If you were comforted by what happened at Livingston yesterday you are a fool. A 0-3 win for Celtic on a difficult pitch is irrelevant in light of what happened with the scores at 0-0.
Kyogo received the ball inside the Livingston box. Livi captain, Mikey Devlin, clattered into the Japanese striker’s standing leg, bringing him down. Referee Don Robertson, who has already met his Celtic penalty allocation (1) this season, did not react. Stunningly, the Video Assistant Referee did not ask Robertson to check the incident.
It should have been a penalty, but referees don’t see everything. VAR saw what the rest of us saw, however, and for a team of officials watching the game to decide the incident was not worth troubling the referee about, tells you everything you need to know about how this season will end.
The decision has been made; it’s not coming our way.
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Morning y’all!
Podium?
Wow! por cierto
We need to call out the cheating every time, specially after a win
Surely Paul, it’s an April Fools article!
T
And here’s me thinking it is….
Paul if and believe we can better Sevcos points tally we will be crowned Champions.
Unbowed unbroken
Certainly looked like a clear penalty. And the Kyogo “offside” looked level (at worst) to me.
Of course we could have made the league a cakewalk if we had strengthened the team in the summer. Instead we weakened it. Result is – unsurprisingly – a lower points total.
Got full-fat oldfirmery back though. What more could you want…….
Alex McKillop
A reminder that the funeral for our dear friend Alex, Eurochamps67 of this blog, will be held at St Peter’s Hamilton (ML3 8LL) at 10:00 next Wednesday 3rd April, and onto South Lanarkshire Crematorium (G72 0TL).
Alex was one of the good ghuys, it would be fitting to fill the place for him.
Sadly my feeling also Paul. And totally agree with you also Bada Bing. Not sure it qualifies as a hate crime in new Scotland but I can’t help but feel are up against it.
At least sportscene highlighted it and similar re Ibrox on Saturday. The BBC online under Richard Wilson ignored virtually entirely.
And what happened to the Tynecastle audio request? Did the Club get it? What did they make of it? Let us know, keep asking us for money for season tickets, strips,cup tickets,Celtic TV,etc etc,they need to keep the support informed,and we can all unite as one.
anybody got a link to the penalty/not penalty incident – didn’t look like one to me in real time but VAR don’t see in real time, do they?
Utility prices coming down from today, they reckon you should submit meter readings today,to avoid paying the older rates
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC4haoj884c
As it’s April Fools Day I was keen to re read the classic
Murray’s Blueprint article by Ken Gallagher from back around 2000 or so.
The ultimate in succulent lamb IMO.
Does anyone have a link to it ?
23 years and 17 Celtic league wins later it seems a good time to re read.
Test.
SETTING FREE THE BEARS FOR RES. 12 & OSCAR KNOX on 1ST APRIL 2024 11:50 AM
We’re set up nicely for the match at the weekend. We have to recognise that the Big Ugly Belgian has coached a lesser squad than ours into a resilient difficult to beat outfit. And with Beaton, Muir and Dickinson in a fine run of providing assists even though they are not scoring themselves, they will give us a very tough match next Sunday.
A draw would not be a bad result but a win is a strong possibility. Both squads are getting back to fitness and providing CCV and Hatate have no reaction to the Livi pitch, Calmac is our only serious doubt. It is worth having him on from the start even if he is not ready for 90, as we have two able but lesser deputies in Iwata, if it needs shoring up, or Bernardo, if we need a goal.
Despite their status as current scapegoats both Maeda and Scales will start. The starting 11 is now predictable as
Hart
Johnston CCV Scales Taylor
Calmac O’Riley Hatate
Kuhn Kyogo Maeda
Feeling good about this now.
………………….
Good summary of the position as it now stands. I agree with the team and your proposed subs for Calmac if he doesn’t last 90 mins. I am hopeful and quietly confident that we can achieve a good outcome at Ibrox.
Clement has improved them but their defence is suspect under pressure and their lack of a proper striker hurts them in must win situations. I also feel that Flip Flop hasn’t proved himself against us. He has beaten the lesser teams (Motherwell apart) but he failed against us. He did well against a spent force Betis team but his team were exposed by the pace of the Cypriots at Ibrox. These doubts will nibble away at the back of many of their fans’ minds. A read at FF shows how nervous many of them are. I have confidence in our big players and in Brendan.
Jim Black from Jinky – The Biography of Jimmy Johnstone: ‘Sensing that Jinky was Celtic’s potential match winner, Stein, as he had done so often in the past, threw himself into the role of psychologist and set about convincing the little winger that he had no equal among the opposition’s players. Stein constantly interrupted his pre-match team talks to announce that Jinky was going to destroy Leeds. This had the effect of boosting Jinky’s often fragile confidence to a level so high that he believed he was bound to prove what his manager predicted.’
Johnstone was pitched directly against United left-back Terry Cooper, widely touted at the time as one of the world’s best, but Stein had no doubts, telling a friend, ‘They say this Cooper is a great attacking full-back, but he’s never had this tricky wee dwarf running at him for 90 minutes.’
The scene set, the two teams could put all the ballyhoo behind them and finally kick off on the evening of 1 April. United had yet to concede a goal in the tournament and Celtic had not scored away from home, but those records were about to be shredded as the visitors took a lead within 90 seconds of kick off.
From Gemmell’s deep throw in on the left, Auld launched a huge up and under into the Leeds half. It came down with snow on it, near the corner of United’s penalty area. The normally reliable Madeley was on hand to clear but was being harried by Celtic centre-forward Wallace. Madeley allowed the ball to bounce and then misjudged its trajectory, getting under it when he tried to head away. That unsettled the rearguard and Jack Charlton couldn’t get in his attempted clearance. Wallace had the time and presence of mind to touch the ball back to Connelly, unmarked on the edge of the box, and the Under-23 international got in a shot. It took a deflection off Cooper’s outstretched leg which saw it go bobbling out of the reach of Gary Sprake and rolling in at the back post.
Thank you Paul 67.
I made the very same point and was labelled a TROLL by An Tearman and others .
Looking forward to see if you receive the same abuse .
Good afternoon all from the Victoria Bar.
Celtic should ask for clarification on why VAR did not intervene and make it known they have. It might not stop the refs/VAR guys continuing with their cheating but at least shows we are on their case at all times. If we get one against us in run in and it affects result, it will look and sound like an excuse.
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwikifoundryimages.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fip6VHZi6sGS87cjL-Rt-mQ156309&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=2d696aec96df122f3220258eb76d236c8b13113bc668d71ca254d4877a0f8591&ipo=images
https://www.thecelticwiki.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/1970-04-01-Leeds-United-0-1-Celtic-European-Cup-112.jpg
https://www.thecelticwiki.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/1970-04-01-Leeds-United-0-1-Celtic-European-Cup-132.jpg
https://wikifoundryimages.s3.amazonaws.com/05654028c372e52cc796e631b3200e7f
ANDRENA on 1ST APRIL 2024 12:55 PM
Thank you Paul 67.
I made the very same point and was labelled a TROLL by An Tearman and others .
Looking forward to see if you receive the same abuse .
—————
Andrena, there’s probably not a poster on here that hasn’t been called a hun or a troll from An Tearman or someone else.
Keep posting and don’t let it get to you. Best not to fire back most of the time too. As some thrive on that.
AT is actually ok, but does like a good rammy on here. You’ll get used to it. 😂
Good to see you posting again. 👍
KELVINBHOY- exactly, at the next press conference, the Laptop Loyal won’t mention it, we have our own media people there,and should ask Brendan’s take on the incident, and how it was dealt with,we need to keep the pressure up
KELVINBHOY on 1ST APRIL 2024 1:00 PM
Exactly.
Celtic should be making a statement. Something along the lines of:
“On Sunday our manager had to sit in the stands for calling a VAR official incompetent. He and everyone else in the stadium witnessed yet another bizarre non use of VAR regarding a clear penalty during the first half of our match. It seems odd to ourselves as a club that incidents in our box are scrutinised relentlessly yet opportunities for ourselves are rapidly and casually dismissed by officials.’
BURNLEY78 on 1ST APRIL 2024 12:43 PM
As it’s April Fools Day I was keen to re read the classic
Murray’s Blueprint article by Ken Gallagher from back around 2000 or so.
The ultimate in succulent lamb IMO.
Does anyone have a link to it ?
23 years and 17 Celtic league wins later it seems a good time to re read.
……………………….
I remember it well. Gallacher salivated over Dick Advocaat’s £73m war chest for the coming season. The media Hun lickspittles are great at that sort of stuff. Uncle Tom English did the exact same type of article after their Covid season league win.
I’ve kept the Uncle Tom article because I can’t do links.
Rangers: ‘Domestic treble & Champions League run must be targets’
By Tom English
BBC Scotland
Last updated on
28 July 2021
28 July 2021
.
From the section
Rangers
Rampant Rangers won their first top-flight title in a decade last season with a 25-point margin and 100% home record
The last time we saw Rangers in a competitive match – if you can call a 4-0 victory competitive – they were monstering Aberdeen on the final day of a league season that brought them the title they desperately wanted and needed.
In the most emphatic way, they dynamited the chat about Celtic’s 10 in a row and sparked a debate of their own – how many titles can they win on the bounce and what represents the next level for them this season?
With their stability and remarkable squad depth – in Scottish football terms – they’re holding every ace. They actually have two strong teams – one that would be hot favourites to win the league and a second that could well finish runner-up if they were given a shot at it.
Where Celtic are struggling desperately for players, Rangers have, if anything, too many. George Edmundson has now left but at centre-half they still have Connor Goldson, Filip Helander, Nikola Katic, Leon Balogun and Jack Simpson. Experience, a bit of defensive dog and touches of class. That list is also an illustration of their numbers and it’s repeated throughout the squad.
They have a battalion of midfielders, which has been supplemented by the arrival of the experienced Premier League player John Lundstram. At centre-forward they have Alfredo Morelos, Kemar Roofe, Cedric Itten, the everlasting Jermain Defoe and the intriguing Fashion Sakala, who scored 16 league goals for Oostende in Belgium last season and got one against Real Madrid at the weekend.
* Malmo beat HJK to set up Rangers tie
* Former Rangers player Dawson dies at 63
* Gerrard praise for ‘exciting’ Sakala
Rangers have just come through a pre-season campaign featuring a win against a Madrid team featuring Marcelo, Nacho, Isco, Lucas Vasquez, Martin Odegaard, Luka Jovic and Rodrygo.
Steven Gerrard’s side won 2-1 despite starting without Morelos, Roofe, Glen Kamara, Joe Aribo, Nathan Patterson and the injured Ryan Jack. It might not have been a high-octane affair, but it was an eye-catching result.
They also had a highly creditable draw against an Arsenal side that started with Cedric Soares, Emile Smith Rowe, Nicolas Pepe (£72m), Thomas Partey (£45m) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (£56m). Kieran Tierney, Alexandre Lacazette, Willian and Hector Bellerin came on as substitutes.
The Ibrox club played without Helander, Morelos, Borna Barisic, Ryan Kent, Aribo and Jack in that game. Their early-season form line is streets ahead of all others. Celtic, toiling horribly to get a competent goalkeeper and a defence worthy of the name in place, lost 6-2 to West Ham on Saturday.
One league title should not sate Rangers. And it surely won’t. Gerrard might not say it publicly but a single trophy last season – albeit the big one – was an underwhelming return on their overwhelming superiority. They won the league by 25 points, they scored 105 goals in all domestic competition while conceding just 17, they won 74% of their games in Scotland and lost just 5%.
Rangers fell to St Johnstone in the Scottish Cup after St Mirren knocked the Ibrox men out of the League Cup
Those numbers reflect their dominance and yet they only had one trophy at the end of it. Given their momentum and personnel they should have had all three, but St Mirren did them in the League Cup and St Johnstone did them in the Scottish Cup – on penalties.
Over five games against Callum Davidson’s team, Rangers won by a combined 9-2 last season. They played against Jim Goodwin’s side four times and won the head-to-head 10-3. The cup defeats were an aberration, a glorious one for Davidson, in particular, and his brilliant double winners.
Celtic, in their now distant pomp, won four trebles on the spin. They were never caught the way Gerrard’s team were. They were too good, too resilient. A full house of domestic trophies has to be the target for Gerrard this time.
Not just that. There’s Europe, too. This is a side that has had notable victories in recent seasons. They’ve beaten Braga, Porto, Feyenoord, Legia Warsaw, Midtjylland, Galatasaray and others. They’ve drawn twice – and should have won twice – against Benfica.
They’ve now earned a shot at the Champions League group stage and all the glamour and pound signs that come with it. All of this is clearly within their grasp. More trophies at home and a place with the big boys in Europe – those are the next goals.
We expected some high-profile departures from the club but none have materialised. Not yet at any rate. Rangers, through their managing director Stewart Robertson, have gone on the record about their need to sell a player or two to address their financial situation – they can’t keep relying on soft loans from supportive directors – but there’s no sign of a notable exit.
They have numerous marketable assets on their hands and, in most cases, decent back-up. They’re in a good place even if they do end up selling Morelos, Kamara or Aribo. A ton of Champions League loot wouldn’t half alter the fiscal picture at Ibrox.
Rangers have reached the Europa League last 16 in each of the past two seasons and now have their first tilt at the Champions League under Steven Gerrard
There’s a debate ongoing about their new policy of charging the print media £25,000 for entry to the inner sanctum. It’s an odd one. Rangers don’t want to give away access for free, but there’s an obvious quid pro quo in doing so. Their sponsors derive value from the reams of coverage that newspapers give them. This is not a one-way street.
If this is about their desire for extra money it would only bring in chicken feed in terms of revenue even if all titles were to go for it. In that sense there’s a touch of the car boot sale about it. Big clubs around the world don’t act like this.
Gerrard has an opportunity to emulate Rangers’ city neighbours this season. A treble and a Champions League adventure has to be the target. They don’t have to win the league by 25 points again. They don’t have to go unbeaten in the Premiership. They don’t have to threaten any goalscoring or conceding records. The clean sweep and the European run is what it’s all about.
Celtic are beginning a painful transition, Aberdeen, Hibs and St Johnstone are building and the hope is they’ll get some European loot to kick them on even further, but Rangers retain a massive advantage domestically and serious optimism continentally.
I think Paul is stoking up a siege mentality. Surely can’t believe we can’t win the title with 7 games left, 4 of which are at home. And best players all fit.
I naively thought VAR would help us on the basis that the camera doesn’t lie and therefore the ‘honest mistakes’ would diminish considerably. How wrong I was. The cheating is off the scale now. That penalty incident yesterday summed it all up. The failure to even call Robertson over to the monitor when at least two angles showed a stonewaller cannot be explained away as a mistake or incompetence. It was cheating, plain and simple.
Celtic need to call it out and go to war with these b@*%$ds. And it needs to come from the hierarchy. Folk having a go at our assistant manager for not highlighting yesterday it just don’t get it.
If we don’t act decisively – and quickly – then we will have no-one but ourselves to blame. All the evidence is there. Put it all together, distribute it to the media, the SFA (maximum pressure), UEFA. Come out swinging for once and for all on behalf of our supporters who are being subjected to watching rigged games. I’m so disgusted that I’m actually questioning the point of it all.
Enough is enough.
Paul,
Exactly what I was saying yesterday.We should be striking while the irons hot.No excuse but cheating can be made for the VAR operator.Not even the dreaded word” Incompetent”.Not one pundit,I don’t include that fekin eejit on Sky,did not think it was a penalty.Not a cheep from our Suits.If we do go onto lose this league,through more decisions like this,it will be down to them.Made a big scene about BR going before the SFA,then meekly accepted the decision,throwing him to the wolves.Now it’s their turn,deafening silence.
All the more reason to highlight it this week,of all weeks.Keep the pressure on the Refs.
In saying that,looks like they have been given Carte Blanche to rip the piss,and no comebacks.Just what are our Board sitting thinking about?.It really does beggar belief.
THEORIGINALSADIESBHOY on 1ST APRIL 2024 1:19 PM
I’ve kept the Uncle Tom article because I can’t do links.
—————
Wow! First time reading that and really not sure what to say or where to start.
Actually had a bit of time for English, but not anymore.
That’s up there with the succulent lamb piece for sure.
We were in a transitional period? Yup, but with big Ange at the helm.
Someone should send Tom English this on Twitter or whatever. See what he says. 😂👍
DAVID17 on 1ST APRIL 2024 1:35 PM
I think Paul is stoking up a siege mentality. Surely can’t believe we can’t win the title with 7 games left, 4 of which are at home. And best players all fit.
David,you did see the penalty they got,and the one we did not.A rinse and repeat in a few of those games will swing it.
THATS THAT THEN.
I feel there’s been a disconnect between the Board and the manager, and the Board and the support this season, if they come out and share our frustrations, and keep us informed about situations like the Tynecastle audio, it would galvanise the Club to get us through the rest of the season, take stock in the summer, and back the manager properly in the next Transfer Window.