Celtic Diary Thursday January 31

Another underachievement last night as Celtic powered to a 4-1 win over Kilmarnock when seven or eight would have been a truer reflection. adam matthews helped himself to a couple of goals, with joe Ledley and anthony Stokes bagging the others.

With Inverness faltering against resurgent St. Mirren, this has opened up a fifteen point gap at the top of the league, and unless Ally McCoist is appointed at Parkhead, the league title could well be already won.

Manager Neil Lennon was more concerned with the injuries picked up by Emilio Izzaguerre and Georgios Samaras though;

“Emilio should be okay. He just felt a little bit of tightness at the back of the knee. Georgios, we think, may have a slight strain but he will be scanned tomorrow and we are hoping it is not too serious. It is two weeks until juventusand if it is more than a mild strain it will be a concern. At the minute it doesn’t look too bad but the scan will reveal more tomorrow.”

Then it was time to talk about Gary Hooper, as it looks like Norwich still haven’t taken the hint, having now had a third bid rejected.

“Never say never, ” added Lennon “But we had a third bid yesterday from Norwich, but that was rejected. It was well short. We haven’t put a price on him, but if people want to make a bid then fine, but they will have to come forward with the money.” The Daily Mail reckons Spurs and norwich have been priced out of a move for hooper, but carrowraod.net warns of another bid.

The other concern for Celtic supporters this window may well have finally been put to bed. Victor Wanyama told a disappointed Daily Record;

“I can confirm to you that i will be at Celtic.” but the hack recovered quickly, when Wanyama pointed out that in the summer, “the doors can be open for a move.”

Johnny Russel and Kevin doyle of Wolves have been mentioned as deadline day moves to Celtic, but not by me, or any drunken moles we know. which, of course , doesn’t mean a thing.

Talkshite radio this morning prompted many listeners to check their dials as a wee bit of sense was spoken on the Danny Baker show.

One guest claimed the transfer window was partly to blame for increased fees and wages as clubs scrambled to save their seasons, thus inflating prices for other mediocre players. He went on to mention that the most active club in this window, and in the previous three, was QPR, who languish at the bottom of their league.

Listeners were further astounded when the conversation turned to the effect on smaller clubs, and the lack of an outlet to raise cash to deal with unexpected shortfalls throughout the season by moving on players mid term.

Talkshite have promised an interview with Cahrles Green and Ally Mccoist to maintain the balance of quality associated with the station, and added that there was a sale at Wicks with free delivery.

One thing any interview with Stan and Ollie from Ibrox won’t cover is the ongoing Nimmo Smith enquiry into wrong doings of the previous regime at Ibrox, which has been reported diligently by none of the MSM, but David Longmuir of the SFL has spoken directly to Rangers TV, and intimated that he shares their pain, as he “is surrounded by Rangers fans at home”

Well shouldn’t he tell the police, or get the ransom paid?

Anyway, it seems Sevco Rangers are going to continue to pursue those players who didn’t want to transfer to the Newco through the courts for compensation, after an arbitration ruled that

“the club did not inherit the right to continue the arbitration process started by oldco.”

Which to the lay observer sounds like they have just been told it was nothing to do with them.

It looks like another deflection tactic by Green and co., and with nimmo smith set to conclude his inquiry at the end of this week, another round of smoke and mirrors must be in the offing.

Initial joy has turned to hesitation as Gordon Strachan has decided to name Lee Wallace in his squad for the Estonia game. The third Division player hasn’t featured for the national team since the Liechtenstein game, but the ginger ninja feels he is ready for the big time. It is a huge honour for the new club, to have a player at that level, and even if he is just along for the experience, it will help with his development and further his dreams of playing for a big team some day.

Henrik Larsson was the man who told a BBC audience that “we were shit” when he spoke of the first leg against blackburn, having being the first goalscorer in the 2-0 demolition of the English side at Ewood Park. Standing three to a seat behind the goal that night, the abiding memory is the terror and panic on Blackburn defenders faces as Hartson, Sutton and Larsson jostled for position as a corner was about to be taken.

Men against Boys my arse, as the singalong went at full time.

Celtic made the UEFA cup final that season, and on the morning of the game against Porto, a Scottish hack praised the side, and begged them not to allow the dream to end tonight. Who was that fine reporter?

stop press-fourth bid now in from Norwich. might help if hooper himself said he wasn’t interested…