**** v Hibs

[Arnold Layne]

1 hour ago, Forever_blueco said:

Och simmer doon carol vorderman 

I know, these pesky facts are a nuisance.

[Monkey Tennis]

3 hours ago, TheCelt67 said:

https://www.rangersobserver.com/views/2017/8/14/club-1872-right-on-lennon

Club 1872 right on Lennon

August 15, 2017

By Tom Macintyre | Guest Contributor

This is apparently a controversial opinion in some corners of the echo chamber that is Twitter but Club 1872 were absolutely correct to raise the behaviour of Neil Lennon at Ibrox on Saturday. The reaction of much of the Scottish press pack to the incident has completely vindicated the statement put out on Sunday despite the misgivings of some Rangers fans.

It might be helpful to establish a few facts first because, social media being what it is, some important points have been lost in the hysteria.

Club 1872 didn’t report Lennon to the police. That had already happened within an hour of the end of the game when police had taken statements from a significant number of Rangers supporters in the Enclosure and Main Stand at Ibrox.

Lennon wasn’t celebrating a goal. That’s something you do with your players, staff and your own fans. If your first thought when your team scores a goal is to turn and gesture to the opposing fans then it’s not about the goal. Had a Hibs player done exactly what Lennon did then the chances are they would have been sent off - although not perhaps if the referee was John Beaton.

The game was classified by the police as high risk due to previous issues, particularly the cup final. Lennon would have been spoken to by the police before the game. His club would also have been asked to warn their players and staff to behave responsibly. Now you can cry and moan about what on earth has football come to that this had to happen but those are the facts. It was a certainty the police would get involved after the game given their advice and concerns prior to it.

Predictably, the reaction from Hibs and Celtic supporters to Lennon being publicly called out has not been good. You can sense the horror that someone has actually had the gall to point out that Lennon spends most of his professional life acting like an idiot. Not just at Hibs, but at every club he's managed including Bolton. Guess who else didn’t like it being raised? Graham Spiers, Tom English, Barry Glendinning and Angela Haggerty. Are we seeing a pattern?

It has been the reaction of some Rangers supporters that has been puzzling and arguably incredibly naive. It is a very noble position to take - that we should all just man up and hurl abuse at each other at the football and then go about our business. Wouldn’t that be great? Sadly it totally ignores the environment in which Rangers and Rangers fans find themselves. By now, after all the concocted stories, outright lies and twisted facts you would think people would realise that.

There seems to be a school of thought that somehow Club 1872 prompted the media to defend Lennon. Or that mentioning Lennon has somehow taken away from the horrendous performance of John Beaton. Neither of these theories stands up to any scrutiny.

The Beaton issue will take care of itself. Rangers will appeal the red card and should certainly be informing the SFA of their displeasure with his inexplicably bad display. The press were never, ever going to criticise him to the same level that they have when the refereeing mistakes have been against Celtic - simply because Rangers were never going to make a public issue out of it the way Celtic have. You can argue back and forward whether that is the right approach but it’s a fact.

As far as Lennon is concerned, by Sunday morning and prior to any Club 1872 statement, Lennon was already being painted as the victim of his own actions. Derek McGregor, Mark Warburton’s favourite chew toy at the Scottish Sun, had written a back page defending Lennon’s actions and claiming that objects were thrown at him. He’d effectively accused the Rangers backroom staff of being funny foreigners who just didn’t understand Lenny’s wonderful banter with the crowd. Neil Cameron of the Herald had tweeted some justification of Lennon’s inflammatory gestures. Lennon himself had raised and justified his actions in the press conference after the game. 

Lennon, his club and his press cheerleaders knew he was in trouble. His actions were clearly inflammatory. They were always going to attract police and SPFL attention. So the deflection had begun.

From a Rangers point of view, Pedro Caixinha was the first to mention Lennon’s behaviour. There were further press reports that Rangers staff had spoken to the police about Lennon, although it appeared more that the police had been prompted to move towards the dugout by Lennon’s idiotic behaviour.

All of this happened prior to Club 1872 saying anything. And here we get to where they possibly did make a mistake. They were ahead of most people in realising precisely how this would pan out. The police complaints and Rangers’ staff reaction to Lennon guaranteed the press would cover the story. With that also came the certainty that most of them would rush to Lennon’s defence.

Club 1872 could probably have waited until Tuesday or Wednesday when the inevitable opinion pieces would have been out, defending ‘Lenny’ and blaming the terrible persecution he has to suffer. By that time the same Rangers accounts now criticising them on Twitter would have been screaming for someone to intervene at the injustice of it all.

Instead they quickly made the point, correctly, that Lennon’s behaviour was inflammatory and in the context of everything that had gone before, irresponsible. It wasn’t about being offended - Club 1872 never mentioned being offended - although clearly the fans who reported Lennon to the police were.

And to those who say we should just shrug at Lennon’s behaviour? Why should someone’s daughter, or wife, or child be subjected to some ginger idiot firing ‘get it up ye’ gestures into their faces from yards away. Particularly someone who has previous for acting like a ned and being censured for it. And what if someone in the crowd had reacted? It’s not like they haven’t before. Do you think there would have been any mitigation from the press that Lennon should not have been acting how he did?

In certain quarters, although by no means all, the statement has been met with a slightly hipster, ‘against modern football', stiff upper lip reaction. Well guess what, this is modern football in Scotland whether we like it or not and as soon as Lennon made that gesture this chain of events was guaranteed.

Club 1872 have to operate in that environment whether we like it or not. They at least stopped it being a completely one sided love-in about poor, helpless Neil Lennon versus the big bad Rangers support. They should be commended for stepping up to the mark and at least putting across a view that nobody was ever going to see in the Scottish press otherwise. And if you still don’t get that then where have you been the last six years? 

 

Never mind broke them, Hibs have utterly smashed them into pieces. 

Marvellous stuff once more.

The attempt to appear stately is somewhat undermined by references to a "ginger idiot".  

[Monkey Tennis]

2 hours ago, Ross. said:

"A report in Italy today, has suggested what Alves could have demanded. According to Unione Sarda, the defender was earning 800k euros per annum at Cagliari. That amounts to around £58k-a-week"

I know that working in finance probably precludes me from being good at arithmetic, but even I can see they are widely out with their sums there. Looks like someone doesn't know the difference between a week and a month.

Yes, I was a bit puzzled by that arithmetic too.

[WILLIEA]

Given that the police have said that no action is to be taken against Lennon, surely these muppets can be charged with wasting police time, and taxpayers money, again?

 

[Monkey Tennis]

1 hour ago, HibsFan said:

They all plead for Lennon to be arrested and charged, then one of them gets lifted.

I'm looking forward to seeing the sober reflections on RM about the type of country wee Nicola presides over.

[killiefan27]

3 hours ago, RussellAnderson said:

That article quotes an 800k annual salary. Last time I checked, 800/52 wasn't 58..... (I just checked now. It's around 15k. Which is still absolutely batshit mental IMO, but slightly more reasonable/believable)

Worth noting that Italian outlets always report net wage, rather than gross.

So if he's on the same salary at Rangers, they'll actually be paying him 30k before ta... actually, never mind.

[Jacksgranda]

4 hours ago, Henrik's tongue said:

With respect KB, what have you seen in your central defence that impresses you? Granted, I've only seen highlights but I thought Alves got caught out of position a few times against Motherwell last week  and again a few times against Hibs on Saturday. Is he living off his rep or is he genuinely playing well? 

If he was living off of Bennett's rep he woud be in serious bother...

[Monkey Tennis]

2 hours ago, McQuade said:

Has the Rangers pitch invasion, sectarian songs and death threats been condemned yet?

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/08/14/neil-lennon-subject-death-threats-celebration-hibernian-scoring/amp/

Even well known Rangers fan, Roddy Forsyth is slating the 1872 dafties.  I liked his Jane Austen line.

[Drew Brees]

3-2 Club Statement

3-2 club would like to commend the restraint of our support following yet another 3-2 win for the mighty Hibernian on Saturday 12th August.
The restraint shown by the Hibernian support when forming an orderly queue to enter Ibrox stadium following a clear attempt by The Rangers Neanderthals to incite trouble was commendable. Woman and children alike acted as magnificent ambassadors for our club as they were verbally abused, threatened and treated to a tirade of sectarian abuse from Neanderthals bravely demonstrating at their presence behind a line of Police protection. We can only speculate as to the resultant carnage had these woman and children not shown commendable restraint.

Hibernian 3-2 club are always keen to remind our supporters that the winning score line by which we have named ourselves is in fact a regular occurrence against The Rangers and as such the disgusting and inhumane behaviour should be expected at whatever venue we choose to defeat them at.
To say The Rangers have previous for this sort of behavior would of course be stating the bleeding obvious, unless of course you happen to be of The Rangers persuasion or form part of the powers that govern Scottish football.

From the management of their new club, to the players and then to their supporters we have no need to speculate as to their reasoning. We know they simply do not like to beaten 3-2 by the mighty Hibernian.

The Rangers seem to be completely unable to control themselves in defeat, perhaps in the future they should categorise this match as high risk of defeat in order to prepare themselves properly rather than asking one of the local kindergarten children to comment afterwards.

The Rangers fans who regularly spout their bile and hatred across the internet, in public houses, on the streets and at woman and children have once again shown themselves to be the lowlife **** that the whole of Scottish football recognises.

And finally total respect to our Manager who showed tremendous restraint despite severe provocation throughout the ninety minutes, he along with his team done his talking on the pitch, winning a cup or cupping ears both are equally inciting to The Rangers fans it would appear.

At the very least now the dust has settled, we expect The Rangers to issue an unreserved apology to our manager and our fans and admit they just can’t accept defeat and are extremely sore 3-2 losers.

[Mark Connolly]

1 hour ago, Romeo said:

I wonder what age @The_Kincardine is 

BobWilliamson hasn't been spotted since it was 1-1...

[Benjamin_Nevis]

Unsurprisingly today's events have brought out some utterly terrific seethe.

ETA: "Social Mhedia" 

How do losers like that even make it through the day? 

 

[Romeo]

Unsurprisingly today's events have brought out some utterly terrific seethe.

[emoji38]
ETA: "Social Mhedia" [emoji38]
How do losers like that even make it through the day? 
 

Still going with the death threats = banter line I see.

[hellbhoy]

3 hours ago, KnightswoodBear said:

In my opinion we have.  

Is Alves and Cardoso an upgrade on Kiernan, Wilson or Hill?  I think so

Is Dorrans, Jack, and Krancjar (if he manages to stay fit past October this time) and upgrade on Halliday and Holt? Definitely

Is Candeias a better option than McKay? Jury is out for me on that one, but he certainly offers more tracking back and seems more direct going forward than McKay was.

We're still light upfront, but Morelos already looks a better option than Garner and Waghorn.

Herrera hasn't looked up to much yet and Dalcio looked awful against Progres and thankfully hasn't been seen much since.

Pena appears to have spent his summer eating pies and doing blow, so i've no idea if he'll work out or not.

I'm an eternal optimist though.  

 

On paper I completely agree with you 100%.

The problem isn't the players, it's the manager and his handling of the squads tactics and training. The one thing needing shored up was the defence and it did look like Pedro had done his homework when recruiting the players. Murty had a squad of no hopers take a point off Celtic at Celtic Park and then Pedro went on to the worst defeat in history to a Celtic side at Ibrox days later.

I can't actually work out his defensive options? His mantra appears to be all guns blazing to kill the game as quick as possible and then holding onto possession play for the rest of the game.

It is entirely possible he has assembled a bunch of players who are not compatible on many levels with each other, for the moment that is, and may or may not gel better in time.

Too many players are being caught of position when possession of the ball is lost. It doesn't actually help if you watch Pedro from the sidelines micro managing certain players telling them to do things that aren't part of the shape, formation and tactics chosen before kick off.

His use of substitutions at times are completely baffling as well at times?

[Yossarian]

[HibbyLadFaeNiddrie]

Since T2 Trainspotting forced many bears to change their pins from 1690 - may I suggest 3232 as an easy to remember replacement.

[Monkey Tennis]

1 hour ago, Mark Connolly said:

BobWilliamson hasn't been spotted since it was 1-1...

Did he post after the equaliser? 

I'd thought his last input came just after Rangers took the lead.  He'd been posting pretty prolifically until then.

[GordonD]

Hmmm...

[WILLIEA]

1 hour ago, Mark Connolly said:

BobWilliamson hasn't been spotted since it was 1-1...

I see the 54 year old sevconian who has been arrested is to appear at Paisley Sheriff Court.

Pretty sure that's Bob/No 8 's area

Coincidence?  Probably!

[Rugster]

Can I just remind everyone that the green cheek are just as bad and not to be drawn in by their gloating on this thread. We still hate you c***s too, thanks. 

[DA Baracus]

Yaas they're appealing the red card!