SPFL fails to understand Scottish football’s magic ingredient

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With no genuine drama left in the title race, the SPFL had significant licence in determining which game Celtic needed to win to secure the league title. A home game would have been a great event for supporters and the club. But, with only one more TV game allowed at Celtic Park this season, the decision was made to prioritise TV needs. We will receive the trophy on the final weekend of the season against Aberdeen, and a few thousand of us will shuffle into Tynecastle hoping to see the league won on Sunday, 7 May.

It is as though those making the decisions don’t get what it means to follow a club through the long months of a season in the hope of winning the ultimate prize, the hope of being there in person to see the event. More than anywhere else in the world, Scottish football is about the live event. We all know and understand this, perhaps with the exception of whoever scheduled our next fixture.

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  1. You’re right Paul, it is a slap in the face to the Celtic support, who are the lifeblood of Scottish football. But there are so many others sucking the blood out of the game, with celebrity pundits at the top of the list, getting the best view of the game in their trendy clobber.

     

     

    I was watching a videoclip of a league cup semi final second leg between Celtic and Dundee United from November 1984, it was a rainy night at Parkhead and Dundee Utd ran out the winners. However what struck me was the way the Celtic support sang on and on, on a miserable rainy night, even though United were one up after 5 minutes and ended up winning 0-3.

     

     

    Now it was/is not usual for Celtic to lose 3-0 at home, especially with a star-studded frontline of Provan, McCluskey, McGarvey, Burns and Nicholas. You would have expected Dundee United manager Jim McLean, fae Larkhall, to beat his drum that night, but in the post match telly interview he interrupts Arthur Montford to expressly state how magnificent the Celtic support had been in the match. To which big Arthur says he is very pleased to hear another manager say that. I would stress the word MAGNIFICENT. Jim McLean showed he was football class. The journos of today who live by clichés should take a page out of that story.

     

     

     

    The Heart of Midlothian is in the Heart of George Square.

     

     

    You don´t notice it because you´re only there to cross it or eat your Gregg´s bridie but the statue of Sir Wally Scott is raised in a column over the browny-grey expanse of George Square in Glasgow. 80 feet in the air. Incredibly, Monsieur Scott never at any stage visited the dear green place during his life , which explains why in 1837 he was perched so high. If the statue was at street level any self-respecting Glaswegian would naturally ask “Who´s that?” …….or words to that effect.

  2. glendalystonsils on

    Looking forward to the coronation weekend when Celtic are crowned kings of Scottish fitba by beating Hearts 3-0 .

     

     

    Almost as much as I’m looking forward to dignified Sevco applauding the champions on to the pitch the following weekend , while three cheers ring out from their equally dignified fans.

     

     

    (Teeheehee)

  3. Afternoon guys,

     

    Looking for a bit of help from anyone who has good knowledge of Edinburgh bars. I’m through in Edinburgh on Sunday 7th May & looking for a decent Celtic friendly boozer to watch the title winning game against the diets. I’ve looked on Celtic bars website & it only lists the Irish bars in the city centre. Does anyone have any other decent recommendations.

     

    Cheers in advance.

     

    RP

  4. SAINT STIVS on 25TH APRIL 2023 11:30 AM

     

     

    TT, I am interested in your power of recall regarding inter 67. Was there any press coverage that mentioned they were falling apart?

     

     

    *not a bit and it wisnae the same smsm that we have now always playing us down, other than alice cameron who wisnae as bad as tv presenters blue peter thomson or george “gemmell to mcneill who passes the murdoch and then johnstone oh intercepted by big john grieg who elegantly slides it through tae wee willie henderson who crosses for the goal machine jim forrest” davidson, if you catch my drift, incidentally cameron’s brother was well loved in republican Dumbarton as he was the union convenor in the Blackburn Aircraft Factory.

     

     

    The Express, had Jim Sanderson and John McKenzie, the latter had a boat berthed at Balloch called the Voice with a football moto on it and it seems he was very close tae the Big Mhan, they were also banned fae the bigot dome for critcising their team selection for the ECWC Final, after Berwick their deadly dual goal scoring duo of forrest and mclean were persona no grata so they had that big lump of wid failed centre half roger hynd, the nephew of bob and bill shankly and that’s as far as his fitba ability went, the other inside forwards were alec and davie smith both wing halfs.

     

     

    Anyway, this was Inter complete with Facchetti and Mazzola and managed by Herrera, the only light in our tunnel at the time was the absence of Luis Suárez Club aka the architect who had won the Inter Cities Fairs Cup twice with Barca, and the Big Cup as well as the Intercontinental Cup again twice with Inter as well as the European nations Cup with Spain and became the first Spanish player to win the Ballon d’Or, so we were spared a hiding by the looks of it.

     

     

    One of the reasons it was played down was Jock, that morning it was a holiday of obligation and my da woke me and suggested we go tae 7:00 am Holy Mass at St Martins in the Renton as the evening one at St Kessogs in Balloch had been rescheduled for 8:00 pm, what did our wee PP know that we didnae, seemingly that night he started the ceremony not with the usual In the Name of the Father etc but we won to a huge cheer from the faithful, btw it was all women and weans as the men were all in the adjacent Balloch Hotel celebrating, he was working in the local estate which was across the River Leven from Renton Station and I was working at a new housing development in Alexandria in the vicinity of the Vale of Leven Juniors Millburn Park, the opposite way, on the banks of the same River Leven.

     

     

    So that beautiful sunny morning after Holy Mass as we walked down the chapel avenue he was accompanied by his Tim workmates when one of them said he thought we would win it the night, we were all surprised but he the qualified this by saying that his honest opinion the big man was a fox as all he would tell anyone who would listen to him was that we were just happy to be there the first british team to reach the final, and it was a big achievement, nae wonder when the final whistle went legendary english commentator proclaimed “we did it we did it”.

     

     

    That day was a blur believe me, but I remember when they got that penalty it was our biggest fear as they would now resort tae the famed Catenaccio, as we now know tae no avail.

  5. SAINT STIVS on 25TH APRIL 2023 11:50 AM

     

     

    2nd rangers do not do guard of honours. They refused just a few years ago. Back when there was the original team did it ever happen?

     

     

    *Aye after we had beaten Slovan Bratislava 1-0 away tae reach the semis of the ECWC, 3 days later we had a cup tie at the bigot dome and they clapped us on tae the park and then proceeded tae gub us in the wullie henderson show, the 0-2 scoreline flattered us.

  6. Tobago Street on

    RP MCMURPHY on 25TH APRIL 2023 3:31 PM

     

    Afternoon guys,

     

     

    Looking for a bit of help from anyone who has good knowledge of Edinburgh bars.

     

     

    RP I was over for the Scottish Cup game March 11. We were in the Roseburn Bar before the game and it was full of Celtic supporters singing and drinking! I’ve no idea what it’s like once the game kicks off. Closer to Leith might be your best bet.

     

     

    T

  7. What a lovely bunch of fixtures.

     

    An opportunity for opposition fans to see a team play the Champions Way.

     

    A couple of wee trips along the M8 to visit Oul Reekie.

     

    Especially attractive is a green and white festival under the Easter Road lights.

     

    I’d be happy if Hearts, Hibs and Huns all sell out their seats to view the Champions.

     

    It’s a pt times like this I long to be at home.

  8. !!Bada Bing!! on

    Ange just on Celtic tv on Reo, Jota and Abada are due to train all week and will come down to how they go to see if they are available for Sunday.

  9. !!BADA BING!! on 25TH APRIL 2023 5:41 PM

     

    “Ange just on Celtic tv on Reo, Jota and Abada are due to train all week and will come down to how they go to see if they are available for Sunday.”

     

     

    That IS good news BADA! por cierto

  10. Robertson leaving today, and the removal of Park and Wilson shows how much they need Season Ticket sales to keep the lights on. They have completely capitulated to their fans’ wishes in order for the gullible to keep plying money into the club, por cierto

  11. ‘Celtic and Rangers put on Champions League Defcon 5 as Aleksander Ceferin says games could be staged in AMERICA’ don’t understand this one form the DR

  12. TONTINE TIM on 25TH APRIL 2023 3:43 PM

     

    SAINT STIVS on 25TH APRIL 2023 11:30 AM

     

     

     

     

     

     

    TT, I am interested in your power of recall regarding inter 67. Was there any press coverage that mentioned they were falling apart?

     

     

     

    ————

     

     

    TT go into last nights blog, I did some research into Inter, after a fan told me they blew the 66/67 season and where crap from april till june , i found it interesting

     

     

    and came to the conclusion, Jock knew how to beat them once he seen them live getting beat by Juventus a day after we won the league at ibrox.

     

     

    have a wee read back

  13. Tom McLaughlin on

    So Paul67 clearly explains that only one Celtic Park game can be televised live and Sky have chosen Celtic v Aberdeen Trophy Day, as well as our title-winning opportunity at Tynecastle, all of which makes perfect sense and calms my initial anger on hearing the post-split fixtures.

     

     

    Yet the blog is bombarded with moans and groans about dirty tricks and anti-Celtic bias. Do most people on here not bother reading the articles before posting?

  14. Back to Basics - Glass Half Full on

    3 away & 2 home games to schedule.

     

     

    What’s wrong with A-H-A-H-A ?

  15. I am more worried about the safety of our players at the toiletbowl than I am about the fixtures

     

     

    By that point their league and cup dreams are over

     

     

    Their players have stopped playing and many are now looking to the futures away form the huns

     

     

    If we give them a good spanking

     

     

    Our players safety is in sersious doubt

     

     

    So far this year we have had staff headbutted, staff hit by bottles and glass thrown onto the pitch

     

     

    It has been an escalation of voilence and hate that leads to the inevitable pitch invasion

     

     

    Which in the past has been excused by trying to protect their players

     

     

    It is a very real threat to the safety of our players and management team

     

     

    One I hope the security team has planned for

  16. If we have not won the league before we go to the toiletbowl

     

     

    Multiply the factor of hate x10

     

     

    And multiply the danger to our players and staff x 100

  17. One of Celtic’s pairings has been reversed in order to ensure every Premiership club has 19 home and away fixtures.

     

     

    Celtic host Aberdeen for a third time, in the final game of the season, in one of five switched pairings.

     

     

    Aberdeen entertain St Mirren for a third time, while Hibs welcome Rangers for a third Easter Road meeting.

  18. I too fear for violence against our players.

     

     

    Since a 2nd rangers have appeared there have been several people getting trackside after celtic score.

     

     

    also missed was a stash of weapons.

     

     

    they dont really have anything else to lose.

  19. !!Bada Bing!! on

    Oh dear, it was Bisgrove who signed up for the Ange Homecoming game……..that will be going down well……which will cost them millions as well

  20. Very encouraging update from Ange on Abada, Hatate and Jota.

     

     

    I’m still expecting CalMac, Iwata and MOR to be our midfield but if Hatate is up to speed then what an addition he will be.

     

     

    Likewise Jota, he is vital.

     

     

    If these guys play, we’re big favourites to win.

  21. Oh Hampden in the Sun….

     

    The Celtic 7 and the (auld) Rangers 1

     

     

    Harry Belafonte RIP

  22. What a team!

     

     

    Stats

     

     

    Inter Celtic

     

    Goal Attempts 5 42

     

    Shots On Target 4 24

     

    Shots Off Target 0 16

     

    Fouls 20 20

     

    Corners 0 10

     

    Offside 2 7

  23. What is the Starz on 25th April 2023 5:26 pm

     

     

    Robertson leaves huns..Think he was CEO ?

     

     

     

    Phil mac wrote about this possibility a few weeks back.

     

     

    It looks like something is going on over there- perhaps disagreement over football budget ?

  24. SCULLYBHOY on 25TH APRIL 2023 7:16 PM

     

     

    Just watch the ref in this clip (as well as some smashing play from the bhoys in white).

     

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMhYjZmbqQg

     

    ++++++++++++++++

     

    Thanks for posting that. I was in the Jungle that night and for the 5-1 Red Star game in the 2nd round. Couldn’t get a ticket for the Milan game. Had we won that we would’ve gone on to beat the emerging Ajax in the final…imo, of course.

     

    Don’t remember Les Dawson being referee, though…

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