For the sake of clarity, can i just stress that Walter Smith is not, has never been and is never going to be the manager of Celtic. There appears to be some confusion as the result of Wednesdays game in Barcelona is absorbed by the footballing world.

Thats the tenth time we’ve played Barcelona in recent years, and any side-even Real Madrid-who comes up against them that frequently is going to take a pounding sooner or later. Especially if they have nothing to play for. Which doesn’t make me feel any better, but its a fact.

The result has highlighted the differing ambitions of the current board at the club and those who support Celtic. It seems that the present stewards want to hold onto as much money as they possibly can, under the pretension of avoiding bankrupcy, whilst the fans are starting to get restless about the lack of ambition on the field.

( A matter that was discussed intelligently and absorbingly  on last nights soon to be available podcast with Jeannette Findlay and the three bamigos. )

As a result, looking at how things stand with the January transfer window ahead, Celtic are in exactly the same position as we were this time last year.

We still could lose our top players, this time its Ledley, Forster and Samaras, whilst we still need a creative player, a striker and possibly cover at left and centre back.

Frankly, it looks like that is always going to be the case, and it means that although the bank manager will always answer your calls, sooner or later the support will lose interest. After all, if the club refuses to invest, why should we ?

Peter Lawwell, who is quickly becoming as popular as his role model Desmond White, is starting to behave like an obsessive control freak, handing out suspensions to supporters and telling us what we can sing and what banners we can display.

Distastefully, he has portrayed the Green Brigade as some sort of  nineties hooligan gang, highlighting the bother at Fir Park as entirely their fault, though cleverly without actually naming them, and yet ignoring events such as this;

Celtic make a big marketing play for hearts and minds with their charity fund, yet it is supporters, such as the Green Brigade who put in the real effort.  (As Hector Bandido rightfully pointed out on the podcast last night) With the occasional gift to a charity being made for the sake of appearances, Lawwell and co are pretending to be all heart, when in reality they don’t care for our traditions or heritage.

Maybe they need to wake up, because if they don’t, I can think of a few thousand people who will give them a short sharp reminder of their duties.

The lack of ambition on the park was reflected by Kris Commons, who sounded as depressed as the rest of us yesterday;

“These guys are World Cup and Champions League winners. When they see a dying lion, they take advantage.

“It’s not good enough, is it? It’s disappointing. Everything you need to do to try to win a game like that – or stop them winning – we didn’t do.

“We are never going to spend £45million on players, but in these games you
need players to give the fundamentals.

“You need to work hard, track runners and make it hard for them to beat you.

“We were playing for pride. When they made it 3-0 before half-time there were a lot of lost souls out there. A lot of players hadn’t had a lot of game-time. Others were coming back from injury.

“We know Barcelona are an outstanding team, but I don’t think we made it as hard for them as we did last year.

“In three previous games against Barcelona, we had lost two by one goal, and won one by one goal.

“They knew they would be in for a tough game but we didn’t make it as difficult.

“It’s hard to assess it and say we are on a downwards spiral, because in the last two games we have been outstanding.”

But there is some good news, Hugh Keevins, he who once said that Celtic had squandered money on one of Dr. jos pals when Lubomir Moravcik joined the club, has this to say of one of our players;

” Teemu Pukki? Will never be a prolific goalscorer in this lifetime or the next. ”

If ever the Finn needs a confidence boost its now, so just show him the article and tell him of the old fools track record.

He’ll get four against Hibernian tomorrow.

Friday is rumours day, and the exit door could be spinning at Celtic Park with Samaras wanted by Hull, Forster now unsure if he’s staying at Celtic and ….James Forrest heading out of dodge to seek a treatment table elsewhere.

With his off the field problems starting to affect him, Forrest could be sent out on loan to get away from it all, proving how easy it is to make up a load of shite when you put your mind to it.

Speaking of that particular waste material, its always good when you’re feeling down to have a hearty chuckle at those less fortunate than yourself. I’ve just spent a good half hour with tears rolling down my face as the wee fat old man from down the road jogged past my window in his full lycra gear.

Which brings me to the latest round in the battle for the hearts and minds of shareholders in Scottish footballs comedy outfit Second Rangers.

Theres a new kid on the block, and he means business; ( The words in brackets are mine )

Battle for Rangers: Fan behind The Sons of Struth movement lifts lid on group’s bid to cleanse the Ibrox boardroom

( Movement ? Lifting lid ? Boardroom or bathroom ? )

( Note the clever use of photography to make him appear tall. Or is it ?. He was a window cleaner, so maybe he evolved in such a way that he didn’t need his ladder. )

HE’S the sole trader who owns his own cleaning business.

And now Rangers renegade Craig Houston wants to cleanse the Ibrox boardroom for good.

( Fair enough. But they probably won’t pay him when he’s finished. )

Until now he’s been the faceless crusader who has somehow managed to galvanise and unify the Gers support like no other time in their history.

Almost single-handedly this ordinary punter from Linwood instigated The Sons of Struth movement and Houston was behind Saturday’s defiant red-card message aimed at the Ibrox hierarchy.

( I figured if I put it in twice it would look like there were more of them. )

But who is he? And what is his end game? Those are the questions being aimed at the 40-year-old who insists he couldn’t live with the guilt if the club endured another financial meltdown.

( Relax. It will be their first one. )

So for the first time he’s spoken out about how The Sons of Struth were formed and why he feels it’s imperative the incumbents of the Rangers board are removed at the agm on December 19.

He also revealed how Ibrox directors have completely ignored the fans’ group’s pleas for dialogue and says they’re ready to carry the fight to London where the club’s institutional investors are based.

Houston has been a season ticket- holder at Ibrox for 32 years, just like his father and grandfather before him.

He’s not affiliated with either the Rangers Supporters Trust, Assembly or Association – and has no desire to turn the SoS into a formal organisation.

For years the average Light Blues punter who turns up every Saturday to watch their team hasn’t had a voice.

( Its a sort of grunt )

Until now. And that’s exactly why Houston got involved in the first place.

He also spoke honestly amid suggestions reformed football hooligan Sandy Chugg is heavily involved with the Sons of Struth campaign.

Houston said: “I thought, ‘If anything bad should happen to the club again we have to do something’. I couldn’t have handled the guilt second time around.

“What we were trying to do was expose the truth at Ibrox.

“Bill Struth is a legendary figure at the club, with loads of positive connotations, so we arrived at The Sons of Struth.

“We put a page together on Facebook and it has grown arms and legs since then. We’re not a body or an organisation. We don’t have ‘members’ and we aren’t run by committee.

“We’re just a group of guys who are worried about our club. At the moment social media is our only way of communicating with people so Facebook and Twitter have been crucial.

“Between them we have around 10,000 people following us. But we know the vast majority of punters who go to Ibrox aren’t in the Rangers online community.

( most of them shouldn’t be allowed in any community )

“The leaflets spread our word better. People who I’ve sat with for 32 years in the main stand are now asking me questions. ”

( Presumably they were holding the leaflet and asking for help with the bigger words. )

“These are guys in their 50s who aren’t on internet forums. So that has to be a good thing. And I think the show of unity at the red-card display on Saturday proves the vast majority of supporters are with us now. ”

( I think someone should explain a couple of words to him. ” Vast ” , for example. And “majority ”  )

“There have been accusations about Sandy and his involvement with us but it’s simple. I’ve known him for five years through coaching in youth football.

“He’s a big Rangers fan and, like the rest of us, he just wants the best for the club.

“Everyone knows he has a colourful past but those days are behind him.

( well, they do now. )

“He’s a reformed character and was a huge help to The Sons of Struth in the beginning.

“However, he accepts that for us to prosper and gain positive coverage it’s better he takes more of a back seat.”

( Someone with a colourful past involved ? They’ll make him chairman. He’s qualified. )

For years now the Rangers fans have been labelled as fractious. But Houston is adamant that’s no longer the case – and insists the ordinary supporter in the street now has a voice.

( Just not a particularly coherent one )

With three simple aims, The SoS have outlined what they believe has to happen to
safeguard the club’s future. And that means ousting the current board through a democratic vote at the agm where the likes of Paul Murray, Malcolm Murray, Scott Murdoch and Alex Wilson hope to be appointed directors.

Houston said: “The majority of fans at our meetings are, like me, unaffiliated fans. So that told me the Rangers fans really didn’t have a voice.

“All the guys you see with banners now aren’t a member of any fans’ group. They are just ordinary supporters who until now haven’t been able to have their say. That’s why we’ve attracted so many people.

“The Sons of Struth have three main aims.

“The first is to keep the stadium in the club’s name, which we believe is vitally important to the financial stability of Rangers.

“The second is to have a clear and clean set of accounts.

“And the last aim is to have a board to be proud of. ”

( and then world peace, a cure for cancer and to put a man on Mars by 2020. )

“For too many years now we’ve had more stories on the front pages than on the back. And that has to change – we want to talk about football now.

“We believe the Jim McColl and Paul Murray movement has many positives. But when it comes to appointing directors it should be the same as when Ally McCoist is looking for new players.

“If there is a better right-back alternative to the one we already have we should look at it. It’s the same with the board members.

“Are they better than the existing lot? Like them or loath them, I believe the four nominees are, yes. They won’t be there forever but those potential custodians are a better option to what we have at the moment. I challenge any Rangers supporter to prove me wrong.”

( No, people don’t tend to hang around there forever. )

Houston believes it’s shameful the club’s board has refused pointblank to engage with any fans’ group ahead of the agm.

But having united the RST, Assembly and Association, along with other groups, the SoS spokesman has vowed to lobby the club’s investors – even if it means heading to England – to ensure they appreciate the strength of feeling among fans.

Houston said: “I have been contacting Rangers FC for some dialogue with the board. I had an instant reply saying they would look into it.

“That was months ago and I haven’t heard anything since.

“I’ve had meetings with all of the fans’ groups and we’ll be working together moving forward. We’ve managed to bring everyone together with the one aim. That unity will be key to what we’re trying to achieve.

“It’s not a popularity contest. We need help and don’t want people behind us. We want them shoulder to shoulder with us.

“The directors know what our message is. But they won’t budge no matter how many banners I hold up in the main stand.

“Our target audience between now and December 19 is the Rangers shareholders. We will do everything in our power to let them know what we believe.

“We need to petition these people before the agm and if that means going outwith Glasgow, so be it. Most of the major investors in Rangers now are based around Canary Wharf.

“And if we need to take the battle down to London we’re willing to mobilise.”

( But not if its raining )

Ah, it brings back memories of Craig Whyte and Charles Green, who were created for our old rivals by the Lord himself, because  hopes and dreams don’t crush themselves.

Well, that made me feel better. He’s just one of a new set of chancers out to save the new club before it goes belly up.

And if that didn’t have you giggling, try this. Its from a chap called the Gallus Pioneer, and its proof that Celtic are a new club , and that disaster is imminent for us as well.

celtic newco-the proof

I didn’t want to comment on that one, because I really don’t know where to start.

Jimmy Johnstone made his debut back in 63 as Celtic crashed to Kilmarnock 6-0. So it wasn’t all that bad after all.

Speaking of bad debuts, where does this item of clothing fit in Celtics history ?

( Thats not the actual one, but it would have been a great marketing idea  if it was. Up there with signing Stephen Ireland and giving him the number 32 shirt.)