It looks fairly certain now that ambitious young midfielder Victor Wanyama will be residing on the south coast soon , and plying his trade with a big name club. Big name , of course, only if you count the letters in the word “Southampton “.
I had a look at their official site, looking for a link to their honours, but they haven’t bothered with one. They won the English cup in 1976, and , er, thats prety much it.
The signing of Wanyama by Southampton is seen as a signal of intent, meaning that they are desperate to finish above the relegation zone this season. Unfortunately, its a sign of the times that lower EPL teams can outbid Celtic for the services of our players, should they want to leave.
Celtic will receive in the region of £12.5m for the Kenyan, who will become a very wealthy man with the deal. So will his agent. However, Ronnie Cully in the Evening Times poured cold water over the idea that Celtic will make a huge profit, citing that Beerschot will want their cut of any profit. Despite the fact they have gone bust. Seems like the MSM still have trouble coming to terms about what a club going bust really means.
Lets hope we use the money wisely, perhaps to reward those who want to play for Celtic, and setting a precedent that financial rewards are available to those who show loyalty and commitment to the club.
Steve Bruce, the manager of another non descript EPL side, Hull City, has decided that after several hints, Gary Hooper does not want to join his club. Neither does Charlie Austin , who apparently spent most of his medical with the north east club saying, ” bloody hell, my shoulder hurts, ” won’t be going there either, but there is talk of him joining Celtic, but not by anyone who knows anything.
Kelvin Wilson wins this weeks award for stating the obvious. He spoke about the dismal results and performances on the current pre season tour;
” As a team, we’ve got to do better. I know we’ve got loads of players out , but with the boys that came in we’ve got to do better. The new boys have settled in really well as they are experienced players. Virgil is young but he’s an experienced player as he’s played a lot of games and Steven has played down south for quite a few teams. ”
None of which wanted to keep him.
” They are both pretty experienced players so its been pretty easy for them to settle in. Its not easy but thats what these games are used for. They are there to try players in different positions and thats what we did so although the fans and the players won’t be happy with the result, its something you take on the chin in these situations. ”
He should be sent home for even thinking about saying those four words, which still send a chill down the spine of any Celtic fan who has tried to erase from memory those wonderful, inspiring post match Mowbray comments.
Wilson summarised;
” We’d rather learn something in losing games and then get off to a flier in the league than win these games and then hit a brick wall when the season starts. ”
Of course, its too much to ask for the team to win both.
Pre season rarely goes well for Celtic, and of course the results don’t matter, but for the love of God, can they not , just for a moment, think about us poor sods who have to watch that shite ?
The new season begins at the new time of 5.15 on Saturday August 3. The game is live on Sky Sports, when new technology will enable viewers to scratch their tv screens and smell the alcoholic fumes wafting through the ground.
The extra couple of hours in the pub-coincidentally, the new Kerrydale Bar will be open , so some of that lost season book money can be recovered, will suit quite a few of us, but it also means that travelling fans have another late night.
Celtics other appearance on Sky next month comes on August 31, where the team will be at Tannadice to face Dundee Utd.
Malcolm Murray, the former CEO and then director over at new club Rangers Sevco International, ( sorry, I can never remember their proper name. ) has penned a missive to their dwindling band of supporters.
In the open letter, released to Press Association Sport, Murray said: “I make this statement not for self-gratification or sour grapes but because so many fans have told me that dignified silence will be seen as a sign of disrespect.
“My previously criticised silence was observed in the best interests of Rangers.
“I was chairman of this great club for arguably the most difficult year in its long history.
“I was recommended for the role by the investment institutions because of my strong record of honesty, integrity and my successful stewardship, of a 25% shareholding in Manchester United from the bottom to the top but not least because I am a Rangers fan and everything I have done or do is for the club and not self-interest or financial gain.
“It has been a difficult shift and I’d like to thank you, the fans, for your support which I enjoyed as recently as Sunday when I drove over 600 miles to Brora.
“I would also like to thank my wife and daughter for their patience and endurance of great hardship – including no holiday for a year and harassment by journalists in their own garden.
“During the dark days of last summer I put a six-figure sum into the club to literally stop the lights going out at Ibrox at a time when we were in real danger.
“My family have given things up to help save Rangers in this difficult year. There aren’t many wives who would let their husband pay someone else’s significant electricity bill.
“You and I want a squeaky-clean club run by men of the highest integrity and global commercial ability and the highest level of transparency.
“The reason we went down the flotation route was to guarantee transparency, whereas ownership by mysterious individuals does not.
“Events of the last year have seen behaviour that would make the late, great Bill Struth spin in his grave.
“The loss of two men (Phil and myself) with such lengthy financial public company experience and a quality broker will undoubtedly raise questions amongst our institutional shareholders.
“Only time will tell how they will react. These investors and you are our future and you must be listened to and given transparency.
“We cannot go back to the depths of the last two years, we need to hold course. Corporate transparency is the norm and we should embrace it rather than change course when difficult questions are asked.”
The letter continued: “My family and I will always be fans and season ticket holders and I will remain a shareholder and use whatever influence I have to help the Rangers. I want the best for our club both on and off the pitch.
“I want our fans to be talking about football and the development of our rich history and culture. I hope to be the only chairman in our history to preside over a Third Division title!”
Bless him. He’s telling the fans the place is full of crooks and he’s not only paid their electric bill, he’s missed his holiday as well.
Murray is seen by some as the last man in the fight against the club being butchered and raped for a final, conclusive time.
Pardon me for smiling, as you’re waving me goodbye.
Ally McCoist, the man charged with the task of taking the new club to the big league, had this to say.
“Its time now for everybody within the club tostart singing from the same hymn sheet and move the club forward. ”
I think we can be fairly sure that singing hymns is a fairly unlikely scenario within the walls of Ibrox.
A quiet footnote at the end of the rebranding of Scottish football sees a statement from the SPFL announce that
” David Longmuirs employment has come to an end. ”
Perhaps he has something else lined up. If not, at least he’ll be able to go to the football with his family, who have embraced the fairy tale adventure of the new club Sevco climbing through the leagues.
He won’t be missed, its just a shame he’s the only one going.
Jimmy Johnstone is the player credited with discussing the similarities between the poor of society in different countries becoming great players.
” Some people will say its madness for me to take this job. I’m ready to invest in madness. ”
Inspiring words-but hose ?
Martin O’Neill? Sounds like something a football man with an unusually high level of articulacy would say.
I also wonder if Malcolm Murray had a straight face when he spoke of Sevco’s ‘rich history and culture’!
That sounds like classic Brian “All about the Giving..hey wanna buy some land in Robroyston?” Demspey!
If big Kelvin utters the line about “taking it on the chin” one more time I will give him something to really take on the chin. It should be one of those phrases that is banned forever from Celtic Park, along with reference to the O*d F*rm, whatever that is.
“I was chairman of this great club for arguably the most difficult year in its long history” says Malky Murray (was he club or company chairman?). These silly buns just don’t get it. They keep spouting the usual mass-delusional lines of “We’re still here”. Yes, you are. In a different guise. Admit it and we can all move on.
As for the quote, was it the Bunnet? Either that or anyone with any kind of link to the proud one-year history of Sevco.
Ralph
My name is not Murray and I am not prepared to forego my holidays so I took a day out from the diary yesterday. No it had nothing whatsoever to do with the failure to post my comment on Tuesday and on…and on…and before. I never hold a grudge, ya b@**@@. I just take it on the chin and try to do better – like any committed Celtic man that should keep stum. However, aware of the great loss felt by your followers at my absence, I have returned full of the joys and a stick of rock from Brora.
Unfortunately a wee break from the monotony of defeat did not save me from watching another annihilation by a thirty third rate team and six goals against too. As if the circus in the north east highlands is not enough, we are treated to a week’s performance, or maybe that should be a weak’s performance, in our very own Bavarian Big Top. Just when one thought the days of being slain by the Hun were over! Then came the stomach churning comments about pre-season experiments and the insignificance of friendlies and……….how lovely Brora is or was before the make-me-puke invasion. Sad days when the jack boot takes over home and away. I said before, there are bound to be harder games in training. Why not put on false-faces and sunglasses and pretend Lennoxtown is overseas. It is a much cheaper and practical way to be made to look daft. I expected a big welcome in Cliftonville for Celtic Football Club. It could be more like a parade for the circus coming to town at this rate. Like you, Ralph, I do think the support deserves better. I hate to think how any Celtic fan attending the games felt, in spite of the pre-season, having to watch and experience all the humiliations so far. It is not right to simply experiment willy nilly when others are watching.
“” My message to the fans is not to panic. If you see the team we finished with, we had Dylan McGeouch , Calum Waters and Liam Henderson, and some of them were playing out of position. We had a patched up team so its not a major concern for me. Yes, there was a bof niavety, but for some it was their first away trip with us. I was really pleased with the first half and there was a lot of good stuff. ”
Come on, Neil, we deserve a bit more in the public arena.
Of course there are more serious tears to be shed elsewhere. First for Victor, not because he is leaving Celtic but because he is being sold into obscurity.
“Lets hope we use the money wisely, perhaps to reward those who want to play for Celtic, and setting a precedent that financial rewards are available to those who show loyalty and commitment to the club.”
That is not just right on the button, it is right down the whole jacket front, Ralph. Cheap sales and the lack of a genuine effort to retain players really gets on my wick.
And then there was Malcolm, the last of the chairs. If you have tears, prepare to shed them now because you will be able to no more before too long once the Blue (or Green) Mafia have bled you dry, a warning from an insider or an outsider or a bit of both as he was in and is now out. And will they listen to the latest greetin’? Not a chance. God afflicted them in many ways but one profound disability was the lack of ears for the truth. Mind you, these Murrays seem to enjoy a good walk – away! It is not for me to say what creatures abandon sinking ships. That is for each man’s own judgement. Now, now, this should be taken seriously. After all he is the last chair in the Third Division. Is Scottish football nearing financial ruin? No seats in the Third Division?? Where next – no football at Ibrox? Now you can laugh – but not out loud. We don’t want to wake up Ally.
I know I am not the greatest at these quote things but given the predicament and the desperation at Celtic at the time, it just has to be Martin O’Neil.
H H with hope in my heart!
Thank you master!
H H
Rangers being a squeeky clean club is like Michael Corleone trying to go legit …
The Tin Man circa 1985 – although it was never his money anyway…
Supplementary quiz question….. Anyone get this?
Who’s the player behind wee joe from this NTV cover? Had me stumped for a while, but think I got there.
Weren’t shorts with numbers on great.
Supplementary quiz question….. Anyone get this?
Who’s the player behind wee joe from this NTV cover? Had me stumped for a while, but think I got there.
Weren’t shorts with numbers on great.
Gary Steven is the “player” behind wee Joe.
It is Stevens I think
Though my mind was shouting BROADFOOT at the same time, but that’s crazy.
Imagine BROADFOOT playing for the Huns …………
Alan McInally, surely?