He’s In The Sock Drawer!
Morning,all.
Strange times we live in,as I bid a fond farewell to friends and my local till probably next year. Many of you will have already been living under serious restrictions already,and there can be few worse than not being allowed to meet family members like grandchildren or even ageing parents.
My trip to London to meet my nephew on Saturday is clearly a non runner,and I’m not too confident of the first Christmas back home this century either. Time will tell,but this really is not a time to make plans.
So it was a bit of a surprise that Scott Arfield made plans for his 32nd birthday celebrations. Straight after their game on Sunday,he had a party to celebrate it. Festooned in red white and blue balloons it was-you’ll have seen the photos-and unfortunately a few balloons turned up.
Total contravention of local Covid regulations,of course. You could almost hear wee Nicola naming the firing squad,as of course there is previous on this,that the club that owns the players’ registration must be punished.
Thank goodness then that The Birthday Boy wasn’t there at the time. The police were called at around 230am and to be fair,it was no longer his birthday. He really had no reason to be there,did he? Why would he be? He’d opened the presents already anyway.
Turns out that a couple of fringe players were the only people there. And suitably punished by the club-by giving them the same punishment as anyone who might be in a Covid bubble,fourteen days,the same as Ryan Christie!
Now,I would have would have thought that the Scottish Govt would have gone ballistic,and maybe told the SFA/SPFL to sort it,otherwise THEY would. After all,strong words were said in Holyrood and severe sanctions applied to Celtic and Aberdeen previously.
But no-they commended the club for the strong internal disciplinary decisions. Yup,you read that correctly,I did not make it up.
Meantime there is little being asked about the elephant in the room. That Arfield seems to have only invited two of his colleagues-and fringe members at that-and nobody else was there from the club.
Including him.
Maybe it was a fancy dress do,a late Hallowe’en night and Mr Arfield was disguised as Cato from The Pink Panther.
Look out,he’s in the sock drawer!
Or alternatively,I smell shite.
Above article by BMCUWP
Hahaha pure brilliant Bobby .
Well said.
If the MSM can pull stunts like this on football matters, they can apply the technique to any situation.
Top drawer, who were at the shindig…
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/celtic/neil-lennon-slams-scottish-government-double-standards-covid-treatment-celtic-and-rangers-3025660
Well said Neil, but where’s Lawwell?
There’s no way, now that there’s been a cover up, that the full extent of the party will come to light. The Huns’ squad would need to isolate and they’d have to play maybe two games with youth/fringe players. Not happening.
Looking west, Trump has a formidable base support. Thank feck he’s 74, and unlikely to run again. Who will be the next demagogue? The far right conspiracists and flat earthers now run the GOP. Putin and Xi must be disappointed Biden has won.
He won’t be able to pass any legislation through the Senate, so will be forced to make “executive orders” Trump pushed through his agenda this way. He had the Supreme Court onside, Biden defo won’t.
I see the rednecks kicking off. It won’t be pretty.
Morning all & Packy.
Guy Fawkes day!
My father hated it, saw it as an anti-Catholic celebration. It was only at the demands & pleading of my mother that he set off the fireworks in our back garden. As kids we knew little about the history, nor cared. It was just about the spectacle.
It was only recently I heard of the distress it causes dogs. My sister had to give their dog stress relief medication. We had a dog when I was a kid and I don’t remember any big issues with it. But it was a mongrel and tough as nails!
So tonight I will just think it’s the local Tims celebrating our progress in Europe!
Packy’s busy today but he sent me this message earlier:
HI JIM, now this is not a tall tale.LOL. joan was bathing a dog yesterday morning when water suddenly started pouring out of one of the pipes underneath the bath ,now bear in mind this bath is a hydrobath and cost us a grand, and its only been in 3 weeks, I phoned the manufacturer in Nottingham told him what pipe it was, ok he says no problem will send you one up on the next carrier, you will probably get it Friday at the latest, bloody hell we have got dogs booked in every day until Saturday, look I said get the pipe ready ill come down to Nottingham and pick it up, I left at 12 yesterday got to Nottingham at 2-30, got the pipe then phoned steve our plumber to get to our house for 5, ready to put it on, blooming heck got stuck in traffic at stoke on trent, and did not get home till 6-15 ,poor steve was sitting twiddling his thumbs waiting, anyway joan made him endless cups of coffee while he waited, it only took him 15 minutes to put on, but wee joan was panicking, anyway job done and she can work today. The things I do for that woman.LOL.
Does Arfield’s hoose have a back door?
Easy to run oot when the Polis arrive at the front door of Devonshire Gardens.
I am still of the opinion that this is just gossip. There is no way that there has been a cover up over such a serious breach of Scottish Government policy and sevco have travelled to Portugal knowing others were at this party. Sorry I just don’t see how they think they can get away with it. I would also like to echo the comments of bada. Neil has been left to speak up on the club’s behalf whilst our over paid CEO says nothing. What do we pay this guy for?
BMCUWPS,
“Officers were called to disperse a group of at least ten party-goers at around 1.25am this morning (Monday, 2 November). As reported by the Daily Record, the party was taking place inside an “plush” property on Devonshire Terrace, just off the city’s Great Western Road. Police also gave those in attendance advice before splitting the group up.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Around 1.25am on Monday, 2 November, we received a report of a house party in Devonshire Terrace in Glasgow.”
Glasgow Live.
You’d think given the fine tradition of Scottish journalism that someone would have tracked down the owner of the property in Devonshire Terrace?
Maybe even have spoken to the complainant?
Does the owner/ tenent have any connection with Sevco? Is there any truth in the persistent allegation that other members of the Sevco squad were at the party? Did anyone see anything? Is there CCTV in the street? Pictures from cameras etc?
Has Arfield been asked where he was by the media…given the rumours online?
It’s good to see Neil Lennon question the apparent inconsistency of the approach by government.
Where’s Pedro?
Who in government made the statement? And why? Where’s the follow-up? Are we looking for clarity around the decision making in the Ryan Christie affair?
Maybe Pedro was at the party in Devonshire Terrace too?
Jimthetim 53,
Guy Fawkes…
About 25 years when I’d just got to Ireland, I naively said to my boss in Dublin, ” Do we not have fireworks on the 5th of November?”
She answered,
” We don’t celebrate murdering Catholics in Dublin.”
It was then that I began to realise the influence of British conditioning on my way of thinking.
The Celtic festival of Halloween is the night for fireworks here. They are actually banned but the place is ablaze with the awful things.
I think I’m on ATOB’s side on the West Side Story. If you’ve been at this ‘party ‘ and had taken a shot or two on your phone , you would get a few Bob for them from a newspaper, even if you had to send them South of the Border ( but not down Mexico way ). For that reason alone it would be more unlikely there are more than the accused involved.
Also, the ramifications should any other player have Covid 19 and actually playing could be huge for the player especially.
The thing that stinks is the Government statement commending ‘ The Club ‘, not Rangers Football Club for their reaction.
A big game tonight if you are interested in how we do as a club in Europe or a chance to rest a few if you are in the CGAF camp.
COYBIG.
The other (main) issue conveniently ignored during this drama is Sevco’s ongoing shenanigans with funding.
Last month Hong Kong Phooey money and more jiggery-pokery this week.
Just vague reporting in the media.
THEGOMBEENMAN
When you have a complicit media-or at least the sections of it that your customer base are encouraged to pay heed to-you can get away with as many lies,untruths,innuendo and denials as you like.
MAHE and I have always said,from Day One on here,that we won’t make rumours the subject of an article. That we need some verification beforehand. In that respect,it could be argued that today’s article breaches our code. But only inasmuch as the facts have not been made public.
Was it Scott Arfield’s birthday on Sunday? yes.
Was his flat bedecked in red white and blue balloons by a party company called House of Balloons? Well,they were so proud of their work that they posted photographs of it on their website.
Does the player live at the address in question? Check the electoral roll.
How likely is it that he wasn’t at his own party at two in the morning,and that only two fringe players from the entire squad were invited? Hmmmm,I cannot answer that one other than to refer you to the last line of the article.
When you are used to getting away with it,no lie is an insurmountable obstacle. And that is about the only truth you will learn from reading MSM accounts of the episode.
Every time we have a Euro game on the horizon I think, couldn’t give a flying £%”&! Then the first whistle goes and my nerves are shredded. Wtf is that all about?
Where’s the outrage about the Huns rule breaking? Did I miss it?
It’s ok, I know the answer.
Didn’t think it was possible to be more disgusted with our custodians …I was wrong!
A thing of beauty
I do agree that all the additional stuff could be nothing more than ‘gossip’. However ‘getting away with things’ and ignoring rules that everyone else has to adhere to is what the entity based at Ibrox has been doing for decades – be it the original or the replica.
Biggest sporting scandal in British history. Tax dodging etc etc. Yup – they certainly got away with that in so much that despite being liquidated they still exist!! – miracles do happen in Scotland, friends in high places, Gov and football association, and a ‘biased’ media.😷🙄
PS Should have included that they also have friends in high places at Celtic who deliberately and continually ignore the shenanigans
Ffs, when were the Huns not lying and cheating? I’d bet every penny I have, they have always been at it. Always!
I meant to put a link to this the other day.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/nov/03/life-during-wartime-how-west-belfast-became-the-frontline-of-the-troubles
BMCUWPS,
In fairness House of Balloons do an impressive job.
Maybe the Big Hoose was full of balloons after all?
https://m.facebook.com/H.O.B.GLASGOW/
Article headline in today’s Guardian.
“José Mourinho says rival players go to ground ‘when somebody blows on them’ ”
No further comment required,I reckon…
Bobby
Re the Article about Norn Iron. One wee paragraph that mentions Lord Melchett brought back memories of my time at secondary school. We had just sat our ‘O’ levels and the school had done exceptionally well with a high percentage of students attaining high grades, top percentile in Belfast if i recall correctly. Anywho the school organised an awarded ceremony where we would all receive our certificates BUT we were informed that Lord Melchett would be presenting our certificates to us. In response to learning this about a dozen or so of us went to the headmaster and told him that under no circumstances would we be taking anything from a Brit peer. He told us not to bother showing up as he didn’t want ‘our type’ spoiling the day for everyone else. This is the same head that refused to have Irish language classes at the school despite numerous requests from parents and students. Anyway as it transpires Melchett was a no show due to ‘security issues’. Not surprising really when half our 6th form ended up in Long Kesh and a couple were, supposedly, caught on arms ships from Libya! “St Patricks school for young insurgents”
Life during wartime indeed.
OGLACH
While the article didn’t tell US anything much that we didn’t know,I’m sure it opened a few eyes elsewhere. Well proud of you and your classmates.
My headmasters were arseholes too. All of them. Most of my teachers though were outstanding. Makes you wonder what happens to them on that career ladder.
Any updates on Balloongate yet?
Maybe the Scottish Government will nominate Arfield for the Ballon d’Or?
What paperwork needs to be completed for UEFA about the player/squad bubble, or should I say balloon?
Is the truth too much to ask for, especially when folk are limiting their lifestyles for the greater good?
How many votes do the SNP risk if this perception of racial/sectarian bias persists?
Any word from Celtic Plc about yesterday’s hatchet job?
Sweep, sweep.
I was happy to see the Scottish gov praise the huns for their handling of breaches of C19 protocol by their players. I think it will be handy to have in the bank for the future.We have already had two of our own players break the rules and I think we are treading on eggshells when you have loads of young single guys some not the brightest and expect them not to err in these tough times. Also because the club has not gone public on this matter it doesent mean they havent done so in private.
NANA
I’ve got dust on my skirting that’s got more balls than our board. If you believe they are talking behind the scenes,then it makes sense that we have been doing so for many years-as is frequently hinted at elsewhere.
Seems to be working well,innit?
Back of the net!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-8911305/CHRIS-SUTTON-Footballers-dying-dementia-PFAs-priority.html
Nana,
Good point and very well made. The problem is we have more ammunition than the Gunpowder Plot and the Plc haven’t fired a shot.
The perception is that it’s one rule for everyone else and no rules for Sevco.
All I’d ask for is clarity about the specifics of the alleged party on Sunday and why the hasty intervention of the government?
It has a whiff of putting the lid on it.
This is potentially damaging for the reputation of government, given the participation of Sevco in a UEFA competition, in Portugal this evening.
TGM
“How many votes do the SNP risk if this perception of racial/sectarian bias persists?”
===
IMO absolutely none. If their sitting MPs can spew anti Irish racist crap and not be called to account by either the SNP or the Scots public (M Black and her Plastic Irishmen quotes) or the then FM could say of the ‘people’ of the North of Ireland they are “The blood of our blood, the bone of our bone” and we know who he was referring to and it wasn’t the likes of me and few raised any concerns about that then a wee trivial thing like football isn’t going to matter a damn to any significant number of voters in Scotland
OGLACH
I am known for despising the SNP more than the tories,even when I was a kid. It’s why I try to avoid the subject when I can,because my views are set. But that comment from Salmond made my blood boil and chill at the same time.
He knew what he was saying,and the people he aimed it at knew too.
TGM Talking of ammunition I am reading a book about Brendan Behan the author and playwright. Behan always used the term ammunition for money. He was a wildman but very kindhearted by all accounts and if folk were short of a bob Behan would ask if they needed any ammunition..Its the first time i have heard the word used in that way. Also found out in the book that Behans uncle wrote The Soldiers Song and The Bold Fenian Men and his brother wrote the Patriot Game
Nana Mouskouri C.s.c
You’ll need to read Behan’s Borstal boy and Confessions of an Irish Rebel.
Sadly he died far too young at 41. An Irish Reb until the day he died.
I am a drinker with writing problems CSC
Not sure about the veracity of this one,but apparently House of Balloons have removed all their Facebook and Twitter pages about Sunday night and denied it ever happened. Including their display which must have been a training exercise in the office.
Scott Arfield will be well chuffed as that means he doesn’t need to pay the bill.
Oglach There is a great quote in the book from Behan when he was asked by a journalist when he was being escorted out of a press conference in New York by the police if he was used to a police escort. He said yes but normally i have handcuffs on.
Nana Mouskouri C.s.c
Aye he seemed to be one for the comedic quotes, as you know he was imprisoned in both England and Ireland for his IRA activities.
Oglach yes knew that. His gran went on her own bombing campaign at the age of 77 in England but was caught early doors and sentenced to 3 years. Some family.
Remember Remember the 5th of November,
The day Sleepy Joe got the nod.
It’s a fix he did cry, but Joe said ‘out nigh’,
Cos its time to fix the racist Plod.
Mahe
Remember Remember the 5th of November,
The day Sleepy Joe got the nod.
It’s a fix he did cry, but Joe said ‘out nigh’,
Cos its time to fix the racist Plod.
===
“Sir, I salute, your strength, your indefatigability, and unshakable belief that the impossible will become possible.”
( Apologies to George Galloway for misquoting him 😘)
Oglach/Nana,
” I’m not a politician, I’ve only got one face.”
Brendan Behan.
The Auld Triangle still hangs in the Main Hall of Mountjoy. The song is attributed to Brendan and it’s fitting that it’s still there.
The gaol itself was built as a holding centre for transportation and is still packed with prisoners.
I wonder what Brendan might make of it today? A couple of years ago there were incidents whereby drones were being used to drop heroin into the air vents for the prisoners below.
Behan was a character in Dublin. His rows with Patrick Kavanagh were legendary. His life and premature death reflect an all too common experience in Dublin and Ireland.
Inner city life is still tough the damage done by the institutions, including the church was horrific.
Folk were very damaged and many sought relief in the jar.
It takes years to recover after independence.
There is an ongoing process of decommissioning ‘ammunition’ from a variety of sources.
BMCUWPS,
A Sevconian not paying a bill? There’s a first.
The Balloon House would have been better served speaking to the Facepainter first.
And why not?
The Auld Triangle…
https://youtu.be/aa7birRBmNM
Login & Good Afternoon All
HH
A lot of people asking why Neil questioned the Scot Govt response to Huns doing what Huns do rather than PL?
Quite simply, it was a European Press Conference therefore, more wide-spread coverage. Think back to Martin O’Neill using one to highlight Neil’s treatment at Ibrox.
HH
Alert! Non football comment.
I was puzzled why the Trump team would raise legal challenges in some states. Are they simply stupid or bad losers? Perhaps they are but the thought occurs that it could be a delaying tactic to keep their man in power for as long as possible to enact their agenda. How long will these cases take if results are appealed? A year? More?
What is clear is that US institutions and the constitution will be challenged by this situation. Will they be strong enough to validate the true outcome of the election? We shall see how strong and effective the foundations of democracy are in the US of A.
Rebus
It’s only a matter of time before Trump produces his ‘Secret Dossier’ 😜
AFTERNOON/EVENING ALL and JIM,,getting dark here in cheshire, let me put my credentials to the fore, im a card carrying left wing social democrat supporter, i want joe biden to win not because he is a card carrying catholic like me,but because anything that stops that right wing nutter im all for, jesus almighty that ghuy would legalise the KKK if he could, im so troubled that his mother is scottish, bloomin heck im scottish, so im associated with the donald, then again john knox was scottish as well as pastor jack glass ,so there lies the conundrum,.BTW id willingly go up to parkhead right now and relieve the board of their duties, a bunch of winkers put me to the right of MIKE IN TORONTO, another poster who we all miss..H.H.
Rebus67 @ 3.32
Food for thought indeed as Trump has ensured the supreme court is weighted in his favour. Who knows what he and his advisors are up to – an American putsch perhaps – certainly enough heavily armed nutters and those in positions of power to back him?
But i think he is just a petulant old git and a, hopefully, sore loser.
BMCUWPs…
Excellent piece… you certainly kow how to convey an opinion with great panache…
Although you don’t rely on bigotry to get a message across and I’m sure there is more to that than your sisters being daughters’ of Ayrshire. The message doesn’t resonate with me.
In twenty first century Scotland, Celtic can be the best team in Scotland if it chooses to be. It doesn’t
Celtic can call out wrong doing if it wants. It doesn’t.
The best weapon we, your average Celtic fan has against Rangers is their hubris… as a wiser man than I once said…
Let it grow, let it grow, let it blossom, let it grow…
Hail Hail
COYBIG
Has Trumpet went for null and void yet?
bada bing 1,
The Donald has a new plan….
https://postimg.cc/XXGyXh8q
HH