Less than a week from now Celtic will face “rangers ” in a game that won’t decide the champions of Scotland.
Not on the day, at least, but it will give an indication as to whether or not the race will go to the wire, or one side will canter towards the finish line.
Sadly, the media will hype the game as though it is the biggest occasion of all.
In reality, the form team will probably win, as it usually does.
That’s one aspect of the hype I can never quite understand, where excited pundits proclaim that form gies out of the window in this one.
It doesn’t, and if it ever did, it was a long, long time ago.
Celtic go into the game three points and a considerable number of goals ahead. The signs are that Ange Postecoglou will have a full squad to pick from, and it’s unlikely he’ll change a winning line up unless he has to.
Tom Rogic might not be fit, and if he isn’t then the midfield will be MacGregor, Hatate and O’Reilly. The replacement midfield, should any of them be required, wil be Ideguchi, Biton and McCarthy. Or Turnbull, Dembele and Johnston.
Kyogo Fuhruhashi is nearing fitness after his operation to repair a torn hamstring, But he won’t displace Giorgios Giakoumakis , Dazen Maeda or Jota. The best he, and we, can hope for is he’s in the back up forward line, along with Forrest and Abada.
Joe Hart will be between the sticks, with Juranovic, Taylor, Starfelt and Carter Vickers in front of him. We don’t have a replacement defence yet, but they won;t be particularly strained as the rest of the team do a lot of their defending for them.
Thats why most goals against us come from set pieces. The opposition are prevented from making progress through open play, and so practice their set pieces perhaps more than we practice defending them.
It’s hard to see when a stronger squad ever went to Ibrox, and for that reason alone, Celtic should get a result that at the very least makes it more difficult for the current champions to retain their first ever title.
An example of the hype comes in todays Record, where their expert panel of journalists gave their predictions…
Keith Jackson:Rangers. Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s players are a tough nut to crack on their own pitch and they need three points from this one. This title race is going all the way to the wire.
They need to win…so they will. If only life was so simple, like a Daily Record journalist
David McCarthy: Rangers’ hopes could hinge on Alfredo Morelos’ fitness. With him, they have a focal point and a finisher. Without him, not so much. If he plays, I think Rangers will edge it – and they have to win it more than Celtic do.
Morelos the matchwinner! Yet it’s usually Tavernier who takes the penalties….
Scott Burns: I think we might have a share of the spoils. A point-a-piece wouldn’t be the worst of results for either.
What he means is it’s the best that the Ibrox entity can hope for.
Gordon Parks:Celtic : Having tipped Ange Postecoglou’s side at the start of the season, this will be the pivotal game and just like the question above, it’s because they have the better players in the business end of the pitch.
A stark statement that simply states the facts. Whilst no one can really predict the outcome of any game, Parks points out that Celtic have better players as a reason they should win.
His P45 will be landing on his desk any time now.
Or is it merely balancing out the other “experts ” predicitons, as if Celtic were to win, and win well, it would reflect on their knowledge and insight.
Personally, I think Celtic will win. And if an early goal is registered, they will win well.
“rangers ” don’t have a team mentality or the strength of character to overcome adversity, and let’s face it, their fans won’t get behind them if things start to go wrong.
There’s a staunch belief among them that they are a var better side with far better layers than they really are.
Celtic shattered that illusion last time out, and they have excused the difference in class with a number of reasons, the main one being home advantage to the hoops.
Truth is, their ponderous and hopeful style was overrun by the pace and tempo of Celtic, and it will be the same plan from Postecoglou on Sunday.
Looking at the ibrox squad, painfully thin in comparison to that of Celtic, they do have potential matchwinners, player who might have a great game who can affect the outcome,
Ryan Kent , for instance, every now and then plays a blinder. He’s rated in the £20-25m bracket by the hordes, which is nonsense, but he has scored exactly the the same amount of goals in Scotland this season ( 2 ) as Oddsone Edoaurd, who left Celtic for £25m, so you can see their argument.
James Tavernier will take their penalties and free kicks as and when they are awarded them, probably early when it can have a bearing on the outcome, and he does score more often than he misses.
However, he’s not a great defender, not a great leader and tends to go into his shell when things aren;t going his way.
Ryan Jack is arguably their main threat, as he forms a competent partnership with their other hero, Joe Aribo, but after that, apart from the chunky Colombian, there isn’t anyone who should worry us.
Conor Goldson or whoever partners him in defence will be a threat from corners and crosses, but by stopping them at source, you nullify that, and he’s not the most enthusiastic contributor either, so if things aren’t going his way, he won;
‘t even bother trudging hopefully upfield should the Gers even win a corner.
He’ll probably be told not to anyway, as even Gio van Bronckhurst will be aware that Celtic in possession move at lightning pace, and he has absolutely no one who could catch them should they break rapidly out of defence.
That leaves Alfredo Morelos, who might have the game of his life, and it’s clear he’s been sent back from Colombia, where they call him “the trunk “, on account of his physique and mobility, to get fit for this one, even if it’s unclear what’s actually wrong with him
He is a decent finisher, but my lord what a terrible attitude. ducking , diving, twisting and tearing at opponents before going down with all the enthusiasm of a tramp on a tenner, he’s a liability rather than a lifesaver.
Depending on the referee, of course, who has yet to be announced for this one.
Bobby Madden , Nick Walsh , Don Robertson and John Beaton have all come in for criticism lately, Madden probably would have been favourite, but along with Beaton, they have recently shown that they have theor own interpretation of the rules, even without the perception of bias, and so with Willie Collum not allowed to referee at Ibrox, it seems the SFA are in a bit of a fix.
Whoever they pick will prompt criticism, and rightly so. It’s a problem of their own making, but seeing the possibilities of a rapid promotion, one new name pushed itself to the forefront at the weekends legends game….
This is Greg Aitken, who seemed to enjoy himself at the occasion, and it was nice to see him getting a feel for the place.
He does look happy, soaking up the carnival atmosphere during the celebrations for their However Old They Think They Are charity game, and you can;t help thinking he’s looking forward to the real thing.
It might be too early for him, given his only appearances in matches featuring Celtic and “rangers 2 this season have been as fourth official, but he can always be miked up to a senior man for, er, advice.
Anyway, he’s certainly a name to watch.
Speaking of that legends game, it was good to see that Paul Gascoigne is continuing his fight against non-alcoholism.
Here he is gracing the field with all the elegance and style he used to back in the nineties…..
https://twitter.com/i/status/1507760672939065352
And here he is booting a wee boy who he invited onto the pitch so he could, er , boot him.
Gazza called him on the park to do THAT? pic.twitter.com/k4hJUtcp51
— Lint (@Zeshankenzo) March 27, 2022
And , of course, his homecoming wouldn’t be complete without a musical interlude….
https://twitter.com/i/status/1507761762715807751
Words fail me. A man who is clearly not well, physically and mentally, paraded before the hordes to their baying admiration.
Not for the first time, I’m wondering what the hell is wrong with them.
Elsewhere, and a wee update on Saturday’s Diary, and Carl Jungle Bhoy has sent another email….
YOUR COMPLAINT:
Case number CAS-7137036-G3M9C9
Unfortunately, your email reply 26 March 2022 is unhelpful and disingenuous. A video referring to “Rangers FC’s 150th anniversary” automatically infers an unbroken history both on and off the field, which is simply not supported by facts.
There are countless football clubs where the “owning companies and the corporate transactions involved in the sale of the club” have changed frequently over the years (Chelsea & Man Utd. to name but 2) However, there are NO other cases in British football history where a newly formed club has been able to claim the history of a club which never came out of liquidation. That is unique to the peculiar “5 Way Agreement” constructed by Scottish football authorities to allow the new club to start in the lowest division – without prior consultation with UEFA.
As for the June 2013 BBC Trust decision to use the “right language” based on purpose and context , dependent on whether it’s a “sport “ or “business” story: There are many situations where there’s no clear separation between the two. The “complex nature of this particular story” is one very good reason why you should’ve taken care to avoid a laudatory video in support of a celebration which has very clear business and legal implications.
I’d therefore be grateful if you could answer a few specific questions which will help clarify your interpretation of the 2013 findings (I’ll let you decide if you want to reply wearing your sport or business hat!)
. Is separating a club from an owning company a concept UEFA accepts?
. Does this peculiarly Scottish view align with UEFA FFP Art 12?
. In 2012, UEFA stated the club emerging was a NEW club/company, so not eligible to apply for a UEFA licence until it had been a member of the SFA for 3 years. Does that not confirm that the club founded in 2012 is a new club from BOTH a sporting and business perspective?
. If UEFA do not support the concept of separating club from the owning company, why do the BBC?
We await their reply with interest.
On Friday, we had this…
Desimond
Nicholson collects Knob of the Week in person
Today
…and the boys from the Glasgow PD choir were singing “F**k the Tims…”
Hullo hullo we are the Bully Boys
And the Green Brigade dress as cops so none of them get the jail for singing at ibrokes HH
Caption – Now mind, at the weekend, you’ll need to wear your own clothes but you can still use the same seats.
Caption; “ honestly guys, this is the worst union bears tifo yet”
Caption: Good guy, good guy…..feck it who am I trying to kid.
W@nk, w@nk, w@nk, w@nk………………..
Caption: Back row second left and despair for Officer Karen as she realises there’s even thicker Bobbys in the world.
Following 8-0 Celtic victory at Ipox Mikael Lustig’s Twitter feed shows that old habits die hard.
The Union Bears Choir prepared for the big game!
Chief Constanble lines up to play “Wank, Wank, Good Guy” whilst Officer D looks up Pornhub
Caption: I’m HAPPY, HAPPY…..
Wow that’s some glum hunnies there
Caption …
Last full row at top. Three from the left as we look at picture
Wee pat nevin hears a Tim singing oh ah up the ra
Caption: Two clubs bad, one club good and the pigs looked like humans and the humans looked like pigs and there was little difference between them. ( Apologies to Mr Orwell)
Caption…….
ALL TOGETHER NOW… THE CRY WAS NO SUR
Caption: The suspects are described as male or female, between 3 foot 2 and 6 foot 8, around 5 to 80 years old and wearing a green and white hooped top.
Caption “Bastards, Cunts, Dicks, sit in the correct row”
Cation
Right own up who booed Gaza?
Celtic can lose and draw, getting one point against them and still win the title if they beat the rest, as they will. So the hunnery have a major problem, that is why the hysterics from the journos
Don’t know what this Ralph Malph guy looks like but I want him locked up in Helen st tonight
right guys n girls are you ready a1 a2 a3 ‘ the cry was no s×+/&%$÷r
Btw Not that it matters one iota (even if I knew what an iota was) but neither my original complaint nor follow up were actually sent by email. They were registered through the BBC’s Complaints process on their website. However, the BBC send their acknowledgments & replies by email – including the text of the complaint(s) – which is what you see above.
Unfortunately, they also have a word limit on their complaints form, otherwise I’d have added a couple dozen questions and probably rambled on even more than I’m doing here.
Whilst you’ve clearly done everything you can Carl, you wont be the 1st to be fobbed off by their 2013 ‘review’. I was too, about 2 years ago. A crowd-funded legal approach would achieve a better outcome as there’s so much ‘out there’ the BBC would HAVE to back down and admit they’ve been lying. Apart from the ‘club’ BECOMING a company in 1899 (incorporation) and that company STILL being in Liquidation and TRFCL (and RIFC) having NEW company numbers from 2012, there’s a helluva lot more. It would need to be aimed at the BBC Trust, IMHO, as that’s what the BBC rely on. But single approaches will just be batted away although they may trip themselves up with irregularities in their responses. I’ve still got mine.
I’d happily pay to crowd-fund this and I think many thousands would too.
“WE ONLY NEED TO BE LUCKY ONCE” in Court, to have these lies shot down in flames forever. YES, I’d happily pay into that and try to garner support from others of a like mind. The Res 12 guys will know the right Lawyers to approach, let’s go for it.
HH
Good idea. Sounds like a job for Auldheid!
Carl, I understand your good intent but Auldheid and others involved with Res 12 need assistance, and proof of who’s backing them, if/when Tims like us want to ‘step up’. Auldheid, I’m confident, sees this. I’ve explained before, we need a centralised, PRIVATE, encrypted area where a strategic, focussed ‘gang’ can get together and form the next move.
Done properly, and I’d repeat, with a crowd-funded legal approach to the BBC and more so its Trust, we can force the Truth into the open, for once and for all.
It’s NOT down to if/whether it’s possible, it’s down to determination (which I have in spades) and to get together, put in a few quid and thrash this lie (new hun myth) into history, of which they have 10 years come October 2022.
I have proof, as others will. Time to put it forward together and crowd-fund an expert Lawyer.
That scum deserve all the shit that’ll duly come their way.
HH
Count me in. It’s long overdue.
With Pistol Pete out of the equation it’s time to put
his successor, the Invisible Man, on the the hot spot.
Same for Bankier, Wilson and all the Tory, Hun Luvin,
O@@ F@@m believers.
A decision against the BEEB would force this issue back on the Scottish Print Media.
Carl and SFA, great names BTW, both. I understand Nadir (De Profundis) and have oft stood in The Jungle, years ago. And yet we see ‘thumbdooners’ on an essential Celtic FC supporters’ forum?
And the ‘administrators’ let pish through? Voting without comment. WHY?
Regardless of the pricks on here, not all huns I’d bet a pound to a penny, just faceless, gutless tory twats. Your day is coming.
So, create a page open for Tims only, REAL Tims only, a discussion board, covered by encryption, and a REAL co-ordinated assault on the BBC and other MSM lyers.
I’m IN, from now, and I’ll guarantee to get the message out, we’re going to show up the ‘new huns’ for what they are and the Media that lay with them. ONWARDS AND UPWARDS, and FFS get RID of voting without comment, it’s been a FN disaster from birth to current, lost us great voices and given power to R Soles.
HH
Astounded would not come close. To down-vote a genuine comment from a genuine Tim? Who’s who here? Who TF are you?
And eTims continues to be preposterous with ‘new, improved design’, even in the face of losing face with your longest supporters? WTF?
I’ll take my fight to wherever and whenever it needs to go.
This, ‘best of all Tim sites’ has deteriorated like the effect of lift cables snapping……WTF?
For any other supporters in the world before a match they only have to hope that their team plays to its full potential to win. Only in Scotland do we have to worry about blatant, in yer face cheating from “un-sighted” officials. “When will the penalty be given? Which of our players will be booked early? How many dangerous tackles will be allowed against our players?” all these thoughts pass through our minds, especially when we play this shower.
No matter what the pundits and journos say, we win this match and we win the league and they know that.
*rangers 1 (pen) Celtic 4
Caption: OK, Listen up, brother and sisters. There’s only going to be 700 of them, so I want you to form a wide circle around them and practice your “we hate catholics” stare. Any signs of partying and we take them out one at a time!
Caption:
Where’s Wally?
Caption
” It’s like any other matchday. Officers on my right, will escort the union bears and officers on my left will kettle the tags…
Caption:
Fellow bears and bearettes, Neil McCann said he has an Irish passport.
Willie to referee…yesterday morning I was confident.