Hibernian are suffering. Only one win in their last seven league games and that against bottom, St Mirren. Without a manager since Neil Lennon wasn’t sacked and didn’t resign, but left the stage, apparently through supernatural means, they have drifted into the bottom half of the table. Most worryingly of all, they are 10 points behind Craig Levein’s Hearts.
But here’s the thing: Hibs are hiding. They can up their game and did so to comfortably beat Celtic eight league games ago. They also held Newco home and away. This is a team which can up its game to match the occasion.
Celtic remain significantly understrength but they have delivered solid results since the winter break – 14 goals without reply. In Scott Sinclair, James Forrest and Callum McGregor they have players who have seen it all and delivered before. The chasing pack continue to drop points to each other; only Celtic and Motherwell have won all league games since the break. With second and third facing each other tonight, a Celtic win would see the gap widen for one or both. There’s an incentive.
67 Comments- Pages:
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Irie!
Hail Hail
Delaneys ya bassa
I read the article
DELANEYS DUNKY
Not sure my neighbour upstairs will have enjoyed my Dub Revival these last few days:))
He told me this morning he’s off on holiday for two weeks!!!
Jah Rastafari Dubwise Session Starry Style:))
King Tubby CSC
HH
WITS
Me too slow coach ?
YNWA
Go on outta dat
Here we go!
8 in a row.
3 points tonight please.
YNWA
Tontime Tim at 11:25 (previous blog)
One of the best posts I’ve read in a long, long time.
Bravo!!!
SIXTAESEVEN – 70 TROPHIES IN MY LIFETIME on 6TH FEBRUARY 2019 12:19 PM
Tontime Tim at 11:25 (previous blog)
One of the best posts I’ve read in a long, long time.
Bravo!!!
******
Re-post, please.
TONTINE TIM on 5TH FEBRUARY 2019 11:25 PM ***repost***
Wee bit long but I’ve been thinking about this for a while and even though I can recall some horrific officiating, even in reserve games, this season has far exceeded the cheating by a long shot especially the last 5 weeks, so here goes:
The Football League was created in 1888 by Aston Villa director William McGregor as a result of the support for professionalism.
The 12 founding members consisted of six from Lancashire (Blackburn Rovers, Burnley, Bolton Wanderers, Accrington, Everton and Preston North End) and six from the Midlands (Aston Villa, Derby County, Notts County, Stoke, West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers).
As a result of many Scottish players, known as the “Scotch Professors”, moving to the English league clubs to receive the relatively high salaries on offer prompted Scottish clubs into thinking about forming their own league.
In March 1890, the secretary of Renton, Peter Fairly, 2 years after being acclaimed World Champions having beat WBA 4-1 at Cathkin Park 9 days before we beat the kinning park side 5-2 in our opening game having borrowed 2 players James Kelly and Cornelius McCallum from the World Champion side, wrote to the thirteen other clubs inviting them to discuss the organisation of a league.
All of the clubs accepted the invitation, except Queen’s Park and Clyde although the latter would join a year later followed by the Spiders, whose nose was out of joint, 10 years after (sounds like a 70s group there).
Prior to this organised football in Scotland began in 1873 with the formation of the SFA. During the next 15 years or so challenge matches were arranged between clubs as well as cup games including the Scottish, Glasgow and Glasgow Merchants Charity Cups, the latter’s name being shortened tae the Charity Cup which was initially open tae all local clubs and not just those from the Dear Green Place.
NOTE BENE: ALL GAMES WERE PLAYED UNDER THE REGULATIONS OF THE SFA.
The Scottish Football League (SFL) was inaugurated on 30 April 1890 with future Celtic Vice-President and Chairman John H. McLaughlin (the Peter Lawwell of his day) on being recognised as one of the prime movers of the League head hunted by the management team; this included a certain baillie ure-primrose, as Secretary.
Scottish football was anti-Celtic, until 1920 at least, as a result of the hostility felt by the SFA on our involvement and running of the SFL, we as a “Johnny” or should I say “Seannie Come Lately” came to the forefront, at the request of the other clubs including a wee kinning park based one as a result of our board’s professional expertise, of the game.
The SFA, were allowed to retain its supremacy over football in Scotland including player registration, they are also responsible for appointing referees to matches in all senior competitions, Scottish Junior FA football and Scottish Women’s Football, keep this in mind.
Back to the english who started all this professionalism in the game. Despite significant European success in the 1970s and early 1980s, the late 1980s marked a low point for english football, stadiums were crumbling, supporters endured poor facilities, hooliganism was rife, and english clubs were banned from European competition for five years following Heysel.
The Football League First Division, the top level of english football since 1888, was behind leagues such as Serie A and La Liga in attendances and revenues, and several top english based players had moved abroad.
In 1990, the managing director of LWT, Greg Dyke, met with the representatives of the “big five” football clubs, Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham, Everton and Arsenal, over a dinner, the meeting was to pave the way for a break away from The Football League.
Dyke believed that it would be more lucrative for LWT if only the larger clubs in the country were featured on national television and wanted to establish whether the clubs would be interested in a larger share of television rights money.
The five clubs agreed with the suggestion and decided to press ahead with it; however, the league would have no credibility without the backing of the FA and so Dein of Arsenal held talks to see whether the FA were receptive to the idea.
The FA did not enjoy an amicable relationship with the Football League at the time and considered it as a way to weaken the Football League’s position. So 104 years after the formation of the EL on 20 February 1992 the EPL was formed.
The Premier League is now the most-watched sports league in the world, broadcast in 212 territories to 643 million homes and a potential TV audience of 4.7 billion people. Prior to that we all looked to the “continentals” for the best fitba,
With that came the professionalism of the referees who officiate matches that range from local football to Premier League matches. There are currently eleven different levels of referees that correspond to the ability, age and activity of the official, for a referee to move from one level to the next, both theoretical and physical assessments are taken.
The refs in the EPL and Championship are professional, the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) group officiate all these matches.
This association was originally formed to improve refereeing standards, they officiate across all the Premier League, English Football League (EFL) and Football Association (FA) Competitions, all three organisations fund it.
The training, development and mentoring of 110 referees and 175 assistant referees are run by Managing Director Mike Riley (a former PGMOL referee) and a team of managers and coaches.
Currently, PGMOL have 65 Select Group who are full-time professional match officials, these are broken down between Select Group 1 Referees, Select Group 1 Assistant Referees and Select Group 2 Referees.
Meanwhile, we up in Scotland have a racist, sectarian bigot who was kicked out of the national stadium still pulling the strings by virtue of dangling the UEFA carrot in front of the current officials no matter how poor they are. He should have been hunted fae Nyon as well but as I’ve previously said the tentacles of the ludge stretch far especially in calvinist Switzerland.
At one time there was hardly any of the big teams in England that didnae have at least one Scottish player in their side, Brendan’s oul team’s supporters still sing about King Kenny who has replaced another Scot Billy Liddell as their all time hero.
It should also be noted that 2 of the early UK based players to be transferred to Italy were Aberdeen born Denis Law and Liverpool born but Motherwell raised Joe Baker.
Although their time in Italy was mixed, Denis was voted number one foreign player ahead of teammate Joe, Fiorentina winger Kurt Hamrin (who starred for Sweden in the 1958 WC) and Inter Milan midfielder Luis Suarez (who was the world’s most expensive player when Barca sold him tae Inter and if the truth be told we were so glad he was injured and missed Lisbon).
Joe who was only 6 weeks old when the family moved back up the road was the first professional player to be capped for england while playing for a club outside the english football league system.
He was also the first player to play for england without having ever played for an english club, Calgary born Owen Hargreaves is the only other player to have done this.
Scottish players had a high pedigree and were well in demand down south, 8 of the illustrious Wembley Wizards played down there and one of the home based Scots Jimmy Dunne of the Hibbees via St Anthony’s would move tae the Toffees after this game.
We took the game around the world, Europe (Johnny Madden the father of Czech football) and South America (Gorbals born Alex Hutton is known as the father of Argentina football, incidentally the great grandmother of “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina fame Juan Peron was Ann Hughes Mackenzie).
When the US caused a major sensation by beating england, alf ramsey, billy wright and all, 1-0 in the 1950 WC their coach and captain were born in Edinburgh and Greenock respectively.
Look at Scotland now, we are the country who invented the modern world, where would we be without the young boy fae Greenock who watched the kettle boil on the hob, and yet we allow an antiquated boys club tae run/ruin our lives, a secret society that is failing elsewhere and now has an open door policy.
An organisation by virtue of its tangerine hue, © Big Nan onetime of this parish, has disparaged members of a 1.3 billion organisation to the detriment of the country. It was once said to me around 25 years ago that Scotland is the only 1st world country to become a 3rd world one after discovering oil.
We are also the laughing stock of the football world; the craft ruined the manufacturing, mining, construction and shipbuilding industries by their jobs for the boys’ policy and now our greatest gifts fitba and golf.
Let’s not forget that when dedico were kicked out of the game, oh yes they were, and allowed back in again as sevco one of their conditions was that only SPL refs officiate all their games even in the lower sectors.
It has been said on here fix the refs and that will fix the game, that’ll no happen with that cabal at hunden, just like the top clubs in england did we should remove all responsibility for the game from them, only then will the country and the game move on. We have the money, expertise and intellect to can do this.
Don’t forget that as I said the Scots invented the modern world but the Irish saved western civilisation and Celtic FC are a product of those once proud nations.
Tricky game. Exited to see Toljan and how Weah does from the start leading the line. Still feel we are vulnerable on our left side. I don’t know if Hibs have the personality to perform at Celtic Park without Neil Lennon. Celtic by two clear goals I think.
Paul67
Great game the battle of the greens.
We owe Hibs a game and hopefully we’re strong enough and they have lost the best manager they ever had.
Bain
Toljan
Jozo
Boyata
Izzy
Brown
McGregor
Christie
Weah
Sinclair
Burke
TONTINE TIM on 5TH FEBRUARY 2019 11:25 PM
Irrespective of answering the shambolic refereeing question we face, and whether we all agree or not.
I would certainly rate this post from Tontine Tim as one of the most insightful and well thought out replies, I have read in recent times.
Hat tip Sir
HH
The team tonight depends on who is fit
Boyata or Biton or Hendry
Christie or N’tcham or Johnstone
The bench will be important with so many injured
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 6TH FEBRUARY 2019 1:10 PM
Liking your selection although Christie and perhaps Boyata may be a doubt. Ntcham might get 30 minutes or so.
it’s nice to see that the compliance officer now doesn’t even send their cheating to refs to review…just in case!
Who cares about Hibs?
If Celtic show up and play to their collective ability they will win.
We often give to much respect to opponents to the detriment of our team.
Even with the amount of injured players unavailable who in that Hibs side would get a place in our team?
Be like the crowd Celtic and come out roaring.
Glendalys
Tricky game and the squad is decimated, there will be no complacency.
In Brendan we trust, but just incase he needs a wee haun,here’s my starting 11 for ra nicht.
Bain..
Toljan (?) Nir Jozo Izzy
Broonie n CAL Mac
Henderson Ryan and Sinky.
Eddy O…
P.S. have we appealed KA’s red red red yet??
Have a feeling he might start with the Constable at RB mind you.
H.H
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 6TH FEBRUARY 2019 1:34
Yep. Especially given our new ‘special relationship’ with the Hibs board which might spice things up a bit!
Let’s put Scott Allan on the bench just to tip them over the edge.
Ffs forgot about Burke,,,Hendo back on the bench Burke wide right…
DOH
http://90minutecynic.com/celtic-hibernian-the-preview-2/
Good review and possible line-ups.
tontine tim
great post as usual.
whatever happened to big nan?
MARADOMINIC on 6TH FEBRUARY 2019 1:23 PM
it’s nice to see that the compliance officer now doesn’t even send their cheating to refs to review…just in case!
These things are reviewed at FT mate,cuts down on the paperwork, and means you have more time to enjoy the free beer in a hovel in Bellshill. HH
TIMHORTON on 6TH FEBRUARY 2019 2:14 PM
Big Nan is still actively hunting down masons . You can follow him on twitter to keep up with his activities.
I walk past that pub in Bellshill most days ..only been in it once…..
In case anyone missed Sandmans review …
https://thecelticstar.com/sandmans-ratings-celtic-v-groundhog-day/
Nothing like a massive injury list and a series of dodgy decisions , hindering us whilst helping the dark forces of Mordor enhance their goal difference to sharpen our focus.
Probably an opportunity or two for the likes of Bitton and Mikey Johnston to come in and show what they can do at some stage. I think Bitton has a good chance of starting.
Wouldn’t be surprised to see Timo and Oli start tonight. Confident we’ll get the points.
To those going enjoy the new light show.
https://i0.wp.com/90minutecynic.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/CFE5EF1B-DE3D-4B0B-9680-1BFC898E449B-e1549358129944.jpeg?zoom=2&resize=355%2C254
HH
Boyatta back, timo out right, Boom boom on bench
Alas poor Lenny I knew him well…
Hi Paul67,
It will be interesting to see if Hibs can still raise their game in the manner they could under Lenny.
My thinking is there’s going to be a show and our team will win with some style.
Will a “contender” emerge from the chasing pack? I don’t think so, even if they do we should just get better and stronger as the season progresses.
Tontine Tim…
Great post earlier, it is always worth looking at how we got here. It seems to me that the SFA and all its tentacles are under scrutiny and pressure as never before. However, as you say, these job for the boys apparatchiks have neither the imagination nor motivation to evolve or adapt with the times. So they’ll entrench and use guys like Andrew Dallas to show us who really rules the roost…
However as long as they are there and backed from Ibrox only a united front will remove them and that’s something Scots don’t do…
Interestingly enough the Clubs from Ibrox would have been better served by being “independent”, the original Rangers didn’t win a single “honest” trophy in the 21st Century and Sevco Rangers have never won a trophy. But again, these folk are from the same mould and lacked the wherewithal to move forward unaided and abetted.
It’s interesting what you say of Scottish oil. I was thinking the other day how BritOil had been robbed from the Scottish people and 100s of Billions of Do$$@rs robbed from the Scots.
As Norway has a similar population and similar amount of oil & gas, we can look across the North Sea at our Scandanavian kinsfolk, who are among the wealthiest in the World.
Why do Scots allow this, I’ll never know…
Hail Hail
Thanks for re-posting Tontine’s excellent piece.
It should be archived under the History and Decline of Scottish Football.
In fact, all of his posts should be saved for posterity, as points of reference.
Chairbhoy @ 2:55
“Why do Scots allow this, I’ll never know…”
A key question…
And, in our context, a key question that needs to be asked is ‘why does Celtic, and why do Celtic fans, allow this’….
we need to address this question if we are ever going to break the cycle of cheating.
Which is not to blame Celtic fans .. .it is more about empowering Celtic fans … ,
I sometimes have a peek at another website, (guess i’m only mentioning it in case some here have an affiliation with said site) but i find it absolutely mind blowing that they give page space with links to headers from the Daily (Rainjurz) Record.
I would rather eat bees than give that site a click.
BitterasphuckCSC
HH
Our visitors tonight,
Split Personality FC.
THERE were scenes of wild emotion recently after Hibernian Football Club clinched their first Scottish Cup since 1902.
The Hibs support entered a state of anguish when after 64 minutes Rangers striker Andy Halliday put Rangers 2-1 up. Many supporters felt the dream was slipping away for yet another year.
There’s a well known piece of mythology that floats around Hibs fans about an Irish gypsy’s curse.
It dictates that the prevailing reason the club hadn’t won a Scottish Cup since the Edwardian era is that the Irish woman was incensed that Hibs’ harp emblem on the south stand – a beacon for the club’s Irish identity – would not be re-instated after a period of refurbishment in the 1950s.
The Leith team’s former chairman Harry Swan has been accused of trying to cleanse out the club’s Irish roots. He was selected by the then Irish board and was the first non-Irish Catholic to take on the position.
A passionate Hibs supporter and businessman of some repute, he would hold the post of chairman for almost 30 years. Swan would also guide the club through the post-war era to one of its most successful periods, winning the league three times in five seasons.
But how true are the allegations of an anti Irish agenda?
Historian Alan Lugton suggests that accusations of bigotry are unfounded. In The Making of Hibernian he writes that “during the first 22 years of his chairmanship the harp remained at the north entrance and at the main south entrance. All the great players, including the Famous Five, all walked under it to sign, train and play for Hibs and that massive main entrance harp was surrounded by clusters of shamrocks.”
Lugton goes on to explain how Swan ordered a hand crafted mosaic harp for the club’s boardroom, hardly the behaviour of an anti-Irish bigot. The name Harry Swan will be familiar to Celtic fans of a certain vintage. It summons the flag fiasco of 1952 that came after a New Year’s Day match against Rangers, when fan violence on the pitch led to a request for the Irish Tricolour to be taken down at Celtic Park.
The club refused and were issued with various threats. To many, this event underlined Celtic’s dedication to their history. It emerged that one of the clubs who voted against Celtic flying the flag was Hibernian, led by Swan. There has been much conjecture about the reasons why, perhaps the Hibs chairman was looking to inflict some psychological damage on a rival team.
The move backfired as it only worked to strengthen Celtic’s resolve, while underlining the notion that Hibs had forfeited the roots that made them.
At the 2016 Scottish Cup Final last week, Irish Tricolours were in abundance, suggesting a passionate new generation of Hibs supporters are embracing their history. There are some fans who don’t feel comfortable with the Tricolour and they make their voices heard on Hibs forums and across social media.
But what is a club without a sense of itself? The Irish Catholic tradition is in the very marrow of this Scots-Irish institution. Hibernian were formed in 1875 by Limerick-born Cannon Edward Joseph Hannan of St Patrick’s Church and Michael Whelahan, the club emerged from a conversation between the two men who were concerned about the plight of the starving Irish.
Hibs and the church on the Cowgate (known as Little Ireland) will be forever entwined; it’s a rash analysis that they are sometimes described as the first sectarian club when you consider the plight of the area’s inhabitants.
The Catholic Young Men’s Society played a vital role in the early history; it was a disciplined organisation which insisted players were teetotal and practising Catholics. The faith brought a sense of philosophy, spirituality and education to the early life of the club and those who supported it.
One of those fans was James Connolly, who was said to be at the formation. The former Hibernian ball-boy is celebrated around the world with honours, earlier this year a statue was unveiled in Belfast, he also has sculptures and monuments dedicated to him in Dublin, Chicago and Troy, New York but not in the city of his birth, the city that shaped him.
Undoubtedly, Connolly would enjoy the fact that his beloved Hibernian would win their first Scottish Cup after a long drought in the same year that he would be honoured in the centenary of the Rising. Hibs paraded the Scottish Cup a stone’s throw from where James Connolly was born.
As a father of several daughters (and a son), he wanted his children to inherit a fairer world than the one in which he lived. The Irish-Scot had a love/hate relationship with the city of his birth, as his letters express, but a large part of his homesickness was tied up with his love of Hibernian Football Club.
Historically, the club broke down many anti-Irish barriers, the team were said to have been physically attacked while playing in the meadows and faced tremendous hostility on the grounds that they were Irish.
They had to fight hard to enter the Scottish First Division and even play in the Scottish Cup. The last time Hibs won the latter they were managed by Dubliner Dan McMichael, a respected figure who devoted his life to the longevity of Hibernian.
These facts are not lost on many supporters who care about the long history of the team who play at Easter Road. At the final, I watched one fan with his head in his hands prior to the rallying second goal scored by Anthony Stokes.
The Celtic striker brought a sense of mentality to the game and was relentless throughout. His determination paid off with an equaliser, his second goal of the game, in the 80th minute. David Grey’s header sent fans into raptures during added time, securing a 3-2 victory.
In the stands, ghosts of former players such as George Best and the iconic Sir Matt Busby, who was said to have modelled his Busby Babes on the Hibs team he once played in, cheered among the throng. As fans poured onto the pitch it was reminiscent of the classic cult film Restless Natives which featured two Robin Hood style thieves riding a motorcycle through the streets of Edinburgh with floods of football supporters (many of them Hibs) running behind them.
The media went into overdrive, running emotional stories about the club’s oldest fan (106) who witnessed the occasion, while another fan gently slipped away after seeing his team lift the glittering prize from the television set of a nursing home.
Congratulations also came in from Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. The victory cannot and should not be remembered for the minority of fans on both sides with a predisposition towards violence and no player or club representative should be assaulted on the pitch.
However, the Rangers statement which chided Nicola Sturgeon and others is being greeted by many as sour grapes and a diversion tactic. There were ugly scenes, but those Rangers fans who sang sectarian songs, set off flares and ran on the pitch were not paragons of chivalry protecting their players from the forces of darkness.
The majority of Hibs fans on the pitch at Hampden were decent football supporters in need of a spiritual and mental release. Many of them have roots in that once lively parish known as Little Ireland. Don’t believe the hype emanating from the blue half of Glasgow – this was a fairytale that had come true, the gypsy’s curse was finally broken.
C’mon the Celts.
Teuchter ár lá on 6th February 2019 3:14 pm
Extremely enlightening, Every day is a school day….Merci
HH
Asupporterwhogotlucky
My part of the world mate.
If it weren’t for Harry Swan, My father, uncles and their friends along with thousands of others in the East would never have made that journey along the auld A8.
Our village is split 50-50 with Hibbies.
But we remember who we are and more importantly, where we came from.
HH mate