With an understatement of historic proportions, Scottish Government minister Annabelle Ewing said should would “respect the will of [the Scottish]parliament” and set in motion the process to repeal the discredited Offensive Behaviour at Football Act. This is a new approach from a government which has ignored the will of the Scottish Parliament on each occasion on this very issue – despite acting like wounded fawns when others do the same.
The Act was the brainchild of Alex Salmond, who exploited a Celtic-Rangers match which saw two Rangers players ordered off and a brief but angry shouting match between Neil Lennon and Ally McCoist. The game, however, was remarkably free from crowd trouble.
For years Rangers fans were being arrested for offenses of a sectarian nature. Celtic fans had rid themselves of ‘offensive chanting’ but things changed when SNP Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill sat through a Celtic-Rangers cup final deafened by chanting of ‘The Billy Boys’, he congratulated spectators on their behaviour. This saw the return of political chanting from the Celtic support.
SNP minister Christine Grahame made clear the intentions of Salmond’s Bill when she told Justice Committee meeting this Act would allow police to “equalise” arrest figures between Celtic fans and Rangers fans.
It was an appalling piece of governance and sectarian in nature.
61 SNP MSPs voted to retain the act yesterday, as Holyrood heard the most ridiculous nonsense in attempts to justify its place, citing sectarian comments made well away from the football environment. The SNP seem to know there is a sectarian problem, but are blind to any of their own shortcomings.
Credit for this reversal goes in considerable volume to the Fans Against Criminalisation action group, and to James Kelly MSP (Lab), who sponsored yesterday’s vote. Ordinary men and women defeated a wilfully blind, Peronist, government.
We can only be grateful that government does not enjoy a majority in parliament. Its authoritarian tendencies are clear, they did not look at the evidence and reverse their view, they simply didn’t have the votes necessary to continue to ignore all the evidence.
Win 4 x Walfrid Restaurant Hospitality tickets for Celtic v Hearts on 30 Jan.
Help Celtic FC Foundation in the process.
Generally reflect in awe at the goodness of club sponsor, Intelligent Car Leasing.
Intelligent Car Leasing have offered us 4 hospitality tickets for Tuesday’s league game against Hearts. Winners will eat at the magnificent Walfrid and enjoy a complimentary bar. I’ve done this, it is magnificent, a truly great way to watch Celtic with your nearest and dearest. Proceeds go to the Celtic FC Foundation.
The auction went online yesterday closes on Sunday, so you only have a couple of days to bid.
Good luck!!
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McCann sounding a lot like trump there.
#fannyx2
Hospitality Tickets latest bid, still £250.
Checks blog pulse…faint but still beating.
Just landed at the hotel. Thanks for the replies re BV. Cant make it there pre match as I am meeting family. Going to head there now so if theres any crack
https://youtu.be/DULS3I01PQE
Hoopy Birthday Brendan
WITS- Lizard Point 2nd
To all long time posters. It’s ten years since that tragic day for our Dick Byrne.
!!BADA BING!!
Lizard Point 3RD!
HH
God Bless ole Dick Byrne on this day
a nicer man I’ve yet to meet
Hail Hail
Dick Byrne’s Son.
Ten Years ago, tragic, I have a Son the same age…
My heart felt condolences.
JAMESGANG @ 4:37 PM,
Re: Jack Hendry.
Unfortunately it seems like our own James Forrest is falling for the McCann SMSM hype, over this.
Now from memory and double checking reports from the time.
When Celtic played Dundee Brendan Rodgers was impressed by the youngster…
(Remember though he was released by Wigan last summer as surplus to requirements.)
Now when the window opened we tabled a bid, £500K. According to The Times Dundee were looking for >£650K.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/celtic-must-increase-bid-for-dundees-hendry-r0wjscn0n
The bid was rejected.
Brendan’s interest seems to have alerted EPL Club’s, so during the transfer window his value has some how soared to £1.5M.
Now, I don’t know what Celtic value the lad at, I don’t know if we’re still interested even.
But it seems to me, because Sevco have been given a hard time for low bids and the EPL £1.5M interest has waned. McCann has used the opportunity to blacken Celtic’s name.
Original asking price circa 650K, Celtic bid £500K.
Very Very Low???
Hail Hail
Celtic continue their defence of the Scottish Cup at Paradise, with a fifth round tie against Partick Thistle on Saturday, February 10 (KO 12:15pm).
An assured performance saw the Bhoys secure a 5-0 victory over fourth round opponents Brechin City last weekend at Celtic Park, as the Celts now face a head to head with the Jags to continue on their quest for yet more silverware this season.
Tickets for the fourth round clash are on sale now to Season Ticket holders priced:
Adult: £20
Concessions: £15
Under-13: £10
As a Season Ticket holder, you have until 5pm on Friday, February 2 to secure your own seat for this match. Thereafter, all remaining seats will be released for general sale.
Your Season Ticket card will be activated for this match if you purchase your seat before the cut-off date.
Tickets can be purchased online, by calling 0871 226 1888*, or at the Ticket Office. Booking fees apply to purchases made online and by telephone.
Home Cup Ticket Scheme members should note that the payment for this match will be taken on Friday, February 2.
I saw that my witticism was unperceived and quietly replaced it in the treasury of my mind.
smiley father Byrne thing
Braw
apols …..can Moderator please take my last post down…
no sae braw
Braw
Good pricing for the Thistle cup tie…
Yogi- sorry i thought it got up for 2nd mate
Has Graeme Numpty expressed his worries about burnout for his stars (sic), re Scotland games at the end of the season?
BSR 5.47pm
Worked beside DB for a couple of years, as you say a total gent, sad stuff, at that time both my sisters worked beside his good lady…
On a lighter note well before I even knew what Cqn was I now realise when I thought DB was doing important work he was actually scrolling through Cqn while masquerading as working :-)
Dear Celtic,
Please can you fix it that Mr. Fallon can receive his medal he won 50 years ago.
Thank you
Teuchter ar la
age 59
Great article Paul and, should the repeal go ahead, congrats are due to many Celts.
Also – respect to the composer of the CQN article re Dundee going public on a Celtic bid.
It is no coincidence that anyone who spends time at Ibrox is highly likely to betray a complete lack of class forthwith.
Hail hail
Seeing it’s Friday, this album can be downloaded free
http://content.jbonamassa.com/MD-Free-Album-2017-FB-Ads_Free-Bonamassa-Album-2017.html?id=freealbum2018
Hope it works
http://celticbynumberscom.ipage.com/creative-deficit/
Injuries have impacted Celtic’s creative abilities more than any other area. Here’s how. And what can be done to mitigate this?
Greg Docherty 21 yrs 94 first team appearances valued at £500,000. Jack Hendry 22 yrs 53 first team appearances (29 for Dundee) valued at ?.
Hope to make it to BV for first time instead of at The Oriental in Hutchinson Street.
GORDON64
£750K max. would seal it despite what the wee rat spouts
Asked whether he needs to bolster his ranks, the Ulsterman told reporters: “For me, we have to. We have to. There’s no question that’s something we need to do. I’m very happy with the group of players that I have. We’ll also have some returning from injury who will make us stronger again.
“But we wanted to bring in players in this window who would add quality. Sometimes that takes a wee bit of time. You’re not just relying on going and paying the money. You need to rely on the timing from the other team so we’re hopeful we can bring in that quality.
“I could have signed 20 players up until now, or more. I could have changed my whole squad if I wanted to. But I needed to make sure it was the right quality, not just domestically but for any European football we might have further down the line.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I trust Brendan – who we are very lucky to have.
Zenit charging outrageous ticket prices to Celtic fans of 500 roubles for the away game!!
thats an outrageous price of £6.30!!
Something wrong something not quite right.
Thistle £20??
Zenit home £30 ???
Chris Sutton on BT sports praising Brendans handling of the Moussa situation.
Chumps
JAMESGANG on 26TH JANUARY 2018 4:37 PM
McCann sounding a lot like trump there. #fannyx2
*he’s a wee scheitd but what can you expect from an alleged former supporter who claims he followed Morton and no us.
He has played for 4 Scottish sides and not one of them could be regarded as Celtic friendly.
His first team Dundee I have been led to believe would not deal with us in the transfer market. It’s no secret that Jock coveted both Stevie Murray and WGS, both left for the sheep rather than us. Stevie eventually arrived at Parkheid owing to a clause in his contract that he exercised. And in recent years we’ve seen the infamous Boxing Day battle at dens park, according to a former deidco official, that never happened.
His next stop was the calvinist who although will do business with us have a nasty element in their support.
Deidco, no explanations required, only that he was up tae his knees in it standing beside the QC.
Falkirk, another mob that have no time for us, and have had many epic battles including the notorious battle of brockville during a 5-a-side tournament when Paddy Crerand and Mike Jackson were both ordered off and objects were thrown at big Billy who was playing “backie” that day.
Ironically another wee scheitd whose name must not be mentioned whenever good mhen meet also played for 3 of those sides.
mccann is playing the deflection game here trying to sidetrack attention from another dodgy sevco transfer involving a player whose surname is the same as his middle name.
Sad day on here when people are opening champagne bottles, celebrating their collaboration with the Orange Order, the Tory party, the Labour Party and everyone involved who brought sectarianism back into Scottish politics.
Thankfully the people like that are getting older and their influence is going with them. Young people are mostly, completely untrusting of what ‘their betters’ tell them and history, both recent and distant shows that’s to be applauded.
Dear Celtic
Can you please follow up on the 22 trophies that rangers won illegally and that the club should not have bothered participating in during the EBT years?
Some of us feel hoodwinked.
Thank you
Paul67 et al
Ordinary men and women indeed. That and the indefatigable Hamilton Tim et al from this Parish. Hopefully OBAF will soon be consigned to the dustbin of history. No mention of the role of Celtic FC, rightly so, given their involvement within days of the Celtic-Rangers Scottish Cup replay. This legislation, in my opinion, would have lain dead in the water had it not been for the acquiescence of the Celtic Board in involving itself with Alex Salmond and his reactionary government. Or even worse, the Board’s conduct once the Bill became law, acting in concert with PoliceScotland under any guise, and helping implicate innocent Celtic supporters. in a Kafkaesque, (or was it Orwellian given he lived in Scotland), legal quagmire, leavened only by the decisions of several of Scotland’s Sheriffs and Judges. “The Shame Game”? You better believe it!
Celtic Mac on 26th January 2018 7:04 pm
Yup. Paul McBride promoted it.
G67- if the wee runt wants any Bhoys on loan, as part of any deal, chase him….
TEUCHTER ÁR LÁ on 26TH JANUARY 2018 6:30 PM
Dear Celtic, Please can you fix it that Mr. Fallon can receive his medal he won 50 years ago.
*according to BT all medals including the replica one are on display at CP, if this includes the one given to Bob Kelly then at least an acknowledgement of who it originally belonged to and that John gracefully !!!!! gave it to the Chairman.
my own tribute to t.o.h.g. as a young bhoy aged ten in 1963, the only celtic names i could recite were fallon young and gemmel, clark mcneil and kennedy, did celtic have a forward line.lol.
Brendan wants players in now , the money is there to do so . we were told he has full control of the football dept . I sincerely hope that is the case , but by the deja vu January transfer window so far ,it looks like that may not be the case . One day our inactivity on transfers at this time of year will come back to haunt us , as I’ve said before . We are not as far in front of thems as we should be .
JIMTIM
What makes you say that?