Eight games-one as substitute-eight goals and seven assists.

John Guidetti staked his claim for a permanent contract when his loan deal expires next summer, and its apparent even at this stage of the season that he should be given what he wants to stay.

He scored three times, twice from free kicks, and once from the penalty spot as Celtic overran Partick Thistle 6-0 in the League cup. Both free kicks were placed with power and accuracy, not seen at Celtic Park since the days of Lubomir Moravcik and Shunsuke Nakamura, and when you have a player who can do that, then you have to fancy your chances against anyone.

Memorable season ?

Not as unlikely as we thought when Boerrigter, Berget and Tonev were the managers first picks. It looks like their attempts to curry immediate favour with Ronny Deila have petered out, and they won’t feature any more unless theres no-one else, and finally the boss has found his first choice fifteen.

I say fifteen because the back up on the bench is equally important. Leigh Griffiths joined the fray last night, and added a couple, one of which was as good a headed finish as you’ll see anywhere. And when you consider that Emilio Izaguerre got his name on the scoresheet-at the right end-then it shows how much Celtic dominated, and how hard they worked, to achieve a place in the semi finals of this tournament.

In fact, it could easily have been more but for the fact Manchester city were losing at home to Newcastle, and with twenty minutes to go , they rang and asked for Guidetti to pop down and help them. He left the game at Celtic with around twenty minutes left, but was unable to get to Manchester in time, due to leaves on the track delaying his train.

Thankfully.

Many have made much of the fact that Manchester city will want £5m in January to buy Guidetti, which will have alerted other clubs, but he’s ours until the summer, and we have first dibs

. If we wait until summer, theres no transfer fee, and any money can go straight to Guidetti, which will compensate for the lower wages he would receive at Celtic, in much the same way Joe Ledley ended up in the hoops.

Negotiations shouldn’t be too difficult. Guidetti gave his shirt to a supporter last night, and judging by his comments to Radio Scotland, he appears to have bought into the Celtic way;

Liam McLoed asked : : “Would you like to sink your teeth into Rangers in the next round?”

Guidetti replied  “Of course it would be a fantastic game to be a part of. “Come Hampden Park, 11 people standing in front of us, they are going down. Hampen Park will be amazing, no matter who we play. 

Which was elaborated on by Gavin Berry in the Record;

Celtic hat-trick hero John Guidetti

warns Rangers they’re going down if he lands

dream Old Firm semi-final

Dream ? Old Firm ?

GUIDETTI, who used to rise early as a kid in Sweden to watch one of the most famous fixtures in world football, admitted he’d love to play his part in an Old Firm derby. 

Rise early  ?  Guidetti explains “We all know the Old Firm derby is a very special game. This is the fixture I used to wake up at 11.30 in the morning to watch when I was a small kid. It’s normal.

  Exactly. Normal. Hardly early.

Stockholm is  an hour ahead of Glasgow. So, for an afternoon kick off at 12,30, it was already 1.30 over there. Perhaps Berry hasn’t actually got the hang of how the world clock works.

With doubt already cast upon the validity of the article, we need to tread carefully through the rest of it. In case we stand on something warm and sticky. Careful now…. Berry wants to talk about the prospect of meeting plucky , cash strapped minnows ( copyright NTV magazine ) Second Rangers

It’s fantastic, very spicy. You see it means a lot to people and the atmosphere is always amazing. You can even hear it on the TV. It’s an amazing match.

“As a footballer you don’t need to be told how special these games are. I have probably not played in anything like it because at Ajax v Feyenoord away fans are not allowed to travel for security reasons.

“If you play away it’s only their fans and if you play home it’s only your fans. The Old Firm would be a fantastic game to be part of but come Hampden in the semi-final the 11 people standing opposite us are going DOWN. This is how we feel every time we play.”

 Thats the contractual obligation to mention Scotlands new boys out of the way,

“We want to win every game and this cup. I’m like that with everything – if I play Monopoly or cards I want to win. We’ll be up for the semi-final, we’ll be hungry and want to win.

“I am excited in every game I play for Celtic because it’s an honour to pull the shirt on. There are four good teams left in the Cup and this club deserves trophies so hopefully we can do it.”  

 Unfortunately, Guidetti’s form has been noticed back in Manchester,

John Guidetti just cannot stop scoring for loan club Celtic.

The City forward had already netted five goals in his last five games for the Scottish champions prior to Wednesday night’s meeting with Patrick Thistle.

And he added to his growing tally with a brilliant hat-trick in front of the Parkhead faithful in the Scottish League Cup.

The Swede opened the scoring by brilliantly directing a free-kick into the top left corner from the right-hand side with 31 minutes on the clock.

Guidetti was again at the centre of things before the break when he was the victim of a poor challenge from Stuart Bannigan that saw the Partick man sent off.

He then bagged from another set-piece from a central position just after half-time to make it 3-0 to the hosts.

The opportunity for the 22-year-old to complete his hat-trick was presented when he was brought down in the box – and he made no mistake in converting the penalty to end the game as a contest. 

 All Celtic fans in the Manchester area should buy up all the copies they see of tonights Evening News. Just to be on the safe side.

 In case you hadn’t noticed, Celtic , Aberdeen, Dundee Utd and the first division side ae the four who will be in the draw on Saturday.

 Why the draw wasn’t made straight after the games , and thus ading to the excitement of a tournament which could do with some extra excitement is’nt immediately clear, but we hear that the oven down at the Scottish League kitchen is on the blink, and it can’t be fixed until Friday afternoon because the man said he hasn’t got the correct part.

 And it takes a while to warm those balls up.

 Consiracy theorists everywhere were alerted to the possibility of Second Rangers earning much needed cash from meeting with Celtic. Which in itself shows how difficult it is to generate interest in a new club, even if its pretending to be another one.

 This time, the man with the tin hat on can’t go wrong.

 If Celtic avoid the Ibrox club, its because the beaks want an all Glasgow final to hype up.

 If, horror of horrors, Celts have to play them, the more likely option since there is little chance of McCoists monkeys beating any of the other sides, then its to make the semi final a chance to show what the game has been mising.

 You know, bigotry, violence, wife beating, street riots etc.

 I don’t want to play them, but if we have to, we have to.

 The final would be better. That way we can hold the two highest scores in cup finals. One against the old club, and one against the new one.

 Guidetti against McCulloch ? Scepovic against Boshni ?

Boyd and Miller against van Dijk and Denaayer ?

 No wonder Mccoist would rather avoid the Hoops.

 Mind you, Craig Paterson, once of hibernian and Rangers , did tell his Radio Scotland audience last night that Boyd was the best striker in Scotland.

 Scarily, he’s probably not the only one who thinks that.

 Aleksandr Tonev is at Hampden already. Not for the game, but for his hearing after he was accused of racist remarks. The Bulgarian has already said he’s been told he’s innocent, so there will be another hearing straight after for giving the public the impression that the SFA is a little less than completely above board.

 And we leave you today, happy that we have been able to help one of lifes less fortunates fulfill one of his wishes….

You see, young Lewis MacLeod, of Ibrox , in Glasgow has told the official Second Rangers website what he has been dreaming of.

I’d Love A Celtic Tie

Happy to help.