Celtic Diary Monday July 8

Thankfully, its hard enough to remember who Celtic have played in recent pre season jollies , never mind how they have played, so at least the game against Cluj will simply fade into the memory.

The Romanians beat celtic 2-1, and it was only with the introduction of Georgios Samaras, who was credited with the goal when the ball hit his leg and went in, that there was any sort of urgency within the side.

Celtic never really had any sort of rhythm or pattern and even if they had, the Cluj tactic of only allowing the ball in play for about six minutes before tripping someone would have prevented it anyway. If we are to play them later in the season at any point, that, more than anything else should be remembered.

Something has worried me over the two games , though. Now I know what it is. The new strip looks wrong. Its sort of white with some green bits on it. It doesn’t look like Green and White Hoops from a distance.

Hull City have Charlie Austin down in for a medical, which could be a sign they have given up on Gary hooper, just as Austin going for a medical could be a sign he has given up waiting for Celtic. But if stories are to be believed, then any money from the sale of Victor Wanyama will be used to give players already at Celtic a decent pay rise, which is the way Neil Lennon favours.

Thats if Wanyama goes. Southampton are back in for him, and reports from Merseyside indicate that Everton are eyeing the big Kenyan. But even if he does go, the Sun have decided on his replacement;

So Kayal is to be the new Wanyama, and presumably Bahrudin atajic will be the new Kayal.

Surprisingly, though, in the same edition, the paper did manage to get the date right.

No matter who goes and who stays though, Lennon is adamant there willbe no firesale at the club-and he doesn’t seem too sure himself what is going on;

” I had a wee chat with Victor, and he’s a wee bit confused. what we gather is that Southampton have re-ignited their interest. They’ve shown an interest again and the bid is there. Its all about negotiations between Saints and the agents now. I’d imagine that might get the ball rolling again. I’ve only seen victor for a couple of days, but he trained with the rest of the squad who didn’t play against Cluj . ”

I think he means the ones who didn’t line up against Cluj-no-one really played against them.

Ominously, Lennon is also reported as saying that the deal ” is too big not to go through ”

If nothing happens on the transfer front, Wanyama could feature against Gruether Furth tomorrow night, but if he is to be away, surely common sense should prevail and Lennon should pick the team he wants to start against Clifton ville next week ?

Beram Kayal and Thomas Rogic may see it as an opening. Kayal was a superstar until he was assaulted by Lee McCulloch, and if he can regain his form, then Victors loss won’t be so damaging. Rogic is maybe a while away from that sort of level yet, but there is much optimism that he can become the creative player the team have missed of late.

Then theres Scott Brown, Joe Ledley, Kris Commons…

Wanyama going is not the end of the world. We’ve lost better players and survived. This time it will be no different.

Meanwhile, for every player who seems to want away, theres a couple who really want to stay. Swedish defender Mikael Lustig is happy with his lot.

” I have two more years here then we will see what happens. I’m happy though, and I like Celtic as a club and Glasgow as a city. Celtic are bigger than I thought they’d be when I signed. You see how much it means to people when you come here. I came from a small club in Scandinavia in comparison, where things didn’t always work out the way you want as a player. But here we have people for everything at Celtic. Its a really big club. ”

The weekend saw only 46 people arrested as the marching season got into full swing. An Orange Lodge obergruppenfuhrer said that his organisation and the police had worked well together and everything was fine. ( If , of course this amount of people were arrested at a rock concert, it would not be allowed to take place again.)

Worked well together-perhaps even sang and danced together! Who knows ?

Don’t forget the petition. Despite what the press tells you, there was still enough anti Irishness and anti Catholicism to warrant action.

It says everything when you feel relief that nobody died.

glasgow-city-council-stop-allowing-orange-walks-in-glasgow-city-centre (1)

The Sunday Post added that there were “few arrests at parades ” , and then spent the rest of the day hoping it was some of their staff.

Elsewhere, Sevco boss Ally McCoist was delighted as his team beat Brora Rangers in their first pre season friendly. With their own European campaign due to start in just a few years time, it was important for him to blood his new signings.

Dundee Utd were beaten 4-1 by one of Celtics upcoming opponents Union Berlin, and Partick lost to Gateshead.

Wouldn’t it be a better idea if all internationals were played in the summer ?

You could have World cup qualifiers from June to mid July, and then back to domestic football. At least the games would be meaningful. Except most of Scotlands, obviously. Then the finals the following summer. Alternate this with the European Championships and everybody happy.

To fill in the blanks players could do shiftwork down t’pit to keep in shape. Two weeks off before the schools go back, and then there would be no need to spend painful training sessions trying to get back into shape.

Meanwhile, Dunblanes  Andy Murray became the first ever Scot to win the Bat and Ball Cup somewhere in Londonshire. Although it might have been a movie starring Bradley Cooper and Gerard Butler.

You must have noticed. Its been in all the papers, because until next year he’s British, and they don’t have a lot to cheer about, although they seem to think they should have.

The BBC , representing the English establishment, was delighted to have a British winner ( instead of a Scottish Runner Up ), after their continual plugging of their football team and their Eurovision entrant. Then they feign surprise and ignorance when the chaps from Foreignland turn out to be much better than they gave them credit for, presumably because they hadn’t bothered checking them out first.

Anyway, congratulations to Murray, for becoming the only Scotsman ever  to stand outside in shorts in the sun for 4 hours and not get burnt. And good luck towing that bandwagon everyone has jumped on.

Roy aitken is the man credited with the Sash quote, although others may have said it. Simply saying it first does not automatically give you the praise, unfortunately.

Now, I mentioned Eurovision earlier on, whats the link between the 2013 contest, and John Hartson ?