It's 1-1 and the commentator seems to be working under the assumption that anyone with an interest in Welsh football is willing "the Saints" to do it.
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I was at the TNS game this evening. Flat performance by the Salopians, although their goal was a good finish. Europa defended well and took their chances. One of the assistant referees was called Salvatore Tuttifrutti.
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There's been a bizarre side-story running around the potential Linfield-Celtic match that might not have reached everyone. If Linfield win their first round tie Celtic have decided not to take any tickets for the Belfast leg. On some levels this makes a lot of sense. It's the first leg and whatever the score Celtic will be overwhelming favourites to go through the tie particularly with the second leg at Parkhead. There is the potential for bother in Belfast. You can do a lot of drinking on a bus and ferry run between Glasgow and Belfast, and a few thousand tanked up Celtic fans spending a couple of hours in Belfast city centre before the match has the potential to bring out the worst in elements of both support. At the same time a number of Celtic supporter groups are angry at the decision and it's been pointed out that Linfield and the PSNI are well used to staging matches at Windsor Park that have the potential for disorder, there's good segregation at the ground and away fans can access the ground from West Belfast fairly easily. Anyway, decision has been made and that's probably that.
The side story involves one time Aberdeen and Celtic player and current terrible 'sportsman's dinner' speaker Joe Miller. He was speaking at the launch of something or other and was asked about Celtic's decision not to take tickets. He wholeheartedly concurred with their decision and proceeded to tell a story of playing there for Aberdeen in a pre-season friendly. The story turned into a Bourne Identity episode as the bold Joe explained how he and several other players had played the match whilst "red dots were on us for the whole 90 minutes", he told stories of abuse from fans and a strange story about how him Derek Whyte and Roy Aitken were abused in the street as drinkers in a pub came out as they "walked past with balls".
The story got a big splash in the Daily Record and raised a few eyebrows particularly with Linfield when they saw it. They released this statement, which contains some great lines
"Statement from Linfield Football Club
Posted : 26th June 2017 at 23:29:59
Since last Monday’s Champions League draw, there has been considerable press hyperbole surrounding a possible Second Round tie between Linfield and Celtic. Aside from making some contingency arrangements for this possible game, the Club’s stated position is that our utmost concentration must be on our First Round tie against La Fiorita of San Marino. To do anything other than this would be to disrespect our opponents whom we look forward to welcoming to Windsor Park on Wednesday evening. The Club is providing every assistance to David Healy, his staff and the first team squad in the preparation for these vitally important games.
Linfield feel that we must, however, issue a public response to some of the more hysterical articles that have appeared in the press over the last few days. Even in this era of “fake news” and slashed media budgets, one would have not thought it beyond the capabilities of most reporters to perform some basic fact-checking before sending an article to the presses.
A particularly regrettable piece appeared in the Scottish Daily Record on Saturday 24th June, wherein the former Celtic footballer Joe Miller recalled a friendly match he had apparently taken part in against Linfield at Windsor Park whilst he was on the books of Aberdeen. The interview with Mr Miller, as told to the Daily Record reporter Gordon Parks, included such colourful details as the winger apparently being repeatedly targeted with laser rangefinders and that he and his colleagues, Derek Whyte, Tommy Craig and Roy Aitken were carrying match balls down a street after this game when they passed a public house where they were confronted by angry locals.
The latter detail may cause some bemusement to Linfield supporters, given that even in those pre-redevelopment days, Windsor Park was wholly enclosed from any surrounding streets, and there remains a distinct lack of local hostelries in the area adjacent to the ground. We have played numerous friendly games at Windsor Park over the years against such clubs from Manchester United to Flamengo of Brazil, but have yet to ask opposing players to walk around South Belfast whilst carrying various match accoutrements.
What troubles us most of all, however, is that Linfield FC has no record of having played Aberdeen at Windsor Park or elsewhere in the entire decade Mr Miller refers to, whether in a friendly fixture, training game or otherwise. In fact, it appears that Linfield have never played against Aberdeen at all throughout our entire history.
A particularly concerning allegation made by Mr Miller, printed in the Daily Record and broadcast on social media to tens of thousands of views, was that “there were red dots on us for the whole 90 minutes” of this mysterious game. This fanciful account seems to suppose that the player and his colleagues were being targeted by multiple firearms, and was provided in the context of suggesting that it would be unsafe for Celtic supporters to visit our stadium, should that tie come to pass in due course. Given that Windsor Park was, and is, an almost entirely enclosed stadium, it would have been unlikely that this could have come from outside the ground, had this fixture actually taken place. Given also that neither the then-RUC nor the British Army carried lasers fitted to their weapons as standard, and that in 1995 it would be some years before laser pointers became easily available and affordable to members of the public, one wonders where, exactly, these red dots may have appeared from in this match that didn’t actually happen.
In light of everything stated above we can only suggest that this account is demonstrably untrue.
The Club has now instructed Solicitors to write to Mr Miller and the Daily Record accordingly.
This is just one of the press stories that have appeared in the last week that is easier to rebut. Our Solicitors have also been put on retainer to investigate any further attacks on the good character of this Club and its supporters. In the meantime, we would only ask that the media, like Linfield FC, concentrates on fixtures that have actually been arranged, and that any reporting of past events is conducted to proper journalistic standards.
A statement regarding the possible match against Celtic and the ticketing arrangements for that game will be released in due course, should we win the upcoming tie against La Fiorita."
Needless to say there has been a lot of backtracking by both Miller and the Record. It turns out Miller might be confusing the event with a training match somewhere else, or perhaps a dream he once had after some ketamine, it's easy to mix these things up. He'd really like it if no one sued him though.
It's been a fortnight of reading poorly informed nonsense about Northern Ireland, it's good to see Scottish football can contribute to that genre too.Last edited by AMMS; 28-06-2017, 08:19.
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@AMMS:
1 Celtic have declined tickets for any game at Linfield at least partly for PR reasons. If (as likely) there's some disorder away from the ground, they can absolve from any responsibility for it.
Both clubs have a significant minority of fans and hangers-on who might be up for a rammy. The obvious difference is scale- Celtic's support is much larger and more widespread, and the club is likely to be involved in international competition far more often. With all the potential for off-field embarrassment that brings.
2 Expect the Record to settle out of court for a significant sum. Maybe not as much as a billion, although in a parallel with the Tory- DUP deal perhaps it'll pay for infrastructure improvements around the ground. The puddle lakes at the Boucher Road entrance, for example
@ RDG
Linfield have a tradition for appointing young, untested managers (Healy is 37). Most recently there was South Walian stalwart Warren Feeney.
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Joe Miller eh? Used to have a fixation on him something worrying. I guess after dinner speeches are just alcohol fuelled pure rivers of pish. Like Dean Saunders makey-up story of how he was signed by Clough.Last edited by Lang Spoon; 28-06-2017, 21:58.
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Derry city beaten 6.1 , manager Kenny Shiels was criticised at the weekend for being defeatist, unfortunately he was right, all the "I hate domestic football " gang will be in their element after this
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Went to Rhyl for Bala v FC Vaduz. The visitors were slicker and neater and looked like they might kill the tie off at 2-0 and cruising. But Bala had a very good spell after the break, scored one and could easily have equalised, missing a sitter at the end. Definitely an uphill task now, but not beyond them.
Fair play to the 8 Vaduz fans who gave their side plenty of encouragement on an unseasonally chilly night in the Monaco of North Wales.
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Originally posted by Third rate les bleus View PostWent to Rhyl for Bala v FC Vaduz. The visitors were slicker and neater and looked like they might kill the tie off at 2-0 and cruising. But Bala had a very good spell after the break, scored one and could easily have equalised, missing a sitter at the end. Definitely an uphill task now, but not beyond them.
Fair play to the 8 Vaduz fans who gave their side plenty of encouragement on an unseasonally chilly night in the Monaco of North Wales.
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