encouraging transfer window with barca to look forward to

 

Whether the respective transfer dealings of the two sides going for the SPL title this season will have any direct bearing on the final destination of the league flag remains to be seen. As an indication of where both clubs stand in terms of financial stability and long-term viability, the window gone by must have been an eye-opener for all but the most transcendentally myopic consumer of succulent lamb.

Five players breezed through the revolving door of the main entrance at Celtic Park - four full internationals (one on a six month loan) and a highly-rated youngster from the Premiership. Without getting too carried away in a Thomas Gravesen kind of way, it looks on the face of it like a promising group of players. Enough, certainly, to have some of our more entrenched first-teamers finding an extra yard of pace and an extra ounce of skill.

The Celtic board professionally carried out their business in January yet still managed a couple of major put-downs for Rangers in the process by signing two players linked with them in the media.

Over at the Death Star, it’s buy one, get one free time. Hot prospects, top scorers... make us a bid and he’s yours. At a time when they are actually mounting a credible challenge for the league, the timing of the sale of Hutton (for 7/ 8/ 9/ 10 rising to whatever you like million pounds - with add ons, of course - depending on which hack was crawling up Sir Minty’s colon at the time) and the attempted sale of Cousin would appear to be odd, to say the least. Odder still, perhaps, is the financial inducement offered to the player to move... from the selling club!

If there was some connection between the last day of the transfer window and the necessity for Murray International Holding to get some cash in the bank, it certainly wasn’t made very clear in the media.

Instead of chasing down a story they seem determined to ignore until it bites their collective arse, the Laptop Loyal contented themselves once again with peddling tripe about fantasy stadium plans and feeding gullible Bluenoses stories about transfers that nearly materialised.

Minty’s humiliation started with Georgios Samaras - linked with Rangers in the papers then signs for Celtic - continued with Barry Robson - signed for Celtic as Minty dithered over the fee - and reached its height as they traipsed around trying to fins a reserve goalkeeper. Having been snubbed by Banks, they settled for the unemployed Szamotulski, only for the player to reject their wage offer. No private jet for these guys. Easyjet, if they’re lucky.

The subsequent chasing round Italy with medical teams trying to sign Andrea Carriocola (for 6/ 7/ 8/ 9/ 10/ 11/ even 12 million pounds was mentioned) was more high farce than high finance. Whatever package was offered to the player must have been tasty as he opted to join a team from Serie B. Still, at least they were out of the country and therefore miles away from the phone-ins.

They did sign Christian Dailly, however, described on the official Rangers website as, “almost a year younger than Ehiogu at 34”.

Off the field they are so far behind Celtic it’s going to take them years to put things right. And yet the fact is that despite the hilarity, they still have a four point lead at the top of the table. The respective run-ins leaves Celtic to play 8 home and 7 away games with Rangers having 6 home and 9 away. The players at long last are doing their bit now, we must do ours. We need all supporters to support, we can make the difference in this run in. The away fans are always unstinting in their support of the team, even when performances aren’t worthy of it, but we need to try and raise the roof at home games as well.

There will be no shortage of atmosphere at the Champions League game against Barcelona, of course, and no matter the outcome, the Hoops will travel in numbers to the Catalan capital for the return leg. Unfortunately, the Orcs have blazed a trail and left behind a legacy that will take some living down.

Although it was largely ignored in this country, the Spanish newspapers carried reports such as this, from El Mundo: “Barcelona has been the scenario for a regrettable spectacle. Thousands of Scottish people were camping in the centre of the city drinking quickly pints of beer and urinating on the streets with complete impunity. This has become a degrading image that makes us despise the people who have been disrespectful to us.”

As a result, “The large amount of hooligans from Glasgow Rangers in Barcelona has produced a new political debate in order to save the centre of the city from the progressive overcrowding.” (La Vanguardia)

The political debate has taken on a greater significance given the elections that are due to take place when Celtic are in town. The regulations about drinking alcohol in the streets of the city (it’s against the law, basically) were not strictly enforced, leading to criticism of the local authority, such as this report outlines: “Barcelona’s city council regulation was not put into practice against the 10,000 Glasgow Rangers fans who were strolling the city last Tuesday and Wednesday to prevent things getting out of hand. In other words, disturbances. Rangers fans were allowed to drink on the street and to urinate anywhere. ‘The priority was to provide safety and to guarantee mobility for public transport and people on the streets’ stated Assumpta Escarp, town councillor. Other sources claim that La Rambla could have turned into a real pitched battle between the football fans and the autonomous police if there would have been police intervention in order to fix public disorder. The problem for future matches is what to do when there are more fans than tickets available for a match. This is what happened last Wednesday. Barcelona’s city council has addressed the issue to UEFA and FC Barcelona. Barcelona’s city council has complained to the British Council about the Rangers fans’ behaviour.

El País 9 November 2007
The result of the political backlash has seen the mayor of Barcelona bow to public pressure by promising harsher measures will be taken against visiting supporters in the future: “The mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu, affirmed yesterday that even though the security measures implemented last Thursday against Glasgow Rangers fans, who were drinking and urinating on the street, prevented public disorder, new measures will have to be taken so hooligans will not invade the city in the future.

Hereu explained yesterday that the security and the city circulation departments of the council are negotiating with different sport organizations (UEFA and clubs) and the Ministry of Home Affairs of Catalonia in order to look for alternatives that will put all the football fans “that visit Barcelona and come to make bad use of the city” in isolated areas.
(El Mundo 12 November 2007)

Sadly, it appears that the legacy of Rangers’ last visit to Barcelona will be that all football fans will have a more difficult time as a result.

Celtic have been working with FC Barcelona to emphasise that Celtic and Rangers supporters are not simply two sides of the same coin. It’s a message that many of the ordinary Barca fans and citizens appear to have taken on board - Barca (the club) and their fans are well aware of the difference but the city was in shock after the Rangers visit and when the draw was made there was a slight feeling of dread in the city that the Scots were coming back - but it’s unlikely that this will make much difference to the authorities, who have decided to move visiting fans away from the city centre to indoor venues near the Olympic Stadium where they reckon crowd control is easier and municipal disruption minimised.

That means fans of any team visiting the city, and not just Celtic. Indeed, the local militia were able to get in some practice a few weeks after Rangers’ visit when Stuttgart came to town for a Champions League match. Following the inaction in November that resulted in the political stick flying around, when Stuttgart turned up, they copped a bit of the backlash.

Stuttgart fans have a pretty spotless record when it comes to disorder in Europe at the football, yet the number of their fans fined on the spot for “public order offences” (mostly related to drinking alcohol) was in the three figures. There wasn’t the slightest hint of trouble, but the high number of fines would make a tempting story should someone in the LL choose to make an issue of it.

This will be Celtic’s third trip to Barcelona in recent years. Like the previous two, it should be another memorable one and we’re sure that our fans will do much to restore the reputation of Scottish fans that took such a battering in November.

C’mon the Hoops!