Celtic Diary Sunday June 28: Summer Of Optimism Underway.

Not only did Deydrick Boyata show his desire to play for Celtic, it seems ronny deila was equally keen to get the player on board;

 “I’ve known about for him for one year.

“We got Jason, we weren’t allowed to get Boyata then – now their roles have been changed.

“That’s not to say Boyata was first choice – that’s hard to say because at the time they wanted to keep him and Jason was a possibility.

“Jason then hadn’t played an 
important match in his life – now it’s quite different.

“But that’s also one of the reasons Dedryck wanted to come here because he saw what happened with Jason. 

“He needs love and trust. He needs opportunities to play over time.

“You also have to deserve it, of course, but that is done in training 
and matches.

“When you don’t get any minutes, you’re just there, and you don’t feel the love you need.

“In the end we got a very good player. I know that if we can get the best out of him he has the potential to be a top international player.

“City agree and will follow him in the future to see if he can take the 
next step, like Virgil Van Dijk is trying to do now.

 Jason has shown what he was and where he is now. If we have good 
material to work with, we can make a top player.

“It’s not easy to play your way into the Man City team when they can buy players for 
£35million in that position.

“The level is very high. There are no youngsters coming through there.

“The Scottish top flight is a 
better stage to get into, the 
level of the league isn’t as high as it is in England.”  

The speed with which the deal was done surprised a few, especially in the press as its taken them a couple of weeks to do any sort of feature on the Belgian , but thats not surprising, as they don’t do good news from our part of the city.

Deila has been assessing the squad, and you may have seen the quotes where he says we are “500 per cent more ready ” for the qualifiers this year, which shouldn’t be taken literally, but there will be one crucial difference, hopefully, in the games this time around.

Scott Brown.

The midfielder is the leader on the pitch, by example and by encouragement, and he was badly missed in the Legia and Maribor games last year. There’s no doubt he’ll be a big plus this time around, and Ronny was asked if he could have made a difference last time;

 Of course – maybe not against Legia Warsaw but Maribor was a tie of small margins and Brown is an important player.

“When he came back in the team he made a big impact.”

When Deila got the job , he decided that he wanted players to play in a certain way, which for some of them was a big ask. By doing this, he would put his stamp on the team, and go some way to eradicating the malady that had began to creep in as the team grew stale. Gradually, he won them over, and now he is ready to step it up a bit.

“Everything must be quicker. That is what we are working on. The pattern is starting to get quite clear, players know what they have to do.

“Now the goal is to get that as quick as possible and if things get quicker then it is going to be very hard for other teams to beat us.

“We are on a totally different level now than we were one year ago.

“From where we started and where we are now, it’s miles apart. I think the players feel that as well.

“It’s like a relationship – it gets 
better as time goes on, hopefully!

“You experience things together, positive and negative.

“You build trust and start to know each other and know what you can expect from one another.

“We’ve had one year, we look happy and we want to continue like that. Maybe I am the wife in the relationship, not the husband!”  

All of which adds to the sense of anticipation amongst the support that another good season, perhaps with the added bonus of extended European football, lies ahead.

Not alll of the squad will be around to see it though, as Deila continues with his plan to trim the squad to around 21 players, plus goalkeepers. He’s been up front about this for a few weeks now, so it should come as no surprise to anyone;

Some players need to try to find another club. It’s not fun to be in a situation that you don’t play. We want a smaller squad so we can get youngsters in to train with us from our academy. That’s why we do it. It’s important to develop the club that way and if you have too big a squad and they end up 23, 24, 25, a 26-year-old who is No.26 in the squad, there’s no future for them. And it is hard for me to see them every day and give them what they need as well. So it is best for everyone. 

For us to get down to be at 21, 22 that will require evolution, and we have to maybe take one more window to get to that number. But we’re very clear on what we want and we’ll see how quickly we can do it.” 

Maybe we could hook up with a smaller club, perhaps one struggling to find money for their own players, and it could turn out to be mutually beneficial. If only there was one close by….

Spanish daily AS reports that Martin Odegaard, the Norwegian 16 year old who chose Real Madrid over nearly every top club in Europe is ready to resume his working relationship with Ronny Deila. He’s told Real that he doesn’t want to play for their reserve side, Castilla, but realistically has little chance of breaking into the first team. Real will more than likely loan him out, but would prefer him to stay in spain. The longer the dispute goes on, the more chance they will just get sick of him whinging, and he’ll be out of there.

We’d better be quick. Second Rangers have shifted up a gear in their quest to be champions League winner in four years.

Alvechurch play in the ninth tier of English football, as is evident from their coach, in the background, trying to persuade a drunk to disappear as there is a game on in a minute.

It appears to have delighted their support;

Gersandproud 

Well, as long as they are happy. Because a glance at the latest offering from john James might cause them to get involved in a bit of social unrest…or something,

There’s a couple of things in this bit worth noting. you see, Dave King, since shown to be a bit of a fibber, fought off a challenge from potential investor robert Sarver, by promising to invest heavily at ibrox. Sarver this week handed £30m to Sanish side Levante, which proves he puts his money where his mouth is, whereas King has some way to go on that front.

I spent months arguing against the hostile takeover by King, Murray & Gilligan. Sarver emerged and wanted to buy a majority holding in RIFC. He had the track record and the money to prove he knew how to successfully run a basketball franchise and to optimize brand value. Sarver wanted control. He offered real investment. The judicious use of £30M would have given us a team to not only gain promotion, but challenge for the title next season. A team with a real chance of winning The Scottish Cup, with UEFA football returning next season.

But this did not suit Houston, Rangers First or the RST, because they wanted power and real influence. King promised Houston a seat on the board. Gilligan kept the RST on side and Rangers First were courted by Murray. When King’s hostile takeover was formally announced at his EGM, he was flanked by the RF principal. 

King, Murray & Gilligan had these guys in their pocket long before Sarver turned up. To them, Sarver really was a distraction as their influence would have been undermined, or at worst rendered irrelevant.

With King, no matter how bent, criminal, bankrupt or corrupt, their voice would be heard and the lavish lunches and free bar in The Argyll Suite would be at their disposal as part of their clandestine quid pro quo.

Those who are thinking of not buying an ST book next season will be boycotting a liar who promised investment and did not deliver. They might also find the idea of subsidizing Houston & Chugg’s elevated status anathema to them. 

King lied to them in regard to his investment. He has been doing this for 30 years using faked accountancy qualifications to solicit investment in his pump & dump creations. He has duped much smarter guys than exist in these self-appointed, self-aggrandizing soundbite merchants.

Mark Warburton, who has never met King, is attempting to build a team for next season. He decides that Eustace could do a much better job than McCulloch and invites him to Glasgow to sign him up. He shows him our once magnificent stadium and the excellent facilities in Milngavie. Mark and Vice-Chairman Murray then sit down with Eustace’s manager (his father) and his agent. Any agent worth his salt would have known that McCulloch was on £18,000 per week plus bonuses. He had a higher basic than McCoist, but the latter had a £160,000 no questions asked expenses account and share bonus scheme.

So let’s assume the following dialogue. The maximum on offer is £10,000 per week.

In an attempt to compromise on the two year deal, his agent suggests an £800,000 signing on fee, which would be undisclosed and be played as conforming to the new regime’s payroll ceiling. This is a device often used to circumvent problems of this nature.

However, the new regime don’t have £800,000. All they have is what will be delivered in season books in the close season. Signing on fees cannot be countenanced. Salaries will be paid by match day income, cup runs, broadcasting and sponsorship. In business terms there will be no capital expenditure (CAPEX), just operating expenditure (OPEX). 

I revert to my forecast that Mark will have to sign out of contract players and Bosman free agents such as Wilson who are happy to accept a deal with no signing on fee.
Level 5 have just informed Keith Jackson that a Spurs youngster is being looked at on a two year loan deal (OPEX). I wish Mark every success with this proposed acquisition, whilst mindful that this leak has been designed to deflect attention from the failure to sign Eustace.

Vice-Chairman Murray does not lie as easily as King. He said it would take seven years. He knew King was as broke as we on this site do. If Park pulls the plug on King we can easily accept and support an inept board. Supporting a criminal lying chairman and his acolytes, is much more challenging to many of us. 

I’ve included it again as an alternative to the constant spin in the mainstream media. This fellow seems to know his stuff, which has led to specualtion on social media as to his true identity.

He uses the moniker John James, and after extensive detective work, i think i know who it could be. Although it probably isn’t, because my detection skills don’t usualy even reach the level of being able to find matching socks in the morning. But, lets see.

” John James ”

john is another word for Jack, as in Jack Kennedy, former US president whose real name was John F.

James is a little trickier. but ignoring obvious and easy to spot clues, like tv detective Taggart used to do, -you’ll remember Taggart. That’s the one where the murderer would turn out to be a character from another programme- I found this intriguing link…

James Irvine RDI was a London-born designer working in Milan, where he moved in 1984. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree from the Kingston Polytechnic Design school and his Master’s from the Royal College of Art 

So, James leads us to Irvine, which means that it must be a revenge bent Jack Irvine, the media manager who was er, mutually consented by the Ibrox club some time ago.

I might start a private detective agency.

I’ve no idea who it is, and there’s no suggestion that it is , in fact , Jack Irvine.

But whoever it is, he’s good.

Now, we’ve mentioned a couple of youngsters furthering their career, and here’s another making his debut this weekend for his new club.

Who is he ?

And does anyone have a story about him, maybe from a previous club ? He’s been around a bit.