At least I think its Saturday. Might still be Friday. No sign of the sun yet.
Actualy, it might be the 1990s, I’ve just put the telly on, and Sky Sports are showing that Rangers beat Airdrieonians 3-0 last night, and I could have sworn they wee both dead.
Oh, they are.
The tarrier carrier is fuelled up and ready to roll in a couple of hours, and it must be the excitement keeping me awake. Thats the excitement of going to the football, not the excitement in an Angelas Ashes sort of way. Which is, of course, immoral.
Theres me being the middle aged man of god again.
UEFA decided yesterday to uphold the three match ban for captain Scott Brown, which has dampened the mood at Celtic Park ahead of next weeks crucial game in Amsterdam, though not for everybody.
Celtic will face Dundee Utd this afternoon, and there is immediately a bit of a dilemma for manager Neil Lennon. With Brown losing his appeal ( every time he gets sent off -copyright Desi mond ) does the manager stick with his captain, or go with the Kayal/ Ledley/ Mulgrew midfield that is likely to face Ajax next week ?
Brown , of course, cannot play in that fixture, which was always going to be the outcome of any appeal, but it was a nice day out for him.
So, does he get rested, and leave those who didn’t get sent off in this years campaign a chance to get acquainted, or do we let him play ? Brown will probably play, which doesn’t make a great deal of sense..
Lennon seems to have missed the point on Browns European ban completely;
“For him to miss these games is a blow to him and to us. He’s a huge player for us and we’re going to miss him.
“It’s another two games now and Ajax away is pivotal. We’re prepared for it, but it’s still very disappointing because I felt we had a good case.
“I’ve not seen the written reasons or affirmation. I don’t have all the facts in front of me, so I don’t know what they have said. But it’s been upheld.”
“He will be flying back and meeting up with the squad tonight. I feel the ban is excessive for a misdemeanour, or whatever you want to call it.
“I am sure we had a fair hearing but it wasn’t to be. It is a blow for us and for Scott and we will just have to deal with it.”
How about kicking his arse all round the dressing room and then maybe , just maybe Brown will start acting like a man worthy of being a Celtic captain ? Instead of moaning about how much we will miss him, or how harsh UEFA are being ?
A wee bit of maturity and responsibility is required from Brown, and realistically he should be on his last warning, and not being held up as some kind of martyr for the cause.
Kris Commons and Georgios Samaras will miss todays game, but James Forrest and Charlie Mulgrew will be back.
Mulgrew , the only first pick in history to not actually have a position all his own is someone perhaps not valued by the support. Sometimes a manager will see something in a player that isn’t immmediately visible from the stands. Mulgrew has quietly and effectively filled in wherever Lennon has asked him to, and performed admirably into the bargain.
Maybe we should absolve Scott Brown of his responsibilities for a while, ask Mulgrew to take over, and then Brown can concentrate on what he’s good at.
Waiting in the wings today will be striker Amido Balde, who though probably not ready yet, is showing signs of settling and wanting to do well. Especially after his dramatic entrance last week at Firhill, where he scored the winner by doing the simplest of things. Collecting the ball and running towards the goal with it.
“It was very important for myself and for the club. But I’m still new here so I’m eager to learn and work,” Balde said.
“I’m always learning from watching Anthony Stokes and Georgios Samaras.
“Even when I’m sitting on the bench I’m watching them and taking note.
“It wasn’t easy for me at first, having to adapt to coming here. I know Celtic want a forward who will score goals but I’m calm and prepared to take my time because I know the goals will come. It’s all about learning little by little at this stage.
“If there is one thing I have to learn more than anything else it is patience.”
“It’s always good to receive praise from the manager but in general I am feeling very good here,” he continued
“I won’t be resting on my laurels because I’ve scored. The thing is to keep working and to keep getting better. The job is not done just because I scored at the weekend.
“I know what the manager meant when he described me as a baby and I will have to grow up quickly.
“But I’m positive the boss knows me well and is aware of any difficulties I might have.
“I’m sure I’ll grow quickly and I’m not going to let the manager down.”
Visitors Dundee Utd should be up for it today, they lost a last minute extra time goal in a League Cup game in midweek which saw them crash out to Inverness Thistle. There was also a wee bit of bother with both managers being sent to the stands and Uniteds top scorer Nadir Ciftci sent off when he grabbed the referee by the throat.
Elsewhere, Hibernian boss Pat Fenlon has resigned, citing it was time for someone else to build on what he had started. He said;
“It was a very difficult decision. I’ve been here for a while and I love the place. But you have to be fair to everyone. It’s the right decision to make at the right time.”
No idea who they might go for. Jimmy Calderwood is probably already sitting outside the ground, cv in hand.
Someone else who got out of dodge yesterday was the well respected journalist and radio presenter James Traynor, who was removed from his post of director of communications at crisis club Second Rangers. Apparently it was a cost cutting excercise, and Traynor has been deemed surplus to requirements. The official announcement was more than a little terse;
“Rangers today announce that Director of Communications James Traynor has left the club,” No good wishes, no thank you.., just a reported pay off of £200,000…
He must have made quite an impression over there. We hear he’s away to the beach for a while to take stock-and maybe even impress the ladies;
Afterwards he could join Radio Clyde on their expert phone in panel , Radio Scotland have allegedly told him he’s not welcome back, and Keith Jackson has changed the locks and taken the phone off the hook down at the Daily Record.
At the independent Clyde he would link up with Hugh Keevins , Gordon Dalziel and Derek Johnstone in a dazzling line up of talent unmatched anywhere in the sporting world that is sure to set the phone lines buzzing.
BT are already installing a new hi-tech system to cope with demand;
It was a busy day in the world of Second Rangers yesterday. Dave King, who seemed so perfect for them won’t be coming after all.
The convicted South African based fraudster said;
“Over the last two years we have all witnessed the destructive value when individuals, who should be putting the club first, advance personal agendas through the media in an attempt to influence the most important stakeholder in Rangers Football Club, the fans. ”
No shit, sherlock. What really happened was the institutional investors blocked it.
More bad news for them, but its good news for the ice cream industry, which traditionally suffers a downturn this time of year.
Celtic beat Tirol Innbruck 6-3, 7-5 on aggregate in a tense match at Celtic Park back on the 26 August 1997, the picture yesterday was a wee reminder of an exciting tussle which saw Celtic install defibrillators at the ground in case it ever happened again.
the Celtic wiki explains what happened…
Right, I’m off to the game, big , morale boosting feel good win needed today, and I think we’ll get a comfortable win.
While I do that, tell us whats happening here.
I’m really gutted that Dave King has walked away….err Would anyone like another bowl? 🙂
That is the little japanese magicians freekick which, coupled with THGs penalty save, qualified us for the last 16 of the champions league for the first time.
What a night.
Safe trip today
Naka is opening a tin can with his free against Man U. Bloody magnificent strike.
Too much news today…Pat Fenlon, nice fella I’m sure but whatever he was ‘building’ was taking longer than 80s tv lawyer Petrocelli’s house. Speaking of erections, King Dave must be the……fill in the blanks yourself.
Naka’s thing of beauty against Man Who. Edwin Van Der Saar – who spent some time sitting with the Ajax fans at Celtic Park the other week – had so little chance of saving this perfectly placed free kick, he might as well have positioned himself on the corner of Kinloch Street rather than on the goalline.
Oor little oriental gem showing his class against the so called “best team in England” it is up there with the best free kicks iv ever seen, wish we had him now..hail hail
£200k for Jabba the Slug! I hate to think of him getting all that money, but I know it’s another nail in the zombies’ coffin. Now, £500k for Mr Khan, a disastrous AGM before the end of the year and we’re well set up for the big tax case appeal starting in January. ‘We arra pee-pel’ has never sounded more ironic.
I don’t foresee Celtic playing this version of Newco any time soon.
Sevco are like that scene in Goodfellas where Pauly and Henry take over the restaurant and milk into the ground
“..and finally when you cant borrow another buck from the bank or buy another case of booze..you bust the place out,
you light a match..”
jabba the PHATT SLOB TRAINA, cheerio Y.F.M.H. BASSA
Naka’s free kick – this created the loudest noise I’d ever heard at CP (bettered only by the noise at start of CL game against Barca last season). Then followed by the longest 10 minutes in my life waiting for the final whistle.
re sevco – the truth about who is behind them, blue pitch / margarita, will need to come out soon and then the SFA / SPL have a very big decision to make when they find out Craig Whyte’s still there. They avoided taking the big decisions the last time round, can they afford not to do it this time?
Ralph
Enjoy your day. At least i enjoyed my comment, even if no else had that incredible pleasure.
Hope the journey home is a happy one though I wonder how anyone can have a happy journey to Stoke! I know, I know, from someone in Northumberland?
H H
Aye Naka’s free kick – he really shud have got Van Der Saar to keep after the 2nd free kick went in in the same corner as his first one had down at Old Trafford!!
I watched it at home & couldn’t believe it when the pundits after the game made no comment regarding Celtic qualifying from the group as a result of their head to head v Man U after that game. It wasn’t even mentioned on the evening news that night – it wasna till the highlights programme that they realised we’d gone & qualified for the last 16. Naka & THG both football geniuses!!
Talking of Naka free kicks, check out the one on youtube where he sends one through the window of a moving bus – part of some Japanese game show I think – and no, I don’t have the link, but it’s easy enough to find.
Magic. I watched that at 8am in a pub in Sydney with the NSW CSC. Bizarre experience being in a ‘Glasgow pub’ full of punters pissed at 8am…..then walking out and seeing the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge!
The immoratal Naka free kick! Memorable for two things…its brilliance paving the way for us to move into the CL knockouts but also for me having to stir my mate in the Jock Stein…he’d had three too many sherbits in the Hoops Bar before hand and was just catching a wee bit of shut eye.
When Jarosik was brutally hacked down (if memory serves!) I gave him a wee nudge and said “Here Doc, ya better have a look at this in case Naka does something mental.” He did.
Our goal celebrations will always remind me why I love CP on a European night…
There were three of us sat side by side…and next to us a similar aged mid-twenties guy with a fairly tasty bird on his arm…when Naka hit the net, myself, the other mate and the guy next to us went clean buck mad in celebration, groups hugs all around. Out in the aisle beside us is the recently awakened Doc basically having a good grope with yer mans bird. In any other social situation it would have been totally inappropriate…but it’s not every day Naka buries the English champions so neither herself nor himself were put out!
Good times!