Weekend Footie

[pleno1]

I was in same Southampton team as Bale, Walcott etc. Captain of my county team. Had trials at Newc/Hartlepool etc then just ended up in Amateur football whilst I was at college then had a trial for Blyth and impressed spent most of the season on the bench, hardly getting a game as I was only 17. Came to uni and just play for the uni team now. Finish uni this year so hopefully will get back to semi serious when I graduate.

Cool, was wanting to see how far you lived from leeds to draft you into my 5 a side team! I used to play in the north east at the amateur level for a few years and i know blyth play at quiet a good level. Position do you play?

haha.. Yeah they are in the conference north. I'm a centre mid by trade, but get put  rb/rw because I'm not the Patrick Veira type.

[bobby1]

1 James Milner to score first and Man Utd 2-1    @ 125/1
Stake:  1.00 Single
Potential Winnings:  125.00
 

Yassssssssssssssssssss

Now on come on Pleno!!!

VALLADOLIDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!

nice one Dave, great stuff mate.

[Teacake]

As a complete neutral I understood the Brown red card from the referee's viewpoint, doubt it would be reversed

He didn't have the best view and should have consulted with the assisitant ref who's looking right at it. Its the very least he can do considering Laughertys previous. He was far to eager to brandish the red card. Weir also has a kick at Fortune in the aftermath although I can understand why that was missed.

[Maxriddles]

Old Firm good to watch? Maybe because of the occasion, but the players are terrible imo.

Like half the Premier league you mean?


Difference is the Old Firm game was exciting, hard fought and great to watch

unlike half of the Premier league.

I think Celtic/Rangers would both finish rock bottom of premiership. Pompy would cruise Scottish division. I think I heard on commentry that one of Rangers players cam from Stockport, rest like Lafferty etc all awful. Mcgeady/Keane only two players who are premiership class imo.

i think you over estimate the 'premiership class' outside the big clubs. but whatever.

This.

Oh and well done Dave, nice touch, always very satisfying to land one at big odds.

[Josedinho]

As a complete neutral I understood the Brown red card from the referee's viewpoint, doubt it would be reversed

I admit it may be a mistake but Brown asks for trouble thrusting his head forward. KL obviously makes it look worse which is just standard isn't it?


He didn't have the best view and should have consulted with the assisitant ref who's looking right at it. Its the very least he can do considering Laughertys previous. He was far to eager to brandish the red card. Weir also has a kick at Fortune in the aftermath although I can understand why that was missed.

[Maxriddles]

The worst refereeing decisions I saw today were at Wembley but having resisted commenting on the Celtic refereeing thing all week I can resist no longer. There is no conspiracy...FACT!! Refereeing decisions are like bad beats with Celtic, they only remember the ones that go against then, forgetting all about the many times they have benefited. They have been on the wrong end of a couple in the OF games this season. no doubt about it, but in recent times they have benefited from a few too, however we never hear too much about those ones.

As for todays game yes Brown's red card was harsh but he was one of two Celtic players very lucky not to have been booked at that stage, both he and N'Guemo (who did pick up a yellow late in the game) were racking up a similar number of unpunished fouls to Bougherra, who as pointed out was very lucky not to be red carded after picking up a yellow for his first tackle of the match. This referee who has allegedly robbed Celtic today was honest enough to quickly (& correctly) rule out the first goal Edu scored when he came on, not really something I'd expect of someone out to conspire against Celtic. He then denied Rangers what ex-Celtic winger Davie Provan described as a stone wall penalty, again not really the actions of an anti Celtic conspirator. With the Brown incident it is likely to have looked like a head but to the chest from the refs viewpoint but yellow card each would have been the correct call IMO.

Who really cost Celtic the game today? Dougie McDonald? I don't think so, I think the following are far more culpable, McGeady, Keane, Kamara, Fortune, Brown, Braafheid, and Mowbray!!

[LeedsRhodesy]

sometimes when i have a gut feeling i with a had bigger balls and put more money on things, Well any + is a bonus i guess


Fixtures 28 February / Juventus v Palermo / Match Odds      Palermo    Back    10231539467    28-Feb-10  18:19     5.7      2.00     5.7      28-Feb-10 18:19

[Snowball]

The worst refereeing decisions I saw today were at Wembley but having resisted commenting on the Celtic refereeing thing all week I can resist no longer. There is no conspiracy...FACT!! Refereeing decisions are like bad beats with Celtic, they only remember the ones that go against then, forgetting all about the many times they have benefited. They have been on the wrong end of a couple in the OF games this season. no doubt about it, but in recent times they have benefited from a few too, however we never hear too much about those ones.

As for todays game yes Brown's red card was harsh but he was one of two Celtic players very lucky not to have been booked at that stage, both he and N'Guemo (who did pick up a yellow late in the game) were racking up a similar number of unpunished fouls to Bougherra, who as pointed out was very lucky not to be red carded after picking up a yellow for his first tackle of the match. This referee who has allegedly robbed Celtic today was honest enough to quickly (& correctly) rule out the first goal Edu scored when he came on, not really something I'd expect of someone out to conspire against Celtic. He then denied Rangers what ex-Celtic winger Davie Provan described as a stone wall penalty, again not really the actions of an anti Celtic conspirator. With the Brown incident it is likely to have looked like a head but to the chest from the refs viewpoint but yellow card each would have been the correct call IMO.

Who really cost Celtic the game today? Dougie McDonald? I don't think so, I think the following are far more culpable, McGeady, Keane, Kamara, Fortune, Brown, Braafheid, and Mowbray!!

I'll take two of what your on.Bougherra could have shat on your Freemason friends face and got away with it.
The Scottish League is the most corrupt in Western Europe.

[Div]

As a complete neutral I understood the Brown red card from the referee's viewpoint, doubt it would be reversed

How on earth Bougherra made it through 90 minutes I do not know. Reckon there were four clear yellow card offences, and he knew it from his winks to his teammates


Thought Edu was the best player on the pitch, and both keepers played well too.

The referees can only give what they see. Therefore I look forward to hearing an explanation of what he did see at the Brown/Lafferty altercation.

Bougherra stayed on because he plays for Rangers. I thought you'd have figured that out by now Richard.

Edu played well when he came on. We actually had a discussion in the pub when 'Elbows' McCullogh got injured and I was worried as Edu was the likely replacement and I reckon he is a better player.

I haven't seen much mention of the tackle by Papac on Kamara in the first half that led to Keane's free kick, but escaped even a yellow card. To me it looked absolutely brutal, but unlike Rangers penalty claim we weren't treated to 17 different replays. 

All in all, another bad day at the office for us. We are improving in some areas, and Rogne looks a real find at centre-half if he can stay fit, but there's a long way to go.

I think I'm too close to things, and a bit too tipsy at the moment, to give a coherent summation of the state of Scottish refereeing. So, I'll leave it to Scotland manager Craig Levein to speak on my behalf...

[Snowball]

Good post Div, to the neutrals reading this, that Video from Levein is almost a weekly event in Scottish Footabll when it comes to Rangers FC.
From a betting perspective they are good to have onside.

[Maxriddles]

Good post Div, to the neutrals reading this, that Video from Levein is almost a weekly event in Scottish Footabll when it comes to Rangers FC.
From a betting perspective they are good to have onside.

If we are posting historic you tube footage to try to prove the bias towards Rangers then consider this one? Will this help prove how referees have been biased towards Rangers for decades in Scotland? After all this Rangers bias has been going on for decades, right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhXkgpCzM1o

There is no conspiracy, there is no bias towards any club, officials make mistakes or don't always see what they think they have, they don't have slow motion replays from 10 different angles when they make their decisions. Any Scottish football fan outside the OF will tell you that both  the OF get every big decision just as many in England will say the same about Man Utd and the other big clubs there. Refs make mistakes but talk of bias towards any one club is utter nonsense.

[lazaroonie]

Good post Div, to the neutrals reading this, that Video from Levein is almost a weekly event in Scottish Footabll when it comes to Rangers FC.
From a betting perspective they are good to have onside.

If we are posting historic you tube footage to try to prove the bias towards Rangers then consider this one? Will this help prove how referees have been biased towards Rangers for decades in Scotland? After all this Rangers bias has been going on for decades, right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhXkgpCzM1o

There is no conspiracy, there is no bias towards any club, officials make mistakes or don't always see what they think they have, they don't have slow motion replays from 10 different angles when they make their decisions. Any Scottish football fan outside the OF will tell you that both  the OF get every big decision just as many in England will say the same about Man Utd and the other big clubs there. Refs make mistakes but talk of bias towards any one club is utter nonsense.

do you have anything in the last 15 years ?

[Div]

Here's a sample of this season's 'honest mistakes' courtesy of someone with a lot more time on their hands than me, who listens to Real Radio.

http://www.realradio-scotland.co.uk/presenters-shows/shows-xcyr/real-football-phonein-qlug/football-phonein-listener-keiths-email/he7pjagk/

Note the various direct quotes from opposition managers admitting they got favourable decisions against Celtic.

Contrast with Craig Levein. 'It's all about Rangers'

[Maxriddles]

Good post Div, to the neutrals reading this, that Video from Levein is almost a weekly event in Scottish Footabll when it comes to Rangers FC.
From a betting perspective they are good to have onside.

If we are posting historic you tube footage to try to prove the bias towards Rangers then consider this one? Will this help prove how referees have been biased towards Rangers for decades in Scotland? After all this Rangers bias has been going on for decades, right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhXkgpCzM1o

There is no conspiracy, there is no bias towards any club, officials make mistakes or don't always see what they think they have, they don't have slow motion replays from 10 different angles when they make their decisions. Any Scottish football fan outside the OF will tell you that both  the OF get every big decision just as many in England will say the same about Man Utd and the other big clubs there. Refs make mistakes but talk of bias towards any one club is utter nonsense.

do you have anything in the last 15 years ?

Oh sorry, I thought the old examples would be good because I was under the impression this bias against Celtic by referees is a long standing thing.

To be honest if I was sad enough I could get plenty examples from the last couple of seasons where refereeing mistakes have favoured Celtic or gone against Rangers and vice versa. The thing is I'm not tragic enough to spend the time putting it altogether to prove what I already know, referees make mistakes, all teams benefit from time to time, all teams suffer them from time to time.

I do not expect a section of the Celtic support to ever be convinced of this so let's just accept that all referees in Scotland are consistently biased against Celtic and that they give Rangers everything. Let's also accept that the SFA will do all they can to help Rangers while consistently picking on Celtic (they sure did that before the UEFA Cup final & with the re-arranged OF game at Parkhead that season). No doubt Mason McDonald will get a roasting at his next lodge meeting for making it too much of a sweat yesterday. At least I can look forward to Rangers continuing to bring in the trophies no matter how dire the finances because the referees will help us all the way. I must go for now, need to try to get a picture of that flying pig that's just gone past the building.

[lazaroonie]

Good post Div, to the neutrals reading this, that Video from Levein is almost a weekly event in Scottish Footabll when it comes to Rangers FC.
From a betting perspective they are good to have onside.

If we are posting historic you tube footage to try to prove the bias towards Rangers then consider this one? Will this help prove how referees have been biased towards Rangers for decades in Scotland? After all this Rangers bias has been going on for decades, right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhXkgpCzM1o

There is no conspiracy, there is no bias towards any club, officials make mistakes or don't always see what they think they have, they don't have slow motion replays from 10 different angles when they make their decisions. Any Scottish football fan outside the OF will tell you that both  the OF get every big decision just as many in England will say the same about Man Utd and the other big clubs there. Refs make mistakes but talk of bias towards any one club is utter nonsense.

do you have anything in the last 15 years ?

Oh sorry, I thought the old examples would be good because I was under the impression this bias against Celtic by referees is a long standing thing.

To be honest if I was sad enough I could get plenty examples from the last couple of seasons where refereeing mistakes have favoured Celtic or gone against Rangers and vice versa. The thing is I'm not tragic enough to spend the time putting it altogether to prove what I already know, referees make mistakes, all teams benefit from time to time, all teams suffer them from time to time.

I do not expect a section of the Celtic support to ever be convinced of this so let's just accept that all referees in Scotland are consistently biased against Celtic and that they give Rangers everything. Let's also accept that the SFA will do all they can to help Rangers while consistently picking on Celtic (they sure did that before the UEFA Cup final & with the re-arranged OF game at Parkhead that season). No doubt Mason McDonald will get a roasting at his next lodge meeting for making it too much of a sweat yesterday. At least I can look forward to Rangers continuing to bring in the trophies no matter how dire the finances because the referees will help us all the way. I must go for now, need to try to get a picture of that flying pig that's just gone past the building.

a simple no would have sufficed.