maverick sheep

dunno about the whole country, but rome does have plenty of mentalists. however, they seem far more inclined to attack english fans than others - not saying they haven't or wouldn't but when we play european tie in rome i'll be going.

We're not English though.

absolutely agree RDU. Can't imagine having that cunt would do more good than harm over the piece. Besides, Wolves are after a transfer fee so it's not even a possibility. Would much rather ask Wednesday if they'd give bebo to us on loan til Summer.

very sound business move. Rafa's the only person who could come in and rescue Torres. If it doesn't work then Torres goes in the Summer and Abramovich doesn't have to pay compo to change manager for once. if it does, maybe he still sells Torres but makes a lot more of his money back, and doesn't pay compo to change manager for once.

I'm not sure I can quite believe just how much corruption you can get away with if the scale is big enough. Also find this particularly ominous: "We therefore formally request that the relevant authorities investigate how these sensitive details have been released so widely. We have instructed our lawyers to retrospectively review online and printed publications relating to the case to identify whether legal redress is either appropriate or necessary."

Similar to the earlier point about more games Vs Celtic leading to more imbalance, tf, the larger number of people paying to go to the tattiedome is also a factor that is not itself strictly necessary to bring about this situation we're in, but they certainly are factors that, added onto all the other various factors, do bring us to where we are now. On the specific point of the larger number of fans though, my main problem is with the self-perpetuation of it. TV adverts show celtic and rangers, kids see that and consciously/sub-consciously feel they have to pick a side. Even this season the ESPN ads say "ESPN bring you the Old Firm this season". The excuse is that it's what viewers want. So it continues, creating new fans to make what was initially a bullshit excuse become true. And resulting in more people in Aberdeen, Dundee etc etc walking around dressed up like the worst of the weegies. We can restructure all we like, but at the end of the day we'll only get, at best, a least worst situation, because the one necessary factor in creating the current system has been the extreme-capitalism within sport (which in all seriousness is the practical definition of fascism). Celtic and rangers had the money at the right moment to buy the influence and alter the structure of Scottish football so as to ensure they'd grow while others wilted. Until sport balances the power so as to be about grassroots fitness, community involvement, national economic spending (inter-city tourism), and generally just having a good fucking day oot, basically we'll stay as fucked as we currently are, or worse.

the main thing is competition. a league with 3 or 4 games against the same opposition necessarily is weighted in favour of celtic (and previously rangers), and means that teams evolve unavoidably towards a greater imbalance. you 'budget' for a defeat against the teams like celtic, and treat any points gained from them as a bonus. naturally then, the gap the smaller squad has to overcome is increased with the more games there are against them. it's not a fluke that we are more uncompetitive than ever now, and have been increasingly so ever since the top flight was reduced. i completely disagree that it's less attractive to go to hamilton once, rather than kilmarnock twice for eg, or that there will be less 'meaningful' games than currently. but if fans really aren't going to travel to support their team against a greater number of teams then fair enough, that'll give us the league that's natural based on the level of cuntishness in the population. but small leagues with no hope of winning anything is a failed system.

wouldn't touch him with a barge pole.

"Scottish Premier League clubs agree to pursue move to two divisions of twelve clubs with split into 3 leagues of 8 teams after first round of 22 matches."

sorry but i really can't see how people can be positive about that game. they missed two free headers from 4 yards out in the first half. we really were very poor, never looked like scoring ourselves and could've lost by more if celtic had been interested. there was no tempo at all against a team in the middle of international break and champions league. really no excuse when they were there for the taking. tbh it seemed like we were playing for a draw and that they were happy enough to take one as well until it landed in their laps. still though, worse aberdeen teams have taken points off better celtic sides. roll on this weekend and let's at least see enough ambition to go second.

...she turns her hatred in on herself: A member of our club is currently serving a 2 year football banning order which is under appeal at the High Court in Edinburgh. As is common practice, those under football banning orders are frequently visited by the police in the lead-up to football matches to ensure and remind them that they should stay away from the forthcoming match or face arrest. Our member had the pleasure last week of having two police officers visit his home on Wednesday and the same again on Thursday to warn against attending both the Aberdeen and Benfica fixtures. Rightfully believing this level of attention to be wholly unnecessary, our member visited Helen Street Police Station to complain. It was what the police said next which is most important - should they be telling the truth that is. They claimed that they had received a phone call from Jamie Church (Celtic security) who had advised them that our member was planning on going to Lisbon for the Benfica match - he was not. This would have been a difficult task for him regardless considering Strathclyde Police were actually holding his passport until this impromptu meeting. Further still, the police officer expanded by claiming that they are simply acting on the information being supplied to them by Celtic. The Officer stated that they really aren't interested in chasing up Celtic fans and/or members of the Green Brigade however are doing so at the request of the club. The officer went on to claim that Celtic want to see an end to any Republican songs being aired at Celtic matches. However to actually come out and say so could potentially cause upset with a large percentage of the support. Instead Celtic are working with Strathclyde Police in going after individuals one by one in an attempt to secure bans. While we obviously hope for this information to be untrue or at worst twisted we believe it to be a worrying development and it is in the best interest of the Celtic support for it to be public knowledge. It is even more concerning when considering how this information fits in with what the Green Brigade have already told us regarding how their members are currently being targeted. The Govan Emerald CSC and The Temple Tims CSC gives its unequivocal support to the Green Brigade in their current struggle against the police, and indeed any other Celtic supporters currently being harassed or victimised. We call on Celtic to distance themselves from the above claims and going forward to do far more to defend the people who are the very lifeblood of our great club.

that's unreal. I hope t that's shameful did the stewards get a look? need cunts like that out of the ground for good

When Hayes came off today he sat on the bench mumping and moaning. Brown was straight in gabbing away in his ear. Maybe what he said was positive and reassuring. But given the selfish, unprofessional shite he's spouted this year, is it really a good idea to have him anywhere near the first team? We have the infancy of a very good thing going. Bit concerned we could end up fucking it up!

You don't say this shit in the lead up to a game. You zip it, win the game, THEN hit out with this. Fucking joke.

Why can't the team turn up when the crowd do? That was so fucking flat. 1st time this season i've thought we looked like the same mediocre side of recent years

Celtic manager Smelly Lenny hopes he will have several key players back for Tuesday's Champions League clash against Benfica in Lisbon. Gary Hooper (hamstring), Thomas Rogne (calf) and James Forrest (damaged nerve) are all out of Saturday's Premier League game at Aberdeen. Pretty vital that we let the likes of Commons, Mulgrew and any other key players know we're there early on imo. Ozzie at centre mid please.

Other thing is, any clubs thinking of getting him at all will look at the treatment he's getting from the SPL hatchet men and realise they'll need to take him before he has his career ended up here!

Really dislike that graphic GS. Considering all the folk in pittodrie who make any noise are way up in the rdu, those knuckle-dragging scum will be hard to drown out. doesn't say they're in the home end rdu. just says in the south stand.

Bit nervous that Fraser's been mulling over the contract for 6 weeks

Looking ahead, Could see this being our line up, but given Clark scored I wouldn't be surprised if Foster or Hayes don't start. Would be surprised if we played the back three against a team capable of getting down the wings. If we do I'd worry if Ozzie was being expected to be wing back, purely because of his hamstrings. But if we go 4 at the back I'd worry the same thing about Anderson! We really need a RB, even once Jack comes back. Langfield Anderson Reynolds Considine Naysmith Fraser Ozzie Hughes Hayes McGinn Vernon

He's particularly brilliant against shit teams it must be said, but that 4th was sheer class! Joe Hart - still hilarious. Definitely a game to help gloss over how shit Scotland were!

Forster, Mulgrew, Lustig, Ambrose (in USA), Wanyama (in Tanzania), Kayal, Samaras, Miku (in USA). Forrest, Hooper and Izaguirre not because injured.

but, usually it is. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20329684 "The 30 Scottish Football League clubs have unanimously voted to propose a new three-tier league structure of 16, 10 and 16 teams for season 2014-15."

if they vote to introduce that for 2014/15, then assuming newco go up this season, they'd only need to finish mid-table in the season affected by their summer transfer ban in order to qualify for the second tier. Then, free to buy players again, they only have 9 teams between them and the top-flight. They wouldn't be trying to pull a fast one on us here, would they?

Any bid is loopy when the club owe £50m debts or whatever it is.