Celtic Diary Thursday December 20

A little early this morning, as I have promised to drop a friend at the airport in Liverpool, and so have managed to miss the Champions League draw, but will update it later.

But for now, there is a chance to preview it properly, and take in the sense of anticipation of a february trip to Germany, England, France Spain or Italy. Actually. with the final in London, three out of our next four away trips could be in London. For those of us based in England, that means sending our passports to Thomas cook, and then going to glasgow for a flight to Manchester or London. Manchester being only forty miles away for me, you can see why my mates box might come in handy. oooeeerrr missuss. Well, we’ve done Bernard Manning, s its only fair to give Frankie Howerd a shout. what I mean is a friend has a box at Old Trafford, which he says I can stand on to look at the telly in the pub up the road.

So, by the time you read this, you may well already have booked your flight and hotel, and be looking out the sombrero/leather shorts/stripey t-shirt/ ready for another excursion. We’ll know by lunchtime, and airfares will be through the roof by one o’clock.

All this excitement and christmas too!

Now, there are stories that Gary Hooper has rejected a £25,000 a week contract, although no quotes as yet from player, agent or club. Except this, from johann Mjallby;

“I think Garys got 18 months left on his contract and we’re delighted and we want to keep him.I think there are discussions now with Gary, his agent and the club. Fingers crossed from my point of view somethings going to happen. He’s shown that he can do it at the highest level, so I can understand where the interest is coming from. Its down to Gary and what his targets are and what he’s looking for. He’s just enjoying playing football just now. He’s in a good place.”

Liverpool, Juventus, Southampton, the list will grow longer, and even if he has rejected the contract offer theres plenty of time to try and sort it out. Anyway, since the day Henrik Larsson waved goodbye, and like many other grown men I wore sunglasses to hide the tears, I can’t see a player leaving affecting anyone like that again.

With the transfer window just days away from swinging open, its probably best not to read any papers. They will just be stirring a pot full of nonsense, and doing their best to sell or unsettle the side.

Other stories even this early include Paddy Mccourt going to the USA, Georgios Samaras to Liverpool, and Fraser Forster to Arsenal or Chelsea. The latter we heard from a decent source a few months ago, but the other stories don’t have the seal of approval from our drunken mole.

Manchester Utd have a man permanently in Glasgow, it seems.. Not only are they watching  Wanyama, but it appears Adam Matthews is on their shopping list as well.

As for players in, Ferreya, an Argentinian striker, Celso Borges, attacking midfielder from Stockholm, have both been mentioned, as have the likes of Nicolas Anelka, Stewart Downing and Peter Crouch. (Though not , thankfully, by anyone at the club)  All these forwards suggest someone may be on the way out, with Anthony Stokes, Miku, and Mo Bangura all having their reasons not to hang around.

Stokes and his “attitude”, Miku homesick, and Bangura is hopeless.

Meanwhile, all this excitement of Champions League draws and new signings pale into insignificance as the new club in town raised a total of £22m to allow for their rebuild and move back to where they belong. You can fill in your own punchline about where they do actually belong, but Chuckles Green is delighted. The money means he can pay the loan off that he bought the assets with, and still have enough left over to fill a warchest.

Once again, if you do the math, it don’t add up, as the guy in the Green Mile said. But at least it means the cabaret continues. We all need a laugh in these dark times.

Especially when Green comes out with stuff like “we are now debt free and have cash in the bank for the first time in our history.”

I rang Alloa again to see if they have been paid, but there was no-one in. Mind you, its still only twenty five to seven.

Quick word about their support. It seems that one or two of them have been adding tags to Celtic books on amazon, which show what a witty and intelligent bunch they are. Follow the link, or just look up Kevin mcCarras brilliant Nine Lives of Celtic  .http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.co.uk%2FCeltic-A-Biography-Nine-Lives%2Fdp%2F057127580X%2Fref%3Dpd_ecc_rvi_2&h=OAQFcKqZe.

As the teaser yesterday suggested, Celtic are still in the four competitions they entered back at the start of the season, which hasn’t happened since the 69/70 season.

The gold socks issue raised , regarding the Leeds game  in 1970, is a story I  have heard before. Interestingly, historicalkits.co.uk  lists has  gold socks  with the hoops and white shorts, and one or two black and white pictures suggest they are certainly not white. (see main picture)

Anyway, todays question.

Celtic will have to play whoever they draw today, but former chairman Robert Kelly complained about one tie , for political reasons many years ago. Who were the opposition, and why did he complain?

Update:

Just as we thought. Celtic v Juventus. So, Turin it is. described as something between a “shitehole” and a “tip”. The police and fans are not noted for their friendliness, and there is a 24 hour booze ban on match days.

Should have let Spartak win.