Football fans and fragile self-esteem

193

If you can withhold pressure from the baying mob after poor football results, you are built from strong stuff. Looking in from the outside, it is easy to understand why sacking a manager should never be done on the back of one poor run of form, least of all a manager’s first poor run of form. This holds true, even if you expect to go through a painful period of results before the outcome becomes inevitable.

When you replace a manager you need to worry about what comes next. When some Celtic fans demonstrated to remove Neil Lennon from his job, at that stage, he had won five out of five domestic trophies available to him and topped a Europa League group. The world and his dog suspected Neil was no longer right for the job, but trigger-happy clubs do not attract quality managers who have options.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst led a team to the Europa League final and won a Scottish Cup. He compounded this felony by qualifying for the Champions League group stage. The demands of which took its toll on a squad which he had squeezed the last breath of quality from.

Within six months of that wafer-thin loss in Seville, his board capitulated to the demands of the mob and sacked him. I was delighted.

While Gio was under pressure, Michael Beale was top of the English Championship with QPR and a prospective ‘Premier League manager’ in the making. With his stock never higher, he strode into Ibrox like the Pope, well, maybe that’s not a great analogy, but basically, when he was flavour of the month and van Bronckhorst was suffering, he made his affinities known to club and fans alike.

Beale loaded the gun which fired van Bronckhorst. His QPR were soon in freefall, with the London club happy to let him leave and Newco desperate to quell the baying mob, the deed took place under cover of an international break.

High earners were emptied from the squad without transfer fees, a bevvy of new recruits were bought for around £13m (according to Beale) and none of them are up to the task of dislodging Celtic. An aside, John Park is chief scout there, the man who went to Holland and brought Virgil van Dijk to Celtic Park and Sam Lammers to Ibrox. Bizarre, really.

The league is not over. Newco have two months of benign domestic fixtures ahead; all winnable, with a decent chance of being top of the table in November. The best thing they can do is take their medicine from Sunday and let the manager get on with it. They will fail hilariously.

Football clubs suffer most damage, not at the hand of opponents, but from fans who have achieved nothing in the game and who rely on a win to bolster their fragile self-esteem. If you figure out how to overcome this, Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it.

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  1. TONTINE TIM @ 6:03 PM,

     

     

    Great stuff as usual.

     

     

    Totally agree on the team selection, we needed as much experience as possible, those new bhoys will come good but Ibrox can be a baptism of fire.

     

     

    Love the insights to our history – we seen off Oueens Park, Renton, Rangers.

     

     

    So the Sevcovians should be chicken fed

     

     

    Hail Hail

  2. Greenpinata

     

     

    That one finding, showing a rise in Nitrogen dioxide only (all other pollutants have reduced) in the LEZ of Glasgow, in the early months of the scheme, has to be put in context of all other findings about the impact of LEZ areas in many areas of previous research in Germany and England, which have shown generally positive benefit, including NO2 levels.

     

     

    We will find out in time if NO2 levels can be affected as they were everywhere else. But reporting this as an indication that these zones don’t work is a bit like saying fags don’t cause lung cancer because I know a 90 year old who still smokes 30 a day.

     

     

    Let me tell you that my car is one of those banned. from Glasgow City Centre because it is an old diesel. I can make a strong argument that my diesel is still a green initiative because I am not scrapping a car every 2 or 3 years to trade up and I am getting more mileage than petrol cars and a longer lasting engine, reducing waste. But I cannot argue that, in concentrated traffic areas, the particulate emissions from diesels, hidden from sight for so long by corrupt researchers in the pay of Big Auto, are damaging to everyone’s health in those traffic concentrated areas.

     

     

    I am inconvenienced but happy to accept that my vehicle needs to be banned from the City Centre but is no great danger for urban, country or motorway driving. The people who lied to me in this process are not the Environmental Groups. It was BMW, Volkswagen, Renault, Citroen, Peugeot, Ford and others who hid their own research on particulates for well over a decade, just as the fag companies did back in the 50’s and 60’s.

     

     

    It’s not the “woke” who are out to get you, it’s the usual suspects.

  3. “So Keir Starmer what plans do you have to deal with structural issues facing schools?”

     

     

    “Nothing concrete”

  4. As mentioned on SSB, I don’t know why Butland’s push on Kyogo was not reviewed on VAR. It was a clear and obvious error!

  5. 70 percent of all airline travel is done by the same 15 percent frequent flyers.

     

     

    Private jet flights make up another 10 percent.

     

     

    Ban business travel.

  6. HANKRAY on 5TH SEPTEMBER 2023 5:51 PM

     

    Greenpinata………….Why is aviation never mentioned in the great global warming debate?

     

    ————

     

    It’s no longer global warming ( As many scientists actually declare the Earth’s core is getting colder )

     

     

    It’s been rebranded as climate change and yes aviation is in its sights. ( Only for the plebs, WEF advocates like Sunak will still be able to fly all over the place )

     

     

    France under WEF disciple Macron has already taken measures to ban flights.

     

     

    However you can only fool all of the people some of the time You underestimate if you think you can fool all of the people all of the time.

  7. MCPHAIL BHOY on 5TH SEPTEMBER 2023 6:33 PM

     

    !!BadaBing!!

     

     

     

     

    Surprised Sky Sports showing a home game for us which isn’t against Sevco

     

     

    Aye,I think they’re allowed a couple of home games, 2.30 ko might be better for guys travelling, rather than 12/12.30

  8. SFTB,

     

     

    The Glasgow Subway has 10 times the pollution levels than any Glasgow street. ( Not just on days the huns frequent it )

     

     

    Why not ban this obvious danger to health ?

     

     

    Using your car at 4 o’clock in the morning in the LEZ area will not affect air pollution one little bit but using the Subway will impact your health.

     

    That is the science.

     

     

    Where is the consistency if air pollution is the real reason. ?

  9. Pricing for champions league opponts for tickets at Parkhead will be based on an analysis of the away support

     

     

    The more supporters, the higher the demand

     

     

    The higher demand, the pricier the ticket

     

     

    ==============

     

     

    Atletico fans at 72 EUROS

     

     

    Feyenoord at €64

     

     

    and Lazio at €50

     

     

    =================

     

     

    Atletic Madrid average attendance 55,800 spectators

     

     

    Feyenoord average attendance 45,511

     

     

    Lazio average attendance 44,651

     

     

    ===========

     

     

    Tried to look for stats on away support and can’t be bothered to go thru that

     

     

    Would imagine its in the same order as the above

  10. Greenpinata

     

     

    You cannot do it all at once. Underground travel has benefits as well as deficits, similar to Diesel. There are obvious solutions with ventilation etc; but they are expensive. There isn’t a city in the world with a well established underground system (Glasgow’s is very small) that wants to abolish it completely but they do not have the money to rectify everything at once. The subway air is most toxic when a train enters the station and it quickly subsides after that.

     

     

    Here is an extract from a Chines study- unfortunately written in tooth breaking English which claims environmental benefits from Subway systems:-

     

     

     

    “Major cities in China and many other fast-growing economies are expanding their subway systems in order to address worsening air pollution and traffic congestion. This paper quantifies the impact of subway expansion on air quality by leveraging fine-scale air quality data and the rapid build-out of 14 new subway lines and 252 stations in Beijing from 2008 to 2016. Our main empirical framework examines how the density of the subway network affects air quality across different locations in the city during this period. To address the potential endogenous location of subway stations, we construct an instrument based on historical subway planning, long before air pollution and traffic congestion were of concern. Our analysis shows that an increase in subway density by one standard deviation improves air quality by two percent and the result is robust to a variety of alternative specifications including the distance-based difference-in-differences method. The total discounted health benefit during a 20-year period from reduced mortality and morbidity as a result of 14 new subway lines amounts to $1.0–3.1 billion, or only 1.4–4.4 percent of the total construction and operating cost.”

  11. Celtic plc. Will show in upcoming accounts a cash surplus equal or more to half a year’s revenue.

     

     

    For the plebs seats why not do some sort of affordability study WRT what can the average fan afford to pay ?

     

     

    These home tickets are a £2m revenue stream on tickets alone.

     

     

    How much cash do the capitals need ?

     

     

    Same well. The support will still pony up. But they will make sacrifices somewhere else in their life’s.

     

     

    Have a heart plc. More than just a club should actually mean something.

     

     

    Not asking for charity but some fiscal reality.

  12. Ps.

     

     

    The away support for these games should be charged the same as us. Not higher.

     

     

    It is profiteering.

  13. £138 for 3 games against top European sides doesn’t sound bad. I’m sure we could charge more and still sell out.

  14. Gene.

     

     

    Your missing the point some.

     

     

    Looking after our most faithful supporters should be a reasonable core value for the club when the plc is cash rich.

     

     

    When I had a seat the family next to me with 4 books rotated who attended.

     

    None of them in high paying jobs. They struggled through the season when the extra costs came.

     

     

    £500 as a family is nothing to some.

     

     

    But to others that is a family holiday.

     

     

    Gets to me some actually.

  15. Nuhhin yet fae ra big demo at £brox

     

     

    Naebdi commentin if john broon is speakin oot the side of his moof yet.

     

    :-)

     

    HH

  16. Tom- happy birthday, Arsenal charge highest ST in UK I think? We shouldn’t be looking at anyone else when setting prices,the Club say we don’t look at anyone else,we should be setting a lower bar than a higher one imo,and agree with SS,we should not be charging visiting supporters different prices. What happens is our fans will get same prices as we give them.

  17. My son Isaac started Heriot Watt university today, I’m very proud of him, hopefully he can secure his old man a seat on Heriot watt csc, although these new rules governing buses are appalling

  18. aviation has been in the environmental dock for decades; heavily regulated and a big shift in efficiency/pollution level demanded every decade or so.

     

     

    The next big shift would be for wide use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). Algae, used oil etc.

     

     

    https://www.iata.org/en/programs/environment/sustainable-aviation-fuels/

     

     

    The buzz phrase in aviation right now is Environment, Social and Governance (ESG)

     

     

    Every C suite has someone with that or Sustainability tagged to the title.

     

     

    Most of it is virtue signalling – we have a modern fleet, we build scout huts, we have audited processes but the manufacturers do have to work on the emissions and aircraft buyers being on board (even if just for career) is a bonus.

     

     

    Aircraft already perform at a high level of efficiency; high temp/high bypass engines, winglets, more electric/less pneunatic, regenerating brakes. Loads of old aircraft were scrapped for parts post 2008 as well.

     

     

    ultra bypass engines, blended fuselage/empennage/wing etc will all happen eventually but SAF is the big one for now

     

     

    PS

     

    I did go to a managers conference once in a big engine manufacturer I worked for (about 2006 i think) and the very senior speaker said we all had to be on board about sustainability outside of work but in side we would of course do the minimum we legally had to!!!!!!!!

  19. GREENPINATA on 5TH SEPTEMBER 2023 5:42 PM

     

    AT,

     

     

    As an aside to my response on the potential travel plan as you mention @ 17.23 hrs.

     

     

    Did you know the motoring pollution actually rose 12% in the Glasgow target zone since LEZ was introduced. The car poll tax is designed to hit the poorest.

     

     

    The science is flawed and there must be a question of legality for a system that was never democratically agreed.with the people.

     

     

    When fans answer I hope they see its all about control. Nothing else.

     

    HH.

     

     

    Heh Gp ta for your added note on the uk governments consultation paper now pertaining to Scotland.

     

     

    I threw it out there for fans to post on how they get to football,not for partisan political reasons.

     

     

    It is goin ok in England whose clubs welcome ‘x’ thousands early as time can be spent hàving a beer ergo bringin in revenue to the away club,as you know its different in Scotland.

     

     

    It was not a partisan political point,i know from many years on Scotlands hill global warming is impacting,something needs to be done tocurtail it.that includes statistical abuse/obfuscation doled for political ends.oil companies like tobacco&vape companies are professional in this matter to ensure future profit happens above societal benefit to us all,and re your 12% stat please do source.

     

    All in all answer the uk government consultation paper with your view and if you feel the oil companies are controllin you🧨 say so buddy

     

     

    HH

  20. as an aside and something i never thought i would ever type.

     

     

    Rory Stewart interview on Radio today was well worth a listen. He classes himself as an old risk adverse tory, then laid into everything about the right wing nutters in charge for the last x years who would happily over turn the constituation to remain in power inperpituity

  21. BADA BING

     

     

    I don’t disagree. I posted the Arsenal link in response to a couple of posters asking if anyone knew what English clubs were charging for CL tickets.

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