retired_eeyore827

On re thinking that post yes, I suppose your right

I've heard the rumours about him rigging the votes for the last awards.

Raptor

During the summer, it became clear there was no way elections could go ahead as scheduled in Ireland. Even though both Prime Minister Bertie Ahern and President Mary McAleese initially confirmed the war was no constitutional reason not to hold elections, holding them would only lead to a mass cull among politicians. It was an important election anyway, as the Irish electorate needed to vote in a new parliament and a new president. Eventually, security reasons saw the entire thing postponed by a year... at least!

The decision was soon vindicated... As the civil war took yet another turn for the worse, nothing appeared sacred anymore. During pre-season, a 1,000lb IRA bomb reduced part of Windsor Park to rubble. The war had reached football...

Now, the FAI had to prove their words were not hollow, as they had proved to be so often in the past. But this time, Irish football's governing body stood their ground, and postponed the start of the League season indefinitely. It was the only right thing to do.

Understandable as it was, the decision didn't help Belfast Celtic in their quest for Champions' League qualification. While they had received a boost when they were drawn to play Skonto Riga of Latvia in the final qualifying round, they'd have to do it without any decent preparatory matches (ie League games). The Super Cup, played out before the attack on Linfield's home ground, was too long ago already, and wasn't taken serious anyway (the only team who did, St.Pat's, instantly went on to win it).

As a result of the delayed start of the domestic season and the dangerous situation in Belfast, Celtic spent August in Edinburgh. They would face Skonto at Tynecastle, after Stevie O'Mao had forced them to, in the name of Raptor Group associations. The Hearts chairman charged Celtic half the gate receipts though, and his puppet Johnson happily obliged, much to the displeasure of George Best, who wanted the money to improve the squad.

Best wasn't in overall control anymore though. As announced late 2010, Bruce Arena was the man responsible for achieving Celtic's primary objective: success in Europe. Everything else would have to make way for that. If Arena wanted players to be rested before a European clash, it didn't matter if Celtic played Kilkenny or Shelbourne the weekend before, they would be rested. For George Best, this could create a virtually unworkable situation. But the Irish legend put on a brave face and got on with it. As long as the League season didn't get underway, what Arena wanted was academic.

Raptor

New Year's Day 2012

Time flew, and soon enough, the New Year arrived. The Irish League had finally kicked off in October, so there were lots of games to catch up on. The season started with mainly League Cup fixtures, and Celtic again entered the competition. After surviving the group of death with Bohs and Shels, they disposed of St.Pat's in the quarter final, before a fourth Dublin club finally ended Celtic's run when Rovers' narrow 1-0 win meant a second semi final elimination on the trot.

In the League, a lot of midweek games saw 18 matches played by the turn of the year, still four behind the usual schedule. After a mediocre start, order had been restored though, as Celtic led Shelbourne by four points. The Dublin club had sacked disappointing manager Colin Hendry, and replaced him with... Dermot Keely, who himself returned from England an illusion poorer and an experience richer, when Chelsea sacked him.

But Celtic's campaign wasn't about domestic success. It was about European glory. Or so Stevie O'Mao had demanded over a year earlier. And in the European Cup, which Celtic had qualified for with two wins over the Latvian champions, they had failed. Dramatically. In a group with Inter, Ajax and Club Brugge, all six games were lost. Not only did it not bring any UEFA points or money to the club, it proved a massive setback in their continental development. Even the backdoor route into the UEFA Cup was beyond the team. Bruce Arena's team, George Best would mention to O'Mao.

Then the man pulling all the Raptor Group strings made his appearance at Celtic's New Year's reception....

Raptor

After the obligatory handshakes with everyone important (or beautiful), O'Mao went over to Best to summon him to the boardroom for a private talk.

GB How nice of you to show your face here O'Mao. Where's your Yank mate Arena though? Shouldn't the manager be with his side in these difficult times?

SO'M Bruce is on a well deserved holiday Best. Don't worry, he'll be back soon.

GB To record further failures? We're amazed at how much he teached us about football in the past six months, and still in awe at the European breakthrough.

SO'M Cut the sarcasm Best. Arena's not to blame for that minor setback.

GB Oh, so he's not the one in charge and responsible then?

SO'M Which part of cut the sarcasm don't you understand?

GB Perhaps you could tell me why you created an unworkable situation, in which I can't pick the best available team for League games because Arena wants to rest players for European games. It could cost us the title, and it doesn't work anyway, because players need to play enough games to hit top form.

SO'M Because your war-torn country's League started so late it'd burn the squad out to play them that often. But you have a point about not hitting form because of a lack of games. It IS because of the late start they didn't perform in Europe. Not Arena's fault.

GB Four of the group stage games took place after the domestic season started. You're talking shìte again O'Mao.

SO'M Don't talk to me like that or you will go the same way as Locke.

GB And who exactly is gonna manage Celtic then? Arena is too scared to come over to Belfast. He's only been here once, in an APC! Plus, if you sack me, the players and fans will revolt.

SO'M Yes, I noticed. You already set the players up against me, by making them perform less than 100% in European games.

GB What the fück are you talking about?!

SO'M Do you think I hadn't noticed? They didn't give all during those games, almost as if they didn't mind losing. Their hearts weren't in it, and it looks to me as if someone TOLD them to take it easy. And there's very few people who'd benefit from such an approach. In fact, I can only think of one... You.

GB Oh fück off O'Mao. I don't believe this cr@p. Instead of blaming the only one responsible for the European failure, Bruce Arena, you manage to twist it into MY fault?!

SO'M it's time you faced the facts Best. You're past it. Without Frost, you're useless. Even in combination with that useless Locke, you managed to do something right, but on your own, you can't do it.

GB Wrong... It's Johnson and Arena hindering my work that's cost the club. It's YOUR job to prevent that!

SO'M Funny... they say the exact opposite's the case. And I'll let you in on a little secret Best... We've decided it's time for you to gracefully retire. This will be your last season at Celtic. And if you know what's good for you, you'll take the hint and retire.

GB And if you know what's good for you, you stop ruining this club O'Mao. People have been killed for far less...

retired_mellnet

Will Best just get his GD act together and help out our hero? Poor O'Mao, stuck in a warzone, with a Domestic manager stabbing him in the back.

retired_sander

I sense further football related violence on the way

retired_mellnet

A continuation of O'Mao's and Best's talk.

GB And if you know what's good for you, you stop ruining this club O'Mao. People have been killed for far less...

SO'M Yeah, you should heed those words, Best.

GB FVCK OFF O'MAO. You don't scare me.

SO'M That's because you are too stupid. You are living in a safe zone. How do you think Celtic has made it through so far? The only Catholic team in sea of Orange murderers? Well?

GB Football doesn't have anything to do with this war, you dumb Fvcker!

SO'M What do you mean doesn't have anything to do with this war. Our supporters are in the middle of this war. They are getting killed, seeing their families torn apart by tragedy and all you care about
is having all your players around for the league.

GB What do you know about our supporters? You are not one of our supporters, you are nothing but a money grubbing Rothschild!

SO'M I am surprised that a fvcking illiterate drunk, who wasted his god given talents on booze and women, would know who the Rothschilds are. But I know about our supporters, did you think the O'Mao clan
wasn't Catholic. I've lost two half-brothers in this war already, friends who have to wobble around on one leg, my childhood home is now a bomb-crator... So don't give me your self-righteousness.

GB Don't think I am going to take this lying down. The fans love me here, I'm all that they have left!

SO'M Sorry, I am the only thing that this club has left, especially after Frost convienently took the first bullet out of town.

GB You better not belittle Frost and his wonderful family, they died marytrs...


SO'M Well in this story dead people seem to reappear no worse for the ware all the time. Plus don't the Dutch have nine of them?

GB What the fvck are you talking about?

SO'M Shut up you drunk. Where was I? Oh, yeah, The Raptor Group was willing to close up shop once the war started. but I talked them into keeping this club open, convinced them that Celtic was still a sound investment. Spent my time and energy making sure Resurrection Park is a safe haven. Sure I would rather be sitting in Brazil watching the carnival, doing the samba with my two bad knees, but instead I am here, protecting my family and friends.

GB Here protecting your family and friends, don't give me that SHпT. You've been in Prague, Berlin, Budapest and a number of other countries. Certainly not here, so save me your patriotic bull crap. All you care about is money and Stevie O'Mao.

SO'M I'll agree that in my book, Stevie O'Mao is my number One concern, but now Celtic is another Castle in the Empire of Stevie. So, I've been to Europe a lot, but do you think FIB (Free Irish Brigade) doesn't need weapons and experts too. Or do you think they fight with their good looks and charm? The Orange side of Belfast as Britian and the Green and White side has people like me.

Raptor

March 2012

The arrival of spring in Ireland coincided with the single most violent month in the war. Many people had grown tired of the conflict, but on the various battlefields, things were still evenly poised. In March 2012, a few decisive events took place though, which was to have lasting effects on the island. In more than one way too...

The 17th saw St.Patrick's Day celebrations totally get out of hand. Belfast, still one of the main theaters in the war, was clearly divided into two parts now. Both the north and west of the city were purely nationalist now, with all elements striving for the opposite hounded out, or killed. The other, unionist, side had their base east of River Lagan, where one way or another, the nationalist population had been reduced to zero.

Both parts had one thing in common: they were in ruins. But all the damage faded compared to what happened that Saturday...

Somehow, a specialist republican commando managed to sneak in behind enemy lines, and planted a dirty bomb on the Castlereigh Road. It should've contained just enough radioactive material to kill a large number of people east of the river, without affecting the entire city too much. It was inevitable all parts of Belfast would suffer the consequences in some way. If nothing else, the wind would take care of that. But after such a long, hard war, the prevailing attitude was something along the lines of "If we can't have it, no one can".

Once detonated, the bomb indeed did maximum damage as intended. Hundreds, if not thousands of lives were lost, and to those planting the device, it was irrelevant most of them were civilians tired of war. Despite forming a majority, the latter group, like on the other side of the river, were held to ransom by those seeking total victory.

Yet total defeat, for all parties, was closer than ever. With the use of the dirty bomb, the war took yet another turn for the worse. The breakaway extreme fraction on the republican side responsible for its deployment had made a grave judgement error by thinking the other side didn't have similar weapons at their disposal. As they would find out three days later, it did.

On the night of the 20th, Ardoyne, in the north, was hit by a similar bomb, though it contained less dirty material. By hitting a denser populated area, the body count was similar though.

The battle was almost exclusively fought in Ulster now. In the rest of the country, regular army units as well as the IRA had driven loyalist forces back. LLM and UDA never cared for those parts of Ireland anyway though, and just wanted to do damage away from home. They had grown closer as the war progressed, and it was widely accepted they now had a combined military command. Whoever were that far up the ladder had come up with very effective strategies. A mix of small paramilitary units and larger brigades, operating more like a real army provided them with sufficient flexibility to make life hard on their enemies.

While the small cells were at the IRA's throat, and vice versa, in a war that could go indefinitely, the larger brigades, with increasingly heavy artilliry, took on the regular Irish army. They had ventured south, close to Dublin, to keep the official army of the republic away from the battlefields in the north. Slowly, they had been pushed back though, but dug themselves in near Drogheda. On 26 March, it came to the inevitable clash. This wasn't just a battle, it was the sequel 322 years in the making. Ireland had it's Battle of the Boyne II...

The battle lasted just two days. The official Irish Defence Forces were poorly equipped, and short on personnel. Before the unification of the island, only some 10,000 people had been involved with it, and even though that had doubled in the wake of the reunification and subsequent security issues, it was a small army with an outdated arsenal. At this battle, 5,000 Irish soldiers took on some 3,500 loyalists, but the latter had acquired modern weapons, and in less than 48 hours, defeated the army. History had repeated itself...

Raptor

Manaus, early April 2012

Still in Brazil, the Frosts longed for a return home. And they had the feeling it wouldn't be far off now. Their desire to go back to Ireland only became stronger a fortnight earlier, when their fifth offspring, Ryan, was born. After a game in the Amazonas state championship, which their team América won to give themselves a realistic chance of the title, the clan were talking about a possible return over dinner...

KF It could all be over soon now...

PO'K Yeah... After the loyalist victory at Drogheda, it's pretty clear they won't suffer military defeat. The guerrilla part of the war won't make the difference, that could go on for decades. But the regular army let us down.

MF Hopefully, all parties will realise they have to talk, and settle this peacefully.

PO'K There will still be fractions opposed to that, and they're the ones with the dirty bombs.

KF They won't use them. A joint US/English statement said they'd send in troops if one more unconventional bomb was used. The risk's too big, not just for Ireland, but for the neighbouring countries as well.

MF Why would they listen though... they're mavericks.

PO'K Because the last thing republicans would want is English troops back on Irish soil, or to lose American support.

KF And likewise, on the loyalist side, they want to keep their support in Britain.

MF Well, why haven't talks started yet then? It's clear most people are sick of this war.

KF Both sides want to improve their position in the stalemate.

PO'K The loyalist army won't withdraw back to Ulster until it gets what it wants: Northern Ireland back the way it was. And republican Ireland won't want to give the 32-county republic up again.

MF The demographic makeup of the country is different than it was when the island was reunited. Northern Ireland as it was won't ever return. The best they can hope for are Antrim and maybe Down.

KF They'll claim Derry too, with their Coleraine stronghold.

PO'K Oh yeah, like that outweighs the rest of the county.

KF Doesn't matter, they'll want it anyway, as negotiating material.

PO'K The best they can hope for is autonomy within the Republic. There's no way a majority will want to give up a random number of counties.

MF Don't be too sure. Most people want this war over with.

KF It all depends on whether Fianna Fail are willing to sell out part of Ulster. They have the biggest say in government, and without the government, there won't be an agreement.

MF It'd take elections first. They're outside their 5-year mandate, and can't take such decisions.

KF Well, they can, but the Supreme Court would overrule them as soon as anyone challenges them.

MF What would happen to Belfast you think?

KF It'd be nasty if control of Antrim and Down was handed over to loyalists. They wouldn't get all of Belfast, especially not the west, but it'd be like West Berlin in the cold war... cut off from the rest of the country.

PO'K Like I said, I don't believe those counties would be separated from the rest of the country. At worst, they'll get autonomy.

MF Apparently, both north and east Belfast will remain radioactive for another 50 years, I don't think anyone will want to live there. They'll have to move a lot of people.

KF That's true. If nationalist Belfast could just move south, to Co.Down, it should secure a majority there. But we can kiss Antrim goodbye, no way will we get a nationalist majority there, especially if plans to build a new town of unionists refugees on the shores of Lough Neagh, next to Belfast International.

PO'K Yeah, I'm afraid any deal will see Antrim get some sort of special status within the Republic too.

MF Well, it wouldn't be a peace agreement if the loyalists didn't get something out of it.

KF I guess there'll have to be some sort of compromise. As long as it'll end the conflict once and for all.

MF Well, don't forget a lot of people with uncompromising views died in the war already. Peace now might get its best chance yet.

KF It's about time. Was it worth all this?

PO'K What's that sis? I thought we were hardcore republican?

MF I think everyone moved on Patrick. It's time for a lasting settlement.

KF And it will be a compromise.

PO'K Are you willing to give up part of our land now?!

KF Preferably not, but if part of it needs to get a special status to end the conflict, yet stayed in the Republic, so be it.

PO'K And what if we'd have to give up one or more counties altogether?

KF ... I dunno... I really don't know...

Raptor

Later that month, US-led peacetalks indeed got underway, and a general ceasefire was announced. Finally, it looked like there was light at the end of the tunnel.

During the three weeks the initial ceasefire lasted, the Irish League got up and running again. It had been a stop-start campaign, starting late due to the Windsor Park bombing, suspended for a week in February after a referee received threats, and finally suspended indefinitely when the dirty bomb attacks took place in Belfast, leaving Cliftonville homeless. The League had almost opted to end the season prematurely, but then hostilities were put on hold for a few weeks. It allowed the football season to be continued.

A tough schedule saw clubs play up to three games a week to make up lost ground, and eventually, the remaining fixtures were completed. Not surprisingly, given their squad size, Belfast Celtic won their fourth championship in a row. Dublin sides Shelbourne and Shamrock Rovers picked up the FAI Cup and League Cup, and Galway United won the First Division.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Irish Premier Division. 1.Belfast Celtic 36 25 7 4 65 - 29 +36 82 C 2.Shelbourne 36 21 7 8 66 - 37 +29 70 3.Linfield 36 17 12 7 45 - 36 +9 63 4.Shamrock Rovers 36 16 8 12 51 - 37 +14 56 5.Cork City 36 15 6 15 43 - 45 -2 51 6.St. Pat's Athletic 36 14 7 15 47 - 48 -1 49 7.Athlone Town 36 10 10 16 53 - 65 -12 40 8.Kilkenny City 36 8 13 15 41 - 50 -9 37 9.Glentoran 36 6 12 18 32 - 56 -24 3010.Derry City 36 3 8 25 40 - 80 -40 17 R.Irish First Division. 1.Galway Utd 30 22 3 5 49 - 22 +27 69 C 2.Sligo Rovers 30 16 8 6 45 - 28 +17 56 3.Bray Wanderers 30 14 9 7 42 - 26 +16 51 4.Bohemians 30 12 8 10 42 - 40 +2 44 5.Portadown 30 11 10 9 36 - 35 +1 43 6.Coleraine 30 12 5 13 44 - 40 +4 41 7.Dundalk 30 7 14 9 34 - 44 -10 35 8.Carrick Rangers 30 8 8 14 34 - 39 -5 32 9.Cliftonville 30 8 6 16 31 - 49 -18 3010.Limerick 30 6 10 14 51 - 63 -12 2811.Waterford Utd 30 5 7 18 21 - 43 -22 22</pre>

In what was left of Belfast, Cliftonville became the second club from the Ulster capital to be forced to play their games on someone else's turf, with their home ground hit in the March attacks. Celtic's Resurrection Stadium became their temporary home. On the other side of town, Linfield had been playing their home games at Glentoran's Oval in the wake of the destruction of Windsor Park.

Then, three days after the last game of the season, the LLM, unhappy with a lack of progress and compromise from the republican side, walked out of the peace talks, and resumed their campaign. Whether they had been inspired by the resumption of League football, felt there was a score to settle after Windsor Park was destroyed, or just wanted to show they could hit anything, any time was not made public, but on 4 May, they struck at the heart of Belfast Celtic Football Club: their Falls Road stadium. Ireland's largest football ground was now in ruins...