Oscar de Marcos, Junior Flores, Dani Parejo, Paco Alcacer joined James McCarthy and Darlington Nagbe on the list of players due to arrive/might arrive/were made up by some loon with to much time on his hands.
If you’ve never heard of them, thats no real surprise. If you haven’t heard any more of them by the end of January , that won’t really be a surprise either.
But there is talk-albeit by someone who ought to know better- that Patrick Roberts and Moussa Dembele will both be with Celtic at the start of next season, although the one currently on loan here will be our own player, and the one who is our own player will be on loan. Manchester City and Celtic are apparently looking at this deal-which will include a few bob going to Celtic as well- to keep everyone happy.
Except, of course , Leigh Griffiths, who stands to lose the most here.
Recent events have proved that four wingers are necessary, and the four in place at the moment are all up to the job.
As for the other names on the list, they’re all midfielders, bar Alacacer, who is a forward at Barcelona and another possible loan target, which means that the people making these things up have ran out of ideas.
However, if these potential signings are being done to try to boost season ticket sales, then I’ve a better idea.
Try playing someof the games at weekends, when those of us who don’t live in Central Scotland, or those of us with young children can get to the games. Radical, yes, but if the club wants to keep the ground full, playing the games when we can make it will help enormously.
Only tow out of the next seven home games are not midweek matches, which shows that having brought in a decent manager, the board have retreated to their Ivry Towers and see us as a nuisance again. Yes, I know the fixture computer has a lot to do with it, but there comes a time when enough is enough. A large chunk of those who go to Scottish football matches are Celtic fans, and whilst the SPFL would probably rather this wasn’t the case, it would be nice if the club showed appreciation of the money, time and effort that goes into attending.
Back at the ranch, and there’s increasing evidence that Stuart Armstrong has “come on a bundle ” since being allowed to do what he’s best at, and he compliments perfectly the energy and enthusiasm of Scott Brown, so bringing in a midfielder may not be as important as we thought it was when Nir Biton was causing alarm amongst the rank and file with his laissez faire attitude.
Armstrong, it may surprise you to know, has the best goals and assists to minutes played record in the league, and would be boasting about that if someone could explain to him what it really means. That rules me out, but a glance at the stats might impress some of you..
Taken from website Thebackpassrule, it shows that Armstrong is making one hell of a contribution to the side, and he’ll only get better, which questions the wisdom of bringing someone else in.
But then again, wisdom at Celtic is a recent thing, and thats only if it continues.
Rodgers made his name as a coach, and theres little doubt he’s bringing out the best in players already there. surely its worth seeing how this pans out before starting all over with new faces ?
Thats probably why there won’t be too many changes against Hamilton at Celtic Park tonight, as the hoops look to increase their lead at the top of the league, and move closer to clinching the sixth title of the quest to put things back to normal in the record books.
Scott Brown was rudely interrupted while reading yesterdays diary on the dangers of complacency, and told reporters…
“Because we’ve been playing so well recently, you can just easily fall into that, We don’t want to do that, we want to keep improving.
“The gaffer is huge on us learning and taking it to a new level. The way we’ve been training and performing in games then it’s been shown so far. This run of games is going to be hard but we need to maintain that form we’ve been hitting so far.
“We’re enjoying it, we’ve not had a lot of days training but we are enjoying all the games. We’ve not really had a December schedule as busy as this in a long time but I think everyone’s enjoying it. A few chops and changes all the way through December and it’s going to be interesting.”
“Oh, lads, can you think of a funny one liner for this picture of a bloke in a jet suit ?
Complacency, coupled with opposition desire to be the first to beat Celtic could see a couple of shock results this month, and the players will have to raise their game a wee bit.
Hamilton midfielder Darian McKinnon has that idea..
“We’ll go there and we’re not expected to get anything, so I hope we have a go, because if you get beat, you get beat, but you don’t want to go there and be defensive.
“We know Celtic are a good side, but we can just hope to nick something, so hopefully we can go there and have a go.”
Nick something ? Better nail down the cutlery in the dressing room then.
another who wants to be in the side that finally beats Celtic this season is former player Kenny Miller. speaking in between gulps of vitamin tablets and oxygen implants, the old man of Scottish football whispered;
“No team is unbeatable. The best teams in world football get beat, it’s as simple as that. It’s a big ask to go through a whole season undefeated, that’s for sure.
“It’s up to us and the rest of the teams to put that right, but the only time we can do that is when we play them next, which is on the 31st.
“Come that time, we can hopefully change that.”
“We’ve still not managed to get three wins in a row but we have another opportunity to do that on Friday and, if we do, we want to kick on to four and five in a row.
“For us to have any kind of successful season, we have to put a consistent run of wins together and hopefully we are at the start of doing that.
“That game against Celtic is at home. We’ve already put right the defeats away from home to Aberdeen and Hearts, so it would be good to win that one against Celtic as well.”
Ah feck. too late.
The game on New Years Eve is already being built up to be something similar to the clashes between the original Rangers and Celtic , in what could be the last throw of the dice for those who remain blinkered to the truth about whats going on down on the other side of the river.
While Phil McGhiollabhain gets abused for claiming the ground is unsafe, and MSP James Dornan also ponders the point of keeping the hordes safe, no one has asked why the game is going ahead on Hogmanay, giving the supporters an extra few hours drinking before the traditional New Year drinking bout, and indeed the police have laid the blame firmly at the door of the SPFL
Back in September, the Sunday Mail reported..
THE controversial Hogmanay Old Firm date was chosen by a US firm’s computer, the Sunday Mail can reveal.
The SPFL ditched the fixture planners who had organised their diary for 10 years.
The new company were hired to provide the league’s fixture list after bosses ended their agreement with Canadian-based Opitmal Planning Solutions.
Police Scotland had the chance to veto the decision but decided to give it the go-ahead.
The decision has been met with widespread disbelief from fans, politicians and the licensed trade.
In October there was a slight shift in the blame..according to the Evening Times..
As part of the Bells Not Brawls campaign, Neil Doncaster, head of the SPFL, and SPFL Secretary Iain Blair, met with Paul Waterson, Chief Executive of the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, Donald MacLeod, Convenor of the Licensing Forum and Stuart Patrick, Chief Executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, to discuss their concerns about the scheduling of the Hogmanay Old Firm Match.
READ MORE: Pub and club bosses in plea over Hogmanay Old Firm fixture
Mr Doncaster and Mr Blair are said to have understood the concerns of those opposing the plans, but stated that the decision to schedule the game for Hogmanay was that of Police Scotland.
Pub and club chiefs said the SPFL have agreed that for future fixtures they would be willing to enter into a dialogue with the SLTA and Chamber of Commerce to work towards a match schedule that will limit disruption for Glasgow businesses.
Donald MacLeod said: “Although we are disappointed with the outcome of the meeting we are not surprised, we are however happy with other aspects of the meeting and look forward to further discussions with the SPFL and hopefully Police Scotland on future fixtures.
So who picked Hogmanay ?
The game is on anyones big red list of potential troublespots, and one wonders if the beaks-and the police have really thought this through .
Well, for the police its a chance for a boit of overtime, and politically they can claim a few arrests which will ad to the desire to keep the OBFA in place, even citing that it is needed.
For the SPFL its a massive audience for the game they claimed is the only one that anyone outwith the central belt of Scotland is interested in,
And Sky TV. Well, they would love to show a riot.
Celtic fans have now decided to wear hard hats in order to mock the safety issues around Ibrox, where its claimed a few items of importance were not revealed to council inspectors before they issued a safety certificate.
One wonders if that certificate runs out on January 1, hence the need to play this game beforehand.
What is worrying is that the Ibrox board have form for this sort of negligence, and that in itself is enough to put me off the idea of going there on hogmanay.
And the idea that Celtic should ask for clarification is nonsense as well, as there is a safety certificate in place, and all the Ibrox club would do is present it.
Which leave the only conclusion that if you think the place is in as bad a shape as some claim, then don’t go.
And leave that club to get on with its own business.
Which some might say is doing just fine…
Stan Collymore Retweeted Craig Hunter
Great to see a start up doing so well. Its tough for new companies, i know, I’ve just started one myself. Hope they don’t fold.
If there are a few issues with the roof, there’s a product on the market that will fix everything up just dandy..
New long ball tactics take on new dimension at ibrox
today, make of this what you will…
