With one game to play before the split, Hearts are safe in the top half of the table, but only due to a vastly better goal difference than Livingston. The real fight for the top six is between St Mirren (44 points), Hibs (43) and Livi (42).
The relegation fight is just as tight between Dundee United (28), Kilmarnock (28) and Ross County (27). St Johnstone are also feeling the pressure (32). There was a bit of chat earlier this week about the SPFL being uncompetitive. Granted, it spans teams from the Champions League and those from towns with a population of 6,000, but Celtic are fully motived, while Aberdeen are packing them in, having only recently moved into third place.
Hearts occupy the final European slot, one point ahead of St Mirren and two ahead of Hibs. If you were to design a perfectly competitive league in a small country that can span from the Champions down, you would be pushed to do a better job than this Premiership. Maybe those complaining would feel different if someone else was 12 points clear at the top.
Today, we meet Paddy McLaughlin, one of the Road to Seville cyclists, who set off from Celtic Park next month, aiming to arrive in Seville for the 20th anniversary of our Uefa Cup Final there. As you’ll see, Paddy is already familiar with the Spanish sunshine. I hope you enjoy his interview. You can support the incredible work they do in our name here. Thank you.
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HH
I can see Sevco begging the SFA for their price money (2nd place) just now,the way things are going there…..
Good afternoon all from Paddy Neesons.
Where’s Aipple?😁
BRRB
I may have been at a charity event that included all beer sales going to said charity. I slept in for a good cause!
Aipple
BEER you say.🍻😁
BRRB
Keep the noise down!
No idea who was complaining but it certainly could be a more competitive league if some of the bigger clubs showed a bit more ambition for themselves than just feeding off the old firm trickle-down while pretendy-complaining (to appease their supporters) about how unfair it is that the old firm get everything going!
“Maybe those complaining would feel different if someone else was 12 points clear at the top.”
In a nutshell.
Nice one, Pablo.
Those concerned about the “squirrel” population in Scotland need not worry.
Those in the dairy industry should be concerned though.
An awful lot of deliberately souring the milk going on.
In other news, our club is going through a period of unprecedented domestic domination …
… and I’m lovin’ it !!!
Hope all on here have a good day.
BTW – anyone know anywhere in Lisbon showing Celtic vs Motherwell on Saturday?
B2B
Celtic Bars show O’Gilin’s as a Celtic pub so probably your best best. Looks about 5 min walk west of the big square on the river
P67
“Maybe those complaining would feel different if someone else was 12 points clear at the top.”
100% correct.
As one of us who lived through their 9IAR , I can’t recall one single complaint about uncompetitiveness then.
Not at all – it was, apparently , all our own fault because we didn’t have the cojones to go and borrow / spend big like Thems who were spending their way to Champions League glory which was going to be great for all of Scottish football, don’t you know?
I often wonder how that all ended…
LWIO
One team for Europe and one for Scotland was seen as a triumphant (triumphalist) achievement.
Beale would have fitted right in with Murray. A match made in hell.
I’m hoping Hatate is at least on the bench Saturday and gets a wee chance to stretch his legs.
Paul 67,
Unless we have a complete off day ( St Mirren ) we are streets ahead of our domestic rivals.
Our nearest rivals are ahead of the pack but they are not in our class.
However it is brilliant to win in a domestic derby, especially when there are no huns there to sour the spectacle.
( Incidentally, we don’t need them and we certainly don’t want them)
Where we must look to is European football, and I’m sure Ange is on it.
We will learn, we will become more confident and we will improve, of that I am certain.
A manager must lead by example and watching Bayern Munich last night , it was obvious that TT, while passionate is just indisciplined .
We have a manager that I would not exchange for anyone. Wow what a statement, but true.
In Ange we trust.
HH to all .
My friends in Celtic,
Every second week and many away games this bus leaves at an unearthly hour to watch the journey with big Ange.
Coventry Emerald.
🚌 Times for Saturday 22-04-2023.
📍Coventry @ The Four Provinces 6am
📍Birmingham @ Digbeth 6.30am
📍Walsall @ Village Hotel 6.45am
📍Stafford @ Acton Court 7.10am
📍Warrington @ Premier Inn J21 8am
📍Haydock @ Shell Garage J23 8.15am
📍Leyland @ J28 8.40am
HH to all.
Guys, Ghirls,
Paul O’grady RIP. As a dog lover , indeed a cat lover, indeed an animal lover, we say goodbye to a champion.
If I may, I would respectfully ask that those who contribute to Foodbanks remember the animals.
Dogs, cats etc are family to many of us, indeed to some they are the only family
HH to all.
GP
when I was in the Derby CSC, we met in the pub at 5am, couple of pints and set off at 6am. A few pints in Glasgow, go to game, carry out, back to Derby with back teeth floatin, lock in at the pub till early hours
My wife eventually banned me!
Greenpinata
Well done on your food bank appeal.👍
It is strange tho when talking of food banks and how they arose,their need etc is deemed in some circles as WOKE.odd isn’t it?
HH
Coneybhoy,
I remember doing my orbital welding course in Derby. The boozer we frequented was the Bonny Prince Charlie.
F@ ck me, the walk to the toilets was reminiscent of the Jacobites walking from Bonny Scotland.
HH.
The league being competitive is only one part .
It is the standard of the competition that matters .
If you look at how the other teams outwith Celtic and Sevco perform in Europe .
Then there is no doubt our league is of a very poor standard .
Motherwell defeat to the league of Ireland side is a good example.
There is no doubt that the general standard of the teams that Celtic and Sevco face is very poor .
TT
Deepest condolences to Bigbhoy in the terrible loss of his son.
RIP Michael
I have a dilemma…I find myself wanting the huns to win this weekend as long as we win obviously..why ?…..work and family commitments mean next free weekend is the 12/13 may ….for selfish reasons that is the weekend I want us to win the league!……am I wrong ..lol
On the European front …Still think we’re a long way off and a lot of it comes down to opposition…when we were Kings…Scottish league was very strong …..we have to get out
Very happy with the standard of player, ,Celtic sign especially under Ange. The market prices are what we can afford. You’re not presently understanding that we can’t pay 80K a week ( see Kieran Tierney ) maybe you never will.
We wouldn’t want to go down a wrong road inventing schemes so that we could “ buy players we couldn’t otherwise afford “ would we now.
How did that turn out? CSC
Reading the comments about travelling on the supporters buses made me think of all the times I used to travel on the Wilson’s double decker with the WishyEmerald . The auld bus would come down and we would pack into it. I remember one time, years and years ago, the police stopped us coming back in Craigneuk, and told us we all had to get off the bus. i think the bus had a capacity of 75. ,but that was always doubled for the big games:))) BiG Davie McFeely our bus convenor, marched us all the way back up in a column of twos:)))) Even the police were laughing. We traveled down to Higbury in 1985 for a testimonail in a single decker, oh what luxury!!! There was so much alcohol on the bus and we didn’t have a toilet, so they stuck a big bucket in between seats at the back. The pish used to come out when the driver hit the brakes. We used to stop and some folks had to go up and bring the bucket down and empty it on the side of the road. I remember the police confiscating all the booze, only for us to stop at the motorway services and buy more. Iwas only 14 at the time. I remember we stayed at a wee hotel in London and our bus was having difficulty backing out into traffic so Big Davie, who looked like a taller Charlie Bronson with the tache, put on a fake Coppers hat and stopped traffic. The peeps in London were in hysterics, and off to the game on time we went. Jeez I miss those days, not the pish though. (was like that epsiode of still game wi the big pot under the bed))))
Sorry for the long post.
Sean
I also have a dilemma. To sleep or not to sleep.
I’m going to optimise the match day experience. I intend to get up mad early, head to appropriate early opening boozer and walk to Paradise.
I love the atmosphere, the buzz and the songs. Returning home will be similar.
Don’t want to start another songs debate but certain non Celtic songs are better left in like minded boozers
HH. To all.
BOONDOCK SAINT on 20TH APRIL 2023 3:37 PM
Touché.
Our local offie used to open specially when we had an away game. Money talks. AC / DC.
HH
BOONDOCK SAINT
Great read and very funny. I used to travel on the Motherwell 9-in-a-row CSC bus.
We had one guy called Arthur who drank like a fish and when we arrived at our away destination, half the time he hadn’t a clue where we were and who we were playing.
In the good old days before the big roads we have now, it took about 5 hours to get to Aberdeen. Occasionally the bus would stop at a layby and we’d all get off and pee on the side of the bus. The layby would take 3 buses and sometimes there was a queue of buses waiting to get in. When the front bus drove away, the second and third buses would move forward, allowing another bus to roll in.
After such a stop, we were well up the road when another bus drove up beside us and eventually we noticed they were at their window waving frantically. I looked up and saw they were pointing to Arthur who had failed to notice our bus had moved on a bit in the layby and had staggered back onto the wrong bus after finishing his pee.
We stopped at the side of the road to allow Arthur to get back on his own bus.
Crazy times.
PS. Wishaw Emerald? You might know my cousin John McLaughlin and/or his son Kevin, depending on your age.
Unashamedly political post.
Our ” rulers” Tory and SNP are blatantly not fit for purpose. They are liars, cheats, tax avoiders and are more secretive that the most secretive Masonic lodge.
Hail hail to all .
Boondock – Yes, I also remember those days so well. Was far and away the highlight of every week, a few beers down the local then off on the bus. I went to pretty much every game for a few seasons before real life got in the way. Spent time on the Cumbernauld, Croy and Condorrat buses but can’t remember why or how we decided which one we were taking. Croy bus was far and away the favourite, with beers in the miners club beforehand. We were kept in order by the bus convener, I think his name was Terry. Long away trips were troublesome because there was no toilet on the bus, and we usually ‘had’ to have at least 6 pints as everyone in the group had to by a round. My two best memories were the ’10 men won the league’ at Parkhead, and ‘Albert Kidd’ day at Love Street. The bus on the way home those days was incredible. Living in the States now, this experience cannot be found. Took my son over for the Glasgow derby a couple of week ago and while we didn’t travel on the bus, the before and after sessions were something he won’t ever forget. We are lucky to be Celtic supporters.
BIGBHOY
Condolences on your tragic loss.
RIP Michael
GREENPINATA on 20TH APRIL 2023 2:50 PM
Coneybhoy,
I remember doing my orbital welding course in Derby. The boozer we frequented was the Bonny Prince Charlie.
F@ ck me, the walk to the toilets was reminiscent of the Jacobites walking from Bonny Scotland.
———————–
Possibly there same time as me; i left in 2008.
The Bonnie Prince was a great design ; Left to Right – car park, softplay, family section, normal bar, footie TVs, smoking section, toilets!!! English pubs were great for young families. Think it is shut now
CSC was in Drill Hall Vaults and then Irish Centre when the former was sold. Both in the centre.
Delaney’s Dunky worked down there for a bit too, may have walked past each other
The young kids used to stand out side the cross keys waiting for the bus. It would be crazy when the HUNS bus would be leaving at the same time. Wishy cross would be buzzing on a saturday with the market as well. We would get to Parkhead and all the dads would jump off and go to the pubs and bribe us to not tell oor mammies that they had us standing outside the bars:))) Then a quick walk to the Rangers End, and standing at section 14, and sitting on one of the few barriers, waiting for erra macaroon bars and chewin gum shout:)))), and then leaving the stadium and awful smell of the hamburger vans, but absolutely starvin and getting a burger and loving it. The the young guys would go to the upstairs of the bus, and tyou could hear the arguments on the lower deck of all the dads moaning about who played shite that day, and why the heck did we sign Jim Melrose:))))) A few years later was graduation for you and going to the Jungle wi yer friends. Tom I recognize the name, but I have been gone fae Wishy since 1994. Some great characters back in the day though.
Unashamedly political post.
Our ” rulers” Tory and SNP are blatantly not fit for purpose. They are liars, cheats, tax avoiders and are more secretive that the most secretive Masonic lodge.
Hail hail to all .
.
It’s democratically elected.
Liars- weapons of mass destruction!
Cheats- some even got into the lords
Tax Cheats- pity TridentTony allowed the exponential growth in offshore tax industry and now the murdochmarketeer is suggesting a repeal.
Yup absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Secretive Masonic membership- ah how romantic,I take it murdochsmarketeers do not have anyone a member of the knuckle failure system. …its OK I know your party is riven with them.stay one sided Gp.we are not old or cynical ,or even woke.we just know whoever is in power do not cede.regardless of party.
Bit like the songs debate. Tut tuttery of the highest order. Cross generational girning always goin on same way we girn at politicians since time started.
HH
AT
If you say so.
Good evening all from the Victoria Bar. Football and racing from Kilbeggan/Chelmsford. It’s a hard life. 😁
Kettlewell talking up Celtic, unusual to hear,but welcome.
Let the good times roll.
“SAINT STIVS on 20TH APRIL 2023 10:35 AM
I miss Mad Mitch and his input into this subject. It was topical and agree or disagree it was radical. It was not just” Cut and paste ” ”
I read the above and thought St Stivs had taken a bang on the head…..then I saw that he was quoting someone else !!