Celtic Diary Thursday August 22

Charlie Mulgrew became the latest player to try to convince himself and us that the crowd will be the clinching factor in next Wednesdays ” Lets see if we can score against the Khazak diddies this time ” European clash.

“The crowd will get right behind us and we will really need to go for them. ”

Speaking yesterday as the players skulked back into Scotland, Charlie called for inspiration from the partisan Celtic Park crowd. Without ever considering that he and his well paid professional colleagues might consider doing a little bit themselves to inspire us. I’m still amazed that the players got a lift back from Khazakstan, they should have been told to make their own way, but would have probably all stood in a line at the border, with no-one daring to venture forward.

Its a two way thing. Supporters , whether they watch on tv, listen on the radio or interweb, or attend the games, plan their lives-and their finances-around these games. We need to be inspired too, and frankly, watching Celtic on Tuesday would have had me flicking through the channels if I hadn’t already flung the remote at the dog, who had walked in front of the telly, causing Fraser Forster to hesistate on his line.

Neil Lennon also had a few things to say to those of us who saw the spectre of Artmedia Bratislava appear in our living rooms;

“It was far, far better than Bratislava. We didn’t create anything that game in Bratislava, yet we missed simple chances in Kazakhstan. ”

“We scored four against Bratislava in the second leg at home remember and we’re capable of doing that this time as well. ”

Er, yes we did, and no we aren’t.

Aiden Mcgeadys missed open goal springs immediately to mind-I still have nightmares about that, but thankfully his agent left it off the video when flogging him to Moscow Spartak.

And four goals, in one game ? With quite possibly the most ineffective front line since General Haigs repeated attempts to walk slowly towards the Germans ?

Its not new players we need, its new thinking.

Yesterdays diary prompted quite a few replies, which were all interesting and thought provoking, unlike the article that was at the top of the page, and most people were saying the same thing.

The players aren’t very good, and the manager needs to have a look at himself as well.

Perhaps it would be a good thing for this team to spend a season in the Europa League, to learn how to play together and so on. But that was what last season was supposed to be all about, and frankly, if this policy of selling any player who attracts the slightest interest continues, then we will forever be moving backwards.

The success on the park is what matters. No-one wants to end up like that club from Ibrox, but they brought their demise on themselves, so forget about telling ourselves how well Lawwell is doing keeping the club afloat.

Theres a great article which makes you think on the Etims Facebook page, by James Forrest, who questions Lawwells performance. Well worth a look.

everything is broken .

He also did a follow up, as the original prompted great debate;

good for the soul

The transfer window will remain open for a couple of weeks yet, but its starting to look like we are going to go with what we have. Teemu Pukki played as a substitute for Schalke last night, which effectively means he won’t play for us in that tournament, thus removing the reason for signing him.

John Park has reportedly decided that Alfred Finnbogasson is not worth £5m , despite scoring by the bucket load for whoever he plays for, and now attention has turned to Innocent Emeghera, the Swiss international who has scored 7 in 17 Serie A games.

I’m starting to think that Celtic don’t actually want to spend any money on quality, prefering instead to rummage around at metaphorical car boot sales, looking for that rare Elvis album that can be dusted off and sold to someone who can’t be arsed looking for it themselves, but has plenty of spare cash lying around .

Still, at least it gives the press something to harp on about. Stewart Fisher in the Herald takes a different angle, though, reminding us that the children will suffer;

” Qualify against the Kazakh champions and the under-19 players at Lennoxtown will benefit from an exclusive invitation to the inaugural running of the UEFA Youth League. Fail to do so, and with last week’s news that the NextGen Series is to be suspended for at least a year, the most exacting challenge the club’s youngsters will face is 12 months of humdrum Under-20 league and SFA Youth Cup matches, with perhaps the odd development friendly with a Barclays Premier League side thrown in. ”

Cheers for that. Constructive and inspiring.

Still, no matter how bad things feel for us Tims, its important to laugh at those worse off than ourselves.

Having ignored the comedy tribute to First Rangers now performing weekly at a little town near you, its time for a quick recap on the latest events down in darkest Govan.

Charles Green has “severed his ties ” with the club, having decided to step down after he was accused of putting unfair pressure on rookie boss Ally Mccoist, when the Yorkshireman pointed out that it was about time that McCoist started to justify his salary. By actually winning something against teams that play football , like Second Rangers, as their main job.

Green has promised to sell the rest of his shares to the Easdales, which is no surprise.

This from Companies house today;

” Charles Green holds 0 current appointment, has resigned from 30 companies and held appointments at 9 dissolved companies. Charles is not registered as holding any current appointments.

The combined cash at bank value for all of Charles’s current businesses is £0, with a combined assets value of £0 and liabilities of £0. Roles associated with Charles Green within the recorded businesses include: Director, Company Secretary ”

Which I thought was odd.

Perhaps someone who knows about these things could enlighten me.  I thought he had a number of posts at Ibrox…

Then there is the Ian Black fiasco. The media is full of people offering to help those with a gambling addiction, its full of those asking for the rules to be clarified.

Actually, they are quite clear for players…

” Disciplinary Rule 22 (Rule 33 in updated Judicial Panel Protocol for season 2013/14):

No club, official, Team Official or other member of Team Staff, player, match official or other person under the jurisdiction of the Scottish FA shall bet in any way on a football match (except authorised and registered football pools).”

Struggling see which bit needs clarified, unless Black is the stereotypical less than average intelligent footballer.

Ah, the answer is in the question..

Artur Boruc  ( Art, ben Hur, Bore ( Craig Brown) and itch ) was the answer yesterday, as if anyone cares. Today, work this one out from yesteryear.

You might find a knowledge of the Persian Achaemenid Empire useful, as well as a liking for childish American humour. Which to be fair, would make you an extremely disturbed individual.