Scottish Football Discussion Thread 2010/11

[bAzTNM Fan]

Double post

[David]

Lee McCulloch is an enemy to the game of football. He is not a 'midfield enforcer'. The man is a licensed thug and has been granted the power to do whatever he likes on the field.

As a Motherwell fan, I have to admit he was a liability back then as well.

[The Cum Doctor]

I'll tell you a story. I was in a hotel in Puerto Pollensa in April, and as I was sat at the bar having a beer, I had the misfortune to overhear a conversation between a man and his wife as Inter Milan played their home tie against Barcelona in the Champions League. Messi was on the ball, and the man said something to the effect of: "world's best player - who cares? Kick him off the park. Kick him until he isn't effective anymore. I'd take the gamble of a penalty or the red card - as long as he isn't on the park anymore."

 

It wasn't a coincidence that earlier on in the evening, I'd heard the same guy pretty much writhe in joy when he'd received the news from back in Glasgow that the last Old Firm game of the season fell on a midweek date when Rangers had the chance to win the league at Parkhead.

 

 

Aye okay, that's all absolutely correct. I've seen many examples from fans of other teams feeling that same way, but you tell yourself it's a Rangers thing if it makes you feel better.

[bAzTNM#1]

this copper (I could tell from his broad shoulders and his coarse demeanour that this guy was polis) was the same scum of the earth that sits in Ibrox week in, week out.

Every single Rangers fan at Ibrox is scum?

[David]

Every single Rangers fan at Ibrox is scum?

Yes.

 

According to a certain element of the Celtic support, of course.

 

Their brothers in blue think the exact same thing about them.

[bAzTNM Fan]

this copper (I could tell from his broad shoulders and his coarse demeanour that this guy was polis) was the same scum of the earth that sits in Ibrox week in, week out.

Every single Rangers fan at Ibrox is scum?

 

Of course I don't believe that to be the case. I have friends who are Rangers fans. Scum attend any game of football - Rangers' supporters and their conduct over the years gives me the perfect right to label them as scum.

[FUM]

Dundee deducted 25 point for going into administration. Didn't realise the penalties where that high. I thought it was like 5-10 points you lost.

[The Cum Doctor]

Twenty points behind us now ? I'll take that.

[Stylin_and_Profilin]

Thats very, very harsh IMO.

 

They'll probably challenge it though as the SFA has no precedence set with this kind of thing from previous examples and get it cut on appeal.

[martyngnr]

If Dundee can keep hold of Harkins and Griffiths in January i would still fancy them to stay up.

[InvertedSmiley]

By Siobhan McFadyen ( Notw )

 

Celtic have banned a charity from selling poppies at Parkhead for Rememberance Sunday .

Now fundraisers are hoping that hoops chairman John Reid - former defence Secretary - will overturnn the ruling.

The ban follows protestes by supporters who claim poppies are " hugely insensitive " to Irish fans.

The Poppy Appeal,with its 48 member charities,helps raise millions for war veterans injured in active service.

A charity insider said : " We've never been turned away by any of the big clubs and we find it shocking that Celtic would implement this ban " .

Our welfare work is a lifeline for thousands.We hope Mr Reid will reconsider ".

About 100 fansd walked out of a match in2008 when players wore poppies on their shirts.

But most of the 50,000 fans joined a one-minute round of applause to mark the anniversary of the end of WWI.

A Celtic spokesman said " We don't do collections in the grounds for anything ".

 

What a classy, classy football club.

 

How can poppies offend Irish supporters when tens of thousands of Irish troops died in WW2?

Ignoring the fact that Celtic aren't even playing at home on Rememberance Sunday and that Celtic don't allow collections for any charity within their grounds, that's a great exclusive by the News of the World.

 

Short memories you cunts. Only last week the tims should have had two off for similar attempt to injure players. Not even mentioning Samaras kneeing McGregor in the head.

Ah, whatabouttery. The arguement of the playground. McCulloch should have been sent off on Saturday. BUT WHAT ABOUT THOSE TWO CELTIC PLAYERS LAST WEEK?!!!

 

I'm not defending McCulloch's challenge, but there's no doubt that had he signed for Celtic way back when, he'd instead be "a strong gritty midfielder, just the type of guy we need to inspire at Celtic Park" or some other such bollocks. It really is tiresome.

How can there be "no doubt about it"? I'm a Celtic supporter and I certainly wouldn't welcome the type of animal that Lee McCulloch is in a Celtic shirt. Gordon Strachan used to say that Barry Robson brought a "bit of dig" to the Celtic team. Nowhere near the type of player that Lee McCulloch is, yet conduct a straw poll amongst the Celtic support and I would suggest that a sizeable number were glad to see Robson go last year, I know I was. People like Lee McCulloch, and to a lesser extent Barry Robson, bring nothing to a football team.

 

They'll probably challenge it though as the SFA has no precedence set with this kind of thing from previous examples and get it cut on appeal.

Weren't Gretna relegated down two divisions for going into administration? And Livingston too? This is Dundee's second fall into administration.

[The Cum Doctor]

I think Gretna just got a hefty points deduction. I'm sure that there was some sort of health and safety issue with their ground that would have seen further relegation when they ended up in the first.

[bAzTNM#1]

They demoted Livingston because Massone had ran them into the ground financially and the SFL thought they wouldn't last to the end of the week. It's a miracle, supposedly, that their chairman got them on an even footing.

 

They knew Gretna were scunnered. They were dead and gone even before the demotion.

[David]

Anyone had a chance to read Tam Cowan's latest column? He certainly pulls no punches as far as Neil Lennon is concerned...

 

According to the rumours, Neil Lennon is going out for his Hallowe'en dressed as a pumpkin. He's hoping he'll turn into a coach at midnight.

 

The Celtic boss has already had the Willies put up him this week - first it was referee Collum then linesman Conquer - but what's even scarier is the rubber-faced bloke from Angola who can put a can of Coke in his cakehole and has now been credited with the biggest mouth in the world.

 

Surely Celtic will now fire off a letter to the Guinness Book of Records to point out that Lennon's gub is even bigger?

 

Sending a formal complaint to the SFA on the same day it was reported Willie Collum had received vile death threats was really classy, eh?

 

That's about as sensitive as delivering a box of Leonard Cohen CDs to Lennon's door when the news broke he was suffering from depression.

 

Don't Celtic realise the guy they're effectively writing to is Hugh Dallas - a man who had both his head and his windows cracked open after another mental Old Firm fixture back in 1999?

 

And are the morons who threatened Collum and his young family not bright enough to realise we don't have a game without the referees?

 

Three goals of a start wasn't good enough for Lennon at Perth in midweek - he still wanted to castigate the linesman after he raised his flag for the sort of decision you'll see every week.

 

Mainly because he must have been touching cloth when St Johnstone fought back and Celtic nearly blew it.

 

But well done, Lenny. After your verbal attack on Collum in the wake of last Sunday's defeat - pummelled at home by your oldest rivals after getting a goal of a start - hardly anyone was talking about a truly abject team performance.

 

So your plan worked.

 

In saying that, well done also to the vast majority of Celtic fans who, after slamming the death threats, have turned their attention away from the ref to focus on that woeful display from the players.

 

How many Celtic supporters now fancy writing to the club to seek "clarification" over why Glenn Loovens keeps getting a game? And why is Lennon even writing to the SFA when he should be saving the first-class stamps for Loovens' P45?

 

Loovens and Daniel Majstorovic are the worst double act since Cannon and Ball. And the rest of the Celtic team didn't exactly cover themselves in glory at Parkhead last Sunday.

 

Sure, he was terrific as Jaws in the James Bond movies but Fraser Forster was toothless against Rangers and set up their second goal with a dreadful clearance.

 

Pound for pound, it was a bigger blunder than Collum's.

 

And if Mark Wilson keeps insisting on crossing the ball and attempting half-volleys at goal, I think the club will have to deploy ballboys at Glasgow Cross.

 

Fresh from being caught on camera calling Dougie McDonald a "f****** cheat" (four times, remember) what does Lenny have to say about the players who fleeced 50,000 Celtic fans last Sunday lunchtime?

 

Lennon denies whipping up the frenzy that led to the death threats. Bollocks. He started it at Tannadice by spitting, screaming and snarling in the fourth official's face.

 

"Until last weekend, I didn't have a problem with any referees," he claimed. Aye right. Have you forgotten the Tasmanian Devil routine with Stuart Dougal at Ibrox?

 

Incidentally, blaming Collum for the penalty at Parkhead is like blaming Dougal for Charlie Mulgrew's infamous red card at Ibrox.

 

Both whistlers were simply deceived by a cheating Rangers player. However, I still say Broadfoot's biggest crime last week was giving Lennon a Get Out Of Jail Free card and allowing the Celtic boss to yap on about the penalty - when his side was already gubbed - rather than talk about a terrible team performance.

 

And make no mistake, until he was conned by Broadfoot's belly flop, Collum had been enjoying a much better game than Celtic's overpaid foreign mercenaries.

 

Actually, that's a point. Just days before the Old Firm match, Collum took charge of a big Champions League group game between Schalke and Hapoel Tel Aviv.

 

So why the hell is he getting a lecture from a Celtic boss - thumped already by Utrecht and Braga - who can only dream of operating at that level?

 

Ps: Jim Jefferies (or was it really Vladimir Romanov?) says Scotland's match officials should get a grip and react to criticism the same way managers and players do.

 

What, by just blaming it all on the refs?

 

Pps: According to regular reader Colin Graham, two local teams were playing an amateur cup-tie in the north of Scotland and the ref failed to appear.

 

So they went to the pub and asked a retired match offical if he'd do it. As you can imagine, sobriety hadn't been high on his agenda and the first time the ball went out for a shy one of the players asked: "Whose ball, ref?"

 

To which he replied: "It's ours."

 

Can you imagine the outcry if that happened in the next Old Firm game?

[Stylin_and_Profilin]

If Dundee can keep hold of Harkins and Griffiths in January i would still fancy them to stay up.

 

Was speaking to a mutual friend when i was up in Dundee last week and apparently Harkins, Griffiths and one other senior player all made an offer to the administrator to have their contracts canceled and thus save X amount of their colleagues jobs as they all had offers on the table to sign on amateur terms with other teams untill January and then sign on properly as a free transfer. Administrator apparently knocked it straight on the heading knowing that whilst they were the highest earners by some way they were also the clubs biggest assets and obviously he has to look at in black and white from a business perspective although it's a classy gesture all the same from them.

 

Your dandy Dons were the team mentioned regarding Griffiths martyn and St Johnstone apparently were the ones trying to get Harkins; either way i think it's inevitable they will both be away come January although they are apparently on silly money even outwith the reach of a fair chunk of SPL teams.