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When exceptional becomes the norm

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By on CQN BLOG & Comments

As this clean sheet run has continued, every time Fraser Forster has made a good save, I’ve found myself suggesting that the defence is not playing as tightly as it used to.  We quickly regard exceptional performance as the norm.

Fraser has, of course, been exceptional, again, this season.  Efe Ambrose and Virgil van Dijk are fast and commanding.  Virgil has a presence about him, like Wanyama, but bigger.  On the flanks, despite the lack of competition, Emilio Izaguirre is performing at his best, while Adam Matthews, Mikael Lustig and Darnell Fisher have shuffled through the right back position as availability dictates.

I have a notion that Scott Brown is also worth credit for the defensive performance.  He seems to have grown this season, perhaps as a consequence of fitness.  This is his best season yet.

Ultimately the game is all about tactics.  Any team can keep a clean sheet but 10-in-a-row (get used to reading that) is a consequence of team plan, which is where Neil Lennon comes in.

Tomorrow is the final day to confirm tickets for our CQteN St Patrick’s Day Dinner on 14 March at the Kerrydale Suite.  The dinner will raise funds to build a kitchen at Kholoni Primary School in Mchinji, Malawi, where 1200 kids currently attend without food facilities.  If you have lost your invoice email me, celticquicknews@gmail.com

See you there.
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  1. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS .........FC not PLC on

    TOM

     

     

    When Celtic supporters are victimised and vilified by the press,the police and by the club themselves,for behaviour which is fine anywhere else in the country,what would you prefer him to call it?

  2. eddieinkirkmichael on

    BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS ………FC not PLC

     

     

    02:20 on

     

    I think it stinks but the reason I highlighted it was to show that it wasn’t just an idea SFA came up with to protect deid club, they had used the same excuse before.

  3. eddieinkirkmichael on

    If you actually look into what happened, you will find that Livi were advised by SFA on how to registeer Kachloul. They did everything by the book, or as the sfa told them the book said.

     

    The cat cat was thrown among the pidgions when someone said said wait a min this isn’t in the rules.

     

     

    Why the sfa decided this wasn’t a breach of rules and who blew the whisle is the real story

  21. TootingTim supports Wee Oscar on

    eddieinkirkmichael

     

     

    That’s interesting to read about the Kachloul case. Kinda remember the daft mess but didn’t realise something akin to the Bryson Interpretation was used then. So cos RFC (IL) did what the SFA blazers told them was legal, it then became legal, even though it wasn’t.

     

     

    BMCUW

     

     

    The ‘ethnic cleansing’ thing was directed towards other bloggers who he thought were trying to marginalise him for his views, I think :)

  22. TootingTim supports Wee Oscar on

    Handful of Earth – fabulous music I first heard via CQN.

     

     

    Off to howl at a heavenly body.

  23. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS .........FC not PLC on

    eddieinkirkmichael

     

     

    02:41 on 31 January, 2014

     

    Jesus, even the moon howlers have went to bed

     

     

    ~~~~~~~~~~**~~~~~~~~~~

     

     

    In my defence,I’m working!

     

     

    Dunno about the rest of the reprobates,mind. They must be sober if they’re not on here on a Friday morning…

  25. Celtic_First on

    Good morning from India.

     

     

    Travelling here, I watched a film called Diamantes Negros (Black Diamonds) about sleazy scouts who trick underage African players into coming to Europe with false papers, usually pretending they have won a study grant to attend a school, and then get them trials at clubs all over the place, saying the boys are older than they are so that they can win some sort of contract, with the bulk of any money going to the agent, naturally.

     

     

    The boys in the film aren’t actors, but very talented young footballers. At the risk of spoiling the plot, they get their families to raise €2500 each for “expenses” (in one case, this involves one of the families giving away a younger sibling as a slave to a local sleaze ball; it’s the only way they can raise the money to pay the ‘agent’). They go to Spain, the dream goes sour, the agents drift off into the sunset (“you sit here in this train station, I’m just going to check something at the information desk”). If Hollywood had made it, of course these boys really would become “the new Drogba” as they are promised, but it’s Spanish made. The baddies are all Spanish. There are no goodies in Spanish, Portuguese or Estonian (I know) football as it is portrayed here.

     

     

    Bottom line is, the makers of the film say there are 20,000 boys from Africa who are running around Europe without any papers or any means of getting home (which they regard as shaming their families anyway) or any means of looking after themselves. Twenty thousand.

     

     

    Football stinks. The “industry”, not the game. The game is beautiful, which is why 15-year-olds from Mali to Moffat dream the dream in the first place.

     

     

    So, after thinking about it for two days, I have decided to write to Tony Hamilton, of whom I think very highly, to ask if he can see a way for Celtic to set up and fund a hostel, or maybe even two (Paris, Madrid, Lisbon, wherever they are most needed in real life: Lisbon would be nice for obvious reasons) to give these boys a place to go to when the dream turns sour. It would need to be staffed by highly professional people: a teacher, a nurse, an expert in helping find out who these boys are and how to get them home safely to their families. Find out all the details possible about the liars who ripped the boys and the families off and get them lifted. If any of them really are registered football agents, name them and shame them, and get them lifted.

     

     

    The Celtic hostel could even employ a coach and run a youth team to play in a local competition, to keep the love of the game alive, while they were waiting to go home. If that happened, I would write into the fabric of this idea that none of these boys could ever become a professional at Celtic, or not until the age of 25 or something, but never would be better.

     

     

    I would call it The Tommy Burns Project.

     

     

    God bless all here.

  26. Tom on

    BMCUW –

     

     

    What has that got to do with one poster accusing another poster of “ethnic cleansing”?

     

     

    But to answer the question, there are many things he could have called it, but “Ethnic cleansing”? Really?

     

     

    So the act of removing a group of football fans from a mainstream support is described as ethnic cleansing. I question the use of such a term in such a context and your response is “what would YOU call it?”

     

     

    Idiotic?

     

     

    Unfair?

     

     

    Unjust?

     

     

    Unwarranted?

     

     

    Cruel?

     

     

    Illegal?

     

     

    Immoral?

     

     

    I could go on, but let me ask you a question . . . Have any of the GB been taken away in the night and garotted?

     

     

    Now THAT just might be construed as ethnic cleansing.

  27. BOBBY MURDOCH'S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS .........FC not PLC on

    TOM

     

     

    As usual,you have to try to be all clever clogs on us.

     

     

    Ethnic cleansing does not mean death in all cases.

     

     

    So do a wee JFGI research before you put yer size 10s in it the next time.

     

     

    FYI,

     

     

     

     

    “Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic or religious groups from a given territory with the intent of creating a territory inhabited by people of a homogeneous or pure ethnicity, religion, culture, and history. The forces applied may be various forms of forced migration (deportation, population transfer), as well as mass murder, and intimidation.”

  29. Tom on

    BMCUW –

     

     

    So I offer a response to your question and I am “clever clogs”?

     

     

    How does that work?

     

     

    Anyway, read your definition back to yourself, preferably out loud.

     

     

    Neganon accused another poster of “ethnic cleansing”. That was my original complaint, which you obviously didn’t read properly.

  30. TBJ Praying for Oscar Knox on

    Celtic first

     

     

    Whereabouts in india are you ?

     

    Im just waiting on my cab to Glasgow airport… flight from Heathrow to mumbai at 10:30am

     

     

    When I see the indian flags I always smile and think of Celtic :)

  31. Celtic_First on

    TBJ

     

     

    Chennai. I’ll be here till Monday morning and then home, so if you are on your way to Goa, the best we can do is that I wave to you when I’m passing over. I hope you have a good time.

  32. Tom on

    Celtic_First –

     

     

    Thanks for sharing that. An awful situation.

     

     

    However, it happens in many walks of life, not just football. But as football fans, it brings it closer to home.

  33. Margaret McGill on

    Tom and Bobby

     

     

    I’m ethnically challenged about the ethnical bitching on ethnocentric CQN. Personally, I thought neganon was not been an ethnicist but more alluding to our custodians being ethnotards and not as ethnicated as the rest of us ethnophiles.

     

     

    Just saying. Ken.

  35. 'GG on

    It’s

     

    DEFENESTRATION FRIDAY

     

    Favourites to be told “Pick yer windae, yer leaving,”

     

    Ledley, Samaras, Kayal, McGeough (already out on loan to Coventry), Bangura

     

    Other contenders?

     

    Balde?

  36. 'GG on

    celtic_first

     

    03:48 on 31 January, 2014

     

    Sounds like a worthwhile cause, I hope Tony is receptive.

  37. Margaret McGill on

    Tom

     

     

    04:44 on 31 January, 2014

     

     

    Tom Ken’s the famous ethnoglorious ethnoid fae Edinburry

     

    A notorious ethnolurker.

  38. FFM - I’m the only conspiracy theorist in the village) on

    Morning all,

     

     

    Not got the time to read a lot these days, but delighted to see that the subject of ethnic cleansing is still very much to the front of all our debates.

     

     

    Godwin’s Law doesn’t apply much to lovers of capitalism and the Celtic Board.

     

     

    So before the TonyDonnellys and 67Heavens go off on one as they now see themselves as masters of this site, I’ll nudge my bunnet in the direction of ole Celtic First….a genuinely wonderful poster, who I know I can turn to with any spiritual/ religious question and get an honest yet insightful response. Hence the reason I will keep coming back for more :))

     

     

    And Neganon,

     

     

    Keep posting amigo – it seems you’ve been under attack recently from the snippets I’ve read.

     

     

    This is not good.

     

     

    Unless we want a Celtic run by a billionaire with only Tony Donnelly and 67Heaven questioning anything he does….oh wait…

  41. Margaret McGill on

    Celtic_First

     

     

    03:48 on 31 January, 2014

     

    Yup. FIFA..where are they? and India ..what 9 girls for every 10 boys now?

     

    Modern life is rubbish.

  42. 'GG on

    Came across this on the official site and I like it.

     

     

    Last para is also good.

     

    Much to be happy with improvements in and around CP

     

     

    Celtic open new facilities for disabled supporters

     

    By: Newsroom Staff on 30 Jan, 2014 12:15

     

    IN recent seasons, Celtic has worked closely with the Celtic Disabled Supporters´ Association to ensure that we provide the best service possible for our supporters with disabilities.

     

     

    Following this close co-operation, the Club is making a series of improvements to facilities to ensure the best possible matchday experience for our fans.

     

     

    Celtic Football Club is delighted now to announce that some of its new facilities for disabled supporters will be officially opened before kick-off against St Mirren this Sunday, February 2.

     

     

    The Club has created a new elevated platform in the North West quadrant to accommodate supporters, leading to 29 new wheelchair spaces for supporters and provision for 29 companion places.

     

     

    The new facility will provide these disabled supporters with greatly improved sight lines. As part of the North West redevelopment, a comfortable new social/lounge has also been created for their exclusive use.

     

     

    As a Club which welcomes all, Celtic is fully committed to ensuring a positive matchday experience for everyone and the Club works closely with many charities in the areas of disability.

     

     

    The Club is also delighted for a number of years to have achieved the Positive About Disability accreditation, a Government-backed initiative aimed at promoting the employment of disabled people.

     

     

    Celtic Chief Executive Peter Lawwell said: “We are delighted to be opening these new improvements to the stadium for our disabled supporters.

     

     

    “We have enjoyed a very close working relationship with the CDSA and we are delighted to respond to the needs of our disabled supporters and introduce these changes.

     

     

    “Celtic is fully committed to providing a positive matchday experience for all our supporters and we hope these new improvements will be warmly welcomed.”

     

     

    Peter Joyce, Chairman of the Celtic Disabled Supporters´ Association, said: “We are absolutely delighted with this new elevated viewing area for Celtic’s disabled supporters.

     

     

    “We have enjoyed a very positive relationship with the Club and we look forward to ensuring that we continue to work together.

     

     

    “These improvements will keep Celtic Park as the best in Scotland and one of the best stadia in the UK when comes to accessibility and meeting the requirements of a wide range of supporters with varying disabilities.

     

     

    “As a consequence of these additional places we will now welcome 29 new disabled supporters to Celtic Park as season ticket holders.”

     

     

    The Club has been delighted to introduce a number of new features to our matchday experience in recent months, such as the opening of the hugely popular Kerrydale Bar, the extensive refurbishment of hospitality areas such as Café 1888, the establishment of our new family stand and now the opening of our new disabled facilities.

     

     

    In addition, Celtic became the first UK club to successfully install an all stadium WiFi network with an accompanying matchday app, a feature that will develop over the coming months to bring more match-enhancing content.

     

     

    Of course, we also look ahead to the major redevelopment of the main entrance and approach to Celtic Park with work currently progressing very well.

     

     

    All these initiatives have been received extremely well by our fans and with so many exciting developments around the Club in 2014, the Club is very keen to maintain this momentum and ensure that we continue to provide our supporters with a great Celtic experience.

     

     

    The Club is also continuing to investigate a number of proposals for safe standing at Celtic Park. This is something which Celtic has taken the lead on. We have been liaising with the City Council on this matter and we hope to be able to update supporters on this issue in the very near future.

     

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