We’ll discuss why that should be the case later, but first, lets go back in time….

Remember when you were a wee boy-or a wee girl, we don’t discriminate on here, after all I was once a man trapped in a womans body, right up  until i was born, and your mother would wait until christmas Eve to get you that one special toy that would make your day ?

Maybe she felt the price would come down, or maybe she knew that there’d suddenly be a whole lot more on the shelves and she wouldn’t have to go running around town to find one, and battle with all the other mothers to get hold of it .

For whatever reason, that was the day she wanted to do the deal.

You’d already got loads of other good stuff, but this would make it the proverbial “best Christmas ever ” if she got you this one single item ?

If she didn’t, she would invariably tell you that you could have it for your birthday instead, but by then it didn’t seem to matter so much.

And anyway, christmas day usually turned out alright, didn’t it ?

A bit like transfer deadline day, really.

Despite already having loads of good stuff, with the added bonus of a hearty clear out to make room for it, that one last gift didn’t materialise.

And because of that, Peter Lawwell is all of a sudden the grinch who stole christmas, and he’s kept all the money for his own ends, like when yer Da thought he would spend the money on beer instead.

Cast your mind back to what manager Brendan Rodgers said a few days ago…

It aooears the one siging he wanted didn’t come in, and that may be down to a number of circumstances.

Maybe they wanted to live and work somewhere warm, or play in a league not tainted by a history of cheating and lies.

Perhaps the money on offer wasn’t enough, or the agent, sensing the desperation of the club to get what I’m assuming was one particular player to Celtic made him alter his demands.

Maybe the guy just didn’t want to come, or perhaps he had a better offer.

For whatever reason, we’re stuck with a transfer window that has seen Celtic acquire some players who are very useful, and remove some who weren’t.

When you look at the incomings and outgoings over the last month, its been productive. Those who came in have lifted the side enough to qualify for the UCL group stages, which was something we wanted in previous windows, This time we got it.

In order to sell Celtic to champions League class players, you need to offer them more than they have at present, and if they are already in the champions League, then that particular carrot isn’t going to work.

We’re not going to outbid most other sides who are chasing the same player, so thats a non starter as well.

Rodgers has his own way of getting players in, and if we didn;t get the one he wanted, we can assume its not for lack of trying.

After all, we don’t need to spend money just because we have it.

Unless we are in a bar, of course.

By the way, the player concerned is apparently James Morrison, and we didn’t get him hopefully because we didn’t really want him.

Perhaps it may be seen as a tribute to Brendans man management skills that by and large, the guys who got us to the groups, uder immense pressure, will get the chance to show us what they can do there.

Except for Saidy Janko, who found himself sent to Barnsley on loan, which may have been ashock to him, but not as much of a shock as when he goes to live there. The women round that town are, er, quite friendly and not at all unattractive.

The main Celtic story yesterday concerned Jozo Simunovic, and his day out to Italy where he underwent a medical ahead of a move to Torino. Depending on who you believe, he either failed it or passed it, and then torino din;t offer enough or wanted him on loan, but the upshot is he’s back at Celtic, and despite a fairly active day hasn’t hurt himself again, so he’s raring to go.

Efe Ambrose apparently decided to turn down a £300,000 move to Standard Liege, vowing instead to stay and fight for his place at Celtic. You have to take your hat off to him, he could have avoided further abuse, piss poor jokes and blows to his reputation by just getting out of Glasgow, and having not done that, he deserves a round of applause.

In fact, one group of fans carried him head high around Lennoxtown…

Elsewhere, the media spin on what was a very quiet last day in Scotland reached heights that even I couldn’t quite believe.

Celtic released a statement that they are not playing along with sky and will announce their deadline day sigings whenever they want to. Thats a massive move by the often criticised PR department, and I can only say..

alright, they didn;t, but thats what i would have done. would have been hilarious, especially if we paraded the new guy ahead of the next league game.

STV said that  “rangers ” supremo : “Warburton wanted one central defender and he got him. ”

Which would have alarmed Joleon Lescott who clearly told them no, even if his reasons for doing so are somewhat vague.

They got Swiss defender Phillipe Senderos, which , when added to the likes of Clint Hill and Joey Barton means that the sprint sessions at Auchenhowie will now be timed with a calendar.

And Celtic, well, we failed…

Rodgers Out ? Lawwell Out ?

Nah. don’t think so.

One more serious spin, which could have quite dangerous repercussions for supporters came on the back of this statement, from Scotlands newest club, who don’t seem to have the hang of making dignified or well thought out releases.

Note the last paragraph.

It’s enticing their support to cause trouble. Something they have form for.

And where’s their next game, the next chance they have to air their grievances ?

That’s right. Celtic Park.

At this moment in time, Celtic should withdraw any tickets they have given to “rangers ” supporters.

Their are more than reasonable grounds to suspect that there will be trouble at the game, and trouble encouraged by the Ibrox club, which in itself is a charge of bringing the game into disrepute, and could even be seen as an incitement to riot.

Surely the police will investigate ?

Alright, if not them, how about the SFA ?

Yeah, I know. Stop laughing.

Well, at least the media are condemning it…

Shame on the SFA for turning rule book upside

down over Scottish Cup Final farce – Gary Ralston

Which then goes on to attack the SFA for not dealing with the murderous attacks on “rangers ” players, and instead, issuing a full and frank report on events which concentrates on the actual events, and not the events as seen from Ibrox eyes.

For the SFA, thats an astonishing achievement.

As for the hacks, lets ask Hunter S Thompson, a well known reporter himself, what he thinks of his fellow scribes…

Can’t  argue with that.

The media and the Ibrox club have fanned the flames ahead of a=what already promised to be a potentially explosive football match.

In order to avoid any trouble, Celtic must now refuse to sell any tickets to “rangers ” supporters.

We’d be doing them a favour anyway, but the thing is , if we fail to act now, then that particular Saturday will be remembered for all the wrong reasons, and the thing is, they’ve actually told us what they are going to do.

Caption competition yesterday, and we showed a picture which was in fact, that of a professional cyclist after one of his races. Another reason not to take up that particular sport or use that ridculous method of transport.

and the winner…

And todays?

By the way, has anyone seen Pensionerbhoy or Devoy 45 ?

Its that time of year when we need to look out for our senior members.