I am now at the point that I feel the need to wrap my computer in gift paper as every time I leave it and I return to it there is another fantastic surprise. The amazing bit is there is apparently much more to come. 

Today’s gem was that it is now official that Wee Craigy did only spend a single quid to buy them lock stock and barrel and I would put a bet on that the administrators can’t even find the receipt for that. Regardless of what you think of him wether it be good or bad you have to admire the brass neck of the man and to be honest if I thought I would avoid jail and could make as much money as he has in the last nine months I would probably jump at the opportunity.

So the weekend saw us visit Easter Road and probably as good a performance as I have seen in the last few weeks. It had all the potential of a disaster, top v almost bottom and having overcome what were seen as must win games in the last few weeks we have ended up so far in front that it would almost be understandable if the players minds were wandering. Yet from the kick off the partnership that I think most of us agree is the best took the game by storm and were electric throughout. Within the first 15 seconds we had saw an example of the Hooper, Stokes link up play resulting in a save from Hoopers heel and the rest of the team just followed on from there. I cant actually remember Forster having anything to do and that to me sums up the performance of the rest of the team.

I like a lot of people in the past have critiqued Brown, my own complaint about him was the amount of time he gave up possession, his running about like a mad man and winding up the opposition has never really bothered me, maybe that because I see a bit of myself in him, I was never a football player so I had to do something else if I wanted a game. Yet I don’t think many will complain about his showing in the last few weeks, he really has grown into the captains role. When I think back to the Sydney game against the Central Coast Mariners I did say that night he was the best player on the park and we might get a decent season out of him. I was then lambasted and told I had been drinking too much of the dark stuff over the last couple of days. I now rest my case that being sober isn’t always necessarily good for you.

With the events that have taken place over the last two weeks and the focus shown by the players on Sunday you not only have to give them credit but the management team deserve our praise and thanks. I think we all had a worry about how the club would react to the demise of them across the water, yet without putting the boot in and giving the media something to hit back at us with they have made their point. Lawwell left them in no doubt that we don’t need them and the way he did it the best the hack pack can come back at him with is he is wrong because they allegedly believe otherwise. Lenny also managed to frighten off the detractors, I think you could hear the press guys voice shaking with fear when he asked the next question after they were told about even suggesting the league win will be devalued.

The devalued trophy was also mentioned to me by one of them last week, I immediately felt the rage and avoided any further conversation, however I seen a Tweet the other day which basically will be my line of attack should it get mentioned again. Basically it went if someone says to you that we will only win due to the administration point deduction, offer them a $500 bet with us minus the 10 points. I can safely do this as I have $500 to collect off a former Rangers player a bet I put on with him on the 5th November, the night we went 15 behind.

It would appear everything possible is now being done in an effort to save the establishment club. The intervention of Salmond to me is almost repugnant, many businesses go under on a daily basis through no fault of their own and to intervene in an effort to save Ra People who have lied, cheated and stolen from the Scottish people maybe gives an indication of the fabric of those who now govern them.

The hacks themselves have moved on to attempting to justifying their claims that we need a strong them. One claim I can put down with confidence is that if the Orc’s don’t go to watch their team in blue they will be lost to the game completely. If that is the case well good riddance to them they were obviously going to the games for the wrong reasons and maybe the upside to them not going would allow Salmond and Strathclyde Police to claim they have sorted the domestic violence problem in Scotland. I personally had never been to watch anyone else other than the Hoops until I moved abroad. The need for a football fix is still there and for my sins I now go on regular basis to watch Gold Coast United, the team currently bottom of the Australian A League. If you are a genuine football fan you will find someone to support.

For those of you looking for some sporting precedent with what to do with teams that cheated with financial doping, Australian Rugby League gives a fine example. Melbourne storm over a five year period breached the salary cap by $3.1 million. They were deducted all points for the seasons they cheated and the titles they won were marked as void.

Staying with all things Australian may I point you to yet another new podcast, it is in effect the Australian Beyond the Waves.

The podcast is run by two guys from Melbourne, the guys for the last 12 months have done an amateur sport pop/culture podcast called the Wildog Half Hour, but only recently decided to do a one off Celtic podcast with some family members.

They received some good feed back and are now planning a weekly effort. Both hosts are Australian born and represent fourth and fifth generation Celtic supporters, that are keen to use the podcast to attract more non Scots Irish to the Celtic family here in Australia. They are also interested in bringing the Australian based Celtic family closer together with the podcast and would like to start to involve the CSCs from across the Australian capitals on the show.

Mostly, though like the rest of us they just enjoying talking about the club we love.

They can be found on the podomatic server and their website is www.wildoghalfhour.com

So with more fun and games to come

Enjoy your week

hail Hail

Oz Chris  (twitter @cmcmon and for podcast and website updates @TheLostBhoys & @HomeBhoys)
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Our good friends over at Rhebel Rhebel have designed a new t-shirt with all profits going to the Vanessa Appeal. To order your shirt and help out this great cause go HERE

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World Wide Tim Parade – Charity Single – As heard at Celtic Park

Buy from iTunes here http://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/world-wide-tim-parade/id449909964?i=449909978

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We did our best to try and talk about the Hibs game but the chat kept drifting towards the potential Newco who we ran a competition to rename…there were some escellent suggestions sent in…

As usual we had plenty of callers and there was some great craic so tune in, sit back and enjoy another two hours of Celtic chat.

Subscribe and download on iTunes

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http://www.spreaker.com/page#!/show/hail_hail_media Listen back and follow the show on Spreaker

You can also listen back on the free Spreaker iPhone & Android apps by searching for Hail Hail Media and on the embedded player on this site. Both these platforms broadcast when live too.

The show is now also available on Soundcloud HERE and on the free Soundcloud app for smart phones.
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World Wide Tim Parade – Charity Single – As heard at Celtic Park

Buy from iTunes here http://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/world-wide-tim-parade/id449909964?i=449909978

Buy and hear the song in full on Bandcamp here http://joemckenna.bandcamp.com/
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To suggest that off field antics within Scottish football could ever take away from the consistency of this Celtic side would stink of bias distraction. This team are strong with or without the befuddling financial shenanigans over Govan way. You know that, I know that but it would seem that the fools who interview Neil Lennon in and around the world of football don’t.

Or perhaps they are making valiant attempts at papering over the gaping chasm they fear will be left when Rangers cease to exist. Or maybe I’m being harsh on the shaking scribes.

To me this Celtic team are now living within a solid cocoon of belief. It matters not what goes on around them, only what goes on among them and that is where real team cohesiveness comes from in my opinion. Like us, these players are not part of the O** F*** ; they are Celtic and that makes me very happy.

Yesterday at Easter Road was always going to be a party, but to see the team play so well and to know that Neil Lennon has assembled probably the best group of players seen in Glasgow in quite a few years, well, that was the just crumbled Cadburys on top of the dessert. From the first whistle they looked sharp and played with real intent. Having nearly been one up inside 30 seconds it was evident that they wanted to put on a show for the fans. What was pleasing to see was that even without players like Forrest playing a huge part in the game we still looked like we had Hibs in our pocket. To be fair they are rank rotten and if Forrest had have hit his game out there it could have been double figures.

It was a real treat to see Fraser Wishart swallow his bias in the Sky Sports studio and have to admit how good we are. I mean we’re even scoring goals without trying now and if Ki can replicate that sort of blind man’s striking form we could probably give all our strikers blind folds and still win the league. Oh wait, that’s right, it would take Hari Kari for us to surrender this title now that it has been awarded to us by ‘default.’ Have you ever heard such guff in all your life?

I don’t know what’s funnier these days. Rangers being rubbish, their supporters hurting and unable to digest the reality that faces them or the sheer irony and delusion that emanates from them at every turn. I was sick that I had family business to attend to whilst the greatest comedy this side of Only Fools and Horses was played out on Rangers TV, but thanks to Twitter I was able to revel in the pain and suffering of those on the long, early walk home from Ibrox. To be honest the best tweet came from a female Bear, allow me to fill your life with hilarity for a second.

‘Game was utter pish left early!!! But today was more than just a team it was to show these f***ers #wedontwalkaway’ – You really couldn’t script this stuff.

So this blog entry will be one of my briefer given that my wife is dishing up some succulent lamb (that’s not a dig at Jabba, that’s actually the truth; maybe my wife is starting to catch on with all this football malarkey.)

Tonight bhoys and ghirls I sign out with a smile wider than Craig Whyte’s eyes. The Scottish media would want us to feel like we’ve won the lottery with this title, but there’s only one person counting a windfall within the Scottish game right now and that’s some bloke with a desk and a phone in the Virgin Islands who will no doubt be warming his hands over a burning pile of money. If there was such a thing as poetic justice his name would be Rodney and last year he’d have been told, ‘Don’t worry Rodders, this time next year we’ll be millionaires. Aw Whyte?’

Hail Hail!!

Joe  (twitter @Joellercoaster and for podcast and website updates @TheLostBhoys & @HomeBhoys)
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Our good friends over at Rhebel Rhebel have designed a new t-shirt with all profits going to the Vanessa Appeal. To order your shirt and help out this great cause go HERE

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World Wide Tim Parade – Charity Single – As heard at Celtic Park

Buy from iTunes here http://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/world-wide-tim-parade/id449909964?i=449909978

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In what has been a remarkable week for Scottish Football, karma, Liz Windsor’s Money Men, and all others that have even a small connection to “the big house” (where I come from – and apparently in America according to Wikipedia – that’s a nickname for the jail), it’s been very easy to get swept up in all of the excitement as Hector the Taxman defeated Rangers to send us fourteen points clear at the top of the SPL.

But, at Celtic, there is still a job to be done.

We may have some extra breathing room, but it’s up to us to not only finish this job professionally, but to ensure there’s no doubt that even without the insolvency event across the water we are worthy champions. The aim for Celtic now should be to win the league by more than the ten points Rangers have been deducted, and ideally more than the current fourteen.

From a purely technical point of view, there are twelve league matches left. With our current gap that means we need 23 points to secure the title. Doing it all ourselves, that’s eight wins, or seven wins if one of them is against Rangers. Any points Rangers drop can be taken off that number as well, as it assumes that Rangers win all their remaining matches. Despite what some are suggesting, we play Rangers in five league games time. Although that visit to Ibrox is indeed seven games away, two of them for us are in the cups. So Rangers would need to drop some more points before the chance to win the league at Ibrox could become a reality.

Thanks to our League Cup final participation, we have two of those league matches coming up over the next week. First, we travel to Edinburgh on Sunday for the 3pm (10 ET, 7 PT) kick off against Hibernian.

Hibs have been struggling this season, but finally seem to be getting their act together a bit in the last couple of games. After losing 4-0 at Ibrox a couple of weeks ago, they have since had back to back clean sheets with a 1-0 win over Kilmarnock in the Scottish Cup and a 0-0 draw against Aberdeen in the SPL. Further to that, Hibs actually stand as the last Scottish team to stop us winning, having drawn with us 0-0 at Celtic Park at the end of October. Seventeen games later and the moans and groans after that game seem so long ago.

That home draw came just days after our last visit to Easter Road, when we knocked Hibs out of the League Cup with a 4-1 win. But at half time in that match it didn’t look quite as rosy. 1-0 down to an unfortunate Dan Majstorovic own goal, we were perhaps more lucky not to be further behind. But in the second half Celtic came out fired up and quickly levelled things through James Forrest. Forrest got on the score sheet again to put us in front before Anthony Stokes and Gary Hooper made things safe. Ivan Sproule was also sent off for Hibs, but the game was done long before that happened and did nothing but let us take the foot off the pedal. Back in July, Stokes was also on the scoresheet on the opening day of the season as he and Ki Sung Yeung got us off to a winning start at Easter Road with a 2-0 win.

Rangers play Kilmarnock on Saturday before our Sunday match – so good luck to our own Lewis Toshney who is on loan to the Ayrshire lot – but they’ll fall a game behind us until League Cup final weekend when we play our rearranged game against Dunfermline on Wednesday night at 7.45pm (14.45 ET, 11.45 PT) at Celtic Park. It’s unusual that this game has been brought forward, but let’s not complain. If we can win the game at Easter Road and then follow it up with a win over fellow SPL strugglers Dunfermline then we will be that much closer to the title and will hold a massive psychological advantage over Rangers – even more so than we do currently thanks to the off field issues.

Dunfermline’s last visit to Celtic Park was also a rearranged match after our original tie was scheduled at the same time as the Dublin Super Cup at the end of July. When the game was eventually played in November, we looked good for a big victory as we took a 2-0 early lead thanks to goals from Hooper and Forrest and a totally dominant first half. But poor finishing and eventually a Dunfermline goal from Andy Barrowman with a few minutes to go made it a far more edgy affair than it should have been. Nevertheless, the game was seen out and we had win number three of our current run on the board. When we faced them in the first fixture of 2012 it was a much more clinical performance, with a 3-0 victory coming at East End Park without breaking sweat. Goals from Stokes, Victor Wanyama and Charlie Mulgrew came with very little threat at the other end as we built on the victory over Rangers that had taken us top of the league at the end of 2011.

Like Hibernian, Dunfermline have also played Rangers in recent weeks and also conceded four goals to a team supposedly struggling for strikers in those games. Jelavic was “ill” for the Hibernian game, and was an Everton player by the time they played Dunfermline last weekend. We have no such worries with goals coming from all over the park, so on paper we should win both of these games comfortably. But football is played on grass, not paper. Although Dunfermline did try plastic for a while.

Teams fighting relegation inevitably seem to fight harder as the season goes on and they get more desperate for points. These are the games where complacency can creep in, and they’re coming in a week where it would be all too easy to do that anyway. It’s down to Neil Lennon and the team to carry on the professional job they’ve been doing for a while, ignore the goings on across the city, and get league wins fifteen and sixteen in a row on this great run in the bag ahead of the supposed better teams in the coming weeks.

The media may be telling us all sorts from “Scottish Football needs a strong Rangers” to “the title race is effectively over”, but I won’t be sticking a fork in anything other than my dinner until the SPL trophy is back at Paradise. Ideally before the administrators can try to pawn it or it disappears into Craig Whyte’s black hole along side the Ticketus money.

Krys  (twitter @Krys1888 and for podcast and website updates @TheLostBhoys & @HomeBhoys)
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Our good friends over at Rhebel Rhebel have designed a new t-shirt with all profits going to the Vanessa Appeal. To order your shirt and help out this great cause go HERE

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World Wide Tim Parade – Charity Single – As heard at Celtic Park

Buy from iTunes here http://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/world-wide-tim-parade/id449909964?i=449909978

Buy and hear the song in full on Bandcamp here http://joemckenna.bandcamp.com/
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When You Were Young And Your Heart Was An Open Book
You Used To Say “Live And Let Live”
(You Know You Did, You Know You Did, You Know You Did)
But If This Ever Changing World In Which We’re Livin’
Makes You Give In And Cry
Say “Live And Let Die”

Yip, the guest free podcast continues this week with a right old chuckle at you know who? Yes, Big Dan, oh aye and Rangers too.  There’s new competitions (well kinda), stuff stolen from the HomeBhoys show that was really too good to be on HomeBhoys so we took it to make LostBhoys sound better (and let’s be honest we need all the help we can get), there is audio snippets, quizzes, match reports and everything – cheap at twice the price!!!!  Go on, play it loud and and laugh at Rangers with us.

Click below to play

http://podcasts.footballfancast.com/lostbhoys/301698/live-and-let-die-podcast-131/
Download mp3 from below
http://feeds.feedburner.com/Celtic_Lostbhoys_Podcast?format=xml

or Subscribe through iTunes – below
 http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/celtic-fansite-lostbhoys-podcast/id356709463

Our good friends over at Rhebel Rhebel have designed a new t-shirt with all profits going to the Vanessa Appeal. To order your shirt and help out this great cause go HERE

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World Wide Tim Parade – Charity Single – As heard at Celtic Park

Buy from iTunes here http://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/world-wide-tim-parade/id449909964?i=449909978

Buy and hear the song in full on Bandcamp here http://joemckenna.bandcamp.com/
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I know everyone ‘just can’t get enough’ of the RANGERS IN CRISIS (I like that in capital letters) story at the minute and the hilarity that each new daily revelation brings. Porn stars anyone…! 

Despite this I thought I’d steer away from the subject for today just as a wee breather to allow the stitch in your side to settle down you understand.

As many of you will probably know I reside in Drogheda in the ‘wee county’ of Louth in Southern Ireland on the banks of the River Boyne and I refuse to leave until I get the date for the rematch! In the meantime while I await the onset of hostilities over 300 hundred years later I’m a sometime supporter of local League of Ireland side Drogheda United.

With the new season only 3 weeks away the pre-season is in full swing and last night seen the visit of hated rivals Dundalk to United Park (I refuse to call it Hunky Dory Park, be warned this is what happens when you sell the naming rights to your ground…). The two sides meet in a fiercely contested derby match every year and play for the Malone Cup. There is no love lost between the two teams or the supporters as you can imagine and last nights encounter was no different. Tackles were flying in on the floodlit greasy surface as the rain drizzled and it was akin to any derby match you would see anywhere.

This is football at it is rawest, purest and most romantic.

Drogheda United ran out worthy one nil winners in what was a decent game considering it was the first game back in difficult conditions but there will certainly need to be big improvements if the Drogs are to avoid another basement battle for top flight survival this year. The league opener against champions Shamrock Rovers at home looms dauntingly on the horizon in a match that will be televised live by state broadcaster RTE.

What has any of this to do with Celtic I hear you ask and this after all is a blog on a Celtic fansite. The answer is nothing really but it did rekindle memories of when I was younger so much younger than today (yes your singing aren’t you…)

Standing on the terracing is still the best way to watch football there is absolutely no doubt in my mind about that. Seats are all very well but give me a choice over standing and sitting and I’ll choose to be upright every time. At Drogheda matches I meet a few mates and we always congregate in the same spot on the North Bank, sometimes there is 3 of us sometimes half a dozen and we can all have the craic together while watching the game. It’s much more social than sitting in uniformed rows of dullness where you’ll most likely only speak to the guy sitting either side of you every week and that’s if you’ve been lucky enough not to be sat next to an abuse screamer or some other bawbag.

Call me old fashioned but there is something about standing on the slopes especially at a night game under the floodlights that brings out the boy in me. It takes me back to when I was a regular at Alloa’s Recreation Park before I was old enough to travel on my local CSC to Celtic Park and the ultimate terracing the Jungle. Just as an aside Paul Hartley is doing an incredible job with the Wasps who are flying at the top of Division 3 and you could do a lot worse than popping into Alloa and catching ex-Celt Hartley’s revolution on a spare Saturday.

Back to where I was though and yes terracing, the Jungle. This is what football was all about. When I first started traveling through to Glasgow on the Roy Milne CSC there was only one area of the park myself and my pals were heading for. Tearing down Janefield Street it was a disaster if you seen the ‘full’ sign go up and you had to head for the Celtic End. I think we spent half the time watching the Jungle in action than paying attention to what was happening on the pitch under such circumstances. I feel very very very lucky to have experienced Celtic Park back then. The stadium is an impressive all seated arena now but as a teenager walking into Parkhead back then was like walking into the centre of the universe. It was just so vast and it could be a little intimidating to begin with as you were jostled and carried by the sway of the crowd sometimes. Not to mention when a goal went in, you and 5 mates could be separated by ten feet each in a star shape as pandemonium ensued. It may have been a wee bit frightening at times when I was younger but it was also exhilarating and exciting. It made you feel like a man and in the Jungle you had to be as you were treated as so.

I long for those days and sitting here on my 38th birthday I can hardly believe next year will be a quarter of a century since the Centenary Year. Maybe I’m over romanticising the memory as we usually do when we recall the glory days of youth and I’m probably just feeling a wee bit old as my own daughter has reached the age I first visited Paradise. But! it’s still nice to visit the old grounds with terracing still untouched by the winds of modernisation and when you shut your eyes for a minute, straighten your back, take in a deep breath of nostalgia and you think to yourself surely it’s only a matter of time before someone realises THIS is what being a football spectator is all about.

The safe standing project won’t recreate the Jungle but it will at least give you the chance to shut your eyes, lean on a barrier and if you concentrate hard enough or someone pisses down the back of your leg you’ll get there

STANDING UP FOR CELTIC

Harper  (twitter @Harper1888 and for podcast and website updates @TheLostBhoys & @HomeBhoys)
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Our good friends over at Rhebel Rhebel have designed a new t-shirt with all profits going to the Vanessa Appeal. To order your shirt and help out this great cause go HERE

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World Wide Tim Parade – Charity Single – As heard at Celtic Park

Buy from iTunes here http://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/world-wide-tim-parade/id449909964?i=449909978

Buy and hear the song in full on Bandcamp here http://joemckenna.bandcamp.com/
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I am not quite sure where to begin this. I don’t have any secret sources inside of anything, and I’m not the fly on the wall in some smoke filled room as the shady characters, pale with fear, and rubber legged with exhaustion, flashing the saucer eyed realization that the party has just ended, and they’ve been handed the hoover.

I would love to be in a position to overhear the back-pedaling, and new tangle of mendacity being created in an effort to simply walk out of the current situation unscathed. In a rat vs. rat scenario, who didn’t foresee the rat winning…

I am not in a position to tell any of you who may have or may not have said what, and I don’t have it on anyone’s good authority to remark to you about the current levels of apprehension faced by the current, and future former employees of the club cross town. I’m nobody, I’m a curious observer, I’m a fan of Scottish football, a Tim, and I’m Celtic minded. I’m quite happy to be able to simply offer you my side of the happenings, and my interpretation of the events of the week of the unraveling of RFC. Well, that is to say the events through Wednesday.

As with most things of this nature I wake up eight hours behind the initial occurrence, so that as I check for headlines, I am inundated with the celebratory calls for jelly and ice cream. Thumbing around the various links, while pretending to get ready for work had me ready to open a bottle, sit back and have a good laugh. The fact that I made it to work at all and managed to stay off Twitter (for the most part) is rather remarkable.

Getting home, and then pretending to do schoolwork, while trying frantically to catch up from this miserable eight hour time lag, was the next important step in the process. So with work done, schoolwork done, a beer in hand, and the world at my fingers, I began sifting through the volumes of positive speeches, rhetoric, and the implications and ramifications of the potential downfall of Rangers.

Some of the findings have been in question for some time, while others, I was happy to read up on as the light, backed with the full force of the sun ripped through the coverings at iBrokes, and brought to the front many things that some key players, wish with all their might, had never come to pass. Craig Whyte in a statement to his adoring, and hate filled throng of (can they still be called?) supporters, said that steps were taken to “secure the long term future of the club”.

Quotes I can do, insider information I cannot. “Liquidation, he continued, had we not [filed to enter administration] could have been a realistic possibility”.

It raises some interesting questions as to how did the club get to such a fragile position. Was it simply a con all the while? Were the current failures duped by the old guard? Who will take the blame, and who will pay the tab? How much do they still owe in transfer fees to other clubs? How much would a creditor get under an agreed CVA? Is insolvency still a realistic and possible option? And finally, how will Ally finance his pie munching habit?

Each and all very relevant questions in my opinion.  And if I had all the answers or the right people on speed dial I wouldn’t need to even offer them out to you I’d simply state it as facts…

So as Tuesday raced into light, it was finalized that RFC had solidified their entry into administration, and therefore were immediately ten points lighter, and gained a few days space to begin the maneuverings. What does it really all mean? Well for starters there can be no new signings, barring an emergency goalkeeper, which if I’m not mistaken, Cousins is not. Furthermore, if the club were to remain in administration into April, it means their expulsion from Europe next season.

If a CVA is agreed to in the coming time, it could lift the ban on Europe temporarily, but this is still just a matter of only £9m. They will very realistically face all this and more when the ball drops for the HMRC lottery payout of the now on upwards of £75m. If they manage their way out of these two looming scenarios, they are truly in bed with Satan, as nothing with a soul could possibly gain so much latitude when faced with extinction.

On the other hand, if the worst is to come through, Rangers FC, and all she holds sacred, could be forced into selling off assets including Murray Park, iPox, players, and pie vendors. Further still, the club could be forced to begin again, forsaking name, titles, all five of their meaningless stars, and identity.

Well that may be taking it a bit far. If there were any fans left to follow the new formed third division side, they would certainly retain all the wonderful characteristics that make them such a joy to be around now. You know the ones…  Bigotry, sectarianism, hate filled songs, fear of dogs, loathing of Manchester, and possessing only one retort in their mal-formed, under used minds: Jock Knew.

Now the best bit (and worst) is that NewCo, would have to apply for readmission to both the SFA, and SPL. I would love to believe that in the face of the facts being presented that no club in any division of the SFA could ever see fit to approve reinstatement of a club that has shown such contempt to its peers, and its regard to the law, thus enabling them to return to most certainly start the trend anew.

What worries me of course is that if the media had its message heard over the last couple of days, they would have us all believe that life without the parasites is patently impossible. The fact that media polls were put out (largely unheeded in their responses) to justify what I feel will be an impending change of rule in the SPL, and to argue some desperate plea of journalists across the country as to how their club can finally be tits up.

Here’s where the paranoid Timmy shows up again…  In a statement made on the SFA website the sympathy and fear of the repercussions was abundantly clear. ‘We would like to express our deep regret at the necessary course of action taken. This is a profoundly sad chapter in the history of Scottish football, and we should not underestimate the potential ramifications for the image of the game on a whole’.

Sure this is a natural stance for any organization that has just been dealt a massive bloody nose, but it’s the further statement and impending position that the account makes that I find truly concerning…  ‘At a time when there is want and drive for change in Scottish football, it’s important we learn lessons from this situation and work together to provide a platform for clubs to thrive and prosper within their means.’

I realize that nowhere in the above statement does it say that the SFA will turn a blind eye to the malpractices of RFC, it does allow a great deal of space for them to capitalize on a (apparently) weakened league, and provide argument to allow reinstatement. When the governing body of Scottish football, realizes it’s fragile position amongst Europe’s elite leagues, and recognizes smaller clubs abilities to simply pay to keep the lights on as it were, and still maintain some margin of profitability, and at the same time be so afraid that the ruin of one club with a storied (?) history will equate to the ruin of the league itself, presents a bit of a problem.

If the best case scenario were to come to the front, would the SFA, and with it in tow, all the smaller clubs buy into the doomsday scenario, that sees a failed Rangers FC spurned from the league, and fear for their own existence? Or will the owners of the forty odd other clubs that have managed to make their way thus far in some extremely poor financial climates, realize the opportunity that this opens.

To make a mistake is one thing, to have a decade long history of the same mistake is beyond negligence, it is and should be treated as criminal. Yet I fear that many of the clubs that make up the SPL, 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd Divisions, may not all see it for what it is. It is a rebuilding, it will involve restructuring, and if NewCo wants back in they must apply for membership and be approved by all clubs presently involved. However, if the fear of greater loss of revenue looms at the prospect of a league without The Shame proves too intimidating, many of the smaller sides may not see the eventual boon that would be available, and opt for the readmission of the new club, with all the same bad memories.

It is creating a nightmare that is all too familiar in the current global system. Failure is far too often rewarded with staggering sums, under the fear of the company being too great an asset to allow it to fail. It’s the ultimate catch-22. We will continue to bail you out of debt, despite your history and current operation of failure and mismanagement, as your loss may be too great a debt to overcome.

Encapsulated:  The Bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.

It’s time that the SFA draw a line in the sand. They are at the crossroads of the possible solutions that we all seek. On one side, many feel the loss of RFC may be too great for the league to continue in current form. On another there are many of us that feel that the loss of Rangers is no great loss at all, and in fact would be of great benefit to not only the Scottish League in general, but also serve as a benchmark to other leagues that mismanagement, and ill-handling of funds will only result in the loss of whatever history you may have once laid claim to.

If you were to put it to me that if the situation were reversed, and it was Celtic FC, that faced this heinous situation how would I feel? Well, I would feel that the club had done this to themselves, and to allow it to continue, or to somehow exonerate those responsible by ferreting for a desperate foothold, and adding the demands of restructuring the league to allow the team to continue on as if nothing happened a breach of justice.

I would never give up on the team, as I’m sure there are many supporters across town that feels the same. Many of them have done nothing but support a club, and to see that go up in smoke, as we watch the light show, would be beyond agony.

If the further question is asked of me; do we need a Rangers for the SPL to thrive? Absolutely not. I have made allusions to our relationship before as symbiotic, the surviving together of unlike organisms, but I have never said that we need each other to survive. There is a reason I have equated them to parasites, they simply feed off the host to survive while offering nothing in return.

What type of league would it be if NewCo were allowed back into it? What message does this send to all the managers, owners, players, and staff of clubs that have tried to do it the right way? It tells them to mind their own, and cheat harder next time, just don’t get caught doing so.

The absolute arrogance involved in entering into a business with already questionable financial details, under the guise of saving the organizations “good name”, while driving profit margins down, selling off assets, and all the while maintaining a stance of innocence and or not possessing all the facts, is absolutely disgusting.

When do we stop rewarding wealthy (?) businessmen for these horrid practices, and begin to hold them accountable for their actions, and charge them as the guilty or certainly as the culpable factors that they are in matters such as these?

I am not making any excuses for Rangers staff, or fans. I hate that club and all it holds dear. I also can’t help but feel the outrage of watching the true scum get over on the little people. I would laugh as loud and as long as anyone at the announcement of insolvency of RFC, however it would not be at the expense of the poor miserable hate filled ogres that didn’t have the sense to question how the club has such surplus of revenue.

I don’t like having to pay taxes either. But there it is gone from my cheque each week and at the end of the year if they ask for more, I get to pay it. Like it or not, these rules are there so that everybody gets to put their fingers in the pie. Someone like me skips a payment of thirty or three hundred pounds, doesn’t mean a whole lot, but if someone were allowed to not make payment on nearly a hundred million owed? Inexcusable…

As I have said, I don’t pity the lot across town, but I sure as hell don’t envy them either. It’s a position that has been coming for some time, and it would be wrong for them to be able to simply walk out of it unscathed. To do so means the true undoing of the SPL, and all the hard effort put in by so many over such a long period of time.

When Craig said “this sort of thing happens all the time”…  I understand now that he was referring solely to a first person perspective, as most people, h*n or not, very often try to do the right thing.

If you don’t think that these tumultuous events will have an immediate and profound impact on the team itself, never mind the management, I would ask you to revisit the dark time of the beginnings of this season. As Celtic began the campaign they were clearly still on the effects of the standard set from the season prior.

As Neil began to relentlessly tinker with the squad, we began to see the beginnings of some trouble ahead. After a dreadful month in both domestic and Europa fixtures the team plummeted in a shame spiral. The motivation was gone, the sense of calm secure rationale was gone, and the joy was gone. It was easy to look at the occurrences during the early stage in our park, and predict the season’s outcome to end in outrage, bloodshed, and tears.

It was a position that it took great effort on all parties involved to rectify. We were sliding in the league, and all was looking very bleak indeed when a massive outstretched paw saved the penalty shot that altered the season. Since that moment, our team has only thrived, and it shows on the faces as well as the league table. We had something to prove, and a deficit that many (myself included) doubted as attainable.

As we now sit well clear of any immediate threat in the table, it still is as important as ever to keep applying the pressure to any and all that step forward. This is our season, and this is the time for these Bhoys to secure their deserved place amongst some of this clubs most enjoyable sides.

I wish I had the answers to all the questions that I’ve asked in this rambling. I’m also convinced that the next few days will offer far greater depth of the madness behind the stained walls of Castle Greyskull. I hope that I was able to sway you into taking a good look at the overall good and bad in the bubble of the SPL, and I hope all that read it have taken something away from it. I hope the right ones got a bit of information, and I hope the others took the right amount of offence to it as they deserve.

The RFC loyal will tell us that we have been gifted the league for their ten point deduction. Never mind the fact that we were already atop the table when their shame was dragged to the forefront. I will agree though. This season is a gift. It’s a fantastic reminder that this club is so much more than just another ordinary team. It can bring you the best and worst days imaginable. You H*ns gave us a gift alright; you gave us a month’s worth of entertainment in the course of a few days. That is the gift that keeps on giving. Thank you for it and here’s a toast to your clubs impending departure.

Story developing…

#HH Celtic FC

#HH to all of you

SjH  (twitter @dizinhoops and for podcast and website updates @TheLostBhoys & @HomeBhoys)
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World Wide Tim Parade – Charity Single – As heard at Celtic Park

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I don’t actually enjoy Christmas in Australia due to it being in the middle of summer, it’s just not right, yet the whole Rangers financial mess has actually left me feeling very festive and  full of the party spirit. 

I have watched the Govan Loyal act like they are a part of the movie Miracle on 34th Street with the constant. “We Believe” regardless of what Whyte does or says. The panto stars at Ibrox have been in generous mood with their giving of gifts that leave you with a happy but embarrassed feeling and just when you think it cant get any better they deliver another present that ‘trumph’s’ the one previous.

So now that they are officially up the dirty creek without a paddle and while the press and not very loyal support argue about who is to blame,who really cares. Other than the comedy value I don’t, for me it is more about what is likely to play out and how will it affect us.

Maybe I am getting a bit far ahead of myself here as there are some who quite clearly still believe that Craig Whyte will pull the rabbit out of the bag, although I think a large part of that is the fact that it is just because Timmy has been providing the news and they don’t like to hear it from us. I normally listen to Clyde Super Scoreboard every now and then but lately it has been so funny it has been a must listen to for me. The pain in Gordon Dalziel’s voice alone is enough to put a smile on your face. Last night I could only imagine what was going through Mark Guidi’s head as he attempted over and over to explain to Dalziel why liquidation was a real threat. Dalziel was the perfect example of those who don’t want to hear the truth and despite what he was being presented with he was still willing to give Whyte that last chance. Funny it’s the typical reaction of someone who doesn’t want to face up to debt. Just put it off and maybe in the morning it will have gone away.

So what are the likely or realistic options of what will happen as we move on from here. In order to gauge that, I think we have to look at what we know is fact. Since the takeover last May we know Whyte has received 15 Million in season ticket money, 24 million in future season ticket money, 6 Million for Jelavic and 9 Million of PAYE that should have been passed to the tax man. It is official that he has spent this as the appointment of an administrator means they have no cash to pay a bill. In addition to what we know he has received and then spent consideration has to be given to the potential tax liabilities form both the wee and big cases.

So can Rangers continue on in administration for the forceable future, from a Celtic point of view this would be fantastic. We would have the benefit of still having 4 games against them and they would have a seriously weakened team. This seasons 10 point deduction would be minimal in comparison to the 25 in August. The anchor of the points deduction and no sustainable income for 4 years really puts this as a non starter and administration will be a short process with liquidation following. The only other alternative is a sugar daddy appearing with a minimal of 50 million, more than likely though it would need to be 100 million and why would that happen now when it would have been much cheaper to do it pre Whyte.

So with them liquidated we just need to get on with it. All the talk of a parachute back into the SPL is nothing but hacks wondering how to save their jobs, knowing that you have crapped all over the people who will now be providing your income can’t be a good feeling and hell mend them. So unless I am wrong the only outcome is liquidation and if someone thinks a new entity can get direct entry into the SPL without changing every rule I can think of please explain, I’m all ears and there is plenty of space below. I say this as the only way a new entity can make a case to gain entry to the SPL is to associate themselves with the Rangers of old and the minute they do this Hector will be at their door looking for his cash.

It’s funny when I read the daily writings of the internet ‘bampots’, many I know have differing views but they are all united in supporting Celtic and not one of them seems to think that we need the strong Rangers, yet the hacks manage to find an abundance of alleged Celtic supporters that agree with them and spout their propaganda on a phone in show. If I am being honest I will miss the games against them but Peter Lawwell a guy I have given a lot of abuse to in the past gave me a lot of comfort when I heard him talk on Monday. Scotland we should and will dominate for the next few years but the telling comment for me was his commitment to improve and compete in Europe. This is where I have wanted to be competing for years, I want another Seville type day out.

So lets all continue to laugh our rear ends off at them and hope that they have just given us the perfect platform to at least attempt a decent effort across the continent,

As for now it’s time for some Vodka Jelly and Ice Cream

Hail Hail

Oz Chris  (twitter @cmcmon and for podcast and website updates @TheLostBhoys & @HomeBhoys)
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World Wide Tim Parade – Charity Single – As heard at Celtic Park

Buy from iTunes here http://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/world-wide-tim-parade/id449909964?i=449909978

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Well where to start…after Mondays dramatic events let’s just say there were lots of happy hosts and callers…

We talked extensively about you know what and we even squeezed in a wee bit about the football too!

Tune in, you won’t be disappointed…oh and we started a new segment this week – Dear Joe

Subscribe and download on iTunes

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You can also listen back on the free Spreaker iPhone app by searching for Hail Hail Media and on the embedded player on this site. Both these platforms broadcast when live too.
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Our good friends over at Rhebel Rhebel have designed a new t-shirt with all profits going to the Vanessa Appeal. To order your shirt and help out this great cause go HERE

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World Wide Tim Parade – Charity Single – As heard at Celtic Park

Buy from iTunes here http://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/world-wide-tim-parade/id449909964?i=449909978

Buy and hear the song in full on Bandcamp here http://joemckenna.bandcamp.com/
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Yesterday was a good day, a day to be enjoyed, a day we have waited for a long time to come and a day that most said would never come.

Those who knew the truth were laughed at, jeered, mocked and denigrated by all and sundry but it is those people who have had the last laugh. It’s hard to comprehend that we have another 9 days of similarly high levels of hilarity before the actual A-bomb drops and the club we love to hate is further crippled, deducted 10 points and forced to live within their means for a change. What happens from thereon is open to much debate but it all sounds pretty gloomy which I am fairly happy about. I hope that the ice-cream induced brain freeze isn’t enough to put any of you off continuing the celebrations until the inevitable happens.

The debate and discourse within media circles is now into full ‘Celtic can’t live without Rangers’ mode, yet unsurprisingly no-one has produced hard facts as to whether this will or will not be the case. It’s a line straight out of the Hugh Keevins school of having an opinion which you immediately set above those who differ from your outlook and labelling everyone who disputes your views as some sort of bampot fundamentalist who isn’t living in the real world. Well, I don’t think I’d be alone in saying that most Celtic fans think it is the likes of Keevins and Spiers and other relics of old media who are not living in the real world. I am here to tell you all that no-one should be feeling any sympathy for Rangers. They may have decent fans that are just in it for the football and I wish them no ill will, but the institution of Rangers deserves no respect and no sympathy from Celtic fans.

A world without Rangers will certainly be different but we cannot allow the fact that they are a big Scottish club to get in the way of the rightful course of action taking place. Put in plain and simple Queen’s English, they have cheated, defrauded and manipulated their way to success. Because of their policy of evading tax they have had an unfair advantage over the other 11 SPL clubs and a simple 10 point slap on the wrist is not a relative punishment. If the journalists have called it correctly and an SPL without Rangers more or less goes under then who is to carry the can?

To let Rangers off is to fly in the face of sporting integrity and honesty but I won’t deny that punishing them for this is for me also about retribution and in many people’s eyes justice for the sins that Rangers have committed throughout the course of their existence. To see them stripped of their history, their trophies and of course their dignity will be a much welcome payback for years of 21 carat bigotry, discrimination, exclusion and  intolerance, for the 1990’s, for hiding in the shipyards, for sectarian signing policies, racist songs and secret handshakes, for tainted titles, anti-football and pavement piracy, for Barcelona, Pamplona, Manchester and the countless other cities left in ruins, for banning Eggs Benedict, green pepperami and for orange away strips, for constant jingoism, ideals of supremacy and misplaced loyalty, for ‘red hand’ salutes, double standards, brass necking, bootlegging and knuckle dragging, for famine songs and Billy Boys, for permanent embarrassment and occasional disgrace, for vile slurs on Stein, Johnstone and Tommy Burns, for Campbell, Cameron, Finlayson and Farquhar, for marrying your sisters, for Orange walks outside Parkhead, for your hatred, your bile and for your downright detestation and destruction of anything good on God’s green earth. These are all reasons that we can look forward to a period of watching a hamstrung Rangers and smiling, content in the knowledge that we endured a lot on their behalf.

I am going to keep this blog short today as there will be plenty to be written over the next number of days and weeks.

R.I.P Rangers, you won’t be missed.

Conall  (twitter @conallmckee1 and for podcast and website updates @TheLostBhoys & @HomeBhoys)
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Our good friends over at Rhebel Rhebel have designed a new t-shirt with all profits going to the Vanessa Appeal. To order your shirt and help out this great cause go HERE

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World Wide Tim Parade – Charity Single – As heard at Celtic Park

Buy from iTunes here http://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/world-wide-tim-parade/id449909964?i=449909978

Buy and hear the song in full on Bandcamp here http://joemckenna.bandcamp.com/
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