FITBA’S BACK!!!
Oh,thank The Good Lord,the fitba’s back. Or is it?
Today sees Celtic kick off their campaign for a first-ever hat-trick of Scottish Cup triumphs,and that is a strange thing to think of,bearing in mind that we have won the bloody thing a record 36 times. Of course,we appeared in the final on ten occasions out of eleven between 1965 and 1975,and only daylight robbery by Bobby Davidson in 1970 stopped us doing four in a row.
(I really must get in touch wi JIMBO67 to give us his thoughts on that one,scarred him for life I reckon!)
Yet it remains the case that since Celtic were founded,only Aberdeen and a now-defunct club have won three cups in succession. The Lisbon Lions and their immediate successors couldn’t do it,nor could our record-breaking team of the first decade of the 20th Century. The latter may well have done so,but the cup was withheld in 1909 due to a riot between opposing fans.
So,with 53,000 season ticket holders and a worldwide diaspora,everyone will be champing at the bit to see our heroes going for glory,a glory which could help us towards another first-a Rebel Rebel Treble Treble.
Maybe not. As is so often the case,events dear boy. Our game today actually takes place tonight,kicking off at 1715,a time when most of us who have been at the game are usually halfway through our second pint and our third argument about the merits or otherwise of the performance we just watched. It will finish around 7pm,which pretty much wrecks any chance of a pleasant evening with the other half. And I think that will be one of the reasons why this game is unlikely to achieve an attendance into five figures.
That and it being against Airdrie. And of course,it is live on the telly.
Which brings me to another point. Not only has the SFA sold rights for live coverage on a Saturday and Sunday lunchtime,not only have they sold the rights for a Friday night and a Saturday evening,they’ve sold them to a tuppenny-hapenny outfit that no-one has heard of. Most,admittedly,are on BBC but guess what? Not ours.
Probably the most attractive league for the discerning football fan over the last decade or so has been La Liga;Spanish football has consistently been of a high standard,with the finest footballers of this or many generations on display. Sky had the rights for years and had to pay through the nose three years ago to prevent BT Sport from stealing their prized possession. This time round,the decision was taken to award the rights to Eleven Sports,another company of dubious origin and seemingly without a game plan on how to market the product,or even how to get people to pay for the privilege.
El Classico used to pack the pubs out of an evening. How many people do you know who saw the last one? It used to be a major point of discussion the following day,this time round we couldn’t find anyone who could even tell us the score.
Tonight’s match is live on Premier Sports. I have no idea whether that is available on an ordinary tv or whether it is streaming only. I do know that it is a premium cost,another cost to add to the price of a season ticket,a subscription to Sky Sports and BT Sports. As well as one-off ticket costs for cup matches.
Football is a consumer-driven product. The idea is to appeal to the loyalty of the fans who will buy season tickets and turn up on the day to hit the superstores and snack bars. On top of that,there is the armchair fan,paying in excess of £1000 a year to watch the best games in the best competitions.
I suggest that tonight is testing the loyalty of the most committed fan,and I predict a crowd of around 8,000. 7pm finish on a freezing Saturday night in January? Aye,great planning. If the stats prove me wrong,I’ll freeze frame it and count them if necessary!
And I’ll be absolutely astonished if even that paltry number coughs up to Premier Sports to watch it in the comfort of their home.
The greed of the clubs and the SFA has backfired here. They have provided a product which too few are interested in,and on a platform which too few are even aware of. Sunday won’t see people in the pub trying to find out details of El Classico,it will see them trying to find out the Celtic result. In the SFA’s flagship trophy which they themselves have torpedoed.
Utter madness.
*
Above article welcomes back the moniker BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS. You can have a rant here for free by mailing Mahe on
sentinelcelts@gmail.com
Welcome back BMCUWP ! Been a while since I typed that .
BMCUWP ! That’s more like it! Welcome back.
BMCCUP
Premier (Setanta) Sports only available through Sky at £9.99 @ month unless take first month free then cancel, although I heard cancelling is pretty difficult 🙂 got a feeling the crowd might not be as bad as you think tonight Airdrie/Clydebank (that’s for JVR) who normally have circa 400 at home games have sold over 1000 tickets so am sure a few Sevs will be joining the section B boys later today… plus am sure the bhoys & Ghirls on the home ticket scheme will be in attendance to see one or maybe two of our loanees, work calling good that the Tic are back today
Hail Hail
HI BMCUW, as jim said welcome back, also as Gerry said think the crowd will be more than you think, but I suppose it depends on the weather, by the way its bliddy freezing here in deepest Cheshire.hh.
Morning BP, very cold up here too ! I’m hoping for a sizable win this evening to warm us up.
morning jim, very cold down here as well, yes ill even take a scrappy 1-0,.hope you are well.hh.
Morning,all.
That moniker isn’t as easy to use as I thought,too long for the registration on here! I’ll sort it later…
Must say that I’m not surprised at Sevco conspiring to get the game called off. I recall them doing that in the 70s.
I’m pretty sure it backfired on them though-the replayed match went ahead on 21-5-79
Good stuff M, have to say though, I think sat evening is a great time for a game, it’s a Saturday and only a couple of hours after the traditional time, much better that a Sunday in every way possible, plenty of other leagues have a sat evening slot, I am all for it.
Agree with you about Premier Sports, someone from the sfa will have been persuaded with the aid of a brown envelope to give them the gig, makes no difference to me right enough, a stream will let me see the game for free.
TET
Think teatime is far better then lunchtime kickoffs, quite chilly in the old G4 post code this morning but at least it’s dry, hope Ollie & Tim get a chance to stretch their legs later
BMCUWP delighted your moniker is back 🙂
Gerry
I agree, esp a sunday lunch time KO, a joke, when the French top league changed their games to a sat evening their attendances shot up by 35%.
The line up will be interesting, whether it gives us a clue how the rest of the season will go is debatable, but we will see, Brendan hinted at a change in formation so.
I like Chris Sutton’s comments that although VAR is the way forward it will be compromised if it’s still the same SFA referees involved. It is the SFA that needs cleared out root and branch. There appears to be no appetite for this however amongst the clubs. Including Celtic shamefully. All part of the same brotherhood – read into that as you wish – jobs for the boys and protecting each other.
The people behind the screens with VAR should be foreigners. Just like referees in Euro competitions.
I have a mixed view of the career of Jose Maurinho – initialy it was jaundiced after our defeat in Seville – then awestruck by his seemingly effortless success wherever he went – disappointed in his handling of the club doctor situation at Chelsea, and perplexed by the goings on at Old Trafford.
However the latest ‘coded’ message from his recent press conference, confirms what I think about the rich-elite players in the EPL. If someone with his pedigree can be undermined by the likes of Pogba, it is indeed a sad day.
I believe Mesut Ozil had the same kind of disrespectful relationship with Wenger, at the end. There must be many more.
Tommy Docherty once said “how do you motivate millionaires”, today that has become multi-millionaires.
Football run by players and their agents is akin to the lunatics running the asylum. The top half of the EPL is now becoming abhorrent to me.
Almost like a midweek game today – nip in for a bite to eat, probably pasta to keep me warm, before heading to CP.
How about this for a team:
Bain
Ralston
Ajer
Sumunovic
Hayes
Forrest
McGregor
Biton
Burke
Eduard
Weah
Isn’t it wonderful a junior clubs ground is fit for purpose today?
Exiled, I think that you have been abroad too long and are thinking like a continental. They have a different body clock to us and eat later, socialise later etc etc. Now I will be at the game and as I am the worlds most boring person I will come home and it will nearly be time for my bed – and I won’t have had my tea!! Very disrespectful of Celtic not to take us boring buggers into consideration. Harrumph!!!
On a more serious not I agree with bmcuwp, it’s not a good time for fans who have families and other commitments. It’s also a shit decision from the sfa to sell the rights to another PPV channel. Football is fast becoming the preserve of the middle class and that is a disgrace.
I’d settle for that gold. Hallelujah we’ve agreed at last. It’s a sign I tell you. Get your money on 6-0, mon the hoops.
ATOB
Bliss – “a joy to behold”HH
GOLD
Anecdotal story of an EPL manager around 2000 with his half-time pep talk. His team are a goal down in a game they should be winning.
Manager-Come on,lads. We need a performance here,these are the games that pay the mortgage.
Player-What’s a mortgage,boss?
(When I was told this a good few years back,the manager and player were O’Leary and Viduka. Dunno if true)
Jimthetim53,,, when Hearts and the Dons said they would fund Var I automatically thought why would they do that and the answer to me anyway seems they think leveling the ref would give them a shot at second or at least third.
Both teams suffer at the hands of the Mibs ,, and both are trying to stop that .
I seen it as a very encouraging sign actually and it goes along with another theory of mine .
The bigotry /racism and protecting der hun wont end voluntarily but once suits and owners realise they are losing money due to this , and that the game if clean would attract more punters , so they are really losing money over this ,, the suits will start to pressure for a normal setup . Its great that its those two clubs also , big clubs independant of us that arent part of the unseen fenian hand .
The refs can hide behind the press and loyalty if we ever spoke out , when those two also have you under pressure its a diiferent matter . Nowhere to hide , except the Bellshill .
Im actually encouraged by the Var announcement , although it is open for abuse .
Up very early of course . Will watch game and looking forward to it ,, hope youre well pal . Hail Hail
Gold ,, I expressed some admiration for the man recently also . I liked the way he just waltzed in and shook things up and was top dog ,, embarrassing to the system at the time .
On United and the recent troubles its clear that some players werent giving their all , or ignoring instructions . When this happens its a disgrace as fans have paid great amounts to be there etc. Problem is you cant prove it. And then it can be hard to motivate players as pointed out .
How to combat this ,,, get an ultra professional core that wont tolerate or will actually call out those not giving everything ,,, and a manager that wont either . When the dressing room sees one or two thrown out for that and replaced with quality they will quickly learn . Problem with that though ,, the manager really needs to call the shots.
Didint realise you actually attend,, lucky . Hope its a great night ! Hail Hail
BMCUWP,,
and on the flip side of that coin this tale reached me .
The core of the class of 92 are standing on Carrington training ground the first day Cristiano comes in for training after being signed as a 17 year old .
He walks over to Scholes and Giggs , the cream of the crop .
Handshakes all round , Giggs ” So youre good I hear ! ”
Ronaldo ” yes and Im going to be the best player in the world ! ”
Giggs ” is that right ? Well can you do this ? ” and nods to Scholesy
Scholes picks a tree a good distance away and hits it first time. Ronaldo misses . Scholes hits it the second time , Ronaldo misses, Scholes hits it a third time in a row and Ronaldo misses again .
The UNited boys all laugh and walk away .
Cristiano grabs a couple bags of balls and spend the rest of the day in that spot .
Next day when they are all together again he hits ball after ball into that tree smiling and walks away .
Moral of the story ,,, practice makes perfect or the old Gary Player line ” the more I practice the luckier I get ! ”
. If Giggs or Scholes had his will to win the truly could have became one of the best ever .
Have a good weekend pal , say hi to yer da for me
Hail Hail
Gold,
I do not like Jose Mourinho, the man, but I have to defer to Mourinho, the manager. Although there has been evidence that his arrogance has interferred with his abilities, especially lately.
As you cite, the affair of the doctor and who is the boss……was the beginning of the end of his reputation as a canny organiser of people.
In his earlier days he used his arrogance to overcome the fact that he had little to no professional experience of playing the game.
He understood the nature of success……namely that it is fleeting. So, move on after you achieve it, and try to get it somewhere else. After Chelsea and MU his reputation is damaged, perhaps beyond repair. How many top clubs will think that the agro that he generates is an OK price to pay for the promise of success? Very few, I would suggest.Barcelona, Real Madrid will not touch him. Neither will Bayern and the doors will be closed at the top of the EPL. So that leaves France, Italy and the pocket books of PSG, Lyon, Milan. China beckons, I think!
Rebus
Gold,
I think your team has too many changes. I hope BR has learned that lesson.
I trust he will keep the same CBs….Benko and Boyata. It is too early for Bitton to start.
Rebus
Rebus,,I happen to think the game at the top end has gotten beyond him now. His skill set only took him soo far. At the top end nownow it’s all in together , arm around the shoulder , break with pace and numbers with players encouraged to try special things / a bit of magic.
This is all anti Jose who intiallly was friendly and detail oriented, but with the big moves to high pressure jobs came ,, he changed to negating the other team and taking a set piece goal with height overload and ruling through fear , which won’t cut it at the top end.
Doesn’t help when your players undermine you but then he never even moved out of a hotel and really committed himself to the job he apparently wished for soo badly.
Half a million bill from that hotel can you believe.
I can’t believe they are gonna remake Das Boot !!! Leave something alone ffs. Best sub movie ever
Hope all is good partner. Hail Hail
Mahe, we can but live in hope! One thing I thought was encouraging this season, the fact that referees came in for scrutiny from Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs, Kilmarnock, The Rangers as well as Celtic. (Maybe Motherwell too?)
Even some of the pundits have been critical.
The talking shop may have been triggered by the Celtic statement but their is a growing groundswell of opinion against the standard of refereeing. It will be interesting to see if there is an improvement in the second half of the season. But I think they need rid of Fleming immediately and less reliance on referees from the Lanarkshire brotherhood in the near future.
A declaration of interest by officials is a must.
hi rebus, been told burke is starting at centre forward, don’t know if its true.hh
BigPacky ,, not sure whether to be worried or not?
Ballsy. Hail Hail
These fellas had a bad weekend
http://www.espn.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/25771518/how-wild-world-super-bowl-ticket-brokering-burn-regular-fans
HI MAHE, whatever team Brendan puts out, it should be enough to beat airdrie.hh.,
BigPacky,,I might be wrong but was it not a single goal , a big pierre header in 95 to beat Airdie in a cup final? Don’t count them chickens hey 🙂
Hail Hail
MAHE, yes I was there, thank feck for big pierre, okay you win, not counting,??hh,
JIMTHETIM53
I had to laugh at some BBC prick introducing today’s Ayrshire Derby as featuring Auchinleck “Tal-bow”
Aye,that hard as nails mining village gaun aw French on us,eh? Canny wait till they face Kilwinning Ron-jay in the league.
Lights look well. Not joking that is some light show.
Fiver on balance sheet to score the first !
We aren’t playing and have a pen saved , Sinks . We give Airdrie heart , they sit deep and hussle. Will run out of steam though. Ain’t winning this one.
3rd time lucky for Sinky. One zip. Ralston looks good.
If Sinclair had not scored, he would have been a liability in that first half. Missed penalty and a missed sitter from two yards…not good enough from an experienced player like him. Burke did nothing in the half except scaff a shot that the keeper pushed into Sinclair’s path. Ralston fantastic going forward but frequently caught out of position. If he can correct that issue, he will be a great FB.
Christie and McGregor are everywhere and they are the game changers.
Airdrie are stuffy, but we should have had more chances and should be better off than one goal.
Get Sinclair off and Weah on, move Burke to the left wing.
Rebus
I don’t think we are playing badly, it’s always hard when thay have everyone behind the ball, no matter what level you are at if you close down the space any attacking team will struggle.
I have noticed Burke making runs time and time again and we are not attempting to pass the ball forward to him, noticed we are back to the possession game.
Well REbus is your face red? Sinclair scored another and, incorrectly, had another ruled offside. Stick to your armchair and leave football to those that play it.
The possession play of Celtic in the first 10 minutes of the second half took the sting out of Airdrie, whose legs were beginning to go anyway.
Great pass from Boyata to set up the Weah goal.
Workmanlike performance by the team but a win is a win. Bain’s distribution is excellent.
Pity we did not see more of Bitton in the Scott Brown role.
Rebus
Rebus
Funny how we see the game differently.
My stream is at 85 mins, Weah just scored a cracker.
These are games that are a no win for us, I was listening to clyde earlier and Keevins reckoned that we should score at least 5-6 or it was a disaster, the twat also reckoned that the Man Cty result against Burton the other week, 9-0 was what we should be doing, he also reckoned that the gulf between us and Airdrie was the same as Cty and |Burton, I have never tried to get on to their show before we but I did tonight, didn’t manage, would have told him that the difference is we have the best players in scotland and they have the best in the world, a wee bit of a difference imo, but as long as they are putting us down they are happy.
REBUS67
As you know,I think we should win each individual game,a slight buggering about wi semantics which is different from thinking we should win every game!
I also think that every game is a potential banana skin,and today we avoided one. A number of other teams didn’t.
My family are on their way home from the game,and I suspect that they will be taking the positives. That Scott Sinclair refused to hide after his early shockers,Oliver Burke was full of running,Tony Ralston is coming to look the part,Nir Bitton is back and Tim Weah could be the best thing since sliced bread.
Actually,beats me how we only won by three!
Aye,fitba’s back…
Good to see you’ve remembered your proper monicker ??
M
Yip, could have posted that masel 😉
ATOB
If you look in afore going to bed, I hope you enjoyed the game.
What is the difference between a midweek KO and an early evening KO, I would have thot that you being boring and the like this would have suited you better, no 😉
My body clock is still on Irish time, our TV is Irish by choice, no that I watch it, but we still have an Irish card, shouldn’t have but we do, in saying that, it’s 9 o’clock and I would wager that the bars in the village are empty, come say 11 ish they will start to fill up, weans n all, out for a piza and everyone will be 100% welcome, sure is a different world right enough.
BMCUWP,
I admit I have gone off Sinclair since his first season. He shows too little heart for me. Today he had the poacher’s instinct and good on him for that.
Ralston was outstanding going forward but too often was caught out of position. Better teams will exploit that. However, it is something that can be coached out of him. It was a joy to see the contribution of both FBs today.
The jury is still out on Weah and Burke. I’d need to see more. Boyata’s pass for the Weah goal was excellent as was the latter’s run and touch.
I enjoyed the game and the result.
Rebus
Well, it was a comfortable win in the end, and but for their keeper and an unbelievably poor offside decision it would have been more. If I ever moved back to Scotland I would apply to the SFA to be an observer (assessor). Can’t imagine how the mib would react to my assessment of their performances.
Rebus67-agree regarding Sinclair,but he still shows for every ball and still knows where the goal is.
Thought it would have been easier for linesman to knock of Weah goal for offside than it was to flag up Sinclair ?
TET,
Do you find that you see the game differently, depending on whether you are watching live or in a replay? My appraisal is more accurate if I watch a replay. I guess the emotion of the live event clouds my judgement.
Inwonder if there is a snag on the Bayo deal? Surely, it was subject to the granting of a work permit.
On the CB issue, I do not see why we cannot buy one and loan him back to the selling club until season end.
Rebus
A few wee skirmishes after the game this evening, the Mrs showed me a twitter thing and surprise, surprise the polis were hell bend in charging on their horses towards the Celtic fans, while the huns in among the Airdrie scum we left alone to goad the Celtic support, good to see that police scotland haven’t changed their anti Celtic policy, not.
FAIRHILLBHOY,THEEXILEDTIM
Oh,I didn’t forget it. And it seemed a shame to retire it,but it’s unlikely to be seen again in its original home.
Now,if I can only find a way to register it in full here…
(The BMCUWP HOOTENANNY fleg is expected to make another appearance in Spain next month,a follow-up to its successful stint poolside a few years back!)
ok bhoys good result, we are in the next round, but don’t let us get carried away, that was airdrie at home, the lions would have beaten them 10-0, but then im an old romancisist is that a word, hh bhoys