Former Celtic midfielder/forward-I didn’t see enough of him to decide -Derk Boerrigter has been in talks with Roda JC coach, Yannis Anastasiou, and he might well get a contract out of it.
Cunningly timed with the club doctors annual leave, Boerrigter will check the on site medical facilities before agreeing to join the Dutch club, while we reckon the coach will be undergoing a check up himself.
Presumably from the neck up.
Someone else who might need to be examined for signs of stress or anxiety is the fellow who decided to play thirteen year old Karamoke Dembele in a development game. If the idea was to get him used to world wide media attention at an early age, then its worked, but otherwise it appears to have been a bit of a PR faux pas. With his picture plastered in every newspaper, accompanied by stories of which record he will break first, the youngster may well now feel he has arrived, and will also find himself open to offers from other clubs, which may well prove hard to resist.
Have the club learned nothing from the Islanm Feruz debacle?
League sponsors Ladbrokes opened a book on him, with 7/4 being offered on him becoming the youngest ever player to play for the first team. If only I’d known, a wee word with Brendan, a brown paper bag and I’d never have had to work again. Since then, Ladbrokes have apologised and withdrawn the offer, after criticism from the Childrens Commissioner, who I think was the bad guy in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,
Though, frankly, I wouldn’t take anybody who commissions children for a living seriously.
Nor would I take Ruud Gullit seriously, who did his bit to heap more pressure on the little fellow;
“Scotland don’t have many great players at the moment but they do have a 13-year-old who looks pretty special.
“The basic problem is that, in the past, a lot of Scottish players played for the biggest teams in England. That doesn’t happen any more and the national team suffers because of it.
“I saw Dembele on YouTube. What a player! He is exceptionally good and left-footed as well. “I was also very young when I made my first-team debut.
When I was 14 I was playing with the Under-18s, so that is quite a jump as well.
“I was bigger and stronger, though, so that was different.
“This kid is only small but this will help him get a physical presence.
“He has to deal with that so it could be an advantage for him to play with older players. “I love to see players like that and, while this is great experience, we also have to give him time.”
We could also stop talking about him. Like I’m going to now.
Another young Celt, though technically this one isn’t ours yet, drew attention to himself in an England under 20 international when he finished of a move that involved the Dutch not getting a touch on the ball for around a full minute due to the short passing and movement employed by the English;
Patrick Roberts, surely the next big signing to go along with James McCarthy in January should be snapped up now, before he gets his head turned by better offers. Though he probably has a way to go yet to reach the level he is claimed to be at by one observer on twitter;
Patrick Roberts is the English Messi!
Then there’s Moussa Dembele, who was called up for France under 20s this week. He seems to have his feet on the ground , though, and says he wants to be here for a while yet;
“My ambitions, as I said on the first day when I signed for Celtic, is to be one of the best strikers in the world.
“That starts from playing in games like the one against Manchester City, but also in training, so I have to give my best and try to improve and learn every day.
“I always say that you don’t need to speak about yourself.
“The pitch and the game will speak for you and that’s what happened against Manchester City.
“I don’t need to explain myself or say why I came here, people just saw in the game and they know why I came here.
“It was the right thing for me and the right choice.
“Celtic is a family club, so there’s a special relationship between the players and the fans and you cannot see this at any other club in the world.
“I’m glad to be here and have this family around me.”
“I knew otherwise I wouldn’t have signed. “As soon as I heard from Celtic, I spoke with my family and we decided to come here.
On the one hand, its great to have players of the calibre of Roberts and Dembele at the club. With expensive foreign imports the order of the day down south, youngsters at those clubs will not be given the time or the attention needed to break through to the top level.
If we can find a few more with the right attitude, and the lengthy commitment needed, then we could be onto something here.
There will be defenders and midfielders of equal calibre. All we have to do is find them, and show them how much better Roberts and Dembele are doing by moving north.
It need not be restricted to just youngsters. some who have lost their way could be on the radar as well. Scott Sinclair is proof that not all of those who failed to fulfill potential were in it just for the money. Again, a lot of work is needed to find the right player, and they would need to be watched for a while to be certain they are of the right mentality, but they are there, and, if they have the right attitude, they would be delighted to come to Celtic.
If we can keep a side like that together for a few years, the sky is the limit.
Well, that and wages, I suppose.
It wasn’t wages that led to Colin Kazim Richards departing the club when Brendan Rodgers came in, and neither was it that Rodgers didn’t want him. The big striker maintains that his heart was set on a move to Brazil, and thats why he went. In fact, he would have gone before he came to Celtic, but what interest there had been from Brazilian clubs didn’t materialise, so he came to Celtic instead.
Colin Kazim Richards and Carlton Cole.
Derk Boerrigter.
When I think of what might have been….
I came across an interesting wee fact the other day while browsing through the interweb, which should take your mind of that forward line mentioned above. Its the top goalscorers ( Celtic ) in europe chart; 
Of the current squad, Kris Commons is on ten, and Leigh Griffiths just behind him with nine. Which kind of kicks the “can’t do it at the top level ” into touch.
Griffiths and Dembele has the potential to be a rewarding partnership. Lets hope we get to see them play together for a few games, to see how it develops.
Away from football for a moment, though its kind of linked, the government, now under that lovely lady Theresa May, has announced that all companies who employ those dastardly foreigners will be forced to list them, so that they can be named and shamed. The first list has already been published;
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The national team, which comprises just English players, will now salute their leader before games, in a move designed to encourage patriotism,
This desire for the English to be , well, English may well come back to haunt the Prime minister, with at least one prominent member of the Royal Family asking difficult questions..
It’ll get worse before it gets better. Although politicians don’t actually do what they say they will, there are worrying signs that this this one actually means it, as the new instructions on border controls issued at Dover seem to suggest;
Joking aside, the whole thing is frightening, and summed up here by Cartuja on twitter, with a picture that tells more than one story;
where do we go from here ?
Big camps for them to create space for proper British families ?
Or should we just cut to the chase and invade Poland ?
The Daily Record carried a story about the FA being accused of turning a blind eye to Sam Allardyce’s , astonishingly covering agent Mel Steins comments comparing it to the BBC and their reluctance to look to closely at the behaviour of Jimmy Saville, which is a bit harsh.
Theres no suggestion, from me or the Record, that Stein is terrified that all aspects of finance in the game down south will now be investigated. Unless a blind eye is turned , I suppose.
But I have to bow to the superior knowledge of the Record on this one, given their enormous experience when it comes to turning a blind eye to events that should really be investigated. 
Might well have some news on that soon, by the way… Tuesdays caption competiton-there was no Diary yesterday, I overslept- featured this picture, which I was led to believe was taken during a German air raid during the Blitz;
Not quite a caption, but this comment brought back a few memories..
