I like the idea of competitive training. If you’re not receiving a hard challenge at training you’re not going to be sufficiently prepared for it in competitive action. It’s also fair to acknowledge that Nadir Ciftci’s retaliation on Emilio Izaguirre had the unfortunate coincidence of happening on a press conference day, with the bloody aftermath photographed. I’ve no doubt that such instances happen more often away from the press pack. By that doesn’t make any of it right.
Lose your cool at training and you’re more likely to lose your cool on the pitch, so as well as legal, health and safety, and appropriate workplace behaviour concerns, I don’t even think it’s right from a football perspective. I’d drop and fine both players.
Both Emilio and Nadir are under pressure right now, as is the team in general. We need to use that pressure constructively, starting at Tynecastle tonight, where indiscipline is likely to be costly.
“Sports Direct continues to litigate with the Club in an attempt to enforce its wishes and demands”, Dave King, 27 Oct. 2015. Hmmm. “Continues to litigate” suggests recent action. I wonder where this is heading, and how quickly? The subsequent bluster from King about Defending Ol’ Newco’s Walls and sending strongly worded letters from Rangers Retail Limited is Pythonesque. He may as well have proclaimed he’s farted in the general direction of Shirebrook.
Four months ago King told a receptive media: “On a scale of one to 100, [Ashley] doesn’t get up to one in terms of a threat.” You and I were more skeptical at the time. On a threat scale of one to 100, I reckon Mike’s at least a 67.
As King prepared to win control of the club in March, when he pondered that Sports Direct had possibly give two £5m loans, he dismissed concerns about owing Mike money by saying: “To me, that’s just noise level, because £10m going forward is well within the numbers of understanding we have to invest.”
It’s “just noise”. “Well within the numbers we have to invest.” Again, we were skeptical at the time. I wonder how this one will turn out.
Three months ago all fears were allayed when King proclaimed: “I regarded that meeting as being a good meeting with Sports Direct.
“One of my suggestions was we should look at a restructuring of the relationship and I indicated I would make proposals. They were willing at least to listen to me. They have not given a commitment one way or another, but they did say ‘Dave, you are an important customer of ours. We would like to make the relationship work, please come to us with your proposals.’
As far as good meetings go, that sounds like a pretty bad one. There’s not a sales manager in the country didn’t read that synopsis of King’s meeting and reflect on the rep who had a great pipeline but was clearly unable to differentiate between what he wants to happen, and what’s going to happen. Fantasy and reality. There’s no harm in a bit of fantasy, it’s a part of the human condition, but someone has to ensure that fantasists don’t grab the controls.
Dave, you’re an important inspiration of ours*.
*with added subtext.
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Ciftci is not exactly endearing himself to the fans. I like Celtic teams to have a few guys that can take care of themselves and others. Despite some outburst from Ciftci, his actions don’t exactly fit the identikit i have in mind. Hay, Aitken, Sutton all guys who do. As was John Hartson. I thought we’d signed a nut case after the Berkovic incidents but John was not like that at all, but could certainly take care of himself. Am hoping Simunovic is in that mode also.
like to see a good hammering of the farts tonight. 6/7-0.
Never liked Tynecastle, as others have said more of a horrible experience there that the Horribles, Take care Celtic fans particularly leaving, loads of wee streets and lanes stay together
The man in the middle has refereed Hertz twice this season and on both occasions awarded them a penalty. Watch out for diving in the appropriate area and kicking lumps out of our players in all areas.
LB
I remember Tommy Burns doing a Q&A in Vegas to the North American Celtic supporters, and he was asked, (9/10 years ago this was maybe longer not sure) if there where any young bloods coming through who he thought was special? And the boy he said was named Michael O’Halleran had something different from the rest, he went on about this kid for about five minutes praised him to the highest and told us all to watch out for him in the future, he also added that for reasons unknown to the back room staff, that for some reason he developed later than the rest of the kids at his age, IE more or less he said others would make it before him, but! He was a late developer, and we should watch for him. He is not a bad player, and he is still young, time will tell I suppose. – See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/scott-allan-back-newco-will-have-a-plan/comment-page-11/#comment-2705640
PEDROCARAVANACHIO67 on 28TH OCTOBER 2015 8:47 AM
ACGR
Don’t say I never told you!!
I agree with u on HT.
PEDROCARAVANACCHIO
‘BMCUWP
You’re getting your biblical characters mixed up, I think u are referring to LOTS wife…..
Pass the salt please’
~~~~~~~~~~****~~~~~~~~~~
Correct,mate. I’m famously useless wi names. And I got my Bible In a Job Lot.
HereawweekCSC
Yep. Last night’s Dave King statement was one of the classic Sevco moments. I wonder if Big Mike is even aware of what King said yet?!
Here is my take on the statement…
https://theclumpany.wordpress.com/2015/10/28/kerpow
Enjoy the rest of the day
Afternoon bhoys and ghirls. Looking for a bit of help from any knightswood bhoys. My sister has been offered the chance of a house in Shafton road. She was wondering what the area is like. It’s a 4 in a block if that’s any help as to where on Shafton Rd.
Thanks in advance.
HH
KTF
UTLR
I wonder how many creditors on BDO’s list will be on Sevco’s creditor list as well ?
Here’s hoping the ole face painter hasn’t been stung twice .
Whois in charge of the poppy money at Narnia this year?
Good Afternoon.
Excellent post by Blantyre Kev earlier on.
Anyone with business acumen and knowledge can see who the form horse is among the pack of donkeys walking around the Ibrox paddock.
Bike Mike has the form and all the tools to command the attention of all the players — BDO, The Courts, The current board and any potential insolvency practitioners.
He has a long term shirt deal which costs him very little at all and has a lock around assets which anyone wanting to run a football club from that venue will need.
If he can sell several thousand shirts ( not hundreds of thousands ) and associated merchandise on this basis and develop the “pile them high sell ’em not so cheap” Rangers brand — just as he did with Slazenger, Lonsdale, Dunlop etc — then he will.
Big Dave is not so much a King as a Joker who makes Green and Whyte look like Hansel and Gretel — just two naughty kids in comparison.
In other news, I am told by a reliable source that reports of Emilio being “rushed” to hospital yesterday as nonsense! Complete bunkum of the worst order.
As for the trial at the court yesterday which turned into a plea of guilty ( baring in mind that the accused started out alleging the assault had been committed by someone else ) — I would not bother with any news report at all and I would watch out for anyone who was there looking after their own self interests.
A footballer plead guilty to an assault, was convicted and was fined.
What anyone else said and did is a matter of conjecture and one person in particular was not there to give his version of events, defend his character or confirm or deny what others, who may or may not have been in a state of intoxication, say he did or shouted.
In any event, provocation of any kind is never a defence to assault and so I suspect when it was made plain that no other person had assaulted the victim the game was a bogey and the accused changed his plea.
That was a wise move.
I am still raising money for the homeless campaign and am only a few pounds short of the latest target of £1967!
If you have a few spare pounds you can donate here:
https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/jamesmcginley1?
Thanks to all those who have donated already.
BRTH
http://www.skysports.com/football/news/29334/10046467/strong-management-or-weakness-neil-mccann-on-celtic-indiscipline?
Sky Sports pundit Neil McCann looks back at a turbulent week of player indiscipline for Celtic manager Ronny Deila…
Strong management or a sign of weakness?
This week saw Celtic manager Ronny Deila dealing with yet another instance of indiscipline among his players when Nadir Ciftci struck Emilio Izaguirre after the full-back’s late challenge in training, something which left Izaguirre needing stitches to an ear wound.
Preceding this was the very public confrontation involving Kris Commons, assistant manager John Collins and Deila himself during Celtic’s Europa League match against Molde in Norway. Kris reacted furiously to being substituted late in the game with Celtic trailing 3-1. As he came off, the player launched into a ferocious verbal attack, pointing, gesticulating and berating, clearly scathing of the management’s decision to change him.
Taking the training ground bust-up first, I don’t see anything major here. I’ve seen and been involved in my fair share of scraps on the training ground and personally have no real problem with it.
It’s natural in an environment which sees a group of highly-competitive men coming together to train at high intensity that some will get a little hot under the collar at times. Most footballers at some point in their career will have some sort of a rumble with a team-mate. As long as it’s stopped before it becomes too serious and ends with those involved shaking hands and forgetting about it, then it’s no big deal. A children’s charity usually benefits from a donation by the guilty parties!
Commons’ show of disrespect to Deila, Collins, a team-mate who just replaced him and most importantly his club, is a different story.
The former Scotland international has been excluded from lots of Ronny’s starting line-ups. For whatever reason, he’s found himself out of the side and you have to say it can’t be due to any lack of ability, so why has he not featured more? One suggestion has been he hasn’t conformed to the new management’s fitness requirements. Whether that’s the case or not, the man who scored 31 goals and won the PFA Scotland Player of the Year prize in 2013/14 is undoubtedly a fans’ favourite.
Last week, we saw him lose his self-control and, in my opinion, exert a little public pressure on the management. At a time when Deila is under a great deal of pressure, Commons’ display of indiscipline was not what the manager needed and only heightened scrutiny of his managerial ability. That is not on! No individual player is bigger or more important than the team. Kris, with his actions in Norway, thought at that moment he was bigger and more important than the team. Of course, he later apologised. The next day, Ronny sat in front of the media and said he was happy the player had said sorry and they could now move on. Indeed, so quickly did they do that, that Kris started the next Premiership match against Dundee United and scored twice in a 5-0 win.
So was this a show of strength or weakness by the manager?
Personally, I wouldn’t have let Commons near the squad, never mind the starting line-up. I think the manager should have put out a clear message that such behaviour is unacceptable at Celtic FC. I’m sure they had enough in their squad to beat bottom-of-the-table Dundee United without him. Did Ronny buckle under the pressure then of leaving out a player who is popular with supporters, at a time when the fans are starting to ask questions of him or was he the bigger man by putting the team before himself? Something, it’s worth noting, Kris should have done!
Whatever your opinion, if the fact is Ronny put the team before himself, then he must be commended because regardless of what he felt deep down, he believed Kris playing was the right choice to get three points and his impact in the game was clear.
Deila will be judged this week on his management skills after these events but it’s in the coming months that he will be assessed on a greater scale. Results and silverware will dictate how opinions sit. I hope his team sticks together to give him the chance to get the results he needs.
I have 2 tickets for Christy Moore at Barrowlands tomorrow, I can no longer attend due to my Mum going through an Op tomorrow and I’m on duty tomorrow night.
Let me know if you’re interested
hh
Sorry, the Christy Moore tickets are for Friday night at the Barrowlands!
TONYDONNELLY67 on 28TH OCTOBER 2015 1:52 PM
Whois in charge of the poppy money at Narnia this year?
I hear it’s to be paid into a South African account recently opened by a Mr. David Glibson.
bjmac
All the best to your Mammy for tomorrow…
Afternoon Timland from a warm hun free mountain valley
No way will the bookies pay out on Hibs if the huns go bust, there will be something in the small print re a points deduction or a liquidation.
BJMAC
Well done on both counts,mate. I hope your Mum is up and about in no time.
Will Sevco (surely a hardship case) argue that Charles Green can obtain legal aid through the Scottish Legal Aid Board à la Craig Whyte?
Ex-Rangers owner Craig Whyte to have his legal fees paid by the taxpayer at forthcoming fraud trial
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/ex-rangers-owner-craig-whyte-6704006
Scottish taxpayers will be paying for the defence of the billionaire whiz kid from Motherwell.
Tet,
Rule 4??
HH
THEEXILEDTIM
You could well be right,mate. They got stung a few years back.
Of course,that was with a different club entirely(!)
ANNE DUFF on 28TH OCTOBER 2015 2:25 PM
Will Sevco (surely a handshake case) argue that Charles Green can obtain legal aid through the Scottish Legal Aid Board à la Craig Whyte?
Ex-Rangers owner Craig Whyte to have his legal fees paid by the taxpayer at forthcoming fraud trial
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/ex-rangers-owner-craig-whyte-6704006
Scottish taxpayers will be paying for the defence of the billionaire whiz kid from Motherwell.
~~~~~~~~~~****~~~~~~~~~~
Fixed that for you,Anne. Get yer spellchecker sorted(!)
Onll genuine billionaires get Legal Aid these days.
Weather turning a bit ugly in Auld Reekie.
Anyone lucky enough to have a ticket tonight bring a decent jacket.
LB
Ole Sepp saying the World Cup in Russia 2018 ,was agreed before the voting took place.
Worth re-reading BlantyreKev’s post.
Ashley’s a clever cookie, with a tin full of cookies who are even cleverer. He’s also got the resources and the positioning to execute whatever plan suits him.
Sevco’s difficulties are extreme to the point that I’ve yet to speak to or read an opinion from an experienced professional who has a firm view on how it will all play out. Sevco seems hamstrung whichever way the cookie crumbles (This post is starting to take the metaphorical biscuit)
My own view, for what it’s worth, is that it is highly unlikely that BDO will petition the court to reduce the asset purchase agreement will Sevco Scotland, on the basis that the consequences of doing so will cause substantial impact on good faith shareholders, creditors and stakeholders of RIFC.
While Sevco Scotland was the vehicle in an alleged fraud, the benefit alleged to have been gained – and the detriment suffered by the Rangers plc Creditors – was financial, being the difference between the sum paid and the true market value of the assets. If the parties (or court) can agree to a ‘quantum’ then a compensation payment to the Creditors is significantly more convenient to execute than restitution of the assets.
Convenience wins most times, and Sevco Scotland thus will settle for an agreed sum, and the issue of good title to the assets will be closed.
That means of course that Sevco (via its owner RIFC) will need to write a cheque for a currently unknown sum, but it’s likely to be single £millions rather than tens, based on the offers received at the time.
On the basis that one cannot benefit from one’s own wrongdoing, there’s a possibility that if some of Sevco’s ‘onerous contracts’ provide benefits to those accused of the fraud, the courts will be minded to void them, thus there is a bright side for Sevco – provided the beneficiaries of the contracts are held to have been party to the fraud.
On balance, they’ll need to settle the difference with BDO, but get rid of some of the cash drain at the same time, one balancing out the other.
All of this would be possible and workable were Sevco running cash positively. But it’s not. It requires working capital to sustain operations, and the operations cannot be funded by conventional means while material doubt remains on the outcomes of the various legal cases.
Accordingly, it’s now a race against the Legal calendar to find sufficient unconventional means of funding to sustain the operation while the Law takes its course. A reasonable estimate would be 2 years hence before the Fraud case is concluded and the sequalae addressed.
Based on what we know, it’s likely that Sevco needs around £6M to get through this season, and perhaps a little less than that for the following season, say total £10M working capital over the next 2 years, assuming there’s no increase in operating costs, and there’s an uplift in income.
That’s before any exceptional costs are factored, for example legal fees. Or maintenance.
The big problem for those running Sevco is that failure to find the cash, resulting in an Insolvency, means Ashley holds all of the cards, the most valuable of which are the Intellectual Property rights, the right to trade and play as “Rangers FC” being the ace.
Kev’s observation that Ashley is letting King & Co exhaust their cash is a valid one, which, if correct, means Ashley expects to be the last man standing. It’s likely that he can bring it all down just now simply by formally declaring the loan to be in default, but why not wait a little longer and let the fools part with all of their money.
The problem for King & Co is exacerbated by the fact that, if they do manage to keep the company going until the legal dust settles, they’re back to where they were in March this year, with a football operation that is in hock to Ashley, doesn’t own its merchandising, has no conventional source of funding, and loses money, only there’ll be a shed load more debt to deal with.
In this light, it’s worth bearing in mind that in 20 years of trying, no one has yet been able to conceive of and implement a business model for a ‘successful’ Rangers operation that is sustainable – whichever model has been used, it’s always required substantial external capital to support it. Simply, “Rangers FC” playing football in Scotland is not a self-sustaining business. “Buying success” serves only to create a bigger cash hole to fill.
Perhaps Ashley has figured it out. Maybe he has a plan that is sustainable, and which does deliver ‘success’. But he’s in the Retail business, not the football business. If he wanted a football business there’s half a dozen Premiership clubs available for a relative song at the moment. But he doesn’t. He’s a Retailer, he’s making decent money out of the Rangers Retail business, he can have more of it, and that’s his prize.
My sense is, by the time it’s all played out, ‘Rangers FC’ will be a franchise owned by Ashley, and operated under licence by a succession of fools who think they can make it work, but ultimately can’t.
For what it’s worth.
Blantyrekev 12.40
That has always been my great fear.
I too think that Ashley will end up the owner.
I have been slaughtered on here every time that I have suggested it.
TT
23 previous away games before you were considered for a ticket for Tynecastle
The way some of the sweetie wife scaremongerers are going on in here it would appears that the Celtic support tonight is going to made up of those attending their first away game
Away and get a life some of you
is the Hearts game on TV tonight?
deekbhoy on 28th October 2015 2:58 pm
Naw
‘While Sevco Scotland was the vehicle in an alleged fraud’- also the vehicle in an alleged arson.
…jings, they’re not having much luck.
BLANTYREKEV
THEBATTEREDBUNNET
TINYTIM
IMO,all the cards of any value are held by Ashley. In that,you are all entirely correct.
There are,though,a number of problems facing him as to how he plays them.
First is,as you state,the business is unable to turn a profit,and especially so when he owns most of the non-match day income stream. Is it in his interest to use that income to fund on-pitch operations? It may well be,of course,that he has to bite the bullet and do so,because a defunct club will mean a defunct retail operation.
Second is his current ownership of Newcastle United. He has,apparently,been trying to offload this for years,with no takers. He has it running profitably,comfortably able to reimburse the loans he provided,with some fair few dividends as well.
Thirdly is how that ownership impacts on his ability to own Rangers. The SFA are against it,and the FA certainly won’t be too pleased. Additionally,as only one of them can be represented in Europe,that fact finally striking home to fans of each club will worry them.
Overall,yes,I agree that Ashley has them over a barrel. But I beg to differ that he wants ownership.
That’s not to say that he is prepared to let bygones be bygones wi King and co.
My guess would be a ‘rescue operation’ with Ashley providing covering collateral,on the provisos that the retail operation contract remains as is,and that a fan buyout occurs over a period of time,probably by paying up bit by bit.
I also predict that those fans lose interest after about three years as they see the problem of owning a club which effectively owns them!
https://johnjamessite.wordpress.com/2015/10/28/an-emergency-board-meeting/
Whilst visiting Tyncastle in recent years watching the hoops.
I have witnessed my brother in law get a sneaky punch in the puss .
I had a drunk Jambo attempt to head butt me in a chip shop cue.
I have watched Jambo casuals assault fellow Tims .
It is a very dodgy venue if you hand about after the match.
But my biggest feat tonight is the relatively poor Celtic team that we will field.
Managed by Ronnie & Johnnie.
I will be one of the few hundred who have earned the right to support us tonight.
I hope our team will be as staunch and defiant as our support will be.
TT
BJMAC
There’s a Bhoy on CQN’s Facebook page looking for Christy tickets now:)
Will never understand the obsession with the Zombies.
MIGHTYTIM
Mail sent re Shafton St.
Afternoon all,
Is the game on TV tonight?
Can’t see it on the live football on TV .com page.
Given that every possible one of Thems games is on at every possible opportunity I’d be surprised (well actually not in the least , really) if it weren’t…