You will note the most right-winged, left-wing government in history was yesterday resisting attempts to repeal the Offensive Behaviour Act. The Act was sheer populist electioneering by Alex Salmond, who decided after watching several Rangers players dismissed at the end of a game at Celtic Park that something should be done about the 60,000 spectators who attended the game, and its aftermath, left the stadium in an orderly manner.
Football was well covered by policing and the existing legal framework, but Christine Graham MSP hoped to “equalise” non-criminal behaviour at football, specifically by Celtic fans, with criminal behaviour. It was the most uber-right-winged, thought-police, actual-police-backed policy on these shores in decades. Political capital was poured into policing this law, as was significant financial capital.
All other political parties in the Scottish Parliament oppose the Act, due to its fundamental flaws, so on the face of it, yesterday’s initiative by James Kelly MSP, to repeal the Act has a chance, but no more than that.
The Scottish Greens, who have historically opposed the Act, are prevaricating. They are in a position to vote through SNP policy, so hold leverage over the government.
Meanwhile, police numbers in Scotland have dropped to their lowest levels since 2010 and Police Scotland can no longer afford to man traffic signals when tens of thousands of fans leave football grounds. In 2016, we can’t afford a police officer to oversee traffic signals to allow vast volumes of traffic to proceed in the same direction. In Scotland!
We must be the only country in the developed world who can’t afford traffic-signal policing for major events (if you hear someone yelling this on London Road post-game it’ll probably be me, I’ve been known to go on about it).
You are being taken for granted. Don’t be. You can participate in the Proposed Football Act (Repeal) (Scotland) Bill by letting your views be known here.
Scott Brown did well to acknowledge that Aberdeen and Hearts are our most likely challengers this season. The notion that a newly promoted team will come close to Celtic next season is a fantasy.
The Telegraph today run an article on pressure from Spain and Italy to revamp the Champions League. There is a real danger that the already wealthy large leagues will look to further secure their positions by tipping Europe’s top competition in their numerical favour. We should be OK while the current TV deal is in place but all bets are off next time.
The root cause of the demand for change is the pre-eminence of the English and Welsh Premier League cartel, which is slowly colonising not just Scotland, but Spain, Italy and elsewhere too.
The football model is broken pretty much everywhere. Change will happen; let’s hope it’s benign when it comes, as it threatens to finish the game outside of the “top five leagues”. Your clubs will be impoverished and irrelevant, your infrastructure will be denied investment, even the trickle-down of resources to kids football will mean your children are disadvantaged.
Bear that in mind when you cheer Barca and Real Madrid.
I think we’re going to have fun with this Shitov character tomorrow, who thinks there’s nothing new to see about Celtic Park, but needs to dry his eyes because Leigh DIDN’T punch him!
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Dundalk have been absolutely brilliant,totally deserved,winger McEleney was exceptional
Is that the highly experienced CL team Bate getting knocked out of Europe early doors by unfenced Dundalk, whoddathunk it:))
well played Dundalk..
Fantastic result Dundalk, They are Cork’s greatest domestic rivals but am thrilled for them.
Celtic v Dundalk in the Aviva, bring it on.
I was obviously only joking about PJ Crossan playing tomorrow evening but he did take his goal extremely well .The only handicap to his progress is that his name suggests a serious, waist-coated historian rather than a young footballer. Peejay might do the trick. Or hat-trick, even, based on the aplomb with which he dispatched his one chance tonight.
Goodnight all,
JJ
PS I will probably call in to the Blane Valley tomorrow to will see OT and the Bhoys performing live.
THELURKINTIM,
Thanks for that. Good experience for the lhads then.
Well done, Dundalk. Quite a win.
The knowledgeable and encouraging comments from Michael Stewart enhanced a fine performance from the young Celts.
Was it this style that Ronny Deila aspired to?
I think Ajer’s performance, which was tidy, if unspectacular, reflected the fact that he has just joined a group of players who have been together for a few years.
Some of the movement was telepathic.
Very enjoyable game, played on a good pitch, on a typical Greenock damp night!!
ZBYSZEK
Of all the people you were the one person I hoped wouldn’t read my tongue very much in cheek post.
Hail Hail
Well done Dundalk, was in Oriel Park the night they almost out Celtic out of the European Cup – missed an open goal in last minute with score at 0 – 0 after a 3 – 2 score at Celtic Park.
Wow – Dundalk ko Bate 3-0 on night, 3-1 agg. !!.
So as it stands our possible opponents could be : (** play tomorrow):
Legia Warsaw ** Pol 28.000
Dinamo Zagreb Cro 25.775
Ludogorets Razgrad Bul 25.625
FC København ** Den 24.720
Dundalk Irl 2.590
I mentioned last night that we would be visiting the little Basque town of Guernica today to pay our respects to those murdered by German and Italian fascists one sunny day in April 1937.
It is a small, humble place and the story of what happened that day are now very much a central part of what Guernica is today. Most visitors today were Spanish and it was very quiet. You can step inside a 1930’s Basque home and experience the sounds of death from the skies.
Gernica is also famous for the Tree of Gernika, which is an important symbol of the Basque people. I stood this afternoon and looked at this tree and thought that it provided a brilliant metaphor for the new club.
The tree was planned in 1860 and died in 2004. In 2015 it was replaced by a 15 year old tree which is now officially The Tree of Gernika.
There is also an Old Trunk opposite which dates back to 1700 but that only confuses matters. It too used to be the Tree of Gernika.
I asked if the tree planted in 2015 was the same tree as the one planted in 1860. They couldn’t quite believe it – the daftest question ever asked was the impression I got. I told them I was Scottish and they wouldn’t understand!
By replacing the old tree (club) – which had died – with a new tree (club) in this way a symbolic meaning is perpetuated, just as the soul of Eukal Herrica – the Basque Country – continues to be passed on from generation to generation.
This oak tree is central to Basque culture – leaders would be appointed under its shade and important decisions of government taken.
But to the Basques what it represents is different from what it is – a new tree.
No-one could criticise them for replacing a dead tree with a new one and transferring the emotional and cultural significance of what it represents from one to another.
No-one tries to insult your intelligence by claiming that the 16 year old tree is over 150 years of age.
“The tree of Gernika was planted in 2015 and it is the direct successor of the Tree under which the Assemblies were held for centuries,” I was told.
Use this quote for the new club and the confusion is gone. New club with emotional attachment transferred by those it is important to and no-one would ever argue.
Bate Borisov have qualified for the group stage 4 times in last 5 years.
Outstanding result for Dundalk.
HH
For those worrying about the challenge facing Celtic tomorrow night, here is a complete record of FC Astana’s European results away from home. Ever. The numbers preceding the team names are each opponent’s position in the current UEFA team rankings (c.f. Bert Kassies).
* denotes where a match was the 2nd leg of the tie.
2013-14 Europa League
QR1: 282 Botev Plovdiv (Bul) 5 Astana 0 *
2014-15 Europa League
QR1: 322 Pyunik Yerevan (Arm) 1 Astana 4
QR2: 173 Hapoel Tel Aviv (Isr) 1 Astana 0 *
QR3: 150 AIK Solna (Swe) 0 Astana 3 *
Play-off: 27 Villarreal (Spa) 4 Astana 0 *
2015-16 Champions League
QR2: 83 Maribor (Svn) 1 Astana 0
QR3: 140 HJK Helsinki (Fin) 0 Astana 0
Play-off: 95 APOEL Nicosia (Cyp) 1 Astana 1 *
Group C: 9 Benfica (Por) 2 Astana 0
Group C: 4 Atletico Madrid (Spa) 4 Astana 0
Group C: 24 Galatasaray (Tur) 1 Astana 1
Group performance: P6 W0 D4 L2 F5 A11
2016-17 Champions League
QR2: 209 Zalgiris Vilniua (Lit) 0 Astana 0
QR3: 46 Celtic (Sco) ? Astana ?
Overall record to date: P12 W2 D4 L6 F9 A20
So if Astana perform to their historical norm this would point to a 2-1 win for Celtic. But bear in mind that most of the matches making up their historical performance figures were against teams ranked substantially lower (average ranking = 126) than Celtic’s 46th place.
Having correctly called the score in Kazakhstan, I’ll stick with my forecast (from last week) that Celtic will prevail 2-0 at home.
This would secure a play-off against one of Dundalk, Ludogorets Razgrad, Dinamo Zagreb, and probably Copenhagen and Legia Warsaw. And I know which of those we’d all prefer.
Bring it on!
Tremendous result for Dundalk
Hopefully play the Tic in the next round
Well done Dundalk.
Bigbones: Thanks for reminding us of Kieran Doherty’s anniversary. I worked on his election campaign and attended his funeral.
WITS: If you are still in Madrid,and you you haven’t visited it before, I would strongly recommend a visit to the Sofia Reina art gallery near Attocha train station. Allow two – three hours for the visit. Generally, I don’t like art galleries but this one is really good, imho.
Winning Captains,
Your basque festival sounds much different to my one ;))
HH
I’d much prefer if we avoided Dundalk and then drew them in the group stages ;-)
EMBRAMIKE SAYS “THE HUNS ARE DEID”
I’ve said it before that Michael Stewart is the best commentator / pundit in Scotland – tells it as he sees it without an agenda. Usually even handed and level headed.
———————————
That’s exactly it. Agenda free commentary. It’ll never catch on.
I hope Celtic get Dundalk, I always love to see Celtic playing in Ireland, what and atmosphere that would be…
Dundalk just Bate Borizov 3-1 on agg.
Almore
I am back from Madrid
Yes I was in the Reina Sofia ( not this time but on my last visit a couple of years back)
Lot of mad Salvador Dali stuff ( mad in a good way) and of course Picasso’s Guernica painting
Madrid is a cracking city,
Oh and by the way Dundalk would be no pushover if Celtic were to get through and draw them
Well done Dundalk, with their success and the poor performance of Scottish teams in Europe, again, will it dawn on the clowns who run our game that as well as all of the other benefits, summer football may enhance our team’s chances of qualification, or even getting through a few rounds.
Jobo Baldie (10:00pm)… not possible I’m afraid. We’d both be in pot 4.
Celtic thrashed Dundalk 3-2 on agg in 1979
i dont want to play dundalk, would hate to put them out, instead i hope they meet Legia and put them out, and become the 1st irish team in the champions league (in our group obviously).
winning captains,
its an awful serious subject for me to the flippant about , and i liked how you framed your points,
but the Scottish football authorities would say.
its a tree, in the same park, with the same colours, and those leaves are the same leaves gifted from the old tree.
thats how feckin stoopid they all are.
Tonight’s impressive performance from our under 20s again highlights the need to get around 10-12 players off of our books. We need to create space in the squad to start to give some of these youngsters a chance in the first team. Ralston could play tomorrow night and we’d have no worries, a right sided Tierney, Miller would be a better option than Forrest from the bench and the likes of McCart, Nesbitt and Hendry deserve a chance.
Hopefully BR gets rid of the majority of the deadwood this window. A squad of 20-22 with half a dozen of these youngsters would be a lot better than the current stockpiling of mediocrity.
BIGCHIPSUK – 10 IN A ROW (2001-2010) on 2ND AUGUST 2016 10:07 PM
Jobo Baldie (10:00pm)… not possible I’m afraid. We’d both be in pot 4.
we will be in pot 3, after all the underdogs win their qualifiers.
Well done to Dundalk, guaranteed Europa league group stages football at the very least.
One more sleep. And now’s the time to prepare for it. Be nice now and please give me a pleasant scroll back in the morning ;-)
Very good result in the Challenge Cup.
Great to see someone in Scottish football make a positive decision.
U20’s played with huge energy and belief.
Annan played well for a team with a day job.
Good spectacle, great effort and hopefully more to come.
Next step has to be getting U20 / U22 sides into the league.
One downside for me was the move Greenock.
We need a Junior stadium in G40 — that alone would have quadrupled the crowd.
Shooie
Gave up Sky years ago, Can I ask you why sir? “Not value for money”. I know quite agree, thank you sir!
Bought box because I live in Indonesia, only back in Scotland for a few weeks. Ticket and hotel booked for tomorrow. COYBIG
HH
madmitch,
celtic just need to advertise in the greenock telegraph that the game is on there, and there will be a 1,000 at least.
locally no one knows its on
CV @ 10.11
Agree regarding MS and his summarising.
He adds a lot of depth to the match coverage, he has his own mind and is pretty fair.
Over the 90 minutes he tried to include everybody on both sides and talked up the positives that he could find about the game as a whole.
However he needs to apologise to EA for his cooments he made close to the end of the Astana game. Slated EA’s lack of movement at the free kick when the attacking player was actually offside. I know we all slated EA at the time but he is the one with the microphone.
Any website links where the young hoops game can be viewed?
Cant find anything on the club site…….:_(
Help!!!!
HH
2 Maribor players killed in accident pre Aberdeen game?
Very sad.
Really heartened by the U20’s result. We have produced some good young players recently who have gone on to make careers at other clubs , really hopeful some of this group will be turning out in the first team hoops for many years.
Just watched BT Champions League Replay.
Jarosik fouled – Naka freekick 1-0!!!!!
Maloney handball & pen – Artur saves from Saha!!!!!
Ah! Can’t beat the Good Old Days and Last 16.
http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36960014
Fess, Im just down the road from you in Carmyllie, If you are in fun city tomorrow a fewnof us are having a pre and post match swally in the BV (pre), probably Pot Still (Post).
Get some in:_)