And so the Diary returns, having had a mid winter break when the author, in the delightful words of his significant other, scolded him playfully for being ” unable to get his fat lazy arse out of bed in the morning ”
Sorry about the missing tomes over the last few days, but I’ve overslept a couple of times, which is unusual for me as I’m normally so lively and cheerful in the morning, being of the belief that each new day is created for me to try to make the world a better place.
Anyhoo, we’d better get on with a bit of catch up.
I’ve still been keeping an eye on the news, and some of the stories have been a little difficult to track down.
Daryl Broadfoot , for instance, of the SFA, is leaving his post as head of Communications and Corporate Affairs. At least, I think he is. Can’t find it anywhere on google, but I did notice something on twitter. Or somewhere.
For anyone who thinks there’s some big story behind this, you’re probably wrong. He maybe just wants a new challenge and there’s no suggestion he’s being doing anything that he shouldn’t have been with journalists. None at all.
In the wider context of European football, old foes Partizan Belgrade have been in a bit of bother… BBC sport mentioned this in the passing, but didn;t spot any warning signs in there for any Scottish club in a similar situation…
Partizan Belgrade have been banned from the Champions League and Europa League for the next three seasons because of unpaid debts, says Uefa.
European football’s governing body said the 2015 Serbian SuperLiga champions had broken rules on unpaid debts three times in the past five years.
Uefa added that the club owed 2.5m euros (£2.17m) in unpaid debts as of September 2016.
Most of the club’s debts were owed to social and tax authorities in Serbia.
Uefa’s Club Financial Control Body said the ban is appropriate, given a “remarkably similar set of circumstances” to Partizan’s last debt case in 2013, when the club were given a suspended one-year ban from European competitions.
Partizan were eliminated from this season’s Europa League in the second qualifying round by Polish side Zaglebie.
The Sun mentioned it, but its unclear whether it made the Scottish edition, as I don’t buy it, and neither does anyone I know.
Then there’s the Jozo Simunovic story. He’s still on torino’s wishlist, but Celtic don’t want to let him go.
You must have seen the big story describing how Rodgers loves the player, and the player loves the club ? If you do, tell me where it was.
I’m stuck with this one, from Sports Witness…
Serie A side Torino are really having a hard time trying sign the Celtic defender Jozo Simunovic. Even though the interest has been reported for months, they just can’t convince the Scottish club to let the player go, with Brendan Rodgers not keen on a sale at the conditions offered.
It first started with the intention to get the player on a loan deal, since his physical condition was too concerning for a permanent move. But reports from Italy said Celtic didn’t accept it.
Now it’s with a negativity that Tuttosport mentions Celtic’s Simunovic in a list of players wanted by Torino.
They label the defender as expensive and mention that €5m won’t be enough to take him from Celtic.
With 17 appearances this season, Simunovic seems to be finally getting in shape after recovering from the knee injury he suffered last year.
He was out of the Celtic squad between February and September, and that’s the biggest reason why clubs didn’t want to spend much on him during the summer window.
If Torino want him, it’s simple: Pay what Celtic want or forget about it.
Another who will leave only if the offer is too good for him and the club to turn down is Moussa Dembele. With West Ham opening the bidding somewhere between £m and £25m , it won’t be long before some desperate lower EPL side chucks in a daft bid.
It will be a daft bid, because Celtic and the player won’t go for it. Then they can tell their fans they tried, and Celtic can tell us that we are building a team, and so on.
Everybodys happy.
And anyway, Bertie Auld has chipped in his tuppence worth about big money bids and how the club should be run, and as always, he’s right…
“I don’t think that should come into the matter. What we don’t need is money.
“But what we do need is quality on the park because for this support, we must keep our good players.
“If it was a dumpling, you’d let them go. But no, we must keep the quality.
“When I see Dembele, I’m reminded of something my dad told me when I was 16. He said to me, ‘Bert, if you can play and entertain this support, they will never forget you’.
“Things don’t change.”
To be fair, Bertie is still entertaining the support now, so we haven’t had a chance to try and forget him.
Put simply, he won’t let us. With Celtic requiring just to not lose their next three games to set a new domestic record, Auld spoke about comparisons between the current lot and the side he played in, which set the current record;
“I hope they break the record because the most important people is those supporters, who deserve to see it.
“Have you ever seen numbers like them in your puff? Home and away they turn out.
“It would be a marvellous achievement and I hope they do it, for everyone’s sake.
“People always want to compare us to other sides, because we were the ones who hit the top.
“But you can’t compare both. We had teams doing well in Europe at that time. Teams from all over Europe would come to Scotland to pay big money for our players. Guys like Dave McKay, who was an outstanding player, went down south.
“There were no substitutes in our day. Nowadays, there are five or six punters on the bench and if you’re having a bad game, they change it round.
“Jock had the same 11 every week. If we did have a substitute it was a goalkeeper, not an outfielder.
“So you can’t compare them – but what I will say, what a magnificent squad we have today, both individually and collectively. Beautiful men, beautiful football players who are doing great things.”
With some stuff not making the papers-the Auld story , of course, is in the Evening Times, there are also a few itmes that will, and they will perhaps draw a little more attention than perhpas they should.
See if you can spot why…
Have a look at this picture of Celtic Park. It appears that after joking about the state of Ibrox Stadium, its all backfired and its our ground which should be closed down for repairs…
#
Looks like a piece of the facade has blown away, unless we are planning to rename one of the stands. Maybe after Colin Stein ?
The gravity defying Rangers forward of the seventies …
No. Thats unlikely. It seems that the wind has got the better of the ground, and no doubt the club will hasten repairs -or will they just wait until they increase the capacity to 70,500, another story which you won’t find in the papers. ( Because its bollocks?-ed )
Work to be done before 2020, a pish stained source told us.
Another you’ll see in print is that Emerson Hyndman, the new loan siging at Ibrox, turned Celtic don a year or two ago…
Rangers midfielder Emerson Hyndman has explained to The Scottish Sun why he did not join Celtic in the summer of 2016.
The 20-year-old moved to Premier League outfit Bournemouth in the summer of 2016 after leaving Fulham at the end of the 2015-16 campaign.
The USA international has joined Scottish Premiership outfit Rangers on loan from the Cherries until the end of the season.
Hyndman could have joined Rangers’ Old Firm rivals Celtic in the summer of 2016. Back in May 2016, The Daily Record reported of the Bhoys’ interest in the American midfielder.
Italian giants AC Milan and Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund were also reported to be interested in Hyndman.
The youngster, who can also play in defence, has explained why he moved to Bournemouth after leaving Fulham in the summer of 2016.
“There were a few clubs in the mix and stuff, but the manager here really explained what he wanted to do, both with Bournemouth and with me,” Hyndman told The Scottish Sun.
“He’s developed players from the lower leagues to the Premier League, which is a huge achievement, so I knew he was well respected for that.
“Eddie Howe has an agenda and he’s looking forward to developing players right now, and I want to be a part of that.”
From HITC, there seems to be something wrong with the tense of the Sun narrative. He explained that he moved to Bournemouth , claiming “I want to be a part of that “, which he clearly isn’t going to be as he’s off to the land of anti football.
He’s going to feel such an idiot.
Like when I bought a ticket for my mate to go and see Prince off Ebay, and then remembered he died last year.
Fucking Prince did as well.
Someone who will never die is the legend that is Henrik Larsson, who just can’t stop making us smile even now , years after he left us to play out his career in the lower leagues… Yahoo news explains..
The toughest thing about gameshows is when a topic comes up that you just don’t have the foggiest about. For Wednesday night’s contestant her dreaded subject was football, but she needn’t have worried – her boyfriend had come up with an ingenious plan.
When Tasha and Jo went on Pointless, Tasha’s boyfriend Alex gave her a solid piece of advice: when in doubt, answer Henrik Larsson.
And it certainly was a stellar recommendation. The show was looking for any goal-scorer in Euro 2000, and the girls went on to win a jackpot of £2,250 with an answer of none other than “Henrik Larsson” – which was both right and pointless.
Here’s the clip…
It’s somewhat fortunate that her boyfriend is a Celtic fan. Had he supported any imcarnation of Rangers, he would have been stuck with Kris Boyd, Lee McCulloch and that gormless Irish bloke Neil Lennon called a lump of wood.
At least they won’t be stuck with Mike O’Halloran, as the new club, after making life difficult for St Johnstone when they unsettled him before signing him , are letting him go on loan-to St. johnstone !
No doubt the hacks will be asking if he’s on sale or return, or simply if the “rangers ” haven’t paid for him and he’s got to go back.
I’m sure we’ll see that in the papers…
We will see the story of Kolo Toure joining the coaching staff at Celtic, no doubt to assist John Kennedy with the defenders….isn’t it ?
Toure has been outstanding behind the scenes this season, and Rodgers let it be known how much he appreciates him. but that was always the long term plan, as the boss knew he wouldn;t get much playing time out of the big defender.
We will see the story of Nir Biton being told he can move on if he wants, though equally he can stay and fight for his place-like everyone else-if he wants to.. except thats not quite whats happened.
Rodgers, as with any player, will assess each one individually. He spoke of the Biton situation, which isn’t really a situation.
“Players wanting to play is a natural thing. For players it’s generally about game time and money and it can be difficult.
“He (Nir) was unfortunate when he came off against Rangers that Stuart came in and flowed, but that’s football. He’s come into games and done his job well.
“I’ll always have conversations with players. If what any player wants to do marries with the thoughts of the club then it’s fine. I respect it’s a short career. I’ll see what offers come in and assess if from there.”
Same thing as happened to Griffiths when he got injured.
And neither he, nor Biton, want to leave Celtic, but you know the score with reporters…
Or perhaps the hacks can’t identify with a team who have more than one quality player for each position…
We also got a wee letter for Helen Flanagan, the Etims agony aunt…
Its a tough one, and I don;t know how she will deal with it…
I suppose she’ll tell him to dump the laptop before his family see it.
The big story, of course, is this one.
Wonder if we’ll ever hear the result…
On Tuesday, we presented this for your entertainment..
and you gave us this, for ours…
I’ll have the head from that one, the body off that one and the limbs from that one. And I’ll name it “rangers”.
today…. the first in a line of wonderful and practical Japanese inventions that probably needed a little better marketing, which I’m sure you can provide
