Celtic Diary Monday June 15: Lennon. Loonies and the Lockdown

Neil Lennon has given a fairly revealing if dull interview to the Mail, who listened in to a questions and answer session between the Celtic manager and the Celtic cheerleader Chris Sutton, a former team mate of his at the club.

It was all a bit bland , but there were a couple of reassuring statements from the boss, especially concerning his focus and maturity since he resumed his role at Celtic Park.

He talks of being more pensive when dealing with players, and less reactive, admitting that players are different from when he was playing, and they have to be spoken to differently.

Slowly, with pictures on hand to help, presumably.

He also said he was not interested in any other job, and was more than happy with his lot at Celtic, a reference to the constant speculation surrounding Steven Gerrard, who is apparently being considered for other positions by potential employers, some even as team manager, though thats hard to believe.

The full interview is in the Mail, which this weekend wondered aloud why Britian wasn’t as tolerant as it used to be, and they didn’t mean all those front page headlines about bloody foreigners coming over here and taking our jobs etc….

Oddsone Edoaurd has been featured in a promotional picture for the new adidas kits, prompting some to remember that Moussa Dembele posed in the same way before he realised that he’d been sold a pup by previous manager Brendan Rodgers and headed for the exit.

Edoaurd too, has expressed an interest in staying for the ten in a row campaign, which is encouraging, but I think we’d all agree that we’ll all feel a sigh of relief when the summer/autumn window closes.

There is a real danger Celtic will have to sell to balance the books, and Edoaurd would raise a few quid, but hopefully only Kris Ajer moving south will be the only real damage to the first team squad.

Dembele still adores Celtic, evident in his tweets about the club, but the rift between him and Rodgers was so severe he had to get out. I look forward to the book. He is one that gives the impression he went before his time was done here, although there was always the fear he’d run his contract down and leave for free, which was sort of what he did before joining the club .

John Barnes, who had a fairly disastrous spell as manager back at the end of the last century said last week that he thought Celtic fans were subconsciously racist, which is why he didn’t get the time needed to sort out the issues with the team after his initial outstanding start began to wain.

He might have a point of sorts when he claims he was treated differently, although it was a different kind of racism than the one he thinks.

He may now be looking at Steven Gerrard, who has had an equally unsuccessful spell at “rangers “, but he’s  still there after two full seasons, and still being touted as a possible title winning manager, and a massive asset to the game in Scotland.

He’s seemingly beyond criticism , and as both Barnes and Gerrard can claim to be almost iconic names in football, it must be playing on his mind as to why he was chased out of town and Gerrard os still feted.

An obvious conclusion would be it’s a race issue, as football management is still largely a closed shop to black men, though the peculiar staunchness of the media is perhaps a little different up there….

Would Barnes have been similarly feted if he had taken the “rangers ” job instead ?

Would he have been sacked as quickly ?

Doubtful.

Would he have been able to blame racism ?

As some of their former players would agree….he probably could have.

Barnes was not given time because there can be little doubt that he wasn’t ready for the job. Over at Ibrox, Gerrard is all they have got, and with a compliant media behind him and his club/company he doesn’t get anything like the stick Barnes got, which Barnes may have connected with racism, which it is, but  it’s the anti Irish racism that prevents a fair and equal coverage from the media, a harsh truth but an accurate one, which is reflected in the job prospects of anyone who gets the Celtic job….

Over in LaLa Land, Keith Jackson , who once wrote that we shouldn’t be getting our knickers in a twist over Covid before it went and killed thousands, has asked another crucial question today….

Wearing a mask won’t fully protect you if you don’t wash your hands, and vice versa. Social distancing alone won;t stop it.

Until all three are enforced along with proper testing, tracing and quarantine then it isn’t going to go away. And, consequently, until it’s gone, we cannot take the risk of easing down the lockdown.

But they’re going to, which doesn’t mean we have to follow their advice, we should keep doing what has kept us safe. If you don;t believe me, try counting the ambulances you see today…..

This government has no idea of where infections are “clustered “, and no intention of telling us exactly how it affects us when we are infected. If they did, a lockdown would be easy to enforce.

There have been protests about all sorts of things of late, which people may be using as an excuse to meet up with pals and have a beer, which most people with good sense have either stayed away from or taken suitable precautions.

Some, however, haven’t….

I don’t know where “Britian ” is, but the national dress of flourescent bra and pished stained breeks is a winner …..

Elsewhere, Leigh Griffiths could be in bother.

Of course, it’s not coke, it’s a kebab, and although the sports scientists are furloughed at the moment , the striker could be in bother when they get back for eating junk food, so if he’s got any sense he’ll tell them it was coke….

Incidentally, with Celtic producing a new kit, and “rangers ” hiring a couple of lads to chuck them something together in time for the first game, staunch Irish club Linfield may have made a move for the blue pound…..

They’ve since said it was a coincidence, but have withdrawn it anyway, instead concentrating on an alternative match day attire for fans….

They’re actually quite adaptable for a herd stuck in the seventeenth century, as the Herald reports today they are going to do a cybermarch for the 12th July celebrations this year, and here’s where I can make a few quid, if i can get the UK rights for this contraption….

The weekend turned out to be a little bit busy for me, as i encountered that hardy breed who buy houses in the middle of nowhere ..literally off the beaten track, and then order things off amazon and expect me to deliver them.

One customer lived so deep down in a vale that i actually expected him to have horns and a pointy tail.

That means we have to go back to Friday for this picture….

Today…