Super_Ally

See if your still saying that when the awards come out.

Most posts of someone not in the hall of fame. Should start campaigning for a new title!

Speaking of McGeady, was it not apparent when he won it last year that the nominations are made even earlier in the season than they are actually announced? I'm sure for either the PPOTY or the WPOTY the nominations are made near the start of the year (I mean calendar year, not the start of the season even if that is when it was decided Brown would get the award ).

Didn't look too clever at the third either. :devil:

Gambling instinct? Addiction more like.

Sounds like a fair assessment of how the fixtures will be worked out. Easiest scenario is if Hibs make it. However with 'Well playing St Mirren, if we were to beat Hibs that looks unlikely. As I alluded to, in season's past it's the team not seeded to finishe top 6 who have their fixtures altered and the consensus opinion is Heart to host Celtic 3 times. However, the SPL will do what they want for the easiest life. I.e. keep the *******s happy.

Is that what you went for last time?

Observations on Players POTY: 1) Poor distribution. Based on performances for Scotland and the Celtic games I see each season (thought I admit to missing some). Pretty criminal for a central midfielder who struggles to find a team mate. 2) Assists. Not one of the 12 listed in the SPL's website . Nakamura leads the way on 9, Driver and Davis are two of the players tied for second with 7. Caley's Dougie Imrie, Aberdeen's Charlie Mulgrew and Killie's Mehdi Taouil are even listed with 5 or 6. 3) Goals. 5 League goals this season. An unimpressive return, particularly for a team who routinely competes at the top of the league. 2 of these goals came in the 7-0 victory over St Mirren who embarrassed themselves and the SPL that day. Andy Dorman of St Mirren has 8 league goals and 2 more in the cup this season for a side that have struggled all season long at the bottom of the table. 4) Defensive contribution. Seeing as his goals and assists are none to impressive for a team currently topping the goal scoring charts, perhaps his nomination is for his defensive abilities? He lacks positional sense charging around the field like a bull to a red flag when he sees the ball. Leaving gaps and space to be exploited. He puts in more than his fair share of tackles. But gives away too many fouls as evidenced by the fact he has gone over the points threshold and will be missing the key post-split Old Firm fixture. So on what other basis has he apparently romped the Players award?

With Ian having started the prediction thread, just thought i'd make sure Craig remembered he was up for the Preview. I'm sure you had though.

It's back. :cheers: I didn't do too bad last time. But who could have predicted Velicka getting a start? Said 3-0 with Boyd to get 2 but Davis the other. Easter Road is always a difficult venue these days. Even if they are maybe not quite as strong as they were a year or two ago. A tight 2-1 victory I think. A goal at a difficult away venue could really be the boost for Boyd to go on and score the goals to win the League Flag. I wont enjoy such a narrow victory, will be nail biting stiff. But as long as we get at least 1 more than them i'll be happy.

For alex: When Viduka won it, we won the league by 21 points. Di Canio won it the year we sealed niar. In fact during niar we won it only 5 out of 9 times. We all know about the Hartson/Ricksen farce. In the papers the press had been pushing Sutton (I think) all year. When they realised Ricksen was the clear choice, Hartson appeared from nowhere for a tie. (Yes I realise this is the Player's award, but surely there is some agreement between what the sport's writer's have printed and what the players view).

Brown won it at a canter according to one of the radio stations. (Results are already in apparently).

Meant to add a disclaimer; Apologies if any stats, facts or suppositions are incorrect and would appreciate any errors pointed out. Hopefully they wont be too erroneous.

I guess i've been (inadequately) attempting to play devil's advocate. For what it's worth has the campaign more or less not died a death anyway? It doesn't seem anywhere near as prevalent and i'm not even sure if it can any longer be described as a "campaign". I dont really indulge in the BJK stuff anymore, but then i'm not able to attend games as freely as before. I don't really have too big a problem with it personally. He did know. They did cover it up. If the mopes are going to go around slinging mud then they're going to the people they are attacking digging up the skeletons in their closet. (If a rapist/paedophile./murderer went around attacking a guy for saying something offensive how do you think said person might respond? In kind perhaps and with indignation at the person throwing the accusations). It may not be the smartest way to fight. But as i've said before many of the people doing this don't really have any way to defend themselves against the constant, unfair and unsubstantiated attacks against them.

Well you can decide if it's interesting. If the Hibernian at least match Motherwell's result with St Mirren when we travel to Leith (god forbid it's any more than a heavy defeat :devil:) or as long as St Mirren manager a victory, the teams currently occupying top 6 places will remain so for the post-split fixtures. Strathclyde police have already decreed that the Old Firm should be the 9th of May, the second post-split fixture, to minimise any repeat incidents from Celtic fans as witnessed in May 99. However, how have the two sides fared in the corresponding fixtures earlier in the season and can they give us any insight into who holds the edge going into these crunch end of season fixtures? At the momment, Hibernian hold the advantage of currently occupying 6th spot, so first we will consider how the fixtures will likely pan out if they finish in the top half come Sunday afternoon. The results achieved by the ourselves and Celtic in the same fixtures earlier this season are as follows (inc. 1 remaining pre-split fixture): These fixtures earlier in the season saw us collect 10 out of a maximum 18 points with a slender +3 improvement in the goal difference. Not overly impressive, but a better return than Celtic's 8 points from the 18 available. The above results are displayed in no particular order with reference to how the split might pan out. However it is clear to see and will not be news to fans of any club, but the remaining Old Firm and the two remaining away ties at Tynecastle and Tannadice remain our biggest tests. Celtic will not be relishing another trip to Edinburgh to take on Hibernian, nor their two remaining fixtures with Aberdeen who have shown a reasonable ability to take points off Celtic across recent seasons. The fact that the remaining Old Firm game is at Ibrox will also be of concern. Should we defeat Hibernian this weekend and Motherwell collect 3 points against St Mirren they will replace Hibs in the top 6 and the post-split fixtures become more complicated. As Hearts did not finish top 6 last season they will not be seeded by the league chiefs to finish top 6 this year. That means that if Motherwell do attain the final top 6 spot it is Hearts whose fixtures would change with Motherwell "due" an away tie at Parkhead and home match with Rangers. Celtic would not relish now being sent to Tynecastle yet again this season. Of course, nothing is ever certain with the SPL split, however that is the accepted wisdom for how the fixtures will be resolved. If Motherwell were to steal a top 6 spot the related statistics for each side's corresponding fixtures earlier in the season are altered: With the fixtures unevenly weighted compared to the first example, (Celtic would travel to Tynecastle for a third time, whilst we would again welcome them to Ibrox) it is harder to make statistical sense of the date. What is apparent though is that Celtic would be keen to avoid returning to Tynecastle so soon after being lucky to escape with a draw thanks to an early Hesselink strike. The flip side of that is a game against Motherwell, managed by their good friend Mark McGhee. The Lanarkshire club's manager openly admitted last year he would prefer Celtic won the title last year and with his team already conceding 7 out of a possible 9 to Celtic this year the hooped hordes would be confident of maximum points in such an important fixture. From looking at the two scenarios, even a cursory glance shows which scenario might better suit or hopes. In scenario A we amassed 10 points from 18 in the same fixtures earlier this year to Celtic's 8 (A rate of 1.67 points per game compared to Celtic's 1.33). In the second set of potential fixtures we acrued only 12 points from a possible 21 to Celtic's 14 (1.71 points/game compared to their 2). So whilst we collected more points in the games from scenario B earlier in the season, the improvement in Celtic's results was even greater. The accepted wisdom is that Motherwell securing the final top 6 spot would likely send the tar riers to Gorgie for the third time this year giving Celtic a very difficult fixture to negotiate. However, with the SPL nothing is certain, Celtic may not be asked to return to Tynecastle. Particularly with their club's spokespeople already kicking up a hubbub about the post split fixtures and Strathclyde's finest intervention to limit the potential fallout from their followers. In any case, the number of points collected earlier in the season, whilst a useful indicator of our potential opponent's threat to our title aspirations, may have no bearing on the fixtures still to come. They do, however, produce an interesting point of debate ahead of 6 monumental fixtures for Smith, McCoist, McDowall and the players.

DO I think it will achieve their aims. No. (Even if they were in the right morally speaking, the media etc aren't interested in that.) Just because the fans thinking is flawed does not mean that that is not necessarily the motive behind their actions.

Had a look back throught the thread and not to sure we're really disagreeing. Just struglling to see the point each other is making. I'm not arguing these people are some kind of crusaders for social change. Which is what I believe you think I am implying. I merely think they are saying to the authorities, media etc if you're going to start tackling the unsightly side of the OF how about occassionally casting your gaze at the other mob, who aside from being as bad as much to blame the sectarianism issues are paedo harbourers to boot. (The giruy to Celtic is an added bonus :devil:) I think that's where we're at?

It's not an effective way of achieving it. But they (we?) don't have any other real options. It's like when the papers print bullshit about us. How can we get back at them reaching the same number of people as they do to challenge their bs? We cant. It does stink of the childish arguments of "it's not just me, they did it too". But when you only selectively punish one person, or one group in this case, it's only natural to highlight the ills of the other person/group. It's not an adequate defence for your own behaviour, but when you are being victimised in such a manner it's easy to see how it happens. It's why the so called war on sectarianism will never succeed.

Surely you can't generalise and say 50,000+ people behave in a certain way for one singular reason?

I'm not trying to say whether I agree with the campaign or not. Nor necessarily state that everyone partakes in singing BJK etc because of the reasons I give. I'm just saying, to some extent, I can kind of see why some Rangers fans are "lashing out" as they are. It's not that they are revelling in Celtic's sordid past. But as BD states, we're always getting the shitty end of the stick with no avenues to fight back and perhaps this one way of for once having the blame more favourably apportioned. Hope that makes sense. Essentially I believe many take part because we are hammered for every minor indiscretion, whereas Celtic's are continually swept under the rug. I guess many think that the media, Celtic and other fans cannot ignore the harbouring of Paedophiles in the same way that they look to hide their bigotry under a banner of "politics".

I dunno, to me it seems like the natural reaction of a group of people being villified by their society unjustly. We get routinely attacked and lambasted in the media for any kind of minor infringement whilst they seem to hold the role of the good guys in our society. And yet they are the one's who are guilty of hiding paedophilia a far more serious crime than naughty singing. It might be distasteful, but it is natual for people to lash out like that when their "punishment" is far to severe for the crime and there is a worse criminal in the neighbourhood.

They are just being fucking ridiculous. The availability or not of particular players plays no part in the SPL's decision making process. It was down to the recommendations of the police. If certain players just happen to be suspended then, tough titties. Perhaps the club shoudl be fining Brown for ill-discipline meaning he is missing a big match for them.

They lose a player but we gain one? Are we making signings outwith the transfer window or something. Tbf I knew they would make accusations of bias and suggest conspiracy theories. The truth is, if they could behave themselves this might not have come about so they only have themselves to blame.

South America. Shouldn't have needed to ask really.

3-3 on the night! Alan Hansen would have a lot to say about that!