Celtic Diary Monday November 30: Life Is Full Of Surprises

Not just in football either.

Remember that funeral I was at last week ?

It was a friend of the wifes, so I didn’t really know him, but went along because thats the sort of thing you do as a couple. Anyhow. The fellows kids were talking about what they’d been left. One said he’d got two blocks of flats near the city centre, another said he’d got a load of small businesses and the third son proudly announced he’d got all the bungalows.

I said to the wife, “Bloody hell, how much money did this guy have ? He must have been loaded. ” and yes, I was beginning to regret not paying more attention to her friends. Well this one , at least.

She replied ” Loaded ? Was he fuck. He was a window cleaner. ”

Yesterday though, provided an even bigger surprise.

Not that Celtic won 3-1.

Not that the side looked a little more composed and relaxed. Possibly because the pressure of succeeding in Europe had been lifted, a pressure which must be unbearable at times, given that some sections of the media, upset that their own favourites overseas jaunts are confied to a couple of trips to Berwick, have decided that domestic trophies don’t count anymore and Europe is where it’s at.

Come to think of it, their favourite won’t be winning any major domestic trophies either, another reason why they are being downgraded.

Not even that Calum McGregor scored early on again, like he does.

Lets hope he can stay away from the inevitable injury until at least Scott Brown comes back, but then again, thats perhaps unfair as McGregor is picking up where he left of, much to the alarm of Kris Commons.

No, the biggest surprise of all was that I could see immediately the difference that Carlton Cole will make.

And it’s so simple, and it’s even been done before, that I can’t understand why we all missed it.

And the thinking behind it.

Arguably one of the problems we have had this season is a lack of quality balls into the box, combined with a lack of height and strength to take full advantage.

A few years ago, Shunsuke Nakamura, no mean striker of the ball himself, admitted that his job was made an awful lot easier by having a big ginger haired Welshman to aim at. Nakamura said that in the heat of the moment, John Hartson was easy to spot in a split second, and easier to hit than any of his other team mates.

That could also be the case with Cole. He’s a big black lad, and he is easy to pick out in a crowd.

Thus anyone who looks up for just a second will spot him instantly, and can aim the ball at him, as opposed to aiming a ball to where they think there might be a forward.

If Deila opts to use him, with Griffiths in a withdrawn role as one of the three support players, then you may find that although not a conventional 4-4-2, we will have solved this issue of not creating and converting as many chances as we should.

The player also made himself likeable to the support when he told cameras after the game ” I ain’t claiming that one ” after he did a Bobo on the defenders, causing them to panic and hide the ball in the net where he couldn’t get it.

Time will tell, but there seems to be a bit pof promise there, and thats what i mean by surprises.

I though he’d be a diddy.

Speaking of diddies. See when you’re getting picked up early to go to the game, and you’ve been out the night before ? Get someone to check youve dressed yourself properly.

Hundreds of supporters made their way north yesterday, and given the adverse conditions , deserve applause for their efforts.

Thats what supporters do, they support.

Early on in the day, there were complaints that supporters buses were being stopped and searched by police, who were on the lookout for alcohol, presumably because it was sunday and all the off licences were shut.

Adverse weather, long trips, early starts and late finishes. Yet the police add to their woes with unnecessary stop and searches.

After police were criticised for their absence during the trouble in the Gallowgate on Thursday, they seemed to be right on the ball yesterday.

Perhaps next time , the support will place Ajax flags in the back window, and drape a few scarves out the side.

Her majestys finest came under criticism for their lack of presence during  Thursdays events, which saw the owner of the Hoops bar hospitalised with some nasty injuries. The press, with the honourable exception of the Irish Post, have largely ignored this issue, but thats not surprising. And the police ? Well, we hear they were only acting under orders on Thursday night, and we’ve seen a copy of them;

I’m making light of something serious here, which is  not my intention, and Police Scotland should be called to task over this. The club have security people.

Why are they not demanding answers ?

Why is someone not being held responsible for their poor showing on Thursday, and their over zealous approach yesterday ?

And why are Police allowed to hide their faces these days, and yet demand that supporters show theirs ?

If they are caught on camera misbehaving, won’t that make it more difficult to hold them to account ?

From now on, I’m going to the game on my bike. That’ll teach these coppers.

Away from that, because something else annoyed me a wee bit yesterday.

Buzzing to be brought all the way up to inverness with the team to sit in the stands today, lovely weather for it too…

Perhaps a little more than it should, this really got under my skin.

Stokes isn’t in the team right now. Fair enough, he might be a little frustrated by that. As he tweeted this, yesterday morning , hundreds of fans were heading north in that “lovely weather ” so they , too, can “sit in the stands“.

And guess what, they had to pay their own way, and none of them will see their bank accounts increased by several thousand pounds this month.

Manager Ronny Deila has said he will speak to Stokes about the tweet, the player admittedly apologised later on, but again it shows the detachment between players and supporters.

Anyway, lets see how Deila handles it, we hear he’s planned a meeting with Stokes later today.

Congratulations to Andy Murray and his brother Jamie who helped to win the bat and ball Davis Cup for Britain yesterday, the first time the trophy has been won  since 1936, which , by a remarkable coincidence, was the last time anyone gave a toss.

And now, a caption competition… which is not an analogy for events at Ibrox….