So how about this scenario, Celtic Youths are trailing in their league with 10 games to go when they register three new players, but someone’s ‘at it’. The players are all over-age but the date of birth on their registration forms have been incorrectly completed, so the players are registered and become eligible to play the remaining games. Celtic Youths win their remaining games and win the league.
At the end of the season the deception is uncovered. The people responsible for filling the forms out incorrectly are criticised but one is president of the Scottish Football Association, who give evidence to an inquiry that as the Association registered the players, the results must stand.
Time to “draw a line under it” is the line from the SFA chief executive, hoping with all his might that no one mentions the Scottish Youth Cup games the players also played in, which would invoke a parallel punishment to the one recently imposed on Spartans Youths for exactly the same offence in the same competition. The chief exec also dismisses attempts to call those criticised by the inquiry to account as scapegoating.
Ridiculous? Of course, but this is what we’ve just experienced, with another club, of course.
Challenging the verdict, if possible, is a worthwhile endeavour but it will only treat one symptom of the many issues facing Scottish Premier League clubs, who could be forgiven for losing the will to compete within the rules. Fans of several SPL clubs now believe their best interests are served by playing in an environment beyond Scotland – for a whole range of reasons.
We have to work with fans of other clubs to make the case for the SPL, as a unit, to leave Scottish football (I see cross-club initiatives are already underway).
On a completely unrelated question, if you had £21m in the bank late last year, and you were burning cash at £1m per month, which year would you run out of money?
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Beckham named Chinese Football Ambassador
Heard it all now…
!!Bada Bing!! @ 13:19
I beg to differ: I think second place is actually harder to achieve than first.
Let me demonstrate: Philvis: I’ll give a tenner to the charity of your choice if you can bag second place following Paul’s next blog leader …
FF
ASonOfDan
Campbell Ogilvie named FIFA Fair Play Director!!!
I wondered why I could never understand a word he said.
Looks like the SFA are trying to come to terms with that £7 Million loss..
BBC Scotland’s Jim Spence gives his own unique take on the draw: “So Hibs v Falkirk and Utd v Celtic in the semis of the Scottish Cup draw, which appeared to have all the solemnity of a funeral parlour.”
Can we get this moved from Hampden?
A SON OF DAN
Has he said if he will be paying tax on his income from it?
Hamden will be covered in Green and White…
A green and white final would be the perfect opportunity for a protest…
Regarding the deferred tax, was it worthwhile mentioning just in case the Stadium rename is really a Stadium sale.
A leaseback agreement would then be put in place, upping the CLUB running costs on an ongoing basis.
Chuckles then makes the residue.
A great article that could be applied to the SFA…
‘There are two battles going on to save football. One is against match fixing and the other is about good governance at FIFA, football’s world governing body. Both have a strong media component, both are important and both are interlinked.
If the element of chance is taken out of football, games will become irrelevant and fans will drift away. The big business that is football and the joy that it brings to billions of people will disappear. If FIFA does not embrace reforms it will be ill-equipped to tackle football’s response to match fixing.
The next three months are key for reforms at FIFA. On 26 February the working group on governance discussed what reforms the Executive Committee will put to the vote at the FIFA Congress in May when representatives of the 209 football federations meet in Mauritius. The results were inconclusive.
FIFA did not announce an agreement on the key principles of good governance put forward by the Independent Governance Commission it set up to advise on reforms. These included the appointment of independent FIFA board members from outside football and rigorous vetting of all candidates for FIFA office.
FIFA executive board member Theo Zwanziger described FIFA’s version of vetting as “not a case of digging around in the private lives of candidates or of punishing the slightest infraction.”
This does not bode well for the future of football. FIFA’s executive committee has been the focus of so many corruption scandals in the past decade that any attempt to soft-pedal due diligence now sends the wrong message. If those at the top of FIFA cannot be seen to fully embrace good governance, then delivering integrity and accountability throughout its ranks becomes much harder.
Transparency International’s reform recommendations for FIFA
We stand by the recommendations made in August 2011 in Safe Hands when we first called for governance reforms at FIFA. Since then FIFA established an Independent Governance Commission (IGC), to advise on the reform process, which Transparency International declined to join because the terms of reference did not include investigations into past scandals and the commission was part of FIFA. The IGC issued seven ‘indispensable’ reforms, which include having independent people on the executive committee board. But important elements are still missing. We would include the following recommendations:
The vetting of people up for election to the FIFA presidency and all FIFA standing committees should be done by a firm not associated with football, such as an legal, accountancy or human resource specialist, not by a committee set up inside FIFA, as the IGC now says.
The vetting process should be rigorous.
The investigations and adjudications carried out by the two offices of the Ethics Committee should be published in full.
For example, the adjudication handed down to former executive committee member Mohamed Bin Hamman, banning him from football for life, did not give adequate reasons for the punishment. If the investigation into the awarding of World Cups in 2018 and 2022, which controversially went to Russia and Qatar, is not transparent, few people will believe its outcome and FIFA will lose credibility.
Two sides to corruption
Fixing a match always involves people inside the game: a bribe giver needs a bribe taker. This means the players, officials, owners and leagues, federations and FIFA are also involved in the fight against match fixing. This is where the governance of football becomes so important and why FIFA and the continental and national federations it leads must bear some of the responsibility and some of the blame.
Transparency International believes that good governance– whether it is in the private, public or third sector – is a prerequisite for stopping corruption throughout an organisation. Senior management must have the correct systems in place, monitoring mechanisms and code of conduct and they must be seen to be governed by these.
FIFA’s credibility and the success of the fight against match fixing will rest on its commitment to good governance, which is why the leadership need to commit to serious reforms if this is to be sustainable. This is particularly true with prevention and education programmes, where the message is one of strengthening integrity and developing accountability systems to help those most vulnerable to corruption to say no.
Policy makers seem to understand this. The European Commission has a Working Group on Good Governance and is also funding a series of education and prevention projects to pilot programmes against match fixing.
Transparency International has teamed up with the Deutsche Fussball Liga (DFL) and the European Professional Football Leagues in six countries on one project, which involves a pilot programme that Transparency International Germany started with the DFL last year. It combines the appointment of an independent ombudsman, which the DFL did last year, with workshops to introduce players and coaches to the dangers of match fixing and what they can do to stop it.
Many organisations involved in sport and football are coming out with guides and eLearning tools to bolster prevention. FIFA, UEFA, and SportAccord are among them.
Criminal Pursuit
The spotlight in the past weeks has been on the bribe giving side of match fixing. The world was shocked when Europol, the European policing body, announced that it had found evidence of fixing in more than 600 matches, including World Cup and Champions League ties, with hundreds of people involved. Interpol, which has $20 million contract with FIFA to focus on match fixing, is hosting a series of conferences around the world highlighting the dangers and the consequences of match fixing.
To catch the criminal groups behind match-fixing requires cooperation between everyone involved in the sport, plus governments and law enforcement agencies. It is a global battle, as we have seen in reports recently linking crime syndicates in Asia with players, officials and leagues across the world.
FIFA is calling on governments to become involved and for countries to introduce a homogenised legal framework that makes both prosecuting and sharing information about match fixing and fixers across borders easier. This would be a welcome step.’
Grimmond McCrummoch………….for the love of GOD, go!
I thought Sepp Blatter was in Edinburgh last week, any coverage of the conference, how it went, who attended etc?
It was on our own door step and the only reporting I have seen was “Sepp Blatter, no comment on Rangers”
Let’s not forget those SevCo figures were till Dec 31st 2012.
Considering they are losing a £1m a month, you could probably say that their loss is currently standing at circa £9m.
From the BBC site, was this you Paul67?
Football fans have criticised the Scottish Premier League (SPL) for awarding their directors an “inflation-busting” pay deal.
The latest SPL accounts show directors pay and benefits increased by 16.5%, despite a 6% fall in revenues.
The SPL said a new five-year television deal was a sign of improved finances.
But SPL Fans United questioned how the pay and benefits increase could be justified as a time when income was falling in harsh economic times.
The league’s figures, which cover the year to May 2012 and do not take into account Rangers’ drop out of the top league, show income at £21.4m.
Pay and benefits for the SPL’s board of directors, which is approved by the member clubs, increased to £200,000.
A spokesperson for SPL Fans United, a pressure group that campaigns for reform of the Scottish game, said: “I would think most fans would ask how the directors can justify that inflation-busting pay rise.
“Given the current financial climate, it is disappointing to see SPL board directors taking a 16.5% pay rise.
“Given that income is falling and many SPL fans are struggling to attend games it is unfortunate to see such rises in pay and remunerations.”
The huns are losing £1 million a month?
Not enough!
HH!!
Just won a holiday in Reykjavik
– How cool is that?
bournesouprecipe
Very cool after their People’s Revolution…
“We work hard all week, but on a Saturday we get the day off to play football”
– Bertie Auld
Test
(Wee phone problem. Hopefully fixed.)
Back 4 versus Juventus?
Or do we go with 5?
bournesouprecipe
AS cool as a polar bears erchie!
If Johnny Rotten was bang intae Scuddish footy he’d be effin’ luvvin this! Antichrist Lures. Anarchy rules.
Idiocy for our superiors and betters……..oh yeah, dem is who dem tink dem is.
Brixton Rules for this lot.
Mash em up, scare dem with the penknife……….and if that don’t work, kilt pin in dem eye.
And yes, I have lived in a sqaut in Brixton, and I was well respected in Moss Side and I ran with a Gypsy Crew in Whalley Range.
You want more?
And we ALL hated the hun rat animals in our big greenandwhite stripey hats.
Dr. Seuss had NiSH on us.
HH!
Do you know me now?
The Cat With The HAT!
On 15th/16th of March 100 cyclist will set off from 5 locations in the UK & Ireland for Belfast to raise funds that will go towards helping Wee Oscar Knox (check out the wee man himself – http://youtu.be/oVyxi7ypT4Y) fund the Immunotherapy treatment he so desperately requires. We will be leaving from:
Celtic Park – 32 Cyclists
Leeds – 7 Cyclists
Duleek – 25 Cyclists
Roscommon – 10 Cyclists
Dublin – 26 Cyclist
We will be supported by 16 support team members over the 2 days also.
Our team is made up of CQN’ers, KDS’ers, friends and family members and non Celtic supporters.
You can support our cyclists and support team by making a donation to this event by clicking here (remember to leave your blog name for us to thank you):
Wee Oscar 4 Life Cycle’s To Belfast March 2013
or by texting BELF88 to 70070 followed by amount (between £1 to £10) you wish to donate:
eg.
To: 70070
BELF88
£10
We would like to thank Burns Interior Design, Morrisons Facilities Services – FM Division, Gardiner & Theobald Surveyors, ProAir Conditioning, Firewater, DAMM Environmental, Access, AJ Print, Oracle, Project Pipework & Piling, Business Continuity Services and Sublime Designs for their sponsorship of the WeeOscar4Life cycle’s to Belfast. If your company would like to sponsor this event please drop an email to weeoscar4life@gmail.com
Big Wee Oscar Thumbs up to following TIMternet bampots
MurdochAuldandHay
leftclicktic
Mhark67
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Spirit Of Arthur Lee
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GL2
DavieL
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A Ceiler Gonof Rust
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ohits
MJ X
The Little Gentleman In The Black Velvet Waistcoat
Greengray1967
The Cat
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asonofadan
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Paddy Turner
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Stephen with a ‘ph’
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jhilday
@stevenceltic81
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As_I_Thought
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Corkcelt
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Drumchapel CSC (Oliver’s Bar)
Kenabsx5
Squirrel Knutz
@stoksey10
@Gerryglesga’s Da & his Domino Pals
Jimbob67
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andyfisher67
This is the one This is the one
Celticrollercoaster
BJmac (after some prompting!!! :-)
Can I have a raspberry on that
Goldstar10
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Nuclear Bovril & Half Munched Pie
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St Stivs
Bobby Murdoch’s Curled Up Winkle Pickers
16 Roads
for donations to WeeOscarLife Cycle’s to Belfast St Patricks weekend March 2013 and helping to smash £2k target with your ever growing donations reaching£2400.00
PLEASE REMEMBER TO ADD YOUR GIFT AID
WeeOscar4Life Team
Catching up a bit. Noticed some comments about fast-tracking Sevco up the leagues and mentioning the “Stranraer precedent”. Don’t quite understand how a team moving from the third tier to the second tier would be a “precedent” for a team attempting to go from the fourth tier to the second tier?
Then again maybe Stranraer weren’t losing £1m a month and weren’t “vital” to the “good of the game” in Scotland……
“I think the internet is pants”
Tim Berners-Lee
Consistency is an ambition that we wish for in referees, life in general but in my case fundamentally in porridge ….now there’s a controversial subject for a Monday.
The consistency of porridge divides peoples, nations, families and football supporters.
Kitchen tables throughout the country have been known to be seized by ‘deaf and dumb’ breakfast syndrome if the porridge pourability doesn’t come up to the exacting standards of the stirrer with the spoon staring in suspicion at the questionable goo in the bowl in front of him/her.
I fall into the camp of the ‘doddy’ followers…those of us who like our oats (with a pinch of salt) served in ladled lumps, where you can form little models of the neolitthic standing stones of Stenness, while waiting for the accompanying mug of tea (milk and one sweetener – my body is a temple) to cool down.
To reach this state of tantric ecstacy (in porridge terms of course, otherwise you might frighten the guys putting the new windows in), here is today’s tip from the culinery nirvana that is ‘Matt’s Kitchen’.
1 stainless steel pan.
1 mug of porridge oats – Co-op 87p per kilo pack.
1 and three quarters same mug of water
1 x 0.25 of a second sprinkle of salt.
Red hot electric or full blast gas hob
Fast stir until the heavenly mix starts to boil.
Remove left hand (or if corrie fisted, right hand ) from the handle of the pot but continue to stir until handle of pot and stirring speed coincide.
Grab handle again and turn heat down to a minimum or in gas terms ‘a peep’.
Stir as fast as you can for 30 secs.
Remove from heat…pour into your favourite Celtic emblazoned bowl and add milk.
Total preparation time – four and a half minutes
Take first spoonful……sigh……and think how sad it is that so many of the world’s population live in porridge poverty.
If you happen to have any left over, donate it to the window fitters who can use it as sealant.
For those not sure about what models to make while pondering the delights mentioned, here is a wee before and after recommendation as mentioned…..(the sheep are optional)
An amazing talent
Hail hail
Estadio
tigertim
14:10 on 4 March, 2013
How refreshing someone want to talk about CELTIC!
I’d go 5, I know they will be expecting that but, they will be feeling quite confident and might just switch off early doors, if we can get an early goal it will rattle them.
Then if we get 2, who knows, panic stations for them. Tall order but here’s hoping. HH
TIGERTIM
Go wi all ten and hit em on the break!
Oh wait,the Italians specialise in reverse…..
Sorry,TALLYBHOY.
I have read and re-read that article , Paul67. Succinct, but utterly incredibibble.
If I could I’d send you a cas of Aeros and a case of Heineken.
Incredible. Again.
HH!
If you were an Institutional Investor and had invested in December to be told in March the Company had been running at a £1 Million loss every month.
What would your thoughts be?
Hey you! Aye…..You.
How come you neglected mr & mrs. miki67 from the list?
Most aggrieved and hurt.
: > ((
Estadio
14:16 on 4 March, 2013
Is the sensory experience enhanced by wearing auld clathes?
That wee motor won’t go down well in this part of the world. How about a more pc name like……Kia Hun
Or Kia dob, or my favourite Kia nyetapme 7m
The Romans conquered the known world on porridge. Fact.
And my Dad wasba Classics Teacher.
And I’m a Mungo Boy.
Know who I am NOW?
StillTheCatInTheHat!
Paul67,
Was wondering if you had heard anything regarding a new Mark Daly’s installment of his award winning story?
Just heard a wee whisper that there is and it will be the most explosive yet, but didn’t get any timescale on when it would be aired.
HH
/Bishop B
The sensory experience is enhanced by battering the life ootae huns auld and sevcovians new.
Take axes tae their taxes. Swinge and swing away until the sky turns Crimson. And Green.
I AM A CELT!
BMCUW
The Italians had a secret weapon during WW2.
A tank with 4 reverse gears and 1 forward gear – in case they were attacked from behind.
HH!!