Celtic Diary Thursday January 2 2025: Kelly’s Zeroes

Very often, pundits tell us that the Glasgow Derby is a game where form goes out of the window quicker than a Russian businessman.

Yet a glance at the stats, for those who like that sort of thing, reveals that Celtic hardly ever lose these games these days, and ven when they do it’s more of a freak result.

So much so that today’s game, even though”rangers ” are unbeaten this year , a total of around thirty six hours of not making an arse of something, is expected to be a bit of a walk in the park for Celtic.

And that’s just the view of the Ibrox players.

Despite a commendable attempt to get sent off in their game against St Mirren so he’d be banned for today, Jack Butland was determined not to play in the 2025 curtain raiser, and so he phoned in sick.

In fact, he even threw one in his own net in an attempt to get dropped today in the match against Motherwell, so perhaps he’s not as staunch as they think. The referee came to their aid by ruling the goal out, which took the attention off him.

A visit to the hospital later and it was revealed he’d had an internal bleed, similar to the finances over there, and joins captain and chief liability James Tavernier on the bench.

Tavernier , for the first time in years, won’t be publicly disappointed with the outcome of the match, which is a shame because his mournful post match comments are something of a highlight,

Then again, perhaps Sky will have him on the panel, which would make Kris Boyd look cheerful.

Liam Kelly will take his place, unless he can think of a way out quickly. He might even be captain, which would be remarkable given its not so long that even the sound of his name would have sent scouts scurrying in the other direction.

Kelly’s Zeroes…it has a ring to it.

The reality is that there will be another clear out at Ibrox this month, and a poor performance from either player will reduce their chances of even getting a free transfer away.

Money is still an issue over there, as in they haven’t got any, and that means on the field they are being forced to face reality, which must be difficult for their support, who still insist that the events of 2012 never happened, and their club didn’t go into liquidation.

Changes to football financial regulations mean that even money invested in the club won;t help them, although in truth there is a marked lack of interest from those who have money in throwing it into a deep blue hole, never to be seen again.

The scales seem to be dropping from over the eyes of the support as well, as each good performance is followed by two bad ones, and most pundits…and of course we all acknowledge their contribution to the debate…feel a defeat today could see the end of the Clement era, before it has even properly started.

Should Celtic take an early or convincing lead , the board’s human shield will be on the end of a considerable amount of vitriol from the stands, if any of them turn up that is.

The truth is they can’t sack him.

Not only because they can’t afford to, but because he is actually doing exactly what the board asked him to do, which was to finish second and get a good run in Europe.

He won;t walk out, he’s on a nice little earner there, a scenario that also applies to a few of the players.

For them, the only way is down, a long slow decline into obscurity with only the occasional cup to cheer over.

The recent League Cup final, where even their best efforts weren’t good enough, was glossed over with a massive deflection about a penalty that they should have been awarded for an offence that took place after the referee had blown to stop play. A fact that was left out of all the debates, allowing the hordes to feel that they had been hard done by, and also meaning that they wouldn’t be as aware of the simple truth that they weren’t good enough on the day, and they aren’t going to get any better.

Should Celtic win today, the excuses are already there, with an entire defence missing. which should keep attention away from the fact that a Celtic win means that “rangers ” will have to win six games more than Celtic in the second half of the season to overcome the hoops.

Meanwhile, on the side of the city where the sun is always shining, Brendan Rodgers has gone from strength to strength. He’s managed to keep a large squad of high ability happy by making sure all the players are not only actually involved, but feel like they have a role to play.

That’s an achievement that cannot be understated.

The have been some outstanding and mature performances, and there has been the occasional duff one.

But the results have been there, and the players are still enthusiastic, which must be difficult given that most domestic sides set out to frustrate, some even to mutilate and the weather has been bloody awful, but they still go to work and do their job to the best of their ability.

Indeed, if Celtic had their entire defence missing today, they’d just put in the second string, which is in itself a harsh title for them, as there isn’t a player in the Ibrox line up who would displace even any of them.

On and off the field, the gap between the two clubs is insurmountable.

We should see that today.

Happy New Year.

Before I go, let’s have a caption competition….