Amazing scenes in Frankfurt City Centre this morning. Speaking for myself here but when I´m out in a pub or standing at the bus stop etc. its very easy to filter out background conversation as its a foreign language. As time goes on it gets less easy but I do enjoy it and wish I could do the same when I come back home. Switch on the 'cut out the background BS filter' if you catch my drift.
Germans are a pretty confident, 'just get on with it' type of people and famous for not being very sociable. Well today was a bit of an eye opener. Rush hour in Frankfurt everyone huddled together and talking in a very animated fashion. Heads been shaked. Gasps being released regularly by commuters visibly shocked at the information that they have just absorbed. Increased police presence obviously drafted in. Ambulances and red cross men every half kilometer or so. Every 5th person listen to a radio with more gathered around the radio listener waiting for updates.
I decided to ask a young laddie what all the commotion was about. I could tell from his reaction that he was in utter shock that I was not aware of the recent developments in Germany that have shocked the nation. He told me that his father had awoken him in the middle of the night last night to inform him that
"Das der Hun hatte keinen Liga verlangerungen bekommen und das der Regierung hat zuzätliche infrastuktur organisert für die Opfern das kann nicht diesen trägishen entscheiden vorstellen"
and in translation:
"Rangers league extension has been refused, therefore the German Government has organised extra infrastucture to cope with the effect that the disbelief this decision will undoubtedly illicit among its people"
The Government stopped short of declaring a state of emergency, but it is believed that the military have been mobilised to deal with the expected rioting if Rangers fail to defeat the Russians in the UEFA Cup final.
It's like the Battle of Stalingard all over again.
.
Friday, 9 May 2008
Thursday, 8 May 2008
David Murray blasts the SPL, UEFA, Manchester City Council, the Pope, Lee Harvey Oswald, people with ginger hair etc. etc. etc.
IBROX STADIUM 15:30hrs Thursday 8th May 2008
Rangers financial guru and all round darned good chappie David Murray is today reported to be furious at the planned fans three-a-side football competition to be held in Castlefield, Manchester prior to the UEFA Cup Final on Wednesday 14th May 2008.
Murray has called the decision to hold such an event deplorable and is reported to have said that it made Manchester City Council the laughing stock of Europe, if not the World, for not allowing the Rangers faithful enough time to prepare for such an event.
He pointed to the fact that the Zenit St Petersburg fans will have had a weekend off to prepare for these vital encounters and has slammed the SPL for not applying more pressure on Manchester City Council to at least have the tournament extended to the following week to allow the fans time to recover from their hangovers and sacking the city……...
George Burley waded in to the debate and said that no other Scottish team would be treated so badly and Rangers fans are victims of their own success following the sacking of Barcelona and should be allowed at least an extra day's drinking time.
Gordon Smith said that Rangers fans have been treated unfairly and questioned why UEFA couldn't disqualify Zenit and switch the opposition to a Catholic team so that the Rangers fans would all know to try extra hard.
Walter Smith was sitting in a corner, in a jacket zipped up the back drooling, and mumbling something that sounded like "McCurry will make sure everyhin's awright"
more news as we receive it…!
Rangers financial guru and all round darned good chappie David Murray is today reported to be furious at the planned fans three-a-side football competition to be held in Castlefield, Manchester prior to the UEFA Cup Final on Wednesday 14th May 2008.
Murray has called the decision to hold such an event deplorable and is reported to have said that it made Manchester City Council the laughing stock of Europe, if not the World, for not allowing the Rangers faithful enough time to prepare for such an event.
He pointed to the fact that the Zenit St Petersburg fans will have had a weekend off to prepare for these vital encounters and has slammed the SPL for not applying more pressure on Manchester City Council to at least have the tournament extended to the following week to allow the fans time to recover from their hangovers and sacking the city……...
George Burley waded in to the debate and said that no other Scottish team would be treated so badly and Rangers fans are victims of their own success following the sacking of Barcelona and should be allowed at least an extra day's drinking time.
Gordon Smith said that Rangers fans have been treated unfairly and questioned why UEFA couldn't disqualify Zenit and switch the opposition to a Catholic team so that the Rangers fans would all know to try extra hard.
Walter Smith was sitting in a corner, in a jacket zipped up the back drooling, and mumbling something that sounded like "McCurry will make sure everyhin's awright"
more news as we receive it…!
Tuesday, 6 May 2008
How to ignore a controversially disallowed Celtic goal to create the impression that Celtic are getting all the breaks from referees and Rangers urnae
As you will remember, there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the Scottish media following Zander Diamond's disallowed goal at Celtic Park. Funnily enough Celtic had TWO goals disallowed in the same game which didn't merit a mention in the Daily Ranger, Sun etc. and astonishingly the producers of Scotsport CHOSE not to include footage of either effort.
When I mentioned this to an Aberdeen supporting friend he replied "Obviously there was absolutely nothing controversial about the Celtic goals that were disallowed then."
In that case - please view the footage below and explain the infringement that resulted in this Samaras "goal" being disallowed. At the very least, I am at a loss as to why Scotsport and other TV broadcasters would consider this unworthy of coverage.
If David Murray is looking for propaganda agents to provide bias coverage of Celtic whilst ignoring any potential controversy around Rangers, he could not do any better than those already employed in the Scottish TV and print media.
When I mentioned this to an Aberdeen supporting friend he replied "Obviously there was absolutely nothing controversial about the Celtic goals that were disallowed then."
In that case - please view the footage below and explain the infringement that resulted in this Samaras "goal" being disallowed. At the very least, I am at a loss as to why Scotsport and other TV broadcasters would consider this unworthy of coverage.
If David Murray is looking for propaganda agents to provide bias coverage of Celtic whilst ignoring any potential controversy around Rangers, he could not do any better than those already employed in the Scottish TV and print media.
Monday, 5 May 2008
Darryl King: The mask slips and Davie Provan takes him to task
Unfortunately you have to listen to some cream bun caller here, whining on about refereeing decisions (don't you know that refereeing mistakes have only ever favoured Celtic this season?) before getting to the good bit.
Darrell King is an Evening Times hack who only ever writes about Rangers and has been a "pundit" on Radio Clyde for some time now.
Responding to aforementioned whiney hun caller on the Clyde phone-in last night, and clearly hurting over Rangers' failure to beat Hibs yesterday, King's mask of neutrality slipped badly. He called for the referee of Celtic's game with Motherwell [Paul Conroy] to explain the erroneous decision to award Celtic a corner from which they scored.
Logic may have suggested Saturday evening's Clyde phone-in afforded enough opportunity to analyse that particular incident and that further discussion on the Sunday evening would run the risk of moving into overkill. It might reasonably have been expected that attention could be switched to the respective performances of Rangers and Hibs yesterday; perhaps even - and I'm probably being wildly outlandish here - a bit of debate over why Hibs were wrong denied a clear goalscoring opportunity.
Never mind, there's a media agenda to get on with, to convince us all that refereeing mistakes only ever benefit Celtic [disallowed goals for Celtic - Samaras, McDonald etc. - are cast into an Orwellian black hole never to be mentioned again].
Anyway, in this particular instance, Davie Provan went some way to restoring some semblance of his professional integrity by taking King to task...
Darrell King is an Evening Times hack who only ever writes about Rangers and has been a "pundit" on Radio Clyde for some time now.
Responding to aforementioned whiney hun caller on the Clyde phone-in last night, and clearly hurting over Rangers' failure to beat Hibs yesterday, King's mask of neutrality slipped badly. He called for the referee of Celtic's game with Motherwell [Paul Conroy] to explain the erroneous decision to award Celtic a corner from which they scored.
Logic may have suggested Saturday evening's Clyde phone-in afforded enough opportunity to analyse that particular incident and that further discussion on the Sunday evening would run the risk of moving into overkill. It might reasonably have been expected that attention could be switched to the respective performances of Rangers and Hibs yesterday; perhaps even - and I'm probably being wildly outlandish here - a bit of debate over why Hibs were wrong denied a clear goalscoring opportunity.
Never mind, there's a media agenda to get on with, to convince us all that refereeing mistakes only ever benefit Celtic [disallowed goals for Celtic - Samaras, McDonald etc. - are cast into an Orwellian black hole never to be mentioned again].
Anyway, in this particular instance, Davie Provan went some way to restoring some semblance of his professional integrity by taking King to task...
How to tell lies (and be a hypocrite) with dignity - no.2
"But can I just clarify no-one from Rangers has asked the SPL for an extension to the season and we will not ask them to extend the season" - Walter Smith, Thu 3rd April 2008
A spokesman for the SPL said: "We had a request from Rangers earlier in the day to have the Dundee United game postponed. We have not been able to agree to that request." - STV website, Mon 5th May 2008
A spokesman for the SPL said: "We had a request from Rangers earlier in the day to have the Dundee United game postponed. We have not been able to agree to that request." - STV website, Mon 5th May 2008
Friday, 2 May 2008
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