I never like to hear Celtic fans talk about weaknesses in opponents like Milan. They may be weaker than they were a decade ago but Milan have never been weak. The one thing Celtic have in their favour is the element of surprise, despite last season’s epic achievements. Milan will have read the screaming headlines, ‘spine of the team sold’. They will know little about how effective Celtic can use the vast open spaces of the San Siro.
After defending resolutely against Barca, Celtic looked like a far better team against a less effective Juventus but we found the limit to our abilities. Juve exploited the gaps in defence left as we took the game to them. I would rather defend in numbers and take our chances on the break than try to go toe-to-toe in midfield.
The San Siro seems to bring the best out of Celtic. Jock Stein went there three times, drawing after 90 minutes on each occasion; losing once after extra time. Gordon Strachan’s team were also level after regulation time, losing only after extra time, and lost narrowly in a Champions League group stage game. Martin O’Neill’s Celtic came within three minutes of securing a draw before conceding twice late on.
There can be fewer European grounds on which Celtic have performed as well. Wednesday will require another almighty and intense effort but that is something Celtic are never lacking. Milan may not fear us, but they have reason to be worried.
I listened to former Rangers director Paul Murray on BBC Radio Scotland over the weekend. I know books have been written on the downfall of that club but I could write one on his own contribution. As a non-executive director, Murray’s job was to be the eyes and ears of other shareholders, to ensure the business of the club was in order and carried out properly. He was in a position to ask awkward questions, in fact, it was his job to ask awkward questions and to ensure threats to the club were uncovered and addressed.
In this instance he failed absolutely. Despite this, he trumpeted the 50% decline in the club’s debt during his tenure as a badge of honour, he told us his namesake, Sir David, was exclusively responsible for the sale to Craig Whyte and for the consequences of the EBT debacle. We were informed that Rangers won their EBT case, despite the fact that during the First Tier Tribunal the club accepted they operated an illegal tax scheme for five players, and the remaining issues are a matter of appeal.
Most bizarrely of all he rejected Lord Nimmo Smith’s findings on the conduct of his board before telling us he is absolutely certain he would be judged fit and proper to be a director of a football club. No remorse, not even a hint of self awareness.
Well done to the Tyneside No. 1 Celtic Supporters’ Club who walked from Newcastle to Celtic Park in aid of 1254125 and the Sam Bradley Care Fund. You can support their magnificent effort here.
The new issue of CQN Magazine is out! Click here for a proper read (don’t try to read the graphic below). It’s another great issue, thanks to all who helped.
[calameo code=000390171853d2bfc4f69 lang=en page=1 hidelinks=1 width=100% height=500]
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BT if your on?
a pic on FB connected a neighbour and friend of your mammy n dad to ask wee Derryghirl how we knew them, you got the blame :¬)
V
For music lovers everywhere….
About to head in to see Elvis Costello and the Roots. What a Damm Fine sound. Have a listen here
WiseUpGhost CSC
@exiled tim. are you referring to an old sky card? the freeview box I was recommending cliftonVille Celt to get is just an ordinary set top box. the HD version will be able to display RTE etc but you need to be on island of Ireland as it comes through antenna not sky. my ma might have old sky card about though. if she does and it any good to you I’ll get it to you no problem.
CRC
the Fri quiz has been a feature and good craic on CQN.
If I was you mo chara I would ask on CQN if any body wants to take it over, its your gig and we’ll respect your thoughts, I’m naw volunteering by the way :¬)
HH CRC
praecepta…kikin
Try this for correct scores, you may surprise yourself how much you can win for little money.
These are done on the long list from the bookies shops.
1. Two rows of 4 teams A-B
Perm any two from A with any 2 from B
= 6×6=36 x fourfolds= 36 bets
Good for high odds, correct scores etc.
Connaire if your on? I might volunteer you :¬)
another way of getting RTE on sky is if you have close family member in 6 counties you could get your billing address for sky to their house and then have sky change the region on your box to the north then you should be able to tune in rte.
disclaimer: accuracy of above information is not guaranteed
Saint Stivs
23:36 on
16 September, 2013
Connecting from my new lenovo s6000 tablet.
Better than an ipad.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
you have mair E devices than the toon clock!
HH
cuchulainn
I wasn’t sure about that, I have an Irish box, and the spares are Irish also, problem is they are for the South, and to get RTE and the other channels, you have to pay Sky for the pleasure, which we do for our card.
I thought that in the North you could get the Irish channels through the freeview, hence me asking about a spare card.
I would happily have one if you have one, and will make sure you are not out anything.
nohunshere@hotmail.com
Thanks for your reply.
HH
Have to sleep, much to do early doors.
CQN as ever an education.
Take care and god bless Timland.
HH
KTF
ok might be a few days will have to have a look next day am down. if I’ve any luck I’ll get back to you.
Much obliged.
HH
Well that’s the xbmc set up in plenty of time for Wednesday.
TET
Bed for me – got some minus one bets to study tomorrow. :-)
Humble Pie – Internet Bampot
Musings on life, football and corruption.
The Clash of The Typists – Internet Bampots v Succulent Lambpots
True Journalism should be guided by a set of universal principles, namely: 1. Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth. 2. Its first loyalty is to citizens. 3. Its essence is a discipline of verification. 4. Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover. 5. It must serve as an independent monitor of power. 6. It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise. 7. It must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant. 8. It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional. 9. Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience.
Throughout the last decade or so, many in the mainstream media have sought to denigrate the rise of the blogosphere. In the battle for hearts and minds, this assault on the ‘vox populi’ appears to be as a result of the perceived threat that unregulated ‘citizen journalists’ pose to their ‘time-honoured profession’. This deprecation appears based primarily on their fear that, as the internet grows in scope, there might no longer be a need for ‘paid’ reporters as all the required raw material on any story will be easily available and accessible to anyone with a computer and an internet connection.
The fatal flaw in their thinking was, as should have been obvious, that the only reason people actually continue to pay to read their drivel is that most of us have neither the time nor the inclination to spend the hours it takes to read through and analyse the raw data ourselves. Some of us have got lives.
In many ways both forms of journalism share a number of common goals: to engage with their readers, to gain popularity, to attract people to their publications and inform them as to ‘what’s happening’ in the world around them. The main difference is that one group seem to do it almost exclusively for the money.
Critics of the blogosphere, for the most part so-called ‘professional’ journalists, assert that unfettered citizen reporting is too amateurish in content, prejudiced in opinion and random in both quality and coverage. These cynical ‘blogophobes’ also complain, erroneously, that these ‘unlicensed’ and mostly anonymous bloggers are not subject to the same degree of scrutiny and regulation to which they must themselves adhere. They have, as is their wont, even submitted a number of pejorative terms to describe these concerned civilian commentators including ‘internet bampots’ and ‘keyboard clatterers’ in an attempt to further malign their perceived adversaries. However, all of these same assertions could equally be applied to a compliant and arrogant mainstream media which is now almost hopelessly conflicted by the corporate kickbacks of most commercial publications
To be fair, many football blogs and fan’s websites are quite amateurish, however this should not be surprising. Most fan sites are really just places for supporters of a particular bias to vent their collective spleens and, as such, prejudice should be viewed as a matter of course. However, there are some sites in which the posters are allowed to go way beyond what a fair-minded person would find acceptable with some bordering on (if not actually) criminal. That most of these offensive sites are aimed at and frequented by ‘supporters’ of one particular persuasion should be the primary concern to the decent fans of that club. New legislation in Scotland aimed at deterring online threats and abuse have been brought in with little appreciable effect. A perfunctory glance at the comments on the pages of these websites illustrates just how deeply entrenched some of the sectarian, supremacist and racist attitudes are in this country. That this is tolerated, never mind encouraged by the editors or moderators of these sites should be of major concern to all people living in a so-called ‘civilised’ society.
What is certain, though, is that the blogosphere is starting to blur the distinction between what is and what is not journalism. This applies equally to sports journalism as it does to the other branches of the profession. As even the most established media are beginning to accept, we are at the point where the online community is becoming the predominant force in ‘forming the opinions’ of the general public. The absolute fiasco that is Scottish football, the calamitous implosion of Rangers FC and how it has been investigated and reported by both the mainstream and the online media is a superlative example, in microcosm, of how this ‘Clash of the Typists’ is playing out on a world wide scale.
In some ways it’s just horses for courses – just as some would rather read The Herald than The Record, people are attracted to those sites that make them feel part of a community of the likeminded. Many people of my generation are, understandably, reticent about putting their personal opinions on record. Young people, although, have less inhibitions about broadcasting their views no matter how ill-informed and, more often than not, misspelled. However, most of this inane tosh is reserved for commenting on other more erudite posts. The views of these single-issue bampots whilst often inflammatory and certainly prejudiced can be easily avoided and are probably best ignored. For some of these immature idiots (they are only young and surely have the right to be wrong) even receiving a ‘thumbs down’ on one of their witterings is akin to a personal slight on their character which must be challenged with the full might of their unwashed tongues.
When this brand of rabble-rousing rhetoric comes into the mainstream it is less easy to ignore and its effect on the population can be extremely profound and destructive. The established media owes it to its citizens to tell the truth, no matter how painful. Their first obligation is to the truth, their first loyalty to the citizens.
Let’s be absolutely clear here, The Rangers story is, by no means, exclusively a football story, far from it. It is, in fact, a pitiful tale of business collapse, tax avoidance, corporate corruption (at many levels), alleged criminal coercion and conspiracy, intimidation, subterfuge, political intrigue and institutional bias. It is without doubt the most significant sports-related news in Scotland ever, with devastating impacts far beyond the field of play. It is, above all, the story of the systemic failure of leadership, integrity and accountability across many of Scotland’s long established and previously respected institutions.
One would have expected, then, that this long-running saga would have been covered, in minute detail by the most qualified and respected journalists in their respective fields. Even the lowly editors of the Gossip and Lifestyle columns would have seen the many headline-grabbing opportunities to showcase their skills and ‘shift some copy’. Yet, for some reason, the Rangers saga has been almost exclusively investigated and reported by wilfully ignorant football hacks with no expertise in anything other than trying desperately to make their, often ill-considered, opinions on a 90 minute football game sound remotely entertaining.
There was a time, not so long ago, when the sports section of Scottish newspapers were held in some reverence by the average punter as bastions of ‘fair play’ and journalists and commentators venerated as defenders of free speech. Alas, with surprisingly few notable exceptions, that naive delusion has been well and truly exposed for what it is. Nowadays, people are more likely to be of the view that the press are corrupted, inherently biased and that they simply ‘make stuff up’ to suit their own, or their master’s, corporate agenda(s).
From the quality of their output in recent years, this observation appears to be accurate. This could be, in part, due to the predictable ‘lazy journalism’ brought on by the complacency which comes with having a ‘monopoly’ on the news or because their budgets have been cut so sharply with the decline of their readership that if they can’t investigate something by making a few phone calls, they probably won’t bother to investigate it at all. As a result, most hacks have been reduced to elaborating on the output from their ‘contacts’ within specific clubs and by copying and pasting those already well-crafted press releases from highly-paid PR companies into their daily rags. By repeating the lies proffered by their paymasters and creating confusing controversy they have become no more than ‘purveyors of untruths’, the exact opposite of journalists.
However, a number of common or garden citizens have set up their weblogs, with that most elusive yet noble of causes….’the Truth’. This year, the anonymous RTC from the rangerstaxcase blog was awarded the prestigious Orwell Prize which celebrates making ‘political writing into an art’. This sensibly moderated but self-regulated blog was set up in order to address the lack of any critical coverage of the spectacular disintegration of Rangers FC from the within the ranks of the Scottish MSM in what has become known as ‘succulent lamb’ journalism.
The RTC site, and its successor, The Scottish Football Monitor, attracts mostly intelligent and thoughtful comment and analysis from a wide range of football fans from across the country. Amongst the generic posters, many posters can boast years of experience in any number of relevant fields from football generally to business, taxation, accountancy, corporate law and politics. The quality of informed debate and analysis is nothing short of exemplary. That it remains entirely inclusive and light-hearted is a credit to those well-brought-up individuals frequenting and contributing to these sites.
By simply reading and referring to all the ‘raw material’ relating to Rangers finances which is easily accessible in the public domain (it was a PLC at the time), RTC was able to establish a ‘prima facia’ case to answer for this once acclaimed club. By analysing the available data and disseminating it in an (almost) jargon-free format while encouraging others to do likewise, RTC soon attracted an legion of unpaid amateur investigators who took it upon themselves to uncover the pertinent facts in the Rangers story. By scrutinising this freely available information via Google and public service websites, many facts surrounding the case were established and stories broken online long before they made it onto the mainstream press.
Obviously newspapers are restricted by print deadlines and the like, however the established Scottish football media, who had access to all the same information, didn’t even attempt to investigate the story. In fact they either ignored it, deflected from it, refused to discuss it or, in most cases simply dismissed it as the paranoid ravings of the obsessed and deluded. One particularl hack, in mitigation of their ineptitude, even claimed, laughably, that a former owner of Rangers had paid someone to wipe the record of their existence from Google. When these ‘breaking stories’ actually turned out to be true, these same ‘unprincipled typists’ simply resorted to plagiarism, took the credit for these new disclosures and claimed that ‘that is what we have been saying all along’. These mis-speakers are not that fond of unprofitable truths preferring instead to sell the lucrative lie. In an effort to maintain these financially favourable falsehoods, they are forced to ignore, avoid and deflect from the truth for as Goebbels said “The truth is the mortal enemy of the lie.” The problem is that liars need a good memory and they need to keep covering their tracks.
The preposterous notions currently advanced by our Scottish football media that somehow everyone has it in for The Rangers, that they remain the same ‘club’ despite liquidation looming, that some mythical ‘holding company’ went bust due to some legal ‘technicality’, that there was a ‘lone gunman’ responsible for the assassination of the club, etc. not only perpetuates the lie itself, it provides justification to hate-filled provocateurs and gives comfort to the deluded cyber-bullies, it also serves to inflame an already serious situation. Remember , Voltaire said, “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” Perhaps we are not quite there yet, but the level of threat is palpable and it is well past time that this assault on the minds of our countrymen was addressed by our so-called leaders.
By the way, I am neither a professional journalist nor a paid commentator and I reserve, absolutely, the right to be wrong.
And another thing, if the line between journalists and non-journalists really is becoming blurred, what of the special privileges typically extended to the press? Can I have Hugh Keevins’ withdrawn press pass to Celtic Park?
Red Sky At Night
Monday, 16 September 2013
Ghost of The Billy Boy
The 1930’s were politically polarising both internationally and domestically. The looming war between Fascism and Communism darkened the horizon, with many liberals dashing here and there wondering which fence to sit on to get the best view as they hoped both these titans would destroy each other. Not that Liberals could accurately be described as sitting in the middle. Herr Hitler was feted, courted and ultimately appeased.
Wow. That turned out well, didn’t it? But many liberals had been sincere in their belief that to tell the truth about Herr Hitler or, worse, to tell the truth to Herr Hitler, would only make matters worse. Best to turn a blind eye to his criminal treatment of the Jews while they were made to scrub pavements with toothbrushes in German streets at gun point. Liberals really do know how to be diplomatic, if not honourable .
Around the same time, Mr Fullerton was being feted, courted and appeased in Glasgow. He and his Fascist thugs were a useful bulwark against uppity workers who were prone to “communism” and such like. The original Billy Boy, of whom tens of thousands sang praises for decades after his infamy, was sponsored by the UK’s Fascists, the Blackshirts, who in turn supported Herr Hitler. The thuggish violence of the Billy Boys, celebrated as much as it was until recently, was ultimately unsuccessful in cowing Glasgow’s inherently progressive working class.
The celebrants, the communicants, of this unholy and perverse violence directed against workers and especially workers of Irish heritage were a sub section of Scottish Protestants, many of whom supported Rangers Football Club. Many supporters of that club, including my own grandfather, were not fascists or anti anything. Hence my employment of the term “sub section”.
Many members of this sub section of the Rangers support try very hard to pretend they represent all Rangers supporters. They don’t. But they feel important while passing themselves off as spokesmen. I know many Rangers fans. Some are life-long friends. The likes of The Rangers Standard does not speak for them. I know socialists who are Rangers supporters who cringe at the self-important, self-appointed nonentities who pompously proclaim the truth according to Rangers.
Credit where credit is due. Rangers fans no longer sing the racist and incendiary hymn to murder that The Billy Boy song is with the same freedom as before. It’s churlish not to applaud that, though we know this appalling anthem is still whispered some places and yelled out others. Progress comes dripping slow sometimes.
So slow in fact that even in the year 2013 a respected professional journalist working for the BBC no less can be made to hear the haunting footsteps of the Billy Boy. The ghoulish Billy Bear, with one foot firmly planted in 1930s Fascist landscape and the other planted firmly in its own mouth, is foaming hatred, raging against the truth, and railing against those who dare speak it.
Even now, in the year 2013, there are liberals, don’t you know, in positions of influence, who’d rather do anything than stand up to Herr Billy and say, we will not be intimidated. Freedom of speech will be defended.
So, who’s running the BBC? Neville Chamberlain?
Bob SmithWalker at 15:07
hen1rik
00:42 on
17 September, 2013
********************Vmhan hashtag*****************
I’ve been reading your posts and checking out your links for a while ,,,,,,,,, thank you!
HH Henke
Can you provide link?
HH
neil lennon and mccartney
The link you asked hen1rik for.
@BobSmithWalker: We Are All Jim Spence
http://t.co/Z8SFXEzfpA
HH
Tim in the chamber
Had to depart the blog for a while.
If you’re still lurking somewhere,
Cheers
HH
Phil Mac on BBC statement on Jim Spence
http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/you-might-not-have-seen-this/#more-4013
MATTHEWS & LUSTIG: A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN?
0 POSTED BY JOSEPH RUDDY – 16/09/2013 – THE JOURNAL
http://celticjournal.org/2999/matthews-lustig-a-match-made-in-heaven/?
Excellent read.
Celtic Passion
Everybody sleeping, awe this nightshift is long
HH
Jimtim.. Yes, he’s registered.
Less than 40 hours to KO.
I hope the Bhoys are confident and well prepared.
Neil is raising our profile, leading us to heights rarely scaled since Big Jock’s tenure.
We may not have the greatest individuals in Europe but there are signs that we are gelling as a unit working and covering for one another.
I suspect none of the three other teams were happy to have us as the underdogs.
Does being happy to compete give us freedom to play without fear?
Or doesn’t put us in awe of our opponents and encourage an overly cautious approach?
I hope it’s the former.
Or doesn’t put us in awe of our opponents and encourage an overly cautious approach?
Should read
Or does it put us in awe of our opponents and encourage an overly cautious approach?
Time to sleep.
Still long, nearly there…
HH
A simple search on Google:
https://www.google.co.uk/?gws_rd=cr&ei=sNs3Ur3CJsmThQea4oBY#q=muslim+genocide+of+christians+throughout+the+middle+east
For those on here that continue to pretend that this didn’t happen then,and isn’t happening now,is akin to denying the Holocaust ever took place.
Reading back, I notice a couple of posters implicating the club as being in bed with Sevco because of a deal to sell electronic cigarettes.
That makes no sense. It’s not sponsorship. You can buy a Mars Bar at both stadiums. You can aldo buy a coke. Does that mean both clubd have a joint sponsorship deal with Mars snd Coca Cola?
16 roads – Wee Oscar the Celtic warrior @ 05:47
Google searches are useful tools but only when you’ve researched the credentials of the authors.
Lets just take the first on the Google list – The Gatestone Institute’s founder, Nina Rosenwald….
Nina Rosenwald is founder of the Gatestone Institute—a New York-based offshoot of the neoconservative Hudson Institute—and an important funder of a panoply of right-wing “pro-Israel” and anti-Islamic organizations. Dubbed the “Sugar Mama of Anti-Muslim Hate” by journalist Max Blumenthal, Rosenwald is an heir to the Sears Roebuck fortune, a co-chair of the board at the equity firm American Securities Management, and vice president of the William Rosenwald Family Fund, which has donated enormous sums to conservative causes. She is the daughter of the late William Rosenwald, a liberal Zionist philanthropist who founded the United Jewish Appeal in the late 1930s.
Hmmm, do you think she and her and her money have got an agenda? I wouldn’t be paying too much attention to this particular source.
The link to the info on Nina Rosenwald, courtesy of Google.
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/rosenwald_nina
tom mclaughlin
06:18 on 17 September, 2013Reading back, I notice a couple of posters implicating the club as being in bed with Sevco because of a deal to sell electronic cigarettes.That makes no sense. It’s not sponsorship. You can buy a Mars Bar at both stadiums. You can aldo buy a coke. Does that mean both clubd have a joint sponsorship deal with Mars snd Coca Cola?
Morning TM hope your well liked that one subtle…
Electronic cigarettes and joint sponsorship
Electronic joints… it’ll no catch on.. ah know, nightshift am bored, finish in 35 mins
Ayrshire is Green and White
HH
Murdochbhoy supporting Fearless Oscar
06:18 on
17 September, 2013
16 roads – Wee Oscar the Celtic warrior @ 05:47
Google searches are useful tools but only when you’ve researched the credentials of the authors.
Yes.
It`s also helpful to look at the credentials in the credits at the end of T.V.”docos.”
Micktt
Ye cannae buy bears paroka at celtic park. …
We should defo have a paroka bar in the north stand… chicken.. haggis.. fish. .. broccoli. . Cauliflower. .
Good morning friends from a dry but very grey looking East Kilbride.
One more sleep…
macjay1 for Neil Lennon
Absolutely….Going off on a slight tangent – It’s also instructive to look where TV channels put out press releases backing their staff.
BBC Scotland should be ashamed of their pathetic stance against the intimidation of their employee. I hope the Celtic support and the rest of the supporters of SPFL teams follow their brothers at Aberdeen and show their solidarity with Jim Spence.