Hot Balls semis, Farry, Cadete, robbing Celtic fans and players

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98 years. That’s was the last time Celtic beat old Rangers in a Scottish Cup semi-final. Our 1925 5-0 win was after a replay in front of Scotland’s first six-figure crowd – 101,700.

Scottish football then entered its notorious hot balls era. The SFA was not always ethically sound, as we’ll touch on in a moment. In 67 years Celtic and Rangers were only drawn together in the Scottish Cup semi-final once, 1960, when we lost after a replay. The legend is that two of the four balls in the bag for the draw were hot, one with Celtic’s number and one with Rangers’. One hot ball would be drawn against a cold ball.

The SFA had a confidence about them in the 1990s. Celtic were poor, if you were inclined to favour Rangers, there was little to be gained from hot balls. Perhaps as a consequence, the teams met in the semis three times that decade. We lost each; who needs hot balls when you can enjoy beating Celtic?

Before you suggest a lack of balance in the above assertion, that was the era we had the Jim Farry/Jorge Cadete fiasco, which eventually saw Farry sacked in disgrace, after he delayed Cadete’s registration until the player was no longer eligible to play in the 1996 Scottish Cup semi – against Rangers.

We have met Newco three times at this stage, losing on penalties in 2016 (we will always have Hibs), beating them 4-0 in 2018 and losing in extra time last season (never rely on Hearts). Apart from that 1925 win, our only earlier Scottish Cup semi win over Rangers was in 1892, the season the trophy came home with us for the first time.

We live in an era when a great number of historic wrongs are being put right. Win the Cup, and we move clear at the top of the Treble Winners’ table, while we inch ever closer to forcing an opponent to paint over a ‘most successful club’ mural. Imagine the indignity.

Win this one for Jorge, Fergus, Paul McStay, Tom Boyd and Big Pierre. An era of Celtic players and fans were robbed on a level which is difficult to imagine now. Let’s get it done.

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  1. An Tearmann. Thanks for remark. I was at all the home games but could not afford to travel away. Lisbon was a must for me and my friend and I will always be grateful that I was there. Great memories constantly come to mind often.

  2. Neil McCann – 5 cup winners medals. 4 with the now defunct Rangers FC.

     

     

    Neil McCann, £500,000 EBT : 1998-2003 : Winger joined from Hearts in 1998 for £2million.

     

     

    Makes a comment on beeb, who are showing him hit a shot skimming the top of the bar in the 2009 cup final playing for Falkirk.

     

     

    “just watching that, that was my last game i was actually paid as a professional footballer, we were the better team , that was a good shot, but i had a better chance later and missed, then Nacho Novo scored with a hail mary” (huns will love that desciprion)

     

     

    If only you had an EBT off the books payment by Falkirk you might have scored those chances, rather than still being in hock to the old company still holding the ebt loan paperwork, did you pay it back ?

     

     

    Nacho Novo btw – £1.2million EBT : Spanish striker joined in 2004 from Dundee for £450,000. LEFT IN 2010.

     

     

    McCann is interviewed by a fellow Ex Ranger Steven Thompson £425,000 ebt, 2003-2006.

     

     

    And just for some balance The Inverness manager is Billy Dodds at Rangers between 1999-2003 and a recipient of £125,000 EBT.

  3. I don’t know how to put it up on here but there’s a Kyogo full-size sticker stuck on the entrance to the rangers training complex.

     

    🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

  4. Scottish cup quiz weekend,

     

     

    In the 1963 final Glasgow Celtic played a team of 11 Catholics.

     

     

    40 years later in 2003 Rangers finished the game, having made 3 substitues to leave on the field of play 11 players with what unique thing in common ?

     

     

     

     

    2002–03 Scottish Cup

     

     

    Dundee 0 Rangers 1

     

     

    RANGERS:

     

     

    GK 1 Stefan Klos – £2,000.000

     

    DF 2 Fernando Ricksen – £684,225

     

    DF 4 Lorenzo Amoruso – £639,000

     

    DF 3 Craig Moore – £1,100,000

     

    DF 5 Arthur Numan – £510,000

     

    MF 6 Barry Ferguson – £2,500,000

     

    MF 14 Ronald de Boer – £1,2000,000

     

    MF 12 Robert Malcolm – £125,000

     

    FW 24 Shota Arveladze –

     

    FW 11 Neil McCann – £500,000

     

    FW 10 Michael Mols – £260,000

     

     

    Substitutes:

     

    GK 22 Allan McGregor –

     

    DF 17 Kevin Muscat – £1,100,000

     

    DF 21 Maurice Ross – £120,000

     

    FW 19 Steven Thompson – £485,000

     

    FW 36 Steven MacLean –

     

     

    Manager:

     

    Scotland Alex McLeish – £1,700,000

  5. Paul The Spark on

    MARSPAPA

     

     

    They are everywhere, at Ibrox and underground stations from pics I’ve seen.

  6. bigrailroadblues on

    Greenpinata 11.28

     

    “Tonic wine”, yeucch. 🤮

     

    And there’s only one King Billy- that’s McNeill. 😁👍

  7. Prestonpans bhoys on

    MARSPAPA on 29TH APRIL 2023 12:26 PM

     

     

    Brave bhoys, if they got caught they would get hammered and thats just the coaches not their fans 🤫

  8. This should have been played at Easter Road or Tynecastle. Wrong stadium and wrong time of day.

  9. Prestonpans bhoys on

    BRRB

     

     

    Brilliant photos 👏👏

     

     

    Deniabhoy

     

     

    SFA own Hampden, that’s why !

  10. “SAINT STIVS on 29TH APRIL 2023 1:49 AM

     

    What is unpalatable to some around celtic having a full team of players who were catholic ?

     

    what is wrong with that ?

     

    it was not a policy to exclude protestants,”

     

     

    Let me say first of all that your posts are among my favourites so my disagreement here is with the view and not with the person holding that view.

     

     

    It is not `unpalatable` to me but it is unimportant . To highlight it offers ammunition to the `They`re both as bad as each other` brigade.

     

    I am sure we have thousands of Protestant supporters .Would they feel somewhat peeved to read of supporters thinking it was worth mentioning that we had teams composed of eleven Catholics?

     

     

    Personally, I have no religious beliefs whatsoever and I would rather our club was seen as being charitable to ALL who are in need.

  11. Just read that ICT and Falkirk played in the 2015 Final. How on earth did that happen? Who did those respective teams beat along the way? Seems scarcely believable.

  12. BRRB….

     

     

    Thanks for posting the photos…

     

     

    BTW did you phone the Elms Bar and tell them I was coming in…..

     

     

    Empty 🤣🤣🤣

  13. PAUL THE SPARK & PRESTONPANSBHOY…..

     

     

    You would like to think theyed be backed up with huaners as its very dangerous…..

     

     

    Balls of steel…..

  14. HOT SMOKED on 29TH APRIL 2023 2:38 PM

     

     

    Just read that ICT and Falkirk played in the 2015 Final. How on earth did that happen? Who did those respective teams beat along the way? Seems scarcely believable.

     

    ++++++++

     

    Rhetorical question?

     

    Or, have you blanked that shameful episode from your mind?

  15. Back to Basics - Glass Half Full on

    DENIABHOY on 29TH APRIL 2023 6:43 PM

     

    Has everyone gone to the moon?

     

     

    —–

     

    12 people have.

     

     

    If Twitter is anything to go by, many more howl at it.

  16. For sure there will be plenty howling at it tomorrow night, hopefully it will be a blue moon.

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