Celtic Diary Wednesday July 22: Another Way Of Looking At It

Celtic , perhaps not surprisingly, lost 4-0 to Paris St Germain last night. Not surprisingly, Brazilian forward Neymar got on everyones nerves, and not surprisingly, keyboard managers went into overdrive.

Pretty much all of the players came in for criticism, and even the one who stood out, Olivier Ntcham, only did it becuase he was in France and looking for a new club.

However, what I saw was a top class side facing a team thats just coming out of hibernation , which in turn handled the surreal atmosphere quite well, and managed, for the most part , to keep high levels of concentration.

Make no mistake, as the season draws closer, thats the single most important thing that needs to be worked on. Especially as Celtic have often cited the support as a crucial factor in their success.

Oh, that and the fact that playing one up front against superior sides isn’t going to get the baby bathed.

Afterwards, manager Neil Lennon seemed to be satisfied, at least to a degree…

“We were playing against a world-class side. We didn’t get off to the best of starts, but I thought after that, for about 30/35 minutes, we were a match and we played some really good football.

“I’m so disappointed we didn’t get a goal because I thought our play deserved one.

“But that’s as stiff an examination as you’re going to get, so in terms of a working exercise on the physical side of the game, the mental side and the concentration side of it, that’s as good as it gets. I’m really pleased with a lot of aspects of the game.”

He added: “It was really tough for the players and then PSG changed their full team at half-time. I think some of our players needed the game.

“The players have only really had one full game going into this one, so I think they’ll benefit from it.

“It’s a been a terrific quality of teams that we’ve played over the last four or five days and I think that’ll stand us in good stead going forward.” 

Some will argue that morale boosting double figure romps against weaker sides would have been of more benefit, but French police wouldn’t let us play “rangers ” in the Vimto Cup.

The SFA have set the date for the Scottish cup semi finals and finals, meaning that the festive season this year could see a quadruple treble being celebrated, which would certainly get the tinsel tangoing.

The rules changes involve the use of five substitutes instead of three, and the winners of the tournament will play “rangers ” for the real trophy, with the Ibrox side allowed eleven loannees who they can pay tax free as much as they ask.

Players at a new club, such as Johnny Hayes, will not be cup tied, which means the likeable Irishman can play against Celtic, and might not be so likeable after that.

And if you believe some of the non-pish stained guff on the web, Sam Cosgrove could be leading the line against them…

Something else announced yesterday , potentially significant, is that clubs can now have six players on loan instead of four, which makes Dundee a good bet for silverware.

Leigh Griffths is not ayailable for loan , according to Neil Lennon, but don’t be surprised if he joins a contingent of Celts on Tayside as a big thank you for helping us win the league.

It also means that we can probably come back from France with a goalkeeper, a defender and maybe even a forward.

Despite their support blaming the Lawwell Factor , now that its his turn to be on the SPFL board, Ibrox should stop and consider that it also allows them to sign six players on loan, and if they can find six sash wearing white supremists to appease their core support, then it could benefit them as well.

They’ll need some help from somewhere, as their merchandise has been taken off the web as the result of Mike Ashkleys tanks moving up the lawn again.

The dopey Ibrox board somehow thought they could circumvent the terms of their contract with him, and yet again find themselves on the wrong end of litigation.

Phil MacGiollabhan goes into great detail here, and with Celtic planning ahead to win a tenth title and fifth treble, it becomes apparent any planning at Ibrox is merely about getting the wages paid every month.

With pressure mounting on them to dispel the notion that they tolerate racism among their support, the club released a statement which said they don’t, but interestingly it was formatted below a moan about Alfredo Morelos being racially abused again by Celtic fans, no evidence of which has ever stood up to scrutiny.

this gives the appearance that the condemnation was an afterthought, and something they felt had to be put in , but wasn’t that important to them.

Still, if they do expel the bigots and racists will make social distancing at games much less of a problem.

Speaking of social distancing and matters of health, the NHS have released further advice for those who are worried during the current crisis….

The morelos  abuse appeared on instagram, and is bizarre, to say the least.

Apparently, this is a Celtic supporter….

Surely “up the Ra ” and maybe a flag of Ireland would have been more likely to add to credibility ?

As for any Celt who looks like that, including the hairstyle,  I would tend to think he would have maybe not wanted to go public.

And I also think someone, somewhere would have done a humorous piece on “Celtic fan who looks like Morelos suffers abuse from fellow fans “…

I suspect this story, having served its purpose, will quietly disappear…

Then again, you can;t help but understand the fear and paranoia at Ibrox, when evidence surfaced that Celtic are owned by someone who has immortality amongst his traits. Physical immortality, that is…

This picture was taken in 1931, and it clearly shows Dermot Desmond with the Celtic squad on a trip to the USA….

We go back a few days for the last caption competition, as people still refuse to go shopping in the traditional way, thus making my life a misery….

Today….