There was a wee bit of bother for the Celtic squad yesterday as their plane, which had been delayed by a couple of hours while the mechanics did a bit of work on the engine..
was re routed after the captain received a call from Maribor airport saying everyone had gone home. As you can see in the leader picture.
This meant the aircraft was diverted to Croatia, where a coach was laid on to take the team to their hotel, which unlike the airport, had stayed open, but only sandwiches were available.
We did, however , get a glimpse of our latest signing, thoughh frankly, I have to confess to being less than impressed.
The tour will include the first games under the new manager, and helpfully, he’s given the players all a little handbook on how he wants things done, as defender Erik Sviatchenko explains…
“It’s nice to have that idea of how he wants to play, to be able to look through the book and understand things better.
“It’s not like we’re going to be waking up in the middle of the night and reading it – but it’s good to have something to help explain things.
“Especially when a new manager comes in and wants to implement new ideas, it’s great to have something written down that we can read if we’re in doubt.
“It’s a general guide to how he wants to work – what he expects from us and what he can give to us. So it is quite general about how he wants us to play.
“I’ve never experienced anything like that in football, it’s my first time being handed a book like this, but it’s very nice.
“It shows a seriousness, a real detailed approach and a message that we’re all together in this, working for the one goal, being together and planning for a good season. It’s a good start.
“It’s not a very thick book, I was able to read it all. It’s more general, some team tactics but also what he and his coaching team expect from the players.”
We at Etims, of course, are privvy to a copy of the book, and it looks like the new manager is starting with the basics.
Mind you, the big Dane also revealed that he kept the other players entertained on the long and tiresome flight;
“My first impressions of the new manager were very good.”
Presumably he finished his show with a wee song, a bit of a tap dance before collapsing in a drunken heap and going to sleep.
We’ve all done it.
Another centre back, Efe Ambrose, has been told by celtic that he cannot go to the Olympics with Nigeria, which may syrprise a few people, none more so than Efe Ambrose, but in fairness, its another sign that Brendan rodgers wants to make up his own mind about the players he has at his disposal. “Disposal ” being used advisedly in this context
More accurately, the lack of fit central defenders means that Ambrose will be needed, and if Rodgers can do something about his concentration issues, then maybe theres hope yet for the big fellow.
With the manager busy at the duty free buying up fags and vodka to chuck over the wall to a few of his old friends from Liverpool, it was down to Chris Davies, the new number two, to talk to the media;
“We’ve had a good week’s training and had double sessions at times. We’ve had about 10 sessions and another this morning, and now we’re off to camp for the qualifiers.
“The first competitive game is in two weeks time so we’re really focused to make sure we can fast-track some of our ideas and some of our tactical ideas that we’ve got for the team to get them in early.
“Right now it’s about football fitness and the physical condition of the players but we know we need to get some of our ideas in quickly because we start very soon.”
“We’ve had a good look at them, ( the players ) spent time with them and it has been great The players have been fantastic with their attitude and mentality and we’ve been pleasantly surprised by that, and the quality as well that they’ve shown, so we’ve had a really good week.
“The manager’s happy, I’m happy and we’re looking forward to going to camp now and ramping it up.”
Ramping it up ?
Ramping what up where ?
Have the legal team been informed ?
Lee Wallace, the man who ruined a fairly promising career for reasons best known to himself, spoke out about the season ahead. Predictably, he, like the Celtic players, had been handed something to read;
“The fact they [Celtic] have brought in a manager of that calibre [Rodgers] is due out of respect to what we’ve done,”
“They’ve had a look at the semi-final result last season, what we did throughout the season and how we’ve been moving forward as a club and the steps we’re making.
“We know we’re not there to make the numbers up.
“It’s a case now of getting back to what Rangers should be winning, targeting what Rangers have done in the past.
“Historically, they’ve been a dominant force in Scottish football. So it’s about us making sure that we give all we can so we can get back to winning top Rangers silverware.”
He didn’t explain what “top Rangers silverware” was, but he’s adamant he’s going to get back to winning it.
Football across the continent now, and there’s something going on you might like to keep an eye on, especially if you’re hoping to travel to that den of inequity Tallin…
Flora Tallin play Lincoln Red Imps at 5pm tonight, and a convincing win for the Estonians could make a lot of travel plans a lot easier.
Imps striker Lee Casciaro-he’s the guy who scored for Gibraltar against Scotland in the 6-1 game-insists his side have a chance, as long as they focus on the game, and not on Celtic.
“We’re thinking about the game on Tuesday and then the return leg next week. Hopefully we we get a result in Estonia and finish the job back home.
“A match against Celtic is something all the players would be up for.
“But because we have this first round, we can’t really think about the Celtic match at the moment.”
Casciaro, who works as a policeman in Gibraltar, added: “We have a good chance to get through.
“We’ve got enough quality. We watched footage of Flora but in videos you can only watch so much. What we do on the pitch is most important.
“We’ll hopefully give them a good game and get a result like we did last year when we got past the first round. Then we would play Celtic, that would be a great game for us.
“I think it will be a tight game for us but hopefully we can finish the job in Gibraltar. If we can score a goal in Estonia that would be fantastic for us.”
I think he’s being a little over optimistic.
Now, its over to the BBC studios for reaction to the Icelandic victory over England..in case you didn’t know about the latest catastrophe to hit the beleagured nation..
Iceland hilariously beat the English 2-1, forcing Roy hodgson to resign and a new list of candidates emerge, including alan shearer, who actually applied five years ago and told the English FA they should pick him because he “couldn’t do any worse “
The English FA presumably told him they didn’t think he could do any better, and showed him the door, the corridor and finally the street.
After the game, Hodgson promptly resigned, took no questions and then popped out for pizza.
It’s all a bit harsh on the genial old fellow, likened by many to their own dear old Grandads. Pundits often criticised his teams for being a little predictable in style, when all along he actually did have another option available..
Brendan Rodgers is amongst the bookies favourites to replace him, but then again, he would be. Don’t they read the Diary ? He’s turned them down once.
As for the England players, well, here’s three lying in the dirt, as the song goes…
Whilst Hodgson had a wealth of talent, if their market values are anything to go by, to choose from, it was a little more difficult for the Icelandic boss, Hiemar Hallgrimsson, largely because he also works as a dentist.
That means he had to get an agency to help share the burden of working out who he could pick, and who he couldn’t;
To be honest, you have to love their fans, and whilst the colour scheme is not to my taste, there’s an idea here for our own support;
Why should we be gloating over the English misfortunes ? We all have English friends, and usually you want your friends to be happy, yet this outpouring of mirth is often puzzling for them.
Its not the team, or the manager, as although they do seem to have more than their fair share of thoroughly unlikable individuals, It’s more about the media, and their generic superiority complex which demands that all other competitors roll over and allow them their rightful place at the top.
Hang on, I’ve seen that film somewhere else…
The thing is, though, international football can affect the mood of a whole nation. If a team does well, the economy has a little boom period, as the nation goes along with the feelgood factor.
Last nights result had an effect on the performance of the pound in international money markets, for instance…
The Icelandic fitness coach was a little relieved after the game, as he’s been under a bit of pressure to have a look at himself, but he can only see the top half;
Football is about the fans, and you have to feel for one England fan who followed his country through black and blue…
BradleyI didn’t take a kicking in Marseille by a Russian and then seven Algerians in a fan park to get knocked out by Iceland. Fuming.
Presumably he doesn’t mean that literally, as if he did get knocked out by Iceland , it would be on the shops CCTV record.
Still, i guess a few Scots would have enjoyed an impromptu night of fun..
Yesterdays caption competition , the beach boys in a boat,
was narrowly clinched with this one, a clever use of a previous diary title..
Is that a genuine threat from over the river?
today, though, we’re going to play…
Whats In The Envelope?
A game show that never quite took off, because it was a shite idea.
Anyway, we have brought it back for one day, and on that one day we have a special guest…
So, Whats in the Envelope ?
