Celtic fans around the world today will remember Billy McNeill and everything he gave to the club.
We will not see his like again, and we will never forget him.
Credit to the picture goes to Paul B Lyons on twitter. The image captures perfectly the leadership qualities of the man.
Celebrate the mans life in style.
Wherever you are.
Don’t be afraid to join in the applause if you’re watching or listening to the game in another part of the world, wherever we are, we can pay our own tribute.
Today the hoops face Kilmarnock, and the players want to win in the style of the team that McNeill led, and there cannot be a more fitting tribute for the current squad to pay to the man who will be remembered as Mr Celtic.
Whoever is picked, and there are suggestions that Scott sinclair will join Tom Rogic and James Forrest in supporting Oddsone Edoaurd, will do the man proud.
A win today , followed by less than a win for closest rivals “rangers ” at Aberdeen will secure the eighth title of ten.
Let’s put on a show.
Scott Brown has been exonarated of the charge of smiling at a football match after Celtic brought in a specialists sports lawyer to defend him.
A heartbroken Daily Record encapsulated the SMSM mood with the headline..
Scott Brown avoids ban for Rangers celebration
Celtic captain has not been punished for his role in the aftermath of the Hoops derby win in March.
Avoids ban ? Not been punished ?
Who could be controlling such a narrative ?
Brown was charged simply to placate the hordes, who yet again, handled defeat poorly.
There was clear evidence that there is a mentality of entitlement running through that club at the Glasgow Cup final on Thursday, when one of their players feigned injury to break up a Celtic attack, as you can see in this video, from the BBC.
However, cheats can be delat with, as this man showed..
Delighted to have successfully represented Celtic captain Scott Brown in his case before the Scottish FA today – now looking forward to watching him play at the match tomorrow #Celtic #SFA #ScottBrown
Now that he has met the SFA once on a professional basis, perhaps he’d be interested in doing it again..
I’m sure he’d like to have a look what many have described as one of the biggest sporting scandals in football history.
And now he knows who he’s up against, and the professionalism of that particular organisation, it would be easier than prosecuting a small child for filling his nappy.
For example, Ross County have just won the First division, or championship, as its imaginatively called these days…
Elsehwere, and new manager Neil Lennon…oh wait, it’s not official yet…has started to look around for his summer signings, with a young fellow by the name of Silas Wamangituka high on his list.
The forward, originally from the Congo, currently plays for Paris in the French second division, and it’s encouraging to see Celtic continue to look at young French based players, as they seem to adapt quite well in Glasgow.
All of the summer planning needs to be done now. Should Celtic, as expected, make the UCL qualifiers, it’s going to be tough again, but there is every chance that should Celtic make the group stages, the club will be in Pot 3, which gives the side a better than average chance of knockout football in the New Year..
Moravcik 67, as ever, explains..
Here’s another update on qualifying for next seasons Champions League. Assumptions made – we avoid imploding, and see out the league. – this years CL winner qualifies for the group stage via their league, meaning the Austrian champion won’t have to qualify.
As previously discussed, if we avoided another pre-playoff exit, Celtic would be seeded through all 4 qualifying rounds. Yep, I know it didn’t help this season. But better to be seeded than unseeded. It can be the difference between playing Ajax or Astana in the playoff.
Since my last update the following teams from the winter leagues have secured their title, and qualifying spot – Young Boys, PAOK, Dinamo Zagreb, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Slovan Bratislava, Linfield, The New Saints With that, here’s how things might look in each qualifying round.
Qualifying Round 1 The draw will be made on the 18th June, with ties played 10/11th & 17/18th July. Teams are usually drawn into smaller groups, limiting who we can draw. The Polish & Romanian champions are the ones to avoid here.
Qualifying Round 2 Draw is also made on 18th June, with ties played 24/25th & 30th/31st July. Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Rosenborg stick out as the tougher opponents. Because the QR2 draw is made before QR1 plays there is no scope for any of the unseeded teams to become seeded.
Qualifying Round 3 Draw is made on 22nd July, with ties played on 6-7th & 13th August. The level of opposition has gone up a notch or two here. There are some very tricky ties. Not sure I fancy another trip to Greece at this stage.
Playoff round Draw is made on 5th August, with ties played 20/21st & 27/28th August. Not sure if this is much harder than QR3. But Young Boys trounced Basel this season in Switzerland, and we know how difficult Astana have made it for us in the past.
The whole set up is, of course, ludicrous.
Ajax could either go straight into the groups as winners, or start their campaign again just a few weeks after losing the final….
But if we are to see the big cup back at Celtic Park, we have to fight our way through.
One way of starting to fight back against the system, the whole system that is, was suggested and will be put into practice by fans of frequent European opponents Basel…
FC Basel fan scene does not buy tickets for cup final
FC Basel qualified for the Swiss Cup final yesterday with a 3-1 success at FC Zurich. The Muttenzerkurve announced that same evening that they would buy any official tickets for the cup final on May 19, 2019 in Bern.
Before the semi-finals, the four fanfares of the semi-finalists spoke in a joint statement. Muttenzerkurve Basel (FC Basel), United Supporters Lucerne (Lucerne), Block Süd (FC Thun) and Zürcher Südkurve (FC Zürich) demanded that the final tickets should not be issued as combined tickets, which are also valid for special trains to the cup final in Bern and fans can decide for themselves how to travel to the final. At the same time criticized the Fankurven of the four semi-finalists, that the ticket prices of 50 francs in the Fan curve and up to 120 francs on the stands should be lowered ( fascination Fankurve reported ).
The semi-finals in the last two days have now revealed that FC Thun and FC Basel will meet in the final at Wankdorf Stadium on 19 May. But FC Basel’s fan scene will not buy any official tickets for the final: “We will not buy official match tickets, but sell our own tickets. In addition, we call all FCB fans for an individual arrival and thus a boycott of the extra trains, “said Muttenzerkurve yesterday in the local dialect.
The own tickets of the Muttenzerkurve in Retrodesign are sold at a price of 40 francs or 25 francs. On the final day, the FC Basel fans want to pull in a fan march from the meeting point in the center of Bern to Wankdorf Stadium and handed over to the leaders of the Swiss Football Association (SFV) the money that was taken by selling their own tickets. The association then has the opportunity, the FC Basel fans for this by the fan scene itself set admission price, based on the campaign “football for alli” oriented, with the fans in Switzerland in 2014 for fair ticket prices began ( fascination Fankurve reported ), to let the stadium or not.
FC Basel’s fans are optimistic that a solution with the SFV will be found on the day of the match itself or even in advance, giving fans a cheaper final visit. But according to Muttenzerkurve it is important that FCB fans do not stock up on the official tickets and stick together.
“We are aware that we lean out the window with the action and that there is not just black and white. The Swiss Football Association is in a bind because of conditions imposed by the Berne authorities and we are also jointly responsible for the security costs. With the final participation of Thun, however, these will turn out a lot deeper, “explains the Muttenzerkurve the planned action, with which one will offend some people, which, however, according to the opinion of the fan scene is sometimes necessary for it to rethink. (Fascination Fankurve, 26.04.2019)
I put this in because these translations make me laugh.
However, the point is, the fans are printing their own tickets, selling them to themselves at half the price, putting the money to one side, and then handing it to the Swiss FA as a take it or leave it gesture..
The Scottish cup final is next month…
On Thursday we showed you this..
Caption…”55 was in tangible reach and then this happens “
Today..