Derby county’s Republic of Ireland midfielder Jeff Hendrick is the latest name to be linked with Celtic via the media, except this time it’s in the Derby media, who , to be fair, since Brian Clough left the club, have had little to write about.

There’s no credible source, and little chance of it happenng, as the lad is under contract until 2018, so we figured it deserved a mention along with all the other guff that’s out there. Hang on, where did we get Kris Commons from….?

Agent dick van burik, who represents Mitchell dijks, the left back linked with the Hoops, says it will be between ajax and Feyenoord for the players signature, and Celtic haven’t even put in an offer.

Consistent with the tone of Scottish media reports, this guy is leaving Celtic before he even got here.

Former Celtic striker Peirre van Hooijdonk, once a favourite, then a tosser, now sort of a favourite again, looks like he’s reverting to tosser status as he goes about his business as the agent to virgil van Dijk.

When did that happen ?

Van Hooijdonk has been singing the praises of his client;

“They will have assessed whether or not he is capable of playing at that level. I think he has shown that he can perform at the very top. He is on the radar of those top clubs now.

“If there are clubs who want to sign him then they will try to do it now. I can see why he would feel that he wants to go to another club and feel that he is being challenged every week.”

You would think that someone whose career fell flat on it’s arse after heading south for more money at smaller teams would have a more sensible advice for his client, however, it seems with van Hooijdonk the dollar remains king.

But Ronny Deila has assured the support that van dijk will only leave for a bigger club-” if there is one ” and even then only after the qualifiers. Virgil van Dijk under Ronny is not the same Virgil van Dijk of last summer.

Ronny Deila may have been criticised for talking a bit too much, but that’s just evidence of his enthusiasm. Yesterday ,he spoke of Scott Brown one day becoming Celtic manager, which on the surface sounds like evidence of something else altogether;

“Scott has the qualities to become a manager. Maybe I can pass the baton on.

“He will continue his development at Celtic and maybe he’ll be ready for that task as well. It’s very positive for Scott to be helping but it has to managed in the right way so it’s not taking away his energy.

“He’s loving Celtic and is a talented player but he’s a talented coach as well.

“He has leadership in him and wants to develop as a coach. I believe you also develop as a player if you are coaching as you reflect on what you do on the pitch.

“It’s about telling players what they should be doing in a short and concrete way so that will make him a better player as well. 

“He can be a future manager. First you need the motivation to do it and he has that.

“The next thing is learning and he has done that all his career. He has been at the one club for a very long time and that’s the sign of a very good person.

“If you are a bad person you won’t stay at the same club for a long time.” 

“The image I have is of a committed guy, very serious and very funny. He’s always in a good mood, he hates to lose and he’s a social guy.

“I don’t see the wrong things in him but I hear he has changed in recent years and become more mature.”  

The relationship between a manager and a captain is crucial to the success of a club on and off the field. as these two continue to work together, Brown will be given more responsibility on the pitch, perhaps even permission to change things as he sees fit.

Which is almost unheard of these days, but used to work quite well for another duo.

 I know I keep making these comparisons, and I know they perhaps sound a little far fetched, but over and over again these little things are becoming noticable, and it’s worth recording them so that you can either hail me as a great visionary further down the line, or, and probably more likely, I can be a tosser as well, like the agent mentioned earlier.

Although at this point it has to be acknowledged that other, wiser souls than I have noted the similarities as well, and may even be responsible for drawing my attention to them.

Speaking of noticing things , i was out in the motor last night, and noticed a wee fellow , wearing an old Rangers top, sittiing by the side of the road eating grass. He couldn’t have been more than ten years old.

 No matter , these days times are tough, and I stopped to ask what he was doing.

He explained he had nothing else to eat, so my wife and I said he could come back to ours and get a meal. Then he explained that his family was hungry too, at which point I told him to fuck off, and asked how big he actually thinks my fucking lawn is.

Due to the late rush, the deadline to renew your season book has been extended by a week, which takes the pressure off.

The cynic in me says that we never saw that coming, but it could be a genuine rush, I suppose.

For some reason, “Helicopter sunday “, where Celtic lost the league title on the last day to Rangers, in what was one of the doomed clubs last triumphs, has been in the news as hacks desperate to relive the glory days try to get the replacement clubs fans in the mood for a share issue/season book sale/ t-shirt promotion.

 It’s because ( they will say ) the new club are in action at Easter Road, as they were that day, and it’s because ( they will say ) the club wants to relive that feeling of ten years ago when Hibs made virtually no effort to win the game.

Of course, Celtic only had to beat Motherwell at Fir Park to render any result in Edinburgh meaningless, so it’s no fault of Hibs that Rangers won the league that day, blame has to be laid firmly at our own doorstep, but it’s little more than a big come and support your team message to Ibrox fans who may think the tie is over and watch on the telly instead.

Hibernian are more than capable of turning them over, and with a packed Easter road roaring them on, there is nothing certain for McCalls men.

 He wasn’t slow to compare the winning of the league with the chance of being in a play off to get up that league though, and it gave the papers a chance to relive a time when all was well in their world, and the mighty Gers were in their rightful place, and sashes were worn, Wall’s were guarded and there was still every chance that some people would realise the famine was over, and we could all go home.

 Still miss them ?

anyhoo, McCall told the Record , ahead of todays game;

I was only one of the nine-in-a-row boys who

went to Easter Road on Helicopter Sunday and

ended up staying out celebrating until TUESDAY

Excellent. They even managed to mention nine in a row.

“I think I was the only one of the nine in a row team who was there that day,” he smiled yesterday. “John Brown, Gordon Durie, Andy Goram, Richard Gough and Ally McCoist were all going but none of them went. Durranty said he’d just gone onto the coaching side and was in the main stand, but I’m not sure.

“They didn’t think it was going to happen.  

Victory against the odds…Bulldog spirit…our brave boys…etc.

“I was quite proud of myself – I got my little carry-out at Harrogate Station in the morning and travelled up. Clink clink!

“I got the train from Harrogate to Edinburgh at 8am, went to the game and was supposed to get the last train back. But I got a nice little message from the missus saying: ‘See you on Tuesday!’ She understood.

“I was trying to send text messages to Coisty, Jukey and the rest saying:

‘You should have had faith’ but it wouldn’t send.

Bloody hell. even the phones don’t have credit over there.

“Then a TV camera panned in on me just as I jabbed the phone unsuccessfully and I’m saying: ‘F*** it!’

“As a fan, it was probably on a par with going down to Wembley in 1981 and seeing Scotland beating England when John Robertson scored the penalty. 

“I was behind the goal. I had said to Neil Warnock the week before that Derek Riordan was getting a lot of rave reviews, maybe I should go up and see him.

“I had two directors box tickets but I swapped them. I think I asked the club to just give me any tickets, nothing fancy, and I ended up behind the goal.

“When things are unexpected – like that Wembley win for Scotland – it’s better. That game at Easter Road was just petering out. It was like last year for Motherwell against Aberdeen when the goal was scored in the last minute – it makes the whole thing different.”

A couple of mentions for a famous Scotland win, and no fewer than three pictures of the old club lifting trophies.

Proof that the only people in the game who  is them are the one’s who are paid to write about them.

Well, write about the “good times ” that is. They are showing a remarkable reluctance to write about the current incumbent, the mendacious Dave King, he of the glib and shameless lie.

 He’s already tied himself in knots with his public speaking, so it’s only fair his pals in the press concentrate elsewhere instead.

That way, they don’t have to ask him any difficult questions, such as why they’ve gone public about their request to Ally Mccoist about sorting out a pay off. Or quite how he concludes that the club are financially the envy of the world.

Or how he can call the loan he has made of £1.5m to the club an “investment “, especially as his “investments”  were supposed to be upwards of ten, twenty, thirty million ?

 If Hibernian rise to the occasion today, bearing in mind the presence on the streets of a number of marching men, be careful out there tonight.

 Still miss them ?

 some cracking replies to the picture yesterday, most making a connection between a sexual act not being made towards the lady, but towards the supporters king was pointing at.

Now, Keith Jackson, on the right, is explaining something to Gregor Kyle, on the left. What advice is Scotlands top sportswriter passing on to his colleague.

If any, that is.