Best game of the season, best goal of the season, best refereeing decision of the season ?
Probably. so far anyway.
Celtic were winning, then St. Johnstone were, and then Celtic were. For the first time this season I thought that we might just lose..
To summarise, Liam Henderson put Celtic in front.
Then St. johnstone scored twice to lead at half time.
during half time, a few words of encouragement were said, and the manager explained what he wanted.
But it took another twenty or so minutes for the message to sink in, and the boss even had to send on Moussa Dembele to remind everyone. Then Craig Thomson, noted for piss poor decisions, got not only the penalty wrong, but he gave it to the wrong team.
Then he scored that one, two more and Scott sinclair got his customary goal which cheered everyone up.
Except Tommy Wright, the St. Johnstone manager.
You can’t really blame him. It wasn’t a penalty, and Celtic didn’t look like scoring at that point. Using the footballing logic of sage Mark Warburton, if Celtic hadn’t scored then it would have still been 2-1.
Wright said;
‘Listen, I am not going to sit on the fence and give you PC – it’s not a penalty,’ he stated. ‘If I live to 100 it will never be a penalty – never.
‘It is beyond me and any reasonable person how he can be 100 per cent sure that’s a penalty. He couldn’t wait to give the penalty.
‘Danny Swanson’s was a penalty. There was contact and Brendan would have been disappointed it that weren’t given (to his team).
‘Brown didn’t get anything on the ball and Danny’s knee goes inward so there’s contact
‘So there have been three teams out there today. I thought Celtic were excellent, I thought we were – the other team was poor and they let my players down.’
Usually we can have a laugh at other managers when they start whining, but in this case Wright is right. It was a shocking decision, and maybe he’s not wrong when he says Thomson couldn’t wait to give a penalty.
That way, if we play “rangers ” in the Scottish cup he can happily reverse the decisions….
It wasn’t a great weekend for referees. Andrew Dallas, fast tracked so that Hugh never finds out who the real father is, ws even more spectacularly inept during the Motherwell Hearts game. He booked a Hearts player for watching as two Motherwell players collided.
The SFA isn’t just full of corrupt officials, its full of corrupt officials who genuinely haven’t got a clue how to run the sport. so they just surround themselves with their pals and hope no one notices.
If we moan enough at refs, then maybe they’ll go on strike again and we can use foreign referees. If we’re going to do that we’ll have to be quick, mind, as the process to isolate the country from the rest of the world has begun, and travel restrictions will soon be in place.
The win puts Celtic twenty seven points clear at the top, and means, that in the tradition of the old Celtic View, we can now concentrate on the Cup. Similar to the old days when Celtic would get knocked out of the Cup early on and be pleased about being able to concentrate on the league, which was usually out of our reach by then anyway.
Next time someone says they’re bored-not that any of us would say that-remind them of those days.
The nonsense of competitiveness rise again at the weekend, when someone on twitter pointed out, and one might say with a little angst, that his solution wouldn’t work either..
Celtic should give us all a chance and only get 2 points a win like1980s, the cunts would still be 4 points clear at the top though
The league table doesn’t lie, but it does hide the fact that there have been some tricky games in there. In fact, very few have been easy, and it takes some doing to maintain this level of consistency, especially as injuries and suspensions kick in.
One man who returned yesterday was Moussa Dembele, who arguably made the difference between three points and none. He’s not been out the papers recently as the SMSM tried desperately to hawk him down south, hoping that even if he didn;t go, it would break his concentration.
But the lad, known on the training ground as the “horizontal kid ” for his laid back approach to life, took it all his his stride…
I don’t really listen to what has been said in the media,”
“I don’t really follow it. I look at the Etims Diary every day. Thats usually spot on apart from the bits they make up. and the guy who says “pish ” all the time.
“I just try to do” my best when I’m out on the pitch and show everyone the level of how good I am.
“It’s easy not to get distracted, I’m a very calm kind of guy and I don’t really let this type of thing get in my head. I focus only on enjoying my football at Celtic and I’m very happy to be here.
“It motivates me to keep doing well. I’m happy to be here and I hope to be here as long as I can.”
I think thats what he said, apart from the bit I made up.
This idea of him staying for as long as he can is interesting, especially when you add in what Brendan and assistant chris Davies have been saying about being here for four or five years.
One major problem with Celtic recently has been selling players south and havong to start all over.
Imagine this squad with Forster, van Dijk , Wanyama and Ledley still in it.
Then expand that to a squad in the seventies that kept Dalglish, Macari, Hay and added to it with Hansen and Stanton.
Rodgers aims to see his plan through, and wants to keep as many of his better players as he can.
When he was first mooted for the Celtic job, one of the things that had me hesistant was his contribution to a book called Living on the Volcano, about football management.
He said he took kids into a room, showed them that their career would be for around fifteen years, and in that time, they had toearn all the money they would need to keep themselves and their families secure for life.
I took that to mean he was money orientated, and passed this on to players.
Heis obviously using that same technique, but telling the younger players that they will do all that with their big move which he will help them to achieve, and he hasn’t let them down yet. The plus side is that they will give Celtic good service, and then skip the traditional stay at Southampton and just go straight to the big money.
If they can then relax and concentrate on developing their game, then everybody s happy, and we get a top class side that can launch a serious challenge in Europe.
It seems to be working, as no one wants to leave and the spirit in the camp is outstanding.
Speaking of not working, the Virgin money page caused a few problems again. Try this one if you want to donate a couple of quid to the cause.. ( See yesterdays Diary )
Lennon CSc Sleep out donations Page
Elsewhere, and times are getting tougher for future England boss Mark Warburton as his hotshots only drew with ross county at the weekend. Fans are beginning to doubt his ability, and it can’t be much longer before a staunch “rangers ” man gets the call…but who ?
His stock has fallen dramatically-like it did when he was a city trader, presumably, based on his decision making ability.
The serious stuff has started, and Warbs needs to be careful out there…
Fuck it. Barry in to the rest of the season. Emergency loan Kyle Lafferty and Steven Davis. Get taken over and renamed Red Bull Rangers.
We have heard that the “rangers ” players are going to lie down to Morton, although this will be difficult to spot. They want Warbsy and Weir out…it could be an internal plot, with the board unable to afford to pay him off, or it could be part of a big move to get the man they want in place for the European campaign…
You heard it here first. And whilst it may not happen, its definitely being talked about.
Or will be now…
Could the police be helping to find a replacement ?
Actually, thats one of her majesty’s finest looking for “known “troublemakers in the crowd at Perth yesterday, as the police try to justify their attention on football by arresting as many people as they can to prove they need to be so “present “.
This disastrous policy is now becoming a laughing stock, but not for those who get arrested.
We know of one reader who was mistakenly arrested yesterday and we will tell you his story tomorrow, and hopefully we can start some sort of demand for the introduction of common sense at the football, though its hard to see how that will catch on where police, government and football authorities are concerned.
Oh, that reminds me.
While we were in the Stoke City ground we noticed that they sell beer-little bottles of Carlsberg-to fans inside the concourse and it seems to work. there’s no bother and everyone can have a beer before the game, another at half time and not misbehave.
Should we try that at Celtic Park ?
No. Not a chance.
That little bottle of Carlsberg retails at £4.10, and should Celtic try charging those prices then fans may react with a little displeasure..
It won’t empty the pubs any quicker, but will be blamed the first time someone swears at another fan.
Fans are the lifeblood of the game, we keep saying it. We love our clubs and are proud of them.
Aberdeen fans have jumped on the bandwagin a bit, and here’s their lit 83rd minute tribute to the 1983 team who won the Cup Winners Cup..
Scotlands other european winners aren’t around any more, but their tribute act have their own idea, funded by the club.. but funds would only allow for a couple of boxes of matches.
sundays diary was a report on the sleep out, and didn;t feature a caption, so we go back to this one, from Friday
which provided a laugh and a practical money saving idea…
Celtic set up tbe away end toilets for 12 March
today, and there could be a few winners here….