Celtic Diary Thursday June 13

It looks like the drawn out signing of Amido Balde from Vitoria Guimares is about to be concluded. Having passed a medical the forward is all but ready to sign a four year deal. The agents have all been spoken to , and that leaves only the club to sort out.

Any excuse really to have another look at this lass.

Rami Gershon has become the second player to definitely leave the club. following Daryl Murphy out the door, the Israeli defender has joined Belgian side Beveren, and Belguim unfortunately doesn’t have sultry, tanned models like Portugal, but does have this guy. Just so the ladies don’t feel left out.

See, the ladies who read this site prefer the thinking man, and not the big lugs who enjoy mindless violence such as van Damme.

Gershon didn’t seem to settle at Celtic, and with more expected from the ever improving Kelvin Wilson, and his partner Efe Ambrose, who cannot fail to improve, he’d be way back in the queue for a starting place, so we wish him well.

Anthony Stokes, who hasn’t signed a new contract yet, and if it transpires the next thing he signs is a charge sheet, may well be out the door, if he goes, there is apparently interest from Leeds Utd.

One man who won’t be joining Celtic is Leigh Griffiths, who has been told by new Wolves manager Kenny Jackett that he is wanted down in the black country.

However, with the recent record of diary predictions, that probably means he’s sitting next to Balde at Ross Hall right now.

The bid from Hull for Gary Hooper, thought to be around £4.5m was in fact the full amount, and not the deposit, so after they had finished laughing, the Celtic board turned it down, but did ask if the Hull man fancied doing a wee bit of cabaret to cheer people up during this dreadful wet , football free summer. Some say that Celtic should take around £5m for Hooper, as he is in the last year of his contract, but the important thing here is he is under contract, however long or short. He’s a proven goalscorer at the highest level, he’s English, and on the brink of an internatonal call up. Eight figures should be the starting point, as simply his goals will be the difference between relegation and staying up for whoever he goes to.

If not wait till the last day and you will still get a fair price for him, as teams down south start to panic, when they realise the foreign players they have just bought spend most of the time moaning about the weather whilst doing  half arsed laps of the pitch talking to their mates on their mobiles.

Paddy McCourt, who was handed the captains armband when he came on during the latter stages of the cup final in a significant gesture, will most likely be away, and Aberdeen have been cited as a “good move ” for him in the MSM. Actually, Aberdeen, with a couple of shrewd signings under their belt, and the release of one or two who weren’t earning their crust, such as Craig Brown, could be a force to be reckoned with next season. Especially as Motherwell and Inverness are shedding players quicker than old Rangers did when they died and set up a new club.

Incidentally, Lionel Messi has been the subject of an investigation over £3.4m of unpaid taxes. The Argentinian said;

“I’m surprised at this. I’ve never played for Rangers. ”

Meanwhile, sales of away terrace tickets for the upcoming friendly at Brentford have been suspended after just four days. The game has proved to be very popular with travelling and local Celts, so its stand tickets only for the moment.

Next year, Celtic will play in the Scottish Professional football League, after clubs voted to merge the current two bodies into one all singing all dancing new set up. basically, it will be the same sort of thing with a couple of play offs and the money divided more evenly.

Hidden in the small print, the new rules also add that anyone with an associate membership automatically become a full member, taking away the need for anyone to apply and have their business examined. Just in case, with being a new club, they have overlooked a few things in doing their accounts. Such as the truth.

Charlotte Fakeovers has produced the relevant documents in the little tax case, which shows the side letters that Rangers forgot to show the SFA, and then forgot they had. Click on the link for maor jaw dropping stuff.

RFC-Discounted-Option-Scheme-Docs-23-03-11

Poor David Murray.He’ll be pining for the old days when players were paid in envelopes on service station car parks. not, of course that I’m suggesting he ever did that. In fact , if he had, there would be no embarrassing paper trail and they might have got away with it.

Charlotte wants to act as a go between for any journalist who wishes to question Craig Whyte about the authenticity of some of the audio tapes released. Noone is denying the authenticity, but any sort of questioning from the media would be welcome. Because from where I am sitting, the only question seems to be who has taken the super injunction out on who?

Nobody wants to comment on the “leaks “, as they are said to be “toxic “-presumably meaning they have been hacked or stolen. What is strange though, is that no-one will even say there have been leaks, and no-one has mentioned any investigation. Thats probably because there is an investigation going on right now anyway, by the police.

Do they want to keep it quiet in case any upcoming trial is prejudiced? Remember, the Rangers Oldco moaned about leaks during the big tax case. does someone, somewhere, want to leave them no way out this time?

More importantly, though, why is it only people on interweb forums are asking these questions. If Craig Whyte is out there, he’s more than welcome to get in touch. He’s a sort of hero of mine, you see.

However, I’m not saying that everyone involved in this massive fraud is a greedy, lying, cheating  swine who  should be arrested, tried and sent to jail. I’m typing it.

Anyway, back to the good guys. The new strip, as exclusively revealed in the diary way before anyone else had even heard of Magners-see, we do get some things right, has divided the support.

Some people don’t like it, whilst others really don’t like it. As usual, it will sell well, and this exciting new policy of changing every year means we won’t have to put up with it for long. Anyway,out of shape,  unfit grown men shouldn’t wear football kits. they look stupid, as I once shouted to Ally McCoist during a Celtic Rangers game in the eighties.

The picture yesterday contained more than a couple of legends, and well done to Ian McAllistair for getting them all right.

Now, this guy is already asking you to hold off on the abuse, it seems. Who is he, and where is he now?

Oh, I’ve just read Paul Gascoignes biography. He enjoyed his time at Rangers best, he says, and became engrossed in the now defunct clubs traditions. The wife beating alcoholic is currently undergoing treatment for depression and drug addiction.