Football Focus

[red devil]

Mick Mac Wrote:

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> This Celtic manager is trying to do a David Moyes,

> not sure he will last until Christmas.

Moyes was in the crowd...be afraid, be very afraid :)

[red devil]

Anyway, I think you're being a bit harsh on Deila, everyone knows a pet monkey deranged man doing press ups in his grundies will win the SPL with Celtic...

 

[Mick Mac]

RD. I hadn't seen that before, it gets worse doesn't it.

[SCSB79]

Bhoy in Singapore Wrote:

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> Mick not saying you are wrong but Lennon's first

> season saw us go out to Braga in the Champions

> League and then out to Utrecht in the Europa

> qualifier.

>

> SCSB79 you really are a boring prat. Enjoying the

> Petrofac Training cup? When do you reckon you will

> go bust again? Cant come soon enough.

Oh pick up your dummy and crawl back into your pram.

It's called banter and everyone is allowed to throw it around.

[SCSB79]

Seems you may have escaped being pumped out as apparently the opposition fielded an illegible player.

Said player came on with 4 minutes to go last night.

[Mick Mac]

I don't expect it to change anything and I wouldn't want it to. Take the medicine and move on.

[SCSB79]

Very noble of you MM.

will be interesting to see what UEFA do.

[red devil]

Celtic reinstated...

[Bluerevolution]

Yup http://m.stv.tv/sport/football/clubs/celtic/285545-celtic-reinstated-in-champions-league-play-offs-after-legia-forfeit/

[red devil]

Don't worry Mick, you'll probably get thumped again in the next round...

[Bhoy in Singapore]

I think thats really harsh on Legia. I understand that there are rules but surely there has to be some room for common sense. Yes we probably will get gubbed in the next round.

[Mick Mac]

I have just interrupted my game of golf by the sea down in v sunny Devon to check the news and SCSB must be sporting an ugly mug this morning

[Otta]

He's probably like the rest of us thinking "what a load of bollocks".

[Jah Lush]

Jammy barstewards.

[red devil]

Celtic's luck is on a roll today, they've drawn Slovenian side Maribor in final qualifier...

[SCSB79]

Highly embarrassing if you're a normal Celtic fan.

Not even close to winning either leg, and through on a technicality.

[red devil]

To be fair it's an important technicality, the player was suspended from playing. The fault lies firmly with Legia.

You can't make allowances just because a team easily beat the other team, otherwise teams will deliberately play suspended players knowing they won't be kicked out...

[Mick Mac]

Embarrassed....? Embarrassing for whoever it was at Warsaw who cocked up. I'm not sure Celtic will be embarrassed, feeling very fortunate maybe.

The 3-0 rule is there and doesn't really allow for UEFA to use discretion or more importantly they put in place so as they are not required to think in a subjective manner, the breach and the punishment is set out in advance. Just happened to be the score Celtic needed.

Seems completely wrong for a 4 minute appearance but that still constitutes fielding a player so UEFA had nowhere to go.

[Otta]

Yep, not Celtic's fault at all, but still really harsh. Imagine how the players at Legia must be feeling.

I'm off to put a fiver on Celtic to win the whole thing now.

[Mick Mac]

And while the news was well-received at Celtic Park, former Rangers loanee Vladimir Weiss was certainly not amused and went on a Twitter rampage to vent his fury.

?Un f***** believable.. Got r**** 6:1!!! Should never be allowed to play champions league after that.. Embarrassing #f***celtic,? he posted.

Charming :)

[Otta]

Nice to see some passion.

[Otta]

Apparently Suarez's legal team are confident his ban will be halved, which will mean he's available by 25th August.

Should have held out for a few more mil.

[maxxi]

I remember Irons having to replay a League Cup game against Villa (originally won) because Manny Omnoyimni came on as sub and was ineligible. Lost the replay but it seems a fairer way to go. Expect Legia will appeal.

[????]

.....*ahem....let's not start all the West Ham ineligible players malarkey again hey maxxi :)

[SCSB79]

Legia coming out fighting and blasting UEFA.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/n...medium=twitter

Legia Warsaw head coach Henning Berg has vowed to appeal the decision to expel his club from the Champions League over a 'small administration error'.

Berg reacted with fury after UEFA ruled the Polish champions had fielded in ineligible player in their 2-0 second leg defeat of Celtic at Murrayfield on Wednesday.

The victory completed a 6-1 aggregate win and should have secured Legia a play-off place before the game's governing body claimed their defender Bartosz Bereszynski had not been properly registered.

Bereszynski had been sent off against Apollon in the final match of Legia's Europa League campaign last season and was handed an automatic three-match ban. He missed both ties against St Patrick's in the second qualifying round and then sat out the first leg against Celtic.

But UEFA decided he had not been registered in Legia's squad for the games against the Irish side in order to allow a three-match suspension to take effect.

Speaking to Sky Sports News, Berg said: "We will appeal this, definitely. We will go as high as we can because we do not think this is the right decision.

Shocked

"We are absolutely shocked at this decision. For UEFA to make this, with the consequences of it for what has happened, is unbelievable.

"We have a player from last season playing in the Europa League being suspended for three games after a red card. This season he did not play the first two games against St Patrick's and the first game against Celtic and then he was ready for the fourth game.

"He should have been ok. The technical mistake which our administration made was not to put him in the squad for the two first games against St Patrick's for him to serve his suspension.

"I think this goes against every intention of fair play and fair competition and I think there has been a case like this before. In 2010 Debrecen from Hungary also used a player and their case was not even as strong as ours and UEFA told them because they acted in good faith the result stood and it was not affected."

Henning Berg

"And this little technical mistake for him not being on this paper without even playing has taken away our chance of getting into the Champions League which would have been a dream for this club and these players who have worked so hard for us to get to this position.

"He has been registered to us for all this time so we were not trying to hide anything. This has been open and this is just a little small technical mistake in the administration and the consequences for us now is very, very difficult to take."

And Berg has called on UEFA to show consistency, pointing out they have used different punishment for similar offences in the past.

"I think this goes against every intention of fair play and fair competition and I think there has been a case like this before.

Good faith

"In 2010 Debrecen from Hungary also used a player and their case was not even as strong as ours and UEFA told them because they acted in good faith the result stood and it was not affected.

"So for them to make a different decision this time with consequences like this is very, very difficult to take. European football should be about fair competition and fair play.

"The financial implications of this impact hugely on the club, on how we want to build it in the future. We are progressing as a club, we have won the league two years in a row and we are building for the future and I feel for the players who have worked so hard to get us to this position.

"There has not been a Polish team in the Champions League for 17 or 18 years and we felt we had a good chance to get to it and it has been taken away from us because of this technical mistake and the decision from UEFA."

Legia chairman Boguslaw Lesniodorski believes Celtic should have refused to accept the ruling after being so convincingly beaten by their Polish rivals.

Im very disappointed, once again football and sport lost," he said. "We hope that Celtic will react and follow fair play rules. For us what happened on the field matters.

Following the decision, Legia were placed into the final qualifying round for the Europa League where they were paired with Aktobe of Kazakhstan, while Celtic were drawn against Slovenian side Maribor in the Champions League play-offs.