I think it is indicative of the extent of Celtic’s domestic dominance is that the sound today from their supporters is mainly plaintive in nature.
The Parkhead side is now one victory away from 7 in a row.
Next up is a Scottish Cup semi-final against Sevco.
It was the same fixture in 2016 that gave the six-year-old club their greatest moment.
Unfortunately, the Blue Room contingent overdid the Unsurpassed Dignity within earshot of Dermot Desmond.
It proved to be a tragic mistake by the Sevco High Command.
Brendan Rodgers in the home dugout at Celtic Park was the Dubliner’s decisive response.
You know the rest.
Before the Irishman’s charges line out at Hampden next weekend there will be a few major decisions to be made.
Bain V Gordon.
Forrest V Roberts
Dembélé V Griffiths.
I think it is fair to say that young Master Murts will not have to agonise as to which full international to leave out of the squad for the semi-final.
Of course, Scott Brown is central in every sense to what Celtic achieve on the field.
Sadly, over the coming week, the Stenography Corps will feed the People a steady diet of hope.
I suppose that, in a sense, it was they are there for.
It certainly isn’t to hold power to account.
Soothing The People is their raison d’être.
That is why in November 2010 the Ibrox customer base was regaled with tales of Craig Whyte the billionaire bear.
My readers knew the truth just a few weeks after Mr Whyte had parted with his pound.
Since I first started reporting on matters Ibrox a decade ago there have been several PR companies who have served the interest of those in the Blue Room.
The efforts of all of these spin merchants I the end came to nought.
One ward winning chap at the Daily Radar did confess that “we were told to call him a billionaire”.
Told by whom?
Sometimes the truth on this site became too much for the Blue Room chaps to endure.
They had to seek to directly sooth their customer base.
You can read of the background to that here.
This led to one of my favourite headlines of the past ten years.
You can read it on the blog archive here.
In the Murray years, the succulent lamb was always on the menu for the most obedient in the press box.
However, precious little by way of inducements were needed as many were enthusiastic shills from the get-go.
It was clear to me that there as a need for an independent journalist on this beat.
That is why the same month as the Daily Radar was gushing about the huge wealth of Craig Whyte I was doing this.
A few weeks later the Guardian asked me to write about the Dallas story.
For the avoidance of doubt, such a mainstream commission would never happen in Fair Caledonia.
It might be a Fenian thing…
Despite the grumbles of the Celtic support today they are now living through an era of Fitba unipolarity.
They have witnessed the death of Rangers and the shambolic first years of Sevco.
Moreover, they now have an alternative to the dignified sports desks.
As the “Resolution 12” report is ticking away at Hampden the Jim Farry days are fading into the distance.
Back of the bus no more…
Indeed, just today a Dallas sent off an opposing player for an off the ball incident on Kieran Tierney.
The playing surface at the national stadium will be much better than the one at New Douglas Park today.
All that is required is that it is level and Celtic should prevail.
If Celtic properly turn up at Hampden then only Honest Mistakes of biblical proportions will prevent another cup final appearance for the Hoops.
Musn’t grumble…
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Hi Phil
This will be my last post since the guilt of enjoying putting in my twopence worth while not paying a penny is getting to me but in my defence I prefer to spend my “disposable” on my grandchildren and Mary’s Meals. If I may leave with a few parting shots of friendly fire. It is sad that you bloggers can’t seem to get on. I couldn’t decide if you are in the same choir singing from a different hymn sheet or in different choirs with the same hymnal. I decided on the latter.
Speaking of which, another esteemed blogger seems to highlight the same concerns about Sunday’s game that some of us on here have and he most definitely isn’t a closet Ranger’s fan. Most people would agree with you that should Celtic turn up it is a no-brainer but I think the chances of that are pretty slim. Hope I am wrong.
Lastly, while sycophancy sticks in my gullet, part of the aforementioned guilt stems from the fact that I realise just what an important job you and others do with regards to combatting the Scottish media’s complete and utter capitulation in carrying out their duties as the “Fourth Estate”.
I have a friend who covers her ears and does that Iraqie woman thing with her tongue when I start to mention your latest revelation and while I have learned not to do it when she is driving, I am not deterred. I do not see these blogs as just football matters as anything exposed begs the question “What else are they hiding on behalf of the powers that be”? Your canvas is the “dark heart” of Scotland and if I may paraphrase Conrad, “Their (sic) strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others.”
Regards and thank you from one of the “others”.
Charlie
This site has always been free to view and that will not change.
I was trying to explain to my better half how Scotland’s Premeiership schedules just 75% of its games at the start of the season so that each pairing plays each other three times and then splits in half and allows supporters of one team, often in the top half, to decide how and when the remaining 25% of games are played.
Being smarter than the average Bear and not disinterested in sport, she immediately spotted a problem – surely there’s a good chance that some teams will need to play three away games which is unfair. She continued, that the only way to avoid this is to predict the top six clubs accurately and arrange the pre-split games to ensure two home and two away games, if all works out – but there can be no guarantee of fairness. The system is fundamentally flawed.
So given the obvious unfairness of the system, why is it done, she asked. Oh, I answered, to ensure a more interesting league. Oh, said she, by making it unfair and random – that sounds like a good idea – for a low budget game show.
And why do supporters of one team get to decide where and when the post-split games are played, she asked. Well that’s a much bigger story of unfairness and randomness that I think you’d find hard to believe, I replied. So it’s unfair, randon AND biased then? So what’s the point of Scottish football then – sport or low budget gaue show she asked – she demanded.
Should anyone at the SFA or SPFL need someone to explain how pathetically stupid and transparently corrupt they have made Scottish football with their twisted imperatives, my better half is one of millions of neutral and intelligent people who could point out some very obvious “issues” in words on one syllable – and she is considerablty cheaper per day as a consultant than Barry Hearn.
phill vote lodged………
Great to see so many people leaping to advise Brendan about his team selection… er, I think I’d leave it to the manager. Celtic are a maturing side and are gradually revealing that maturity by digging out results when it matters. Europe had its highlights this term, and next term there is no doubt performances will take us further.
Sevco, meanwhile, are sinking fast, with a manager who seems not to have the confidence of his untrustworthy chairman, which is a shame since he is definitely an improvement on Caixinha, but not as sound as Warbs.
So that takes us to what happens next? Calm breaks out. Let the battle of the managers commence. But don’t lose sight of the real goal, success in Europe and improving individual and team performance so that we can challenge at the highest levels. You know it makes sense. Thanks Phil.
Whats the problem with the post split fixtutes?
The SPFL and Sky/BT had days to plan for every scenario whatever the weekend fixtures scenario.
Celtic have 3 home games, Newco, Aberdeen and Killie, with 2 away games, Hibs and Hearts.
The first home game, v the Dons or Killie should be in Glasgow so that the vast majority in a sell out crowd will be Celtic fans there to hopefully see their team do the business.
The final home game will see the league trophy presentation, again Dons or Killie.
The other 3 games have no consequence for Celtic apart from keeping sharp with, hopefully, a cup final to look forward to.
Perhaps whoever is calling the shots at Hampden these days is waiting on a response from King as to what date is preferable for him and his team.
No surprise there given the bias previously exhibited by our football authorities towards a club playing out of Ibrox.
Whats that ……. overdue tax bill? No probs, just stick the application in the post, tick the no taxes outstanding box.
It’s not as if anyone is going to question your integrity!
You want the trophies won by Oldco since 1872 to be assigned to the club formed in 2012?
No probs, leave that with us. Don’t worry about anyone taking minutes of the meeting for that to go through, the boys will sort it out.
No names, no pack drill eh.
Review of SFA licencing procedures in 2012………ha,ha,ha,ha.
Under control, someone down the pay scale will take the heat for that one, of course any disciplinary action will be kept in house and the person responsible will remain anonymous.
Several of our guys over here at Ibrox are a bit concerned that Police Scotland Fraud Squad may be called in on this particular one!
No sweat, no chance of that. Those guys would only be interested if the numbers were big, you know a couple of million pounds at least and that there was clear proof that someone had benefited at someone else’s loss.
But,but, but that’s exactly what happened.
Oops, order in plenty of food and lock yourselves in the Hampden bunker for a couple of months, its not as if anyone will miss you.
What about the Compliance Officer review?
No worries, it’s ancient history and no one, apart from the usual haters, are expecting it to see the light of day.
Anything else we can do for you?
…Any chance of an honest mistake or two at Hamdump to ensure victory and an end to any notion of double trebles this Season?
Not too worry you former Season Ticket holding ref is on the case brother 😉
Your comments are being infested, Phil. It’s fun to watch them pretend to be worried Celtic fans when suffering oozes between every line they write lol! The only danger at the weekend is Bobby Madhun and his coterie of shameless and unrepentant fellow travellers.
By the way, Dermot is a Cork man, though reared in Baile Átha Cliath. Given the speed and viciousness with which he disemboweled King and the dancing penalty shoot-out bigots, he never lost it.
Oh dear there is just no hope for the Bennys &Sams. One was on radio snyde to have a go at Keevins and to back up the Chisler. But then in the same breath tells us he still has doubts about King .Then on ibrox noise there the Bennys &Sams are right behind the Chisler because he came out and made that statement straight to the fans ah the gullibles falling for it again .The Chisler has told more lies than Tam Pepper and and he went to the big bad fire .Now the conman is quoting mad Charlie Green telling the fans he is going nowhere until Sevco are back at the top. That’s good script Dave it’s not new but it’s good script not lol .
Gordon must start as he’s the no1 keeper.
Griffiths over Dembele for me as Dembele has looked well off the pace to me for the bulk of this Season and Griffiths has looked a lot sharper on his return.
Not too mention he’s the only one who can deliver a set piece correctly.
I would start Forrest on the left and Paddy on the right and keep Sinclair as a sub his form has deserted him this Season and he’s low on confidence.
3-4-3
……………………GORDON
………LUSTIG HENDRY BOYATA
MCGREGOR BROWN ARMSTRONG TIERNEY
……..ROBERTS GRIFFITHS FORREST
Subs BAIN AJER NTCHAM ROGIC SINCLAIR MUSONDA EDOUARD
Hendry is cup tied.
Good point
Now what Phil? Apparently Dave King is going to hand Steve Clarke whatever funds it takes to stop 10 in a row. Already looking forward very much indeed, to your next piece
Frank De Boer the early fav on betting sites.
The huns are so gullible. They must be the most stupid fans on the face of the earth.
HH
I have to say that I have a sense of unease about next Sunday’s game. Brendan has some difficult decisions to make for the starting eleven. Hopefully they will all justify their selection. Meanwhile plenty of pants wetting in Sky for the week as they hype another “Old Firm” meeting.
So the Chisler Billy Liar (Dave King )has reached out today to the Bennys &Sams to renew their season tickets. With praise for Murty and the gullibles themselves they will swallow it hook line and whatever else he wants them to believe. He told the so called fans that the next manager will be spot on and that they won’t get it wrong this time .Ah nothing like some pishy feelgood factor fake news to keep the klan happy .So that’s two lots today to punt season books Benny Hill sorry Harry Hill is it William Hill no its Clint Hill and mad Dave the Rave shouting from the rooftops renew renew and the Bennys &Sams will do .9
King treating The Caretaker like he treats the fans i.e. “give me what I want, now feck off and stop bothering me”. Such loyalty – the perfect way to motivate The Caretaker to clinch 2nd or 3rd or 4th 🙂
Any fan that falls the same old blarney again will just prolong the laughter. Don’t think of it as buying a football season ticket, think of it as buying a Timmy a season ticket to the best comedy club in town.
p.s. Who’s on the ‘big manager with feck all budget” shortlist Dave?
Forrest is our POTY and must start ahead of a lad who has played less rhan two hours of competitive football im three months.
Rogic plays well against the manky mob as does Dembele. I would go with both of them.
Our weak link is the centre back partnership which is susceptible to the high ball over the top.
I think I’ll have to be doing a bit more grumbling now that I have my season ticket renewal in.
It’s a whopping 13.5% increase! This is pretty excessive considering that we have taken in just under 36 million quid from the Champions’ and Europa League this season alone.
Is Peter Lawwell and Dermott Desmond trying to price working class folks out of the stadium?!
I will renew my and my family’s other three season tickets but it is getting pretty tight now as regards affordability, especially when we have rarely seen a full strength Celtic team take to the pitch at Celtic Park this season.
I want to see our best team picked in the majority of home games since I’m darn well not paying to see Celtic reserves. I’m sure a season ticket for the reserves is much cheaper!
Maybe because of this increase in price we may see some significant amounts spent on new signings and new contracts for our key players otherwise why such a big increases in season ticket prices?
Might be worth asking Celtic that.
Mine, and those I know, have gone up by 3 – 4%
Good old Celtic, and their fans. You’ve got to love them.
Join Rangers in poisoning national competition throughout the better part of three decades, then complain bitterly that there isn’t any. A “great” manager comes in to run rings around coaches and teams that he has many, many, many times the resources of, and then listen to him lament the financial disparity between his club and those in Europe that thump Celtic to the tune of a 12-1 aggregate.
If Celtic don’t like the wasteland they’re now trying to compete in (and I use the term “compete” extremely loosely), then perhaps they shouldn’t have been so determined to create it.
Calm down,and take your pills.Why are you so angry with life?
Take a long hard look at yourself,and the reason for your anger could be the team you support not doing what the chairman has promised.
Never mind the chance to renew your ticket for next season is here,and you may even get an opportunity to buy shares cheaper than the market price.Listen to your chairman.
Eh? What pills? What anger?
What on earth are you slavering about?
I’m not rabidly frothing at the mouth because of some weird agenda you’ve dreamed up in your head, I’m just noting the ironies of Celtic’s existence with a mild amusement; and rather than reflect on the reality of Scottish football and the obvious reasons for its current state, you seem to prefer inventing a caricature that’s easier to deal with than what was actually posted.
Sadly, that’s standard fare on the ‘tinterweb these days and is accompanied by the obligatory Old Firm whataboutery that ALWAYS accompanies criticism of the scorched earth that Celtic helped Rangers and ‘Rangers’ to create.
And if that’s a bit abstract for you, how about this:
“Celtic and Rangers have deliberately destroyed any notion of competition for several decades and, therefore, their fans shouldn’t whinge about a lack of it”.
Better?
You’re welcome. 🙂
Excellent piece Phil.
Gordon will be in goal. 100%
I would play the hunskelper from the start. Griffiths on after 60 mins.
Boyata simply cannot play in this fixture. Hendry and Ajer for me.
Sinclair drops to bench. Forrest and Roberts from start to run riot.
Easy peezy tick tock cheezy as my amazing daughter says lol
Hendry I’d cup tied
Phil it doesnt help when the ref is bobby madden a known rangers season ticket holder .
Went to Celtic Dundee game with my sons on wed , Dundee played 4411 , and never broke rank all night, had a couple of lucky breaks and stuck fast to reloading like the Zulu movie, watched them tonight vs sevco , rangers broke time &time again against 1 or 2 at the back they were all over the place and thistle would have scored 4 , they must have fancied their chances but my oh my pure pish
Id leave dembers out…. ( doubt BR will) and have some mix of griff, mcgregor and Rogic …
Would like to see Edouard on again for another critical goal.
I’m a James Forrest man but then again…. Roberts isn’t exactly a weak alternative.
Craig in goal for me…
Broony is the key! As long as he is fired up and on form ( and he will be) the rest will fall into line.
Hopefully the 12th ‘Ranger’ will be loathed to invoke the 10 man Celtic scenario given the last result.
Oh how back-to-back trebles will sicken them…. And all on the way to a never to be repeated 10 in a row.
Special days!
“For it’s a grand old team to play for…..”
Sorry but must disagree. Results recently have been far from convincing. Sevco on the other hand got results against Motherwell and Dundee, the latter by 4 goals, where we were unable to score. Keevins response is historical, currently Sevco are performing better than us. I worry about next Sunday, esp if Boyata is playing, bearing in mind the last game against Sevco was a close run thing and if Morelos was capable of taking a sitter the result would be different.
Do you think we got a result v Motherwell too then ? They have taken 7 points from 18 in last League games whilst we have taken 12 from 18 ,who is performing better ?
Was there a wee attempt to put wee KT out for the semis today, just back from injury and subject to several tackles, someone thinking our left back position with CMcG was the side to be exploited. Just a thought.
Well there you have it then the daily rectum interview with Benny Hill opps sorry Harry Hill no not even him funnier again Clint Hill putting it out there Neil Warnock for the rangers job .That’s it started i did say last week that some nutter would be pushed out there this week to put the feelgood factor out there to punt season books didn’t expect it be Hill .So Squint Eastwood strikes again with some so called good PR .
Mustn’t grumble indeed. Who would you like to see start up front next week, Phil? A tough choice between Griffiths and Dembele. I do however want Rogic to start, if fit. Love watching him. Class act.
Rogic is a class act and seems to enjoy playing at Hampden.
We’ve never had it so good !
Crap game and surface today, but 3 points nearer the 7.
I am afraid the honest mistakes of biblical proportions, you so rightly fear, will be the the selection of Boyata and Forrest (has he beaten a man on the outside yet, this season?) The “Medja’s”pushing for the latter to finish his career at Celtic speaks volumes. I think the fans who buy the season tickets, of whom I am now not one, would love to see a pattern which could accommodate Griffiths, Dembele and Edouard ( a la Sutton, Hartson and Larsson.). As it stands the cunning plan seems to be one where the midfield and defence pass to each other until it is eventually played back to the keeper who then launches it up field in the hope of finding Dembele or least someone in a Celtic jersey. They say a debate usually peters out when someone mentions the “Nazis” and perhaps the footballing equivalent is “The Lions” so I won’t mention them but winning in style was always more important than just winning. That is the Celtic Way and perhaps explains why the fans are “plaintive in nature” at the moment.
A mad Benny &Sam on radio snyde last night said they are better than us because of their last 2 results they scored against motherwell we couldn’t they scored and beat dundee we couldn’t. Keevins put this clown in his place by telling him you haven’t beat celtic in the last 9 games so how do you come to this conclusion. This village idiot said there is always next week .It took this clown all of the show to make his point follow the bouncing ball all the way with him .
I was drinking with a Reading FC fan last night who hs a soft spot for Murty (as a lot of us do, in fairness). He asked if it annoyed me that Rangers are back at the top of Scottish football.
My friend is a very senior recruitment consultant, and is more than familiar with UK company law. I asked him if an incorporated business could survive liquidation. Obviously not, he replied. How then, I asked, could a business incorporated in 1899 and liquidated in 2012 still be trading in 2017?
I’m afraid phil that some sellic fans (some of whom may be dopplegangers and out to create mischief) are apt to mump their gums without thinking or have never been a fan through the dark years. We have to stay strong against this type of halfwitted way of delivering ones view in the cold light of day.
Me since i was five in 1958 have seen some diabolical hoops teams but have always kept my counsel, nowadays with social media, a lie or an opinion is halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get it’s boots on, Mark Twain methinks.
I read your blog avidly and congratulate you on your diligence and perseverance in finding the truth, it’s out there somewhere but i doubt whether we will find it anywhere else than your site.
franny
What happened to ranjurs CVA did hmrc not refused it enough said history goes way the liquidation of rfchaets ok.FACTS DONT LIE BUT SCUMHUNS DO
As did DK
While aware that two half-wits (those of half-witted ways) do not a wit make, I will add to your comment by saying, as is pointed out in the article’s first line, that the sound from the fans is “mainly plaintive” or to put it another way, one of woe. Why? Are they all doppelgangers? I hope Celtic win by five goals next week but since we are scouring the internet for sledgehammer quotes, I offer Nietzsche’s “Hope in reality is the worst of all evils since it prolongs the torments of man.” Should we be beaten next weekend by them, the Ranger’s board would have every right, however unlikely, to break into the finale of “Riverdance” should they so desire.