Brendan Rodgers recently made some unfavourable comments about the playing surface at Celtic Park.
His view is that the Parkhead pitch is ill-suited to the high pressing quick passing style that he demands of his players.
Well, the man from Antrim will get his new pitch.
A hybrid of synthetic material and grass.
This playing surface is de rigueur if not mandatory in the English Premier League.
The crucial quality of this modern pitch is that it doesn’t cut up.
I’m told that the cost to Scotland’s biggest club will be in the region of £2m.
That, dear reader, is more than Sevco has spent on a single player since Charles of Normandy purchased the body parts of Rangers in 2012.
Think of it as Joe Garner plus £300k.
Last week several members of the Sevco High Command wanted To Do Walking Away.
However, the spirit of “we all hang together or we’ll hang separately” prevailed.
Well, at least for now…
Payroll is due again this week coming and, once more, a loan from the generous end of the Blue Room will be required.
Well, at least they won’t have to shell out for win bonuses for the match today.
The match day volunteers at Ibrox is a wonderful idea and I’m sure they will not be doing anything that paid stewards used to do.
That would be undignified.
The bizarre nature of this shambles is that the people calling the shots at boardroom level are not the ones who are writing the cheques to keep the lights on.
The auditors Campbell Dallas have called a meeting with the Sevco High Command for this week.
It was the number crunching chaps who requested it.
No agenda has been set for the meeting, but I will endeavour to ascertain what prompted the request.
I’m sure that the financial realities of the Holding Company Vehicle will not be lost on the Campbell Dallas folk.
In the meantime, the usual suspects in the media are crying out for some Blue Room chap to spend tens of millions of pounds.
It is a folk memory reflex from their good old days.
During the David Murray years old Rangers benefited from a game that was stacked in their favour.
From the largesse of the bank to the secret side letters which concealed the EBT ruse.
When old Rangers were placed in administration five years ago The People found out that they had very few friends among other clubs.
Who knew?
Dear reader, I have no idea how this Sevco shambles ends.
Moreover, I am not claiming that I do know.
However, my sense of it is that it probably will not end well.
Of course, the stenographers will continue to churn out hope flavoured shite to their dignified demographic.
In the meantime The People are coming to terms with life on a genuinely level playing field.
The reality is that Celtic can order up a new pitch that costs more than Sevco’s most expensive player.
Moreover, the champions do not have to borrow money to do so.
The funds are there and it will be value added to the multi-million pound squad that will play their home matches there.
The feelings that The People are experiencing tonight are the inevitable product of following the Espanyol of Glasgow.
They’re Sevco and they know they are…
Hearts announce a hybrid pitch and suddenly Celtic are getting one. Well lets face it you can’t have a diddy club with a better pitch than Celtic.
https://johnjamessite.com/2017/02/20/a-tale-of-the-riverbank/
“Greenock Morton haven’t been paid the £150k they are owed by Rangers from the Scottish Cup Tie. It is now five days overdue. Nobody will take their phone calls at Ibrox.”
I was talking to a guy who works at govan subway (not the food outlet)
He won the ibrokes raffle recently £3000.
But he had to get his cash on the Monday as it had not been counted yet.
No class , no dignity
I did say Dundee would turn them over 4/1! Now I just need bomber to become Manager for my double.
What a cluster fuck id a club!
In the shadows get used to it.
wow
WOW !
When is the major major investment for sevcp coming in Phil getting worried we might get blown out the water soon
When is the major major investment in sevcp coming in Phil,I’m worried they blow us pot the water mate
I think Celtic players deserve more protection from the manager. Rogic, Tierney, Sinclair. Poor show from Rodgers !!!
A yet unidentified third party is apparently prepared to offer a crisis loan
Any ideas of who this is,
It now seems traditional that following a Sevco visit to Celtic Park the fabric of the stadium, particularly the toilets, are wrecked.
What plans do Police Scotland have in place to ensure that there is no repeat? Not a single arrest following the last visit despite lots of footage on social media identifying many of the culprits……..doesn’t bode well if things get out of hand on the day.
There is a real prospect of Celtic giving the tribute act a doing on the day with the team in free fall, one point from the last nine. You can take it as read that the Celtic fans will be showing no mercy and the banter will be loud and lasting, as it would be if the boot was on the other foot.
Things will get worse if some of the many court cases coming soon don’t go their way.
With payroll looming whose going to step up to the plate this time? If someone is funding the club without any security then the best of luck with that one, they are to be commended on the one hand but their sanity questioned on the other.
A share issue is miles away and if I was the bank of last resort I would be looking for repayment of my loans as opposed to any debt for equity swap.
There request for free day time stewards was a master plan , as most the police get every 2nd sat off , as an ex director says he can’t return to the bonny shores as his trial would b corrupt due to the police strong allegiances with sevco tells its own story (as usual)
Volunteers do indeed need to do background checks.
Godspeed 72 – nonsense.
DS doesn’t charge the VOLUNTARY SECTOR for disclosures.
That rule doesn’t apply to any spiv or wide boy who decides to exploit unpaid labour to carry out functions which by statute require a background check.
Will the ibrox volunteers be a force, possibly from a province .also to see the chasm closed in the near future the peeps will need some expensive grass to help their lack of imagination.puff the magic dragon half time/ full time.
POOR WEE sevco.
“Well at least they won’t have to shell out win bonuses for the match today”-typically effin brilliant, Phil, LMAO !
I would assume that Celtic will be demanding payment in advance for away tickets for the forthcoming game?
Can’t see them risking the thick end of £300k to this mob of shysters. Early March too… Interesting to see how that pans out and who fronts the cash.
We don’t know how it Will end . We’ll just have to sit back and enjoy the show
Sorry phil. But you write with such anger., it hurts me to read it…..
Then don’t read it.
Well,for what it’s worth Phil,I never seen,felt or smelt ANY anger whatsoever.
For me Maestro,it was simply symphonic.
The type of feeling I would imagine one might feel in Paradise/Heaven…either works for me.
Please keep up with this ‘anger’ I’m loving it.
All Hail PMGB,Prophet,and true investigative journalist.☮
Poor Tim,he shall get less anger @the Bigotdome,surely……⚽
Do you think he was trying to be sarcastic? One should feqn hope so.
I commented on the pitch when last in Paradise,and I totally agree with BRs take on it.
he shoots….. HE SCORES! 😉
Phil,
Maybe Tim lol is actually angry after reading the articles due to the truthful content free from L5 PR.
I don’t see any anger in any of the pieces. does it hurt to see the truth in print? Get used to it. the truth will prevail eventually. i prefer to call it poetic justice.
Truth hurts sometimes. Great work Phil, donation heading your way.
I don’t know where you get the anger from in this piece..there is none.
Nobody forces you to read it or commen on it.But it’s all true.
I’m sure the contracted security company has been shafted. As a consequence, the Churchillianesque clarion call for new stewards (FOC) abounds.
No one would let an animal suffer in such a way. It’d be cruel, uncivilised and moreover undignified….wouldn’t it?
Hear,hear,put them to ‘sleep’,but NOT in any angry fashion.That wouldn’t be apt.
A Desso pitch is around £300 K – not 2 Million. This is confirmed by the price that Wembley paid in in 2010 of £250K – please lets get this sort of thing correct.
Allan,
This is the article on the Croke Park pitch from 2009, this was relaid after the U2 concerts. The cost then was €1.2m & the pitch laid after Springsteen in 2015 was €2.2m, as that pitch was a step up from’09 & is the same as the one going into CP. £300k wouldn’t lay the penalty boxes.
Accuracy is important to me…
http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaa-has-just-three-days-to-re-lay-pitch-1.699252
Phil
The cost would probably be significantly less for the following reasons:
Celtic Park is about 60% the area of Croke Park.
A planned re-surfacing as opposed to a small window to keep the summer GAA games on track would offer another reduction.
Also here in Ireland everything seems to cost more
My source for the cost of the new surface at Celtic Park is impeccable and in-house.
Thanks Phil for taking time to reply///
I was reading an article about Wembley…
Wembley 2010 – Desso Pitch £250K
Then I seen article for Everton August 2013 – £500K
Then Murrayfield – Feb 2014- 1.25Million
Then Millenium Stadium – Nov 2014 3.1 million
I guess that’s huge inflation..or just bad reporting – so take your pick….
I noted the volunteers were to be used around the stadium ” footprint”.
Perhaps a sanitation roll picking up the detritus left try by the hordes around govan.
No free game for these poor sods just a black plastic bag and if they’re lucky gloves and a grabber.
Perhaps this will reduce some cost due to the city council cleansing department .
I hope the council tax will start getting paid this year.
Maybe the City could supply bulldozers and wrecking balls,that would get the Messi place sorted out.The Messi-ah saved Barcas bacon with a late penalty winner,what a guy.
Pep is grasping at straws at City now,if there is any truth in the £1/2 million a week for the Messi Bhoy……somehow I doubt he will be tempted,although it would certainly give the EPL even more appeal Worldwide,if that were possible.
Peps look is that of someone who knows he has to make BIG changes,or he will throw the towel in real quick,IF his requests aren’t met.
A loss making business doesn’t pay taxes , no laughing please.
All this crap of a Director of football is exactly that, crap, why would the guy from Southamton leave one of the better run clubs in the EPL to go to the worst run club in Europe, fact.
And how is it possible that this club can be run by a guy who is not allowed to have anything to do with any football club in GB as he is barred under the financial regulations of Eufa.
If I may?
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8P80A8vy9I&w=560&h=315%5D
If they ain’t already,they will be if they get involved with that shower of tramps. HH
It’s widely noted elsewhere that when Partick Thistle tried the same ruse, that the SMSM, MSPs and most of civic Scotland were all over it like a rash. Where’s the outcry viz Sevco’s attempt to exploit unskilled labour? (Watch the tumbleweed roll by …)
Another great read Phil as usual!
Who will take up and check the references of the volunteer stewards? Who will pay for their criminal record checks? Who will pay for their protection of vulnerable people courses and the one for children? What level of first aid will they be trained to? Who will pay for it? How will their knowledge of health and safety be assessed and accredited?
Sevco living by the rules that apply to the rest of football, that is a novel idea. Next advert will surely be “do you fancy dressing as a policeman, truncheons supplied, having been previously arrested would be classed as experience”. Monkeys in charge of the zoo!!!
You don’t pay for volunteer checks from disclosure scotland.
You don’t have to pay for volunteer checks from Disclosure Scotland…
The previous club were advised to widen Stairway 13 and make it fan out towards the lower section, relieving pressure on it, after the deaths of 2 fans in 1961.
They did nothing and Sherrif Irvine Smith said they were negligent.
What happened? Nothing.
The tentacles stretch long and wide.
Who is insuring the volunteers?
Noo that IS a cracker!!!
Thanks Phil,
Could not agree more.I think in football terms they shall be looking over their shoulder at Hearts and St Johnstone as I think they are on a slippery slope and they cant be looking forward to coming to Paradise on the 12th.Maybe that’s why Garner got himself booked to ensure he misses out.Anticipate invisible type injuries occurring to Sevco players to avoid embarressment.If Brendan Rodgers wants a new pitch then a new pitch he will have.A consummate professional looks to eliminate any foibles or excuses to optimise performance.The guy is a class act.They don’t come cheap.Unfortunately or fortunately Sevco don’t have a pot to piss in and soon wont have a window to throw it out of.Bless.
So the tribute act need volunteers? I think I’ll nip over and offer my services. I would tell them my surname is O’Hara…Volunteer O’Hara would go down a fecking storm at the TrampDome. Well done to the Dee today for punishing the huns. I see a lot of infighting and season books being unused. Keep it up zombies and mind the gap.
Surely it would be better if you said volunteer Devine ? Michael was known to be contrary!! and was a supporter of Glasgow Rangers (il)
You’re spot on about Mickey Devine, MG. I chose O’Hara as it’s got a real Irish flavour about it, you know how they love all things Irish.
The Green Brigade should use that last line as the basis of a new song or chant!
I’m sure it could debut on March 12th.
Aren´t Garrion Security a loss making entity too ?
Could this be the reason for the volunteers lol
What these idiots fail to realise is that they are vulnerable if anything goes wrong or they get injured. They have few if any rights and all the responsibility.
Not a problem for them they will just liquidate SIMPLES.