Celtic Diary Tuesday May 21

Tony Watt is in the Scotland squad!

He’s joined by player of the century Leigh Griffiths of  Hibernian. Well, Hibernian this week, Wolverhampton next week, and then Glasgow the week after? Stranger things have happened, and the lad certainly knows where the goal is.

No doubt Gordon Strachan will help him make his mind up over his future. Griffiths is only 22, but has been living in Edinburgh, which would explain the “lived in ”  look. The striker said;

“Its not  100 per cent definite I’ll be going back to Wolves. I want to stay here. I love the club and I don’t want to leave yet. Its up to Hibs and Wolves to agree a fee. Wolves have taken up the option of another year on my contract, and they want me to be a big part of their plans for promotion next season. But I don’t want to leave Hibs.”

Wolves have suffered successive relegations, and will be in the third tier of English football next year. After that , they could end up in the Midland combination, so its no surprise Griffiths wants to stay. Money talks though, and Wolves will not let him go for the same sort of money they paid for him-£150,000 from Dundee-so if he wants to stay in Scotland, then realistically, theres only Celtic to choose from. Not exactly a big name blue chip signing, but one who would do what it says on the tin.

Strachan has decided to make a few changes to his already eliminated Scotland squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifier in Croatia. He does have to rebuild, and he’s not wasting any time. Kenny Miller, for instance, has been dropped;

“Kenny has been injured for over a month with a hamstring problem, ” explained Strachan, ” and he’s completely fucking useless. ” Sorry. Thats obviously something I made up. He’s not been injured.

Other Celts in the squad are Scott Brown and James Forrest. Kris Commons and Charlie Mulgrew are not involved, Mulgrew is getting married, and Commons is needing a rest, according to Strachan who is “in touch with Lenny ”

Danny Fox, remember him?, is also picked , along with fellow former Celts Shaun Maloney and Gary Caldwell, fresh from their English Cup triumph. They would rather we didn’t remind them that they were relegated from a league containing such giants as Sunderland, Stoke and Norwich.

The BBC have Gary Caldwell on their panel for the Cup final on Sunday, where he will be joined by John Hartson and Pat Nevin. Electric Companies are already seeing a rise in share prices in anticipation of the amount of cups of tea being made at half time.

Ten years ago today, Sevco fans were taping popular police drama The Bill as most of us were in Seville for the UEFA Cup final. Although it would ultimately end in heartbreak, one player in particular proved that night that he was a Celt through and through. All of us have our own  particular memories of that night, but for me, the sight of Neil Lennon still running after two hours in that heat is nothing short of iconic. Especially with him having ginger hair, which is illegal in Spain, and a major health risk. Was it really that long ago ? The guy at the airport who was badly sunburned, and thinking of a way to explain his sickie to the boss, whilst bright pink from apparently spending three days in bed, is probably still there. Because that would have taken some explaining. Especially to his boss, who was/is called Billy.

Elsewhere, the traditional annual  crashing of a Scottish club continued with Heart of Midlothian up before the beaks due to financial, er, problems. The parent company, UBIG, have declared themselves insolvent, but in the  “Big Book of Scottish Football Rules ” this was not considered to be an insolvency event by the SFA. The SFA spoke to their lawyers, and decided that Hearts will not have points deducted, and consequently will not be relegated.

Dundee, who would have been granted a further term in the SPL, are furious. Manager John Brown was going to make a statement, but didn’t know any words.

SPL chief Ralph Topping, said;

” The board are not satisfied on the basis of information currently available to it that in insolvency event as defined by SPL rules occured to UBIG in 2012-13. ”

Even though UBIG told them it had.

Topping, personally, had no feelings whatsoever about saving Hearts.

Another club, which was liquidated last year, but is pretending it wasn’t, would have commented, but it was too busy tearing itself apart by posting videos of  one of its high heid yins drunk. Poor Malcolm Murray is having his capacity to make crucial decisions called into question as it appears that he quite likes a refreshment after work. Apart from the fact that anybody who wants to have anything to do with the toxic club from south of the river needs to look at his capacity for making any sort of decision, its a shame that the poor fellow is being dragged through the press for what looks like just getting drunk.

We at Etims have been sent exclusive pictures by someone who claims to be his personal photographer. but I think they are fake. Judge for yourself.

Here he is at an Ally McCoist tactics talk. (Allegedly)

Here he is enjoying a fine wine after a particularly difficult meeting with investors. ( Allegedly )

But it did seem to go well.

Anyway, he certainly earned his wee lie down afterwards.

Frankly , I’m not entirely sure thats him, but you can make your own mind up. Thats what its all about , you see. Looking at the evidence, and drawing your own conclusions.

A bit like the SFA investigations into alleged wrongdoings at Ibrox, where yet again it looks like they will leave no stone unturned to get to the truth.

Regan, Doncaster and Ogilvie combined yesterday in a breathtaking statement of intent over the ravaged club.

But the longer they leave it , the more chance there is of this.

Thats for Tom English, who thinks that we are all obsessed with the events at Ibrox. Apparently to the extent where we are completely uninterested in this;

Though I might have misheard him.

Speaking of mishearing, was Derek Johnstone finally talking sense on Radio Clyde last night ?

Nope. That is just being silly.

This is him at his work just a few months ago.

But what is he saying here?