The umbrella group, Fans Against Criminalisation, issued a statement yesterday (kindly published here by Joe O’Rourke on the Association site) which details a number of events in response to Saturday’s policing on Gallowgate, and the resulting response from the SNP government. Witnesses are invited to give evidence on Saturday (23rd March), with three protests planned next month.
To the relief of all, I’m sure, the statement also records that issues surrounding meetings two organisations had with the Club in November have been resolved.
Our Club and supporters groups are led by the kind of people you would trust with your most precious valuables, as many of us do. They each strive in new and innovative ways to herd cats in the right direction, with remarkable success. The tasks, carried out by hundreds of Celtic fans, of running buses, chasing tickets and navigating the impossible political challenges, is often thankless. I know a few who wonder why they bother.
They bother because they care. The office-bearers dedicate even more time looking after the common interests. There are more Celtic heroes than those who wear the hoops.
I hear Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, has appointed Jeffrey Webb, currently head of CONCACAF, as chief of a newly created Fifa body to fight racism in football. Mr Webb is a director of one of the largest banks in the Cayman Islands, known for its…. unique standards of propriety. Nice.
Quick word for Tommy in Glasgow…. brilliant!
From CQN Magazine:
Watt a goal. Celtic started this season’s European adventure against HJK Helsinki..”
[calameo code=000390171e93e6000b08d lang=en page=10 hidelinks=1 width=100% height=500]
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Lionroars67,
It’s bone dry within minutes of rain stopping, would need be quick to get a puddle :o)
Anyone hear the lawyer for Coventry’s landlords on SSN commenting outside the High Court on the clubs situation?
He said “We are trying to help the club as if it goes into liquidation, it disappears forever.”
I could hear dozens of keyboards being thrown across the MSM’s offices :)
Lionsroar
Much of Celtic’s difficulties come from a fragmented communication strategy.
Do not get me wrong I know how much PL puts into meetings with supporter representatives.
At one evening meeting his wife was sitting outside in the car whilst he put in an extra half hour to cover the bases, but my experience (try redrafting a resolution from a caravan with poor internet access that two Celtic groups can agree on) compared to one work video conference with all parties around a table shouts at me that things have to be and can be done better.
Dialogue is the answer but cohesive dialogue where the same points are discussed with the same people at the same time.
I made this point a couple of years back when discussing a membership scheme with Celtic.
Events since have proved me right, perhaps now everybody mentioned is ready to consider a different approach.
Dharma – “Too much of the blog is just a vehicle for pals to chat (when they could arrange their social life by other methods) and take no notice of anything that’s posted by others, as well as interlopers.”
Did it ever occur to you that some people have become great pals through conversing on this fine blog and have subsequently met up for functions and fundraisers for many worthy causes?
I’ve had the great good fortune to meet some of the finest Celtic fans on this planet since I started posting on here.
You really couldn’t meet better people.
If you don’t like the old pals stuff, then you could always scroll on by.
T4
sorry i took so long to get back mate
hail hail
conner1888
09:55 on
22 March, 2013
jungle jam67…..You should add Davie Provan and Andy Walker to that list!
will file andy muir with
judas
pat nevin
craig burley
rob mclean
davie provan
andy walker
OMG….missed murdo and keevins
could add a few prawn sandwich cqn posters to the list….the ones that have no love of celtic and every post they make is to slag the fans and club
as for the msm they wonder why paper sales are in downfall
jam67
Ten Men
Only in Scotland does liquidation not mean the end of a business but a transformation of it.
Only in Scotland is a payment not a payment if its called a loan that has no repayment schedule or arrangement.
Only in Scotland can 10 years of player mis registration be deemed an administrative error done with no thought of benefit in spite of 47 million spondoolees of evidence yelling the contrary.
Scotland already is independent. Well it lives in an alternative independent back to front dimension for sure.
Obviously, I can’t comment on Celtic fans from any other planets, although KevJungle is very entertaining! :-)
T4
Philbhoy, thoughts and prayers with your pals niece.
Maleysbhoy, hope everything goes well for your dad today.
Hail hail to my own bhoy who turned 6 today (days) ;-)
KTF
EU prepares to blow final whistle on Spain’s debt-ridden football clubs
Deportivo among teams facing extinction if competition authorities force Spanish officials to collect taxes
Giles Tremlett in Madrid
The Guardian, Thursday 21 March 2013 18.17 GMT
It is the powerhouse of global football, home to its greatest players and a World Cup-winning national team, but Spain’s soccer bubble looks set to explode as European authorities prepare to halt public funding of debt-ridden clubs.
In a move that threatens to provoke the partial collapse of a football system built on unsustainable piles of debt, competition authorities in Brussels want Spain’s government to explain why it has allowed clubs to build up vast, unpaid tax and social security debts.
With many clubs in the top two divisions already having trouble paying bank debts totalling some €3.5bn (£3bn), the move would likely force some clubs into liquidation. Historic names such as Deportivo de La Coruña or Racing Santander could simply disappear. Other top clubs, such as Valencia, will have to sell players and face years of decline.
Indignant MEPs are already demanding to know why Spain is happy to request €40bn in aid from eurozone taxpayers for its banks while allowing the clubs to build up a tax debt of €692m.
“This is unfair since all other Spanish taxpayers, as well as the other European football clubs, must, of course, be up to date with their tax payments,” said Willy Meyer, a Spanish MEP for the United Left coalition, in a recent question to the competition commissioner, Joaquín Almunia. Meyer pointed out that while clubs pay multimillion-euro salaries to star players, the cash-strapped government of Mariano Rajoy has imposed cuts on public services.
“It is incomprehensible that while taxes such as VAT are being increased and hospitals and public companies are being privatised as a means of generating short-term resources, these private, recreational bodies are receiving preferential tax treatment,” he said.
Other European soccer clubs are also crying foul. “This beggars belief. We pay hundreds of millions of euros to keep Spain out of the shit and then they let the clubs off their debts,” Uli Hoeness, the president of the German side Bayern Munich, complained when debt figures were made public last year.
A spokesman for Almunia said a formal investigation – similar to one looking at public subsidies to Dutch soccer clubs – must wait until the Spanish government has replied to its inquiries.
Analysts warn that action from Almunia to force Spain’s tax authorities to recover debts will expose the chronic financing problem in Spanish soccer.
Professor José María Gay de Liébana, of the University of Barcelona, said reckless lending – especially by former savings banks controlled by local politicians – had created a bubble that must eventually burst.
“When people ask me what clubs could be in danger, I reply with the list of the only clubs that are not in any kind of danger. They are Barcelona, Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao,” said Gay de Liébana. “Hoeness is, basically, right. If I don’t pay my taxes, then the authorities come after me. But that doesn’t happen to the clubs, which are not treated like other companies.”
Twenty-two first- and second-division clubs are in insolvency proceedings or have been in recent years. Several are thought to be struggling to survive strict debt-repayment plans imposed by creditors. They include former league title-winners such as Deportivo de la Coruña and a long list of historic clubs such as Zaragoza, Racing Santander, Mallorca, Albacete and Betis.
Deportivo – semi-finalists in the Champions League in 2004 – had been allowed to build up a tax debt of €96m, a report to an insolvency court this week revealed. “The real cause of the insolvency is a complete lack of realism in management, taking on spending and investment that is absolutely beyond the club’s economic possibilities,” the club’s administrators wrote.
Indirect funding of clubs via publicly owned TV stations and loan guarantees from regional governments are expected to come under scrutiny in Brussels.
Valencia, one of Spain’s top clubs, passed temporarily into public hands this year after it failed to pay back a loan guaranteed by the regional government. It is now in the hands of the Bankia bank, but this was nationalised after it ran up €19bn in losses last year, meaning the club – which has had to stop work on a vast, half-built stadium in the city – is now in effect owned by Spanish taxpayers.
Two other clubs, Elche and Hercules, are also part-owned by Valencia’s regional government, which guaranteed loans that they failed to pay back.
“Is it the European commission’s intention, in rescuing Spanish banks, to allow the practice of granting bank loans at subsidised rates to clubs in the Spanish professional football league – which is a form of favouritism – to continue?” the Italian MEP Mario Borghezio asked in a parliamentary question.
Almunia’s commission confirmed that it had asked Spain to provide it with figures on clubs’ public debts.
“The commission agrees that, under the state aid rules, tax and social security debts of professional football clubs must not be treated differently from similar debts of other economic actors,” Almunia said. Rajoy has ordered tax authorities to tighten control of clubs and the sports minister, José Ignacio Wert, says debt has begun to fall.
Several clubs, including Deportivo de La Coruña, have seen television or football pools income embargoed. The debt has been reduced since early last year, but progress is slow.
“This cannot be sorted out overnight,” said one source close to the Spanish tax authorities.
“Soccer is a very highly charged affair. If you go after a club too much, then the supporters may rise against you,” said Gay de Liébana.
He believes that is why authorities are targeting Deportivo de La Coruña rather than a highly indebted but well-supported club such as Atlético Madrid. “Deportivo fans are not going to block the streets of Madrid,” he said.
As clubs tighten their belts, players will be sold and the quality of soccer in Spain will likely fall. “Talent will flee to the Premier League in Britain or elsewhere,” said Gay de Liébana.
The Spanish case and the Brussels inquiry into €10m of public aid to several Dutch clubs, including PSV Eindhoven, threatens to spill over in to other countries.
“If you start asking Italian and French clubs whether they are paying market rents for municipally owned stadiums, we will get into a very big tangle,” said Gay de Liébana.
TTTT
Yes, I do. And I said there were other methods people could use to arrange their social lives.
I could be really annoying and say that some of that type of posting is
disappointing and self indulgent however I’d prefer to point that you say you’ve made great pals through this blog and ask how will Philbhoy do the same if people ignore his posts and then him off when he points it out.
T4 I didn’t realise that you comments to Philbhoy were chatting with a pal and were personal. My apologies for misinterpreting and responding. Have a good one. Time to call it a day for me. Enjoy your weekend without real football.
Vandalgrease
The comments under the article suggest who the villains are and it ain’t Celtic.
That Celtic have provided police with info is a fact.
I accept that the guy making the charge against PL may have witnessed a human reaction by someone who saw somebody doing something that he perceived as unacceptable behaviour but that does not translate into collusion.
Realeasing personal info might require a couple of hoops to be negotiated first to respect the right of the individual but in my experience when a copper said “jump” the answer is “how high”.
This (as the comments suggest) is a battle against a daft law and the enforcement of that law. Not Celtic.
Should read “and then TELL him off when he points it out.”
Maley’s Bhoy-Philbhoy-Good luck
Black Caviar 24 wins on the trot
Whit a horse she is.
Time to introduce her to Frankel for a bit of horse-play
Dharma
see you at usual time for our usual beer of a Friday.. o))
Philbhoy
Sorry to hear about your friend’s daughter. I did not read much of the blog yesterday. I only caught up this morning. My thoughts and prayers are with the wee girl.
Summa of Sammi…. 04:04
Bit of a joke the TV situation there, but watched the Juventus game ‘again’ last night, that was new to me, did well despite the managers scarf….
Macjay1 05:22
Good stuff. A great night, Im still recovering.
EN
Hilarious, BT.
I prefer if you used the mobile, the number I gave to your wife.
At least you’re reading my post, I suppose!
:-D
See You Jimmy wigs must be removed to help with identification.
touche or touchy ?
BT
messed up the penthouse again
what time are we going for a beer ?
glassford03
WH smith is my next call, it wasn’t open at 8am this morning.
phil – only the beginning –
haven’t read your post
But am sure if there is something that the Celtic family can do to help, it will be done.
Fantastic piece I read today a must read in my opinion for all fans of football ,fight the bill http://www.onfieldsofgreen.com/silence-is-golden/
Bit of both. Seems to be infectious round here, unfortunately.
dharma…,
The club have to issue information on customers if the police make a formal request to help with ongoing criminal investigation.
If this process has not been followed precisely then the club are guilty of conspiring with the police to harass customers, ‘helping police with their enquiries’ is a cop out. I expect there are regulations they have had to take legal advice on to ensure they are operating within the law.
Tauranga – I was just really disappointed with the tone of the post. It’s too serious a subject to be associated with what looks like a flounce from Phil. He probably didn’t even mean it that, who knows?
Dharma – see above. Who are ye, who are ye?! :-)
BT – is there ever a day you don’t slope off early?!
T4
You can also deduce I’m not a gagwriter.
Thanks, canamalar.
TTTT
?
Just catching up on blog.
Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers.
Wembley
Paul67 et al –
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/mar/21/eu-debt-spain-football-clubs
Apologies if already been posted.
hope all goes well maleys bhoy for your dad.
same goes to phillys mate wee ghirl.
thoughts and prayers folks.
Dharma – english football chant, trying to be ironic and failing miserably. I’ll avoid the gags as well….
T4
Tell you what,there’s no-one can beat our fans when it comes to arguing over styooopid things,even when we’re in broad agreement!
Me,I love arguments like that,especially in a pub. They tend to go round in circles,a bit like me on the way home-having buggered up my train times again!
Phibhoy
iam new to the site as in posting..i saw your post and said a prayer privately for the wee girl..its a shame that there wasnt a lot of wellwishing posts..for whatever reasons..dont give up philbhoy h.h…i’l say another we prayer for her now ..