The gorgeous seal thread

[Juancornetto 1]

This will be the scene if Celtic keep their European form up.

 

[ian1964 10,419]

Celtic's decision to field weakened team in defeat to Tottenham branded 'disrespectful'

 

Organisers of Celtic's thumping weekend defeat to Tottenham are seeking an apology and a refund from the Scottish champions after branding the decision to send a team of kids 'disrespectful'.

 

Faced with over-turning a 4-1 Champions League first leg deficit to Legia Warsaw, manager Ronny Deila stayed with his first team in Glasgow as a development squad suffered a 6-1 thrashing at Helsinki's Olympic Stadium on Saturday.

 

Efe Ambrose, Teemu Pukki, Amido Balde and Craig Gordon were the only senior first team players to travel to Finland.

 

On Sunday Celtic defended the move by saying Deila had inherited the game from the previous management team.

 

But Leino Lonsu of Estonian promoters FC Santos Invest claimed they felt 'cheated' after providing flights, accommodation and a match fee on the proviso Celtic travelled with a strong squad.

 

Lonsu told Sportsmail: 'We are very disappointed about the team Celtic brought over. It was disrespectful to the opponent, to Finnish football fans and to the organisers to field such a squad.

 

'You could tell when you saw the Celtic team that the match would end like this. So we are extremely disappointed.

 

'The head coach did not come either - and that was disrespectful towards us as well.

 

'We will be communicating our feelings to Celtic. Because their actions were so disrespectful we want a written apology from the club president and part of the fee refunded.

 

'We also took care in advance of Celtic's accommodation and travel. We did absolutely everything professionally and what we didn't get back was a team. We feel we have been cheated.'

 

Spurs coach Mauricio Pochettino expressed surprise the Scottish champions decided against taking a full squad to the Finnish capital, admitting he expected a tougher game.

 

With £15million on the line in Europe, however, Deila chose to work with his key players on the training ground at Lennoxtown instead.

 

A Celtic spokesman defended the move on Sunday saying: 'Clearly the match was agreed in February by the club's previous management team and obviously circumstances can change.

 

'We have spoken to the organisers and they understood the club's position given the Champions League qualifiers.

 

'Despite us having to send a younger squad they got a fantastic reception from all the fans in Finland and we are very grateful for all the support we received.'

 

However, promoter Lonsu believes the lack of experienced Celtic names ruined the game as a spectacle.

 

'The Tottenham head coach was disappointed and the fans were all disappointed as well. The match was organised to be a top level spectacle and Tottenham came with almost a full squad. They played their top team thinking Celtic would do the same.

 

'We know the reason Celtic did this – they have important Champions League games. We understand that.

 

'But they signed a contract and according to the terms they were bringing a strong line-up. There was no stipulation for how many top players, it was a general clause. But when the head coach does not travel that is a clear sign of how they are treating the game.'

 

Swansea, meanwhile, have been linked with a shock move for Celtic's Adam Matthews.

 

Manager Gary Monk hopes to bring in three new recruits before the close of the transfer window - and right-back is one position he wants to strengthen.

 

Reports in Wales claim Matthews, a free transfer capture from Cardiff, is interested in a move to his hometown club. Celtic would seek a fee in excess of £3million.

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2715055/Celtic-s-decision-field-weakened-team-defeat-Tottenham-branded-disrespectful.html#ixzz39PJsVHzg

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[der Berliner 3,251]

Meanwhile, the Yahoo media can't help themselves. After doing an interview with Rangers TV at the weekend, the editor of this article about Lynsey Sharp's silver medal at the CG had to do a special job with the "Pride of Sc->o<-tland" header. Utterly pathetic!

 

[ian1964 10,419]

Lifted from FF:

 

Originally Posted by nmg77 View Post

Sorry if this has been covered. I have just phoned The Evening Times, got through to the Herald, surprise surprise, the excuse was there was a photo of two medals and the wrong one was printed, this beggars belief. My point to the guy was the games finished less than 24 hours and someone has decided that the foreign press have now departed so let's get back to our old bigoted ways, he would have none of it. I mentioned the NI flag incident in Weatherspoons, a story The Herald carried this morning, no comment from him, only there will be an apology in tomorrow's paper. As I am not based in Glasgow some Bears can look out for it.