{"id":18015,"date":"2022-10-27T07:54:05","date_gmt":"2022-10-27T06:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=18015"},"modified":"2022-10-27T07:54:05","modified_gmt":"2022-10-27T06:54:05","slug":"celtic-diary-thursday-october-27-time-for-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=18015","title":{"rendered":"Celtic Diary Thursday October 27: Time For Action"},"content":{"rendered":"

A couple of stories caught my eye yesterday, both of which it could be said demand immediate action.<\/p>\n

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The first comes from a reply to yesterday’s diary, showing that at least one person reads them….<\/p>\n

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From Jim Smith\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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I drove a round trip of approx 230 miles to go to last nights game. Because of hold ups due to heavy traffic and diversions arrived 6 minutes late only to find all turnstiles closed and unable gain admission to stadium. A rude and belligerent steward advised us to go to turnstiles round the corner if we wanted to gain admission. He also advised us that it was Celtic FC\u2019s policy to closed gates at kick off and in future arrive on time! After futile argument we headed to next turnstile only to be met by supporters and steward heading to where we had just left. After much chaos a turnstile was opened and we tried to enter only for my card to be rejected and my partners paper ticket also to be rejected. A delighted steward told us to go to ticket office for replacement tickets. You\u2019ll never guess? replacement tickets didn\u2019t work at turnstile! Advised to try another turnstile they had reopened. Success at last gained admission to hear roar as we scored. Between us we spent about \u00a3130 tickets and fuel, hours of travel only to miss first 33 minutes of action. As a club we can be extremely amateurish at times.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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Amateurish is one word we could use,\u00a0 though I’d use two.<\/p>\n

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Downright ridiculous.<\/p>\n

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This, from the reply, seems to have affected quite a few fans, and apart from the completely unhelpful stewarding, closing the gates at kick off is an idea I’ve never come across before, and whoever made that decision should be held to account.<\/p>\n

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Supporters don’t all live in the G postcode area, and as a long distance traveller myself it’s not too difficult to see why Jim was upset.<\/p>\n

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Later today I’ll be asking john Paul Taylor to seek an explanation from the club, and also some sort of assurance that this won;t happen again.<\/p>\n

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At least we know he’ll try to find out what happened and why. I’ll let you know what he says.<\/p>\n

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The second story is interesting as well. It concerns Banks O’Dee, an Aberdeen based club who play in the Highland League…<\/p>\n

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Aberdeen side Banks O’ Dee slammed with 24-point penalty<\/h1>\n

after player registration issue<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n

The error saw two unregistered Dee players involved in eight Highland League matches, with current Highland League rules stating that a mandatory three-point deduction must be carried out for ineligible players for each game they were listed\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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Actually, it’s not just the Highland League who operate this rule, though there is another example of it being broken that might make you think they are.<\/p>\n

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Aberdeen-based football club\u00a0Banks O’ Dee<\/a>\u00a0has been hit with a 24-point deduction in the\u00a0Highland League<\/a>\u00a0due to a player registration issue.<\/em><\/p>\n

The administrative error saw two unregistered Dee players involved in eight Highland League matches, with current\u00a0league\u00a0<\/a>rules stating that a mandatory three-point deduction must be carried out for ineligible players for each game they were listed as part of the lineup.<\/em><\/p>\n

The penalty follows a probe from the Highland League management committee. The issue had earlier seen Bank O’ Dee removed from the Scottish Cup before their second round tie against Dunipace FC.<\/em><\/p>\n

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An administrative error…..the punishment for which does seem rather severe. Imagine if a club…or company…had improperly, and thus deliberately, flouted this rule.<\/p>\n

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Following the punishment, Banks O’ Dee will now sit at the foot of the Highland League table, dropping 12 positions from sixth. They gained promotion to the League after winning the North Region Junior Football League play-off last season.<\/em><\/p>\n

In a statement, Banks O’ Dee president Brain called the news “devastating,” saying that the management team and the players would be feeling “badly let down.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He said: “This is devastating news for all involved at Spain Park. I really feel for the management team and the players as they will be feeling badly let down. However, we win and lose together, we are a resilient organisation, so over time I am sure we will recover and be stronger for it. At times like this we have to be positive and focus on all the good things we have done in recent years. Yes, of course, this is a major set back for our season.<\/em><\/p>\n

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UEFA take this sort of thing seriously, as we saw when Legia Warsaw fielded an ineligible player in a European game against Celtic, which led to their expulsion after a 3-0 win was awarded to Celtic, one of our best results in Europe in recent years.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This led to the dismissal of the lady responsible for the administrative error… Marta Ostrowska, who, incidentally , didn’t respond to my sympathetic emails offering her , er, sympathy.<\/p>\n

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\"Court<\/p>\n

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If my mother was blonde, I’d never have left home.\u00a0 As Spike Milligan once said of Peter Sellers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anyway, now Banks O’Dee don;t seem to be appealing the decision, which is their prerogative, but although the rules are the rules, and must be followed, is there actually a civil case they can take to a court of law whereby they could claim that they are being unfairly punished, as there is a precedent in Scottish football that shows players need not be properly registered as at least one club, or company, deliberately flouted the rules by not revealing the full details of players contracts ?<\/p>\n

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We could, of course, email the SFA and ask them why Banks O’Dee are being punished and Rangers are not.<\/p>\n

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Maybe they’ll reply ….maybe they’ll adopt the same line as Anders Traverso, who declared , when he was head of European Club Licensing, that Rangers wouldn;t be punished for european transgressions because “rangers ” are a new club.<\/p>\n

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I’ve no doubt our media, who exist to hold those in positions of responsibility to account, will be all over this story of appalling injustice\u00a0 and it’s implications.<\/p>\n

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\"Laurel<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, back at the ranch, and Ange Postecoglou is continuing his rebuild of Celtic.<\/p>\n

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We hear that he is a little more than upset at the prospect of no European football after Christmas, and the compensation of extra training ground work isn’t going to blow his frock up.<\/p>\n

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I’m disappointed as well. The football was a welcome distraction from the mess the country is in.<\/p>\n

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It looks very much like Rishi Sunak is going to pick up where Boris Johnson left off with his scorched earth policy. Bringing in Suella Braverman to replace the disgraced Suella Braverman is an indicator of that.<\/p>\n

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James Cleverly, who isn’t clever at all, said Braverman has “experience ”<\/p>\n

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What he really means is ” She has form ” , as they say in legal circles.<\/p>\n

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I digress.<\/p>\n

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Celtic are already looking for replacements, and at least one player won’t be around for the treble celebrations in May, largely because he isn’t doing what he’s told at the higher level…… and there’s a feeling from above that he has kind of let the team down…<\/p>\n

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You can probably guess who it is.<\/p>\n

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Yesterday, we had this….<\/p>\n

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\"Image\"<\/p>\n

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Bob Smith\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0Liam and Noel Gallagher hold press conference to deny they are reforming Oasis\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

Today, a reader has sent us this one.<\/p>\n

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Now, if anyone wants to photoshop sashes…..but more importantly, what are they saying ?<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A couple of stories caught my eye yesterday, both of which it could be said demand immediate action.   The first comes from a reply…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":18017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/etims.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/vl-2-lead-760.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2J7If-4Gz","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18015"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18015"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18018,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18015\/revisions\/18018"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}