The long season comes to an end this week when the final international games, most of which are firmly in the meaningless category, or the Nations League, as Uefa prefer to call them. Those in the Scotland squad, like Callum McGregor, have to make their way home from Armenia tonight. There will hopefully be time for the captain to rest mind and limbs before he is recalled for preseason training.
It is a small mercy that we don’t have European qualifiers this summer, our Scotland players missing out on the World Cup is also welcome, although our Japanese contingent will be affected.
2022 could be the year Fifa is finally forced to pull back. Confirmation of the corruption behind the decision to award the World Cup to Qatar did nothing to prevent the tournament going ahead as planned. Instead, the world will watch the efforts of a tiny state hosting the world’s greatest sporting event (it is) in stadiums built and destined for obsolescence before the year is out.
The is also a strange calculus underway in the sportwashing sector. Whatever the Saudi motivation for LIV Golf, it surely was not to put the human rights record of the kingdom front and centre of news broadcasts. ‘You are blatantly trying to get us to ignore the thing we are all going to talk about.”
Google Trends show the word “Khashoggi” has rocketed since golfers gathered for the LIV tournament. The market for sportwashing may be set to turn.
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Obscenity in sport is rife, por cierto
Paul, my only interest in the Scotland game is that our ghuys get home safe, uninjured and ready to rest.
Calum in particular NEEDS a decent rest.
This is not new – Beijing ?
NZ all out England need 299 to win – minimum of 72 overs.
Going to be an interesting afternoon
With different governing bodies in Golf,this is going to get messy…..
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The Saudis are playing the long game in terms of their sports washing. Down the line, media will tire of talking about human rights on the back pages.
Sportswashing — more successes than failures.
SA angle is interesting — journalists are “removed” globally on a daily basis.
Some very close to home — including sub lethal methods.
However butcher’s knives in an embassy / consulate did raise the bar somewhat.
Level of stupidity or personal animus in the JK case seems to be off the scale.
No level of sportswashing will solve that little problem.
Consequently SA is howling at the moon at the moment.
Issue for the wider world is that one journalist trumps civil war slaughter.
What is the more heinous — direct action vs proxy war?
Not sure I am getting all the CCV love — £6mill is too much for him.
Plus all the chat that it might be £10mill in the fullness of time.
Mental — but that is the way we work when it comes to CB’s.
CJ @ £7mill — we paid too much.
Great footballer but not stable enough to be a top class defender.
CS @ £4.5mill’ish — we paid far too much.
Another good footballer wrapped up in a limited defender.
Backs to the wall is his high point — fluid game not so much.
Consequently happy to start next season with CCV and CS.
However we need better and hopefully we are working.
SPL stats mean nothing when we are being sliced and diced when we play in the EuL.
A proper LB will help improve the defence.
However a proper MF with a defensive pivot will make an even bigger difference.
Hopefully we are working behind the scenes to make this happen.
No more excuses this year — we know the gaps / we have the money / we have the time.
Sport washing- on the 10th anniversary of a club going into liquidation we don’t need to look to Saudis,we can wash away history and keep schtoom all by ourselves.
So let’s not look outwardly and money in our sport
Who is the Saudis in that equation?
Who are the golfers?
The fans?
It’s just assumed whatever Dermot says,speaks for Celtic,not in my name.
Let’s not look to morally judge the sick sportswashing
Certainly not when we have not entirely been up front in their part of doing nothing over a lre liquidated and cheating Rangers.
HH
Glad this international fixture foolishness is ending.
Pathetic scheduling.
Big countries in couldn’t care less with fringe players mode.
Wee countries like us having new route for perennial “struggles to qualify for big tourney”
As for market for sportswashing coming to an end?
I’m not so sure Pablo.
To borrow a line from “Layer Cake” ….
“Eventually you forget what 5h1t even looks like”.
As long as regimes are willing to pay sportspeople “You can move to the top of the layer cake away from the rest of society” levels of cash?
I think this will run for a while.
I sincerely hope you’re right, but very much doubt it.
Have you seen the price of oil?
Follow the money.
THE BLOGGER FORMERLY KNOWN AS GM
You are right unfortunately . Principles come out of the ground and are measured in barrels .
Sportswashing — investing the proceeds of your efforts into sport to generate a bigger / better public profile.
And them — locally — you have the Fridge Magnet investing money / time / effort into QP.
Interesting !!!???!!! and then some.
SPL vs B/G levels of business / sporting management.
Would it be possible to win the SPL with a budget of £20mill?
Once every 10 years?
LH — in its new format should be able to cope with crowds up to 3K poss even 5K with some innovation.
That should be big enough for their efforts in the SCh this season coming.
Interesting what would happen if they make it to the SPL?
One to watch.
Sorry QP @ LH — would it cope with crowds of 3K?
Interesting that WH is now getting himself into football.
Other routes were available but he is putting his time and effort into the “Speeders” aka QP.
I don’t agree P67
Newcastle takeover was a case in point. ‘ooh we might have to look into that’. ‘we did for a day and it’s all great’
I have always said that Thatcher/Reagan impact would be felt more in the generation after ours who tried to fight it.
Cash, or more likely, credit is king theses days for most ordinary people with high expectations on lifestyle but less money in real terms that their parents.
Also, the fast media phenomenon is also a factor. Stories rise up quickly worldwide (due to socials and MSM reporting in a similar fashion); campaigns are launched; the ‘right’ thing to think is decided and there is no debate, we all get the same FB background and hashtag(don’t even know how that works). Anyone with an alternative view hides until the next subject which they might take the lead on.
Whoever was supposed to be the beneficiary of the campaign gains nothing and the perceived bad guys come out of the spotlight.
Syria, Yemen, Uyghurs, Palestine, Afghanistan (in record time!), all gone from our screens.
BLM has survived in Europe as a topic but has it changed anything in the US media agenda? People have moved on from Capitol riots there too; the current investigation is too late for the modern attention span
Fair play to Raynor for trying to address the PPE fraud but most people have moved on
Corbyn was defamed by papers, politicians , his own MPs, a Countdown star and no-one cares
That is why people have to be a pain in the posterior to keep an agenda alive. The DUP are masters at it in a political sense.
Young Palestinians have to risk there lives stoning troops to get back in the news
At least there is some politics around the world – here in Ireland there has been literally nothing all year; no idea what the gov are doing and no opposition. The dodgy secondment of the CMO to Trinity College was a major story😎
Sorry, bit of a ramble but in summary, the rich will continue to shaft sport and all the rest
The truly ludicrous nature of modern international football is indicated by the fact that as a nation we have 33 players who have achieved more than 50 caps yet 21 year old Billy Gilmour already has 14 caps. I wish FIFA would just give it a rest. Adding the Euros was bad enough but this new thing is an utter nonsense.
SA may hold the upper hand in terms of the black stuff but this is tempered by its constant need for security in the world in general and in the region in particular. It’s reliance on the west cannot be underestimated.
Hail Hail
Stay Safe
For those who have not worked out MM’s latest World contribution to the blog, I have guessed that LH= Lesser Hampden- that venue is now so well known it can be identified by its abbreviations.
I am now worried about myself that I was able to decode this.
World was Wordle before spellcheck intervened
setting free the bears for Res. 12 & Oscar Knox
I sometimes think that if I understand MM’S messages that I have been reading too many contact magazines
dearie me,
14TH JUNE 2022 1:07 PM
LH? I thought it was Twiggy…….or I would have done had I read MM`s post.
The American golfing public are not renowned for their reticence. The US Open is only a couple of days away. Will be interesting to see the reaction of the crowd when the LIV Golf American pros step on to the first tee.
An Tearmann mentions our majority shareholder in his post. Would certainly like to hear the views of the golf loving Dermot Desmond on the establishment of Saudi Arabia’s LIV Golf Tour.
The above was referring to SFTB`s post of that time.
I think we can file sportswashing along with the English premiership bubble bursting, not gonna happen.
Money rules
Lesser Hampden development.
I attended a few evening matches there when my nephews were in the youth leagues.
The old farmhouse and terrace were interesting from the point of view they had not changed in 100 years.
It is very much a community club focused on youth player development.
I walked around the building works just a month ago, The new construction will have capacity of less than 2,000.
I would suggest given his statements Willie Haughey is not in it for anything other that giving something to Glasgow. Same with McGeady and the 3RD project.
Once again MM types a lot of uninformed made up shite.
https://queensparkfc.co.uk/lesser-hampden/
CB @ 12.59
Generational change — post 1979/80 with MT and RR and its impact on the present.
I think you need to better understand how it is changing the dynamics regarding parents and children?
The situation in the SE of England is totally different from the situation inn Scotland — housing market being the biggest difference..
Plus the TB / GB bonus of a minimum wage has transformed certain sections of the economy / workforce.
We are currently having a spike in inflation because we have too much demand and not enough supply in certain parts of the economy and the capitalists are working very hard to make this a universal truth — if someone can generate a price increase then everyone will have a go as well even if their area is more stable.
Yeti @ 1.30
If one thing changes then everything changes.
B/G and the lesson they gave us have changed football economics.
The full extent of that change has not fully played out but people are watching and taking note / learning from their efforts.
The Fridge Magnet is working QP well above some sort of local Glesga legacy angle — that might not be readily apparent to you but it is to me.
Your premise could have been delivered with a training pitch and some full time coaches.
He is putting in a lot more than that — the LH rebuild is not for the here and now.
If his ambitions stopped at 1K seats then a Q+D upgrade would have been enough without the need to demolish the farm buildings.
WH / QP / SCh — worth a watching.
You might find that the press releases might change over time.
I would imagine all the Celtic players who represent Scotland were devastated not to reach the World Cup finals. It’s the pinnacle for every professional footballer.
Yeti @ 1.30
LH upgrade — two sides partially done is 1800 seats.
For now — I’m sure there are plans to complete the upgrade when the time comes.
If QP make the SPL and start to make things happen I am sure WH has a Plan B in his sky rocket.
Ambition is what football needs in Scotland.
MNC @ 1.43
The Ukraine debacle — football — showed that SC is a good coach but a poor manager and a terrible leader.
The job is too much for him.
The EuCh’s last year showed how limited he is.
https://ntvcelticfanzine.com/2022/06/14/how-i-nearly-stopped-them-dying-but-didnt/
:-)
HH
Big Ange will be gutted that some of the rockets on CQN don’t rate his players.
Yeti @ 1.30
The 3RD project — very interesting.
Never knew anything about it.
However it does offer some potential regarding the physicals of a SPL challenge from the Fridge Magnet.
Interesting.
BSR @ 1.57
CB pairings of our recent past:
2014 / VVD and JD vs
2016 DB and JS vs
2020 CJ and KA vs
2022 CCV and CS ???
Discuss / comment at will
I think that we need better than CS and CCV for the medium term.
England 56 for 3 with Joe Root back in the pavilion.
MM
2016 DB and JS vs
———————————-
They were not the regular partnership.
In 2015/16 it was most often Efe and Dedryk
In 2016/17 it was most often Jozo and Erik Sviatchenko
Of your supposed better pairings only Virgil and Denayer were a clearly better partnership. The other pairings may have looked better to you but their goals conceded stats do not support that view.
I remain unconvinced that CCV and Carl are as good as it gets, but, given the transfer fees it is costing just now to get even half decent players, I am unsure who we could get that is clearly better. Look at Scotland’s CBs- there’s not one that could get in the Celtic team as a regular
MADMITCH
I’m not getting at you here, but I have been briefly scanning your posts for a long time, but lack the enigma code to break them down. Despite the fact that I do 2 crosswords a day, my general reaction when seeing your posts, especially if I am in a hurry, is, ” I cannae be bothered.”
I would quite like to read your posts, and you may, like many on here, occasionally post valid or relevant points. But you are not getting your message through, and I strongly suspect that the reason you don’t receive more responses is that, like me, many posters can’t be arsed with solving your acronyms. At least try abbreviating words by leaving out vowels instead of relying solely on initials. Otherwise, you are just blowing in the wind. Just a suggestion.
HH