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Celtic Diary Tuesday September 24

Celtic released the financial results for the year ending 30 June 2013 yesterday, allowing Etims to have two articles starting with exactly the same sentence in the same day.

As expected, theres a few quid in the bank, and thats without the money from player sales made after the closing date, which means everyone in the boardroom is happy, and now is the time for them to submit their expenses claims.

Whilst that sort of thing is of little interest to most of us, it gives us a chance to see where our money goes, and also reminds us of the day to day costs which sometimes we are not aware of.

And its nice that the club is transparent on matters fiscal.

Over at Ibrox, charles Green made good on his promise to compare balance sheets, and, in the interests of clarity, he sent us this summary of their balance sheet.

The upshot is, based on Celtics  figures, whatever entity of Greens  club survives ( if any ) the current onslaught from the financial rapists, it will be a long, long time before they can mount a serious challenge to Scotlands champions.

 

Back to the on field action, and Celtic host Morton in a west of Scotland derby tonight, and Neil Lennon is looking forward to adding the elusive League Cup to his honours list. He took time to dismiss reports linking him with the now vacant Sunderland job, after Paolo di Canio became the first fascist leader not to commit suicide in a bunker or  be hung upside down after losing the support of his people.

Lennon told Sky Sports, and anyone else who cared to listen;

“I’m not aware of me being linked with anything. You are asking the wrong person.

“Maybe you should ask the people linking me with the jobs. I’m not aware of who they are. I’m very, very happy doing what I’m doing at the minute.”

Ally McCoist, Scotlands brightest young manager, ruled himself out of the running, and rumours from our own Rui Milla concerning  a dream team of  Walter Smith, Alex MacLeish and John Greig appear to be wide of the mark.

Very wide of the mark.

Peter Lawwell also played down the  links with Sunderland, and almost praised the manager;

“It would take something special to lure him away.

“This is a special club. It’s a special job. If I was advising him as a friend it’d have to be something different.

“If he continues to do as he is then there will be approaches. It’s inevitable.”

Translated, that means Lennons not getting any more money, but its a great job he’s got, so he doesn’t need it anyway. If Lennon ever does move on, and he might when he’s secured the ten, then expect a low budget replacement who is currently unemployed and has  always been a Celtic fan etc, etc.

Whatever did we see in that fellow ?

Lawwell also took a moment to answer the press, who wanted to know about this huge debt with the Co-op bank that has been fluttering about on the interweb.

“We have a committed facility for another 16 years or something so we are comfortable with that,” he said. ” If anything happened, we would have a fall-back position. We are comfortable with our present banker and we are comfortable in a fall-back position if things change.”

But that didn’t pacify the hacks, who , as ever when they scent a whiff of a financial story in Scotland   ( Ed-have you got the right country ? ) moved in for the kill, and wanted more details on this supposed financial black hole…

“We have a long-term loan. That is our debt. We are not using the overdraft and we have enough money in the bank. Say that term loan is £20m – we have £23m in the bank so that gives you £3m [net cash at bank]. So we have more in the bank than our debt.” He said the club could pay off the loan “at any time”, adding: “We have no bank debt and money in the bank.”

Perhaps the MSM have learned from their mistakes in ignoring the er, financial irregularities that saw one of Scotlands biggest clubs beaten, raped and murdered , and are being over protective of the games remaining cash cow.

Or perhaps they are just a bunch of loyal lapdogs trying to drag Celtic into the mire that drowned their favourites.

Incidentally, the new Second Rangers club don’t have any overdrafts, bank loans or indeed any obligations to any bank.

Thats because none of the banks  are stupid enough to give them any..

Meanwhile, the supermarket giant Tesco has brough out its own brand tablet, which it has called the Hudl

This means that they can now cut back on security staff, as the people who usually nick anything thats not nailed down will now be boycotting the store.

 

Anyway, back to tonights game, and its just a little to early for new arrival Nicolas Mezquida, who has arrived on trial.

Nicolas Mezquida is currently training with Celtic. Picture: SNS

The 21-year-old is free to talk to other clubs after being released by Uruguayan side Centro Atlético Fénix, based in Montevideo. Mezquida began his career with Peñarol, and agreed a pre-contract with German cracks Schalke in 2008, only to change his mind and stay in the South American country.

He had brief loan spells in Norway, with Brann and Lillestrøm in 2011, but struggled to get game time in Scandinavia, and joined Atlético Fenix the following year, making 14 appearances and finding the net once.

The diminutive striker spent part of last season with Rampla Juniors, scoring once in six games.

He has been capped at under-15 – scoring 10 goals in 12 appearances – and under-17 level for the Uruguayan national side.

In other news, Celtic released their financial results to the year ending 30 June 2013, and sometimes you wonder if anyone at the club has actually read them.

The signing who has made an impact in his couple of appearances is Teemu Pukki, and he’s enjoying life at Celtic, and looking forward to tonights match, and also ahead to the Champions league match with Barcelona; ( Well, its all new for him )

“Of course I want to play in those games against Barca. To be in the first 11 would be like a dream so I have to work hard in the games and hope I can prove myself to the manager.

“It’s important to keep our concentration on this game and get the result. The League Cup is very important to us and we want to win it.

“There is still one week to the Barca game and we have one league fixture before that as well so we have to concentrate on the match that is in front of us.”

On his move to Celtic , the Finn said;

“I got the feeling the manager wanted me here. After that it is up to me how I play. I still need to work hard to keep playing.

“I enjoyed playing my first game at Celtic Park. It’s a nice stadium with a good atmosphere and I got my first goal there.

“It has been a great start for me and I hope I can keep it going. ”

The game tonight is not on the telly, and if you can get along, its a safe bet to say there are still tickets available.

In fact, given the current policy of inviting unkown players over for a trial, if you take your boots with you, you might even get the last ten minutes.

Bill Boland, who at 93, the clubs oldest living player, has passed away.

May he rest in peace. Thoughts and prayers are with the family.

He made four appearances back in the forties, scoring twice.

[Untitled]

 

He remained a life long fan, attending games even into the 2010s, and has a page on the Celtic Wiki for those who would like to know  more about him.

Yesterday, pictures of  the Roman Temple in the Catalan city of Vic, and a map highlighting the town of Davidson, in North Carolina, gave us Vic Davidson.

Today, we go a bit further back…

   

 

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George lazenby
10 years ago

Jimmyjet roarcar?

WidowTwankie
10 years ago

bond fight mgm sportscar

james mig roar car

PR
10 years ago

Jimmy McGrory

CarlJungleBhoy
10 years ago
Reply to  PR

So, Ralphina, (<sic?) -Did anybody other than Jimmy McGrory's maw call him James?

CarlJungleBhoy
10 years ago
Reply to  Ralph Malph

True. The “William” Maley song – DOH

CarlJungleBhoy
10 years ago

Erm, Any news about Celtic’s financial results?

jon littledick
10 years ago

German cracks Schalke? The only German cracks I saw were on the Hamburg Reeperbahn.
Picture Quiz Answer. Jimmy McGrory (Jimmy Mig-Roar-E) (E-type Jaguar, showing my age!)

jon littledick
10 years ago
Reply to  Ralph Malph

I knew it was just a crack!

CarlJungleBhoy
10 years ago

Ijet McJag – or whatever his name was – who scored 395 goals in 378 appearances for Celtic.

tub
10 years ago

James Mig Roar E
As in E-type

elcormaco
10 years ago

So the financials are out, and a couple of observations:

1) They are out, transparent and there for all to analyse, unlike some other “clubs” or companies or incubators or whatever
2) The situation is good, but precarious. If we dont make Champions league for a year or two we could be in some bother – team sold / broken up to cover costs and austerity players out on the park. If that scenario were to happen I hope Celtic fans would go easy on the “we deserve better” banners and understand why it has to be done, painful as it may be.

Another thing, none of the Pukki,VVD interviews since they’ve arrived have had any mention of 2nd Rangers. Last year MSM were trying to get “we miss Rangers” quotes at all times, or “I hope to get to play in Old Firm games one day”, despite Rangers being dead and a tribute team playing many divisions below Celtic. Have the media begun to realise they only look foolish when they ask, have they been warned off it? I notice 2nd Rangers players cant get enough of talking about challenging Celtic, but they have an agenda to push, and as Lawwell says, we have a stand alone strategy. Just thought it was a subtle but interesting change of focus in MSM

Pensionerbhoy
10 years ago
Reply to  Ralph Malph

Have you checked yours? I sent you a blog. I thought you might post it as it is shorter than my comments 🙂

H H

Prefontaine
10 years ago

James Plane Filmcar?

Tony B
10 years ago

Lion El Mess E!

Pensionerbhoy
10 years ago

Ralph

I simply could not go on after the Ibrox accounts. Absolutely brilliant, my friend (well! It’s accunts day :).

R.I.P. Bill Boland.

Quiz: It’s a headline: James Bond fires an Etype into the Lion’s den – check the bible for verification. The lion went on to play for Celtic along with eleven others from Lis. It scored a record amount of goals and often cleared the car park for dinner, too.

H H

Pensionerbhoy
10 years ago
Reply to  Pensionerbhoy

I missed out a bon somewhere after Lis – no not the f**ng German. Enough fascists in the diary for one day.

H H

boyceybhoy
10 years ago

Thanks lemon for making us a laughing stock..
A clueless mgr with the best job in the world

boyceybhoy
10 years ago

Well done Lemon, why play an untried formation, u slaughter players for not showing respect tae other teams, ur the worst offender after that debacle.. HANG UR GINGER MOP IN SHAME

Charlie Saiz
10 years ago

4 at the back against a Morton side playing with a lone striker?
Unbelievable tactics from Lennon.
Secondly playing a lone striker at Celtic Park against cannon fodder for 45 minutes?
Again beyond comprehension.
Lastly to send a CB up the park because you have had 27 corners and no joy on any of them whilst leaving a 6’3″ Stiker on the bench who was bought for exactly that type of situation?
Beyond a fookin joke.
As for our wonderful bank balance:
There is a Co-op debt and it is secured against our Assets.
We sold a Poacher (the most prolific striker we have had since Larsson) to Norwich for £5m and replaced him with Shalkes 4th choice striker at less than half the price.
One failed to find the net against Morton even though we were bombarding their goal for nigh on an hour…the other scored twice to send his new club into the next round of the League Cup.
Stokes is not a 25 goal a season Striker he’s a very good support striker we should have signed Finnbogason and our other Natural finisher should not be out in Belgium being publicly humiliated by some No Mark Club diddy.
I believe an unfit ,attitude problem ridden Watt would have battered that lot last night.
As would Hooper and Finnbogason.
Our Club may have taken a step forward off the pitch in regards Balance Sheets
But we have taken two steps back regarding team sheets.
Pathetic.
ps.Well done Morton and good luck.

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