Scottish Premier League News 2003/04

[oor wullie]

The Auld Firm is a bore...in fact the Scottish Division 2 is mair exciting to watch...
Anyways.. cmon the 'Ton!!! Promotion in Greenock is upon us!!

Later,

Oor Wullie

Morton v Airdrie United

Table-toppers Morton could have three players back in contention for the meeting with second-placed Airdrie Utd.
Midfield brothers Marco and John Maisano, plus striker Scott Bannerman, return from suspension, but striker Warren Hawke is out injured.

Young striker Willie McLaren should retain his place in a relatively unchanged Airdrie line-up.

McLaren scored twice in a 2-1 win over Alloa that kept Airdrie five points behind Morton.

 

[ParkHead]

Barca declare Larsson interest

Catalan giants seem to match Celtic striker's criteria

Barcelona have revealed they may sign Henrik Larsson from Celtic when the Swedish striker leaves Scottish football at the end of the season.
Two days before the resurgent Catalan club confront Larsson at Parkhead in the Uefa Cup fourth round, Barcelona's vice-president Sandro Rossell confirmed their long-term interest and added that they were closely monitoring his position.

"Yes, he is a player we like a lot but we will just have to wait and see what the summer brings," said Rossell. "Without a doubt he is Celtic's most dangerous player. We can't make a move for him at the moment but it is a possibility in the summer. No one seems to know where Larsson wants to go but we are keeping a close eye on the situation."

The 32-year-old Larsson has said he will move to the continent, hinting he would prefer a Mediterranean country, with Spain his first choice, when he ends his highly successful seven-year spell at Celtic this summer.

Larsson, having called time on his international career after winning 72 caps - and since then rejecting pleas to return for Sweden in Euro 2004 - now finds the Uefa Cup is effectively a multinational shop window for his talents. But, whatever Celtic's fate in the tournament, his record as a striker who has delivered 229 goals (28 this season) demonstrates his value to them since joining from Feyenoord for £650,000 in 1997.

Celtic were yesterday more concerned about Larsson's fellow striker Chris Sutton as Martin O'Neill pondered his threadbare attacking options against Barcelona.

With John Hartson out for the rest of the season after back surgery and Shaun Maloney unavailable with a long-term injury, O'Neill said he would give Sutton until the last moment to declare himself fit.

Sutton has a complicated injury involving a trapped nerve which has led to a loss of feeling around the lower leg. After Sunday's Scottish Cup win over Rangers, which the striker missed, he has done only light exercises.

Given his ability and European experience, Celtic would miss him if he fails to make tomorrow's match. While O'Neill spoke buoyantly about the performance on Sunday of Craig Beattie, he would have doubts about pitching the 20-year-old in at the start.

Many believe, nothwitstanding Larsson's excellence, that Sutton has been Celtic's best player this season. If he does not make it, O'Neill will probably go with the team which began against Rangers, with Stilian Petrov pushing up to play just behind the Swede.


Parkhead

 

[Rangerforever]

Rangers 1 Hearts 1

Apparently the travelling support were excellent.

 

[ParkHead]

Parkhead

 

[Captain Shamrock]

Yes, RF, well behaved as usual. Another hard earned point for the Huns. Keep it up lads and the record for the largest margin of victory in the league will be a formality..........

As for Celtic tomorrow, MON said he is going to be playing young players the next two games, obviously giving a lot of the players some much needed rest, for the big return match at the Nou Camp. I wouldn't be surprised if the result tomorrow doesn't go the way Celtic fans would like. It will be battle of the youth squads......

 

[ParkHead]

Yes the game didn't go the way the fans obviously would like but in the end we can not win them all. I thought young Marshall did quite well for his first game in the SPL. He had no chance what so ever on the goal and made a couple nice saves that were needed. Beattie and Sylla offered nothing up front at all. I was hoping Beattie would show more over last couple of games but has yet to give MON reason to give him more minutes even after the others come back. The call went out for GHOD and again he came through with the tying goal. Undefeated streak at home still intact!!


Other great news for the fans of the Hoops.....


CELTIC will be in SEATTLE again this july on their tour.


Parkhead

 

[Captain Shamrock]

Yes, I heard about the Seattle game today. I believe it is the 24th of July. Will that mean you will not be going to Boston? Personally, I'm a lot happier with the trip to Seattle for a couple of days this time? What do you think?

As for Sunday's game, I can only go by the thousands of posts on FootyMad and/or E-Tims, and of course BBC. Most people said Sylla played okay but Beattie didn't do much. Wallace was given some positive comments and Marshall did nothing wrong. Having said that, I'm a little worried about the trip to the Nou Camp next week. It still doesn't look like Sutton will be able to play. We have a couple of league games this week and I'm sure MON will be resting a fair amount of the regulars. Hopefully, we don't drop many more points doing that, although with a 16 point cushion, we have a little bit to play with. Hibs said they would move Sunday's fixture but I guess both teams decided to play anyway..........


BTW, Bigyun, what time do you finish work on Wednesday, St. Patrick's DAy?

 

[Rangerforever]

Livingston take the CIS Cup 2-0 over Hibernian

On another note Tim Malloy, one of the Bhoys:

Mini Hoops lost out on taking home some silverware losing to Livi in the League Cup Final.
Can't believe they beat the Tic, then us, to then lose to Livingston.
shite the bed Hibee.

Well done to Livi, like the Boro , they took home their first major honour.

The odds are much better now of making next week's payroll.....

 

[ParkHead]

BTW, Bigyun, what time do you finish work on Wednesday, St. Patrick's DAy?

I am suppose to work till 3:00 but I am quite sure we will be skipping out early!!


Even with the game in Seattle it is still hard to pass up a Road trip like that to T.O. , BOS, Phi.


Parkhead

 

[cside17]

Yes, I heard about the Seattle game today. I believe it is the 24th of July. Will that mean you will not be going to Boston? Personally, I'm a lot happier with the trip to Seattle for a couple of days this time? What do you think?

As for Sunday's game, I can only go by the thousands of posts on FootyMad and/or E-Tims, and of course BBC. Most people said Sylla played okay but Beattie didn't do much. Wallace was given some positive comments and Marshall did nothing wrong. Having said that, I'm a little worried about the trip to the Nou Camp next week. It still doesn't look like Sutton will be able to play. We have a couple of league games this week and I'm sure MON will be resting a fair amount of the regulars. Hopefully, we don't drop many more points doing that, although with a 16 point cushion, we have a little bit to play with. Hibs said they would move Sunday's fixture but I guess both teams decided to play anyway..........


BTW, Bigyun, what time do you finish work on Wednesday, St. Patrick's DAy?

Captain, Parkhead,

Where did you guy's hear this about Celtic in Seattle? I was just on the Champions World site, and no game announced! They are advertising Celtic World Huddle memberships! Need to start planning for a road trip now!!

To stay on topic;

We will stuff the Huns next week

 

[Captain Shamrock]

C-side,

I read about it on the Celtic message board. It was a guy in the states who said it had been confirmed on July 24th. I don't know how accurate it is but that would surprise me, especially if they're playing back east for the other 3 games.....Let's hope the information is true.....


Yes, we will stuff the Huns next weekend but we have to deal with Dundee and HIbs this weekend



Captain

 

[ParkHead]

At the game on Sunday morning the president of our club read the dates of all four games off. He recieved an email from the president of the N.American Celtic supporters Clubs. All dates were apparently confirmed and the 24th is the correct date for Seattle.

We will stuff the Huns next week

What else is new.


Parkhead

 

[Jinky]

Where does Rangers' summer tour take them?

 

[Captain Shamrock]

The game on the 24th will be the first game of the tour and right now, they are trying to get Chelsea as the opponent. This has to be confirmed of course, but Man. United, AC Milan, and Porto are the other potential opponents for the games back east.....


Will MON play the full squad tomorrow against Dundee? I think he will and if we get the win, then he'll play the youngins against Hibs on Sunday......

 

[Guinness]

Where does Rangers' summer tour take them?

Unity flats in West Belfast to play curbie against the U-12 girls team... Beautiful weather, a boisterous ovation and 3 points in the bag are all expected!!!
Hopefully they'll sign a couple of the netball players to amature contracts!!!

 

[Jinky]

I would think that a large number of Rangers players will start their Summer Tour at the Govan unemployment office.

Onto better news,

Leaders Celtic opened up an amaazing 19-point gap at the top of the SPL after a 2-1 win at Dundee.

Goals from Stilian Petrov in the first half and Henrik Larrson after the break sealed three more points and ensured the title will be back at Parkhead in a matter of weeks.

After their recent hiccup against Motherwell when an under-strength Bhoys struggled to a 1-1 draw, manager Martin O'Neill named a stronger line-up at Dens Park.

And he was repaid just after the half-hour mark when Petrov finished a superb counter-attacking move.

Stephen Pearson nipped ahead of Mark Fotheringham to win the ball before charging downfield on the counter-attack.

With just Larsson up, Petrov overlapped the young Scot and was picked out with the perfect pass before steering the ball past the hand of Julian Speroni.


Celtic increased their lead in the 68th minute when half-time sub John Kennedy nodded Petrov's free-kick into the path of Larsson and the Swede slipped the ball past Speroni at the second attempt.

Dundee got some consolation in the final minute courtesy of Sebastian Kneissl's strike but it was too little too late.


I thought this was a dire match. I know Sylla is not a striker but some effort wouldn't have went amiss. He really is about as usefull as a pair of round dice. Parkhead will be happy to hear that Celtic's young keeper David Marshall was the Man of the Match. He's a very good keeper.

19 Points Ahead On St Paddy's Day!!!!

 

[ParkHead]

Jinky,

Would it be possible for Celtic to lift the trophy at Ibrox on the 27th? Not that they would ever let that happen of course. They must be getting close to clinching the title.


Parkheadwouldlovetoseethat

 

[Rangerforever]

How fcuking dare you?

OK.

You've drawn me out.

The lot of you can get tae fcuk.

Yes, Jinky, would the SFA agree to the pelting of projectile objects to come down on the Celtic support and side like the weather today?

Don't even get me going if they show up with that helicopter to take them back to 'Paradise'.....

The rumour mill right now is a consortium headed by 'three well known' parties are going to inject 200M quid into Rangers and attempt to lure Sir Alex back to Glasgow.

God Bless the Masons.



Bhoys:
Is that young keeper Scottish?

 

[Jinky]

Celtic can win the league at The Theatre Of Hate but after what happened when Rangers won the title at Celtic Park (and stupidly mocked the Celtic Huddle) authorities have claimed it will not be allowed.

The rumoured consortium is just that, a rumour. 200 million pounds would put Rangers back to square one. Who are these three mugs who want to give away nearly 70 million quid each?

I believe David Marshall is Gordon Marshall's nephew. Pretty sure he's Scots.

 

[ParkHead]

the pelting of projectile objects to come down on the Celtic support

I hope this isn't the atmosphere inside Kelly O's later! I might have to bring a helmet with me.

See ya later RF

Oh btw I will be the one with his hoops on!

Parkhead