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Celtic Diary Monday November 26

Efe Ambrose has spoken out in defence of his manager and team-mates after Celtic lost 1-0 to Inverness on Saturday. after one supporter in particular berated the Celtic boss, ambrose leapt to his defence.

“These things come with desperation, they want us to win, but when we cannot win, you see the ugly side of them. But this is football. I believe that, with patience, everything works out better than they think. The team is just building up and the injuries coming along do not help.”

Well, the injuries don’t help, but the desire to play people unless they are actually in a wheelchair doesn’t either. The Nigerian defender continued..

“The fans should stick with us, before long they will see (improvements) in the team and we will work very hard to make sure they do.”

The fans will stick with you. They always do. Its just every now and then, we will point out little things that we feel can help. You don’t need a coaching certificate to see where the problems lie, but the outburst from Lennon shows he cares, and isn’t going to take it on the chin. Which is good.

Captain Scott Brown was a bit more open and honest in his call to lay off Lennon.

” The gaffer has been great with every single player here, and the club has made a lot of progress since he has been in charge. We are possibly only one game away from reaching the knockout stages of the champions League, we have won away from home for the first time in the competition and we have beaten Barcelona.” Bloody hell, we beat Barcelona. They kept that quiet.

“The players know that we need to start picking up more points in the league.” Come on, picking up some points in the league would be a start.

I’m going to skip to the important bit though, because this is the bit the players and management need to take on board.

“Teams are coming here now and they believe they can get something, and we need to get back to the stage where the results mean they don’t think like that.”

Thats the hub of the matter. The death of Rangers means that other teams have come alive, and Celtic are a little predictable at the moment. Things need freshening up, and perhaps trying a different style might help.

Still, the Inverness game is done now, and eyes turn to the midweek fixture at Tynecastle against plucky, cash strapped Hearts. Incidentally, does anyone know if they got the ยฃ300,000 they were due from Rangers last week? If not, be careful up there, the pies will probably be a tenner each, and if you want to buy a programme it’ll be on a high interest budget plan.

That game presents an early opportunity to set the wrongs of Saturday right, so the players should stop telling us what they are going to do, and just go and do it. ESPN are covering the game, so watch it with the sound down. If its going badly, turn the picture off as well.

Moscow Spartak have sacked their manager after they were beaten by local rivals Dinamo. The side who took five off Dundee Utd also took five off Spartak, and Unai Emery , who only took over in May, has been removed. Eight goals in two home games spelled the end for him, and former player Yuri Gavrilov said

“I do not know what the Spartak leadership will do now” The interviewer obviously regretting phoning him instantly, “Not every trainer is going to agree to go there. Its clear that this team , with all its name and history , needs completely different players.”

Some good points well made.

A team in crisis? Lets hope so.

After the mess Elgin city made of selling tickets for the visit of Rangers, they have agreed to refund all monies. Those who bought their tickets through Rangers have to contact that club for a refund. Good luck with that.

Speaking of that lot, manager Ally McCoist said he wants to sign some players on a pre contract and find some way round the rules to play them. At least that is what he’s reportedly said. Surely the fat funster and his club wouldn’t bend or break any rules…

Back to Celtic, and the Green Brigade , the band of noisy supporters who do their best to be, well, noisy supporters actually boycotted the game on saturday in a protest, I think, aimed at the club who are not doing enough to protect them from over zealous police and stewards. Fair enough, we have all experienced them, and Neil Lennon has apparently invited a few of them in fr a chat. We’ll keep an eye on this story, as it doesn’t seem to be getting much publicity, or explanation other than on a few message boards, and the arguments tend to dissolve into discussions over who is the bestest fan. Anyone with any clarification please let us know.

James Traynor was back to his best-having a pop at the Rugby boss, or former Rugby boss Andy Robinson, who he reckons should have quit some time ago when he realised he couldn’t cut it. We should all give thanks for his wise words. His one man crusade to stop the SPL investigating dual contracts continued with another go at the “gasbags ” who want to investigate the Elgin ticket fiasco, claiming there are already too many investigations. Of course, had the ticket oversell not been spotted, there could have been injuries or even deaths. But hey, lets just forget it and move on.

Some one should propose an investigation into how that clown has managed to remain in a position of influence within Scotlands media.

Speaking of Scotlands media, notice the headlines down south about the racist and anti semitic chanting at the Tottenham West Ham game. Hammers boss Sam Allardyce, carefully balancing some sort of hairy worm on his upper lip, denied hearing it, which surely qualifies him for a job at the SFA. ย Good thing nothing like that ever happened in Scotland, or else the papers and tv up here would be all over it.

Yesterday we asked about Alex Fergusons job in a cup final, and it was indeed to mark Billy McNeill at corners, a task he succesfully managed until about the fourth minute.

Cup finals always have a special place in Celtic supporters memories, and often legends are made and stories retold throughout generations. Not always good stories mind, so, with that in mind, which player missed a penalty at Ibrox that meant we had to wait even longer for the first trophy of the nineties?

 

 

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J B
11 years ago

Paul Mcstay. Sitting tight behind it. Gutted

J B
11 years ago

When I say tight I mean right , right

elcormaco@gmail.com
11 years ago

It was the league cup final at Ibrox against Raith? And was it the maestro?

Pedro
11 years ago

Paul mcstay – coca cola cup final?

martyn
11 years ago

It was mcstay, I remember sitting watching it with a nice stew and potato dinner that didn’t seem so tasty after the miss

binkabhoy
11 years ago

The maestro – who had the guts to let the best kickers take the 5 penalties, and then himself take the first sudden death penalty, rather than bottling it to take a penalty as the media told (an unfortunatley half-gullible) Celtic fans after the game.

Dominic
11 years ago

Paul McStay at Ibrox… that was a bad experience in my early days supoorting Celtic in a age of bad experiences for the club!

Not as bad as things are now though or so you would think they way some re acted on Saturday!

Lenny Bruce
11 years ago

Lenny contacted some GB member via twitter and invited they to come and see him for a chat to see if he could help.

Don’t remember losing any cup finals at ibrox or P McStay missing a pen.

Fat twisted Hun I worked with went out and spent 40 quid on a Raith top the next day to noise me up. He wore it once. I laughed at him. He wasn’t that pleased

God, the 90’s were really really shite.

The buns have their own 90’s just now ๐Ÿ™‚

11 years ago

charlie nicholas stuck it tae uz in the 1990 sc cup fnl,then rogan missed , a wiz sick ,cos a guy said tae me, wee charlie will sky it o’er the bor , a said tae him wid you like a winners medal or a dunces medal,cos wee chico wint miss an he didnae,u shoold uv seen the guyz face when it went in, and the dons fans roared, of course we lost ,an a wiz sick cos awiz hame frae the big ‘C’ INAT

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