Two stories broke this week, and both are worrying.
The first involved Celtic’s alleged involvement in pushing this nonsensical “colts teams” proposal, and the way in which every single report claims that the clubs who will be voting on it have had meetings at Celtic Park and Ibrox both, and the second hit us yesterday, the news that Celtic and Sevco have submitted a “joint bid” to host major internationals and cup finals.
Both of these events – these joint ventures – reek. They reek of the Glasgow carve-up that should we well behind the game. They reek of collusion between the two clubs. They reek, in short, of what we once called The Old Firm.
Celtic has no business entering into any kind of “joint” anything with the basket case from Ibrox, far less to involve themselves in two scams which are about projecting power and attaining wealth. As far as I’m concerned, the further Sevco is from legitimacy the better. Any move which makes them a penny of money isn’t something I want our club involved in.
Is this the start of it, is it? Of the promotion of Celtic Park and Ibrox above all else in the game? I am against it. That’s an understatement. The idea is enough to make your skin crawl. It’s not enough that both clubs are seen to be jointly attempting to bribe and bully other clubs into accepting this “colt teams” nonsense – and I hope that idea dies on its arse never to be raised again – but this “joint approach” for Scotland matches and cup games is disgraceful.
I know Celtic fans who will swallow their misgivings to attend cup games involving Celtic at Hampden; I wish they wouldn’t, because one cup final with empty seats in our end would send the clearest message ever to the governing bodies – but I do not know a single one who would willingly attend an SFA match at Ibrox, giving money to two of our hated enemies at one time.
The idea stinks to high heaven and whilst I don’t care what happens to Hampden the idea of us and Sevco doing a grubby backroom deal like this is horrendous. I hoped that the report was false and Celtic would move quickly to kill it, but I never really thought they would. They ought to and fans ought to make it clear how disgusting the idea is.
The colts thing is ridiculous. The clubs which are to vote on this are lining up, one after the other, to say they have no intention of doing so. Some have talked about the conduct of the two clubs and the SFA and what we’re hearing and reading is astonishing and corrupt. I do not know what Celtic is up to in pushing this. The idea brings us no credit, and the stink of 2012 is all over it; to shoe-horn teams into the league structure, not only disadvantaging those sides already there but those who might otherwise have qualified to join a bigger league on merit.
And the selective nature of it … shocking. Why are Sevco involved? They couldn’t even be arsed to play in the Development League, pulling out to go globetrotting. The press has said other clubs will be allowed to join when they are ready to; well until that day comes we shouldn’t touch the idea, and even then it will be seen – rightly – as something that disadvantages clubs and especially those facing relegation.
Putting colt teams in the lower leagues is not for the benefit of the wider game, and let’s not even pretend for a second that we believe it is. It’s about finding new and brilliant ways for the Glasgow clubs to squeeze more money out of the national sport. They bank on many thousands of our own fans turning up for these matches, and that’s what it’s all about.
The youth systems in Scottish football work just fine. Lewis Morgan is the proof of it. He was let go from Ibrox but had enough quality to win himself a move to Celtic Park. That proves that the system works. It proves that the real talents can make it, no matter what reversals they suffer in the early part of their careers. When you look at clubs across the country is astonishing to note how many of the players owe their careers to their time at Lennoxtown.
Equally, there is a clear-cut alternative to using Celtic Park and Ibrox for cup games and major internationals; send the lot of them to Murrayfield. This nonsense about not wanting football played at a rugby ground is just window dressing for the grubby “joint approach” and we know it is. Celtic played Champions League games at Murrayfield. Hearts played SPL games there. Scotland has played international at the same stadium.
If Scottish football has to relocate to the SRU then that’s nothing less than an acknowledgement of harsh reality and the fact the SRU runs a tighter and better ship. They have their house in order, and if we have to go cap in hand to them because football in this country is run by yokels and hucksters then so be it. That’s just the way it ought to be.
Other clubs surely have a say in this; how much longer will they keep handing influence and money to the Glasgow sides? How many more times will they shoot themselves in the foot? This will not happen unless they agree to it. If they do they are mugs.
I have always argued that Celtic has used its influence to benefit the game as whole. I have always been proud of that. Tonight I feel no sense of pride at all, reading what I have about the colts proposal and the way teams in the lower leagues are being treated.
Sevco still behaves more like a crime family than a football club and I do not want it or its people holding a morsel of authority in our sport.
If this is how we choose to behave, in cosying up to the Ibrox enterprise, in promoting an oblique and modern form of Old Firm Inc. then you know what? We don’t deserve to have an ounce of influence either and I would very much rather we didn’t.
I know something else; these better be the last signs of collusion we catch a glimpse of. Celtic fans will tolerate many things whilst our team is winning. This is not one of them.
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