Football Focus

[Otta]

Indeed, fair play West Ham, just hope some other clubs follow their example.

And I don't think the handball looks intentional, more reflex.

[aquarius moon]

It's good to know Quids that Millwall on the brink of relegation has had such an impact on you that you felt the need to come back here and tell the world. ;-)

[red devil]

Otta Wrote:

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> Indeed, fair play West Ham, just hope some other

> clubs follow their example.

Yep, extremely generous considering they contributed the princely sum of ?15m towards the ?619m refurb, and only have to pay ?2.5m pa in rent...guess who's picking up the tab?

[Mick Mac]

SCSB. I did think about whether I should engage with you and guess what, I regret it again.

[maxxi]

The WH pricing game is a good idea when you have an extra 19,000 seats to fill - most of which will have shit views - and you can bet your bottom escudo that if it IS filled Quids, then the prices will shoot up quicker than Sam's blood pressure when someone mentions 'total football'.

That said (and in the spirit of "the new stadium is a done deal mate so stop feckin' whining about it") I will be there too and hoping for a new Iron Age in English Football.

And Miwwaww? Who they?

[Mick Mac]

Why will they have sh1t views ?

[SCSB79]

Mick Mac Wrote:

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> SCSB. I did think about whether I should engage

> with you and guess what, I regret it again.

Is it because you don't like facts being used?

Oil & water = Celtic fans and truth.

[maxxi]

Mick Mac Wrote:

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> Why will they have sh1t views ?*

The 'rake' (such as it is) means some seats are quite a walk from the actual pitch - a bit like watching Orient.

From Brentford.

*These will be the cheaper seats - maybe they'll come with opera glasses in a coin-operated bracket attached to the seat in front - for nostalgia.

[Mick Mac]

Or virtual glasses with video of Moore, Hurst, Peters...

Oh... and canned roar.

[red devil]

Oi Quids, did you say you were 79 rows back or 97?...

http://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/real-madrid-man-u-big-house-michigan-crowd-2014.jpg

[Parkdrive]

West Ham can afford to generous can't they, how much did they pay for the new stadium?

[maxxi]

True Parky but it's a rental job, know-what-I-mean?

Muddy boots and posters (including blutack) of WestHam to be removed between games - and we don't even know what the London Legacy people will end up calling it yet. (The Chelsea Building Society Arena is a front runner apparently)

[SCSB79]

Mic Mac - does this guy represent you?!

This is an email exchange between Joe O?Rourke, General Secretary,Celtic Supporters Association and Stewart Regan, CE of the SFA!!!

"Operation Stop the Treble"!!!!

1st letter to Regan

Mr Regan,

Firstly let me congratulate Inverness Caley Thistle and Falkirk Football Club on their achievement of reaching the Scottish FA Cup Final. Hopefully it will be a great day for both teams and their supporters; and the best team will win for the right reasons.

As for the match yesterday when Inverness managed to beat my team and get to the final; that?s another story altogether; and another example of blatant cheating involving referees and officials working

on behalf of the SFA.

I make no apologies whatsoever for using the term ?CHEATING? as i was sitting about seventy yards away in the North Stand and clearly saw the hand ball which at least three match officials much closer than me must have seen as well.

I have watched the incident back several times and seen the still pictures; i would like the match officials to come out and explain why Celtic were not awarded a penalty and a red card issued to the offending player Josh Meekings.

I would also be delighted to hear your opinion on the incident; i assume you were in one of the better seats of Hampden and would have had a good view of the incident.

I have said to you before there seems to be an anti-Celtic agenda going on at the SFA; too many situations have occurred

for that not to be the case; I?ll mention a couple; you can explain them to me.

Derk Boerrigter, cited by the compliance officer and given a two game suspension for simulation. No problem with that; but are we to believe that Derk is the only player in Scottish Football who dived seeking to gain an advantage?

Aleksandar Tonev, cited by the compliance officer and given a seven match suspension for making a racist remark to Shay Logan.

Not one single witness or technical evidence to support the charge; yet Aleksandar is convicted on the ?Balance of probabilities?.

Leigh Griffiths, cited by the compliance officer and charged with singing a disrespectful song about Hearts; the outcome still to be decided.

John Guidetti, cited by the compliance officer and charged with singing a disrespectful song about Rangers; the outcome still to be decided.

I would like to know if the players of Celtic Football Club are the only ones under scrutiny by the SFA. As there doesn?t appear to be the same scrutiny used with regards to players of other teams.

Getting back to match officials. Was ?Operation Stop the Treble? confined to match officials? Or were board members like you and Campbell Ogilvie also involved? How we have managed to be top of the league and have already won the League Cup is a remarkable achievement in the circumstances.

Steven McLean and Alan Muir have a lot of explaining to do with regards to yesterday; and I?m not sure what part the North Stand assistant had to play in the incident. But of course they won?t be asked to explain why they cheated; they will be supported by you and your accomplices; just as they always are.

McLean has a history of treating Celtic with disdain; maybe it comes from being a supporter of Rangers; and his brother

having played for Rangers. He has been ably abetted this season by Thomson, Madden, and Collum; to name a few.

I think the latest ?Honest Mistake? might just be the final nail in the coffin with regards to the SFA and the supporters of Celtic FC. We will now organise our supporters groups with a view to exerting the financial clout we have in Scottish Football.

There will be no cash cow of the Celtic Support at Hampden for the Cup Final, you will need to be creative for once to try and get more than 20,000 to attend; it won?t be easy not having the Celtic supporters to suck dry.

Joe O?Rourke,

General Secretary,

Regans response

-----Original Message-----

From: Stewart Regan

Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2015 8:53 AM

Subject: Re: Cheating.

Dear Joseph,

Given the scurrilous accusations contained within your letter - which is not befitting a general secretary of any organisation - it would be inappropriate to continue this correspondence any further.

Stewart M. Regan

Chief Executive

The Scottish F.A.

Tel: 0141 616 6004

Fax: 0141 616 6003

Hampden Park,

Glasgow,

G42 9AY,

Scotland

www.scottishfa.co.uk

Twitter: @StewartMRegan

Dear Mr Regan,

I?m sorry you found my previous mail not to your taste; I?m elected by the member branches to represent their views and try to fulfil their hopes and aspirations. The mail i sent you had the full backing of our Executive Committee.

You are relatively new to Scottish Football, and i had hoped you would have been a refreshing change to what we had been used to previously.

I met with you early in your tenure when we were about to boycott Kilmarnock; that boycott was called off because you promised us a new era of transparency and accountability.

So based on that; why don?t you or your match officials come out and explain what happened on Sunday afternoon with regards to the missed penalty incident? Now if that had been a match with only a single match official;

namely a referee i could accept that an incident can be missed; but we had six officials; and three of them in close proximity to the incident; so if all three are saying they missed the incident; then i would conclude at

least one and possibly more are not telling the truth.

I believe the conversation between the officials is recorded. For the benefit of all concerned; and to be totally transparent why don?t you release a transcript of what was said; because it is clear on video that Alan Muir was certainly speaking into his microphone; or is it another ?Dougie Dougie? situation?

Mr Regan, you can get upset all you want about the content of my mail; you are not the one being cheated. How many ?Honest Mistakes? are we supposed to just accept? And in particular in cup semi?s and finals.

Everyone knows that human error is part of most sports, and we have had the benefit of that too; but not as often as it has went against us. But for the officials to claim not to have seen the incident; and the Supervisor John Fleming to claim no-one is the stadium seen it in real time beggars belief; i was seventy yards away and saw it.

You have now compounded the situation by suspending Josh Meekings. I have no sympathy with Mr Keetings; by his actions in trying to con people into thinking the ball hit him on the head; he was complicit by his actions; but i have never known any player to be suspended in a similar situation.

So at the end of the day the officials just carry on. Managers lose their jobs because of some of these incidents but the officials carry on with impunity. Supporters see their team denied the opportunity to win trophies; but the officials just get more games and more money; no wonder the supporters are sick of it all.

Finally Mr Regan. I will continue to represent my members and the Celtic Support in general to the best of my ability; thankfully i don?t need your endorsement to do that. I was here a long time before you; and if God spares me I?ll be here a long time after you have gone.

Regards,

Joe O?Rourke,

General Secretary,

Celtic Supporters Association.

[????]

red devil Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Otta Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Indeed, fair play West Ham, just hope some

> other

> > clubs follow their example.

>

> Yep, extremely generous considering they

> contributed the princely sum of ?15m towards the

> ?619m refurb, and only have to pay ?2.5m pa in

> rent...guess who's picking up the tab?

West Ham offered to buy the OS when Terry Brown was still Chairman and the oS wasn't even built - rejected. Spuds offered to buy the Stadium and Knock it down and rebuild the athletics track in Crystal palace (this was politically unacceptable given the legacy issue) so West Ham stepped in and made the offer to rent .....if West Ham hadn't then it would be sitting there empty getting bugger all income. There's a share deal on match catering etc. West Ham did a good deal that was acceptable not West Ham's fault...so stop the wining. You sound like the Foooking Guardian on this, cheap seats should be welcomed but just a chorus of Fooking moaning from rich clubs feeling threatened, winey middle class lefties, who couldn't give a shite about working class football supporters, and Spuds fans.

[Otta]

Hang on, middle class lefties are moaning because a club is offering reasonably priced tickets?

That's a bit of an odd one.

[Mick Mac]

Quids. I'll see you at kids swimming in the morning. I'll bring the Guardian x2...

[Jah Lush]

Get the Socialist Worker for him, Mick. Much more up his strasse.

[Mick Mac]

I would but I'm not sure it sells round here. :(

[maxxi]

He's right though (Quids I mean).

The people in charge always knew (and admitted as much) that the stadium's only future was as a Premier League Football Team's home. That it would only be rented so it was available for other shit like concerts and Rugby World Cups and any amount of other events and the club would not be able to brand the stadium as their own home and that the naming rights (and money from that) would stay with the legacy committee.

That being the case the only candidates were a nearby Premier League team with a history in the area - and one from north London.

Even a 9 year old (or a Spurs fan) could work out who the tenant would be.

And of course you can get the Socialist Worker round here - want to borrow my copy?

[red devil]

???? Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> red devil Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Otta Wrote:

> >

> --------------------------------------------------

>

> > -----

> > > Indeed, fair play West Ham, just hope some

> > other

> > > clubs follow their example.

> >

> > Yep, extremely generous considering they

> > contributed the princely sum of ?15m towards

> the

> > ?619m refurb, and only have to pay ?2.5m pa in

> > rent...guess who's picking up the tab?

>

>

> West Ham offered to buy the OS when Terry Brown

> was still Chairman and the oS wasn't even built -

> rejected. Spuds offered to buy the Stadium and

> Knock it down and rebuild the athletics track in

> Crystal palace (this was politically unacceptable

> given the legacy issue) so West Ham stepped in and

> made the offer to rent .....if West Ham hadn't

> then it would be sitting there empty getting

> bugger all income. There's a share deal on match

> catering etc. West Ham did a good deal that was

> acceptable not West Ham's fault...so stop the

> wining. You sound like the Foooking Guardian on

> this, cheap seats should be welcomed but just a

> chorus of Fooking moaning from rich clubs feeling

> threatened, winey middle class lefties, who

> couldn't give a shite about working class football

> supporters, and Spuds fans.

No one is disputing how WH got the stadium deal, personally I couldn?t give a fook, it was a legit deal and showed great business acumen by Brady.

No one is disputing cheap seats, they are a good thing. What has been highlighted is Brady going on a PR exercise announcing the cheap seats are due to the increased Premier League money alone, which isn?t true. The cheap seats will be funded by the increase in corporate facilities at the OS. This was never mentioned, which I think is totally disingenuous of her. Otta hoped that other clubs will follow suit. Most clubs won't be able to. Their PL money will get swallowed up by an increase in transfer/agents fees and wages, as will WH's. WH can only do what they are doing i.e bring in a younger generation of fan at cheap prices whilst still maintaining their existing older fanbase, because of the increase in capacity. It's something they simply couldn't have done had they stayed at the Boleyn. So it would've been nice if Brady had given credit where credit's due.

Oh, and if you want to throw class insults around, choose your targets more carefully, you know diddly about my background...

[????]

The list of moaners was a list of the generic manners I've seen not saying you were a middle class Guardian reader I think you fall into the big club category of moaner - Utd could have cut their prices plenty of times based on high profile commercial deals etc etc they never did? People should be saluting West Ham. The criticism that really pissed me off was an article in Guardian and the comments thereafter which reinforced my prejudices totally on what a bunch of Cooonts their readership largely is....my good friends on here who read that rag excepted, natch

[????]

Otta Wrote:

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> Hang on, middle class lefties are moaning because

> a club is offering reasonably priced tickets?

>

> That's a bit of an odd one.

Tory conspiracy= Borises mates- porn merchants-tory cow etc etc, negative,cynical, conspiracy minded, tossers of the highest order. They are probably still pissed off the Olympics wasn't a total failure.

[Jah Lush]

???? Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

The criticism that really pissed me off was an article in Guardian

> and the comments thereafter which reinforced my

> prejudices totally on what a bunch of Cooonts

> their readership largely is....my good friends on

> here who read that rag excepted, natch.

But YOU read it in The Guardian and the only person who seems to be moaning is you.

[Mick Mac]

He always reads the Guardian.

[Jah Lush]

Facking hypocritical Coont.