Celtic's Hampden Problem

Sunday was hard to take. There's no getting away from that and I'm not here to defend Ronny Deila, or say he should be given a second chance. Unfortunately, I think this was a defeat too far for Ronny, mainly down to the identity of the club we lost to and he has now lost the fans. Short of winning the European Cup, I don't see how he can win us over again.

But Sunday needs to be looked at not simply as a defeat to a very mediocre side representing the re-animated body-parts of our dead, deadliest rivals. It needs to be seen in the context of our Hampden record going back to pre-Ronny times.

In April 2010, as the car crash Tony Mowbray Season of the Honest Mistake petered out, we faced then First Division Ross County in the Scottish Cup semi-final. It was a wretched performance under caretaker manager Neil Lennon as we crashed to a 0-2 defeat and an angry crowd awaited the team bus when it arrived back at Celtic Park later that day.

Let's look back to March and April of 2012, as we raced away from dead Rangers in the League race and appeared to be on the cusp of at least a double.

March 2012 we played Kilmarnock in the League Cup Final and suffered an unexpected 0-1 loss. The match was not without controversy, with Willie Collum refusing to give Celtic a penalty in stoppage time after Anthony Stokes was barged from behind in the box, but it was a poor performance, with plenty of chances missed.

The following month, we faced Hearts in the Scottish Cup semi-final and again lost out after a lacklustre performance. Again there was controversy with Euan Norris awarding Hearts a penalty in the closing minutes after a shot was smashed against Joe Ledley's arm, then turning down Celtic claims for a penalty moments later when the ball hit Webster's hand in similar circumstances.

On 27th January 2013, we took on St Mirren in the League Cup semi-final and contrived to lose 2-3, with Charlie Mulgrew both conceding and missing penalties. We were actually 1-3 down before Mulgrew scored in the 90th minute.

In April 2013, we faced Dundee Utd in the Scottish Cup semi-final and although we progressed to the final, it was a fraught affair, with the advantage swinging back and forth before we eventually triumphed 4-3 after extra time.

Season 2013-14 was mercifully free of any Hampden heartache, but only because we contrived to get knocked out of the League Cup in the early rounds at home to Morton, and in the Scottish Cup at home to Aberdeen. So that was nice.

Normal service was resumed last year, with that infamous 2-3 defeat to Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish Cup semi-final in April 2015. Once again there was controversy, with ICT defender Josh Meekings keeping out Leigh Griffiths' header with a blatant handball seen by everyone inside Hampden except the referee and his five assistants. Worse was to follow in the second half when Craig Gordon was sent off after the officials decided to implement the rules for a change. Ten man Celtic then lost in extra time.

No one needs reminding that this season we have crashed in the semi-finals of both cup competitions to Ross County (again) and the Tribute Act.

Here is our Hampden record since Season 2009-10 (defeats in red):

2010 Scottish Cup semi-final, Celtic 0-2 Ross County*

2011 League Cup semi-final, Celtic 4-1 Aberdeen*

2011 League Cup Final, Celtic 1-2 Rangers

2011 Scottish Cup semi-final, Celtic 4-0 Aberdeen*

2011 Scottish Cup Final, Celtic 3-0 Motherwell

2012 League Cup semi-final, Celtic 3-1 Falkirk*

2012 League Cup Final, Celtic 0-1 Kilmarnock

2012 Scottish Cup semi-final, Celtic 1-2 Hearts*

2013 League Cup semi-final, Celtic 2-3 St Mirren*

2013 Scottish Cup semi-final, Celtic 4-3 Dundee United*

2013 Scottish Cup Final, Celtic 3-0 Hibernian

2015 League Cup semi-final, Celtic 2-0 “Rangers” *

2015 League Cup Final, Celtic 2-0 Dundee United

2015 Scottish Cup semi-final, Celtic 2-3 Inverness Caledonian Thistle*

2016 League Cup semi-final, Ross County 3-1 Celtic*

2016 Scottish Cup semi-final, Celtic 2-2 The Rangers (4-5 penalties)*

 

 

 

That's 16 matches at Hampden in seven seasons and we have lost half of them.

There have been more than a few where refereeing has played a huge part in those 8 defeats, but all 8 defeats have also been accompanied by poor performances.

These performances have spanned two managerial reigns and a huge turnover in playing staff. There is no one individual or group of individuals who can be singled out to blame.

I'm not one of those Celtic fans who think we should win the treble every season. It's an extremely difficult task and one we've achieved just 3 times since it became available 70 years ago.

Neither am I one of those Celtic fans who thinks we should always beat the "diddy teams." On any given match, we can lose to anyone. Losing a cup match is not, and never should be seen as, the end of the world.

But I do think that our win percentage at Hampden should be considerably better than 50%. Yes, we can always lose a one-off match, but over a series of one-off matches, we should not be losing anywhere near 50% given the financial advantage we have over our opponents.

We have a Hampden problem and it is not a problem simply of Ronny's making. I feared the worst before Sunday, because given our Hampden record since 2010, we can't be confident of beating anyone there. Too often, we freeze when it really matters.

 

Supporting Celtic: It's Not About You

Seems the knives are still out for Ronny Deila following what was in the end a successful trip to Rugby Park on Saturday.

It was actually a very good weekend for Celtic, with Aberdeen dropping three points at Fir Park to leave us four points ahead with a game in hand and just eight games to go.

That hasn't stopped the SMSM and their carping though. Just as examples, the Scottish Daily Mail give a platform for Kilmarnock's "former Real Madrid midfielder" Julian Faubert to say how unimpressed he is by Celtic.

We're supposed to respect his opinion you see, because he used to play for Real Madrid.

Yes, that's right, he used to play for Real Madrid. He had a loan spell there in 2009, during which time he played a grand total of TWO matches, both as a substitute. His spell in Madrid included being disciplined for missing training one Sunday because he thought it was a day off, and being photographed asleep on the bench during a match against Villareal. At the end of his loan spell Real wisely decided not to take up their option of making the loan permanent.

But hey, Julian Faubert isn't impressed by Celtic! And he used to play for Real Madrid!

Over at The Herald, Faubert is allowed more space to express his disbelief over how Kilmarnock didn't win as Matthew Lindsay cries over his keyboard while telling us all that Celtic were dead jammy at the weekend and they're nowhere near good enough.

This remember, is a team sitting four points ahead with a game in hand and a vastly superior goal difference which is effectively as good as another point.

But you know what? I don't care about the SMSM. We expect no different from them and I don't buy papers anyway. I can ignore them and if more of us did the same, maybe they'd go away or at least re-examine their business model.

Far worse are the usual suspects on the Timternet, who while Celtic are involved in a serious title race are whinging and whining from the sidelines about how poor we are.

Not for them a circling of the wagons. Not for them a public show of solidarity with the manager and the team. Not for them a keep it inhouse attitude.

You see for them, it's all about them.

They want to be entertained. They want Celtic to be 30 points ahead of Aberdeen so they can relax and enjoy the title procession.

They want to see the mythical open, entertaining, attacking football that it is (apparently) the birthright of every Celtic supporter to see.

Well, so would I. I'd love it if we were sweeping all before us. I'd love it if we were even 15 points ahead and I didn't need to check the Aberdeen score every week to see how far ahead we are. My blood pressure would certainly benefit from that if nothing else.

But if I found one thing out early in life, it is that you can't always get what you want.

We're not sweeping all before us and we are in a title dogfight. So what can I do about it? I can sit on my keyboard whinging about how that's not good enough for Celtic. I can create an air of relentless negativity everywhere I go and achieve nothing other than venting my frustration and enable the SMSM to put pressure on the manager and the club by pointing at how Celtic fans like me are saying just the same things.

Or, I can grow up and realise it's not all about me. Supporting Celtic does not come with a guarantee you're going to be entertained every week, regardless of what the song says. It doesn't come with a guarantee we are going to win every week or watch world class players in the Hoops and for the majority of our history that is not what Celtic supporters were treated to.

And no, I'm not happy with performances this season. I'm not happy to see us struggle to the finishing line against opponents with a fraction of our resources. But so what if I'm not happy? What do I matter here?

This is about Celtic. Generations of Celtic fans lived and died watching Celtic stumble and stutter from one on-field disaster to another with silverware few and far between.

My grandfather was born in 1922. By the time Jock Stein became manager, we'd won the league just SIX times in his 44 years. He wouldn't even have been able to remember the first of those, as he was only a few months old at the time.

By the time Stein's Celtic won the first of Nine in a Row in 1966, to be old enough to remember Celtic's previous ten league title wins, you would have to have been born around 1910.

Now that doesn't mean you have to be happy with the current situation and it doesn't mean I am either but it does mean that supporting Celtic is no rose garden.

When you sign up to supporting Celtic, you don't do it because you like watching your team win things all the time. It means you sign up to going through all the trials and tribulations that are never far away with the manager and the team, whoever they may be. That's the way it has been for huge chunks of Celtic's history.

What we have at the moment are generations of fans who have been utterly spoiled by success.

We've got older guys who don't remember the 40's and 50's, but grew up watching the Lisbon Lions and think it should always be that way.

We've got younger guys who grew up watching O'Neill's Celtic and Seville and thinking it should always be that way.

I was born in the early 70's so I missed Lisbon and I'm too young to remember our Nine in a Row years. I do remember Celtic having to scrap with Aberdeen and Dundee United for the league in the early 80's. I remember when winning the league two years in a row was a great achievement and going without league titles for the same amount of time was to be expected.

I remember nine long seasons when we were lucky to finish as high as third from 1988-97.

We are currently enjoying the third Golden Age in our history. They have been 1888-1926 (17 titles in 34 years, 1965-88 (15 titles in 22 years) and 2000-present (10 titles in 15 years).

So you're not happy with performances under Ronny Deila? Neither am I, but you know what? POOR US!

A short period of time from 1966-74 apart, we've never had it so good.

If you think supporting Celtic is hard right now, you've no idea what it means to be a Celtic supporter.

You can go to every single game and spend as much money as you like on following Celtic. You still have no idea what it means to be a Celtic supporter if you think whinging about Ronny Deila on social media is more important than getting behind him and his team as they try to win our fifth title in a row.

If they do manage it, it'll be five in a row for just the third time in our 129 year history. And you're crying because you haven't been entertained along the way!

What happened on Saturday should, and I think will, become a moment of Celtic folklore. Game petering out to a 0-0 draw, giving Aberdeen the opportunity to leapfrog us at the top of the league later that day, until Tom Rogic produces a moment of absolute magic to score a last minute winner and send the travelling support into raptures.

Imagine the scene 20 years from now: "What was it like that day, Daddy?"

Will you say, "Oh I went absolutely mental! Brilliant day!"

Or will you be saying, "I took to social media to have a rant about Ronny Deila for playing Colin Kazim-Richards up front instead of Leigh Griffiths?"

If your answer is more like the second, you've no idea what supporting Celtic is all about.

It's not all about you. It's about Celtic. It's about playing your part, no matter how small it may be, in carrying this team over the finishing line.

It's about SUPPORTING the team through thick and thin. Yes, being utterly crushed by every defeat, but picking yourself up again and being there to cheer them on the very next game. It's about loving every minute of their success and celebrating like there's no tomorrow on those frequent occasions when we snatch that all-important goal just when it's needed most.

It's about being the 12th man. Not the greeting faced old sod at the back sucking the life out of the club with your constant negativity and self-indulgent moaning.

United we stand, divided we fall. Which is it to be?

Champions League: It should be clubs from the smaller associations breaking away

There seems to be something in the air recently regarding the future of European football, with big clubs making noises about their dissatisfaction with the Champions League, specifically the fact they (poor things) could theoretically be eliminated before the business end of the competition. Which would be just awful, wouldn't it?

There is talk of further seeding in the knock-out rounds, or even a closed-shop breakaway, invite-only Super League where "the big clubs" can play against each other to their hearts' content, without having to worry about any wee diddy clubs interrupting them.

I'm sure like me, the prospect of Real Madrid or Bayern Munich not making the quarter-finals of the Champions League would ruin the whole competition for you. In fact, you'd refuse to watch any of the remaining games on principle just because they were knocked out. Same goes for Barcelona, Manchester United,  AC Milan, Juventus. You just couldn't live without them in the Champions League, right?

Same goes for probably 80% of the most important people in the Champions League - the TV viewers. Right?

What do you mean, you'd rather see YOUR team in the last 8 than Real Madrid? Are you crazy? Where's the excitement if YOUR team gets to the last 8, or even the semi-final? Who wants to watch that?

The threat of breakaway leagues and greater seeding has always been perceived as a massive threat by clubs in smaller countries, or even by supporters of smaller clubs in the big countries. But I would say to UEFA, "let them go."

How many of these "big clubs," are there really? I'd hazard a guess we're talking about a select group of clubs from the English, Spanish, French, German and Italian leagues. I'd go with:

Arsenal
Chelsea
Liverpool
Manchester United
Paris St Germain
Barcelona
Real Madrid
Bayern Munich
Borussia Dortmund
Juventus
AC Milan
Inter Milan

Apart from nouveau riche PSG, at least one of these clubs has appeared in every final (except 2004) since the inception of the Champions League format in 1992.

Think about that. In a quarter of a century, there have been two blips. In 1995 one of the teams in this list lost the final to a team not on the list, and in 2004 neither finalist came from that list.

Indeed, since 2004, only once (2014) has a team from outside that list even reached the final.

And these teams think the Champions League is not already slanted in their favour enough?

Let's compare that to the 25 years before the Champions League format. Winners included Celtic, Feyenoord, Ajax, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Hamburg, Steaua Bucharest, Porto, PSV Eindhoven and Red Star Belgrade. That's winners from Scotland, Netherlands, Romania, Portugal and the old Yugoslavia (now Serbia).

Beaten finalists included Benfica, Panathinaikos, Atletico Madrid, Leeds United, Saint-Etienne, Borussia Monchengladbach, Brugge, Malmo, Roma, Marseille and Sampdoria. That's runners-up from Portugal, France, Belgium, Sweden and France.

You can see then, that the Champions League is doing exactly what it was set up to do - ensure it is dominated by the big teams from the big five (or even four) leagues.

So what if the Big 12 did break away? Would the Champions League be devalued without them? Initially, yes. Undoubtedly.

Would the breakaway league be the glamour tournament that attracts mega-money TV deals? Initially, yes. Undoubtedly.

But what about the longer term? Would those twelve clubs and only those 12 clubs be able to sustain the interest of the maybe 80% of football fans who don't support one of those clubs? That figure is probably not accurate, but I'd imagine the great majority of European football fans are not supporters of one of those clubs.

Without promotion or relegation from that select group, why would it be of interest to most football fans? I know it wouldn't appeal to me. I would not give two hours of my life to watching Manchester United v Barcelona in those circumstances, no matter who was playing for them. Even in the Champions League, the fixture holds no more than limited interest for me as it occurs so frequently. Even Celtic have played Barcelona on a seemingly annual basis in the last few seasons. We were even calling it the Nou Firm match.

Let them go and refuse to have anything more to do with them. Make it clear they can go, but don't on any account think they can have their cake and eat it.

Ban them from national leagues. Ban their players from international matches. Let them play with each other and only with each other for the rest of time and let's see how they end up.

The thing about winning the Champions League is that it is the Champions League. It is open to teams from every association in Europe, albeit on an uneven basis and slanted firmly in favour of teams from the big leagues.

Realistically, how much value would there be in winning an invite-only, closed shop league of 12, no matter how big the names are?

The likelihood is that in such a competition, even with 12 massive clubs, two or three of them would come to dominate in the longer term, with the rest becoming also-rans, like the BPL on steroids.

I would argue that in the longer term, a meritocratic Champions League minus those so-called "big clubs" would be a more attractive, more valued competition than a breakaway league of 12. Eventually, I could see them clamouring to get back in.

Whether they would like to admit it or not, the "big 12" need the rest of us. They need us to give the Champions League any value. Without the rest of us, they don't have even a semblance of competition. They need the supporters of the rest of us to generate the TV deals. They need the involvement of the rest of us to make their meetings the big deal that they used to be, but no longer are.

The big clubs are like a child who wants his favourite meal every day. After a week or two, it's not so good any more. It has become boring.

Barcelona v Chelsea needs to be a fixture that happens rarely, otherwise it becomes run of the mill. The "big clubs" don't need more games against each other, they need less.

What needs to happen in the Champions League is that it should only be open to Champions and it should be unseeded in every round.

Big clubs want more games against each other? Why not in the group stages then? The best team will still win.

The idea that a tournament is rigged to ensure bigger clubs always win is an affront to sport. It shouldn't be the bigger clubs threatening to break away if the rules aren't changed to suit them even more, it should be the rest of us threatening to pull out if a level playing field is not restored to the competition.

We're expected to provide the cannon fodder to enable the "big clubs" to automatically enter and safely negotiate the group stages while pocketing millions of pounds every single year. Our role is to be ritually slaughtered before the last 8, before the "big clubs" get down to the serious  business of playing each other at the business end of the competition. If we ever do by some fluke beat one of those "big clubs" at any stage of the competition, it's guaranteed another one will stand in our way after that. And another after that too.

As long as we compete in this corrupt "competition" we validate it.

Every association outside the cash-laden "elite" should withdraw from UEFA competition until it is restored to a format that gives their teams a sporting chance to win it.

Celtic in Europe

The day I was born, Celtic played the newly crowned World Club Champions Feyenoord at Hampden Park, a Bobby Lennox goal being enough to give the Celts a 1-1 draw. It was a friendly match arranged to give us a taste of Dutch opposition ahead of the upcoming European Cup quarter-final tie with Ajax, who would knock us out and go on to win the first of three European Cups in a row.

By the time I was old enough to be aware I was a Celtic supporter, all I knew was that Jimmy Johnstone was the best player there ever was, even if I had never seen him play. Every Sunday afternoon would be spent at my granny's house and after Glen Michael's Cartoon Cavalcade it would be time for Scotsport and my dad, my granda and my uncles would settle down to watch what was at the time, comparable in quality to Match of the Day in terms of coverage and analysis of Scottish football.

Arthur Montford and Ian Archer were the expert voices on the programme and all I can remember from those days back in the early 70's is that we supported Celtic, who played in green and white hoops and we always won.

The first Celtic match I have anything more than vague memories of was the 1977 Scottish Cup Final against the now-defunct Rangers, a 1-0 win via an Andy Lynch strike from the penalty spot. I was 6 years old and one of the memories that really sticks out is of the slow motion replay as the ball bounces on to Derek Johnstone's hand and Billy McNeill, co-commentating that day, saying emphatically, "Most definitely a penalty!" I don't think he was ever asked back.

Watching that match, I'd no idea how things were about to change, just as I was becoming old enough to know what was going on. By the time the 1977-78 season kicked off, our hero, Kenny Dalglish, had left for Liverpool. Within weeks, Danny McGrain and Pat Stanton were out with what turned out to be a career-ending injury for the latter and an 18 month lay off for the former.

That season very quickly went to pot and so the first season of my proper Celtic-supporting life was a heartbreaker for a 6 year old. I remember bawling my eyes out when the result came through on Final Score that we'd lost away to Ayr United and things didn't get any better from there.

So here I was, too young to have known the Lisbon Lions, too young to really remember Kenny Dalglish in a Celtic shirt, and shouting on stellar names such as Frank Munro and Joe Filippi. Rangers went on to win the treble that season.

We finished fifth in the league, failing to qualify for Europe for the first time since the early 60's and at the end of the season Jock Stein, a revered figure in my house, was replaced by Billy McNeill.

Things seemed to turn around very quickly, although looking back the 1978-79 season was fraught at times, but it ended with that incredible 4-2 victory over the Forces of Darkness in May, following a very long winter break due to the worst winter in years.

My formative years as a Celtic supporter then coincided with the Billy McNeill/Davie Hay era and our main rivals were not Rangers, but Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen, as Rangers went into a tailspin they would not recover from until the Souness years. I remember asking my dad some time around 1985 if he thought Rangers would ever have a decent team again?

We never finished out of the top two from 1979-88, and despite the much-vaunted Aberdeen side of that era being a genuine European force, we outdid them 4 titles to 3 in the Ferguson years, Dundee United winning the other.

The one disappointment of those years for me was that we failed to make any impact at all in Europe. We came so close to reaching the European Cup semi-final in 1980, taking a 2-0 lead to the Bernabeau, only to lose 3-0. It was a game we really could have taken something from and I remember my dad telling me not to be too down about it because, "they're a young team and can get a lot better."

Unfotunately, that was as good as it got, with defensive lapses and tactical naivety costing us time after time, despite hugely impressive two-legged wins over Ajax in 1982 and Sporting Lisbon in 1983. These were followed by disappointing exits to Real Sociedad and Nottingham Forest.

We were knocked out of Europe in 1981 by Politehnica Timisoara, but in general, the teams who beat us were very decent, like Juventus, the despicable Rapid Vienna, and Dynamo Kiev. The teams who put us out generally went on to the latter stages, but the fact remained, every half-decent side we came up against would beat us, usually because of tactical ineptitude and defensive frailty. Sound familiar?

One of my favourite TV programmes back in the late 70's/early 80's was BBC1's Sportsnight.

 

In the days before satellite TV, this was just about the only place to watch the big midweek football matches as well as world championship boxing and athletics. I absolutely loved the theme tune, which had a similar effect on me as the Champions League theme does now. You knew when you heard that tune there was an exciting couple of hours of sport ahead.

It was my dearest wish to see a Celtic match on Sportsnight, because that would mean we were in Europe at the business end of the tournament. It was a wish that was never to be fulfilled.

By the time we beat Celta Vigo in 2002, our first ever away goals win in Europe (that's how tactically useless we always were), I was 31 years old and it was only the second time I could remember us being in Europe after Christmas. In my lifetime, it was just the 6th time. From 1971-2003, we managed to play European football after Christmas on average once every five years. From 1975-2003, it was on average once every 14 years.

If you are a Celtic supporter under the age of 30 today, it must be difficult to appreciate just how poor our European record really is. We've been totally spoiled by how we have performed in the 21st Century, with a European final in 2003, a quarter final in 2004 and some respectable showings in the Champions League and last 16 qualification since 2006.

Which brings me at last to the point and the current maelstrom of anger surrounding Ronny Deila and our failure to make much impression in Europe these past two seasons.

For the first time I can remember, a Celtic manager, and a successful one at that, is facing calls for his head not because of domestic failure, but for one disappointing season in Europe.

Let's not forget that Ronny Deila took us past the group stages just10 months ago. We lost to Inter Milan after one of the most exciting European nights ever seen at Celtic Park and if Virgil van Dijk hadn't been sent off in Italy, who knows what might have happened? Even playing with ten men it took a late goal to settle it for Inter.

When I was writing the Raily Decord earlier this season, I jokingly prefixed every reference to Ronny Deila with, "the under-fire Celtic manager." Not for a moment did I think he would be under any kind of pressure. He'd just won a league and cup double in his first season, as well as taking us to the EL last 16, and came within an honest mistake of a shot at the treble, something only two Celtic managers have ever achieved.

Yet here we are. If success in Europe was a prerequisite to keeping your job as a Celtic manager, we'd have been like Atletico Madrid under Jesus Gil.

It is absolutely ridiculous that Celtic fans are calling for Deila's sacking. Success in Europe is not something that Celtic have any right to expect as a matter of course.

We play in a European backwater and every other Scottish team gets routinely bounced out before the pre-season friendlies are over. It is thirty years or more since we produced decent international standard players that could hold down a regular start in the top division in England (when I was growing up it seem like the star player at nearly every English club was a Scot).

The football we play in Scotland is of a poor standard and that's not something Celtic alone can deal with. Over the last decade and a half we have punched way above our weight in Europe and we should enjoy every success that comes our way in that arena and count our blessings to be living through what is our second best era in European football.

1964-74 was our golden era in European football, bookended by semi-final appearances in the Cup Winners' Cup v MTK Budapest and the infamous European Cup semi-final v Atletico Madrid.

Following that, we had a generation in the wilderness. A quarter century of disappointment and heartbreak.

Seville apart, we've never come close to emulating that decade under McGrory and Stein. The 21st Century has seen us reach the Champions League last 16 a few times, but that's still not as far in the competition as the quarter-final reached in 1980 (albeit it's much harder to get there now).

The 21st Century hasn't been so much a Golden Age as a Bronze Age for Celtic in Europe. But it has still spoiled us, deluding us into thinking we could be "a force" in Europe. We have not been anywhere near a force in Europe since the early 1970's.

The club embarked on a strategy when we employed Ronny Deila. We've given up trying to spend millions on reaching the Last 16 in Europe. And believe me, as long as we play our football in Scotland, that's just about as good as we can expect it to get.

The strategy we embarked on is a long term one. We're in season 2 of that strategy and so far, it hasn't been that bad, no matter the perception you'll get from reading the Daily Record or listening to Superscoreboard.

Deila's plan will take time to come to fruition. We should give him that time because judging him by his European record (one decent season, one disappointing season) would be ludicrous.

We play in Scotland and winning in Scotland is all any Celtic manager should be judged on. Sacking Deila now in hopes of succeeding in Europe really would be like setting off in search of that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Celtic's Socialist Roots

 

 

Another Celtic AGM, another social media storm over the Celtic board. This year Lord Livingston of Parkhead and Ian Bankier are the focus of fans' anger, with many calling for Livingston to be removed from office for his support of Conservative policies, including the cutting of tax credits.

I always thought that Celtic began life as a Catholic, charitable organisation rather than a political one, but sensational new evidence has come to light which has caused me to re-evaluate my understanding of the nature of the club's foundation.

While undertaking research into the foundation of the club, I have uncovered stunning, hitherto forgotten documentation, that will throw new light on the club’s roots and turn the accepted narrative of what Celtic is all about on its head.

In the parish archives of St. Mary’s in the Carlton, I discovered minutes of the early meetings of the committee set up to form The Celtic Football and Athletic Club, excerpts from which I share below.

 

The first is of a meeting that took place in St Mary’s in March 1887, attended by Brother Walfrid, Brother Dorotheus, Dr John Conway, John Glass and Pat Welsh. This was one month after Hibernians' famous Scottish Cup Final triumph that inspired the Glasgow Irish to form a club of their own.

 

Resolution 1 reads as follows:

“That a football team will be formed to promote the redistribution of wealth and the attainment of class consciousness amongst the proletariat of Glasgow’s East End.”

This resolution was passed unanimously and it was agreed that Mr Glass would, through his contacts in the international socialist movement, approach Mr Friedrich Engels, late of London, with a view to assisting in the education of club members and the provision of educational materials.

Resolution 2 stated:

“That in order to facilitate the success of the new football club, it will be necessary to affect the appearance of a charitable, Catholic organisation, the proletariat of our parishes having not as yet attained the class consciousness necessary to abandon their deep-seated Catholic faith.”

Brothers Walfrid and Dorotheus are instructed to approach the filthy bourgeoisie, so-called "Archbishop" Eyre of Glasgow, to enlist his assistance in getting the venture up and running. Brother Walfrid noted that having Eyre as a Patron of the club would ensure the support of the Catholic clergy, who have for so long enabled the exploitation of the Proletariat in the interests of the Bourgeoisie pigs, and for their own nefarious ends.

Mr Welsh suggested that the Maley brothers of Cathcart, sons of a former British Army sergeant of his acquaintance, could provide useful cover in this regard. It was agreed he would approach both with a view to joining the new club.

Resolution 3:

“That the new football club supports, and will be actively engaged in agitating for, Home Rule for both Scotland and Ireland, this being the most effective way of achieving a socialist republic in both countries.”

This was the occasion of heated discussion, as Mr Welsh insisted that there should be no compromise with, or involvement in, the British political system and that a socialist republic could only come about as the result of revolution. Although Brother Dorotheus supported Welsh’s view, Dr Conway, along with Mr Glass and Brother Walfrid prevailed upon them the necessity of first attaining class consciousness before the revolution would be possible. “Cooler heads,” Dr Conway insisted, “will be necessary in this endeavour.”

Brother Walfrid insisted that infiltration of the parliamentary system and its destruction from within was the best course of action at this time.

Mr Welsh dissented, proclaiming vehemently that, “Man will not be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest!”

 

Resolution 4:

“That the new football club stands foursquare against any attempt by the international Zionist movement to establish a homeland for the Jewish people in Ottoman Palestine.”

This resolution again passed unanimously, all agreeing that the international Zionist banking system was the enemy of the Proletariat and that the rights of the native Muslim population of Palestine, who had occupied the land since pre-biblical times, should be protected against any and all reactionary imperialist forces.

While immigration is ordinarily desirable as a means of undermining nationalist feeling and promoting fraternity among the global Proletariat, this must not on any account be allowed in the Levant, where a Palestinian state must be established. The international Zionist movement must be opposed at every turn.

 

Resolution 5:

“That the new football club both supports and agitates for the redefinition of marriage to include same-sex couples.”

Dr Conway noted that marriage is the foundation of the family, which is the basis of the patriarchal system through which the Bourgeoisie exploits the Proletariat, by providing an enslaved class of women to look after the homes of men who are unbeknownst to them exploited in their turn by their Bourgeoisie employers.

Mr Glass proposed that by undermining the traditional family unit, the foundation of the entire bourgeoisie system could be undermined.

This resolution was not passed however, as Brothers Walfrid and Dorotheus, supported by Mr Welsh, felt that while it was a worthy aim, it was not yet an idea the Proletariat were ready to accept. Indeed, open campaigning on this issue could alienate a large portion of the priest-ridden, superstitious, lumpen Proletariat on whose support the new club would depend. Their counter-proposal, that the new football club support the idea of same-sex marriage but await the attainment of class consciousness before actively promoting said idea, was unanimously accepted.




The next meeting of the committee for the establishment of a football club will be held in St Mary's, Carlton on 1st April 1887. Agenda to include discussion of possible names for the new club (Dr Conway has expressed a preference for "The Carlton Comrades Football and Athletic Club"), and a campaign to raise awareness of the struggles of the proletariat of the island of Cuba under the imperialist yolk of Spanish oppression.


It was agreed to defer approaching footballers to join the new club at the present time, due to the difficulties in ascertaining the political beliefs of the leading players of Glasgow and its suburbs, and as the vexed question of whether or not non-socialists, bourgeoisie exploiters of the proletariat, Zionists or Kerrymen can play, has yet to be decided upon.

 

Meeting adjourned at 10.05pm, with a rendition of “The Red Flag” and a toast to the memory of Mr Karl Marx.

 

I have shown this evidence to Celtic historians, who have dismissed the minutes as an obvious 21^st Century hoax, but I can't help feeling that they certainly do ring true.

The Catholic and charitable nature of the new Celtic Football and Athletic Club formed in 1887 was clearly a socialist front, designed to win support for the new political venture from the immigrant Catholic Irish of Glasgow’s East End.

When next you hear that Celtic is not a political organisation, or that it should not be used as a vehicle to promote political ideas, remember that there is no doubt the founders of our club would have been against the cutting of tax credits and therefore Tories have no place in our great club.

We are a club open to all (except bigots, imperialists, racists, Unionists, homophobes, Islamophobes, Zionists and fascists), the definitions of which will be decided by The Right-on Leftist Coalition of Celtic Supporters Clubs for the Liberation of Occupied Palestine.

Tory scum out!

 

Rangers Must Accept the Consequences of Rule Breaking

If you were asked to name 10 Michael Douglas films it's unlikely you would mention 1983's The Star Chamber.

It's about a group of judges who are fed up of having to acquit obviously guilty people on technicalities, so they get together to hear the cases in extra-legal 'trials' where they go over the evidence together and then hire assassins to kill them. Justice is served. Or so they think.

Douglas plays a judge who hears the case of two men who are accused of raping and killing a 10 year old boy.

They were discovered when two police officers who suspected them of being drug dealers ran their license plates through the police computer and discovered a number of violations and pull them over for expired paperwork.

On pulling the van over, the officers discovered a bloody shoe. From there their investigation leads to the murdered boy and it looks like an open and shut case.

The only problem was, the paperwork was not expired. It had been delivered on time but there was a delay processing it. This meant that the officers had had no right to pull them over so any evidence subsequently discovered could not be presented to prosecute them and they walked free.

Douglas' character takes the case to the Star Chamber where they are found guilty and a hit man despatched to kill them.

Then the detective in charge of the case visits Douglas and shows him conclusive proof that the two men were actually innocent of the crime they were accused of (they are scumbags but they didn't rape and kill the boy).

Douglas then tries to stop the hit, almost getting himself killed in the process before being saved by the detective at the last moment.

The film ends with Douglas and the detective bugging the latest meeting of the Star Chamber.

I suppose the moral of the story is that rules are in place for a reason and they must be adhered to, even when we don't like the outcome.

Which brings us to the question of title stripping.

But first of all, let's look at the doping scandal rocking the athletics world right now.

It seems the Russian athletics federation has been systematically doping its athletes for years and there are mounting calls for Russia to be expelled from the IAAF, or at least banned from next year's Olympic Games in Rio.

No one is considering for a moment whether Russian athletes would have won medals without doping programmes anyway. They have been breaking the rules for years and it doesn't matter whether it helped them win anything or not. The fact of their rule breaking is all that matters.

In Scotland on the other hand, we're being told by Rangers' defenders in the media that even if they hadn't been cheating via making illegal payments to players for over a decade, they might still have won anyway.

They're telling us that as Celtic still won titles in the EBT era that Rangers couldn't have gained any sporting advantage.

On Radio Clyde last night one of the panel actually said that if Rangers had gained a sporting advantage they would have won every title in the EBT era. That's the mentality we're dealing with.

They're telling us that even without paying players via illegal EBT's, the players might still have signed anyway.

They're telling us it was still 11v11 on the park and Rangers still had to go out and win matches, which they did so 'fairly and squarely."

Don't engage with this kind of talk because it is a huge red herring.

Rangers broke the rules of all competitions they entered in the EBT era by making illegal payments to players which were not declared in their SFA registrations as required.

They did not abide by the rules, therefore their wins are voided. It's a simple as that.

They were not playing to the same rules as every other team and as a consequence were able to pay players far more than would otherwise have been the case.

Nowhere else in the world can you cheat and expect to keep your ill-gotten gains unless someone can prove you wouldn't have won anyway.

No one said Ben Johnson still had to go out and win the 100m in Seoul.

No one said Lance Armstrong still had to go out and win his 6 Tour de France titles.

They took performance enhancing drugs so therefore forfeited their titles.

Legia Warsaw made much of the fact that the suspended player they put on against Celtic had zero effect on the outcome of the tie. They were right too, it did have no effect.

But that cut no ice with either UEFA or the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The player was suspended and the rules were clear - the match must be forfeited 0-3.

Rangers fielded players who were paid illegally, the full details of which were not registered with the SFA, therefore they were not registered properly.

There should be no question of those titles being allowed to remain on Rangers' historical record.

It's irrelevant that they might have won anyway, or that they still had to go out and win it on the park.

Rules is rules. They broke the rules and must accept the consequences.

Mr Regan, tear down these tainted titles!

AS the Court of Session in Edinburgh has ruled that the now-deceased Rangers' use of EBT's to pay their players was in fact illegal, the issue of title stripping has come to the fore again.

Predictably, the SMSM have quickly gone into overdrive in an effort to quash all talk of sporting sanctions but there is a growing groundswell for action to be taken which will not be ignored.

There are two questions to be resolved at the moment, when in any sane sporting jurisdiction, there would be only one. Namely:

1) Should titles and trophies won by Rangers in the EBT era be expunged from the historical record?

2) Should titles and trophies removed from Rangers' record be re-allocated to the clubs who finished in second place?




Firstly, the infamous LNS inquiry is the reason that thus far Rangers has been allowed to retain those trophies and titles. It is high time this was revisited, as even without the ruling in favour of HMRC it was a shameful carve-up (not to mention a contradictory mess) designed to reach a pre-determined conclusion.

When you wade through the legalese designed to bamboozle the ordinary fan, LNS failed to strip titles from Rangers for two reasons:

1) It proceeded on the assumption that Rangers' EBT use was legal, therefore the payments were not irregular

2) Defying all precedent, the SFA in the person of Sandy Bryson testified that player registrations are not automatically invalid due to rule breaches.

To take the first point, LNS actually found Rangers guilty of failing to provide details of all payments made to players, in contravention of the registration rules. Not only did they fail to provide these details, they were also deliberately withheld from both the footballing authorities and HMRC.

But in spite of not disclosing all payments to players in contravention of the registration rules, LNS amazingly decided that that was actually okay, because they would have been allowed to make those payments anyway. They broke the rules, but they didn't, if you like...

Furthermore, Rangers had not gained any sporting advantage by their making of irregular payments to players because, them being perfectly legal and above board, all the other clubs could have been utilising EBT's as well. We now know that this is emphatically not the case.


Then we have the quite incredible intervention of Sandy Bryson, which after all this time still beggars belief.

While previously Spartans were expelled from the Scottish Cup for fielding a player whose registration form had not been dated twice as required by the rules, Bryson testified that while Rangers had not properly registered their players, their registrations were not invalid because, well, no one noticed at the time so they were therefore valid!

The Court of Session has now ruled the use of EBT's is illegal. We now know that Rangers, from 2001 - 2011 were making illegal payments to players and this bald fact should blow the LNS Inquiry out of the water.

So what should be done now? Should the titles be stripped? On the face of it, of course they should! In any other sport, and in any other footballing jurisdiction, there would be absolutely no question of Rangers being allowed to retain the ill-gotten gains on its historical record.

But this is Scotland. This is the SFA. This is, well, Rangers. And Rangers is special. I propose now to outline the various arguments against title stripping and address those individually.



1) Rangers won those titles fairly and squarely on the park.

On the face of it, this is true (no laughing at the back there!). It was 11v11 on the pitch and they did win all those matches by their own effort and determination.

But this is a specious argument. It actually does not matter that they were won fairly and squarely on the park. There are rules which are binding on all clubs and you cannot pick and choose which ones to abide by and which to ignore.

When Celtic lost 1-6 on aggregate to Legia Warsaw in 2014, they won fairly and squarely on the pitch. They were by far the better team over the two legs. But they still fielded an ineligible player. A player who was suspended for the match.

It mattered not a jot that the player concerned was only on the pitch for a few minutes when the tie was well won, he should not have been on the pitch at all. In fact, he should not have been named as a substitute either and that alone was enough for Legia to forfeit the match 0-3.

Rules have to be stuck to. The moment you start to ignore rules, the game descends into chaos. We may as well make them up as we go along (like Sandy Bryson!).

So sorry Rangers, you didn't abide by the rules of the competitions you won in the EBT years, so all that effort and determination on the park is irrelevant. You fielded ineligible players. Players ineligible by the fact you were paying them via illegal tax avoidance schemes. Entire XI's should not have been on the park.

2) It wasn't the players' fault; they shouldn't be punished

Of course it wasn't the players' fault, and it's not them that should be punished. I see no reason to "take their medals off them." Let them keep them. They might even have a higher monetary value after the titles are stripped.

It is the club which benefited from industrial cheating that has to be punished. The historical record shows that Rangers won those titles and trophies. Not Stefan Klos or Barry Ferguson. Rangers engaged in financial doping to win those titles and Rangers should be punished by having those titles and trophies erased from their record. If the players don't like that, then too bad. They were playing for a club which was cheating, and on an unprecedented scale. They can take that up with the club. If it can be contacted beyond the grave...

3) There's no proof the players wouldn't have signed for Rangers if they weren't using EBT's

No there isn't. But that misses the point. They were using EBT's, which were illegal payments. If they would have signed anyway, why bother engaging in a risky tax avoidance scheme in the first place?

Let's get one thing straight here, Rangers did not save any money by using EBT's. EBT's ensured that the players took home more than they would have if paid regularly.

If Celtic offered a player £20,000 a week, they would take home about £12,000 -£13,000 a week after tax.

If Rangers offered that same player £20,000 a week via EBT, they would take home about £17,000-£18,000 a week after tax.

If you were a footballer with no connection to Scottish football, which package would you find the most attractive?

Apart from the Rangers die-hards like Alex Rae, it is ludicrous to suggest that players would not have gone elsewhere if not for EBT's. They allowed Rangers to give players a significantly bigger wage packet than similarly placed clubs. Like Celtic.


4) It would be far too messy to strip titles.

If it was discovered that your place of work was riddled with asbestos, it would be really messy to fix it. You might have to relocate for a spell while the work is carried out, but there would be no question of saying, "Ach, let's just leave it there, it'd be far too much bother to get rid of it."

Similarly, triple heart bypass operations are very messy, but that's no reason not to do them.

Rangers' use of EBT's, illegal payments to players, threatens the integrity of Scottish football. If we accept you can cheat and keep the titles and trophies, where is the moral hazard to prevent cheating in future?

Yes it might well get messy. But that's no reason not to clean the Augean Stables of Scottish football.

5) There's not proof Rangers would not have won if they hadn't been using EBT's

No there isn't. But that misses the point. They were being paid by EBT's, which were illegal payments. There's no proof Lance Armstrong wouldn't have won six Tours de France even if he hadn't been using performance enhancing drugs, but he was using performance enhancing drugs which is against the rules.

We'll never know if Rangers would have won without EBT's, but that is Rangers' fault. They put that question mark over their own achievements by making illegal payments to players. If you cheat, you forfeit your winnings. Simple.



If I've missed any anti-stripping arguments, please let me know and I'll address them too.



So on to what should happen to the stripped titles - voided or reallocated?

My view is that they should be voided.

Fans of clubs like Queen of the South, Ayr United and Dundee were denied days in the sun at Hampden due to coming up against a financially-doped Rangers in Scottish and League Cup Finals. Those were once in a lifetime opportunities for some of those clubs, and those dreams were dashed by a club indulging in an unprecedented level of cheating.

But it's too late now to add those honours to the historical record of those unfortunate clubs. What enjoyment would the fans derive from it now? They'll see no lap of honour at Hampden. No open-top bus drive through the town. Their fans will have no stories to tell their grandchildren. That has all been denied them.

Similarly for Celtic, the club who lost out most often (SEVEN league titles). Celtic fans will never see the league trophy presented on the final day of the season. They'll never wait in anticipation for the Champions League draw. They'll never see the league flag unfurled on the opening day of the season. That has all been denied them.

Think of the historian of Scottish football a hundred years from now. He or she could look on the record and see that Celtic won 18 titles in a row between 1998 and 2015. He or she could see cups won by Queen of the South, Ayr United and Dundee.

But that would tell only half the story. Rangers' EBT payments; their cheating, will have been forgotten about. It would look to our future historian that there was nothing out of the ordinary going on in those seasons.

Voiding those titles, leaving them vacant for the historical record, would be a fitting way of remembering that the EBT years happened. A permanent reminder that Rangers Football Club cheated on a massive scale for over a decade in the pursuit of glory.

A permanent reminder that Scottish football itself was ruined by Rangers as Sir David Murray battled desperately to keep up with Celtic and destroyed the club in the process.

A permanent reminder that Scottish football does not tolerate cheating.

Those titles and trophy wins are tainted. Rangers certainly shouldn't be allowed to keep them, and really, who would want them now?