{"id":6184,"date":"2014-12-13T11:55:50","date_gmt":"2014-12-13T11:55:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etims.net\/?p=6184"},"modified":"2014-12-13T11:55:50","modified_gmt":"2014-12-13T11:55:50","slug":"celtic-diary-saturday-december-13-the-media-circle-the-wagons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=6184","title":{"rendered":"Celtic Diary Saturday December 13: The Media Circle The Wagons"},"content":{"rendered":"

The idea behind the Diary is to find things that are interesting or amusing to Celtic supporters.<\/p>\n

So, I hope you will forgive me if most of todays nonsense concerns the nonsense over at Ibrox.<\/p>\n

As you know, Ally McCoist, the manager of the new entity, has decided to give his notice in at the club. Its a 12 month notice, and on the face of it, it means , that under the terms of his rolling contract, he can roll away. With a years wages.<\/p>\n

Is it my suspicious mind, or is this quote, taken from todays Daily Record, just a coincidence ?<\/p>\n

Scottish football is heading for Irish League level<\/h1>\n

warns financial expert who masterminded<\/h1>\n

Fergus McCann’s Celtic takeover<\/h1>\n

\u00a0\u201cThe game has changed. We are back to the way it used to be pre-David Holmes and David Murray.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBefore they arrived at\u00a0Rangers,<\/a>\u00a0Scottish football lived within its means. When Murray took over from Holmes, Rangers rode the whole Ronald Regan-Margaret Thatcher-driven money merry-go-round and did it successfully.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Thats from David Low, who helped Fergus McCann save Celtic. Quite what his definition of “successfully” remains a mystery. If you call bankrupting a club and leaving yourself open to accusations of tax fraud and money laundering succesful, then I guess they did okay.<\/p>\n

\u00a0He doesn’t stop there. Pausing only to remove his head from between Murrays buttocks, he continues;<\/p>\n

\u201cMurray started that and Murray ended it in 2008 and all that\u2019s been happening since 08 is we have gone back to way things used to be.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem is that a lot of Rangers fans in particular think that what happened between 86 and 08 is the norm. It\u2019s not \u2013 it was the exception. The banks have gone back to pulling their money out of almost every club in Scotland.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe prices are too high. It costs a fortune. If you take a family of four to basketball or rugby it\u2019s a pleasant, affordable experience and you can have a beer.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cTaking two kids to the football is three maybe four times more expensive. They\u2019ll charge you \u00a32.50 for a bovril and \u00a32.20 for a pie.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Perhaps the banks pulled the plug on football to avoid the scenario Murray created-that of not repaying loans-and to compare taking the kids to basketball is ridiculous.<\/p>\n

If I wanted to go to the basketball, I’d go. I don’t. so I go to the football instead. Its crazy to compare the two. After all, I’ve yet to hear a phone in based on basketball. To compare the prices with football is like saying I’m not going to buy milk today, because water is cheaper.<\/p>\n

He isn’t done yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s expensive, it\u2019s freezing and the stadium is more than half empty.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe prices are high because of players\u2019 wages. And there are too many clubs \u2013 everybody knows that. There should be half the 42 senior clubs.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think Scottish football can afford to be full-time to the extent it is. Back in the 70s there weren\u2019t 10 full-time teams in Scotland.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cCeltic want to\u00a0leave and go to England<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 but there\u2019s not a cat\u2019s chance in hell of Celtic playing in England. We are stuck in this jurisdiction, this big fish in a shrinking pond.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cCeltic are trying to run up a down escalator and each year it is getting harder and harder. I was not the slightest bit surprised we didn\u2019t get past Maribor\u00a0or Legia Warsaw in the Champions League qualifiers.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0We ? He did say “we”. That’ll explain why the Record paid him thirty pieces of silver for the article.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery three or four years you might get a lucky break and make the group stages or even the last 16 but by and large we are on a downward spiral.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cCeltic and the rest of the Scottish game is going to settle \u2013 but at an ever-decreasing lower level.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s going to make the step up into European competition more and more difficult,<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019ve found our base level yet, I believe we have lower to sink before we bottom out.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are heading for Irish territory \u2013 getting to the same level of the Irish League. I know that sounds pessimistic but that\u2019s where we are headed, taking a five-year view.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0I’m at the game tomorrow, and hopefully i won’t be sitting next to Happy fucking Harry.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Again, its a chance to rubbish the game in Scotland, which don’t forget is watched by 5% of the population, a figure higher than all but three countries in the world.<\/p>\n

\u00a0So there \u00a0is interest.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Hibernian are about to become the latest club to declare they are free of debt. Only one club is making an arse of the accounts. That means that the game is starting to get itself on a sound footing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0But we dont see articles praising that. In fact, you’d be hard pucshed to see any praise for anyone getting their house in order. It might take a year or two yet, but the removal of the toxic Rangers brand has had a knock on effect.<\/p>\n

\u00a0An effect that is leading to the rebirth of the game. If only that was getting the headlines, and if only that was being encouraged.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Take Stewart Regan, for instance. ( Please, please , just take him-i’m here all week, try the veal etc )<\/p>\n

\u00a0The bumbling , incompetent head of the SFa is trying to find a successor to the development officer Mark Wotte, who quit last month, and guess who he turned to.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Go on. guess. Its fun.<\/p>\n

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