League Cup Semi Final Draw - We play Celtic

[Anchorman 0]

Just putting forward my take on it that's all, no need to get personal bud

 

Don't tell people to "wise up" then for disagreeing with your ludicrous statements!

[Bearman 9]

Don't tell people to "wise up" then for disagreeing with your ludicrous statements!

 

It wasn't meant to be offensive just saying what I think, don't know why you are getting all uptight mate.

 

Have you got a squeaky bum too? Just asking.

[ian1964 10,416]

Old Firm TV doubt

 

THE first Old Firm clash in nearly three years might not be shown by BBC Scotland.

 

The broadcaster, which has the rights to screen the Scottish League Cup semi-final, said it had not yet decided if it will be shown.

 

Talks will begin today between Celtic, Rangers, BBC Scotland and Police Scotland about the game, currently scheduled to be played on Sunday February 1.

 

It is understood the game may be moved to a different date, with insiders speculating it could take place midweek.

 

A final decision on this could take up to two weeks.

 

Fans are eager to know the details of the fixture, which will see the historic Glasgow rivals meet for the first time since April 2012.

 

A BBC Scotland spokeswoman last night said that bosses would make a decision on whether or not to broadcast the game in the coming days.

 

She said: "No decision has been made on whether we will broadcast the Rangers and Celtic game.

 

"We will make a decision over the next couple of days."

 

The fixture is likely to attract worldwide attention and there are hopes it could attract a sponsor to the cup competition.

 

It will almost certainly take place at Hampden Park, which is being turned back into a pitch after hosting the track and field athletics at the Commonwealth Games.

 

A football insider said: "Talks will start today been various parties, including the broadcasters and police, and a decision will be made within two weeks."

 

The insider said there were safety fears over the clash and that would be taken into consideration.

 

Celtic and Rangers were drawn together in the cup clash on Saturday.

 

Cup holders Aberdeen will play Dundee United in the other semi-final.

 

The last Old Firm meeting came in April 2012 when Celtic won 3-0. At the time Rangers were battling financial collapse.

 

There was mixed reaction from Scots fans on social media to the draw.

 

Some relished the clash while others raised concerns around the off-field trouble which has often surrounded Old Firm games.

 

On Twitter James Marshall said: "Hatred aside, we need an Old Firm derby to spark Scottish football back in to life."

 

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/bbc-unsure-on-old-firm-186897n.25740044

[Frankie 8,151]

BBC may just fancy selling the rights to Sky or BT...

[ian1964 10,416]

Rangers boss Ally McCoist appeals for calm amid hysteria of League Cup semi-final draw.

 

 

Nov 03, 2014 00:01

By Craig Swan

 

McCOIST insisted both clubs will have huge responsibilities when the teams meet at Hampden and admitted he's already concerned at the early frenzy which has built over the tie.

ALLY McCoist last night appealed for calm amid the hysteria of the League Cup semi-final draw.

 

And the Rangers boss confessed he’s already concerned at the early frenzy which has built over the eagerly-awaited tie. The prospect of a first clash between the sides in three years has energised Scottish football.

 

But McCoist made it clear both clubs will have huge responsibilities when the teams meet at Hampden.

 

He said: “It is only right we make an early appeal for calm. Common sense has to play its part in all of this.

 

“There has been a frenzy for this fixture in some quarters. I understand that, I get it but from a sanity point of view, we are talking about a game that is still three months away.

 

“It’s the first Old Firm game in almost three years and I hope all the fans can come along and enjoy it.

 

“But we we have a responsibility to conduct ourselves in the proper manner.”

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/rangers-boss-ally-mccoist-appeals-4556191?

[Rangersitis 0]

He was in the press at the tail end of last week doing his own bit of stirring prior to the draw even being made. It will all go off whether there are appeals for calm or everyone stokes the fire. It was always going to be that way.

[ian1964 10,416]

Rangers fan threatens to stab Celtic star Anthony Stokes in vile tweet just hours after Old Firm League Cup draw.

 

GARY PULLER said he would run on the park and stab Stokes and blow-up his dad - but just hours after posting the message he whined he didn't mean any harm and his life "was going to be ruined".

 

A RANGERS fan threatened to stab Celtic star Anthony Stokes and blow up his dad just hours after the rival sides were paired together in the League Cup semi final.

 

Gary Puller tweeted the Parkhead striker claiming he would be “runnin on the park and stabbing u! Then blowing up yer IRA loving da”.

 

But when Stokes shared the vile tweet with his 120,000 followers the 20-year-old Gers fan shut down his account and later bleated that his life was “going to be ruined”.

 

Puller, from Cumbernauld, said: “We were messing about on Twitter and things got out of hand.

 

“I regret it. I want it all to go away.

 

“I didn’t mean anything by it and I don’t mean him any harm. My life is going to be ruined.

 

“I’ve done nothing and I’m going to jail.”

 

Police Scotland have launched an investigation into the matter and have confirmed the tweet has been passed on to the relevant department.

 

It comes after Saturday’s draw for the League Cup semi final paired the fierce rivals together for what will be the first meeting in almost three years.

 

Stokes last night said Puller had apologised and the matter was at an end.

 

He tweeted: “Regards the tweet I got last night, the boy who sent it got in touch and apologised so that's it done! We all make stupid mistakes we regret”.

 

But anti-sectarian campaigners Nil By Mouth warned Puller he was risking a jail sentence with his “clear threat”.

 

Director Dave Scott said: “People think they can hide behind keyboards but the law is against them. It takes 30 seconds to post a sectarian message but you could be getting five years for it.”

 

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/rangers-fan-threatens-stab-celtic-4556726

[ian1964 10,416]

Alan Pattullo: Have we missed the Old Firm game?.

 

JUDGING from the way Ally McCoist was talking on Friday morning at Murray Park, he clearly viewed the then unconfirmed return of the Old Firm match as the cure for all of Scottish football’s ills; Brazil’s as well for that matter.

 

It was, he claimed, a fixture that could sell out the Maracana, something a game between two Brazilian league teams would struggle to do. Not only does the Old Firm game transfix those in Scotland, it was worth exporting. Of course, the comment was an off-the-cuff one, used to try to illustrate a point.

 

He was not being serious about the ability of Rangers and Celtic to get locals rushing to such an iconic venue in football’s spiritual homeland. But even though the draw for the League Cup had not yet been made, the Ibrox manager was already contributing to the hysteria.

 

The hype has now been given reason to start building in earnest, after Des McKeown and Craig Paterson deftly delivered the game “all of Scottish football wanted” at around tea-time on Saturday. Once we all got our knickers in a twist when the teams were kept apart, now it is because they have been paired together.

 

But there was also once a time in the not-too-distant past when this fixture was viewed as the source of Scottish football’s ills. Summits were called on how to make it less combustible. Strathclyde Police provided statistics that showed domestic violence almost doubled during Old Firm fixtures. It was held up as being all that is wrong in Scottish society; it was Scottish football’s shame.

 

When the fixture then disappeared from the schedules as a result of Rangers’ financial plight in 2012 the news was greeted with relief in several quarters. It was welcomed by police officials and others who have to clear up in the aftermath of the matches. There was also relief within the four walls of several thousand homes, where some were unable to restrict their frustrations to kicking the television set.

 

So how are we supposed to feel now the fixture is back? Rangers play Celtic on either 31 January or 1 February. Have we really missed it? According to McCoist, yes we have. Terribly so.

 

He contended that Gordon Strachan had done a marvellous job with the international side despite Rangers’ plight, and the absence of such high-profile, high-octane games. He pointed to the thousands of empty seats at last week’s League Cup quarter-final ties at Ibrox and Celtic Park. McCoist calculated that there were around 70,000 left unoccupied – about the capacity of the Maracana, funnily enough.

 

Also funnily enough, in a season when the Old Firm met each other on the regulation four league occasions, League Cup quarter-final attendances were hardly in the stratosphere – Celtic pulled in only 18,000 for their home clash with Hearts in 2009, with the game live on BBC Scotland, as was the case for Rangers v St Johnstone last Tuesday night, when only 13,000 turned up. History shows that this stage of the competition does not tend to be a crowd-puller.

 

Yet McCoist claimed that the Ibrox attendance, together with Celtic’s crowd of 16,000 for the visit of Partick Thistle, was because of the lack of interest in Scottish football; it is denuded, he argued, by the absence of the Old Firm fixture, which might be news to those of us who have rubbed along fairly well without it thank you very much, turning up to support our clubs as normal, and, whisper it, perhaps even enjoying the fact that light has been cast on other corners of the game.

 

Other derbies have been given room to breathe. Such a refreshing change, however, is already in peril. You could be forgiven for thinking otherwise, but Craig and Des did not pull only one semi-final from the hat on Saturday evening.

 

The Dundee United v Aberdeen clash came out first, a tasty reminder of their glory days in the 1980s and a fixture that has a compelling narrative all of its own. But you are left with the feeling it is already withering next to the Old Firm flame. It is as if Rangers and Celtic have never played each other before.

 

Now that the teams will meet early next year, it means there was only two seasons without an Old Firm match: 2012-13 and 2013-14. Not even those who find it hardest to live without the fixture can surely have found this an unendurable test of their forbearance.

 

Those who desperately needed a fix could even have made it along to the Rangers Ladies v Celtic Ladies match yesterday in the Scottish Women’s Premier League.

 

The main event is still another three months away. Perhaps the greatest test of patience is putting up with over 90 days’ worth of countdown to a game that will, in all probability, fail to live up to the extraordinary hype.

 

http://www.scotsman.com/news/alan-pattullo-have-we-missed-the-old-firm-game-1-3591842

[der Berliner 3,247]

What part of worst is it that you don't understand?

 

It would mean that you think that the team post-admin was better than the one now. That is something I do not understand nor concur with. If that's your opinion though, fair enough.

[compo 6,141]

there could be lots of changes at rangers before this game takes place