Celtic Diary Wednesday September 21: New Technology Is The Way Forward

We’ve already seen the introduction of goal mouth technology to help referees decide on whether or not the ball has crossed the line, but those cheeky scamps at the University of Calgary have come up with a way around it…simply put the ball in there without it crossing the line.

In a “major step” toward practical quantum networking, researchers at the University of Calgary have successfully demonstrated the teleportation of a light particle’s properties between their lab and the city’s downtown area, six kilometres away.

“What is remarkable about this is that this information transfer happens in what we call a disembodied manner,” said physics professor Wolfgang Tittel, whose team’s work was published this week in the journal Nature Photonics.

“Our transfer happens without any need for an object to move between these two particles.” 

By using a portable version of this device, Dorus De Vries can simply have the ball “teleported ” straight into his hands from the strikers boot, which frankly is his best chance of keeping a clean sheet.

The lesser leg of the domestic treble-at least according to some-returns tonight with alloa Athletic the visitors to Celtic Park. The skewed seeding system of this tournament makes it by far the easiest to win, requiring only four wins from four games, although that has proved a bit much recently for the Hoops, there are signs that this year could be our year.

It’s not been the happiest of hunting grounds over the years for Celtic, with just fifteen wins since 1946-47, when the tournament started. The hoops have also been runners up fifteen times, and remarkably , have only won it three times in the twenty first century.

And, of course, you can’t have a treble without the League cup.

The competition has never quite held the attraction of the Scottish cup, but then again, the SPFL, who run the tournament, are not exactly noted for promoting the league either, but the quickfire one game only style has been adopted elsewhere, as it is ideal for television, with a result guaranteed and the drama of penalties always likely.

And it does give the wee teams a chance of silverware, as one off day by the big guns, and they are out. Look at the list of recent  winners, which includes Kilmarnock-still can;t work out how that happened-, St. Mirren and current holders Ross County. It’s what cup football is all about.

For instance, in the search for tv drama,  last night BT Sports showed the tie between struggling Premier side “rangers ” and high flying first division Queen of the South, which promised to be a close run affair, but didn’t turn out that way due to a rampant and resurgent Ibrox side and a referee interpreting the rules in his own unique way.

The Celtic Alloa tonight doesn’t show the same promise, but there is always the chance of an upset.

There is a solution to the goalkeeping issue, as it now seems that Brendan Rodgers, presumably to make the season more interesting, is going to stick with De Vries.

First, we need to help him with his handling…

Then, he needs to be able to make himself bigger, to present more of an obstacle to forwards.. perhaps with an alteration to his shirt..

Though to be fair, it wouldn’t hurt if the defence dug in and offered more protection..

Whatever we do, there shouldn’t be too many surprises tonight. Alloa boss Jack Ross is realistic about his sides chances.

 “I read quite a lot of Brendan Rodgers’ comments prior to the Barcelona game last week and they were all sensible. 

“To be honest, I could have copied and pasted them for myself ahead of this week’s game, because they are very similar.

“I dare say the disparity between ourselves and Celtic, in terms of turnover and budget, etc, is probably a great deal larger than that between Celtic and Barcelona.

“So, that just shows you the size of the task we have. 

Mind you, if he plays that goalkeeper, I’ll just tell the lads to keep lobbing shots at him. He’s bound to miss a couple. 

Whilst there is always the temptation to rest players when the League Cup comes around, and with no win in two now the form statistic, a good convincing win and performance is essential tonight, just to get the confidence back, but to be honest, the players were showing signs of tiredness at Inverness, so maybe we should freshen things up.

Bringing back Craig Gordon would be an idea, he’s had his mick up the arse, lets see how he reacts to it.

Christian Gamboa could take the right back slot, with Emilio Izaguirre on the left. It’s important to keep Izaguirre interested, as we will need him at some point this season.

Eoghan O’Connell and Jose Simunovic could be the centre backs, but maybe its time to play Sviatchenko and Simunovic, as they are undoubtedly our best bet for a long term central defence.

Armstrong Henderson and MacGregor in the middle ? Certainly wouldnt be short on energy.

And how about Roberts-he is still short of match fitness, Mackay Steven, if fit, and Ciftci up front ?

With that sort of line up, the manager will see who is interested in fighting for a place in the team, and who isn’t.

One player i’ve not included in that possible line up is Keiran Tierney, which will no doubt annoy him. He wants to win this tournament, and explains why..

 “The final is early this year. It would be good for everyone’s confidence to get a trophy won before Christmas. That would be great.” 

And Alloa ?

“They’re not going to come here and lie down. It’s going to be a good game. 

“It will be a dangerous match if we are not careful. We’ve seen that before up at Arbroath. Anything can happen.” 

He’s keen, but reading between the lines here, perhaps a wee rest will do him good…

 “I think some people forget I’m still a young lad. Expectations are a lot higher for me this season but that’s what you have to deal with as a footballer. 

“That’s harder for me but all I can do is work as hard as possible.

“A year ago the expectations were not high. I was just a young boy coming into the team. 

“Maybe I had a bit more freedom but now everyone knows who I am and they expect me to play well.” 

There have been many, many youngsters who have broken into the first team, but who have, in the long run, failed to live up to early expectation. Tierney is the first one I can remember who has spoken of, and appears to be aware of, the work needed to remain there.

Maybe, just maybe, he will go the distance.

Celtic should win comfortably tonight, though it will probably finish 2-0, with a scare or two in between.

That’ll give Chris Sutton something to moan about, and I’m pleased. his wee spats with “rangers ” have me feeling all left out.

Elsewhere, and with Joey Barton claiming Celtic had tried to sign him, or at least shown an interest,

In his upcoming autobiography, Barton says that days before he signed for the Light Blues he “took a call from an agent, who had been contacted by Peter Lawwell”, adding: “The message he conveyed was straight and to the point, ‘Is there anything we can do together? Can we have a conversation?”’.

the club, through Peter Lawwell, were quick to put the record straight.

“I think Joey’s been had by a bit of a matchmaker here. 

“I remember it well, we had just announced Brendan Rodgers as our new manager and I was with our company secretary in London at the time.

“An agent called me saying that Joey was going to sign for Rangers but he would really prefer to come to Celtic and were we interested in signing him, but it wasn’t something we wanted to pursue.” 

“These things happen to players sometimes in football, but needless to say we wish Joey well at his new club.” 

So, thats how it works.

I’m going to start playing for a local pub team down here, to get my fitness back. However, I’d much rather play for Celtic….can we have a conversation ?

Thats a no, then.

This week, back in 86AD, Antonio Pius was born. He went on to be a Roman emperor , before winding his career down after several years at Celtic in 86 BC

One wonders of there are any other Celts who played a part in history during previous lives…

There’s one right there…and also can you spot the evidence for reincarnation here ?

I’m not letting it go until he saves one, but I am prepared to wait..