Celtic Diary Friday August 22: New Training Ground Revealed

Er, thats not it. Do you want to spoil Lawwells weekend ?

But he is taking it seriously, and there are some of his suggestions a little later…..

With Ronny Deila admitting he’s in the market for “two or three ” players, and a striker presumably the priority, its that time of the year when all kinds of names are thrown into the air by sources who can then hopefully claim they were right all along.

At Etims we pride ourselves on getting absolutely nothing right whatsoever, and that puts us on a par with, well, nearly everyone else.

Salomon Kalou, once of Chelsea, now with Lille, is the latest name to be thrown into the ring. The French side , though, promptly threw his name back out again by announcing that they want around £5m for him, which has caused havoc in the Celtic boardroom.

Deila has admitted to an interest in unsettleable Serbian forward Stefan Scepovic , and he said;

“We are looking for a bigger striker and he is one of the options.

“We are looking for a striker who is good with the crosses – a targetman. “While we have good strikers, they are similar. We need different players.”

Deila also confirmed Cardiff midfielder Kim Bo-kyung is on his radar.

That’s a guy [Kim] we have been talking about but we haven’t done anything concrete,” he is quoted as saying by Sky Sports News.

“It’s not about numbers, it’s about quality. If we can get players who can make the team and the squad better, it could be two or three players. But if we don’t find that, it could be zero.” 

 I think theres a clue in that last sentence as to who the next arrival will be. Actually, that should read as “would have been “

 We will get the usual “didn’t want to play in Scotland ” or ” His move depended on other moves that didn’t happen ” and so on come the end of the month.

 In the mean time, there is another clue as to which direction the club will move in regarding recruitment and training.

Deila says he wants to see an all weather dome covering a full size pitch at Lennoxtown, with an improved artificial surface added as well. That could explain a number of injuries that have been picked up in training over the last few years, and also shows the attention to detail that the new manager is showing. This is no bad thing, and it appears Peter Lawwell , in these intercepted emails, has already shown him  a couple of new surfaces, which he feels fit the budget available;

 Deila elaborated on his reasons for needing an indoor , undercover playing surface, largely because one or two of his new , modern training methods have caused a few knocks and strains;

“the most important thing for me is to get better artificial grass at Lennoxtown with a dome over it.

“It’s important, because it’s hard weather in Lennoxtown in the winter and the pitches there are not so good.

“So to have the possibility of going inside and having quality training is maybe more important than a new player. It’s what I am looking for and the Champions League could be a positive thing for that. I think (chief executive) Peter Lawwell agrees with me.

“We will see what is possible in terms of timescale to build it, but first we have to get the money to do it. Lennoxtown is fantastic, but it’s just the weather that is a problem. When it’s windy and raining so much, the pace goes out of the training and that’s why it’s important to be able to go inside and do things. 

“I’m never after my own CV. It’s not why I went into football. I went into football to create things, and to do that you need to train and have quality in it. An indoor pitch is a positive step for the club and it will be good for the academy as well.

“If you improve your players by ten per cent, it is much better than buying a new player to try and solve the problem – but I hope for both!” 

Peter Lawwell, of course, is right behind anything that will save or make money, and he’s already given Deila a few ideas for an undercover playing surface;

The second one is available half price on Wednesdays. There is also talk of bringing in hi-tech science to improve the quality of the surfaces as well.

 Hang on, we’ve been here before. Neil Lennon also complained about the weather at Lennoxtown, and Lawwell immediately took action to alleviate the problem.

 Despite the levity here, the idea of investment in an indoor facility shows that Deila is trying to build not just a team, but a whole new club.  I’m all for that, if its done correctly.

 And he seems to know what he’s doing.

 Social media just lately has been full of something called the Ice Bucket challenge, where participants throw a bucket of ice water over their own head, somewhat taking any fun out of it, and raise money for charity.

 Anyway, the great and the good were joined in this rampant surge of self publicity by none other than Charles Green, the big handed Yorkshireman who has everyones best interests in his heart, and their bank accounts on his mind …

( Ally McCoist got into terrible trouble when he misunderstood the idea of emptying the contents of a bucket over his head, and was asked to leave KFC. )

 Green was challenged by-apparently you have to challenge someone to do it-former Rangers former keeper Alan MacGregor, and he in turn has challenged Peter Lawwell.

Who did think about it,

 but backed out when he realised the money went elsewhere.

 Maybe its all just to distract people from Greens  latest round of  bullshit where he claimed an investment firm, Soros, were ready to plough £10m into the stricken new club.

 Which, of course, they promptly denied.

Sources close to George Soros have dismissed claims that he is ready to buy into Rangers . Former Rangers chief executive Charles Green has spoken of his desire to front a £10m takeover of the Ibrox club with backing from US billionaire George Soros.

However the Union of Fans say they been informed by senior representatives of Soros’s fund management firm that they have never heard of Charles Green and have no interest in investing in Rangers. (Record)

 Still, football is about entertainment, and theres no-one funnier than ol’ Chuckles.

 Except possibly everyone else at Ibrox. and those who write lovingly about them.

This unfortunate juxtaposition on the Rangers newsnow site was, er, unfortunate…

Keeping Standards High Rangers FC – Official Site 13:03 
Rangers fan who killed woman in hit-and-run after match is jailed STV 11:59

Elsewhere, Malky Mackay, once touted as Neil Lennons replacement has moved to try and play down the controversy over his racist, sexist and homophobic texts.

Joking apart, going back to this new scientific trend of improving footballers health and well being is a tremendous step forward.

Because the team that drinks together, doesn’t always win together.

 We showed a picture of the Swiss UEFA official who spotted the Legia clerical error yesterday, in case Celtic want to commission a bust or statue of him, and today we want to know who this lonely fellow is, spotted in a Starbucks yesterday…