Virgil’s suitors

2079

Aye, sure, Dick Advocaat would like to sign Virgil van Dijk for Sunderland.  Of course he would, but Virgil is very unlikely to go to Sunderland for a host of reasons.  Many clubs have made inquiries about Virgil but the player has an understanding with the club.

For a start, he’s going nowhere until after the Champions League qualifiers are over with, and even then, player and club have agreed that only approaches from tier-one clubs will be considered.  No disrespect intended for Sunderland, but a haul of one cup in 79 years leaves them well off the pace.

The prospect of Celtic being interested in Steven Fletcher, as reported in The Herald this morning, is unlikely to make any difference.  If Fletcher is wanted it will be for the qualifiers, there will be no quid pro quo.

Virgil has two years left on his contract and there’s little prospect of him extending his stay in Scotland, so if Celtic decide to listen to offers in late August it’ll do no harm having as many English clubs as possible bidding portions of their TV bounty for the player.  So let Sunderland bid away.

You and I have been working on the whole Mary’s Meals project for a couple of years now.  It’s not a big part of any of our lives, but what we’ve done is a big part in the lives of thousands of kids we’ll never know.

Reaching the 1 million kids fed each day figure last month has reinvigorated the charity.  It’s a worldwide phenomenon but incredibly started here in Scotland.

At midnight tonight a couple of guys will start to walk the West Highland Way, 96 miles, a 17 thousand feet ascent.  They hope to complete the journey within 24 hours.

You and I know that not every journey is completed on time, some, sadly, will never be completed……… but these two are close to hitting their £6k target figure for Mary’s Meals before they set off.  Go and give them a a couple of pounds, help drive them on to complete the task.  Every £1 you give will feed a child for a month.  A month!  Tell me you’re going to do something better today and I’ll not believe you.

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  1. Travellerbhoy on

    Dena

     

     

    Thanks

     

    Heard aboot they world famous hugs(although no as famous as the Albion car park)

     

    Hope to get one one day

     

    Hail hail princess o the blog

  2. Hrvatski Jim on

    Ladies Word Cup

     

     

    I heard on Radio Scotland today that a friend of mine from school days is now assistant coach of Canada ladies team.

     

     

    Tom Sermanni was a player of the year at Celtic boys club in the mid seventies but never graduated to play for us. He did play for Albion Rovers before moving on to Blackpool .

     

     

    His Wikipedia entry has not been updated but he has been involved in ladies football since he left Scotland to go to Australia. Apart from being a footballer he was a qualified teacher and was asked to help with developing the game for girls and this led to being coach of the Australian national team.

     

     

    http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Sermanni

     

     

    He was a contemporary of Tony Higgins . Our school had a very good football team in that year.

     

     

    Tom was a lovely guy. Always very kind to me.

     

     

    Hope Canada do well in the tournament.

  3. Excellent day , extremely drunk, thanks to all who gave best wishes to ma wee lassie on her 1st communion day.

     

     

    HH

  4. Gerryfaethebrig on

    gerryfaethebrig

     

     

    22:43 on 6 June, 2015

     

     

    delaneys dunky

     

     

    Apologies, that post was for you……. Your family means more than anything, I appreciate what the kids are saying but just keep on talking Celtic, James Connolly and family, that annoys the trolls more than anything !

  5. Travellerbhoy

     

     

    Lovely to see you back.

     

    Even lovelier to read about the reason for your recent absence.

     

     

    Intriguing game tonight. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

     

     

    Delaney’s – hope you had a great day yesterday. Chill ref the muppet. As I said yesterday in the real world he’d get his stones rattled.

     

     

    My present to you is this. Some reggae from across the water…..in Paisley!

     

     

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RhplPhRlsRk

     

     

    HH jamesgang

  6. Travellerbhoy on

    Ginger

     

    Never strangers on here

     

    Thanks

     

     

    Praecepta

     

    Cheers my fhriend

  7. Bobby Sands – Rythm of Time

     

     

    There’s an inner thing in every man,

     

    Do you know this thing my friend?

     

    It has withstood the blows of a million years,

     

    And will do so to the end.

     

     

    It was born when time did not exist,

     

    And it grew up out of life,

     

    It cut down evil’s strangling vines,

     

    Like a slashing searing knife.

     

     

    It lit fires when fires were not,

     

    And burnt the mind of man,

     

    Tempering leadened hearts to steel,

     

    From the time that time began.

     

     

    It wept by the waters of Babylon,

     

    And when all men were a loss,

     

    It screeched in writhing agony,

     

    And it hung bleeding from the Cross.

     

     

    It died in Rome by lion and sword,

     

    And in defiant cruel array,

     

    When the deathly word was ‘Spartacus’

     

    Along with Appian Way.

     

     

    It marched with Wat the Tyler’s poor,

     

    And frightened lord and king,

     

    And it was emblazoned in their deathly stare,

     

    As e’er a living thing.

     

     

    It smiled in holy innocence,

     

    Before conquistadors of old,

     

    So meek and tame and unaware,

     

    Of the deathly power of gold.

     

     

    It burst forth through pitiful Paris streets,

     

    And stormed the old Bastille,

     

    And marched upon the serpent’s head,

     

    And crushed it ‘neath its heel.

     

     

    It died in blood on Buffalo Plains,

     

    And starved by moons of rain,

     

    Its heart was buried in Wounded Knee,

     

    But it will come to rise again.

     

     

    It screamed aloud by Kerry lakes,

     

    As it was knelt upon the ground,

     

    And it died in great defiance,

     

    As they coldly shot it down.

     

     

    It is found in every light of hope,

     

    It knows no bounds nor space

     

    It has risen in red and black and white,

     

    It is there in every race.

     

     

    It lies in the hearts of heroes dead,

     

    It screams in tyrants’ eyes,

     

    It has reached the peak of mountains high,

     

    It comes searing ‘cross the skies.

     

     

    It lights the dark of this prison cell,

     

    It thunders forth its might,

     

    It is ‘the undauntable thought’, my friend,

     

    That thought that says ‘I’m right!’

  8. Gerryfaethebrig on

    burghbhoy

     

     

     

    Stuff the weather, hope the wee yin and the whole family had a great day !

     

     

    Enjoy your sore head the morra it was worth it !

  9. clogher celt on

    Gerry,

     

     

    What Travelodge are you looking at? Tayto Park is about 40 minutes from the centre of Dublin. I think it is probaly better to take a trip out there.

     

     

    There is a Travelodge in Swords next to Dublin Airport, about 30 mins or less from there.

     

     

    You would have to hire a car, but I think that isn’t too dear.

     

     

    Anyway maybe worth thinking about.

     

     

    I don’t know what age your young one is, but there is also Dublin Zoo, close to the city in the Phoenix Park.

     

     

    A lovely spot.

     

     

    Clogher

  10. Delaneys Dunky on

    James

     

     

    My son Ryan met Paolo after his Newcastle gig. Paolo told him that he was a Paisley, Fenian Ganja warrior. Paolo is da man!

  11. Travellerbhoy

     

    22:59 on

     

    6 June, 2015

     

     

    u and yrhrer t

     

     

    troubles

     

     

    god luv you

  12. Delaney’s

     

     

    As big meatloaf said, 2 outa 3 ain’t bad!!!!!

     

     

    ;-)

     

     

    HH jamesgang

  13. Travellerbhoy on

    Delaneys

     

    First Saturday in June main day

     

    Although it’s on for a week

     

    Would love to take you my ‘fellow ‘traveller ‘

     

    Maybe we can make it a hootenanny next year.

     

    Everybody wlelcome

     

    Ps no crimpolene or drums or fuds

  14. Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of attending one of my grandsons Confirmation in a church that was built on an old farmer’s dump site as that was the land they were allotted.

     

     

    The opening hymn being sung as the candidates walked down the aisle contained the line “and they’ll know we are Christians by our love”, the closing hymn at the end of the ceremony was “Peace is flowing like a river”.

     

     

    Driving home last night I got to thinking about the upcoming event, where I doubt Love or Peace would be in the hearts of the participants, being held today in the country I still call hame.

     

     

    In a city that houses my first love and a square that I once walked over on many a Saturday morning with my mother on our way to Bremners.

     

     

    A square that I also spent some time in when attending Stow College along with my former St Pat’s pal who hailed from the Peoples Republic of Brucehill, Bankie mate who spent every other Saturday at Kilbowie Park, Dumbarton china that did the same at Boagheid and jeelyeater pal that followed the dark side. Sadly none of them are with us now.

     

     

    This was the 60’s pre Jock, we were Raphael at the time but no animosity or casting up occurred, we were all more interested in the emerging group scene and a new folk singer emerging from Hibbing Minnesota.

     

     

    11 years or so later I am married with 2 weans and would leave the country for the second time, only this time probably for good.

     

    I mentioned a farmer’s dump earlier on as the part of the country that I moved to had been founded by Scots and Ulster-Scots.

     

     

    Walks were part of the scenery in July and every city, town and hamlet had an LOL. To be mayor or chief of police in the biggest city in the country required membership of the LOL not as would be suspected the craft.

     

     

    While walks were permitted and encouraged, Corpus Christi processions and similar were attacked.

     

     

    However, change came with the influx of immigrants from war torn Europe and although they took on menial tasks their children were educated and helped change the demographics of the area, Toronto was no longer the Belfast of North America.

     

     

    There have been in recent years Catholic mayors and chiefs of police, in fact the current chief was born in England to Jamaican parents and beat out his rival who also came from Jamaica, changed days indeed.

     

     

    The mayor of the town I was in yesterday for the Confirmation, same town that allotted farmer’s dumps and other unsavoury land to the Archdiocese of Toronto for churches and schools, was born in Cork.

     

     

    This place has moved on completely. Are there still walks?, probably, in the small towns north of the city. There might be one in TO but if so it will be seen as more of a novelty.

     

     

    The St Patrick’s Day Parade was resurrected about 30 year ago, has large media coverage and politicians of all stripes in the area attend. It’s seen as a happy event and open to all.

     

     

    In our local paper in the small town I live in there was recently an historical picture of a walk taken around the time I would be wandering over George Square, doesn’t happen anymore.

     

     

    Driving into the town, similar to other towns in Southern Ontario, there is a sign board indicating the service clubs in the area; the largest one indicates the KoC. This was a town that once housed the KKK.

     

     

    Why in this day and age in the land of my birth is the celebration of a battle fought in another country that the Catholic Church championed and financed still celebrated.

     

     

    As Dominic Behan wrote around 50 year ago

     

    “Two foreign old monarchs in battle did join,

     

    Each wanting their head on the back of a coin

     

    If the Irish had sense they´d drowned both in the Boyne

     

    And partition throw into the ocean!”

     

     

    Time for our educated youth to take over and bin the trailer trash that wanders the streets of the country, time to move on like the rest of the civilised world has.

     

     

    If Scotland and its citizens wants tae be a nation again then it’s time it acts like one.

  15. Gerryfaethebrig on

    clogher celt

     

     

    23:05 on 6 June, 2015

     

     

    We watched the utube video you put on the other day about the roller coaster thing and the advert came up about the travel lodge, I was over the moon when wife and daughter started talking about going, I am still using it as a history lesson, but even better if they think it’s their choice to go, I have already told the wee blade her middle name is after “Grace” Gifford so hopefully work permitting we are going, the good lady (Sevconian) is also really up for it, have already told her there is no hatred just learning !

  16. Delaneys Dunky on

    LHYM

     

     

    My son got his mobile number and has invited Paolo for a game of golf in Douglas Park. Trying to muscle into a fourball. :)

  17. Just had a wee ‘nightcap’, and soon to bed.

     

     

    Thinks!!!!……..with this sort of stuff, I am bound to be asked to join the ‘cliqe’

  18. Travellerbhoy on

    mr pastry

     

     

    Your welcome taw join the gypsy traveller clique

     

    WE DONT DISCRIMINATE

     

    Hail Hail

  19. Talking of First Communions..My Sons was St Annes in Dennistoun, then Merchant City for a Meal..Thennn …Bairds in The Gallowgate For the Party©of ThomasC….Great Day…Even Better Night..

  20. Delaneys Dunky on

    Travellerbhoy

     

     

    Know I would be grand in your company L.

     

    My daughter Patrice named my grandson after you. ;))))

  21. Travellerbhoy on

    Bustbhoy

     

    Cheers bhud

     

    You’re more than welcome to come to Appleby. It’s open to all. And you will not be made to feel uncomfortable. Like a lot of places. In our own country. In Great Britain. In Europe. Worldwide

     

    Hail Hail

  22. clogher celt on

    Tontine Tim,

     

     

    An excellant post.

     

     

    Things have moved on in Ireland. The young turned out in their droves here for the Referendum. I don’t want to get into the politics of it but it seems that the overwhelming majority felt that Equality was key.

     

     

    Having spent some time in Scotland recently, there are very many good one ones there too.

     

     

    There does however seem to be a hard core of bigots.

     

     

    I have been looking recently for attendance numbers at the big Orange Parades in Glasgow, I would be interested if anyone has any data.

     

     

    Fair Play,

     

     

    Clogher

  23. Delaneys Dunky on

    Roy Croppie

     

     

    I was proud to tell you to your face that you were my favourite CQN poster.

     

    Still true my friend. :)

  24. embramike says "the Huns are Deid" on

    Opening game of Women’s World Cup on BBC3 and I’m sure Elbows McCulloch is playing for China – certain I heard commentator say Yu Wan Ka committed foul against Canadian player :-)

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