Celtic FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2014/15 Mod Warning post #6011

Carroller

What way will safe standing work? A section the size of say 111 or would it be a stand LL size?

Dempsey

Carroller wrote: »

What way will safe standing work? A section the size of say 111 or would it be a stand LL size?

I doubt they'd put a safe standing area near the away fans. Hopefully, the Jock Stein gets a full conversion to safe standing.

LiamoSail

When they were doing the feasibility study about two years ago, seats were removed from the LL stand, not sure how relevant that is however.

I'd imagine the impact on the hospitality will play a big part in deciding which section they designate

Hagar the Nice.

A good post from Henry Clarson.

There’s a recurring myth which needs to be addressed, viz, the myth that Scottish football needs a “strong” Rangers.
Let us see first of all how this “strong” Rangers has worked in practice.
For the best part of the last quarter of a century, Rangers’ “strength” and apparent success lay in their ability and determination to outspend every other team in Scotland.
They fully played their part in contributing to the collapse of the Bank of Scotland in order to finance transfers and wages for players which no other Scottish team could even countenance.
Using tens of millions of pounds from a bank which would ultimately collapse and pass on its debts to every man, woman and child in the nation, “Strong” Rangers signed prominent internationalists from England, Holland, Denmark, France, Scotland and elsewhere to fill every place in their starting eleven.
After SDM took control of the club, Strong Rangers went on to win 16 titles. Five of these went to the last game of the season – strongly, I’m sure – even though Rangers, uniquely, were allowed to use fortunes of the doomed bank’s assets to boost their “strength”.
And despite the media propaganda that tells us otherwise, Strong Rangers’ recent title successes were still claimed by the most expensively assembled squad in the country, underwritten by tax-payers who have been saddled with the tab for the reckless practices of the failed banks.

Question One: How many titles might Strong Aberdeen, Strong Dundee United, Strong Hibs or even Strong Partick Thistle win if a tax-payer owned bank now decided to give one of those clubs a credit line that would allow them to outspend their nearest challengers by a ratio of “ten pounds for every fiver”?

Strong Rangers, not content with having used everyone else’s money to buy their nine-in-a-row (which was obviously a Good Thing for Scottish football) then apparently decided that having to waste money paying the income tax of their expensively assembled international mercenaries was too much of a handicap to their future ambitions. So they strongly rejected this practice and availed themselves of more tens of millions of pounds which the rest of their competitors were too honest (“weak”) to steal from the nation.


Question Two: How many titles might Strong Aberdeen, Strong Dundee United, Strong Hibs or even Strong Partick Thistle win if any one of them was allowed to compete for the signings of top players without the inconvenience of having to give millions of pounds to the taxman each time they offered a contract to their potential employees?

If Scottish football needs this kind of “Strong” club, let’s be absolutely honest about it in unequivocal terms.
Let the government propose the formation of a new club for the good of Scottish football.
Its name doesn’t matter much but let’s not actually call it Strong State Supported Football Club For The Good Of Scottish Football.
Let it simply be called Babylon Establishment FC.
For the good of Scottish football, Babylon Establishment FC must have a line of credit with the nationalised bank of its choice.
The credit limit must be raised if Babylon Establishment FC struggle to dominate the Scottish league.
For the good of Scottish football, Babylon FC will not have to pay taxes on the wages which it offers to its players. Otherwise those players might choose to sign for another club.
For the good of Scottish football, there must also be some kind of constitutional arrangement in place which guarantees that Babylon FC will always play in the top division of the Scottish league, even if other clubs have to go to the wall as a consequence.
And for the good of Scottish football, the press must clear all of their copy about Babylon FC with the government before it is published.
The alternative is unthinkable; it might herald a return to the dark days when Weak Rangers languished in mid-table while Dundee Utd, Aberdeen, Hearts and Celtic were competing for the championship title. Clearly, that was a Bad Thing for Scottish football.

Who would want a return to the misery of watching Scottish clubs horsing Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Hamburg, Sporting Lisbon and others out of European tournaments, year after year. That was self-evidently a Bad Thing for Scottish football.

And heaven forbid that Scottish international teams might ever again go head to head with the likes of Brazil, Germany and Holland in the World Cup Finals or the Euro championships.
So let’s not accept the false paradigm of the need for a Strong Rangers. If there is to be a debate on the principle, let’s be clear and honest about the terms and parameters which pertain.
Let there simply be a Babylon Establishment FC which is exactly what it says it is on the tin instead of straining to maintain the pretence that Strong Rangers was anything other than Babylon FC by another name.

Hagar the Nice.

Well that's one escape I'm glad about,ignorant pig.

Shameless football star Steven Fletcher posts picture of himself spitting on the back of a London rickshaw driver

19 Jan 2014 11:12

THE Sunderland striker uploaded a picture of the cabbie's jacket on Instagram.

FOOTBALLER Steven Fletcher filmed himself spitting on the back of a rickshaw driver taking him on a night out.

Then, the shameless £12million Sunderland striker proudly posted a picture of the cabbie’s phlegm-covered jacket on Instagram with the message “Al spit on ya back ya c***.” Scottish international Fletcher also filmed the sickening incident on his mobile as the rickshaw took him and a pal through the streets of London.

During the video, which he also posted, Fletcher, 26, can be seen grinning beside his giggling friend.

Footage and images of the vile incident – which drew appreciative comments from several of his followers – were later removed from the player’s account. Black Cats fans will be shocked by the behaviour of their £40,000-a-week striker.

There are around 150 bicycle rickshaw – or pedicab – drivers working in London.

They are mainly foreign students striving to pay for their studies.

In stark contrast to #Fletcher’s wealthy lifestyle, many struggle to make enough to cover the expense of running the cab, despite working dangerous night shifts in busy traffic.

Dempsey

Wasn't he was only shamed recently in the papers for sending sex tapes of himself through snapchat to some woman he doesnt know! What a jughead!

Hagar the Nice.

Dempsey wrote: »

Wasn't he was only shamed recently in the papers for sending sex tapes of himself through snapchat to some woman he doesnt know! What a jughead!

Never even knew that,what on earth do these idiots hope to achieve?

eire4

Dempsey wrote: »

Didnt get to see much of the game tbh, just saw McManus's og is all.

It was a good performance overall. Commons Stokes and Forrest in particular were excellent. The late red card to Stokes probably saved Motherwell from losing at least one more goal.
Forrest just ran and ran at Motherwell all night and caused havoc which was great to see. He is a real quality player when fit and on form. Lets hope he can stay fit for the rest of the season as he was a joy to watch this weekend. Commons continued his amazing goal scoring run ably assisted by Stokes.

Dempsey

Rogic's loan move is now official, he badly need to get regular 1st team football. He should be looking to demonstrate his improvement as a player whilst at Celtic. If he plays like the player that left for Celtic, that means he wont be on the plane to Brazil.

http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/celtic/261131-brian-colvin-to-ref-celtic-v-kilmarnock-after-mcdiarmid-park-horror-show/

Referee Brian Colvin has been selected to referee Celtic's Scottish Premiership fixture with Kilmarnock as his next appointment.

The official was criticised for his poor performance in his last top flight outing, in which he sent off three players in St Johnstone's draw with Hearts.

Colvin dismissed Saints defender Steven Anderson for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity in the first half, despite his opponent Dale Carrick being 35 yards from goal.

The referee then awarded St Johnstone a penalty for a foul on Nigel Hasselbaink which was committed outside of the box.

Colvin then awarded the Saints another spot kick for a handball by Kevin McHattie, before then failing to spot a similar incident involving St Johnstone's Frazer Wright.

Hearts' Ryan Stevenson and St Johnstone keeper Alan Mannus were then both later dismissed for violent conduct.

Colvin won't officiate at any of the weekend's matches but will be the man in the middle as Kilmarnock travel to Glasgow on Wednesday, January 29.

Yippee! :rolleyes:

blahfckingblah

Great another aweful referee.. Its a pity nothing can be done about the standard of refereeing in Scotland.. Then again the last time someone in a senior enough position to criticise them they threw their toys out of the pram.

Hagar the Nice.

To make matters worse,The son of Dallas is one of the linesmen as well.

Hagar the Nice.

We've apparently made a move for Filip Djuricic from Benfica,its a bid of around €5 euros,he's a midfielder as well,great just what we need,eh.!!!
Fella has hardly even played for Benfica either,hopefully its just paper talk.

Dempsey

Hagar the Nice. wrote: »

We've apparently made a move for Filip Djuricic from Benfica,its a bid of around €5 euros,he's a midfielder as well,great just what we need,eh.!!!
Fella has hardly even played for Benfica either,hopefully its just paper talk.

Celtic have sent scouts over to watch Benfica vs. Porto matches a couple of times

The one in January 2013 had the following lineup

Benfica: Artur; Maxi Pereira, Jardel, Garay, Melgarejo; Matic, Gaitán (Ola John 88'), Enzo Pérez (Carlos Martins 58'), Salvio; Lima (Aimar 69'), Cardozo.

Porto: Helton; Danilo, Otamendi, Mangala, Alex Sandro; Fernando, Lucho (Castro 90'), Moutinho; Defour (Izmaylov 75'), Martínez, Varela (Abdoulaye 88').

The recent match was

Benfica: Oblak, Luisao, Pereira, Garay (Jardel - 84' ), Siqueira, Fejsa, Perez, Markovic, Gaitan, Lima, Rodrigo (Amorim - 86' ).

Porto: Helton, Danilo, Alex Sandro, Fernando, Otamendi, Mangala, Carlos Eduardo, Lucho, Martinez, Varela, Licá (Quaresma - 54')

It doesnt make much sense to be travelling over to see Filip Djuricic pick splinters out of his arse on the bench.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNXLKzt2rT0

Here's a youtube clip of him anyways.

Hagar the Nice.

Exactly,its bonkers,only thing I can think of is Samaras and Ledley are moving on.

Dempsey

Hagar the Nice. wrote: »

Exactly,its bonkers,only thing I can think of is Samaras and Ledley are moving on.

Djuricic looks more like a player to rival Kris Commons than Joe Ledley and considering that Rogic was Commons backup and couldnt get much gametime because dropping Commons wasnt going to happen in that form and is now out on loan, maybe Celtic see this guy as the clubs long term future. Rogic wont be up to speend for the UCL qualifiers whatever happens and he certainly looks a talent from his Heerenveen days. If Celtic were watching Finnbogason, this guy would have definitely caught their eye aswell.

Hagar the Nice.

Did I say Samaras may be leaving?

CELTIC have opened up talks with Georgios Samaras about his future.
The Greek striker met with manager Neil Lennon yesterday as the two sides to come to an agreement over the status of the 28-year-old’s contract.
Samaras has around six months left on his current deal at Parkhead, and several sides have been alerted to his availability. Atletico Madrid, Trabzonspor, and West Ham have been among some of the names reportedly interested in the striker.
Celtic are keen to keep Samaras, but also don’t want to risk losing him for free in the summer. Talks between Lennon and Samaras were described as positive, though no firm resolution is believed to have emerged.
The striker’s agent Rodger Linse said Samaras was still awaiting answers from the club.



http://www.scotsman.com/sport/footba...alks-1-3276330

Dempsey

Lennon & Mjallby are more concerned about the cost of replacing Samaras. I suppose the scouting team & the economics of getting a replacement are the telling the club make a deal happen with him.

Hagar the Nice.

Dempsey wrote: »

Lennon & Mjallby are more concerned about the cost of replacing Samaras. I suppose the scouting team & the economics of getting a replacement are the telling the club make a deal happen with him.

We already have the perfect replacement for him,NIR BITON.

Hagar the Nice.

Doctor Jimbob wrote: »

They're completely different players

Samaras is a wide player,coming from the midfield,I saw similarities in the Galataseray game.
Meanwhile....a Hungarian youngster on trial.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11787/9127267/

Hagar the Nice.

Doctor Jimbob wrote: »

Hopefully he turns out to be decent. We don't seem to play the youth we have though, so I'm not entirely sure what the point is of all this.

Dunno what on earth Lenny is thinking,possible long term deals if these lads make the grade but guys like Henderson and McGeough must wonder what they have to do to make the first team,they have the league wrapped up so the wee team should be played.

Hagar the Nice.

Roberto Mancini praised Nir to the hilt last week,after being on trial with Man City we are lucky to have the lad on our books,but you have to be fair to them and build up their confidence too.

Dempsey

Hagar the Nice. wrote: »

Samaras is a wide player,coming from the midfield,I saw similarities in the Galataseray game.
Meanwhile....a Hungarian youngster on trial.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11787/9127267/

Samaras is a completely different type of player to Nir Biton, its chalk & cheese for me.

Hagar the Nice. wrote: »

Dunno what on earth Lenny is thinking,possible long term deals if these lads make the grade but guys like Henderson and McGeough must wonder what they have to do to make the first team,they have the league wrapped up so the wee team should be played.

Murai's agent Balint Kovacs wrote:

"They have allowed him to join Celtic. He will join Celtic's reserves."

He's not even been sized up by the first team management. Chris McCart, Tommy McIntyre, Stephen Frail & John Kennedy will be making the final decision on this player, not Neil Lennon and his management team

eire4

Doctor Jimbob wrote: »

Exactly, even biton can't get a look in despite looking a top player. Balde has a better minutes:goal ratio than any of our strikers that actually get a shot, yet he's constantly left on the bench. Baffling sometimes.

I have a feeling Biton is being eased into the team and that we will see much more of the big lad in the second half of the season.

Hagar the Nice.

Swansea have pulled out of the running to sign Rhys Williams from Middlesborough leaving the door open for us to sign him.

Dempsey

Surely means Van Dijk will be gone in the summer

Dempsey

http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/latest/filip-djuricic-s-agent-says-he-won-t-join-celtic-1-3277859

THE agent of Serbian international midfielder Filip Djuricic has insisted his client will not be joining Celtic during the current transfer window.

“Djuricic is not going to Celtic because he wants to stay at Benfica and fight for a place to play more games.

“I do not know whether or not Celtic are interested in him and I don’t want to know, because right now Djuricic is a Benfica player and he wants to stay at the club. He’s very happy, despite wanting to be in a better situation because he’s not playing as much as he wanted, but his time will arrive. He’s a fighter and will win his place sooner or later.”

The Djuricic speculation ends there unless responding to wild speculation is a thinly veiled question to Benfica about his position in the squad.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/coventry-move-in-on-mcgeouch.23248364

Coventry City are closing in on the loan signing of Dylan McGeouch from Celtic.

The Sky Bet League 1 club face Arsenal in the fourth round of the FA Cup tomorrow night and are optimistic that McGeouch will be in the squad ahead of the tie.

The 21-year-old midfielder has made just three appearances for Celtic this season, while his only start came in a Scottish League Cup defeat at home to SPFL Championship team Morton.

Coventry have been linked with a move for the Scotland Under-21 player already this season and it is understood that any move now could later become permanent.

"We're quite close," said Steven Pressley, the Coventry manager. "I'd like to get him in the group because we have a lot of games in February."

He should definitely go out on loan, he's rotting away on the bench.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/sunderland-transfer-news-georgios-samaras-3050133#.UuEPErRFC9I

Sunderland are eyeing Celtic striker Georgios Samaras to help their push for Premier League safety.

The Greek international could be available for £2m, and might be an affordable option as boss Gus Poyet looks to add some more goals to his struggling side.

Poyet's trio of misfiring strikers - Steven Fletcher, Jozy Altidore and Fabio Borini - have only managed nine between them this season.

Sports Direct News suggest Samaras is the man in the frame to add more firepower to the Black Cats' front line.

I'd take £2m for him!

weldoninhio

Doctor Jimbob wrote: »

I'd seriously wonder about Poyet if he thinks. 'Hmm, I need a dependable goalscorer. I think I'll sign Samaras.'

As soon as you see the words Sports Direct News, i think you can discount whatever else is written.

eire4

Dempsey wrote: »

Surely means Van Dijk will be gone in the summer

Hope your wrong about that. That would be an imense loss.

Hagar the Nice.

We tried to sign this guy before,fall out over the asking price last time.
@OHenleyAlex: 24-year-old Hapoel Tel Aviv striker Omer Damari latest player to be linked with @celticfc. Local media say talks are at an advanced stage.

Goal ratio of 1/2,not bad at all.
Possible fee of £1.5 looks on the cards.

bobbysands81

Alex Thompson apologises for getting it all wrong about Celtic in his last blog. Shat it when asked to back up his assertions with proof, at least he had the decency to apologise though.

http://blogs.channel4.com/alex-thomsons-view/

Some time back I wrote a blog which was an opinion piece designed to do three things. First to highlight the way too much criminal, abusive and threatening material is tolerated on some football websites. And second, in the wake of the Limond conviction at Ayr Sheriff Court, that these sites should consider their internal monitoring procedures or the police may end up doing it for them.

It is apparent that the site in question – The Huddleboard, a messageboard for Celtic fans – says they have taken action against such material appearing and they are to be commended for that. Hopefully all other sites are taking note. I’m sure this had nothing to do with the blog I wrote but it certainly shows the issue is concerning people as it should post-Limond.

What’s depressing is that the site moderators have not yet apologised to Angela Haggerty for the revolting abuse of her they allowed on their site. They should do so. When you make a mistake you man up, say sorry and move on – see below.

The second point of the blog was to gently suggest there has been a tendency to sweep this kind of thing under the carpet and for the MSM in Scotland to ignore therefore the Limond case as unworthy of comment. I note that at least one Scottish tabloid ran the Limond story front-page. Once again that is to be commended and rather underlines the point that the blog was making. This is the way things should be moving.

The third point was that a club which has suffered reputational damage – because of seat-vandalism episodes at other grounds, the fireworks at home, the UEFA sanctions and the Green Brigade issues and section closures – is a club with a problem.

Some might add Holland to all the above but the question of the police action there arises and the jury’s out, so to speak.

Apologies due
Leaving Holland aside the overwhelming majority of decent fans need to discuss these issues. And I know they are. Yes, a small minority of troublemakers, and so on – but yes, it is being noticed outside the west of Scotland and outside Scotland altogether. Noticed by UEFA and denial and what-aboutery in response to unpalatable facts is pointless.

But to galvanize that important debate I went well over the top and I apologise. No ifs, no buts. The Millwall analogy and comments about the level of violence were crass and wrong, taken literally. And clearly the way I wrote them it certainly looked as if I meant it to be taken that way, rather than a metaphor for how easily a reputation is acquired because of a tiny minority and how hard it is to shake off.

But life isn’t fair. As a life-long Newcastle United fan I have yet to hit a horse in anger. Really. Even a nag. Even a Sunderland-supporting Shetland pony (more common than many suppose). But because of the actions of one, the many are tarred. You just have to take it. And yes, I fully realise whilst we are at it that the team I support topped the league for football arrests the last time I looked.

Cue banter about it being the only league we’ll ever top…

Anyhow – my apology was due. And duly delivered. Now, Huddleboard moderators, do the gentlemanly thing and make yours please.

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