Raptor

Frost and O'Mao seemed to get the best (and the worst) out of each other now, with both of them surprising the other with unexpected moves in the past week. Mark had more interest in keeping their little private war going than Stevie though, who just concentrated on getting the best possible deals for Hearts and Celtic. With that in mind, paradoxially they had a common interest in the ILCA's negotiations for a new TV deal for the Irish League. Would that at least ensure something was going smoothly? No, because even though the two did their best to steal a march on the other, ILCA chairman Jonathan Bartley had something against both.

Frost had long suspected Bartley of actually trying to prevent the best TV deal possible, but that wouldn't make sense considering his own Carrick Rangers would suffer too. Until the former Celtic chairman got his hands on conclusive evidence Rangers had "other sources of income". Things got more intruiging by the day it seemed, and this was definitely worth confronting his rival/colleague with. But not until after the weekend...

Raptor

Saturday 20 October 2012, Premier Division, Belfast Celtic v Glentoran, Casement Park

The second of five home games in a row saw Celtic take on local rivals Glens. The visitors were in danger of being relegated back to the division they came up from three years ago. For years, Glentoran had been a strong contender for at least a European place, before the rot set in. Their average attendance had been hit badly because of the abysmal displays on the field, even though part of the drop in spectators could undoubtedly be attributed to war deaths.

They should've been no match for Celtic, but then, that hadn't stopped Glens in the first League meeting between the two sides this season. And again, the Derby Factor (what else could it be?) played a major role. At half time, Bruce Arena looked distinctly uncomfortable, and made a triple substitution to force a goal. To his relief, Celtic got one with just under an hour gone, when want-away Ljubo Milicevic came up for no obvious reason, but avoided a flaming by being in the right place at the right time after Scholes dispossessed his opponent. Out of the blue, the Australian blasted a shot at goal and found the net from 30 yards out. That it was to be the winning goal, and the one to put Celtic back on top of the Irish League was not clear at the time, but didn't take long to figure out, as Glentoran suddenly collapsed and stopped threatening the home side's goal.

Celtic 1 (Milicevic 57)
Glens 0
Attendance: 24,993

Raptor

ILCA executive meeting, Dublin, Monday afternoon...

JB ... What's it with you and your requests for private chats Frost?

MF You'd rather I shove this tape under your nose in front of everyone who matters in Irish football?

JB What tape? What are you on about?

MF Like you wouldn't know. Your secretary at Rangers boasting about how financially independent your club is thanks to "alternative sources of income", before going on to admit how Carrick Rangers are the spider in the Antrim drugs dealing web!

JB That's ridiculous Frost. Would you like to repeat those accusations in court?

MF Any time you like Bartley. Your entire organisation is based on the smuggling of illegal substances.

JB You're confusing Carrick Rangers with the IRA. No illegal dealings take place at the Ian Paisley Memorial Stadium.

MF No, just outside the ground isn't it? Don't answer that, you've lied enough already.

JB I don't have time for bullshìt like this. And we wouldn't want to leave RTE waiting would we?

MF No, we don't. We wouldn't want to do anything that affects the ultimate sum of money coming the way of the Irish League clubs do we? Imagine if people would have to start selling video tapes to the highest bidder to make up for the loss of revenue...

Raptor

Wednesday 24 October 2012, European Cup, 1st Group Stage, Belfast Celtic v FC Nantes Atlantique, Casement Park

It had to happen tonight. None of this down the wire stuff, Arena had ordered his troops. Celtic would never get a better chance of reaching the second round than tonight, and rose to the occasion. They had deserved better than the unlucky defeat in France in the opening game of Group D, and made sure bad luck didn't stop them this time.

For 15 minutes, Nantes kept up with the Belfast side, then Celtic stepped up a gear, won a penalty and saw Milicevic open the score from the spot. Five minutes later, Michalis Mouselimis had to pick the ball from the back of his net again, following Joe Doyle's second goal of the season. Just for good measure, Glen Keddy added to the score on behalf of the forwards. 3-0 up at half time, the celebrations began.

Celtic's only worry was referee Igor Kabelskiy's determination to produce a yellow card for every technicality, which saw Keane, Keddy and Lloyd go into the book. It didn't dampen the partying atmosphere, which was completed by Gary Malone's late fourth. Belfast Celtic had done the impossible, 11 years after returning to football.

Celtic 4 (Milicevic pen 20, Doyle 25, Keddy 38, Malone 90)
Nantes 0
Attendance: 26,961

Shermanez

I think I've arrived a little late on the scene. I've always been a 'bit-part' reader of this, popping now and again but after missing out much of BC#1 I've never been a proper reader. I've decided to put that right though, starting right back at the beginning. I've three pages in so far, wish me luck!

Raptor

Oh dear, I won't discourage you by telling ye how many pages there's left to catch up on

Haven't updated a lot lately, for various reasons, but there's still a lot to come as well. I've given up on trying to round off the story this year, and will instead take it into 2004. CM4 is too slow to write a decent story on in my book, and at any rate the story scenarios I have in mind require editing more than currently possible in CM4.

Raptor

Two days later, the first post-war General Elections took place in Ireland. General paranoia over the use of electronic voting lead to the decision to fill in ballot papers manually again. Having been stuck in the 17th century for so long, Ireland now seemed to want to cling on to the 20th.

By Saturday afternoon, the general outcome was known. Fianna Fáil had regained many of the votes it had lost in 2006, for various reasons. Even though the decline in population automatically meant fewer representatives would be sent to the Dail, it would gain something in the region of 20 TDs. An outright majority seemed unlikely at this stage, but there were still a lot of 4th, 5th and 6th counts going on.

In Ulster, the Alliance Party cashed in on their role in the peace agreement, and was set to become as big, if not bigger, than the four who used to have control of the North.

Politics were the talk of the town, and even made it into Celtic's dressing room that afternoon, not the thing you want your players to concentrate on ahead of a Premier Division game...

Raptor

Saturday 27 October 2012, Premier Division, Belfast Celtic v Athlone Town, Casement Park

... It would be unfair on Athlone to blame off the field happenings on Celtic's first home defeat of the season though. The visitors were simply the better side on the day, and knew where their opponents were vulnerable. By denying Celtic the opportunity to play along the wings, the centre of the pitch became the centre stage of the battle, and Athlone had packed their midfield with defensive-minded players.

Their mission, to frustrate the champions, succeded. A series of minor fouls in midfield caused Phil Lloyd to lose his patience with the referee, especially after one of them had seen Gary Malone limp off with a twisted knee. On the stroke of half time, the Englishman said something he wouldn't repeat in front of the cameras later, and was sent off straight away.

Already under pressure, that made Celtic crack. Midway through the second half, Jason McLaughlin and Paul Clark grabbed the goals that saw Athlone win 2-0. Celtic still had games in hand, but this defeat put them back on earth after their European glory.

Celtic 0 (Lloyd s/o 45)
Athlone 2 (McLaughlin 61, Clark 70)
Attendance: 17,716

Raptor

Belfast Telegraph, Monday 29 October 2012

Fianna Fáil take landslide win

Over the course of the weekend, it became clear Ireland's largest party would regain much of the ground it's lost over the past decade, but few people expected it to come this close to an outright majority. It leaves Taoiseach-elect Tom McEllistrim (42), the current Minister for Education and Science, in the enviable position of seven potential coalition partners, the number of parties who would take an FF-led coalition past the 101 representatives mark.

Final election results:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Party 2012 2006 Change---------------------------------Fianna Fáil 92 70 +22Sinn Féin 19 29 -10Fine Gael 15 28 -13Labour 15 23 - 8SDLP 13 16 - 3Alliance 13 0 +13Prog.Dem. 12 6 + 6UUP 10 10 0DUP 8 22 -14Green Party 3 4 - 1Independent 2 12 -10---------------------------------TOTAL 202 220 -18</pre>

&gt;&gt;&gt; Full analysis page from page 2

Raptor

The Frosts' residence, the same day

KF If that's the final result, then we truly are back to square one. This outcome leaves Fianna Fáil too powerful compared to the other parties.

PO'K We'll see how much they value democracy though. No outright majority, so they'll have to find a partner to govern with. Sinn Fein are the second largest, and you'd expect a "Republican Party" like FF to ally with like-minded people wouldn't you?

KF Ha! When were FF and SF ever like-minded?

MF Patrick, you know as well as I do that McEllistrim will bring PD on board again, their old form-a-majority pals. Just big enough to govern, but too small to demand too much.

PO'K They can't ignore the second largest party Mark!

MF They bloody well can, and will. Not officially, no they'll pretend to be interested, but behind the scenes it's a done deal.

KF Easy to justify as well: share power with a party that's actually gained ground in the latest elections.

PO'K They should never forget who pushed hardest for our 32-county Republic.

KF Much as I hate to say it, by having Ireland United, Gaelic and free, I think Sinn Fein's served its purpose Patrick... Can't see the party get bigger than in 2006 again.