Pitch Talk Thursday on Wednesday Presents: Why Scottish Football Doesn't Suck and Glasgow's Favoirte Rising Sun
As with most things in life; to be called an honest supporter of anything from fast food to porn actresses you have to stick through the bad times to feel any sort of joy during the good. I mentioned several weeks ago that I would be covering a section entitled why Scottish Football Doesn’t Suck and I can think of no better time than following the Scottish side, Celtic FC’s 1-0 defeat over my beloved Red Devils of Manchester last night.
Sherman, set the way back machine for November 6th, 1887, where we find Irish Marist brother, Brother Walfrid, formally creating a football club to help support the increasingly large poor-Irish Immigrant community in Glasgow. His fund was named The Poor Children’s Dinner Table, his club was called Celtic.
To say that Celtic is heavily linked to the Irish population around the world would be a slight understatement. Nicknamed “the bhoys” they have come to represent not only The Irish/Scottish community around the world, but also the Catholic community around the world, which is a fairly large fan base. It’s sufficed to say that the Rock may be “The People’s Champion” of American Fake Wrestling, but Celtic are “The International People’s Club.”
It should be noted that the legend of Celtic is helped by their cross-town rivals, Rangers F.C. who represent the original Glasgow club and primarily Scottish and Protestant fan base. The friction between Catholic and Protestant only ups this rivalry to a point beyond The Ohio State and Michigan. It also doesn’t hurt that traditionally both of these squads are usually 1 and 2 in the Scottish Premier League.(SPL).
If you don’t believe the popularity of Celtic FC, take this stat in to account. They play at Glasgow Park in East Glasgow where they seat 60,000+ for every home game. That stadium is the second largest in the UK behind only Old Trafford in Manchester. Celtic not only plays in the smaller SPL, but seats more than uber-English Clubs EPL-clubs such as Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Newcastle.
Why am I mentioning this today? Well last night I saw David trample Goliath in a Match Day 5 Champions League Match at Celtic Park that featuring only one goal, but enough electricity to power the City of Glasgow for the next year. The game was decided in the 81st minute on a free kick taken by our featured player of the week and definitely Duke’s favorite SPL player: Shunsuke Nakamura.
His free kick taken in the 81st was a thing of beauty and his second of the Champions League and second versus Manchester United, proving the Samurai-Skill of his left leg. Here are some accolades for the best Japanese National Player playing in Europe:
*Has won the 2000 and 2004 Asian Cup with the Japanese National Team
*MVP of 2004 Asian Cup
*MVP of J-League (Japanese League) in 2000
*Bronze Shoe Award in 2003 for FIFA Confederations Cup
Nakamura plays the MF position and represents the rising international look of the SPL, but this isn’t a marketing ploy. Shunsuke plays UK-football well, with a great touch from outside the penalty-area with a golden left leg. The three points that he claimed for Celtic and Glasgow last night helped to place them in the top position in their Group, which will almost certainly see them play European Football past the new year.
Oh yeah, and Louis Saha is Pants.
Sherman, set the way back machine for November 6th, 1887, where we find Irish Marist brother, Brother Walfrid, formally creating a football club to help support the increasingly large poor-Irish Immigrant community in Glasgow. His fund was named The Poor Children’s Dinner Table, his club was called Celtic.To say that Celtic is heavily linked to the Irish population around the world would be a slight understatement. Nicknamed “the bhoys” they have come to represent not only The Irish/Scottish community around the world, but also the Catholic community around the world, which is a fairly large fan base. It’s sufficed to say that the Rock may be “The People’s Champion” of American Fake Wrestling, but Celtic are “The International People’s Club.”
It should be noted that the legend of Celtic is helped by their cross-town rivals, Rangers F.C. who represent the original Glasgow club and primarily Scottish and Protestant fan base. The friction between Catholic and Protestant only ups this rivalry to a point beyond The Ohio State and Michigan. It also doesn’t hurt that traditionally both of these squads are usually 1 and 2 in the Scottish Premier League.(SPL).
If you don’t believe the popularity of Celtic FC, take this stat in to account. They play at Glasgow Park in East Glasgow where they seat 60,000+ for every home game. That stadium is the second largest in the UK behind only Old Trafford in Manchester. Celtic not only plays in the smaller SPL, but seats more than uber-English Clubs EPL-clubs such as Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Newcastle.
Why am I mentioning this today? Well last night I saw David trample Goliath in a Match Day 5 Champions League Match at Celtic Park that featuring only one goal, but enough electricity to power the City of Glasgow for the next year. The game was decided in the 81st minute on a free kick taken by our featured player of the week and definitely Duke’s favorite SPL player: Shunsuke Nakamura.
His free kick taken in the 81st was a thing of beauty and his second of the Champions League and second versus Manchester United, proving the Samurai-Skill of his left leg. Here are some accolades for the best Japanese National Player playing in Europe:*Has won the 2000 and 2004 Asian Cup with the Japanese National Team
*MVP of 2004 Asian Cup
*MVP of J-League (Japanese League) in 2000
*Bronze Shoe Award in 2003 for FIFA Confederations Cup
Nakamura plays the MF position and represents the rising international look of the SPL, but this isn’t a marketing ploy. Shunsuke plays UK-football well, with a great touch from outside the penalty-area with a golden left leg. The three points that he claimed for Celtic and Glasgow last night helped to place them in the top position in their Group, which will almost certainly see them play European Football past the new year.Oh yeah, and Louis Saha is Pants.
posted by Jimbo at 8:43 AM
5 Comments:
As always a great read and a delight to read on a wednesday.
Man U was so flat in the second half. They dominated the 1st half and then seemed to pull back and look ahead to Chelsea.
Granted the Free kick should never have taken place but you cant look off Naka's screamer of a goal. I jumped out of my seat. ManU had several oppertunities to eqalize afterwards. Saha lost his mind twice though Boruc's stop was 50% luck and 50% skill.
The best part of the win was the crowd after the game. Nothing like watching 60K sing in unison. Plus the announcers knew when to shut up and just listen and watch.
A great game all-round...and despite Rae and Smyth's complete bias towards Celtic...great announcing...the free kick was perfect and I agree that the foul was a little weak, but that's the break...
I hate the loss, but I don't mind seeing Celtic move on to the round of 16...however, I was looking forward to Sir Alex being able to rest the squad vs. the Portuguese, doesn't look like that's going to happen now...
Match Day 6 is going to be a little more interesting than I thought...
Just getting to this now after flying down to Fresno for Thanksgiving with Jenny's aunt & family...
The good thing is theres a 99% chance the Devils will be advancing to the next round regardless of this outcome.
Saha is pants... but Fergie made the mistake of having him take the kick instead of Rooney or The Portugal. Usually you don't question the man, but the skipper wasn't wise with that one. Hell, you could even have the vet Scholes would've been a better choice.
or even you Dutchie!!! Van Elenbaas Rules!!!
Celtic did well - although United will be kicking themselves. With Rangers through in the UEFA Cup as well, Scottish football might be looking up.
You can read more on Scottish football at my Scottish Football Blog
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