The fallout continues , well, across the river the fallout continues from Celtic’s gauntlet throwing 3-1 win over “rangers ” at the weekend.
Whilst to any level headed observer there was at the very least one or two poor decisions made by the officials, the mainstream media are largely ignoring this in favour of supporting the narrative that the plucky newcomers were denied a victory because Auston Trusty wasn’t sent off.
They even released a statement saying that they were unhappy with the officials.
It’s not known what reply they were given, but with “Iron ” Willie Collum, who gives not a feck for what people think of him, is unlikely to have added more than one word to “off” .
The Sun, through Bobby Madden, even claimed to have found seven foreign referees who backed up all of the contentious decisions, which merely served to remind us what calibre of referee Madden was.
And anyway, it couldn’t have been hard to find the seven as presumably they’re in the same institution under twenty four hour care and supervision.
What is the motive behind all of this ?
Apart from the instritutional bias, it’s all a little too much too early for Danny Rohl, who side stepped any comment on any of the issues, and whilst it has been fairly normal for the media to swing behond their heroes in times of trouble, this time feels a little different.
It isn’t season book renewal time, and the new orange kit looks like bringing in a few quid.
My only guess would be that if they have spent as much money as they claim to have, there’s nothing left for Rohl to stregthen his squad, and whilst he may be aware of that, the support won’t be. Although there is still that money to come in when the Americans invest….
I would suggest that they needed that League Cup to try to stave off what will undoubtedly be a meltdown when they don’t sign anyone of note in January.
Now that won’t happen, the policy has to be to blame someone else. They’ve just started early.
Back at the ranch, and while Callum Osmand can be added to the Europa squad, the club don’t appear to have done it yet, which suggests either they don;t know they can, which you’d hope was unlikely, or they think Cameron Carter Vickers will recover in time to take part again before the end of the league phase.
If anyone feels like maybe running over CCV’s ankle at any point this week, don’t feel bad about it. Osmand, at least, provides a goal threat at the right end of the pitch.
The hoops face Midtjylland tomorrow night, and given that they usually beat us, we need to be at our best. Our very best.
Their captain, Mads Bech, speaking after a 1-1 draw with AGF Aarhus, said;
“It’s really annoying only to get a point from this, but it’s because we were not good enough in the first half. We improved a lot in the second half, but we can’t start like that against Celtic this week.
“I don’t know why we started like that. We probably could and should have won the game.”
Manager Mike Tullberg added;
“There’s no point complaining about the schedule,”
“The important thing is that we didn’t get any injuries and it’s now all about getting the players fresh for the game against Celtic.”
Tullberg is referring to the fact they had to play on Monday, which in theory should work in Celtic’s advantage, but in reality won;t make that much difference.
The Danes are top of the league, with maximum points. A win would pretty much guarantee them a place in the knockout stages, whereas for Celtic at least a point is needed to keep our hopes up.
The recent improvement in attitude and performance does bode well, but there was a fragility still evident when “rangers ” went down to ten ( well, thirteen in truth ) men and played with a little more enthusiasm and fight.
Midtyjlland are a strong side, and we can’t afford not to be at one hundred per cent.
Our biggest weakness, to my mind, was our predictability and lack of urgency. Fortunately, the “don’t lose ” mentality has been shoved aside by a desire to win, but what may yet prove to be significant is that Celtic have learned how to kill a game using the horseshoe formation.
The trick is to use it sparingly.
Johnny Kenny has been reflecting on a whirlwind couple of weks that have seen him begin to realise the potential we had hoped he had…
“Yeah, it’s amazing obviously. I’ve had tough days in my career that have made these moments so worth it.
“But you know, there are tough moments in football. So you can’t get too high with highs and too low with lows.
“I went to Queen’s Park and obviously didn’t play. Stuff like that and just football. It’s a tough game at times when you’re not playing and every player wants to play. Stuff like that.
“You have to be mentally strong in this game to succeed. It is what it is now but I’m happy where I am now.
“Football is just an enjoyment sport at the end of the day and when it gets tough you need to just think about how enjoyable it is and just be calm and stay in the moment.”
But is too canny to get carried away with himself
When asked if he could continue his form against Midtyjlland, he remained humble…
“I’d like to hope so but at the end of the day it’s the management who will make the call and I’ll just go with the decision and just keep working hard and hopefully get more opportunities.
Our other new hero, Callum Osmand, has a similar mentality… when informed of the possibility that he may yet be added to the squad, he said;
“I’ll play. Whatever happens, I’m ready to play,”
“So if that can happen, it’ll be a good thing for me. I’m always ready to perform.”
The players probably aren’t ready to try a new system yet, and maybe it would be too risky at this level, but a combination of Kenny’s strength and support play linked with Osmand’s speed and enthusiasm has to be worth a shot at some point.
After all, there is always room for someone else who can score goals.
There will be a meeting at some point soon to see if Martin O’Neill fancies staying around for a bit longer, and maybe he was being a bit cryptic when he said he expected movement during the upcoming international break.
Eighteen months with an option to leave in the summer would be a possibility, and remove all the speculation and allow Shaun Maloney to get on with his job.
Maloney doesn’t have household name status, but if he gets this season back on track and provides a few more memorable performances, then that won’t matter.
And if O’Neill does hang around, that will also mean that Maloney won;t be the focus of media attention pre and post match. Which again means he can just get on with it.
To paraphrase Arne Engels, everything is much better between management and players now…
On Monday, we had this…
The President was unable to attend as Chairman Andrew Cavanagh awarded Staff Member Jack Butland, the Medal of Honor for inconspicuous gallantry. Stopper Butland received the Honor preposterously.
Speaking of Butland, we wish him well today as he undergoes surgery to repair the damage caused by Auston Trusty in that malicious and serious assault…
Today, we ponder this image…
Callum Osmand looking shellshocked when summoned from the depths of Scottish football last Wednesday as the Celtic B team see him off
Russell Martin: “A week ago I was manager of Rangers. This is a less dirty job and the guys behind me won’t try to stab me in the back.”
Kenny had fluttered around as a sub, clearly what he needed was a run of games and a coach who believed in him. A fair bit of any elite sport is played between the ears. Osmand needed a boost too. His upbeat attitude is infectious.
It is also the experienced players Schmeichel more confident, pulling off saves and Maeda playing with enthusiasm and a smile on his face.
The other side of between the ears is the agent saying ‘I can you more money elsewhere’ or ‘this club isn’t treating you right.’
The Dane’s will be tough to beat but regardless of tomorrow night we will make an impact on the Europa League.
Caption: I asked for a wage rise and they gave me a Sevco season ticket.
Danny Danny Cohl
OOR Wullie looking a bit pale
Ibrox – the search resumes for that 49ers gold
James Forresr digs deep for Martin O’Neill
Rangers have turned to The Welsh Alliance League to bolster their squad this January.
Caption: New opinion poll puts carrying miner’s shite in a bucket one place above Ranjurs coach.
Caption.
“ I only came up for a quick fag boys”
That Laurel and Hardy clip is hilarious and is the perfect antidote to bleating huns.
They’ve been playing the victim card that long, a bit like Israel, that I think they genuinely believe it now. If only there was a voice at CP to tell the truth and put the record straight.
The goal off Ratskin was a perfectly good goal and we were cheated out of it. The penalty given against Tony Ralston was only ever a penalty when corrupting freemasons were interpreting the laws of the game. Check IFAB’s definition and they are the authority on this.
Midgetyland is a strange name for a team of Vikings but I’m sure we’ll give them a game.
IMO, losing in Europe just now is acceptable after the summer transfer shambles and if it helps empty the boardroom it’ll serve a glorious purpose.
And now paramedics are getting a doing. Couldn’t be the colour of the uniform, could it?
An obvious contender for knob of the week on the Midtjylland bench (if he gets on)