CELTIC1CALEY3

He's not Scheidt though. 'rafael scheidt So farewell then Rafael You cost several million They must be laughing their bums off On the Copacabana at that one If you have tears prepare to shed them as we take a painful journey through the Celtic career of Rafael Scheidt. December 15 1999 was the fateful day when the boy from Brazil finally put pen to paper, and caused a million guffaws at the pronunciation of his surname. His signing had been touted for many a month. Celtic contract guru Jim Hone had travelled to South America to clinch the deal that would see the Brazilian national team centre half sign up in Glasgow. Basically things went badly wrong from minute one. He wasn't fit, on the eve of his debut he was taken to hospital with appendicitis, he collided with a team mate in training, injuring himself quite seriously in the process and by the time he was due to actually make an appearance the manager who had signed him was back in punditry purgatory. In his first six months in Scotland he had played less than 90 minutes of first team football. Oh and there was small matter of a major scandal brewing in Brazil; apparently the national manager had been taking bungs from Brazilian league clubs to pick duds to play in meaningless friendly games, allegedly to seduce gullible European clubs into shelling out for a "Brazilian international". Sound familiar? ' see http://www.ntvcelticfanzine.com/

If it is Porter bit of luck we have air links to Manchester, Birmingham and the East Midlands. Dundee fly to London City but very little else.

As a final word I have to say Darren Dods has conducted himself honourably in his transition to Dundee United. Craig chose his own exit plan which compared to Dodsy or Henry demonstrates we have probably not lost much. Gary McSwegan showed significant dignity in handling a difficult situation well.

Ambition knows no bounds with Craig. He looks light weight compared with Skippy.

Dargo only played two thirds of last season. Brown played a half. There will be some good players around without contracts for a while yet.

Have faith in the management team. Presumably Partick have some spare cash. Buchanan has never played Div 1 let alone SPL.

The guy is an international whose confidence was dented playing in the First Division.

Having now entered our fixtures onto the calendar I can see the SPL have come up with a two games home two games away plan for us even beyond what Scotty highlighted. It is quite bizarre. I was aware yesterday of complaints by Dons fans but did not check ours in detail.

Who play Gretna away on boxing day, St Mirren away a few days later, Inverness home on 2 January and then Falkirk away three days later and then take on Dundee United in their next game, again away? Our players and supporters are warned of an angry reception at Pittodrie with fixtures like that!

Have faith - Paul Ritchie was pulled out of the hat at the last minute. Dargo arrived late. One of the great things about Dargo's refusal to sign is that this should motivate 95% of the players at ICT. The highest paid player is expected to be the best. That destabilises a team when the goods are not delivered. Last year Brewster caused havoc behind the scenes so I see this as a new dawn with new fresh players coming in.

I remember the pre season trips to Kirkwall and Stornoway in the days of wee Bobby Mann. Now we have Qatar in Italy but no Bobby Mann or Darren Dods.

I'm with Bucket here. Craig is a good honest guy on a well earned break and is highly unlikely to be messing around with work business. He must feel confident he can come back to a good job considering he is currently unemployed though.

The danger for Craig is that he will find himself in a 'lose, lose situation'. Sooner or later whatever he does will be wrong. I do not envy him because after a modest career he really found a new level at ICT and any new move might pay more money but be a poisoned chalice. That aside, we must move on as a club and Craig will be forced into a decision. Thank goodness he's not normally like this in front of goal.

Without getting too over confident, Motherwell already look as though they are candidates for serious times ahead. This year they started very badly. Next year they will be without quite a few very good players. They lack support for their Manager and generally seem to be going downwards as opposed to upwards. Not recommended for Craig.

If we could clone 5,000 IHE's just for one match we would have colour, passion, vibrancy and total support - that is normally seen only at top Cup games. The players need that leadership and inspiration and I am pleased you have conducted your formal complaint so formally. I am convinced the Club will respond to the satisfaction of the majority of supporters. The good ship has been through many storms and berthed at many ports. Occasionally alien cultures can create problems but I see good times on the horizon.

That stand would not even grace the far end of Victoria Park Dingwall. Our fourth stand should be an absolute monument to who ever commissions and pays for it. Now a stand looking like a piano might look good.

Zander has the biggest chance of his career to make a sensible name for himself. I hope Rory makes the breakthrough because I am definitely a believer in his ability too.

That was my point about Katchloul. However he gives Pierce one piece of advice about Dorado, and gets that wrong! Intelligent Finance?

The key point is that players have a right to have their contracts honoured. Fair play to the footballing bodies who have stood up to Livvy on this occasion. If they had employed an appropriate consultant at the appropriate time this would not have happened.

When Brewster undermined us we struggled. A bad start and bottom of the pack. 3 points from 5 games but then we humped Motherwell. When Mark was sold we became concerned. When Dennis and Dargs were injured we worried. Up and down we went like a brides nightdress but we survived and did very well. Sentiments to everyone who worked so hard to provide us with SPL membership again next season.

For the last three years we've watched Dundee United spend millions and still fail to overtake us. They bought our management team in order to crack the secret - that also failed! They've assigned ArabforEver as an irritating spy - that failed. If you have a brain ArabforEver, use it and support the finest Highland team in Britain. You know it makes sense.

Signing for Hibs maybe?

This is one of Scotland's best football characters. He nearly always had a quip when Brechin came up for their 5-1 visits. Ross County have also finally got the riight man. Best wishes to him.

....from Barlinnie or St Mirren?

Plenty on the west terrace - time for the SPL to show a bit more common sense. The singing section has the possibility to be a great success and it may offer a new route into Europe if the government negotiate 1 Eurovision spot for Scotland! Seriously as I have posted elsewhere Saturday was a great success. We need more atmosphere at games and if more people can seek to lift that the better it will be for the Club. I suspect the only time Celtic Park has been quiet this decade was in February....The next big breakthrough at Caledonian Stadium has to be reduced price entrance for singers. If you fail to sing, then you get ejected. Not when you sing.