There’s a news management thing happens during the international break. Football news generally goes quiet, internationals do not really bring the same number of readers as the club game.
Games and results drive the football media business, with transfer ‘information’ dominating times in the calendar. If you are in the business of writing about football, as these breaks approach, you will maybe stick a piece up your sleeve, to bring out during the fortnight. You will spot everywhere, including here.
This week, UK football outlets have gorged on EPL referee, David Coote. Who seems to have a lassez-faire approach to actions and consequences. Two videos were made public this week.
In the first, from three years ago, he appears ‘tired and emotional’ to use the old euphemism, when making derogatory comments about Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp. The second, taken during this year’s Euros (where he was officiating), shows him snorting a white powder. As far as news management goes, someone has knocked it out the park this week.
It’s unlikely we will ever learn who was behind the leaks, although David Coote will surely know. Nor are we likely to learn what went before, and there has surely been some actions before this.
Football referees are as prone to weaknesses as the rest of us. If some are so weak they sniff white powder without checking for cameras, football has a problem. This week will end Coote’s career, with financial consequences for the rest of his life. How compromised was he?
It may be that he was only weak when it came to some videoed comments on superficial racism and illegal substances, while he remained beyond reproach to threats of ending his career if he did not bend to an extortion demand. Let’s hope.
Betting is huge business and the majority of betting on UK games takes place beyond these borders. Money is placed on more than just the result, too. A compromised referee is worth a fortune in the wrong hands.
David Coote is no longer vulnerable to exploitation and maybe the release of these videos is a consequence of him declining to participate in a wider criminal act. Any other referee who has been subject to the videoing of inappropriate acts has a lesson on what can happen. If referees are no different from the rest of society, some may take drugs, gamble themselves into debt and indulge in other nefarious activity.
The wages in England are huge and in Scotland are big enough to accommodate some intrusion. Credit checks, bank statement inspections and background checks would be a reasonable response to an outed human fraility.
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HH
How is Bobby Madden these days?
Friday!
Just home from our sales conference, nice wee week in Florida and managed to land a few Trump jokes during my Q&A. In my Celtic gear as well of course.
HH!
Good afternoon from Puerto de Mogan a poor 24c today 😄
“A compromised referee is worth a fortune in the wrong hands.”
Don’t think that’s the problem in bonny Scotland, more like good old fashioned bias towards one club!
I believe a worse story about Coote will come out
How very dare you Scottish referees are beyond reproach, untainted by the frailties of human nature everyone else has. In fact after retirement you can hear from them first hand at Rangers Supporters events how they only ever applied the laws of the game fairly and without favour, oh wait!
What do you want in a referee :-
After using cocaine in smaller amounts, a person may feel more:
mentally alert
talkative
euphoric
energized
sensitive to sound, touch, and light.
Dour, miserable, unapproachable, lazy, useless refs are common in Scotland. It seems we do not have a problem. 😀
HH.
GREENPINATA
lol
bournesouprecipe on 15th November 2024 9:08 am
You know you’re getting old when Henrik Larsson suddenly looks like Tom Jones.
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there is a pensions advert on line, pops up often on here, it has an older looking white haired unshaven carabeen lloking fella with small round glasses.
doppleganger for recent pictures of our henrik.
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/6w4Lhb-AYRY/hq720.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEhCK4FEIIDSFryq4qpAxMIARUAAAAAGAElAADIQj0AgKJD&rs=AOn4CLAxzrEvwFKoEtCfVp2vUuY9IsdZbQ
what did the referee actually do that was wrongful ?
there are known tax-cheats and people declaring themsleves as bankrupts to keep their fortunes in the family on our state sponsored broadcaster everyday.
have a heart and allow for the reabilitation to take place, he who lives in glasshouses casting the first stone and all that.
as an aside, at the masters, there was bazza playing with the skowl on his face and that ugly football.
ps. mighlty sick of all the christmas adverts, we havnt even got past remembrance yet.
I’ve worked in some heavily regulated industries over the years and required to undergo fairly intrusive vetting.
I’d be interested to know what rigorous checks are made of refs. As you rightly point out, gambling is a multi million pound industry.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Paul67 et al
Not sure which different “races” are involved here, maybe Paul67 will enlighten us. Tant Pis as they do not say in Deutschland. The whole affair does raise a few questions though. And a few answers. Bang goes the narrative on here that wishes we were more like England, in terms of football refereeing at least. No lets not be, let us have a better standard of refereeing in our own game. Cootes’ use of language is certainly suspect, liberal if that is the right word, in his use of the C word, in relation to Jurgen Klopp, absolute C here, and German C there. Nice. Not to mention his “we hate Scousers” at the end of the tape, maybe not racist but certainly thoroughly nasty. So, he despises Klopp and Liverpool FC, the City too, did this animus influence his decision as the VAR not to flag up Jordan Pickford’s assault on Virgil Van Dyke which left a great player out for a season?
Two Liverpool clubs it had to said, maybe he hated the one in red just that little bit more?
Maeda on at HT
Welcome back Aipple.
Share your best joke – with the clown car filling up quickly with reprobates and n’eer do wells, you must have had plenty material.
Won’t have gone down well with the reality deniers in your company, I’ll bet!
but he was rubbish against aberdeen said our own critics –
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They lost 1-0 but Engels was the silver lining as far as the Belgian press are concerned. Until now, he hasn’t exactly been a household name in his homeland, having only featured for the Club Brugge B-team before Augsburg snapped him up in January 2023. But he hopes they know who he is now. He said: “I’m happy that I was able to show what I’m capable of. People may know me from my Champions League games with Celtic, but I’ve never played at the highest level in Belgium. So a lot of people here don’t really know who I am.
“I hope that with this game I’ve shown what I can do. It was nice to be in the starting line-up for the first time. But of course, it’s a shame we couldn’t win.”
Well, they know who he is now, anyway. Het Laatste Nieuws praised the 21-year-old’s ‘maturity’ while De Standaard were taken aback by his engine, saying: “Engels was tireless in winning the ball back and displayed impressive stamina throughout the entire match.” And the highest praise came from La Libre Belgique, who penned: “Engels proved that he is ready for the highest level and can become a mainstay in the Red Devils’ midfield.”
It must be great to be a criminal betting on Scottish football – you will have a very good idea what will happen in games involving R2angers without having to bribe the ref!!
SFtBs @ 14TH NOVEMBER 2024 12:49 PM,
Apologies for the late reply…
The sea-change that I was referring too was paying 10mn for prospects like Engels, and to delve deeper than the analytics suggest for 3mn prospects like Kuhn.
Since Engels signed for Celtic, he has gone from Belgium U21s to NT sub, to NT starter.
His month and a half experience with Celtic is no doubt helping his career and shows this “model” is working…
Would be great to see Kuhn get an International call up.
“Well, that’s what Paul67 said Mark Lawwell’s strategy was (and I assume you think that was Paul telling us what Peter Lawwell’s strategy was too- a shared family approach , dictated in secret by Peter the Puppet Master).
No, you assumed wrong, interesting you have gone from not understanding body language to mind~reading in a single bound:)))
Last week there was quotes “straight from the horses mouth” [mine] that were made up.
Now my thinking is assumed…
Guess it’s a great compliment that good fholk that spar with me here have to make stuff up, but it certainly doesn’t feel that way.
Baaic comprehension is usually enough to transpose a CQN comment.
Leave the mind reading to Derren;)
Hail Hail
The ridiculously low price on a Sevco penalty, which is far less than any other game,tells you what’s going on…..
what about that pitch we had to play on last night, how are our superior old veterans meant to play on a surface like that,
terrible team selections as well.
!!Bada Bing!! on 15th November 2024 1:53 pm
The ridiculously low price on a Sevco penalty, which is far less than any other game,tells you what’s going on…..
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and how many winning bets would a person have collected this season ?
Paul 67
Interesting about the timing. I am reminded that the salacious details of Rev McCurry’s extra marital affairs did not come to light during the period he was providing so many favours for the Ibrox team. It was only when he had served his purpose(s) that these came to light.
I see Daizen got the whole of the second half and Reo the final 10 minutes for Japan while Kyogo sat on the bench throughout a 4:0 win for their team in Indonesia.
30 yearsc ago already.
https://icdn.thecelticstar.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/21-702×459.jpg
The current huns have never won the SPL in front of fans.
If I remember correly they have won one Scottish Cup in extra time.
Astute gamblers do not do continual failure.
You’ll never get rich by digging a ditch or betting on the huns.
Except if your betting on their managers.
Teehee.
the old celtic end gets cocreted ready for the new roof.
if ever something physicaly demonstrated the incompetance of the old board it was spending money on this folly.
https://icdn.thecelticstar.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/34-702×459.jpg
https://icdn.thecelticstar.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/43-702×459.jpg
CHAIRBHOY on 15TH NOVEMBER 2024 1:41 PM
“The sea-change that I was referring too was paying 10mn for prospects like Engels, and to delve deeper than the analytics suggest for 3mn prospects like Kuhn.”
We paid 9m for Edouard, in todays money probably the same as we paid for Engels, maybe more.
There’s nothing to suggest there was a sea-change around Kuhns signing. His profile was exactly the same as many players we’ve signed before. You even described him as a squad player from Rapid when he signed.
the main stand office exoansion, note the old facade brickwork is still in place, we should make a feature of it when we expand.
https://icdn.thecelticstar.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/93-702×459.jpg
Kuhn is a success for the transfer strategy. If you’re suggesting anything else it’s pure disingenuity
aye jimmy, we are to build it just the way it looks on the picture,
https://icdn.thecelticstar.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/95-702×459.jpg
Rev McCurry filmed in church singing Simply the blest
https://icdn.thecelticstar.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/89-702×459.jpg
would it be too much to suggest the old boards limited ambitions mean we are stuck with the old main stand behind an 80s breezeblock and brick facade, that is still costing us today.
inside the old foyer.
https://icdn.thecelticstar.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/69-702×459.jpg
Analytics play a part in every signing, to a greater or lesser degree
Kahn’s stats were amongst the best in Europe, his carries and assists statistics were outstanding, his finishing was poor though.
If anything the stats would have played a bigger part in him signing than usual as they were so good, but, like every other signing we’ve made they would only be a part of the picture.
There’s no foyer like an old foyer
Leeds utd fans sing “We all hate Celtic” in a pub in Greece last night
https://x.com/georgegalloway/status/1857399612488774016
Chairbhoy
The sea-change that I was referring too was paying 10mn for prospects like Engels, and to delve deeper than the analytics suggest for 3mn prospects like Kuhn.
And I posed the rational question – why is it a sea-change when we had paid £9m for Edouard? That is just a repeated instance of a big spend and an example of what had been said before by Peter Lawwell and Brendan Rodgers i.e- that we would spend big if the player merited it. In both Edouard’s case and Engels the club spent the big money. 2 examples a two different periods under different CEO’s and managers. That’s not a sea-change, that’s the tide coming in twice daily.
As for a sea-change in deep dive analytics, I am not sure what you mean. On the surface it reads as if you believe we did more due diligence on this player than is our norm. If that is the case, how would you possibly know that. You cannot assert, for example, that he’s proven to be a greta player, therefore we must have researched that and knew it. Otherwise you’ld have to credit us with great metrics when we signed Henrik, Lubo, Nakamura, Kris Commons & Leigh Griffiths etc; as they brought more bang for buck than their transfer fees foretold. But, as I stated, I am guessing a bit about what you mean by deep-dive into “suggestive”analytics.
Since Engels signed for Celtic, he has gone from Belgium U21s to NT sub, to NT starter.
His month and a half experience with Celtic is no doubt helping his career and shows this “model” is working…
Would be great to see Kuhn get an International call up.
Yep- great start for Arne from a Belgian manager willing to give him a chance. But Daizen continues to be the only regular International player from among our 3 Japanese Stars. Yang has not been rehabilitated by S. Kore yet but our “reject” Oh has. Auston Trusty only got 3 minutes game time and our great servant, CCV, admittedly not yet in great form, was not chosen at all. Picking Arne out as an example of what signing for our club brings, means you cannot ignore the contra-indications that lead some players to think they would be thought more highly of by International managers, if they went to the lower or middling teams in the EPL or La Liga.
It would be a great reward for Nicolas to be capped but Germany have a lot of good options and I fear Nicolas may be transferred to a more “acceptable” club before he gets picked. Look at Sutton and Thompson’s treatment by England for that precedent.
“Well, that’s what Paul67 said Mark Lawwell’s strategy was (and I assume you think that was Paul telling us what Peter Lawwell’s strategy was too- a shared family approach , dictated in secret by Peter the Puppet Master).
No, you assumed wrong, interesting you have gone from not understanding body language to mind~reading in a single bound:)))
You have misunderstood my intention there and I have failed to make it clear. I used the phrase “I assume” to indicate that I was entering the realms of speculation at this point (as I did just now with your “deep-dive analytics” above). It’s a bit much to be accused of assuming after I admitted to making an assumption but I’ll put it down to my inability to make that clearer..
You have been quick to refute the assumption I made but you have forgotten to tell me why I was wrong and what you intended to say instead of this. And….. I have never said “I don’t understand body language”- my argument was that I did not believe the many examples of body language reading I hear about on CQN, do not come from expert sources, nor do I believe that many people can read body language messages easily and that it’s a common skill that everyone has. For me, it’s mostly an excuse for attribution- e.g.”He did not play well because he’s lazy, disinterested (sic) or has given up”
Last week there was quotes “straight from the horses mouth” [mine] that were made up.
Now my thinking is assumed…
Guess it’s a great compliment that good fholk that spar with me here have to make stuff up, but it certainly doesn’t feel that way.
I don’t think I’m involved with your “straight from the horses mouth” issue, so I’ll park that.
In making an assumption, I was pointing you towards an area where you had not made your argument clear, to me at least. And, you have still not cleared it up in your rush to find me guilty of making an assumption that was wrong (but not yet righted).
A lesser man than myself might reach for the very popular Victim-Ground Space and counter-argue that you have made a false assumption about my intentions. But, I’m taking responsibility here. I f you didn’t get it then I can’t have expressed it very well.
So- no compliment to you but a criticism of myself.
Basic comprehension is usually enough to transpose a CQN comment.
Leave the mind reading to Derren;)</b)
As you can see, even the basic comprehension possessed by me and any greater comprehension possessed by yourself did not prevent a failure to grasp points we both thought, mistakenly, were reasonably well-stated.
Basic comprehension allows us to translate sentences into meaning, but it's not foolproof. And, when you start to transpose them – well the subject becomes the object and who's doing what to whom gets reversed. That does not lend itself to clarity :-)