Celtic Diary Wednesday October 26: Two Trips Up North ? Thanks!

You can understand why supporters of other clubs, old and new, have accused Celtic supporters of paranoia. There we go again, moaning at two tricky trips into harsh and barren frozen landscapes ahead of what could be a vital away European game.

That fixtures computer can be so random when it wants to be.

If Scottish football is to break out of the habit of having just one competitor in Europe after the schools go back, then it needs to start thinking about helping those clubs.

Not in some half arsed way, like the introduction -or re-introduction-of the opening group stage of the League cup. Incredibly, the teams who would most benefit from early competitive football-the European candidates-are omitted from this stage.

How can it be of any help to Celtic to face two long away trips before another long away trip ?

Mind you, there’s no point in holding my breath waiting for the club to say anything.

In fact, they don’t say anything about anything unless it’s to moan at the fans for something.

Maybe its just the dark mornings getting to me.

Or maybe its that there is a feeling that things will never change until change is forced.

Celtic return to league business for the next few days, visiting Dingwall tonight and Aberdeen on Saturday, a round trip of several thousand miles where the team bus has to send one of those robot drones ahead to make sure there are no serious obstacles to progress.

Neither of these games will be easy, which is what we want, but neither had to be played just before the Borussia away game.

Anyhoo, it is what it is, and  manager Brendan Rodgers has finally stopped laughing at the warblings of Warburton, the gibberish of Gilks, and the hot air from Windass.

Windass especially, by the way, was a cracker.

On a day when a “rangers ” supporter questioned the fitness of Scott Brown, inferring he had some kind of artificial stimulant to enable him to perform to the level he did on Sunday,

suspicions were raised that there might have been one or two at Ibrox that maybe should undergo rehabilitation before its too late;

For the Celtic manager its back to business, which may mean that the team is freshened up a little tonight with the likes of Tierney, Biton and maybe the two wingers given a rest.

There’s quite a heavy schedule ahead, and the large squad may come in useful as Rodgers attempts to lay the foundations for the first treble since the last one, and seeing as how very few of us have seen very few of them, then that can only be a good thing.

Dingwall isn’t an easy place to get the points, in fact the word easy doesn’t apply to anything in Dingwall.

See that big red box around it ?

That’s actually a great big wall, with sentries and everything, which the council put up after a recent visit by “rangers “.

So you can perhaps understand their reluctance to have strangers around.

Rodgers has said he will rotate the defenders, which is only to be expected, though you have to feel for Eoghan O’Connell, who didn;t let anyone down when he was called upon, and surely deserves to be given the occasional game, maybe alongside Toure, who will take on more of a hands on coaching role as the season goes on.

Sviatchenko, though, goes from strength to strength…

‘Erik has been outstanding at centre-half, he is one you can see great improvements in each day as he builds his technique and tactical ability.

‘He has been great, Mikael Lustig and Kieran Tierney have been regulars, both of those have been outstanding.

‘The little change has been with Kolo and Jozo. Jozo, I believe, will be a top-class talent, but has been out for a long time, so it’s about managing his games. You can’t afford when you have been out so long, to throw someone in to three games a week with the intensity and tempo we try to play at.

‘But he is a class act, on Sunday he was composed and calm and showed great qualities.

‘Kolo has come in with great experience, played in big games for us and done really well, but it’s about managing his game time.

‘The defence have kept four clean sheets in six or seven games so they are improving that stability within the team.’ 

Using the word stability implies that Dorus de Vries might have to wait a while to get another shot at the jersey, but keeping a settled defence who have faith in and are prepared to work for each other is essential, as regular cries of “fucks sake , not again , you muppet ” tend to lower confidence in each other.

In midfield, however, maybe its time to give Stuart Armstrong a shot in the middle alongside Scott Brown, he’s certainly earned it, and it’s always been hos favoured position.

In fact, how about going one further and giving the bold Broonie a rest ?

Then again, maybe not.

Scott Sinclair, James Forrest and Tom Rogic could maybe use a break, and with Calum MacGregor, again one who hasn’t let anyone down this season, waiting on the sidelines there’s an able deputy who moves the ball quickly from middle to front.

Add Ryan Christie and Liam Henderson and it becomes apparent there’s no need to run players into the ground.

And thats without Patrick Roberts and Leigh Griffiths, who could be tried in the number ten role, whilst wearing number nine. Imagine the confusion that would have caused against the likes of Lee Wallace and that old bloke from QPR.

Other experiment could be in the shape of Emilio Izaguirre and Efe Ambrose, moved into the middle to offer a bit of strength.

The point being, do it this week, to avoid lethargy taking the place of strategy.

Aberdeen were surprisingly beaten by Hamilton last night, as Willie Collum sought to outdo his colleague Craig Thomson in the “how the fuck did you get to be a professional referee stakes”.

Once again, collum spotted a penalty where there was none, although this time he was looking in the right direction, but with only 84 minutes left for the dons to strike back, the task was too much for McInnes men, as it usually is when they have two things on their minds, in this instance a cup final and a league game.

For the Cup final, they will receive fifty per cent of the available tickets, which means another massive migration south to Glasgow for their hardy and brave support, which despite our misgivings, will make for a better atmosphere and a better game.

There is, as yet, no explanantion for this outbreak of common sense at the Scottish League offices, but whoever has been standing in for Neil Doncaster, seen here being given a tour of Lennoxtown, should be given the job on a permanent basis.

In other news, Celtic starlet/wonderkid/prodigy Karamoke Dembele has been training with the young england set up, a development which has seen Stewart Regan awake from  his slumber and pledge that he will do his bit to keep him in Scotlands colours.

Well, thats alright then. I was worried for a moment.

“We will try and do everything we possibly can to bring him into the Scottish system. That’s something we definitely have on our radar. We’ve called Karamoko into the Victory Shield squad.

“If you have talented players and talented players who are eligible for other countries then, clearly, they are always going to be attractive to other associations. We have to do what we can – and that is why he has been called into the Victory Shield squad.

“We want to make him feel wanted and valued and, certainly, Celtic are doing that. I visited the performance school at St Ninian’s myself a couple of weeks ago and saw the set-up they have, which is magnificent.

“The attention to detail and attention he is getting as a young player is great – and being brought into the Scotland set-up at a young age, at 13 years old, is a fantastic opportunity.

“We can only do everything we possibly can in our power. Ultimately the choice will come down to the boy and his parents. But we will do all we actually can to make him a Scotland player.” 

The player was born in England of Ivory Coast descent. Add to that that with Scotland he has little, if any, chance of performing in a major tournament and you’ll see that Regan has a fight on his hands.

Still, he’s not one to give up easily, unless he comes up against any opposition.

Someone who certainly won’t give up, or somewhat ironically, do walking away , is Special Agent Barton over at Ibrox.

The controversial 34-year-old has hired a top team of employment lawyers to handle his case amid fears that Rangers may attempt to sack him and terminate the remainder of his bumper two-year contract on a charge of serious misconduct.

It’s unclear if the club’s HR chiefs believe they have built a strong enough case to dismiss Barton and rip up his deal or if, instead, some form of compromise is on the cards. 

I’ll wager one of our intrepid reporters in the bold SMSM is chomping at the bit to get answers, and to establish exactly why  they are determined to rip up his contract ?

The biggest fear of the Ibrox club must be that Barton, normally a shy, retiring soul, will tell the world exactly what happened in the dressing room during his bust up with Andy Andy Halliday and manager Mark Warburton.

Oh, and that he’ll be wanting paid. Which usually scares the living daylights out of them when anyone goes into that mood.

After all, its nearly January, and they’ll be needing a few quid to spend on some more new characters for the never ending sitcom that is Ibrox.

Although one wonders if thats just a cunning plan to lull the rest of Scottish football into a false sense of security ?

Dave King, looking at the financial muscle of the Ibrox club there…

From the bad guys to the good guys, and St. Rochs football club are needing a wee bit of help.

Caption competitons now, and yesterday we had this…

to which there could only be one winner..