Had a conversation with a good friend of mine this morning about the recent ‘illicit chanting’ charge brought about by UEFA.

As we all know the governing body have fined Celtic approx £12,700 after the Match Commander reported the club for the offence at Celtic Park in the Europa League game against French side Rennes.

The Celtic board have decided against appealing the fine and are prepared to use the verdict to make the fans who continue to sing these political songs sit up and take notice.

Ironically, since we were reported the fans have cut most of the so-called offensive songs out of the match day repertoire.

However, that hasn’t stopped the media from accusing Celtic fans of ‘sectarian singing.’

On Radio Clyde’s news programme at 8 am this morning, the news reader stated  quite clearly that ‘Celtic were fined for sectarian chanting’.

This is a lie.

There is only ONE club in Scotland that have been found guilty of sectarian singing, and that club reside in Govan, not Parkhead.

This is another prime example of trying to tar Celtic with the same brush as the Govan mob by a media hell bent on dragging the club through the mire.

At this rate we’ll be calling for the News of the World to return…

For some reason there seems to be an acceptance that now the football season if finished, then the bigotry and bile that blighted it has gone with it.

Well I can tell you that just isn’t the case.

We’re in what’s called ‘the marching season’. In case you’re not sure what the means, it’s the Orange Order’s license to walk up and down our streets with their bowler hats and flutes, holding up the traffic and wasting police time.

It’s their excuse to show their anti-Catholic triumphalism.

But that’s not enough for some.

I just had an ‘interesting ‘ conversation with a young 17 year old Celtic fan. A polite kid who told me a wee story of how he spent part of his weekend.

You see this Bhoy was over at the Barras in the Gallowgate yesterday afternoon with his pal. While he was there he came across a vendor selling some old Celtic View’s from the  ’Henrik era’. At £2 for ten, he bought the lot for £8, what a bargain.

Chuffed with himself, he and his pal got on the number 16 bus to come home.

Little did he know at the time that the next ten minutes were to be spent in fear.

Obviously he wanted to get stuck in to his newly acquired Views and proceeded to start reading one as he sat on the bus, oblivious to the members of some flute band that were in close proximity.

Now at this point the lad has done nothing except start reading his Celtic Views, with his ipod earphones on.

So why did the louts in the flute band uniforms see this as an excuse to verbally abuse him, his religion and his family, then try and rip his earphones off and attempt to set fire to the young fellas jacket?

I’ll tell you why. Because in this country the bigotry and intimidation continues day in, day out. Just because the football season’s over doesn’t mean the bigots have put away their bile.

Maybe the government should look a wee bit closer to home and stop the marches that pollute our streets week after week. Just a thought….

For once Sky reporter and ex-Celt Andy Walker told it exactly how it is.

He summed up after the game by letting everyone who’s listening know the attack on Lenny is part of a sectarian problem. Previously it appeared Andy would skirt round the issue like so many other mainstream journos.

However, his colleagues in the studio didn’t exactly help matters.

Before a ball was kicked Lenny and Jim Jefferies were holding what appeared to be an amicable conversation. The his sidekick Billy Brown came on the scene and looked to have shared a joke with Lenny before they took their respective places in the dug out.

Yet the studio team somehow managed to come to the conclusion that there was ‘no love lost’ between the pair!

This only days after the print media took great pleasure in misquoting Lenny about Hertz and Murderwell’s inability to put in a performance against the Govan mob.

At no time during his interview did Neil say either team didn’t try, he just implied they weren’t good enough. Which is a fact.

The media in this country like to stoke things up then walk away. Maybe Alex Salmond should ask them to show a bit more responsibility.

Anybody seen Kenny MacAskill?

Anybody Seen Kenny?

Are Celtic and Rangers really just two sides of the same coin?

I don’t think so.

Maybe to the outsider who likes to tar everyone with the same brush we look the same, but to those of us who know better, we’re about the same as chalk and cheese!

It’s convenient to tag the two clubs as the ‘Old Firm’ because that means the focus will never be on the one club that is detrimental to all things fair. And if we try to distance ourselves from the ‘other’ club we’re lumped with the ‘one’s as bad as the other’ clause!

Well folks, Celtic are a totally different club from Rangers, always have been always will be. From day one our inclusive policy of playing and employing anyone capable of doing their job was NOT adhered to over at Ibrox.

132 years of anti-Catholic discrimination was employed by the Govan club, a policy that was ignored by the SFA who saw fit to turn a blind eye to a member club practising a form of apartheid.

For too long we’ve been lumped with their baggage.

You only have to look at the recent government ‘summit’, when the behaviour of their players and assistant manager brought the game into disrepute. Let’s not forget that  Diouf and McCoist were the original instigators of trouble at Celtic Park on the evening of the Scottish Cup tie.

Yet, we were dubbed as bad as them by media and politicians alike.

(Anyone with an ounce of sense would have recognised the ‘summit’ as a just a political point scoring exercise.)

To make matters worse, last week’s Co-Operative Cup Final was disgraced by the incessant anti-Catholic and anti-Irish bile emanating from the Rangers sections. Loud and clear for the nation to hear.

But once again, we somehow get dragged into the mire by those apologists who won’t tackle the sectarian issue head on. In fact the same politicians who ‘demanded’ a summit praised the crowd and occasion!

And these people want you to vote for them!

Not once have Salmond or MacAskill condemned the death threats our manager Neil Lennon has to endure. Or the fact that he has to like with 24hr security, thanks to the bigots who plague our society.

‘Old Firm’, NOT in my name, let’s drop it once and for all!

Ally How The Media DON't Want You To See Him!

Playing for Celtic makes you a target in Glasgow City Centre. That’s a fact.

If you happen to be born in Scotland and choose to play for the Republic of Ireland then in the small minds of Scotland’s Shame that makes you public enemy number one.

Aiden McGeady was the best player in Scottish football for the last three maybe four seasons. The type of player you would pay to watch.

Unfortunately, away from the football ground Aiden’s life was that of victimisation.

Sure he openly admits that he should have behaved differently when out in Glasgow, but who amongst us would turn the other cheek time and again when subject to hateful and racist abuse?

I thought this Scotland ‘one country, many cultures‘ was the place we could live and let live.

Unless your a Catholic, that is.

And before I get the ‘paranoia brigade‘ on at me, just think what goes on around us.

Darren O’Dea threatened while out in the city, Martin O’Neill’s house had a Union Flag stuck in his front garden after a derby match, while his wife and daughters were inside, current manager Neil Lennon viciously attacked, not once but twice in Glasgow.

A Gaelic football team’s new minibus and equipment firebombed, Scared Heart Church in Bridgeton constantly vandalised.

Even at the recent Albion Rovers and Airdrie match the game was spoiled by constant vile sectarian abuse from the Airdrie support.

All the while the Orange Order exercise  their ‘right’ to march down our High Street at nine in the morning, six at night or any other time they see fit, but we can’t walk the streets in safety.

For any of the apologists who may claim that it’s not as bad as it used to be, then I’m sorry, you must be living on a different planet.

Aiden McGeady was forced out of Scottish Football, plain and simple.

Good luck Aiden, you might get peace in Moscow.

Who’d a thought that would be the case?

I’m totally disgusted, although not surprised to discover that Scotland’s Shame have once again escaped with a fine for their loutish behaviour in Romania.

UEFA’s statement reads:

“UEFA’s Control and Disciplinary Body has today fined Rangers FC €20,000, and ordered them to pay the cost of the damage to the stadium infrastructure caused as a result of the improper conduct of the Scottish club’s supporters at the UEFA Champions League Group G match against FC Unirea Urziceni in Romania on 4 November.”

Another victory for the Scum that tramp all over Europe, courtesy of Platini and Co!

Please tell me this…How can a support be so victimised wherever they go?

Manchester, Pamplona, Barcelona, Newcastle, Birmingham, Villarreal and now in darkest Bucharest.

Each and every time the MM go outside Glasgow they cause bother, sometimes inside Glasgow as well, but that’s a different matter.

And every time it happens, they blame someone else. It’s never their fault.

Police, stewards, bank managers, bus drivers, The Pope, Catholic Church, the weather, a full moon……you name it, always someone else to blame.

They have become so used to shifting the blame that it has become second nature to them. Even their Rankers Supporters Assembly guy couldn’t accept his members are nutters.

He blamed the TURNSTILES!

Hopefully, UEFA will show some sort of guts and get them out of Europe once and for all, before they tramp all over Seville and tarnish the name of Scottish Football again.

The Rankers dressing room before Saturday’s Old Firm game and the players are about to have their team talk.

Gazza Before Charity Match!

“Right lads, I want 110% commitment from the word go against these bast*rds. Remember they are all f*ckin fenians and are full of tattie-munching bogtrotters from the Emerald Isle.

I don’t care if you punch, kick or headbutt your way to victory. Good luck and God Save The Queen.”

Then in walks Walter Smith and says, “Thanks Ref, I’ll take it from here!”

]]> http://celticfanzone.net/saturdays-team-talk/feed/ 1 http://celticfanzone.net/feeney-gets-his-wish/ http://celticfanzone.net/feeney-gets-his-wish/#comments Mon, 30 Mar 2009 10:24:19 +0000 Fanzone http://celticfanzone.net/?p=653 Just Like A Mini-Ipox

During the run up to Saturday night’s World Cup qualifier between Nordern Irlind and Poland, Hun loving ‘striker’ Warren Feeney called on the ‘fans’ to turn Windsor Park into a mini-Ipox.

Well, the game was marred by violence, stopped for five minutes while the linesman was treated for an injury after he was hit by a coin thrown from the home support, and the chants from the terraces were littered with racist and bigoted obscenities.

Just like a mini-Ipox!

Whilst the silence eminating from Hampden & The Scottish Media is to be expected we are also very disappointed that Celtic Directors have not condemned Scotlands Shame in any way. The Bhoys & Ghirls in Paradise last Sunday and those watching worldwide live on TV should have expected Celtic Directors to immediately ask the Police Match Commander and Celtic Stewards to take some action to stop it whilst it was happening but then again maybe like the very impartial Scottish Media they couldn’t hear anything where they were sitting ? Aye right !!!

So whilst we await some positive news of how the SFA / SPL will re-act to the match inspectors report we could suggest they invoke “Article 55″ of their bosses, FIFA, rules and “Dock Points” from The Re-Arrangers…In case you don’t know about such a rule here it is below for you….

FIFA ARTICLE 55
Quote:
Par. 4: If any player, association or club official or spectator perpetrtes any kind of discriminatory or contemptuous act as described by par.=1 and/or 2 of this article, three points will automatically be deduct=d from the team concerned, if identifiable, after the first offence.<=B> In the case of a second offence, six points will automatically be deducted, and for a further offence, the team will be relegated….disqualified..

Paragraph 1 and 2 state
Quote:
Par. 1: Anyone who publicly disparages, discriminates against or denigres someone in a defamatory manner on account of race, colour, language religion or ethnic origin, or perpetrates any other
discriminatry and/or contemptuous act, will be subject to match suspension for at lest five matches at every level. Furthermore, a stadium ban and a fine of at least CHF 20,000 will be imposed on the perpetrator. If the perpetrator is an official, the fine will be at least CHF 30,000

Par. 2: If spectators display banners bearing discriminatory slogans, or are guilty of any other discriminatory and/or contemptuous behaviour at a match, the appropriate body will impose a sanction of at least CHF 30,000 on the association or club s0 that the spectators concerned support and force it to play its next  official match without spectators. If the spectators cannot be identified as supporters of one or the other association or club, the host association or club will be sanctioned accordingly.

There you have it FIFA rules in black and white….Will they be invoked fully ? We await sanctions imposed..if any ?……but as we said earlier in post…Don’t Hold You Breath on This….

Hail Hail … FRP …. 21st Feb 2009