Something is rotten in the state of Scotland.
Alright, something else is rotten in the state of Scotland.
Brendan Rodgers came out in defence of his players yesterday, after a leaked memo blamed them for crowd trouble amongst “rangers ” fans at the end of the last match between the two sides.
He began by pointing out the change in narrative that has actually become accepted as a depiction of the events…
It’s not necessarily a lap of honour,”
“You guys will have seen it travelling up and down the country to all our games where we play. We always show an appreciation to our support wherever it is. The players’ behaviour on the pitch is important.
“But I think, off the field, of course, it’s the responsibility of everyone. I don’t think you can blame the players on the field if you have supporters that are trying to get over disabled supporters.
“That’s not the fault of the players on the pitch. There’s a responsibility to come and behave. “Like I’ve always said, give a real staunch support of your team.
“But every supporter, Celtic, rangers, whoever, when you come it is a ground, you have to behave.
“It’s an interesting one because when I first came into Celtic, I said to the players that what was going to be absolutely vital for us as a team is to have this incredible support with us,”
“I made a point with the players that after every game, whether we win, lose or draw, we shall acknowledge the support. And from that very first game, the players have always done that.
“So whether it’s been at Parkhead or Ibrox or away at Inverness or Ross County, whether they’ve won, lost or drawn, we always recognise the incredible support we have and the efforts they are making to come up and down the country and fly in from all across Europe.
“So I think it’s a little unfair if the Celtic players are blamed for another team’s behaviour.
“‘Listen, there are enough issues around these games. You just take yourself back to the root of what the problem was. We’ve had a couple of years here when the games have been great.
“The intensity and the support. Everything. Now there seems to be more issues with it.”
The club itself, of course, was silent on the accusations.
Regular readers will be aware that the clubs PR department is not high on the diarys “Great things about Celtic ” list.
In fact, its not on it at all, and this particular episode highlights why.
We’re used to the club not defending the fans, but the players ? Thats a whole new level of ineptitude.
It’s the boards policy not to react to these kind of attacks. They see it as beneath them, and prefer to ignore such outbursts as they do not wish to validate it by recognising it. Their attitude is that we know they are talking shite, so its not worth getting involved in a slanging match.
During the Brexit campaign, David Cameron refused to get into a slanging match as Boris Johnson tottered around the country talking shite and making all sorts of nonsensical claims and accusations. It became personal,
Cameron let him carry on, refusing to stoop to his level, and we all know how that turned out.
Thats why every time the media spout their Traynor written propaganda, the club must call it out.
We hear that the upcoming report on the Janefield underpass will not be kind to the police, largely because they were, in fact to blame, as many witnesses have stated. That may explain the move to get their story out forst, in an attempt to discredit what will undoubtedly be dismissed as a Celtic commissioned report absolving the club of any blame.
As the police originally didn’t want to take part in the investigation, its no surprise that now they are being blamed they will try to discredit it.
Seriously, wait and see.
If the PR department needs a bit of help in putting a statement together, I’ll happily help.
In fact, as long as they use the words “off “, ” fuck ” and “you’re taking shite ” in there somewhere, it should have the desired affect.
Lee McCulloch, in the Evening Times, has been handed the Boris Johnson role by the Fat Controller in this particular attempt to distort the facts..
Lee McCulloch: Old Firm laps of honour, like Leigh Griffiths’ against Rangers, have to go
You see, a subtle change to describe the action of thanking your own supporters after a game to a “lap of honour ”
What we should ask the players to do is lie on the grass, and spin rapidly to one side.
We could call it a “Roll of Honour ”
I’M not surprised to see the police looking at the laps of honour in Old Firm matches.
Me neither, it must really piss them off that their team hasn’t had the chance to do one for a few years.
Sadly, we all know about the coin-throwing incidents that have blighted our game of late, and safety has to come first.
And the batteries, and the pitch invasions, and the racism, and the attacks on players…none of which warranted this much attention, but we know why, don’t we…?
If the powers that be feel that players are provoking fans or giving them a reason to be upset, then maybe we shouldn’t be doing it.
Yes, he’s right. From now on don’t score any goals, as you’ll upset the opposition fans. In fact, if you even get a throw in, chuck the ball directly to one of your opponents.
Yes, we all like to celebrate with the fans, but if it is going to become hostile then it’s just not worth it.
There’s nothing wrong with going up to your fans to thank them for their support and acknowledge that, but there’s no place for rubbing the noses of the opposition fans in it. All it does is give a certain element an excuse to behave badly.
This line of thinking is right up there with telling women what not to wear in case they provoke rapists …
You can argue whether or not the burden of responsibility should rest with players or fans to ensure good behaviour,
No you can’t. We are all responsible for our own behaviour. If you don’t believe me, try it as a defence in court.
“your honour, he made me steal his car by parking it in the street to show me he had a better one than I have. ”
but I would agree that things like Leigh Griffiths celebrating in front of the Rangers fans, as we saw after the last game at Celtic Park, should be stopped. That isn’t sour grapes from a Rangers fan, that is as much for his own safety as anything else.
Seriously ? Read that again. He is telling Griffiths to know his place, and not to upset people by celebrating, or he’ll get whats coming to him.
With everything that has been happening lately, the welfare of the players has to come first, and if that means that players can’t celebrate wildly in front of even their own fans after victories then I’m afraid that’s just the price that has to be paid in the current climate.
Or, and this may be a little radical, we could just arrest those who actually misbehave and fine or jail them accordingly.
Clapping your fans as you walk off? Fine. Swinging a scarf over your head close to the opposition fans? Not so much.
We have had coins thrown at managers and players, and a fan even decked a goalkeeper, so we have to look to do whatever is necessary to calm the tensions that are currently bubbling up all over the Scottish game.
Ah…he means we should just let “rangers ” win, and then no one will get hurt.
And this attitude is given a platform in the media.
It would be interesting to see how “rangers ” players react should they ever actually win anything that matters.
But i guess we’ll never know…
As we know, when the establishment club is threatened, or they want to hide something, the media duly oblige with a little bit of deflection.
Yesterday it was cranked up a few notches.
I cannot for the life of me think why…
When is the Rangers AGM 2018?
The annual general meeting of Rangers International Football Club plc takes place on Tuesday November 27.
By the time you read this, it’ll probably be finished, and we’ll know how deep they are in the doo doo by how much shite they throw across the city.
If we know that they lost £14m, and we know that they do not have the revenue streams or investors lined up to deal with that, and they know we know that, bearing in mind their tendency to dispense with the truth, how much trouble are they really in ?
And why are the SFA allowing them to do exactly the same-that is, to run their club with unsustainable losses-as the original Ibrox club did prior to the inevitable liquidation?
It could be that, but it could also be that they are all in it so deep now that there is no option but to see it through to the bitter end, and what then ?
For now, they’ll keep the hordes happy with a few leaked stories about new players, and fresh investment, but the reality is that this entity is already on life support.
Then they’ll just fold and restart, this time without having to go through the leagues…they changed that rule, remember ?
They’ll just start all over, with no debt and fresh investment next season, in the top league, to launch a fresh campaign to stop nine in a row.
King will disappear into the sunset, and a new line up of old faces will return…
Make no mistake, there are an awful lot of peepil who are going to do all they can to prevent the ten.
Which the club are aware of, and need to be calling out at every possible opportunity.
We will need a wider audience watching when the next fix takes place, and perhaps we should be reminding them of the last one as well.
We’ve seen this film before, and I’m surprised anyone would allow a re-make…its all far too predictable.
Maybe we should all light up our phones on the twelfth minute of every games, in the same way as we do on the 67th.
Especially during European games.
That would draw attention, and prompt questions from outwith Scotland. In places where the media actually ask questions, for instance.
Another long running episode will hit the streets this week, Mark Hughes is about to be axed as boss at Southampton, and Brendan Rodgers is in the Controlled frame to replace him, which is a bonus for the fourth estate, as they thought they’d have to wait until the Tottenham job came up before they could his feet as itchy again.
One person we could do without getting itchy feet is Karamoke Dembele, He turns 16 very soon, and will be able to sign a professional contract. Hopes are high that he’ll do it with Celtic, but there will be a massive sense of relief when he does…
Rodgers also plans to have a chat with Leicester about Filip Benkovic, who it appears is exactly the type of player Billy McNeill used to say he liked…those who can quickly become Celtic minded… this chat could be interesting, and beneficial..
The other centre half, Dedryck Boyata, said he wishes he had come to Celtic earlier than he did..
“I should have taken that step of joining Celtic even earlier.
He can put that right by signing a new deal…
But over on Ghana Soccer net, there was a worrying development..
Already linked to Besiktas, Belgian international centre-back Dedryck Boyata (27), according to Bristol Post, has been targeted by Fulham. Playing for Celtic Glasgow since 2015/16, former Man. City player is currently on a deal with Scottish giants only until May 2019, and might be signed over on an about 4 million euros exit fee in January.
This January the club will not make the same mistakes as last summer. We will be underwhelmed by the signings, to an extent, but remember, the policy is to invest in players we know…
And we know that our manager can develop players way beyond the level they are at when they arrive…
Caption competition yesterday…
Steven R
Caption: Dave King launches a new mobile replica kit manufacturing company to circumvent the deal with Sports Direct.
They may well announce that at their AGM…
today…
