Celtic Banter Archive January 08 2014

08 Jan 2014 20:10:23
@TheCelticTrust: The Trust are hosting a formally conducted Open Meeting for all Celtic supporters in the Celtic Club on Wed 22nd January at 7pm. Please RT.

@TheCelticTrust: The purpose of the Open Meeting on 22nd is to give all interested supporters an opportunity to discuss their concerns in a structured way.

08 Jan 2014 20:54:02
HB your no gony turn up wae flares at it are ye

Taking my souvenir plastic seat fi Fir Park as well MB!

09 Jan 2014 09:24:00
Chances are there will be afew thousand with there souvenir seats aswel

09 Jan 2014 14:38:59
Surely HB has more fashion sense than to turn up in flares.Stevie

08 Jan 2014 19:27:22
Official club statement regarding the latest lies from Scotland's newest club's supporters.


IN response to stories in today's media concerning Celtic, the club has released the following statement.

'Celtic Football Club operates to the highest standards and with the utmost integrity. At a time when the Club is committed to investing in and improving areas around Celtic Park, not only for Celtic supporters but for the benefit of the local community, it is sad that these baseless accusations have been raised with the European Commission.

Any suggestion that Celtic has been the beneficiary of state aid is preposterous - as ludicrous as any suggestion that we have benefited from soft loans from our bankers. The historic transactions referred to were negotiated with the Council on commercial terms at market rates.

The Club will assist the Commission fully with the process and will not be deterred from our work to improve our local area.'

I would hope that Celtic are monitoring the press with this. I have no doubt that the rags will be aiming for the blue pound and be covering it.

This is another reason why we should be going for the jugular with this new club.Celtic have been, in my opinion, pretty lax.They claimed everyone was 'putting the boot in., well let's hope we actually do start to look at trying to kill them off forever.

It is ludicrous and I'm happy to see Celtic address the situation quickly.

However, I wish some of these self appointed fan reps would go take a hike or at least lose their internet connection.

First up during the RFC debacle where their overspending and misadministration of a tax avoidance scheme sees them go down the pan we have a couple of Celtic fans who decide to write a book about Rangers and try and flog it to the Sun Newspaper. The Sun of all newspapers. Then held Q&A session charging fellow Celtic fans money to explain the book which can be summed up as Rangers overspent, were greedy, probably cheated and died.

These Celtic fans then went onto call other Celtic fans sc*m, do they still have Celtic followers - Yes, why of why? If these Celtic fans were so concerned about the person element in the Celtic support, why write a book about friggin Rangers?

Now in some tit-for-tit, it would seem some of Rangers self appointed reps have complained about Celtic to the European Commission over deals relating to land around Celtic Park. An inconvenience I've no doubt the Club can do without.

Our attendances are down, is the only way this is going to stop with some when the Club at Ibrox are playing Celtic again?

I thought it was hilarious when they went bust and still do but the extent some obsessed over every little detail and seem to have forgotten how to support Celtic is just embarrassing.

Well said mrs e

@2 great post as always Mrs E. Sadly the support issue is a wee bit the sign of the times. Money is tight and the overall cost of attending is hard to bear for many people. It's not just the ticket, it's the transport, weather, grub, (refreshments!), family commitments/priorities etc. etc. add to that the competition from TV and it's not easy. On top of that, the gap between us and the also-rans is so huge that many 'supporters' don't see the need to attend what is a foregone conclusion.
As for the obsession by some with regards to the demise and head in sand across the city, you are bang on the money again.
I would also hate to think that there is any foundation in the latest investigation of the land deal and the club statement reflects the truth. However, it deflects the poor sods over Ibrokes from the harsh realities of admin2.

I posted down a bit about attendances but I suppose Tiny Tim its not really anyone else's beeswax why fans don't attend the games.

But I agree it is a sign of the times and there's a few factors to take into account. I like either Monkey or Hamilton bhoy mentioned about fans being honest about the real reason to.

I seen someone claiming they were 'poor' (actually used this word) however in the other breath mentioned they have Sky TV and broadband? Celtic have given out free tickets and provided transport so I dunno. Suppose TV is a factor as well, if you wanted to see the football in days gone-by you had to leave the house but that can be said of quite a few things. Modern technology eh?

With regards competition in the league, this is not Celtic's fault and I know most sports fans do love the buzz of big games etc - goes without saying. However, we do need to accept the way things have panned out as the Club at Ibrox are not going to be able to provide serious competition for the foreseeable. Celtic would have to do something monumentally stupid or some other Club in Scotland would need a mega serious cash injection by an eccentric billionaire.

09 Jan 2014 13:43:27
A could understand the far travelled celtic fans with ST not turning up because of money but if you stay in or around glasgow and have a ticket how much extra does it need to cost . Public transport get all day bus tickets for bout £4 am sure, petrol bout £5, a don't buy food at celtic park so dnt think that need to be an issue either unless you can't go a couple hours with out food. And if you can't afford the pub get a bottle of tonic lol

It seems our blue 'friends' have gone somewhat nuts over the course of the past few seasons and this is another example of the madness and obsession they have with us. Not to mention the 'we're the victims' nonsense, Durrant showing their true colours in the paper on how their players need protection. I suggest all fans, of every team, go to UEFA site and old now defunct rangers page, click on the section about incorrect information and point out that the page has not been updated since 2010. UEFA do not discriminate between club and company. Let's settle this elephant in the room once and for all. Scott

I bought a council house and land plot for £20k twenty five years ago and sold it two years later for £91k.
Was that government assistance?
Surely the complaint is to the EC (non football authority) complaining about the Government authorities doing something wrong NOT the club.
Similar complaints should be made regarding the dubious Murray Park land deal. There's more to that than meets the eye.

08 Jan 2014 18:31:35
Happy New Year Ed. Have not posted for ages. Feeling better now and ready to get my views across. Stv tonight reported that Neil has said we are looking at Turkish players. what's wrong with the young talent in Scotland. i'm sick of money being wasted on foreigh duds. Opinions please. Julieghirl

08 Jan 2014 19:51:54
Seen that to but my first thoughts was is he just saying thi because that's where he is, also said the Turkish are on there way up as a nation again.
But agree with you would rather see our youngsters

I would rather see our own youngsters, Scottish or not. The problem is that clubs within our league want more from us than they do from other clubs. Johnny Russell being an example when Dundee Utd wanted double from us.

Niall

Someone posted towards the end of last week Julie, not sure who or how much truth is in it but I can believe the board share this opinion based on recent years: The reason we don't pursue Scottish talent is they don't have the same sell on value as a player from Holland, Korea, England, etc would have. Think Victor Wanyama blows that out the water though, look at their national team - yet they have both Vic + McDonald Mariga (his brother) who have been bought by Southampton + Inter respectively for €10m plus Dennis Oliech who was sold a few years ago for around €5m!

Well said Julie. I for one love a Scot in our side. More than just one preferably. I'm made my FIFA side all Scots bar Gavin Gunning and amido balde believe it or not who turns out to be a 79 and his career isn't peaked yet IMO. Oh and big fraz was english of course. Stayed until he left for bigger things. Replaced him with Simone columbi Italian keeper. But you need some flair right?
Anyway I won the champions leaguea nd Europa on a shoe string
True story
ParadiseAndy

08 Jan 2014 16:08:52
THE FACTS ABOUT SO CALLED LAND DEALS

State aid refers to private companies who are given preferential treatment by the government, in the form of sweetheart deals, favourable application of regulations, precedence over other firms in the same area of business and so on and so forth.

What it does is assures that Company A does not get a tax-payer funded advantage over Company B. It's a perfectly valid law, has perfectly valid reasoning behind it, and just to be on the safe side, the entire thing is run by the European Commission to keep national governments out of the process of investigating complaints.

That's very important in making the first consideration here, and the first consideration here is this; the European Commission gets TENS OF THOUSANDS of these complaints EVERY YEAR. When they do, they open a file, they ask for preliminary information.

That's the stage this "process" is at. They've recieved a complaint and are looking into it. A bit like what would happen if you went to the local police station and said there was a man in fingerless day-glo gloves hanging around outside your house, whistling The Sash My Father Wore, and playing with his c*ck. (Some of you know who I mean).

So, the state aid commission may very well be "looking into Celtic", but none of us should be worrying about it, now or in the future.

Let's talk, for example, about the specifics of their allegations.

According to this article, and other demented stuff I've been reading online, Celtic were sold land at knock-down rates, including the Lennoxtown training ground, which they then revalued at much more than the sales price.

What, you mean a wee bit like buying a dead football club's assets for £5 million and then valueing them at ten times that for a share issue?

Clutching at straws has never been this blatant.

The article specifically mentions Glasgow City Council, and the way the council bosses are sweating, along with Celtic, over the Lennoxtown deal in particular. I do like that part of it, especially as the Lennoxtown deal was rubber stamped by EAST RENFREWSHIRE COUNCIL and not GCC. Some of their forums appear to have noticed this piece of self-****ery and have gotten around it by bleating that the Scottish government ought not to have allowed this to happen.

It's the Scottish Government who allowed this all to happen, you see.

What's that, I hear some of you ask? The SNP government?

Surely there's some mistake . that part don't fit . ?

Of course not, because one of the foundation stones of this whole "conspiracy" rests on the notion that all of this is possible only because of Celtic minded individuals in The Labour Party, with their connections to the Co-Operative Bank.

Said land, you see, was later used as security on a loan from the Co-Operative Bank, and that just has to be because we had John Reid on the board of directors. You see how mad this is?

Except that John Reid wasn't on the baord when this deal was done .

That part eludes them. They are spinning a Grand Conspiracy the likes of which the writers of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion could never even have dreamed. It's the Unseen Fenian Hand .

So let's see . we've gone from a conspiracy involving John Reid, Brian Wilson, Steven Purcell and the Labour Party in Glasgow to one that now involves East Renfrewshire Council, the Scottish Government, Alex Salmond and the SNP.

rubbish, surely The Vatican are involved in this as well .

That Unseen Fenian Hand sure do get around .

Forgetting for a moment how mad this all is, forgetting the fact the European Commission gets a hundred of these complaints an hour, let's check out what they hold up as "evidence" of this.

Other clubs HAVE been investigated under State Aid allegations. Clubs in Spain are the subject of wide ranging probes. I'll start by telling you what is different about those cases, okay?

Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Bilbao and Osasuna are being investigated because the Spanish government has allowed them to dodge legal requirements which govern football club's legal constitution. Valencia are being investigated for recieving tax breaks. Madrid are subject to a further inquiry because the state actually BOUGHT it's training ground for a vastly inflated sum, which bore no resemblence to the market value, and four of the clubs ran into financial difficulties and were actually BAILED OUT BY THE TAX PAYER .

The "allegation" facing Celtic is that local authorities sold some land to Celtic on the cheap, and that land was revalued and used to secure loans.

Without getting too technical let me tell you that there is nothing UNUSUAL, far less ILLEGAL, about any of that.

Let me give you an example.

Say you went to the council to buy a patch of disused waste ground in your neighbourhood, because you wanted to build a 5 star hotel on it. You would need to obtain planning permission, carry out a feasibility study, jump through multiple costly hoops and satisfy the council that you weren't building a meth-making factory or something .

If you did all that, you would be sold the land, at its MARKET VALUE . in other words, as undeveloped land.

The minute you start construction, you know what happens? Your undeveloped land suddenly becomes something else . and the value shoots up exponentially .

Celtic were sold Lennoxtown for just under £500,000. The value, according to the rabid fools on these sites, is now worth around £30,000,000 . which is the basis of their claim.

Yeah? Well that MIGHT have something to do with the fact that Celtic took a piece of agricultural land on which nothing stood except cows and sheep, and SPENT £8 MILLION ON IT to turn it into something more .

It's too much to ask these muppets to understand how complicated financial transactions between businesses and government authorities works at a local and national level, but for God's sakes, is it really too difficult to understand that your house value increases when you add a patio, a double garage and put a hot tub in the living room?

It bothers me than none of them has ever watched a DIY show.

The same applies to the purchase of land around Celtic Park, which they are screaming about because that land has sharply risen in value since it was purchased . which is what tends to happen when you've bought land which is designated part of a redevelopment zone . The whole Commonwealth Games thing and all that .

There are two types of land deal purchases where Celtic would have had to pay far more than they did for Lennoxtown and for the ground on which they're building the Celtic Triangle.

Commercial development and residential development.

Neither of these applies to either the Lennoxtown or Westhorn land purchases, and so the "land valuations" being used on certain Rangers forums are the stuff of absolute nonsense. Furthermore, those valuations apply in cases where the land itself is ready for building on and doesn't require infrastructure spending to get it up to a standard which will enable the first bricks to be laid.

Using the simplistic tool of the National Archives Land Valuation figures, certain sites have concluded that these purchases were completed at grossly lower numbers than should have been the case.

Indeed, Celtic argued with Glasgow City Council for a long period of time over what the REAL valuation of Westhorn was, only arriving at the purchase price in 2007 . and the purchase price itself, of a little over £650,000 is not even the full extent of the story .

As part of that deal, Celtic handed the council what used to be the Celtic bus park, they sold land back to the council, that they owned inside the Athletes Village, for £250,000 . and they agreed to pay the council a £32,000 annual rental fee for use of the bus park at the National Indoor Sports Arena . So, the £650,000 "sweetheart" deal Celtic got on that one wasn't quite as cut and dried as the "author" likes to think.

In short, today's story is the disreputable guff I thought it was last night. It is straw-clutching, wishful thinking, blue-sky day dreaming which leads nowhere except to the grave . because all of it is going on at a time when their own club rots from the inside. The Rangers Standard has reached for the stars on this one. Shame they didn't get much higher than the loony-bin ceiling . JR HH

Been laughing at this all day mate.This nonsense has been blown out of the water by a few different sources, and for a few different reasons.

Seems it was started by that well known attention hound Chris Graham. Graham has a track record, second only to sneaky, in sucking up to any one with a seat in the directors area at ibrokes. He has been joined in this fabricated straw clutching by McMurdo, not usually his biggest supporter.

With these two one thing can be sure, plenty of sevconians will be slavering and wailing at the moon over this, so more fun to be had yet.For us.

Given their track record if McTurdo and Graham invested in funeral parlours people would stop dying!

08 Jan 2014 16:38:58
Seems a well wrote out story m8 only wish a was a smart b*stard to understand it all.
What am getting is the zombies are digging deep to say we've done something wrong.
Am a write? Lol

I've not seen anything about his today and still can't see anything.

I have read before about Real Madrid and Dutch Clubs

Real Madrid and state aid - Football clubs under investigation

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/22037966

Are we now to expect Celtic will be able to afford Ibrahimovic and maybe Xavi?

And now I see it about Celtic

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-25658184

The European Commission is looking into claims that Celtic Football Club broke EU rules in land deals involving Glasgow City Council.

Officials in Brussels said they had asked for detailed information after receiving a number of complaints.

Well written just a couple of mistakes east Dumbartonshire council not renfrew and it was partially on the grounds of an old hospital Lennoxcastle Hospital which I am sure would have cost a pretty penny to demolish and make right before building work. I don't see the problem with a local council helping a new venture set up in thier area that will bring employment to their and if I remember right the tory party were in charge of east dunbartonshire at the time (it covers bearsden and lenzie)

Well what would you do if you were one of them? You imagined that you were superior to others and were taught that all your life. The most publicly acceptable manifestation of that is your football team. You self-style yourself as 'the people' (whatever the f***ing hell that means). You brownose who you think are the right people. Then after all that, the football club goes bankrupt due to avoiding paying its dues to the very establishment you loudly and proudly have brownosed all your life. Is it any wonder you become desperate? All you have for all your brownosing is a mouthfull of sh1t.

08 Jan 2014 13:37:54
Just read that the top tiers at Celtic Park are to be closed for the cup game v Aberdeen. Even though the match is live on tv I find this quite embarrassing. The reason given was lack of interest in the game.

Aberdeen, if current form is anything to go by, seem to be much improved and they will also bring a healthy support for the match. Anybody has the right to attend any game they want, and I also understand we live in tough times for many people, but some fans need to have a look at themselves.

The clamour for tickets for the CL shows there is a market for watching Celtic.If you can afford a CL package then you can afford to attend some domestic games.So why not a Scottish Cup tie against a seemingly rejuvenated Aberdeen?

The competition and playing standard is not great, we all know that, but I have supported worse Celtic teams than this! Surely you either support Celtic or you dont.If so, you go when you can, don't you?

I only use one other site or forum than here, won't take two guesses to work out who's board I use, but there's a thread on there just now asking people their situation: Relocated, banned, boycotting, no ST - reasons, etc. Most of the comments, people are avoiding games at Celtic Park due to fan harrassment + treatment of the GB or due to the lack of transfer activity, others simply can't afford to go to all games so choose away days over the graveyard.

08 Jan 2014 15:23:24
Agree with most matches GJ as the tickets seem to have been bought anyway and fans still don't turn up. Extra games over and above ST and champions leagu games at this time of year mite be to much for some people, having said that there should be more than half a stadium full

GJ only the fans themselves would be able to tell you why they don't turn up but I've no doubt there is a whole lot of different reasons:-


The weather
Time of year
Lack of a playmaker in the team
Attitude of some players/team
No Competition
The GB being reallocated seats
The PLC
The Chief Exec
The Manager
Affordability
Health reasons
Just cannae be bothered
etc etc etc

On New Years Day over 50000 Celtic fans had tickets for the match (so rules out affordability) and I'd say less than half of them turned up. Without asking all the fans with tickets and access to free transport why they did not go, I've no idea.

The domestic home game after Hearts and Motherwell - where we played really well and scored 12 goals over 2 game was more than half empty so that rules out the teams attitude.

The only ones I'd have serious qualms with is a fan with a ticket and transport who did not go yet sits on sits on social media all day slagging a club that is supposed to be dead to them!

I know I don't go ALL the time but I certainly would not pay good money for a Season Ticket to sit in the house most games.

We all like a bit of banter about other Clubs but supporting Celtic has to come first surely?

08 Jan 2014 16:48:55
hB are the fans being totally honest with themselves?
Attendances wer down last year aswel when the GB wer still there . The attendances have been going down year by year the biggest drops came when rangers died so for me weather fans like to admit it they miss the challenge not rangers but a challenge and it just so happens Rangrrs are the only challenge in Scottish football. Sorry wer b4 they died.
Al bet when the zombies reach the top the attendances will rise and if we play them in cup it would be a fool house.

The attendances were down last year, yes - but they weren't down 15-25k three games in a row, were they? Regardless of what figures Celtic printed for Hibs, Hearts + Partick; none were above 25,000. Celtic released figures as 46, 065; 46, 058 + 52, 670 for the last three home games. You'd be lucky if there was 60,000 between the three games!

08 Jan 2014 19:58:02
Last year around the same time the attendances were also down to tops 30,000.
thistle game ad say wasnt far off that hibs easily more.
If we got a home game in cup against zombies what do you think the crowd would be like? don't think any1 could argue with that.

08 Jan 2014 23:20:45
Hopefully if we sign a few quality players in the transfer window and get the gb issue sorted then I would hope this would get ar.es on seats for our so called biggest game of the year so far. Although the top tier is shut if we make the final there will be the usual greetin about folk no getting a tct.

08 Jan 2014 08:10:23
I Was Reading The Newspaper Today It Said Iminov Fernando 19 Years old From Portugal Is Up For Sale He Plays With Braga he's Had 22 Starts With In Two Seasons And Scored 11 Goals 2 Goals Against FC Porto He Plays RB Or RW Braga Want Around 3.9 M For The 19 Year Old Also Everton Roma Swansea And CSKA Moscow Are All Having A Look It Looks Worth A Shot What Do You Think Bhoys? And Derby Have Want Away Barry Ireland 27 Year Old He Wants Playing Time He Plays CB Mabye For Europe We Could Use Him he's Played 71 Games For Championship Teams West Ham Had A Look At Him 3 Years Ago But Signed Tompkins Happy New Year Bhoys