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Celtic Diary Wednesday July 3

The serious stuff begins tonight, well, sort of nearly serious. If the Celts are to hit the ground running when the really serious stuff starts in just a fortnight, then this game in Germany against Sevastopol has to be serious.

Seriously.

The Ukrainian club was formed in 2002 when Chaika Sevastopol were relegated from the professional ranks and dissolved, and worked their  way up to the Premier League for the 2010-11 season. They were relegated, but achieved promotion again last year.

Sevastopol

They play at home in all red, and away in all blue. Amongst their squad they have star names such as Lewandowski, Voronin and Kuznetsov, but its only the names you would recognise, as the players are not the ones you would think they are.

One familiar face is Saulius Mikoliunas, who managed to reach the dizzy heights of playing for Hearts, and when Hugh Dallas wasn’t the referee, he would often complete a full game. He was sent off a couple of times against the now defunct Rangers, so at least he knows who he doesn’t like.

Their short domestic record includes one second division title, two first division wins and an appearance in the semi finals of the cup last season. Recently , they have had a bit of trouble settling at a home ground, but there are plans to build a new stadium at the town of  Balaklava, which is named after a fashion accessory popular amongst some of our support.

Look, its bloody freezing at the top of that North Stand. Even worse in the winter.

New signing Virgil van Dijk is looking forward to the game, and the double training sessions that will take place on the tour.

” I’m not top fit right now, but I’m getting there. I think these two weeks will be different from the first week I had in Scotland. Last year was very bad for me because i had an injury towards the end of the previous season, i had just come back so pre season was very tough. I had something wrong with my stomach, abdominal pains. It happened on April 1-a crazy day. I was in hospital for ten days so it was hard to recover from it in the summer. Everything is good now though ” he added, noticing the alarm on Neil Lennons face.

Obviously wishing to change the subject quickly, the Dutchman continued;

” It is very hard to move to another club, especially so far away from home. ”

I’m already worried about this one. but he reassures us;

” Its not too far away. I can still fly home in an hour ( even less if he gets on a plane ) but the language is new, the people , everything . Two weeks is a long time but this trip will help me learn about my team mates. I will see how they play and find out what they are like off the field as well which will be good. ”

Perhaps someone else should do the rest of the interviews. It looks like van Dijk is a bit of a worrier. The sort of person who even when he’s not worrying about something, will lie awake worrying about it.

Someone not worried is Kelvin Wilson, the most improved player at Celtic Park last season. He has a year to run on his contract, and there is a one year extension available, if the club decide to offer him it. Wilson says ;

“I’ll play this season and see what happens. I’ll speak to the gaffer throughout the season but its not something I’m really thinking about. I just want to play football. ”  Ipswich and Leicester are monitoring the situation.

 

Paddy McCourt, according to his brother Leroy, can choose from several clubs as he weighs up his options. He has spoken to Birmingham, and other championship sides, as well as some from Turkey, Australia and the USA are interested. Go somewhere warm, Paddy, and enjoy yourself.

Hull City , having signed Alan MacGregor, have given up on Gary Hooper, and will now concentrate on Charlie Austin of Burnley, who is also interesting Celtic. Jordan Rhodes, who would already have been at Celtic had it not been for the £8m bid from Blackburn ( I got that from a bloke in a pub in Huddersfield, so it must be true. Look, if Keith Jackson had been in the pub, that story would have secured him a third consecutive journalist of the year award ) has re-appeared on the radar.

So have umpteen others, including Kevin Doyle, still leaping around the west midlands texting Neil lennon “pick me, pick me ” . Others mentioned elsewhere don’t deserve a mention here, as they are clearly nonsense. Unlike the ones that are mentioned here. Obviously.

The new Family Stand will be open next year. The club continues to listen to the support, and the lower half of the Lions stand will now feature artwork, images and hoopy the huddle hound to make for a fantastic day out for the kiddies. There will also be pre match entertainment such as jugglers, magicians, ballon artists and caricaturists-yeah, explain that to a five year old-which means that there will be no toilets outside but at least when you are stuck in the ground a couple of hours before kick off there will be plenty of people dressed up to scare the kids.

The club though, should be commended for at least trying to do something to enhance the match day experience, and it remains to be seen if they will address other factors which are concerning the fans.

Canamalar, over on the CQN website, is looking for shareholders with over £100 worth of shares to get together to raise a question at Celtics AGM concerning the clubs action-or inaction -on the issuing of a licence to a new club , which did not actually qualify for one. He also wants to mention the point of a club which cheated its way into the Champions League , costing Celtic revenue and prize money.

Some may argue that the offending club is dead now, and it doesn’t matter. But if the Celtic support does not keep plugging away at those in charge who look like they have bent the rules to accomodate the tax dodgers, then they will get away with it.

As one poster on another site asked, what would Fergus McCann have done ?

Meanwhile, bramblejhelly has sent us this picture of the way in which books are categorised in his local waterstones bookstore

20130630_161341

 

 

Someone won’t be invited to the lodge this weekend.

Ally McCoist is looking for a couple of defenders, and he thinks Christophe Berra and Boris Pandza fit the bill. His gaffer Craig Mather though, has warned that the bill may be too much unless the cheeky chappy sells some players, or at the very least brings his own lunch to  Ibrox. Berra, of course , is a Scotland international, and Pandza has been brought to his attention by “Chief Bosnian Scout Sasa Papac “, which surely doesn’t even fool the blindest Sevco fan.

With redundancies and cost cutting high on the agenda, its good to see McCoist really doesn’t give a toss about his non playing staff, and we at Etims would like to encourage this, as it will only hasten the end of the new club , which seems to have attracted all the wrong sort of people.

 

Anyway, back to the good guys. Tonights match in Germany is live on Premier Sports for those who have it, and those of you who haven’t will no doubt be using google.

Two days before the European Cup fianl of 1967, Jock Stein uttered those stirring words, and of course, he was right.

These words, were spoken by a former Celtic player when he was asked to comment on todays wages;

” We were on £65 a week when I played, and I always say that if I was on £25,000 a week then they could put boxes of tomatoes around the track and they could throw them at me if I had a bad game. Thats the way I see it. ”

Not a bad idea, either. Who was it ?

 

 

 

 

 

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Swannie67
10 years ago

Sounds like something Bertie Auld would say

10 years ago

Malcolm Campbell..he loved his tomatoes

Frank McGaaaaarvey
10 years ago

Didn’t Sally McCoist say something similar recently, except instead of tomatoes it was pies? He would then deliberately have a bad game so the perma-raging orcs would be throwing them all day.

Iain McAllister
10 years ago

Did we have any Spanish players in the 60’s?

waco61
10 years ago

wee jinky

10 years ago

are dem feckin’ hunz still goin’

scholzybhoy
10 years ago
Reply to  redversbodkin

Aye well sort off its like this ye see. see if say you where just aboot tae sign the deal of yer life and all ye were waitin on was the chief behind the desk tae sign it then all of a sudden he croaks and leaves you just to dot the I’s and cross the t’s on his signature then your home and dry. Apply that model tae the sevco situation and theres your answer !

HAIL HAIL

Pensionerbhoy
10 years ago

I have been rejected again. I will soon have more world records than Sevco.

H H

Peter Madill
10 years ago

Would have been nice if you had mentioned the game tonight and all the pre-season games were on CELTIC TV but that would have involved saying something positive about Celtic, so obviously you can’t do that

bondibrian
10 years ago

Bertie.

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