Celtic Diary Tuesday November 27

Charlie Mulgrew is the latest player to stick up for his manager over the Lennon wants to quit row. (row?)

“I think it is the heat of the moment. Maybe they caught him straight after the game or whatever, with tempers running high it is something you say. But I don’t think the manager will be leaving, he is rightbehind the cause here.” The cause? Thats the second player to mention the cause in an interview-Fraser Forster being the other I noticed after a game. Could the Celtic song be about to be replaced by “A nation once again” as the team trot out for matches?

Mulgrew continued;

“When things aren’t going right the fans obviously care and it shows in the way they supported us in Barcelona and in different games this season”

For a minute I thought he’d forget to mention the Barcelona game, but he snuck it in there.

“Of course they pay their money and they come to watch the match,nobody says they can’t have their views on what is happening. It shows what passion the fans have and the manager as well.”

Tommy Boyd has thrown his tuppence into the debate, saying it is “far better if the fans are all with you” He played in the same team as Gordon “Whoops” Marshall, so he knows what its like when the support are not supporting. Some players go into a wee shell when they are picked on, and frankly, wee shell is fed up with it and had written in to complain.

Theres only really one man who can speak for Neil Lennon, and thats the man himself. He picked his phone up last night and in messages of not more than 140 characters, told us what was what.

With Hugh Keevins and James Traynor, two fine upstanding journalists who take their job to report fairly and comment without favour on matters football, Lennon tweeted;

“They are both an irrelevance to the game now. They will always get a platform to air their hogwash. I ignore them, you should too.” Unless they sit in the stand behind him, presumably.

In reply to a tweet that said certain journalists shouldn’t be allowed near Celtic Park, Lennon commented

“Particularly unprofessional ones” , which doesn’t leave very many.

On the spat with a fan, the gaffer said

“nothing moronic about our fans, just a difference of opinion. Its allowed.”

Then Mrs Lennon took his phone off him and told him to go to bed.

Older supporters may still be a bit bewildered over the managers use of social media to get his point across, but in a world where what he says publicly can be, and often is, twisted to suit the hacks agenda, its not difficult to see why he does. In the days of Jock Stein, journalists were too afraid of  the big man to utter anything like the venom directed towards Lennon, so he has to deal with it in his own way. Stein would have just thumped them, a lesson learned by Billy McNeill when he had his difference of opinion with Gerry MacNee. With cameras and videos everywhere, that sort of thing isn’t likely these days, so as George Carlin said, if you can’t beat them, then arrange to have them beaten.

Elsewhere, another diary prediction has come true. We heard months ago that Harry Redknapp was a good bet to join a London club, probably QPR. The amount of London clubs and his reluctance to move nearer his bank accounts off shore meant he was always going to stay in the Smoke, but we’ll claim credit nonetheless.

Further afield, Valery Karpin has been appointed caretaker boss of Moscow Spartak after they sacked Emery. I had a look around but couldn’t find any info on the new boss, and have no idea what she did before. Surprised more hasn’t been said about this groundbreaking move, which is a triumph for feminism.

As my job takes me around the country, now and again I will visit a hostelry, purely for research, which is new to me, and last night, a little inn was showing a channel called TV Sport. At least, I think thats what it is. Going into a strange pub and asking what tv channel they are watching -if its not one of the norm-will get you a proper kicking as the locals will think you are a Sky TV investigator. Its not that what perturbed me, but the fact that one of their resident experts is in fact none other than Craig Burley, the former Celtic midfielder turned horrible little shite. How did he manage to find another station who figured his views were worth listening to?

I have a theory. The people who meet in wee rooms to decide these things-and can you imagine what they are like?-are the same people who reckoned that  worcester sauce flavoured crisps and ginger beer were just what people want.

Imagine a meeting where Craig Burley was the solution to the problem they faced. Doesn’t bear thinking about. Unless the question was about contestants for a new reality tv show where sports analysts  are made to dodge articulated lorries on the motorway, which are controlled by the viewer at home.

Anyway, Celtic play Hearts tomorrow , and its on ESPN. Burley may well be there to offer his opinions. Unless theres a tv producer out there ready to take me up on a new reality show.

Paul McStay was the man who stepped forward to take the first sudden death penalty in the League Cup final against Raith, showing the balls and leadership the Scottish press always said he never had. Had the midfielder left Celtic, he would have blossomed in a team of equalsd instead of breaking his back carrying Celtic through a very dark time.

His brother Willie also played for the club, and his other brother was also on the books. what was his name?