Celtic Diary Thursday January 3

With the transfer window only open just a few hours, new Motherwell signing Steven McLean joined the club too late to play against Celtic, and was forced instead to operate as referee. clearly lacking in basic knowledge of the rules, he nonetheless put on an almost matchwinning performance for the Steelmen, only to be thwarted by this fantastic save by England keeper (copyright Sky Sports News) Fraser Forster

Then , Celtic ran up the park and Gary Hooper scored the only goal in a 1-0 going on ten victory. The leading pic at the top of the page shows the ball clearly not “placed on the penalty mark” as it says in the rules, and Forster was booked for pointing this out. Victor Wanyama was booked for pointing out that Motherwells Jamie Murphy had dived for the award in the first place, and a couple of other Celts were cautioned for running too fast.

When Rangers died, there was always a gap waiting to be filled by another team to win that special place in our hearts, and indeed many of us thought that Hearts would be that club.

But Motherwell, under a man who was actually one of the more likeable players at the old Rangers, have come storming through to tke the No.1 spot in hundom. They kick, punch, cheat and closed down Tullys, once a fine bar in the Lanarkshire town.

Thats Celtic a massive nine points clear going into the two week break, and Gary Parker was forced to do the post match interviews for TV as everyone else sodded off down the pub to read the papers and the message boards to see where they will be earning their crust at the end of the month.

Beram Kayal is wanted by Norwich, and while it would make sense to cash in on the Israeli before he gets his annual springtime injury, there remains a feeling that his guile and energy would be useful in the latter stages of Europe. £5m has been quoted, and Kayal must be disappointed that its by a team he probably hasn’t heard of.

Or was Norwich boss Chris Hughton, at the game yesterday, there to cast his eye over Gary Hooper. you can’t fault his ambition if he was. Anyway, Gary Parker expects Hooper to still be at Celtic at the end of the month. He’s nicked his car keys.

Kelvin wilson, the man who watched the motherwell forward try to emulate that bloke who fell out of a space capsule reckons it was a penalty. Of course, this could well be an elaborate bluff as the Englishman faces a voilent conduct charge for his elbow on Ian Baird on today. His honesty may well be his main defence, but if the panel he stands in front of all have surnames for first names, he might as well bring his own rope.

Rami Gershon is moving closer to Celtic, now a loan deal is mentioned, a fee of £800,000 and he has the same agent as Kayal and Ambrose… The left sided centr half could provide cover for Efe ambrose, who will be away to the Africa cup of Nations, which is being held in Africa. (Ed-can you not check these things?)

Aiden McGeady back in Glasgow-Mikael Lustig off to Russia? Twitter, facebook and other sites have mentioned this, so I won’t. Craig Leveins Scotland choices, Graeme Dorrans and that Snodgrass bloke are also on the move. Thankfully, Celtic are taking a week off and then flying out to spain to a training camp. Hopefully these palayers will have found clubs before Lennon gets back, and don’t get me started on Mikael Silvestre.

Miku wasn’t on the bench again yesterday, and he and Mo Bangura might not be on it ever again, whilst alex Ferguson was seen dressed as a waiter when Vic Wanyama went for a meal last night. Newcastle are set to lose Dember Ba, and so alan Pardew might start another of his “Scottish football is shite”  rants as he tries to replce him with Gary Hooper.

Well, Scottish football might be shite, but the English Superleague only has one more team than the SPL in the UCL…

The quiz was mysteriously forgotten yesterday, and thirty goals during the run to Seville is still a club European best. Nearly all the goals were scored against Suduva, except the ones that weren’t.

The winter break is now upon us. how many competitive games have Celtic played thus far this season? (This will surprise you).

Oh, and don’t say “four” or something like that. I mean official competitive games. Not ones the players have actually tried in. In which case four wouldn’t be far off…

Finally, spare a thought for all those Rangers fans who didn’t celebrate the New Year. Apparently its just a continuation of the old one.