The Scottish Football League programme is now finished with only play-offs still to complete but there is still a great deal of business to complete. The remarkable persistence of First Division clubs to find a financial model which will allow them to retain full time football shows no sign of ending, despite the difficulties presented from a couple of quarters.
Meanwhile the Third Division champions have even more pressing matters. They have now finished their league programme and can now officially be told what they have perhaps unofficially suspected for some weeks. Charles Green has agreed to remain a director until the end of this month. Before he goes the ownership of Ibrox, as well as the appropriateness of the club’s IPO in December, will need to be established. They have a three week window but nothing happens until the lawyers report, which I expect this week.
It was two years ago today Sir David Murray took a £1 payment and relieved himself of outstanding commitments to Lloyds Banking Group, the legacy of his time at Rangers. The support Craig Whyte received at critical times in the months which followed was breath-taking. Every hack, side-kick, and numpty ‘fan’ who told the rest to set aside all common sense deserve a medal for what they did to that club.
They don’t even understand the mock-worship Celtic fans offer Whyte is a parody on where they were 2011-12.
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I agree, to many on here happy with the small victories not seeing the big picture
ron bacardi
00:09 on 7 May, 2013
%%%%%
The SFA/MSM have done no favours by their inactivity. Bill Miller’s due diligence uncovered a £30m black hole in the books this was based on newco playing in the SPL and without the BTC liability. Miller was ridiculed by the MSM. Deidco were warned about CW before the board voted on the £1 (the dossier compiled for the board by a private investigator), they voted to ignore the report, the MSM reported ‘…a Motherwell born billionaire’. Hugh Adam warned anyone who would listen that SDM was using an unsustainable business model, and operating dual contracts, he was ridiculed by the MSM and treated as a hostile outsider.
If, at any point the MSM had reported the truth, deidco could have been salvaged. If the SFA had stepped in when Hugh Adam made his statement, SDM would probably have sold up. If Bill Miller had been listened to, sevco would not be p1ssing £1m per month against the wall in players’ wages.
Couldn’t have happened to a more deserving bunch!
Nite CQN
As ever an education.
Take care and god bless Timland.
Our new addition to the pack, Derry, has settled in like he has always been here, never seen anything like it before, it has stumped a few people who would know a thing or two about packs of dogs.
HH
KTF
Keep hail & hearty never give up, us internet bampots must reach saturation point some time soon just keep the faith Tiocfaidh ár lá
An education….well I can discount the dick, as yet he has to educate me, one day possibly, but I would doubt it >}
HH
TET
Long – long way for this to run. Courts/ professionals will milk them for a fortune in fees.
Expenditure well exceeds income – unless someone throws big money at them.
Now ask yourself – no idea who actually owns what properties within the portfolio – who has a first call on all/ part of the income – what impending court action awaits (financial/ legal/ criminal) – dubious income (sponsorship/ catering or whatever else has been hawked off) – who in their right mind would invest in them other than another spiv?
60yrs old on sunday 5/5/53 every days still a school day hope to learn typing with more than \/ that was meant to be 2 fingers will have to go off to bed shortly, that’s the only saving grace about typing nobody can see how inebriated I/you really are goodnight CQN,NRS & god bless. HH
the_huddle
i think i read somewhere that mccarthys dad got a fair wad£1m? to help swing the deal in wigans favour..
lets wait and see how o.gs news and phils and a.thomos before we chuck it or get too disheartened..i think a lot of us on here realise that they will never get their rightfull punishments due to this countrys establishments and the cabal..all wee can expect are these smaller victorys..administration.liquidation.
tribute act in fourth tier.city of london police investigations and so on..we can only hope the forthcoming events are entertaining for us and i’m sure they will be..the klan have been damaged to a large degree and will not worry us on the park for a long time to come..lets enjoy it!!they are Deid in my eyes and always will be
nite and h.h
I think that Celtic have 2 Billionaires on their Board. That is a lot of clout, even when up against the Masonic Scottish establishment. Remember these peepil lie to their friends if they are not at the same Level as them, they are instructed to do that. They are told that those lower are Worthless and deserve to be deceived. They stand no chance of getting out of this calamity they now find themselves in. They don’t know who to trust. ;))
There are only a handful of people running the Show in the World, it has ever thus been the case, all the lower levels are being used for a purpose and they will be discarded and binned when the right moment arrives.
All the celebrities getting called out is just the start. You only get places if you are controllable, no matter how far back in time the misdemeanors happened, IMO of course.
BOBBY, noticed your question to The Singing Detective about why Christians are being persecuted in previous secular Countries.
Order out of Chaos is the motto. Christianity is the real target of the US foreign policy and it is working like a charm. Remember Bush prophecising that they would bring Democracy to the whole World. Haunting comments.
Fast Forward to 2hours 20Minutes and watch it closely up until 2:25 or further if you feel so inclined.
not just paranoia espn agree!
http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/celtic/id/370?cc=5739#
And it would help if I included the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DztNH5y_pI
.
Breaking News..
3 Girls missing for 10years been found in a House in Idaho US..
As a Father of Girls.. Hope for the McCann family..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu37E3WhX_g
Ya Beauty.
Lubo.
Brilliant Lubo, Brilliant. Yesssss
What a Player.
Biased commentary? ;) At least we are honest and not masquerading as a National broadcaster.
50 against the Beasties. ;))
Celtic will bring in a new Lubo/Henryk this Summer IMO, we might need to spend a wee bit of cash though.
Celtic are going from Strength to Strength.
The next FAC crowd should be massive and at least twice as many people will turn out, hopefully, because the Bill has to be killed.
Happy Belated Birthday wishes to Paul67.
Summa of Sammi….
01:56 on 7 May, 2013
.
Breaking News..
3 Girls missing for 10years been found in a House in Idaho US..
As a Father of Girls.. Hope for the McCann family..
_________________________________________________________
I’ve always thought that the Madeleine McCann case is very suspicious, so many kids disappear throughout Europe but the then Pope meets the Parents.
Who knows, even a plot to get the populace to have their kids trackable by a chip on or within their body, especially when she is finally found, I think she will definitely be found in the future which would make the case even more suspicious.
Big Sammi isnae daft though, he sacrifices himself for the Greater Good of Celtic all the Time, that is obvious in Every little thing he does. ;))
Summa & Petec,
Is this different breaking news than the 3 girls found in Cleveland after being missing for 10 years?
.
What’s that coming over the hill — a green monster?
Andy Muirhead
While there’s debate about who deserves individual awards, there’s no doubt who won Scotland’s Grand Prize in football.
Whether he is being hit with notices of complaint by stalker Vincent Lunny or being the manager of a club labelled a ‘monster’ by the wacky and madcap Killie manager Kenny Shiels, Neil Lennon’s time at Celtic Park — as manager — has been far from quiet. And that’s not even taking into account all that went on in his first few seasons in charge.
The latest furore — away from the ludicrous complaint of entering the playing zone after the full-time whistle and before the 15-minute time limit (wonder who was there with a stopwatch waiting?) — Lennon has had to deal with his players being snubbed by their fellow peers in the PFA Scotland awards.
The fallout over their exclusion seems to have been replaced by the news that the player who won the PFA Scotland Player of the Year award, Michael Higdon, ended up in a police cell in Glasgow during the early hours of the morning for an alleged assault at a nightclub that is famous for footballers hanging out there and infamous for the wannabe WAGs hoping to score a footballer for the lifestyle they dream of when reading those women’s mags. This after his failure to string two sentences together when he was announced as the Player of the Year.
You then had another nominee, Hibernian’s Leigh Griffiths, who was recently arrested and charged for allegedly shoplifting at a local Tesco supermarket.
Two great footballers on the pitch, there is no denying that, but their escapades are certainly not ones worthy of being role models within the Scottish game.
I do have to point out that you are innocent until proven guilty in Scotland — unless it is an issue between Celtic and Rangers, then everyone is guilty until proven innocent. Even then, they are still guilty depending on what side of the divide you sit on.
So should the Celtic players really have been snubbed by the PFA Scotland in their awards bash?
Well first of all, PFA chief Fraser Wishart stated that they had not been snubbed, that in fact seven players received nominations — just not enough to make the final cut.
Winning the SPL title, reaching the last 16 of the Champions League — beating Barcelona on the way, reaching the League Cup semi final and in a Scottish Cup Final. You would think with all that ‘success’ they would be recognised more — or as Rangers’ Lee Wallace believed, the lack of Rangers in the top tier played a part in no Celtic players being in the final vote.
The SFL Third Division Player of the Year, when asked previously if Celtic’s failure to secure any players in the top award was down to no Rangers to challenge, he said: “I think that might be the case. Obviously the Old Firm is a huge game for Scottish football and a huge thing for both Celtic and Rangers. Having that competition certainly keeps you on the ball every week even when you aren’t playing each other. There’s always a wee eye over the shoulder to find out how they’re doing. That in itself can help with your own results. I think that might have played a part.”
So who were the seven Celtic players who failed to secure the required votes? Joe Ledley, Fraser Forster, Georgios Samaras, Gary Hooper, Victor Wanyama, Kelvin Wilson and Kris Commons maybe? Were any real standouts across the whole season for you?
Ledley was consistent, Forster was great the first half of the season but after his injury he looked to lose something. Samaras proved it in Europe, but was hit-and-miss again domestically. Hooper disappeared for much of the second half of the season when the January transfer window closed — he looked like a player who was itching for a move away and wasn’t really interested in trying and picking up an injury.
Then there was Wilson, named by Lennon as one possible candidate. Sorry, but he has been a liability in my opinion and has been helped out on many an occasion by those around him. Commons again, a creative spark within the Celtic side, but when he is not playing well, then Celtic do not play well.
This season has shown that Commons is not a consistent performer and does go missing in games from time to time. Last but not least, Wanyama, a youngster who looks like a man-mountain and who has been touted ever since his first few months in the SPL as one who would likely be the first to heard to the EPL.
Again after the January transfer window and Champions League games, he was posted missing in some games, he wasn’t giving his all in case he got injured possibly — but out of the seven players, he would have been the one who should have been in the final PFA Scotland Player of the Year list.
It was inevitable that Lennon would not secure PFA Scotland manager of the year, as in my opinion, the work done by Derek Adams, Terry Butcher and Allan Johnston should be recognised more. Lennon was a contender, no doubt, but he was expected to win the league, he was also expected to lead Celtic to a domestic treble also — although a domestic double can still happen.
His nomination for PFA Scotland manager of the year though, again in my opinion, may have been there for two reasons. He is Celtic manager and he won the title, and two, his side beat Barcelona and reached the last 16 of the Champions League.
The first reason does not automatically qualify you to win an award — even more so when there is no credible competition. The latter, beating Barcelona, is by far the best moment in Lennon’s career, as he testified to himself. But again, does it equate to him winning manager of the year?
Given performances domestically — these far outweighed the Barcelona victory and last 16 success and he didn’t deserve the accolade this time round.
Celtic’s own awards bash, which passed uneventfully, except for Adam Matthews doing what Welshmen do best — no, not play rugby, but sing — saw Greek striker Samaras crowned Celtic’s Player of the Year, Forster as Player’s Player of the Year, Wanyama as Young Player of the Year and the goal of the season being awarded to Tony Watt for that goal against Barcelona.
There was also special recognition for former Celt Stilian Petrov, who is battling leukemia. I can safely speak for every Celtic supporter in this instance that we all wish Stan better soon and back to playing football if that is possible.
Hooper — a tale of two strikers this season. Before the end of the January transfer window he bagged 23 goals in 33 games (all competitions). Since the start of February, he looked a shadow of his former self — as if he had lost interest – he scored six goals in 15 games (all competitions).
Overall in 48 games, he has 29 goals. Not bad for a striker whose second half was poor in terms of performance. And he still has three games to play — two in the SPL and the Scottish Cup final — to extend his tally.
Compare with last season’s stats — 29 goals in 49 games — he has been consistent over the course of the season.
Motherwell’s Michael Higdon had a good season on the pitch, but hasn’t covered himself in glory off the field.
Now we look at Higdon, who received many plaudits for his displays this season for Motherwell, as well as bagging the Player of the Year award while sloshed to boot.
In 41 games (all competitions), he has 27 goals, after scoring 16 in 39 games last season.
Going on a goals-to-games ratio only, over the course of this season, Higdon beat Hooper. The Motherwell striker has scored every 1.52 games, Hooper every 1.66.
But we could be here all day arguing who is a better striker, etc. Between the two. who would I have in my side? Gary Hooper any day of the week. Hooper has scored in the big games for Celtic this season, Higdon — while not having much of chance — has not.
It’s a bit like the Boyd-Larsson question — Kris Boyd may have scored more goals in the SPL than Henrik Larsson, but Larsson played in the SPL less than Boyd did. On top of that Boyd, never turned up in the big games at home or in Europe, while Larsson — even when not in form — was still banging the goals in.
While the Rangers loyalists boasted about having an SPL-record goalscorer on the books, Celtic fans and those with a clear sense of reality knew who the best striker was and who they would pick for their side. It was never Boyd.
Boyd went to England and failed, he then went to Turkey and failed to even play 90 minutes. He then moved to the MLS and failed there also — now he is at Kilmarnock, where he has done nothing of note at all.
As for Larsson, he left Celtic on a free transfer to Barcelona — where he won two La Liga titles, the Spanish Super Cup and, after the pain of Seville, deservedly turned the Champions League final in 2006 around for Barcelona to lift Europe’s top club prize.
When his time in Spain was at an end — through his choice rather than the club — he went back to Helsingborg, where he won the Swedish Cup and then went on loan to Manchester United for a few months in season 2006-07 and only won the English Premier League title.
Not bad for the SPL’s second all-time highest scorer! We all know who we would rather have in our side and the same goes for Hooper-Higdon.
In my opinion, player of the year was between Higdon and Griffiths as their goals helped their side immensely over the course of the season. They single handedly bagged around half of their respective clubs goals and they deserve that individual accolade.
As for the young player of the year – again you could argue Wanyama hit the headlines more for all the good reasons and is one of the SPL’s top properties while Griffiths has too much baggage off the field. But again, Griffith bagged goals, helped his side steer clear of the relegation zone — where without the striker, Hibs would be languishing around beside Dundee.
At the end of the day what is more important to the players, to the club and the fans — individual success or team success?
Celtic have bagged tens of millions of pounds through their Champions League exploits, the fans have the memories of beating Barcelona at Celtic Park, the club secured another SPL title and they are in the Scottish Cup final. They also have a young side that if not broken up and sold could go on to dominate the Scottish game for years to come, whether Rangers are in the top flight or not.
It is a good time to be a Celtic supporter, as David will certainly not slay Goliath anytime soon. Celtic may take a few nicks along the way, but they will crush David with their big monstrous feet!
As for Kenny Shiels, leave him to the straitjacket reserved for him in Leverndale Hospital, as he talks about squirrels and playing Barcelona as if he was playing Ayr United.
Summa
.
Timsin..
Same..
Summa
.
Do the Bouncy..Errmm Do the Balanced..:O)
The Blame Game..
Whether it’s on internet forums, online newspaper comment sections, or just two blokes talking on the train, the one thing that always makes me shake my head with disbelief is the notion that everything wrong with Scottish Football is Rangers fault.
That’s right, our demotion to the fourth tier of Scottish football at the hands of the SPL’s hierarchy and subsequent financial problems affecting a number of clubs are all the doing of our own club, depending on who’s warped and biased slant on things that you listen to.
Scottish football, even taking our own situation out the picture and setting it aside, is on life support and the switch could be flicked at any second. A lot of clubs, and indeed their supporters, need to take a long hard look at themselves in the mirror and realise that it’s them and their actions which are killing their clubs. Think about it, how many of these keyboard warriors on the likes of The Sun’s online section have been to a game this season, let alone every week? You can be certain it’s not anywhere near 50% of them.
It’s too easy to blame Rangers, we’re a convenient scapegoat, but the blame culture has to stop if Scottish football is to survive. A prime example of this mentality is when smaller clubs make a cup final at Hampden. I’m talking about the likes of St Mirren, Hibernian, and Kilmarnock who struggle to fill their own home grounds on a weekly basis yet, when the cup final comes round, these same fans moan about their allocation at Hampden being too low and fight for tickets, often selling out. Every highlight show from Sportscene to Goals on Sunday is an embarrassment to Scottish football when all we see are empty seats everywhere, it hardly paints the imagine of a country and a nation of supporters doing it’s best to see it’s clubs through hard times.
They just don’t get it. If these people went to their home games every, single week their club would be better off by a huge margin. It’s the stay away fans who are killing Scottish football, hiding behind Rangers “cheating” is an all too convenient shield for what’s wrong with the game.
Every time there’s an article on The Sun or Daily Record website, I don’t scroll down to read the comments anymore because it’s the same names every day who log on to troll and spout the same nonsense. The game would be better off had Rangers died altogether. The game would be better off had Rangers not cheated. The game would be better off if Rangers hadn’t spent money the didn’t have in the 90’s and forced other clubs to try and keep up.
These are all examples of comments made in recent days made on stories regarding the financial plight of Scottish football. All absolute nonsense and no more than mere deflection of blame.
WAKE UP.
To fans of the other SPL clubs all I can say is this. The only people who are going to give your club any money is YOU. Shirt deals, sponsorships, etc are one thing but the lifeblood of any club, as we have found out this season, is the supporters. It seems some fans, hell the majority of them, are too thick to figure that out. Go ahead, sit on your keyboards ranting all day long, argue in your workplace over that £3 Tesco meal deal, but if you don’t actually attend your own home games your opinion is irrelevant because you’re part of the problem, not part of the solution.
In some ways, you could argue that football in this country is too expensive for the product on offer and a reduction in prices would help but then again the likes of Motherwell have run initiatives in the past where a child gets in free or at half price with each adult ticket sold. They still couldn’t sell out Fir Park.
I am sick to the back teeth of people who don’t set foot near their clubs ground, let alone inside it, using my club as an excuse for why they’re too lazy and tight fisted to put their hand in their own pocket and support their own team.
Blame culture is a terrible thing, it breeds contempt and loathing, and it’s far from in short supply in Scotland. The only way Scottish football is going to get back on track is if every, single club pulls together as one and fans make a conscious effort to attend matches every week and not just when there’s a shiny cup and a day of glory on the horizon.
The SPL and it’s brand needs to be killed off. It’s become toxic and has lost all credibility with the public. We need a single governing body, we need new men in charge with the removal of Doncaster and Regan, and we need no more than three tiers with proper play offs which mirror those in England. My proposal would see:
An eighteen team Premiership.
A twelve team Championship.
A twelve team League 1.
34 top flight games per season, playing each team twice (1 x home & 1 x away).
3 down from Premiership automatically, 2 up from Championship automatically.
Places 3 to 6 in the Championship enter four team play off with the final at Hampden to decide third Premiership spot.
The end of the “Split”.
The idea is that a larger Premiership would mean smaller teams would:
Only visit the big grounds once a season and therefore see it as an occasion and be more inclined to have a go.
Have more like skilled teams around them to make up the lost points should they take nothing from the bigger clubs.
Have more meaningful games as they battle like skilled clubs for European places and to avoid relegation.
With the removal of the split there is a chance for meaningful games right to the end of the season as we’ve seen down south with relegation and play off spots going down to the wire. A club chasing the title with two games to go would be faced with a trip to a club needing a win to stay up, thus creating a situation where two clubs have it all to play off, rather than have the top six and bottom six face off for meaningless games.
The old argument that there’s not enough clubs to sustain a quality top tier of eighteen teams is nothing more than yet another excuse to disguise the greed that’s rife within our game. The smaller clubs would rather squabble over the future of the game, road blocking proper reconstruction, because they refuse to let go of the potential four visits per season made between Rangers and Celtic.
There are plenty of top clubs to make up an eighteen team Premiership. The current twelve which made up the current SPL is the foundation, with promoted Partick Thistle and the likes of Falkirk, Dunfermline, Livingston, Hamilton and ourselves who have all been SPL clubs in the past making up the full eighteen.
Now, before anyone who doesn’t support Rangers reads this and gets all upset, I’m not saying we should be fast tracked into a reconstructed Premiership. I was simply proving that there is enough top clubs to make up a quality eighteen team league. So away and calm down.
Back on point however, those in charge hide the fact reconstruction failed on Rangers and that “Rangers put us in this position”, which is utter lunacy. The ridiculous 12-12-18 that split into leagues of eight and had multiple winners (one after 22 games and one after the full run of games) was just more smoke and mirrors, ideas thought up by idiots being paid far too much to come up with far too little.
Unless everyone in the game starts to look at things realistically, understands that they have problems within their own support and their own attendances, begin to take responsibility for themselves, and stop looking to attribute blame elsewhere, then we are going to see Scottish football slide further and further down the drain.
Who knows where we’ll be in twelve months time if this continues …
Summa
(OK blog working again…?)
Good morning all from a sun bathed, clear skied, windless and generally perfect looking East Kilbride.
Jobo
Whither the cash strapped scrofulous hillbillies the day?
DBBIA –
good morning to you my friend. Early these days?
Just heading out the door but sent you a text/email…
Jobo
A Portuguese man in Madrid has been shopping.
Apparently we’re all agog.
PackagingQuickNews
DBBIA
Seemingly deeper in the mire with every passing minute.
Is it uncharitable or unChristian to hope that their decline is terminal?
Morning Celts, a bit late for me but I’ve been busy :¬)
Jobo another fine sunny day along the Fylde coast amigo! local radio says highs of 20c.
HH
Vmhan:
Could you drop me an e-mail with a number where I can get you this morning and we’ll get organised to deliver Kano’s 125 contribution?
Zbyszek
A big happy birthday to my Legia and Celtic supporting friend.
HH to Z
V
Kitalba I sent one on Friday to your gmail account, I have another one which is a USA one.
I’ll send it to both mate.
HH
Urodziny,Zbyszek.
Kitalba well done on your KANO125.
You stayed off the booze but also CQN, I coudnt stay off CQN so weel done to ye.
V
Zbyszek
HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPY BIRTHDAY :))
Vmhan are you still coming up for St J game if so any chance of a quick meet up before K.O concerning 125.
Anytime that suits you best
HAIL HAIL
weel = well but hey you knew that.
:¬)
leftclicktic
Sorry but I won’t make it as I’m on hols, original plan was to be on hols after the 11th but the date got changed.
I’ll get back to you on it after speaking to kitalba.
HH
jobo baldie
I wish it had been like that yesterday when we went to Calderglen park with the kids.
Good morning CQNers,
We’ve 19 days and 2 games in which to prepare for the Cup Final, hardly enough time to find that elusive consistency that has eluded us all season.
The merit of the wholesale team changes of the last two weeks is a debatable point and I hope they’re now complete. I really do hope NL selects the team he envisages will line up for the cup final and play them for the next 2 games in a bid to build stability and confidence.
Top of the morning to you all from a glorious sunny Fife.
I hate when this happens: The kids were off school yesterday on a miserable grey day and go back to the classroom today with the sun splitting the trees!
Kitalba, I’ve sent an email to both addy’s.
Booked a conference room for a chat at 8:30hrs CP time, 17:30hrs Brisbane/ Oz time.
HH
Morning all, lovely day for an insolvency event at the bigotdome, any chance?
Burghbhoy
No
TT