SPL Discussion Thread

**Junior** · 22/09/2005, 7:16 PM

a nil nil draw will do me. With the odd injury & red card thrown in for good measure!! Is that unsporting? ah well......................

**Junior** · 26/09/2005, 11:31 AM

Good win for the jambo's - thoroughly deserved 1-0 victory. 4 first half subs through injury (2 rangers & 2 hearts). A few pen decisions not given 1 for each side. 8 wins out of 8. Play Celtic at Celtic Park in 2 weeks time, their first away game versus Celtic or Rangers. Rangers travel to Milan, even if by some miracle they can manage a result, the fixture congestion will surely affect what appears to be a fairly weak squad. Hearts remain 5 points clear of celtic on 25 points.

Celtic beat ICT in a fairly scrappy affair. Poor finishing on Celtics part. Beattie scored a brace after we went 1-0 down, though he could (and should) have had a hatrick in the first half. Second spot on 19 points

A good 3-1 away victory for Hibs at Motherwell keeping them in 3rd spot. thirs spot on 16 points.

Killie 4th on 14 points and Rangers fifth on 13 points. Is there a risk Rangers won't make the split????? :-)

CIS qtr final draw see Celtic host Rangers whilst Hibs will surely fancy their chances of a semi final spot.

Celtic v Rangers
Dunfermline Athletic v Hibernian
Livingston v Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Motherwell v Aberdeen

Finally it didn't take our own Graham Barrett long to join the long queue of paranoid fenians in scottish fitba albeit not from a Glasgow stance!!!

GRAHAM Barrett is convinced that the bias of Scottish officials towards the game's bigger clubs denied Livingston their first league victory under the stewardship of Paul Lambert at Pittodrie on Saturday.

http://sport.scotsman.com/football.cfm?id=1993812005

**sligoman** · 26/09/2005, 6:11 PM

Hearts striker Roman Bednar faces an anxious wait to discover the extent of the damage to his knee.

Bednar helped Hearts maintain their 100% league record when he netted the only goal of the game against Rangers on Saturday.

But joy quickly turned to agony when he limped out of the action with suspected lateral ligament damage.

Scottish Premier League leaders Hearts are enjoying their best start to a league campaign for over 90 years but Czech star Bednar fears he could be forced to miss out on weeks of action.

**Poor Student** · 01/10/2005, 4:33 PM

Good win for Celtic today, 5-0 against Livingston at Almonvale. Rangers won 5-1 today too against Dunfermline at Ibrox. Apparently not as convincing a win as the scoreline suggested. Noel Hunt grabbed Dunfermline's solitary goal.

**CollegeTillIDie** · 01/10/2005, 5:34 PM

Originally Posted by Poor Student

Good win for Celtic today, 5-0 against Livingston at Almonvale. Rangers won 5-1 today too against Dunfermline at Ibrox. Apparently not as convincing a win as the scoreline suggested. Noel Hunt grabbed Dunfermline's solitary goal.

Well always have thought Noel Hunt to be a good player. One of nature's gentelmen as well. But then he's from Waterford... isn't that right Partizan?

**Poor Student** · 01/10/2005, 9:21 PM

Originally Posted by CollegeTillIDie

Well always have thought Noel Hunt to be a good player. One of nature's gentelmen as well. But then he's from Waterford... isn't that right Partizan?

He's someone who the Rangers fans quickly took a dislike to. He's a player who brings good character to the pitch and a very hard worker. Was disappointed to see him leave to head to Scotland. He's never quite set the place alight over there often not finding it so easy to tie down a starting role.

**Plastic Paddy** · 02/10/2005, 7:57 AM

Originally Posted by Poor Student

He's someone who the Rangers fans quickly took a dislike to. He's a player who brings good character to the pitch and a very hard worker. Was disappointed to see him leave to head to Scotland. He's never quite set the place alight over there often not finding it so easy to tie down a starting role.

Like it or not, the fact that he's Irish is the main reason for their dislike of him. It has nothing to do with his "good character" or hard work.

PP

**CollegeTillIDie** · 02/10/2005, 3:16 PM

Originally Posted by Plastic Paddy

Like it or not, the fact that he's Irish is the main reason for their dislike of him. It has nothing to do with his "good character" or hard work.

PP

Well I think it's not only his nationality it is probably to do with what foot he digs with as well, that has him out of favour in the orange corner.

**Poor Student** · 02/10/2005, 3:39 PM

Now now gents don't stray down that path.

Hearts finally failed to win a game today. They snatched a 2-2 draw with ten men. An unusual hattrick by captain Pressley for Hearts. One O.G. and two goals in the other end.

The validity of Hearts' challenge for the title will be tested in a fortnight when they play Celtic in Glasgow. Celtic have been quietly gathering steam since their awful start to the season. If they can beat Hearts they'll go level on points.

**CollegeTillIDie** · 04/10/2005, 4:51 PM

Originally Posted by dcfcsteve

Sounds like a laugh Gerrit, but I despise 'fans' who do this.

I'll bet they never go to watch Irish League football and have turned their back on their local teams.

Apparently there's even an Accrington Stanley supporters club in Omagh. That's the same Omagh who's own senior club side recently went out of business, by the way....

The Dublin branch of the Blackburn Rovers fan club has had up to 400 members in recent years - and mostly Irish. Doubtless all real passionate football fans - who couldn't even tell you if Tolka was on the north or south side of the city. Absolutely absurd. Whipping's too good for them...

Well said Steve lad

**Poor Student** · 04/10/2005, 4:57 PM

CTID lets not resurface that. That kind of talk is contrary to the rules of this thread and forum.

**CollegeTillIDie** · 04/10/2005, 5:11 PM

What the part about people turning their back on their local teams?
I believe they( i.e the ones down here) should burn their passports and go to the Brit Embassy and get one for where their real allegiance lies !

**joeSoap** · 05/10/2005, 10:29 AM

Celtic scout out Clarke
05/10/2005 - 10:16:59

Celtic have appointed Ray Clarke as their new head of international scouting.

The former Tottenham, Ajax and Bruges player joins the Hoops from Newcastle where was chief scout.

Clarke will be involved in restructuring the club’s entire operation throughout Britain, Europe and beyond in a role which have overall responsibility for all professional scouting.

He previously worked with Celtic manager Gordon Strachan at Coventry and Southampton.

Strachan said: “It is a big job to reconstruct the club’s scouting operation, but Ray will be more than capable of doing this.

“His experience and footballing contacts throughout the world will ensure he will be a great asset to Celtic both in the present and the future.”

**tetsujin1979** · 05/10/2005, 2:21 PM

Interview with Nakamura on fifa.com - http://www.fifa.com/en/news/intervie...ticleid=110314

**sligoman** · 16/10/2005, 3:57 PM

Celtic draw with Hearts 1-1 and Rangers draw with Dundee United 0-0.

------------P---W--D--L--F---A--Pts
Hearts------10--8--2--0--24--7---26
Celtic------10---7--2--1--25--10--23
Hibernian---10---6--1--3--19--12---19
Rangers-----10--5--2--3--18--10---17

Rangers falling behind already

**Gerrit** · 16/10/2005, 4:46 PM

Are we finally, after years of boredom, going to have a new champion instead of always one of the same old two Glaswegian clubs?

I am starting to really believe in it. Hearts impressed so far, but we didn't know if they could keep it up when facing the Old Firm. Now we know they can: they played both Rangers and Celtic and none of them was able to beat them. I start to really believe the Old Firm will be challenged for real for the first time in ages...

Not that I am a Hearts fan (Inverness for me!) but it would be so nice to see another team winning the championship and stop the boring two-teams-show.

**geysir** · 20/10/2005, 10:10 PM

What do you make of the story that Martin O Neill is on a retainer of £1/2m
for the purposes of consultancy? I can't imagine Gordon to be on the phone to him every night.

**eirebhoy** · 21/10/2005, 7:54 AM

Originally Posted by geysir

What do you make of the story that Martin O Neill is on a retainer of £1/2m
for the purposes of consultancy? I can't imagine Gordon to be on the phone to him every night.

Basically MON earned Celtic so much success that the club don't want to leave him with no income while he's looking after his wife. Strachan said that's how it works in football and both Coventry and Soton "helped him out" for at least a year after he left them.

**drinkfeckarse** · 21/10/2005, 2:40 PM

Originally Posted by eirebhoy

Basically MON earned Celtic so much success that the club don't want to leave him with no income while he's looking after his wife. Strachan said that's how it works in football and both Coventry and Soton "helped him out" for at least a year after he left them.

You can't be serious Eirebhoy?? I'm not sure if you're taking the p!ss because you're normally on the ball. They are not "helping him" out because he has no income, he earned £1m a year at Celtic for the last 2 seasons. He obviously had that negotiated in his last contract or negotiated a consultancy deal when he left.

Southampton and Coventry wouldn't have helped out Strachan either just for the sake of it, more likely that they continued to pay the remainder of his contract instead of paying him off in one lump sum.

**Junior** · 21/10/2005, 3:20 PM

The Reality is that MON was on a Rolling 12 month contract. He will have negotiated a settlement package for himself and celtic to part company. Celtic will be paying some part (if not all) of that 12 month contract. I think Eirebhoy is not completely wrong, in that the value agreed will in some part be reflective on MON's success and the reasons for his resignation.