CELTIC1CALEY3

How could he sink so low ? Maybe he is trying to tap into a new market That joke sinks this site to a new level and is water under the Kessock Bridge. Let's hope he fixes the extension, sewer, rather than lather.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3020665/Celtic-handed-16m-Champions-League-carrot-SPL-leaders-know-qualify-Europe-s-premier-competition.html 'Significantly, however, the three Scottish clubs that enter the Europa League qualifiers will now cover their costs via a solidarity payment of £150,000 – even if they crash out at the first hurdle.' ''Crucially, where clubs like Aberdeen, Inverness, St Johnstone or Dundee United are concerned, there will also be the new solidarity payments for those who crash out of the Europa League at the qualifying stage. This has long been the norm for Scottish clubs, their pain heightened by the cost of flying to far-flung remote outposts in Russia, Belarus or Moldova.''

Going into the Scottish League could bankrupt Brora just like Gretna because their financial base is unsustainable. http://sport.stv.tv/football/scottish-league-two/315575-brora-rangers-chairman-john-young-on-spfl-play-off-despite-finance-fears/ The SFA appears to have set up sanctions against clubs if they refuse to come into the league. That is quite interesting under financial fair play rules. I do like the pyramid concept but surely clubs should not be forced to join when the finance risk is high.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/man-united-legend-sir-alex-5410492 One man who definitely won't be joining Hearts is Inverness Caley Thistle winger Marley Watkins. Neilson said: “Marley Watkins is a name that has been linked with us a few times as he is out of contract at Inverness. “He is not a player I am looking at, though. I have young guys who have come though our system so we’re well stocked in that position.”

Should we bother turning up with Celtic in such scintillating form?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31934088 A Manager's view: McNamara accepts his top scorer is "temperamental" but insists that is not unique among talented players. "Look at players in the past," McNamara told BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound. "There's a thin line between genius and temperament, you saw [Zinedine] Zidane in a World Cup final, losing his rag [and getting sent off when France played Italy in 2006]. "You saw Eric Cantona do it, jumping into the crowd [in 1995 during Manchester United's match against Crystal Palace]. "Fortunately, Nadir's not done anything like that yet. Dundee United players and manager Jackie McNamara looking dejected United lost Sunday's League Cup final 2-0 to Celtic "He's been blamed for quite a number of things in the last year-and-half up in Scotland, people wanting him banned and everything else, but he's never done anything that serious in my eyes, so far.

Another gift for Rooney against Motherwell.

The injustice is now complete: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31858622 Warren serves two matches because he over reacted to a dangerous challenge..................while a whole stack of players walk away from a diving accusation, mistaken identity and......

Ross County lost a very good Manager when Derek left as their results until recently showed. Alloa could do a lot worse!!

https://www.pitchcare.com/magazine/hampden-staff-pitch-in-ahead-of-final.html

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/sport/football/dundee-united/dundee-united-reject-suspension-offer-issued-to-nadir-ciftci-1.849734 ''A club statement read: “Dundee United confirms that it has declined the fixed suspension offer in relation to the notice of complaint issued to Nadir Ciftci following an alleged breach of disciplinary rule 200 at the Dundee United v Celtic game on Sunday, 8th March 2015. Nadir will appear at Hampden to put his case on Thursday and the club will fully support him in this appeal.” No surprise there then.

The referee did have a very good game.

The BBC have rights to the Scottish Cup. They have already shown their preference (see link http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/scottish-cup although they do indicate dates can change) to show the 3pm kick off game on the Saturday for the Falkirk v Hibernian semi final which is good news for ICT if both games are at 3pm. We clearly do not want a 12.45 kick off on the Sunday. On the Sunday Sky Sports appears to have covered their slots so BT Sports would be the other option but ''Scottish Cup matches are currently broadcast live by both BBC Sport Scotland in Scotland and Sky Sports across the rest of the United Kingdom and also into Ireland.'' Sky schedule: Sat 18th April Arsenal 15:00 Sunderland Crystal Palace 15:00 West Bromwich Albion Everton 15:00 Burnley Hull City 15:00 Liverpool Leicester City 15:00 Swansea City Stoke City 15:00 Southampton Chelsea 17:30 Manchester United Sky Sports 1 Sun 19th April Manchester City 13:30 West Ham United Sky Sports 1 Newcastle United 16:00 Tottenham Hotspur Sky therefore have a slot at 12.30 on the Saturday. BT Sports are free to show the game at 3 pm on the Sunday and I guess we request that time now now regardless of opposition. If Celtic get through a 12.45 kick off on the Saturday or Sunday in Glasgow gives them an enormous advantage. http://www.live-footballontv.com/ http://www.live-footballontv.com/live-scottish-football-on-tv.html Whilst it will be great to play at Hampden, it will not be great playing the second of two semis because the pitch might resemble Aintree after the Grand National. So there is logic, if Dundee United beat Celtic playing the game at Pittodrie on the Sunday at 3pm.

Competition time - This is the third time the said Nadir has been subject to potentially serious disciplinary action. We do not know if Dundee United will appeal the latest 2 match ban but if they do - what will be their reason this time? Here is a starter: 'Scott Brown does not have a traditional head'

Disaster if true. https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/sport/football/inverness-caledonian-thistle/514987/russell-latapy-emerges-front-runner-vacant-alloa-job/

Connolly's dive for the penalty was highly theatrical and TV evidence seems to confirm Craig Thomson had his eyes closed for that too!!

One of the great things about Craig Thomson refereeing this game is that he seemed to close his eyes when the heat was on and then send off who was closest to him at the time. Clearly another appeal by Dundee United.

For those not in Inverness, the winds have been a nightmare too. Completely sensible decision by Willie Collum. A great referee.

I take my hat off. Amazing how a post on this site can get County moving and Jimbo is now on course for Manager of the Month.

Excellent news. That means the rest of today will be very sunny and dry. Seriously it does make sense. Hope not too many Raith or ICT supporters in transit. We will now get to see who either Raith or ourselves will get in the Semi. Raith have a long trip to Queen of the South next weekend so with our game against Dundee United off then, it might be more likely on Tuesday rather than Saturday.TV money maybe?

Great credit to the two compliance officers. In democratic societies, we all support natural justice having an appeals process. However, there are ethical questions about Dundee United supporting two appeals for the same player involved in alleged ''Violent Conduct by grabbing an opposing player by his face'' (Graeme Shinnie) and ''Excessive misconduct at a match by seizing hold of an Assistant Referee, namely Gavin Harris, by the throat'' and in the latest incident ' committed an act of Violent Conduct and deliberately struck an opposing player upon his neck or head with your arm'. So what was not proven? He did not commit an act. It was not violent conduct. It was not deliberate. It was not an opposing player. He struct Gary's shoulder or left arm. He struct his ICT shirt. Has the SFA given detail of what was not proven? See my underlining below: ''Scotland's referees have reacted angrily to what they see as the lenient sentence handed down to Nadir Ciftci amid fears they could repeat their strike action of 2010. The Dundee United frontman was issued with a two-match penalty — one suspended until the end of the season — for ‘excessive misconduct’ towards assistant referee Gavin Harris during a League Cup tie in October. He had originally faced charges of ‘seizing hold’ of Harris ‘by the throat’ but that was downgraded to read ‘placing an open hand into the lower area of the assistant referee’s throat’ — allowing the SFA to impose a reduced punishment. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2518208/Nadir-Ciftcis-lenient-sentence-sends-wrong-message-footballers-say-referees.html#ixzz3TgnSj5Pb '' That would seem to suggest a player can ''place an open hand into the lower area of the assistant referee’s throat'' and not get sent off. SFA rules are that you will get a yellow card.

Second major incident against ICT. Second time he has avoided a fair punishment.

Signing two international players to replace one should be good business. They both appear very decent individuals.

http://www.thekinks.info/

10 league games to go so competition can only be good for us if we sign two players with international experience. Eddie looked very good on Saturday so should keep his place this weekend. Marley has to come back so I suspect Danny Williams will drop out. He wasted a glorious chance to give us the lead when he went past the keeper and then gifted it to the keeper. Nick has looked very good recently so Yogi has a difficult decision to make. It would be too risky to bring Tarmo in against Raith because we cannot afford time to adapt to another new player in such a key match. Who knows, we might even get Billy back on loan!!!!