There’s some fresh enthusiasm in Lanarkshire this morning with the appointment of Englishman Ian Baraclough as Motherwell manager. Baraclough had a couple of successful years with Sligo Rovers from 2012-14, winning their first title in decades, before things fell apart this year, but his role as a scout for Huddersfield over the last six months is likely to interest Motherwell as much.
Motherwell directors have had a long-term tradition when looking for a manager of saying they want someone ‘plugged into’ the scouting and agent network. This game is all about the right contacts, you don’t get to acquire a promising Blackburn Rovers reserve (as Motherwell once did), but this particular activity is also very competitive.
The small matter of how to deploy players is, of course, equally important, but if you’re Motherwell, Celtic or Barcelona, that call is a shot in the dark.
I watched newco Rangers for the first time last night, although I ended up watching a lot more Queen of the South than I expected. The latter, each of them journeymen, were excellent, the former were symptomatic of everything that’s wrong with comfortably well-off footballers. Newco’s medium-term future, if they have one, will be to spend the next few years building a self-sustaining lower league club, capable of winning promotion and remaining a top-flight football team thereafter.
Get along to Celtic Park early tomorrow, Davie Hay will be signing copies of Caesar & the Assassin in the Superstore. If you ask him nicely he’s promised to sign your CQN Annual too. Don’t forget your camera!
Also remember to look out for the Foundation bucketeers as you approach the ground or enter the turnstiles. My boys and me will be at the North Stand, turnstiles 1-13, say hello if you’re around.
Thanks to everyone who donated to Mary’s Meals yesterday, the response was overwhelming. Emails went out this morning to winners of the Magners’ tickets.
You can order your CQN Annual here, or get a special Annual-DVD bundle here.
As a special offer, everyone who buys an Annual, or bundle, before Christmas will be entered into a prize draw for a VIP Meal of 4 at a Celtic Park restaurant on a match day. One entry for each Annual bought; pile in.
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https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B4xJWWlCYAA9ZV1.jpg:large
Goodnight Bhoys
JungledaysCSC
Greenpinata…..
I can promise you I have no interest in any clique, the only thing that interests me about this site is Celtic…..it might sound corny, it might sound sooky but I love what Paul67 & Winning Captains do, plus I can easily scroll by the people who have never a good word to say about Celtic and the good things we do as a club, I type from the heart and hopefully that comes across, I have been quite surprised I have had a few replies but hopefully that’s because my fellow hoops fans realise I am just an ordinary punter like us all !
Sleep well gerry.
gerryfaethebrig
Welcome to CQN mate.
There is no clique. There’s guys from here who meet in places in and around Parkhead, there’s guys who choose not to, there’s guys who would but can’t make it, there’s those who can’t or don’t attend and then then there’s the trolls.
Oh FFS,I was joking about WITS.
HT
Just about right
And there’s Declan
celtic-milan 20/02/2007
http://youtu.be/kLXh-JUub3M
Hamiltontim
I know there is no clique, somebody had mentioned I might be in a clique as a joke, as far as I am concerned 99% of posters must be Celtic fans because if they are not this site must annoy them, far too many good things come from this site and it encapsulates what Celtic is all about, as I posted earlier it has taken me years to pluck up the courage to post and hopefully I can add to the debate but I will never bad mouth Celtic or our custodians for one smile reason, I love the team and everything else is secondary, as I wrote earlier if that make me a happy clapper (whatever that is) it’s only me that can question that…in my humble opinion …..
Looking forward to seeing a good live session tomorrow night with Shebeen here in Derry for the weekend..
Oh,and plenty of swally.
Stuff sleep…. Tricoloured Ribbon, Shebeen are magic but back in the day there was a wee place in Coatbrig called Scruffy Murphys and the Wolfe Tones played in it, better than the Barrowlands the whole place was rocking, in fact the Coatbrig police station was rocking as well…..enjoy singing some songs of fallen heroes !
gerryfaethebrig
Good on you mate and enjoy.
For those of you who’ve never been in the Celtic end at Aberdeen.
http://youtu.be/pEP_TZeZDN8
TCR
Shebeen
The real deal …..
I can see Hibs doing Sevco in the play off 2nd round. They are a good counter attacking team.
HamiltonTim
You canny beat the old Beech End, a midweek cup game back in the day (late 80s) went to extra time (Biilly Stark scored both our goals) ended up 2-2 and went to extra time, I was only a Bhoy, canny even remember the full time score but we must have won, the full Beech End sang Sean South for about half a hour…..happy days
….pfayr supports weeoscar
01:19 on 14 December, 2014
TCR
Shebeen
The real deal …..
……
It’s the full band too but it’s going to be mayhem.
You couldn’t swing a cat in the bar they are playing in.
All ticket affair.I’m looking forward to a real pre-Christmas session with hopefully a good score at Paradise under our belts.
Gearoid1998
Cheers for the reply mate
Still a bit nervous about posting or missing any replies
Hail Hail
Fancy big Scepovic for a wee hattrick in about 12hrs time, forever the optimist
gerryfaethebrig
Strange how wee things spark a memory.
My best recollection of Sean South was the 1986 League Cup Final when I was just 15. The Orangies were giving their usual sectarian vitriol and we were 1-0 down at the time when all of a sudden, from my recollection, almost the entire Celtic end burst into that song.
TET is rather inibreated, what’s new
HH
KTF
ht,
I was at the game as usual in those days.
Just had a look at the Sevco team.
Stewart Munro,Cammy Fraser and Ally Dawson in it.Hopeless players altogether.
Yet they beat us.Our record in this trophy is abysmal imo for the amount of finals we were in.
A stark reminder that we can never take a victory over Sevco in the semi as a given.Never.
gerryfaethebrig
Ps I cried while singing, it was rebellion and appraisal at the same time.
Sadly, some Celtic supporters would support the arrest off fellow Tims singing it now.
How brave must Walfrid have been to stand up to the bigotry and hostility in 19thC Scotland.
I think many of us shame his legacy.
Hamiltontim
We must be about the same age, I am 44…. But what you are saying about songs sparking a memory. in my opinion that is what our songs are about, I can remember as a young Bhoy belting out Aiden McAnespie at Rugby Park and it went on for ages, most of us just tried to ousting each other….no hatred, hopefully none of us are brought up to hate….
The Craig Whyte interview in The Sun
Published: 45 minutes ago
CRAIG Whyte last night protested his innocence of fraud charges over his Rangers takeover and revealed: “I sleep well at night.”
Get in there my hero
Former owner Whyte, who is accused of swindling his way to power at Ibrox, vowed he will clear his name.
But as he lifted the lid on his dramatic arrest in Mexico last month, he insisted he has no fear of prison.
Whyte, 43, said: “These are huge issues and I don’t take any of it lightly. I always sleep well at night.
“I know that I have done absolutely nothing wrong. Over the last six months, I don’t think it has been very difficult.
“But if you asked me over the last month, I would say it hasn’t been very pleasant in lots of ways.” Whyte, who plunged Gers into administration during his controversial reign, faces jail time if he is convicted of serious charges.
He said: “It wouldn’t be very nice but it doesn’t frighten me.
“It’s not something I would wish on anybody but I hope that it doesn’t come to that.
“It’s too early to be thinking like that, I’m positive.
“I’m not going to mope around and think of the worst things that could happen to me because that’s not the way to live.”
The businessman, from Motherwell, blasted prosecutors and cops over his nicking in Mexico City minutes after landing on a flight from Japan.
And he branded news reports following his arrest as “b*******”. He said: “I agreed to surrender on December 8 so I was taken by surprise to be detained in Mexico.
“In my view the Crown Office and the police did that for the publicity — there was no extradition.
“I want to get across all the b****** that’s been written in the last couple of weeks.
“I came back here voluntarily, I have co-operated with prosecutors for the last two years and they have still not asked me a question.”
He had on the same smart grey coat he wore when he ran a gauntlet of angry Light Blues fans outside Glasgow Sheriff Court in November.
And Whyte, sporting the floppy hairdo and beard that are his new trademark, revealed he has no plans to invest in frootball again.
As he tucked into a burger lunch at a swinky hotel restaurant, tanned Whyte said: “I don’t regret doing it because I think you regret the things you don’t do — but I wouldn’t do it again.
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I wouldn’t be rushing to do a football deal again.”
The tycoon, once based in Monaco, became a hate figure among supporters after taking Gers into administration as they tumbled from top-flight football to Division Three. The club was later liquidated, sparking an exodus of top players.
He claimed Rangers would have gone under sooner had it not been for his takeover in 2011.
He went on: “I never asked for any of it. I’m a private, low-key kind of guy, not at all suited to being involved in a football club.
“What everyone forgets is I’m the only person in recent years who hasn’t taken a penny out of Rangers.
“Even these current charges, I don’t think I’m accused of taking any money out of Rangers.
“I bought a company that was bankrupt for £1. Rangers were already completely bankrupt at the time when I got involved.
“All I did was step in to try to rescue a situation that was already way beyond. It was my intention to take it forward as a business and not to see it in the sorry state it is in at the moment.”
Asked what went wrong, he said: “Champions League would have been a bonus but if Rangers had got into the Europa League they would not have gone into administration that season.”
Whyte reckons only someone with £100million to chuck at the club could have done a better job than him — and that administration was on the cards before he bought out Sir David Murray.
He said: “Given the set of circumstances, it’s difficult for anyone to do unless they were willing to chuck £100million and make sure they bought the players to get results in Europe and so on. Rangers would have gone into administration, before I came along, they were taking insolvency advice.
“Absolutely, no doubt about it. Probably sooner.”
Whyte, banned from Scottish football for life in 2012, reckons his relationship with Gers supporters is broken forever but he is just as hurt by the club’s fate.
And he believes nothing he could say to the Ibrox faithful could shake his bogey man image.
He said: “I’m not angry, you have to play the hand that you are dealt but disappointed is a fair comment.
“I’m a Rangers fan myself, my family are Rangers fans.
“They have every right to be angry but there is nothing I’m going to say that will make any difference about their anger so it’s pointless trying to have that conversation.”
Asked if he thinks there is any chance of the Rangers fans changing their minds about him he added: “You can never say never because never is a long time. Hopefully when the facts come out, and they will in this process, people might form a different view.
“There are complex issues but things will come to light that will be explosive in many ways.”
He admits none of the turmoil he now faces was expected when he took over the reins but says the mistrust among fans is “entirely unfair”.
Whyte added: “Anyone who deals with me and has known me knows that’s not the person they recognise. It’s not a fair reflection of who I am.
“I think the average fan, and I don’t want to be patronising here, but they don’t understand the complexities of everything that has been going on. Of course, I sympathise with them.”
Before his first court appearance, Whyte hadn’t been seen in Scotland for a year since he gave evidence at Inverness Sheriff Court at the trial of two former workers at his castle home near Grantown-on-Spey, Moray.
In September the bank repossessed it after he failed to keep up with remortgage payments.
Whyte said: “It was a pain in the a*** to be honest. It was empty 90 per cent of the time.
“It was just a pile of bills with no benefits. I don’t regret losing it.”
He was also hit with a 15-year ban from running a company at the Court of Session.
He said: “I didn’t defend it. Partially because I didn’t know about it — they didn’t serve any papers.
“Secondly it’s not safe to go to trial in Edinburgh every day and thirdly because it has to be funded at the cost of several hundred thousand pounds.”
Go on Craigy Bhoy,
Magical.
http://youtu.be/-HyPCe73fdw
Hero Craigy forever.
Sleep well mi hermanos y hermanas.
HH
KTF
TET,
Thanks for posting the CW interview so that we don’t have to go into the Sun site :~)
Some juicy quotes there.
My particular favourite…….
“There are complex issues but things will come to light that will be explosive in many ways.”
HH
gerryfaethebrig
02:11 on 14 December, 2014
Hamiltontim
We must be about the same age, I am 44…. But what you are saying about songs sparking a memory. in my opinion that is what our songs are about, I can remember as a young Bhoy belting out Aiden McAnespie at Rugby Park and it went on for ages, most of us just tried to ousting each other….no hatred, hopefully none of us are brought up to hate….
————
You couldn’t have been that young sir, Aidan was murdered in 1988.
It’s not hate, how could remembering the death of a young man be hate, it’s
Oops
…..it’s about respect and having the courage to inform the world of our roots.
Too many would be ashamed that an Irish Republican laid our final sod of grass.
TET
Who cares?
No offence to you at all but if I’m honest I don’t care a monkeys.
They’re Rangers, they died, that’ll do for me.
As Tims we’ll have a right laugh at their expense but in regards to the big picture nobody I speak to on the bus or at the games discusses them.
Hamiltontim… The hate reference wasn’t about our songs that was towards what you heard from the other side and when you were singing Sean South against that mob who didn’t pay their taxes, I said we sang Aiden McAnespie when I was younger was probably around 2002 (when I was 32 going on 18) defo at Rugby park when we got both sides behind each goal, and definitely under O’Neill……
And we will never be ashamed !
Good night and cheers for the memories, it’s magic being a Tim
Goodnight/morning.
TAL
http://youtu.be/kk9XQyS7QPU
The first game I remember was Jock Stein’s testimonial in 1978, I would have been 8.
My da told me I was there 3 years before in a midweek game against Dundee Utd and several times after but I don’t recall.
I definitely remember my first away game, it was Easter Rd and it was Stanton’s testmonial.
I got the bug.
My da told me that most of the Celtic supporters were Catholics. That made me proud and I remember thinking that I’d look out for guys at Mass.
He also told me that some of the supporters wouldn’t be Catholics but that they would support Celtic just as much as us.
As a wee boy, that would do for me.
What my da didn’t tell me was how Celtic supporters would turn on each other and it has nothing to do with faith or colour.
Probably he never read a blog.
Cheers big man for my Catholic faith, my devotion to my family and finally, for Celtic.
We sold Sammi how’s that stood us in Europe this yeat?
Aye and some of you want rid of Commons!!!
No wonder the Plc love you.
TD67
Is it Tony or Tam?
ht,
As I doze off,
You take care mate.
When the Scottish establishment marks your card rules don’t matter
“He was also hit with a 15-year ban from running a company at the Court of Session.
He said: “I didn’t defend it. Partially because I didn’t know about it — they didn’t serve any papers.”
Not sure if anyone posted this yet, just got back from Mass.
But beforehand, I had put the telly on and lo! and behold, ’twas the Lisbon Lions, right before my eyes. The program was “The Worlds Greatest Football Teams”.
Sadly, I only caught the last 10 mins or so but it still made my day.
Hamiltontim
03:10 on 14 December, 2014
I think Kris Commons is a great guy, family man, does lots of charity stuff with Lisa, and I don’t want him to leave Celtic.
But, he’s not the player of last season. Why?
Could be a number of reasons but I think he misses Lenny, with whom he seemed to have a special relationship to the extent that Lenny talked about a coaching role for Kris in the future. Maybe it’s just the uncertainty due to contract negotiations, but Ronny has said he want kris to stay.
Ball very much in Kris’s court, regardless of what any of us write here!
HH
ps I miss Sammy too, he really got Celtic.