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Ha ha.
There a few smaller grounds dotted around Glasgow. God forbid Murrayfield was unavailable - they might have to use one.Quote:
Originally Posted by ArdeeBhoy
For some reason that was the first one sprang to mind :D
Mouse,
If not one of the three in Glasgow, then one of the three in Edinburgh...
Gretna is miles away!
:rolleyes: You're as far out as fanad lighthouseQuote:
Originally Posted by ArdeeBhoy
Setanta are showing Manchester City against CSKA Moscow instead of Juventus-Real. This must be some sort of crap joke.
Just how do you imagine UEFA can order a game to be played at Murrayfield?Quote:
Originally Posted by A N Mouse
Perhaps UEFA can order a game to be played at Croke Park for that matter?:rolleyes:
All that time spent waiting for the GAA to pass a motion at congress when all that had to be done was Platini to issue an order that the GAA open up the gates:rolleyes:
It's up to the club to find out from the Rugby authority if Murrayfield is available for rent, and could they see it in their heart to let Celtic use it. UEFA can't mandate a game to be played on the grounds of another sport.
Fir Park might be ruled out for safety reasons. Way too small to deal with the hordes clambering to get inside.The club Celtic draw might also want the game to be played at a 50 -60k sized stadium. Liverpool or Manchester might be realistic, depends on what is available inside Scotland.
As I have always said, it's a remote chance that the game be moved out of Scotland but it can't be totally ruled out at this stage.
It's a no brainer which game looks to be the game of the evening.Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
It's on sky sports isn't it? Gerry "about that goal"Armstrong is co commentator.
I'll go for Juve,
so put your money on Madrid.
Not bad from Casillas, making a save with his boot, a save worthy of an average, 2 bob handball goalie.
Ronaldo getting plenty of bird tonight. If Howard Webb does fall for one of Ronaldo's strokes, there will be a riot.
The perfectly struck penalty from Juve puts them one up.
I thought it wasn't a peno, that the defender clearly got a foot on the ball, then the replay showed Webb got it spot on.
The turf is a bit slippy out there, players are picking up yellows for sliding through with the tackle.
Balls.
Unballs.
Petered out after Juve equalised, as if Juve had a 'knowing' that Copenhagen were going to hold on in the other game. It will be tight for Juve but you never can rule out theGermansItalians in a qualification group.
Dwight Yorke as a pundit? whats the world coming to? next we will be having pundits running our team. Dwight thought the Madrid defender made a rashional tackle to concede the peno.
Derry played Gretna in Fir Park.Quote:
Originally Posted by ArdeeBhoy
This was Gretna's home patch:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._-_1157411.jpg
Aye, but WTF have either to do with Fanad Lighthouse...
Celtic are highly unlikely to play a CL qualifier at Fir Park.
Like was said earlier, there's probably only 6 grounds in Scotland that can accommodate a Celtic home game. No-one in their right mind would take it to Motherwell.
If I were a Derry supporter, I'd be a bit shy to be posting a photo, highlighting another club's ramshackle 'stadium'.
http://www.footballzz.co.uk/img/esta...brandywell.jpg
Ah, c'mon, not even the Brandywell's infamously-sloping pitch is as lopsided as Gretna's there!
Or maybe that's just amateur photography for you... :(
To begin with I was slightly bemused by the presumptuousness of this.
But having looked into it it seems incredibly cynical, and slightly sickening.
First up is there any reason they couldn't use their own stadium (or for that matter Ibrox or Hampden) the week of 16th July?
Now this year at the same stage of the competition they played Cliftonville - attendance < 30K. Ignoring the big 3 Glasgow stadia, only one other venue in Scotland could accommodate that many. But let’s face it, if they're only half filling their home, what are the chances of doing any better in a big ground in Edinburgh.
So what's the solution to having a half empty stadium? Pack out a smaller venue? No, if on there was a way of filling a big stadium. Some less discerning fans willing to go and watch anything as long as it say celtic on the tin. I think I got it - thousands of rabid wallets just waiting to be emptied, maybe even enough to fill a big stadium - if only they could take the franchise on the road - the nfl do it all the time, what's the problem?
Is there a photo edit software program in existence that could possibly add a bit of stadium gloss to that photo of the Brandywell?Quote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
An illusion of a stadium?
Hampden Pk is definitely out and wont be used for football until well after the Games. Celtic Park in all probability will be in the process of preparation mode for the opening ceremony. Don't know about Ibrox.Quote:
Originally Posted by A N Mouse
What was the cause of this?: http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/champ...-in-amsterdam/
Quote:
Originally Posted by RTÉ
It was a poor game for Celtic against Ajax. The squad looked to be stretched thin to provide 11 players, never mind a sub of any quality who can make an impact on a game. Commons just back from another injury was misfiring all night. Samaras and Amsterdam coffee shops don't mix.
It wasn't as poor as many of Celtic's away efforts in the CL but by recent standards in the CL, it was the worst.
Some more on the trouble in Amsterdam: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/...171744814.html
I did think it a bit unusual to read about Celtic fans getting caught up in running battles with police.Quote:
...
Upon returning to the town square from the match, tales of violent skirmishes involving Celtic fans, the Dutch police and undercover policemen were all the rage among some dazed visitors.
Most visiting fans looked like they would have had trouble attempting to make sense of the city's infamous Red Light district, but there was apparently enough life in them to take on the cops.
As Aston Villa manager and former Celtic captain Paul Lambert pointed out on Thursday, it is difficult to swallow the belief that travelling fans were the main culprits of such goings on.
"I played for many years at Celtic and I never encountered any bother," said Lambert. "I played in the UEFA Cup final and we took over maybe 80-90,000 to Seville and there was not one arrest while we were there. Knowing the club and the fans the way I do, I find it incredible. I'm not sure they would have started anything."
A more believable tale comes from an eye witness who claimed hooded Ajax casuals emerging from the shadows were guilty of prompting the trouble.
The club's statement about a "high degree of provocation" is watertight.
When the drink is in the wit is out. It does not take much to set off a chaotic sequence of events by tossing a few bottles like petrol on a bonfire, especially when it seems to have been pre-planned by Dutch hooligans, but there is something deeply sinister about how local police handled the visiting fans.
Why was there a need for undercover police to mingle among the travelling fans? How many of those involved in the trouble had leanings towards Ajax? How many had a penchant for unnecessary violence?
These are all issues that have to be addressed as much as the police victims left strewn across the city centre amid the carnage. Judge for yourself on the video. Police training in the art of appropriate force is tossed to the wind like the flying debris that apparently made its way into the saturated surroundings.
From this vantage point of a good day out turned rotten, I would suggest some of those Dutch police were not acting in self-defence, but were grown men looking for trouble behind a badge. In my opinion, grown men looking to inflict damage with needless acts of violence. A pub frequented by Celtic fans publicly apologised to the visitors for the treatment doled out to them.
Can you imagine the outrage there would be in this country if a policeman began laying into a football fan with such an assault? Can you imagine the furore there would be if a British officer encouraged a dog to take a chunk of a fan's knee while his colleague held him? It seems to me that police brutality has never been so obvious.
Ajax casuals had also invaded a bar the night before the match to make off with a Celtic flag. It is fair to say Ajax boast an element of supporters whose behaviour is at odds with the tranquil surroundings of their city.
Their supporters are facing punishment from UEFA for their conduct in Glasgow a fortnight ago, and their brandishing of an offensive banner on Wednesday. Celtic have turned up at various places on the continent in recent times with little trouble including cities such as Milan, Barcelona and Lisbon.
This onlooker is not for one minute suggesting Celtic fans are whiter than white. No club can take 13,000 with them to the Netherlands, and expect everybody to behave themselves.
One aggressive sort had a go at me for donning an orange top, suggesting the lowest common denominator can still board a plane; but the vast majority of the Glasgow club's followers travel well around Europe. Ask the mayor of Seville about Celtic's fans.
That Celtic's supporters should run into such chaotic scenes in the Netherlands says more about Ajax fans and the incompetence of the Amsterdam Police than it does Celtic's travelling support.
"This happens all the time with Ajax," an apologetic Dutch fan told me the other night.
He was right. Manchester United fans were confronted by Ajax casuals during their Europa League match in Amsterdam last February, while around 25 Manchester City followers were picked up by police after battling with Ajax fans last October.
On the plane home yesterday, a ravaged Celtic follower made one telling statement that suggested Ajax's fans had sickened him off the joint, if not the joint. "I would never go back to Amsterdam to watch Celtic," he said.
Sad but wise. Amsterdam is a football city, but one that is better visiting when there is no football on.
BT outbids SKY for champions league rights. Over a billion quid for next 3 years. Just what football needs - more money!
Yes but on the other hand it is good that Sky's near monopoly on sport is being broken.
On a separate note, the Ajax goal against Celtic was excellent. Surprised it didn't get more coverage but if it had been scored by a bigger team, perhaps it would.
Those minnows Ajax. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
City hung on for a good 4 1/2 minutes there.
Snow/hail in Istanbul, stops play.
They need a few more snow shovels, at this rate it will take an hour to clear the lines.
Benfica are giving it welly against PSG, probably all in vain though as Olympiakos are a goal and a man ahead in their game.
I always believed they'd do it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
Anderlecht down to 10 men, with nothing to play for, certainly rattled Olympiakos in the 2nd half, then they lost a 2nd player for a last man tackle, the defender might have got a touch on the ball - I don't know. Anderlecht now down to 9 were still in with a chance for an equaliser, then they lost their goalie, for a dead-cert red card tackle and the penalty was dispatched - just about, in off the post. Game finally over.
I think the key moment was Anderlecht losing their goalie and going down to 8 players so soon after going down to 9, as Mick McCarthy claimed (after the qual against Croatia) that playing 9 men is a highly dangerous proposition - you just don't know what will happen as a wounded team throws caution to the wind. If only Anderlecht had been able to be that dangerous team with 9 players for a period of time.
Juventus are out, they lost just now to Galatasaray, Senijder scored for them in the 85th min. The game was resumed at lunchtime today after being suspended last night due to snow. Good goal and good tactical game from Mancini's side, Juventus look very toothless 6 points from 6 games is the worst by an Italian side in the group stage since 2008 - even if Milan and Napoli lose tonight they will still have more than 6 points.
Apparently, Pellegrini was unware his side required just one more goal to top the group: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25328129Quote:
Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin
Quote:
Originally Posted by BBC Sport
When he was informed about the goal difference thing, Pellegrini was quick to assume an air of supreme defiance, as in 'we don't care who we meet we're not concerned about such petty details as topping the group'.
Tonight's menu looks more attractive than last night's.
What's the main game, Napoli v Arsenal? Maybe if Napoli score before half time.
Isn't Napoli one of these 'see ..... and die' cities?
You could have 3 teams on 12 points in that group
Chelsea should wrap up their group, leaving a humdinger between Schalke and Basle.
Milan V Ajax should be another worth watching game.
Zenit should stay ahead of Porto, leaving no Portuguese team in the last 16.
Celtic held out for a good 6 minutes there.
There's some ex player who's co-commentator on the Barca celtic game, fck me but that guy just spends the whole time complaining, every time he's allowed to open his mouth it's to moan about this or that, often enough he keeps moaning until the replay proves him wrong then shifts to moan about something else.
Makes Ray sound like a beacon of optimism.
Obvious interference in shaping the line up for the last 16.
Basel down to 10 against Schalke and Marseilles down to 10 against Dortmund. The common denominator there is .... Germany.
Absolutely shocking dive by the Marseilles player to earn his second yellow. It was Brady-esque.
http://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net...gif?1386793474
2-0 Schalke now. They also fluked their way past PAOK in the play-off round.
Schalke's 2nd appeared to be a mile offside, but haven't had a good look at it.