Fork in the road coming
The third week of March this year brings St. Patrick’s Day, the Spring Equinox, and the ‘Cards your on the Table’ derby clash.
It’s already more than apparent the treatment of the Champions elect will be heavily scrutinized, with many believing certain ‘lines in the sand’ MUST not be crossed. It’s no exaggeration to state a lot rests on how exactly the PLC accept that particular visiting team, from mobs at the barricades to season book boycotts.
Being impatient I’ve longed to reach this fork in the road, something its increasingly looking like. We all know our majority shareholder calls the shots, and we all know his opinion on that club. Given the boards pro Old Firm mentality, their official stance for this occasion may well anger the support.
And that, more than Res12, more than bent refs, more than 55, increasingly looks to be a bridge too far.
A Guard of Honour is clearly not acceptable to the majority on here, and its extremely notable that when the shoe was on the other foot their high command quashed the idea, showing its more than a footballing decision. Given we seem(ed) desperate to get the show back on the road when it strayed off the tracks, only the fool would bet against our PLC playing their part by publically accepting second best to ‘their historic rival’.
On the 21st of March, the old adage ‘cant fool all the people all the time’ may just prove itself true again. Many roads lead to this game, theres questions need answering, and unlike Sunday night past there will be crowds assembling and no hiding place should the PLC get things as badly wrong off the park as they and the manager have conspired to do on it.
Our boards ‘cake and eat it’ policy of pretending they died while charging punters the maximum for attending their games was always going to come unstuck once forced to publically choose, just as these circumstances are doing.
That foolish policy has now placed them between a rock and a hard place.
55th or 1st title?
Worthy Champions from a great club or a cheating mob with no scruples?
Guard of honour?
Big decisions need made with the support on one side and a crooked business partner on the other.
For a collection who would prefer to work behind the scenes, the PLCs day of reckoning is coming with the eyes of all upon them.
That day is about three weeks away and counting.
By Mahe.
sentinelcelts@gmail.com
You can stick your guard of honour up your arse,
You can stick,etc…
Mahe
Since I knew you were penning an article on this subject today, I’d a little more thinking time than normal. As you know, I’m an early riser. Generally I get up, read your (or Bobby’s) article, and start typing my thoughts. I often spend the rest of the day reflecting on my words and on many occasions, I find myself wishing I’d left something out, or added something in. Not so on this morning’s article. I lay in bed last night reflecting on the conversation on here regarding the guard of honour. I stated then that under no circumstances would I wish to see our players or supporters applaud them on to the field of play. I stand firmly behind that opinion.
Sport serves as a microcosm of society. As with society, It is essential to have rules, or regulations in the way sport is played.
When we were kids, playing under ‘jumpers for goalposts’ rules, there was a flexibility in the rules. Penalty decisions ? If the best fighter said it was a penalty, that was usually enough. The height of the crossbar was again generally determined by who hit the shot. If it was the best fighter, anything under 15 feet was liable to be a goal, but for those lesser talented with their fists than they were with their feet, the tolerance reduced considerably and it wasn’t uncommon for 6 feet to be ruled ‘ower the bar’. Going home feeling cheated was commonplace.
When sport moves from the breeding grounds of the local playgrounds, football pitches and wastelands, the rules become less flexible. Moving through the amateur and junior leagues, there is more structure. By the time you reach the professional leagues, the addition of not only a referee, but two assistants and a fourth official, and indeed now VAR and review panels, is to ensure that all teams play by, and under the same set of rules.
The rules of sport are no different to the rules of society. They exist to ensure that citizens, or in the case of sport, players and spectators, are treated equally. They must be seen to be fair, and equal, and should include penalties from the governing bodies for any breaches of the rules.
With regard to the guard of honour, the term being launched into the argument is “sportsmanship”. We need to be seen to take the moral high ground. Display just how ‘good sports’ we all are.
I’m sorry for the introduction of choice language but fuck that.
Where has the sporting integrity been throughout this campaign?
More pertinent, where has the sporting integrity been in relation to res 12, to the 5WA, in relation to the blatant cheating, with impunity, from the very administration and officials appointed by the governing bodies to ensure fairness and equality?
For our players to stand and applaud in a guard of honour is to condone the cheating. I’d go as far to say it would please me if our players stood in a line and turned their backs on them as they entered the field of play.
Yes we can stand and applaud and send out a “ look how good sports we are” message through gritted teeth, or we can send out a strong statement prior to that match stating we will not be affording a guard of honour as a protest against the cheating.
I suspect we will do neither.
Bobby
Actually- forget all my drivel
What you said..
TWISTY
No,your argument was much better,even if mine was more succinct!
A guard of honour.
A mark of respect.
Respect?
I remember writing on here in October/November that if we did not change the manager we would be applauding them on to the Park
My nightmare is coming true. The suits don’t have the balls to not applaud them onto the Park
Twisty… Well said, I’m not sure there’s anything anyone can add to that!
Mahe…I hope you’ve got a Substitute Article to post?! 😜
McCaff
I was also contemplating on Neil. He has very few supporters left amongst us. Sadly I came to the same conclusion as the majority, a long time ago. He’s not the man to take us forward.
However. If the match v them is indeed to be one of his last, I’d like to think he’ll not need to join in any fake display of appreciation for that mob, nor indeed watch his players stand and applaud them on to our pitch.
There would be many of our own players in that line up of whom a high % of them have played a part in the shameful capitulation this season.
A show of respect from them, for that lot?
For all his failings, Neil does not deserve that final ignominy, and neither do we.
Let’s not dress this up in any other way, they don’t like us, we’re the enemy and for the majority of normal punters that support Sevco, we’re all fenian bastards. There are supporters who don’t engage in all the shite, then there are some who get caught up in the madness and the mask slips, then you have your hard-core bigots who are quite overt in their sectarianism. Now I know that people will say the players aren’t like that, but they play for a club that wallows in the WATP shite and behind closed doors its totally different. Giving the representatives of a club who hate all we stand for a GOH, away to fuck.
Apologies for the coarse language in my posts but i’m seriously pissed off with those who run our club and the total capitulation to a shower of cheating bastards.
Another great point, Twisty!
I’ll repeat what I said yesterday – Celtic need to get ahead of the curve on this before it’s too late. There is a lot of anger aimed at the Club right now. There is the serious possibility of a major backlash that could take years to recover from if PL and his Board feel the need to kow-tow to these feckers at the arse end of what should have been OUR glorious season! They will lose numbers like they won’t believe. Celtic need to listen for once…this is as serious as it gets at the moment!
Yes Noel, I agree. As I alluded to yesterday their Superiority Complex is already resurgent the last thing we need to do is to take our seats at the back of the bus.
No Celtic! No!! We must stand strong against this!
GOH – GTF
Twists. Great post this morning. Sums it all up. Anyone advocating a guard of honour is quite happy to accept a seat at the back of the bus. Sorry but the back of the bus is not the place for me or mine. Just how I was brought up.
McCaff,
the custodians are in deep enough excrement without plunging any deeper. This would be the final straw for me.
GOH…? No way José. Not in my name.
HH
Scottish football,Celtic plc and huns are words that should never appear in the same sentence as honor.
None of the above has any semblance of integrity or honor .
All three got their preferred outcome this season.
Hiring Lennon was the final piece of the puzzle.
The fact he was not deservedly sacked when the season was savable says it all.
DD will be sitting smugly in his golf cart wringing his hands and doing his best impression of Hannibal from the A-Team with the line ;
I LOVE IT WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER!
I wouldn’t be surprised if they do this as after all they journey in the same societal circles as their counterparts. Its all a jolly too them. I wonder if they understand the angry backlash that will be directed towards them if they go ahead with this.
Tonight on the Al Jazeera channel at 10.30 a film about the Celtic supporters. I think it’s on Sky too, channel 880.
The guard of honour thing is a gift for the green huns in the Celtic Park boardroom. If the club doesn’t do it then the board can pretend it’s some sort of gesture against years of cheating by the Ibrox based club. The problem with that is the cheating Ibrox based club died in 2012 and the new club though just as odious as the old one, has not (as far as we know) cheated to win the title this year. There is therefore an argument that a guard of honour should be formed with the players holding a banner which states “Congratulations to The Rangers on winning their first ever league title”. This should then be followed up by the club challenging the 55 titles at every opportunity and banning any news outlet from Celtic Park that continues to promote the Big Lie and/or includes Celtic as being part of the Old Firm. Yes, I know it won’t happen but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t.
The programme I mentioned earlier is named- The Fans Who Make Football, premieres tonight.
M6bhoy…indeed! All of my assertions are based on the fact that I expect Celtic plc to bend over and take the rogering that TRFC are only to happy to give!!
Your alternative scenario suits me fine!
GOH. I put my statement out yesterday. ‘Who let the dogs out?’. We know the answer to that . DD, the Board, PL, NL and with very few exceptions, the players.
Friends and acquaintances who have never, or not for a long time, spoken of football , never mind the Govan Works X1, are suddenly asking you questions about the games, or more precisely our defeats, and league positions.
Unused for years phrases are plentiful. Unseen for nearly a decade Hun attire accosts the eye. Cretins who couldn’t spell the word have acquired proficiency in ‘Taigs’, ‘Fenians’, UB and Kill. They are painting more walls than Banksy!
As an aside , the non-tax paying team supporters are costing the tax payers of North Ayrshire a fortune in clean-up operations.
We will give them a Guard of Honour…….Aye that’ll be right Batman!
Apparently a couple of years ago SG said that his team would not be giving Celtic a GOH on orders from ‘above’.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the Celtic board did the opposite. Leave the decision to the players and manager. So whatever happens – ‘it’s nothing to do with us’.
CCB I agree with your post last night and today. Your comments about the Huns finding their voices and artistic/poetic abilities after a long hiatus (not long enough!) underlines my point about their perceived Cultural Superiority! Celtic need to read the signs here!
Jim…good point too, this Board have shown themselves over the years to be absolute cowards, your scenario wouldn’t surprise me in the least!
Leave Guards of Honour where they belong – with the military, esp funerals!
Whilst I’m beating the integrity drum, let me refer you back to the Daniel Candeias affair. You’ll remember that he was red carded by Willie Collum. Rangers issued a statement.
The Gers statement read: “It defies belief that this same referee, who got it so blatantly wrong last Saturday, is awarded one of the biggest matches in Scottish football this weekend while Daniel is denied the right to go to work.
“This, frankly, is unacceptable.
“Furthermore, it is understood that a number of people within the Scottish FA are in no doubt Mr Collum’s judgment was flawed and Rangers shall also now be submitting a formal complaint about the performance of this referee.
“The manner in which he reacted to an incident involving our player made it obvious he did not give due consideration to his decision.
“This is by no means the first time errors of judgment have been made in matches involving this official and
clearly there is an underlying issue which requires to be addressed.”
—————————————————-
If anyone thinks that it was coincidence that Collum was not awarded another match involving TRFC for 4 months, then I’ve got some magic beans they may wish to buy.
That one incident alone is testament to the collusion that exists.
The unholy trinity. SFA SPFL and TRFC.
It’s not just the incident in question that has in impact. It’s the message sent out to other referees. Then we wonder why we see so many inexplicable decisions go against us in our own matches? Despite Neil Lennon’s failings, I think it’s fair to suggest he was backing a deuce before a ball was kicked.
The only remaining question is why our board have not responded.
Awe Naw would have an answer to that one.
Bobby sent you an email, just going to work so will look in later.
Saw this one doing the rounds this morning and I trust it is accurate (certainly feels that way!)…
“Sevco: 2020-21.
Officially the only club in Scottish senior leagues plus top 4 English divisions not to receive a red card OR a penalty against.
Average pens conceded per club= 6.8
Average Red cards per club= 4.7
Sevco 0, 0.
Sevco pens awarded in all competitions 2019-20 = 9
2020-21 = 18.(minimum 9 still games to play)
Morelos 2018 -2020
29 yellow, 7 red.
2020-21, 6 yellow, 0 red.
https://twitter.com/hamishcarton/status/1363616393984430082?s=08
Good to see the Club sticking to their guns,re banning Sky…….embarrassing…..
Seems Celtic didn’t beat a top half team from 27th September, till 10th February, 5 months….and Lennon doesn’t understand why the fans are unhappy, seriously?
JOBO
Stunning comparisons.
Jobo Baldie
To add to your stats – three Hun retrospective reds- after games they won by a slender 1-0.
Further embellishes the cheating argument.
9 points gained where none or up to three may have been the outcome if they played with 10 men v 11
Jobo
The SFA will probably give them a Fair Play award for this season.
Can you imagine if we had a crowd at Celtic Park for the last home game of the season? What would that look like?
opps
oops mk2
And just for those (alleged) Celtic supporters advocating a GOH for Sevco
Hello pop pickers, it’s another day at number 1 for Steve Clarke, we have an interesting big climber, Roberto Martinez, his odds have been halved from 16/1 to 8/1 and he has now climbed to number 5, in the pop pickers chart.
Steve Clarke
6/4
John Kennedy
3/1
Rafael Benitez
5/1
Frank Lampard
8/1
Roberto Martinez
8/1
Eddie Howe
10/1
Enzo Maresca
10/1
Roy Keane
14/1
Alex Neil
20/1
Damien Duff
20/1
Jack Ross
20/1
Mark Hughes
20/1
Shaun Maloney
20/1
Andriy Shevchenko
25/1
Dan Petrescu
25/1
Gordon Strachan
25/1
Henrik Larsson
25/1
Martin O’Neill
25/1
Paul Lambert
25/1
Andre Villas-Boas
33/1
Jindřich Trpišovský
33/1
Marco Silva
33/1
Jim Goodwin
40/1
Malky Mackay
40/1
Veljko Paunovic
40/1
Oglach
Alleged Celtic supporter?
You think I am an alleged Celtic supporter?
I think you should retract that statement.
How about we compare Celtic supporting credentials?
You been to many Celtic matches in your life?
Garry
The comment was meant in jest, but take it any way you wish. Not interested in a pissing contest.
Oglach
Not interested in being told that I am an ‘alleged’ Celtic supporter. By anyone.
Garry
As i said take it as you wish, fill yer boots
Oglach
How am I supposed to take being called an alleged Celtic supporter?
I detected no humour in your post.
You say it was in jest.
Sorry but don’t get your joke.
Jobo. 12.49.
Thanks for sharing, interesting, indeed, but not surprising.
.
Reading over the comments and the gyst of it all is we shouldn’t give those manky tramps anything. Rightly so.
Away from the ‘guard of honour’ pish. As each day goes by and with total inaction by the board, its looking more and more likely that we could be heading for a full scale revolt against these contemptuous arseholes who clearly don’t care what we say. Is anyone else thinking in a similar way?
“hypocrites and parasites will come up and take a bite, so who dem cap fit, let dem wear it.”
Robert Nesta Marley
Another two months of lockdown in Scotland, gie’s fecking peace.
Yes, I can understand concerns for the potential GOH but is that really the key concern here? Surely, the real issue is why we find ourself in this position in the first place. Additionally, what are you going to do about it? Getting steamed up about a symbolic protest that addresses a one time issue is one thing. However, how are you going to protest about the factors that forced us into facing the GOH?
Frankly, the GOH is way down my list of priorities that need to be addressed.
Why is this manager still in place?
Is there or will there be a review?
When or will the results be communicated?
Why has the club made no effort to reassure fans that significant change will occur?
Why was no interim manager put in place, either now or earlier?
Will there be structural change within the club?
Will there be movement amongst Board personnel?
The list goes on. Each is more significant than GOH, which is, IMHO, a deflection issue.
Rebus
Morning troops.
“They will lose numbers like they won’t believe. Celtic need to listen for once…this is as serious as it gets at the moment!”
Mackers it really is and I myself underestimated the depth of feeling surrounding the issue.
Part of me wants the PLC to order the GOH because then there could be no mistaking their mentality and we once and for all would say out or at least it looks that way.
As pointed out it was the Rangers board made the judgement and of course no one asked them why.
I actually do think DD will pull rank and order a GOH number one to slap us because we are questioning him and his regime too much, and secondly because of his great club Old Firm mentality.
One thing they will not do is rock the boat and given his great club comments CFC are never going to officially state 1st title whilst he is our majority shareholder.
There may be trouble ahead,,,,
Hail Hail