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  1. .....but Stephen Thompson got it wrong. BARRY says the controversy and unnecessary bad blood that has been whipped up because Dundee United didn’t ask for their fair share of tickets is causing an unhelpful and unwanted distraction for McNamara. AT least Stephen Thompson has got something right. His decision to back down in his war of words against the SFA was the first thing the Dundee United chairman has got right since creating this season’s latest back-page controversy. Honestly, sometimes I get the feeling the people at the top of our game could start a fight in an empty room and this latest row about the venue and ticket allocation for United’s semi- final against Rangers just goes to prove my point. If I’m getting this right, Thompson started it all by complaining about having to play the game at Ibrox, even though this had already been decided months ago. Then it escalated when Jackie McNamara complained United should be given a 50-50 split of the tickets – only to find out later his own club had only asked the SFA for 8000. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not having a go at Jackie for that. If I was in his shoes I would be making the same demands as I see no reason why United couldn’t take 20,000 fans to Glasgow. But clearly his club has mishandled the situation. I can’t understand why they didn’t go for the maximum amount of tickets available (say around 40 per cent) then attempted to sell them to their supporters. If it turned out they couldn’t shift the lot they could easily have handed the excess back and Rangers fans would have snapped them up. I’m sure that’s what Jackie would have expected his bosses to do because he needs all the help he can get to make this playing field as level as possible for his players. What he doesn’t need are the people around him ramping up the bad feeling ahead of this tie and making sure the matchday atmosphere will be red-hot which is exactly what has been going on over the past few days. I’ve seen all kind of talk about United and their fans not feeling safe inside Ibrox. Thompson has even said he won’t be taking his seat in the directors’ box. What is that all about? I’m a bit taken aback by that. I can’t for the life of me work out what they are getting at here. But it seems to me all this controversy and unnecessary bad blood has been whipped up because United didn’t ask for their fair share of tickets in the first place. And none of it helps their manager. For Jackie this will be an unhelpful distraction. Not only is he heading to Ibrox with a very young side and with only 8000 United fans behind them but now, because of all this other stuff, he can expect an even more hostile reception in Glasgow. He needs that like a hole in his head. Some people will tell you the size of the crowd and the atmosphere the fans generate on a big matchday doesn’t really affect the game itself. Trust me, those people are talking garbage. As a Rangers player I always responded to the big occasion. The more fans we had behind us, the more signing and dancing the more I buzzed off it. I knew these fans were in our corner and they could help lift us through difficult moments as much as they could intimidate the opposition. I just need to think back to one of the strangest nights of my career to show the difference supporters can make. In September 2005 we went to the San Siro to take on Inter Milan in the Champions League. UEFA had ordered that the game be played behind closed doors as a punishment for the Italians. It was the most surreal 90 minutes of my life. We walked out to hear the Champions League music rattling around this huge empty stadium. That was as close as it felt to being a proper top-level European night. Because the moment the music stopped and this huge ground fell completely silent it just felt wrong. Normally on nights like this you can’t hear yourself think. But when that game started we could hear our own shouts echoing back off the empty stands. The action itself was as flat as pancake. It felt more like a pre-season kickabout than a Champions League encounter and it must have been the same for Inter’s players because they couldn’t get going either. So don’t tell me fans in the stands make no difference to the players on the pitch. I always believed our supporters could be our 12th man. When you have nothing left in your legs these guys can push you on and make you dig that little bit deeper – and I’m sure that will be the case again when United head to Ibrox next month. It’s definitely a disadvantage for the players to have only a quarter of the seats but Jackie will hope that because some of his boys are so young they might not be all that bothered by it. You often find kids have no fear in these kind of situations – it’s the more experienced players who tend to get a bit more rattled by things like that. But it can work both ways too. Maybe that was the case with Aberdeen last weekend when they struggled to get on top of Inverness, with 40,000 of their own fans inside Celtic Park. By the way, that’s one thing I’ve never fathomed. How come Aberdeen get gates of eight or nine thousand on a normal Saturday at Pittodrie but 40,000 of them turn up for cup finals in Glasgow? Can you imagine what a big club they could be if only some of these punters would go to games more regularly? These are difficult times I know. It’s not easy to find the cash to go the football every week. But even so, Aberdeen will surely be hoping crowds go up now Derek McInnes has put a trophy in the cabinet – especially as there could be a Scottish Cup to come at the end of this season. There’s no doubt that bigger crowds create bigger pressure for the players. But isn’t that why you pull on your boots in the first place? If you can’t cope with a bit of pressure then you’re in the wrong business. Big players don’t buckle under it, they thrive on it. Which is why United’s visit to Ibrox will also provide these Rangers players with a perfect platform to prove they deserve to wear that jersey. They’ve taken a lot of stick and they’ll know they have a lot of doubters out there. People have said they are not good enough to represent the club. Well lads, here’s your big chance to prove them all wrong. If you don’t think you can win this cup don’t bother turning up. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/barry-ferguson-jackie-mcnamara-right-3266401
  2. Yep Ally, full pre-season this year, good winning momentum at the moment, settled team by the looks of it. Now just 'go for it' in this game. There would be nothing worse going out of this tie at a wimper. If we give all and play fast attacking football but go out I would accept it as it gives a measure as to where we are but going out in poor fashion just turns attention onto Ally's ability to put a good team out again.
  3. EAST Stirlingshire head coach John Coughlin said last night that he substituted Jordan Tapping in yesterday’s 4-0 defeat by Peterhead at Balmoor after the 17-year-old schoolboy was reduced to tears by a sustained level of racial abuse from a section of the crowd. Coughlin claimed the youngster was subjected to monkey noises and name calling from members of the home support situated behind the goal that Tapping was helping to defend in the second half. Tapping, the cousin of Hearts midfielder Callum Tapping, scored an own goal in the League Two match and was taken off with 15 minutes remaining. Coughlin said: “Firstly I want to say that what went on had no impact on the result of the game but it was a horrible incident. It was so bad that a couple of our players went to the referee to make sure that he was hearing it. “He took no action at the time but he is including it in his match report. Jordan is just a kid who is still at school and was understandably upset and bewildered at what was getting shouted at him. I looked at him with about 20 minutes left and knew I had to get him off the pitch. By the time I did he was in tears. Whilst no one should have to deal with abuse, a more experienced player or person might have been able to handle it differently but in reality it is not Jordan’s problem.” Referee Gavin Duncan is expected to report the matter to the SFA. Coughlin added: “The Peterhead chairman Rodger Morrison came up and apologised to Jordan after the game. Whilst he acknowledged there had been a problem, no one can quite understand why no stewards were asked to go and get the fans doing it to stop, or even more appropriately, throw them out or get them arrested. “Our players were very upset for Jordan and there was a lot of anger in our dressing room afterwards. They are all very much behind raising this incident as far as possible to show their support to their team-mate.” Tapping, pictured, was applauded off the pitch by his team-mates. One supporter who was at the game said: “The ref stopped the game in the second half and spoke to the linesman. Then he seemed to call the head steward or someone like that. It was good couple of minutes he was speaking to the steward. The steward went over and spoke to someone behind the goal. It was just a single guy that they seemed to be speaking to. When [Tapping] went off, all the other East Stirling players were applauding him off the park.” As of last night, the Scottish Professional Football League had received no complaint. http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/latest/east-stirlingshire-s-tapping-racially-abused-1-3325536
  4. Club website link: http://www.rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/item/6350-ready-to-listen Received by email Dear At our recent AGM I outlined our intention to undertake a comprehensive review of the entire Club and I am pleased to report that we are making excellent progress with this. A key element of looking at how the Club operates and engages is to understand what is important to you, the Rangers supporters. If we can obtain your constructive input and suggestions then we can develop a comprehensive insight into what is needed to address the areas that are important to the fans. We are in the process of rebuilding how your Club operates and based on feedback from many of you, it is clear that there is a need for professional business management, honest conversation, transparency and greater communication to allow us to move forward together. Your Club Executive and Board is wholly open minded on how we can work together for the better development of Rangers. The Club, and you the supporters, have continued to be tested in recent months as we work on developing the long term strategy for rebuilding the Club. We need you to know that by working together, we have the ability to position your Club for a stable, successful and sustainable future. We hope that you will engage with the Club and talk to us openly. We value your input and we are Ready to Listen. To start us on this journey together, I would ask if you could take a few minutes to complete this short survey which will give you the opportunity to commence the process of sharing your thoughts and opinions with us. We will consolidate all input received and use this as the basis upon which to move our wider supporter engagement initiatives forward. Please click here to start survey. Thank you for your support. Graham Wallace Chief Executive Officer Rangers Football Club
  5. 'Fisking' is an online term for deconstructing an article and showing the flaws in the argument in 'real time'. Graham Spiers' recent article for The Herald “Celtic, a Roll of Honour, and point-scoring galore” is a perfect candidate. Graham Spiers' words are in italics, while my commentary is in normal font. A pretty remarkable thing has happened in Scottish football in recent days - the Celtic fans have in effect just stormed the national charts with 'Roll of Honour', the Irish rebel song.The song, recorded by The Irish Brigade, laments the fate of the IRA hunger strikers who died in the Maze Prison in 1981, and cites all 10 of them as the verses unfold. It is a song which a more politically-active section of the Celtic support has chanted and, in this current scenario of national chart success, is aimed at cocking a snook at the confused - some say plainly botched - Offensive Behaviour At Football Act in Scotland. Graham immediately gets his facts wrong. Seven were affiliated to the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA or PIRA) and three with the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). It is beyond doubt that both groups collectively murdered thousands and are illegal in the UK and Ireland. Many of their victims were targeted solely for their nationality or religion. During 1981 alone – never mind before or since - the Provisional IRA and INLA murdered many people. Those the song 'laments' were part of these groups and must have approved of the killings and violence. The ten themselves had been found guilty of crimes including possession of firearms, grenades and explosives, manslaughter, punishment shootings, hijackings, attempted murder and murder. Keep these hard facts in mind. By John Gow Read more...http://www.therangersstandard.co.uk/index.php/articles/rfc-politics/311-fisking-graham-spiers
  6. Don't have much to go on, but apparently King is predicting our financial meltdown again in another Keith Jackson article....
  7. ......to automatically relegate clubs in administration Doubts over implementing punishment lead to rethink as existing points deductions kept in place The Scottish Professional Football League has abandoned plans to punish clubs who enter administration with automatic demotion. When the proposal was put forward by the president of a lower league club at an SPFL board meeting last October there was initial enthusiasm, with the feeling that such a severe sanction would act as a deterrent for any financially troubled club who viewed administration as a way to wipe out debts and remove employees from their wage bill. However, following several months of negotiations with all 42 member clubs, it has been decided not to place that punishment on the statute books. While support remained for the move, the majority opinion was that there were issues attached to it which could not be immediately resolved. “There was a wide consultation process and we spent time looking at it but, ultimately, the prevailing opinion was that there were complications arising from it which raised other questions,” said a Hampden source. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/scottish-football/10631856/Scottish-football-abandons-plans-to-automatically-relegate-clubs-in-administration.html
  8. bearing in mind that my football credentials come from sitting on my arse in the Govan stand and standing on what is now the Broomloan stand for 40 years, could I have fucked up Celtic's season any more successfuly than the whinging bigot? Given that the league has been awarded to Celtic before a ball is kicked; Could I have manged to lose the League Cup to a team from a division lower than mine on 100/th of the resources? mmm, yep, I'm inept enough to have done that. Could I have got my team twatted out of the Scottish Cup at home to a side with 1/10 of my resources? To be honest, I probably could have. Could I have gone through a Champions League campaign, winning 1 and losing 5? Probably not, to be honest. I'd have lost all 6. So there we have it, a bluenose of 40+ years standing could have been only marginally more inept and done only margianlly more damage to Celtic than Yellow Tooth. Of a possible 9 trophies he could have won, in the absence of the only real competition, he has had 3 handed to him before the season started and won only 1 of the remaining 6 possibles. And this whilst managing a club whose resources are greater han the rest of the league combined. Yeah, they're queuing up to take Neily south of the border, that's for sure.
  9. As with last game (that put us top of the league ) the game today has been switched to Murray park. It was to be at St Mirren with a 7pm kick off, but now - "Dear all, Please see updated details ahead of this evening’s fixture between Rangers and St. Mirren: SPFL U20 League Rangers v St. Mirren Murray Park, 6pm "
  10. Should be unbelievable but is just expected nowadays. --- The Scottish Professional Football League has decided not to take action against Celtic for a banner shown by their supporters in a league match with Aberdeen. Since November, the league have been investigating the display of a giant H by a section of fans at Parkhead, which was accompanied by the message "they fought and died for their wee bit hill and glen." Complaints were subsequently made to the SPFL, who confirmed they would determine whether the banner breached their rules on unacceptable conduct. STV understands the league have ruled there is no evidence to suggest their rules were breached in the incident. SPFL regulations say action may be taken if a person present at a match uses "words or conduct or displaying any writing or other thing which indicates support for, or affiliation to, or celebration of, or opposition to an organisation or group proscribed in terms of the Terrorism Act 2000." However, a club is not automatically punished under SPFL rules if a potentially offensive banner is displayed. The league's regulations state action can be taken if a club has failed to take the necessary measures to prevent spectators from "engaging" in unacceptable conduct. They can then only be hit with sanctions if it can be proven the club failed to adopted and implement procedures to try to ensure such incidents do not take place. The onus is also placed on clubs to be seen to "effectively deal" with any incidents of unacceptable conduct. A failure to do so may also constitute a breach of league rules. Celtic condemned the display of the banners shortly after, saying they had not been approved by the club and were not welcome within the stadium. UEFA, who have different rules regarding the display of offensive banners at games under their jurisdiction, fined Celtic £42,000 following a display at the Champions League match with AC Milan last November. On the banner, unfurled before the match, images of William Wallace and Bobby Sands were shown alongside the message: "The terrorist or the dreamer? The savage or the brave? Depends whose vote you are trying to catch or whose face you're trying to save." -- Can you imagine what this will encourage them to display next? FFS, what a state..............
  11. The shift to the offence principle is criminalising both words and people to all our detriment, writes Stuart Waiton THE philosopher Joel Feinberg has argued that, in cases of law, “we have moved from the harm principle to the offence principle”. What he means is that increasingly society and the law is less interested in actual physical or economic harm and more interested in policing things that are defined as being offensive. One outcome of this is that actual violence is being treated less seriously than words and the notion that sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never harm me is being turned on its head. Just this month we had a clear illustration of this in the cases of Paul McGowan and Michael Convery. St Mirren player McGowan was found guilty of assaulting police officers, repeatedly kicking one of them, and yet despite having a previous conviction for police assault received only 130 hours of unpaid work as a punishment. Michael Convery on the other hand sent threatening racist Twitter messages to two black Rangers players and received a six-month prison sentence. This is not an isolated example of words being treated more seriously than actual violence. For example, David Goodwillie, while playing for Blackburn Rovers, was charged with the assault of a man who he “repeatedly punched on the head and body and kicked”. He was sentenced to 80 hours of unpaid work, while David Limond, on the other hand, has just been sentenced to six months in prison for making sectarian threats to a journalist. The list goes on. I first noticed this trend to not only elevate the harm done by words but also to downgrade the issue of violence while watching the Panorama programme entitled Stadiums of Hate, which wrongly portrayed the coming Polish and Ukrainian European football tournament as a racist bloodbath in waiting. In this hysterical portrayal of racist and fascist Ukrainians and Poles, images of fascist saluting fans were interspersed with shots of a group of Asian men being kicked to bits by a group of skinhead thugs at a football match. What shocked me was that in the voiceover of these events there appeared to be not only no separation of the two things, one a gesture, the other actual serious (and I thought horrifying) violence, but the fact that far more seemed to be made of the singing and gesturing than the actual beatings themselves. This programme was illustrative of a number of trends that help to explain the increased policing of words. Firstly, there is the overblown fear of the racist (or sectarian) mob by our politically correct elite, a fear that has led to football (where the “mob” can be found) being a focal point for never-ending awareness campaigns, new laws, surveillance and so on. The control of language around football has been elevated into a largely unquestioned principle and words themselves have been increasingly criminalised. Secondly, there is the elitist elevation of certain “right thinking” and “tolerant” issues into moral absolutes, around which politicians queue up to illustrate their worth as people who “oppose racism and sectarianism in all its forms”, leading to the demand that something must be done – that something being an ever-increasing array of laws to police incorrect words. But it is not only at football or with issue of racism that this policing of language can be seen. There are a variety of “offence” cases, usually related to Facebook or Twitter, that incorporate a whole range of offences, for example the Tom Daley Twitter case. Society itself has shifted the goalposts in the last few decades and increasingly treats adults as vulnerable subjects who need protection. Radicals of the 1980s have helped this process by giving up on campaigns for social equality and shifting their attention to the need to police incorrect words – the campaign against institutional racism, for example, has shifted to the terrain of newly defined “hate crimes”. They also helped to construct the idea that certain groups in society were vulnerable groups and as such were more easily harmed and needed added protection. While there remains a caricatured hierarchy of the vulnerable, the genie is now out of the bottle and we can all define ourselves as being offended, abused, traumatised or harassed by certain words. And the newly emerged therapeutic state can step in and find a new role for itself, both to define us as being offended and to protect us from insults. Recently I noticed a poster that read: “We will not tolerate violence in any form including the use of foul language, verbal abuse and aggression.” I was reminded of the philosopher Slavoj Žižek’s profound statement: “What increasingly appears as the central human right of late-capitalist society is the right not to be harassed, which is a right to be kept at a safe distance from others”. For Žižek, in our fragmented world with few clear unifying beliefs or morals, the role of the state has become a problematic one, whereby our isolated insecurity is institutionalised, and they assist us by protecting us in our fragile hamster ball worlds. We are all vulnerable now, the state and law tell us, easily offended and undermined by insults, bogus threats or politically incorrect language, and must be protected. Tragically, this all runs the risk of undermining the moral legitimacy of the law, filling prisons with non-criminals, educating vulnerable groups (indeed all of us) to be increasingly offended, and creating a climate within which the new generation of adults is encouraged to be the most thin-skinned of chronically offended caricatures. • Stuart Waiton is the author of Snobs Law: Criminalising Football Fans in an Age of Intolerance http://www.scotsman.com/news/comment-law-must-focus-on-actions-not-words-1-3271525
  12. ............but sheriff says he should not have been dragged into court 19 Jan 2014 07:36 ADAM RICHMOND walked away from court without a criminal record after a sheriff gave him an absolute discharge, prompting criticism of the law that led to his arrest. A STUDENT held after chanting abuse about the Pope and the Queen at a football match has been convicted under controversial anti-sectarian laws. But Adam Richmond, 19, walked away without a criminal record after a sheriff said he should not have been dragged into court. The case has sparked a fresh wave of criticism over the Government’s Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications Act, driven into place two years ago after a bad-tempered Old Firm match and designed to clamp down on sectarian abuse at games and online. Football fans, lawyers and civil liberty campaigners have branded the legislation unnecessary and confused after cases have been questioned when they reached court. Richmond was arrested after police heard him singing “F*** your Pope and f*** your Queen” as Partick Thistle played Celtic at Firhill in October. Thistle fans sing the song to distance themselves from Rangers and Celtic. At Glasgow Sheriff Court, he was found guilty by Sheriff Norman Ritchie QC of behaviour likely to incite public disorder by singing sectarian and offensive remarks. But he told the teenager: “You are not the sort of person who creates the problem and needs this legislation.” He then discharged him absolutely. That means Richmond, from Penilee, Glasgow, has no criminal record despite being found guilty. Yesterday, solicitor advocate Chris Fyffe said: “I struggle to see the point of this Act. One of the major concerns was it had an extremely long reach and was very vague in its terms. “This seems to be being borne out to a certain extent by some of these decisions, suggesting there is a reluctance on the part of the sheriffs to find one person in a crowd of 3000 guilty. “Because of its vagueness, you can have a situation theoretically where somebody is saying something which is, on the face of it, offensive – it doesn’t have to be sectarian or racist and people do shout things at football matches – so there’s a potential there for criminalising football fans for what they have been doing for the past 150 years. “These cases seem to be reflecting the concern a lot of lawyers – and not just defence lawyers but sheriffs as well – are having regarding this legislation. “What it really seems to be doing is focusing on football behaviour as opposed to what many people see as the real concern, which is sectarianism in Scotland. “It seems we are criminalising people who are letting off steam in a relatively secure environment.” Product design student Richmond was told he was a credible witness until he was asked about singing the song, when his evidence turned “decidedly lukewarm” and his confidence “evaporated”. The Thistle song is supposed to celebrate the club’s neutrality from Old Firm bigotry with the line: “We hate the boys in royal blue, we hate the boys in emerald green, f*** your Pope and f*** your Queen.” Richmond told the court that the song is only sung when Thistle play Celtic or Rangers and the lyrics represent taking a stand against religion in football. Richmond, who has been going to games with his dad since he was six, said: “To me, from my understanding of the song, I don’t see how it can be offensive.” But anti-sectarianism charity Nil By Mouth said they hoped that Richmond had learned his lesson. Campaigns director David Scott said: “The use of this type of language at a match is no longer acceptable no matter what the context. “Fans at all league clubs are warned on the back of their ticket and before the start of games that offensive singing or chanting is not allowed. “Clearly, if this man wants to keep religion out of football, he should not have been singing what he did.” When we contacted Richmond at his home, he declined to comment. But a family friend said: “Adam has never been in trouble in his life. This has been hanging over for him for months and has been a terrible strain. “He was the only one arrested even though he was in a group of about 300 fans. “Adam has been told he will not have to declare this as a conviction when he goes for a job, which is a real relief. “This is a song that the Thistle fans have been singing for years without any previous complaints. “There is no intention of causing offence. All it really does is poke fun at Celtic and Rangers fans.” Partick Thistle declined to comment on the case. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/student-convicted-under-controversial-anti-sectarian-3037633
  13. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x199l5o_stenny-v-rangers-05-01-14_sport
  14. Billy Brown believes the time has come to allow Hearts to add to their meagre squad as injuries and suspensions mount at Tynecastle. With a transfer embargo still attached to the club while they battle to exit administration, Hearts were again unable to name a full quota of seven substitutes in Thursday’s Edinburgh derby defeat to Hibernian. Hearts have 14 fit players to choose from, with further places in the squad having to be handed to youths from the Under-17s. Brown questioned whether the sight of kids just out of school having to be called into the first team could damage the reputation of the game in Scotland and declared that “enough is enough”. He said that the sanctions on the club were punishing the wrong people, with former owner Vladimir Romanov now out of the picture. Brown said: “We’ve taken our punishment on the chin and as far as I’m concerned the punishment should end now. “We should be able to sign players now. Everybody speaks about sporting integrity and it is about time the ban was lifted. “It is not the people here that are at fault for what happened. The man who caused it has gone. “We have about 13 or 14 players to pick from and we can’t fill the bench. Jamie Hamill is suspended on Sunday and Scott Robinson will be suspended [later in the month]. “This isn’t a bluff. Within three or four injuries and suspensions we are having to put 15 and 16-year-olds in. “You tell me if that’s a benefit to Scottish football. “I think the time has now come. Enough is enough and we have to be given a bit of leeway.” http://m.stv.tv/sport/football/clubs/hearts/258929-billy-brown-enough-is-enough-hearts-transfer-ban-must-be-lifted/
  15. Dunfermline- The Height of Hypocrisy By Stephstar For any bear attending this match I hope the words of John Yorkston rings deafening in their ears! 2nd June 2012 – source: Daylate Rhebel. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/dunfermline-chief-john-yorkston-rangers-1128190 DUNFERMLINE chief John Yorkston says the SFA have no choice but to boot Rangers out of the game because a Scottish Cup ban is too soft. The Pars chairman saw his club kicked out of the cup in 2010 for clerical mistakes that saw them field the suspended Calum Woods as a sub in a 7-1 win over Stenhousemuir. They are far from the only ones with Spartans, Brechin City and East Stirling all having been expelled from the competition for fielding ineligible players through honest mistakes. So Yorkston insists it would be ludicrous to deal Rangers the same punishment for dodging taxes and putting the nation’s football future in jeopardy by pursuing the SFA through civil courts., So 19 months later… we have seen Dunfermline enter administration (without punishment) and exit via ZERO pence in the pounds CVA, while openly gloating that each and every Rangers game this season will take them one step closer to profitability. Of course no one wants to mention the £134K tax bill they walked away from do they! Never mind the £12 Million in debts to organisations such as the Red Cross/NHS Fife (£2 Million +) or even the £1200+ currently owed to Rangers OldCo’s creditors after all they got their ZERO pence CVA, so that makes it okay doesn’t it! I’ll bet they throw the red carpet out for the current board, while reducing the attendance by over 7000 just as they did for the last match they played Rangers in the SPhell. I doubt if hector will worry about the lost revenues after all. So any rangers fan who does attend Monday’s match can go home happy that no matter what the result at East End Park, they’ve proven that it’s profitable to be lying cheating scum (as long as you are kicking Rangers).
  16. by ANDREW SMITH A BUMPER crowd is expected as Celtic bring in the bells at home to Partick Thistle on Wednesday. With free tickets dished out and buses laid on, who knows, the Parkhead ground may even be at least half full. It hasn’t been that way recently. Indeed, the past two league games are the first back-to-back such encounters to have attracted crowds of less than 30,000 while the championship has been a live issue since the stadium became a 60,000-seater arena in 1998. Then, accurate attendances were given out. Now, these require freedom of information requests, with the club aggregating the number of paid-for-seats, which amounted to 46,000 for each of the victories over Hibernian and Hearts this month. If that appears undoubtedly healthy then what is not is that around 20,000 season ticket holders – around half the entire figure, in fact – are electing to think better of occupying seats they have already parted with their money for. It will be pointed out that the weather and time of year led to a dip in attendances throughout the country but that doesn’t explain what is driving down Celtic’s capacity to have punters come out to watch them. In the year-and-a-half the top flight has been devoid of the Rangers brand, Celtic have made great play of the fact that they have a standalone strategy not dependent on rivalry with a club playing out of Ibrox. And, having turned a debt into cash in the bank and posted a near-£10 million profit last year, they are making good on their assertion. Yet the declining interest from Celtic fans in watching a procession to their third championship demonstrates that they would struggle to operate at their current level if there was never again a team called Rangers in the top flight. The last two home games offered a glimpse of what would be the norm if the club operated in an environment in which they had no major – even from a numerical and cultural sense – rival. The 20,000 no-showers among Celtic’s season ticket holder base probably retain their tickets currently for two reasons: they received a £100 reduction on them last summer and it will probably be only 18 months before there is a Rangers to ridicule and lord it over in the Premiership. Without that promise of ding-dong derby days, most of these fans would probably chuck their tickets. In a non-Rangers world, then, Celtic would have a rain-or-shine hardcore of around 25,000. When they won the last of their nine-in-a-row run of titles in 1974, that was roughly their home average, as it was when they hit rock bottom in 1994. To live within the means that a 25,000 season-ticket-holder base generated, there is no way Celtic would operate with the £30m playing budget they have at present, or spend even sums of £2m on a couple of players every summer. Such a reduced season-ticket-holder figure – with child and younger person reductions taken into account – would bring in around £8m. Celtic’s ticket sales for the Champions League last year alone were £10m. In the Martin O’Neill era, season tickets sales coined in £23m. Celtic are too cautious to rely on Champions League income every year to prevent major losses. However much their club’s supporters may want to be in denial about it, then, with no Rangers permanently in their domain, Celtic would undergo serious downsizing and most home games the club’s stadium would be morgue-like. In turn, a lower spend on player wages would inhibit the calibre of individual that could be recruited, which would result in the team being weaker and potentially more vulnerable across the three rounds of Champions League qualifiers they require to negotiate to reach the group stages. It is perhaps surprising just how quickly almost half Celtic’s season ticket holders have canned watching domestic games. Two years ago, their team wasn’t even champions. The apologists would claim that the club’s treatment of the now dispersed Green Brigade and its perceived attempts to “sanitise” the support has helped turn off sections of the support, but few are buying that. In the Glasgow domain, for a great many it is quite clear that hatred of the other side fuels interest more than love of their own club. And without this adversarial outlet, it is noticeable how the stuggles of both Celtic and Rangers have become internalised. When it was put to Celtic manager Neil Lennon that some of his supporters appear to have short memories, he said: “And a self-destrcut button. And it’s not helpful.” The Irishman said he “can’t look at” the possibility that some Celtic fans have turned to navel gazing about their club as a more satisfying pastime than actually attending games. “My objective is to take the team forward,” Lennon said. “I am aware of the point being made because it is almost as if they need something to fight or argue about. But I can’t do anything about that.” In terms of the lowly 25,000 crowd estimated to have turned up for the 12.15 visit of Hearts last Saturday, Lennon pointed to mitigating circumstances beyond climate. “It’s the first time we’ve had a home game televised for a while and it’s Christmas as well which might have had a big effect on the crowd. We are always looking to give fans value for money and we’re always looking to bring a player in who might capture the imagination as well. But we’re 16 games unbeaten and we can’t do much more than that. Our away form has been very good but it’s a little bit different at home where teams camp in for long periods of the game. I know it’s up to us to try and break them down but we try to give the fans value for money at home as well. “I don’t think [what has happened with the Green Brigade] has had any effect. There might have been a Champions League hangover as well. We’re out of that competition now. I would expect over the festive period the crowds will pick up again and we have Partick Thistle on New Year’s Day and I would imagine there will be a decent crowd for that one.” A “decent crowd” these days, is very different from what it was five years ago. http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/latest/poor-attendances-suggest-celtic-need-rangers-1-3249508
  17. Has liewell told diddy dumbcaster to sweep it under the carpet with everything else ? Was there another SPFL enquiry into the H block banners at the Abergreen game too ?
  18. Five people have been arrested in connection with crowd trouble at the Motherwell v Celtic game last week A reported £10,000 of damage was caused to seats in a section housing Celtic fans, a flare was let off in the same area before the game and two green smoke bombs were thrown on to the pitch during the match at Fir Park stadium on Friday. Celtic said they were ''appalled'' by the actions and issued precautionary suspensions to 128 supporters preventing them from attending home and away matches, while 250 season-ticket holders seated in the Green Brigade's corner of Celtic Park are to be moved to other parts of the ground. Police said 18 smoke bombs, three fireworks and one flare were set off. There were also disturbances and vandalism in Motherwell both before and after the game. Officers said five people were arrested in connection with the disorder on Monday and inquiries are continuing. The incident was the latest in a spate of trouble at Scottish football matches. A teenage girl was arrested after a flare was thrown from the Rangers support after their win at Falkirk on November 30, damaging the pitch, and a smoke bomb was thrown from the Motherwell support during their defeat by Albion Rovers on the same day. Last Saturday, 10 people were arrested in connection with football-related disorder before the Falkirk v Raith Rovers match. http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/u/five-arrested-after-celtic-fan-trouble-at-motherwell-match.1386845170
  19. A FATHER and son have been banned from attending Rangers matches at UK football grounds. William and Billy Buchan were handed a two-year football banning order after being found guilty of singing offensive songs on a train journey between Glasgow and Aberdeen on February 18, last year. William, 42, and Billy, 21, whose address was given in court as 46 Kincorth place, Aberdeen, were convicted at Aberdeen Sheriff Court last month. Sheriff Graham Buchanan ordered William to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and Billy 175 hours. http://www.eveningexpress.co.uk/news/local/aberdeen-father-and-son-banned-from-rangers-matches-in-uk-1.162765
  20. FOLLOWING events on Friday evening at Fir Park Stadium, Celtic Football Club today announced that it has issued precautionary suspensions against 128 individuals preventing them attending matches involving Celtic, pending further investigation. These suspensions will cover matches at Celtic Park and away matches. In addition, the Club will be relocating around 250 season book holders in Section 111 to other areas within the stadium, or offering refunds covering the remainder of the season to those who do not wish to be relocated. Events such as those on Friday night do not represent the Celtic support or the Club. These events were an embarrassment to our great football club and are absolutely indefensible. It is clear that there is an element which has no hesitation in bringing Celtic’s name into disrepute. This is something the Club will not tolerate and we therefore have no other option but to take this action. We will not allow the great name of Celtic to be damaged in this way any more - our supporters deserve more than this. While recent events are very regrettable, we would like to thank our many thousands of fans for the wonderful, positive backing which they continue to give to Celtic. We are sure these supporters will understand the position which the Club is in and we are also sure they will unite with the Club as we move forward. Celtic Football Club is in excellent shape on and off the field. The Club is in a very safe and strong position and we have a young, exciting team working hard to deliver quality football and success for our supporters, as they did on Friday evening with a magnificent performance. This is what we want to be talking about and this is what we want to celebrate. Celtic has a proud 125-year history and fundamental to that history have been our fans. Our supporters enjoy a wonderful reputation earned across many years, many families and many generations. This is something we must protect vigorously.
  21. What is this about? https://twitter.com/LindsayJJ1/status/408246230616379392/photo/1 9 blatant fabrications by gersnet?
  22. ..............to rescue Celtic and Rangers HUGH draws comparison with 40 years ago as he rubbishes suggestions that Celtic and Rangers meeting in the Scottish Cup is needed to save a season that is already dead on its feet. THEY used to be famous. Forty years ago there was one night when the pair of them played two European semi-finals in Glasgow on the same night, watched by 150,000 people. Celtic met Inter Milan in the semi-final of the European Cup and went out on penalties. If they’d made it to the final it would have been the club’s third appearance there in five years. Meanwhile, Rangers beat a Bayern Munich side containing the core of the German team that would win the World Cup in their own country two years later. The win at Ibrox took Rangers to Barcelona, where they won the European Cup Winners Cup. How the mighty have fallen. The police wouldn’t let the pair play in Glasgow on the same day in broad daylight last season. Celtic’s SPL match was moved to Sunday so Rangers’ Third Division game could take place in isolation 24 hours earlier. And an Under-17 Glasgow Cup final between the clubs at Firhill last April was marred by violence inside and outside the ground. Pathetic or what? Now there are those who say the only thing that can salvage this season in the wake of Celtic’s elimination from Europe is the prospect of the Old Firm being reunited in a Scottish Cup tie. Not presumably because it would be an epic match. But it would allow two lots of fans to release almost two years’ pent up frustration caused by them living separate existences. Dragged apart because Rangers lived beyond their means and had to be liquidated on their way to the lower orders. Now look at them. Celtic have been humiliated on the field by AC Milan, embarrassed off it by some of their own supporters. They have been reported to UEFA and will be the subject of a fourth disciplinary hearing in two years. One of their players is the subject of a report to the Procurator Fiscal concerning an alleged case of indecency and sexual assault. Meanwhile, over at Ibrox, the Serious Fraud Office have been invited to investigate alleged misappropriation of club funds. And the group battling to win control of Rangers from the existing board of directors have made accusations of intimidation against some of their members. Shall I go on? Let’s just say neither club is what it once was because of a lack of statesman-like leadership, and leave it at that. And the fans should take a reality check. There are Rangers supporters, obviously not born when their team went to Barcelona and beat Moscow Dynamo in 1972, who are looking for a street party because today’s side have gone 13 league games without dropping a point. Is that not what should happen when your multi-million pound squad of full-timers face players who need time off work to play some of their matches? Then there’s Celtic being held hostage by the political activists among their support. The Green Brigade by name, Wolfie Smith and the Tooting Popular Front in appearance. I’ll ask Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell a simple question. If it’s easy enough to ban me from his ground for a year and a half for an unspecified reason, why can’t he clean up the club’s image and do the same to those with a list of ‘previous’ the length of your arm? Lawwell says the illicit banner wavers on Tuesday night showed “clear disrespect for the club”. Call me old fashioned, but why don’t the club close down the troublesome area of their ground in that case? Celtic’s ticket office could, at the push of a computer key, give you the name of every occupant of every seat in the problem area. The troublemakers are deliberately undermining their own club. They must have known from past experience the banners would automatically qualify Celtic for UEFA punishment. Hoops boss Neil Lennon says his heart sank when he saw the banners. That was just before his team capsized. The Celtic team who lost to Inter 40 years ago dusted themselves down and went on to win another championship on the way to the first Nine in a Row. The Old Firm were in rude health then. What surrounds them now is just rude. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/hugh-keevins-itll-take-more-2871417
  23. Wednesday 20 November 2013 Hearts administrators BDO hope to persuade the insolvency firm in control of UBIG to support the deal that would take Heart of Midlothian Football Club plc out of administration on Friday. "Tentative" discussions began yesterday and an agreement will need to be reached ahead of the meeting of creditors at the end of this week. Creditors holding 75% or more of Hearts' debts need to vote in favour of the CVA proposal. UBIG are the majority shareholders in HMFCplc, with a 49.9% stake, and are currently being run by Vilnius-based UAB Bankroto Administravimo Paslaugos after being formally declared bankrupt last week. BDO have now managed to establish a direct line of communication with their insolvency colleagues in Lithuania, and talks will continue over the coming days. Herald
  24. http://billmcmurdo.wordpress.com/2013/11/06/whyte-and-the-missing-millions/ I am told that former Rangers owner Craig Whyte could be getting his collar felt in the near future. BDO investigations have thrown up what will be an absolutely gigantic story of fraud and forgery on a staggering scale involving Whyte’s purchase of Rangers. Police Scotland are believed to be closing in on Whyte and it is reckoned he could get the maximum sentence available if found guilty. I would imagine Whyte’s extraordinary unpopularity and toxic name might be a problem in terms of his getting a fair trial. No doubt anyone involved with his trial would have to prove they were not bluenoses! On a serious note, this trial will be one of the biggest news stories in years and involves alleged misappropriation of millions. Some of the allegations being made are astonishing and will be sickening for Rangers fans to hear. Should Whyte stand trial for fraud it would certainly strengthen the case made by many Rangers fans that the club’s recent woes brought unwarranted punishment by the footballing authorities. If Whyte is subsequently convicted it would mean that Rangers were themselves the victim of a crime and questions would then have to be asked about the SFA’s role, particularly over how much was known at Hampden about Whyte’s suitability to be involved in football or lack thereof. The scale of wrongdoing alleged is quite stunning and will definitely enhance Craig Whyte’s “bogey man” status used so much recently by the Requisitioners and their mouthpieces. Ironically, someone on the Requisitioner side is far closer to Whyte than anyone at Ibrox, being a former drinking buddy of the disgraced former owner. Although I expect the Whyte story to be hot news for quite some time, the reality is that he is now part of history as far as Rangers is concerned. Despite the pathetic and hypocritical attempts by some to spook the Rangers fans with “Whyte is still involved and pulling the strings” scare stories, the reality is that Whyte has left the scene. The vital thing now is for Rangers to build a board that is not only competent but beyond reproach. The appointment of a great CEO and good Non-Execs would be a giant step forward. The big problem for Rangers fans is the constant pressure to look back to things like the latter years of the SDM Years, the Big Tax Case and the Whyte fiasco, as well as liquidation. These things are referred to relentlessly by enemies of Rangers and a hostile media. The upshot of this is shown in the chronic suspicion that many Gers fans are gripped by in relation to the club’s governance. Yet the real need is to look forward and to be positive about both the present and the future. Fear and paranoia do not make for a healthy environment and Rangers need to eradicate this kind of mindset from the club. I am aware this is easier said than done but I do speak to many Gers fans who are far more upbeat about the club’s condition than the so-called spokesmen who are spreading fear and alarm at this present time. I have been approached very seriously about heading a new fans group and I think if I accept I will make one of the conditions of membership a positive mental attitude in relation to Rangers! As the song goes, “Don’t worry. Be happy. Cos every little things going to be all right.” Gers fans like to sing it. It’s about time we lived it.
  25. Hearts really don't look like they have the potential to beat the drop. They have a 15 point disadvantage but have gained no more points than second bottom after more than a quarter of the season. Could it make next season a bit more interesting? In fact half the teams will be no strangers to the SPL and will be not be much different to playing the bottom half of the top league. That's when our current squad will make a lot more sense. We could have saved money with a lesser team this season (although who wants the results and performances to be worse than they are?) but we'd have the same squad for next season too as who is going to sign a one year contract? Otherwise we could have ended up like QotS in the bottom three of the Championship - which so many people wanted to copy.
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