Lenny needs time to gain experience, the referees dont want to give him it.

[Joe O'Rourke]

[COLOR=#000000:61900f7f]Those of you who are regular visitors to this site will know that there has been no activity on it for a couple of weeks; I would like to explain why.[COLOR=#000000:61900f7f]I had an exchange of online comments with someone who I don’t even know, this exchange was either misinterpreted or misunderstood, and that caused some people to feel offended, for that I sincerely apologise. I never have and do not wish any ill will upon people who are not of the same faith as me, or on the basis of their religious identity.[COLOR=#000000:61900f7f]I am very proud to be the General Secretary of the Celtic Supporters Association, the fact that Celtic Football Club is all-inclusive and welcomes players, staff and supporters from all walks of life make me immensely proud, I would not discriminate against anyone on the basis of their religion, skin colour, ethnic or national background.[COLOR=#000000:61900f7f]The last couple of weeks have been very difficult; I have received messages of support from many people who know me, some as far away as North America, for that I will be eternally grateful. I think it now time to move on and do the job I was elected to do to the best of my ability. The Association will look to update how we use our communications in the future.[COLOR=#000000:61900f7f]I was very disappointed to lose our semi-final against Hearts, I believe we certainly had enough of the game and the chances to win the match, but I also firmly believe that the awarding of the last minute penalty against us was totally wrong, and ultimately cost us the match.[COLOR=#000000:61900f7f]Lots of people have criticised Lenny for confronting match referee Euan Norris on the pitch at full time, well I have to say I’m not one of them. Lenny is a young manager with a team of young football players, he loves our club and everything it stands for, he does not have the experience of the great Jock Stein, but if he is allowed to do his job in the proper manner he will gain that experience.[COLOR=#000000:61900f7f]You have to ask yourself why the need to ask Hugh Dallas for his opinion on Lenny, for him to accuse Lenny of trying to bully the referee was quite strange, after all the match was ended, if you wanted to bully the referee, I would suggest you would do it before he has awarded a last minute penalty against you.[COLOR=#000000:61900f7f]I certainly believed we would do the treble, we have the best players in the league, and have proved that by winning it, we lost the League Cup final and the Scottish Cup semi-final through bad refereeing decisions, although in both cases we should have been good enough to win.[COLOR=#000000:61900f7f]On another subject, the Association along with the Celtic Trust met with Peter Lawwell yesterday morning to discuss the new proposals by the SPL for a Newco. Peter explained that the proposals which have been publicised are only draft proposals, and could possibly change before the meeting on April 30th.[COLOR=#000000:61900f7f]There is a lot of information out there to take in, it appears that supporters from all the teams in the SPL have an opinion on what should happen, I must say, I’m only concerned with what the Celtic supporters think, so that’s what I’ll be concentrating my efforts on.[COLOR=#000000:61900f7f]We made Peter aware of some of the concerns that our supporters already have with the draft proposals, he assured us that the Board of Directors have been having discussions, and when the time comes they will do whatever is in the best interests of Celtic Football Club. I will keep you updated on any developments.

[jbd]

Welcome back, Joe. You've been missed. The episode you mentioned is closed. Time to move on.
Good to see that the Association and the Trust has already taken the initiative to talk with PL. and I'm sure he is well aware of our concerns, but before the SPL meeting has been held, it would be inappropriate for our Board of Directors to comment. I have no doubt they have a plan of action, when the time is proper.

[Guest]

so ur the famous joe tht i been gettin berated from "them", about ur (apparently) religious prejudices. seems they been talkin about u alot & ur social life on many forums. you must be feelin a quite saddened that such a sweet lovin group of people choose to refer to you as a sectarian bigot. especially since they dont hav star articles which make references to paedophile priests, fenian managers that they would rather see dead, mhanky supporters & the usual sectarian bile which, ofcourse, is only found here on timmy blogs...such a beautiful bunch of people "them" are!..anyway onto wot i started writin this drivel in the first place for..ehm..whatever that may be.. not even gonna mention the game on sunday hav said my piece on that on several occasions & now its time to move on..my issue is with what the celtic plc believe is in the best interests for celtic football club concerning the draught (need a pint) proposals. i really believe what is in the best interests for celtic football club is not in the best interests of scottish football, therefore believe the board are gonna back the proposals to return the share of rangers back to the newco, which i believe is criminal & unfair to all other clubs concerned...would be very disappointed if you cannot set me straight on this issue...they deserve nothin from us, or any1 for that matter. they have raped n robbed scottish football for centuries & now they have to pay their due's. there would be no balance to have it any other way. even if it come at an expence to my beloved glasgow celtic.
wb

[Guest]

wellcome back joe i agree lenny needs time to gain experience but the establishment will not give him time because of who and what he is. in my opinion the club will need to back neill to the hilt in this persicussion of our manager by officials in this country. on another note the behaviour of the hearts fans and the police at the semi was disgusting not only did the hearts have sick and disgusting banners and chants during the match but before and after game they chanted the billy boys jumped in front of women and children spitting in their faces calling them dirty f####n b######s even some young aisian boys they jumped in front of them because they had celtic scarves spitting in their faces shouting p##i f####n b######s why dont you go home ,when people complained to the police about these incedents pointing out culprits they where told to shut it and move.this just proves new bill is for one set of only hail hail

[braebhoy]

Welcome back Joe
It is so easy this day and age to be sucked into a coversation with someone you dont know
And its so easy to be taken out of context and for others to twist things
But i know you and endorse your comment that you would not discriminate against anyone
I know you will defend the club and supporters against our enemies and thats good enough for me
Keep the pressure on them

Hail Hail

[pensionerbhoy]

Nice to have you back, Joe. This 'new media' is a powerful but very dangerous tool, especially in the hands of the seditious. Watch your back, me lad! Keep up the good work. By the way, I am prepared to accept P.L.'s assurances but do not let him or the board off the hook. I have taken the board's deafening silence to be diplomatic and the preferred option to be the waiting game. If it is not, I will be disgusted and will for ever hold them in contempt for betraying Celtic. We do not have people who would do that, though. Do we?

[hen1rik]

Welcome back Joe you were missed, people make mistakes Joe I'm sure the Rangers support won't hold it against you after all they're upstanding citizens of the community.

I'm surprised none of then have asked for the guy who posted on RST about paedophillia to be removed.

I'm also sure Gordon Waddel's on the case right now to RST.

[John Andrews]

Funny anything to do with Celtic Fans it's all over the newspapers,yet anything to do with the other mob there is nothing printed (IE RST), now is it because that they run to the media at every turn, and of course the police claiming look what he said, or I think he said, and Celtic fans don't ?

[gert/canada]

Finally your back. I thought you had writers block or "Mary doll" had planked the pc. Now lets get back at them. I'm thinking at least two articles a day to catch up.
Hail Hail .

[tommybhoy62]

we take no nonsense off anyone joe keep up the work you are doing for the celtic family hail hail