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Celtic Diary Monday July 1: Looking Forward

Keiran Tierney has left the training camp in Austria, in the words of Neil Lennon, to continue his rehab after his recent double hernia operation.

Still, I guess looking at the terms of the contract on offer from an as yet unidentified club, but probably Arsenal, will put a spring back in his step.

For the avoidance of doubt, we hear he has formally said his goodbyes to his team mates.

Now we must sit back and watch the offers flood in.

 

Ah, well, we got an extra year out of him.

Also on the way out is Yusseff Mulumbu, probably the only player we have had since Stephane Mahe who was prepared to kick someone back on the pitch.

He’s been released, from the club that is. Presumably before someone had to raise the bail money to get him released from one of her majesty’s houses.

There’s little point in harping on about those who have left or who want to leave, we should only look forward.

 

Luca Connell, the Irish scouser from Bolton has joined the Lennon Revolution.

CELTIC are delighted to announce the signing of highly-rated Republic of Ireland youngster, Luca Connell, who joins the club on a four-year deal.

The versatile 18-year-old midfielder joins the Scottish Champions after progressing through Bolton Wanderers’ youth ranks before breaking into the senior side during the second half of last season.

Connell, who was born in Liverpool but is eligible to play for Ireland through his grandparents, put pen to paper at Celtic Park before flying out to join his new team-mates at their pre-season training camp in Austria. 

Interviewed on Celtic TV, the young fellow seemed a little bewildered at ending up at Celtic, but pleased nevertheless.

“I’m looking forward to all the league games and especially the Champions League,” 

“It’s unbelievable to sign for such a massive club known all around the world. It’s a dream come true, something I’ve dreamed of since I was a little boy.

”It’s crazy and hasn’t really sunk in. I’m signing for such a big club with so much history. Hopefully, I can help us make more history and I can’t wait to get started.

“You can’t turn your head away from all the trophies and success Celtic have won and being involved in the Champions League. There are a lot of good players here so it’s a challenge to break through. It’s something new and fresh. With the ethics of this club, all the youngsters will be pushing through.

“The stadium is unbelievable. Just looking round and seeing the size of it is unreal. I can’t imagine what it’s like when it’s full and, hopefully, I’ll experience playing out in front of the amazing fans with us winning.

“I had a look at videos of Celtic Park and the background of the club so it’s made me really excited to play. If you’re not excited to be involved in games here, then you need to hang your boots up.” 

“I did not know it was getting announced, then all of a sudden it was going everywhere.

What do we know about him ?

Lets take the word of someone who has worked with him for a few years..

Brian Morris

@bmorris6868

Over a decade in Player Recruitment & 1st Team Match Reports at Bolton, Wigan & Tranmere. Uefa B licence Coach Views are my own.

Brian Morris Retweeted Celtic Football Club

Absolutely Gutted to see this man go. Been a pleasure knowing and his family for over a decade. Keep playing with a smile 😃 on your face Luca. 👏👏👏 

Luca has the desire and attitude complemented by the skill and ability. 

Read the articles on Luca from last season. But I never like a player to another especially as Luca has only just turned 18yrs old. He is a top prospect with a great leadership attitude. 

With the deal for David Turnbull falling through, Celtic wasted no time in moving on, and connell seems like he can play a bit.

Celtic also gained considerable respect with how they went about securing the services of the midfielder..

With money flying out of Celtic Park with reckless abandon, the bank have taken steps to freeze the account. A spokesman said that this was due to a high level of unusual activity for this time of year.

Police Scotland are concerned for the whereabouts and wellbeing of a Mr Peter Lawwell, after a concerned friend rang them up and pointed out that

I’m fucking telling you, this is not like him

However, the second signing this summer has upset fans of at least one rival club..

Celtic played their second tour game on Saturday afternoon, winning 2-1 against a plucky Wiener SC side.

Celtic played two sets of eleven players , one in each half, so the result can;t be taken too seriously.

What was interesting was the way the teams played, with attempts to try new things , new shapes and even new players.

Well, new to the first eleven, that is.

Leigh Griffiths showed sharpness when he closed down the keeper to score the first Celtic goal, after the hosts were granted their now customary opener, and to be fair, after his battle with his demons, it’s like a new signing.

Vakoun Bayo added the second , showing that he has indeed improved considerably and it could be said that he, too, is like a new signing.

The other new siging, who actually is a new siging, Mayran Shved showed that he’s not afraid to take people on and shoot when in sight of goal, but to be fair, he played like a new signing and will probably take a couple of months to adjust.

Lewis Morgan also looked lively, and between these two there is little need now to bring in Paddy McNair, freeing up a few quid to strengthen where we need to strengthen.

All very promising, and with the qualifying games against Sarajevo drawing nearer, it’s maybe now time to pick the best eleven and get them out there.

The away leg is a week tomorrow….tomorrows friendly with St Gallen is the last match before the real stuff starts..

If you watch a recent interview with Neil Lennon, the manager appears to get his dates mixed up, saying twice that the Sarajevo game is two and a half weeks away.

Perhaps someone told him when it really was, and this prompted his rant..

“The eight games in eight weeks schedule is ridiculous.

“That’s almost a quarter of a season before a ball has hardly been kicked in the Premiership

“We have touched on this for years and there is no benefit for any team involved. There is no respite at all for the players, it’s very difficult.

“But I can’t think of the European qualifiers as being arduous. We have to take it on. We have to plan as best we can for them.

“The rewards are great if we get there – for everyone, not just Celtic

“It’s great for the Scottish game and I would really love to do it again.

“It would be special but it is tinged with the fact you have to go through four qualifying rounds.

“That’s a big ask being the first games of the new season but we just need to get our head around it.

“Everything we are doing in Austria and Switzerland will be geared towards the qualifiers.” 

Such as sending Keiran Tierney home…which means we could really use a left back.

 

Scott Allan, who you may remember has been at Celtic for a few years but struggled to put in any effort, has had a pop at the club in the Sun newspaper…

“Do I think I was treated professionally? I’d have to say not 100 per cent of the time, no. I definitely wasn’t.

“In football, when you are playing, you are part of the squad.

“When you aren’t part of that, it is all too easy to be cast aside and forgotten about. That’s just how it is.

“And at times there it was the luck of the draw.

“Ten minutes before training started, you’d find out who you were training with.

“There were five or six of us in that situation — players like Cristian Gamboa and Marvin Compper.

“There was a period after January where five or six of us would have to come in and ask, ‘Who are we training with?’. 

Presumably they meant which players or coaches, and not which club…

“We didn’t know. Nobody had told us. So we would need to go and find out which group we were to join.

“It’s difficult to accept that situation. You are 27 years old. It should be structured.

“If the club want you to train with one particular group, you should be told, ‘Right, you’re training with them. Every day.’.

“You at least could get that through your head.

“But it changed from day to day and it became a guessing game where you were going to train half the time.

“It ended up me and Gamboa just being told, ‘You guys are in the gym’. There are so many players at Celtic.

“We talked about it amongst ourselves, just told each other to stay professional.

“We were hoping we would get a change of scenery, get out and get ourselves back up and running again. 

In Allan’s case, both Deila and Rodgers decided something wasn’t right.

I’m not angry. I ended up expecting it. I felt I dealt with it well, kept my head and didn’t chuck my toys out of the pram.

“Other players like Cristian and Marvin did the same.

“We could hold our heads high because we acted professionally, regardless of what happened.

“My relationship with Brendan was fine, respectful. It was hard for me to argue about not playing because the boys there had done such a good job over the previous three years.

“It was more about having a clear idea of what I was going to be doing for the season — that was the frustrating thing.

“When Neil Lennon arrived, he said he would get me game time. But it wasn’t to be.

“He did feel sorry for me and a few others. There was Cristian, a great professional who never got a sniff of a game after November, I think.

“But you can’t complain too much when the team has won nine trophies in three years.” 

He added, whilst complaining far too much.

 

Rumours of a new kit deal continue to abound…

  As yet, there has been nothing from anyone who would know, but frankly anyone but New Balance would suit me.

Oh wait, the new club suits leave a little to be desired..

 

Meanwhile, at a training camp in Portugal, a tribute act pays tribute to another group of legends..

Image result for the anthill mob

And this made me chuckle…

not likely, to be fair..

On Saturday we had this…

Sam McLeod June 29, 2019 at 9:28 am · Edit · Reply →

More cashflow issues at Sevco arise, as the Three Bears are forced to cut their numbers. 

Today..

 

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James
4 years ago

The sun has got its hat on
6 men are in the skip
They took their working clothes off
And had a skinny dip

Monti
4 years ago

I wonder if the SKY cameras are at Everton’s training ground today, awaiting the arrival of Kieran Tierney?
Now that they have been considerate enough to allow us to keep our player for ” an extra year “

The Cha
4 years ago
Reply to  Monti

Everton didn’t make a bid, we didn’t receive any and Tierney said he wasn’t going anywhere but it was a “done deal”.

Monti
4 years ago

Caption: end of the backshift, Chernobyl nuclear power station staff.

4 years ago

Caption: following on from last year’s wheelie bin cooling system, sevco splash out (no pun intended) on a more economical communal bathing system for this year’s close season training facilities.

Binkabhoy
4 years ago

Player changing facilities at Minty park still world class insists King

Binkabhoy
4 years ago
Reply to  Binkabhoy

*caption

Bognorbhoy
4 years ago

Caption
Newco take on another idea from oldco , the gullane sands training sessions

Mike
4 years ago

Caption, Hey hey I’ve skipped to the loo,
Hose’s got a bigger one, bigger than you,
Skip to the loo my darling…

Monti
4 years ago

CS,
Totally agree!

Monti
4 years ago

You just said we shouldn’t be selling for £25m??

Uralius
4 years ago
Reply to  Monti

£25m + 30% profit would do. His next sale will be £80m.

alan
4 years ago

that’s fine if the club spend the money. the track record in that regards is pretty dubious.

The Cha
4 years ago
Reply to  alan

He’s valued at just over £1m, so lets treble it for a player that no one else appears interested in.

Seems fair.

alan
4 years ago

Sad to say but KT is probably too good for us. He would only have been 24 after the 10 , for which he would have been captain. Then go.

But we can only imagine the pressure that he is under from his agent and others. Probably including Lawell!!
80 to 100 grand a week. Compared to 25. And celtic couldn’t break the wage structure as all the senior players would have to get the same money.

For those of us who would play for celtic for free, 25 grand a week is mind boggling. But if someone offered to quadrulple your wages, there is not many of us who could turn it down.

Monti
4 years ago
Reply to  alan

alan,
I would!

alan
4 years ago
Reply to  Monti

I know, monti. and so would I but this is why we are not players. we are supporters. I hoped we would get another 2 years out of him but he was always going to go.

TicToc
4 years ago

HaHaHa, FN brilliant Ralph:
“With money flying out of Celtic Park with reckless abandon, the bank have taken steps to freeze the account. A spokesman said that this was due to a high level of unusual activity for this time of year.” HaHaHa.
And well done with your recent Caption win. Just make sure you use that wire mesh I sent you in case “charlie” decides to smash in your windows! 🙂
HH

Mike
4 years ago
Reply to  TicToc

Its one of the condescending big Boy’s, should I bow long and low, or perhaps drop my trousers so you can Rodger me Sir? Better keep your mesh sir, perhaps you might need it..

TicToc
4 years ago
Reply to  Mike

Mike, give it a fucking rest; I thought I’d made that absolutely clear, now fuck off, and don’t come back!

Mike
4 years ago
Reply to  TicToc

Oops too late, I’m back, back to listening to you with your condescending superior attitude. You know, that you think yourself clever and every other poster is somehow of lesser intellect. Sorry to disappoint you, because once again you are talking out your arse, a not too unusual occurrence coming from you. Naw I will not be dictated to by you, a tin-pot fuckall, a booze infected mouthpiece. Speak soon…

TicToc
4 years ago
Reply to  Mike

HaHaHa! Glad to see I’m not ‘getting to you’ Mike, you silly, pathetic, old prick. Keep up your rants, they speak much, if not well, of you. 🙂
BTW, you seem to bring “arse” into a lot of your rants and lines like “or perhaps drop my trousers so you can Rodger me Sir?”. Is this ’cause you’re stuck in a wee closet dreaming, or just ’cause you’re a double arsehole who has one for sitting on and another for talking?
HaHaHa! I’ll just think of you as ‘Eugene’ from now on.

Mike
4 years ago
Reply to  Mike

Yyyaaann, You are such a predictable bore Sic Coc and utterly confused. Mind you I am not surprised, with your alcohol pickled brain losing millions of brain cells every week. I thought that it might be fun, ripping the pish out of you, but how can you rip the pish out of a tree stump? Once upon a time in your far distant past there might have been an intellect, but not anymore, its so far gone that it resorts to insults more suited to the gutter. Thank fuck I am not you, each day I look forward to good things, while you look forward to escaping the world in your alcoholic haze, something to dull the pain of your pathetic little life. A Celtic supporter? never in a million years, no, just a sad pathetic drunk, sucking up the arses of the few who are generous enough to give you the time of day…

TicToc
4 years ago
Reply to  Mike

Mike, you’re almost beyond compassion, almost.
I’d take a week or so to point out the irony of much that you say and much that you use as you copy from others, but I’ve far better things to do and I fear it would be lost on you at any rate.
I thought I’d have a wee break from packing for our next wee holiday but, boring as packing is, it sure beats the hell out of reading your daily waffle.

On a better note, The Bhoys were collectively poor last night, but pre-season’s NOT a time for supporters really. Nice to see all the goals from the earlier kick-about and great to see LG do what he does best x 4 and Sincky x 2. WTF Simunovic was playing at last night for the sending-off (and it was red all day) perhaps only HE knows. And I’m afraid wee Jonny’s just not up to our level as I mentioned when he arrived in a very strange transfer deal.
But I’m sure NL will have us ready for next week’s challenge and it’ll be great to see the Bhoys back in a ‘proper’ match.
HH

Monti
4 years ago
Reply to  TicToc

OOFT!

Mike
4 years ago
Reply to  TicToc

Sad, pathetic drunk, sucking at the sphincter of some, while denigrating others, whining away till his next drunken foray… Bette Midler sang “you are the wind beneath my wings” while you are the shite on the soles of my feet.

Mike
4 years ago
Reply to  TicToc

And you two can “Beaver away”, somewhere else…

Monti
4 years ago
Reply to  TicToc

You keep that nose away from my beaver.

AntonDeclan
4 years ago

CAPTION: PretendyGers players relax after pre-season training at their pretendy 5-star Spanish hotel complex.

Honest hoops
4 years ago

Caption; the bath facilities after training by the newco, no expense spared….

Markspur
4 years ago
Reply to  Honest hoops

Apologies, the ‘no expense spared’ was honesty not plagiarism, but will probably cost me 1st place again! COYBIG!

4 years ago

caption,Motherwell start Turnbulls Hydro therapy

The Cha
4 years ago

There seems to be a general consensus that the price for Tierney is £25m and, it looks like the only way we’d get any more is if a bidding war breaks out but that’s not happening at mo.

Personally I hope Arsenal don’t increase their bid and no one else does so we’re “stuck” with him for years.

Old fashioned, I know, and the antithesis of how our club is run but hey ho.

I don’t believe the money for McGinn, as although he had a fine season for Villa in the EFL, the EPL and the insane demands at Manure are totally different and they’re not going to lash out on a rookie.

Having said that if he had joined us and played as well then he’d simply be rated about £10m.

That’s just how it works and unless they play in England the value will be depressed unless it’s a once in a generation player like Tierney.

As much as we all rave about the likes of McGregor, it’s European and International games where they’ll be noticed and who has stood out for us over the recent seasons?

I’m quite happy about this as it reduces the options for us to cash in at the first opportunity.

The Cha
4 years ago

Last year we spent £9m on Eddy but ended up weaker by selling Dembele and Armstrong and along with VVD2 money made a transfer profit of about £25m when we’d just made record profits.

This is our “model” and if you think we’re going to be signing Castagne for £10m+ then you’ve not been paying attention.

Perhaps that Swedish guy you always bang on about that no one else is interested in.

The Cha
4 years ago
Reply to  The Cha

Alwats thought we sold Armstrong for more than £3-4m but you live and learn.

Christie didn’t replace him.

Eddy didn’t replace Dembele.

You just make it up as you go along.

Monti
4 years ago
Reply to  The Cha

Armstrong went for reportedly £7m, that didn’t come from Ralph & Armstrong didn’t go to Everton.

🙂

Markspur
4 years ago

Caption – No expense spared as the original Team-Bath is moved outside while the Ibrox roof is being repaired and the team have no end of pre-season fun as they take off their blindfolds and try to guess which of the wonderful new recruits are making themselves familiar underwater!

Markspur
4 years ago

Bang on, or at least a 50% sell on fee. COYBIG!

hector
4 years ago

Caption The Sevco scouting team uncover some new players while dumpster diving .

Chris
4 years ago

Boss, ….to avoid the pish being ripped out of us like last year with the Ice Wheelie Bins I have traded us up,..

Uralius
4 years ago

Agreed!

Uralius
4 years ago

Caption: With the news that Aribo will be joining them in the team bath. Allan McGregor can’t contain himself and squirts everywhere.

charlienich
4 years ago

The testing of the swimming pool for the £1brox proposed hotel goes well, now, about that floating pitch we wanted …

Cartvale88
4 years ago

Caption

What happened to the lifeguard

The hatred of all things Celtic oozing out of every pore of the media, our signings are crap, the Turnbull incident derided, however the bagatelle at Ibrokes are the Magnificent seven.

Think this is the year Stevie G will be found out, his latest utterings must scare the living dead.

Auldheid
4 years ago

A wee Res12 Update https://twitter.com/Auldheid/status/1145762537209774081 the wait goes on.

jimmybee
4 years ago

Caption: Larkhall gets an outside pool

Carljunglebhoy
4 years ago

Caption: Rangurs are delighted to announce that this year’s “Loving Cup” ceremony will be bigger than ever before.

Puggy67
4 years ago

77. Dalglish to Liverpool. Record transfer fee, the pishiest ever in world football. The end of an era, quality street kids all grown up and emptying the nest. Centre stage in Europe no more. 19 KT to Arsenal. Who are we? Players in the game or Arnold Fucking Clarkes. Fuck your balance sheet. Some of us remember a club who didn’t have a walk on role.

Puggy67
4 years ago

Caption: It’s fun time in Lennoxtown’s Scott Allan jacuzzi.

Monti
4 years ago

No it means they expect to be selling some players & Emery’s budget will increase.
Unless Zaha can play left back.

Monti
4 years ago

The only thing i want to see from Griffiths is a 100% dedication, availability & a level of professionalism & performance befitting a Celtic player.
It’s last chance saloon for him, he needs to dedicate himself.
One foot out of line…..out!

Monti
4 years ago

Everton are set to bid £9m for Tom….oh no wait, it’s Zenit…my mistake.
Cough.

Monti
4 years ago

He’s a bastard…..his name is Jimmy bell 🙂

Monti
4 years ago

Just completed series 4 of Italian crime drama ‘ Gomorrah ‘ outstanding!

Genny how could you do that to Patrizia??

No no no 🙁

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