Celtic Diary Sunday November 10

Supporters have been saying it for a while, and Neil Lennon finally admitted yesterday that his side have become a little predictable. The change in the approach to the Ross County game was needed because;

I felt we were getting a bit stale. I was worried teams were starting to settle on the way we played.

“That’s why we decided to go with a diamond in midfield. We also had extra pace up front by going with Teemu Pukki and James Forrest.

“It worked well. We hadn’t worked on this in training but the players are flexible. Guys such as Scott Brown and Ledley can play in different systems. That’s what the squad is for.

“I had no qualms about changing it as I felt I had to.”

“I’m delighted we won and the team played well. I was pleased with Biton and Pukki.

“Emilio Izaguirre was also fantastic and van Dijk is a special player.

“There was a freshness to us. When you make five changes there is a worry in terms of how the team will play but we got into the game and the new boys are really blending in.”

Scott Brown picked up a needless booking after he smiled at County s Mihael Kovacevic, which was the end of a niggly battle that proved how mature he is.

Kovacevic was substituted fairly soon after, but again, not really Celtic captain behaviour from the man who has let his side down badly already this season.

Wonder where he gets it from ?

Now its time for more internationals, and Fraser Forster should get his big chance for England , probably against Chile, who incidentally are the form team in South America at the moment. Good luck to him, and lets hope that England do well.

Its nice to see them get their hopes up before a tournament. And when they get knocked out on penalties again, it won’t be his fault.

Hopes were high when reading Gordon Waddells effort in the Mail today. he starts by pointing the finger at Peter Lawwell for not replacing Hooper, Wanyama and Wilson. Well, you could argue that Wilson has been more than replaced, but there is no ready made replacement for the other two.

”   Hooper was a striker who had grown into a genuinely effective European weapon.

Punting him and not replacing him with another finished article was the ultimate in “happy to get to the groups” declarations.

They found out bringing in like for like was going to force them to break the bank – and they balked.

They spent £4million on Teemu Pukki and Amido Balde on a combined wage they felt was affordable, rather than £5m on Alfie Finnbogason from Heerenveen on the wage they had offered Hooper to stay.

What’s the REAL cost of that, though?

How hard must it be for Lennon to see the guy he sold not kicking his own erchie at Norwich, and the guy who was his No.1 pick to replace him still pulling up trees with 11 goals in 10 Eredivisie games – including, ironically enough, a double against Ajax, without wondering ‘What if…’? ”

Good points, well made. But then he returns to type;

On Celtic supporters talking about the bother in Amsterdam, he proclaimed;

” They’ve spent five years mocking Rangers fans for claiming Chelsea interlopers were entirely responsible for turning Manchester into Beirut in 2008.

Yet apparently there wasn’t a single Celtic supporter at fault in the battle of Dam Square in midweek.

Heavy-handed policing, Ajax fans, Croatia Zagreb fans, St Pauli ultras – you name them, they were the guilty parties. But here’s the thing I don’t get. If you’re even halfway sane, and your radar tells you trouble is brewing, what’s the first thing you do?

You look behind you and figure out how to get as far away from it as quickly as you can, right? ”

Tricky when a couple of coppers are holding you , and another couple are booting yer baws, but please go on, Gordon;

” I wasn’t there. I don’t know who kicked off what, ”

Ah, that explains the comments then. so he must have asked someone who was;

” I’ve only seem the same footage everyone else has. And I’m sure the majority of the support who travelled were a credit. ”

Oh. so you have used the MSMs time honoured method of  commenting on something you have no first or even second hand knowledge of.

And there was me thinking that Waddell had done a column worth reading.

Every days a schoolday.

Speaking of Amsterdam, I spoke to a fellow CSC member who went with the official party.

There were a couple of things he mentioned that , whilst not giving the complete picture, as no one source could, but gave me food for thought.

The coaches dropped the fans at the Arena, leaving them, early morning, to make their own way into town and back again. Usually, in the past, the coaches will pick the fans up pre match from town, and take them to the game.

There was a huge uniformed police presence, which would have been a deterrent to any potential trouble makers. They were, in his words, “everywhere you turned your head. ”

The atmosphere was fine in the square, but he noted a change after it went dark, and supporters began to make their way to the ground, via the Metro or taxi.

Now, he didn’t see any trouble, but it did take place, obviously.

A club, Ajax, which has a reputation for its fans attacking visiting supporters, and they had already attacked Celtic fans the night before, and a visiting support of around 12,000, when only 2,500 tickets were available, always had the potential for bother.

The Mayor, perhaps panicking, ordered the police to clear the main square, and did so with a little more enthusiasm than was required. Undercover police joined in, and because they were not recognisable as the law, were attacked in self defence by Celtic fans.

Nothing so far, given the lead up to the trouble, is a surprise. In fact, its more of a surprise that the incidents were largely minor.

Waddell , vaguely, to be fair, hints at a comparison with the events in Manchester in 2008, but seriously, there is no comparison at all.

Mentioning the now defunct Rangers leads us to the current cheaper version, and Hugh Keevins is glad that the new club have avoided Celtic in the cup.

Whilst he is careful to single out any club to start with, he then asks;

” And would it be such a bad thing if we were, in the wake of what went on in Amsterdam on Wednesday night, spared the pair of them confronting each other in the toxic aftermath of crowd disorder ? ”

Is he expecting Police Scotland to do a deal with their Dutch counterparts and bring in some Amsterdam undercovers ?

Er, no. He’s worried about the fans behaviour;

” What I also know is our capacity for self delusion regarding misbehaviour is only outweighed by our reluctance to accept the reality of the situation involving our own people. ”

( From one whose own capacity for self delusion is nothing less than phenomenal. )

If travelling by train to Dingwall for yesterday’s match between Ross County and Celtic had been my only option I wouldn’t have gone. ”

Eh ? He could have a point, despite the list of journalists being attacked on trains by Celtic fans being shorter than his own ” interesting and thoughtful articles ” list, he genuinely sounds worried;

” If public transport to Falkirk for Rangers’ cup tie there was my only alternative I’d take the day off then as well.

The risk factor is too great when you’re exposed to the anti-social element contained within both sets of fans, one of whom is now demanding that Celtic be punished, as they were, for laying waste to other people’s cities. ”

Er, what punishment did Old Rangers receive for Manchester ? Some of their fans were on Crimewatch, and there were some arrests, but as far as I remember,  UEFA did nothing.

Poor old Hugh. He’s sixty five soon, and perhaps thats the reason he won’t go on trains yet. He’s not got his railcard through. And theres no-one to put him on the train at one end, and no-one to meet him when he gets there.

He actually started his article fairly promisingly, claiming he didn’t want to see the most and least successful of the Glasgow clubs play each other, and yet if only he and his fellow hacks had done their job properly, then that  situation would have been avoided for ever. He still won’t admit to the liquidation and cessation of the original club, and as a result, can only expect to reap what he has sown.

”  Separation on the field of play brought about by Rangers mis-managing their business affairs and falling into the lower divisions has caused the thermometer to rise where tension between them is concerned. ”

How many times does a lie have to be repeated before it is exposed as a lie ?

Today is Remembrance Sunday, a day when a quiet , dignified period of remembering who you want to remember is undertaken.

Its not a day for criticising how others do it, its not a day for criticising why others do it, or for rounding up your bill to donate in a supermarket.

Its a day for remembering.

Yesterdays quiz had no correct answers, which makes me wonder if perhaps the press did miss the possible link between repeated violence from ajax fans and the trouble in Amsterdam. Perhaps it wasn’t that obvious.

Today, whats the story behind this headline ?