Celtic Diary Tuesday December 29: I Never Heard A Thing….

2015 isn’t going out with a whimper, is it ? Theres more bad weather on the way, and the promise of even more floods. The woman at the BBC who does the sign language for the news is dreading heavy rain in Cockermouth.

It may have been a better performance at Tynecastle, and the players may have shown a little more spirit, but it’s come at a cost. With a visit to dens Park tomorrow night, the hoops may be a little short on fully fit players, as manager Ronny Deila explains;

“Dedryck got a hamstring injury and Stuart has problems with his back so it will be very hard to get them ready for Wednesday.

“Leigh tested himself in Saturday and he wasn’t totally there. He is still he is getting stiffness in his calf when he starts running so it is still too early.

“He is very close, it could be Wednesday, it could be Saturday, it could be a week after but it is not a long-term injury.

“Kris got a knock in training, unfortunately it was a normal tackle but he got a bad hit and got a swollen ankle.

“We have to take a picture (scan) of it but we don’t think it is a very serious thing and hopefully he can be ready for Wednesday.

“Efe and Mikael went down as well but we got through it and we got a point. It was an okay performance and that is something we have to take with us. I am satisfied with a lot of things.” 

Whoever makes the final eleven will have the task of getting Celtic back to winning ways, as it feels like a long time since we scored the three goals required to record a victory these days.

We need to start winning again.

“That is always important. If you are going to be champions you have to win football games and we have to get back to winning games as quickly as possible.

“They (Dundee) are offensively very good. They score goals so we have to be good defensively but we know also that if we defend well we will get our opportunities, so it is to attack with balance and be aware of what strengths they have.” 

Ronny admitting there that Dundee score goals, which doesn’t exactly set them apart from any other side Celtic have faced in the last few months.

Dundee have their own problems, they , too were twice in the lead in their last match against ross county, but they actually went the whole hog and lost the game;

Manager and former Celt Paul Hartley still sounds a little shellshocked;

“I didn’t see that result coming on Saturday. For 55 minutes we were good, we take the lead and I thought we were going to be okay.

“I just felt we lost our focus and concentration.

“But for the last game and half, some of our play has been good. We have scored good goals, we are a real threat but for half an hour on Saturday we had a little bit of a collapse and it is not like us.”  

Whatever else you might say about the current Celtic side, and the form that they are in, I’m looking forward to the game.

Laid back midfielder Nir Biton spoke to the press, not an easy job when you consider the first thing they pointed out to the Israeli was that Celtic have dropped five points out of the last six, which is as bad as it has been for Deila;

‘Should we be further ahead? If we look at ourselves, we have to admit that we have dropped a lot of points,’ 

‘These kind of things happen. But we know that we have to be at our best in every game. That means playing like we did on Sunday at Tynecastle. Everyone was up for the fight and we all fought for each other.

‘When we want to win, we start from there. Everyone knows the quality we have in the team. But we need to fight before we bring the qualities into the game.

‘We will try to play as we did on Sunday for the rest of the season. When we fight for each other and do the simple things, we look good.

‘Against Motherwell at home last week, we didn’t do any of those things and lost the game. We just need to make sure we do the same things as we did against Hearts. Then we will win the games.

‘We go to Dundee on Wednesday wanting to win, which is exactly what we wanted to do against Hearts. We all need to understand that this is going to be a difficult game for us and we need to be fully prepared for it.’

If there was an award for stating the obvious.…

If step one was to get the team pulling together and working for each other, then that was accomplished in Edinburgh.

Step two should be to win a game. Needs to be tomorrow, or else they’ll be feeling the rough edge of my tongue.

Stating the obvious.

Thats surprisingly difficult these days, as any member of the Scottish mainstream media will tell you. They’ll tell you anything if it means they don’t have to mention the singalongaIbrox yesterday, when the good times came back as the new Rangers consolidated their position as the best team in the level below the best teams.

During the festive frolics, Hibs boss Alan Stubbs was informed he was a sad fenian bastard, several members of society were asked why they haven’t gone home, and all while wading knee deep through a river of blood.

All broadcast live on tv and radio.

Tom English of the Scotsman and Rachel Lynch of the Irish Post are exempt from the following criticism. Ewan Murray, of the Guardian,  nearly was, but he spoiled it towards the end with a spectacular piece of , well, he’d call it even handedness, I suppose.

Tens of thousands of people chanting about “fenian bastards” at a Scottish football game in 2015 is pathetic. It’s embarrassing. 

Equally pathetic is the “but what about THEM?” response. And the fact Scottish football couldn’t care less. 

Rangers have a forward thinking manager, a team going places (at last) and this nonsense prevails. Nonsensical. 

I also have a timeline full of Celtic fans who are absolutely (secretly) delighted this singing has gone on… Equally pathetic. 

He was doing so well until he presumed to know what I was secretly thinking. Because what I was secretly thinking was that someone finally discovered a pair and was telling it like it is.

The Scottish press seem to have difficulty with the idea that all most of us want is a fair and balanced view. And we so nearly got that from Murray.

Here’s English speaking last night on twitter;

I have to wonder about the mindset of many thousands of Rangers fans today. Unless my ears deceived me, a lot of sectarian chanting.Disgrace  

Which, in turn , prompted a reply from a golfer; golf, of course, isn’t a real game. Its where those of limited intelligence hit a ball as hard as they can and then wander off after it, even if its raining. On that basis, their views are perfectly valid.

@BBCTomEnglish well balanced as always Tom, you never let us down #predictable  

Forsyth then defended his reply, which was in itself bizarre, as English is one of the few who does have more than a hint of balance in his reporting;

@austingaughan90 @BBCTomEnglish all I said is he calls it one way constantly. Not condoning anything. End of  

He doesn’t.

But English has been in Scotland for a while now, and is used to it, and knows how to deal with those less than enlightemed souls who defend their actions by saying that the other lot do it-and that works both ways, as we know.

However, Lynch is different.

The abuse she gets can only be compared to that given to another journalist and editor Angela Haggerty. Which is personal and unacceptable.

She pointed this out;

Rachel Lynch Retweeted EastLothianHibs

“Fenian cu*ts” in clear view of stewards & police, yet nothing. This is what you are up against. 

referring to this clip…

EastLothianHibs on Twitter_ _Classy guy #scum https___t.co_fyzkHNiiHL_

Which, among other similar observations , led to her adding;

Started the day as Rachel Lynch. Finishing up as Rachel Lynch the terrorist loving Fenian whore. Everyone can’t like you I suppose. 

Given the mindset of those doing the abusing, is it wrong of me to suggest that those two mentioned are getting it in the neck because they are, whisper it, Irish ?

Before I go on to discuss the merits-if thats the right word-of the Scottish coverage of the singalong, let me make one thing perfectly clear.

I really couldn’t give a flying fuck what they sing in their crumbling concrete closet.

As far as i’m concerned they can guard derry’s walls wearing  their fathers sash until they are blue not only in the nose, but in the rest of their face.

It’s a song. And apart from Angels, by Robbie Williams, its been a long bloody time since a song offended me.

I honestly don’t care. Like all bullies, they call you names to upset you, and provoke a reaction, and if theres no reaction, then the action hasn’t worked.

But…and yes, there’s a but…isn’t what they’re doing against the law ?

Doesn’t what they’re doing add strength to the argument that the Offensive Behaviour Act is unworkable ? If a law is being broken, live on television by 40,000 people, and Police Scotland do nothing about it, then surely it proves that the law is a waste of time, and at the very least should be repealed ?

Maybe we should concentrate our energy on that aspect of yesterday, and not on the choir singing.

Not that the Scottish media are anyway;

The BBC’s Chris McLaughlin heads the list of shame;

@TheClumpany I’m talking about the football. Just the football. 

 Chris works for the state broadcaster. His duty is to report on what he sees and hears, especially if the law of the land has been broken. Sooner or later his credibility will be in tatters. Theres no point in being a reporter if you don’t report.

Something the rest of them need to bear in mind.

Its not about the songs, as vile as they are, they do have a basic right to sing what they want. But we also have , whilst it’s against the law, a right to arrest them.

And when its not against the law, we have a right to ignore them. Eventually, they will go away.

Yesterdays picture of a confiscated flag, that of the Vatican state, turned out to be rather more topical than it was intended. That was , it seems , deemed offensive, and was taken away.

Joyously singing about being up to their knees in fenian blood, however, didn’t offend anyone, according to the police, and the outbusrt in the video was, well, just banter, it seems.

I’m finishing on a serious note today.

The trouble at Ibrox during the morton game, highlighted in a previous Diary and then the Greenock Telegraph, combined with their exuberance yesterday takes me back to the time when their exuberance was on the telly .

I can’t help but think that another outburst of, er, joviality, from that lot is just around the corner, especially as the forces of law and order seem to be showing them a little leniancy of late.

Like all bullies, they need to be reigned in when they reach a certain level of abuse.

The behaviour of the police in instances like yesterday needs to be questioned. Not just yesterday, but going back to the Ajax game a few weeks ago.

The forces of law and order must impose law and order without fear or favour.

If they don’t, there will be trouble, and it isn’t far away.

A cynic might say that Police Scotland  would want this to happen, as it would serve police  interests in arguing for a bigger slice of the budget, but thats an argument for another day.

I might be completely wrong, but I don’t think I am.

The Ibrox  have their attitude back, and their sense of righteousness that comes with it. The arms  of the establishment have almost entirely circled their club again, after it was cast out when it drew attention to their cosy little cabal with a bit of creative accounting.

The next few months are very important , not only in Scottish sport, but in the media , in society, and even in government.

We can either move forward, or back.

Don’t let us blow the opportunity to bring Scotland into the twenty first century.

We were doing so well…..

The picture yesterday featured Pittodrie Stadium , Aberdeen, in the late sixties.

And now, a caption competition.