Just because. Fear teh might of teh Faroes!
I’m willing to bet Gerry didn’t write down the predictions made on ILX Classic.
Although I suspect they were worth nowt, based on the results in so far.
I bet he’s made a mental note of his 6–0 prediction v teh Faroes and will use it for leverage to get free beer on Friday.
(If I does I’m going to freak him out by hugging him)
I will touch him on his knee, then his head, then Frances will hug him.
Pair of bastards
Two out of three ain’t bad.
scotstvo 70
ilx_onimo 69
treefell 58
ailsa_xx 58
cheasyweasel 57
aldo_cowpat 54
MCibula 48
zeus88 31
get ’em in!
Given I’ve barely got more points that people not entering, I’m not sure why I bothered.
Hey it doesn’t stop Elgin!
Ach, the lower reaches of the predictions league is the lifeblood of the game. [/smug]
You wishing you’d come with us on Tuesday now?
Al, you’re only four points behind me and treefell! I still haven’t used any jokers yet, and am going to make a push for the top end sooner rather than later. Unless I arse them up, that is. Which is more than likely.
I was wishing I was going with on Tuesday as well! Alas, it wasn’t to be. However, I’m sure you’ll all be pleased to hear that I passed my assessed lesson on Wednesday!
Hurrah!
Someone’s only gone and won the “any game, anywhere” prize for getting 6 out of 6 scores right!
Bah. That could’ve easily been us.
One day that will be me. You pair can’t even win a weekly/monthly prize despite being in the top ten best in the world ever placings (note again how Gerry managed to be best in the world ever for a whole month without winning a prize at all). I’m biding my time and one week I’ll get them all spot on (this won’t be this week as I’m still going for the 1–1 draw for Rangers every week and even I don’t think they’re that bad that they can’t beat Kilmarnock). Then I’m off to Athens in May, hurrah.
I took 1–1 for the Rangers game.
You’ll not be going to Athens either then. Seriously, where would people on this thread go if you won the “any game anywhere” prize? I’m thinking Champions League final because it’d be a bugger to get tickets for anywhere else, wouldn’t it? The dude linked to up there has a point, I think—go somewhere that’s nice and expensive and get teh Beeb to pay for it.
That was exactly my plan, I would go and see Kyoto Purple Sanga play, maybe try and get a Jubilo Owata fixture.
Has Hawaii got a football league?
Maybe a World Cup fixture featuring Scotland playing somewhere nice. Unless, of course, it has an expiry date. Sitting on a prize for 15 years would be a bit cheeky.
All academic since they’ve got a get-out clause that they don’t have to give it away again :-/
If any user predicts the exact scoreline in all six Premier League fixtures in a given week, they will win two tickets, plus travel, transfers and accommodation to any single football club match, anywhere in the world, of their choosing (known as the ‘Grand Prize’). The Grand Prize is a one-off win and is not repeated when it has been claimed.
wai 2 kill teh dream ailsa
Oi, I’m just telling it like it is. Don’t shoot teh messenger.
Commiserations to aldo—two goals of a head-start and they still can’t beat us :-/
Still, that makes Hibs better than Man Utd in my book, and also since Louis Saha can score against Chelsea, that makes us better than Chelsea. Is that not how it works?
SPL form guide makes for interesting reading:
Team Pd W D L F A GD PtsAberdeen 6 5 1 0 13 4 9 16
Celtic 6 5 1 0 14 6 8 16
Rangers 6 4 1 1 11 5 6 13
Hibs 6 3 2 1 17 7 10 11
D Utd 6 3 0 3 7 11 -4 9
Falkirk 6 2 1 3 14 11 3 7
Killie 6 2 1 3 7 9 -2 7
ICT 6 1 3 2 5 9 -4 6
M’well 6 1 2 3 8 13 -5 5
Dunf’ 6 1 1 4 3 14 -11 4
Hearts 6 0 3 3 3 7 -4 3
St Mirren 6 0 2 4 4 10 -6 2
Buddies looking like relegation fodder now that Dundee Utd are starting to pick up points. Hearts in 11th! Sheepers leading the pack!
Falkirk minus Stokes, a resurgent Rangers, I had it all planned. Who woulda thunk it?
Bah, I thought I was optimistic going for the 1–1 draw. Still, champagne all round, huh?
Bumpity bump for the benefit of people who are going away for the weekend and might forget to put their predictions in before they go.
(Onimo, expect text messages on Sunday if I can’t get a Setanta-friendly pub)
“He’s more interested in Scooby Doo than football.”
Do they mean him or his son?
Och, I don’t mind Paul Telfer really. Nice to see Mark Wilson back, even if he was a bit rubbish.
Kenny Miller = TOTAL FUCKING DONKEY. Bye!! (plz)
Aw man, Vlad’s Revolution is the greatest thing that has EVER happened to Scottish football. The laughs never stop (unless you’re a Hearts fan).
I have twinges of sympathy for the Hearts fans after the Claude Anelka affair at the Rovers, but it’s so amusing that these twinges never last long.
Hey, I was at lunch with Michael Kelly*, former Lord Provost, inventor of Glasgow Smiles Better, and custodian of the biscuit tin pre-Bunnet the other day—I know all about idiots who think they can run football clubs. Vlad is a whole other level of WTFness.
* and about 500 other people
Hey, I was at lunch with Michael Kelly ... I know all about idiots who think they can run football clubs.
Don’t forget his cousin Kevin and the state-of-the-art £100M stadium on a toxic Cambuslang swamp for Teh Best Fans In Teh World (TM).
Tommy Gravesen: Twat
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/video_and_audio/help_guide/4304501.stm
Elvis has left the building! Rumourazzit Rangers are in for him.
rofl at Lennon picking on wee Aidenho at the end of yesterday’s game. Strachan says it’s because Lennon is “scared to lose”—I think it’s because Lennon is “a dick”
oh noes Elvis sighting at Celtic Park!
I’d take him.
Strange that the beeb should put that story under “My Club—Southampton”
Got home just in time to watch super soaraway scotsport spl last night to notice that Hibs had spelt Ivan Sproule’s name wrong on the back of his jersey. “SRPOULE”. Ha.
I’m not convinced we need Pressley. I don’t have any great issues with him, he’s about as good/bad/liable-to-throw-a-game-away/likely-to-score as Caldwell or Balde, so in that case, I just don’t think we need him. Darren O’Dea looks alright from what I’ve seen, and Kennedy can’t be that far away now.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/h/heart_of_midlothian/6177395.stm
Hearts and Hartley saying nothing following his hearing. I think it’s safe to assume he hasn’t been sacked, though I wouldn’t be surprised if they were taking bids in January.
Bumpity bump. Dear Kenny Miller, please make my birthday happy by proving you’re not *really* a big clod-hopping Peter Van Vossen imitator who couldn’t hit a cow’s arse with a banjo, kthnxbye.
Also, AC Milan?! Wah! Caldwell v Inzaghi, Lennon v Pirlo, Sno v Gattuso, Miller v Costacurta, yep, no bother at all. Erm...
Huns off to Israel again. Plz to get comedy protestor with his silly handcuffs again?
Rangers were fined £5k for that comedy protester. Aside from my general rule that bad things happening to them is always good, this is bloody ridiculous. There’s nothing a club can do about random nutters doing such things.
I thought Rangers were the Protesting club?
:-P
Isn’t it sort of their fault that their security’s a bit shite, and that people shouldn’t get onto the pitch?
(except for the small boys that always do comedy dashes round the pitch when Celtic win the league, evading lumbering fat blokes in yellow jackets and leaving them spinning around looking foolish, because they’re always funny)
Unless they hire 50,000 security men then not really. Anyone who wants to get onto the pitch can.
Yeah, but shouldn’t there should be enough yellow jackets around to catch them before they completely fail to handcuff themselves to the post? Especially at a game where people were talking loudly about making some sort of protest?
On Off The Ball just now, they’ve just claimed that John Martin (comedy Airdrie goalie) may be making a comeback. Daily Record photographers must be rubbing their hands* in glee.
* clad in comedy oversized goalie gloves, obviously
Daniel Prodan couldn’t.
xpost to Gerry before Ailsa ruined my comedic timing
Good point. They could improve security by making all potential protesters pass stringent Ibrox medicals.
Did I imagine that Celtic were due to play Kilmarnock on New Year’s Day? Fixture list now shows 2nd January, which is a lot better. But it *was* New Year’s Day, wasn’t it?
No, it was always the 2nd. I meant to point that out to you last week and forgot.
I don’t imagine too many St Mirren fans will be at the Inverness game on New Year’s Day. There was a reason New Year’s Day was traditionally a derby day—everyone was too fucked to get any further than the nearest football ground. Now the fixture “computer” throws up a fucking 3–4 hour journey.
The Newcastle-born player—capped once for England—has seen his first-team opportunities limited by the form of Shaun Maloney, Jiri Jarosik and Aiden McGeady.
Jiri Jarosik? Form? SRSLY?
I think what they are trying to say is “Alan Thompson has had his first-team opportunities limited by displaying less form than Jiri Jarosik”.
(Shaun Maloney’s current form is “being knacked”, yet Thompson still can’t even make the squad, let alone the bench, let alone the team)
He’s apparently after Pressley as well. Charlton don’t exactly look an exciting prospect but I’m sure they pay better than anyone in Scotland would give those three players.
Don’t forget to get your entries in for this week as there are 12 games between now and Wednesday.
All hotting up in the title race:
scotstvo 88
ailsa_xx 86
ilx_onimo 86
aldo_cowpat 79
treefell 78
cheasyweasel 75
MCibula 67
zeus88 42
Celtic sign Pressley...
Fucking hell :-(
I mean, yeah, we need short-term cover with Balde out for the foreseeable, and Caldwell not back yet, but surely we could have found someone *not* cup-tied for the Champions League?
(note to board, please sign Russell Anderson, kthanxbye)
I would think Pressleu a good signing for Celtic. But perhaps actual celtic supporters will disagree.
Pressley. argh damn my typing.
Past it, no better than what we’ve got, not eligible to play in the Champions League. What’s the point? I don’t think he’s dreadful, I just think if we’re signing a centre-half it might be a better move to get one that can cover in the games we actually might need cover in. I think I said that upthread already.
(Scotstvo seems not to think it’s a bad idea, so I don’t think you can classify “actual Celtic supporters” as some sort of hivemind)
I was just meaning that I’m not a Celtic supporter so my point might be irrelevant to those who are. But if I was a Celtic supporter I’d be pleased at signing him. Though you do have a point about signing a defender who can play in the Champions League. Perhaps they will?
I still think Pressley is the best Scottish defender and should have a few seasons left in him at the top level. He’s only 33.
Still, it’s a case of wait and see.
Any other possible signings for the old firm on the way? Not seen a paper for ages and haven’t been reading the web about it either.
I still think Pressley is the best Scottish defender
Bwahahahaahahah.
John Kennedy, Andy Webster, Steven McManus, Russell Anderson, Gary Caldwell, there’s five for starters. Zander Diamond. Mark Wilson if we’re moving outwith centre halves. I’d probably rate David Weir above him too, but that doesn’t mean I’d want to sign him either.
He is markedly slower at 33 than he has been in previous seasons, and I don’t see him getting any better as he gets older. If we’re going for an experienced Scottish head, I’d rather, say, Christian Dailly, who is the same age, faster, more experienced, more versatile and NOT CUP-TIED. But I don’t see the point of this signing at all.
(not that I want us to sign Christian Dailly either, but there were rumours about it a while back and it would make more sense)
bloody stealing OUR players now... :-(
this china captain had better be good
Rumours I’ve heard so far about possible Celtic signings: Anthony Stokes, Steven Naismith, about half the Hibs team, Russell Anderson (yes please!), Andy Webster (ditto). I don’t pay much attention to Rangers waffling, but I think their list is pretty much the same.
xpost to Louis—he’d better be better than his predecessor as China captain, the somewhat-less-than-marvellous Du Wei.
At least no-one seems to be getting their knickers in a twist about the fact that Pressley used to play for Rangers.
The beeb waited 2 whole sentences before mentioning it.
On reflection... Pressley = fucking dud. Seriously. Wins less headers than he used to, can’t run, continually pulls jerseys in the box.
I’d rather have Bobo hopping.
(I’m out with my dad for a drink tomorrow so I won’t be meeting you for teh game btw)
How would you rate Anthony Stokes? I haven’t seen him at all.
His record is excellent—top scorer in the SPL despite playing for a team in the bottom half. 13 goals in 17 games. Looks a natural finisher and has a bit of pace.
Not much of a centre half though :-P
It’s worth bearing in mind though that 6 of his goals came against Dunfermline who remain shite and Dundee Utd who were shite at the time.
mentioning it /= making a big deal of it. Won’t stop Mr Wm Hill making a few bob off people sticking money on him scoring in the Old Firm game, mind you.
Anthony Stokes has scored a fair few goals (one against us that took Falkirk to penalties against us in the CIS Cup), and got Neil Lennon sent off last week. Don’t suppose he’s endearing himself to the Celtic support much. He looks a pretty good player. Then again, so did Derek Riordan, so again, I’m not convinced Celtic need him or that he’ll be great if he gets there.
xpost!
(Onimo, no bother, just if you were around—I’ll see you on Tuesday)
What are Pressley’s wages going to be in relation to what we could have offered to a decent centre-half who *could* play in the Champions League, btw?
He was reportedly on ~£5k a week at Hearts.
I think Pressley’s versatile enough though that he could slot into midfield instead of the turgid Lennon, and he’s still pretty solid as a centre-half (despite not being as pacey as he once was). Strachan made a good point at the press conference as well about how he’s someone for Celtic’s young centre-halfs (halves?) to look up to and learn from—maybe that’s the real key. Has Celtic’s defence been missing a stalwart for the last couple of seasons?
(Scotstvo seems not to think it’s a bad idea, so I don’t think you can classify “actual Celtic supporters” as some sort of hivemind)
I’m an actual Celtic supporter in the haven’t-actually-been-to-a-match-since-the-late-nineties mould, so I don’t know if I’d include myself in that :D.
I think Pressley’s versatile enough though that he could slot into midfield instead of the turgid Lennon
Are you on crack?
btw, teh Beeb are being a bit tardy with their updates today. I should have put a joker on my weekly Rangers 1–1 prediction :-/
Talking of statements only made whilst under the influence of drugs, reading something somewhere else made me wonder as to the fitness of Adam (remember him?) Virgo.
Also, how shite must Alan Thompson be to not get on that bench today?
Re. rumoured signings, I forgot about Gary O’Connor and David Beckham.
Blimey. I was teh 20th best person in teh world in December. If I’d known that, I might have tried a bit harder and chucked in a couple of jokers too. Bloody Celtic and their leaky defence and no strikers put paid to my wee goody bag :-/
Apparently as I don’t have Celtic TV and missed Friday’s press conference I’m not a Celtic fan.
That link doesn’t work, and I can’t find the interview anywhere :-(
I’m not a real Celtic fan either, apparently. The £400 I spend on my season ticket, £84 (and counting) on Champs League tickets plus sundry other expenses (not to mention being one of only about 20,000 sad enough to pay £12 to watch a half-arsed attempt at not getting knocked out of the CIS Cup by Falkirk on the coldest Tuesday night ever), etc etc, means nothing when you realise that I only heard about this little outburst from a Hibs fan.
What did he say?
People who don’t have Celtic TV are not real Celtic fans. Like what Onimo said two posts ago. He refused to talk about why he signed Steven Pressley as well, I think, on the grounds that he gave an interview to Celtic TV / Setanta about it so if you were a proper Celtic fan you’d have known because you were watching that. Anything other than that, I have no clue, not having heard it.
What a dick.
As I say, I haven’t heard it, so have no idea if he was being dickish, making an ill-advised attempt at joking, whatever. I get the impression from others that he was being a bit of a twunt though. Interesting that when Mad Vlad goes off on one it’s all “hahaha, he’s brilliant and funny and mad and a breath of fresh air” but when Gogs goes off on one, it’s all “bawbag, dick” etc.
(not that interesting, mind you, since I’ve mostly qualified my roffling at Vlad with “I doubt I’d be laughing if it was my team he was fucking with”, Aldo is a Hibs fan therefore allowed to laugh at Vlad (and also appears to find WGS’ outpourings hilarious too), and I’m pretty sure Onimo and Scotstvo have also said things along the lines of Vlad being funny from a distance when you aren’t involved)
I heard it and I think WGS has got a bit of a bad rap from it. The interviewer started off asking about Pressley and Gordon said he’d rather not talk about anything other than the game, but the interviewer went on regardless. Strachan said that he had been on Celtic TV and was all over the Saturday papers, so if anyone was still in the dark about it then maybe they’re not really Celtic fans.
Maybe not the best-advised comment he’s ever made, but this was after having told the interviewer twice that he wasn’t prepared to talk about anything other than the game. It was a total throwaway line that’s been blown out of proportion.
It seems you can hear it on the BBC’s football podcast.
I’m pretty sure Strachan was just pissed at the way the team ( and by team I mean Paul “brother-in-law” Telfer) had just dropped another 2pts esp. in the 92nd minute. Think the point he was trying to make, albeit badly was that he’d answered the press’ questions on Pressley the day before and they’d already been widely reported in the papers and on the various tv stations= no point in repeating yourself.
Sycophancy aside, I’m in no way related to GS (otherwise you’d be seeing me up front against Kilmarnock). Just thought I’d add a different opinion on it.
Still, managing to INCREASE our lead after that display at least managed to shut Shug et al up.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/celtic/6219351.stm
The interview is linked from here ^^
I stand by “bawbag”
Just heard about that from a Rangers supporting friend of mine.
Everyone’s going to take Barry’s side over Le Goon.
Everyone? The guy’s a wee fanny.
(Ferguson, that is)
Yeah, but “he’s a Rangers man” .
Come on, Rangers are absolutely rotten, Ferguson’s playing pish, why shouldn’t Le Guen tell him to get knotted?
Methinks PLG has worked out his own exit strategy.
Hehehe, Gavin Rae (!) is the new captain. PLG’s really trying to prove a point with his “captaincy doesn’t really matter” argument, isn’t he?
The point is that he knows it matters to Ferguson. If it doesn’t matter to PLG there’s no need to change captains other than to publicly rebuke Ferguson.
I’m no fan of Ferguson but this really isn’t a million miles away from what happened to Pressley, and most people think he was treated unfairly.
Murray must be wondering whether his club captain and arguably his best player is more valuable to Rangers than a failing faltering manager who puts absolutely no value on captaining Rangers.
I think PLG has lost the plot.
Murray must be wondering whether his club captain and arguably his best player is more valuable to Rangers than a failing faltering manager who puts absolutely no value on captaining Rangers.
This is it, isn’t it? ‘Barry Ferguson won’t play for Rangers again under the current manager’ is what they’re saying all over the press, but you get the feeling that perhaps the current manager’s the variable factor in that.
Was just listening to Paul Le Guen on the radio just now and he pretty much said his problem is that Barry Ferguson thinks his (Ferguson’s) role is more important than it actually is. It’s basically a boss saying “I’m the boss here”, which seems fair enough. Ferguson has apparently been critical of decisions, over-ruling team talks and, according to some reports, organised a Christmas night out for the players when Le Guen told him not to.
If Murray decides that holding onto arguably the only player he has that’s worth a bit of dosh (though only Ferguson’s agent seems to be convinced of this) is more important than holding onto his manager—a view that the Radio Clyde panel seem to hold—then what sort of precedent does that set? One player actually *is* capable of holding the club to ransom? Pressley tried it and got booted (though his more valuable partners-in-crime seem to have got away with it), so why should Ferguson be any different?
I really REALLY wish someone had asked Gavin Rae if he feels he’s stabbed Barry Ferguson in the back by accepting the captaincy after contributing bugger all to Rangers.
Who would buy Ferguson though?
Martin O’Neill at villa?
As I said already...
arguably the only player he has that’s worth a bit of dosh (though only Ferguson’s agent seems to be convinced of this)
Ferguson, *if* he goes, will go to a struggling Premiership team or a Championship team with ambitions. He’s not a bad player, but he’s pretty much found his level, having already scuttled back from the Premiership with his tail between his legs. Someone like a Cardiff or a WBA or a Wolves would take him, I’m sure.
Forgot to mention, not that it needed saying, Steven Pressley was several different kinds of pish. Then got the Man of the Match award. There was actually an audible “pppppfffffffftttttttt” sound from around the stadium, which was kind of nice.
rofl at BBC’s choice of pics for the Bazza fiasco
PLG gone by “mutual agreement” confirmed on Sky. I take it Chairman Murray is picking the side now. Pretty dissapointed with this to be honest, as they’ll struggle to get anyone as poor in next time—my money is on Billy Davies or Torn-faced Jeffries.
We’ve got a thread back on real ILX about it. Come back to the real world and join us!
Who needs the real world!
Dougie McDonald is the worst referee ever, and I speak as someone who has seen Craig Thomson and Alan Freeland and Stuart Dougal in action this season, and remembers the glory days of David Syme, Les Mottram, Willie Young et al.
Also, I heart Lee Naylor. I want that on record here too.
Aye I spent the game going “that wasn’t a foul” “that was never a penalty” “that was never off side” “that wasn’t a penalty either” “handball!” etc until I realised it would be easier to point out the decisions he got right.
Did you find any?
Aye, Killie penalty, that they missed.
Aye, taken when their penalty-taker was off getting treatment :-/
He couldn’t come back on, it’s teh roolz
Ref in “I got it wrong” shockah!:
http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/whistleblower.cfm?curpageid=791
Ach well, these things even themselves out over the season (c)Derek Johnstone.
It’s all about opinions (c) That cunt that presents Super Scoreboard, 16 times every Satursday.
and he’s off again :)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_prem/6364051.stm
Hearts majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov has accused the Old Firm of Rangers and Celtic of “buying off” referees and players in Scotland.
“They buy off players and referees,” Romanov told Russian magazine Futbol.
Only what every non old firm supporter has been saying for years!!
(Haha I hope they come down a ton on mad vlad this time, I’m sure there might be a few legal actions being taken too)
To be honest I’ve been waiting for him to make this sort of comment.
Next he will be hiring private detectives to see if referees are in the Orange Lodge or Knights Of St Columba...
haha now he’s claiming things “were lost in translation”
My favourite bit = And he added of the Old Firm: “They have turned football into a type of showbusiness with their underhand games.”
Whereas its obvious to everyone (including any lawyers watching, naturally) that everything to do with Hearts, Kaunas, and their respective dealings with Mr Romanov’s bank are all entirely above board and not even remotely underhand.
I’m sure there might be a few legal actions being taken too
Given that both Martin Bain and Brian Quinn mention the possibility in that article Onimo linked to, I’d say there might be as well.
Did he say this before or after Rangers’ marvellous and well-deserved victory against Kilmarnock at the weekend(it doesn’t say in the article when he made the comments)?
That’s the 1st time I’ve tuned into Scotland Today for ages, just to see what they were saying about Vlad.
So what’s the chances of Hearts disappearing down the dumper in a year or two when Mad Vlad gets bored and turns Tynecastle into a supermarket?
Haha, Scotland Today has the worst football punditry ever (apart from that over-theatrical blonde woman on BBC Scotland who really needs to stop shaking her head to emphasise that she may be a woman, she may be blonde, but she does know what she’s talking about, honest).
Vlad is not only owner of Hearts but is also, with a different hat on, their banker. His bank gets the interest on Hearts’ debt, basically, as I understand it. You can extrapolate from that as you will. No Hearts at all isn’t going to do him any favours in any way, put it that way.
True
Cor, Freddie Dindeleux is playing against Newcastle in the UEFA Cup on Channel 5 just now. I like it when random ex SPLers turn up in unexpected places.
Haha, I jinxed him by reminding him of his past :-/
I had Freddie in my SPL Fantasy Football team for a season despite him playing in Belgium :-/
When and if Vlad leaves Hearts it will likely destroy them. When he took over they owed ~£19M to a Scottish bank. Now their wage bill has doubled (to 100% of turnover!) and they owe £28M to, um, Vlad. If the protests gather momentum he can decide to sell up because the fans forced him out—someone else will thn need to pay Vlad a mint plus take on a huge debt, to Vlad. If no-one buys them he can decide to sell the assets to pay his dbt to himself, or something. He can’t really lose out of it unless his bank goes tits up.
What a banker!
Yeah, but his assets by that stage = Tynecastle and some Lithuanians. Sell Tynecastle to A N Other Property Developer, sell Lithuanians back to, erm, Kaunas (though aren’t something like a dozen of them Kaunas’ players anyway?). New owners of whatever’s left (er, Dave B probably to thread at this point, I think) can then surely transfer what’s left of the debt to whichever bank they want, and I imagine someone will be willing to service the mucho-reduced debt given the state of other clubs who get by in Scotland. Hearts are still too bankable a proposition to go completely tits up. They’ll be worse off, yes, but I think it should be salvageable.
(plz to note I am not an economist or financial adviser of any sort)
I love this man
Vladimir Romanov
Majority shareholder Vladimir Romanov tonight issued the following statement:
It’s a pity that papers are not able to get an interview from me direct.
Thank God I haven’t come across any corruption in Scotland.
I don’t expect anything except lies and distortion of my quotes. I want to say that I’m surprised with many things, like, for example, the situation when betrayal is portrayed as an act of heroism.
To my mind, there are no values in this life that are worth betrayal, even if we’re talking about hooped shirts. If kids are being pushed towards betrayal, I call it seduction—but seduction of their souls.
Let’s see where it led in Webster’s case: he hung around in different clubs and didn’t play for the Scottish national team for a whole year.
Other players who fell under this pressure showed miserable results while playing for the national team despite all the chances it had to win.
Edinburgh is an amazing city. I’m so impressed with the genius of those who created it. It fascinates and captivates you immediately.
Its beauty was created during the times of the kings of old, and now I see how everything that people were gathering for centuries—a culture, all Walter Scott’s heritage, is being ruled and destroyed by monkeys from the safari park.
More mentalism from an interview ailsa sent me:
Q You’ve been in control at Hearts for two years now. What conclusions have you been able to draw during that time?
A That you can’t trust anyone. You know, it’s just like a scene out of an old movie: We’re at war with the Germans. The unit is asleep. A soldier sees a white flag being waved in the distance but his commanding officer is sleeping. So he goes up to the priest and says, ‘Father, there’s a white flag over there’. The priest replies, ‘The enemy is sly and cunning. Shoot them’. And that’s how it is.
monkeys from the safari park are destorying Edinburgh?
Their shit is corroding all the nice wrought iron work and staining the statues.
Does anyone in the world have a crappier job than Charlie Mann, Vlad’s PR spokesperson?
Raith Rovers on That Was The Team That Was, tonight, folks!
I thought the TWTTTW thing on the Rovers was OK, but kind of underplayed just how astonishing that year or so actually was. No one in their right mind would have suggested that they could have won one of the major trophies before it happened and the press doubted they’d get past the first qualifying round of the UEFA cup never mind get into the first round (to get put out by the eventual winners, mind you).
OMG ickle Colin Cameron was so YOUNG!!!
That is the first time I’ve ever really seen any of that cup final, btw. I was in England at the time and watched the score via the magic of Teletext. A world without interwebs and digital telly, huh?
I got the whole “OMG this is unbelievable” vibe from watching it as a non-Raith fan, FWIW. Perhaps also because I remember it from a neutral perspective (your cup final opposition notwithstanding) and it was kind of good in that it reminded me of stuff I already knew, and also to laugh at fat Gordon Dalziel and his weirdy blobby nose.
It is always good to laugh at fat Gordon Dalziel and his weirdy blobby nose.
missed it to watch L O S T :(
Also, I switched off before the end of the credits. What’s next week?
That Was the Team That Was
Fri 23 Feb, 11:05 pm—11:35 pm 30mins
Leeds United 1973/74
Gordon McQueen was only half joking when he said that there were so many Scots at Leeds United in 1974 that even the English players spoke with Scottish accents. With captain Billy Bremner, Eddie Gray, Peter Lorimer, David Harvey, Joe Jordan and Frank Gray in Don Revie’s team, it felt like a piece of Scotland in Yorkshire.
The 1973/74 season was to be the last hurrah for Revie’s team and he demanded not just the Championship but that it be won without losing a game. Revie’s players recall that extraordinary season and reveal some fascinating insights into the manager who brought such success to Elland Road. [S]
meh
Yeah, that looks the least interesting (to me) of any they’ve shown so far. Probably because it has little relevance to me and I demand all telly to be tailored to my needs.
I can’t wait for a couple of years hence when we get “Hearts: The year Vlad went Mad”
(though perhaps a couple of years hence, that won’t be the season I’m thinking of right now)
Future series will definitely have Hearts, Gretna’s Scottish Cup Year, and Celtic’s UEFA Cup adventures.
I’m kind of struggling to think of a good one from more than a couple of years ago they haven’t done yet.
FuXored predictors all round then eh, not just (BEST IN TEH ILX) me?
Lolz at Kenny v linesman and Hartley v polis. Also:
Daerest ref
you are crap ref. That was totally a penalty and would also have made the score end up 3–1 so I’d have got maximum predictor points. you are rubbish and i will drown you in the jacuzzi next time I see you in teh gym
luv
a Celtic fan
P.S. only joking, legality-obeying fanz
I had 3–1 as well, but had 1–1 for teh Pars. I await the proper update with interest.
I can’t wait for HEROES to get really popular over here so we can have lots of “Hero: Nakamura” headlines every time he does free kicks like that.
Bah. I R only third best in the ILX world. Remember the glory days of earlier in this thread when aldo was going to quit due to being the Elgin City of the predictions thread?
It’s fairly exciting this season, with a few in contention. I’ve still got a few jokers I need a bit of luck from.
Arabs vs Hibs = best argument ever against this “too many games involve the Old Firm” crap—fucking awful from start to finish. I think it took over an hour before there was a shot on target.
I still have all my jokers. I went off form and predicted Rangers to win for the first time for ages, figuring I needed the points more than I needed to not want Rangers to win (also I am now wanting Rangers to keep winning so I’ll be back in the country when we win the league).
I am very glad indeed I went out this afternoon instead of going to the pub. I did think, for a while, that it might be nice to watch a game that wasn’t Celtic or Rangers (I think Hibs v Hearts may be it thus far). I’m glad I didn’t bother.
Two correct scores this weekend—Pars & Huns. They joker I played didn’t come up because I failed to predict THE MOST BORING MATCH IN THE WORLD (although I’m not sure it was quite as bad as the Hearts-Motherwell match Onimo and I watched a couple of years ago before THE GAME WE DO NOT TALK ABOUT).
Vladimir Romanov handed out his biggest insult to date to the Scottish Press.
Having branded our media as ‘monkeys’ before the game against St Mirren, Romanov then instructed the PA at Tynecastle to play music by The Monkees in accompaniment to a supply of bananas and nuts being sent to the Press box!
HE IS AN UTTER STAR.
Football 365 had the highlights of his time at the Bus Station yesterday, and YOU COULDN’T HAVE MADE IT UP.
* Having been rejected by Dundee United, Dundee and Dunfermline Athletic, the Lithuanian-based Romanov finally arrives in Scottish football by buying a 29.9% stake in Hearts in February 2005. He is welcomed with open arms by a club struggling in the Scottish Premier and suffering crippling debts. Nobody seems too bothered by reports in Lithuania that Romanov holds an influence over more than half of the clubs in the country’s first division.
* Despite being ‘instrumental’ in the appointment of John Robertson as manager, the Hearts record goalscorer is sacked on Romanov’s orders in May. A month later, George Burley is unveiled as his successor.
* A summer spending spree generates a club record run of 11 matches unbeaten at the start of the 2005/06 season. However, on October 22, just one day after Romanov increases his stake to 55.5% to become the club’s majority shareholder, Burley leaves the club citing “irreconcilable differences”. It subsequently emerges that those differences centred on the club owner buying players with consulting his manager. “If we are building a ship, I need to know if it will be seaworthy,” the Lithuanian explains.
* Ten days after Burley’s departure, chief executive Phil Anderton is sacked. Chairman George Foulkes promptly resigns in protest. An unmoved Romanov appoints his son in their place.
* As part of a charm offensive to quell growing dissent, Romanov appears on television and recites one of his self-penned poems as a further explanation for Burley’s departure, announcing to a bemused audience of millions:
‘Don’t believe what you see today
For the portrait of the day is viewed through slumbering nights.
It is only through the cobwebs of time
And through the prism of the past that the moments of today will be understood.’
* Incidentally, although Romanov writes poetry for ‘relaxation purposes’, he lives by the personal motto of ‘Die, but do it’.
* Having promised fans to replace Burley with a “high-profile coach”, Romanov appoints registered sex offender Graham Rix instead. Fans are further disenchanted upon learning that Rix had been interviewed a week previously by Nationwide Conference side Crawley, while the candidature of Claudio Ranieri was dismissed because, in the words of one club insider, “Vladimir thought he was a pillock”.
* 2006 kicks off in controversial fashion with Romanov announcing that his side was “mutilated” during a defeat at Rangers. The SFA immediately reacts by changing the rules that prevented them bringing a charge of disrepute against a club owner. Romanov’s son responds to suggestions that the language barrier is proving an insurmountable obstacle for his father by telling reporters: “He knows all the words he needs—‘Yes’, ‘No’ and ‘You’re fired’.”
* Rix’s stint in charge is predictably shortlived. He is dismissed in March after disclosing that he neither held any influence over team selection nor had a say in Heart’s 11 January transfer window signings. Romanov allegedly sanctions Rix’s sacking from the deck of a nuclear submarine.
* With Valdas Ivanauskas now at the helm, Hearts end the season by qualifying for the Champions League and reaching the Scottish Cup final. But victory over Gretna is subsequently overshadowed by the news that Romanov has bought the Soviet nuclear submarine K19, the centrepiece of the 2002 movie ‘K-19: The Widowmaker’ starring Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson. An emotional Romanov declares: “I will get it restored by September and then it will be moved to near Moscow and put back in the water. Around it we will build a club for submarine veterans with a little hotel for them to stay in.”
* After a few relatively low-key months in Edinburgh, Romanov makes his mark by announcing in late October that he will sell the entire first-team squad if they fail to beat Dunfermline. Despite the ensuing 1–1 draw, Romanov is placated, but skipper Steven Pressley reports “significant unrest” in the dressing room. A month later, Pressley is stripped of the captaincy. And a month after that, Elvis leaves the builiding for Cetic.
* Amid claims that Hearts’ Scottish players are being ostracised, the club’s sporting director Alex Koslovski accuses supporters of “racial discrimination” following booing of Lithuanian duo Saulius Mikoliunas and Nerijus Barasa.
* In December, Romanov reappoints Valdas Ivanauskas as the club’s manager. It is the seventh managerial reshuffle since Burley’s demise in October 2005. The month also sees an open letter published on The Hearts Supporters’ Trust website which accuses Romanov of “turning us into a circus freak show. The truth is that we have gone from being the best thing in Scottish football for decades to being a laughing stock. What we see now is constant interference, the public humiliation of some of our greatest players and a businessman who seems to see our club as a vanity project.”
* 2007 kicks off in style with the front pages of the Scottish tabloids dominated by reports that Romanov hired a ‘dancing bear’ to entertain guests at ‘a wild New Year’s party in Lithuania’. The reports are further embellished by claims that Romanov ‘joined the entertainers on stage to read out love poems he wrote.’
* The month of February begins with Romanov dedicating Hearts’ victories “to those journalists who remind me of those Bolsheviks in Soviet times who wanted to shoot a peasant only because he planted the seeds following his own way, and not their instructions. Once they were ready to shoot a peasant but a clever one stopped them and said: ‘Let’s shoot him in the autumn after he has gathered his harvest’. I guess that if you could, I would have already been shot by now, but whilst you can’t, full of hate and anger, you are spreading manure on my crops.”
* On February 15, the Russian magazine Futbol carries an interview with Romanov in which he alleges that the Old Firm of Celtic and Rangers “have turned football into a type of showbusiness with their underhand games” and claims, “They buy off players and referees.” Rangers and Celtic duly call in the lawyers.
* On February 16, the Hearts website publishes a clarifying statement from their majority shareholder in which Romanov claims, “I don’t expect anything except lies and distortion of my quotes”, before moving on to address such subjects as the “seduction of souls” and the “genius of those who created Edinburgh”.
“It fascinates and captivates you immediately,” he says. “Its beauty was created during the times of the kings of old, and now I see how everything that people were gathering for centuries—a culture, all Walter Scott’s heritage, is being ruled and destroyed by monkeys from the safari park.”
At which point the statement ended with a picture of a monkey tagged as ‘an enemy of talent’ and ‘a teacher of mediocrity’.
GODLIKE.
OMG I LUV HIM MORE THAN LIFE (but only because I don’t give a shit about Hearts)
good times
Excellent, a place to put this:
Stupid phone as stupid as Jelavic. Try again.
m.stv.tv/sport/football/scottish-premier/rangers/278454-rangers-striker-jelavic-we-wont-be-caught-in-the-spl/
favourite soccerball jifs
(does that display?)
Thank you, I am not good with internetz. Was going to tidy it up but forgot I wasn’t a mod over here.
And lol.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b018cg10/Your_Call_with_Jim_Traynor_28_12_2011/
45:00 to 46 and a bit—Gers fan breaks down in tears. I suppose talking to Chick Young does that to you.
Thomas Rogne’s league stats for Celtic: Played 25, Won 19, Drawn 5, Lost 1
Thomas Rogne’s cup stats for Celtic: Played 6, Won 5, Lost 1
The only league game he lost was against Rangers when he was subbed off injured at 0–0 in the first half. The only cup game he lost was against Rangers when he was subbed off injured at 1–1 in the second half and Rangers won in extra time.
He has never been booked in 31 games, his only disciplinary blemish is a red card for a last man tackle in a 9–0 win over Aberdeen.
Thomas Rogne is 21 years old.
From twitter (I haven’t checked for accuracy but it looks about right)
Paul Le Guen: P26 W15 D5 L6
Ally McCoist: P26 W14 D6 L6
Le Guen was unbeaten in Europe but lost more domestic matches. Ally’s been spreading his defeats across all competitions.
I was thinking of you lot yesterday but I didn’t know about this thread. Congrats.
I like Rogne a lot. Watched the second half last night when I got in—he was tidy and efficient. average age of the Celtic team last night was just over 22—Samaras and Brown at 26 pushing it up a bit.
Still have my reservations about Lennon—we should never have been so far behind such a poor Rangers team, and it’ll take a lot to shift the memories of that pishy game against Hibs and that appalling first half against Kilmarnock, not to mention the European qualifying crap, but that won’t take anything away from the last seven weeks or so. Still enjoying it.
Decades of things balancing out over a season so dealwithit.gif suddenly forgotten as Rangers possibly maybe incorrectly have a goal not given—the SPL is now volunteering to FIFA to be guinea pigs for goal-line camera technology.
How about some fucking knee-high studs-up tackle spotting technology? Or some deliberate and repeated handball technology? Or maybe some flagging offside correctly technology?
Below from the minutes of a meeting between the Association of Celtic Supporters and Strathclyde Police.
o_O
On the subject of relations between large elements of Celtic support and the police CC accepted that there had been a breakdown in trust following a series of anti-Celtic briefings given by the Communications Officer at Strathclyde Police. It was pointed out and accepted that the journalist and the tabloid concerned were known to have an anti-Celtic agenda. CC confirmed that future briefings from police would need a different approach and that Communications Officer would no longer be doing that function and that Celtic PR Dept. would be involved. CC accepted that these events had been damaging to police.
(CC = Campbell Corrigan, Assistant Chief Constable, Strathclyde Police)
Communications Officer at Strathclyde Police
Formerly head of communications at the SFA and previously a communications dude at the Scottish Government. Matey with Alex Salmond through working on the Commonwealth bid.
P.S. dudes who minuted the Association/Police meeting—the Celtic Symphony doesn’t have add ons. So is singing the actual lyrics OK now then?
Celtic occasionally play a version with “up the Celts”—I assume “up the RA” is being counted as alternative/add-on lyrics. On Wednesday they sang neither—preferring to use Georgios Samaras as a handy rhyming substitute.
Is this image more or less clear cut than the goal line incident?
referee Collum clearly unsighted by looking the right way
Aye, I know that, but the actual original version (video recorded at Celtic Park btw) is Ooh Ah Up The Ra. Yer man from the polis said no add-ons, the minutes don’t show anyone challenging, so let’s see how that stands up next time Celtic fans get done for singing it.
Also, Collum’s eyes are in the back of his head, so how can he be expected to see stuff in front of him?
that’s what I was getting at
Clarifying in case anyone who isn’t us passes by :-)
Happy New Year, Scottish football peeps. Only An Excuse was totally pish, wasn’t it?
Never saw it, but that’ll save me t0rr3nting it.
couldn’t hear most of it due to overexcited children, but what i did hear was pretty pish. happy new year!
Denis Law and Frank MacAvennie still getting an airing, ffs. No jokes.
Only an Excuse has been pish since the early 90s. I can only assume Jonathan Watson has some incriminating photos of the controller of BBC Scotland.
Aye, not been funny since it came off the radio?
Was ok when Tony Roper was still involved. Wasn’t Alistair McGowan involved for a bit after that, so at least there was someone who could do impressions rather than having to start every sketch with ‘hi, I’m Jim Spence’ or similar exposition? They need to get that Paul Reid guy involved, also some people who can write jokes.
Anyway, that’s the transfer window slammed open, so expect exciting ‘Sandaza/Fat Gaz/Novo/Boydichenko to Rangers’ type pish for the next month before it slams shut with no-one signing anyone because Scottish football is shit and we’re all doomed.
Scottish football is shit and we’re all doomed
Happy new year! I have digitally taped the hogmanay “comedy” but no watched it yet.
I am thinking about not drinking for the game this afternoon. My liver’s beginning to struggle with the demand.
Talking of windows slamming open—Jelavic not selected for Rangers today.
Novo and Boyd back at Ibrox would surely be pure lolz.
Also Healy starts o_O—must have made a hero of himself with that assault on James Forest. Just needed to catch the manager’s eye, and wee James’s kneecap.
Kerr and I on the esspeeell thread on proper-ILX