The Offical Glasgow Celtic thread

[the colonel]

was in the squad yesterday, couldnt be worse than wat was on display yesterday. fair bit of fightin in glasgow last nite, a group of fellas were going at it for about 15 mins outside molly malones. then one of my mates got a dig outside bunker by a group of huns. thankfully the police were about as they appeared behind us about 5 mins later

[ONeill]

Got this email today:

An extract from an Italian Football magazine, with Marco Negri, about Rangers, and life with the Rangers..................

Marco Negri Interview

L.B. - Luigi Bruno (Interviewer)

M.N. - Marco Negri




L.B. - " Marco, you left Rangers under very strange circumstances, why was that?"

M.N.-" Strange? There was nothing strange in anything that happened there, they simply did not want me there any longer".

L.B.- 'Why was that?"

M.N.- " The honest answer is that I didn't know then and I still don't know even today. Nobody ever explained why I had fallen out of favour."

L.B.- " Your goal record at Rangers was fantastic and when fit and available you were scoring for fun. I, and many others still do not understand why you left under a cloud".

M.N.- "Let's just say you are getting very close to why I think that I was frozen out. Scotland is a very claustrophobic place where everything is examined and analyzed endlessly. Scottish society is in many ways a backward place".

L.B. - "What do you mean by that?"

M.N. - " The culture, the underlying culture of Rangers was not good. The first team players had a habit of drinking vast amounts of alcohol during the week. As you know here in Italy we have a different culture as professional footballers. We know that it is our duty to keep ourselves fit and healthy.

Some of the players there like Paul Gascoigne and Andy Goram would turn up smelling of drink BEFORE training!! I could not understand why such behaviour was tolerated by Walter Smith who was manager then".

L.B.- " Marco we are well aware of Paul Gascoigne's problems and it is sad to see his decline, we saw it earlier at Lazio. Are you saying that the players were out of control?"

M.N.- " Absolutely, I tried to point this out to Walter Smith several times but he became very defensive and said that I needed to understand Scottish footballing culture.

He would hear no criticism of Goram and especially Gascoigne who could literally do anything he wanted to and still get away with it! It wasn't just their drinking however, they had some really extreme political and religious views".

L.B.- " Could you elaborate on this please?".

M.N. - " Of course. They hated Catholics. All of them. I never understood why they were so filled with hatred.

Several of us who were Catholic players and all foreigners were told upon arrival, never to bless ourselves at Ibrox as it could cause problems for us. I began to understand that Rangers was an extreme club very similar to Lazio here in Italy . You know, a right wing club with right wing supporters. I personally am not a practicing Catholic but my wife Anna Maria is, and it used to cause me pain when I heard what they said about my fellow Catholics. Lorenzo Amoruso and Jorg Albertz, just kept quiet and kept their heads down"

L.B.- " What finally brought things to a head?"

M.N.- " I was rapidly disillusioned by Rangers and especially their supporters. As part of my professional duties I was strongly encouraged to attend social functions which meant going to several Rangers supporters clubs.

The last one I attended really brought home to me the fact that I had nothing in common with these people. The anti-Catholic feeling was venomous and the songs they sang that evening filled me with disgust. It was at that point I decided not to give my all for a club that condoned such behaviour. I went sick. Walter Smith knew the real reason for my 'illness' and he just ignored it.

But I wasn't lying, I was sick, sick of Rangers and sick of what they stood for and that is the truth"

[lynchbhoy]

Jeez Oneill thats fairly damning.
Any idea what magazine that is supposed to be lifted from.
forgive me for being a doubting thomas but given your creative writing skills, this wouldnt be hard to make up, especially as I had heard bits in interviews mentioning some of that before - esp that Negri, amoruso, albertz etc were told not to bless themselves etc.
rangers might not be quite as bad now, but they are still some way off the rest of the spl teams in terms of decency and inclusiveness etc.

negri was a heck of a striker. I used to wish Celtic would go and sign him.

[Clown]

http://www.celticfc.net/news/stories/news_170209155627.aspx

sounds promising for paddy

[Main Street]

Jeez Oneill thats fairly damning.
Any idea what magazine that is supposed to be lifted from.
forgive me for being a doubting thomas but given your creative writing skills, this wouldnt be hard to make up, especially as I had heard bits in interviews mentioning some of that before - esp that Negri, amoruso, albertz etc were told not to bless themselves etc.
rangers might not be quite as bad now, but they are still some way off the rest of the spl teams in terms of decency and inclusiveness etc.

It's a spoof interview.
A bit on the wild side but just enough truth to have you believing the rest of it.
O'Neill is on a winner.
Even if he thought it was a genuine interview to begin with, he can now claim he was just winding up the celtic thread.

Personally I think the gullible O'Neill fell for it 

[T Fearon]

http://www.dundalkfc.com/news/090209_Celtic.asp

Great to see the Celts return to Dundalk. I remember seeing them there back in 1975 (Dalglish and all) in a friendly, in the European Cup in 1979 (Lennox, Mc Grain. Aitken and all) and in 1982 in a friendly when Davie Provan had a wonder free kick ruled out (nearly causing a riot) and again in 1991 one of Liam Brady's first games in charge and Charlie Nicholas featured.

Am I about to create a record? I will be at the Celtic St Mirren game in Glasgow on Feb 28th and this game in Dundalk kicks off in less than 24 hours later. Can anyone else say they've seen Celtic play live twice in less than 24 hours

[lynchbhoy]

http://www.dundalkfc.com/news/090209_Celtic.asp

Great to see the Celts return to Dundalk. I remember seeing them there back in 1975 (Dalglish and all) in a friendly, in the European Cup in 1979 (Lennox, Mc Grain. Aitken and all) and in 1982 in a friendly when Davie Provan had a wonder free kick ruled out (nearly causing a riot) and again in 1991 one of Liam Brady's first games in charge and Charlie Nicholas featured.

Am I about to create a record? I will be at the Celtic St Mirren game in Glasgow on Feb 28th and this game in Dundalk kicks off in less than 24 hours later. Can anyone else say they've seen Celtic play live twice in less than 24 hours

think I have

the Lansdowne tournament with Celtic, Derry city, Newcastle and PSV (or some dutch team)
was played two days in a row.
First day Celtic played Derry City in the second match with Derry winning 1-0!
The two losers played in the first match the following day which was less than 24 hours before the kickoff time for the second game the prev day !

So unless I am incorrect with which match came first, I have beaten you to that record Tone !


Main st
Funnily enough the 'mock' interview contains quite a few true snippets that I have heard before from different sources.
ex-ranger players among them.Certainly albertz and negri have had a few comments in interviews containing much the same!

[illdecide]

http://www.dundalkfc.com/news/090209_Celtic.asp

Great to see the Celts return to Dundalk. I remember seeing them there back in 1975 (Dalglish and all) in a friendly, in the European Cup in 1979 (Lennox, Mc Grain. Aitken and all) and in 1982 in a friendly when Davie Provan had a wonder free kick ruled out (nearly causing a riot) and again in 1991 one of Liam Brady's first games in charge and Charlie Nicholas featured.

Am I about to create a record? I will be at the Celtic St Mirren game in Glasgow on Feb 28th and this game in Dundalk kicks off in less than 24 hours later. Can anyone else say they've seen Celtic play live twice in less than 24 hours

FFS Tony give yourself a Pat on the back there...What do ya want us to do send you a Blue Peter badge...

[lfdown2]

http://www.dundalkfc.com/news/090209_Celtic.asp

Great to see the Celts return to Dundalk. I remember seeing them there back in 1975 (Dalglish and all) in a friendly, in the European Cup in 1979 (Lennox, Mc Grain. Aitken and all) and in 1982 in a friendly when Davie Provan had a wonder free kick ruled out (nearly causing a riot) and again in 1991 one of Liam Brady's first games in charge and Charlie Nicholas featured.
Am I about to create a record? I will be at the Celtic St Mirren game in Glasgow on Feb 28th and this game in Dundalk kicks off in less than 24 hours later. Can anyone else say they've seen Celtic play live twice in less than 24 hours

the very reason i support the hoops, first soccer game i was ever at!

[T Fearon]

I'll decide

I expect the following honours in this order

Blue Peter Badge
Crackerjack Pencil
Puke of Edinburgh award
OBE
MBE
Knighthood
Oscar
Grammy.

Might have known Lynchboy would have beaten me to this

[Gaffer]

I'll decide

I expect the following honours in this order

Blue Peter Badge
Crackerjack Pencil
Puke of Edinburgh award
OBE
MBE
Knighthood
Oscar
Grammy.

Might have known Lynchboy would have beaten me to this

And what's wrong with a Blankety Blank Cheque Book and Pen?

[the colonel]

and a bullseye mug

[illdecide]

I'll decide

I expect the following honours in this order

Blue Peter Badge
Crackerjack Pencil
Puke of Edinburgh award
OBE
MBE
Knighthood
Oscar
Grammy.

Might have known Lynchboy would have beaten me to this

The next time i'm talking to Neilie (Lennon) i'll have to ask him does he want to meet a legend and if yes i'll bring him to Poyntzpass to meet the one and only Tony Fearon

[T Fearon]

Er actually I played with Lennon (no joking here) at the end of my career in a 5 a side tournament down in Kilkeel for a Man City Supporters Club side, way back in 1987 or 1988. The team manager was a huge Man City fan and had big connections at the club and got Lennon and Gerry Taggart (both youth team players with City at the time) over to play in this.

[illdecide]

Er actually I played with Lennon (no joking here) at the end of my career in a 5 a side tournament down in Kilkeel for a Man City Supporters Club side, way back in 1987 or 1988. The team manager was a huge Man City fan and had big connections at the club and got Lennon and Gerry Taggart (both youth team players with City at the time) over to play in this.

I've no doubt on that Tony...infact i was expecting you to come back and say he asked you for your shirt after the match...lol I'm sure he remembers you as i assume you were a legend back then too