Celtic Diary Monday February 18

Plenty of goals, plenty of good football, and everyone has a smile back on their faces.

Celtic thrashed Dundee Utd 6-2 on Saturday, despite going an early goal down, conceding a penalty, and having Anthony Stokes back in the team. Although Stokes was the Stokes of old, putting in a tireless shift, creating and finishing chances, well worth his place in the team, and no doubt he will spend today hanging around the managers office with an unsigned contract in his hand.

Perhaps the happiest thing about the game was the realisation that UEFA haven’t done away with the penalty kick after all. Dundee Utd got one when Adam Matthews was adjudged to have ran faster than Gary Mackay Steven, and Anthony Stokes got one when he was fouled in the box.

The United award prompted Neil Lennon to say, tongue in cheek (yeah, right) that he wished “Bobby had been refereeing on Tuesday night.” which for a Celtic manager is an almost unheard of use of a referees first name.

Lennon went on to say it was never a penalty, but didn’t dwell on it. Well, not too much. Rightly, he wanted to talk about the teams outstanding performance;

“We scored six goals and it could have ben a lot more. I think the players, off the back of Tuesday wanted to put in a strong performance. Thats not easy, they would have been hurting, but they picked themselves up verywell and some of their football was fantastic. We went out and played like a Champions League team today. ”

He didn’t say which one.

Interestingly, Ambrose and Commons made a big show of being pals again, which should put to bed any stories of unrest and cliques, which was nice.

Jackie MacNamara, Dundee Utd manager , said he was disappointed that his team had managed two goals against Celtic, and said it wouldn’t happen again. That one is for all the lurking Rangers fans who come on here, as they can’t read about their own team anymore, because it went into liquidation.

Their new tribute act though, and its fans might have got another cold shot of reality with Celtic destroying the team that destroyed them. Anyone deluded enough to think that team will be anywhere near the top again in the next few years probably goes by the name of McCoist.

Sportscene was its usual cheery self last night, with Manuel Pascali taking on the role of mumbler who forgot to comb his hair, wichleft Stephen Craigan sounding fairly intelligent, which is no mean feat. As people all over the country dozed off to the mind numbingly dirgy music, Rob MacLean tried his best to sound enthusiastic, but after the Celtic highlights, he managed to send the rest of the country to bed by continuing to talk.

Neil Lennon has also revealed that he has written to UEFA seeking clarification of the rules regarding holding in the box, and expects to receive a reply before Christmas. We actually have got the reply here, and can publish it first;

Dear Neil,

Players are allowed to hold opponents in the box under the following circumstances without committing an offence;

a) The defending team is called Juventus

b) The attacking team is called Celtic

Thank you for taking the time to write, and we hope that this clears the matter up.

Yours, Michel.

The corner of Celtic Park which features the Green Brigade, the terrorist organsation or singing supporters group, depending on which paper you read, decided to boycott the game on Saturday, and protest outside the ground about heavy handed and unfair policing. There are various opinions, and various statements about their action, its reasons and what it hopes to achieve, but their needs to be more communication and clarification, as to the “neutral” observer it isn’t coming across quite well. If any of the group read this, please get in touch and let us know the full story.

Except that guy with the drum. I moved my seat because of that racket.

There is obviously something going on, and if there is cause for complaint, then each and every avenue must be used to highlight the issue.

Transfer rumours, stories and plain bullpoo still fill the pages of the print media, and Roberto Mancini has denied any interest in Victor Wanyama, although he conceded he is a good player. Gary Hooper, who didn’t score yesterday has made people suspicious he’s given up now, and Fraser Forsters lack of diving low has prompted questions about his long term commitment.

well, theres not much else for the hacks to write about. They have already alienated the Celtic support, the Rangers support are becoming more disinterested in the game on a weekly basis, and the Glasgow hacks are terrified at the thought they might have to head around the country to get stories.

It made me chuckle when Graeme Spiers made such a big thing of having gone to other non Glasgow games a week or two ago. Finally having to go out into the country and see what happens, instead of  reprinting statements from clubs and managers is a novel approach for Scottish sports hacks,  but who knows, a brave new world may still be a possibility.

If only they could summon up some enthusiasm for this post Murray world…

Theres a lot of talk about winning the league especialy early this season, and that may well be the case, but despite everything you hear, at the moment, Celtic have twelve games left, and still need to win at least half of them, though the extrememly competitive nature of the teams below-only eleven points between second top and second bottom, means that that will change with virtually every result.

In one sense, it could be said to be dull in that Celtic will finish top, and Dundee bottom, but the other ten places won’t be settled until the final day. Which will see a lot more interest than usual. Lets hope the media promote it in such a way that the league finishes having enhanced its reputation, with plenty of excitement between now and then.

In the Scottish Cup Final of 2005, Chris Sutton became the first Celt to miss a penalty during the ninety minutes, which was what I meant. Wdodczyk and Rogan did miss in the shootout a few years before. Three teams have played Celtic in competitive matches, and all have managed to prevent the hoops from scoring . Who are they?

Incidentally, either today or tomorrow, the new look Etims site will burst through the incredible one million hits figure, so thanks to everyone for that.