There’s been a lot of talk about the Lisbon Lions recently; you may have noticed. Go ask you dad about them, he’ll tell you they could take care of themselves. For all the pretty football, they still had to win the battles.
Consider also the team during Seville season. Thompson, Lennon, Sutton, Hartson, Mjallby and Valgaeren never failed to meet an opponent square on. They were all hard men. Don’t even ask about Bobo, he terrified opponents by the scale of his shadow, no opponent dared take him on.
All of those duties now fall to Scott Brown, he’s our hard man. It’s an important role and he doesn’t have much in the way of support.
You get the feeling there’s a notion that the rest of the guys can concentrate on being wonderful, in the knowledge that Scott will sort out the troublemakers. He was, of course, wrong yesterday, not for the first time, although red cards are not a regular occurrence.
Sky TV could not have hand-picked a better analyst of this situation than Barry Robson. Barry arrived at Celtic in January 2008, picked up the mantle of Sorter Outer in Chief, and stamped his authority on the league title. We all knew that, unlike a then often-rash Scott Brown, Barry could work within the lines and still get the job done.
But even the such a master of subtle intimidation can get it spectacularly wrong. Last year he lamped former Celtic team-mate, Scott McDonald, a minute after coming on as a substitute. If you want a hard man in your team, don’t go yelling about him when he acts like a hard man moments after being assaulted from behind.
The only surprise about the late penalty for Ross County’s Schalk’s outrageous dive and subsequent penalty was that it happened this weekend, not next. Set your watch for it, people, if you think the treble will be decided purely on meritocratic terms, you’ve not watched as much football as me.
Brendan’s about to find out the limits of his apparent powers in Scottish football.
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Congrats to Brighton [and Hove Albion] on their promotion.
Long overdue vindication for Chris Houghton, who has been treated very unfairly in his managerial career.
A brilliant outcome for ole hoopslegends Adam Virgo and Beram Kayal, and delight for their support, who really have been on a journey.
BEATBHOY
Nailed it in one. It takes 7 promotions to get to the top of the game in England, and after the 1st three the aspiring assistants get rated by an assessor, both clubs, AND the referee. Refs can go up, or down the ladder depending on these marks. Should lead to better quality refs going up, but it breeds self – preservation in some. I could never understand why any ref, at any level, wouldn’t want whatever help was available to get the big decisions right. But then, I never had an agenda – always called it as I saw it, because I wanted to walk off the pitch at the end of the game with my integrity intact.
Before anyone jumps on me here…I am FULLY AWARE that The Huns are DEID !
However, The Zombies, The Deid Club, The Mankies, The ORCS, THE ANIMALS, stand in our way…Please Celtic..for the love of God, despatch this Cheatin Hun Animal as soon as possible starting this Sunday !
HH
ABZMIKE
I absolutely believe that externall scrutiny would help.
Unfortunately the cartels that run football will never allow it to happen.
It is no longer sport but mainly a vehicle for ego and self enrichment.
TV and the advertising cash removed sport to keep inflating their profits.
The unequal treatment in penalties and fines to small tv market teams by UEFA is a glaring example.
Referees understand what a good career move is.In Scotland it’s pro huns and anti Celtic.
If the ref in a UEFA games causes his paymasters loss of revenue his career is done so they understand how to keep the gravy train flowing.
My point being though technology could return football to actually being a sport UEFA will never allow as it may harm profit.
I also think that this short sightedness and greed is going to kill the once beautiful game as young people have many more choices for their attention and a fixed sport has lost it’s appeal.
The one silver lining is the rich may abandon it then and return it to the fans and it’s parochial roots.
Johan Mjallby has dismissed the conspiracy theorists who claimed ref Don Robertson’s decision to give Ross County a penalty was sinister.
The former Celtic star and assistant manager rubbished the belief referees are hell-bent on halting the Hoops’ march towards an invincible season.
WTF , if you can’t speak the truth Johan then say nothing.
Johan is entitled to his opinion, no matter how wrong he is….but I for one wouldn’t tell him he’s wrong to his face !
HH
See all this feckin cheating that’s going on…I blame feckin BREXIT !
even though the cheating has been going on for decades….I STILL blame feckin BREXIT !
HH
Ron67
Interesting. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that many former players dont seem to share the generally accepted CQN truths about the zombies, cheating etc…
I wonder why that is the case. I cant imagine that they all want to get jobs on TV, or in Scottish football. Maybe, those that are more ‘celtic minded’ dont get the opportunity …. but the internet now seems to be a great equalizer, and I dont see too many on ‘our side’ even on the internet.
Not taking a dig at you, Ron67…. just your post made me wonder, so thought I would ask, and get people’s opinions.
Naw I don’t blame Brxit really….just ALL of those Hun animal cheating scum on the pitch and off !
Never thought that I would see the day that I hope Donald ” The Bigot” FIndlay WIN a case on behalf of his client ?
To think that he is representing that wonderful little cheeky chap, and PATSY Craig Whyte in the High Court tomorrow, is something that I can’t quite understand…………unless of course Findlay is just doing it for what MOST Solicitors hold the dearest…..MONEY ?
Money is literally Gold to these bassa’s…well in mu experience anyway.
I have my Court Case tomorrow in Edinburgh, and I am forced to represent myself…yet again.
I just watched the highlights on BT. When Sinclair is brought down for the free kick where SA hits the bar, a County defender stands on Sinclairs back while he’s still on the ground. Ref must have missed hat one too.
Maffo
Thanks for the inside view.
As for “integrity”, you only see that word in Scottish Football along with “complete lack of”.
DBBIA
I always thought Chris Hughton was treated badly.
Guy has done a great job with limited resources.
MIT.
Mjallby was paid for his comments, I can’t speak for the rest of them.
He was speaking at a William Hill( the sponsors of the Scottish cup) media event.
I agree with what you say, I reckon Tom Boyd and Tosh McKinlay on our side, most of the rest chasing the bucks.
Hail Hail
You get some great typos on here, but that was a belter there in the subtitles of a programme on Colombia, saying the prospect of peace there would give the ravaged country,with its Caribbean coastline and stunning scenery, the opportunity to make billions from international terrorism!
For Farc Sake!
JNP … I hadn’t realized the Mjallby was at a paid engagement…. sadly, what you say about chasing the pound seems to be true.
They couldn’t pay me enough ….. of course, I am happy to bet on them in GFS (sorry…. that is for GFTB… I enjoy winding him up) :)
GlenDaly@741
No he did not miss it…. ‘he didn’t see it’!!!!know what I mean.
MIT.
Gerryfaethebrig is on holiday today so he may post shortly.
He usually just lurks when working. No doubt he will be asking if you are selecting Sevco at the weekend :-)))
Bourne @6:47
Did the one with no surname complain about something which affected them possibly 2008/09, seriously it’s as long ago as that as far as I can remember!
JNP …
I have offered Jobo and CRC quite a bit of money if, every week, when they announce the picks, they would say that I have picked Sevco …but they wouldn’t play along!
Mind you, I also tried to bribe them to ensure that I always do better than Liam in Toronto in LMS/GFS …. but there is no corrupting those two! As a lawyer, I am at a loss to understand!
:)
We will never have an even playing field as long as that load of skunks are in power at hampden .
How much longer are they going to be allowed to discredit the game in Scotland . It stinks to high heaven . Everyone knows the culprits, how they are allowed to still hold office is unbelievable . As far as referees are concerned Robertson is only the latest in a huge number of cheating mibs . We will be up against it on Sunday . We will be victorious on Sunday , if the mibs allow it , that is our lot I’m afraid . It could and should have been so different , had the plc supported the res 12 bhoys .
So it would appear Twitter is alive with tumours that John Terry is to join Celts!!
What a signing :)))))
HH
What’s the status of Lustig for this weekend coming ?
Gerrybhoy
YNWA
Stay strong
MIT. 8.05
:-)))))
Jimtim ….
Turkeys are never going to vote for thanksgiving …. so, we should not expect Hampden to clean itself up.
As you suggest, the real question is why those that run Celtic PLC stay silent.
For me, the silence/acquiesence by our Board is harder to accept than the cheating by the zombies/SFA.
Prestonpans Bhoys
From November 2008
“The SFA wrote to Smith regarding remarks he made following the Clydesdale Bank Premier League game on Nov 12, where he criticised the performance of assistant referee Tom Murphy.
Smith was unhappy with the decision to disallow a Kris Boyd goal at Fir Park and pointed out the same official had allowed on offside Celtic goal to stand in an Old Firm derby last season.
Speaking at the time, Smith said: “We didn’t finish well and the one that we did finish through Kris Boyd was a poor decision from the linesman.
“I think it was quite clear it was onside. Mr Murphy was quick to allow a Scott McDonald goal at Celtic Park and was quick to disallow that [Boyd goal].”
The SFA’s general purposes committee, which meets next month, could punish Smith.
“They asked me to give my views on that by letter and that letter has now been sent off,” said Smith on Friday.
“We await whatever decision happens after that.” ”
*****
From what I remember, the assistant ref flagged, everyone stopped, and Boyd took a swipe at it from way out, and the ball went in. Had there been no flag, it’s unlikely he would’ve shot from where he did.
JIMMYNOTPAUL on 17TH APRIL 2017 7:46 PM
Maybe I’m in the minority but I don’t want ex players ‘to be on our side’. We don’t need puppets like Derek Johnstone who spout whatever the party line is, from whichever regime of charlatans that happens to be in charge at ibrox at the time. I want ex players to be objective. Some times they’ll say things the support don’t like. That doesn’t make them soup takers or whatever other derogatory remarks which get flung there way for giving an opinion. It’s the same logic that sees Graham Spiers get praised from the heavens for taking on the Rangers bigots, then slammed as just trying to even up the score when he attacks our pro IRA songs. Make no mistake we would be crucified by the English press if we were in the EPL. Not just by the gutter right wing tabloids either, but if the Guardian, the Mirror and even Left Unity go after their own fans for singing No surrender to the IRA does anyone think we would get a pass?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/may/27/england-fans-no-surrender-chant-wednesday
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/no-surrender-ira-chant-no-1903524
http://leftunity.org/why-england-fans-should-surrender-their-traditional-chant/
I could post links to the Mail, Telegraph etc but they’re not worth the pennies they would receive for the website hits.
Back to the weekend. That is without a doubt one of the worst dives I have ever seen. To give a penalty for it beggars belief. However it wasn’t even the worst decision of the weekend. That went against Inverness and for Motherwell. Motherwell were also the beneficiaries of the most shocking decision of the season, when Andrew Dallas booked a Hearts player after a Motherwell player had tripped his team mate up.
https://stv.tv/sport/football/1380075-hearts-seek-rule-change-after-martin-mistakenly-yellow-carded/
Is there a pro Motherwell conspiracy on the go as well as an anti-Celtic one? I certainly think there is a strong case to be made for referees to declare their allegiance as they do in England, but it has to be put forward in a calm professional manner without the hysteria of every referee being against us.
Kilmarnock at rugby park when about 7 Huns were booked and 1 or possibly 2 sent off. All were warranted if I remember right but Wally and the media went bonkers for months.
Slating ref and assistance. Think there was talk of a strike. In the lodges not by SFA refs.
MWD
The time for experimenting is past…no more McGregor at left wing back etc.
Big guns be ready.
——————-C.Gordon—————
Lustig. Boyata. Jozo. Tierney
————–Broony Armstrong——-
Forrest. Roberts. Sinclair
—————Dembele——————
With Rogic and Griffiths at the ready, to come on and exert further damage
https://stv.tv/sport/football/124261-walter-smith-unhappy-with-referee-as-rangers-see-red-again/
MWD
SFTB-last night at 10:53pm-agree and well said:-))
Big Jimmy,
Good luck with your court case tomorrow.
Beatbhoy,
Thanks for that, did he also mention that the ref had an Irish name or something like that….
MoonbeamsWD
September2009
“The most serious case of indiscipline at Rugby Park was the conduct of the Rangers manager. Smith was incandescent with rage over a mistaken belief that Kilmarnock players had sought to apply pressure on Conroy to produce a second yellow for the Portuguese midfielder. He apologised afterwards. However, this took the form of saying he was “wrong in this instance” after being assured by his old friend Jim Jefferies that his Kilmarnock team’s ear-bashing of referee Conroy resulted from him failing to play the advantage after Mendes had fouled Craig Bryson.
Yet, even if Smith had been right about the home players’ conduct, that would in no way have excused his. The 61-year-old was guilty of an appalling loss of control and looked as if he was going to brain Conor Sammon, the chief culprit as he saw it. He then seemed to have a real go at Jamie Hammill, and violently resisted efforts by assistant Ally McCoist to restrain him. Pre-match, Smith said it was important his players kept their heads. The words ‘practising’ and ‘preaching’ come to mind.”
700 peelers couldn’t catch him
GFTB -from last night mate-11:06pm.have to disagree about Jim,he didn’t speak well,he spoke manager pish.the Ross county player dived BUT it was the ref & linesman who cheated the most?????
Walter
bigot
bully
epl flop
ebt
anti Irish racist
European flop
cheat
hun
defensive bore
feel free to add to the list
JNP / MIT
A bit of a lazy Bank holiday, good lady and wee yin were at calderglen no room in the car for me, by the way Mike in Toronto has previous, he used to pick the Sevs in Last Man Standing as well as Goals for Shay :-)