for the ball, but he was a bit rash and a bit late.”
Quite simply – we must get it right OFF the park before we can even think about getting it right ON the park.
Clearly there are major problems behind the scenes and until they are fully resolved we will not go forward.
Rangers might well implode, certainly if agents fee’s are not being paid…then soon players wages….but we should not have to rely on them blowing up….we should ACT to put our house in order.
philvis
The follow follow up programme is to be called – Sash in the Attic.
Can The Rangers not buy players in future via BrightHouse, your weekly payment store?
Also I hear that the elusive definitely-legit-and-not-at-all-dodgy billionaire Craig Whyte is monitoring the situation at Cash Converters. (thumbsup)
Paul67 – are you going to write anything on your analysis of the causes of our ‘abject failure’ this and presumably other years?
For what it is worth my own opinion is based on:
1. Failure to spend in January 2008 to secure the quality replacements needed to secure a league title that was well within our grasp had we done so.
2. Apparently (and I am speculating here, I certainly have no knowledge) watching too closely what was happening across the city and being out thought by them at board level.
3. An ongoing underhanded campaign to prop up Rangers in the highest echelons of Scottish Footballing Society
4. Scouting. Why, for example, are we unable to secure the services of good solid centre halfs?
5. At the start of Tony Mowbrays tenure and with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, whoever was calling the transfer shots was too busy reacting to the supporters likes and dislikes. Looking back it smacked of populism. For all Caldwell and McManus’ faults have we moved on any in quality since they left? The joke is that we probably couldn’t afford Caldwell now even if we wanted him! An EPL player on EPL wages. I honestly struggle to remember who we bought in to replace those two. Loovens? And who else? Rogne? Hooiveld?
6. This is so important I am going to kind of repeat it – the failure to bring in quality defenders and EXPERIENCED leaders. Wee Strach recognised the need for role models. Good pros who train well and speak out in the changing room and on the park – not every bodies favourite players but Telfer and Dublin and arguably Roy Keane were all brought in to be role models. Naka’s professionalism took him to the gym for extra work AFTER matches. JVOH, for all his failings, was an experienced pro. It’s great to get youthful but youths need guidance. The hearest thing we have now is Dan Majstorovic who is having enough trouble keeping his own game together never mind bringing others with him. What role models do we have now? The lack of them is a failure in my opinion.
7. Hate to say it but the failure to get someone like Stuart Baxter. Again, looking back I probably wasn’t in favour at the time. I was wrong. And I think the way it fell through ended in Celtic getting involved in a face saving exercise on Neil’s behalf and also on Peter Lawwells too.
Being an optimist by nature I don’t see this season as being finished but it will need displays of guts and determination such as we have yet to see this season and we need them starting on Sunday.
And do you know what concerns me most Paul? Your repeated claims that we are in a dogfight with Motherwell. I worry that you know something that we don’t. Say it isn’t so!!! Can you scotch rumours of splits in the camp and lost dressing rooms?
Andy Walker just stated on SSN that the relationship between Neil Lennon & some of his players has changed. hmmmmmm
philvisreturns says:
31 October, 2011 at 12:45
: )
Paul67
2 points from a possible 9 taken from St Johnstone, Kilmarnock and Hibs. Two of those games at home. You don’t need in-depth analysis to know that is absolutely pash!
Like I said yesterday, something is terribly wrong in that dressing room… HH
bournesouprecipe – Ha!
I did like the expression on David Tennant’s face when he found out he was related to bigots from NornIron:
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lk6f4v6XVJ1qagw7h.gif (thumbsup)
serge says:
31 October, 2011 at 12:52
Andy Walker and his relationship with Celtic,has also changed.
RobertTressell – Vote Yes for Strike Action on 30th November – 1. Failure to spend in January 2008 to secure the quality replacements needed to secure a league title that was well within our grasp had we done so.
Aw geez. (thumbsup)
Paul67
Was your quote”better get used to it”,alluding to the fact that you feel there will not be a Rangers and therefore we should get accustomed to competing against the others?
TT
philvis
Ha – Ha Before the big flounce Shortbread were planning a Craig Whyte special of – The Secret Gazillionaire
Serge
I think walker has been reading CQN!
Dallasnomore.
Your comment at 10.44 was the most disgraceful post I have ever read on here.
I am not accusing you of being a Hun, no you are way lower in my eyes than that shower. You hide behind the anonymity of a Celtic blog to insinuate Neil is an Alcoholic, if you had any sense of honour or decency you would make the same accusations to his face.
I am heading up to Lurgan next weekend to see my Mum and Family, Neil’s parents just live up the road from her and everytime we, my wife, daughter and I, visit she tells me how worried Neil’s mum is about him and wishes he would just walk away for his own good. Crap like you post makes me believe she is right. A good man that has faced what Neil has faced on our behalf should not have to put up with vile rumours from his own, allegedly.
I wish only the best for Celtic and Neil Lennon, you can rot in hell.
Shame
I hung my head in shame as I watched the steady decline,
A once great footballing club who I thought were doing fine,
Supported a novice manager, his apprentice backroom staff,
Wondering if they’ll ever learn, stop repeating the same gaffe.
Maybe it’s the players, who should hang their head in shame,
Start looking in the mirror, realize they have to take the blame,
Supported this team all my life, I just will not walk away,
I look to management and players, to put a stop to this decay.
Lackadaisical in their attitude, insufficient backbone on the field,
Do they have what it takes to play? Good job of keeping it concealed,
Now is the time to stand up, go forth and make your claim,
Everyone has to make amends to rid us of this shame.
You know, pretty soon, mid December I reckon, we’ll be at the point where each team in the league has played 18 games.
That will leave 20 fixtures remaining.
That’ll be 10 home and 10 away games for each club in a reconvened one-off 11 team league.
Shotgun fitba’. Could work quite well you know. There would be a fair few clubs in with a shout given Celtic’s form.
Could be rather exciting actually.
Zaluska
Matthews CB-Experienced Mulgrew Izzy
Forrest CM-Creative Ledley Commons
Stokes CF
Matthews MUST be our RB. Moving to LB to accommodate Wilson??
Ledley MUST be played in CM. By far our best and most consistent player this season (at least on a par with Forrest)
HH
From last thread
dallasnomore says:
31 October, 2011 at 12:24
The Honest Mistake (Sickened) 10:49
dallasnomore 31 October, 2011 at 10:44:
“Scum.”
Thanks for your measured reponse. Is this what Paul 67 means by stoicism?
I am well aware of the context in which I am criticising the manager, and I am very mindful of the carnival of anti-Catholic, anti-Irish reaction and outrage that he had to withstand last season.
I do believe, however, that matters that affect Celtic, and that are in the public domain anyway, should be aired. In this sense, I would hope that my contribution adds positively to the debate about whether or not Lenny should continue as our manager.
Kitalba 11.12
I am not a hun! Please don’t address me as such. You don’t know me, you don’t know how much support I give Celtic, how much I bleed when things go wrong.
My problems with Lenny didn’t happen overnight. I could give you many examples but I’ll limit these to the following.
I have witnessed his ‘performances ‘v Motherwell on Black Sunday (shortly after their week-end Jackie M. testimonial binge in Donegal) and v Artmedia when his lack of application to pre-season training resulted in him not being quick enough to avoid breaking the jaw of his team mate, Chris Sutton and hastening the disaster of that night.
I travelled from Derry to Prestwick on May 4 this year, then on to Inverness (Aye, it was an early rise). On the train, on the way there, I met a couple, a man and woman who work in the hospitality industry. A couple of good Tims, and (at the time) by no means against our manager. They told me that the management and some of the players had an overnight binge, and had made use of some of their (the couple’s) facilities, on the preceding sunday/monday.
I didn’t believe them!! More fool me!
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS 10:54
You don’t know what travails I have suffered, and how I have coped with them.
Do you want me to have the same mind-set as the ostrich-like hun supporters who have been in denial about the slow-moving train wreck that they are now about to witness.
I believe that as a supporter of Celtic I am entitled to my views, and to express these. I also believe that if enough of our supporters had been of the same opinion as me around 18 months ago, we wouldn’t be in the mess we are now in. I said much of the same things then but I was either ignored, or dismissed as a hun.
25may1967
Said the same since Kilmarnock, re Matthews.
voguepunter
It certainly has. it seems to be a weekly thing for the likes of walker, macari & mcgarvey to have a dig at the club.
In saying that im pretty sure alot of what has been said by them has also been stated on here.
serge
We can look back and pick many reasons for why we are in the trouble we are in I would argue that we the Celtic supporters must take our share of the blame.We had a 3 in a row in the last 16 of the Champions league twice manager and yet many werent happy he wasnt Celtic minded enough ( whatever that means ). My feelings are if we had fully got behind WGS he would have stayed and we would have progressed but we will never know.H.H.
The poorest 20% of UK households spend a higher proportion of their disposable income on VAT than the richest 20%, the Office for National Statistics said.
Its research covered 2009/10, which was before the increase in VAT from 17.5% to 20% in January 2011.
When Chancellor George Osborne announced the increase in his 2010 Emergency Budget, the government said that VAT was a progressive tax.
But the ONS research suggested that is not the case.
It said that the poorest fifth spent 9.8% of their disposable income on goods attracting VAT in 2009/10, while the richest fifth spent 5.3%.
That figure for the poorest fifth showed a considerable fall from the figure of 10.7% in 2008/9 and 12.1% in 2007/8.
It is sometimes argued that the poorest households are not hit as hard by rises in VAT, because the tax is not charged on essential items such as food and non-alcoholic drinks.
The ONS research also found that the poorest households spent 58% of their expenditure on goods on which VAT was charged in 2009/10, much higher than the 45% they had allocated to VAT-charged items in 1986.
“This latest piece of research reinforces what is widely perceived to be the fundamental inequality at the heart of VAT: the poorer pay more of it relative to their incomes than the wealthy,” said David Breger of HW Fisher & Company chartered accountants.
“It’s clear that the Government needs to reconsider the full effect of VAT, which is inherently regressive.”
Hey.. Lenny disnae like the wey Gary is Playing.. or.. so it
is being Reported..
Well..
WOOP DE DO!
Heck.. He is the Manager.
WHY NO DAE SOMETHING ABOOT IT,THEN?
Why tell Us.. Something.. WE COULD HIV TOLD HIM..,
FIVE OR SIX GAMES, AGO!
Look.. Sammi, has bin turning in … Rotten, Stinkin’.. INEPT Performances fur.,
Donkeys..like .. MONTHS!
And
Lenny, still Plays him.. Occasionally.. But, the Fact that He Gave Sammi a Bumper NEW Contract.. says it awe!
Lenny, is Soft as the Proverbial.
And don’t tell me the Players Dinnae Know it!
Why should Gary..or Stokesy.. gie a Continental.. if Lenny says the He is No Pleased
with their Performance..
Heck.. their Names wull STILL be Found oan the Team Sheet.. Week in.. Week oot..
Nae Maitter how many CERTS that they Miss or How Slovenly, they are Daeing their Joab… their First team Place is.. GUARANTEED!
Look.. There is NAE THREAT in the Horizen tae their SINECURES…
Hiving a SINECURE, Is a Fancy Smancy Wey of Saying..
“Enjoying AWE the Perks , Fame and Monetary Return, for a Daeing a Joab.. where
Little and No Effort is Needed or Required… oan the Part of the Sinecuree!”
Yep..
That is Whit Maist of the Present Celtic Players in the FIRST TEAM are Enjoying.,.
Awe the Benefits and Monetary Return and Fame.. for little or nae Effort oan their Part tae Earn those awe sweet goodies.
Why should they worry.. ?
Their Joabs are Safe..
It’s the Manager .. or the C.E.O. or the Boards whose Joabs that are oan the Line.
Yep…
The Present Cetlc Team Members are oan a Sweet Deal… A Gravy Train..
tae Die Fur!
Lenny, son..
Yer a Mug.. and ye dinnae seem tae cotton oan tae whit
YER PAMPERED WEE DARLINGS ARE DAEING TAE YE!
Show some Aggro Man.. but direct it . in the Proper Direction..
Sack . those Ninnies…dinnae Mess wi them Any longer..
Fur if ye don’t show..
SOME BACK BONE…
They wull do you in.
Kojo.
Philbhoy
haha just what i had written in reply to voguepunter.
will there ever be a day when we are all happy ;-p
serge
Tend to agree re McManus/Caldwell. For all abuse they suffered, have we seen a better pairing since?
DallasNoMore/Mickbhoy1888
How’s about leaving your real names on Blog along with your address’s and telephone numbers rather than hide behind the anonymity of the blog when making your accusations. At least allow those you accuse some possibility of recourse.
Pair of cowardly (Green – if you are Tims) Huns.
MWD
The Honest Mistake @ 12:35
In agreement for once today in that I would promote youth team players too the first squad
However your idea does not go far enough……. I would promote 5,6,7 or maybe even 8 youth team players to the first squad this season along with the youth team coach being promoted first team coach with the appropriate number of staff going in the opposite direction
I would then inform the new youth team coach that the slate was being wiped clean and he would be reconsidered for a return to first team duties on his time being served and
his apprenticeship being completed sucessfully
The first team players I would keep to bolster the youngsters Zaluska Izzy Mulgrew Kayal Commons Ledley Brown Forrest and Stokes
Serge
I don’t really think were will be a day when we are all happy.
Just give me a day when we are all HAPPIER!
That’ll do for starters.
Joe Filippis Haircut
Au contraire
The mistake was Gordon Strachan being persuaded for another year, when he’d already made his mind up to go.
That happened around Tommy Burns Thursday, the day from when a proper short list of successors should have been drawn up, from a position of strength.
Joe Filippis Haircut says:
31 October, 2011 at 13:05
We can look back and pick many reasons for why we are in the trouble we are in I would argue that we the Celtic supporters must take our share of the blame.We had a 3 in a row in the last 16 of the Champions league twice manager and yet many werent happy he wasnt Celtic minded enough ( whatever that means ). My feelings are if we had fully got behind WGS he would have stayed and we would have progressed but we will never know.H.H.
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I tend to agree with you and i recall his emotion on one of the few occasions the fans got behind him as manager. The way he pulled us together, and properly channeled energies in the Tommy Burns years was fantastic. Not at all convinced NL could have won league in those circumstances.
Paul67
Your article is spot on if a touch late..
Abject failure elsewhere has been apparent to many for a good number of seasons and pretending otherwise is why we are in the sorry state we find ourselves in.
I don’t think it is difficult to solve the problems we have it just takes courage and will.
Probably by DD.. As he is so absent from CFC Goings on he may be the only one who can lend sn objective eye from within the Board. The others have succumbed to ‘group think’…
I’m pleased to see you telling it as it is as hopefully you can help mobilize more questionning fan base and break the unhealthy consensus that is driving our club to chaos.
On an unrelated matter :
I’ve been advised you know about digital pianos?
TBB @12:45
Tony
see below my slightly updated witterings from earlier this morning and the attached link to Paul McConville’s legal blog where I predict a court case by tabloid because the arguments so far presented for a Rangers NEW Co have no chance of ever being legally presented in any formal application to the SFA.
Are we really saying that there is going to be detailed and informed discussions with the interested parties ( including SFA members ) concerning an application that is yet to be made by an unknown applicant?
Any application can only be made AFTER the insolvency event– or at least the first insolvency event because there may well be two such events– Administration AND liquidation at a later stage.
This is a legal nightmare for Regan and the SFA– as well as for Platini and EUFA.
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Good Morning,
For the benefit of anyone who has been taken in by recent ramblings about some of the Machiavellian schemes being hatched at Ibrox regarding Administration, Liquidation, re-in-statement, substitution, reincarnation, hallucination and even resurrection of a certain footballing entity– can I just point out that for any of that to happen it would have to happen in full compliance with the law!
The law is not and never has been an exact science. It has to be tailored to meet and fit each and every individual set of facts and circumstances. In so doing, you establish a body of law, distinct legal principles that then apply in all cases and then a set of precedents which guide and indeed may dictate what will happen in future cases.
Paul McConville, who posts on here, has started an excellent legal blog on the subject, and while I do not want to bore the reader with interminable and often inexplicable legalese, it is well worth a read.
So far the applicable company law, insolvency law and even the contractual law has been considered.
Below however I concentrate on the judicial and licensing function of the SFA and suggest why much of a recent newspaper article ( which someone somewhere must have wanted someone to print ) is total bilge and worthy of discarding in a Clydebank Canal!
The fact is that the SFA MUST comply with the law and be seen to comply with the law or face the legal consequences! And we know that the SFA know all about the legal consequences of making a bollocks of it!
Remember that all of this has been brought about by a Board of a PLC who have deliberately and willfully sought to avoid paying legally due revenues by way of a scheme which they were warned may well turn out to be illegal and with consequences that are severe.
These are facts and a risk that were taken on by Mr Whyte using all of his most successful business experience and acumen, and with the benefit of some very expensive, learned, protracted and detailed legal and accountancy advice. He did not go into this either naively or blindly. Foolishly may well be another matter!
Accordingly he knew the consequences and the pitfalls of the legal position he chose to buy into.
SFA members may well have a conflict of interests if they put their own private interests before that of justice and the law.
What is clear is that there will be plenty for the Celtic legal team to consider and mull over in deciding what stance to take on any application to any body by any new co controlled by anyone who may have had an interest in a recently failed club.
What you can expect is a considerable trial by newspaper as much of what has so far been printed could never find its way into any future application or representation as it would – in my humble opinion– render any such application or submission as completely invalid and illegal.
However, we have a free press in this country and they are perfectly free to print what they wish it would appear– even if it means that they themselves do not fully understand what they are writing about.
They of course are also free to book a one way ticket on a slow boat to China which regrettably they have failed to do as yet.
No doubt upon arrival they would be met by the much maligned Zheng Zhi who would greet some sports journalists in fluent Manadrin or a dialect thereof– something which I am sure they would be far more likely to understand than the legalities of the SFA processes upon which they appear to be so expert.
Then again these are newspaper men, many of whom enjoyed substantial financial reward and failure at the hands of Robert Maxwell and who they would have undoubtedly supported to the death had he attempted to re-establish himself in the land of British Newspapers. Maxwell’s newspapers were not unlike Murray’s Rangers— In debt and running on other people’s money!
Alas– poor Robert made no such application and instead did buy the one way ticket to on the slow boat providing the newspaper hacks with one last “splash” so to speak!
I think Rangers PLC are in the same boat!!!
http://scotslawthoughts.wordpress.com/2011/10/29/would-a-restructured-rangers-football-club-be-eligible-to-play-in-european-competition/#comment-389
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Alright bhoys n ghirls
Looking for sponsors for my Movember campaign, any donation is greatly accepted
I’m asking you to support my Movember campaign by making a donation by either:
*Donating online at: http://mobro.co/TommyMelly
*If you want to go old school you can write a cheque payable to ‘Movember’, reference my name and Registration Number 742796 and send it to: Movember Europe, PO Box 68600, London, EC1P 1EF
If you’d like to find out more about the type of work you’d be helping to fund by supporting Movember, take a look at the Programmes We Fund section on the Movember website: http://uk.movember.com/about
Thank you in advance for supporting my efforts to change the face of men’s health.
Hail Hail
philbhoy
i agree, we dont have many of that days at the moment and it does not feel normal. i find it very hard myself to be positive at the moment because i am a very bad loser. Even a draw for celtic at home is a loss for me regardless of who we play.
Things can only get better as they say.
The Battered Bunnet – The poorest 20% of UK households spend a higher proportion of their disposable income on VAT than the richest 20%, the Office for National Statistics said.
Ceteris paribus, poor people will always have a higher proportion of their income gobbled up by taxation than rich people, unless we want to go back to 1970’s style punitive taxation, which did little to raise money but did a lot to hurt poor people by tanking both the economy and collectable tax revenues through Laffer Curve effects.
The lesson here? To help poor people, we should cut taxes. (thumbsup)
Bournesouprecipe. The question has to be asked why did a successfull Celtic manager want to leave? Could he possibly have felt he wasnt wanted by a large section of the Celtic support ? your guess is as good as mine> H.H.