Look Back to Look Forward

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Everyone on this site has football experiences, views, stories and opinions. Everyone also wants things to be better in the future too. These are bonds that make us who we are and this forum what it is.

I’ll share a few experiences with you now.

I will never forget an impromptu and inspirational 60 minute Q. and A. masterclass by Davie MacParland to a group of relative youngsters at Hampden in 1975 after Scottish Unis had played a friendly with his team.

It was “over the moon Brian” time for me on finding a £5 note in my shoe. This was after I played my first game (unexpectedly) as an S form in the Highland League when my club’s  Aberdeen-based players had been held up by a road incident.

So happy and corrupted was I that I never questioned the widespread practice of giving money to amateur players thereafter so I’m part of the problem.

I also sat next to a young Jim Leyton who came to Butchart to watch himself on a match video after he had let in two goals when we dumped Deveronvale (where he was on loan) out of the Aberdeenshire Cup.  It was the very early days of video and Jim had never seen himself on a tv before.

Every person in the SFM community will have equally diverse and interesting experiences and I’m going to share one more with you now in a little more detail.

In the mid 90s I was given an amazing insight into how Scottish football really worked. In many ways it hasn’t changed much since.

Back then I was part of a small group brought in to help find funding for the upgrade of Tynecastle with the urgent need to construct three new stands. At the time it was a massive requirement for a very financially challenged organisation and at a push there were potentially just about enough pots of monies available from several sources to trigger the investment from the Football Trust and squeak over the line.

The most critical pot was mobilising the fans.

My role was to find a way of getting them to come aboard working with some fine lifetime Hearts fans like the late Alex Kitson so it would all look like a Hearts Community rather than a Mercer initiative.

The then, colourful Hearts majority owner was under constant pressure on other fronts at the time.

The team was not really performing with relatively new manager Jim Jeffries trying to get best out of predecessor Tommy Mclean’s mixed bag of old pros and kids. Making things worse was a growing, highly critical and very vocal consortium of local business people trying to get Mercer out (and themselves in).

I guess you could say in today’s parlance that they were RHM and civil war was very much happening down Gorgie way.

Anyway I can’t now recall all the detail and apologies if my memories have fused a little but a key AGM type meeting for Hearts shareholders at Ingliston was coming up and there was an agenda that looked like it might hurt “The Chairman” as Wallace liked to be called.

Never any flies on him though, he had seen the danger signs and was ready in his own way.

He turned up with his trusted few and simply yet quite brilliantly hijacked the negative agenda and ignored the real issues. He didn’t have a solution for them and couldn’t implement the changes that were in reality needed but quite simply he kicked all the trouble into the long grass.

He did this because he fundamentally understood that most shareholders in the room were just ordinary football fans and wanted nothing more than to be able to talk about football the game, Hearts their club, who they were due to play next and who would be playing.

It was that simple.

Mercer’s message to all that night was “Yes things have been tough but our best possible future is with me”.

He rammed this home by confidently telling the assembled body that Hearts were on the up because we had a new manager who needed time and then blew everyone away by announcing he just signed three amazing new players for them, Giles Rousset, Bruno Pasquale and Hans Eskilsson. After the applause and mayhem died down he had won.

Bruno and Rousset were newsworthy in any Scottish football context one being a French International and the other an ex Juventus tough guy with a EUFA and a couple of Coppa Italia winners medals.

Oh and Eskilsson had amazing hair.

Mercer’s simple bit of insight, showmanship, brinksmanship, call it what you like, led to the survival of his regime.

In a parallel maybe to what the SFA did after their meeting with Craig at the Hotel Du Vin in Glasgow, Mercer had enough time to be ready for the trouble he knew was coming and used his power to ignore the real issues and the detail and move on with a big gamble.

Looking back Wallace got a lot right .

He understood what the majority of ordinary football fans wanted. He’d also learnt that good press was needed and came from feeding the football writers enough tasty exclusives so they’d look after him in a symbiotic relationship, the kind of relationship that remains much the same today.

Even back then in the days when there were less full-colour pages pre-allocated to certain teams to fill and  more able journalists to fill them, the sports pages were about game reports and gossip rather than insight.

The packs of hacks all craved being handed tasty semi-exclusive stories.

It was and ever is thus and in those days the Daily Record was a wee gem with circulation nearer 700K than the 200K-ish today and amazingly all its costs were covered by it’s advertising revenue alone. The proud boast of Endell Laird was the purchase price was pure profit.

With hindsight Wallace may only have postponed the inevitable campaign by the RHM rebels that night at Ingliston. History tells us that the Robinson/Deans rebellion eventually forced their chance. They did have to dig much deeper financially than they ever wanted when their time eventually came, and soon fell out too, but that’s another story.

Wallace’s long grass was just never going to be deep enough to hide the issues he wanted to ignore but to his credit on his watch the stadium was upgraded and the first Scottish Cup since 1956 was paraded to the fans.

Mr. Mercer was an operator who like others before and since could see personal and business value in owning a club.

He cultivated friendly football writers.

He learned that the SFA could be difficult to deal with but much less so when you placed people on their various management boards. That was key to the inner power sanctums and brought you at best influence and at worst early warnings.

He may have been autocratic but knew you needed powerful friends at other clubs too and was always close with David Murray in particular.

So what has this little piece of retrospection and a handful of Finloch football stories got to do with a blog on SFM?

Last week I met Big Pink for the first time over a few coffees.

It was like meeting an old friend in the pub because of all the stuff we’ve lived through and shared over the last 5 or so years.

We talked about stuff and traded stories and opinions on life, football and about SFM what it does and what we are.

We got on to the subject of it’s future and with my business background he asked me to consider a piece for the blog about where the SFM, our fledgling business might go from here.

I maybe agreed too hastily because I have found it challenging to gather and spell out my thoughts.

So this is very much a starting couple of steps to bring in the SFM minds and set up future discussions following this blog and when we meet in Perth in April.

My starting point was to first consider what we are today.

It’s a personal view but to me SFM is a valued medium I come to most days. It’s for when I want to find out or to discuss what is happening.

It is populated with a bunch of people with different backgrounds, skills and insights, is always polite and often very funny.

I’d actually like to see more headline blogs because I enjoy them but our biggest value will always be analysis discussion and good humour.

SFM is fundamentally different to the MSM back pages that still offer us all a mono diet of whatever day-to-day gossip they have been spoon-fed by the Level 9’s of this world or made up and maybe embellished with a random phone call for a quote.

Yes their world is declining and will inevitably see fundamental restructure and change but that change has in reality nothing to do with how they cover and will continue to cover Scottish football.

I’d even posit (to use a wee word I’ve learned from the excellent JJ site I visit sometimes) that the red tops currently see their style of football coverage as a way of slowing their inevitable declines because it delivers the difficult to reach male audience their advertisers crave access to.

As a spectator I’d say the MSM in Scotland mostly seem to suffer from a polarised demographic focus/ bias too but that can never excuse their revisionism or the Spiers and Haggerty episodes we’ve just witnessed.

There is one benefit though. One you maybe hadn’t thought about from all the dreadful MSM football reportage.

The stuff they collectively generate enables all of us to have daily conversations with friends and strangers without actually saying anything about anything.

It gives us our daily top-up for the international language of football minutiae we all converse in every day.

I’ve been able to speak it fluently since I was in my teens. You know the kind of thing – the ins and outs, the ups and downs, the comings and goings and the toings and froings.

The good news, the bad news the made-up news – its all part of being involved with a team or indeed just being a football fan and it’s all conversation for the males of our species.

There are plenty of places I can and do get access to that kind of stuff but SFM isn’t and never has been a source.

I quickly found out that most of my pals don’t want to talk about side letters in the pub on a Friday, or the need for asterisked titles because they are more interested in tomorrow’s match and who will be out of contract at the end of the season.

Without being disrespectful in any way I think they are cut from the same wood as the majority of Mr. Mercer’s Hearts shareholders and if I’m honest part of me is too.

That has given our administrators and clubs too easy a ride.

Beyond the gossip it is fair to say in the last 40 or 50 years football has changed beyond all recognition.

It has become a source of power and money and as we know proverbially and in real life power can corrupt and money can be the root of all-evil.

The stuff happening at FIFA now can be no surprise to any fair-minded fan and I’d be inclined to think that there have been finagled decisions at the top for longer than the current stewardship of Mr. Blatter.

Way longer.

Football-land is a dirty world. A world where all the transparency is for show and real stuff has always been controlled and rewarding for those in the right places.

Closer to home football in Scotland is no different. Power and money have been the origins of our own North of the Border soap opera saga.

Its sometimes been very funny, often been entertaining too but is ultimately tragic and a sad indictment on our country.

Being Scotland nothing is ever as simple as it should be.

We started from a unique kind of place where for over a century we have had to live with an unhealthy, quasi-tribal, two-club duopolistic domination of all things football including the fans, the trophies, the money, the media attention and the administrators controlling our game.

The stark reality of 2016 is our biggest club/economy now finds its real ambitions thwarted, potentially forever, by its location in our restrictive league structure. It has nowhere currently to go and annoyingly the biggest league in the world is just over the border and part of the same country in political terms.

This is a destabilising influence on our game that won’t go away until change allows the next evolution.

Our second biggest economy as we now know had to cheat a little to keep up, post Fergus, and is now making its way back to the top end but with some truly nuclear baggage that I guess we still really only know the half of. Nothing will be simple in its return to what we’re told everyday is its rightful place. It too is a latent destabilising influence awaiting like a grumbling volcano.

What depresses me is the fact that the much-vaunted return of our dysfunctional duopoly is not a formula to recreate  the European success we all took for granted for so long. Those days will never return.

The decline of the Scottish giant that was and is Rangers has dominated our thoughts because it encapsulates so much more than what is wrong with our game.

It is a huge business and establishment fall from grace. A shocking story that has become an elephant in the room to our politicians, our media and many of our fellow fans and is still playing out to deafening silence in some quarters.

In the manic run up to the decline of David Murray’s club we benefitted from insights from the seminal RTC and were bombarded with mass denials from almost everywhere else.

We witnessed the £1 sale to Craig Whyte, the subsequent McCoist European failure, the eventual slide into messy liquidation with tax issues etc.

Our administrators failed us all the way through because they had a different agenda.

Our MSM didn’t want to know partly because it involved more than regurgitating press releases and partly because it was real news for real reporters and not back pages gossip.

Their editors failed us there too, big time.

Now the revisionism and invention of the post-liquidation ephemeral club and company scenarios has been creative to say the least.

I remember Mr. Traynor’s  initial headline and smile how he and others are now wading in a contradictory swamp of their own making. It’s all confusion when it needn’t be.

I only know the kind of stuff that really happened because of this site and its RTC predecessor.

Four or five years on and I think these guys (SFA, SPFL) acted like Wallace Mercer did at Ingliston and ran roughshod over process to “win”.

These well paid admin staff were never off-piste though and our clubs share complicity for their actions to varying degrees.

If I was Regan’s or Doncaster’s devil’s advocate I could just about comprehend that they acted because they feared for their TV revenues. The prospect of being without half of their duopoly ace card and the blue fans scared them and they were mandated by the clubs to maintain the status quo.

I don’t mean all the clubs but if we look at the key committee structures we’ll easily see who were in that inner sanctum at the time. They collectively decided to throw their rulebook out the window and there is no grass long enough to bury their collective actions because truth always outs.

Cast yourself back a few years not long before the St Valentine’s day 2012 news when the push was all for a 10 club league.

I remember Stewart Milne aggressively trying to sell us all a 10-club league because of the TV revenue it delivered (to the few).

At that time there seemed to be a collective “TV Gold Fever” prevailing in the cabal of top club chairmen that makes the real decisions and tells our administrators what to do.
Luckily they failed.

They nearly failed again too in 2012 with their tawdry 5 way agreement  and we all owe a debt of gratitude to the late Turnbull Hutton whose personal integrity, bloody-mindedness and leadership meant a significant change to the premeditated 5 way plan that our top clubs had all signed off.

Since then we’ve all suffered from Armageddon and long may it stay.

SFM has been at the forefront of the last five years. A place where fans from all the clubs come together to question, analyse, give insight, balance, consciousness on all aspects of the meandering road that has been this story so far.

It’s all recorded on our archives somewhere too. We’ve noted and discussed the following and more –

  • Two different signatures from the same club on the 5-way agreement
  • Two different and concurrent memberships of the SFA
  • Players TUPE-ing for free and no lawyers getting rich in trying to get them back
  • Pre-season games being cancelled because of registration and insurance issues
  • The Brechin game coming too soon for the paperwork
  • The entry-round in The Ramsdens Cup for the old club or is it the new club?
  • Record crowds, an even more aggressive songbook
  • Ian Black getting a surprise call-up and a bit of a game to legitimise  The New Rangers with their first cap
  • Millions raised from a gullible city and desperate fans but still several last gasp saves needed to avoid new financial stramashes
  • A charity that pays for holidays in America
  • Quasi-legal stuff with dodgy parameters for questionable enquiries like Nimmo Smith
  • Bryson and his logic that Spartans could and should have used to stay in the cup
  • A “Hopelessly Conflicted Chairman” re-elected and a new one who has fitted in seamlessly
  • Real legal stuff like HMRC appeals, and phrases like side-letters
  • Charlotte Fakes and maybe even Fake Charlotte Fakes
  • Fit and proper persons running our clubs
  • Recorded conversations
  • Onerous contracts
  • Metaphysical concepts of what football clubs in our courts with big bucks being spent on our behalf by our administrators

There is and has been a whole lot more and more to come on the schedules too.

How much of this would I have found on our MSM?

Very little – so thanks to those who go the extra mile for us including John Clark, EasyJambo and others at the courts,  Phil who will never go away, James Doleman and others too including JJ – all playing blinders where the hacks don’t dare.

Finally fast-forward to today.

Most Scottish fans probably know a little about the stuff I’ve touched upon and we’ve debated in depth. Not enough though.

But we have Darryl Broadfoot who is the SFA so we can all sleep rest assured each night.

 

Going forward we must address how we communicate as a medium to spread the word.

Ask yourself – Is what we do more important than knowing Rangers signed Dean Windass’s son from Accrington Stanley on a free because he’s going to play for England one day and stuff like that?

I’d say it is different although both have a place.

Our challenge is to create more impact with ours.

In finishing I have one serious starting proposal to make as a community but first a thank you.

Thank you to all the blog writers and posters because we have collectively created a site where real stuff can be dissected and discussed politely and in a non-partisan way.

Well done to the mods in particular and to our community In general

 

My simple proposal as our first step forward is to start a Wikipedia style library of the facts and keep it on our site.

Dates, happenings, people and all the stuff that will not allow any of it to stay buried forever in the long grass. The kind of detail that is in Auldheid’s amazing and resolute Resolution 12.

Chapter and verse whys and wherefores with dates and names.

 

This will achieve three things.

  • It will create bedrock for us as a trusted media channel whatever we decide to become.
  • It will put stuff factually into the public domain forever.
  • It will contradict any highly paid revisionists trying to change what really happened for their own agendas into the future.

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1,978 thoughts on “Look Back to Look Forward


  1. tayred 3rd March 2016 at 9:13 am #

    Is there a squad size limit already? 

    Not now, although there used to be one in the SFL (22 players). That was abandoned though when a team with a squad of 50+ arrived


  2. I have to admit when I suggested that Celtic would take the place of Rangers in the CL in 2011 I made an assumption.  It just seems too obvious to me.  You don’t have to league winners to play there.  I believe Scotland have an entitlement to a place.

    My last line of defence is Rangers were in fact ineligible to be SPL champions that (and other) year.  No one will ever convince me that the SFA were not aware of the ‘imperfect’ registrations at the time, Ogilvie certainly did.  Had they been doing their job at the time the results for season 2010/2011 would have been reversed and Rangers would probably have been demoted never mind declared champions.

    Whatever way you look at it Celtic should have been in the CL 2011 with the Potential to win c£15m.  And Kilmarnock in the Europa.  So this is not simply a Celtic – Rangers thing it involves another club and involves the corruption of the SFA.


  3. jimbo 3rd March 2016 at 11:33 am
    … Ogilvie certainly did.  Had they been doing their job at the time the results for season 2010/2011 would have been reversed and Rangers would probably have been demoted never mind declared champions.
    Whatever way you look at it Celtic should have been in the CL 2011 with the Potential to win c£15m.  And Kilmarnock in the Europa.  So this is not simply a Celtic – Rangers thing it involves another club and involves the corruption of the SFA.

    And Hamilton as well, who were demoted in 2011.


  4. I just had a “conversation” with an ex-RFC fan, now a devout TRFC fan. A highly intelligent person, who I always  thought radiates a calm and sensible approach to life. He told me that even if there was some rule bending applied by RFC (not cheating though, that was not a word he could come close to countenance) that in the long run it didn’t matter because:

    “… without it Scottish football would never have seen the likes of Gascoigne or Laudrup, everyone should be thankful that we got to see players like that…”

    Then he went on to deride the current state of Scottish football. It was of course assumed that I must be a Celtic supporter because I dared to have an opinion that went against his. Oh and Dundee Utd supporters, god help you, because they really have it in for you for “putting the boot in” apparently. My stating of facts that only Rangers were responsible for what happened to them was shot down in flames, with a reddening face I got the “bet if it was the f’ing Tims you wouldn’t be saying that kinda sh*t”.

    I’m afraid folks, that is exactly the problem we have. Even those that admit that things maybe weren’t strictly above board, its all ok because Rangers did well out of it.


  5. I see the old gem of guaranteeing TV four CFC/TRFC league games a year has been mentioned here. This was always my indicator as to whether SPFL/SPL worried about taking part in corruption. Sign up to that guarantee and what happens if one of the two ends up below the split? More importantly what happens if one of the two are in equal sixth place with another team when they are due to play them in the last game before the split? Do our authorities “guarantee” their guarantee or do they face the consequences in a breach of contract suit?
    Question now is, will they take that risk again next season of using a similar deal to get more TV money when the chances of one in particular of the two ending in the bottom half are quite high.
    I know what my opinion is.


  6. Reiver, I would imagine that the contract will be drawn up to take account of the chance that there might only be 3 Glasgow Derbies.  However that’s in a sane un-corrupt world.  With Doncaster in charge you never know.


  7. jimbo 3rd March 2016 at 2:03 pm #Reiver, I would imagine that the contract will be drawn up to take account of the chance that there might only be 3 Glasgow Derbies. However that’s in a sane un-corrupt world. With Doncaster in charge you never know.

    —————————————————————————
    Jimbo, I’d imagine the contract was drawn up about the same time that Rangers were “relegated” to the 4th division. Probably a penalty clause written into it as it has taken the SFA/SPFL an extra year to get a certain club back up into the SPFL (assuming they make it this season of course). Or is that too cynical?


  8. tayred 3rd March 2016 at 1:15 pm
     
    Of course, the ‘rule bending’ came later and was not connected to the signings of Gascoigne or Laudrup. Worth pointing out he was wrong about that too.


  9. incredibleadamspark 3rd March 2016 at 2:40 pm #tayred 3rd March 2016 at 1:15 pmOf course, the ‘rule bending’ came later and was not connected to the signings of Gascoigne or Laudrup. Worth pointing out he was wrong about that too.

    True with regards to EBT’s etc, but the rule bending in my mind goes way back to Murray and his funders in the banking sector…. names and precise details evade me for the minute. 


  10. Allyjambo 3rd March 2016 at 11:29 am #
    Keefy boy suggesting on twitter that spiritualism pays

    Try hyping up the whole of Scottish football, maybe then it will get some of the ‘commercial value’ it deserves!
    TRFC brought such a high commercial value to Scottish football that the SPFL had to pay BT to cover their games! Explain that as ‘commercial value’!
    ============================
    Aj, that was indeed a well placed – metaphorical – kick to the goolies of our dear Keef !
    Does he even bother to read the p!sh he produces/pastes ?! 19


  11. Incredibleadamspark and tayred , try finding the Andy Goram drink driving case circa 1992/3 where he stated that his salary was 1 grand per week at a time when the football media in Scotland was telling us that Rangers players were being paid ten grand a week and poor wee Celtic could only afford five grand a week.
    Also, ask yourself why Gascoigne and Laudrup would come to Scotland for SPL wages. You might want to look for Maurice Johnstone’s explanation for signing for Rangers rather than Celtic in 1989. Something  along the lines of “Mr Murray said he would take care of my taxes” , allegedly.


  12. weejoe, beat me to it bud! ? “Facts are chiels that winna ding”!!

    tayred 3rd March 2016 at 11:09 am # – if we’re talking about the same thing then I have to admit to paying it a bit of attention due to my ‘source’ as well as being unaware until now of other guaranteed causes doing the rounds, think I’ll manage to put it to bed now!

    ? ?


  13. I have been a fan of football since as far back as I can remember. I would watch anyone playing anywhere,  growing up i played it too for school, cubs, scouts, amateur and work teams ,never amounting to anything but enjoyment of our game.
    About twenty years ago i took out a season ticket with my team and went to every home game, i have renewed every year since. 
    I have followed the trevails of the game through the collapse and liquidation of glasgow rangers and the disection of the aftermath on this and similar sites and congratulate those who have managed to hold those responsible for the running of the game to account.
    it has become patently obvious to me that the game in this country is run for the sole benefit of the tribute act masquerading as rangers and despite the best efforts of those previously mentioned, that is sure to continue.
    i watched the hamilton accies v celtic game last friday from the comfort of my home and the double standard of refereeing saddened and infuriated me in equal measure.
    i travelled to celtic park last night from deepest darkest lanarkshire, parked up in my usual space and paid my extortion fee to the local street urchin, walked the 3/4 of a mile to the stadium and sat in the bitter cold to watch a team of headless overpaid and underskilled chickens fail to  overcome a dundee team half of whom had been rested for their big game at the weekend. It gives you time to think when you know nothing of note is likely to happen on the pitch and i came to the conclusion that ive had enough

    enough of the cheating, enough of the downsizing of my team to ensure the money is there to pay exec bonuses, enough of the overpaid, under worked players not fit to grace our jersey and a manager bereft of a plan A never mind B ,  enough of the draconian legislation and unneccessary criminalisation of supporters, enough of paying through the nose for stadium food not fit for pigs, enough of the whole shebang, today i emailed celtic to cancel my season ticket and refund me for my purchase of a ticket for the morton game. 

    I’m off to find a new hobby, one where the playing field is level, one where a handshake or rolled trouser leg does not  allow advantage over ability or endeavour, i doubt i’ll be missed.

    i wish everyone on here every success in their pursuit of justice, i just cannot find it in me to be part of it anymore

    Oh and celtic have just replied telling me they dont do refunds…….which just about perfectly sums it up


  14. Back to bore you again with a wee comment about referees. The incident last night where Aberdeen got a goal chopped off because Shinnie was accused of taking a dive. Tempted to say bring back Collum! For those interested its up to view on the SPFL youtube site. Honestly its worth a look, its staggering!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wnmoGmwXFc


  15. Thumbs down cos you believe Madden was correct, or thumbs down because you are all bored talking about referees? I just thought it was a staggering decision. I also hasten to add I was unaware when pasting a link like that it pops the video into the page. Apologies – although I kinda impressed myself too 😛


  16. tayred 3rd March 2016 at 4:44 pm

    Honestly its worth a look, its staggering!
    ———————————————-

    It is staggering. Scottish referee gets decision correct.

    I don’t see anything but a static defender being run into by the attacker. I can’t see the defender moving his feet or body to make contact. 

    What do you expect the defender to do? He can’t disappear (although that’s apparently going to be trialled in the Scottish Cup next season, the fourth official will have a Reagan, sorry ray-gun 03) & he doesn’t have to move out of the way. Law 12, if you’re interested.


  17. Jingso.Jimsie, I don’t see a claim from the decked player. I can see contact of feet. I’m not even going to attempt to contest Law12! ? The referee should allow play to continue in this case. But he has taken the view that the Aberdeen player has feigned contact and in so doing deliberately tried to mislead him. This means to my mind that Madden has missed the contact between the players and also failed to take into account the neutrality of the fall, in that it was momentum from the run rather than theatrics. Also the ball appears to be laid off just prior to the challenge. With all of these factors I think Madden got that one wrong, I would add that I believe Bobby Madden to be one the best in Scotland right now (that isn’t necessarily the ringing endorsement some may believe it to be!).


  18. The ref may well have got the penalty call right and not given it, but if that is the right decision (i.e. not to stop the game) then play continues and the ball ends up in the DU net off a DU defender’s legs. As far as I can see, the Aberdeen player doesn’t claim for a pen. A referee would never stop play just to book someone for what he saw as simulation, would he?
    I don’t have a problem with arguing either way whether it’s a pen or not. I do have a problem with a referee deciding it’s not a penalty, but then NOT allowing the resulting goal to stand. Surely that’s the issue!!


  19. Having re-read my post I think i should add that he got it right insofar as it was no penalty. But got it wrong in booking Shinnie.


  20. Nawlite at 5:37. As I see it the attacking player commits an offence, simulation. The ref either wasn’t quick enough with his whistle or allowed play to proceed to see if the defending team gets an advantage. Either way he calls the game back to the original offence, books the offender and awards an indirect free kick to the defending team.
    Simple. 


  21. Weejoe, I didn’t think a referee would stop play to book someone for what he saw as simulation. Do they normally?


  22. Nawlite, no the don’t usually but maybe they should as simulation is an offence. 


  23. Surely, they would keep the game flowing if there’s no reason to stop it then go back and book him later for the simulation. If that was done last night, Aberdeen would have scored. Should the game be about goals or referees?


  24. To be a cautionable (yellow card) offence simulation must also be a free kick.  I’d say it falls under ungentlemanly conduct (is that still the wording of the offence).  So if the offending team is not disadvantaged by playng on the referrer is correct to blow up.

    It would appear Madden believed an offence took place and obviously the team offending were advantaged so therefore blew up.  Being wrong on the first automatically makes the second wrong and it should have been play on but having believed Aberdeen offended he could only play on if the Terrors had an advantage they clearly didn’t until of course he chalked off the goal.


  25. If Mr. Madden decides that Shinnie’s action was simulation & against the laws & that Aberdeen benefitted from it, then it’s a ‘foul’. There’s no advantage to the defending team.

    Had Dundee Utd. cleared the ball, he may have allowed play to continue. They didn’t & he blew up.

    Or are some positing that ‘simulation’ isn’t really foul play?


  26. Balance reporting as we know does not exist in our smsm, tonight was an example of this.  On  BBCSportsound RD has been heavily criticized to the point where they are asking callers to text in who should be in charge of Celtic next if RD leaves. It is fair to criticize all managers as long as it is balanced. It was relentless tonight against RD, his signings, his budget etc… bearing in mind Celtic are 4 points ahead still at this moment.  Compare this balance with the reporting of Mr McCoist, it was never on this level during his whole time at Ibrox, never.  Look at how Mr Warbutron is praised  consistently, I do not recall any form of criticism towards him at all no matter WHAT he says.  No balance at all, because as mentioned by 4424me it is all about the Ibrox club no other club ,matters, none.
    Now there have been several posts concerning fans of other clubs and conversations with friends who are fans of the new Govan club. It seems to follow a pattern of avoiding mentioning the liquidation word as they just get angry, and the plight of their club was not the fans or the clubs fault at all. Forget creditors full stop.  Blame the sfa and all other clubs and worse blame the fans of these other clubs. I have always stated the most important thing to all fans is the history of the club and all memories and stories related to it.  The fans of the new Govan club openly state that they are the same club (begs the question of which club is going through the liquidation process as we speak) and this seems to be backed up and not openly disputed by our sfa and smam.  This maintains the arrogance and superiority complex of the fans at Ibrox (as they are the same fans but even more bitter than before IMO) which in turn openly mocks all other fans of every club in our country. WATP mentality is what it is and make no bones about it that seems to be the way they are held in this country IMO.  This  may always be the case but they should be made aware that the club they used to follow is in liquidation and the club they follow now is not as it is a new club. It is not enough IMO that all fans will remind them, that in the future will mean nothing to them.  They should be told the truth by clubs themselves (mention in match day programmes as mentioned about the new club would be a start), the SFA should publish it in a statement and the smsm should report it like they did once on that  day when Rangers FC went into liquidation .
    History is everything to fans and this club is not only supposed to have bought it they are now changing history to suit themselves.  This is the fans of a new club with no remorse,no contrition  towards Scottish football and no thoughts towards creditors of their same club in their eyes.  It must not happen they must be told they are a new club no matter what. It is what they are and the truth may hurt them but to continue to let them think they are the same club would sicken me to the core and leave me with no sport.

     


  27. valentinesclown 3rd March 2016 at 8:09 pm # – The sweetest connection between hammer and nail in a long time.

    ??


  28. Jingso.Jimsie 3rd March 2016 at 7:38 pm 
    ————–
    Some, and really I can only speak for myself, may be positing that it was neither foul nor simulation. It happens from time to time.


  29. 4424me

    I can’t let your post pass by without mention.  I found it very sad.  I just hope that the landscape of Scottish football changes enough  in the future for you to go back.


  30. causaludendi 3rd March 2016 at 8:24 pm #

    On viewing with my partner’s gregories, I reckon a foul by the attacking player but not an attempt to win a penalty.


  31. valentinesclown 3rd March 2016 at 8:09 pm #

    History is everything to fans and this club is not only supposed to have bought it they are now changing history to suit themselves…
    they must be told they are a new club no matter what. It is what they are and the truth may hurt them but to continue to let them think they are the same club would sicken me to the core and leave me with no sport.
    ==============================
    I’m guessing that someone at Hampden has already made some estimations as to what it will cost in lost revenues if the authorities enable the ‘RFC’ sham to continue/flourish next season v. the cost in lost revenues for stating the truth for clarity for all Scottish football fans.

    And for consistency, I’m wouldn’t be at all surprised if the blazers have got their sums wrong !

    The SFA & SPFL could be taking an even more significant risk next season if they continue to indulge – and look the other way – wrt TRFC, IMO.

    Most of the ‘other’ Scottish football fans could be understandably fed up to their back teeth, and some may reconsider their leisure choices.
    And the consequences could be grim for the long-term future of Scottish football.
    So just how does Regan plan to mitigate this risk to his target of ‘Strong Quality Growth’, as stated within the SFA’s corporate strategy;  
    Scotland United: A 2020 Vision
    —————————————- 
    Performing and WinningStrong Quality GrowthBetter Financial ReturnsRespected and Trusted to Lead


  32. Maybe conjecture as I don’t buy or read  Scottish newspapers, but it may be that this is the last chance for any club to be champions for 10 consecutive years and the stops are all being pulled out to try and derail this, including demonising RD .


  33. Interesting to note that last season with 28 games played Celtic were only 6pts in front of Aberdeen.

    Appreciate the ‘panic’  is all to down to performance and momentum at the moment but maybe folks shouldn’t get too worried yet about where the title is heading.


  34. Wottpi,  I too am curious what your moniker is about, it’s curious.  Anyhow I digress.

    Although Celtic are 4 points ahead at the moment, the football is dire.  Whether anyone likes us or not, as a team we have tried from the 1960s to play exciting, attacking football.  I think most folk would agree with that, sometimes better than at other times..  But at the moment it is painful to watch.  Don’t want to go too much into it but wholesale changes are needed for Celtic to regain our status as a very decent football team proud to be Scottish and represent Scotland in Europe.  (And once in Argentina unfortunately)


  35. jimbo 3rd March 2016 at 11:33 am #I have to admit when I suggested that Celtic would take the place of Rangers in the CL in 2011 I made an assumption.  It just seems too obvious to me.  You don’t have to league winners to play there.  I believe Scotland have an entitlement to a place.
    My last line of defence is Rangers were in fact ineligible to be SPL champions that (and other) year.  No one will ever convince me that the SFA were not aware of the ‘imperfect’ registrations at the time, Ogilvie certainly did.  Had they been doing their job at the time the results for season 2010/2011 would have been reversed and Rangers would probably have been demoted never mind declared champions.
    Whatever way you look at it Celtic should have been in the CL 2011 with the Potential to win c£15m.  And Kilmarnock in the Europa.  So this is not simply a Celtic – Rangers thing it involves another club and involves the corruption of the SFA.

    Good morning Jimbo,
    Your points bring up something I had missed, my team may not be the biggest but I am proud of the fact that we are one of the few, maybe even the only, provincial(non City for my other American chums) team to appear in every European Competition except one. The boys have played in the European Cup, the Inter Cities Fairs Cup, the Uefa Cup,the Cup Winners Cup, The Texaco Cup and the Anglo-Scottish Cup(well maybe that’s stretching it a wee bit !!) The one we have missed out on is the frigging Europa League Cup and as you have just pointed out we should have been there and completed the set!!!! Those gangsters at the SFA have a real cheek, denying us the chance of a really unique European record, beats the Treble any day!!!
    yours in Sport
    Gaun The Killie


  36. Hi Killie1962
    Jimbo is speaking a lot of nonsense as much as we like might like to dream about how UEFA might have decided the issue it is not by any means certain that they would have worked it the way Jimbo claims. We have seen UEFA and FIFA and heaven forbid our own SFA show pragmatism. 
    Come on not let us show ourselves to be non-bias, I remember in the eighties , I would go home to my digs and my landlord could tell me before the draw who would be playing who – and the bugger was correct.

    For years Celtic and Rangers were drawn apart, then with the emergence of Aberdeen and Dundee Utd suddenly it changed a semi-final would be Celtic vs Rangers just to get a Glasgow team in the final … so lets not pretend that SFA favouritism is a new thing, and is that not match fixing!
    The SFA and the Scottish leagues have been cheating for decades in order to help the two ugly twins.

    Had your chance OldGold/Enkafid/Observer etc, etc.
    There will be no further chances for you. You have no interest whatsoever in discussion, but instead only derailing this blog.
    Off with you now
    Jimbo is not talking nonsense either. You on the other hand ….

    Tris


  37. paddy malarkey 3rd March 2016 at 9:12 pm #Maybe conjecture as I don’t buy or read  Scottish newspapers, but it may be that this is the last chance for any club to be champions for 10 consecutive years and the stops are all being pulled out to try and derail this, including demonising RD .
    ==================================

    Firstly I’d have to say as a Celtic fan if they don’t win the league I’d be struggling to apportion blame elsewhere. Having said that there is no doubt to me Ronny Deila is treated with a complete lack of respect by the media compared to other managers. Deila has not got involved in any Referee disputes, or slanging matches with other managers or indeed the media. He won the Norwegian league akin to Motherwell or Kilmarnock winning the Scottish league. He has achieved more in football than Mark Warburton has ever achieved, yet who is portrayed as the statesman like figure? In Scotland it’s not who you are or what you have achieved, it’s simply down to who you work for. There is still a pecking order in Scotland, and Ronny Deila is finding out his place in it.  If he does leave, his successor will be treated in exactly the same way. 


  38. Ronny Deila has been dragged through the hedges by the SMSM. Regardless of his managerial abilities I believe that this onslaught has been premeditated and would have / will be the welcome available to any Celtic Manager after Rangers FC (IL) died. Until a team from Govan proudly sits atop the SPFL then everyone else, especially Celtic FC will be subject to any amount of destabilisation the SMSM can muster. 10 in a row must never be achieved in the eyes of the Scottish establishment and this includes the ever disgustingly bias media. ‘Anyone But Celtic’ has never been more apt. Just my opinion.


  39. How did this happen. The team that cheated and went bust reinvents itself in another carcass and tells everyone that they are the same team on their way back and feeling really good about themselves. The fans are already settling their deckchairs Into the moral high ground. All is well as any media source will tell you. Plenty of money, Champions league on the horizon and a host of new players queuing up to join the triumph that surely awaits. Yip. All is well down Govan way. Couldn’t be better. The media and the SFA have done a wonderful job of airbrushing the history and the truth and everyone should just move on from the technical blip of 2012. Nothing really happened. T


  40. Killie 1962,

    That’s a record to be proud of. 
    In the 1966/67 Fairs cup Killie beat R. Anterp 8-2, K.A.A. Gent 3-1,  Loco. Leipzig 2-1 before being put out by Leeds (you probably know this 21)

    I remember watching a clip of one of those games on Utube, it was a black & white, grainy bit of film – I can’t remember which match it was –  but it was a great watch.


  41. UTH, Paddy malarkey,

    Totally agree.  After all the stuff given out by  A. McCoist – fostering the victim mentality, bordering on dangerous stirring up ‘Who are these people?’,  I thought M. Warburton was a breath of fresh air.

    Recently however he seem to be losing it.  Artificial pitches, re-sizing the pitch at Alloa, development league,  Champions League (what’s that got to do with him?) etc.  You can almost smell Level5 behind it.

    But you are right it is all  reported in a statesmanly manner by the press.


  42. Carfins Finest @ 7.49
    Could I respectfully suggest you go back and re-read 4424me post at 4.39pm.  At no point does he declare that CFC just have to win ten in a row and they would were it not for those pesky MSM establishment lackeys.

    And his post was so much better for it!

    Ripping Celtic (not without some cause simply because they’ve taken the cheap option and are now being found out for it) works because one side buys it to be offended and the other buys it to help them paper over their own cracks.  The point is, they buy it.  That is the sole intention.

    In my opinion. 

    Carfins Finest @ 7.55

    That’s not to say you’re not bang on the money here! 03  Follow the money should still be the mantra.  The media are not airbrushing the debt they are just conveniently not mentioning it, treating it as a company thing, not a club thing.  The media’s angle only works if they can ignore the obvious triangle between debt, players and titles.

    And just as a general point to all considering a ST boycott.  I see comments along the lines of “have they not factored in the fact we all won’t go.”  They have.  They are working on the principle that in the first instance where the 20 year ST holder isn’t going there’ll be plenty others who will go along to see this new super duper reinvigorated SP(F)L that is receiving a marketing budget and effort we can currently only dream of, and secondly, make no doubt they have factored in that if they continue to twist the continuity knife that we’ll all end up going back to try and thwart their plan.

    Of course, when I say they have considered it, they have considered it for two teams certainly and maybe up to 5 teams possibly.  The rest can go hang, which has been my take on this all along.  


  43. Carfins Finest 4th March 2016 at 7:55 am
    ‘…How did this happen..’
    ______
    A greedy, self-important fake of a man, idolised and fawned over by newspaper editors, BBC producers and senior managers, made hubristic pronouncements and spent (in effect) other people’s money in a hunt for ‘glory’, ran a football club into massive debt, and, like a whimpering, whipped cur, crawled away from the debt by cynically shedding it to nasty little people, who promptly ran the club into Liquidation, stuffing its creditors…………..Certain other nasty types set up a new football club, with the help and encouragement of personnel in the SFA  with a close affinity to the greedy, self-important, fake of a man and that fake’s ‘values’ ………….. and so on. All unquestioned by the SMSM.
    That’s how it happened. North Korea ain’t in it as far as these lying cheats go!


  44. I too listened to sportsound last night hut with VC’s post saw no need to comment. I see the general theme is still being discussed so can I just say that last nights show was embarrassing to listen to coming from a state broadcaster. I would have been embarrassed producing that show for Sevco Online or whatever they call themselves.
    I missed the opening sequence and when I tuned in a minute or so after the start of the programme it was to a rundown of MR Delia’s time in Glasgow. It took me a minute or two to realise that he hadn’t in fact resigned OR been sacked.
    The level of vitriol directed towards Mr Delia (see, there is no literary problem with putting the honorific before a non-T/RFC managers name), his tactics, his attitude, his signings… PolPot would have had an easier time last night. What really struck me though was McIntyre’s attitude & position, you could almost hear him bounce on his seat in glee and excitement throughout the show although that was surpassed by the squeal he gave out as McInnes’ name was mentioned: “But he’s a rangers* man”.
    As for Richard Wilson – half a paragraph away from being Chris Jack’s mentor. I know people say he’s a good journalist, however. I would counter that by saying he had the potential to be a good journalist but has let his partisanship become an obstacle to truth.
    There was so much more wrong on so many levels with last night’s show but I’m not a writer, I don’t get paid to eloquently surmise situations or occurrences or represent the facts to those with an interest so my full stop comes.


  45. John Clark 4th March 2016 at 9:52 am #

    Carfins Finest 4th March 2016 at 7:55 am‘…How did this happen..’______A greedy, self-important fake of a man, idolised and fawned over by newspaper editors, BBC producers and senior managers, made hubristic pronouncements and spent (in effect) other people’s money in a hunt for ‘glory’, ran a football club into massive debt, and, like a whimpering, whipped cur, crawled away from the debt by cynically shedding it to nasty little people, who promptly ran the club into Liquidation, stuffing its creditors…………..Certain other nasty types set up a new football club, with the help and encouragement of personnel in the SFA  with a close affinity to the greedy, self-important, fake of a man and that fake’s ‘values’ ………….. and so on. All unquestioned by the SMSM.That’s how it happened. North Korea ain’t in it as far as these lying cheats go!

    Who could disagree with that?


  46. Not being a tekky type I can’t do links and stuff (perhaps Tayred could give me a tutorial!03) but if you can find your way to the Mail today there’s an article about the english self appointed “big 5’s” wee meet and greet about the fact they can’t all get into the CL this year.

    Let the blood boileth!  John Clarke, you may want to give this one a miss! I’d hate you to pull something and have to sit out the looming court cases! 030303


  47. Let me try again. Is the agenda set out by Finloch  in his post dead? This site has the opportunity to be the authoritative place of record on Scottish football.  Do we have more important agenda than that?

     Finloch: My simple proposal as our first step forward is to start a Wikipedia style library of the facts and keep it on our site.
    Dates, happenings, people and all the stuff that will not allow any of it to stay buried forever in the long grass. The kind of detail that is in Auldheid’s amazing and resolute Resolution 12
     
     

    No it is not alexnder276. Was hoping to discuss that very thing at Perth. Given the auspices for that meeting, we may now try to arrange something for those interested in participating in building the wiki.
    Tris


  48. Alexander 276,  Big Pink announced a few days ago that an Archive on the site is currently being worked on.  04.


  49. Smugas 4th March 2016 at 10:31 am
    ‘……..the english self appointed “big 5’s” wee meet and greet about the fact they can’t all get into the CL this year.’
    _______
    http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/6975868/Stillitano-Man-Utd-and-Co-deserve-Champions-League-more-than-Leicester.html
    I refer to the  wee sub-headline “..US power broker wants a closed shop for giants – not sporting rewards for achievement…” , and would simply suggest that Stillitano  might learn a thing or two from our SFA about how to do away with any necessary connection between ‘sporting awards’ and ‘ achievement!’
    One could argue that our wee body of football Governors were way ahead of the curve in abandoning any that  Sporting Awards having to be achieved on the field rather than ‘bought’. Wave a few bob, press the flesh and, hey, presto , you can buy any number of league titles and trophies won by another,sadly deceased, club!


  50. Thanks Jimbo. I missed the announcement about the archive progress.  For my carelessness I will fine myself a small contribution to the coffers!!
    Whoever else  the archives  helps it will help me. My brain is overloaded trying to remember it all.


  51. I’m surprised that Keith Jackson’s Q&A hasn’t merited a mention this morning.

    Clear and Present Danger?????  Sporting Integrity ???????

    http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/read-full-keith-jackson-qa-7490452#C9eTRihjmWvE5WUD.97

    A WEEK today Neil Doncaster will hold crunch talks in Geneva aimed at torpedoing plans to block Scotland’s access to the Champions League.

    The SPFL chief describes these discussions as some of the most crucial he’s ever been part of and below he tells Record Sport’s Keith Jackson why this is one fight Scotland simply can’t afford to lose:

    KJ: I’m not sure that everybody really gets how serious this is for Scottish football. Do you worry that perhaps the significance of all this is escaping some people?
    ND: Yes, that’s why the reporting you’ve been doing has been helpful because it’s making clear to everyone who has an interest in the game that the prospect of a closed shop Champions League –based on bank balances rather than winning matches – would be disastrous for Scottish clubs.
    It is a clear and present danger to the future of the game in Scotland. I’m happy to say that.

    KJ: Oops, careful, that sounds a bit like Armageddon?
    ND: Well, it’s not for me to use such a word.

    KJ: Okay, but it’s a fairly bleak forecast all the same. On what basis would it be a disaster?
    ND: If it does come to pass it would be a disaster because fair competition is absolutely at the heart of football. The impact on fair competition and the idea of getting somewhere on merit – as well as the financial impact for the national game in this country – would be terrible.
    Financially, it’s very difficult to calculate exactly what it means. Obviously, if you remove the ability of our champion club to qualify for the Champions League clearly it has a massive direct impact on the money coming into the game from that route.
    But equally, it would have huge effect on the whole of the domestic competition – what it actually means to win the league in Scotland would change enormously.

    KJ: And the knock-on effect would impact negatively on sponsorship money etc?
    ND: The knock-on effects are very difficult to calculate. That’s why those of us who are putting our heads above the parapet are quite happy to lay out how big a danger it is to the game.
    As a sport we simply can’t afford to sleepwalk into a scenario where we have this closed-shop league. It would be very, very dangerous.

    KJ: You keep using the word ‘dangerous’. What exactly is the worst-case scenario?
    ND: A scenario where winning the league matters less than it does at the moment because you can’t qualify for the biggest European competition – arguably the biggest club competition in the world.
    So it’s important we stand against any such proposals and I believe Scottish football does stand together as one against and plans to create this closed shop league. The support from our clubs is unanimous and it’s generally agreed we – and anyone who cares about the game across Europe – must fight these plans and preserve the sporting integrity of European football.

    KJ: And on that basis, you will fly to Geneva next week. How important has this meeting become? And is your aim here to build a pact against this plan with as many nations as you can?
    ND: Yes, it’s one of a whole series of meetings. It’s certainly not a one-off. Over the next few months there will be a whole series of these sorts of meetings all over Europe as the leagues who would be affected negatively by any closed-shop Champions League begin to rally support and make clear what the dangers are.
    That’s why the phones have been red hot since the news first broke. Football people across Europe realise if this plan was to go ahead, there may well be no way back. That’s why we are doing what we can to educate, create an understanding of what it could mean and to start the process of getting on board those leagues who have yet to fully understand the potential implications.

    KJ: With so much at stake here, how do you react when people say: “If Neil Doncaster’s our only hope then we’re all in trouble?”
    ND: It can’t be and isn’t about any one individual. This is about the whole of European football and about anyone who cares about sporting integrity of the game across Europe doing their bit.
    On behalf of the SPFL I’ll do my bit. I have a seat at the table of the Association of European Professional Leagues. Peter Lawwell has the same seat on the European Clubs Association. We have other clubs representatives at the ECA and the SFA also have an important role within UEFA and FIFA.
    So this is about all of us working together for the common good. On this occasion, Scottish football absolutely does stand together – I don’t think there’s anyone arguing that this could somehow be a good thing. We need to stand together with our colleagues across Europe to ensure these plans are defeated.

    KJ: Your priority is to protect the pathway into the Champions League. That’s plan A. What’s plan B?
    ND: Protection of that Champions League route should be the absolute focus. Let’s see how conversations develop over the coming months but at this stage I’m not thinking about anything other than the Champions League route.

    KJ: But there is another conversation going on at the moment. If the big boys get their own way on this, wouldn’t it be short sighted not to have an alternative drawn up, like the creation of an Atlantic League for example?
    ND: No, I think it’s important that we retain an absolute focus on working with our colleagues across Europe to defeat the prospect of a closed-shop league. That should remain the absolute and only focus.

    KJ: But some would argue that Celtic v Ajax on a Saturday afternoon sounds a great deal more appealing than Celtic v Partick Thistle. You don’t see any legs in that?
    ND: The SPFL is only two and a half years into its existence but it is demonstrating this year, at every level, that there is intense competition and interest. We’re going into the post-split fixtures with so much up in the air that the post-split fixtures are massive.
    So there remains a huge level of interest in the game in Scotland and part of that interest is based upon the ultimate prize of Champions League football. That’s why we have to protect that route.

    KJ: Yourself and Peter Lawwell addressed the clubs about this at Hampden recently. Did Peter manage to explain the reason for such high anxiety?
    ND : There is a genuine recognition across the clubs about the danger that a closed-shop Champions League would create. There is no argument about that. What we need to do now is to create a similar level of understanding across the whole of Europe so that we don’t sleepwalk into a problem.

    KJ: Is this bully boy tactics by the big nations?
    ND: I wouldn’t say that. There is clearly a debate around the future of club competitions in Europe. Some people are keen to move in a direction of a closed shop league and it’s vital that everyone who loves the sport across Europe does what they can to ensure it doesn’t come to pass. The fight must be relentless until it’s defeated.

    KJ: For that reason, a status quo equates to a victory for Scottish clubs?
    ND: Status quo protects the champions route and that’s vital not merely for Scottish football but for the other leagues and clubs who face being excluded going forward. So the champions route is part of the status quo.

    KJ: Final question, from the talks you have so far, are you confident of gaining enough support to win this argument?
    ND: Obviously we’re looking at it from a Scottish perspective but there are similar individuals at various other leagues across Europe – particularly the Dutch, Belgians and Poles – who feel the same and also have a big role to play in ensuring we protect sporting integrity and a meritocracy for the European game.


  52. jc,  David Murray really is a piece of work.  Murray Group (MIH?) heavily indebted were forced to sell off the constituent parts of the business.  But some parts were more attractive to buyers than others.  Who bought them?  Non other than the Murray family!  The knighted one himself was behind Project Snowdon Acquisitions who bought some tasty land/ development deals.

    Why this man has not been stripped of his title is curious.  BOS lost a fortune due to this man and Gavin Masterton, and guess who owns BOS?  Well 40% us taxpayers if I remember correctly.


  53. For the attention of Neil Doncaster, buffoon, liar and hypocrite.

    The only thing worse than a liar is a liar that’s also a hypocrite!
    Tennessee Williams


  54. If the “Big clubs” go ahead with the proposals to set up an elite champions league, will their decision be any different from that of the 5 way agreement? Will Scotland become the Spartans of Europe?
    A phrase comes to mind, something about sowing and reaping !


  55. easyJambo 4th March 2016 at 12:00 pm

    Thanks for posting that, EJ, saves me looking at that rag’s website.

    I’m sure there will be many comments on Doncaster’s hypocrisy, so I’ll limit mine (for the moment14) to one very minor point from the article.

    “A WEEK today Neil Doncaster will hold crunch talks in Geneva aimed at torpedoing plans to block Scotland’s access to the Champions League.”

    Keith Jackson never misses with the ‘they’re all out to get us’ mantra whenever it’s his country, or his club, does he? What on earth makes him think anyone’s planning to block ‘Scotland’s’ access to the CL? No one will be giving Scotland any consideration whatsoever, and our league will merely suffer collateral damage. Next he’ll be telling us it’s all a plan to stop ‘Rangers’ getting back to where they belong19


  56. After watching USA v England women’s match last night, I wonder why we don’t pioneer women referees in SPFL . It only requires fitness and knowledge rather that athletic physique , and must be an improvement on the bias and incompetence displayed by their male counterparts .Wrest some control back from the corrupt and incompetent old boys funny handshake cabal.


  57. jimbo 4th March 2016 at 12:19 pm #jc,  David Murray really is a piece of work.  Murray Group (MIH?) heavily indebted were forced to sell off the constituent parts of the business.  But some parts were more attractive to buyers than others.  Who bought them?  Non other than the Murray family!  The knighted one himself was behind Project Snowdon Acquisitions who bought some tasty land/ development deals.
    Why this man has not been stripped of his title is curious.  BOS lost a fortune due to this man and Gavin Masterton, and guess who owns BOS?  Well 40% us taxpayers if I remember correctly.
    ========================
    (S)DM has not yet been outed sufficiently for the establishment to feel uncomfortable enough to totally distance themselves from him.
    Knowledge of what happened is being nicely contained by the SMSM, so that only bampottery is keeping the story alive.
    If the story becomes a British rather than Scottish one, we may see some action, as there may be proper scrutiny and reporting.
    That may happen once the court cases and big tax case are taken to their conclusion.
    Such is the way of the world in which we live.
    It is not the actual deeds themselves that lead to action, but the effect that those deeds have on people’s perception of the establishment. Image is far more important than substance, and standards have dropped so far now that resignations to protect the integrity of an organisation are almost non-existent, as spin and the short attention span of the public allow the status quo to continue almost unchallenged. After all, the current Ibrox franchise has a convicted criminal as chairman, and that doesn’t seem to cause any concern amongst those that really should know better.


  58. When I first started posting on Scottish football sites several years back, I posted on many occasions about Neil Doncaster, having had personal experience of his modus operandi when he was CE of NCFC PLC down here in NR1.

    I was (and remain) severely astounded of forehead that he not only got the SPL gig, but that when they then had a choice between him, Longmuir and Neither of the Above for the subsequent SPFL job, that A N Other was not headhunted for the job at great expense to lead the league into a new era.

    Quite frankly, anyone surprised at anything that this idiot says or does should consider overinvesting in a loss making football clumpany without a credit line from a bank, such would be level of naivety required to take him seriously.

    I know I’m sitting on the fence again 15 , but surely Scottish football can do better? I won’t say deserves better, because there is a reaping of sown seeds at work here, but the fans themselves certainly deserve better from those that they entrust on their behalf (did I really use the word entrust?) to act as custodians of the national game (as that is what it is ultimately, a game (albeit more important than life and death, eh Shanks?)).


  59. Good idea Paddy Malarkey.  I’ve been thinking similar regarding the SFA & SPFL boards.  Would like to see Leanne Dempster & Ann Budge in there.

    But any attempt sort out the refereeing fraternity would be fiercely resisted I suppose.  Maybe we should get wee Nicola Sturgeon on to it! 21


  60. Just a stray lunchtime thought, but you know, attending Courts from time to time has, for me, been an interesting broadening of experience, so much so that I occasionally look up ‘reported’ judgments just for interest.

    There was one the other day, where Morrison’s supermarkets were  held liable for the actions of one of their  petrol station attendants who lost the rag and assaulted a customer who simply asked if he could photocopy some stuff from a USB memory stick. It was all about duty of care to customers.

    That set me wondering about our status as paying customers of Scottish football. Would the SFA have any kind of ‘duty of care’ to us, to act honourably, truthfully, fairly, in their functions as overseer of Scottish football and the constituent parts thereof? Could there wrongful actions in relation to the 5-Way Agreement leave them open to a claim for damages?
    Could any previous wrongful action in relation to, say, UEFA licences, leave them open to claims from shareholders of clubs for loss of revenue opportunities?

    Could we theoretically bring an action against them for, essentially, dereliction of duty and/or cheating in the interests of one party to the detriment of all other parties including us- who now cannot rely on the sport being fairly and honestly  administered by compromised men?

    Because, by the lord Harry, if it were legally a goer………..and I had the money….. such an action would be raised!


  61. We are often critical of the PR down Ibrox way, so for the sake of balance I have a criticism of Celtic’s PR.  Why on earth was a 19 year old loan player from Man. City, who has only been here a matter of weeks, chosen to go in front of the Scottish hacks at the pressie?  He has played one full game and used as a sub once.  Patrick Roberts had to field awkward questions about fans booing the team on Wednesday night.  To be fair I think he acquitted himself quite well.  But it was a strange decision.  Where were the senior players?  Hiding?


  62. easyJambo 4th March 2016 at 12:00 pm #

    KJ: With so much at stake here, how do you react when people say:
    “If Neil Doncaster’s our only hope then we’re all in trouble?”

    ND: It can’t be and isn’t about any one individual…On behalf of the SPFL I’ll do my bit…”
    ==========================
    Well, that’s certainly reassuring !  09
    But really, what leverage does Doncaster have, or even a pact of relatively ‘minor’ leagues/clubs ?

    If the likes of Man City/United, PSG, Barca, Real, Milan etc. want to create their own ‘Big Boys League’, then it’s going to happen.
    It’s just business…and has absolutely nothing to do with sporting ideals.  20


  63. Rangers once again trying to win friends (not!) with their latest statement.
    http://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/follow-with-pride-2/

    IN light of recent ill-considered comments made by journalists and players it is perhaps timely to point out that we must all continue to Follow With Pride.
    Clearly it rankles with some that we, Rangers, are still here with our history intact and the best way to protect this proud heritage is to ignore our detractors. Do not react to them and give others cause to criticise our behaviour.
    Instead, Follow With Pride and deny those who cannot accept reality, or legal judgment, to examine their own mind sets.
    Remember, pride is what being a Rangers fan is all about. Ours is a Club open to all and we want everyone to feel welcome when they come to Ibrox Stadium.
    Launched in 2007, Follow With Pride builds on the success of our Pride over Prejudice campaign and highlights everything that is positive about Rangers – our great supporters, our tremendous work in the community and the standards we set all the way across our Club.
    We are all part of the one Rangers family and each one of us has a role to play in promoting Rangers as a modern, balanced and fair Club. It is important all fans believe they are ambassadors for their Club and it is their duty to help protect and enhance Rangers’ reputation.
    Celebrate the Club, its unbroken timeline, honours and achievements but do not sing any inappropriate songs. Gestures and chants which are deemed offensive should also be avoided no matter the level of provocation and while it is important to be aware Police Scotland, the SFA and SPFL can take action, remember also that this Club enforces its own code of conduct.
    Fans who behave in an inappropriate manner and who bring the Club into disrepute will face punishment. They might be given lifetime or limited bans so please, let us all support Rangers in the correct way.
    Let’s Follow With Pride and treat the ill-informed with the silent contempt they deserve.


  64. I can’t help but think that the tenor of the above statement suggests the hand of Chris Graham.


  65. easyJambo 4th March 2016 at 4:01 pm #Rangers once again trying to win friends (not!) with their latest statement.http://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/follow-with-pride-2/

    =========
    10
    What was the purpose of that statement ?
    It reads like sensible advice to the TRFC fans ‘to behave’ – but also includes threatening / inciting overtones towards non-TRFC fans, IMO.

    Confused.com


  66. easyJambo 4th March 2016 at 4:01 pm

    Saw it elsewhere. Not sure whether to laugh or cry.

    They really can’t help themselves!!


  67. The last battle in Britain?
    Map says rioting in Manchester when Rangers played Zanit Saint Petersburg

    Rioting in Manchester when Rangers played Zenit Saint Petersburg in the UEFA Cup final was the last battle to take place on mainland British soil according to a new map. 
    The Dutch data project Nodegoat is attempting to map all battles in history using Wikipedia, and the 2008 incident has been recorded as the last battle on mainland British soil…”
    http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/14321745.The_last_battle_in_Britain__Map_says_rioting_in_Manchester_when_Rangers_played/?ref=mrb&lp=1
    =========================
    03
    How long before this is pulled from the Daily Shark-Jump ?
    [(c) The Clumpany 2015]


  68. easyJambo 4th March 2016 at 12:00 pm
     
    ND “sporting integrity” X 4 is that a record? 03


  69. easyJambo 4th March 2016 at 4:01 pm # Rangers once again trying to win friends (not!) with their latest statement.http://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/follow-with-pride-2/
    ________________
    Yet another statement reaffirming the ‘same club’ claim with no supporting evidence. Just ‘we are the same club, because we say so’, type of attitude! And to claim they are backed by ‘legal judgement’ is hilarious, especially when you consider that on one of the few occasions the matter has been mentioned in a genuine court of law, it was, quite literally, laughed out of court!

    I like the way their idea of treating us all with ‘silent contempt’ is to make a statement on the matter on the internet, where it will resound like a shout from a Swiss mountaintop, using a megaphone!!


  70. You could spend the rest of the evening doing a line by line critique of that Statement from TRFC.

    They got off to a bad start with “IN light of recent ill-considered comments made by journalists ”  Dear goodness what papers are they reading?
    But it is Friday night, I’m in a good mood, the telly is acceptable and the wine is chilled.  So I will be kind.  They at least made an effort to condemn the offensive songs and chants, but spoil it with – “Gestures and chants which are deemed offensive should also be avoided no matter the level of provocation ”   Provocation?  Really? 


  71. easyJambo 4th March 2016 at 4:11 pm #I can’t help but think that the tenor of the above statement suggests the hand of Chris Graham.
     ========
    Agreed, although there are a few who could be behind it. Utterly pathetic to say there has been a legal ruling in their favour. 


  72. We know it’s a ridiculous statement, but those it’s aimed at will, of course, lap it up….apart, that is, from the bit about not singing the songs – that part they’re probably criticising already on the Bear’s Den!
    We’re back to that thing of repeating the lie often enough makes it truth (in some people’s eyes). I don’t know how, but is there a way in which we can challenge the statement in respect of the ‘legal’ viewpoint? How could we – or someone else – ask them exactly what legal judgement they have to confirm they’re the same club?
    In this day and age in this country, is there really no way to challenge lies in public statements?


  73. Isn’t today’s statement a belter! 

    My question would would be why was it released today, as the new boards modus operandi of complete and utter transparency © Paul Murray, is to ensure silence at every opportunity (in a transparent and respectable manner of course) and to not stir up a hornets nest if at all possible.

    My guess is that the transparent board have been given the nod of a fully transparent forthcoming legal verdict which might not be to their liking.

    May I be fully transparent in declaring that I would find such a verdict delightful.
    And for tomorrow, Scottish fitba needs a strong Dundee.

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