Think about it this way, he took Celtic into Barcelona and won. That rarely happens. They aren’t invincible or the greatest team ever despite what MSM says. He’s made the club money this year, think about that, most of these clubs are running on a debt, or out of business. Celtic have extra money, and don’t have to sell of players to make their finances balance. They can sell off players because of Lennoxtown.

Then there’s the SFA, the MSM, and the Celtic Board. The three evils of the Celtic supporters, and well Neil. There’s no question that Neil is going to be an outstanding manager, if take into account how young he is, and how little he’s been managing. Once again, he took a club into Barcelona and won. The Celtic board does him no favors. He can’t use his money to buy better players to progress in the CL past where he gets, they fight with the fans, and water down the supporters. Oh and they have a crap TV station (still I find Bolton Wanderers Tv better). Do they fight for him when he’s slighted in the media? Nope, they are scared of the MSM, and want to be family friendly. Excuse me, when has the sport been family friendly?

Oh and getting suspended for swearing at a ref on the touchline? Seriously, get that weak arse crap out of the way. How many times has that fat man wearing blue in Glasgow done it, and gotten away with it? The SFA is more than corrupt, it’s flipping stupid. They’re going to let Hearts die, but give another lifeline to Crapco. Think of it this way, how many times have you, I mean the readers been on the pitch and sworn? Heck how many times have you sworn at work? I’m the guy at work that uses the f word as a flipping coma.

He swears and gets banned. No one else so far has. Lets be honest again, the SFA, MSM, hates Celtic, and it bugs them that there’s 44 titles unbroken and untainted. It’s because of what Celtic stood for, because they sure as hell don’t right now.

So maybe he needs to manage at Celtic blue (Everton) and be better with more money in his pocket and less of a transfer kitty to be happy. Or is Neil actually happy because he’s a Celtic fan? UGH!

I won’t blame him if he goes, but it shouldn’t happen.

I’m in therapy for grief and it’s going well most of the time, but with my really fun anxiety disorder, I’m a wreck inside most of the time. The fact I’m writing right now shows how far I’ve come. Then again, I’ve really not written in a while, and I’d think I’d come through now. I mean I keep telling myself, I’ll be fine, I’m cool with Mom not being here.

But you know what? I’m not. My life would be better if she was still here. I wouldn’t be as stressed, and I would be writing more. I don’t cry as much as I used to. Hearing people wish other people “Happy Mother’s day” makes me sad, seeing people post pics of their mothers makes me sad. Realizing I can’t call her today is horrible.

Am I a better person for knowing her? Yup, but I’m sad that she’s not here. I have a radio show that I’m damn good at, that people love, but she’s not here to listen to it. I know someone is going to say “She’s their in spirit” but I’ve said this so many times, I don’t believe in all of that stuff. “But you need to, so you can get some piece.” Yeah well, that’s not me. I gave up religion long before the cancer came and took her from me.

Cancer took her from my Dad, he’d be better with his wife right now. You know what, little Will would love to meet Grandma Brandt, but he’ll never get the chance. Sure he has a Grandma Griffin (and you know how much I love my brother in law’s family). At what point is this good for all of us?

I miss calling her up and recommending a book to her, that I know she’ll love. I miss having a horrible day and being able to call her. I have to internalize the fact that she’s gone. I listen to the news and see stuff she would have loved. I mean she’d love that Celtic went into Barcelona and won. She would have been pissed off at the Hillsborough Report, Tim Tebow falling apart, or just watching soccer. And don’t get me started on all of the shows she would have liked to see that have come on in the last year.

I know I need to find someone to be with (a girlfriend) to help elevate the sadness, but she’s not here for that.

I’m cool with the fact I need my mom, I’m not cool with the fact she’s not here.

She needs to be here for Will, Kristen, and My Dad. Spiritual form doesn’t flipping count.

Then Luis Suarez went all Vampire on the blue team’s defender, and I have to say something. Of course with my sense of humor I did say “Chelsea players taste good” Yeah I know, it’s overboard, but that’s me. That being said, I’m going to overreact again, he needs to go.

Ok, so the fact that now he’s a tainted player, again, and there’s a chance that he’ll get sold for a very cut rate price, he still needs to go. You are never going to get the money back for him that he came in for. It looks like all those deals that Kenny did, save for Henderson every so often, are absolute crap. That’s sad, but the great man didn’t know what he was doing.

Get Suarez out of here, take the money and get another striker, and be 7th or 8th again next year.

Ugh.

Since I’ve been watching the sport, I’ve been trying to get into the league, and find a team to love. Now it’s easy for me to say Bayern, and with my Celtic ties, I can say in the lower leagues, St. Pauli. But that’s all well and good. My thing is that I want to follow a club with great fans, like Liverpool and Celtic. I’ve been impressed for a bit by Borussia Dortmund and their fans. The whole time this year in the CL (Champions League) their fans have been in full voice, and had impressive displays, banners etc.

Then they did the banner on the weekend of Hillsborough Disaster, the anniversary is April 15th. Truly, outstanding. Now it’s also a good thing that they aren’t a crap club, and can be on television over here in the states. Or it’s also a good thing that they have great fans. I stumbled upon a Dortmund podcast here in the States, it’s called the Yellow Wall Pod. I recommend it.

It’s as I have been saying on this blog for a while, if you want to follow a league, you should find a club in the league to follow. As we have seen, in this blog I’ve waxed on and on about different clubs on here. Heck I’ve written about the MLS on here. We need to follow the sport, we need to love the sport, moreover we need to take note of each team that’s doing well, and show them love.

Unless, they are Everton, Sevco, Manchester United, Chelshit, or Real Madrid.

However, when the Champions League is around fans on twitter, and in life come out of the woodwork as fans of a top club. These are people who are under forty and really can’t tell you the history,  but are looking at the sport for maybe the first time. They leech onto Manchester United, Barca, or a German team, and flaunt that they know the sport, or are “Fans”. These fans,and I use the term loosely, buy up all the product, go to the pubs to watch the sport. But try to hold a conversation on the sport with them, that’s anything more than superficial and your left scratching your head. They will only talk about the good, and how much “their” team has done.

These fans however are fans of teams, and it’s always good to have more fans of the sport. Maybe turning up for Champions League you can develop the love of the sport, and become a better fan of the sport. Not all of us who follow the sport, were able to follow a team in the CL, or get the European game as readily as we are able to today.  So maybe the fans today are a product of today. You see so many leagues, and teams that it’s hard not to pick a great team.

Being someone who actually does follow two top clubs (Liverpool, and Celtic) I should just keep my mouth shut, but it strikes me as odd that these new fans only know of today’s players not the past. You can’t say to these new fans, anything about the past because it’s not worth it to them. Maybe the struggle is, to accept the  fact that I’m of a different mindset in the sport, and to just deal with it.

Probably it has to remain in my mind that fans are different, and the more people who follow the sport, the better. Sigh..

http://www.lulu.com/shop/paul-larkin/the-last-pearl-diver/paperback/product-20730967.html

His newest is a break from what he usually writes. It’s a fiction book, about maturing in the 90′s and watching your favorite club, well stink it up. Imagine this, you are a young man, the team you like isn’t winning anymore, there’s no money in the team, and hated rival is looking like they can’t be beat. That’s got to be like being in Manchester in the 90′s.

Well, because this is a Celtic book, and we know that Celtic is still around, and that other team isn’t, we know it turns out good. Well, that other team is gone, and it’s new team is gone too, well hopefully.

The point of bringing this all up is because, the book is outstanding. It’s a look into something that most American’s didn’t get to see. Soccer fans in America don’t see that most of these teams are in trouble of losing it.  And don’t see what it does to the fans.

The wording and the language of the book is something you have to get used to. It’s written in the dialect of well people who live in Edinburgh Scotland. So unless you’re used to people talking like that, you will need to watch a lot of movies from Scotland. I’m fortunate I can understand most of it. Plus if you can understand Jamie Carragher (not Scottish, but damnit, his speech is bad), like I can, then well that’s better.

Why am I talking about this, after doing a segment on two shows about the book, buying it, and doing a blog about it? Because people who write well, and aren’t well mupets need to be talked about more. I’ve enjoyed Paul’s writings, and his work on Spreakerweb and Hail Hail Media’s Homebhoy’s, and Graham’s show.  I want him to be bigger.

The reason why I’m this evil towards them, is the sweetheart deal they got, and continue to get after the last liquidation. It’s sad that media haven’t gotten the point that Old Rangers are gone. It’s maybe the order over there, or maybe it is the fact that the media is being paid off by the Sevco people. Dunno. Oh wait, it’s not over there only, I’ve faced that on my show.

If you can’t live within your means at a lower divison what makes you think that you can just be moved up two levels? I know there’ s other clubs, going through crap, and I don’t wish them any harm. I’m just sick of the cockiness and the “we’re meant to be at the top” thoughts that run through the minds of those fans.

If they get liquidated again, and are made to come back again, can they be relegated to the fifth division of the Icelandic League?

This has been written before on here, on iceltic, and talked about on Graham’s show, but clubs don’t care anymore. If they are getting money out of their fans, then why care if a segment of them is being mistreated.  There will always be more fans coming to the matches, and more chances of “activation” or whatever phrase marketing people are using nowadays.

But the point does need to be taken, and knowing that this writer is an American, why are the police even giving a crap about the Green Brigade? Talking about politics isn’t this blogger’s want or need in life, but there’s has to be something behind this. Ok, so Scotland is different than we are in the states? How come fans of the team are being harassed for walking with their friends to a freaking match?

Is it because they had that Zombie sign last year, or is it because they don’t bend to the songs, and the love the club needs to be shown? Or is it deeper, not of Sevco?

That last question is scary. If the police are truly agents of the SFA (Scottish FA), Sevco or sectarianism, then shame on them. But this is all tribal crap going back centuries.

What do you have to do? As has been mentioned you can hit them in the pocket book, but there’s more people who will buy stuff. Or you can sign this:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/anticriminalisation/

There’s so much information out there on the Green Brigade, google or bing will help you.

This is spurned on by the Green Brigade and Celtic debacle. I’m not at liberty to speak completely on it, if you want anything head over to Hail Hail Media, TAL Fanzine, and Paul Larkin for the in depth stuff. Those folks, as I have said before know more about Green stuff than anyone else knows about anything. And that’s not my blowing things out of proportion, they just do. That being said, I’m with the GB, and against Censorship, so you can see where my views are. Oh and I hate over zealous police.  There was a rap group twenty years ago that articulated my view on the police.

But this is also about the lack of communication between the club and it’s fans. Or the lack there of. It’s well known, how Celtic treat the fans, (well as long as they aren’t giving them money, or aren’t totting the line that they want you to say). And that’s a damn shame. Think of all the good media there is out there, all the good fans, and how many people have been slighted, or treated poorly because of this.

Maybe we are at a point were we just look at what’s on the field (sometimes really bad, let’s be honest) and rally for the player, and care less about the people in the empty suits, and huge offices. Think about it, they are only there to make their money, pass on the company line, and throw out pithy lines like “Supporters Matter” Oh and by the way, you can drop in the name of any team in any country (well save for the Women’s game and some lower leagues here in the sates) so I’m not here to rip the club a new one. It’s just disheartening to have to say this. Oh and having a chat with fans stateside about buying from the superstore, yeah, further proof.  This is just sad, but maybe it’s the new order of what life is like as a footy fan.

I happen to love Celtic, heck I’ve been dreaming about wearing the shirt. Maybe it’s because I’ve been watching the Next Football Star or whatever that program is called.

Face it folks, the club actually doesn’t give a damn unless you pay, do what they say, and act how they want you to act. So to expect the good ole’ days of the teams caring is over, just like the days of Manchester United being a midtable team are over. Damit.

I’m fortunate to have a podcast http://www.blogtalkradio.com/vuvuzela but it’s giving me a problem. And that’s not what you think it is. Being a Liverpool, St. Pauli, and Celtic Supporter that I am, I can’t like anything or anyone who is associated with Manchester United. That has gotten me into some really funny situations on air. Currently on the show, one of my cohosts is a Manchester United fan, and another guest I can call on is a fan of said team. Now she’s new to the show, and well, as I have called her, the Alex Morgan of my show. Great at everything but horrible taste in European teams. Oh, who am I talking about? LA Strikers GM (W-League Team) Vanessa Valentine. I so have to make her a Fulham Fan. Oh and by the way, another cohost’s son is a Manchester United fan. sigh.

I have always heard how Mr. Ferguson is the best manager of our time, and maybe of all time. I know the last part of that statement is overreacting, and that statement isn’t coming from me. Do I have to pull back my hatred to admit that Mr. Ferguson is good?  I mean for crapssake the man has won every EPL title (Save for the Blackburn, Arsenal, and Chelsea ones), trebled, and won the other cups many times. It’s hard to have that consistency it the sport.

There’s no secret that he is a very good manager, he won in Scotland with Aberdeen, he’s the last manager to win a Scottish League title (twice in the mid 80′s) while not being at Celtic and that former club in Glasgow that was blue. Oh, and he has a Cup Winners Cup with them too, along with a European Super Cup. Think of that.

I’m at a loss, do I begrudgingly say that he is worth it and piss off Liverpool fans?  Part of this is being a podcaster now, I have to be unbiased as I said at the top. Ok, stop laughing at that. See my problem. Should I go overboard and be more biased? Or should I be as great like my fellow cohosts and admit that he’s good?

Yup.