I remember getting annoyed at the grief Gordon Strachan took after David Fernandez inspired Dundee United to a draw at Celtic Park. It was disproportionate, despite the poor performance, and ignored the sporting reality that weaker teams can get it right and leave Celtic Park with a point. As well as a lot of credit for their efforts.
Positives first. Many things didn’t work for Celtic yesterday but James Forrest looked to be back to his best. There was only one occasion he didn’t get past the Killie fullback all day, and he recovered to dispossess two opponents and win the ball back.
For James, it’s all about fitness and confidence. Right now, he has both.
I looked at the clock: 3 minutes had gone, Jozo Simunovic was still on his feet. ‘We’re breaking new ground’, I thought. Kilmarnock defended their penalty area all day, so we were seldom troubled, but you and I have seen enough football to know that’s not the whole story. Jozo was immaculate, didn’t put a foot wrong, covered ground with pace and precision. Threw himself into tackles and won the ball.
The contrast with recent defensive performances could have scarcely been more marked.
Elsewhere it didn’t go so well. Tom Rogic and Nir Bitton were both inhibited. Stuart Armstrong prodded but seemed out of sync with his team-mates. Passes regularly found an opponent. From my seat, it looked like our movement and use of space was inefficient.
The last 30 minutes of the game saw Kilmarnock clear their lines and regroup under sustained pressure. During this period, I was confident the goal would come, it usually does. Maybe the extra dimension we hoped we’ve recruited in Carlton Cole, out ill yesterday, would have given our wing play more of a target.
Since writing on the subject on Friday night I’ve seen some of the sectarian abuse left on Facebook about our director, Ian Livingston, amid a diatribe against refugees and all sorts of people who are minorities in the UK.
Years ago I wrote that there are few values we can anchor the club to. Scotland is changing, as are peoples’ sense of identity, no more so than when it comes to religious identity. We can’t, nor should we, impose restrictions on who becomes a Celtic fan. Our demographic is largely left of centre, but a Lisbon Lion went on to become a Tory councillor, so there’s no political bar to supporting Celtic.
I also know an Ulster unionist, who for several years joined his family and friends as a Celtic season ticket holder. He was always made welcome, and didn’t find the celebration of Irish heritage at Celtic incompatible with his identity. As the generations pass, we’ll see more of this. People will care less about 20th century politics (not to mention 17th century) and your view on transubstantiation.
Our founding value is that we are open to all. You will find a welcome at Celtic irrespective of colour, race or religion, you don’t need to care about Scotland or Ireland, we have Poles, English, Norwegians, Americans, Aussies and many more. Few of them had an Irish grannie.
These values are under threat across Europe. We should take every opportunity to reinforce them.
I took some advice on whether to out those behind the racist abuse yesterday, but I’m glad Ian Livingston did so direct on the Affiliation site (and apologies for the direct quote appearing on a CQN article, I pulled it as soon as I saw it).
I was also challenged over the weekend for criticising the chairman’s right to use any available platform to call out racism. I don’t feel qualified to say that’s not allowed.
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Petec,
So we should be happy that Christian people are being exterminated in the Middle East because it helps your sick mind use it as evidence that mankind is dying, forgive me if I don’t join in on your celebrations, I’ll say a prayer for the lost souls, I just can’t bring myself to celebrate their deaths, but you go ahead without me.
Morning all
Gerry will make you laugh with his tales from the teaching front line. Part 2 of Interview.
Start the day with a smile.
http://wp.me/p6DYht-py
No One Walks Alone
Just read a thing from the. edinburgh Evening News that Hibs are getting blood tests done. On Liam Henderson. Alan Stubbs was saying , Liam looked wiped out.
A few posters here have previously said Liam looks knackered after about an hour of Hibs game. The report also said , Liam may have an iron deficiency.
Newsnow reporting Tony Watt may be going to Cardiff on loan. What has gone wrong for Tony.
Good morning friends.
Damp, cold and grey in ole EK but just one more sleep till our next Matchday.
RWE on 24th November 2015 5:56 am
Halfway through……….at the part he says to thank your teachers. :-)
Very enjoyable.
Cheers.
Jobo
Have you lost a day somewhere?
BT – oops, just feels that way after an uninspiring scroll back over the last 2 pages. If I’d just stumbled across the ole blog for the first time I think it’d have been my one and only visit.
Work callin’……..
It’s cold outside Jobo
Wrap up
My wee nephew went through another op yesterday on his feet this time
He is a great wee fighter but has been through about 40 ops in his 17 years on this planet
He has his sights set on college and university,
Good luck Marco
That was an update for the boys who ask about the wee man
I hope it’s 2 more sleeps or I have fecked up my flights and digs! Or are you on a 24 hour party before the game? Hope it’s the latter – respect!
Hail hail
Good morning CQN
What would an up to date list reveal
Records of two million members of the secretive Freemasons have been published online, showing that its members during Britain’s imperial heyday included Winston Churchill, Oscar Wilde and Rudyard Kipling.
Membership records from 1733 to 1923 — mainly in Britain and the British Empire — have been digitised and published on the family history website Ancestry, the company said Monday.
“The records demonstrate the extensive involvement which Freemasons have had in British society,” Diane Clements, director of the Freemasonry library and museum, said in a statement.
The records show details including Freemasons’ names, profession, residence and when they joined the society, which grew out of guilds in Britain in the Middle Ages and became a club for men involving ritual and symbols.
Prominent members named in the records include Churchill, who initiated into the Studholme Lodge aged 26 in May 1901.
Wilde, who wrote the novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and plays such as “The Importance of Being Earnest,” appears in the records as a member of the Apollo University Lodge, Cambridge, after his initiation aged 20 in 1875.
While Churchill, Wilde and Kipling, famed for “The Jungle Book,” have been named as Freemasons before, the directory reveals the span of membership in the British Empire at its height.
The list includes 5,500 police officers, 170 judges, 169 MPs, 16 bishops and an Indian prince, the Daily Telegraph reported.
The scientist Henry Wellcome is named as a member, while Kipling is shown to have initiated into the Lodge of Hope and Perseverance No 782 in Lahore in what is now the Punjab region of Pakistan in 1886.
The records, which were taken from originals kept at the London headquarters of the United Grand Lodge of England, show that common professions for Freemasons included engineers, merchants, clerks and farmers.
Their release follows a series of initiatives by the Freemasons to be open about their organisation, which has over 200,000 members in England today, and dispel conspiracy theories surrounding it.
“We’re delighted to be able to offer people an online window into a relatively unknown organisation,” Miriam Silverman, senior UK content manager at Ancestry said in a statement on Monday.
“Whilst we can’t reveal the inner workings of Freemason ceremonies, what we can tell you is the details of over two million historic members.”
BLANTYRETIM IS PRAYING FOR THE KNOX FAMILY on 24TH NOVEMBER 2015 7:34
Good luck to Marco brave young man
Cat Boyd: We can’t leave politics at the turnstiles, they’re a part of sport
NOVEMBER 24TH, 2015 – 12:11 AM CAT BOYD NO COMMENTS
WHEN it comes to football and criminal justice, I have a small and modest proposal. Either we should apply the Offensive Behaviour Act (OBA) consistently, and have Celtic board member and Tory peer Lord Livingston investigated for offensiveness. Or we should scrap the policy; because although it’s allegedly there to address undeniable problems in our culture, it is counter-productive, farcical and ultimately damaging.
The OBA claims to tackle the culture of violent religious bigotry that surrounds Scottish football. While I might quibble that Scotland’s “sectarianism on both sides” narrative tends to forget racism towards Irish immigrants in Scottish history, there’s an irrefutable moral principle that nobody quibbles with: religious discrimination by any section of society is unacceptable.
Where it takes a violent or aggressively racist form, it should be punished.
However, the police already have powers to deal with these problems without the OBA. Which poses the question, why legislate specifically around football?
The answer is undoubtedly that SNP politicians want to be seen doing “something”: hence the explicit powers to deal with the “offensive” forms of political expression around football games. But who decides what is politically offensive?
The Act claims to “only criminalise behaviour likely to lead to public disorder which expresses or incites hatred, is threatening or is otherwise offensive to a reasonable person”. But as CommonSpace recently reported, under these terms, fans have been fined £2,500 simply for singing a song with a swear word in it.
So again – who is this “reasonable person” who can decide what counts as “offensive”?
On the ground, the answer is usually “let the police decide”. Jeanette Findlay, of Fans against Criminalisation tells me it’s not bad policing which is necessarily the problem – “Although there are plenty of examples of that.”
She adds: “It’s really that the Act gives the police power to decide what is offensive and they give evidence in court to that effect.” Indeed, combined with a centralised police force and the legacy of Met-style policing from Sir Stephen House, Scotland is at the eye of a perfect storm. “It’s the Act that gives the police the power to become the problem.”
And she’s right. As endless studies have shown, the police have institutionalised certain ideas of what counts as “offensive” and what doesn’t. “Offensive” behaviour tends to be committed by poor and vulnerable people who violate rich people’s social norms; by contrast, dominant group behaviour is rarely seen as “offensive”. “Worryingly, the majority of those arrested under the OBA are between the ages of 16 and 25.” Jeanette says, “Just as we predicted.” The Bullingdon Club don’t have to see the inside of a jail cell; young football fans see it plenty.
In rushing through the legislation, the Scottish Government failed to account for the potential that these new powers might be abused. The result is that powerful men such as John Mason MSP are warning mostly young, mostly working-class fans to avoid wearing Yes badges to a football game, in case they cause offence and get themselves arrested. “We should all know by now that expressing political views is no longer acceptable at football matches,” Mason announced, chillingly. And then our politicians have the audacity to complain about apathy.
Zeyn Mohammed, a young Celtic fan, told me about his experience of OBA. “This Act almost gives the police carte blanche to intimidate, harass and gather intelligence,” he says. “I know of many people who’ve been awoken at 6am with police vans outside their door, to be arrested and charged based on something a police officer found offensive a few months prior.
“It’s not only the initial arrest, but the resultant trials which take months, sometimes years. It’s the days off work, the worry of losing your job, sometimes for something as little as using a swear word.”
HUMAN rights groups and supporters’ organisations have raised understandable questions about how this law works in practice. Some believe it may contravene European human rights directives. But whatever the legality of OBA, it’s the absurdity and hypocrisy that really stands out to me. Most SNP supporters I know think the act is a joke, too. Offence is always relative to the observer. The “reasonable observer” outlined in the Act essentially means a middle-class person: a judge, a politician or a senior policeman, perhaps.
OBA uses legalistic jargon to codify a complacent, stuffy and judgmental moral order.
The Scottish Government’s main defence of OBA is that it’s popular with the public, even though some of the data is scientifically questionable. But much of the Act’s popularity stems from the deceptive idea that police are powerless against bigotry and violence without it. That’s simply misinformation. Police action and criminal justice isn’t the only way to tackle bigotry. It’s certainly the most expensive way and arguably it’s the least effective way.
But even if we were to accept the ridiculous notion that “only tough love” can sort out our society, the reality is that the police already have power to arrest truly dangerous people under existing laws. OBA is basically a charter for harassing harmless lads with anti-fascist flags: many of them are simply good citizens who happen to give a damn about human rights.
Some people say politics should be kept out of sport. But does anyone really mean that? I thought it was bloody brilliant when George Osborne was booed at the Paralympics.
I don’t think people should be arrested for it: I’m glad Osborne was offended. Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their fists in the black power salute in 1968, Cassius Clay becoming Muhammad Ali, the sporting boycott of Apartheid South Africa; where would sporting history be without politics? If you accept the “good” protests, you take the “bad” too. That’s the price of free expression.
Celtic FC’s board made the hypocrisy of “keeping politics out of sport” abundantly clear this week. First, they booted out proposals to pay their cleaners and caterers the living wage. Then, they re-elected Tory peer Lord Livingston to the board, after fans protested over his role in cutting tax credits. In both cases, the same rationale: sport is business, not politics. In the name of such exalted sentiments, the men who inherited Brother Walfrid’s legacy are telling us to leave our politics at the turnstile, and let the sporting businesspeople manage the sporting business.
Celtic fans – football fans generally – are mostly working-class people who spend huge proportions of their income buying football strips and tickets to keep the club running.
Many of these fans rely on tax credits to heat the house, never mind to buy the kids a new strip this Christmas. But apparently Lord Livingston hasn’t offended anyone. His day-to-day political behaviour is his own affair. Politics is politics, and sport is business.
Is it fair that Lord Livingston walks free, and strolls onto the board of one of Scotland’s biggest institutions, while working-class fans face the wrath of the police for daring to wave a Palestine flag?
Not in my Scotland. Call me mad, but politics, good and bad, is part of sport. Even the most authoritarian dictatorships haven’t been able to stop that. Scotland won’t either, and we shouldn’t try.
The Celtic Trust demanded evidence of alleged ‘criminally racist’ on-line abuse and Ian Livingston duly presented it to them ……have they apologised ?
Incidentally, I think the Police should be asked to investigate.
Job I knows what you mean. I was in Welly for two dats and when I came back here I thought what a spiteful place it had turned into. Petty personal attacks, a general atmosphere of dissension and no fun at all. Hoping that things pick up as the season progresses. Many years ago I stumbled across Here and Pablo supplied the uplifting music to match an up beat beat. Get so e fun back into the blog CQN. Respect each other and have a laugh while you disagree with each other. Hail hail. Happy to take Soutar off Dundee U , hope they don’t go down.
Canalamar. You fella put some hours in on this blog and your knowledge covers every subject.I dont know how you find the time you must be on the shortlist for blogger of the year. H.H. : – )
Jobo I knows what you mean. I was in Welly for two days and when I came back here I thought what a spiteful place it had turned into. Petty personal attacks, a general atmosphere of dissension , anger and no fun at all. Hoping that things pick up as the season progresses. Many years ago I stumbled across Here and Pablo supplied the uplifting music to match an up beat tempo, it was just what I needed to keep in touch with everything Celtic. Get some fun back into the blog CQN. Respect each other and have a laugh while you disagree with each other. Hail hail. Happy to take Soutar off Dundee U , hope they don’t go down.
lionroars67
What next ? Ballot boxes at the turnstiles ?…hahahahahaha
BT
People with names like Marco never fail… Good luck to him!
LIONROARS67 on 24TH NOVEMBER 2015 8:21 AM
Cat Boyd: We can’t leave politics at the turnstiles, they’re a part of sport
===================================================================
Cat Boyd launches a vicious attack on Celtic.
Just as the huns have done for decades.
Who do you support?
BT
Good Luck to Marco….the bhoys will be thinking of him, brave lad.
HH
JFH sorry mhate cannot agree with that call. I can think of several ahead of him, in my humble opinion. H H Hebcelt
67HEAVEN .. CHALLENGING THE LIE ..I AM WEE OSCAR…… IPOX BELONGS TO THE CREDITORS on 24TH NOVEMBER 2015 8:26 AM
The Celtic Trust demanded evidence of alleged ‘criminally racist’ on-line abuse and Ian Livingston duly presented it to them ……have they apologised ?
What the Celtic trust actually said,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
http://www.celtictrust.net/?func=d_home_article&id=519
67heaven…,
Just remind us what’re CT should be apologising for?
MACJAY1 FOR NEIL LENNON on 24TH NOVEMBER 2015 8:36 AM
LIONROARS67 on 24TH NOVEMBER 2015 8:21 AM
Who do you support?
Really your questioning me as a Celtic fan…………………………….lol
JFH,
Sometimes I don’t sleep a lot, it’s good to read and research before you express an opinion I find it helps.
As for blogger blah blah blah, I nominate hebcelt he knows what’s best.
My friends in Celtic,
As Thursday draws closer my optimism rises. The day I dont look forward with optimism to a big Celtic game is the day I chuck it.
There are many reasons for the drop off in attendance. The composition of the Board is probably quite far from the top.
It is too simplistic comparing attendances from years back. Never has it been so easy to watch our games ( every game )without making any effort to go. The most knowledgable of supporters could be the ones who watch every game on the box with every incident and every failing highlighted in slow motion.
We can tune in to watch the very best that global football has to offer and its only natural to compare what we offer. Our league is poor compared to some others and we do not have the intensity that the cheats provided for both the fans and the players; Not to mention the media.
As I have stated many times, the only constant is my admiration to the supporters who can and do make the effort.
They are the main players in any debate over our future.
HH.
LIONROARS67 on 24TH NOVEMBER 2015 8:46 AM
No.
I`m questioning the author.
Please don`t digress.
:-)
LIONROARS67 on 24TH NOVEMBER 2015 8:46
As I have stated many times, the only constant is my admiration to the supporters who can and do make the effort. They are the main players in any debate over our future.
===============================================================
I identify with that.
Canamaler
I have the same problem, don’t sleep well.
Recently, I have been trying to tire myself by consuming copious amounts of pasta with assorted herbs, and listening to various unionist historians lecture.
Usually does the job.
Don’t forget the herbs though:)
HH
MACJAY1 FOR NEIL LENNON on 24TH NOVEMBER 2015 8:56 AM
LIONROARS67 on 24TH NOVEMBER 2015 8:46 AM
No.
I`m questioning the author.
Please don`t digress.
I always considered personality politics to be the of the lowest, i considered the content of the article
I kent your faither to be something Celtic fans never indulged in…… after all, we are an all inclusive club
Except when they disagree with your politic
… meanwhile Turkey has just shot down a Russian SU-24 warplane near the Syrian border
not a good start to the day csc
lionroars67 on 24th November 2015 9:05 am
?
BARRACH OBAMPOT on 24TH NOVEMBER 2015 9:09 AM
… meanwhile Turkey has just shot down a Russian SU-24 warplane near the Syrian border
==============================================================
Cry “Havoc”
the Green Man,
I sleep very well, when I get sleepy enough :)
Tend to use the auld vino method of inducing slumber.
You might have noticed :)
Canamaler
Yeah….the local produce helps:)
But…if I’m really struggling to sleep….David Starkey discussing monarchy is usually sufficient.
HH
The green man / Canamalar
Amitryptyline and tramadol do the trick for me.