Celtic Diary Saturday December 1

Celtic begin the last leg of an anticipated treble with a home tie against second division Arbroath this afternoon. On papaer Celts should only have to turn up and go through the motions to advance in the competition, but the clubs record against lower league clubs in recent years is such that an Arbroath win might not even be classed as a shock.

The little guys of Scottish football, such as Clyde, Ross county and Rangers have all enjoyed cup wins over celtic, so care is needed today, and a thoroughly professional approach.

Arbroath have only ever beaten Celtic once, in the 1937-8 season, a 2-0 win in the league at Gayfield, the home of the east coast side.

Back in August 1993 in the League cup, Celtic won 9-1 with Andy Payton and Frank McAvennie scoring hat-tricks,with Pat McGinlay, Mark McNally and Charlie Nicholas also finding the net. Its unlikely Celtic will repeat that score today, but the team will be freshened up, with Emilio Izzaguerre back in the fold, along with thomas rogne, and Dylan McGeouch poised for a rare start.

The winger said;

“I just got back into training a week or two ago and I have been on a few times as substitute. Hopefully the injuries are behind me and I can get back into it again.”

Lets hope so, the team has been missing a wee bit of creativity recently, and if ever Spartak, due in town next week, decide to just stop Charlie Mulgrew getting the ball, we could be in trouble.

One player getting plaudits from manager Neil Lennon is Tunisian forward Lassad Niouiou. The player was kind of a surprise signing-actually, be honest, we were surprised there were any signings,- snapped up when his contract at La Coruna ran out, and his lack of fitness meant we haven’t really seen him yet, but he has scored in the recent Aberdeen and Hearts fixtures, and Lennon reckons theres more to come.

“We have been very impressed with Lassad, and he got 75 minutes on Wednesday, which is the longest he has played for us in any game since he arrived. People wanted us to throw him in early, but we have to be careful with him. In two of the games we did play him, he had to come off injured, and we lost him for two or three weeks each time.”

Lennon refused to blame the kick and rush nature of Scottish football, but instead claimed it was a lack of a pre season which has hindered the player. Neil, its December now, surely he could have done some jogging or something?

With Steve Lomas on the end of a six game touchline ban, after his rant at Ian Brines when Saints drew at Celtic Park, Neil Lennon has called for clarity from compliance officer Vincent Lunny;

“I think Vincent Lunny should come and speak to managers because at the end of the day we are the ones who are brought up in front of him and the SFA disciplinary panel. I think Vincent needs to spell out the guidelines, what we can and can’t say regarding referees in post match interviews. ”

Which will probably get him another ban.

A fellow who sat next to Lunny on the train saw a piece of paper drop from the SFA mans pocket, andwhen he didn’t notice, our man picked it up.

Written in crayon, it said;

What managers can say;

Neil Lennon-Nothing. At all. To anyone about anything.

Other managers ,not including Superally McCoist; Depends on what mood we’re in.

Superally; whatever he wants, he’s such a cheeky guy.

All punishments to be decided on a level with the amount of Irishness in the offender.

More classic McCoist doublespeak-when asked about rebranding Ibrox to the Sports Direct Arena, he said;

“My own opinion is that I’m neither for or against it, I’m reasonably open minded.” He waffled on for a vit about history, tradition and the usual, and then added “I’ll have an opinion the same as every other fan” but he doesn’t know what it’ll be until chuckles Green tells him.

Still, he does have a point . He also thinks that fans should have a say, opening up the possibility of an online poll, perhaps with some other suggestions…

Oh please do! Inland Revenue Arena would get my vote, and one would think more than a few others.

Realistically though, when any lucrative deals are spoken about down Govan way, you sort of know it will all end in tears.

Next week they will celebrate their 140th anniversary, 140-has it been 140 days already?

Their director Paul Murray has welcomed liquidators BDO decision to make a full investigation-they were going to anyway-into the last few months of the clubs life. He hopes that all those responsible for the death of Rangers will be hauled to account, and punished severely, either in court or by wayof financial retributions. He names Craig Whyte, Ticketus, and virtually everyone else you can think of except David Murray as potentially in bother.

As Glenn Gibbons in the Scotsman said, they have airbrushed David Murray out of the whole affair. (Well, the top half anyway. The bottom bit of him is already gone.)

The “current” tv programme which featured a character singing to the tune of the Celtic song was Lost-as Andy rightly pointed out, and as Desimond also pointed out, it finished three years ago, so current probably wasn’t the best word to use. The tune began life in the Pirates of Penzance, and to be fair, Andys answer was the most comprehensive and full of any answer to any question in the diary thus far.

Which film featured “Walk on”?