Last night I exchanged messages with a source who is very close to the action on Votegate.
I have known this chap for a dozen or so years.
Therefore, our interactions are typically relaxed and informal.
Moreover, he knows that I will protect his identity.
I sent him the following message:
“Douglas Park appears to believe that he has a smoking gun.”
His instant reply was on the money:
“Well, He’s kept it well and truly holstered!”
We both agreed that there were some tough decisions ahead for the folk tasked with administering the game in Scotland.
His take was that, given the unprecedented circumstances, finishing the league, given the number of games played, on average points per game was fair.
My next question to him was did he think that there would be a 14 team top flight.
Of course, this would deal with the potential issue of Hearts going to law.
He did not know how that would play out, but his preferred option was for 16-10-10.
He conceded that a 16 team top tier would be highly unpopular with the folk who have a vote in these matters.
This morning I caught up with another well-placed source in the Scottish game.
Like my guy last night, he had been hearing similar things about discussions on closed-door games at some point later this year.
He told me that after such a match the players would then have to self-isolate for 14 days.
To this layperson, none of it sounded feasible this side of a vaccine for COVID-19.
He believes that the UEFA Executive Committee meeting this week could be pivotal apropos how this strangest of football campaigns is concluded across the continent.
Thursday the 23rd is the key date.
Meanwhile, as the world struggles with a pandemic, the Sevco High Command has deployed their crayon battalion to continue with statement wars.
Unsurprisingly, the call to arms has been heard by the usual suspects in the Stenography Corps.
A cynic might conclude that this is profoundly redolent of a scorched earth PR policy.
The objective?
Well, keep your paying punters onside via manufactured controversy.
This is very handy if you have no product to sell them despite still needing their money.
I did mention to my guy today that the biggest club in Scotland has been serenely silent throughout this unseemly rammy.
He concurred that Celtic were wise not to get involved in this confected rammy.
After all, when you are in a position of pre-eminence, there is no need to indulge in mud wrestling with insolvent Sevco.
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In the EEN ( and maybe others papers ) they are claiming Sevco can sell Greg Stewart for £500K. Just who do they think would buy him in the current climate?
Why do the papers insist on these squirrels?
https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/sport/football/rangers/scottish-football-live-rangers-could-sell-forward-ps500k-champions-league-winning-striker-tipped-ibrox-move-hibs-chief-wants-premiership-season-finish-2544562
Off topic here. Watch out for this as a future Football Quiz question. What Scottish top flight team ripped up its pitch with 9 games to go, but wanted to finish the season on it?
Bet you’re all stumped!!!
I see the Klan on FF are excited about Celtic not being declared champions because sevco are still in Europe and this is the delay in this announcement . Also some of Klan can’t make up their mind if it’s Dortmund or Leverkusen that hammered them at ibrox some weeks ago . But they want UEFA to award their club a 0-3 scoreline as the game did not take place on the date agreed .
Who said this lockdown was depressing?..
According to the Daily Rectum, the young Hagi fella is better than Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were at the same age!!
Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the young Romanian on loan because he is not considered good enough to get game time at Genk? Also, sevco have first dibs at him if they pony up €4.5 million? If he’s that good, then the use of the decimal point in that valuation is redundant.
To quote a character from Chewin’ the Fat – “I think I can smell shite!”.
Whats Leeann Dempster all about going on about finishing the season. Has she not been watching the news as the numbers of dead and infected rise?
The season is done, finished, there is no chance of playing out the remaining games.Thankfully the government will be calling the shots and not her or the SPFL/SFA
At times like this we all need a laugh to brighten up the day.
From a blue side post,
‘Did the SPFL mislead Jermaine Defoe?’
Apparently Defoe has been quoted as saying that the league will resume in June and the poster is debating where Defoe got that information from and comes to the conclusion that it could only have been from the SPFL, another SPFL crime to add to Park’s growing list.
‘Hi Jermaine, how are you, Neil Doncaster here,
JD….who?
ND….SPFL supremo
JD….. Oh aye, whats up man?
ND….just a courtesy call to let you know that we plan to restart the league in June.
JD…. thats great news, Neil old mate, I will let the gaffer and the boys know right away,
This conversation may or may not have happened but I’m claiming it as an exclusive before Keith Jackson steals it.
The only way to restart games while maintaining social distancing is without fans, and televised human bar football. Making sure all players are at least 2 m apart at all times. Other suggestions defy the health guides and apart from having to isolate for days between each would be a significant risk to players and staff, not to mention the risk to the investment in players. As we know from the daily updates the risks are more than just a bad flu, the risks are death. In fact football is not more important than life and death.
A wild thought. Could all spfl teams be put into a hotel like Inverclyde, all tested, self isolating, rota training and play all games in 3 weeks. Refs, managers, staff, all involved?
Just come in after a hard day and have tried to read much of the above. On this site I’ve read many rational and generous solutions to the situation that pertains now. I think that Anne Budge is right in stating that we have a larger situation that threatens the existence of many clubs and the game in Scotland. No-one should have to lose out financially in this situation. It chimes in with what many have said here. Coming in second or third is not losing. Its just coming in second or third. Get used tae it.
But then I flipped out and remembered my own sporting career, rock climbing and mountaineering. There were falls and failures, but the worst by far were the ‘nearly got there but had to turn back’. They stayed with me as some kind of curse, a real piece of unfinished business. As a Celtic supporter, of course I think that we should be awarded the 9th. But has anyone asked the players or the managers and coaching staff? Not from the point of view of the club – the business side, but from the guys who physically and mentally have to do this week after week, game after game. What are those guys thinking?
Nice one! Mah man who thought about Broonie. How many games has he got left in the tank and then suddenly to have that taken away from him. They need to play those games and win the title. Maybe it doesn’t have to be the full quota but those guys deserve to play and win it.
Hail Hail.
Hi Lewis , aye man , Broony is our Hero ! Nice to hear mah man ! All the best , hope we’re celebrating the Quadtrebel soon , Hail Hail
I see in some BT Champions League/European Cup
voting thingy Celtic came out ahead of 2 great Barca sides.
Just had to remind myself of the stats for Lisbon.
Incredibly Celtic had 45 goal attempts, 16 on target, 29 off target including 3 that hit the woodwork.
Thats amazing, a goal attempt every 2 minutes. I doubt if those stats will ever be repeated.
Were we not told to expect a new statement from the club that specialises in them either today or yesterday?
That statement being their accounts or lack of and leading toward the start of admin/extinction?
Even amongst Qualified Medical doctors , Virology and the Epidemiology of virus transmission are extremely specialised fields of study. The training, research , knowledge, and experience to become an expert in these (beyond the initial 5 years becoming a doctor) is at the very least a further 7 years.
If your source of information on Covid is ignorant then you too will remain ignorant. If my tap is leaking I don’t seek advice from the electrician. The problem with misinformation is that Fear is created , then Hysteria.
I suspect the Virologists know exactly what’s going on, but I don’t see too many of their opinions on TV or chat sites.
Possibly because there are billions of dollars at stake when it comes to Scientific Research.
If. Actions decide to pull the plug on what has been a very lucrative inauthentic these guys are going to have to find an alternative career to risking human life messing with things they evidently cannot control.
U.S. Oil prices dropped to minus $35 a barrel today. Let that sink in… The oil companies are paying someone 35 dollars to take a barrel of oil!!!
These are extraordinary times.
If any sevco lurkers think they can survive this economic catastrophe they are deluding themselves.
Debt is great till you hit hard times.
We are hitting the hardest times
I had to laugh at the 14 day quarantine suggestion. So adding the league, two cups, and Europe, next season could run to two full calendar years. I do not think so. Playing behind closed doors is not feasible in that it does not address the problem of contamination between players and officials. The Atalanta-Valencia CL game shows the rates of infection between officials and players. They know that the current tests are not accurate. They are only reckoned around the 70% mark at the moment. The virus has to go before football can begin. Football is in real trouble.
See in the big scheme of things?Fitba is actually irrelevant right now.
What will be will be bit meanwhile we have a pathogen rampaging round the Globe affecting just short of 3 million KNOWN cases.
I say known because we all know most Governments are massaging figures to suit whatever agenda they are pushing.
Particularly China who apparently got away with this with seemingly minimal carnage?
Believe that then I might suggest you are a Shareholder at Sevco and have no lace reading his post ya numpty.
Priorities.
Keep safe and god bless you all 🙏🏼
Have to disagree with your sources take on a 14 day isolation period after a game,by this assumption when we go back to working in an office for 8 hours would all those employees have to undergo a period of isolation again,I don’t think so.If and when it’s safe to back to work footballers like the rest of the population will have to get the overalls on so imo closed door games will happen when we go back to work
Close door games, if they’re televised, can only take place if the pubs are still closed as people would flock there to watch them. There would be a lot more people per square metre than you’d get in a football ground.
This is the first wave.
Don’t assume anything.
Let’s not fool ourselves and judge the future on the information that were being given access to, we need to design football’s response to COVID19 on the worst possible scenario as what we are being fed is the best possible scenario.
Ask yourself, why has Boris Johnstone not been seen since his release from hospital? A man who craves publicity.
Why is a government of right wing persuasion handing out BILLIONS of pounds to the man in the street?
Answering these two questions leads to the assumption that survival is not straight forward and that the government fear that when the public see this then social unrest is a serious concern.
Now take that knowledge and ask yourself “Do we really care about the future of professional football?” If we do then we must prepare ourselves for it being completely different from what we are used to.
Does it matter who wins, loses or are relegated?
Prior to the Covid-19 lockdown, the SPFL Table read as follows:-
Position 1 – Celtic….. P30, W26, D2, L2, GF89, GA19, GD70, Points 80
Position 2 – sevco….. P29, W21, D4, L4, GF64, GA19, GD45, Points 67
Following return of play after the winter shut down sevco simply collapsed under the relentless Celtic pressure.
Celtic FC had a match interruption insurance policy in force prior to Covid-19 whilst our subservient govan bigots typically avoided the insurance premiums and now face certain extinction.
Celtic are presently in a substantial lead at the top of the table with their massive goal advantage equating to a 14 point lead.
Even if Scotlands shame (Mark II) win their game in hand the gap is still effectively 11 points.
With a total of 24 points left to play for including two Glasgow Derbies Celtic ( correct me if my maths don’t add up ) only have to win both derbies plus one other match and history will record our nine league titles in a row for a second time.
Now lets deal with the repulsive sevco proposal to deem this season null and void or asterik season against our name if the SPFL
or UEFA call time on the league campaign due to the world-wide pandemic.
A check on Scottish footballs criminal website ( https://rangers.co.uk/club/history/honours/ ) reveals a nauseating fraudulent league title claim under their ‘ Honours ‘ list.
The season I specifically refer to is 1939-1940 when the scum claimed the league title having only played 5 league matches out of the scheduled 38 – all of which were notably played against the bottom of the league teams.
There’s no asterik or null and void mentioned anywhere.
Their 5 easy games were recorded as follows :-
Match 1 Scotlands Shame at home 5 v 1 St. Mirren ( St. Mirren finished 12th in the 20 team set up )
Match 2 away to Ayr United 0 – 4 Scotlands Shame ( Ayr United finished 18th in the league )
Match 3 away to St. Mirren 0 – 0 Scotlands Shame ( St. Mirren finished 12th out of a 20 team league )
Match 4 Scotlands Shame at home 3 V 1 Arbroath ( Arbroath finished 16th in the league of 20 )
Match 5 away to Third Lanark 1 v 2 Scotlands Shame ( Third Lanark finished 9th in the league of 20 teams ).
Celtic on the other hand played Aberdeen twice, Hearts once, Cowdenbeath and Clyde finishing 4th in the league table on 6 points compared to Scotlands Shame with 9 points.
Season 39-40 was obviously curtailed on the outbreak of World War 2 yet the filth proudly proclaim victory in their history of so called ‘ Honours ‘.
The next time your hear the phrases Null n Void or Asterik from their sub species remind them of their disgraceful conduct when 75 million soles lost their lives.
We’ve played 30 games out of 38 the filth played 5 out of 38 that season they ‘ legally ‘ won the title.
Sporting Integrity – never existed at their temple of hate.
Not quite accurate. The 1939-40 Division 1 season WAS INDEED halted after the outbreak of war in September 1939, but NEW LEAGUES were formed based on an East-West split. Deadco won the Western League and then the overall Scottish Title by beating Falkirk, who won the Eastern League, 2-1 in a play-off at Hampden.
Celtic actually finished 13th of 16 teams in the Western Division with only 24 points.
Not quite correct. The First Division WAS abandoned after 5 games, but NEW leagues were formed based on an East/West split. Deadco won the Western Division and defeated Falkirk, winner of the Eastern Division 2-1 in a play-off at Hampden for the overall Title.
Celtic finished 13th of 16 teams in the Western League on 24 points from 30 games.
Concerns have been raised that when football resumes, to finish the 2019/20 season would mean a considerable delay in starting the 2020/2021. Here’s a suggestion. Why not play the outstanding fixtures first but make them six pointers, with results counting towards both the old and the new season. It would bring closure to 2019/20 season and allow the new season to start with limited delay. With a 14 team league looking likely, the results wouldn’t inform relegation since there wouldn’t be any for 2019/20. What it would do is to decide who title winners are. With regard to qualifying for Champions League and Europa League places, it may well be that UEFA will decide later this week to accommodate an early end to seasons across Europe, with qualifying for CL and EL informed by league positions at time of suspension of fixtures. If agreement could be reached on that approach in Scotland then that final sticking point would be removed. I’m sure there are a hundred and one reasons why this suggestion couldn’t work and if so I’d like to hear them.
Already been suggested and rejected here for several reasons. The main one being it’s likely that each team will have entirely different squads.
Hope we can cut this virus down in its tracks , a war with no troops to hit back.
I’m worried too many people can’t see it as a huge problem?!
Our very future is at risk here, some people think it’s ‘their’ lives being affected , looking at number 1 and not the 1000’s, not seeing the whole machinations of life being hand-braked, and then complaining of not being allowed to do what they want. How can we change this mindset of the minority? If not this virus could kill millions in time.
Ok rant over,…
Meanwhile , thinking in football terms , I just hope Scott Brown is still playing when we get the 10. He deserves to be the man to lift the trophy. But what if we can’t play for a year or two? The whole landscape looks fragile. My concern right now is we won’t have a league to play in. These idiots will do their damnedest , -‘ it’s ma ba’ an am no playin any mare’ type of style ! Clowns the lotta them.
The whole outlook does not look good , especially with Sevco Rfc ? They won’t be around to play 5 a sides at this rate ,never mind a league match , reading between the lines , thanks to the hard work from our man Phil , ( Thanks man!) ,it’s over. Seems like the huns will be hit by an ‘unseen’ danger very shortly- Don’t they have plenty time to check all which is closing in on them?
Stay safe Celts
A simple comparison
https://www.theblogmire.com/a-comparison-of-lockdown-uk-with-non-lockdown-sweden/
Belarus hasn’t been in lockdown and still playing football. Up until last week 29 deaths probably flu. This is a total farce.
What’s behind it we don’t know, but we soon will. Practice run for total control of the population. It was easy done wasn’t it?
Don’t trust any government, they’re all at it and we’ll find out soon why they’re all at it.
Exactly! Follow the money and cui bono. You idiots are going to accept a vaccine from Bill Gates, a man who can’t even guarantee a bug-free computer operating system. It’s beyond belief how deep the brainwashing goes.
An excellent read
A couple of things niggling away tonight. There’s a story out there that New Balance or Puma could be the next Rangers merchandising partner and that talks are moving apace.
Now I believe that Sports Direct may have a say in this with the matching offer opportunity that they have in the contract.
Rangers have already paid out £3m to SD for crossing a red line and are awaiting a 2nd invoice, potentially for considerably more.
However I’m sure the crack Ibrox legal team has everything under control.
Then there’s the matter of Hagi and his potential permanent move to Glasgow for a reported £4.5m.
We are told that the paperwork is in place and that Rangers have first dibs on the son of a famous father.
But hang on a minute, what if there are other clubs interested in the young talent who struggled to hold down a regular place at Genk and Hagi says no to Rangers, I want to go to, say, Man City instead?
What if the player digs his heels in? Do Rangers pay Genk the asking price then immediately punt him on to whoever at a profit? Do Genk have a sell on clause in the contract?
Again I’m sure that the vastly experienced legal team over in Govan have dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s on this one.
How long have we been saying now that this upcoming UEFA conference could prove decisive? At least a month now and nothing ever happens. It’s up to the SPFL to grow a pair and call the season.
George…I think a big bit of the problem that perhaps UEFA has overlooked is…
They are dealing with a load of countries under their control…who all have different views on Lockdowns etc; and will react differently to what UEFA instructs them to do.
What may be acceptable to say Germany…might not be acceptable to Italy….there are too many variables.
So there is no point in them setting a date to resume…. under these circumstances.
I am of the firm opinion that this season is gone….and UEFA will have to face that sooner rather than later.
As for the SPFL calling the decision….they can’t do that without UEFA approval.
We might not like it …but them’s the rules…as they stand.
Belgium,as you know, tried it…but were reined back in.
However I concede that it gave UEFA food for thought…and I do believe that they will give the green light to countries to
settle this issue for once and for all.
But I still maintain that this season’s decision is the easy one…’cos God only knows where we go from here.
Certainly if you’re the one who stands to benefit most from an omni-shambles then it’s best to keep tight-lipped about it.
Possibly Would have been best for SEVCO to remain tight-lipped to though as, unlike Celtic, who had little to lose if there was an independent enquiry if there is one and SEVCO have no cards to put on the table regarding their whistleblower claims the fans may end up revolting (I know, I know) and refusing to renew season tickets since their board weren’t strong enough to stand up to the SPFL.
Their best hope now is that the rumours UEFA are considering advising all top leagues are declared null and void and European places are allocated by inviting the teams who qualified last year. Anything else could open up legal cases against UEFA from clubs who still had a mathematical chance of being champions.
I don’t see why after each game the players would have to go in 14 days isolation. If everyone is tested beforehand and are all clear, who would they pick the virus up from if no-one has it. I think that is just scaremongering.
The truth of the matter is the lockdown will be lifted in 3 weeks. As much as the government like to talk about health and saving lives(I know, coming from Tories lol) the economy is what will be their biggest concern.
The highest risk population will mostly stay in lockdown and the majority will get back to work with social distancing. They won’t have a vaccine for this until next year & they don’t have a clue how long the antibodies in body can stop you from catching it again. It’s a type of flu , we all know that you can catch the flu multiple times, why would this be any different.
People are just going to have to get on with life , I mean we are all going to die at some point. Just be smart about it, wash your hands and stand back from people when your talking to them. It’s pretty simple
Have to clear up that catching flu multiple times is true but it’s not the same flu. There’s loads of different variants and vaccination is very very effective.
It’s not the same flu but from the same family of viruses. We don’t know anything really about the recovery of covid19 & reinfection of it. So we have to look at the other viruses in the same family.
Who knows, it could mutate itself away like SARS
16-10-10? That makes 36. Aren’t there 42 teams in the four divisions?
Noticed that myself. Does he want to bump 4 of them? Now THAT would cause a stooshie!!
Bump 6 teams. My brain is in lockdown!!!
Cheers Phil,thanks for the update.Celtic have been tight lipped on this and rightly so.Yes,football as we know it is still some way off in the distance.A friend from Oz was asking my opinion on this over a month ago and I replied ‘be ready for 20/25% of capacity being the norm for the foreseeable.‘
He thought that was alarming,I told him;I think that figure is probably best scenario.The more I think on it,that figure is optimistic,for if that isn’t the long term outlook,then;this whole isolation lark has been wasted effort.Usual football attendance figures will take a nose dive and will remain there until we know better.(Until vaccine is developed)
Anyway,there’s folks paid to think in those terms,usually well paid.For now though we shall have to follow the guidelines and bide our time until these folks have a better handle on the figures and what the future holds for All post C-19.
Thanks again🇮🇪
If the saviour is to be a vaccine we will have a long wait. Assuming they work fast then eighteen months is a reasonable timescale but that is just to put it into production. As for delivery, it would be on a highest bidder basis, exactly as we are seeing with PPE supplies. The NHS is short on supplies as the likes of the “flight from Turkey” will be flying to the wealthier customers. If the vaccine is found then realistically we in the UK would be looking at 2 – 4 years before enough people here were vaccinated to make a difference.
Is a vaccine likely to be found? When I was growing up it was often said that if you wanted to make a fortune then find a cure for the common cold. COVID19 is, as the name suggests, the most recent of the 19 coronoviruses out there. Of these 2 – 3 are responsible for 20% of common cold illnesses. If the COVID19 virus development was straight forward then why have we never seen a vaccine for the common cold?
For football it is not the threat to life among the spectators that should concern us. Reports are beginning to leak out that among the survivors the damage to vital organs, in particular the lungs, is of appreciable concern. Talk of loss of up to 50% of the lungs efficiency must now surely be relevant in sport. No top athlete could ever perform with that level of damage. It might not be just the demise of our clubs that is the concern but will the teams that survive have many of their stars missing?
working in the pharma industry (research) I have never seen such a rush for a vaccine. However the main issue as I see it is variants of the virus and continued vaccines needed until they get the ultimate silver bullet which might fall into your time frame. I would expect several vaccines available this year fast tracked by the Drug police. Lot’s of money to be made but there may be other side effects to consider as can be the case with vaccines. Stay safe all, hopefully we will get to see the game we love in person some time in the near future.
Covid 19 is year that particular virus was discovered, but I understand what you mean 😕
Probably correct Alf but when looking into the coronaviruses influence on the common cold you find they reckon that there are around 20 with 2 to 3 that affect humans. I made the assumption on the catogarisation that 19 was the enumeration made from the order of discovery,
. Apologies if I am wrong.
Phil
Is it true that Doulas Park’s middle name is Ireland !! Also on 4 march a “floating charge” was placed on Parks of Hamilton and on I think on13 March a “floating charge” was made on Parks Motors Ltd. These could be business decisions but can lead to administration particularly as a new bank is involved.Perhaps your financial guy could look into this if it’s not old news.
Dougie Park and the sevco board are all mouth, and no trousers! Likewise the SFA. As I understand it, the scottish game falls under the governance of the SFA – not the SPFL, therefore, somebody at the SFA should grow a pair by telling Park to either PUT UP or SHUT UP. if I was the man in charge, instead of Maxwell, I’d be giving sevco an ultimatum – either produce your evidence WITHIN 24 HOURS, or they will be deemed to have brought the game into disrepute, and a hefty penalty would be winging it’s way to Edmiston Drive! They would be taught a severe lesson that they are not in charge of scottish football – the Scottish Football Association is! If they dare to contest it, then the events leading up to 2012 will be revisited – in forensic detail!
Steven, the CEO of the SFA is the invisible man, never to be seen in public and certainly never to be heard.
What qualities he brings to the job I have no idea but when you appoint someone to a senior position on £200k per annum plus you would at least expect him/her to be familiar with the English language.
To be fair, Maxwell still thinks CEO SFA is an anagram, and hes still trying to work out the answer.