Although European participation is over now for six or seven months, and the lads never let anyone down, you can;t help but feel a little gutted that we didn;t make the Europa League.
We would have done well in that, if the side had continued to improve at the rate its been doing this season.
Celtic said their farewells to the Champions League in Manchester last night with a credible 1-1 draw with Manchester City. It means the hoops finished bottom of the group, with three draws and three defeats.
Realistically, at this stage in the development of Brendan bhoys, we couldn’t have expected more. Yet as the campaign went on confidence began to replace optimism, and just a goal here, or a point there, would have seen Celtic gearing up for Europe after Christmas.
and yes, although last nights result was irrelevant, the performance wasn’t, and Celtic showed the support-I couldn’t care less what the “experts ” think, -that we’re not that far away from eating at the big table again.
Its even more encouraging when you consider that the players who have shone in the tournament, Brown, Armstrong, Izaguirre, Gordon and Forrest were among those deemed by a fair number of us to be past their sell by date.
Turns out they just needed someone to tell them they weren’t. Someone who they could believe.
Turns out that that someone likes being that someone, and wants to be that someone for some time yet.
Manager Brendan Rodgers has given us his thoughts on the Celtic job after six months in the job.
“I have spent most of my career in England in the last number of years, in the Premier League. But I’m happy and that’s what’s most important.
“That’s what I strive for and I think happy people win. For me, I’ve very fortunate I’m at a club I love to be at.
“I thoroughly enjoy working here. But when you’ve worked in the Premier League there is always that speculation ‘When will you come back?’.
“My only focus is on Celtic, and myself and my staff are absolutely loving it. Am I as happy as I’ve been? In every aspect. My life is very content.
“My family and everything outside of that is happy and loving everything about it.
“And of course, every other week we get the chance to play at Celtic Park with near enough a full stadium. So life is good.”
The press in Scotland seem to have taken this rather badly..
“I took time out after Liverpool to reflect and I needed to ensure when I came back, it wasn’t for one or two seasons.
“When I spoke to the people at the club, they sold it to me.
“I was a huge supporter of Celtic, so I was aware anyway.
“The most important thing was the challenge and to work somewhere different.
“I could have come back to the Premier League, but to be at Celtic is a huge privilege.
“I don’t see it as a stepping stone. I see myself coaching for another 20-odd years and it is highly unlikely I will be at Celtic for another 20-odd years, given how football works.
“But my intention is to be at Celtic for as long as I possibly can, to let the club grow and to take it as far as I can.
“It has huge potential and, although there are financial restrictions, I am absolutely loving it. I’m very fortunate.
“It may not have the profile of the Premier League, but it doesn’t diminish the pride I have at being at Celtic and I hope I can continue for a number of years.
“For me, it’s about enjoying my life. I’m living the dream being the manager of Celtic. This is a huge privilege for me.
“Glasgow’s a wonderful city to live in. People from all sectors there have afforded me an incredible welcome. The city and the surrounding area has been absolutely first class.
“The most important thing is happiness. And when I’m happy, I’m winning.”
There’s no reason to doubt what he says. all of us would prefer a job we loved to one we didn’t. That won;t stop press specualtion the next time an english Premiership manager gets the heave ho, but it should make us feel better.
And we’re the ones that matter, right ?
The game last night was a personal triumph for Patrick Roberts, the winger on loan from Manchester City, who scored his first goal at the Etihad after just four minutes. For Celtic.
When players score against their old club, they tend to be a little muted in their celebrations, especially if they were respected there. When they scpre against their current club, their response could dtermine not so much if they’ll ever go back, but if the supporters want them back.
Roberts, it appears , has chosen his club;
And his manager down there, Pep Guardiola, appears to have taken that on board;
Having Roberts on loan for so long has maybe given him the chance to grow to love the club, and it may be easier to convince him to join up full time in the summer, when by a happy coincidence, he’ll have just a year left on his contract, and a flat in Glasgow.
And then there’s his big pal at the club, which brings us back to being happy at work, which Rodgers will no doubt use if persuasion is necessary .
This happy at work lark will probably apply to more than just those two, but the significant issue is that those two have both experienced England , and if Rodgers is happy enough out of it, maybe Roberts is too.
Guardiola was asked about Roberts after the game..
‘He was good, especially the goal which was fantastic,’ . ‘He played well, he’s a good player. We are going to think about (him) at the end of the season.’
Yeah. I’m quite sure Guardiola will be saying to himself “we’ll be better next season when Paddy is back”
When the transfer window opens in the summer, he won’t even remember who he is.
He’s more likely to be looking at Dembele, who made a point of applauding the support, but did it on his own.
Maybe that was his European farewell…
Other managers might remember one or two of our players this January when they whip out their chequebooks to try to rescue their season. Apart from Moussa Dembele, players such as Stuart Armstrong, Tom Rogic and James Forrest will have caught the eyes of the lower to mid tale EPL sides, and the perennial worry that the team will be broken up just as it starts o take shape will resurface.
You can’t blame players for following the money, but under Rodgers there’s probably less chance of that happening.
The general feeling is that good times are just around the corner, and that they may be here for a while.
But its not all good news. Once more, Scottish football fans have disgraced themselves in the south… and the BBC especially, has a new lead story.
This time, much to the relief of the SFA, the culprit was caught , and there’ll be no need for a special edition of Crimewatch.
To be fair, the Celtic fans on the whole behaved, as they always do, and you have to tip your hat to them in the face of restrictive policing, the like of which is not seen in Scotland..
Elsewhere in Europe, Craig Thomson has made a bit of a name for himself, and its the same name shouted at him in Scotland. He took charge of the Beiktas-Dynamo Kiev game, and performed to his usual standard, as those at the match tweeted..
He is forever widening his circle of admirers, but he may avoid the ones in Turkey for a while yet, although i think we should start a crowdfund to send him out there, to rebuild bridges and explain the misunderstanding when he failed to give a penalty for the Turks as they weren’t wearing blue.
Thomsons next game is at Firhill on Friday night, and you’ll be pleased to learn that ours is as well.
Elsewhere in Scotland. Hearts showed their ambition when they appointed Ian Cathro as manager. Cathro is a highly rated coach, and is responsible for setting up the youth system at Dundee Utd, which has delivered one or two bright prospects.
As usual, because he isn’t one of the old guard of Scottish managers, the press have been quick to jump on his back and criticise both him and the club. Kris Boyd, in his column, as we have seen in a previous diary, the biggest cuplrit.
As with Ronny Deila, Paul le Guen and Berti Vogts, he’ll soon realise that the” best wee country in the world ” isn;t anywhere near being the best wee country in the world, no matter how he gets on, and here at Etims we wish him all the best.
With the vitriol aimed at him before he even starts, which would have surprised him considering the praise he was worthy of when he left Valencia-he’ll have to hit the ground running in his first game against “rangers “, who, according to Matthew Lindsay of the Ibrox Evening Times, the very team who he was widely tipped to take over when ally McCoist was sent into the garden for being shite.
IAN Cathro today announced he has left his position as assistant manager with La Liga club Valencia – fuelling speculation he may be poised to join Rangers.
The former Dundee United youth coach, who is just 28, was appointed as No.2 to Nuno Espirito Santo at the Spanish giants last year.
He first met former Portuguese footballer Santo on an SFA coaching course at Largs in 2009 and struck up a friendship.
The ex-Forfar Athletic and Brechin City player joined the backroom team at Rio Ave in Portugal when Nuno was made manager there in 2012.
Cathro, who has been credited with bringing through the talented crop of youngsters at Tannadice in the last few years, has been linked with a move to Ibrox as well as Liverpool in recent months.
Its a great decision by Hearts to move away from the tired old minds of managers such as Jefferies, Calderwood and McLeish, and when we asked another who had been touted for the job, he showed his disappointment at losing out;
Mind you, that would explain the media vitriol …
The Lennon CSC held its monthly meeting a couple of days ago, and as usual, we planned our trips for the coming month.
Well, we arranged to go on the 17th against Dundee, and thats it then until the 28th of January as all the home games are in midweek, making it impossible for us to attend, and impossible to understand why we bother with a season book.
We can’t be the only ones who are missing out on matches due to tv or other reasons, and Celtic need to fight the corner of supporters like us, because it appears they have forgotten that not all of the season book holders live in Glasgow.
The world of acting lost another legend yesterday when it was announced that Peter Vaughan had passed away, aged 93.
You may not recall the name, but you will know the face. what you may not know is who he supported…
May he rest in peace.
Caption competition now, and we go back to Monday as there was no diary yesterday.You se, one of the delights of marriage when the two of you have a morning together is that you can spend hours trudging around ships buying presents they don’t want for people you don’t like with money you haven’t got )
On Monday, we showed you this…
and this quip was felt to be the most apt, original and amusing…
Caption……
Sevco wife gets ready for Hogmanay bash.
Today we have one of those moments that deserve to be preserved forever..
