I caught a bit of yesterday’s newspapers; the contrast between an article in The Herald, linked from the Quick News section, and one elsewhere was stark. It brought to mind a very politically incorrect cartoon depicting a conversation someone trying to explain the consequences of a football club getting into vast amounts of debt. “You don’t have the intellect to understand what is happening” was the active line.
This far into actual news [def: hard information about a subject] on how Rangers were being run by the board in charge prior to Craig Whyte’s takeover, some are still flogging “EBTs were legal”, “No one complained about EBTs at the time”, “Juninho had an EBT”, as though somehow any of this was in doubt or relevant to the question.
The only show in town, to use our favourite phrase from last season, is ‘Were players illegally registered?’ You can pay them in cash, by EBTs or by boatloads of bananas, you can pay them when they were playing, before they were playing or after, the timing makes no difference whatsoever, but did you record all contracts or did you hide dozens of contracts from oversight?
Anyone who, this late in the debate, is blabbering on about EBTs being noted in Rangers annual accounts either doesn’t have the grey stuff to grasp the point, or somehow believes they can knowledge manage their readership. “You don’t have the intellect to understand what is happening”, is perhaps the message they are sending out.
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surley not !!
or even – surely not !!
whither philvis?
By EWING GRAHAME
Published on Tuesday 18 September 2012 00:00
Rangers last night sparked a war of words with Third Division rivals Annan Athletic after claiming that the ankle injury sustained by winger David Templeton in Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Galabank was caused by the artificial playing surface and are seeking financial compensation from the borders club.
The allegation was strenuously denied by the Dumfriesshire club.
Templeton, signed for the tidy sum of £800,000 from Hearts on transfer deadline day last month, collapsed only nine minutes into the match with the ball elsewhere and no opponent within yards of him.
Manager Ally McCoist claimed that medical staff had assured him that the plastic pitch was responsible for the damage, the full extent of which can be revealed as probably an allergy to plastic but it is likely to rule the 23-year-old out of action for the next few months.
McCoist doesn’t believe that Annan’s 3G surface should be used for senior matches and claims that he has banned his senior professionals from using the ones at Murray Park unless they have taken an antihistamine tablet beforehand.
“The ankle has a very bad rash on it and has been strained as well,” he said. “He has slight ligament damage and only time will tell if the rash will clear up or not. At least with a break you know where you are. With a plastic allergic rash it is difficult to determine. We will just have to monitor him because he will have another look to see how itchy it truly is when the swelling goes down.
“I have no idea what timescale we are looking at. I would probably settle for a month but I think it will be longer. Their player was nowhere near him: his fair skin caught the surface. It’s a shame because he started so well for us. Our doctor did say the pitch definitely played a part in it and calamine lotion would help but I don’t know how much.
“As those surfaces go it looked all right, but whether a team of our calibre should ever be playing on them is altogether a different argument.
“I’m not going to start an anti-plastic pitch campaign because we have four teams in our league who use them. It doesn’t matter a toss what I think about them because we’re playing on them. That’s the way it is. We have two artificial facilities here, one outdoors and one indoors, and I don’t ask my older players to use them. That would give you an indication as to what my views are on it. But, at the same time, I fully appreciate why clubs use them because of the use to the wider community.”
Annan secretary Alan Irving, though, rejected any suggestion that the synthetic surface could be at fault for Templeton’s injury.
“These surfaces are now used in Champions League matches and cup finals and our surface is state-of-the-art,” he said. “Not counting youth-team games, we must have played a dozen times on that surface without any problems. One of the things which has become apparent, though, is that you need to wear the right footwear to play on it. If you are not smart enough to work that out before hand it could come back to haunt you
“I’m sad that David Templeton has been injured but I find it incredible that Rangers have billed us for his wages for three months. He’d gone into a tackle shortly before he went down and I wonder if perhaps he was suffering from being out on the lash the night before.”
Kitalba from last thread… I said first choice after New Zealand and Brazil… Think about it…
Too early for some I think.
alex thomson @alextomo
#c4news K Mackenzie tells #c4news “Please Alex, this isn’t reasonable”. Declines to expain himself over Hillsborough
I’m sure Nimmo Smith will sort it all out. What will be interesting is not so much the decision but the punishment – where, who to and how it is applied.
From The Times
Why Celtic need to use their imagination
New vision: has Lennon got the ability to find creative solutions to help Celtic avoid boredom without their main rivals?
New vision: has Lennon got the ability to find creative solutions to help Celtic avoid boredom without their main rivals? SNS
Matt Dickinson Chief Sports Correspondent
Last updated at 12:01AM, September 18 2012
Like Tom without Jerry, Celtic look a little lost without Rangers. Not quite sure what to do in the absence of their best of enemies, Celtic have moped through the early weeks of the season and lie fifth in a Scottish Premier League they are expected to win without breaking sweat.
With so much focus naturally on Rangers and their relegation to the depths of the Irn-Bru third division — plus the mirth as those fallen giants have been held by Peterhead, Berwick Rangers and, on Saturday, Annan Athletic (average crowd 473) — it has been understandable to underplay the challenge for the other half of the Old Firm.
But it is a challenge. A management guru would call it an opportunity but, either way, you have to wonder if Celtic will grab it, make the most of it, seize the chance to shake themselves up during these strange years without Rangers or, more likely, they will let the moment pass and go to waste even as they win cups and titles.
It will be at least two seasons before Celtic face Rangers again in the league, depending on how fast their stricken rivals rise and whether the Scottish leagues are restructured in the meantime. They can coast as they have already started to do, to judge from results and Neil Lennon’s furious reaction to defeat away to St Johnstone at the weekend. “There is definitely a mindset there that we need to get to the bottom of and change quickly,” the Celtic manager said.
It may be human nature, but complacency is the death of a football team. It dulls the senses, even in victory. Celtic players should beware what Gary Neville said when Manchester United were allowed by cowed rivals to cruise to championships in 2000 and 2001. “If it is possible to be bored as you win the league, then we were bored in those two seasons after the treble,” he wrote.
Neville highlighted another problem of a soft domestic league, which was how ill-prepared it made United for the intensity of European nights. What chance Celtic suddenly bursting into top form as they head into the Champions League this week, with Benfica up first tomorrow and the mighty Barcelona to come?
“Edge is a massive thing in top-level sport, something you can’t just turn on and off,” Neville said. “It comes from having to stretch yourself.” And Celtic may be no more stretched by the SPL than Rangers in toppling Elgin City in the fourth tier.
Given these unique circumstances, Celtic will be negligent if they do not ask, from the very top, not just how to avoid complacency but how to develop using the huge slack they enjoy from Rangers’ absence.
Celtic were 31 points better than third-placed Motherwell last season. That is ten more defeats they can afford.
Take their turnover of more than £50 million and the nearest an SPL rival can come is about £8 million. Motherwell, at present top of the league, have revenues of £6 million.
The differentials are so huge as to make you wonder whether it is possible for Celtic not to win the title, which is why this is a rare opportunity for a club to think long-term and not obsess about weekly results.
Time to be creative. Is the hierarchy asking hard questions about whether to stop making short-term foreign signings, such as Miku on a year’s loan from Getafe, and redouble their focus on promoting youth? How about taking a few risks by pouring extra resources into teenage talents and seeking to shape them around a new philosophy?
Celtic aspire to bring through their own players yet, in the first team, James Forrest is the only home grown.
How about recasting the playing style as, say, Swansea City have done so effectively, building a passing philosophy that has endured through four managers? There must be more creative solutions to the Celtic conundrum than bumping along until the same old players find the motivation to overhaul weaker rivals.
Celtic should be using their imagination, but one problem is that Lennon may not have the capacity to come up with a new vision.
To borrow from The Godfather, he may be a suitable wartime consigliere and he certainly revelled in the feuding with Rangers. But the enemy are becalmed. Celtic do not need to think of short-term battles, obsessed with staying ahead of Rangers, but where they want to be two and three years from now.
Fail in that task and, when the Old Firm are eventually reunited, what will Celtic have to show for it? A few titles, yes, but they should be challenging themselves to come up with so much more.
A message to BBC Sportsound…….
http://harryhood67.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/a-message-to-bbc-sportsound/
#TurnOffTraynor
philvisdidnae
The MSM look like they are trying one last tactic to drag Celtic into this mess. By focusing on Juninho they are clearly imying that what the Huns did was not an isolated scam.
However, it all seems so half hearted. Only Jabba is really trying. The rest are just waiting, she’ll shocked, for the final verdicts to be handed down.
SWINDONBHOY 0923
Barred from The Woodland due to a shocking intolerance of bullying behaviour.
Canny help it,just how I was brought up-my mouth is bigger than the rest of me,which disnae help!
RTÉ and Celtic FC team up to offer one lucky player a place at Celtic’s prestigious Youth Academy!
Football’s Next Star will make its debut this October on RTÉ Two. Presented by Westlife’s Nicky Byrne, Football’s Next Star will feature 10 young Irish footballers who will battle it out for one coveted place at Celtic’s prestigious Youth Academy!
Nicky Byrne, who was signed by Leeds United when he was sixteen, is a die hard Celtic fan and football fanatic making him the ideal host for Football’s Next Star!
Commenting on the show, Football’s Next Star presenter Nicky Byrne, said:
“Football’s Next Star is a huge opportunity for every young Irish soccer fan to achieve his dream of playing professional football. I had an absolutely amazing experience shooting the series which was my first ever TV project and I’m very proud to say we really did unearth a true gem in our winner.
So many players in Ireland are missed out on by pro clubs in the UK. Football’s Next Star gives these young Irish lads the opportunity to showcase their talents and also gives Celtic FC the chance to see what their scouts had previously missed out on!”
Football’s Next Star will commence on Friday, 5 October on RTÉ Two at 5pm and the opening episode will feature the Irish football trials which were held earlier this year. Tune in to meet the hundreds of passionate young footballers vying for a place in the next round.
Between 40 and 50 contestants will be shortlisted from the open trials and they will go on to participate in the next stage of the competition which will be held at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, where Celtic’s legendary manager Neil Lennon and the Celtic FC coaching team will make the final selection of ten talented young players.
These ten hopefuls will then move to Glasgow to try and impress the world renowned Celtic Academy coaches with a series of intense training sessions and a sliding scale of tough football fixtures, where they’ll have to play to keep their place on the team.
They will eat, sleep and breathe football and get a real taste of what it is like to be a professional footballer… It won’t be easy though! Only one boy can win a place at the Celtic Youth Academy, so every week one contestant is sent back home. The pressure will be on for top-notch performances!
Throughout the competition the boys will have the opportunity to win rewards, including master classes with some of football’s biggest stars and a trip abroad to play top foreign teams, as our youngsters get a real taste of what the life of a real professional footballers must be like.
Tune into Football’s Next Star every Friday at 5pm on RTÉ Two from 5 October to 23 November 2012
Celtic have won just 2 of their opening 5 SPL matches for the first time since 1998-99.
Summa of Sammi….
09:48 on
18 September, 2012
.
ItaliaBhoy..
Most of the Generalisations you have used could be said of Any Country in the World..
It probably depends on who you visited and where the Lived..
My Dad Visited 10yrs ago..(A Rangers Fan)..He went to my Stag day Golf outing with about 40 Celtic supporters and Visited Galiamble a Aboriginal Rehab that l did Voluntary work at the time..I can assure you his thoughts on Australia could Not be further from Yours..But you will Probably say that’s because he is a H^n,,:O)
Summa
Ps..I’m Not a Touchy Aussie l am a Scottish guy Who has Made Australia my Home..
Summa I don’t call those who disagree with me a Hun. As I said, my opinions are humbly mine own…
AWE NAW 0942
The much-missed AWE NAW’d article makes a welcome re-appearance!
As ESTADIO said recently=kwality,man.
Gary Neville Wears Prada
Dissecting Traynor’s Propaganda. (Wading through the shite so you don’t have to)
A message to BBC Sportsound
Can someone on tonight’s Sportsound program please ask Jim Traynor to explain his article in a newspaper today? Well, no need. It is pure and simple transparent propaganda from a desperate man who knows his newspaper is clinging onto Rangers’ coattails as they hang perilously from a cliff edge. A cliff edge that Rangers chose to swing from in an act of bravado.
Traynor describes everyone who wants a fair, independent investigation into serious allegations: “Holy Willies who believe EBT payments to be the work of the devil” “heartless and mean-spirited” “deranged”
He asserts that any reasoning behind wanting a fair, independent investigation into serious allegations-can be driven only by: “A huge, dark cloud, bloated with swirling accusations, stupidity and hatred” “no other reason than it’s big, bad Rangers”
Define irony…… “The story has been distorted, in some cases by misunderstanding, but in others by deliberate design” You’ve got to give it to him. In one sentence he has succinctly put how his newspaper, and himself in particular, have handled the Rangers situation.
“Rangers collapse, that’s down to one man, Whyte” Yes, unsurprisingly David Murray is exonerated from all blame.
Any reasonable person who has followed this story must surely now wonder what David Murray appears to hold over Mr Traynor?
“Whyte got a winning club when the debt had been reduced to £18m” One has to wonder then why David Murray fled in the night whilst in control of such a profitable business.
It’s boring. It’s so transparent my face hurts when it smacks me time after time.
Why is this man constantly given a platform to spread apparent misinformation in the name of The BBC when all he does is promote his newspaper, deride the BBC and spin stories to make the tax case go away, soften the blow for Rangers, fast-track Rangers to the SPL/Div 1, make investigations go away, but above all else, help David Murray save face?
I believe this is the same man whose paper attacked the BBC for “Wrongly reporting” that Rangers could go bust, and we all remember the show in early April (Traynor vs Young fight) when Traynor shouted “The BBC don’t deserve an apology” “They are not due an apology”. All this when he is sitting in a BBC studio, actually employed by the BBC! But what does he care? It’s all about his newspaper and by default, Rangers.
Some journalists have come out of this debacle quite well. In my opinion, these are Jim Spence, Richard Gordon, Stuart Cosgrove and the STV guys on Twitter. And for what it’s worth, I actually enjoy Sportsound.
Those journalists who have made nothing but a fool of themselves, in my opinion are Traynor, Keevins, Guidi, Hannah and others. Whenever I hear them on radio I switch off straight away. For that reason, I won’t be listening tonight. .
It should also be remembered that the BBC has obligations to it’s license payers to be impartial. Traynor has his newspaper to push his/David Murray’s agenda. We can all choose not to buy it if we want to. Unfortunately, as license payers, we are all paying for Jim Traynor to be on the show and he appears to be entrenched, driving a lonely and determined campaign which doesn’t seem to adhere to BBC standards. Sportsound should think carefully about its panelists.
Get on Twitter and use the #TurnOffTraynor hashtag
Good morning all,
I have just fell off my chair reading through the quotes between sevco and Annan re: templeton injuring his ankle on the artificial pitch!!!
Firstly I thought how arrogant can a mangaer of a team in the third division be? when he states that teams of his ‘calibre’ should not be playing on such surfaces!!!!!
Put the very best part was the response from Annan wondering if templeton’s injury had anything to do with him ‘being on the lash’ the night before!!!!!!
Classic
Quite clearly BBC Scotland is a hotbed of masons.
Cosgrove, Spence et al …know exactly their place in the scheme of things.
Forelock tuggers to the BBC MASONIC management
Stop paying your license fee
Hail Hail
FRANCISCO SANDAZA last night blasted the Third Division, claiming matches were more like wars than games of football.
Annan became the latest side to leave Rangers licking their wounds as they luckily held Ally McCoist’s men to a scoreless draw at the weekend. The Ibrox club have now failed to win any of their three bruising battles away from home in the league this term and this failure is due to the calabre of the league they are playing in.
And Spanish striker Sandaza said: “Everybody is expecting us to win 4-0 and 5-0 but the teams are playing the game of their lives and are very aggressive.
“The Third Division is not football, at least away from home. It’s more physical, more hard tackles. If you have a race horse you cannot expect it to deliver the beer barrels every morning
“It’s more like a war, at least it was on Saturday. We have to win these wars and we must do that. We are Rangers and we must win every game. We must not surrender
“I was on the pitch thinking, ‘Bloody hell I am playing cr*p’. It wasn’t football the way it is at Ibrox or in SPL games where everything is more friendly and professional. But we have to realise this is where we are right now, this is our present circumstances. We are staring down the barrel of a gun
“Thinking about the future is silly only fools do that, we have to concentrate on where we are today and were yesterday
“It’s not easy to settle as quickly and we need to be patient in the matches.
“We have to change our minds and become more like the teams we’re playing against. Away games are a war on tight pitches so it is vitally important for me to reach my target weight. I can create so much space by achieving just that.
“Obviously if the results are not going well, critics are going to turn on the highly paid new players like me, Ian Black and Dean Shiels but I’m sure we’re doing the right job and working extremely hard for our money under difficult tutelage.
“Eventually once the officials understand that we are in fact an SPL side we will start achieving the results away from home that everyone expects from us. People have to remember we’re a new squad disliked by footballs administrators and it will takes time for that to settle. But we will get what we want eventually.”
That Traynor is still employed by the BBC is a scandal. But I am afraid the sports department at PQ is widely regarded as a complete joke by other journalists.
TMWTL @ 0945
A very succinct and interesting article, the author seems to have hit the nail on the head. Interesting comments attributed to Gary Neville but hey ho Benfica have only played 3 competitive games haven’t they ?
Does anyone know if Media House are being instructed again?
The way the MSM are running with the Junhino story suggests their involvement.
TMWTL
One of the problems with Gary Neville’s equation, (Uncompetitive League = Unprepared for CL Competition), is that Man U reached the q-f and s-f stages in both years mentioned, which was hardly an underachievement. In fact, a less competitive team in that league, Leeds, advanced to the semi-final stage when United were knocked out of the quarters.
It’s a wonderful example of believing your own thesis. He has advised Neil Lennon (even with his perceived lack of capacity) what he needs to do now as we are highly likely to let opportunities slip over the next 2 years.
His proposed solutions to the “unimaginative” Lennon, are deploy youth players and use a different playing style, two features which could be argued are already characteristics of Neil’s management.
Wonder how much Scottish football Matt Dickinson has seen.
Ernie
Really ? I have to say I disagree
I thought that Media House would be doing a better job if they were involved.
I think its a case of all hands to the pump at the moment.
Hail Hail
bournesouprecipe
09:52 on
18 September, 2012
Celtic have won just 2 of their opening 5 SPL matches for the first time since 1998-99.
—————————————————————————————
I refuse to believe that.
Italiabhoy oz boring!!!
mm maybe if you dont live near a city
and shhhh
i agree with u about ozzie guys
i try to stay away from them
smelly boring and indeed racist
Celtic defending against Barca
The Rangers Herald top 4 news stories
Does Green actually buy this stuff? Let’s take a look ( 421) hits
Conspiracies sound hollow as the EBT accusation came from within (419) hits
Spiers on Sport: Levein, doomed manager in doomed cause (98) hits
Rangers snub EBT inquiry and threaten legal defence (29) hits
ItaliaBhoy:
So you know all about New Zealand’s racist problems then?
“Eventually once the officials understand that we are in fact an SPL side we will start achieving the results away from home that everyone expects from us. People have to remember we’re a new squad disliked by footballs administrators and it will takes time for that to settle. But we will get what we want eventually.”
Hunbelievable.
The MSM know the huns(il) are …… and are determined to kill scottish football along with them
.
ItaliaBhoy..
I Never said You Did..l Said ‘Probably’..:O)
Same as You would ‘Probably’ refer to All Rangers Supporters as H^ns..
..
I Remember when l came to Oz 18yrs ago..l had lived in a Few Countries Previously..My First Job..A Guy came over to me and said : “So your a Jock”..
I wondered why a Canadian guy would refer to me as a ‘Jock’..
Turns out he was from Glasgow (You know the Sheena Easton type who Loose their Accent on the Boat/Plane)..:O)
in the Next week he would come over and Ask..
“Do you guys back Home have Houses that Actually stand alone or do they still build those Horrible tennament Buildings?” (In the Aforementioned Canadian accent)..
I Asked him when was the last time he was Home..”
“Oh l have Never been back it would be too depressing..My Family would probably want me To Tap them Money for Booze..!!” (Note ‘Tap’ was the only word l understood in 2 yrs of knowing him)..
At the End of the Week he told me he was Having a BBQ..He Informed Me..
“Over here we Use ‘Real’ meat on the BBQ..Not that Processed stuff the use back Home..” He truly Fecked up Slagging Square Sausage to Me..:O)
ItaliaBhoy..You remind me of Him..That is just my Opinion though..See what l did there..
Summa
Ps..You don’t have a Uncle in Melbourne do you..?..”O(
ItaliaBhoy:
Nobody called you a hun, if you are referring to my post I said codemning in ignorance is a hun trait.
Think about it.
Awe naw said:
“We have to change our minds and become more like the teams we’re playing against. Away games are a war on tight pitches so it is vitally important for me to reach my target weight. I can create so much space by achieving just that.”
Pulitzer stuff, brilliant!