Regular diary reader and contributor Brendan Rodgers ( I think I’ve spotted which one he is ) has taken the hint and launched an offensive against Scotlands piss poor referees.
“I think the players deserve a huge amount of credit. If there is a time these last couple of weeks to take your foot off the gas because of the number of points ahead we are then it could have been. But they haven’t shown any sign of that. The focus is very much on winning and we are never complacent.
“My only worry at this moment in time is the protection for my players. I’ve seen two tackles in the last two games that weren’t good tackles at all. We are a team that can play, with all due respect, any type of game. We’ve had physical games and we’ve came through them, we’ve had footballing games and we’ve came through them.
“My players never complain, they get up and get on with the game. That’s how I ask them to be. We respect referees. I would like them to have protection for our players.
“The tackle on Kieran Tierney, which I didn’t get the chance to see straight after the game last week, was a horrendous challenge. This is a kid who is coming through, 19 years of age and one of the great prospects of Scottish football.
“I have a boy who is a brilliant coach on my staff, John Kennedy, who was also a brilliant prospect and in one challenge lost his career. I don’t want that to happen to any of my players, or any player for that fact, whether he’s from Celtic, Rangers, Hearts or Hibs. We need to ensure the players are protected, and it’s the responsibility of the referees to protect the game and players.
“As I said, the challenge on Kieran Tierney was a horrendous challenge and the one in the game before against Inverness on Scott Sinclair was an awful challenge. If we are trying to have these best players in Scotland then they need a little bit of protection.
An undercover investigation by an Etims agent managed to get hold of an application form for the SFA’s refereeing course, and we discovered something that might shed light on the perceived bias against Celtic players…
There are two forms to fill in, in fact, and this is one of them..
Now, on this form, there is a box to fill in headed “Date Of Birth “, where the applicant enters the date he was born.
On the second form, which for legal reasons we cannot reproduce here, ( well, that and one other reason, in that we haven’t seen it ) this is abbreviated to
D.O.B
Those of the right mentality , the kind the SFA are looking for, simply write “Yes, I am ” in the box, and they are fast tracked to the highest level.
But Brendan cannot come out and say this directly, so he is merely asking for protection for his players.
We’ll have to see how it pans out, but if Emilio Izaguirre starts tomorrow, then get some money on him being booked, sent off and charged with affray.
Rodgers continued..
“We are a team of men. We have young guys in the team but we are playing a man’s game. We have no problem with the aggression, no problem with that. Like I said, we coped with that. We’ve gone away to Aberdeen – a really tough physical game – and came through that. But it was a really good game, with strong and fair challenges.
“The concern for me is the ones that are late, like last week. If Kieran’s foot was planted you could be talking about another story for one of Scotland’s great talents.
“That’s the duty of the referee, to protect them and protect the game. You want competitive and aggressive games but they need to be within the law as well.”
As to whether his concerns are something that he will raise with the Head of Referees, the Celtic manager said: “It would be. I’ve seen enough challenges now for me to talk about it, for sure. My duty as a manager is to protect my players. I’ll have a look at it and see how it evolves of the next number of weeks.”
Thats from yesterdays press conference.
This is from the post match speech,
” We were concerned about referees , and the tackle on our player was the final straw for some of our lads. When the officials ignored it, one or two of ours took the law into their own hands, I just hope the referee is okay, and they can get his whistle back out safely. ”
I’m going to risk the pain and discomfort of the long trip tomorrow to see how this one pans out.
I say pain and discomfort not in a physical sense, but in a mental sense. It looks like being a long day tomorrow, a suspicion conformed by a comment in yesterdays replies..
Ralph, I’ve often wondered whether one’s ‘gast’ is ‘flabbered’ or one’s ‘flabber’ is ‘gasted’ – For what it’s worth, I think it is the latter.
There goes any prospect of light hearted humour and jovial japery on the bus, as its perfectly clear to me that we are going to have an eight hour etymological debate.
Are there any other buses going from the Stoke on Trent area ?
For Voodude.
Please.
Celtic host Hamilton Academical tomorrow, and the manager took time out to praise the hard work of last seasons main man Leigh Griffiths.
“He has had a good few weeks in training now and has looked fit and strong and ready to come back,” said the Celtic manager. “I speak to him every day. It wasn’t something I sprung on him. He knows I have my eye out for him and I want to help him.
“He has had one good season here and my aim here is to make that six or seven or eight seasons and the only way you can do that is by changing a little which can then change a lot in the short, medium and long-term. His response has been brilliant.
“He is a real good kid and he knows that I am looking out for him in every aspect of his life and I just don’t want him to be a player who has one good season and then falls away. I want him to stay at the top of his game and to do that then you need to stay fit and be ready to play as often as you can.”
Hat trick tomorrow ?
Don’t be silly. He’ll be out to do better than that should he start, and the enthusiasm he brings to the side will help make the run in, where much is taken for granted despite what the manager and players says publicly, a little more entertaining than you might think.
Overall, a very strong squad is being developed, and as long as they can be kept together, with occasional additons of quality rather than quantity, next season could be one to rival that one of fifty years ago…
Speaking of which, we’re putting together some kind of trubute ourselves to the men who made history in 1967.
We’ve no idea what form that will actually take yet, but what we’d like to ask is for anyone who has personal memories of any of the players who took part in that campaign, any wee stories that they’d like to share, to forward them to us, or give us a we note in the replies and we’ll get in touch.
2017 could be the year we pick up where the 1967 team left off, and we’d like to mark that.
Elsewhere, that German team took part in a spectacular comeback last night in their last 32 game with Italin side Fiorentina.
Summed up here by the Bundesliga website…
Good night!
It means Gladbach will be in the hat, alongside Schalke, for the last 16 draw at 13:00CET/12:00GMT on Friday.
LEICESTER CITY have sensationally SACKED boss Claudio Ranieri – just 12 months after he won the Premier League title.
And cheeky Rangers fans have rushed online begging the club to snap him up.
Neil Lennon might have his head turned by the vacant Leicester post , although to be honest, Roberto Mancini has already has his office measured for a new carpet.
Although there may be a surprise contender…
Another former Leicester man was in the news , as he cast his eye over his Scottish football, where he made a bit of a name for himself as a manager, until Henrik Larsson left.
Former Celtic gaffer Martin O’Neill has branded the current
Rangers team POOR and says it’s the worst Gers squad he’s
ever seen
He said;
“Rangers are not strong at all. In fact, it is possibly the poorest side I’ve ever known at Ibrox.
“For Celtic to stay strong and be strong in Europe they need opposition — and they need it to come from Rangers in the next couple of seasons, if at all possible
Et Tu, Martin ?
But wait, maybe that challenge will come from Ibrox.
Not this entity, it’s already on life support, but we are aware that a third entity, funded by Mike Ashley of Sports Direct, is already in the planning stage.
Ashley, still apparently smarting that he hasn’t been able to break the masonic hold over Scottish law , is gathering his own set of vultures to feast on whatever is left when Dave King has had his fill.
As usual, there’s all sorts of rumours flying around on all sorts of sites, but rather than go around asking people this, or deducing from people that, we’ve opted for the much simpler option of reading between the lines, (i.e. making it up ) as we did at the top of the page when discussing Brendans bite at the referees.
Ashley is going to make the third “rangers ” the second force in Scotland, and he will get his way.
Rainjurrs men like a good old fashioned dictator to doff their caps to, and he is just the man for the remnants of the original board, having now served their five year punishment, to start praising as their latest saviour.
Yes, its Friday, and despite a splendid last minute effort from the author in the above paragraph, it wasn;t quite enough to secure the Etims
Knob of the Week
award, though you have to admit , it was a pretty good effort.
No, this week a seasoned professional knob returned to the scene to claim his birthright.
Currently employed by Disney sports channel ESPN, Burley proves that he “disney ” know anything about Scottish football….
“Scottish football is quite embarrassing at the moment in terms of the standard, but he is head and shoulders [above the rest]. He’s a good player and is young.
“Chelsea, I’m hearing, are the favourites [to sign him]. Talking to one or two guys I know back in Scotland, they said he is pretty much nailed on to go to Chelsea and possibly for around £40million.”
Comedian David Mitchell does an uncanny impression of Burley….
Anyway, Craig will be pleased to know we haven’t forgotten him, despite his American exile, and this week, he is one of our more emphatic winners of
Knob of the Week
The picture from yesterday
which had me giggling when I first saw it, was given a caption
Caption- Soldiers Are Tree….
which had me giggling even more.
To put a stop to all that jollility, here’s a serious picture to consider…
And here’s todays caption competition…