Transfer Talk:

Celtic target Senegalese defender, Mohsni offered deal

Surely the first rule of any writing would involve clarity ? This offering from the STV website implies that Celtic are after one defender, and have offered a deal to another. Well, when I imply defender….

With Jason Denayer back at Manchester City and Virgil Van Dijk still rumoured to be on his way out, it’s little wonder Celtic have been linked with countless defenders this summer. And there’s another name to add to the list. 

It’s known in the trade as “lazy journalism “

The Scottish Premiership champions are reported to be engaged in a bidding war with Sunderland for Nantes centre-back Papy Djilobodji.

The 26-year-old Senegalese centre-back is keen on a move away from the Ligue 1 club, with Nantes hoping to sell to an English or Scottish side. ( L’Equipe )

So, an English one, then.

But the good news is from the Record

Former Rangers bad boy Bilel Mohsni offered three-year £1m deal by

Tunisian side Club Africain.

Have they broken ranks and started calling them Former Rangers ?

It had me worried for a second, but only a second.

Runar Pall Sigmndsen is still optimistic that his Stjarnan side can overcome Celtic -or at least make a game of it-in tonights second leg qualifier out in Iceland.

Bless him.

“Celtic’s defence plays very high so on the counter attack they can be vulnerable and there are possibilities for us to score. But they are not a weak team.” 

So, the instructions he will give his players will be pretty much the same as at Celtic Park. As soon as the game starts everybody run back to their own penalty area.

Which isn’t entirely unexpected, and therefore it isn’t entirely unexpected that the result will be the same.

“Our supporters can help make it hot for Celtic. 

“You will be surprised when you see our fans. There are only 1000 of them but they are the best in Iceland. 

We’ll probably be alright as long as we stay away from their main stand, where everyone will be sitting.

But those cranes could be a bit of  a distraction.

For anyone in Iceland, or thinking of popping over, this is the closest bus stop to the ground, in case you get lost.

But here’s the really important  travel info;

Bar

Two bus stops further down on the No.1 route, by the crossroads with Hjallabraut, theIrish Pub (Reykjavíkurvegur 60, Hafnarfjördur) belies its bland location and façade with a large, homely interior, large enough to accommodate a projector screen for match action. Bear in mind that if you’re heading there post-match, the last bus back to Reykjavik leaves just after 11pm. It’s close to the Hotel Hafarfjordur, handy for the airport.

Sigmundsen continues;

“We need the whole town to get behind us and make it hot for the Celtic players. We need to be well organised, keep a clean sheet for as long as possible and try to take our chances.”  

Stjarnan , despite Jim Bett lauding their home form, have yet to win at the Stjornuvoller this season in the league, but if they spend their time in their own box then it’s not hard to see why. There is always the danger that they might throw caution to the wind, as they are struggling in the league, but even if they do, Celtic should be able to exploit the space.

 There are concerns that the artificial pitch, reputed not to be one of the best, will cause celtic problems, but manager Ronny Deila doesn’t agree;

” I’m very positive about artificial surfaces,” 

“It’s much better to play on good artificial than bad grass.

“If I could choose, everyone would want to play on a very good grass pitch like at Celtic Park but I think it’s going to be a good surrounding and it is a surface we had to handle last season when we played Kilmarnock and Hamilton. We did that quite well so I’m looking forward to the game.

“It’s not only Celtic Park in Scotland. You can go to Inverness or Ross County and I don’t think they’re too different from this.” 

Sigmindsen is on record as having said;

“It will be a shock for them to see this [pitch] for themselves compared to the one they have, there is a gulf between them,”

“Of course they are mud pissed over this situation.”  

So that was his plan all along. To get Celtic’s players “mud pissed ”

Maybe it will be trickier than we thought.

Fed up with the press conference by now, Deila said;

“My players are professional. They know what they’re going into,”

“If you make a big mess of things it will be a mess and we just have to keep on with the same things – building that culture I talk about all the time, being 100 per cent every day, going into training, getting better and using every game to get better and get a good performance.”

Nadir Ciftci could be involved tonight, and Ronny Deila spoke yesterday of the added competitiveness and aggression ( okay, I mean bite but thought the wisecrack too groan-inducing even for the diary ) he brings to the side, which confirmed early thoughts that the reason he bought him wasn’t to change him, but to harness the abilities he has.

“We have Scott, Nadir and other players who are playing on the edge and that’s good.

“He was always a handful when we played against him. This aggression is one of his strengths but it has to be controlled. You can’t take this away from him. 

That’s how it is. Winners are often playing on the edge and do everything to succeed.

“When you play football, there is a thin line between being aggressive and going over the line.

“Nadir’s still young and it’s important that all the players at Celtic show aggressiveness but it has to be in a fair way.

“I don’t know if he’s learned his lesson but you do learn through experience and I’m sure Nadir is learning things about different situations.

“Nadir is not a challenge to me. Outside the pitch he’s nice. On the pitch, he’s also good. I don’t think there will be any problems.” 

If he thinks he’s the man for the job, then he’s the man for the job. Let’s be honest, we were expecting a ban of several months, seizure of all assets and deportation back to Turkey. but according to Scottish football expert Neil Warnock, speaking on Scottish football loving Talkshite Radio, we were surprised;

“I’ve been up in Scotland over the last few weeks and everyone knew that it was going to happen,” 

“It’s just they may have thought they’d get away with a couple of games banned, but six is a bit of a blow to them.”

I don’t know who he was talking to, but it sounds like someone with a comparable knowledge of Scottish football.

Keeper Craig Gordon is looking ahead to the game, and participation in the group stages.

‘The Champions League is a massive goal for me, It’s something I want to experience and it will take a massive effort over the next few weeks to get there.

‘It’s a difficult competition. It’s hard to even reach the group stages nowadays as there are so many games.

‘I don’t assume it will happen. You can never assume anything in this game.

‘To get to the group stages, you have to go through a lot of games against quality teams.

If I was him i’d be more worried  what new back up Logan Bailly seems to be  thinking here;

We are certainly more prepared this time around. We know what the manager expects of us and in that respect, we have no excuses.’

‘Did I envy the other clubs being in the Champions League? Absolutely ! You want to play on that stage and test yourself at that level. I don’t think there’s a better competition in club football

‘It’s something I desperately want to try and do before the end of my career.

‘I still have a while to do it but I’d like it to happen as soon as possible and I have a good chance this season.’

His thoughts on how the game will go echo those of most of the support; 

‘At some point, Stjarnan are going to have to come out and go for a goal. I would expect that we might have to do more work defensively.

‘Away from home against anyone, that will be the case. We are expecting a hard game and we will try to win on its merits.

‘We will take it as it comes and if we play to our abilities, hopefully we will get the job done.

‘It’s a strange one with a 2-0 lead. We don’t have to chase it, but they do. If we get an away goal, it will be very difficult.

‘We are dangerous on the counter attack and hopefully we can get that goal.’

I’d expect Celtic to go with Gordon, Lustig, van Dijk, Boyata , Izaguirre, Brown, Biton, Mackay Steven, Johansen Armstrong and Griffiths. 

Although Deila might continue with Ciftci. Griffiths , though, is the man in form, and with Mackay Steven in the side, those two would be our bets chance of an early strike to put the game to bed.

BT sport are covering the game, from 8pm, with kick off at 8.15, and the first goal before half past.

Celtic will probably find chances  easier to come by tonight, as Stjarnan, despite what their manager says, will be more adventurous. Though the score will probably only be one or two nil. Largely down to the infuriating habit of aiming at the centre of the goal, where the keeper is.

Stjarnan have only kept one clean sheet in thirteen games this season, tonight won’t improve that figure.

Elsewhere, over at Ibrox, the public got a chance to see for themselves how the Warburton Era is shaping up for the new club.

Andrew Smith, in the Scotsman , towed the party line about how good they were looking etc, but may find himself toed for this excerpt;

In some ways, Rangers are embarking on the year zero reset that should have been set in motion when the old club was liquidated in 2012 and the latest incarnation began life in the fourth tier. Then, a whole new approach, with new players and a new coaching team – at a fraction of the cost of the previous regime – was cried out for.  

But in the very next paragraph he was back in line;

Under Warburton, assistant David Weir and their merry band, Rangers may now have that. Frankly, if they utilise their £5 million budget properly, the Scottish Championship ought to be hardly the most exacting set-up. That is, of course, providing the Englishman can construct a team that is competent, cohesive and offers a degree of class.  

It appears he is a little confused between the budget available and the money owed to Mike Ashley.

Second Rangers were beaten 1-0, despite controlling the game etc… and there is apparently still hope for the future.

For Burnley, it was good for their morale to record a win, having been beaten by Accrington Stanley 4-2 at the weekend.

They take their football seriously in Accrington

and are ruthlessly ambitious.

Ibrox fans won’t have been happy with bettting site Coral, had they seen this , the page for match betting;

They weren’t the only ones;

Maybe there’s been a shift in club policy…

But then again, fans probably aren’t interested. This picture, taken just before kick off makes you wonder if the official crowd of 22,345 is as accurate as it could be.

With New Balance giving off the impression that they lack any kind of interest in the satisfaction of customers after they purchase Celtic tops, we have been assured by one of the high heid yins that he has given a gentle nudge towards the chaps in Britain to maintain and uphold their business strategy, which revolves around one hundred per cent customer satisfaction, so let’s see if anything changes.

 Unhappily, the man who struck the deal with New Balance on Celtic’s behalf has yet to reply to my questions, showing a complete lack of responsibilty for his decision to seal the deal without first checking the quality of the product, and an astonishing lack of respect for the supporter who has bought it, after he decided it was the best deal on offer.

 Oh, by the way, Mike Ashleys Sports Direct are knocking a tenner off their prices. Still not worth the risk.

What I can’t figure out is why the material isn’t standing up to the washing cycle. I may be that they should be washed at a lower temparature, or turned inside out, but it’s sportswear, which will be sweaty, muddy and have beer spilled on it.

It’s not a delicate silk shirt, even though it kind of feels like one.

Hardly the correct attire for a sunday morning kick about in the rain.

There’s has been no acknowledgement from the company of any substandard product, and whilst Celtic have been exchanging faulty ones, they have said nothing either.

No explanation, no apology.

It seems that all anyone is concerned about with the deal is how much money is in it for them.

Unless things improve, they will have to make up their bonuses by flogging the left over shirts at a car boot sale.

Speaking of tops, the splendid white shirt in the diary yesterday was worn by Jimmy Johnstone against St. Ettiene in a European cup away tie. Simple design, and since it was worn in 1968, nearly fifty years ago, maybe the “pioneering technology ” that New Balance speak of could be further enhanced by looking at what this was made of.

Today, we see a big crowd on it’s way to the game.

Which game, and when ?