Charlie Mulgrew was\the latest victim yesterday of the “Get Rangers in the SPL” campaign as he was side swiped into commenting on the new club.
When asked if he would like to see Rangers back in the SPL, chuck said
“If it was my choice, probably aye”
The bit that got less attention was;
“I don’t want to get involved with whats going on with that side of things. I’m just concentrating on things at Celtic . hopefully things will work out for the best.”
But, the pack snifffed blood, and a story out of nothing. questions about the lack of a serious rival meant that Mulgrew was getting forced into a corner;
“There is not as much pressure on you but I am not using that as an excuse” before he managed to gather his wits and say that ” we have have to do beter, it is simply that”
But the press have pounced on it. The Herald with “absence makes the heart grow fonder,”, the Scotsman with “Mulgrew missing SPL title rivalry” and the Daily Mail with “I want Rangers return”
Anyone who saw the interview knows that Mulgrew didn’t mean that, indeed the player tweeted as such later, but the campaign is now truly well up and running.
So, to help players faced with this kind of question in the future, here is standard reply they can use;
“Rangers cannot come back into the SPL. They have been liquidated. No-one at Celtic, or in civilised society misses them. The new club, to which I think you refer, will have to work its way to the SPL, like everyone else.”
Anyway, its all to do with league reconstruction, as the SPL clubs have met to agree a meeting where they will vote on what they consider to be the way forward. It will be on April 15. Up for nomination is the controversial 12-12-18 set up, which changes to 8-8-8-18 after the clubs have played each other twice. As usual, its a case of something must be done, this is something, lets do it. It needs an 11-1 majority to go through, and before voting, the SPL clubs should have a look at how much better this season has been under the present system, and ask themselves if they really want to change.
Of course, the whole thing is just a pretext to try and slide new club Rangers as high up the system as they can, without anyone pointing out how much better it is without them. Level playing fields, sporting integrity, and hardly any honest mistakes. Unless you are a Hibernian fan, that is.
Speaking of referees, Steve Conroy, the man who awarded a penalty instead of nine out of ten for a dive by Sone Aluko, (remember him?) is suing the SFA for unfair dismissal. He hasn’t worked since, and presumably wants to contest his sacking because he was only following SFA rules to help the old Rangers as much as possible. Don’t expect his speeches in court to receive much publicity, but they should be interesting.
Celtic will face Dundee Utd in the Scottish Cup semi final on Sunday April 14, with an early 12.45 start. Hibs will face Falkirk the day before at 12.30, which demeans the competition a little, and gives a watching tv audience another chance to see a half empty Hampden.
Bit of common sense should be used surely? Hibernian could play Falkirk at Tynecastle, and Celtic could play Dundee Utd at Murrayfield. That way the support share the travelling, and we get the novelty of a new venue. There might be a rugby game scheduled for the Saturday before, but that won’t leave the Murrayfield pitch in any poorer condition than Hampden anyway.
A huge sigh of relief swept through Celtic supporters yesterday as defender Rami Gershon claimed that we haven’t seen the best of him yet. Anxious fans are now waiting for similar statements from most of the rest of the forty -odd man squad.
The football rich list was published yesterday, and surprisingly there is a former Celtic player on it. Shunsuke Nakamura, the gifted little Japanese free kick expert is in there at number forty seven. There are no ex-Rangers players on it, because no-one knows how much they got paid, as they sort of kept that kind of thing to themselves.
Speaking of that lot, its nice to see Charles Green giving out all those free tickets to schoolkids-even catholic ones, and its nice to see Esther Rantzen coping with all the calls to Childline. However, why isn’t Chuckles publicising this fantastic non-sectarian initiative? Surely not to undermine his “When I say 45,000, its 45,000 claim. “?
Anyway, Patsy Galacher is the non Scot with the most goals for Celtic, being one of only two in the top ten. No prizes at all for guessing who the other is. Now, who is the oldest player to take the field for Celtic?
Alec McNair
david wier ……………..and by some considerable distance i would think.
Ronnie Simpson ?
Ronnie Simpson
Ralph
The only way to sort out this problem is to keep let the slack tongues away from the press. Where does this notion of footballers, who are known generally to be less than well oiled above the hips, being the mouthpiece of the club? If they would only stick to developing the potential talent in their feet then, perhaps, we would not have any more Dingwall dumplings in future. Why would they want to be interviewed, knowing they can be duped? Are they laying the foundations for future in broadcasting? If so, they would be well advised to check out how transmission waves can destroy brainwaves by having a wee glance at the unintelligent claptrap of some of their predecessors now in place.
May I just put on record that I am a committed supporter of league reconstruction. Before any one butts in, I am not in an institution when I say committed. I would actually help with the initial demolition, especially if it meant the liquidation of the architects. Only then could there possibly be any kind of restructuring that is of any actual use. Has anyone got flashbacks to the old corporation demolition days? It is there so let’s knock it down even if it leaves a big empty, ugly space for years to come. Refurbishment? Out of the question. Have you seen the bungs and masonry handshakes for destruction? Besides, we have to keep “the mob” happy.
Wow, I never thought I would say it, but courting a referee is looking attractive for once. Can’t wait for the first date.
I knew you would put your foot in it, Ralph. Imagine expecting the SFA to THINK of something sensible. That you even had a glimmer that they would makes you even worse than them 🙂
Enough is enough! Ronnie Simpson gets my vote. Why? Well I remember being asked to put his pipe and slippers under his bus pass next to the goalpost before a game against Morton.
H H
Hello Ralph, don’t know you really or anyone else on here but you do sound a wee bit depressed a we bit upset at the goings on in Scotland, the SPL committee, SFA and ofcourse all things hundome. There is no voice crying in the wilderness shouting aloud that financial doping should not be rewarded, there is no voice within the media in Scotland wanting to tell the truth about the guilty as rangers were indeed found guilty on all counts and somehow that has turned out to be a vindication for them “Oh thank you your honour a guilty verdict how vindicated I am and if my victims now could just apologise for putting me through all of this” It is depressing it is so corrupt, a system that where any grain of sand is corrupted into a beach full of lies, the people cry “there is no justice” Dont be too down hearted. HH v
Charlie Nicholas. Second time round.
In his head he was 56, which meant he couldn’t run any more, and that having a big fat arse was OK.