The squad, barring those on international duty, have a few days off now to get a bit of rest and prepare themselves for the final push of the season.
To be fair, even those on international duty will be taking it a little easier , as the spirit in the Celtic camp is such that no-one wants to miss any games.
Kris Commons, now retired from the international scene and secure with a new contract, proposed to his partner Lisa Hague last night, and didn’t even hurt his hamstrings while he was on bended knee, which is another tribute to the Deila fitness regime.
It also probably explains why Derk Boerrigter isn’t married.
Congratulations to the couple, and best wishes from everyone at Etims.
However, the forward risked serious injury when he posted pictures of his fiancee as a young lass on social media, which in my experience is never a good idea. When I posted pictures of my wife on lamp posts to celebrate her thirtieth , she made me take them all down and hit me with a shovel. It wasn’t the pictures, it was the fact that every time she saw one a dog was peeing against it.
Mind you, Commons probably got a slap for tweeting;
“30th birthday done… Proposal to the Mrs done… Now time for the most important thing this week #ElClasico.
During the proposal, Commons used magician Billy Reid to make the ring appear, and we believe Ronny deila was on the phone shortly after asking for help in making Aleksandr Tonev appear.
Someone else with reason to celebrate today is Bertie Auld, the legendary midfielder who turns 77 today. Where did all the time go ?
Though surely he’s held on to this for long enough now, and he ought to consider giving it back to the club;
Good luck to the guy who asks him for it, right enough.
Jonh Guidetti seems to be the focus of supporters attention after his less than enthusiastic celebration after his goal at the weekend. Guidetti is giving the appeareance of someone just biding his time, and there may be some truth in the story that he has already agreed a move to Feyenoord in the summer. This is probably unlikely, as Ronny wouldn’t play someone who had lost interest, so we have to ask why the apparent disinterest.
Guidetti, though a confident lad, thrives when he feels he is loved, and if he is the subject of criticism, his whole body shape changes. Shoulders slump, head goes down, even movement seems forced.
While he is still wearing the hoops, we should get behind him. Difficult, when he looks like he’d rather be somewhere else, but when he is playing well, he’s a good player.
If ronny can still see something in him, then so can I.
If I was to compare him to anyone, it would be Regi Blinker, the enigmatic Dutch winger who , like Guidetti, started well, but then faded into obscurity after getting pelters for shirking a challenge in a champions League qualifier against Croatia Zagreb, although he did have flashes of excellence after that, his confidence was shattered.
Training ground heckling didn’t help either, with the term ” ‘aving a Regi ” entering cockney rhyming slang, courtesy of Ian Wright, whose surname, co-incidentally , is also rhyming slang for how he played during his stint at Celtic.
Sometimes we have to remember that its not always about the ninety minutes on the pitch, and players can sometimes be entirely different personalities privately.
Just a thought.
In a previous Diary we mentioned the beginning of the campaign for a sixteen team top league, in order to help out a club which has spent a few years telling everyone how much they are needed, and the weekend saw the only people who listened to that ridiculous claim begin to offer their help to get them promoted.
Willie Collum , surprisingly still employed as a referee, helped Second Rangers secure a 2-0 win over Hibernian, which allowed Hearts to make certain of the First Division title.
Helped Them ?
Well, he ignored a foul that led to the second goal, but more interesting is this explanation from Barcabhoy, on twitter;
Hibs fans angry at Collum. Should have come as no surprise though. In 3 games this yr he has YC 7 & RC 1 Hibs versus 2 YC & 0 RC for Rangers
Anyhoo, praise where it’s due, Well done to Hearts, , they’ve been through a tough time of late at Tynecastle, but they put things right the right way, and deserve their success. Welcome back to the top table.
They did it in style, with only one defeat this season, but that didn’t stop this headline from the Record;
Hibernian 0 Rangers 2: Gers win hands Hearts the title
The Record were just delighted to use the words “Gers ” “Win ” and “Title ” in the same sentence.
The game at Easter Road provided one of those rare moments that was unscripted comedy genius;
Watch this. I guarantee you will keep watching it…
And just to keep you amused at the goings on, or the soon to be goings on at the dark side of town
Arsene Parcelie may have altered the quote when he tweeted the picture.
Lets hope Green lasts a little longer than Chris Graham, the former Ibrox director who had been mutually consented before the kettle boiled.
Speaking of brief appearances, Steven Gerrard, allegedly a Celtic target lasted just 38 second of the Liverpool -Manchester United game yesterday after coming on as a second half substitute.
His “heat map “, a visual record of his contribution, shows his movement throughout the game;
Another interesting tweet, given the debate around whether or not Celtic supporters should remove Sky sports from their subscription packages, came from Opta Celtic;
If Celtic got 10,000 more fans at all 19 home league games paying £20 per ticket, they would get £3.8m, almost double the current TV deal.
And guess what, theres a number you can ring that is the first step in getting the stadium full again.
0344 261 0244
We need that on a t-shirt for the summer.
And we need to keep telling other Scottish fans to do the same.
Pressure needs to be piled up on the SFA as well, and journalists need to keep asking-or at least start asking-why those who negotiated the deal were so poorly equipped to strike a deal.
Or was it just that they didn’t want to, so they could help to push the admittance of a certain new club to the top league ?
We need to know.
This isn’t, as we know, just about Sky, although primarily it is about Scottish subscribers paying their money to help finance the English corporate football model.
It’s aboiut trying to get a new, better future for the game up here. It’s starting to take shape, what we don’t need are promising players whipped away again, to have their careers stall in England.
We need to encourage them to stay here for a while, and learn their trade.
Yesterday we showed a picture of Celtic Park in the fifties, and it also prompted one of the best answers we have had.
It came from Pensionerbhoy, and for those who missed his trip down memory lane, i think its worth reprinting here;
This is the first Celtic Park I remember with no covers on either of the terracings. I was a wee mite when my father first took me (Saturday 3pm – always!!!!) in the forties – post war, of course. I was usually too occupied fighting Huns to be distracted by football up to 1945. I could be slightly out but I am fairly sure it was like this into the fifties before they semi-covered the Celtic end. The tenements practically encircled the traditional away end and on busy days you could be queued into the path up the close because the gates were so near the buildings. Of course, the graveyard runs down behind the Hayshed on Janefield Street (notice cars drove down there then) and the railway (still used in those days) running behind the Celtic end. London Road and the main entrance did not change for quite a long time and I guess it would not have been difficult to imagine how it looked in the old days until a couple of years back. I guess it changed completely once the old school was demolished and the Celtic Way was installed. You can just make out the media box in the centre of the stand roof as I described in my post a month or so back. It was a precarious bit of structure so it was. I would not have been a happy journalist up there in those days but how I could enjoy seeing most of the present day ones quivering in it for a couple of hours each Saturday or whatever day now. It was not exactly the tropics in that area either as anyone who sat at the back of the old stand could tell you. The drafts that permeated the stand were colder than a Sevco fart – I was fortunate to only experience it a few times. I searched for this kind of photo when I did my article for ETims but could not find one without the roofs. So, thanks for the memories vague though they are.
Today we’ll keep to the theme of yesteryear…Two grounds…where are they ?
Ralph, Guidetti’s indifference was feigned. It ended with a few players standing with their arms folded in mock boredom. Repeated the routine after Jason’s goal too. Mibbees a comment on people’s eagerness to misinterpret his feelings?
Tannadice defo, Pittodrie? As for players having different personalities on and off the park, George Connelly comes to my mind. A genuine loss to football.
The second is Pittodrie not sure about the first.
I hope Guidetti remains interested till May then whatever he chooses to do after that well I’m not arsed.
He’s a good player just not as good as HE thinks he is.
We need better.
Squad rotation looks to be a part of the Deila plan which is good to see.
We could do with a bit of a clearout in the Summer perhaps trim the numbers and add a couple of bits of quality instead.
I have a sneaky feeling a bid or two might come in for Bitton before Van Dijk and can see another KI scenario with him myself.
Anything over £6m and he will be gone.
Tannadice in picture one. Guidetti’s face after Denayer goal shows real pleasure. He is at it in his celebration. Faux boredom
Kris & Lisa official!? Well done you two! 🙂
p.s. The links in the article never work for me. Just lead to blank pages. Never have that problem on any other site … *head scratch*
Click the download part at the bottom KS 😉
Still won’t run , but saw It live what a laugh!!!
Ronny’s finest week as Celtic Manager.Blew away moaning United,and lead in the league has took a significant turn.He is on course,for a historic Treble.However,he remains cool and unflappable.
He has stuck to his footballing philosophies,and rigidly played a 4-2-3-1 system.
To play an entirely different front 4,on Saturday,shows the faith he has,to this approach
He is very much his own man,and an astute tactician.He has taken Celtic to a different level.
Like,many,I thought the ONE striker,was playing into the opposition’s hands.Now,the players,know how to play this way.The front 4 inter-change,
and keep the opposition guessing.Very clever.
The ONLY addition,I would make,depending on who goes,is a QUALITY striker,to play the front man role.Good in the air,and can hold the ball up.
Bring on the CL qualifiers…..
Post lost.Please…
Are they not both on Tannadice St, ergo Dundee and United’s grounds?
“we have to ask why the apparent disinterest.” I think the answer to that can be best measured in £££.
Great weekend – Ireland win the rugby championship – thanks Scotland for rolling over to let us beat the English – working together there – Aberdeen only draw and we win – they could be the results that see Aberdeen heads drop as they realise they are unlikely to catch us, and we can pull away a little and make it more comfortable. Some goals too by GMS & guidetti – top class strikes.
GMS has played above my expectations to be honest _ I d seen him a few times for United adn he never really stood out, but his technique and ability to beat a man at pace have been excellent.
I ve also said a few times how little I rate Stokes and that Forrest would be better moving on as he ll never be fit enough again to be relied on.
Holding my hands up here – Stokes I thought was MotM in League cup final and Forrest was good in that game (penalty shambles aside) and even better in the replay which was only a couple of days later. So while I d still move Stokes on I m more open to retaining him given his recent showings and Forrest might, just might be getting his body and mind right to be counted upon and be an asset to the team. HH
Top one’s the tannadice curling rink, the bottom one could be pittodrie but there is a row of bungalows at the beach end of the ground. If it is pittodrie the photo must be pretty old. Time for pensionerbhoy to give us the answer to this one. Strange world we live in, Edinburgh at the weekend full of Irish who are welcome in all the bars with the green and white and tricolours, police all smiles. Said polis change their attitude when another load of fans in green and white and with tricolours come to town. Any ideas?
HH
Tannadice and pittodrie.
Think there is an agenda to get the fans against Guidetti in some of the papers. I would like him to stay, but at present don’t think we would miss him either. Glad the Dufc games are done, thought we might slip up with one of them, but the team has been very professional and extremely focused. Think playing for your spot is keeping everyone on their toes.
watched the video vine of the young Hibs fan giving the Sevco player pelters…..why hasnt the sevco player got his name and number on his shirt ?
Jim
He had a cut that bled badly so had to change his shirt. Sevco are so skint they didn’t have another with his name and number. I’d have thought that isn’t allowed unlike Collum not to know the rules I’ve played for better organised Sunday league teams.
After looking at the Willie Collum stats above I have to ask how does he continue to be allowed to pose as a referee?
On Sunday Hibs player Paul Hanlon is blatantly fouled in the build-up to the Buns second goal.
The scorer – Kenny Misser – and Nicky Clark both run into the crowd to celebrate with the great unwashed, clearly bookable offences.
Yet Collum takes no action against them as far as I am aware and instead books Hanlon for protesting about the foul.
Hunbelievable!
I am sure Gollum had a hard-time restraining himself from running into the orc hordes himself, with a bunch of high-fours and some cloven hoof clicks.
I keep telling you, Guidetti is the real deal and at 21 he has a young man´s personality , whats the problem? He scores goals for Celtic. Cet behind him for the duration.
Ralph
Thank you for the re-post though I did not think it was worth it. Monti did ask about what was available for eating and drinking then and the cost. I honestly can not remember what was sold outside the ground as there were no burger vans or stuff like that. I do remember chippies but that could have been late 50s or even 60s. Inside the ground some youngsters would go round the track with pone of those strap trays that the usherettes sold ice cream from in the pictures. You could get the greasiest pies in the world that had a spicy flavour that I believe did more to disguise where the meat had come from than to enhance the flavour. Drinks on sale were limited to what was described as orange juice but looked like pee after a heavy night. It probably tasted like it too though I was never tempted to test that theory, not when sober anyway. It actually tasted like dirty water with jaundice. I was too young to do the buying but I guess from the rare occasions my father bought any and the fact they were most often shared meant they did not come cheap. It was a question of captive audience, I guess and I do remember being treated to a bag of chips on the way home rather than being greased in the stadium. Great memories, mind, and a full days outing every time by the time you got the train to Glasgow central and the tram out to Parkhead. I could not make out the tram lines on London Rd. because of the tenements but I think you can see the poles for the trolley buses. Then again, that might be an over energetic imagination at work rather than fact.
But back to the present and congratulations to one of my favourite players of all time, Bertie. Happy 77th. I first saw the wee midfield genius playing for Birmingham against Coventry way back in in 1964. Little did I know that day that the fantastic player I was watching tear Coventry apart would be wearing my beloved hoops just a year later and I would be watching him at every ground in the country for years to come.
Well done to Kris Commons too. I admire a brave man but from what I have seen and heard of Lisa, he was far too slow to show courage.
It is almost incomprehensible to imagine that the Ibrox numpties are looking to involve the jolly green Yorkshire giant – well does have big ‘ands, especially when it comes to collecting money. Talk about vicious circles, this one is as rabid as a Doberman dog. I wonder if he will be renting out the second châteaux? I was planning a trip to France in 2016 if I am still breathing. Maybe it would be better staying with our friends as I will need my shirt still on my back when leaving.
The two stadiums are definitely Tannadice and Pittodrie. From that angle Tannadice does look a bit like Dens park but the position of the Flats behind the terracing gives it away. Dens is further down nearer the end of the row and is further back from the them too.
Pittodrie is pictured from the home end and it is not a view many of us would be familiar with given we were often herded to and from the ground. Then again, they are used to herding in Aberdeen. The start of the golf course at the far end is the give away as well as that long open terracing on the right. I remember that place well for one particular night game. I worked in Edinburgh at the time and did not get finished till around 6.30pm. My boss had loaned me his Mercedes (they were a rarity then) as he wanted my Vauxhall viva. I flew through to Motherwell to pick up my father and then shot at breakneck speed to Aberdeen. This was before there was even a motorway to Perth, by the way. We arrived with just half an hour to go and got in for nothing as the big gates were already open. We climbed up that terracing and ended up right at the back where we good see damn all without jumping up and down. I think I saw about 3 minutes worth of the game. My father probably saw none of it. Then it was the long journey back home that took us till about 2 in the morning. I do remember we won and that made it all worth while. So, Ralph, when you are pissed with the funny start times, remember the idiotic travails of this auld fart.
H H
Awesome read, pb … 🙂
Re food at Celtic Park in the 50s and 60s. Who could forget the guys wandering round the terracing shouting: “Erzi feeshul macaroon bars and spearmint chewing gum.”
I can also remember buying Celtic cigarettes from the pie stall next to the turnstiles at the Celtic end of Janefield Street. They were made by the Co-op and were absolutely mingin’.
Happy days indeed.
What about VC Pies which according to the slogan ‘Were often eaten, but never beaten@.
Pensionerbyoy what you all about? Macaroon bars ya dafty. Terrible treatment at the time but fantastic memories. God bless and Hh.
Phaco
Macaroon bars were only for the prawn sandwich brigade. We peasants could never afford classy sweeties like that. I honestly did not know they sold them in the trays. But then, I was rarely treated. It was far too expensive for most working families to eat in the park. Thanks for this valuable addition.
H H
Phaco.
I posted a piece earlier about guys shouting:”Erzi feeshul macaroon bars and spearmint chewing gum” but it seems to have vanished into the exterior darkness.
Also remember buying Celtic cigarettes from the pie stall next to the turnstiles at the Celtic end of Janefield St. They were made by the Co-op and were absolutely mingin’.
Happy days, indeed.
What about the guy with cardboard egg box that was filled with rolls and chopped pork no butter or margarine think that was 60s-70s used to love getting a couple off him to soak the beer up when I was older.
Guidetti has been charged by FA of singing offensive song. What a load of s,!?/. What is offensive ? Is it the word Huns or is it the fact they are Deid. They sang the song themselves playing agains Bayern back in the 80’s I think and they were Liquidated so they are Deid. This is becoming a witch hunt by this administration lets get rid!! The word Hun is not offensive towards Protestants it was sung all through the Stein era as they left the ground after another humping just a generic term for Rangers Fans unless they are all Protestant ??? Could that be the case ?
Pensioner Bhoy you should write a book pal.
I would buy it.
HH
Charlie
I am fine going off on a rant but when it comes to writing accurate accounts of events then I could easily fall into the catagory of sports journalist. What a nightmare! No, just look at the variety of really interesting snippets dragged up by so many others once their juices got flowing and you will realise the old memory needs more than a Lee’s macaroon bar to get stimulated.
H H