Celtic Diary Monday September 23

Neil Lennon nipped over to the Netherlands after the St. Johnstone game to watch Champions League opponents Ajax suffer a second 4-0 defeat in just a few days. This time it was PSV Eindhoven who hammered the Amsterdam side, and that defeat leaves Ajax in seventh place in the league.

So, theres hope yet.

Milan also lost , 2-1 at leaders Napoli, and Barcelona lost their 317 game run of dominating possession after Rayo Vallecano had more than 50% of the ball in their game. They still lost to the Catalans, so I don’t quite see why it matters, but any flames  of hope have  to be fanned, because looking at Celtic on Saturday, we need all the help we can get for the remaining European games.

Some commentators -and even to an extent, Lennon himself, blamed fatigue, and there might be something in that.

September isn’t even done yet, and already Celtic have seven European games under their belt, as well as six league games ,  a friendly or two and internationals.

So it was a good idea to give players time off towards the end of last season after all.

With the weekends results now all in, Inverness are still at the top, by one goal, from Celtic, and then theres three points until we see Aberdeen and Motherwell, who missed a chance to stay in touch with a 2-2 draw at Dundee Utd yesterday.

Celtic have their first game in the League Cup tomorrow night, when Greenock morton come to visit, and Neil Lennon is determined to add this trophy to his cv, as they say.

“This is the one domestic trophy I have not won during my tenure here as manager. And it’s one I would like to win.

“Morton will come here and enjoy the night out and have a go. We have to make sure there is no upset and keep the momentum going because there is a bit building here.”

Lennon continued: “I would like to make changes for this game, but you can’t go overboard with it.

“I want to get through to the next round, so we have to find a balance.

“Some players need to play and some are still getting to grips with the British game.

“But, to say we have a massive squad to cope with everything, that is rubbish. ”

“We are well aware that a slip-up in any of the rounds and you can be out of it,” said Lennon.

“I am just concerned, more than anything, about injuries building up. Which is why there has to be a balance there.

“Joe Ledley picked up a groin injury last weekend, and he is going to be another week or two.

“We are hoping that Mikael Lustig will be all right for tomorrow, but we don’t think Adam Matthews will make it for this game.

“He felt his hamstring getting tight on Saturday, and also got a kick on an ankle.

“James Forrest has a virus. He will be in today, but obviously he will not train, and I don’t now when he will be able to rejoin us.

“So, I have just got to use my squad as best I can.”

Lennon is a competitor, and wants to win everything. There is , in that quote, however, a little rant, tucked away, that seems to hint that he was not happy with the transfer window.

When he said that the squad is not big enough to cope with everything, he may have been taking a bit of a swipe at the board, who he has already criticised for their lack of help.

Lennon is concerned more about injuries than anything else, and there have been a few already this term. Perhaps playing people only when they are 100% fit might help…

He’s doing something to help his own fitness, On Sunday, October 6 he’s out to raise money for charity in the  10k Great Scottish Run. 10k is the distance, apparently, not the entrance fee, and why they don’t just call it 10,000 metres like it actually is, escapes me. Especially as it would be easier to try to get a pound a metre from sponsors… before settling for a penny.

The Celtic manager is running for Celtic Charity and, in turn, raising money for the St Margaret of Scotland Hospice, Clydebank and Cystic Fibrosis Ireland, who will use the funds to help build a specialized cystic fibrosis clinic on the grounds of Mayo General Hospital.

The official club site has a link if you want to donate.

Tony Watt, nicknamed “one ” by his teammates at Celtic, ( something to do with his IQ ) is on loan at Lierse ( named after the Scottish MSM ? -oh no, thats Liars )  and he came made his debut from the bench and scored within two minutes of his arrival.

If he goes on loan again, I’ll be at the bookies within an hour.

Watt said;

“It’s always good to get a goal on your first start. The same thing happened to me at Celtic.

“Hopefully I made a good impression and have a chance of starting next week.”

Thankfully, no-one asked him to pronounce the name of the side he scored against, and thankfully I only have to write it:

Kortrikj. Which fairly trips off the tongue.

Strangely, the Sun has the Belgian gaffer slating Watt for being lazy and unfit, though why they have made a loan player the subject of a big splash is unclear. If he wasn’t “lazy and unfit ” he’d still be at Celtic.

Theres some nonsense in the papers just lately. Over at the countries newest club, they are on a bit of a roll, and some might even accuse them of getting a wee bit ahead of themselves. Nicky Law, who stepped down from last years runners up Motherwell to join the ” Ibrox Revolution ” ( presumably that means they are all revolting down there, which I guess helps them perpetuate the myth of being the same club ) has been teling everyone what a good side they have over there.

“We have four, five or six internationals. The manager feels he has a squad just now of 21 and if he can add one more then he has a real competitive group.

“Whereas at Fir Park I think we had 12 or 13 players Stuart McCall could choose from.

“I don’t think Rangers would have any problem doing well in the top flight. We feel we could compete against any of them in a one-off occasion.”

“We are certainly not as good as Celtic at the minute.

“They are strong and you could see that with their performance in Milan.

“However, if there is to be a one-off match then we could certainly give them a good game.

“We’re not speaking about the Old Firm game just now. But we’d all be excited about it if it were to happen. It’s one of the reasons I signed.”

Yes, they would. After all, all the wee clubs love a day out at a big club.

Almost, just almost, you want to play this new club. Just to put them in their place.

But, I think we will leave them where they are, yapping like the neighbourhood dog, but not really threatening anyone.

His manager, Ally Mccoist has been talking as well. The rookie boss is not happy with his team, and thinks more money needs to be spent.

“We’d handle the Premier League okay – but we will be expected to go in there and compete.

“There is a lot of work to be done between now and then.

“We’ve signed guys who have handled the top league fine but they haven’t been anywhere near winning it. It’s a massive jump.

“They are now learning what it means to play for Rangers. So by the time we get to the top league they’ll be in the mindset of ‘We need to keep winning matches’.

“I watched all the midweek games and it confirms what I’ve always thought. We’ve MILES to go.

“And we will have to buy players sooner rather than later.

“I have a team of mostly free transfers. At some point we will need to buy to get back to the place we believe we should be.”

The place they should be….

Well, it won’t be long now. allegations of financial irregularities , infighting in the office and a support who surely can’t be stupid enough to re-invest means that the end is in sight. Alex Thomson of channel 4 tweeted that more trouble is on the way…

And still Mccoist says ” we will have to buy players sooner rather than later ”

This could yet happen, as recent additions to the board claim to have a bit of money behind them.

Meanwhile, one of their fans, the hilarious Andy Cameron, made headlines this weekend;

CAMERON annoyed Forfar bosses after he labelled the Angus team’s stadium as “poxy with no dugouts” following Rangers’ 1-0 win at Station Park.
COMEDIAN Andy Cameron has been banned by ­football minnows Forfar Athletic for criticising their ­artificial pitch.

Rangers fan Cameron, who starred in Take The High Road, was at Station Park yesterday to watch his side’s 1-0 win.

But tempers flared when Cameron ­criticised the in Angus team’s “poxy” stadium in the boardroom after the match.

Forfar chairman Alistair Donald vented his fury after the funnyman tore into his side’s artificial playing surface and seating.

Donald then tweeted: “Apparently our ground is poxy with no dugouts.”

He went on to describe Cameron as a “non-descript wee comedian full of opinion that is irrelevant”.

When asked if Cameron was banned, he said: “Yes”.

Earlier, in the boardroom, guests heard Donald ­countered Cameron’s blast by dismissing the 73-year-old, who wrote and sang Ally’s Tartan Army, as “a poor comedian”.

The bust-up concluded with the chairman insisting that Cameron was not welcome in the future.

The comedian sought to play down the row last night.

He said: “I’ve got nothing against the pitch. I didn’t think Rangers played ­particularly well but that was our problem.

“I was in the boardroom with a cup of tea. I even got a piece of clootie dumpling to take home from one of the ladies. I didn’t slag off anything.”

But a Forfar source said: “The chairman is adamant. Cameron won’t be welcome back.”

Andy Cameron. I thought we had all the cool fans.

I remember that time Billy Connolly tried to help  him, by telling him to get a proper job.

Cameron not being asked back ? Sort of a summary of his professional career in comedy.

Chris Morris was the comedian pictured in yesterdays diary, which led us to the footballer of the same name.

How about this one ?