After an enforced absence of a few days due to illness-everyone was sick of me-the diary returns fresh with its usual mixture of laughter tears and piss poor jokes.
I was away in Dunoon, and took advantage of the war games in the Clyde to take a few pictures. The americans were on the ball, as usual, spotting an unarmed passenger ferry;
As ever, the Clyde offered spectacular scenery, something that you take for granted up there. The new wee ferry from gourock to dunoon worried me a bit at first;
as I couldn’t remember where I’d seen it before, then it dawned on me..
but the little craft was superb, and sitting on the deck I took loads of pictures of the warships and submarines, until a boat drew alongside..
It was a police launch, so I leapt over the side, after screaming “You’ll never take me alive , copper. ”
Look, it’s a diary.
Newsnow is elsewhere.
The football ? Oh, alright then.
John Guidetti has been offered a deal by feyenoord, but we hear it’s a little short of what he wants in his pay packet every month. Thousands of pounds short, and he hasn’t signed it yet. According to Inside football, Inter Milan are monitoring the situation as well.
Feyenoord technical director Martin van Gell said;
“We want the best squad and if that’s possible with Guidetti, it’d be nice. It’s definitely an option. We’ll do all we can to make it happen.”
It must have lost something in the translation. “Best Squad ” and “Guidetti ” are not words I’d expect to find in the same sentence. The Swede, a modern day Regi Blinker, came, did well to start with, and then fell away.
I don’t think we’ll be too bothered if he doesn’t stay. Seems to me he just wants to be loved, as long as the moneys right.
The money should be right for Anthony Stokes as well, as Neil Lennon, having stabilised Boltons postion in the English First divsion, looks to improve his forward options. Wonder if he spoke to Gary Hooper as well at the weekend after the Bolton Norwich game….?
See, anyone can make this shite up.
Celtic had scouts watching the Benfica -Academica game at the weekend, so it’s fairly clear the club is looking ahead, and we hear that it was an Academica player, forward Rafael Lopes, that was the subject of our attention;
He’s familiar with Scottish football, and is a big fan of Lee Mcculloch, the veteran defender helping new Rangers to ditribute whatever welth they have left.
Celtic’s main striker, Leigh Griffiths celebrated his return to the first team with another early goal, and then threw a bit of a wobbly when he was removed to make way for Griffiths during the 1-1 draw with Inverness on Saturday. You can’t blame him. Griffiths is the best forward we have, and he should start the games until the meaningful ones are done.
Ronny Deila spoke about the tantrum;
“He looked unhappy when he was substituted,”
“That is something I understand. He should be angry every time he is taken off.”
Fair enough, but aren’t we supposed to keep players happy, at least the one’s who are doing a job ?
Deila shared his thoughts about the substitution with us;
“We could have gone to two strikers, and I was thinking about that, but we wanted to keep our shape,” he reflected. “Maybe that was wrong. Maybe we should have attacked more.”
Two strikers ? We haven’t got two strikers. Thats the problem.
It’s all going horribly wrong for Liam Henderson over in Norway. He’s become the subject of unwanted attention from young ladies and theres a real danger that his concentration could be affected;
Bring him home !
Hang on, he’s just sent me a message..
Charming.
The SFA have decided that Stevie MacLean should be rewarded for his awful display in the Dundee united -Aberdeen League Cup semi final by being awarded the Scottish cup semi final featuring Inverness and Celtic. With Aberdeen one up, he disallowed what seemed a perfectly good goal by Dons Adam Rooney , and United came back to win 2-1.
This was Neil Lennons 100th game at Celtic, when Daniel Majstorovic was sent off, and he spoke about it post match;
“I am going to speak to the club about it and see if there is grounds for appeal,”
“I thought he got the ball. How the linesman could give it is beyond me and there were some very inconsistent decisions out there today.
“I think both sets of coaching staff were unhappy with the performance today.
“But I don’t think the referee got much help from either of his linesmen.
“We were told that the linesman gave it, whether I am wrong on that I don’t know.
“I have seen it on the television and it is pretty inconclusive but it looked to me that Daniel got the ball, you see the way the ball moves.
“It is very debatable decision that has gone against us.
Ah, the old “linesman did it and ran away” excuse..
Maclean has been the man in the middle three times this season when Celtic have played. Defeats to Hamilton and Dundee Utd-where Stefan Scepovic had a goal disallowed, and a win over Hamilton.
In 34 games this season, he has handed out 112 yellow cards and five red. Only twice has he kept his cards in his pocket.
Dumbarton against Alloa in September, and Second Rangers 1-0 cup win over St. Johnstone in October.
Here he explains the handball rule, and shows why Scottish referees are rated so highly around the world;
Maclean explains the handball rule.
In a game that is played at breakneck pace, please tell me that he makes his mind up a little quicker than the interview implies.
Meanwhile, over at Second Rangers, the usual chaos continues. Not only are they still skint, and still unable to raise any money from investors, theres a whisper that they might soon vacate Murray Park, as Irish journalist Phil MacGhiollabhan has heard they’ve been asking about possible changes to insurance payments if they on a premise in the Anniesland Road.
It’s just a shame this celebrity fan isn’t around to help them out. He used to do a lot for charity.
Meanwhile, Celtic face Kilmarnock tomorrow, and there is a collection in the memory of the clubs founder Brother walfrid at the ground. Heres what is needed, courtesy of Harry Brady;
All thats good about our club. If you can’t make it to the game, you can always donate locally.
And when you go to vote next month, remember what you did one evening in april.
Is this man wondering if there are any spaces on the Gardening Crew ?
Theres further news on the little bear who was found outside a train station the other day;
Finally, as predicted in the Etims Rumour mill, Billy McNeill will have a statue erected in his honour at Celtic Park. alright, we may have described it differently, claiming it was the stand being named after Jimmy McGrory, but it’s essentially the same thing and another coup for our pish stained roving reporter.
Big Billy deserves the recognition. A true legend.
And a nicer guy you couldn’t hope to meet.
Anyone know the story behind this picture ?
The Lisbon lions played the 68 man u team in the 90s if I remember correctly, can’t remember why though
That was the Jungle’s last stand – a commemorative game played after Rangers won the Scottish Cup at Celtic Park in what was the last time a competitive match was played in front of the old terracing.
it was the Jungles last Stand, before seats had to be put in to comply with Taylor Report 1992, Lisbon Lions played Man U 1968 TEAM
Ralph,good humorous diary.
Every club needs 4 strikers with different qualities.Alas,as you say we haven’t even got 2.
We are NOT scoring enough goals.I won’t blame defence,for Inverness draw,yes a poor goal to concede,but that is ONLY third goal,they have lost in the league since Christmas.
Strikers ?
2 are off-hire,on loan,no future at the club.Guidetti,hearts not in it,used Celtic.Scepovic,Ronny doesn’t rate,will be put out to loan.Stokes(now left winger) will be off,good for all concerned.
This leaves us with Griffiths.How can he battle away against a physical Inverness ? He can’t.
I wanted Celtic to go for Callum Wilson,last summer.At 23,he cost Bournemouth 3M,from Coventry.A strong goalscoring forward.
My point is,there are good pros,we can AFFORD,in English,CH and First DV.Okay the weather down their,is not as good as a jolly to Portugal.
Our scouts have to get their finger out,for quality strikers.We need 2 for CL qualifiers,or else….
Bitton’s effort on Saturday was pathetic, if he plays on Sunday we are doomed as Liam has been loaned out. Even wee for rest gum has a bit more pace.
We need a new striker to partner g riffs, we are staring at it red in the face – adam Rooney. Why ne il never signed him, he was always a Han full when he played for the inverness .huns.yes Ronnie he was a loan forward.
Have to agree he was below par, but that’s because he has set high standards over the last few months and has been one of our top players since Christmas. He should get a bollicking for Saturday, but retain his place as he and Broony have formed a good pairing.
I’m with you Gerry, Bitton has been excellent, if a little lightweight at times. He didn’t do it at Inverness but then not many did. Personally I thought Johansson was the biggest disappointment on the day but again that’s due to the high standards he has set of late.
Salad gueen, turn your spell checker of FFS.
Rooney,like Griffiths are good solid Scottish league players.If we are buying him,to primarily play in this domain,then fine.Yes,worth a shout.
However,like Griff,CL group stage,providing we are their,would swallow them up,to be honest.
That is just my humble opinion.HH.
In an attempt to get around the ownership of their mascot, The Blue Death have renamed him POXY BEAR .
Do you ever get a gut feeling ?
Mine is,Davie Moyes will be the Cetic Manager in 1/2 years.This is no slight on Ronny.On the brink of a wonderful Treble.I feel,Ronny will want to seek pastures new.
Big Billy wearing the sponsor-less hoops
That was one very welcome output of terrible business acumen and incompetence which went hand in hand with Celtic in them dark days…..
Liking the fitba stuff, scunnered wi the politics, i’ll bite though.
SNP have been running the show in Scotland for what? 7 years? In all that time they have had the power to raise income tax by 3% to attack some of the alleged ravages of the past, why have they not done this?
That is a massive kitty you would imagine ANY left of centre government would be getting encouraged to use by a left wing Scottish population.
Why do nationalists, when questioned on any aspect of the economy, rather than answer the question, instantly accuse the questioner of being a scaremongerer.
If the rate of income taxes differ in Scotland then there will be a reduction in the block grant by estimates of the tax difference which is to be based on 100% tax collection rate (HMRC gives a very generous estimate that they only collect ~85%).
Any tax rate difference would result in a loss of money to Scotland. Read the smallprint not the soundbite.
Must win game v Kilmarnock in midweek, must win!
Celtic keep encouraging Aberdeen with dropping points, we aren’t the finished article and the lack of goals in the team at times is a concern.
Ronny Deila has work to do yet on this team, time to lift the tempo again Celtic.
Griffiths is never our best striker and proved it again with his poor showing.
Guidetti has been in better form than him the past 2 months. Very good in his last 2 starts also. The team scores more goals with him in the team due to his linkup and hold up play.
since the inter game
griffiths has 4 goals in 441 mins.
guidetti has 3 goals and 3 assists in 371 mins set up the penalty last week aswell
First things first we are not suffering from a lack of goals in the League.
Our Goals are just spread out among the attack minded players which is not a bad thing as being reliant on one Striker or 2 can lead to it’s own problems.
We have scored 64 goals in the league so far and the nearest to that is Aberdeen with 53.
The bulk of those 64 goals are spread out as follows:
Guidetti 8
Johansen 8
Stokes 7
Commons 7
Griffiths 6
Denayer 5
We do need to INVEST in QUALITY though in the summer that is beyond doubt as I don’t think Griffiths is at that level yet myself.
I think we need a big target man who’s comfortable both in the air and on the deck though I think we do need to spend for the CL there’s no getting round it.
I would punt Pukki ,Balde,Scepovic and Stokes replace with:
1 Finnbogason at Sociedad (who’s failed to settle)
2 Guillaume Hoarau at Young Boys (5 years at PSG)Who is a real handful at European level.
3 Rudy Gestede at Blackburn Rovers as the main target man.
For the Domestic front with a view to improving in Europe
Rooney at Aberdeen or Ciftci at United who are proven at this level.
We cannot afford to get this wrong we need to spend this window to ensure a bit of proven quality.
I should say any of the first 3 would improve our squads effectiveness in Europe we need someone who can hold the ball and make it stick.
If need be go route 1 when required late in games to push for a result.
I’m glad your not our manager Charlie….
Route 1?
When your struggling to break down a defence, route one isn’t the answer Charlie.
It’s creativity you need at that point, move the ball quicker, a couple of one two’s, getting the ball wide and delivered with accuracy and intensity….
I have said a number of times this season that we don’t need 2 holding midfielders in central midfield ( Brown and Bitton), where is the element of surprise in this side?
Why every now and again can we not go with two strikers up top and three at the back?
We are predictable I feel, just ask St.Johnstone and Inverness, 5 points dropped unnecessarily in my opinion.
Ronny needs a plan B and hoofing it as high as we can into the box is never the answer.
I’m going to raise an old point here, Celtic NEED a strike partnership, a good cop bad cop.
Take a poll of 100 Celtic fans and I believe a hundred would prefer to see Celtic take to the field with two strikers.
It IS a problem at Celtic just now, surely Ronny can come up with a formation that incorporates two strikers?
Some defences are hard to break no matter what you try.
Sometimes a big frontman with power in the air can break any defence provided the service is right.
It doesn’t have to be route 1 the delivery can be swung in from wide or a set piece.
We don’t have anyone up front who bother defenders in the air.
Haven’t done since Big Jan left.
If we are going to persist in playing 1 up it makes sense to have different options with that one.
Pace,Guile,Height or timing you have to cover all those bases.
At the moment we simply don’t.
We will also have to spend in the region of £6m to find a striker comfortable in Europe.
That’s just how it is in the current climate and if we are selling for £10m then we should be spending at £6m surely?
The strikers Charlie saiz talked about would they come to Scottish football and could we afford them your talking 6 million plus.
What about country’s like America, African country’s surely there is players we can afford there 2m maybe 3m no way can we afford 6m with the wages that comes with that ? What happens if we don’t get into champions league go down the same route the next season.
We need to get real we are a club in a backwater league and players worth there salt won’t come we need to get players that are hungry for success and see us as a stepping stone to a far better league.
Buckie,
I had my eye on the American lad who played for Sunderland, Jozy Altidore…..
I think he went back to the States.
Altidore was rank rotten at Sunderland Monti.
13m Euros wasted on him I gather.