So what did we learn last night? For a start, when we need to, we can defend effectively and shut up shop, last night was our fourth clean sheet in Europe this season. The 4-5-1 formation, deployed for the opening 65 minutes, was not effective at producing attacking opportunities, although this may be as much to do with personnel as formation.
Emilio Izaguirre was swamped every time the ball went near him, which did little to settle his confidence. It was wise for Neil Lennon to hook him and drop Charlie Mulgew back. I felt sorry for Miku, who looked like a player in an unfamiliar line-up. He is not a lone target man but will do well when we get the ball to his feet. He was only asked to play that role due to injuries Hooper, Stokes and Samaras and will only do so again under similar circumstances. By contrast, Hooper looked the part once he came on. He bullied defenders as effectively as he does in the SPL, a real pleasing point for me.
Victor Wanyama needs to improve his sharpness to make the most of his composure and tackling ability at this level. The perpetual motion of Champions League teams means a fraction of a second off-pace can compromise the defensive formation.
Did you notice how every time Commons got the ball he was thinking “goal”? His turn before crossing from the left belied the meagre money we paid for him. He is every inch a Champions League player.
James Forrest was played out of the game by the full back. He/Neil needed to find a resolution to this challenge but it didn’t happen. He tried to knock the ball round the outside and pass on the inside a couple of times, which was over-ambitions, to say the least. I don’t think we saw him drop the shoulder and take the player on with the ball, which is a pity, as I’m sure he had the taking of his marker. Both Forrest and Wanyama will be stronger on Match Day 2.
The first objective from our return to Champions League football was that we would be able to compete at this level. That achieved, we can look forward to Moscow in 12 days time.
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Another thought.
Was there not a court case recently, under the Offences legislation, where the sherriff deemed that as no one in the vicinity of the offence , hun singing, was offended, then no offence was deemed to have been committed.
The question then is, who was the Norwich supporter who was offended.
I demand to know.
That awkward moment when you realise you’re watching Maritimo and Newcastle (0-0)
and hear it’s 5-3 Liverpool, in the other live game.
Lots of whataboutery this evenin.
It’s a nothing charge and will be tossed. Let’s not have a pashin contest eh?
Tim Malone Will Tell
Ha! It’s just that everyone has started talking about the shuffling ragged creatures. Oh, and the zombies too!
Paul – think you are too harsh on Wanyama and Forrest;
Wanyama suffere ddue to Ledley’s absence. Broon’s a marauder and frequently struggling for defensive position when played centre mid. vic found himself not only having to secure his own area but shuttle about covering Boon’s space.
A few times he was outnumbered with aimar running at him but it wouldn’t have been such an exposure had Ledley been fit.
Young Forrest: wasn’t happening for him last night but he kept at it. The most success he had was putting the bll one side of the full back and going the other at pace. Twice in the second half he create dgreat space on the flank this way but his final ball was poor. On another night…
Izzy needs more game time, some confidence and…A thunderous tackle to go into an win on that dodgy ankle. Once he gets that behind him we’ll see the oringinal Izzy back.
Charlie Mulgrew thinks he’s Beckenbauer. It’s working well. Don’t tell him otherwise.
Thought the team held its discipline brilliantly last night. If there’s any disappointed Tims out there, just compare the player market values to see what kind of gap our makeshift side had to close.
Onwards and upwards…
Apologies for all my unintentional spaced out posts tonight.
I don’t know why it’s happening.
whilst on my high horse isn’t it about time GP’s made a stance against those so called medical professionals who work for ATOS…
a nurse can tell a person he/she is ok to work after a ten minute medical…
whilst the GPwho moans about the report then goes on and asks for £40.00 for a report….
Just brilliant.
Patrick McGuire
@paddimir
Follow
the banner at parkhead that has caused the most upset this season flickr.com/photos/paddimi…
Retweeted by Phil MacGiollaBhain
7:25pm – 20 Sep 12
Must admit. I can see where the SFA are coming from on this offensive banner.
If I were a Zombie I’d be raging at being compared to a Sevconian!
MWD
The first time (if ever) we meet the Sevconians, I predict a good few renditions of “Lets all do the Zombie, Lets all do the Zombie – ta ra ra ra, ta ra ra ra”
Posture = standing, legs stiff and arms straight out – if you are struggling to get the picture, just remember Gregor Stevens.
Fancy dress is optional…
Try again.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paddimir/7711384216/
I see Auld BlantyreMeldrew is on tonight
Wonkyradar.
Spot on about mc murdo.
That man! needs help.
Thinking a horse whisperer.one who specializes with white horses.hh
advice on how to deal with zombies.
http://youtu.be/MEOSFcOLsnk
So Celtic are to be punished for an “offensive” banner.
If it wasn’t so funny I could weep.
Sandman
You’ve been very kind to Forrest. He was bettered all night by his opposite and was a man down down effectively.
At best he might make it in the SPL but that’s still to be proven.
Tim Alone
Luckily dish of the day Spag Bol was delicious and, more important soft.
Steinreigned
Not surprised at his behaviour more surprised that at his age he (Charles Green) continues to ignore life’s lessons.
Aw Naw
Remembering to add an e at my age is a bit of a triumph, even when it turns out it is superfluous.
One of my mates is a zombie and he’s absolutely furious to be associated with that shower – as if they didn’t get enough bad publicity who should he complain to?
auldheid
see with your delay n that, ah thot u had fell over the veranda and that and eh a just selt yer tickets n that..
Southside
This is real btw
http://zombies.meetup.com/
About the missing ,
Auldheid,
Sounds like you got your just desserts.
Anyway – just as we waved them goodbye with “When will I see you again?” – wouldn’t it be great to give them a Celtic Park welcome with Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”.
I almost hope that they survive long enough – almost…
this was requested earlier, I think it forms a perfect response to the banner charge, there is one swear word, but it is beautifully executed.
http://jackofkent.blogspot.co.uk/2010/05/reply-given-in-arkell-v-pressdram.html
There’s a couple of wee snippets
in the Herald and Scottish Star (not
online) today about an abortive
prosecution in Falkirk’s Sheriff
Court yesterday under the
Offensive Behaviour at Football
Scotland Act. The details in the
brief reports are sketchy, but the
accused – Steven Dickson – was
alleged to have been the worse for
drink and to have turned the air
blue aboard a train back to
Glasgow, returning from a Celtic
match against Dundee United.
Witnesses suggested that the
words “hun” and “Pope” were
used or sung. Dickson was put up
before the sheriff in Falkirk to
answer for the conduct imputed to
him, which was alleged to have put
elderly fellow travellers in fear,
alarm and “distress”. The reports
indicate that he was charged under
the new legislation, in preference
to your old fashioned “breach of
the peace”.
As you will recall, the Football Act
criminalised “offensive behaviour
at a regulated football”, which
explicitly included behaviour “on a
journey to or from the regulated
football match” s2(2)(b)(iii). So
what’s the precise ambit of the
offence? As for the behaviour
itself, it must either “express” or
“stir up” hatred against a religious
group or social or cultural group
with a religious affiliation, or
colour, race, nationality, ethnicity,
sexuality orientation, transgender
identity or disability, or be
threatening, or “other behaviour
that a reasonable person would be
likely to consider offensive”.
The second test which must be
satisfied is that the offensive
behaviour alleged is or would be
“likely to incite public disorder”
1(1)(b). Here, however, Holyrood
worked a queer little incantation.
It added a subsection which
makes clear that:
1(5) For the purposes of
subsection (1)(b)(ii),
behaviour would be likely to
incite public disorder if
public disorder would be
likely to occur but for the
fact that –
(a) measures are in place to
prevent public disorder, or
(b) persons likely to be
incited to public disorder
are not present or are not
present in sufficient
numbers.
The situation this section aimed at
were well-policed football
grounds, where the strains of the
Sash ring out, say, but order is
undisturbed. Ministers were
absolutely frank: they want the
singers nicked, and this is the
section which they hoped would
allow police officers to do so, on
the theory that sectarian ditties, of
themselves, have a tendency to
disturb the public peace. You
could even – at least theoretically –
commit this offence in a room by
yourself (once the judicial
imagination has supplemented
your audience with a suitably
provocable crew). So what
happened in Falkirk? Sheriff
Caldwell appears to have found
that there was no case to answer
against Dickson, and he sauntered
free from court. His defence agent,
Tony Callahan reportedly
submitted that:
“We have heard he was
seated, no problem at all.
Derogatory does not mean
offensive. Nor was his
behaviour likely to incite
public disorder”.
Reporting of the Sheriff’s remarks
were limited to the observation,
directed to the PF, that:
“You have to prove his
behaviour was likely to cause
a reaction of disorder in
others”.
From these very sketchy reports, it
isn’t entirely clear precisely what
the Sheriff found wanting in the
prosecution’s case. Assume, for
the sake of argument, however,
that both he and the procurator
fiscal faithfully applied the law as
it was drafted, and did so in full
understanding of subsection 1(5)
(b)’s curious provisions, inviting
the court to imagine fictional,
potentially inciteable persons
when assessing whether the
conduct complained of was
criminal or not (although it is
impossible to say, on the facts
before us, whether or not either
might have fallen into error, and
missed the significance of the
subsection).
Imagine you are a prosecutor.
How the devil would you prove
that words or ditties – such as
Hun, or Papal lyrics – are likely to
incite public disorder in the
absence of any disorder, in the
absence of likely insitees? Find a
police officer willing to say that
she’s witness brawls break out or
a stramash be provoked by their
invocation in the past? Is it taken
to fall within judicial knowledge,
whether a given aspersion cast or
vocabulary used is, of itself, “likely
to incite disorder”? As s1(5)(b) of
the Act makes plain, prosecutors
don’t have to show that anyone
actually on the train was likely to
be encouraged to mischief by
references to the Bishop of Rome,
or to Huns. In this case, responses
to the accused’s conduct seem to
have ranged from abandoning the
coach he was seated in and
complaining to train staff, to (most
likely) staring fixedly at the wall in
an effort to ignore the antics of
which he was accused. Certainly,
no disorder in the carriage, no
mêlée on the train resulted.
Defenders of the legislation would
likely argue that the intellectual
challenge this imposes on courts
doesn’t substantially differ, for
example, from the older common
law of breach of the peace. A
breach prosecution must
demonstrate “conduct severe
enough to cause alarm to ordinary
people and threaten serious
disturbance to the community”.
Significantly, the Crown don’t have
to prove that any actual fear and
alarm resulted from the conduct
either. Legally, it is an “objective
test”, and asks whether the
conduct would be genuinely
alarming and disturbing to any
reasonable person , rather than
whether anybody in the real world
was actually alarmed or
disturbed.
You might well argue that the
Football Act calls for an essentially
similar exercise of the judicial
imagination, albeit on a question
of disorder, rather than alarm . I’m
not so sure. For one thing, judges
are invited to consider conduct
alleged to breach the peace in
context. The public train, the
private house, the doorway to a
high street bank, and so on. The
Football Act explicitly requires
sheriffs to populate the context
with imaginary additional
characters, to chock the peaceful
train full of irate “the Rangers”
supporters on the bevy, in reaching
any conclusion about whether
disorder is liable incited. That’s a
different, altogether trickier,
species of speculation to engage
in.
It’s still early days in the
enforcement of this legislation,
and thus far, no cases have made
it to the Court of Criminal Appeal
on the nicer legal arguments which
it might raise, and like this Dickson
case, summary cases aren’t
generally reported in detail in the
Scottish press. It would be an
irony, however, if this piece of
legislation, so rapidly clattered
through Holyrood with such hot
rhetoric, were to miscarry and
actually prove a less effective
instrument than the common law
to prosecute some forms of
generically “offensive” conduct
with a loose football affiliation,
like making a post-match boozy
racket aboard trains.
It also puts prosecutors in a tricky
situation. For political reasons, you
might well expect procurators to
feel compelled – or at the very
least encouraged – to prosecute
football-related misconduct under
the Act. Ministers have to report
back to Holyrood on its operation.
Folk will, understandably, be keen
to demonstrate that it was a “vital
tool” in the prosecution of football
offenses, rather than a dud,
agenda-driven reform that was
only half thought through. It is too
early to say for certain, but the
Dickson acquittal at leasts
suggests – no doubt worryingly for
the ministers involved – that the
new legislation may prove less
effective, and provide trickier legal
standards for procurators fiscal to
navigate, than the common law
breach of the peace which they
will now, understandably, be more
reluctant to charge.
What did we learn today?
That zombies EXIST!!! ARGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Seriously though, what a bunch of joyless, dour bassas the SFA are lol
Charles Green: the arrogance is beyond parody!!!
Speaking exclusively to RangersTV he said: “We have seen and heard lots of hypotheses on radio, in newspapers and on TV and we understand fans’ feelings.
“But what fans have to understand is what occurred at Hampden over our SPL status when 10 clubs voted against and one abstained.
“Ally and I sat there and we know what happened. We know that only half of those clubs wanted Rangers out of that league.
“I believe that a number of the clubs were bounced into it.
“Why, for example, would Ross County spend all their life-time trying to get into the Premier League to find Rangers were not there? It’s inconceivable.
“But we understand what happened and we know the reasons behind it. We understand we have to suffer the punishment for the sins of the fore-fathers and we have done that.
“What we have to understand is not everyone in that room wanted Rangers out of that league and I know –because I could see glints in eyes – which ones were happy and which ones were not.
Anyone seen this utter guff from Vanguard bears?
The Train
Written by The Ref
Tuesday, 18 September 2012 22:17
It was a cool, overcast day and the first leaves of autumn fell upon the tracks as the crowded train rumbled along towards its destination. Many of the well-behaved and temperate Rangers fans were singing hymns to our Lord.
On the train, people who had sat in prayer groups of two and more; many turned to the exits as the atmosphere became tense and conversation was muted as those on board glanced around suspiciously, unsure exactly who may be listening to them- where they being eavesdropped by malignant republican forces?
A boy, just six years old the previous day, sat with his father cuddling his little teddy, gazing out of the window with eyes wide with innocent wonder as the scenery rushed by. It had been a long journey, and the boy was becoming agitated, as the dark forces gathered outside.
How much longer father? the little boy asked, wondering who the evil ones were outside.
The father smiled. He could hear the squeal of the wheels as the train began to slow down on its approach to the station. We’re almost there, he replied to the little one.
As the train drew to a halt, The People stood up waiting to disembark, formally orderly queues, demonstrating perfect manners and gentlemanly decorum. The father and son also stood up, the boy clutching his fathers hand and his little teddy in the other.
The train doors were thrown open, and slowly the train emptied.
As the father and son stepped off the train onto busy platform, they were met by a cold hard line of merciless looking men in uniform.
What’s happening father, who are they- what does these bad men want? the tiny fragile boy asked.
It’ok son, replied the father, don’t worry, they’re republicans.
Have we done something wrong? asked the boy, as he stared at the line in front of him. like an animal seeing the first machine. I’m scared, he cried.
It’s ok son, the father said, squeezing the boys hand gently to reassure him, holding still tighter to the bottle of buckfast in the other.
As the passengers stood on the crowded platform, large dogs snarled at the happy well-behaved crowd of good Christian men- and then a voice boomed out from the line of men in uniform. Form a line! single file! Be ready to show your ID! Achtung! Achtung! Papers please!
The passengers lined up, and one by one, they shuffled slowly towards the line of uniformed officers. Everyone was processed, photographs were taken, ID was produced, and all were searched.
As the father and son approached the line of officers, they heard raised voices.
In front of them, a woman was refusing to show her ID, while an elderly man with a zimmer frame and a urine bag couldn’t get his hearing aid to work. Both were led away by the uniformed officers for further questioning. Furiously beaten by a tall blond man in uniform. Another man was searched, and one of the officers, almost gleefully removed a bottle from the mans pocket. That’s ma buckie! he shouted. Ma Buckie! the pain was palpable.
You won’t be needing this, he said. The bottle was tossed into a nearby bin, and the man was allowed to pass through.
As they approached the officers, the father could feel his sons hand trembling in his.
Have you any ID- papers? asked one of the officers in a demanding tone as he played with his baton, as though itching to use it.
Have we done something wrong? the boy looked up, and asked the officer. Why are you doing this to us?
The officer looked down at the boy, I’m only following orders, he replied. From on high, he added.
The father showed the officer a card he had taken from his pocket. The officer glanced at it, and motioned for them to pass through towards the station exit. All is order, he said almost disappointed.
The father and son, left the station building and joined a line of men, women and children as they began their long walk, a march of a blue army of good Christian men to see their side draw 0-0 with a small club on the Border.
Now, you may think this story is taken from Poland in the 1940’s, but you would be wrong.
This is Alex Salmond’s Scotland in 2012, these are innocent men, women and children. Their only crime is to follow a football team. The father was taking his son to his first ever Rangers match, as a special present for the boys sixth birthday.
Did that six year old boy deserve to have the memories of his first ever trip to see the worlds most successful team ruined by this type of treatment?
Is this is the future of Scotland under the rule of the Scottish Republican National Party?
When contacted by this paper for their views on this disgusting and offensive banner a spokesman for the charity ‘Zombies Have Feelings Too’ stated
“Uuuuunnnnngghhhh!!!” Just before one of his arms fell off.
Ahem…
http://i45.tinypic.com/2zthzrn.jpg
I strongly suspect that those smart ole Sevconians are trying to head us off at the pass by getting the term Zombie declared as sectarian,
Somehow, I don’t think their cunning plan will work…
Sandman – couldnt make make whether that was a Taxus Rangers or Govan Dodgers shirt she was wearing?
Commons overweight?? Have look at HOOOOOOpers erse
Ally demands to know the names of the offended zombies
jude2005 is Neil Lennon \o/
Wrong Blog
George Michael CSC
BT
gies a shot of your horse.
asonofdan
19:42 on
20 September, 2012
Funny how the SFA have been sitting on this for 2 months and the day our fans are getting world acclaim for our tribute to the Hillsborough 96 they announce this charge.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Nothing changes …..
DJ at next home game:
Thriller, by Michael Jackson, with video on big screens.
jude2005 is neil lennon \o/
20:16 on 20 September, 2012
Commons overweight?? Have look at HOOOOOOpers erse
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I’ll pass on that one….LOL