Scottish football is posed for the most momentous stand-off in its history. The battle lines are clear:
Money v Morals, TV money v Season ticket money, Bank of Scotland v Fans
In 12 days the SPL clubs will vote on resolutions which will enable a new club to parachute straight into the SPL following the liquidation of Rangers without having to apply for entry to the Scottish Football league and rise through the pyramid. Five clubs can block their entry – for a few days anyway. Six, a majority if one member is liquidated, would be enough to ensure Rangers Newco SPL entry is blocked.
According to the SPL Fan Survey fans would overwhelmingly like to see any Newco football club enter the Scottish Football League, a position supported by a large number of Rangers fans, but the voices of fans are more easily discarded than that of the Bank of Scotland, who a large number of clubs depend upon to keep their own clubs out of administration.
In short, unless clubs can demonstrate to the Bank of Scotland that they will lose more money from disaffected fans by voting for Newco than they will by voting to retain the custom of Rangers fans, with accompanying television and sponsor money, Newco FC will be voted into the SPL.
Celtic will vote against Newco but fans from Hibs, Hearts, Aberdeen, Dundee United, Inverness, St Johnstone, Motherwell and St Mirren have to do more to make their case directly with their clubs. Irrespective of fan views, I reckon Dunfermline shareholders would rather relegate their own team than Rangers. Don’t even ask about Kilmarnock.
The Gang of 10 may speak as one. If they get rid of Rangers they will be able to out-vote Celtic and have a unique opportunity to change voting rights, allowing them to capture long-term money currently going to Celtic. This, together with overwhelming fan pressure, might be enough to persuade some, but this issue is more complex.
Despite initial opposition to changing the voting rights, Duff and Phelps may vote with the Gang of 10 on voting rights as part of a deal to allow them to sell a place in the SPL. Yes – trade votes in order to sell a place in the top league. Sporting integrity dismantled forever.
Since we first raised the alarm on this vote back in October I have been convinced Newco would be ushered into the SPL but the weight of opinion from fans from other clubs is stark. Over half of respondents to the Survey say they will not attend SPL games if Newco is voted straight into the league.
Even the Bank of Scotland would have to recognise the business sense in siding with the fans if this view is made firmly enough.
Truth is, no one knows which way this one will go, but this is a once in a century opportunity for fans to make a stand.
Bids for the original canvass painting of Neil Lennon by US based artist, Joseph Gormley, has topped £600! Keep an eye on the auction, which ends tomorrow, here.
Buy a hard copy of CQN Magazine, issue 7, by clicking on the button below. You can read online here.
879 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- »
Fortunes Favour Mibbes,
Our game is falling apart, yet a manager jogging onto the pitch to ask a ref WTF is the big story? This country is beyond a joke.
ps ….. on that Kelly article one of the central arguments was that Kelly could not quite give up the victim mentality because he had witnessed so much anti Celtic behaviour and was reluctant to accept that times had changed.
Fred C. Dobbs
Aye, joke bein the word. Lenny often runs on to the pitch at away games. Is he not allowed to say a word to the MIB in that time? Is this a new rule?
Ach, most of us know the score. The couple of agenda monkeys who’ve been appearing here this week to play their part in the demonisation process are best ignored imo.
I like your respsonse on these occasions though ! Never a bad time for that video ! :))
HH
Harryhoodsdugbitme
Enjoy Motherwell. I will be in Peru and Bolivia but as ever my heart will be with the Celts.
Good luck.
Fortunes Favour Mibbes,
Celtic/// \\\Celtic
garcia lorca
Interesting stuff.
To potentially open up another debate…..<:O … it will be an even longer time before the Asian communities are allowed to feel part of the UK. For a country that enjoyed pillaging the rest of the world at its leisure, it's very odd how it is so easily offended by the idea of immigration.
And I do wonder why the Asian communities have so few representatives in football here. When I grew up, we all played together with equal ability.
They have small representation at boys club level imo.
Fred C. Dobbs
Hah. Was it yourself that posted this earlier in the week??
I sent it to a friend who hadn’t been to CP for well over a year due to family commitments, and wasn’t familiar with this one. He asked me what it was at the Celtic v St Johstone game the other week, where we took his 2 youngs boys (and pals – 4 new additions to the Celtic Family! ) to their first Celtic match, so sent him this clip. Love the Q & A chants, the Paddy McCourt one being a favourite !
Your a lucky man.(madchester) Hail Hail. ! HH.
FFM@00.04am
I agree we could open up a real interesting debate on the subject of football and immigration.
My late father and great Celtic man would urge young Glasgow Pakistani lads to support Celtic for reasons that are crystal clear to you and me.
I have a very early start in the morning so time to sleep but I intend posting that John Rafferty piece tomorrow night.
hey folks, long time lurker here, I am honestly having trouble understanding so called supporters who are not backing Lennon. At last we have a manager who will stand up for our club and ask the questions that we, as Celtic fans have been asking for years. we have been cheated and lied to for years and now that we have Lennon in charge its going to stop. I personally think that anyone who is not behind Lennon should really ask themselves if they are really Celtic supporters, do they really think that he will stand aside while we are being cheated out of trophys. Those days are gone,
garcia lorca
Cheers amigo.
An interesting discussion for another time then.
HH
.
Courtesy The Scotsman..
Lennon begins his battle to avoid a touchline ban of at least seven games
NEIL Lennon will try to avoid receiving a touchline ban of at least seven games at Hampden today when he contests the first two of a lengthening list of SFA disciplinary charges against him.
The Celtic manager will face a three-man Judicial Panel who will consider his alleged rule breaches relating to the League Cup final against Kilmarnock and the Old Firm fixture at Ibrox last month.
Following the 1-0 defeat to Kilmarnock at Hampden on 18 March, Lennon branded referee Willie Collum’s failure to award Celtic a penalty kick in the closing stages as “criminal”. SFA Compliance Officer Vincent Lunny cited Lennon for a breach of Rule 68, which covers post-match criticism of match officials and offered a fixed two-match penalty.
This was immediately rejected by Lennon, who said: “I will defend my case vigorously. I don’t even think I need to be up there but Vincent and the SFA see it a different way. So I’ll be quite happy to go and defend my case. There are one or two quotes that they felt might be against the rules, whatever rule it is. I don’t know. So I asked him if he had looked at the whole interview. He said he had. There are mitigating circumstances within the context of the interview. But people only want to talk about my criticism of the decision, rather than look at the whole context of the interview.”
If the charge against Lennon is upheld, he will face a minimum three-match suspension. He could then face an additional four-match ban if found guilty of breaching Rule 203 when he was ‘sent off’ by referee Calum Murray at half-time of Celtic’s 3-2 defeat at Ibrox on 25 March.
But Celtic, whose lawyers will be in attendance at Hampden with Lennon today, are understood to be confident they can overturn the charge. They believe the subsequent accounts of the events at half-time from referee Murray and his fourth official Iain Brines conflict with each other.
Lennon is accused of “the adoption of aggressive behaviour towards a match official and the repeated use of offensive, abusing and insulting language,” the same charge which landed Falkirk manager Steven Pressley a four-match ban following the League Cup semi-final against Celtic in February.
But Lennon will maintain the stance he took in the immediate aftermath of the Old Firm game when he was highly critical of the decision to banish him from the technical area for the second half.
“My sending-off is a joke,” he said. “I spoke quite quietly and coolly to the referee in the tunnel. I didn’t swear, I didn’t point any fingers. I was speaking to the delegate after the game and their version of events in the tunnel is different to mine, but I’ve got witnesses to back mine up.
“What happened? I told him [Murray] I wasn’t happy with his first-half performance. Their version will come out in reports, I’m sure. I’m getting it second hand, so I’m not going to make it public at the minute. Needless to say, I’m not happy about it.”
A third complaint against Lennon, for potential breach of Rule 69 which prohibits managers discussing referees in advance of fixtures, will not be heard today. In an interview, Lennon had expressed his wish to “maybe have a decent refereeing performance” in the match against St Johnstone at Celtic Park on 1 April. It is understood Lunny will review a response from Lennon before deciding whether to pursue that charge.
Lunny will also wait until today’s hearing is concluded before turning his attention to two further possible breaches of disciplinary rules by Lennon. The Celtic manager ran on to the pitch at Hampden at the end of last Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi-final defeat against Hearts to confront referee Euan Norris. Later that evening, he then used his Twitter account to suggest Norris’ award of the match-winning penalty against Celtic was “personal”.
If Lennon receives a touchline ban today, he could be absent from the dug-out on the final day of the SPL season when Celtic will be presented with the trophy following their home match against Hearts. Under SFA rules, managers serving touchline bans are not allowed in the dressing-rooms, tunnel area or technical area for the period from one hour before kick-off until 15 minutes after the final whistle.
Lennon already has a suspended fine of £5000 from last season to his name as he faces today’s hearing. It was imposed for his criticism of referee Craig Thomson following a match against Hearts at Tynecastle in November 2010 and suspended until June this year on the basis he did not commit any repeat offences.
Last season, Lennon picked up an initial six-match ban for “excessive misconduct” during that same fixture against Hearts, later reduced to four games on appeal. He received a further four-match ban for his part in the fracas with then Rangers assistant manager Ally McCoist at the conclusion of the controversial Old Firm Scottish Cup tie at Celtic Park in March 2011.
But Lennon was only absent from the technical area for five games after Celtic won their argument with the SFA that the two suspensions should run concurrently rather than consecutively.
Summa
Fortunes Favour Mibbes,
I think the Green Brigade (like Neil) have been demonised in this country.
We owe them and Neil so much…we shall overcome :O).
Just logged on to say: the Hoops in Turkiye are 100% behind Neil Francis Lennon.
Fred C. Dobbs
Agreed, absolutely.
Only unites us all the more imo…Lenny is aware of that.
The GB and Lenny don’t do back of the bus…..makes them likely targets of the best wee establishment in the world.
What was the Strathclyde polis quote again re….”left wing, marxist rebels”…?
I’d translate that as “humanitarians who know their history and are working towards a better future for ALL” :)
Re Lenny’s hearing tomorrow,
Any chance brother Murray can offer a contribution towards the defence, seeing as how Lenny didn’t man-handle any MIBs with the help of his team-mates in what is described as a “powder-ked situation” that led to a change in the law??
.
I Hope if Neil is Banned.. The Players refuse to Celebrate or Accept the SPL trophy till 15 after the Final Whstle.. When Neil will Join the Squad..
Then Raise the Roof..
Summa
If Neil wants to get the best outcome at his hearing he should just attend in a Madjid Bougherra costume. ;-)
Summa of Sammi
But you know he wouldn’t allow that.
Cue 60,000 Tims singing there’s only one Neil Lennon to him :)
Doesnae matter what they do to us :)
BABASONICOS71
Uhuhuhuh.
No ta, was glad to see the back of that lard arse :))
And sadly, its more likely that the only costumes bearing worn will be of the KKK variety. Although to be fair to the KKK, they did observe their national law before becoming militant.
Will the SFA become militant?? Anything to save newco…….
FFM,
Aye,agree.He’s had his time here and he did indeed possess a plump rump.
As for the SFA becoming militant,i think impotent seems more likely.
The KKK think the SFA are too prejudice. ;-)
BABASONICOS71
:))) Laughed there :)
The KKK to release an official statement about being embarrassed by Scotland’s hunnery and severing all links to their “Roots”. Hmm. there’s a book in this :D
FFM,
‘Roots’ – One of the main reasons i abhor racism is because as a yoong bhoy,8 or 9 i would say,i watched Roots.It had a really profound effect on me and since then racism has disgusted me.I realise i was young and malleable but it struck a chord that resonates to this day.
And one of it’s stars was our 1980 Scottish Cup scorer. :-)
For yoong bhoy read young bhoy.Obviously.
This is funny.If anyone’s not familiar with Doug Stanhope he’s an American comedian in the Bill Hicks,George Carlin mould but still got his own style.Anyway the reason i post this particular clip will become apparent about 3m 30s in.Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxpf_bayjbQ&feature=relmfu
BABASONICOS71
Good mhan,
Bill Hicks/ George Carlin is enough for me !!
HH Amigo – listening now..
BABASONICOS71
1:30 in – already well impressed !!!!
had a hu on facebook post a catholic abuse pic tride to moraisic aboot it fook him
JELLY + ICE CREAM
BTW
FELLOW HUN Ashamed of him
tho didnea say it
fooked off fae england
FFM,
“Are you a half-sister?Get outta here i want a real sister.” ;-)))))))
I assume you’ll be checking more of him out then?
BABASONICOS71
Of course ! V funny as well. Just shared :) Liked the end of that clip. Why on earth do burds insist on pushing on my eyeballs?!? :))
Rioskorrie on 18 April, 2012 at 22:24 said:
Nearly a great shout tonight, keeper sent off, stand in saves a penalty, only to loose a goal 2 minutes into injury time with the last touch of the ball.
My tenner on the draw at 5/2 went a long way.
Are the rumours true about the Arsenal manager changing his surname,by deed poll,to Parsley. :o)
Time for zeds.
G’night fholks.
There is only one Neil Francis Lennon.
A song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwBEM2CQN9Y&feature=relmfu
FOREVERANDEVER!!!
To the odd people saying Lenny should shut it.
He is already is he not…
Do any of you behavioural experts know what it was that the Cheeky Chappie said to him at the end of the “Shame Game” which led to Celtic and the Support being punished for hun morosity??
6 mins in:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PLn6uFbfEw
.
Courtesy The Scotsman..
50-50 split on cards as Hearts and Hibs head to Hampden for talks
HEARTS and Hibernian will learn at a Hampden meeting today how many tickets their supporters will be offered for next month’s Scottish Cup final, with a 50-50 split highly likely.
The two Edinburgh clubs will be given an equal number of tickets for the 19 May showdown, and both will give priority to season ticket holders before deciding whether there will be a public sale.
Although the Scottish Football Association declined to say yesterday what they proposed to offer, it is understood that the vast majority of seats in the 52,000-capacity stadium – well in excess of 20,000 each – will go to Hibs and Hearts fans. Hampden debenture-holders retain the right to buy seats for every event at the national stadium, but some have already said they will not require a ticket for the cup final. The two clubs will be able to use those unclaimed seats for hospitality packages.
Hibs, who have had a day longer to prepare than their rivals, having beaten Aberdeen 2-1 in Saturday’s first semi-final, are already advertising hospitality packages on their website, http://www.hibernianfc.co.uk. The cost of £180 per person includes a match ticket, return travel and a three-course meal. Hibs plan to announce details of their general sale of tickets tomorrow, and are awaiting confirmation of the number of seats they are being offered before deciding whether to allow each season-ticket holder to buy more than one. They currently have around 7,500 season-ticket holders.
“We will give priority to our season ticket holders,” a spokesman for the club said. “But we cannot confirm the number each may buy, or whether there will be any open sale, until we know the precise number we are getting. Whatever we do, the tickets are going to go quickly.”
Hearts, who beat Celtic 2-1 on Sunday to reach the final, have about 10,000 season-ticket holders. They therefore appear even less likely to be able to hold a public sale of tickets.
“Judging by the number of enquiries we have had since making it into the final with our win over Celtic, there is going to be an enormous demand for tickets for the big game,” a Hearts spokesman said. “Clearly, supporters are wanting to witness a piece of Scottish footballing history, and we are preparing for an onslaught of calls once the sale process kicks off. For that reason, the sale of tickets will be based on fans’ loyalty points totals.”
The Tynecastle club also plan to announce further details tomorrow. There will be no public sale to neutrals either at Hampden or anywhere
Summa
.
Doh..
Don’t Know why l Posted that Article..???????
Summa
CELTIC have targeted giant Brazilian keeper Fabiano Ribeiro for a £1m swoop should Fraser Forster quit Parkhead. Hoops scouts have watched the 6ft 6in tall 24 year old who plays for Portuguese side Olhanense several times in the past month after receiving rave reports on his form.Now Manager Neil Lennon whose preference is to hold on to the services of the on loan Newcastle keeper on a permanent basis but has failed to reach any agreement could have to decide on pursuing Ribeiro or moving for Scotland international keeper Craig Gordon on a free transfer from Sunderland. His wages however are sky high and a series of injury problems has hamperted his career. With several Premiership clubs interested in Forster his agents are said to be be ” unconvinced ” of the merits of him remaining in the SPL especially as the keeper is also keen to showcase his talent south of the border which could help his international ambitions . Ribeiro who has been a surprise package in the Portuguese league this season is “owned” partly by the club and his Brazilian and Portuguese “advisors ” who are keen for him to gain Champions League experience as a bigger platform for him to earn a move to a top club in Spain or England. Olhanense president Isidoro Sousa confirmed Celtic’s interest in the former Sao Paulo youngster saying : ” There are clubs in Germany and Ukraine who are also watching him .We are calm about the situation and he will only be allowed to leave if we receive a £1m offer.” Should Celtic enter the bidding they would have no problem with a work permit as Ribeiro has a Portuguese passport.
Morning Celts and of course all the support in the world to Neil Francis Lennon, HH young mhan, please remain unrepentant, we’ll support ye ever more.
V
As it’s raining north and south of hadrians wall……..
The weather is Perth western Aus is pretty cool at 20c with a bit of cloud innaw, time for the winter woolies Perth Celts.
Alt weather CSC
V