Celtic’s valiant capitulation last night had a familiar feel to it. We took the game to Milan, bossed them in many areas while the tie was still close enough to be called a contest, created chances but had no cutting edge and lost heavily, at home, to what is clearly the weakest of four Milan teams we have faced in the last decade. It was a similar story when Juventus came to Glasgow last season.
Am I the only one who thought it was familiar from stirring European nights of the 80s? Take on one of the most experience teams in Europe with two out-and-out wingers, inspire for a time but only earn a lesson in how unforgiving the game can be at the top level. Or at least, hope we learned a lesson.
We loved it in the 80s, of course, but it was like going to school when Martin O’Neill arrived and taught us how to win in Europe. Despite the defeat, the 10 men got it right at home to Barca, and in the home win over Ajax, where we allowed the visitors the majority of possession and territory, but with four minutes on the clock and Celtic playing well last night, I noted the game was “worryingly open”.
In Europe, an open game means defeat. We don’t have the midfield or attack to win playing adventurously. When setup properly, we can defend as well as anyone in Europe, this is our irrefutable strength, play to it.
Paul McConville
The first thing I did when I met Paul McConville at the Columba Club on Friday was dig him up for not being in touch recently. This gave him an opportunity to wax enthusiastically about the consuming joy of being back on the tools as a solicitor in Glasgow. He was a man who had arrived exactly where he wanted to be in life.
He was so full of drive, clarity of vision and purpose that it was with utter disbelieve I heard the news of his sudden passing yesterday.
As anyone who read Random Thoughts Re Scots Law knew, he loved his family. He also loved practicing law and held Albion Rovers in high affection. He was not, as has been suggested, part of the Celtic family. Had the snake oil salesmen turned up at Celtic Park they would have endured the same forensic analysis from Paul as he applied elsewhere, but he was an important friend and resource to our community, and ultimately our club, during an historically important time.
To most of us he was a unique blogger. Cheerful, incisive and unrelenting. He charted the story of Rangers insolvency, administration and liquidation, then picked up the even more complicated events surrounding the phoenix.
When asked on Friday why he had been less industrious recently, specifically covering the leaks from Charlotte Fakes, he conceded he just didn’t have the time anymore; he was back litigating and loving it.
The personal cost of his blogging was often all too clear, he was out there, but Paul managed to retain his determination not to be browbeaten, while enduring the numptites with more good grace and humour than most of us could muster. Before taking up his new role in Glasgow he worked a few minutes walk from me. We collaborated on a number of matters in recent years and marked one auspicious afternoon last year by sharing a bottle of Champagne; a genuinely treasured memory.
The fragility of it all is breathtaking. Our condolences to the McConville family. May he rest in peace.
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BT
I would wager 99% of the put downs have come from jack’s cronies.
Sleep well mi amigo.
HH
Ciftci at D Utd is another one. Played 13 scored 5.
jude2005 is neil lennon \o/
Maybe Mr custard ? He was the clown who benefitted from the Zombie fan’s clerical error when they set up some collection fund.
b-c-w
Think we’ll let it rest.
Wavelengths and all that I guess…
No matter…
No offence…
HH
William Wallace once set fire to a barn with a couple of hundred English soldiers and others in it.He was brutal and ruthless and he had to be.Bobby Sands joined an organisation that was non-existent in 1969.The non existence of the IRA (bar a few men with few guns who could not defend their homes and areas)gave rise to the PIRA.
What followed was war.Make no mistake about that.It wasn’t the euphemistic “Troubles” that everyone hears about.
There were dirty obnoxious things done by both sides. That’s what happens in wars.
I knew personally a lot of men that people sing about.Joe McDonnell was married to my niece.
Bobby Sands,Joe McDonnell, Big Doc were straight,honest,trustworthy and above all faithful.Were they terrorists?
Was Willie Wallace a terrorist?
Auldheid is right in one respect.
The GB are a bunch of wee boys trying to be political, but without the brains to do it properly.
Peter Lawell,on the other hand,does have a brain. He understands finance, so he should start counting up how much EBTs and “honest mistakes” have cost Celtic. He will find that to be a lot more than the GB will.
His time would be better spent pulling up the MSM for blatantly biased reporting and removing them from the environs of Celtic Park.
Being nice does not work with these people.
Being nicer and more proactive in the defence of Celtic and the supporters would be a better idea.
As regards EUFA–this is an organisation that has a bigot ex-referee working for it.
I’ve watched football matches where your life would be in danger and not a word from them.
Yet a stupid banner has them raising questions.
Know why?
Celtic, or rather the people who run Celtic, are a soft touch.
Just ask Dermot Desmond and Peter Lawell and Ian Bankier.
kilbowie kelt
23:44 on 27 November, 2013
charles kickham
22:56 on 27 November, 2013
whether you agree with the display or not – one thing is clear – it has certainly allowed some on here to let their mask slip and show their true colours
—————————————-
I would not want Celtic or CQN to suffer any fine from UEFA, but since you bring up the subject of ‘true colours’ I might as well confess.
From rebel veins my life I drew,
In rebel arms I lay,
From rebel lips the lessons drew
That led me day by day.
And, rocked to rest on rebel breast
And nursed on rebel knee,
There woke and grew for weal or rue
A rebel heart in me.
A rebel heart, a rebel heart,
From taint of thralldom free,
God strengthen still through good or ill
That rebel heart in me.
———-
Is that a Bryan Adams song?
Ernie lynch
The face painting is quite funny but you are like a typical politician not taking on board any points or questions. That means you don’t have answers
Forgot the :-)
Greenpinata
Mr Parks takes the plaudits but his bosses must be asking big Q’s of late.
Ernie – I’ve asked this before and I apologise that I have missed your answer – in your current circumstances will you have a vote in the referendum or not? I note that you do a lot of cycling around London.
Raymac
Well said.
HH
kilbowie kelt
That was great.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hj45A0R9O0U
Read ‘Killing For Britain’ and see how horrible and immoral the British government was in Northern Ireland. Licensing civilians to kill Catholics.
Still think the GB got it wrong last night. Pragmatism is right at times!
B C W
Thats it ta.
Kevin Bridges was giving them pelters tonight for not paying the face painter the £40 they owed him.
Hilarious!!
Sleep well Timland
The blog has been an education tonight for many differing reasons, some good, some not so good imo.
It’s a banner FFS, A BANNER, get a grip bhoys.
And yet the ignore the cheating, the theft, well I am educated.
HH
KTF
Enjoy your ill gotten gains jack, you are scum of the earth mi amigo, I will see you in hell.
I don’t agree with UEFA,
I don’t agree with Celtic PLC
I don’t agree with The Green Brigade
and I sure as hell don’t agree with the act.
I am Jimmy no mates.
Ray mac
Some of the views expressed on here tonight have left me somewhere between humiliated, frustrated and bemused.
Only ignorance can explain it.
Stringer Bell
23:49 on 27 November, 2013
Is that a Bryan Adams song?
____________
No, SB.
That is a song from 150 years ago, written by Francis Fahy who also wrote the original Galway Bay.
It was my wee da’s nap selection.
Kilbowie Kelt
00:03 on 28 November, 2013
Was he the guy who was the doctor at Leicester prison?
Banner issue all just a smoke screen. Statement from Celtic designed to deflect attention away from failings on and off the pitch. Small fine will follow from UEFA who themselves have continually failed to deal with the bigger issue of racism. Living wage issue and recent statements against the fans have shown that Celtic football club are taking a large part of the club for granted. With such a poor quality of product on the pitch the club need to operate wisely. Football without fans is nothing.
TET
Who is Jack?
BhoyCillian
00:07 on 28 November, 2013
Perhaps rather than punish the shareholders by imposing a fine UEFA could punish the supporters by insisting that we all stay for the full 90 minutes.
A photograph taken in Paris in 1981. I wonder would they too be criticised.
http://twitter.com/IsMiseBrendan/status/405821270484209664/photo/1
jude
Irvine
HH
Ernie Lynch
Full of little quips: with littler substance.
Be careful cycling in London as we have seen over recent times how dangerous it can be.
Good morning all.
I deliberately stayed off tonight because of the caustic nature of some posters. If I can put my tuppence worth in, I love the GB and the atmosphere they bring to the games, but, I cannot get my head round, as a Glasgow bhoy, born and bred who has no connection with Ireland, have never been there, have no particular want to go there, why are we, the Celtic support, who predominantly from Glasgow and surrounding areas, being held to ransom for future CL football by supposed supporters who do not come from Glasgow and surrounding areas. Cannie get my auld hied roon this wan. My tin hat is on for the flak. Ghod help us.
Weefra HH supporting Wee Oscar.
TET
Ta. HH
Just bak fae the minds
Brogan rogan…
I agree completely.
But ive now came to the conclusion the club I have supported man/bhoy/toddler no longer represents me and what I grew up believing if my/our club.
A sad sad day. Goodbye one and all
Ernie Lynch,
I would not have thought so, but could not be sure.
He was a teacher in Galway & later a civil servant in London. He was one of the founders of the Gaelic League in London.
ernie lynch @ 00:06 on 28 November, 2013
No that was Dr Arthur Colahan .
there are 2 “Galway Bay”. One by Colahan and one by Fahy.
I’ve asked this before and I apologise that I have missed all your answers– in your current circumstances will you have a vote in the referendum or not?
Billy Bhoy 05
00:14 on 28 November, 2013
Yeah, anyone who disagrees with you must be an English basturt, eh?
benny bheula
00:16 on 28 November, 2013
Yes I have a vote.
Do you?
Long time since I have posted. Plus Ca Change! Same issues same vitriol from all sides. Instead of arguing about GB Board UEFA isn’t it about time we brought up the idea of an exit strategy from this little backwater league we are playing in. The board can have as much bonus as it wants if gets us out of here. We will die a slow death if it doesn’t It’s time to start lobbying the Belgian Swedish Norwegian and Dutch teams to get into UEFA and start sorting our future because it sure as he’ll is not in Scotland
Brogan Rogan Trevino and Hogan supports Oscar Knox, MacKenzie Furniss and anyone else who fights Neuroblastoma @ 00:02 on 28 November, 2013
I know who I’m with.
Celtic.
I’m sure you are too.
Jude 2005 here’s a newspaper article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/rangers/9146997/Rangers-in-administration-Its-too-late-to-send-in-the-clowns….html
Hamiltontim is praying for Oscar
00:10 on 28 November, 2013
‘A photograph taken in Paris in 1981. I wonder would they too be criticised.
http://twitter.com/IsMiseBrendan/status/405821270484209664/photo/1‘
###
For me this is the most significant example of contemporaneous reaction to the death of Bobby Sands, in that it is from such an unexpected quarter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPZD0R-8n4s
Night all. Night wee Oscar my hero God bless x
Although this fact is often overlooked, sports and politics are intricately intertwined. Politics often manifests itself through sports, and sports have often been used as political propaganda. This is possible because of the ways both national and local identities become associated with sports teams. This is particularly true in the realm of what has become the world’s sport: soccer. Since so many countries have become so physically, emotionally and mentally invested in that particular game, it has become another branch of political expression, identity and propaganda. For example, the 1978 World Cup in Argentina was used by the country’s dictators to try and show the rest of the world that there was harmony under the dictatorship. In Europe, during the era of the dictatorships that plagued the continent from 1930s through 1950s, the link between soccer and politics was extremely visible.
Puskas
Internally, the game itself has its own political system. Among the writhing social-status-free players is a dictator in the form of a referee, whose laws are uniform, unbreakable and ultimately nonnegotiable. With this comes all the demented corruption so typical to politics, as players argue and dramatize in order to sway the dictator. As Christian Bromberger puts it, “a match opens itself up to a debate of theatrical proportions on the validity and arbitrariness of a flawed system of justice.” 1 This aspect successfully pinpoints a parallel between soccer and the global political atmosphere from the 1930s-1950s. Each game offers a mini-dictatorship in which the culture is subject to the prime commander, just as it was all over Europe at this time. This component explains the global obsession with football and its political meaning especially during times of international turmoil.
1934 Champions
In addition, soccer can seem to be a metaphor for war. Two nations, with different ideals and styles, attack each other on the battlefield and with the graces of skill and luck (and the help of the dictator) one side wins; the other, a sore loser. Eduardo Galeano describes it as such: “In soccer, ritual sublimation of war, eleven men in shorts are the sword of the neighborhood, the city or the nation. These warriors…exorcize the demons of the crowd and reaffirm its faith: in each confrontation between two sides, old hatreds and old loves passed from father to son enter into combat.” 2
Europe, 1930s-1950s
The end of World War I instigated great political unrest throughout Europe. The balance of power structure, known as the “Concert of Europe,” between Great Britain, Russia, Prussia and Austria crumbled and led way to the modern nation state. However, severe economic troubles prevented democracy from flourishing in many nation states. Looking for stability, some European nations turned towards authoritarian regimes. In Germany, Adolf Hitler gained power through democratic means. However, once in control, he systematically stripped away the rights of people that did not fit his master Aryan race. In Italy, Benito Mussolini was a proponent of fascism. Before the outbreak of World War II, he significantly improved the Italian economy and tightly controlled the Italian culture. In Russia, Joseph Stalin carried Vladimir Lenin’s legacy and brought communism to all of Russia and later expanded communism’s influence to Eastern Europe. In order to promote communist economic policies in the Soviet “sphere of influence,” severe control of the state apparatus was required. In all these regime styles, the dictators attempted to control all aspects of life—from the economy, to entertainment, to sport. Sport, particularly football, was used as a mechanism to showcase the “success” of these regimes to the rest of Europe. Mussolini and Hitler were quick to showcase their athletic teams. Stalin, on the other hand, wanted to be sure of his team’s success before having his teams compete internationally.
Football
Death Match
Political and cultural movements and moments often see themselves calcified in sport. Football is a game that can bring out the best in people, and the worst in people. It is often easy to see only one side of the coin. Some people point to the uplifting stories of football alone, while others point solely to the moments where football was a force for ill.
The 1930s, 40s, and 50s make up a formative period for football as an international game, with 1930 being the year of the first World Cup. The period was also one of widespread political and cultural unrest. Inevitably, these three decades were host to numerous cases where football transcended sport and took on wide reaching political or cultural relevance.
The stories stretch from the victorious villain, such as the Italian Fascists and their national football team in the 1934 World Cup, 1936 Olympics, and the 1938 World Cup, to the uplifting triumphs of good over evil, with Jesse Owens and his triumph over Hitler’s Aryans. There are also stories of courage, like the Death Match that pitted concentration camp prisoners against their Nazi captures. There was even the so-called “Match of the Century”. Throughout these stories, football was much more than a game.
– See more at: http://sites.duke.edu/wcwp/research-projects/football-and-politics-in-europe-1930s-1950s/#sthash.t5xoz4jd.dpuf