Exactly one year ago today, just after lunchtime, one of the pivotal moments in Celtic history occurred. Neil Lennon took his Celtic team to Kilmarnock, who had lost their three previous league games, and for 73 minutes looked like surrendering their league title chances just as Tony Mowbray’s team collapsed at St Mirren Park seven months earlier.
The manager later admitted to thoughts of resignation. 3-0 down at half time while already in heavy deficit to Rangers, who were riding a wave of positivity under the reinvigorating ownership of Craig Whyte, events looked to have escaped Neil’s grasp.
It is tempting to write the narrative that a half time talk or tactical change turned things around but turnaround was more difficult to explain. Celtic were awful for the opening 28 minutes of the second half; like condemned men waiting for the inevitable.
Anthony Stokes started the recovery by exploiting Kilmarnock’s weaknesses. A free kick drifted over a wall which didn’t jump and into the net. Had the wall jumped, would history have been different? Three minutes later Stokes fired into the corner of the net from distance, Jaakkola in the Killie goal was not equal to the challenge. Suddenly, we were back in the game, back in the title race.
Charlie Mulgrew, who erred to gift Kilmarnock their third, equalised with 11 minutes remaining, surely there was only one winner now? Not so, images of Heffernan’s last minute header from inside the Celtic six yard box gliding over remain vivid.
We escaped with a draw but it felt like a stay of execution, not a pivotal moment. Neil didn’t resign, he stayed, beat Stade Rennes in the Europa League and never looked back. The imperious positivity which surrounded Craig Whyte was ultimately proven to be a charade, those of us who told you Rangers were in peril were proven correct.
It is impossible to calculate just how much football has changed since Anthony hit that free kick, although imperious positivity still surrounds a charade which is doomed to fail, leaving a lot of football fans out of pocket. If only the football authorities had a warning from recent history that light-touch regulation is dangerous, or had the mechanism to order a financial audit. They do, of course, but despite the traumas of 2012 I doubt they have the appetite to head-off potential problems. It’s easier (in the short term) to hope everything will turn out well.
Not that you need worry about any of this, you can chill and enjoy the season.
Click here to read the fabulous CQN Magazine for free, or strain your eyes squinting below. You can also buy a hard copy of the magazine here from Magcloud.
[calameo code=000390171a36dad35d58c lang=en page=10 hidelinks=1 width=100% height=500]
820 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- ...
- 22
- »
Anyone under the age of 18 needs parental approval to join the armed forces.
People under 18 cannot be deployed on active service.
People under 16 are allowed to work and there is no minimum age for paying income tax. If you have sufficient income you have to pay income tax whatever age you are (insert obvious joke about huns here).
Whilst Scots law allows 16 and 17 year olds to enter into contracts by themselves it recognises their immaturity by giving them the right up to the age of 21 to apply to a court to have such contracts set aside if they were prejudicial.
Salmond wants 16 and 17 year olds to vote in the referendum because he thinks it will be to his advantage.
By conceding on this point, and also on the date and wording of the question, Cameron has left Salmond with no excuses when there’s a no vote.
ernie lynch
15:26 on
15 October, 2012
A couple of years ago the SNP wanted to restrict off sales to those over 21.
Because 18, 19 and 20 year olds weren’t responsible or mature enough to buy alcohol.
Now 16 and 17 year olds are responsible and mature enough to vote in the referendum.
That is because they can not drink??? They spend more sober hours contemplating issues of huge constitutional change.
Ernie
What makes you so sure it will be NO?
President Salmond?
Prime Minister Salmond?
King Alec?
Help ma boab!
My natural instinct is for independence from England, I have an inbred republican spirit.
However , I worry for us in this best little bigoted country in the world.
Salmond is a sharp political operator but a complete balloon and I worry about someone who wants to protect and save ‘ a national institution’ who have stolen from the public purse.
Anyway, hail hail and keep fighting wee oscar
Swanseabhoy
Do you mean Argyll??? ;-)
The SNP are a bunch of chancers.
But they are only in their current position because the Labour party have let the people of Scotland down too many times and were taking votes for granted.
16 is a number. 18 is another number.
Whether people are capable of this or that when they have been on the planet 16 or 18 years is arbitary.
I know some 50 plussers I wouldn’t let have matches!
I wish sumbdy would ban me from buying alcohol and I’m older than 21.
HT
Damn you.
Argyll is what I meant.
Beautiful place, even if my spelling is ugly!
SwanseaBhoy
Why is car insurance for 17 year olds so expensive?
Logically it should be cheaper.
They’ve just been trained and tested, their senses and reactions times are the fastest they ever will be.
Yet actuarially they are much more likely than other drivers to have an accident, and a serious one at that.
Could it be because through inexperience they lack judgement and are inclined to make rash decisions?
Richie – A means to an end? Normally I would 100% agree with that sentiment but who else is there?
Johann Lamont and her Labour mob? They couldn’t agree on the colour of grass.
Ruth Davidson? Gie’s peace!
I think we need to be careful what you wish for. No point asking Santa for a Ferrari when you don’t have a driving licence
Hamiltontim
15:41 on 15 October, 2012
‘Ernie
What makes you so sure it will be NO?’
The lack of buttons up the back of my head.
Salmond’s stuffed and he knows it. Hence the reason for Sturgeon’s high profile on the referendum issue. She’s the most credible challenger to him but any challenge is less likely to succeed if she’s associated with the failure to win the referendum.
Swanseabhoy
Lol no I laughed because the area is Argyll but the street in Glasgow is Argyle.
I believe it was ‘Anglocised’ hence the variance in spelling.
Ironic that it was in a post re Scottish independence from England (UK) ;-)
Politicians come and go, although they can have great impact. We as a nation (Scots) would most likely not have gotten embroiled in many of the modern wars, as an example.
In my lifetime, the best politicians have been Scots working in Westminster. Granted, there are few now, but why would young people in this country want to take up a career in politics when they look at the people who have run the UK the past few decades.
Not good:
Celtic are waiting on the fitness of skipper Scott Brown and forward James Forrest after both withdrew from the Scotland squad for their forthcoming World Cup qualifier in Belgium.
The pair could face a real battle to be ready in time for Celtic’s next Champions League game against Barcelona at the Nou Camp on Tuesday week.
Brown was already ruled out against Belgium with the ongoing hip problem that forced him off early in the late defeat at Wales on Friday evening.
And now Forrest has failed to shake-off a groin problem and is similarly unavailable to the face group leaders tomorrow evening.
Richie
15:52 on 15 October, 2012
”but why would young people in this country want to take up a career in politics when they look at the people who have run the UK the past few decades.”
CAREER
IN
POLITICS.
Awe_Naw:
Excellent questions, all of them. Do me a favour and drop me an email on jfknut1@yahoo.co.uk
Sturgeon still has that 1980 look when Diana Spencer was still single.
She’ll be trendy again anytime soon with the in-vogue retro look.
Richie – “Politicians come and go, although they can have great impact” “In my lifetime, the best politicians have been Scots working in Westminster. Granted, there are few now”
My point exactly.
This is the wrong time of this due to the paucity of characters with the ability to undertake an epoch defining task such as independence.
The idea of course romantically appeals to many Scots, but the political talent is not here to carry it out IMO.
Salmond and the SNP defining an independent Scotland would be an unmitigated disaster.
Looks like Coleman might play Adam on Tuesday.
Also not good.
Ernie
Sturgeon is hopeless and will only take over through natural progression.
The SNP know that the only hope they have in the referendum, or any future election, is with Salmond at the helm.
History has already shown this.
Scottish Independence were we can base our economy on wind farms, shortbread and the Far East still drinking our Whiskey.
A Scotland were the powers that be think rangers and their followers, who threaten journalists and want to not only burn books but Raith Rovers football ground are an integral part of the fabric of our society.
A Scotland were you can be shown on TV to assault someone and sit in a witness box and admit you did it but a jury will return a not proven verdict because it was an Irish,Celtic Supporting Catholic that was the victim.
Independence? No thanks. I have two lovely young children, rather they did not have to suffer seeing their school closed down and made to feel like they have done something wrong by merely entering a Chapel every week.
There should be a Referendum to decide the voting age for the Referendum.
Hows this for a CAREER IN POLITICS?
Education:
1997 – 2003
Hutchesons Grammar School
2003 – 2007
Glasgow University, MA (Hons) in Politics
Career History:
May – Sep 2006
O2 Call Centre
May 2007 – Feb 2009
Parliamentary assistant to Bashir Ahmad MSP
Feb – Oct 2009
Parliamentary assistant to Anne McLaughlin MSP
Oct 2009 – Jul 2010
Parliamentary assistant to Alex Salmond MSP
Sep 2010 – Mar 2011
Communications Officer, SNP Headquarters
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/msps/currentmsps/28637.aspx
ASonOfDan
The things you list happened under the union’s watch.
ernie lynch,
There are way too many politicians with no experience outside their own wee world.
I like Tony Benn
The accommodated rangers drew that day too.
I watched the game in the pub round the corner from me. There was a biggish crowd getting ready to meet their bus for the Megiddo. I’ll never forget one smug, boorish sod standing up at goal 2 or 3 in the first half and shouting something along the lines of ‘Fill your boots boys, league’s over.’
Obviously they left before we were any where close to drawing and must have travelled to Govan thinking the rest was a formality. One of many 4 pointer days as TOPLG started to stumble.
But I often think of that loudmouth git – personification of their arrogance and sense of entitlement – not to mention the importance seeing us fail.
2 draws that day. One signalled a climb back up the hill, the other a fall down the hill. And wouldn’t you know they rolled that far they landed in Division 3?
U
Glasgow Ghirl,
O’Donohues is just around the corner for a nice traditional bar, there is another part which is relatively newer/modern.
Of course a glass of Prosecco maybe your preferred tipple, so head into the Shelbourne Hotel :o)
Kehoes on South Anne’s Street is just off Grafton Street, Bruxelles is also off Grafton (can’t recall the street name)
Have fun – the end of possibilities exist on where you can go… It’s Dublin, you can’t go wrong around the City Centre.
I wouldn’t let 16yr olds vote unless it was uniform across the board for all future elections.
I think salmond is counting on the “Braveheart Factor” where less mature individuals have an idealism of an independent Scotland.
I am neither up nor down on independence, however if it is under the right leader then fair enough, but not Salmond!
Maybe they should look at who voted in the last election and those who didn’t vote but were eligible should not get a vote
If you couldn’t be bothered to vote in a general election then you don’t get a vote on independence.
Be good to have a rip snorting, civil, Independence debate on here.
SwanseaBhoy
Do I remember a vote on “independence” in the late 70’s where your vote counted as a “no” if you didn’t vote?
Embday?
With regards to Independance… A lot that’s wrong with Scotland is due to people dragging their knuckles and following the Union Flag without getting anything better in return….
Watch Cameron and Miliband (or whoever they get to replace him) come out with we’ll give you something better and renege on it later… remember Labour/Tories did not want Scotland becoming the Saudi Arabia of Europe
The UK Governments gave us the Poll tax, Miner strikes… and so on….
Scotlands education is actually better because it’s Independant, our health service might not be great, but it’s better than the rest of the UK.
I’d rather see a multi-party group determine our future from Scotland, made up of Socialists of Labour, SNP etc. with an opposition arguing for something better for Scotland.
Let’s not make the debate about Celtic v Rangers…
Philbhoy
Something like that. Some English back-bencher added a proviso that the majority of the electorate was required, not a majority of the voters.
Stitch-up
May have been posted already
@Wee_Oscar: Oscar’s collapsed lung slowly looking better on xray & heart function improving. Keep going Oscar! You can do it! #Rollercoaster #TeamOscar
MWD
Gordon_J backing Neil Lennon
16:07 on 15 October, 2012
‘ernie lynch,
There are way too many politicians with no experience outside their own wee world.’
When an MSP’s (annual salary £53,000) only work in the real world is four months in a call centre while a student then you know things have gone too far.
Oscar is a real fighter in a real fight.