Celtic Diary Thursday December 31: Another Year Over…

Well, thats another year over.

For a varietyof reasons, its probably ome best forgotten fairly quickly, if you look at the news today.

Though I did get sort of excited when I heard something about the scandal of tainted titles on one of the channels. Except they were talking about the new years honours list-the only time the word honour is associated with some of the recpients.

Quite how a title handed out to the likes of Jimmy Saville and David Murray can suddenly become tainted however, is a story in itself.

something else of interest appeared in the released government papers as well;

And then theres the storms, the one this time called Frank as the Met Office has now decided to name them in the fashion of hurricanes. But calling it Frank ? That doesn’t make you think its dangerous.

Why not name them Billy, or Sammy, in the fashion of the notorious support of now defunct Rangers ?

At least then you’d know they were going to cause havoc and destruction as they spread across the land.

As you know, the game against Dundee was called off last night due to a waterlogged pitch.

This picture, tweeted by a member of the groundstaff shortly after the abnnouncement, suggests that the pitch they were referring to as waterlogged might not actually have been in dundee, but the Dens Park club hurriedly countered this with this video , showing a ball not bouncing due to the amount of saturation in the ground.

video dens

This seemed to satisfy most of the Celtic support until the fellow dropped the ball on his foot on the way back to the dressing room.

The groundstaff  then published a further picture which we suspect is not entirely factual, before giving up and going back to bed in a huff.

The postponement meant that Aberdeen were in a position to take full advantage of the situation, which they did by holding Partick Thistle to a draw and joining Celtic at the top of the table.

Although actually second, they are described as being joint top in some quarters, proving that experts really aren’t experts at all.

Their failure to beat Thistle will no doubt attract criticism of dons manager Derek McInnes, who so far has seen his club take an early European exit, and fail to deal with clubs on around a quarter of his budget.

On top of that, there are stories circulating that the inclusion of a supporter on the team bus heading down to Maryhill yesterday may have affected the players concentration;

Some in the media have said that with Celtic a bit wobbly at the moment, this could be Aberdeens best chance of winning the league since the heady days of Alex Ferguson, and have called on McInnes to go public with this thought to inspire his players;

@DarrenBSCooney I agree, its their best chance at a challenge. He should just come out, state they can win it and that will motivate players  

Thats it, Chris. You tell him.

He should just come out and say what he thinks, and not worry about upsetting anyone.

Tell it like it is!

Chris MacLaughlin of the BBc has blocked me on twitter, meaning I cannot see the thought provoking and inspiring statements of less than 140 characters he issues from time to time, such as these;

Perhaps he’s just getting mixed up. You see, as a bloody liar myself, I have to have a great memory as to what I’ve already said, otherwise it can come back and bite me on the bum, so I can appreciate how difficult it must be for Chris at this time.

The furor around the sectarian /racist chanting reached another level as the FA of Ireland demanded to know why the SFA hadn’t taken action against the Ibrox club, and have written to UEFA asking them to intervene.

Oh hang on, thats next weeks news.

And I haven’t even started on the drink yet.

With the game off last night, the hacks have had to shelve their Ronny is a diddy headlines and put their “who will be the next Celtic manager?” polls on hold”, and they’ve had to turn to “Ronny must spend big in the transfer window” as the next  line of abuse.

Happily, for them, the £4m price tag that has been attached to Alfred Finnbigasson of Real Sociedad means he’s not on the list.

Which sets up a nice wee dig in February if Celtic don’t get some back up in for Leigh Griffiths, out injured with a sore back from carrying the hopes and expectations of the support.

John Guidetti ( remember him ? has failed miserably so far in Spain, notching just one goal in seventeen for Celta Vigo, and he’s one that had he succeeded , would have been used as an excuse to attack the clubs biscuit tin mentality , so although Celtic do need to strengthen, certainly with experience, its not about what you spend, its about who you spend it on.

Not an easy task, as anyone looking to join Celtic will be visiting a flood ravaged country where it goes dark before teatime while they are touring the ground, and as the money on offer will be dwarfed by other clubs elsewhere, you cannot possibly envy the task ahead for the manager and others as they seek to continue to get the team ready for next years European campaign.

So if we do get anyone of note, who does turn out to be a more than useful addition to the club, then a hell of a lot of praise is due in someones direction.

a bit early, I know, but I’d like to wish you a happy new year.

As its now time for my annual liver capacity test, I’ll be er, preparing the ingredients shrtly, and the test may go on for a day or two, so i’m unlikely to be offering any words of wisdom in the morning.

Hah! words of wisdom, if i did it would be the first time.

That was Silvio Belusconi singing on a cruise ship in yesterdays picture.

today, a simple caption competition;

Thanks again for reading and commenting all year, its been a pleasure to have a chuckle along with you.

Thanks also to the mainstream media, Second Rangers football club and assorted personalities throughout the last twelve months for giving me so much material to work with.

And remember, we do have a lot to be happy about.

Celtic are top of the league and gunning for a treble, Rangers , despite a lot of noise over there, are still dead, and there’s the promise of a new episode of football funny “Only an Excuse “this evening.

Apparently they’ve decided to break with tradition and not show the same episode as they have been doing for the last fifteen years.

If you are going to indulge in a dram or two at the bells, remember to drink responsibly.

Drink a pint of water every couple of days to lessen the effect.

Know your limits.

But remember…

Enjoy yourselves.

All the best.