DoofersDad

As discussed on another recent thread, if officials choose to search Celtic supporters and only Celtic supporters before letting them into their grounds, the tinks can have no complaints.

Interesting also to see Lennon's interview. Celtic have now won their last 15 matches and Lennon was heaping praise on his players for what he felt was a very good performance. They certainly defended well but they did not create much and relied on bad defensive errors for their 2 goals - if that was a performance to rave about then Lennon cannot have a particularly high opinion of what he expects of his team. Even accepting that what the 2 managers said after the game is something of an exageration of their true opinion and considering their opinions in the context of what I felt about the performances of the 2 teams yesterday, it seems to me that the 2 managers have pretty similar expectations of the quality of the product they expect from their teams. We lost by just 2 goals to the best team in the country but our manager is damning in his criticism of his team's performance whilst Lennon waxes lyrical about his. That suggests that both managers know there is not a lot of difference between the 2 sides. That is something to be positive about - it is a reflection of how far we have come and it really doesn't serve any purpose to read anything into yesterday's performance beyond the fact that it was disappointing. It is also a bit disappointing to see a return of the Foran bashing again just because we lost to the best team in the land. He may not have been particularly effective yesterday but I don't think his attitude can be faulted. Two incidents stand out for me. The first was when Tokely made his 2nd howler: Foran went to him and clearly offered words of encouragement which is what a captain should do. The Foran of old may have given Tokely a mouthful. The second was in the 2nd half when he dwelt too long on the ball and was dispossed on the edge of the Celtic area. The ball was passed up the field as Celtic counter attacked and it was Foran himself who had run back quickly who made the interception of the final ball in the ICT box. If others had demonstrated the same level of effort yesterday, the score may have been different.

There's a lot of discussion on different threads around much the same theme and it is really summarised by discussion about how to get more people into the grounds. Yesterday's crowd was a bit disappointing although it was not surprising given the fact that it was televised. What I think is of far more significance is that only 17,822 turned up at Ibrox today. OK so this was being televised as well but more ICT fans went to the game yesterday than for a normal league match whilst substantially less than half those who support Rangers in the league turned up today - this on a day when Rangers desparately needed the support of their fans. Whilst this (and the result!) certainly illustrate the level of problems Rangers are now facing, it also illustrates a more general problem in the game which the fans are the victims of and can do little about. It is, of course all about money. The reason why the the gate at Ibrox was so low today is that most who watch them week in and week out are season ticket holders and many of them will have felt that they simply couldn't afford to pay extra to watch a cup game. In other words the financing of the game is driving the fans away. It has long stopped being the people's game and is now the preserve of the middle classes. There is a lot of money in the game but it doesn't get to where it is needed. The top players get far too much money as a result of an unholy alliance with the agents, football authorities, TV companies, sponsors and the clubs which pander to short term finances rather than the long term interests of the game. The agents want the players to be paid as much as possible so that their percentage is as big as possible. The TV companies want to maximise their income from subscribers and advertisers and therefore have to show matches and players that the TV audience wants to watch. In the hope that they can get a decent share of TV revenues, clubs have to invest in the best players they can afford if they are to offer a product the TV companies will buy; this means they have to get as much revenue as they can through the turnstiles. The sponsors and advertisers want a return on their money so will pay the big money when they are guaranteed big audiences, And the authorities go along with this because they want their leagues to attract the best players and the TV money. This means that whilst a lot of money comes into the game, it is not shared in a way which benefits the long term interests of the game. Instead it goes disproportionately to the best players rather than to the clubs further down the pecking order who are nurturing the stars of the future. It even gets to the ludicrous position where some of the top clubs have far more players than they really need but they hang on to them, paying them fabulous wages for not playing on the basis that it is worth paying them not to play rather than having them playing for another team and making it more difficult to maintain a position amongst the elite who get the lions share of the TV and sponsorship money. This means that there are less quality players around for the teams in the lower reaches of the game with the net result that the customer coming through the turnstiles pays more to watch a poorer product whilst there is more top quality product available to watch on TV. The suprising thing is not that attendances have dropped, it is that they have not dropped by more. As long as market forces dictate, we will increasingly have a situation where a bigger and bigger share of the income from the game is shared out by the top players. What we need is international collaboration to cap the wages merry-go-round so that more money is fed back to the grass roots of the game so that smaller clubs can keep the better players and so that admission charges can be reduced to bring the fans back to watch them. Sadly, that just ain't going to happen and the downward spiral of football below the top echelons will continue.

What makes this so disappointing was that this was the poorest Celtic side I have seen at TCS, they were there for the taking and too few of the team seemed to be up for it. The match stats indicate that it was generally pretty even and in general I think that is a fair reflection with neither side really posing any serious threat. The difference was really two moments of defensive madness which led to the two goals. I simply don't understand why Esson was not playing if he was fully fit. Credit where credit is due though. Samaras took his goal very sweetly and Celtic defended well. Our front players are being criticised here but to some extent they played as well as they were allowed to play. Celtic were very effective at closing down quickly and cutting out the through balls as soon as things got potentially threatening. Foran put in a tireless shift and tried to lift his team but with little effect. We only ever got half chances and nobody had the quality to exploit them or to create anything better. I have been a bit criticical of Nick Ross in the past but for me he was our best player today and I was disappointed he was subbed so early. Apart from giving away the penalty I thought Proctor did well. It is easy to pillory players for obvious errors but the stats show Celtic had very few attempts at goal and that is a reflection of what was generally a pretty solid defensive performance from our team although Meekings was very poor when going forward. One should always try to take something positive out of a disappointing situation. The positive today is that Jonny Hayes will definately not be joining Celtic.

I think this is good psychology on Lennon's part. Praising the opposition puts pressure on them because there is then an expectation to do well. It is when a manager plays down the chances of the opposition that they get really fired up with a "nothing to lose" attitude. If we do play some very good football, let's just see if Lennon acknowledges that after the game.

If you receive an Honour and then behave dishonourably it is only reasonable that the Honour is taken away. The only thing Mr Goodwin can reasonably take issue with is the large number of other recipients of Honours who have also behaved dishonourably and still retain their titles etc. I don't suppose he is too bothered though, he may have lost his knighthood but he still has all his dosh.

I'm sure a central belt referee would make sure that didn't happen.

The media are far too quick to condemn and MPs get hounded into resigning over what are basically relatively trivial matters. In general, if people are good at their jobs then it is surely in the public interest to allow them to continue to do that job and for the public to acknowledge that the MP or whoever has been punished sufficiently by accepting whatever sanctions the courts impose. If I was being accused of doing what Huhne had done nobody would suggest I should resign my job. Why should a politician be any different from the rest of us? As an elected representative why not just leave it to the local electorate to give their opinion at the next election? We are in danger of restricting membership of the House of Commons only to really boring people who have never done a thing wrong in their lives - people like me. For pity's sake, let's judge politicians on the policies and actions in government and not on silly mistakes in their personal lives.

There's nothing new in spending money on season tickets in advance. I heard of a woman who bought her husband a Rangers season ticket and then saved it to give as a surprise Christmas present. That's the kind of financial acumen we need at Ibrox to make sure they go well and truly down the toilet.

Compensated well for making his run too early.

Being close to the Bristols should sort that.

Best - Richard Hastings. Born in Canada and lived the first 7 years of his life in Canada. That makes him Canadian. He's not Scottish, not British and not Irish and therefore by the definitions here of being foreign, he's foreign. Worst - Andy Barrowman - if coming from another planet (or Wishaw) counts as being foreign. :alien:

Our club has a history of losing its best players at the end of one season and then not noticing they're gone the next.

It is supposed to be an equality argument but that is complete b******s. If equality was the argument then why don't the veterans and the wheelchair players get the same? Tennis can discriminate on the grounds of age or disability but not on the grounds of sex, apparently. Of course, the whole concept of equality in sport is crazy because the whole point of competetive sport is that the top competitors demonstrate that they are better than the pack and very definately not equal. You could argue, as some have done, that women can have equality if they play against the men. There may be some argument for that in darts but not for a game that requires a higher level of strength (although giving the women a 30 - 0 start in every game might make it interesting). On the other hand, you could argue for equality on the basis that regardless of the length of matches, women probably have to train just as hard as the men and therefore the pay is the reward for the committment and not just the match. That argument is also flawed because the paying customer is only interested in the match. What prize money should come down to is what the paying customer is willing to pay to watch what is on offer. It is a very artificial situation at the moment with the mens and womens tournaments happening at the same time. How about having them a month apart and then see what the TV companies, sponsors and paying customers are willing to part with and adjust the prize money accordingly. They do that with golf so why not tennis? By the way, the mens final must've lasted at least 5 times as long as the women's final - and I've already forgotten who was playing in that.

I think they have a very solid team and are well organised. Falkirk are a far more exciting team but blow hot and cold and are always going to drop points as are Dundee. Unless County have very bad luck on the injury front, I can't see them being caught now.

Don't know about remembering any, but next week I'd settle for:- "The lads only had 6 days to recover from the high of beating Falkirk in the League Cup last week. It's crazy to expect teams to play in different cup competitions on consecutive weeks especially when they have so far to travel" or "Their team were all speaking in French. Our lads couldn't understand a word they were saying"

It may be old news so forgive me if I have missed comment about this, but I am surprised to have seen no mention on this forum about Gregory Tade and Kenny Gillet helping out at Milburn Academy with French lessons. I think this is a brilliant initiative and should help to encourage more youngsters to get involved with club. It is a good example of what being a community club is all about. A big well done to all concerned, but especially to Gregory and Kenny. And now that Claude has signed, they've got a supply teacher as back up.

Excellent news.

aye, great logic it's entirely his fault that thier in the position thier in is it? They wouldn't have released him if they thought he was a valuable player who could help them avoid relegation. He was obviously unwanted there Since when has anybody at Walsall been a good judge of whether a player is worth keeping or not?

If Cox was being sold for £25K last year folk would all have been wondering what we were going to do wihout him. Now no one seems particularly bothered. Just goes to show how the squad is stronger now and how we are progressing as a club.

Fair enough for the home fans that don't buy tickets but not for the home fans that do.

The state has a responsibility to protect it's citizens and therefore legislation must allow those responsible for public safety at major events to take proportionate measures to address any perceived risk. Searching fans before entering a stadium is one such measure. The issue is whether the risk Celtic fans pose warrant such action at the moment. On balance, I don't think it does. The total attendance at Celtic matches over a season is considerable but cases of people being hurt as a result of flares being set off etc are few and far between. But Celtic fans should appreciate that there is a stronger argument to search them than anybody else - their behaviour record is poorer than others and there are more of them so any hazard is likely to have a bigger consequence. Others in this thread are quite right when they say the Celtic supporters' bodies should focus their efforts on promoting better behaviour from their fans. As for the police, they should focus their attention on what the Celtic supporters do to their wives and girlfriends when they get home from the match.

Sanchez is another worth considering but we have done well for midfield players over the years. Having said that, I think it is a measure of the quality of the current side that there are really very few ex players who would actually be in the starting XI if they returned. Munro and Cowie for sure but Robson has gone off the boil a bit so would you drop Hayes to bring him in? And would you play Tade or Rooney or both? It's a good topic and gives me a good feeling about the current squad.

So, of our former players they'll have Duff and Duffer

We've got a fairly young squad on the whole. They will improve with experience and playing together more will improve the effectiveness of the team. There will be disruption in any case because whether they want to stay or not, some of the loanees will be recalled by their clubs. We need to maintain cohesiveness as much as possible to get away to a much better start next season and if we do that we should finish comfortably higher than this season. Therefore I don't really see merit in getting rid of anyone we don't have to unless there was some serious money available to replace them or to be gained as a transfer fee. I don't think either Proctor or Tokely will ever be first choice players again but both have served the club well and can come in as squad players. They also have a lot to offer on the training ground.