szólj hozzá: Celtic Glasgow Rangers 1:0

Joe Ledley gives Celtic the lead with a bullet header in their Old Firm clash with Rangers, a Celtic win could see them replace their opponents at the top of the SPL by two points.

"An afternoon when the Old Firm fixture reclaimed some credibility as a footballing occasion to savour."
That's The Scotsman's verdict on yesterday's humdinger of an Old Firm game.
Rangers outdid Celtic. Football outdid the myriad levels of crap that pockmarked this fixture last season.

A Hearts fan has been charged with assault aggravated by religious prejudice after a touchline attack on Celtic coach Neil Lennon during the Hoops' 3-0 win at Hearts.

Trailing 2-0 at the time, the angry Hearts fan evaded crowd police and raced his way towards the away dugout where he launched himself at the Celtic boss.

Old Firm matchday number seven. Rangers v Celtic. Old friends never get tired of meeting up.
By any footballing standards today's Easter clash provides drama enough. To the winner, it looks, goes the league title and a tilt at the Champions League.
Sadly Scotland in 2011 relies not on footballing drama alone.

(Summary is not available.)

Celtic had a rather comfortable 3-0 home win over rivals Rangers in the SPL today with Gary Hooper grabbing a brace and Kris Commons making his home debut finishing the rout.

These games are usually tight and feisty but today it was rather a stroll for the Celts, the win puts them 8 points clear of Rangers at the top of the SPL, however Rangers have two games less played than their rivals.

Mention on Twitter yesterday of Pele's view of his fellow Braziliant Brazilian Ronaldo. Seems Edson doesn't rate him as highly as others do.
Someone then mentioned Pele's FIFA 100 list.
You might remember that, back in 2004, the governing cartel asked Pele to list the 100 greatest living players to mark their centenary celebrations.

I like custard. When I know I'm going to be having custard I am happy. I look forward to my custard experience.
And then the custard arrives. And it's lumpy. This disappoints me.
Too often in the past Old Firm games have been like lumpy custard. You look forward to the big event and then you are treated to a dish about as appetising as cat vomit.

Old Firm match day four and the stakes are high for Rangers. Time, then, for a Rangers eye view of tomorrow's events.
And it's a pleasure to welcome Scott Johnson of The Footy Blog - recently voted Scotland's top football blog (ahem!) - to give us his blue take on how the match might develop.

The fourth Old Firm game of the season is almost upon us. And what a season defining game it could be.
In the first of the Scottish Football Blog's three part preview I'm pleased to welcome Michael Gunn from TicTacTic - described by The Guardian as "an excellent tactical analysis overview site of Celtic" - to give us the hooped view.

From Elland Road to Celtic Park Crawley Town It is extremely unusual for Manchester United to go into a game where they are not the focal point, but the FA Cup is not a usual competition. Crawley Town, with Torres and all, travel to Old Trafford, and it would be folly to even dwell on [...]

He said, he said, but he said, no he said, what he meant, he said.
Yawn and yawn again.
It seems that the laws of bloody mindedness mean that when we have an interesting Old Firm game the post mortem is so unbelievably dull and without merit it sours the whole experience for everyone.

Rangers new on-loan striker El-Hadji Diouf is ready to face a cauldron of hate in Sunday's Scottish Cup 5th round tie with bitter Glasgow rivals Celtic.

Diouf who in 2003 spat at a Celtic fan in a UEFA Cup match when playing for Liverpool is set to make his debut in the Old Firm on Sunday having arrived from Blackburn on Monday on loan at Ibrox.

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This week we have games from Germany, England, Scotland and Italy perhaps the biggest of which sees recently sold Torres playing his first game for Chelsea against his former club Liverpool.

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This week we have games from Germany, England, Scotland and Italy perhaps the biggest of which sees recently sold Torres playing his first game for Chelsea against his former club Liverpool.

Finally the SPL enjoys some time in the European spotlight.
The picture above is apparently of a banner unveiled by the Deportivo La Coruna fans on Saturday night as their team lost 4-0 at home to Barcelona.
A protest against the unfair distribution of TV revenues and the dominance of two clubs, the message is simple:
"We do not want another Scottish league.

The big news is that Chile announced it's squad for the January 22nd friendly against the USA in Los Angeles. The Chilean football federation has elections January 7th, so this could be the last squad coach Marcelo Bielsa announces (before he becomes Liverpool's manager).

ESPN's Outside The Lines tackles serious topics that can't be captured in soundbytes or solved through the pseudophilosophical meanderings of group punditry.

It's rare to see highlights from a Barcelona match in which the Catalan club's players don't hog the spotlight. But when Levante's Christian Stuani was subbed on for Levante, he decided to give Barca a taste of its own medicine. Despite Stuani's heroics, Barcelona held on for a 2-1 victory. New year, same old story.

Given the brickbats being flung his way it is easy to forget that Neil Lennon has taken his Celtic side to the top of the table.
If the number of call offs this wintery winter have given the SPL a slightly artificial look this New Year, Celtic can still move themselves into the driving seat with an away win today.