I’ve been to a few non-Celtic games over the years and always found is striking the different reaction mid-table teams have to a defeat compared to how we react. There is simply not the expectation that every game has to be won. For most of the last 40-odd years Celtic have been nip-and-tuck with a direct opponent at the top of the league, so a single defeat can have a significant bearing on league title prospects.
Even when we were not involved in a close league race, the desire to win by an astonishing number of points provided an edge, whereas, back in the 90s, the chasm between Celtic and the top was made increasingly unbearable by each passing defeat.
This season is different. We’ve dropped 10 points in 10 games but substantial evidence exists that the team is making solid progress, a fact not disputed by the support, even as they left Celtic Park on Saturday. For most, the distress of defeat has tempered.
We’re two points ahead of three teams at the top of the league, with a game in hand, which makes this the most competitive SPL ever. The gap between second and second last is just six points, St Mirren who sit second bottom, would be level on points with joint-second St Johnstone had they won the game between these two earlier this month.
All this honest competition has resulted in a rise in average attendances for most clubs during “Armageddon”. It’s too easy to poke fun at the miscalculations of the SPL and SFA chief executives who believed the game needed a fatally flawed giant in the top flight. Instead, what it needed was genuine competition, which we have, to a degree.
Hibs, Aberdeen and St Johnstone are all two points from the top of the table while Inverness and Killie are only one win below them. Can you imagine how good a league this would be without the last remaining over-sized behemoth?
The SPL didn’t need Rangers, in fact, it is a better, more competitive league without them. The same goes for Celtic. We are not good for the league and do nothing for Aberdeen, United, Hibs or clubs who want nothing but a sporting chance in the game. Many of these clubs seem to have Stockholm Syndrome; locked into the belief that they need to be with their tormentors.
If I was writing a blog about any of these clubs I’d tell Celtic to go find themselves some fantasy football league and let the rest of the country get back to a proper sporting endeavour. They have nothing to lose but their loser labels.
The next issue of CQN Magazine is due out shortly, let me know if you would like to advertise, advert@cqnmagazine.co.uk.
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A priest, a barman and a vicar walk into a pub.
A Rabbi looks up and says….”wtf?”
The short-list for Ballon d’Or is out and the 23 names are:
Sergio Agüero, Xabi Alonso, Mario Balotelli, Karim Benzema, Gianluigi Buffon, Sergio Busquets, Iker Casillas, Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, Radamel Falcao, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Andrés Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Manuel Neuer, Neymar, Mesut Özil, Gerard Piqué, Andrea Pirlo, Sergio Ramos, Wayne Rooney, Yaya Touré, Robin van Persie, Xavi.
The ten men in the frame for the Fifa World Coach of the Year award are:
Vicente del Bosque (Spain), Roberto Di Matteo (Chelsea), Alex Ferguson (Manchester United ), Pep Guardiola (Barcelona), Jupp Heynckes (Bayern München), Jürgen Klopp (Borussia Dortmund), Joachim Löw (Germany), Roberto Mancini (Manchester City), José Mourinho (Real Madrid), Cesare Prandelli (Italy).
Fat Sally demands to know who made up this list and why he is not on it after having to deal with problems no other manager in the history of football has had to deal with.
The short-list for Ballon d’Or is out and the 23 names are: …….What?…..no Lee McCulloch?
Dontbrattbakkinanger ,
You are most welcome just need to identify the aforementioned two scrofulous hillbillies…………..Have my suspicions/suspensions/idea re……….
Will revert on receipt of cast-iron evidence or even names if available…….
Regards & Hail Hail
TBM
Whereas down ipoxway they have their very own pair of balloons – Chuck and Sally
Hailhailplc 14’31
Marvellous post mate.
McGrory is the only Celtic player I would put ahead of Larsson and Jinky, and I’m obviously only basing this on what I’ve read about him and his supreme goals record. He’s in the Guiness book of records too.
Jimmy McGrory won 7 caps and was twice dropped for the Wembley game when in top form. Another shameful episode in the history of Scottish football.
In Craigy bhoys next recording I can see the opening line from old Chuck Green
” Well Craig I new you said they were gullible but ………………………..”
Sevco hold the World Record for number of World Records.
And if Ally sees out his projected 25 years with the new club ….wow, just wow…..
No wonder Charles Green’s outfit don’t want to come back in to the SPL.
I mean it’s working really well right now isn’t it ?
DBBIA
That’s only make believe.
DBBIA @ 15 18.
Family Guy’s best thing to date was the use of all of Mr Twitty’s mighty fine —-
I See The Want To in Your Eyes.
As for the scrofulous ones — I hope they’re all busy trying to source George Jones mighty — From Hillbilly Heaven to Honky Tonk Hell.
ASonOfDan-Severe lack of Fleckendinho in that list…..
Chuck will unvail his plan in the new prospectus – they will increase the capacity of ipox to 80,000 so they can set an even bigger world record attendance for the 4th tier of football – yes things are going so well they plan to stay in that division.
Afternoon all
Charles Green knows the MSM will never question him on what he has said in the past so he will continue to spout his nonsense to the gullible (Orcs) and they will lap it up as it seems they only believe what comes from their own “peepil” even although it has burnt them before.
We can only stand back and enjoy :)
Hail Hail
The Orcs are like goldfish – short memories and gaumless looks
Oh and orange
Why isn’t there an option for the Craig Whyte stand?
Smashy……if you’re around…..when yer new burd puts her teeth in she looks no to bad….when the lights are oot……n yer bevied……n its foggy…..
To date Sevco have not put one penny into the zombies since taking over. Chuck and his deep pockets. lol!
Green Brigade statement on Police harassment
Last year was somewhat unique. It will rightly be remembered as the year our great rivals died. Yet what seemed to almost slip under the radar amidst the hilarity at Ibrox was the continued harassment of the Green Brigade, and the Celtic fans in general by Strathclyde Police both before and after the SNP legislation was scribbled. We have remained relatively quiet on this issue up until now, but it has got us nowhere and the harassment has continued; in fact it has worsened.
Most Celtic fans heard about the unprecedented case of the 17 year old Celtic fan remanded in custody at HM Polmont Young Offenders Instituiton for an alleged breach of the peace. The fall-out and the protests of other Celtic fans led to that thankfully being overturned before too much damage was done to a young boy. However, there are numerous other cases that haven’t been made public and so the Police have escaped criticism and been allowed to arrest and charge who they want, when they want. These include three of our members arrested by CID (two at home, one at work) after holding a banner reading ‘Huns FC’. Their case lasted the best part of two years before finally a ‘Not proven’ verdict was delivered. The cost of that case will have been astronomical. Clearly unhappy at this, the Police arrested one of the above AGAIN, this time for alleged sectarian singing. This never even made the courtroom, after the CCTV was shown outside the court, showing him clearly singing ‘Up the Celts’ much to the embarrassment of the officers who turned up as Prosecution witnesses.
After the highly-successful ‘Fans Against Criminalisation’ demo at George Square, Celtic played Hibs in a bore 0-0 draw. The game will be remembered by many though, after the Police unnecessarily waded into 111 looking to make arrests for reasons unknown. On the concourse after the game, they successfully arrested one of our members, accusing him of abusing their officers. Again, this was nothing but a blatant lie and led to another court case with THREE different trial dates. A Not Guilty verdict was returned when the case was finally heard.
A month or so later, and we had another member in court. This time his alleged crime was for ‘assault and resisting arrest’ at a Semi-final at Hampden. Again though, he was found not guilty. We have some other court cases pending as we speak, but we are confident these will go the same way as every other one so far. However, they are still obviously causing massive inconvenience and are having a huge effect on people’s livelihoods.
These charges have all led to our members missing matches watching and supporting the team they love. Celtic had banned every one of them while the cases were on-going. Indeed, the club do all they can to facilitate the Police and have offered no help whatsoever to their own support. After the match in Udine in December, Celtic banned a handful of supporters after flares were lit before kick off. One of these fans was a female season book holder in 111 whom, rather bizarrely, was watching the match from the comfort of her own living room! Thankfully, this was overturned eventually after it was pointed out to Celtic security that they had quite clearly made a rather embarrassing yet damaging mistake.
The level of surveillance applied to section 111 and the Green Brigade specifically verges on the surreal and is an astronomical waste of tax payers’ money. 90 minute surveillance clearly isn’t sufficient though as we learn from being filmed when approaching and leaving stadiums. A small band of Strathclyde Police following our members around Europe attempting to make their trips abroad uncomfortable also now appears to be common practice. Perhaps the hardest one for us to take is being filmed when inside Celtic Park hours early setting up for a display. Further from Celtic officials obviously accommodating such procedures they now believe it to be acceptable to hand over personal details of our members. Private information such as mobile phone numbers, names and addresses have been swapping hands without consent, even in instances where there is no alleged crime to answer for. Sadly, for us at least, this type of behaviour isn’t wholly surprising from Celtic officials – whether it is being sanctioned by Chief Executive Peter Lawwell who privately described our songs as ‘cancerous’ or Head of Security Ronnie Hawthorn who willingly will ban dedicated Celtic supporters offering them no chance of a defence against their alleged breach.
In recent weeks there has been a noticeable upsurge from Strathclyde Police in targeting the Celtic support. Up until now they have tried and failed to secure convictions for singing Irish Republican songs, attempting to concoct all manner of charges desperate to find one that will stick. Under their new ‘Anti-Football Legislation’ they are now targeting the Roll of Honour with a number of fans being arrested and charged with ‘offensive behaviour’ and even ‘Racial BOTP’ for singing this song. The most recent arrest being one of our members who was arrested while leaving Celtic Park at the Kilmarnock fixture and who has only just been released after being handed a weekend in the cells. Co-coincidentally, or ironically even, the accused just happens to be someone who has already been through the charade of a football charge with all the accompanying delights and he came away victorious. You’d excuse his paranoia for thinking he was being targeted and tested here.
Perhaps quite unbelievable to some it is not just at or around matches where we get such unwarranted attention. A few months ago one of our members applied for a licence to become a taxi driver. Normally, this would be a straight-forward procedure for a young man with nothing but a minor Breach of the Peace charge from his teenage years. Not quite. He received a letter explaining that his application had been rejected on the grounds that he’s not a ‘fit and proper person’ – an accusation based solely on his connections to the Green Brigade. This had come from the Chief Constable. Thankfully, after appeal, the licence was granted in the end but with no thanks to Strathclyde Police.
The above is just some of the instances of police harassment in the last 10-12 months. Not only is it causing innocent football fans great stress and hitting them badly in the pocket, it’s also costing the taxpayer a fortune. For too long, we have sat back and let them do as they please but it has to stop, and we hope that the coming weeks and months will eventually see a change in their approach and we can get back to supporting our team without fear of arrest at home or away. We believe we sacrifice an awful lot as individuals and as a group in what we do. We dedicate our time and money for our passion of supporting Celtic in our style and we have always attempted to maintain an amicable working relationship with Celtic employees for the benefit of both parties – even when in dispute over certain issues. However we will not tolerate the level of harassment we continue to face nor Celtic PLC’s compliant attitude.
Chuck represents investors who own Sevco Scotland Ltd, does he not?
Who is he to decide what happens with their investment and its involvement in the SPL.
“While I’m chief executive, Rangers will not play in the Scottish Premier League.” Aye right Chuck, I am sure your bilionaire investors will stand for that one.
Paulus LXVII, Salve salve;-
Benedicamus te, I see our favourite huckster Wilfrid Pickles has been given the tailgate of another waggon ( a real prairie schooner this one!) from which to give another rendition of his travelling medicine show for the delictation of the more benighted of our friends who follow the fortunes of the new club Sevconian Agriculturals. I’m afraid your stark sober presentation of the “Heads Of Terms” article will not assuage the happy mein kampfers who have been beguiled by some bluff Yorkshire wit and promises of a sovereign (500 actually) remedy for all their ills . Who to believe Paulus or the man who brought 30 Mill to the table? Hmmm who has the track record?
Greenwells
Exemplum de simia, quae, quando plus ascendit, plus apparent posteriora eius
Interesting Chuckie saying that the ST sales barely cover the wages. You will recall his illustriuos predecessor stating that it cost 3 and half M per month just to keep the lights on. So, even if Chuck has cut the wage bill by 10M thet are still 15M short per season,which can only lead to you know where
Chuck is a goldmine of lol! today.
Sevco will have 2 years of season ticket money come June. Apparently this years is just going to sit in the bank not paying the £7 Million wage bill he admitted to or any utilities, overheads, etc…
Fantasy Ibrokes with Fat Sally shouting “Der the plane boss!”
tomcourtney
13:31 on 29 October, 2012
Books!! PAH nothing,old Steve McKelvie in the Airbles building at Our Lady’s would pull the crucifix from the wall behind him and throw it at you,I remember one guy getting a cut on the forehead and being refused permission to leave the room.Can’t remember his name just remember the blood dripping on the desk as the lesson continued!!
Those were the days.
The laddy…..,
No surprises there then
Happy Birthday Starry Plough
Hail Hail
The Laddy McGeary ……….
Keep it lit…………..God Bless.
Regards & Hail Hail
TBM
The Laddy McGeary
If the Celtic board force the Green Brigade to leave, I will be applying for a refund on my season ticket and they can ram it.
One Nation, Except for us…
In which I ponder –
• the mystery of what Mr Green is selling
• the likely structure of the sale
• how likely will Rangers fans be to buy shares in the company which owns the company which owns the football club
• the new Rangers owner having as bad luck with official forms as his predecessor
http://scotslawthoughts.wordpress.com/2012/10/29/which-company-is-charles-green-floating-why-no-sh01-lodged-re-the-22-million-shares/
Awe_Naw_No_Annoni_Oan_Anaw_Noo
Thanks Awe Naw, glad to have made it this far…
Celtic will be in a European Final before I’m 60…..
I recall when we were getting 55K plus attendances at every home match there was a stat doing the rounds that 5K of these were travelling from Ireland for every weekend game.
I imagine similar numbers were coming from England. I was in London for a while during this time and remember large numbers on trains or planes whenever I would travel home for a game.
Ireland has been hit hard and the demographic who travelled to see Celtic has been particularly hard hit in this latest ‘recession’. In my experience the bulk of ghuys who travelled were in the building trade or associated industry, a good number of them were young(ish) over for the weekends craic in GLasgow. Every town in Ireland is experiencing emigration again.
I know it doesn’t explain fully the fall in crowds but those travelling in my experience (myself included) have to think carefully about which games they choose. I would love to know what the latest stats are but I know from hearsay that various clubs are running fewer buses, some have stopped running them at all.
If the Irish experience is anything to go by then I suspect the same is true of travelling fans from England and the farther reaches of Scotland too.
Just one basic consideration is the cost of fuel. 10 years ago you were paying half what you are now for a tank of petrol, most people haven’t seen a pay rise in years. 6K more jobs gone in the NHS alone this week, a couple of hundred thousand across the public sector in the last few years have gone.
Celtic have to keep an eye on their part in bringing people through the gates but they cannot control everything.
Pricing is still an issue though. The club seem to be responding somewhat where they can but I think there is still room for imagination. Take the LC for example. £15 for an adult is OK, £7 for a child is not too bad. BUT could we experiment for one game in the early rounds of the cup and go £10 and £5 to see what happens? Could we persuade those who are struggling a bit to bring a few of the kids and get along to a game at that price? If we could get 35k or 40k at one of these games would that not be better than 18k at a £15 and £7 a head? Apart from the money it might mean a chance for young struggling families to get junior along to their first game…….
just a few thoughts
Green on ss1 just now
THE LADDY McGEARY 1551
Thanks for the link to the GB statement.
Everyone in Scotland should read this,and ask if the treatment of a bunch of people supporting their football team deserves the full force of the law accorded to no other organisation I can think of.
Our season tickets are right next to the GB,and I was at the Hibs game,and the Rennes game.
During the first,I was incredulous at the behaviour of the police and stewards.
I had NEVER seen this kind of behaviour in ANY football ground in the UK-and I’ve been to a few!
Then,during the Rennes game,I had a chat with a few of the GB prior to and during the game.
My Dad,my uncle and I would swear on any Bible you wish that there was not a single chant that evening which should have concerned UEFA.
I have been going to see the Celtic since 1967,they first saw them in the 40s.
I doubt the old board would dob in their own fans.
PARTICULARLY WHEN IT DIDNAE HAPPEN!
San Bonaventure in the house ——
The Laddy McGeary 15:51 on 29 October, 2012
Strathclyde Police are rotten to the core – from the press office to the thugs on the beat.
The demonization of the Green Brigade is risible but all too predictable – just like the decision by the media not to report that the thug jailed for attacking the Sheffield Wednesday keeper is a member of the Blue Order.
The lack of protection and support for the Green Brigade from the Club, is a concern for me.
Looks like Charliebhoy is already making money from Rangers.
He is on SSN at the moment,and wearing a new suit!
Possibly,of course,he got a line of credit from a catologue.
BTW,the pash he is coming out with is terrific,I wish I had heard him on TALKSPORT.