The Battle Of Britain

[RangerRover]

A lot has been written and spoken about regarding Thurday's match. However, it's fair to say that most Rovers fans will not have had the opportunity of reading the views or hearing comments made by the Scottish Press and Fans. I thought you might like to read some of the things that have been said during the past three days :

The Press - About Souness

Even though his dapper Tom Selleck moustache has disappeared (I believe it was last spotted at a Village People tribute night) Graeme Souness undoubtedly still has style - and it stands out a mile. Forget the £3000 dark blue Italian suit that put Martin O'Neill's Matalan trackie bottoms in the shade - what about the fashionably late entrance at Parkhead on Thursday ? With typical Souness swagger, the Blackburn boss explained the 30 second delay by shrugging his shoulders and saying "I was taking a P**S" :

Graeme Souness knows how to make an entrance. And how not to. He'd known 55,000 warmed up by teatime cocktails were baying for him to come out and watch the warm up so they could slaughter him right down to the soles of his Guccis. So he didn't give them the pleasure. Even when the teams appeared there was no sign. The Captains tossed the coin - nothing. They started to think maybe he'd bottled out and stayed in to watch it on telly. They should have known him better. About 30 seconds into the game, he swaggered out the tunnel in his immaculate dark blue suit, went towards the away dugout, hesitated, and turned towards Celtic's and shook hands with Martin O'Neill. Say what you like but the man's got style. Beside him, O'Neill was an over-age ball boy in grey windcheater and black football socks tucked into tracky bottoms.

A few minutes on and the Blackburn fans are chanting his name. He turns to them, and applauds them back. Then he thinks, let's wind up the locals. So he applauds harder. And harder. And takes a few steps down the pitch and punches the air with both fists. Feels the hook sink deep into the fish's cheek. All around the stadium, they're on their feet, giving him the V's, cursing, screaming. He stops applauding, turns back to his bench and laughs his head off. Job done :

The Press - About the Game

Sharper, faster and much more skilful than their lacklustre opponents, you quickly realised exactly why Souness wants the Old Firm in the English Premiership - to ease his own relegation worries :

Were my ears playing tricks or did Celtic fans really indulge in a power of disgruntled booing and jeering ? What are they like ? They moan incessantly about the need for more competition. And what happens when that's exactly what they get ? Well, it would appear they just can't hack it:

Damien Duff showed Didier Agathe that it's not just pace that counts, but a change of pace. Garry Flitcroft won the midfield square -go. Little Tugay passed them to death :

Thompson immediately ripped in a free-kick only for Friedel to save and Rovers fans to taunt "Are you Burnley in disguise?" :

If i'm raving about Rovers that's because I was impressed about how they went about their business :

The Fans :

Celtic should forget any ambitions about joining the Premiership after that display. As for Lennon being voted man of the match by the sponsors - I just couldn't believe that:

One-nil is a better result for Graeme Souness' team than Martin O'Neill's and now we'll see the difference between Celtic going down for a testimonial and for a real game:

Souness didn't need to take the @#/? out of Celtic - his players did that for him :

I'm a neutral but I thought Graeme Souness' entrance was different class :

They are saying down here that Celtic would only be good for the Conference or Gaelic Football after that display :

I think the final score showed that the Old Firm would do really well in the Premiership and it's about time they played there. They've proved they can compete with the top English teams :

Souness might be a B*****D - but by God he's good at it :

What I can't believe is the attitude of the Rangers fans in my local pub who were supporting Blackburn :

It was nice to silence the Parkhead crowd as we played them off the park. I was proud of the way my team performed :

If this was a Premiership game, Celtic would've taken three points :

When did Graeme Souness become a master tactician ? He has been sacked by Liverpool, Benfica, Southampton, Torino and Fenerbache :

I think Celtic will get "Gubbed" when they go to Blackburn :

The Players

Garry Flitcroft : It was men against boys, and we were the men :

Neil Lennon : The way Blackburn played was an eye-opener for our players :

Chris Sutton : We got a bit of a pasting in the first half and we were lucky to get out of it with a good result :

Graeme Souness :It was a breeze for my players. Not many teams in Europe could come here and control the game the way we did. Any neutral would give us that - we were never under the cosh :

There you go - some amusing, serious and silly quotes. That'll do - phew !

[duffer]

ha ha ha ha.... fantastic

[Paul]

   

[SMc_Celtic]

Hmmmm........RANGER-rover.....some neutral!

Funny.....I don't remember reading a lot of that nonsense in the press up here.

As for the player's cpmments....very selective. What you didn't quote Sutton or Lennon saying was that we were well short of our best and will not play as bad again.

I hope your words come back to haunt you.

[Flopsy]

oh lighten up you miserable jock

I thought they were funny - i didnt think they were all true but Flitty's was vey good

[SMc_Celtic]

Miserable? Hehehe......you should try having to put up with the sour grapes from you lot because we beat you :!:  

[Flopsy]

[jas]

I'm glad to see you still have an interest in EUROPE, RangerRover!!!!!!!!!

UP THE CELTS!!!!!!!!!!!

[BlueMonday]

I live in scotland and the press up here have generally reported it as it was ( apart from the Daily record with its anti english bias)

Rovers played the better football...

Celtic chasing game, but hung in for a vital goal...

Everthing to play for in second leg...

[glasgowroversfan]

Although a Darwen Blue I've lived in Glasgow for a few years now and am married into a Celtic family so I've had the opportunity to watch both Rovers and Celtic close up on a very regular basis.

I must admit I was shocked at the way the game went on Thursday. I fully expected Rovers to be on the back foot for most of the game and hoping to catch Celtic on the break.

I'm obviously gutted at the result (not to mention getting dog's abuse from my in-laws/work colleagues etc) but if Celtic don't change their players and formation for the 2nd leg it could be a memorable night for me, and one which I'll be able to dine out on for a good few years.

We had to sit and watch the match in the Celtic end, which was VERY interesting listening to the home fans' comments.

One guy turned to his mate and said "I wonder how much they (pointing to the Rovers fans) pay for their season tickets? Man, could you imagine being able to watch passing like that every week?"

We took that as a massive compliment.

It was interesting to see that neither Lambert or Lennon played against Aberdeen yesterday, I hope he was resting them for the 2nd leg because those 2 are Rovers' best chance of going through-they aren't quick enough to cope with the tempo of our game.

The word up here though is that Didier Agathe won't play in the return and he'll draft in either Jackie MacNamara or Crainey to tighten things up a bit.

I can't wait

[Radagast]

Completely agree Bluemonday, the Record is a (shudders at the consequences the use of the word will doubtlessly stir up) racist piece of sh*te (and that's coming from Scot, Celts fans!), always looking for some way to get a 'Scottish' story on the front page.

Mind you all the other tabloid rags up here would likely be the same if they weren't simply off-shoots of English papers such as The Scottish Sun - yup, just when you though it couldn't get any worse........... :'>

[RangerRover]

Hmmmm........RANGER-rover.....some neutral!

Funny.....I don't remember reading a lot of that nonsense in the press up here.

As for the player's cpmments....very selective. What you didn't quote Sutton or Lennon saying was that we were well short of our best and will not play as bad again.

I hope your words come back to haunt you.

I never claimed to be a neutral, SMc Celtic - just decided to share some of the comments made from North of the Border with the Blackburn supporters which would be of particular interest to them.

It may surprise you - and Flopsy for that matter - that all those comments are true and almost word for word. Sources were as follows.

Fans comments - phone-ins to Radio Scotland, Radio Clyde, Record Hotline, Leck him have it (Scottish Sun) Sunday Mail and one from Rob McLean's column.

Souness - Tam Cowan (Record) Bill Leckie (Scottish Sun)

The Game - Record, Scottish Sun, Sunday Mail :

Players - Sunday Post, Sunday Mail, Record, Scottish Sun.

I've kept all cuttings and cassettes in case you still doubt me. If you can prove I made some up, I'll wear a Rovers shirt, go to either the Hoops, Bairds or Squirrel Bar in the Gallowgate and sing Rule Brittania. I'm not mad so believe me - the sources are genuine enough although I'll agree they are selective.

As for your point about Sutton and Lennon - most supporters would argue that Celtic were not allowed to play to their best rather than your suggestion that they under performed. Sorry, but that's the way it looked....

[SMc_Celtic]

Rangerrover.....

Sorry for taking your comments so seriously mate....just getting a bit fed up with the criticism overall, which Martin o'Neil has even commented on.....'complete lack of respect' were his words......

I believe the comments may have been said...but you have admitted they are 'selective'! As for the comments.....some came from Tam Cowan (who tries to wind up Celtic fans) and Bill Leckie who DOES wind up Celtic fans....with his terrible 'journalism'.

Anyway.....you must be mad if you would go to Bairds etc and sign Rule Brittania as part of a bet!  

[MarkBRFC]

I've kept all cuttings and cassettes in case you still doubt me.

Have you nothing better to do with your time?  

[SMc_Celtic]

Just want to add to the Daily Record comments.....an absolute joke of a newspaper....it's a rag...and that's putting it mildly.

The Daily Record does it's best to stir up the Scottish/English thing (which personally has no interest for me). They criticise any English comment about Scotland.....then go overboard with their assaults on English events (eg taking great pleasure when the English team fail)

Truth is, they have to play on such things to hide their lack of ability in the journalistic department.

[Ste B]

Just want to add to the Daily Record comments.....an absolute joke of a newspaper....it's a rag...and that's putting it mildly.

The Daily Record does it's best to stir up the Scottish/English thing (which personally has no interest for me). They criticise any English comment about Scotland.....then go overboard with their assaults on English events (eg taking great pleasure when the English team fail)

Truth is, they have to play on such things to hide their lack of ability in the journalistic department.

Isnt the Daily Record the scottish variation of the Mirror ??

Which would explain things.

[Hughesy]

SMc Celtic

   

You can say all you want about your excuses or your reasons to why the papers say this!!

There is only a few genuine reasons why they did say it!!

1: You was outpass

2: Outclassed

3: Made no noise, we won the vocal battle

4: And basically if you played like that in the premier league you would be exactly where the likes of Sunderland and Bolton are!!

GOOD LUCK AT EWOOD Hoops, you WILL need it!

[RangerRover]

Anyway.....you must be mad if you would go to Bairds etc and sign Rule Brittania as part of a bet!  

I double checked all the comments before I added the forfeit about Bairds, the Squirrel etc - just to be on the safe side !

Totally agree with your comments regarding Leckie although  I feel he hates the Old Firm equally. No matter how well Rangers or Celtic have performed in certain European games over the years, he'll always concentrate on songs/chants or the odd idiot in the crowd.

As for MarkBRFC

Have you nothing better to do with your time ?

Could be worse - I could waste my time typing one line questions and adding smilies just to increase the post tally  

[tchocky]

One guy turned to his mate and said "I wonder how much they (pointing to the Rovers fans) pay for their season tickets? Man, could you imagine being able to watch passing like that every week?"

Hey that's brilliant! Hope you don't mind me using it in my signature!

[Hughesy]

Class signature

[BlueMonday]

Totally agree with your comments regarding Leckie although  I feel he hates the Old Firm equally. No matter how well Rangers or Celtic have performed in certain European games over the years, he'll always concentrate on songs/chants or the odd idiot in the crowd.

And when he's not dishing it out to the old firm he's sticking the boot into the English !

Tam Cowan's not much better, but at least he's funny.

Oh the joys of being English in Scotland !