barca72

You go with what you've got until the cavalry arrives, I guess.

I guess this has to be the end of the road for McGlennan ... http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/sfa-issue-statement-saying-judicial-5575679 SFA issue statement saying judicial panel were "not entitled" to enforce ban on Caley's Josh Meekings for Hampden handball

Maybe not, but the supporters' association gen. sec. will ... http://www.thecsa.co.uk/showthread.php?t=790 04-22-2015 12:47 PM Why don't you be honest and transparent about contentious decisions? I don’t want to get into a whole new rant about what happened on Sunday afternoon at Hampden Park. I wrote to Stuart Regan of the SFA and his reply indicated that he was not happy with the content of my complaint. I have responded to him again this morning; so i’ll leave it up to you to form an opinion. Dear Mr Regan, I’m sorry you found my previous mail not to your taste; I’m elected by the member branches to represent their views and try to fulfil their hopes and aspirations. The mail i sent you had the full backing of our Executive Committee. You are relatively new to Scottish Football, and i had hoped you would have been a refreshing change to what we had been used to previously. I met with you early in your tenure when we were about to boycott Kilmarnock; that boycott was called off because you promised us a new era of transparency and accountability. So based on that; why don’t you or your match officials come out and explain what happened on Sunday afternoon with regards to the missed penalty incident? Now if that had been a match with only a single match official; namely a referee i could accept that an incident can be missed; but we had six officials; and three of them in close proximity to the incident; so if all three are saying they missed the incident; then i would conclude at least one and possibly more are not telling the truth. I believe the conversation between the officials is recorded. For the benefit of all concerned; and to be totally transparent why don’t you release a transcript of what was said; because it is clear on video that Alan Muir was certainly speaking into his microphone; or is it another “Dougie Dougie” situation? Mr Regan, you can get upset all you want about the content of my mail; you are not the one being cheated. How many “Honest Mistakes” are we supposed to just accept? And in particular in cup semi’s and finals. Everyone knows that human error is part of most sports, and we have had the benefit of that too; but not as often as it has went against us. But for the officials to claim not to have seen the incident; and the Supervisor John Fleming to claim no-one is the stadium seen it in real time beggars belief; i was seventy yards away and saw it. You have now compounded the situation by suspending Josh Meekings. I have no sympathy with Mr Keetings; by his actions in trying to con people into thinking the ball hit him on the head; he was complicit by his actions; but i have never known any player to be suspended in a similar situation. So at the end of the day the officials just carry on. Managers lose their jobs because of some of these incidents but the officials carry on with impunity. Supporters see their team denied the opportunity to win trophies; but the officials just get more games and more money; no wonder the supporters are sick of it all. Finally Mr Regan. I will continue to represent my members and the Celtic Support in general to the best of my ability; thankfully i don’t need your endorsement to do that. I was here a long time before you; and if God spares me I’ll be here a long time after you have gone. Regards, Joe O’Rourke, General Secretary, Celtic Supporters Association. -----Original Message----- From: Stewart Regan Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2015 8:53 AM Subject: Re: Cheating. Dear Joseph, Given the scurrilous accusations contained within your letter - which is not befitting a general secretary of any organisation - it would be inappropriate to continue this correspondence any further. Stewart M. Regan Chief Executive The Scottish F.A. Tel: 0141 616 6004 Fax: 0141 616 6003 Hampden Park, Glasgow, G42 9AY, Scotland http://www.scottishfa.co.uk Twitter: @StewartMRegan 20/04/2015 12:18 >>> Mr Regan, Firstly let me congratulate Inverness Caley Thistle and Falkirk Football Club on their achievement of reaching the Scottish FA Cup Final. Hopefully it will be a great day for both teams and their supporters; and the best team will win for the right reasons. As for the match yesterday when Inverness managed to beat my team and get to the final; that’s another story altogether; and another example of blatant cheating involving referees and officials working on behalf of the SFA. I make no apologies whatsoever for using the term “CHEATING” as i was sitting about seventy yards away in the North Stand and clearly saw the hand ball which at least three match officials much closer than me must have seen as well. I have watched the incident back several times and seen the still pictures; i would like the match officials to come out and explain why Celtic were not awarded a penalty and a red card issued to the offending player Josh Meekings. I would also be delighted to hear your opinion on the incident; i assume you were in one of the better seats of Hampden and would have had a good view of the incident. I have said to you before there seems to be an anti-Celtic agenda going on at the SFA; too many situations have occurred for that not to be the case; I’ll mention a couple; you can explain them to me. Derk Boerrigter, cited by the compliance officer and given a two game suspension for simulation. No problem with that; but are we to believe that Derk is the only player in Scottish Football who dived seeking to gain an advantage? Aleksandar Tonev, cited by the compliance officer and given a seven match suspension for making a racist remark to Shay Logan. Not one single witness or technical evidence to support the charge; yet Aleksandar is convicted on the “Balance of probabilities”. Leigh Griffiths, cited by the compliance officer and charged with singing a disrespectful song about Hearts; the outcome still to be decided. John Guidetti, cited by the compliance officer and charged with singing a disrespectful song about Rangers; the outcome still to be decided. I would like to know if the players of Celtic Football Club are the only ones under scrutiny by the SFA. As there doesn’t appear to be the same scrutiny used with regards to players of other teams. Getting back to match officials. Was “Operation Stop the Treble” confined to match officials? Or were board members like you and Campbell Ogilvie also involved? How we have managed to be top of the league and have already won the League Cup is a remarkable achievement in the circumstances. Steven McLean and Alan Muir have a lot of explaining to do with regards to yesterday; and I’m not sure what part the North Stand assistant had to play in the incident. But of course they won’t be asked to explain why they cheated; they will be supported by you and your accomplices; just as they always are. McLean has a history of treating Celtic with disdain; maybe it comes from being a supporter of Rangers; and his brother having played for Rangers. He has been ably abetted this season by Thomson, Madden, and Collum; to name a few. I think the latest “Honest Mistake” might just be the final nail in the coffin with regards to the SFA and the supporters of Celtic FC. We will now organise our supporters groups with a view to exerting the financial clout we have in Scottish Football. There will be no cash cow of the Celtic Support at Hampden for the Cup Final, you will need to be creative for once to try and get more than 20,000 to attend; it won’t be easy not having the Celtic supporters to suck dry. Joe O’Rourke, General Secretary, Celtic Supporters Association.

Humble man, legend status ...

Found this one while looking for the clip above. Another cup semi-final they couldn't win. Who says they would have taken a 2-0 lead if they had been given the penalty? Bottlers ... p.s. look at the poor crowd, even back then. p.p.s. where is Mulgrew now?

Naismith to Miller - another cup won !!

Clear them out from top to bottom. There is no trust or respect for the existing incumbents.

Now yer talking.

Common sense.

Hullo, Hullo ... I have just remembered, I suppose I should fire off a letter to Lord Carloway requesting clarification on this verdict !!

Tread lightly there lads. Sober men who wish for harmony can usually find a way to live in peace.

I guess we can say that what goes around, comes around ... http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/u/top-judge-says-irish-rebel-song-sung-by-fans-will-be-regarded-as-threatening-and-offensive.1429692595 Top judge says Irish rebel song sung by fans will be regarded as "threatening and offensive" ONE of Scotland's most senior judges has said that the singing of the pro-IRA Roll of Honour by a significant group of fans will be regarded by a reasonable person as being both threatening and offensive. Martin Williams Senior News Reporter Wednesday 22/04/2015 LORD CARLOWAY: Dismissed the appeal from the pair. LORD CARLOWAY: Dismissed the appeal from the pair. Lord Carloway, the Lord Justice Clerk, gave the opinion while rejecting a claim that a charge under the controversial law designed to stamp out sectarian abuse at football matches led to the contravention of two convicted fans' human rights. William Donnelly and Martin Walsh were convicted of charges surrounding the singing of the pro-IRA song at a match between Hibs and Celtic at Easter Road on 19 October 2013. In February last year, the song reached the UK Top 40 Singles chart after the band Irish Brigade, were asked by supporters group Fans Against Criminalisation to cover the song to highlight their opposition to the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act. The 1980s song celebrates the lives of 10 republican prisoners who died in 1981 at the Maze Prison. Donnelly and Walsh's lawyers said they might not have appreciated that their rendition of the song could be regarded as threatening or offensive and thus render them liable to criminal conviction and sentence. Leave to appeal had been granted over the conviction under Section One of the Offensive Behaviour act on the question of whether there was a conflict with Article Seven of the European Convention on Human Rights. The leave to appeal involved whether there was, "in the circumstances of the case, a breach in the applicants' right to know, with sufficient clarity, of the nature of the crime, in terms of Article Seven". But Lord Carloway in dismissing their appeal, said the pair were "were well aware of what they were engaging in". He said: "The appellants must be presumed to have been aware that, in terms of the section, behaviour at a football match would be criminal if it involved conduct which was threatening or such that a reasonable person would be likely to consider offensive and if that conduct was likely to incite public disorder. " He pointed out that it was established in a case decided a matter of months before the Easter Road match that "the singing of this particular song was potentially criminal". He said that the sheriff's note recorded that the evidence had been that the song was widely regarded as sectarian and offensive and that warnings about sectarian songs were broadcast before matches and that both the club and the supporters' websites warned fans of the undesirability and dangers in singing this particular song. He said that it is "firmly established in law, and incidentally very well-known" that singing songs of a sectarian nature at football matches "is likely to be a criminal act". He added: "In this case the song celebrates the activities of members of proscribed terrorist groups. It cannot come as a surprise that the singing of such a song by a significant group of fans at a match will be regarded by a reasonable person as being both threatening and offensive... "There is no need for proof of knowledge that the particular supporter was aware of the law or the status of the song. The appellants were well aware of what they were engaging in. He added: "There is no blanket ban on singing sectarian songs and the appellants are at liberty to indulge their desire to do so at many alternative venues. There is, however, a prohibition on doing so at football matches ... type of conduct here is precisely what the law is aimed at."

Out of interest yesterday's trades went for 27.5p. When initially listed they were 35p. http://lmmx.co.uk/companies/profile/rangers-international-foofball-club-plc/ LMMX A division of Peterhouse House Corporate Finance ### About JP Jenkins ### Rangers International Football Club PLC RFC 27.5p 0 GBX 0 Trade Date Trade time Price Volume 21.04.15 09:45 27.5p 500 21.04.15 09:48 27.5p 1,000

Well, at least we can empathise with the guy in the dugout.

I disagree here. My argument is about the inconsistency of the compliance officer, not the relative merits of each incident. I think that the compliance officer should issue a notice of complaint to each of the players or none at all. If one is actionable then so is the other. If one is a penalty then so is the other ( not to even things out, but it is so ). That is what I think ICT as a club should complain about. I would argue that the referee and his backline assistant had a clear view of each incident, which would mean from the point of relevancy there is no difference. In the Meekin's incident the referee has obviously thought that it was ball to hand, and in the Zaluska incident he must have thought it was accidental. When I played football, I was a goalkeeper. One way to establish your authority in the 18 yard box was to let your opponents know that there will be a price to be paid for challenging you in your own 18 yard box. You may decide that there was no case to answer but I do not. Maybe these subtle differences don't exist in today's game ( aye right). In the Meekin's incident, if you look closely you will see that Meekin's knees are bent as he tries to head the ball. I would ask you if you could attempt to header the ball in such a position as you turn your body, without throwing your arms out to the side to balance yourself from going down. I thought that was what was happening in the very short time it took for the ball to get from Griffith's head to Meekin's arm. I could of course be mistaken, maybe Meekin's thought processes - which you maintain are a deliberate attempt to stop the ball from getting by him and in to the net - are quicker than his instincts to retain his balance. I guess the compliance officer is endowed with the powers to decide these things, eh? Incidentally, having watched the whole game twice now, I have noted at least six incidences that the compliance officer could issue a notice of complaint on. Not the least of which is a tackle by Brown which I woud have sent him off for. However, these incidences are what keep football fans chirping about the game all day long. There is no doubt in my mind that CFC should be charged with bringing the game into disrepute. Why have referees and a controlling body for the game if you are not willing to live with their decisions. CFC, gi'e's peace and get on with it.

Until such times as Tony McGlennan issues a notice of complaint to Lukasz Zaluska for his punch to the back of the head of Edward Ofere, then I think Josh Meekins has every right to be aggrieved at the policies of an inconsistent compliance officer, or should that be a pressured compliance officer. I think that he, Meekins, and his team have every right to complain about the decision. That is purely argumentative and cannot be backed up by fact.

William "Sandy" Pullar Jardine (31 December 1948 – 24 April 2014) It will be one year ago come Friday, so soon. R.I.P. Sandy.

Are the Laws of the Game specific about the actions of a goalkeeper when he deliberately punches the back of an opponent's head within said goalkeeper's 18-yard box, whether his eyes are closed or not? Should the Compliance Officer issue the C1888c goalkeeper with a notice of complaint? My God what is happening to the game of football?

I hope Durrant has the paperwork all filled in properly !!!

Out of all of the stuff I have read about them since yesterday, I think this is the classiest. I am not very keen on Commons, but credit where it is due. Take your lumps and get on with it. http://www.celticfc.net/news/8084 Commons: We have to return to winning ways at Dens Park By: Mark Henderson on 20 Apr, 2015 11:31 REFLECTING on the events of Sunday wasn’t an enviable prospect for any of the Celtic players but Kris Commons, one of the most senior members of the squad, admirably accepted the responsibility. His view was that everyone wearing green and white had offered complete commitment to the cause. Unfortunately, Sunday was one of those rare occasions where that hadn’t been enough to see the Hoops home. “It was a real disappointment not to win the game,” he told Celtic TV. “I thought we did enough – a few things didn’t go our way on the park. But credit to Inverness. They worked hard, put us under pressure and to score three goals against us means they always had a chance. “We gave everything. There was nothing more we could have done. But sometimes you can do that, you can give everything and it just doesn’t work right and Sunday was evident of us working hard, trying to do all the right things and sometimes just falling that little bit short.” Any lingering anger and sense of injustice at the death of the treble tilt must be set aside, however, as the Bhoys still have a league championship to win. Ronny Deila’s side can enter the final five matches of the season with a commanding eight-point lead over second-placed Aberdeen by claiming victory away to Dundee on Wednesday. The manager has stressed the need for the club to move one from their Scottish Cup disappointment and fully focus on clinching the title, and Commons continued on this theme, underlining the squad’s determination to put the pain of the Hampden defeat behind them with a polished performance at Dens Park. “We fell that little bit short on Sunday but we’ll be looking to bounce back against Dundee on Wednesday night,” Commons said. “We’ll be looking to bounce back, put in a good performance and win the match because we’ve still got a league title to win and that’s our main aim now, to win our remaining fixtures and win in style.”

Celtic Football Club statement By: Newsroom Staff on 20 Apr, 2015 17:12 WITH the Club being inundated today, Celtic can confirm that it has written to the SFA regarding yesterday’s match and in particular the incident involving Leigh Griffiths and Josh Meekings. First and foremost we absolutely congratulate Inverness Caledonian Thistle on reaching the Scottish Cup final. They are a fantastic club and reaching the final is a great achievement. However, given the level of reaction from our supporters and across football, we are duty bound to seek an understanding of what actually happened. We have not been given any other specific explanation so far and this is simply to understand the circumstances of what went on and why such an obvious error was made. I think that last line borders on bringing the game into disrepute. They are actually judging and disputing the referee's decision in public.

For the head of their supporter association to issue this statement for the edification of their fans is cringeworthy. However, it does induce great mirth for a neutral observer. Don't worry , Joe-bhoy, we'll just call it another TAINTED title !!!!

I agree with McCall. UEFA has history in this area ... http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/28368396 Champions League: Uefa changes rule on yellow cards

When a team who was in the vanguard of the cabal who tried to destroy our team suffers defeat and discomfort; I'll laugh. When the fans of that team persist in voicing their displeasure at today's result by blaming the referee, the SFA, the fact that Stokes wasn't playing, etc.; I'll laugh. The fact that that club buys players from a competitor before they play that club in competition, but they can't play the players they just bought because they are cup-tied; I'll laugh. The fact that the manager Delia and players like Commons, Brown and van Dijk will now stop with their patronising statements to the rest of the clubs; I'll laugh. The fact that this team is losing £10M a year because they led a cabal to hurt us and they have to survive without our fans, the crowd today was reported as 28,643; I'll laugh. Because this club will not win a treble in 2014/2015; I'll laugh, and laugh for years about that one. When I've stopped laughing I'll turn my attention to my own club and worry about how we will get on next season, and when we finally beat this club again I shall not stop laughing for a while. I hope you are alright with that.

Good start lads, keep going.