Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Milan and Real Madrid in Europe's last 16 - BORING!

Well said Crispin. I couldn't agree more. The Champions League is very predictable and there is very little opportunity for smaller teams to make an impact. Money dictates more than ever and I think its sad that teams like Queen of the South will never get the chance to test their mettle against the likes of Milan and Madrid.

what knowledge can you possibly profess to have about the fluctuating old firm crownds? you're from cambridge !! both celtic and rangers had crowds in the 40 and 50 thousands in the 80's a period were both clubs enjoyed success and where the league was more competative than it is just now, hardly something that turns fans off i think you'll agree. as for celtic, they were besieged with boardroom in fighting at this time the owning families were known to have taken more than their fair share of of gate reciepts while neglecting other area's of the club which neede bringing into the modern age, but still through this period they regularly had crowds of over 40,000 and some on occassion reaching 60 and 80,ooo(centenary yr title clinching game aswell as the cup final at hampden). and still the crowds followed even through the dark times of sack the board and financial meltdown which went with it. ferguss mccann saw this potential that the large following offered and put his money where his mouth was

building a 60,000 thousand seater stadium, something that would not have been done had the crowds not laready been there to fill it. but perhaps most damaging to your argument is that for most football fans footballing hegemony as has been in scotland for almost 20yrs is somewhat of a turn off as oppossed to being something worth paying through the nose to see if you do not have a strong emotional and sentimental attatchment to the club you support. oh and one final thing, you come from cambridge yet you support blackburn?.....irony anyone?

Your talking absolute mince. Regulary had crowds of over 40,000. I dont think so. Check your history books Celtic when they stole the league from Hearts on the last day in the 85.86 season had an average attendance of around 25,000. Rangers about the same. Your claims of crowds reaching 60 and even 80,000 are nonsense as the stadiums then didnt even hold that much unless you talking of a cup final hampden. So do something radical Timmy deal in FACTS

I moved to E.K in the early 80s and have followed the scottish game since. Anyway this article is about the champions league yet you have chosen to come on here and continue on about the Old firm. I know you will be hurting due to Caley Thistles superb 3-2 win yesterday so cheer up your still in the last 16 of the champions league.

[quote]I moved to E.K in the early 80s and have followed the scottish game since. Anyway this article is about the champions league yet you have chosen to come on here and continue on about the Old firm. I know you will be hurting due to Caley Thistles superb 3-2 win yesterday so cheer up your still in the last 16 of the champions league.[/quote]i stood in those crowds in the 80's and early 90's when celtic were at their lowest ebb and can asure you my biggoted friend that the crowds were in the 40 and 50,000's. back then it was terraces and pay at the gate which can be manipulated when your intention is to syphon money for personal gain as was the case with the club's guardians of that time, hence the reputation of a biscuit tin mentality. i notice you side stepped the issue you supporting blackburn even though you come from cambridge, no suitable insults to counter act this fact perhaps? anyway glad to see you've totally immersed yourself in to scottish working class culture, can't say i done the same whe

when i moved to england as racism and xenophobia never was my cup of tea but good luck with that anyway crispin.

all home ties.1963 celtic v dinamo zagreb att. 41,189. 1964 v slovan bratislava att. 51,865. 1964 v mtk hungaria att. 50,810. 1964 v barca 43,000. 1968 v st. ettiene att. 73,059. 1968 v crveda zvezda att. 65,248. 1969 v basel att. 49,976. 1969 v sporting lisbon att. 74,894. 1969 v kokkolan att. 39,744. 1972 v inter milan att. 73,724. 1974 v olympiakos att. 36,828. 1980 v politechnica timisoara att. 30,000. 1984 v rapid vienna(game replayed at old trafford) att. 51,550. 1989v partisan belgrade att. 45,298. oh and i've taken the good measure of plastering your name and quotes on a few websites that will appreciate it along with your 'home' town, hope you have nice weekend moron!

Theres no point arguing with you is there. Cant even take a bit of banter you go running to the offended bandwagon. goodbye

[quote]Theres no point arguing with you is there. Cant even take a bit of banter you go running to the offended bandwagon. goodbye[/quote]that really is ironic. the reason you have nothing more to add on this is because your poorly thought out argument has been destroyed on every point. add to that the fact that you've already plummeted to the depths of sectarian bigot leaves you absolutely nowhere to go you plum and loses you this little battle straight off. now you may in your naive little social tourist mind think that a bit of sectarian abuse is nothing to concerned about but i grew up with mindless bigots like you who didn't think they were doing any harm by calling you a fenian b or pape this "caflik" that and i can tell you it's got f all to do with banter and a lot to with demeaning mindless hatred and sad fat blokes trying to make themselves feel bigger, something you've taken to like a duck to water. oh and i'd start speaking with a scottish accent next time you're out in e.k. and maybe

maybe think about changing that ridiculous name.

What a joke. Your the one who mentioned the F word and caflik. I never said anything of the sort. The expresion 'Tim'if thats what you are greetin about is used by Celtic fans themselves and doesnt indicate a racial or religious thing at all.Theres a shop in the Gallowgate proudly called Timland. A website called ETIMS. Wether this offends you or anyone else i couldnt say. Grow up and get a grip of yourself. Your the one who started the insults straight off by making your title drysdales a c. Indeed you have used it in every post. This thread is supposed to be about the CL and youve continued with personal insults because i dared say the Old firm had low crowds in the 80s .

[quote]What a joke. Your the one who mentioned the F word and caflik. I never said anything of the sort. The expresion 'Tim'if thats what you are greetin about is used by Celtic fans themselves and doesnt indicate a racial or religious thing at all.Theres a shop in the Gallowgate proudly called Timland. A website called ETIMS. Wether this offends you or anyone else i couldnt say. Grow up and get a grip of yourself. Your the one who started the insults straight off by making your title drysdales a c. Indeed you have used it in every post. This thread is supposed to be about the CL and youve continued with personal insults because i dared say the Old firm had low crowds in the 80s .[/quote]the expression you used was timmy not tim and you used this knowing full well it's connotations. as for the personal insults, throw as many as you like my friend unlike yourself i don't suffer from low self esteem and can take them but bigoted racial slurs are not going to win you a wity exchange and will only shame you a

and damage your fragile ego further. but one thing really puzzles me, you've totally ignored the facts that i presented to you on the original point of yours that celtic and rangers have glory hunting fans who 2 thirds of weren't there 20 years ago. you've also neglected to mention that while castigating others for driving past several smaller clubs on their way to watch glasgow's big two yet you yourself are a blackburn fan from.....CAMBRIDGE?!?! now you don't need to be michael palin to know that blackburn is a long way away from cambridge(around 200 miles unless i'm mistaken?) yet this glaring irony was totally ignored when you posted your comments, did you suffer from momentary amnesia? or did you just fancy running your mouth off without substanciating what you were saying? either way you've shown yourself up by your actions on here in recent days and no matter how loud you bleet about it or try to rid yourself of the shame you DID use unacceptable langauge, you DID intend it to have a bigoted sectarian

sectarian edge to it and you ,sir, ARE a bigot!

What plannet are you on talking about racial Biggotted slurs. Where does race come into anything i mentioned. Also i didnt realise putting a y on the end of a word made you a racist . So take you left wing liberalist hand wringing attitude elsewhere. Just because you cant take an argument you jump on the racist/biggot bandwaggon. Its you that has a lack of ego if you have to stoop to those levels. Grow up. P.S I never replied for a while as i thought it seemed sily to be engaging in a petty argument at the time of P. O'Donnels sad death.