Celtic Diary Monday July 15

Perhaps its the heat.

Perhaps its the MSM doing a bit of a job on Celtic.

After all, if you believe what you read in the papers, Celtics players are either injured or about to leave the club for money down south.

Manager Lennon himself is quoted as saying;

” Its so early. Its a harsh reality of where we are. We won the Cup Final at the end of May and we are back in on the 24th of June. Its been staggered and a bit disjointed because we have had a lot of injuries as well. Matthews , Ledley, Twardzik and Hooper have hardly featured and obviously we have lost victor. “(Now he’s gone he doesn’t get a capital letter. )

Mind you, the picture at the top may be a glimpse of the gaffers  plan B

The Kenyan did take time out to thank Celtic fans for their support, and said he hoped to come back one day. Yeah, okay. Forgive me if I don’t hold my breath.

They are the ups and downs you have to cope with during pre-season but I don’t think you’ll see us anywhere near our best for another two weeks or so. ”

Cheers, Neil. Thats what we wanted to hear.

With victor away, and Norwich setting a 5pm deadline today for an answer on their latest bid for Hooper, there does seem to be a little bit of a problem at Celtic Park. Rumours that Kelvin Wilson is about to be offered a move south don’t help, especially when you add that Efe Ambrose could be off to Turkey-unless i read that wrong and someone was calling him a Turkey and having watched Steven Mouyokolo the manager is now hesitating over his contract offer. Rogne has already gone, and perhaps the 3-5-2 experiment was based on the fear that we might only have three defenders left.

Brown isn’t fit, neither is Forrest or Mulgrew, and Kris Commons has been in the news…

Then there was the Sun article which claims Tony Watt and Dylan McGeouch could be sent out on loan, Watt , according to legend, made an arse of himself at the player of the year do, fell out with Lennon and was told to find a new club.

This loan move is a compromise, giving him a chance to redeem himself. Well, its in the Sun, so it must be true. Not the bit about him falling out with Lennon. That was on a forum, so it might actually have more credibility than the Sun..

Its only a couple of days until the Cliftonville game, and only a couple of days since Mikael Lustig got married,

so thats another groin strain in time for Wednesday.

Congratulations to the big fellow anyway.

Then you have Murdo MacLoed warning of off field distractions in Belfast, after the loyalist fun weekend of the last couple of days. Well, its as told to Hugh Keevins so some of it may have got lost in translation.

What MacLoed, and others failed to note, is that apart from Poles, Palestinians, the virgin Mary and catholics, things got really out of hand as a new enemy was declared by the “peepil”

Citizens of the Ivory Coast are not sure why the Orangemen decided to burn their flag, but they did.

I found a delightful way to spend the twelfth, ignoring , in the words of Frankie Boyle the baton twirlers of religious hatred, by grabbing a few of these little fellows.walking them up and down the couch, before eating them. Just the orange ones mind.

Actually, that wee fellow looks like he’s had too much to drink.

Still, the police were out in force over the weekend, as television pictures show. In fact, they had a whole new unit to deal with any troublemakers.

Should take our mind off the impending disaster on Wednesday for a while.

We shouldn’t be too concerned, the press were always going to try to manufacture some sort of pre match crisis. Of course, we have helped them a wee bit. I’m still not entirely convinced we haven’t made an arse of this transfer window, and theres a horrible feeling that every summer could be the same.

Thats the trouble with being a selling club. Other clubs buy your players.

Javier Saviola has appeared on the radar, where he will compete with Charlie Austin and Kevin Doyle for a place in the new look Celtic team. The former Barca man is only 31, and available for nothing. He’s on record as having a point to prove, and might just be the signing to lift the fans morale. ( alright, just mine )

Compare and contrast the media for a moment.

New club Sevco lifted their first trophy of the season, beating English side Bristol City 1-0 and lifting the Blackthorn Cup, no doubt meaning there will be six stars ironed on to their new jerseys.

Manager Ally McCoist was delighted, as he feels his players are fitter than last year, and gelling together well. He should also be delighted with the report that his supporters, mostly hoovered up from dead club Rangers, sang songs that “mercifully wouldn’t have been recognised by the home support. ” ( Think that was the Record, but I already went on their website by mistake, and am loath to give them two hits in the same calender year. )

The press do seem to have ignored their misdemeanours a wee bit-look at this t-shirt and imagine a similar self righteous shirt on a Celtic fan in the close proximity of Neil Lennon. Then imagine the headlines;

we are the prods

Diplomatically, Willie Vass, the official photographer describes the fan as ” gatecrashing ” Aye , okay.

Perhaps it is the heat.

Know what-I’m going to write to Celtic  and ask them if they will spare six players to carry my coffin when I depart this mortal life. That way, they can let me down one more time.

Richard Steadman was talking about John Kennedy when he spoke of the bravest sportsman. Now, cast your minds back… who said this , way back at the beginning of the twentieth century?

“Parkheid is no place for a footballer looking for a job. ”