"Tearing our kids out of hands of criminals" - rolling Scottish football 2011/12 thread

Can't believe we've never used a Vlad quote before. So, on the day that Davie Weir puts shaky quill to parchment to embark upon his 292nd season in professional football, it's time to dust down the gags about Jim Jeffries' chirpy demeanour, anticipate which of Gordon Smith's faux pas will see Sally out the door, and throw more abuse at Kyle Lafferty.

<3 title

I'm still trying to catch up on two weeks+ of the closed season thread and I've only just twigged that the season is upon us - we're only halfway through July and the league starts in 4 days! Dundee United have already lost a Europa League game!

I know! It is so ridiculous! We'll be halfway through the first round of fixtures before the transfer window even SLAMS SHUT.

Still, it's all good news as Kirk Broadfoot given Rangers an ultimatim insisting he doesn't want to sit on the bench. Do Rangers even have enough players to fill a bench these days?

Subliminal "given" in there as a nod to our goalkeeping situation, obv. This Pletikosa guy any good then (answers of the "he's not Fraser Forster" variety more than welcome)?

We have two friendlies with English clubs after the league has started.

We're playing a tournament in Dublin next weekend, and I think we've got a home friendly with Wolves after the season starts as well. God bless the SPL*.

* am I allowed to say that, or is that sort of thing banned under our amazing new legislation?

Fraser Forster would be an ok signing imo. Not peak era Artur or anything but good enough. I know nothing of Pletikosa except Neil Lennon said 'arry was raving about him (quality scouting there Lennie - maybe ask 'arry why he never got a game?).

We have also arranged pre-season friendlies for after the league start and are taking a week off the SPL as a result. I think by the end of September we'll have played 3 or 4 home games in a league that's been running since mid-July.

"He's an experienced guy and I spoke to Harry Redknapp through a third party and he was raving about him. He was tremendous for Spurs and he's had a good career."

"Tremendous for Spurs" = "played in 4-1 defeat to Arsenal babies in Carling Cup then never played again."

I'm not a huge fan of Forster, tbh, but would take him over Zaluska and presumably over Cervi, who I've never actually watched (think this might be a lie, he prob played one of our pre-season friendlies that I watched on a tiny pixelly internet stream last year).

xpost, yeah, doesn't sound too hot, does he?

First rumblings from the gob of Smudger:

The Turks accused Gers of trying to get Miller on the cheap for £350,000 - and last night the Scotland star was in Wales for talks. But Ibrox director of football Gordon Smith hit back, insisting Gers' offer for their former hitman had been fair.

Bursa chief Erkan Kamat fumed: "The policy of Rangers is not good. I don't like it. The offer was ridiculously low.

"As far as we are concerned Miller has been sold to Cardiff City. He is going to be their player and he is not going to Rangers."

But that sparked an angry response from Smith, who said: "This from a club who kept on bidding for Steven Whittaker when we kept telling them he wasn't for sale.

"We offered to pay Bursaspor what they paid us, which we felt was fair. We were willing to give them their money back.

"They had the player for six months when he obviously wasn't playing for Rangers.

"I wasn't involved in the discussions but from our point of view it was fair."

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't a director of football (1) be involved in the discussions and (2) understand even vaguely how buying and selling players work?

Going to be a great season, I can tell.

Should a former agent know a player with 4 months left on a contract isn't worth the same as the same player on a three year contract?

Shouldn't a club with a £25M WARCHEST be able to cough up £900k for a guy who was top scorer in the SPL last season despite only playing till January?

My favourite bit of spin this closed season so far is how Rangers bidding buttons for Goodwillie, having their bid knocked back and being told he would cost £2m was presented as "Rangers reject Goodwillie transfer!"

Yeah, that Goodwillie story spin from the BBC was awesome. Forgot Smudger was an shit agent as well as a shit chief exec and a shit pundit and a shit son (unless the elderly parents he resigned from the SFA to take care of are all better now?)

iirc, Chick Young (or a fake Chick Young) on Twitter followed the Goodwillie story with something like "Just rejected Tesco's bid of £1.20 for a bottle of Irn Bru"

I'm still trying to get my head round Smith's logic. Is he really saying "sorry, Bursaspor, we sold you a dud, let's pretend it never happened, eh?" I can't parse the "they had the player for six months when he obviously wasn't playing for Rangers" at all.

I think they're honestly trying to treat it as a refund. Fucking gloriously brass necked tbh, I have to tip my hat.

I knew Smith would be good value for this thread!

I know nothing of Pletikosa

Somehow I have it in my head that he's pretty good... but like 3rd or 4th choice for Spurs... nowhere near as dependable as Heurelho Gomes then

He looked OK last night, didn't have much to do, but seemed to be communicating with the assortment of defenders in front of him and also seemed reasonably confident in collecting anything he needed to.

Rangers have opened the warchest to buy Lee Wallace for £1.5m, apparently. Which seems a bit ridiculously high, tbh. Last year of contract, to cover a position they've already got adequate cover for? Let's see how stumping up over a million for a guy with a year on his contract compares with, I dunno, £2m for a guy with 2 years on his contract? Or, indeed, £300,000 for a guy with 3 and a half years on his contract.

RIP Dundee United, out of Europe on away goals before the season even kicks off.

Seems most seasons we start with some poor bastards going out of Europe before a ball's been kicked in the league :(

I don't even look at that co-efficient site any more. Too depressing.

TITLE RACE BLOWN OPEN!

Hearts looked very handy at times today. Between them and St Mirren for most improved squad I reckon. Neither Celtic nor Rangers look particularly different from last season so far so I think Hearts have a chance to run us close - until Vlad takes his kids out of the hands of criminals and moves the team and stadium to Lithuania..

Rangers looked pretty pishy. Thought yer man Templeton looked excellent, and Sutton looks a decent option up front for Hearts.

http://willievass.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/230711-Rangers-v-Hearts/G0000B_5JTEts7xg/I0000ZbHeEH3utdo

Shite, that didn't work. Is photo of Jelavic and Naismith in compromising position, as seen all over Twitter.

willievass.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/230711-Rangers-v-Hearts/G0000B_5JTEts7xg/I0000ZbHeEH3utdo

Oh ffs, I am not good with internets.

It's good though. Where's a homoerotic sports imegery thread when you need it.

I am bracing myself for our inevitable 5-0 humping tomorrow btw.

Fingers crossed mate :)

v worried about our centre hoffs today. Wilson hasn't kicked a ball/opponent in anger this year and Loovens is Loovens.

So why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully

Never realised before that that song is about two pish centre hoffs struggling to build an understanding.

Celtic playing pish. Luckily Hibs have a Hibs keeper :)

Good goal by Mark Wilson just chopped off. Evening out over the course etc.

nice wee cushioned volley to take out the cup

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sctPH0I9ATY

Pars-Buddies been fairly entertaining but not very high quality.

The fat Paul Le Guen gets an apology out of the Beeb for editing him to look like a chump. In other news, many Celtic fans still waiting on an apology from the Beeb for allegations of sectarian singing at the cup final. Hell also due a defrosting before Neil Lennon ever gets an apology for every story ever featuring a picture of him snarling at the fat fool.

Nice to see a Swedish Larsson in a No. 7 jersey doing damage to Rangers at Ibrox.

The fat Paul Le Guen gets an apology out of the Beeb for editing him to look like a chump.

This despite the BBC journalist explicitly stating that Sally wasn't edited to look like he was smiling - he actually was smiling when the question was asked, then put his serious face on.

Coefficient fucked again then. Oh well...

There isn't a Champs/Europa League thread is there? We're a bit late considering we've lost one and a half teams already.

serious Sally is serious
http://i54.tinypic.com/ks37o.jpg
http://i54.tinypic.com/73ebh3.jpg
http://i53.tinypic.com/msk30p.jpg

who dae we blame fur that fuckin pish the night?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BU0_Wp5MHs

i coulda sworn the direct comment i heard from him on the radio where he dismissed the complaints about the policing cost of Old Firm games was some glib self-amused shite about "i've never seen any violence at games" but maybe that was edited too

allu mccoist is slowly turning into walter smith as he ages

oh hang on here is the presumably libellous made-up quote in question:

Celtic manager Neil Lennon said everyone connected with the club was aware of the new approach being taken following last season's problems.

He added: "We know where we stand and the players certainly know where they stand in terms of refereeing and policing.

"Some police have actually said they are going to step in. If there is a spitting incident or a headbutting incident or punching incident they may even step in and arrest players.

"Everyone has been left in no uncertain terms that in terms of behaviour, where the line is drawn."

When Rangers manager Ally McCoist was asked about the issue, a club press officer interrupted to say that it was not an issue for the manager to address.

When asked what Rangers would do to make this season a better one, given the violence surrounding Old Firm fixtures last year, McCoist said: "I didn't really see any violence at any Old Firm fixtures."

Asked if he was confident that there would not be the same spotlight on referees and off-field issues, he added: "Well it never was an issue with us to be fair."

McCoist must've really pissed somebody off on the Question of Sport team eh?

BBC statement:

"I am writing to you regarding the concerns you have raised in relation to an item transmitted on BBC News last Friday evening.

"Overall, we stand by the merits of our report revealing the extent of violence after Old Firm derbies and the cost of policing these matches. However, we do accept that the sequence involving comments from Rangers' manager Alistair McCoist could have given the impression that he did not take the issue seriously.

"It was not our intention to misrepresent Mr McCoist. The BBC accepts that Rangers Football Club and Alistair McCoist treat the issue of violence and disorder surrounding football matches as a very serious matter.

"We accept that offence has been caused by an inappropriate edit in the piece as transmitted and for that we apologise."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/14299133.stm

so did he not say those things then?

Can't believe they let McCoist away with "I didn't really see any violence at any Old Firm fixtures" when every single fucking picture ever accompanying reports of the supposed "shame game" features Neil Lennon copping a ban for, get this, snarling in a supposedly clearly violent manner in the face of one Alistair* McCoist.

* note dignified new name, none of this cheeky chirpy Ally pish. Surprised he still has a surname, tbh.

Considering one BBC Scotland phone-in last season featured the two main pundits/talking heads (Jim Traynor and Chick Young) arguing on air over which of them had their head further up Walter Smith's arse, nothing really surprises me about the Beeb's kowtowing to Rangers.

Rangers' Director of Football was working for the Beeb as a pundit last year, btw. Just saying, like.

it's like Rangers have an institutional refusal to accept that they have any responsibility for the behaviour of their fans, and when they get called on it rather than clarify their position they let that unfunny dick throw his toys out of the pram until the Beeb buckles under. real class all round there.

mind this is the BBC who obsequiously interview one of Ferguson's monkeys after every match instead of telling them to fuck off until the old cheat's ready to talk himself

Rangers have been denying responsibility for their fans for years, when called on it recently they throw their hands up in the air and say "we've done all we can". I don't see them throwing anyone out, arresting anyone, rather when they cop a ban off UEFA their reaction was to come out crying and whinging and questioning the validity of the source that grassed them up. Throwing Sally to the monkeys, letting him run off in the huff and immediately managing to wheedle out an apology from the national broadcaster for making poor wee Sally unhappy is a new tactic, and I'm genuinely gobsmacked that it actually (sort of) worked.

Still makes everyone involved look like a complete cock though.

#fatpaulleguen trending UK-wide on Twitter. Good job all round, internetz

Malmo... LOLmo morelikeamirite? I am looking forward to sitting back and watching ba' face McCoist fuck up Rangers' season, see how he copes with the pressure.

Thinking we need a new non-weight-specific nickname for Coisty (I'm no Kate Moss myself tbh, so it's a cheap shot), but I can't think of a good one.

Not actually sure he'll be around long enough to earn one, tbh. I think failure to qualify for the Champions League will see any or all of McGregor, Bougherra, Whittaker or Davis pumped out the revolving doors. I heard internet whispers earlier in the year suggesting Whyte's grand plan is to arse it all up for Sally so that he can get his own man (Billy Davies) in.

text from a friend

Ddldldlldlldwdllddddl no not a place in Wales, but the Rangers last 21 games in Europe!

St J more toothless than Craig Burley. Gers should be 3 or 4 up by now.

Cooking with (Fat) Gaz.

ooh 90+2 sore one for invercallythissle :)

Less than two full cards played and there is only one team with a 100% record. Ours to throw away now tbh :)

Comedy Caley goalkeeping, I believe.

Remember when Hearts finally sacked sex offender Craig Thompson? Well they didn't. Mad Vlad has loaned him to Kaunus. Until November.

http://sport.stv.tv/football/scottish-premier/hearts/264481-craig-thomson-leaves-hearts-for-kaunas/

Hope the parents of Kaunus have been warned in advance.

Jesus, that's not really the answer, is it?

Hearing via Twitter that Jeffries and Brown have been removed from their posts at Tynecastle, with Jum offered a director of football role which he's knocked back.

Daily Mail now running it.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2021184/Jim-Jefferies-sacked-Hearts.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Vlad solving financial crisis by backing "other" rather than Sally to be first manager sacked in the SPL?

Nothing on Hearts website yet but I lolled at this

Follow Your Hearts: Season Tickets 2011-12
Hearts FC 2011/12 match tickets now on sale!
Are you a heartsclubdraw.co.uk winner?
TV Exclusive: Patience is key

From the Guardian

The Tynecastle squad were summoned to a meeting with Romanov at 3pm on Monday. During those talks, the Lithuanian businessman informed players that the team needed fresh direction and the influence of someone with European football experience.

Sort of thing you think you'd decide before the season, and European campaign, started?

^ exactly the point I made to my largely-disinterested other half this morning, following some Jambo on the radio saying that he thought it was the right decision following only 1 win in 14 games. Why not close-season, following 1 win in 12?

(new manager reported to be the guy who was in charge of Sporting Lisbon last season, Paolo Sergio, one of the four billion managers unable to put an end to the dreaded march of Wattenacio)

Husband brought me back a programme from the Dublin Super Cup at the weekend. "Interesting" trivia factoids about some of the players includes the fact that Adam Mathews was recently voted the sixth sexiest man in Wales. Which doesn't say much for men in Wales, tbh.

2004-05 John Robertson
2005 George Burley
2005-06 Graham Rix
2006-07 Valdas Ivanauskas
2007-08 Anatoly Korobochka
2008 Stephen Frail
2009-10 Csaba Laszlo
2010-11 Jim Jefferies

I don't recall any specifics about the Lithuanian guys, I guess they took a quiet back seat giving Vlad free rein to rant and rave (and pick the team)?

Valdas Ivanauskas had a permanently haunted look about him. I liked him.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41636000/jpg/_41636620_ivanauskas416.jpg

Yeah, though he also looked like he was secretly dreaming of the day when he might snap and kill someone at any point. I liked him too. I mostly liked Csaba as well, he was quite amusing iirc.

No idea who the hell Anatoly Korobochka is, seriously.

Like, I've just googled pictures of him and nope, I got nothing.

Korbochka was director of football when Valdas was manager, must have been caretaker before Frail arrived.

Why is Malofeev/Malofeyev not listed?

I mean the guy's a record holder!

Malofeyev was temporarily given the role of head coach on 23 October 2006 after it was announced that Ivanauskas was to take a two-week leave of absence.[1] He departed from his temporary managerial position on 20 November 2006 to pursue his UEFA Pro coaching license, without winning one of his eight games in charge. This makes him officially the worst manager in Hearts' 132 year history.

lolol

onimo wrote this on thread Scottish Football Predictions Competition: Thread 2 on board I Love Everything on 21-Mar-2007

So long Valdas - mutually consented out of Jamboland. The most successful of their last 6654346 managers (by way of being in charge the day they won something). I'll miss your "I could fucking punch you right fucking now" look in interviews.

Can't believe it's taken us this long to use a Vlad quote for a thread title.

As part of a charm offensive to quell growing dissent, Romanov appears on television and recites one of his self-penned poems as a further explanation for Burley's departure, announcing to a bemused audience of millions:

'Don't believe what you see today
For the portrait of the day is viewed through slumbering nights.
It is only through the cobwebs of time
And through the prism of the past that the moments of today will be understood.'

Best thing i have read this week = Joey Barton for teh Hoops! (also Joe Barton to get a part in Shameless, which I read in the Metro yesterday)
― ailsa, Saturday, 5 May 2007 11:17 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

four years on from not going to Celtic he's now not going to Rangers :)

(I love reading through past season threads)

Was I serious about joey barton? Wow.

(I heart Joey Barton)
― ailsa, Saturday, 5 May 2007 11:29 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

another forgotten Jambo manager, though Hearts were never quite sure who the manager was at the time

• BOOKIES have paid out on Hearts coach Anatoly Korobochka winning the 'sack race' after just two games. The Tynecastle side have appointed Bulgarian coach Angel Cerenkov to work with the first team while Korobochka takes a back seat. Steve Freeth of bet365 said: "We have already paid out to our customers who had bet Korobochka to be first out the door in the SPL. We had him as our 6-4 favourite, but even we didn't think we would be paying out at this stage of the season."

Cerenkov is 15-8 favourite to be the next SPL manager to leave.

http://sport.scotsman.com/spl/Identity-of-head-coach-.3316616.jp

They only had 8 or 9 managers in their entire history before Vlad arrived.

Hmmmm. I have changed my mind about Barton now.

http://i.imgur.com/SSZDO.jpg

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-14380910

Supt David Brand, head of FoCUS, said: "I would advise anyone who has posted messages which are likely or intended to threaten violence or cause fear or alarm to any person to remove them immediately."

uh?

"I would advise anyone who is dealing drugs to flush them down the loo quickly."
"I would urge anyone who has just stabbed someone to thoroughly clean the knife to remove all traces of DNA and if possible dispose of it in a very deep lake miles from your house. You're welcome."

oh vlad

"Judging by the pre-planned squeals the media monkeys are making, Hearts has hit the point with the move. With only one competitive win in 15 games, only fools and idiots would not raise questions and suspicions. I now understand why Scotland is in 61st place in Fifa rankings behind such poor football countries like Lithuania, Albania and Gabon."

fools and idiots, questions and suspicions: rolling scottish football 2011/12 thread

Vlad otm really. Only issue is he should have sorted it before the season started.

Then again, finishing 3rd for Hearts = winning their league so idk

So apparently Rangers last minute urgent double appeal or whatever the fuck it was to make sure Goian was eligible to play tonight went through successfully.

Goian will miss the game with a hamstring injury...

weird to think that this match tonight might determine the spl. rangers get pumped out of champions league then there's no chance they'll even be making insulting offers for players anymore.

i understand it starts at 6(?), but i'll no be watching it. might watch the celtic game later, fairly strong team according to Lenny on that twitter.

Best/stupidest conspiracy I've heard (in the last ten minutes): Rangers don't want to get Goian cup-tied as they've decided they're selling him if they don't qualify.

Steven Whittaker isn't on dis European ting 11/12.

(see also Boughie)

Gers out. Warchest emptied.

What's the difference between the Champions League and David Goodwillie ? Rangers only had one failed bid for the CL :)

Yeah, don't care about coefficient as much as I thought (see every year ever)

I think failure to qualify for the Champions League will see any or all of McGregor, Bougherra, Whittaker or Davis pumped out the revolving doors.

Bit tricky with two of them suspended though, eh?

Neil Lennon will be worried - last time those two were sent off he was banned for 5 matches.

Bougherra out within days anyway - not like whatever Qatar club he's going to will give a shit about CL suspension. Also the other three signed contracts to boost sell-on value committed their futures to Rangers.

Ddldldlldlldwdllddddl no not a place in Wales, but the Rangers last 21 games in Europe!

Ddldldlldlldwdllddddld... sorry I pressed some keys down with my elbow by accident and managed to come up with Rangers' last 22 results in Europe

This is going to be the season that keeps on giving, I can tell.

I think the sell-on value of the others might be important now they don't have the champions league money to add to the massive huge unprecedented warchest (that no-one will let them spend).

That Goian thing was a hoot, wasn't it? Can't believe they have the chief administrator of the SFA on board and still got the registration and visa processes wrong! Imagine that!

Ddldldlldlldwdllddddld... sorry I pressed some keys down with my elbow by accident and managed to come up with Rangers' last 22 results in Europe

Rangers in Europe under Paul Le Guen: DWWWDW

hmmm

Cheers to Hearts for restoring pride and coefficient and that. Better get that UEFA thread up and running, eh?

Whisper it - maybe Mad Vlad was right about Jum after all.

Izzy broken. The curse of the Celtic left back spot continues, and looks like Chaz Mulgrew back in his worst position :(

A whitey indeed.

Mulgrew isn't great at left-back, better than Ledley is anyway. Can't really remember what Mark Wilson is like when he's playing there. Matthews another possibility.

Wilson played there for a bit not long after he signed (iirc, he played the start of the season before we signed Naylor), and was pretty decent. Mulgrew did alright today, and is about 1000x better than he was this time last year. Not ideal, but we'll cope.

I mean, I think Mulgrew is a good centre half, decent left mid, and average left back. I think playing Wilson is the best option, but given the fragility/non-existence of his knees then Chaz would be ok backup, even if lb would be my third choice of where to put him.

i actually forgot naylor was a left back today :/ shows how much attention i'm paying at the games!

*insert gag about Naylor forgetting he was a left back for three years gag here*

http://j.mp/nBBJt7

Finance Requirements for SPL Clubs

Definition

Refers to payables overdue towards all player employees and those staff as detailed in the UEFA Mandatory Criteria (see Section 11) as at 31 December 2010.

SPL Requirement
Clubs shall demonstrate that, in respect of contractual and legal obligations with its employees, it has no payables overdue towards employees and social/tax authorities as at 31 March 2011 as a result of contractual and legal obligations that arose prior to 31 December 2010.

SPL clubs are advised that this is a UEFA mandatory criteria and any failure to meet the requirements stipulated shall mean that the club is ineligible to participate in the UEFA Club Competitions in UEFA season 2011/12 i.e. at the end of the 2010/11 domestic season.

So how come Rangers are playing in Europe?

^ Stewart Regan being asked that a lot on Twitter.

I also notice that Nigel Piggybank has been having a whinge about refereeing and the appeals process. Strike forthcoming? Papers condemning him? Anything?

Big Tel justifiably questioning refereeing standards after a couple of howlers at the Caley Stadium. Craig Thomson pulling a couple of weird ones at Celtic Park too, allowing handballs galore, not sending the DU defender off when he brought Stokes down straight through on goal. Same old, same old...

Some nice football yesterday though, and a couple of corking saves from Zaluska.

Recommended listening: sportsound interview with Gordon Smith. So much ineptitude! It scares me to think that he was in charge of the SFA, but his current position at Ibrox amuses me greatly.

Another game, another epic keeper fuckup.

Poor the Hibs :(

This article in the Herald is amazing. Anti-Rangers agenda at HMRC, apparently. As I pointed out to onimo yesterday, it's basically an anti-tax-avoider agenda (i.e. their raisin d'etre) and Rangers just happen to be a subset of that. Yet *we're* the paranoid ones?

http://www.heraldscotland.com/mobile/news/home-news/rangers-call-in-lawyers-over-hmrc-leak-1.1117390

Lawyers cost money so I don't think Rangers have "called in" anyone tbh. If you don't want adverse publicity about not paying your tax bills then the best thing to do is to pay your tax bills iyam. And if you don't want additional penalties for not paying them on time my advice is to pay them on time.

Maybe I'm naive idk I'm PAYE so I don't get to make decisions about withholding money from the Crown.

Well, that's it in a nutshell really. Stupid and skint and ridiculous. And paranoid.

Sally:

"We had a situation recently with Madjid Bougherra where he made it clear he wanted to leave the club," McCoist added.

"Those circumstances were different and, to a certain degree, things were taken out of our hands there."

Player under contract who did not put in a transfer request iirc. How is that out of their hands?

I really don't understand anything anyone says at Ibrox any more.

See they've knocked back a bid of £400k for wonder-Wyldey. Yet they still scratch their heads about how they couldn't prise Kenny Miller out of a three-year contract for less than that?

Some wonderful Sally nonsense here for context:

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2932/spl/2011/08/06/2607221/ally-mccoist-backs-rangers-transfer-policy-ahead-of-madjid

Meanwhile over in the capital...

http://news.stv.tv/scotland/east-central/266340-heart-of-midlothian-football-club-issued-with-administration-order/

Recommended listening: sportsound interview with Gordon Smith. So much ineptitude! It scares me to think that he was in charge of the SFA, but his current position at Ibrox amuses me greatly.

― ailsa, Sunday, 14 August 2011 12:15 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/14516283.stm

Bizarre revelation by Jim Traynor in the middle of it (around 7:30), that Gordon Smith confirms:
David Goodwillie was apparently in a hotel in Blackburn and his deal had hit some kind of snag. Rangers at that point offered Dundee United a straight £2.1M up front which United accepted - Goodwillie was then halfway back to Scotland when Rangers told United it would actually be spread over four payments and Goodwillie turned his car round and went straight back to Blackburn

sorry, not over four payments, over four YEARS lolol

he's now zinging his own club for spending £12m on Tore Flo!

Told you it was gold!

More lessons in transfer dealings the Rangers way:

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/265114/Rangers-want-Alejandro-Bedoya-on-cheap

“We had rejected two earlier bids and now they’ve come in with one even lower.

“I am giving no figures, but it is very strange behaviour.

brilliant

They almost deserve a separate thread at this stage.

Referee Euan Norris getting himself a quick rep - apparently his form had a load of Rangers fans betting on penalties at the weekend. He has now awarded them 5 penalties in 3 games.

Have Hearts gone into administration yet? Have Rangers gone into administration yet? Need something to cheer me up on a wet miserable Tuesday, tbh.

Hearts put a statement out yesterday to the effect that they'd be paying their bills today and there's nothing to see here.
No change at Rangers. Rangers Tax Case person has started blogging again but not much new on there. Read an interesting wee snippet in the comments about Rangers pr guy J4ck 1rv1n3 outing some guy on twitter as being an HMRC employee who was Facebook friends with Ph1l Mac Gh1ll thingy - implying that he was the tax case leaker/blogger, which he isn't. Now there are Rangers sites trying to find out everything about the poor guy and posting his address online.

Some people/papers saying Sion might be kicked out of UEFA after signing a load of players during a transfer embargo, whether those payers play against Celtic or not.

Yeah, read about that HMRC guy's name being outed on Twitter (there's a thread about it on KDS), utterly ridiculous tactic for a PR "expert" iyam. Want me to deindex this thread for now to save on the googleproofing?

but but we don't want to exclude all the new blood we get from google every year!

Actually how many people are there on these threads? It feels like there's less than six...

I reckon six, plus tiny bits of passing traffic from elsewhere on ILF when something interesting happens in Scotland (i.e. mostly never)

in order of appearance this season

ailsa, deems, me, aldo, tom D, Noodle V, nahkchivian, Merdeyeux, Cozen, Jim in G and now treefell

Most of those have only posted once.

Bringing back the thunder :/

I lurk and as a FTOF type I'll probably stay that way.

I find it hard to contribute much here because I really don't have an interest in the SPL.
This is largely because my team are in the first division so my focus is naturally there, and I wish there was more coverage of the lower levels in the scottish game in general because there are fascinating stories there.
When I do see the occasional SPL match on TV the quality is generally just depressing which doesn't inspire me to have more interest.
As for the general politics of the Scottish game - it's beyond messed up and I can't really see any solution that doesn't involve alien invasion or some such.

xpost

Also I'm in Ingerland so miss a lot of the heat and fury of Scottish coverage.

We tried renaming it from SPL to Scottish this year in the hope of bringing possible lower league people into the fold but with no success. I occasionally talk about Morton & iirc others here are partnered with Clyde and Dumbarton fans but tbh when you know there's only 4 people listening it's hard to get much interest beyond our own clubs.

No problem whatsoever with FTOF types tbh. I hate the Old Firm myself.

In the spirit of lurker amnesty I enjoy this thread a lot! I'd post more but I'm a jambo and nothing funny or ridiculous ever seems to... oh.

I like the idea of an alien invasion, btw, would put Peat and his stupid plastic dinosaur to shame.

I wish people would post more - certainly genuinely interested to hear a jambo view of recent events, and a rangers view of their current situation. I was genuinely disheartened to see calumerio say on that other thread that it's too much of a Celtic shop, that's purely by accident rather than design, and it will continue to be so unless we can do something to stop that, but it's becoming a vicious circle. And, yes, thread title deliberately non-spl for that reason.

My attention has been pretty much focussed exclusively on the juniors for the last few years. I feel the better for it too!

Obviously this thread is a bit of a Celtic shop, but maybe that's better than it being an OF 'discussion', like that, er, sensible forum on P&B :)

Hi scotstvo - I had no idea you were still around these parts.

Three former Celtic players on the scoresheet early in the 'Boro match tonight, McDonald, Robson and McManus (with an o.g.).

Still keek my head in on occasion.

Changed your name back for maximum recognition now, aye :)

:)

I saw through your cunning disguise!

Decided last night I would pass some opinions on other teams in the interests of making this thread less about the teams we support. Then I realised my opinions were a straight split between lol and not caring. Which I guess makes me part of the problem.

If Scottish football's good enough for Brangelina, it's surely good enough for anyone (does anyone honestly think they'll show up?):

http://www.theglaswegian.co.uk/football/partick-thistle-fc/2011/08/17/partick-thistle-set-to-roll-out-the-red-carpet-for-hollywood-couple-brad-pitt-angelina-jolie-102692-23351046/

(does anyone honestly think they'll show up?):

I honestly think some people will think they will & therefore the Jags will sell some extra tickets, which is the whole point of the story.

Celtic should probably announce they'll be at our Europa game tomorrow to see The Thunder - might shift a few tickets to crazed celeb stalker types.

Fraser Forster then. Colour me underwhelmed.

Lennie getting the full backing of the board this season: two Bosmans, one loan deal, one £900k signing who isn't getting a game. Zero contract renewals (that I can recall).

Still, the balance sheet looks good despite a massive drop in turnover so things are looking rosy and the league will be won by Christmas. Or not.

I hope Angelina turns up just to see what 'amusing' chants the Jags fans come up with.

I'm warming to new Hearts manager Sergio - he said in his press conference that Vlad had told him what players to play against Spurs but that "he was lucky he picked the same eleven I did" :)

bedoya to rangers official

^in the spirit of more ppl posting to this thread

^ Heh. In the same spirit, Irvine Meadow XI just beat Ardrossan Winton Rovers on penalties in the Ardagh Glass Sectional League Cup quarter final, after an (apparently) scintillating 4-4 draw. Suppose you don't get many 4-4 draws that aren't that exciting, mind.

I hope Angelina turns up just to see what 'amusing' chants the Jags fans come up with.

"We are Thistle, We are the Pitts" best suggestion i've seen so far

I'm sure whatever they come up with will rhyme with Pitts.

Completely unfounded rumour on Twitter that Brad's doing our h/t draw tomorrow. I don't believe it for a second.

Trying to work something out around "Brangelina, Brangelina, tiny little thing" like Danny Kaye might have done at some point.

Rangers offer Brad a £5k a week contract, get bitchy when he rejects it.

Also had the misfortune of watching Liverpool's kids getting schooled by Sporting, or the first half at least, earlier on.

Most bizarre thing was the official adverts on LFCTV - Impulse (the feminine spray) and Esther Rantzen fronting an ambulance chaser service. Not sure which was less likely.

Ugh Bocanegra to Rangers too, bringing the American total there to 3. Fulham North?

some pretty crappy yanks at that. I'd almost forgotten Edu was still alive!

bedoya has a chance to be decent. it will take him a bit to get used to the league tho imo.
bocanegra is...a good looking dude? who is getting old.

yeah was hoping Boca's next move would be back to MLS

Bocanegra a mere baby next to Davie Weir. He is quite a good-looking chap, but I expect that'll be knocked out of him soon. I saw something somewhere once with before and after photos of people who'd signed for Rangers. There's some serious uglification work going on down there

Secured for a fee 'in excess of' £300k as well. Warchest well and truly burst apart there then (also in excess of £300k less to give the taxman).

Also, Bedoya has to sort a visa out, but no-one's told Sally the finer details. Like how or where or when.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/mobile/sport/spl/rangers/relief-for-rangers-as-bocanegra-follows-bedoya-in-with-view-to-maribor-debut-1.1118306

I think Bocanegra is a v good signing regardless of the fee - a solid player, good on the ball, very rarely gets injured.
Dunno anything about Bedoya.

No more warchest zings from me tbh*. We're the ones downsizing year on year.

*not really tbh but at the moment I'm more concerned about our inability to buy e.g. an SPL quality goalkeeper. Nothing against Forster but he's still not our player and there's no way he was our "first choice" given that we had failed bids in for other keepers before going back for him. He's also nowhere near the quality that wins leagues.

Tru dat. But we're not pretending we have a warchest, so I'll keep zinging away. My concerns about Forster are already well-documented.

(Think Bocanegra a good signing for that price, aye, was just a cheap lol at the "in excess of" spin on a relatively paltry sum)

I like Edu and I liked Beasley (though he was too beautiful for this world, or maybe just frail and perhaps a bit rubbish), so I can only approve of this continued Americanization.

I predict 5 or 6 here.

Then Vlad to say they can it back in the second leg.

Called it.

Oooft. That was horrible. I think the sorest thing was it was really well deserved, and could have been more. It wasn't even that, y'know, Zaliukas put it in his own net, or Ian Black kicked someone in the face and got sent off or whatever. It looked like Hearts were trying and they still couldn't get near the ball.

From (big jambo, it should be noted) Ewan Murray at the graun:

Hearts and Spurs are relative also-rans, neither in with a legitimate chance of claiming league titles.

If this was a barometer, the disparity in ability and physicality is apparent outside championship-chasing clubs.

Is this fair? I'm struggling to work out how much this reflects the decline of scottish football from when I was growing up even just ten or fifteen years ago, or whether it's more just that one scottish team were extraordinarily shite today (ie don't want to play some horrible "oooh isn't scottish football rubbish" card if it's undeserved). Although just got back from the pub and looking at the other results - good grief. Maribor? Really?

Were the swiss any good? Did they end up fielding ineligible players?

(I picked a bad week to give up heroin start posting to this thread...)

Referee was terrible (yes, I know, but he *was*, ffs it took us fifteen minutes to be awarded a free kick!) Stokes booked for diving in the box when he was already by the keeper - really? Have you *seen* us take penalties? We wouldn't even class that as an advantage!).

That aside, we were pish. Stokes wasted out wide, Sami wasted up front (switch them! Sami better at running and cutting in, Stokes better at putting the ball in the net). Defence was a joke - Mulgrew is (nominally) a left back, so why not play him there instead of putting a left back at right back? Changed him and Wilson in the second half to have our right back on the left of central defence - that didnt work either. Adam Matthews nowhere to be seen, instead the mothballs were dusted off of Cha, who seemed to forget he was meant to pass to a guy in a hoopy shirt.

It was a tinker too far, and it didn't work. Ki was good, Brown busted his guts (though wasteful in front of goal), and Maloney looked nippy when he came on. But the whole thing was one big wasteful frustrating mess.

I'm sure there's a theory about Scottish teams not being able to turn it on in competitions any more - I mean we all (pretty much) looked all right in friendlies against English sides. We held Sunderland to a goalless draw the week before their score draw with Liverpool but can anything useful actually be taken from that?

It's entirely possible this is just the end result of the days when in a vainglorious attempt to stay in Europe past Christmas, Rangers and Celtic flooded their sides with foreign imports and there just aren't enough Scottish players with experience of playing sides from other countries in proper fixtures.

Martin O'Neill was able to spend £6m each on three players ten years ago. I've no idea what that is equivalent to in today's market. He also spent in excess of £3m on several others.

Gordon Strachan wasn't given the same level of support but could still spend £2-3m on a player in his early years.

Neil Lennon has had to buy an entire squad for the price of 1 x Aiden McGeady. Of our four acquisitions so far this summer only Victor Wanyama, who can't get near the team, actually cost *any* money, at £900k. The best of our acquisitions from the Aiden money - Kayal, Izzaguirre and Hooper - were all out injured last night.

It's nothing to do with foreigners or Scottish experience. All to do with downsizing while living next door to a madhouse where £20m is the going rate for a workaday centre-hoff.

there just aren't enough Scottish players with experience of playing sides from other countries in proper fixtures.

Shaun Maloney got to a European final and all that experience gained him a whole 22 minutes last night.

BBC match report dude gone mad:

A rare positive for Celtic was the performance of Cha Du-Ri, the South Korean charging up and down the right-hand side and delivering pinpoint crosses to the strikers.

To be fair he did put a few good balls in, problem was there weren't any strikers - Stokes was somewhere out on the left wing and Sami was a bawbag.

Pinpoint crosses to a striker who was nowhere near where you want a striker to be = not that much of a positive. Also "delivering pinpoint crosses to the strikers" is not exactly the same as "launching the ball in the direction of a guy with a 9 or a 10 on his back, no matter where on the pitch he's standing (which is invariably not in the 18 yard box)"

Celtic fans! Sorry to barge in on your thread, but thought I'd share a Celtic-related good news story with you.

Evander Sno made his official league comeback tonight in Holland, after having been out 2.5 years and suffering a heart-attack on the pitch during a match with the Ajax reserves, 11 months ago. He got better, Ajax let him go. He turned down lucrative offers from Ukraine and Russia to play for RKC Waalwijk, the newly promoted team in the Dutch Eredivisie. He was brought on during the second half debuting for the club and gave an assist to the second goal in a shocking win away at Roda JC.

Probably no-one still cares about Lol Sno, and normally I don't either, but to see him make his debut again after his heart-attack was nice.

Apologies for the interruption, do carry on! :)

No, I liked him a lot and I'm glad he's back playing again.

He's a sweet, soft-spoken and honest man ~ and you won't catch me saying that often about footballers.

Great to hear to hear he's back playing again. Too composed and skilful for our brand of football - never got the time on the ball to show how he could use it.

Aberdeen have scored a goal!

I'm glad we're so entertaining for everyone who doesn't support us.

Jukebox Durie is on the East Fife bench this afternoon btw.

Is Victor Palsson the worst defender in the SPL? Big claim, but he might live up to it. Even more boggling that Liverpool paid £500,000 for him at one point.

Neil Lennon defending Sami

"But sometimes players get singled out for whatever reason and it's his turn at the minute."

It's because he's fucking gash*! Every time I see his name on a team sheet I lose a little more faith in the manager.

*I still maintain there's a footballer in there somewhere, I just hate that Neil Lennon thinks he's the man to bring it out.

I just hate that he doesn't get a sniff in the run of the mill games and then gets wheeled out all rusty for the biggies like the crappiest saviour in the world.

I hate football and referees and people who take pishy weak penalties and centre halfs who can't deal with high balls and strikers who are never central nor forward and managers who think more wee tricky wingers are the answer to everything.

Wishlist: at least 1x non-scary centre half, 1x striker who knows where the goals are, and an actual real left back (even just on loan).

Btw, if anyone can explain how st johnstone's keeper wasn't even yellow-carded let alone sent off, that'd be nice. Might *maybe* have made a difference playing against ten instead of eleven for 87 minutes. Probably not, right enough, but might have been nice to have had the opportunity to find out.

Ah, ok, wasn't a card, wasn't even a penalty, tbh. But if the ref thought it was a pen, surely a card of some sort should have been shown?

Carlos Bocanegra's inclusion in the Rangers team to play Maribor last week under investigation:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/14638576.stm

Kind of hinges on this as far as I can see:

"As confirmed by the SFA, Carlos Bocanegra was deemed eligible to play at a domestic level within the Uefa deadline in accordance with the requirements of the Uefa Regulations," said a Rangers spokesman

Or rather, hinges on whether "eligible to play at a domestic level" includes actually being allowed to enter the country to work, since he wasn't eligible to play against Motherwell three days after he turned out against Maribor.

Still, it was confirmed by the SFA, and they never fuck anything up ever regarding players registrations or any other administrative matters, like suspensions or anything.

In other news:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/14638086.stm

Dioufy bringing the lolz, and being a character reference for David Goodwillie into the bargain.

Zonal Marking's twitter has been bringing this to the internet's attention tonight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-5Bf0OmYtA

Yeah, noticed that :) - way behind the good citizens of the Scottish Football threads, who have been all over the Thai Tims for ages. Would have been good if you were still blogging the charts on ILM when they got in somewhere in the mid-teens with Just Can't Get Enough. They played the Get Well Soon Izaguirre one at Celtic Park last week to some thinly disguised hilarity. Is still supercute though.

(apols if you are still blogging the charts, I haven't really been reading ILM much these days)

I think there's something not quite right about the whole Thai Tims thing, cute as it is.

I had no idea they'd done so many, it is getting a bit silly now. But still cute, and in a good cause, so I'm still in favour.

http://www.uefa.com/uefa/footballfirst/matchorganisation/disciplinary/news/newsid=1666743.html

Maribor's protest thrown out because they didn't lodge their objection in time. So UEFA appear not to actually investigate potential breaches of their own rules depending on the timeframe of someone noticing.

Celtic address their "no goals getting scored" thing by, um, sending Daryl Murphy away on loan. Not that he's exactly prolific, but he's more of a target man than Shaun fucking Maloney if that's the tactic you're going for.

It's all about the wing men. We're revolutionising football by playing the all new capital U formation with 4 at the back and 3 wide players on each side (with full-backs bombing forward to make the U taller.

This FTW:

Samaras                               Stokes
Maloney                               Commons
McCourt                               Forrest
Mulgrew     "Big" Dan     Wilson      Matthews
                  Flapster

Samaras and Stokes to occasionally drift close to the box as befitting the wearers of the illustrious numbers 9 and 10. Commons and Maloney to play on the "wrong" side so they can cut inside and blast shots over the bar from 30 yards. McCourt to beat 4 men and lose the ball, Forrest to beat 1 man and lose the ball.

FML ;_;

It's like Mowbray never left :(

I'm kind of fed up of being a united support galvanised behind Neil Lennon now. I'll regalvanise when he starts looking like he has one clue what he's doing.

I mean, the dude played in not a bad Celtic team himself, surely he knows how that one worked at least (clue: it didn't have 8 zillion wingers and no strikers). Still, at least he's keeping up the 2003 tradition of flappy confidence-draining keeper.

Samaras not good enough to play St Johnstone yet inexplicably picked again for a European game. I honestly don't get it.

fucking clown

fucksake

here comes the coepishient

wur aw doomed

last few minutes of rangers maribor were fun. not if you're a rangers fan though.

RIP

maribor goal nightmare

COME ON HEARTS

Fucking hell. What a fucking ridiculous evening. And Majstorovic can fuck right off too.

Just watched Pollok throw away a 3-1 halftime lead to go down 5-4, at home to newly promoted Clydebank. Gutted about it, but 9 goals for a fiver?! Yous guys are getting robbed :)

you could watch boys playing in the park and see 100 goals for nothing if you're looking for £ per goal ratios

(not that I can make a great argument for quality in the spl)

That was not a football score, it was a hockey score...in training I often play matches of three against three and when the score reaches 5-4 I send the players back to the dressing room, because they are not defending properly

Far better to lose 5-0 eh Jose.

St Mirren played some nice football today but had nothing at all up front. Good 2 goal start for us - should have been 3 as Collum inexplicably disallowed a Stokes goal right at the start. Wasted probably 4 or 5 clear chances to finish the game off.

Sami once again deemed not good enough to face a fair to middling SPL team despite being picked every time we play a big game. Dunno wtf kind of player Neil Lennon thinks he is, but he isn't.

Big Dan is a big eejit. Sick and tired of him giving away needless fouls.

Found a feed for Hearts v Hibs this morning!

was in tennent's with gary hooper, scott brown and kelvin wilson earlier

Celtic are yet to play a good game of football this season. Fucking chronic.

So, Mo Bangura anyone?

Rated by Henrik Larsson apparently. I know nothing.

Baba Diawara on his way to Celtic too apparently.

Maybe Shaun and Shammi G'ing TF (to Sunderland and Wigan respectively).

QPR sniffing round Hooper. Some Russian mob chasing Ki.

Broonie nitpicking round the final details of a new contract.

Mixture of yay and oh no there then...

(incoming from Internets...)

we couldn't get work permits for two players for the same position so Lennie chose the cheap option Bangura over Diawara.

Is Victor Palsson the worst defender in the SPL? Big claim, but he might live up to it.

Can't believe you set an achievable target for Majstorovic :( though to be fair to the big haddy, it's the only target he's hit all season.

He seemed to have no trouble hitting the invisible target on wee Hasselbaink's back the other day.

STV reporting that Celtic "cooled" on the Diawara move and there were no work permit issues.

"Despite being made aware of availability, Sunderland, Blackburn and Stoke have all knocked back the chance to sign Celtic striker Georgios Samaras."

Would you credt it?

Morrisons would! #jokefortheoldies

Celtic start to solve the abundance of wee wingery guys by selling the best (albeit perma-knacked) one - wee Shaun off to Wigan :(

Just seen someone tweeting that the motorways must be clogged with everyone getting in their cars to drive Samaras to Stoke/Sunderland/Rennes/Blackburn themself.

Mickey Owen to Hibs gaining traction.

Wish Shaun all the best, but he'll probably be back before long

how do you all fancy hooper's chances in the prem should he leave? must admit i've always liked him.

I think he'd do well. Not 30 a season well like he'd score here if he stayed fit but I don't think he'd be far below the 20-odd he scored in the Championship (where he outscored £35m striker Andy Carroll).

Oh, and piss off and leave him alone! :)

Mickey Owen to Hibs gaining traction

lol, seriously?

Seconded on Hands Off Hooper. Do not want to be left with just Sami and Stokesy, both of whom are scared of the 18 yard box.

Hearing some chatter on the interwebs about Liam Ridgewell (quote from Wiki: "He is primarily a centre half but can also play at left back" - stop that!!! fed up with stand-in leftbacks who aren't left backs tbh) and Nicky Shorey (who is an actual proper real leftback) coming on loan.

It's in a city where people love to piss their wages away gambling, he'd fit right in.

I heard that Peter Lawell rubbished the Ridgewell and Shorey stories this morning. Not that I believe too much of what comes out of PL.

Hérita N'Kongolo Ilunga (born 25 February 1982 in Kinshasa) is a Congolese footballer who plays for West Ham. In August 2011 he turned down a loan move to Celtic in the Scotish Premier League. Upon arriving at the Peado-dome for talks, he was shafted right up the dung-funnel by ladyboy SamarASS. He then off course told the mhanky mob where to go.

wikipedia keeping us up to date

Johan Hari been up to his old tricks?

Wee Shaun's gone again then. Mixed feelings about that one - I kept hoping he'd rediscover the form that made him a well-deserved player of the year. We now have no players left from the 2003 Seville team (though half of them are on the coaching staff).

Good luck Shaun!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZECrmmK568

Commons doing his bit to keep Hooper:

kcommons15 Kris Commons
Last training session done and now off to marbs. Strapin hoops to my luggage and his phone is stayin off until the window is shut!!! ;-)

copied from another forum - I agree with every word

Was talking to my dad about wee Shaun last night.

If a genie popped out of a lamp and guaranteed us Maloney would be fit for the entire season I think most of us would not only pick him in our 1st team every week, a lot of us would build the attacks around him.

Shaun is a footballer who knows 1 thing – to pass and move (ok theres 2 things, Ive done it again!)

If you ever see Shaun pass the ball and not make an immediate run looking to get the ball back, someone must have hacked both his legs off.

P___ is correct – Naka and Maloney could have played keepy ball fo 90 minutes against most SPL teams if they wanted to.

From one aspect its sad to see our most intelligent player leave, from another aspect there is no genie...

Love the technique for the volley at 1:36

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-0oxb7zLPE

That post about Maloney is like a proper erudite version of my upthread post about best/permabroke. Also agree with every word. Sad to see him go.

Jellyfish to Leicester rumours still on the go. Good.

Not at all sad to see maloney go.

The case against a hearts fan accused of carrying out a sectarian attack on the Celtic manager Neil Lennon has been found not proven.

John Wilson, 26, had denied his actions were aggravated by religious prejudice.

He was found guilty of breach of the peace by running onto the pitch at Hearts ground Tynecastle last May and shouting and swearing at Mr Lennon.

Wilson will return to Edinburgh Sheriff Court at a later date where he will be sentenced.

Earlier in the trial, the jury heard that Wilson had written a letter of apology to the Celtic manager.

He had admitted to breaching the peace and attacking Mr Lennon but denied uttering a sectarian remark.

Wilson described the attack as a "moment of madness" and said he "regretted" it.

Not surprising - almost impossible to prove the motivation. They should have charged him with regular assault, which he admitted to in court.

yeah hence the not proven and not guilty. I assume then that he couldn't have been charged with both and if they couldn't prove a sectarian motive do him for assault?

Think they had one witness claiming he'd heard a sectarian comment from Wilson, vs massive tv audience witnessing actual assault.

yeah hence the 'not proven' and not 'not guilty'.

the witness was the head of hearts security though, right? (not that i'd trust any security/stewards ever but y'know, i though he'd be trusted enough by the court)

aye, but proving beyond reasonable doubt on the say-so of one witness?

yeah i know

it's a real cock up though when the guy isn't found guilty of an assault which everyone could see on tv. not exactly rodney king obviously but it is a mockery. my dads a hearts fan and he can't believe he hasn't been done for assault.

He wasn't charged with assault. Presumably thought they had enough evidence to convict with the sectarian charge, but prosecution lawyer failed to convince the jury.

BTW, I thought the charge was wrong, but can see why it was brought on the back of shame game summit pish, trying to make an example of someone.

A cynic might think the PF pushing for the religiously motivated charge would inevitably lead to a not proven...

fwiw neither Neil Lennon or Alan Thompson heard any sectarian language from the Jambo bawbag.

Welcome back Ratfucker (unfinest dn ever btw) - thought you'd be gloating about Hamilton's fine start to the campaign rather than posting about sectarianism.

are you kidding? we've nae strikers! still at least we're no losing every week.
Not that i've been to see it or anything.

Joint top with the Mighty Ton though so you can't complain?

early days. but a better start than expected, but we wont go up unless we find a goalscorer (wouldve still been spl if we had done that)

have you guys punted samaras yet?

(dont take that as asking for a loan btw)

No.

Left back in da house! El Kaddouri, Moroccan dude from Kiev on loan. Internets underwhelmed at guy from minor footballing nation replacing internationally-renowned Honduran.

but he's coming to an even more minor footballing nation! Imagine how he feels!

Have read some more about the Lennon assault verdict now that I'm on a computer and not on my phone. Seems the jury dropped the religious aggravation part from the BotP charge to convict him of that and left it in for the assault charge which they couldn't then prove. No idea wtf was going on there.

I still maintain that it was the unnecessary tagging on of the religious aggravation part of the charge which led to this, and that was probably tagged on as a result of the ridiculous legislation that was being touted at the time post-Rangers-making-tits-of-themselves-at-Celtic-Park.

And now I'm worried that people have precedent to wallop Neil Lennon at grounds up and down the country with the potential to not be particularly punished for it.

James Beattie has been freed by Rangers, apparently. Shame, he's been such a roaringly successful addition to the SPL as well.

Oh, and Fleckaldinho is off to Sheffield United, and Jos Hooiveld has gone to be amusing and likeable but predominantly shite at defending at Southampton.

Beattie thing is bad news. That's them technically a player better off :)

Looking forward to Whyte being slated in the press tomorrow over the missing warchest...

:)

#warchest is trending in Glasgow, btw.

<q>Seems the jury dropped the religious aggravation part from the BotP charge to convict him of that and left it in for the assault charge which they couldn't then prove.</q>

This latter bit I just. don't. get. Like ok I can see how it's harder to prove whether it was sectarian or not (I mean it pretty obv had an element to say the least, but ok, one witness, whatevs..) but I don't get how that would affect whether or not they could prove the common assault bit. How was that not proven? He did it on the fucking telly!

Also, <url=http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/news/Anger-as-football-fan-is.6828812.jp>;lol:</url>
<q>The labourer, who was unemployed at the time, said he had let his children down, as well as himself, adding it was "not my normal behaviour".</q>
It wasn't? What were you already banned from tynecastle for then? Copyright infringement?

ach balls, sorry for formatting..

Good job Celtic fans aren't paranoid, eh?

Yeah, apparently the guy had been offered and accepted the lesser charge of yer common or garden assault (I mean, obviously he did it, everyone saw it!) but the crown/PF's office decided against charging him with that and accepting his guilty please in order to take it to trial to try and tack on the sectarian element. Has a whiff of grandstanding the offensive behaviour at the football thing, sure.

Genuine lolz at Peter Lawwell's press conference "we received a £29m bid for Gary Hooper last night. From an unnamed agent on behalf of an unnamed club. In another universe."

Particularly liked the nervousness after the first sentence when the assorted hacks weren't sure if he was kidding. And again at the end when they realised he was ripping the pish out of Rangers.

Nervous laughter, that should be.

you sure? he probably believed it.

Aye, I'm sure, but thanks for checking.

i thought i read somwhere that liverpool were the mystery bidder?

somewhere

oh wait i just read the sun article on the web. the bid came in after that. Maybe it was newcastle or spurs?

maybe, just maybe, it didn't actually happen

You're talking about Jelavic now, aye? Internet sez Rubin Kazan, common sense sez figment of Media House imagination.

lol xpost

Thought you were a Liverpool fan? How come you read the Sun?

i dont, i clicked on a link from the bbc weds sports pages thing.

thursday i mean

Clicking on links still gives them revenue.

maybe but i wanted to read about it

Fair enough.

So, Czech Republic. Scared?

Bored :D

Still going though.

Us, not them, like. They'll be pishing themselves laughing, probably.

xpost, good stuff! I'll be going. To the pub.

Fleck and Hutton haven't gone to Sheffield United, btw, just to keep upthread gossip updated.

This makes it sound like it will still happen: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/14741993.stm

intersting rumours flying around about Rangers accounts being frozen because of an outstanding tax bill, on Gers fan sites amongst other places. Phil Mac thingy's blog site shut down too...

http://www.scotzine.com/2011/09/a-failed-attempt-to-censor-an-investigative-journalist/

just coming to post that :)

I'm no fan of Phil Mac Giolla Bhain (mostly because of him retweeting everyone that praises him, tbh, because I like petty reasons to get annoyed at folk), but that's just golden in every single way.

oh, that site.
not a fan

dunno anything about what you're talking about with rangers. Is there any truth in whatever it is you're talking about?

(yes i know its about the taxman) i didnt see the news tonight was there a meeting?

Summary, as already said: unconfirmed but widespread rumours that Rangers' accounts have been frozen due to not coughing up their tax bill after the visit a couple of weeks ago. P McG B website shut down as someone claims he's damaging Rangers with his claims that they are skint. Gets someone else to put his article up. Wiggy is a tit.

The more i read about this £9m bid the more I am inclined to believe it's made up. Why not say who it was if it was genuine? plus these things *always* leak out in the press.

Further background available via many a popular search engine.

xpost, welcome to last night.

though i dont think celtic directors should be making fun of rangers,even if it goes down well with fans. its nagl.
Better off making your point on the park by stopping rangers winning 4 in a row.

but yeh if accies took the piss outta motherwell we (accies fans) would be lapping it up.

It has made the ridiculousness of the claim more obvious than any amount of reporting I'd seen to that point, which was nice. No fan of Lawwell at all, but fair play to him for that one. I thought Rangers had made themselves ridiculous enough without anyone needing to have a dig, but apparently some people believed it!

And Sally Magnusson is on the telly RIGHT NOW saying that HMRC were at Ibrox today. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-14757090 if you don't believe me.

cheers for the link

im not sure i would expect any reporter to call out rangers on making those claims up when those reporters do it every day with rangers and celtic.

Don't quite follow you?

well the newspapers make shit up all the time about players leaving/signing and what have you. So i cant really see them printing stuff about how rangers made it up (they can leave that for the phone in hotlines)

I mean, there's a huge difference between "the Daily Record understands that..." chip-wrapper piffle coming from twitter/a mate of a mate/Stokesy's Da or whatevs and Rangers' Director of Football (according to Phil McG B - an actual journalist, btw - who has presumably checked this with a lawyer before publishing) fabricating transfer rumours to a major news network (story broken by/leaked directly to SSN, ifaik).

Are you saying the ex-head of the SFA and now DoF of an SPL club making shit up isn't newsworthy?

I'm not saying that at all. I'm just not surprised that the media aren't.

Best bit of that BBC link

Some of the bill has already been paid, but Rangers dispute part of it and talks to find a compromise are ongoing.

The BBC understands that Rangers is frustrated that despite this, HMRC has continued trying to recoup the money.

Yes, it's very frustrating that the taxman wants you to pay your taxes when you haven't managed to find a way of not paying them. Boo fucking hoo.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/29-million-pounds-bid-for-Gary-Hooper-from-an-unnamed-agent-unknown-club/270431536318926?sk=wall

:)

Whilst the dig is pretty funny, i dont think i want to read any comments on it by anyone on facebook or youtube etc!

I don't know anyone who reads them, just people who get a cheap laugh out of having "Joe Bloggs likes "29 million pounds bid for Gary Hooper from an unnamed agent & unknown club"" appearing on their wall for five minutes. I'm a big fan of the cheap laugh though.

Still chuckling at the idea that a heid yin at Rangers thought it would be hilarious to claim they'd knocked back £9m cash + the opportunity to reduce the wage bill when the HMRC vultures are circling. When I said upthread "anticipate which of Gordon Smith's faux pas will see Sally out the door", I didn't think he'd be this fucking dim.

(hi dere lurky lawyers, I'm quoting something which has been reported by a proper NUJ hack, so I'm taking it as truth, kthanxbye. Sue him not me if it's untrue, right?)

ilx mostly has board lawyers iirc

Not too up on interwebs law, tbh, but I reckon if I put my name to something libellous, it would fall on me.

try the old HIGNFY "allegedly" get out?

Gordon Smith allegedly talks shite.

No, I'm pointing out that I'm quoting something reported elsewhere by a journalist.

And im pointing out that Gordon Smith allegedly talks shite. :)

Sorry - misread you, thought you thought i was trying it. Which I wasn't.

btw, a legal beagle on another forum has pointed out that there's a case on tomorrow with Levy & McRae (Martin Bain's lawyers) vs Rangers. Hmmmm.

http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/rolls/supreme/lists/r110825_011.htm

(do a ctrl+F on Rangers)

Anyway, to bed, where tomorrow will bring more hilarity, and a reinstatement into Europe for Celtic :)

you really think Celtic will?

I think if the rules are applied correctly then they should be.

depends on how big your club is tbh

Eyes shutting here so no time to go into this, but come on - they fielded five ineligible players. This wasn't an oversight, as a quick google will tell you. If they aren't kicked out, any fucker can try flinging in any old ringer they like (and we appealed in time, so UEFA can't pull that timeline shit that they did to Maribor over the Bocanegra eligibility) and the entire game's even more of a bogey than it already is.

Some brass neck claiming that we might have won if they hadn't had the might of Jose Goncalves against us, right enough. But rules is rules.

back page headline of the Scottish Sun today (which I didn't buy!) - "MOCK THE LEAK" :D

Brilliant.

Celtic reinstated http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/14754447.stm

Aye, we're on it on the Euro thread.

congrats.

do you think the biscuit tin owners wanted the hearing after transfer deadline so they didn't need to sign anyone?

(thats a joke btw)

p sure they'd want it before so they'd know the budget & be able to possibly attract more/better players - not a huge income from Europa anyway though it's a tasty group so they should sell well

so that celtic player that got sent off will his red card be rescinded?

i was so looking forward to see Sion play :( ;) Alpine revenge will come 8th of october.

Majstorovic's red card stands. He still committed a sending-off offence.

Off out to watch Scotland in scary 3D in the pub. Team looks mostly decent, fingers crossed!

Highlight so far - spotting Scotstvo/Dalzinho in the crowd during the anthems.

Always loved Kenny Miller, honest. Charlie Adam playing like the middling St Mirren player I still think of him as.

What do you think of Scott Brown?

This game, or in general? Mostly in favour.

can't watch >.<

xp. In general.

ffs

In danger of turning into a Kerr tribute act re. reffing. Will post when I calm down.

Fucksake. Crushed. Cheating cunts.

so fucking sick of "brave" performances
reminds me of that Belgium game when that giant came on & scored in the last minute

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeXhoCNqJJQ

Levein kinda looked like he'd been having a greet on the tv interview

commiserations...horrible.

thats what my dad said!
xp

This was no good. I strained my throat in my local! But what can you do?

string everyone at fifa up until we get tv referrals like in cricket and rugby and tennis?

rep of ireland,england and scotland all shafted in the space of 2 years.

Well, as far as TV referrals go: yes! But we all know that isn't going to happen. I don't know why, but it isn't. There's probably some reason why football is so inherently conservative.

cuz its run by backwards cunts with a self-interest?

Isn't everything? I just wonder why it's not in their interests to reform the system. The same with the SPL as a whole - I can't see reforms taking place until a crisis/collapse of some kind occurs.

SPL etc would be like turkeys voting for xmas. TV referrals though? fuck knows. As much as we laughed at england, it was a fucking disgrace it was allowed to happen. And it happens all over. International games, top leagues and champions league games should all have it. There's TV cameras at all those games and with the amount of money fifa/uefa etc make the 'too expensive' part is bullshit.

Mind you the BCCI are as backwards as Fifa/Uefa as they were against the referrals (in cricket) and the recent test series was without hawk-eye because of that) Yet Sky still had it for the viewers, the umpires weren't allowed to use it.

What happens when controversial decisions happen in, let's say, a Scottish first division game?

i accept that there might not be tv available(platini's point of the rules have to be the same at all levels) but at the high level it damn well should be.

Czechs would maybe welcome such technology for the blatant first half penalty they didn't get.

indeed

So Czechs and Scotland both robbed. Evened out over course of game.

Who arbitrates tv decisions? Who gets to decide when you can use them? Prob a separate thread I cba starting right now.

except we got robbed twice

Czechs could have been playing against 10 men. Think they might consider that another injustice.

This is why I try to calm down before recording thoughts in public. These may bear little resemblence to earlier pub kneejerk rantings where only the contents of the previous ten minutes register at any given time...

oh look!

Aye, saw that on Friday.

Still wondering why tf Levein thought he'd see the game out with Danny Wilson out of position i.e. on a football pitch. Other than that we had no other defenders on the bench for a game where it was quite likely we'd need to see out and hold on, against a team we last played with no strikers at all. Surely a more adaptable player likeMark Wilson or Charlie Mulgrew would have been a better squad option than a guy who hasn't kicked his own arse for months?

btw, decent summary here for those needing one:

http://russiancocktail.wordpress.com/2011/09/03/rangers-football-club-tax-cases-for-rookies/

Surely a more adaptable player likeMark Wilson or Charlie Mulgrew would have been a better squad option than a guy who hasn't kicked his own arse for months?

You're forgetting Levein insisted he would only select players who were getting regular club football oh wait what?

The referee's performance has allowed Levein to once again duck questions about his tactics and selections. I'd have been as delighted as anyone if we'd nicked that game but it would have been a steal. Scotland simply didn't play any football (Fletcher's goal aside - and even that took their right-back falling over to create the chance). They spent the entire first half lumping hopeful balls forward to Miller doing his usual laudable tireless thing - wouldn't it be better to put Miller's efforts to better use and actual give him something he could reach?

Aye, Charlie Adam's shitey attempts at the Hollywood pass were ridiculous. Was in a pub full of blinkered Bears and Buddies, and even they were turning on their hero before too long (i was getting well glowered at early doors for suggesting he wasnt the second coming of Zidane).

But he gets told by Liverpool fans every week he's the second coming of Stevie Me, so it isn't that surprising what he does (including straight leg over the ball never getting it challenges then going down like a sack of potatoes looking for a free kick after getting away in posession). Pat Nevin said this pretty much explicitly on the radio btw, and heavily implied that he wasn't nearly good enough for Scotland but was only getting a game because of where he plays.

Like many others, he's a better footballer at club level than he looks in a Scotland jersey. He was poor but so were many others - he missed half of the game because Gary Caldwell was playing even worse Hollywood balls (i.e. aimless punts) over the top of him.

Don't expect more from Heid tbh. We all agree Levein out though, aye?

Then what? Who in? (Not trying to troll, just genuinely wondering what other mug would take it)

WGS must be next in line. Can't imagine him selecting an off form player and playing him out of position, oh wait :(

But he gets told by Liverpool fans every week he's the second coming of Stevie Me

Not by this Liverpool fan!

No idea who, but it'll probably be Strachan, if he'd take it.

Why did Wilson come on? Was Bardsley injured? Is there a dearth of Scottish left backs? He did alright, but he doesn't strike me as international class yet. Only played 5 full games for Liverpool since January, and 1 League Cup game this season.

Bardsley injured, I believe. Second choice LB would be Lee Wallace, but he's out through injury. Mark Wilson (two-footed fullback, sometime stand-in centre half) and Charlie Mulgrew (centre-half, nominally a left back to trade, handy with a free kick) not worthy of squad inclusion when there's a guy with Liverpool written on his wage slip.

Strachan would have put Barry Robson on at LB.

not worthy of squad inclusion when there's a guy with Liverpool written on his wage slip.

like when englishman danny fox got a cap just because he played for Celtic.

though whether he actually played for Celtic is another matter. Fox is easily the worst player from a big (or any?) club to have played for Scotland.

Yes, a first choice player (albeit inexplicably) being tried in his own position in a friendly (and subsequently dropped like a hot potato. That's exactly like two Celtic players not getting called up in positions that need covered for a crucial game. Total Celtic bias.

In other news, Phil McG B's site's back down. But he's just tweeted that Martin Bain applied, and failed, to have Rangers' bank account arrested earlier this year.

Oh, and I believe Kirk Broadfoot might be the answer to your question.

Not actually claiming anti-Celtic bias btw, just general incompetence.

bold statement there considering how much dross Berti Vogts went through.

Fox wasn't great - fair to middling left-back who could occasionally put a good cross in. Pissed me off as much as half a dozen other failed Celtic left-backs but I think he's a skilful footballer who lacks positional nous.

Sort this by date and look at the last 20 years http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Scotland_international_footballers_(1_–_4_caps) - Fox hardly stands out as the worst in that lot.
xxxp

fucked up the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Scotland_international_footballers_%281_%E2%80%93_4_caps%29

Just an aside Ratfucker - why point out that he was born in England? There have been a number of Internationalists over the years who weren't born in Scotland but acquitted themselves very well for their chosen country (in accordance with the rules).

this one didn't. Everyone in scotland knew he was useless. He got picked because of who he played for over scottish players who weren't as bad as he was. He was awful.

Shitting hell, Peter Canero has a Scotland cap?

who?

dont remember this guy either http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Cummings

cant say i remember http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gareth_Williams_%28Scottish_footballer%29 either

haha i forgot mike galloway got a cap

This could take some time...

this one didn't. Everyone in scotland knew he was useless. He got picked because of who he played for over scottish players who weren't as bad as he was. He was awful.

His "Englishness" has nothing to do with that. Being picked for playing with one of the two biggest teams in the country and regularly playing in Europe has - and there's a good argument why that's often a bad policy, but it's nothing to do with where Danny Fox was born.

I have no real problem with Danny Wilson (looked decent against Denmark), but he wouldn't be my idea of the only guy I could turn to if I had to reshuffle/shore up a defence in a crucial must-win game.

he clearly isn't experienced enough to have come on in that situation. At the end of the day though, he didn't touch him, the guy dived. not sure any experienced player could have done anything about it.

Onimo, think you're on a loser here - I remember having this same English-guys-getting-capped argument about (Coatbridge-born not-English) Chris Iwelumo.

So, how would we feel if a currently-unemployed cardigan-sporting ex-scotland.manager fancied another go? Wasn't listening to post-match punditry in pub, but read elsewhere he sounded like he was dropping hints.

better than lavvy? - Aye. Boring shit football? - Aye. Going to completely revamp scottish football by overhauling it and developing youngsters? :Well he didn't do at at rangers - no gonna happen.Judas betraying cuntbag? Aye. Fuck him.

nobody any better though, so if levein chucks it after qualifying then im sure he would get the job. Dont really fancy strachan either tbh. And no good manager will touch it so we're kinda stuck with one of those 2.

Re. Wilson and the penalty, btw, we lost two goals after he came on. The defence was in disarray and there was no-one watching the guy on the right.

xpost surely "after not qualifying" :) and are you saying two managers with experience of punching above their weight in Europe aren't good? Tedious, aye, but our terminal slide down the rankings isn't going to come without some results-grinding, something Smith and Strachan have plenty of experience of.

Come to a halt, that should be.

maybe but i'd love to see a complete overhaul of everything and how we play. Smith never did that at rangers and is unlikely to do it for Scotland. Dont really see strachan doing it either. But all clubs in scotland need to change, so you cant really blame the international manager for that. Just wish things would change. It's never gonna happen is it? More chance of television referrals tbh!

Fans need to change too. Need to get rid of the "git the baw up the park" type shouts. And that really will never happen!

Most of our current national squad don't play domestically in Scotland, so blaming clubs in Scotland is a bit disingenuous. Of our starting outfield players yesterday, only Scott Brown and Steven Naismith play in Scotland.

Any manager/player reacting to crowd punditry can get tae.

can blame scottish clubs for not bringing through good enough players to get in the squad?

if hamilton accies can bring three players through that were good enough to be sold to english premiership clubs, then why the fuck aren't clubs who have much more resources doing that? Then eventually the standard will rise here and perhaps tv/sponsorship money will rise and those players might even want to stay here. Not just blaming rangers & celtic, every club should be doing this. I know onimo has complained before about celtic having the best young players in the country, under 18s that win leagues and cups yet never get near the first team as players from other clubs get signed instead, who may not have been any better. This goes for all clubs. For every good 'foreign' player signed in scotland there's 10 diddies who really aren't any better.

Rangers fans are the worst, they want big names like gazza,laudrup,butcher,woods etc they dont seem to want young players. Young players there get sold so they can buy in other players usually with no potential.

anyway wtf do i know. Maybe those who work in scottish football know how to fix scottish football..

Um, you mean like Gary Caldwell of Wigan? Charlie Adam of Liverpool? Alan Hutton, ex-Spurs now Villa? All started and developed in Scotland and moved south.

You laud Hamilton for developing and selling to Prem, btw, then swipe at Rangers for doing the same. As long as English tv money stays as it is, that's where players will go. No-one can bankroll against that, and a quick glance upthread will tell you Rangers couldn't afford it when they tried.

I don't even quite get how this would change the national team. Of yesterday's starting XI, all were either homegrown SPL, or EPL (either homegrown and sold on, or developed down south) or Kenny Miller. What would be different in your brave new world?

scotland squad (and levein) cutting about at mar hall this afternoon while I was out playing golf

What, Hibs Kid Kenny Miller?

Did you hit any of them with a club?

btw, I do know that the SPL and SFL could go a good shakeup, don't get me wrong. But in terms of halting Scotland's slide down the rankings, I'm just after someone who can marshal the adequate talents at their disposal into a winning team.

I'd take Terry Butcher, if he'd have the job. John Robertson?

Any idea if the Scottish FA are in regular/semi-regular contact with any of the 7 Scottish managers in the EPL? Do they utilise them at all?

Aldo, yeah, just meant not currently SPL/EPL. Trying to follow the logic of renowned Championship-slating Ratfucker (see every Scotland squad discussion ever).

"logic"

You know, even though he was a childish dick to Maradona when he was assistant manager, Butcher isn't a bad call. He's pretty good at the old sow's ear -> silk purse thing, even if he is the only man on earth who rates Ross Tokeley. What about Glum Jum.

See how desperate I've got for anyone-but-Levein?

lamped charlie adam with my attack wedge

I could never cope with Glum Jum. That sort of logic gets you wondering why Jim Leishman never got a go for winning the cup with absolute journeymen.

Was kidding. Going for journeymen got us Levein. Think there's maybe something there with Butcher though. He's certainly an outspoken critic on many aspects of the game here, might have some ideas to implement.

Talking of Jim Leishman has sent me away down memory lane to the days when he came up to Inverness to manage the Jags. We used to get the odd busful of disillusioned Pars up every so often to cheer him on, and the promise of proper players as a result of Leishman's clout that rarely actually materialised when they realised they'd have to drive up the A9 to play against Brora Rangers or Deveronvale then not even get paid for their trouble. Happy days!

Funnily, earlier on I was reminiscing about school and watching Jukebox and Craig Levein not being any good for us.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/scotland/14782670.stm

Levein has just two realistic options for the lone striker role

Since when were we so bedded to the lone striker role it became synonymous with Scottish football? Yes, I know we've played with it for years, but why? Pat Nevin was slagging to fuck hoofing the ball to a centre forward shorter than the centre halves he's playing against, and then slagging Levein for playing him out of position.

So, if I get this right... Scotland play in a formation nobody else does, and all the players are inexperienced in, because... why?

Any idea if the Scottish FA are in regular/semi-regular contact with any of the 7 Scottish managers in the EPL? Do they utilise them at all?

― Chris, Sunday, 4 September 2011 17:17 (3 hours ago)

Ex-manager Alex Ferguson
Left the Scotland job for the greater challenge of Birmingham in the EPL Alex McLeish
Only ever wanted to manage Liverpool (apart from Newcastle) Kenny Dalglish
Can't stick at a job for less money Owen Coyle
Gets a less than average performance out of journeymen Davie Moyes
Paul Lambert will be Scotland manager one day, but not yet, ditto maybe Steve Kean (although drinking and driving maybe gives him first dibs allegedly)

In other words, the Best League In The World is full of cunts. (Oooh, shocker, I know)

Watched the first half of the Scotland game in a bar, the only other person in the bar being the Czech barmaid! Some other people came into the pub later but none of them were Scottish - I thought we were supposed to be a patriotic lot? Was talking to a Portugese guy who was urging us to beat Spain, I said we'd try our best but I couldn't promise anything. Keep thinking if Berra hadn't done a dying swan act we might have got that penalty, but that makes no sense. I'm fed up with Scotland approaching every game as if they're trying not to lose - I'm inclined to say Craig Brown started this, 'cuz I hate that twat, but it probably goes back further. Was OK when Watty + Eck were doing it against Italy + France 'cuz the Berti Vogts' approach (the last Scotland manager not to follow the Brown Method) would have seen us royally gubbed, but we've no need to keep doing against teams that we shouldn't be scared of. OK so we're not producing a Dalglish + Souness + whoever anymore, but who the fuck have the Czechs or Lithuania or any of the other shitty mediocrities we play got anyway? There are like 8 good teams in Europe, 8 terrible teams and the rest are basically interchangeable and we can beat any of them and we can lose to any of them. I'd rather we tried beating them than tried not to lose to them.

xposts. Not saying any of them should be *manager*, but between them they must be able to offer some decent advice with regard to youth development, tactics, training, grassroots etc.

Anyway, Capello's out of a job next summer, you can have him.

I'm sure Sven and Schteve are doing that for Don Fabio.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/10/1/1285931099181/Craig-Levein-006.jpg

all hail the CLAW!

Good god, that will give me sleepless nights.

btw, a legal beagle on another forum has pointed out that there's a case on tomorrow with Levy & McRae (Martin Bain's lawyers) vs Rangers. Hmmmm.

Herald supposedly running tomorrow with Rangers being sued over old unpaid legal bills. Stupid skint fools.

Ranger, not the Herald :)

Mad Vlad eat your Heart out, this boy takes the prize for crazy Soviet oligarch football club fucker-upper

http://www.thefootballramble.com/blog/entry/chechen-boss-oversees-destruction-of-xamax

After that game there were reports that Chagaev had entered the dressing-room at half-time threatening to kill the players if they didn’t improve. Chagaev himself explained the story slightly differently.
“Before the match I showed the players a touching SMS message from a young fan,” he explained. “It informed us that he was in hospital, fighting for his life, and asked the team to do the same.
“During the half-time interval I went into the dressing-room in order to tell the players that they had forgotten about the message, and in doing so were killing this little boy. And I added that in the same way they were killing themselves.”

five managers in as many months!

Gold. I like to hear these things from time to time when I get cross about Willo Flood transfer windows and the like.

In other news, Rangers sued to the tune of £35k by their lawyers. Not sure which law firm would be rushing to represent a club in a case regarding them not paying their lawyers, which I guess is why they've decided to front up the cash:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-14854938

Lord Hodge commented that it was unusual for a judge to be so involved in over-seeing an agreement and Mr Brown told him: "There is a real concern about solvency."

Champagne going on ice :)

various internet peeps suggesting it has cost them an extra £20k in legal fees, interest and expenses to contest that £35k debt. good job Mr Whyte's wealth is OFF THE RADAR!

^must read link btw, up there with the best of succulent lamb Minty Murray profiles ever written^

Maybe Jackson meant "his wealth is now under the radar"...

toys oot the pram again

stvmike Mike Edwards
Rangers withdraw cooperation with Herald, Sunday Herald and Evening Times over legal bill story.

^must read link btw, up there with the best of succulent lamb Minty Murray profiles ever written^

Amazing - saw that this morning via a twitter link and had to check I wasn't been whooshed. Have you seen the link to the top 40 eligible bachelors in the Daily Record from a gazillion years (late 90s, I t hink), containing one Mr Craig Whyte alongside the likes of Robert Carlyle and, um, Kevin Harper? Wonder where he features now on a similar list? Can't find working link to it just now, but I'll try and find it later.

*Obligatory unconfirmed source disclaimer*

http://rangerstaxcase.com/2011/09/10/martin-bain-his-lawyers-rangers-insolvency/

Interesting read, if true. Key points are that the "big" tax case adds up to £35m plus £14m in penalties and interest and that Craig Whyte stated that if they lost that case "he was prepared to pay £10 or £15m. Beyond that he would let the company go under."

Scottish Div One table
Saturday, 10 September 2011 17:07 UK
  	  	P 	GD 	PTS
1 Morton 	5 	5 	11

!

Good performance from Celtic today, could have racked up a huge score. Joe Ledley was outstanding.

Agreed about Joe, thought he was brilliant.

Rangers missing payments for transfer of Jelavic.

http://www.sportnet.at/de/rapidwien/102463245182/jelavic_rapid_wartet_auf_rangerskohle

Google trans:

The daily newspaper "Kurier" reported that Rapid must wait even longer to complete payment of the Nikica Jelavic-transfers.

The current rate of 500,000 € will come later than agreed (31.8.), And later will be moved. According to "courier" refuses the new owner, the billionaire Craig Whyte, contaminated sites to take over - and the Rangers have to pay an additional tax payment of 33 million €.

Rapids manager Werner Kuhn was informed by the Scots, but gives no further comment. "Because there are details in the Treaty. And it was disclosed."

lol @ billionaire - not often something is gained in translation ;)

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/270539/Fears-grow-over-Rangers-FC

RANGERS new owner, Craig Whyte, would allow the club to go under if it was hit with a tax bill of more than £15million, according to leaked legal documents. The court papers were posted on the Internet yesterday, purporting to have been drawn up by lawyers...

^article from 3 hours ago removed from the Express website, wonder if it made the print edition

http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fkurier.at%2Fsport%2Ffussball%2F4150247.php

Schotte are notoriously stingy. But so greedy that they do not comply with written contracts? With 31 August, the Rangers Rapid Vienna should have transferred a lot of money for striker Nikica Jelavic, who was replaced in 2010 by Vienna-Hütteldorf to Glasgow. We hear from Glasgow, is the current rate at least 500,000 €.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/rangers/8934340.stm

Unlike most clubs, who have bought players in instalments, Rangers have paid up front and therefore do not have such a burden.

O RLY?

You're not saying wee Chico got something wrong?

Express article back up now.

Chico somewhat given to believing in moonbeams, I suspect. Or was. Some scales appear to be falling from some eyes.

Hibs vs Aberdeen was rotten today. Can't imagine what possessed Hibs to refuse £600k for Calderwood - they're going to have to pay to get shot if this keeps up.

Sheep just as bad - I don't think they even had a shot on target in the first half.

You're being too complimentary. Not sure there's any way we can stay up on the evidence of 2011.

More Rangers fun, as Martin Bain (lol, my phone autocorrected that to Martin Vain, must have seen his male modelling past) is successful in having another £500k of their money/overdraft frozen. Real and substantial risk of insolvency, according to judge.

http://m.stv.tv/news/scotland/west-central/270135-judge-freezes-500000-rangers-assets-over-fears-of-insolvency/

^ love that this all came out as the dailies were running their four page "exclusives" about how Whyte has everything under control.

Whyte reveal in his interview that he had to pay James Beattie £1m to fuck off lolol.

Stokes not on trip to Spain, looks like the return of Big Game Sami :(

Read elsewhere on Internet that BGS is our highest paid player o_O

Yeah, heard rumours (prob via same source as you) that we bumped up his wages aiming to extract a higher fee from a buyer to buy him out of enhanced contract but he stuck his heels in and refused to go anywhere due to wodges of cash for not doing very much (should disguise Celtic Park as an 18 yard box if you want him not to enter it again, imo).

@joshooiveld20 jos hooiveld
Found it! Sitting in Williams, very cozy place.. They have enough lights here though. yfrog.com/h0lyanej

^lol Jos Hooiveld sitting in an empty bookies in Southampton to watch the Celtic game

That's initiative! Same way as how I saw us win the league in 2007, in a bookies on the Strand.

Cheapskate Jos though, not willing to fork out for ESPN for his flat. Maybe all his flatmates were watching the English clubs, in which case I'll go back to saluting his resourcefulness.

Missed the opportunity to salute his indefatigability.

shame the team he left behind were defatigable

Anyway, here's a link to some old school football - Celtic vs Irish Free State in 1924, from Pathe News

http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=20361

Daily Record doing their best to calm the masses and ensure no shameful scenes at Ibrox tomorrow.

http://twitpic.com/6lx1tg

Hibs revival starts here! Nice angled finish. Someone who isn't Gary O'Connor finally scores for them.

When did Sproule change his name from Sprool to Sprawl?

After a night out on the town with Deek and Fat Gaz.

Someone who is Gary O'Connor gets the second.

and the inevitable collapse starts immediately 2-1

inevitably now 2-2 shocking defending men unmarked everywhere

wtf happened to Morton? Burst ma coupon :(

Watching 1967 European Cup Final on ESPN, btw. Awes.

Lol @ betting on Morton.

Yeah, I know :(

finish

butterfingers.

holy lol

jesus, kaddouri is a bombscare w/the ball in the air

jesus, kaddouri is a bombscare w/the ball in the air

Kelvin Wilson massively bombscarey too. Still no fucking idea why our two best players from last week were dropped, or why Charlie Mulgrew wasn't hooked for his own good, don't think there's a single person watching who didn't see that coming (except the clowns in the dugout).

is bangura actually a professional footballer?

I think he's George Weah's cousin.

He has stupid hair unbefitting of a Celtic player.

When did Sproule change his name from Sprool to Sprawl?

Just went from Sprool to Sprowl in the course of one sentence on Sportscene just now.

Still seething about Joe Ledley being dropped, and about Neil Lennon once more tailoring our team to counter the opposition rather than just doing what we do best on our own terms. Reminds me of those ridiculous games when we used to play Glenda at right back to add height when we've never been good at playing that way anyway.

Also, ffs, if you're insisting on Sami, don't fucking play a 442 with Hooper. It doesn't work. Play him on his own, or play Stokes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-14978841

didnt see the old firm game. will youtube mcgregors howler though it cant be as funny as torres against chelsea.

haha it is a good 'un tho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cS5OOVZ_eI

Sheeps actually are Worse Than East Fife. At taking penalties and at saving penalties anyway.

Worse Than East Fife

Hey! I...that isn't...well, it isn't nice to use as a comparison.

It's a bona fide chant, I didn't make it up :(

Well done!

I object as an E.F. fan, in case that wasn't clear.

There are some things you have to make clear.

Though Google suggests otherwise. Perhaps I did make it up.

I did say well done afterwards!

None of the Aberdeen fans I know came out to the pub tonight, so I'm celebrating in the tradition of my people - drinking Buckfast and bothering strangers by talking about the game. Honestly. :(

I don't usually drink buckfast, but I was looking around the house for something to drink after the pub, and I found a decent bottle of whiskey and a bottle of buckfast. 75cl? - I have no idea where this came from, which is maybe worrying.

hahaha that is the best text i ever had. "bairns have scored lol"

Ally McCoist's cup record so far
P5 W0 D2 L3

He just said on Sportsound "I'd have liked to have started the game the way we finished it." They finished it by losing a goal and getting knocked out.

Ayr just knocked Hearts out on pens lol

Commentators on our game obsessed with every game we've ever lost ever, when we managed to not actually get knocked out in a comedy manner for once, unlike nearly everyone else.

Sally is being shrewd and clever and concentrating on the league innit.

Pretty good results. Day generally made better by not going to the pub for opening time and drinking all day, like yesterday (was it yesterday?). Sorry about the dumb posts upthread, which are unhappily coherent.

Scottish Communities League Cup fourth round draw:

St Mirren v Ayr United
Dundee Utd v Falkirk
Hibs v Celtic
Kilmarnock v East Fife

The ties will be played on 25 & 26 October.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMbpTonEEuY&feature=player_embedded

hahahahahahahahaha

Another week, another lead thrown away.

Meanwhile in the cup, Coldstream travel 300 miles to Wick and get humped 9-1.

One for Monday's discipline panel I think
http://i53.tinypic.com/23u6dd3.gif

ouch

See if you can work out the crucial detail missing from this BBC article about sectarianism at East End Park
http://twitpic.com/6q2bhc/full

Link, sorry http://twitpic.com/6q2bhc/full

Here's the original press association article with the big reveal...
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5hbM7dnz7_rW-glXxV8_ey5zpcc8A?docId=N0571061316883790604A

Three men absolutely fuck all to do with Dunfermline FC.

Curious omission from the BBC imo

I must admit that when i was reading it earlier i was thinking "fucking typical stewards arresting home fans instead of the away fans"

Police, not stewards, surely?

Rangers won the first of their two home games that could put us 10 points behind before we play Hearts. League could be over by Monday morning.

Meanwhile, Steven Davis not happy with Pascali lifting him up by his laces
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/55621000/jpg/_55621333_5536603.jpg

Another week, another bigot in court.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-15077806

The sheriff will also consider whether to ban Birrell from attending football matches.

BBC neglects to mention which team he'll be barred from watching.

I know I'm usually all in favour of seeing the best of our European rivals but this is great news.

http://www.celtic.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=257077
"Udinese's star striker Antonio Di Natale has been left out of the visitors squad for their Europa League game against Celtic on Thursday."

It means that Loovens and Majstorovic or whoever gets the nod might have a chance of a night's sleep before the game :)

I still think we'll be ripped apart.

holy shit that is one of the worst decisions ive seen since the last one

I've looked at it a few times and I've decided it was a penalty, if a little soft. Hooper does try to get out of the way, but only after clearly putting himself in the way - the UdiNaisy player made a meal of it but if it was at the other end I'd have been claiming for a pen.

He did that thing where you stick your arms out as if to say "Innocent!" but you know exactly what you're doing and blatantly commit a foul. Kompany did it the other night and got away with it.

Of course if Gary Hooper hadn't been pushed back into midfield to accommodate a third striker* which is obviously the sub to make when you're trying to hang on to a one-goal lead...

*your definition of striker may be at odds with Lenny here, I realise

East Fife & Forfar got close to the 5-4 scoreline we all richly deserve

^ remarked upon in pub. Okay, by me, but still...

Hearts fans wearing John Wilson masks and chanting his name. Stay classy guys.

terrible challenge from commons

could see that red coming as soon as he'd lost control of the ball

My knee is starting to jerk a bit...

Get one settled team ffs.

Lennon out.

Aye. Fucking disgraceful. No consistency in selection suggests either no faith in players or no faith in own selections. Clueless and embarrassing.

Despite recent 4-1 and 5-0 humpings, Morton are still inexplicably top of the first division. I don't think I've ever seen anyone top a league table with a negative goal difference before.

I assume from the lack of posts here today that Neil Lennon still in employment :(

I have a big list of problems with Celtic that I wanted to record here but I can't get them in coherent order in my head and I feel like the guy who once phoned Radio Clyde to complain about the ineptitude of John Barnes who could only say "I mean... I mean... just... BOBBY PETTA!" except the occasionally brilliant wee Bobby has been replaced with the fucking imposter that is Georgios "Tragedy" Samaras.

http://www.heartsfc.co.uk/articles/20111003/vladimir-focus-on-football_2241384_2471369

Vlad's back.

Not just Samaras, but Bangura looks a haddy an' all. SHould have seen the writing on the wall upthread when I was vaguely criticising the decision to turf the completely average Daryl Murphy.

My major criticism of Lennon's tenure is the lack of consistency in team selection. There's not ONE single player who is guaranteed a place when fit. When you look at Rangers and their threadbare squad, they have consistency, and tinkering is only done through necessity not through whatever the fuck goes through the manager's head. Europe aside, their only disaster was losing to Falkirk, and they started the game without Jelavic and Naismith and pulled it back level when they came on. I know they lost, but starting with their strongest team wouldn't have given a lower-league team two goals of a headstart, imo. In comparison, we tore Motherwell a new one the week before Ibrox and our two best performers that day were both then dropped to try to counter Rangers. FFS, they're Rangers, they're no' fucking Barcelona. They're not THAT much better than Motherwell, have some fucking faith in your players!! Changing the formation, playing guys out of position to do so, and playing Samaras cold again upfront with someone he plainly can't play with...just, WHY??! (i'm turning into that guy onimo talks about above, I know...)

Take, for example, goalkeepers. Flapster has been, well, flappy. Confidence low, doesn't communicate with his defenders, so dropped for Zaluska (who was dropped for Flapster, no questions asked, btw). Zaluska does fine, then is inexplicably dropped again. Don't even get me started on the repeated treatment of Anthony Stokes who must have zero clue what he has to do to stay in the team (I would suggest "be Gary Hooper", tbh). Not that it apparently matters *what* you do, because I'm still struggling to understand the rationale behind dropping Joe Ledley for Ibrox - I could sort of see an argument that Forrest is a luxury in a derby game, but not ONE explanation for dropping Ledley springs readily to mind, especially given the influence he exerted on the previous game against Motherwell.

Subs are another mystery - several occasions have seen a defender sacrificed for another striker when we need to shore up. I'm all for exciting cavalier football, but not when it involves flinging on Samaras and pushing Hooper back into midfield when you're defending a one-goal lead against a team at the top of Serie A. Our best centre half is a left back (occasionally deployed at left midfield when Lenny decides we need to counter others rather than actually do what we're theoretically good at). Our other centre halfs make me pine for Stephen McManus, ffs. And THEN we ended the game against Hearts with Dan Majstorovic at centre forward?!?!? I was joking last week against Udinese about playing Samaras at centre half. I reckon we're about two games away from it actually happening :(

We have the most rotated right back squad in the world, I reckon. I honestly think he just tosses a coin to decide whether it's Wilson or Matthews that gets the nod, a good game for either sees the other one get a game next anyway, with the occasional (when he's fit) appearance for Cha, who Lennon is apparently on record as saying is his first choice when fit. That's it. That's the best we can do for a right back, a fast bloke. Seriously, I know Lenny played with Agathe, but Agathe had more to his game than JUST being fast, same as Mjallby had more to his game than just being big and Scandinavian. We've got too many central midfielders, too many options for wide players (especially when you're converting Mulgrew, Stokes and Sami into wide players as well), no consistency and not one striker I'd be confident of expecting a goal from.

Oh, and we're fucking shite at penalties. Seriously, how long did it take before anyone remember Ki had a skelper of a shot on him?

As an aside, I am fecking sick of clowns on message boards thinking Neil Lennon is beyond criticism because everyone got behind the "We Are All Neil Lennon" stuff last year, and therefore anyone criticising him is a hypocrite. I have a huge amount of time for Neil Lennon as a person. He's far braver than I'd ever be in his shoes, and he's a decent and smart young man. He just never should have been given this job in a million years, and he can't be above criticism for his failings in his day job, no matter what goes on elsewhere. I didn't think he should have been given the job, but when he got it I really wanted him to do well. He just, well, isn't.

BOBBY PETTA

^that's frustrated Tim for OTM.

Not just Samaras, but Bangura looks a haddy an' all.

Last time I was up in Glasgow, man in pub was telling me Bangura is supposed be 22 when in fact he's 30 plus. Don't know if I'm swallowing that one but, haddy? Seconded.

I don't want to get all Moyesey with "in African years lolol" but this guy does not look 22

http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01373/eyes_1373805a.jpg

He's had a hard life obviously... and to top it all now he has to play alongside Georgios Samaras

^ lol

Oh, and anyone (not here) whinging about Neil Lennon not being given enough money and not being supported by the board: Carlos Bocanegra and Dorin Goian together cost less than a Daryl Murphy. Get some decent fucking scouts!

Now I have riled myself up enough for the day, I'm off to the pub. Hooray for days off.

Back to domestic action, and another former Rangers employee is trying to arrest £300k their money

http://news.stv.tv/scotland/west-central/274539-rangers-director-donald-mcintyre-sues-club-for-300000/

£300k is coincidentally how much BBJ Hartson reportedly owes the bookie
http://news.stv.tv/scotland/274538-ex-celtic-strike-john-hartson-owes-bookmakers-300000/

Starting to see a lot of 'James McFadden to Celtic' rumours again. Is it ten years ago, and can he play centre half?

He was mentioned on the radio this morning as having "already held talks" - I'm pretending it isn't happening - would surely mean Commons was being pushed out, I think? Bad move all round, even if Commons is having a poor season so far.

The McFadden thing is baffling. This year's Ljungberg, surely. We've got zillions of guys twatting around on the fringes not assured of a game, this isn't going to help consistency. Memo to Celtic: SIGN ONE (possibly two, depending if the powers that be rate Mulgrew) CENTRE HALF(S). PLAY THEM EVERY FUCKING WEEK.

Oh look, the guy accused of trying to bomb some high-profile Celtic supporters and Neil Lennon wants a new solicitor. Can't see why he would have an issue with a solicitor called Brian McCluskey at all. (also bonus comedy of Donald Findlay comparing himself to Pontius Pilate).

http://www.scotsman.com/edinburgh-evening-news/edinburgh/around-the-capital/lennon_murder_plot_accused_wants_new_lawyer_1_1907942

Paul McBryde not available?

Talking of (alleged) bigots from Kilwinning (allegedly) trying to kill Irish Catholics - have you been to Kilwinning recently? They have dual language signs up now, in English and Gaelic.

And the Gaelic for Kilwinning...

Cill D'Fhinnein

!

!!!!

Suspect Paul McBride might be a witness to his own attempted murder, no?

Suspect Paul McBride might be a witness to his own attempted murder, no?

it was jokes bruv

I slightly mislead the house there, Cill D'Fhinnein is on the sign at Kilwinning Rail Station. No idea why it is different from the other Kilwinning signs that read Cill Dingeain.

Cill Dingeain is gaelic for Kilwinning.

Cill D'Fhinnein means church of St. Finian . Maybe the kilwinning railway station is built in church land?

though it is quite possible it is the proper gaelic for kilwinning. Hard to tell.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilwinning_railway_station

http://www.gaelicplacenames.org/databasedetails.php?id=526

people up here never believed me when i said kilwinning was way worse than larky

Yes I looked that up too.

There's a St Winin's Church in Kilwinning - I think it's more likely the town name came from that & that something's been lost in the attempted translation for the railway station and someone thought it was funny.

wheels within wheels, could chase this around all day

http://www.futuremuseum.co.uk/Collection.aspx/saint_winning/

It's possible Winning = Winin = Finnan not to be confused with Saint Finnian of Clonard (Welsh/Irish depending on where you read). Possible buddy of St Mungo aka Kentigern

my mate from schools dad is from Kilwinning i'll email him and get him to ask his dad next time he visits his folks in Ayr.

Actually, one of this threads celtic supporters is from Kilwinning. So lets ask him!

I imagine he and his dad will not give one shit, if they have more sense than me.

Was watching Celtic so haven't seen the documentary yet, but, yowch. All mocking and schadenfreude aside, how the shitting hell did no-one pick up on this before?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-15377454

So why did we play Rangers on Tuesday?

Last ditch attempt to make some cash :)

Suspect it was part of the Danny Wilson deal.

Ah yes. And a chance for Charlie to show the Rangers faithful what they're missing out on.

Amazing. I'll let you all choose your own favourite bit.

http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spl/interview_craig_whyte_owner_of_rangers_who_has_come_out_fighting_against_tv_allegations_1_1925040

despite all this they've won the last 3 titles and will win this year. C'mon everyone else and pull your finger out.

Can't believe I missed this wee gem from Vlad.

http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/spl/romanov_s_lie_detectors_are_no_joke_1_1911968

hahahaha

He's seen a challenge from Whyte and Smith to the title of chief bampot, and tried to head it off. (It's not working)

you forgot dr reid

oh mad vlad dislikes the limelight being taken away from him
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/15415207.stm

i wonder who will be next to withdraw somewhere for something (no goodwillie jokes please)

Reid's away now, and never really came close to anything Whyte or Smudger said anyway, though you may care to provide evidence to the contrary.

i was just thinking about his agm comments about his pride in his part over the refereeing stuff last year. but i take your point.

I would say in Vlad's defence that he often has a point regardless of the batshit method of communicating these points. All evidence thus far points to all utterances from Ibrox being somewhere in the region of nonsense.

For all of Vlad's many lunatic moves, he's yet to rediscover the form that led him to putting this inspired bit of artwork on the club's website:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2120/2089576102_c7edfa7dcf.jpg

(I think this appeared the week before he served nuts to the press box at tynecastle.)

also lol @ celtic now looking for all the world like the least paranoid of the three clubs. Who'dathunk!

haha. Don't worry, normal service will be resumed soon! ;)

whyte sounds like a creep and reminds me of michael gove without really looking that much like him

he's tuned to the moon.

Nobody really knows much about you – where you got your money from and how much you have.

Good.

Kinda warming to the guy tbh

a lot of ppl are like that but they dont tend to get involved in publicity generating clusterfucks like distressed football teams

Weird thing is he said David Murray warned him about the level of scrutiny he'd receive. Anyone who's paid attention to Scottish football in the last twenty years knows the media weren't so much scrutinising Murray as getting stuck right up his arse. The man bought the club for buttons and ran up £80m of debt while contracting out everything that made money (mostly to companies he owned) and there wasn't a peep about it in the press. They were too busy eating of his succulent lamb and drinking of his finest red.

so im assuming if rangers went bust and had to do an Airdrie (cunts) then they will need to pay this guy for one of these names if they want to use it? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-15453103

lol

do guys called gerard support rangers? or are you all thinking what im thinking?

(about it being a celtic fan who has done this)

Not really, no. Phil McGB thinks it might be a guy who works for PriceWaterhouse Coopers, the accounting firm Rangers are rumoured to have approached for advice re going into administration - a quick perusal of internetz shows they do have an employee of that name, but it's not an uncommon name, so may be just coincidence.

I'm sure there are a number of people called Gerard, and Moran for that matter, who support Rangers (with surname also perfectly-placed for many a "get a brain, Moran!" comments). Also people called Gerard who support neither (I know three Gerards and only one of them supports Celtic), so let's not be over-generalising about Timmy-sounding names, or else you're veering into Walter Smith's Mr Murphy paranoia territory.

Also, y'know, they could just use another name. There's a hilarious (really) thread on a well-known Celtic forum where they've come up with some suggestions, my favourites were Neuchatel Naetax, Parasite Germain or Anderfeckt.

I think they'll just put an O in front, like they did with the magazine relaunch.
http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-snc4/276978_131679343546551_1236827_n.jpg

lol.

I had completely forgotten we were in Mickey Mouse Cup tonight. With no strikers. Not that Bangura's a striker to start with, right enough.

i thought it was only a mickey mouse cup when celtic were out of it?

It's been a mickey mouse cup since it stopped being a European qualifying tournament, no? I still like my wee days out at Hampden when we get them (and when we win - I still have nightmare about Naismith's ugly wee mug celebrating in front of me last season), but it's the one of the three I care least about. Hence why I'd forgotten we were even playing this evening until about three days ago.

Wish I had forgotten, tbh. Half the team have.

found out that the game was on bbc2 and hibs have turned to shit

4 in 20 mins? quite a collapse

You haven't watched us enough. We can ship another 4 in the time left.

i believe you

Lennon needs to do these inspirational halftime talks before the game starts, tbh.

Nice wee article by Ewan Murray on the Grauniad website today:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/oct/28/rangers-bbc-ewan-murray?newsfeed=true

Pishy pish pish pish pish. Is he still in a job? His post-match interview on Saturday was the last straw afaic. One of the dullest nothingest games I have ever seen, and then a bunch of "we're not very consistent and I don't know why" pish. Fuck off, you're PAID to know why (also, here's a clue: you keep switching the team around for no reason whatsoever, like having your first-choice right back and the guy you brought in to cover left back both on the bench while your second and third choice right backs cover both full back positions - one unfit and one out of position. Here's another clue: you keep sending guys out on loan with no adequate replacement then moan you have to keep playing Gary Hooper when you bought then loaned out Daryl Murphy).

I like Neil Lennon a lot, but he has to go now before he completely loses all the goodwill he retains with the support.

If he wants to stay, he needs new coaching staff pronto. Anyone with an ounce of managerial experience should be able to marshal that squad into at least looking like they might have a chance of winning a game.

I fully expect another false dawn against Rennes on Thursday night and a thumping at Fir Park on Sunday, btw.

oh i thought you were talking about billy reid. He plays players out of position too. (rumours are he offered to resign but ronnie mac talked him out of it, now the entire accies support are trying to talk him back into it)

What's been going wrong at Hamilton this season?

At least Joe Ledley gets it, though I doubt there's a person in Scotland who thinks we can actually win every game from now until the end of the season. I don't even think we can win every game from now until the end of the week.

Question for the Celtic ILF Massive : I've watched the last couple of Freiburg games in teh Bundesliga and their right back is fella named Hinkel. Commentator made some mention of him playing no football since he left Celtic in 2010 (injuries I guess). Anyway he looked p. good. What did you guys reckon to him when he played for you?

billy reid signs shite,frees them after a game,signs more shite,any kid who has a good game is never seen again. lots of players seem to fall out with him or the club itself. plays players out of position, negative football.

in the league accies have only won 2 of the last 25 home games!!!
League is so tight we're not that far off the relegation zone. Fans have lost patience as reid refuses to change his style. even those who have defended him for his past success are losing patience. Because his job is so safe he has no need to admit hes been wrong. Thats as dangerous as a bad atmosphere being created due to will he wont he be sacked scenarios.
I think the fans would like to see our old assistant manager stuart taylor back as boss as since he left things went downhill. Billy has got to change things the next game or the fans will be demanding his head. if he came out admitting his tactics/selections/philosophy was wrong and he would change it give him a chance, most fans would give him another 6 games or so just because of his past achievement,but if nothing changes then things will get worse.

Solid reliable right back. Willing runner, okay crosser of a ball, chipped in the very occasional goal. Won 18 caps for Germany or thereabouts before coming to Celtic. He was recovering from a cruciate knee ligament injury and wasn't offered a new contract iirc. At his best I'd say he was better than the three right backs we currently have.

xpost

Talking of right backs - I checked Cha Du Ri's record at the weekend after someone on twitter questioned if he'd ever lost a league game and the answer is no! 14 wins and 6 draws in the SPL with Cha in the team - which translates to >91 points per season and a title in the bag.

Shame Lennie won't pick him, despite stating explicitly that he was the best right back at the club.

Re. Andy Hinkel, I mostly liked him and would take him over Cha Du Ri every day of the week.

iirc, I think we gave him a year's extension to his contract with the intention of selling him rather than letting him go for nothing (he wasn't named in our squad list submitted for Europe in his last season, suggesting surplus to requirements) but then he got broken and sat around with a knackered leg for a year then slipped out the door on a free anyway.

thx onimo and ailsa

Won 18 caps for Germany or thereabouts before coming to Celtic.

... and none after?