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Someone please tell me : Peter Lawwell promised to leave no stone unturned in an effort to track down the fellow Sellik fan that pelted Fernando Ricksen with a lighter. What was his/her name and punishment?

Why do you insist people are making this up? As far as I can see, you're the only one "making a lot of fuss" over this, when others are merely making a reasonable interpretation of what they saw with their own eyes. Take a chill pill.

It appears like another layer of costly, imperfect decision-making that ultimately depends on a human interpretation, which in effect leaves us with age old questions. I'd stay clear until it appears to be functioning well.

What we need, urgently, to recruit is: 2 referees 4 linesmen 2 fourth officials all of whom must be trained and prepared to adjudicate fairly, and without fear or favour.

The Parkhead outfit have promised to deal with any incident in a 'dignified and professional manner'. Celtic have hit out at a series of incidents involving Rangers fans during Sunday's clash at Celtic Park. The Parkhead club have accused away supporters of targeting home fans with missiles as well as directing 'sickening chants' at players. Celtic were beaten 2-1 by Rangers and the club have expressed their unhappiness with how away fans acted during the game. Only 800 Rangers supporters were in attendance but the Hoops say there was a number of incidents that they will look to deal with over the coming days and weeks. Record Sport understands Leigh Griffiths was targeted from the away end by chants about his mental health and several songs were sung about the Celtic Boys Club scandal. That includes the previously mentioned chants and missile throwing as well as anything else that is reported to them. A Celtic spokesperson said: "We are aware of a number of incidents from Sunday's match including Celtic supporters being targeted with missiles from the away support, something which has unfortunately happened on numerous occasions previously. "We are also aware of a number of other unsavoury incidents involving the away support, including sickening chants directed at our players and supporters. "However, as we always do, Celtic will deal with these and all other incidents responsibly and in a dignified and professional manner and in a way which protects the greater good of the game." The match ended 2-1 with goals from Ryan Kent and Nikola Katic enough to edge it for Steven Gerrard's men despite Odsonne Edouard's first half equaliser. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/celtic-hit-out-rangers-fans-21191324 Smoke & mirrors, masters of deflection/denial, Separate Entity FC

Ha ha ha Top trolling Stevie @Stevie - 4lads Blog. ?

Here's the deal, they have had almost a decade of zero competition. Despite fantasies of being competitors from the likes of the sheep the reality in Scotland is that no one but they or us can win this league. In the 2011-12 season when they won the first of their current run we were in disarray and were also docked 10 points. The following 4 seasons we weren't even in it then on our return were still in a state of having to re-establish ourselves. When the sheep are taking second place which was the case for two seasons after our return you know there is still no competition. Then 18 months ago in comes Steven Gerrard who despite the mockery at his appointment had an immediate impact. Suddenly they find themselves actually losing matches to us again and while they still took the title it wasn't the procession they had become accustomed to. Now we have this season when not only is there an actual credible title race for the first time in so many years there are some knowledgeable pundits now beginning to tip Rangers as favourites to be champions. Cue meltdown from their camp and it's acolytes. It's been so long since they felt any actual competition around that their psyche just can't cope with it. It appears to have been compounded by the fact that everyone is acting as if this is something that has just crept up on them out of the blue so to speak. They blinded themselves to reality in so many ways. One important factor is the aforementioned appointment of Steven Gerrard. We all know the cries. I don't need to repost the Spiers tweet again since we have all seen it so many times but his reaction wasn't unusual. It was simply a typical example of what the entire crowd of haters and media pundits were saying. And that's a major reason this meltdown is becoming so classic. They apparently truly didn't see this coming when in my view at least it was obvious what was brewing. They have been outplayed by Rangers in at least 4 of the last 6 encounters while they carried an incredible amount of luck. They may have been lulled into a false sense of security by the manner in which it developed I suppose. Even in this season we didn't always see what you might call any dramatically instant and consistent display of the turnaround. I feel the team has gradually worked towards the current level of performance rather than producing it from the outset. But it's here now for all to see. And it's so traumatic for them that they're retreating into tired old fantasies they have been frothing at the mouth over for years now. But, but, they're skint. Currently there is apparently a belief that we're so skint the core of the team will be sold off in January. I have been hearing that one from my own Celtic supporting brother in law who despite his choice of team is usually a rational person. Yet right now he too is descending into the trauma of looking for any route out of this 'disaster' no matter how irrational. As well as looking for our team to be sold off in January their fans are looking for some sort of spectacular January signings to salvage the situation. But I have my doubts regarding how realistic that is. They have a large squad of high earners which is dependent on CL income to support while they have had no CL income the past two seasons. They have made a couple of good sales such as Dembele and Tierney but where does that money go? Is it banked as their fans think or is it simply replacing that CL money to pay that wage bill? We will see. Rangers are now firmly in the driving seat. The bulk of our pre split games are at home while the bulk of theirs are away. I feel there has to be a distinct possibility that they may drop more points than we do. In recent weeks they have been flattering to deceive against even lower level opposition. It took an injury time goal at home to avoid dropping 2 points to Hamilton. I have seen even their own crowd in unguarded moments admit that they're struggling to get results against anybody at all. While we have laboured to a 1-0 win against Killie it was simply a struggle to score through as well organised a brick wall as I have seen in sometime. But we were always totally in control. We have been playing better than them across the board for sometime now. I'm confident their trauma will maintain and perhaps even climb to new levels. Our first league match following the break is at home to St Mirren which I expect we're all confident will be a standard win. Their first league game following the break is away to Killie and I doubt they're anything like super confident about that. Their trauma will be eating away at them throughout this break just worrying about that in itself. It's been a long haul these past 7 years but I think we can now say the banter years are well and truly behind us. If you think the current meltdown is impressive just watch what happens if we continue to look like taking this league starting with a letdown for them at stuffy old Killie on Wednesday 22nd January 2020. As Stevie G himself says, let's go.

Truth hurts.

Highs Beating Killie on the last day of the season in 2011 Beating the tims in the league cup final 2011 Winning the league cup in 2010 with 9 men Stevie G becoming our manager Lows Too many to mention

Love it. I'll get Photoshop out in a minute and change that 53 to 55...

In its current form, VAR is slow and frustrating and receives a lot of criticism for prolonging the period of doubt after any hairline decision. But if that's what it takes to keep Scottish referees honest, I'd put up with it. It would be a lot more difficult for refs to go with their "unconscious bias" against us if they have to view the evidence on loop a few times before confirming the call.

By Tom English BBC Scotland It is worth taking a closer look at Rangers' opening goal in their 2-1 win at Celtic Park on Sunday, scored by Ryan Kent and illustrative of the very serious title credentials Steven Gerrard's team now carry with them. We think of how it all ended, the excellent Borna Barisic playing it into Kent and the midfielder sweeping it first-time past Fraser Forster, but it was how it started that made it such an impressive thing. Rangers were pegged back in their own right-back position, level with their own penalty area and facing a Celtic throw-in. Ryan Jack won it off Callum McGregor and 28 seconds later the ball was in the back of Celtic's net. Jack, Steven Davis, Glen Kamara, Joe Aribo, Alfredo Morelos, Barisic and finally Kent all got touches. Seven Rangers players taking it virtually the length of the pitch in the backyard of the champions and then finishing clinically and brilliantly - if that goal didn't make Celtic people gulp at the battle ahead to achieve nine in a row then they haven't yet woken up to the danger coming at them from the other side of the city. Celtic boss Neil Lennon said in the aftermath that there was no need for his team to panic - and there isn't. There's a long way to go. He also said that Celtic were in this kind of position after losing the Old Firm game last December and went on to win the title. That's true, too, but things have changed since then. When Rangers won this fixture a year ago they won it at Ibrox not Celtic Park. That's a big difference right there. They also lost their next league game to Kilmarnock and immediately handed the momentum back to Celtic. They went on to drop more points to St Johnstone, Hibs, Kilmarnock (for a second time), Celtic and Kilmarnock once again. They shipped 15 points from January onwards, eight of them to Killie. There are no signs that they're about to do the same. Rangers are a lot better this season than they were a year ago and those other teams - Celtic apart - are worse, and therefore less likely to catch them out. If Rangers win their game in hand and match Celtic result for result then they're champions. They'd need to show all kinds of steel and nerve to get over the line, but they haven't been lacking in those departments this season. Rangers were emphatically the better side on Sunday and not even a goal awarded to Celtic in error and another red card for Morelos could stop them. Last month they lost the League Cup final to their great rivals in the most painful circumstances but they looked like the team that had taken more from that day at Hampden. They had more edge, more physicality, more intent. They looked fitter and stronger. They over-ran Celtic in midfield. Ryan Christie, James Forrest and Odsonne Edouard have 49 goals between them this season. There was barely a peep out of any of them. Christie, a major influence in most of the games he's played, missed a penalty, Forrest was anonymous and Edouard, so impressive for so long, got lucky with his goal and didn't do a whole lot else. Gerrard figured out how to cut their supply and negate their impact. This was surely the biggest day of his managerial career. There's been talk about Celtic being a tired bunch of players and there's some - but only some - merit in that. Last season only Derby's Richard Keogh played more minutes for club and country than Callum McGregor, and this season McGregor has played more minutes than any other player in the world (3,714 minutes across 42 games). Kristoffer Ajer is second on that list, Forrest is ninth and Scott Brown is tenth. Connor Goldson and James Tavernier are fifth and eighth. That's four Celtic men and two Rangers men in the top 10. The individual match-ups show that McGregor has played almost a thousand more minutes than Jack this season and Brown has played 552 more minutes than Davis. Of the 12 players who played middle to front in both teams, Celtic players occupy the first five spots in the most played category. When you look at the overall picture, 11 versus 11, the numbers this season narrow considerably. Celtic's starting line-up have now played 28,645 minutes; Rangers are on 28,372 minutes. The difference in energy was noticeable on Sunday, but if some of Celtic's key men were tired then that's an issue for Lennon. He has a big enough squad to rest some key men. And it doesn't explain why Rangers have played better football in this fixture over the past year. Celtic's struggles with Rangers didn't start on Sunday or even last month at Hampden. Should there be surprise that they could go to Celtic Park and win so well? Yes, a little, but the signs have been there for a while now. If you take the past six games between them, Rangers have won three and Celtic have won three. In two of the games the Celtic goalkeeper was their best player - Craig Gordon last December at Ibrox and Fraser Forster last month at Hampden. In three of the six games Celtic managed just one shot on target in the 90 minutes. Celtic were dominant in just one of them - the 2-0 win at Ibrox earlier in the season. Last December, Brendan Rodgers admitted that the "best team won" while talking about his own side's unforced errors and poor decision-making. In the next derby, Morelos got himself sent off after 31 minutes and still Rangers looked the better side for much of it. Before Forrest grabbed the winner with four minutes to go, Lennon was getting stick from his own supporters. We might forget that now, but Celtic Park was an unhappy place until Forrest did his thing. The next one was a 2-0 Rangers win at Ibrox, a template for what happened on Sunday. Davis, Kamara, Jack and Scott Arfield were the main forces in midfield that day and Celtic couldn't handle them. Then came Celtic's convincing 2-0 win at Ibrox. After that came the League Cup final and we all know about the smash-and-grab that took place there. It's instructive to think back to the early stages of that final and the menace that Rangers possessed from corners and free-kicks. Three times in the opening minutes Goldson and Filip Helander won headers around Celtic's six-yard box. The same aerial threat happened on Sunday, only this time Rangers made it count. Christopher Jullien and Ajer weren't always alive to the movement around them. They got away with it before, but not this time. No wonder Gerrard reacted the way he did on full-time. Some demons from Hampden were exorcised in that moment. Gerrard will have known that the only way to hurt Celtic - truly hurt them - was to go to their own place and beat them. He has done that now. Over the past eight and a half years when Celtic looked over their shoulder they saw no challenger in the distance. If they look behind them now they still won't see anything because their danger is right beside them, shoulder to shoulder. Years have been spent talking about whether the gap between them was closing. It's closed. This race looks like it's going to the wire. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50949831

Totally agree. We can't get carried away with anything. Sunday's win will mean nothing if we drop points in January like we did last year. I really hope we have turned a corner. I was genuinely fearful of what would play out over our December fixtures with all those critical away games and the manager and the team have proved me wrong. Let's hope lessons have been learned and we start again where we left off on Sunday.

Celtc aren't a bad side. They topped their EL group and Lennon has won all three trophies since Rodgers left. They have also beaten us at the Piggery, Hampden and Ibrox in that time. We have done well, so far, this season but I'm not getting carried away yet. The dismal second half display at Pittodrie, dropped points against an awful Hearts team and our inability to capitalise on our dominance in the LCF are reminders that we aren't there yet.

Yes it is in question. If he was Yellow carded as appears from the commentators response on the footage and the actual footage we can see with our own eyes then why is it merely a yellow card considering it is a punch in the face off the ball an incident which is normally associated with a red card for violent conduct? If Brown IS yellow carded here then the yellow he picks up a few minutes later is his second and he should be sent off. If Brown isn't yellow carded here he should be subject to retrospective action by the Compliance Officer as the referee hasn't seen a clear red card incident for violent conduct. It seems to me that your pragmatic explanation of 'he wasn't yellow carded' to explain the situation doesn't match either the footage or the events thereafter.

Brilliant from Club 1872. Every now and again they remind me why I'm happy to keep paying my money each month. They've not only hit the nail on the head here, but they've driven it home with a single powerful smash. Great job by whoever wrote this. As we all know, the hysteria is always at its highest when Rangers are threatening. Can any of us truly even imagine the implosion when we win 55!?!?! I'm excited but don't know if we are bringing about Armageddon when we lift that title. Will the SFA, Holyrood, and the BBC declare a state of emergency and cancel the remaining fixtures just before its mathematically our title? Anything is possible in this crazy little nation of ours.

That's more like it from Club1872. The psychosis from Celtic and their fans was always going to reach hysterical proportions as their sense of absolute entitlement was eventually challenged by a successful Rangers. The rest of this season will see ever more desperate reactions if Rangers continue to emerge as the superior team. And as I've repeatedly predicted, Neil Lennon will not only struggle to manage the pressure but will actively contribute to our title win.

This mob are consistent in their ability to surprise me with how much of a red neck they have. Maybe if someone explained what 'dignified' and 'professional' meant, they'd consider changing it. Deflection tactics have worked with all other instances so they will continue to use a well trodden path to come out of this unscathed. No doubt the usual MSP suspects will be quick to lump us all together too just to make sure it hurts big bad Rangers as much as it does them. That's their modus operandi.

First incident. So no penalty

This did occur to me during the game. All other players left the pitch via half way area.

Bloody hell is that real? Why has more not been made of that? That's assault. The difference is that Alfie just gets on with it.

His explanation is clear and is quite clear if you watch it. WTF is the point in making a lot of fuss about something that never happened when there are so many incidents this referee missed or got wrong?

As this is our final pod for 2019, I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank all our presenters, guests, partners and listeners for their support over the last year. We really enjoy bringing you our opinions and we'll be back again in a couple of weeks to start 2020!

When are the refs reports filed? Surely this is the only way to determine whether Brown was booked or Katic had the yellow card shown to him twice as he missed it the first time

I would sign him simply based on the fact his name is Herbie.

In Scotland VAR would be an entirely different thing it will depend on what religion the studio referee is and weather he is a Billy or a Dan that's the way Scottish football works .

Problem with that is that it requires a FIFA, or IFAB specifically, change to the rules because it changes the offside rule conpletely

Reminds me of the Walter Smith celebration after Edu got that last minute winner... A gentleman in his mid-sixties leaping into the air in a CR7 pose

It's Scotland though, they reinvent new meanings for words and can read minds, so whatever is true it doesn't matter as they just decide on what they think it means.

I have commented a few times over recent months that I didn't think the team had peaked yet. I now think it's approaching peak but still not quite 100% peak. They can't handle what we have right now. When it hits full peak it's going to be even clearer for all to see that we have a better team than they do. I feel that after a few early teething issues our 'rookie coach' has been evolving into a tactically shrewd operator. And that aside I think he has from day one shown an expert eye for recruiting players and getting the best out of them. Look at the 'freebies' he gathered for just one thing. Our midfield trio which dominated them cost a total of 50K. It's totally his team now. Of the 11 who started this victory only 3 were not players he recruited the 3 being Tav, Jack and Morelos.. And look at the money he has effectively banked for the club. It must be approaching 30 million from Europe and how much is Barisic now worth? That's while not even mentioning Kamara who cost so relatively little he could almost be classed as a freebie and now probably worth millions. Joe Aribo, what was it 300K? Another also destined to return millions. I had my reservations when Gerrard was hired. Now it looks like a master stroke and just one more thing we have to thank Dave King for. And how could I possibly say that without throwing this in another time. ?

Listened to that earlier, I don't speak tim talk so couldn't understand what was being said!!!

Think we could be doing with another striker too

Any Rangers fan voting for this sectarian bigoted bastard needs their head checked! utter scum

One thing to remember is that if we win the league not only do we get the chance at the CL riches but we also deny them that same opportunity - their wage structure is a CL wage structure.... if all they have is the Europa they will need to cut their cloth yet again.

A lot of contenders tbh, I also think Goldson was outstanding as well.

If anybody has watched the match back, like I do, it's quite incredible how many 2nd offences the Separate Entity FC players have without a 2nd booking after having been booked already! there is no doubt in my mind we are treated differently from every other player/team, blatant bias.

Whoever it was it’s not recorded anywhere, strange.

It's actually elevated a yard above the ground far better view than at ground level, only drawback is getting the shit knocked out of you by idiots rushing forward thinking they have a divine right to knock you about and climb over the top of you.

Given King has previously stated that we wouldn’t accept any offers for Morelos I would contend that we ARE in a position to be knocking back huge bids, at least until the summer. Highly doubt we sell any crucial squad members given yesterday’s result and that we are now truly in with a chance of securing the title

There is no way we should be selling any key players in this window and Barisic is a key player. It would be mind boggling to me if they were to sell a player such as that in this window. Just as we laid down a title winning credential with a first win on their patch in almost a decade. These players will be no less valuable in the Summer than they are right now. It would be beyond stupid to sell such a key player at this time and I don't see it happening. It's exactly what the yahoos are hoping and praying for. Fringe players yes but not a Barisic.

I doubt Rangers expect it to be introduced but by calling for it, the club are able to make the point about the dreadful decisions that have gone against us.