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Of course, the main point which Neil Lennon seems to be missing (alongside Celtic FC as a whole) is that the Dubai trip was ridiculous from the outset. That's the issue. The main issue isn't that they've returned with two positive tests. The 'outcome' isn't the issue. 'Hindsight' is utterly irrelevant. Everyone, except the people embarking on that trip, knew it was a self-absorbed decision utterly lacking in common sense or morality, and they knew this from the very moment it became apparent that they were going ahead with it. This Dubai trip isn't remotely comparable to the Hamilton, St. Johnstone or Raith Rovers situations which Lennon rants about. Rightly or wrongly, professional football is going ahead. There will be positive cases at most clubs. Some clubs simply don't have the resources to follow every guideline to the nth degree, but you can rest assured that they are doing their utmost to respect and follow those guidelines to the best of their abilities. In short, it is a necessity for these clubs to continue their seasons until told otherwise. On the other hand, Celtic's Dubai trip was a completely unnecessary risk to take. That's the main difference. By apologising solely to Celtic's supporters for the 'outcome', this entire concept seems to be something which Neil Lennon and Peter Lawwell can't wrap their imbecilic heads around.

Just can't unsee Lennon's air-quotes mocking the "privilege" of a six-figure holiday to the Middle East, while dozens in Scotland die, hundreds lie in hospital or lonely in care homes, thousands are jobless, and the entire country is asked to stay behind their front doors. And he puts privilege in air-quotes.

This is the sort of childlike shite @Daviebhoy used to come away. Paranoid, dribbling nonsense. Lennon is a dead man walking and he knows it, hence that absolute bilge on the radio. THere are few things funnier in Scottish football than a raging, overly-defensive Neil Lennon being interviewed and making a complete c**t of himself. Celtic played two games with a weakened squad because they fucked off abroad on an expensive jolly immediately after a simpering loss in an OF game ended their season, at a time when a huge number of their fans are likely to be suffering financially during a pandemic which the club gave the impression they don't give a f**k about. Taking a crocked player unnecessarily who then tests positive and results in half the squad self-isolating is a f**k-up on a scale that can't quite be put into words. That Celtic immediately surrendered 4 points in utterly feeble fashion in 2 straight home games merely adds to the hilarity. Celtic are quite simply paying the price for a total lack of ambition. Appointing a joke like Lennon was like a trip back to the early 90s. Failing to empty him at numerous points over the last year has now, comically fucked the season up so badly that hardly any Celtic fans will remember or give a f**k about the quadruple treble against virtually no effective opposition, all they'll they remember is the board penny-pinching to make a comedy appointment and throwing away the biggest possible GIRFUY they'll ever have against Rangers. Lennon being the face of their shambles of a season is tremendous.

Sheesh, Faddy and Ian McCall on Sportsound agreeing that he had a point about the Scotland conga. Is nobody at any point going to clarify this conga didn't take place last week when the country was under full lockdown again. Was it right? No. Was it understandable in the circumstances? Yes, but that doesn't make it right. However, it took place at a time when the virus infection rates were falling around Europe and parts of the country were under limited restrictions. Pubs were open at the time for goodness sake albeit much of the story was they closed during the penalty shoot out. It's not a remotely comparable timeline. The country was under full lockdown with new infectious Covid variants by the time Celtic swanned off to Dubai. It's complete deflection and someone needs to call him out on it, not sit there saying he's quite right and has a point. Edit - and now Ian McCall, the PARTICK THISTLE MANAGER, is condemning St Johnstone for saying too much in statements. Wow.

As I said on one of the many Celtic threads, they're spot on; we all hate Lennon (The Caley, St Mirren, Falkirk, Aberdeen, Motherwell, Arbroath, about 79 other clubs fans) because he's a North Irish Catholic. Absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he's a horrible, fat, cheating wanker. We're all massive bigots and hate Catholics and everything Irish. We all love the Union and love the Queen.

But wait... don't the The Rangers fans tell us the Scottish government is in thrall to Celtic? And the SNPIRA are out to get them? It's almost like both viewpoints are trash.

Jody Morris was booed at Dens during the warm up after joining us. Joey Barton was booed and heckled at the few grounds he visited with Rangers. High profile player joins from English side to experience Scottish football for the first time is the link here, not his nationality/religion. Genuinely mental Celtic fans believe it was anything more.

Whether it was illegal or not is beside the point. The FM has been continually advising around essential travel only and that people shouldn't be looking to exploit loopholes or beat the system. Its not for the Scottish Government to babysit and handhold individual clubs either. Celtic have gone abroad acting the big man - look how big a club we are going to Dubai - Its come back to hit them in the face.

You've nailed it. The crucial point that lennon isn't getting is that the Dubai trip happened a matter of days after the First Minister announced new measures. We all had to re-evaluate, adapt, and change plans, but celtic decided it was perfectly fine to go ahead as planned. lennon says the decision was his. rather than lawell's, so he is culpable. In light of the celtic fan protests in December, lennon maybe felt it would be safer to get out of town after the derby. celtic fans (and everyone else) then saw pictures of them sipping drinks around a pool in a glamourous setting a matter of hours after losing a crucial derby, while the rest of us have to stay at home. The whole Dubai trip has massively backfired on celtic - it's affected their team selections, and results, and lawell and lennon's statements have only served to make matters worse. Any stick they're getting is deserved - there's no agenda, and it's not political.

Joined 3 minutes ago...

Stop saying "a path back to greater normality" please. An end point of "greater normality" is unacceptable.

100% agree with this. They were a bunch of spineless, wheedling pr1cks, and they all sounded terrified of him. Kheredine Idessane (sp?) of the BBC doesn't seem to have any idea what to do as a journalist, probably because he's spent most of his career up till now doing fluffy Andy Murray updates from sunny venues around the world. Not one of them challenged Lennon on what a terrible idea it was to take an international trip in a large group on a plane when they already knew the virus was rampant in mutated form, and although it was a few hours short of being announced, that a full lockdown was coming. Or that they went based on permission from November, when the situation was vastly different. Not one of them highlighted his scattergun whataboutery or outright lies (no one's got covid). They didn't even press him on his claims that the trip wasn't a public health risk, or that the push back was "political". What exactly do you mean, Neil? Are you saying that the Scottish Government is conspiring against your club? I wasn't expecting Woodward and Bernstein but goodness me - our sports journalists are feeble.

He has absolutely lost his grip on reality and Celtic either need to get him help or take him out of the firing line for his own good now. Celtic should have put him on gardening leave before today was done. He has utterly misjudged both the mood of the country (granted he probably doesnt care about that) AND the mood of his own support. Even Lawwell in the face of a barrage of criticism reluctantly issued an apology. As soon as he is out in public Lennon come out swinging and retracts most of that apology. He apologises only to Celtic fans who were denied seeing 13 players for two games but he also blames 'ridiculous' rules for that so he isnt really apologising because he thinks they did nothing wrong! Someone in Celtic's media team should have pulled him out of that when it became clear what he was saying. Personally I couldnt care less that they were seen round the pool or having a beer. Not bothered in the slightest. They could be doing that in their houses at home. Nor do I care whether its illegal to take a photo in Dubai. Wind yer neck in Neil. Nobody cares for your victim card. I am concerned about some of the absolute rubbish he talked though. He is deluded.. "Everyone's negative", well apart from the two who are positive anyway! But that shows what world class protocols Celtic have. ONLY two people got it so thats ok. If Celtic didnt have world class protocols they would have had dozens presumably? Gie's peace. Celtic's protocols are no different to everyone else's except they have bigger facilities and their players can afford to travel everywhere alone. They wash their hands, they socially distance, they test weekly. So does everyone else Neil, what magic wand extra world class protection are Celtic offering? Why does he think its 'ridiculous' he and his players have to isolate? Are he and his players exempt from the virus that they dont need to? The evidence of two positives suggests they're not. Indeed the evidence of the 2nd one shows exactly why it was right they did. Does he think he knows better than Chris Witty now? He's ranting about Scotland player behaviour three months ago when infection rates were much lower and the new infectious variants which have caused closure of travel altogether didnt exist. People werent banned from leaving their houses at that time. Its not massively relevant Neil and it misses the point. This was never about Celtic's behaviour, it was about the perception of Celtic's self entitlement to swan off warm weather training when most of their fans can barely leave their gardens! He's a dead man walking and he's brought his departure closer here. Awful lack of awareness.

Has Lennon been abused by some because of his background? Of course he has. It'd be stupid to deny that. It would be even MORE stupid to deny that the majority of abuse he gets is because he's a c**t.

Just been for mine in the Louisa Jordan - got a last minute phonecall from the people who run the meal delivery service I volunteer for. Apparently it's classed as frontline social care because we interact with the vulnerable people directly, which I suppose sort of makes sense. Feel a wee bit conflicted that my 80+ year old grandparents haven't had it yet as far as I know, but it wasn't a me or them situation and I suppose it means I can now only kill people with my mediocre cooking, not an invasive respiratory disease. It is absolutely fucking massive in there, and there was a constant stream of folk in and out. All seemed very efficient and very well marshalled in terms of distancing. If the other mass vaccination sites are anything like that big and well-staffed then they'll absolutely fly through them in the coming weeks. I got the Pfizer and got told it would probably be the Pfizer for the second dose in 11 weeks but that advice was constantly changing. They also gave me three separate leaflets that said the second dose would be in around four weeks, these had presumably been printed up weeks ago.

I think you can combine these statistics and make the conclusion that people generally support these restrictions for other people but if pushed would argue they personally have a valid reason to avoid them being applied to themselves.

You are a nutcase.

So Scotgov live and extending the full lockdown for another 2 weeks. No suprise but is it justified ? The UK stands at 487.1 cases per 100K Infections for the latest reported 7 day figure. Scotland peaked at 301.9 for figures 29th Dec to 4th Jan From 9th to 15th January we were down to 216.6 Todays figure for 10th Jan to 16th Jan is 210.5 Another single Day drop of 2.82% and a drop from the peak of OVER 30% We are now running at just over 43% compared to the UK. In my opinion ScotGov is extending lockdown because they simply can get away with it due to the doom and gloom in England. We actually only have 2 councils who fit the simple Tier 4 scenario for infection rate. Hopefully by the end of January extending the lockdown will look ludicrous. On current trajectory infections would drop to under 150 cases per 100K by Jan 31 Click cases by neighbourhood to see the spread on the geographical map https://public.tableau.com/profile/phs.covid.19#!/vizhome/COVID-19DailyDashboard_15960160643010/Overview Glasgow City 334.5 to 324.1 The slow decline in the largest city no doubt not helping the rest of us. North Lanarkshire 328.7 to 313.4 Renfrewshire 299.8 to 287.0 North Ayrshire 285.0 to 275.3 Clackmannanshire 263.9 to 265.8 One of very few councils climbing the charts Dumfries & Galloway 267.4 to 264.7 Only Stranraer South now over 1000 Inverclyde 266.1 to 260.9 East Ayrshire 262.3 to 260.6 South Lanarkshire 255.5 to 252.1 East Dunbartonshire 259.6 to 243.9 West Dunbartonshire 242.9 to 237.3 Then onto the 1st North or East side of the Country appearance Aberdeen City 241.0 to 234.0 South Ayrshire 230.0 to 229.1 Dundee City 225.0 to 218.3 Falkirk 223.8 to 213.8 East Renfrewshire 185.3 to 183.2 Fife 168.4 to 166.0 Perth & Kinross 171.8 to 162.6 Angus 163.5 to 157.5 Western Isles 108.5 to 157.2 Barra and South Uist now over 1000 Scottish Borders 163.6 to 153.2 Aberdeenshire 144.3 to 147.8 Stirling 138.0 to 140.1 West Lothian 145.8 to 139.3 City Of Edinburgh 140.4 to 137.0 Highlands 146.7 to 132.3 Invergordon still over 1000 East Lothian 108.3 to 112.1 Midlothian 103.8 to 100.6 Shetland Islands 82.9 to 91.6 Moray 90.8 to 90.8 Argyll & Bute 78.0 to 69.9 Orkney Island 13.5 to 13.5

Yes, I maybe missing something but it appears to be a photo of Neil Lennon.

Well, f**k me sideways. A second successive super sexy TEN for Tuesday. Was fairly sure on the Lion King and the pasta/bread questions, knew the rest.

We have finished the first round of the quiz , well the team part anyway as a couple of dweebs in the individual contest drew so need a replay. A slight change has happened in Team Steps where Contacts has went missing without leaving a contact number (sloppy) and is replaced by the returning Caspian Chris. Phew, lets gets the scores in reverse order in the teams event With 40 points and currently trailing is Team Bowie WRK, Geaky, Arab Down Under, Mixu, The Captain, Cardinal Richie, GK Neill, Aidan, Kingjoey - Never mind always round two ahead In Fourth place with 43 points its the Team of the Beatles Arch Stanton, Holgoram, Leeds Saint, BWV, NJ2, Snobot, BigBo10 Mathematics, Jacksgranda And in 3rd with 47 poiints in Team Abba Rugster, Helpma, Alang, German Jag, Pleslie, Lincoln Hearts, Armadale Killie, Spring Onion, Robin.Hood In second place with 48 points in team Steps Caspian Chris, Perkin Flump, Salvo, The Da, 101, Gen Hibs Fan, Ross, James P, Kinkacardine And our early leaders with 49 points, well Its team Queen, Freddie would be so proud Edmund, MSU, Silky Si, Peasy23, Not The Pars, Gaz, Jagfox, Slippery P, Blootoon It's early days and plenty to play for - Remember over thge four rounds there are three trophies up for grabs for the best individual scores, after round one with ten points are Rugster and Not the pars, on nine we have Edmund and on eight we have Arch, Kinkcardine, Perkin, The DA with a whole host on 7. Now its what you have been waitingfor, its the knock out cups and first we will go for The Beach Boys Cup KIllie hotshot @WhiteRoseKillie got a steady seven (end up in the digger with scores like that) to snare poor old @Geaky who notched four, unlucky. One of the pre tournie favourite physics teacher @Arch Stanton got an 8, @The Hologram a hard working volunteer at his local football team got a 7 but incredibly it was Fife's finest @NotThePars who certainly did better than par to race through with a TEN - Well done Now old Edmund @Eednud is a cup specialist and the galah from Adelaide got a nine, @MSU who resides in the USA got a six and the poor old @The Captain who I will see tomorrow for a walk (told you he was unlucky) got a six. Dumbarton fan @pleslie99 got a six and desert dwelling drinking curfew breaker @Helpma got a fine seven but they were smashed by Falkirk via Dingwalls finest @Rugster who got a perfect ten. Late substitute @CaspianChris got a five, @peasy23 whose team are taking a year out, lucky him I say got a five but going through is moomin flump @Perkin Flump with a very impressive eight. @Arabdownunder you need an avatar m9 got a decent seven, @Leeds Saint who also needs an avatar a solid six went out to @The DA who netted a strong eight to progress. Everyones favourite table guru at @SlipperyP scored 6, well fancied St Mirren fan @alang1993 got 6 to go out (bad tournie for saints fans) and progressing and rising like a phoenix from the flames is regular quizmaster and boy band expert @Silky Si McFlygetting a 7. In the final tie @Salvo Montalbano was to busy concentrating on crime when scoring 4, @MixuFruit clearly had his dinner on the boil with a five meaning everyones favourite clergyman the biggest crook in Christendom @Cardinal Richelieu advances with a seven. Well done Now its time to move onto the S Club shield First up was a battle of the sheep, @kingjoey got 4 as the oldest swinger in town @Jacksgranda noudged through with a five. A clash that was as tight as an Aberdonian Next up @Ross. who is apparently somewhere on the continent (Swaziland I think) got six, @Robin.Hood also did well with a six but bursting through is @The_Kincardine with a very professional eight, they will be dancing in the streets of Bucks tonight. George Galloway loving Qos fan @Spring Onion got five, Motherwell Daft @JamesP_81 got six but going through is eveyones favourite mod @Bully Wee Villa with seven In the next one Montrose fan @Aidan scored four, Tattoo loving Killie fan @mathematics got four but going through is the wild card, my main man & jags fanatic @jagfox BLM with six Next up @ArmadaleKillie got two, Gridiron fan @Snobot got four but surging through is my favourite Well Boot @NJ2 with five. In this one @German Jag the Hannover man got 4 but going through with six is newcomer @Genuine Hibs Fan Inspired by Joe Tortalano & Alan Sneddon. Peultimate tie. new boy @Gaz the falkirk maths teacher (lots of teachers on here) got three, multi name changing stud @101 got six but crashing through into the next round is jambo fan and Alf Stewart devotee @LincolnHearts with a seven. In the final tie and two of you boys have really boiled my piss. Aberdeen fan @gkneil got three but Auchinleck Talbot fan @BigBo10 scored 5 as did prawn expert and Peterheid fan @Blootoon87. You really are a pair of throbbers. But alas you would think this would mean a play off like I said at the start but ha you would be wrong, I can't be arsed so you will both go through to the next stage. Right that was bloody tiring. The next round for everyone will appear tomorrow. Remember even if you're out the singles event there is still the team event to win that trophy

Astounding? Yes. Surprising? No. It is their modus operandi. Celtic, and Rangers for that matter, constantly feel the need to portray an image of superiority. A big part of that is an outright refusal to admit to any wrongdoing as it might be classed as a sign of weakness by their would be detractors. The whole "more than a club" thing is built on the "us versus the world" mentality. Its about making sure their fans feel special in a way that no other club could. They are never wrong, only victimised. They are never defeated, only cheated. It's all one giant conspiracy, but the Celtic family will rise above it... now buy your season tickets, replica strips and every other bit of merchandise we spit out. The worrying thing is that a lot of Celtic fans, certainly the cult element of the support, will lap this up because it is what they want to hear. They want to hear that Celtic are being victimised and that everyone is against them. It is genuinely how a lot of fans have been brought up.

I imagine the discussion was along the lines of "get a photo where he looks raging" rather that "find one that is reminiscent of 18th century caricatures of the Irish, that'll oppress them"

If he goes on a Mussolini-esque rant in a press conference, he forfeits the right to be given a statesmanlike photo on the back page of the papers IMO.

"..and the creatures outside looked from the *** banter years, to the tim banter years, and then back to *** banter years, and already it was Impossible to tell which from which."

Scott McDonald is nailed on as our most important player of the last 20 years for me. An arsehole, yes. But we would 100% have been relegated without him.

That fucking fence sitting patter needs to get in the bin from them immediately. It should be made totally and indisputably clear that the path leads to no restrictions whatsoever, not fucking 'greater normality'... a term which is being deliberately communicated as it leaves them open to all sorts of manoeuvring. Greater normality is what will be achieved on the road to no restrictions. Greater normality is something that people should feel returning gradually as the weeks and months pass. The end goal is no restrictions, not fucking watered down restrictions at which point we settle on it for an undetermined amount of time.

Interesting that according to that, Yeadon first suggested covid was over as a public health crisis in October, whereas Todd was a true visionary, proclaiming it done mid August

Well you've been misled. The virus that started in China wasn't the same variant that hit Italy. The variant that hit Italy wasn't the same one that hit Brazil. And so on. It's been mutating since it left China early last year, but it's only since December that news agencies have taken any notice. Of course if we have evidence that a new variant is more transmissible and more deadly then it's news worthy, but we don't really have evidence supporting that. The flu virus mutates every year, people still get a vaccine for it and it still works. The stuff being pumped out daily now every time a slight mutation happens is there to scare rather than inform, as evidenced by the scientists saying "we don't know anything yet".

They should have used an image that shows his urbane, intellectual side instead.

10 (T E N) for Tuesday.

I did mention on here weeks ago that the first waves of vaccines would bring the first waves of 'it's not working!!!!' panic. Partly fuelled by the shocking revelation that despite receiving a vaccine with less than 100% efficacy, some people will still contract covid and partly fuelled by those who think 'vaccine done, I'm in the clear', go out and inevitably get a mild case of covid, contributing to a surge in positive cases. What a startling revelation to see both of those things happen almost fucking instantly and the panic-stricken headlines to accompany it.

Poor Celtic.

Nah, f**k that. It's good to see a club coming out and slapping his nonsense down. Wish Hibs as a club (not just Dempster) had come out as publicly about the fixture rearrangement. It could've avoided all of this in the first place.

I am fairly relaxed about timelines just now (or not putting any energy into worrying about it) but there definitely needs to be more acknowledgement that these restrictions are not normal and must end. The constant open ended language is quite frustrating, like they're reserving the right to hold restrictions indefinitely.

Dundee - 7 game unbeaten run. Arbroath - 1 game unbeaten run, which was a jammy draw. Arbroath fans "We've turned the corner. Dundee are poor".

You have to hand it to Willy, I genuinely didn’t think a Celtic fan would find an angle that portrayed having a massive squad as something Celtic are a victim of. But he’s done it, and for that I applaud him.

Notch up another 10, total guess on The Lion King though, I've only seen it once and that viewing was down to peer pressure

Perfect 10 for me also

Sometimes getting up for a pee is worth it

Also another 10 (for Tuesday) with no guesses. I'm not being boastful but that the 2nd day in a row where I've finished the quiz in under 10 seconds, these Qs are definitely being recycled.

Before lockdown... After lockdown...

I’m not going to get vaccinated against something that might kill me because I’ve never died before.

Another ten here. Not sure about the recycling, but recently, we're not exactly talking Japanese islands or Aussie politicians, are we?

I’ll join the Tuesday 10/10 club.

Another 10 for Tuesday.

Having been, in the past, a mentally unstable jakey he has some sympathy from me. He’s still a c unt though

Gosh well this is awkward. My first class undergraduate degree was literally a joint honours LL.B. Law and Politics. I have a university prize in an undergraduate political theory module and took several honours classes in political theory, political history and domestic government over the course of four years’ study. My professional experience quite literally involves advising MPs, their staff, other lawyers, journalists and the general public on the intersection between the law, politics and parliamentary procedure, because I am a public law researcher and my expertise is in the constitution and constitutional law. In other countries that might make me not an expert in aspects of the political system and government because there is a sharper distinction between the legal constitution and politics. But we live in the UK, where the political components of the constitution are particularly important and therefore where to be a constitutional lawyer is to have to be literate in (major aspects of) political science too. I don’t for a second suggest my path is the only one to professional or academic expertise in politics, especially UK politics, but I think you’re a little bit wide of the mark suggesting I’m not qualified in politics simply because law was my main subject at university.

He says that they've only had 2 cases out of 60-odd that travelled. My schoolboy arithmetic tells me that their per 100,000 rate is over 3333. If Celtic were a town with that rate, they'd be getting a Simpsons-esque dome put over them.