Dr Hellwig PhD wrote:
Having said that, I still feel it's deplorable that everybody and their dog is up in arms over this song and yet the pro-IRA singalong that TGFITW regularly spew out is being ignored.

Surely it will be impossible to ignore the disgraceful behaviour of the Celtic fans yesterday.

No way was that a minority singing the disgraceful songs.

Totally agreed on that Hector. I missed the game because I was on one myself but I watched the replay on Celtic TV this morning and I was shocked to hear 'Boys of the Old Brigade' belted out on several occasions. It's time Celtic & Rangers were hit with point deductions because it's the only measure left to resolve this.

Pretty much - I say kick both teams out of the domestic cups, slap them with a 30 point deduction and let's have an interesting run-in this season!

The very real and distinct possibility of both teams finishing the season with nothing in the trophy cabinet and the threat of no European football next season should and could do wonders for our combined attitudes!

Point deduction is a good idea...just remains to be seen if the high heid-yins of Scottish football will have the balls for such a move

Last night was a real match of the season candidate - Rangers were shocking at the back and too quick to go forward at times (how times have changed!) United brought their A-game and McGregor had a howler!

Brilliant entertainment though and I was relieved to walk away with a point. After Boydy had his two chopped off (which both looked onside from where I was, although I've still to see them again) I knew it wasn't going to be our night!

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A follow-on point about the singing at Sunday's game though - I was talking to a couple of Jambo mates and they said they were absolutely disgusted by the singing on Sunday - of their own fans towards the Celtic away support.

Apparently, as well as the old favourite 'Big Jock Knew' that gets wheeled out all the time, there were songs about Tommy Burns and an appalling "Where'd your sister Go" at Scott Brown.

While I find 'The Boys of the Old Brigade' to be unjustifiable, I think David Murray's point that was taken out of context and blown out of all proportion that it's more than the old firm at fault, is something that should be given serious consideration by the beaks.

Absolutely. I've said it for long enough on here that I believe Hearts fans to be the worst offenders of sectarian and offensive singing in Scotland. Their general behaviour every time they come to Celtic Park is also by far the worst. If we are talking about point deductions then it has to be rolled out across the league for supporters of all teams who take part in this stuff.

Agreed on the Jambos behaviour at away games mate, some of the stuff we get subjected to at Edinburgh derbies is horrible. Dean Shiels gets disgusting remarks about having only one eye, he got the same shit at Love Street, which is bang outta line. Deano has done remarkably well to succeed as a pro footballer despite being blind in one eye (even though he's playing shit at the moment, but its the system that Mixu plays' fault)

We have many arseholes too at Easter Road, Ive heard some sick stuff chanted by our fans as well in the past, so I wont blame every other club, but Rangers, Hearts and Aberdeen are usually badly behaved when they come to Leith. Would go along with the suggestion of point deductions, but cant see it happening TBH.

Isn't this a yearly debate now which the Scottish FA/PL never does anything about? Does that look like it will change any time soon?

JK wrote:Isn't this a yearly debate now which the Scottish FA/PL never does anything about? Does that look like it will change any time soon?

The SPL and the SFA don't have the balls to do anything about it - funny suggestion though

I think it will need to be UEFA that steps in and sorts this out - which is sad.

I think the SPL and SFA will have to do something if the proposed parlimentary motions go ahead. If the Scottish Exec decide they want action taken then the governing bodies won't have a choice. To refuse would be very unwise as the parliament could case a whole lot of trouble for both.

Sweatsock wrote:I think the SPL and SFA will have to do something if the proposed parlimentary motions go ahead. If the Scottish Exec decide they want action taken then the governing bodies won't have a choice. To refuse would be very unwise as the parliament could case a whole lot of trouble for both.

Can you stop being so reasonable and get back to taking a differing point of view so I can argue with you about this again!

I cannot believe the way in which this Kris Boyd offside decision has been portrayed in the papers and on the news.

I held back from commenting on it until I'd seen it myself. The way it had been reported was that Boyd had scored a goal which had then been ruled out for offside by the assistant who Walter Smith then decided to have a go at on live tv. Imagine my surprise then when I tuned into 'The Full SPL' and saw a linesman who flagged well before Boyd shot, as well as every player in the vicinty stopping due to the whistle before Boyd even reached the ball. Boyd himself clearly heard the whistle and nonachalantly lifted the ball over Graeme Smith who didn't move an inch because the flag was up and the whistle had been blown.

Not only that but when you see the replay which admittedly isn't from the best angle the offside calls actually looks CORRECT! For me Boyd's head and upper body is clearly ahead of the last defender (not counting the keeper obv) and he's moving forward whereas the defender is moving up the park and playing Boyd marginally offside.

Yet instead of praising Tommy Murphy who gets regular Champion's League appointments and is one of our top officials we get criticism of him reporting his flag as incorrect because Walter Smith said it was! Absolute bollocks and Smith should be hammered for insinuating that Murphy is a cheat who favours Celtic which having heard his comments is clearly implied

It was a marginal call at best - granted, my gut reaction was that it was offside but I'm not certain it was the correct decision, it's difficult to tell and that's with the hindsight and benefit of cameras so I'm not going to have a go at the linesman for the decision.

Rangers created more chances but couldn't put Motherwell away - it happens. Graeme Smith had a blinder as well.

I don't think Smith was out of line though, it's a fair point that in marginal decisons like these they are invariably not going Rangers way while at the same time are falling on the side of Celtic - not a conspiracy as such but I think enough people have bemoaned the old cliche about Rangers getting their free penalties and offside goals that officials are starting to lean heavilly in the other direction to try and neutralise the accusations (c.f.i. DaMarcus Beasley's goal chopped off against Aberdeen, Kirk Broadfoot's booking for 'diving' on Saturday).

I don't think it's right to state that because someone gets called up to officiate in the CL, that automatically makes him a great referee - there's plenty of donkeys in there who have screwed teams over with their shocking decisions.

I didn't like how Smith called him Mr Murphy, trying to stoke up the paranoia of the Rangers fans that this guy is a big Celtic fan. Smith is being a bit of a tool lately.

But Tommy Murphy IS a great assistant referee. He's been on the line at 2 national cup finals and IIRC flagged correctly for an offside against Dundee UTD in the CIS cup final this year which would have almost certainly led to a United goal although I doubt Walter will let that get in the way of his half baked conspiracy theories. He also regularly gets oustanding marks from assesors both in Scotland and in Europe.

Smith's words were roughly: 'Mr Murphy was very quick to allow a Scott McDonald goal against us, and very quick to disallow this one tonight". That is clearly implying that Tommy Murphy would favour Celtic over Rangers IMO. If Smith had been making a general point then he could have focused more on the Beasley goal that should have been allowed this season.

How about the fact his team had enough chances to win the game several times over yet couldn't score? Nah, never mind that we'll blame the Celtic supporting officials.

Bollocks.

Sweatsock wrote: How about the fact his team had enough chances to win the game several times over yet couldn't score? Nah, never mind that we'll blame the Celtic supporting officials.

Bollocks.

BBC Sport wrote:The Rangers manager said his side needed to start scoring more goals and converting their possession in this season's SPL title race.

"We didn't score enough from our creation of opportunities tonight. As long as we continue to make them, we'll be quite happy."

Sounds like Walter is willing to admit his team's own occasional deficiencies - now how about we admit the same about Scottish referees or was Scott McDonald's goal onside?

I don't want a witch hunt against the guy - and I don't think it's fair the way he has been singled out I'd like to add - but it's only fair to assemble all of the facts before making sweeping statements as to Walter Smith or anyone else's understanding of their own failings.



So there.

The McDonald goal was marginally offside. It was a wrong call by an experienced guy who doesn't make many big mistakes. Referees make mistakes every game but then so do players. It's how a ref recovers from a mistake that shows their character and ability. In that respect Tommy Murphy's one of the best.

Oh, and Celtic are still on course for 4 in a row. So there.

Sweatsock wrote:
Oh, and Celtic are still on course for 4 in a row. So there.

Yes... yes you are...

Celtic have been fined over £40k for a fan (bet he's Mr Popular right now!) invading the pitch and for starting the game late. But at the same game the Man Utd (who I've always thought of as a Celtic loving team) fans were singing a sectarian chant and get let off scot (pun intended) free, infact it hardly got reported at all.

Would the same rules apply if an old firm team were chanting sectarian hymns in England and a home fan ran on to the pitch? Obviously previous history is a factor but the lack of media coverage regarding the man utd fans is a bit off.

To be fair to the Man Utd fans it was an adapted version of the 'Billy Boys' they were singing IIRC. As far as I'm aware their version doesn't contain any sectarian lyrics although I could be wrong.

It wasn't the 'we are the busby babe' chant Sweatsock, it was a xxxx the pope and the IRA chant.

Hibs have signed Jonaton Johannsen from Malmo, its not more strikers we need Mixu...its a fucking keeper we need! And a decent midfielder

[Sweatsock Baiting] Another outstanding refereeing performance at New Douglas Park today!

Anyone still wanting to deny that Celtic are getting far more than their share of good fortune...[/Sweatsock Baiting]

I remember that referee Eddie Smith got injured and Celtic had to go into the tranfer market to try and sign a new referee.

Not bad that one Hector.

Poor call today from the assistant and we were lucky to get the 3 points tbh.

One thing I think is very clear though is that we look far more likely to win the league than Rangers. Poor decision aside, Rangers would have gotten a draw from that game at best.

If Stevie Smith is supposedly available at Rangers, why doesnt Mixu sign him to fill our left back berth and move Ian Murray into midfield?? I reckon he'd do well if we could get him off Rangers

He is probably available for loan.

I dont want him to leave as he was a great talent before he got injured.

Celtic got the benefit of another dodgy refereeing decision yesterday, what a farce.

Stevie would fit into the Hibs team effortlessly, we've lacked a decent left back since Murphy left for Brum, Murray can do a job there and so can Stevenson, but they are midfielders by nature. Id prefer our regular left back slot to go to a player who is a natural leftback like Stevie. Would have loved to see him or Steven Hammell as the Hibs leftback.

On a side note, cracking win at Fir Park, an utter peach of a goal for Fletcher, who will be off to pastures new in the summer definately, as long as we get a good price when he does go, and as long as he steers away from the Glasgow mob I'll be happy!

Good result for Hector's boys at weekend

Scottish Cup fourth-round draw

Peterhead v Queen's Park

St Johnstone v Rangers

Raith Rovers or Alloa Athletic v Aberdeen

Falkirk v Queen of the South

Airdrie United v Elgin City or Spartans

Inverurie Loco Works or Vale of Leithen v Motherwell

Ross County or Dumbarton v Hamilton Academical

Forfar Athletic or Stranraer v Forres Mechanics or Dalbeattie Star

Inverness Caledonian Thistle v Partick Thistle

Celtic v Dundee

East Stirlingshire v Dundee United

Stenhousemuir v East Fife

Hibernian v Heart of Midlothian

Lochee United or Ayr United v Kilmarnock

Dunfermline Athletic v Clyde

Edinburgh City or Brechin City v St Mirren

Ties to be played 10 or 11 January

Naturally the Edinburgh derby is the big tie of the round...

St. Johnstone/Rangers have recent history and the way we've been playing away from home at the minute... Possible Ayrshire derby in the mix as well with Ayr v Kilmarnock they're always, ALWAYS dirty games!