Celtic Diary Wednesday October 23: Nights Under The Lights

If we were to be in the last thirty two of the Europa League, with a League Cup in the bag and sitting top of the league come January the first, given where the club is in the big picture, we’d all be happy enough with that , right ?

Even had we qualified for the UCL groups in order to get there.

The only difference really is the theme tune payed before kick off and the money that goes into the bank from UEFA, none of which gets spent on a higher level of player anyway.

At least in the Europa league we play different teams, and they are roughly of the same level.

Thats why maybe we should look forward to and enjoy the prospect of Lazio coming to Glasgow tomorrow, and as a support, treat this game no different from the visit of one of the continents more established clubs.

We’re content enough with and have accepted we’ll be in the Scottish league for now, so why not accept and enjoy the Europa group stages ?

We have to enjoy what we have.

For example, Liverpool airport has the rather cheesy logo of “above Us Only Sky “, a line taken from the famous “Imagine ” tune, written and performed by the man who gave his name to the airport, John Lennon.

Rather than moan about it, the baggage handlers there have adopted a line from the same song as their motto, “imagine no possessions “, and everyone is happy.

We just have to adapt.

Celtic have a great chance of progressing in the group, and that introduces a feelgood factor among both players and supporters, and when Charlie Nicholas agrees, you know you have a chance..

“Odsonne Edouard enjoys these types of games, so he will want to play well and show his credentials.

“Lazio are well organised and are great on the counter-attack. The crowd are something else on these nights so I think Celtic could just nick it.” 

Charlie may not have seen either of these teams play this season, and struggle with the basic concept of intelligence, but he knows his oysters.

And, I have it on good authority, possibly several other crustaceans as well.

Crabs, notably…

Speaking of former Celtic players, Virgil van Dijk has been nominated for the Ballon d’or, which is quite an accolade, but it has nowhere near the prestige he will gain from winning the first ever

He can go and fuck himself 

award from the influential Etims website, after it was discovered that he has blocked as many Celtic fans as he could on twitter before his head disappeared up his own arse on Merseyside.

What does happen to our players once they head south, and has anyone warned Keiran Tierney of this ailment.

Perhaps its time to cut his loan short before this peculiar affliction takes hold..

It’s already turning him into a bit of a clown…

Anyhoo, back to the game, and the Italian side have had the racist label attached to their fans, and new Celtic right back Jeremie Frimpong recalls a tournament in Italy when he was on the end of abuse as a kid;

When I was back at [Manchester] City, I went to a tournament in Italy and their fans were making monkey chants but I tried not to let it bother me,” 

“It must have been Under-11s or something. I think it was Rome. And it wasn’t just me, my team-mates were getting it as well. It is a game of football, what has the colour of my skin got to do with it? I am just kicking the ball, what makes you so angry?

“There is always going to be racism, always,” 

“Although I think it used to be a lot worse back in the day, and I think it is getting better and better. I wouldn’t like to see that [players walking off the pitch in protest] happen. You see that in the England-Bulgaria match. After that happened, it just killed the mood. I wouldn’t like that to happen.” 

Frimpong is ineligible for tomorrows game, so he’ll be in the stand. Other players, such as Edouard and Ntcham may face abuse, and one does wonder how it will be dealt with.

Then again, given the noise at Celtic Park under the lights, perhaps they won’t hear it anyway.

Might be an idea to make sure they don’t.

Lennon has more or less a full squad to pick from, and bearing in mind the quote from the Cluj defender who said they couldn’t cope with the pace of Celtic, I’d expect more of the same, and perhaps there is a little more interest in the Europa from Celtic than there is from Lazio, in which case the boss will be looking to get the victory that would leave the hoops just one win away from qualification, and as a bonus, the possibility of topping the group, and thus ensuring a slightly more favourable last thirty two opponent.

Look at me, getting all ahead of myself in my excitement.

After Lazio, Celtic will travel to Aberdeen, and there’s little doubt where the focus will be during that game…

Aberdeen v Celtic 27/10/2019 12:15pm Pittodrie

Referee: John Beaton

AR1: Dougie Potter

AR2: Graham Chambers

Fourth Official: Gavin Duncan 

I’d like to be the first ( and probably only ) Celtic fan to offer a warm welcome back to the bravest man in Scottish football , Mr John Beaton, who stood alone against a wave of death threats to him and his family after he performed to the best of his ability at Ibrox to give his team as much help as they needed, thus earning himself plaudits from all the neutrals in his home town bar.

I’m sorry, it appears my spellchecker has perhaps slightly altered the mood of that sentence. It should read..

How the fuck is that cheating bastard allowed anywhere near a Celtic match again ?

Even if we accept that he isn;t a cheat, the SFA are leaving open the perception of bias, and on a sensible conciliatory note, there remains the possibility that he may even be biased in favour of Celtic, in an attempt to show he is fair and even handed.

He cannot be expected to perform his duties to the best of his ability, which in itself isn;t a lot, and therefore the club needs to grow and pair of balls and at least ask how he got the gig.

Incidentally, the St Mirren game following that encounter, next Wednesday, will have fuckwitted Kevin Clancy in charge…

Someone may want to put together another piece featuring honest mistakes for this season.

Incidentally, Bobby Madden, who is known to have a soft spot for the old Rangers, which may have been lent to the new entity has refereed four Premier League games this season, if you count the up coming game at Ibrox this weekend, three of which featured “rangers “.

Out of eleven…

In the old days, when a referee retired, he was allowed to choose his last match, often with hilarious results, as Bobby Tait will tell you, these days one wonders of they get to choose most of the ones before that as well…

Yesterday, we had this..