Celtic Diary Wednesday November 13

The outstanding league game against St. Mirren at Celtic Park has now been re-scheduled for Sunday , February 2 at 3pm. Perhaps it will be outstanding.

It’d better be.

My sunday dinner is the only time the whole family sits down together to discuss the weeks events, and it will be a real wrench to miss it.

You never know. She might read this.

If you’re struggling for ideas for Christmas presents, the club have come up with a three match package deal which covers the Partick game, (January 1) , Kilmarnock, (11th ) and Motherwell (18th ) for just £66. Add the kids on to that and it will be a further £21 each.

This international break ( is it just me or do we seem to have domestic breaks from the international football these days ?)- is a bit of a calm before the storm, as Celtic have seven games in December, and five in January.

Great planning by the fixture people, at a time when money is traditionally tight, but at least there won’t be as much traffic on London Road.

Maybe the only person looking forward to the international matches is Fraser Forster, who will start for England against Chile, which should add a few bob to the money that we get for him when he goes.

If he goes. He’s got everything he wants now with the international recognition, so theres no hurry anymore. If you don’t count money.

Alright, when he goes.

Alan Pardew, the man with a high regard for Scottish football and a keen eye for goalkeeping talent, has defended his decision to let Forster move to Celtic;

“Let’s get one things straight about Fraser, we didn’t want to lose him. But Fraser was absolutely adamant that he wanted first-team football and we couldn’t provide him with that.

“Obviously, you can’t play two goalkeepers – that’s a bit tricky – and at the time, we just felt that Tim had the edge. Since then, there’s no doubt that Fraser has progressed at Celtic. I thought it was a great move for him because it’s opened the door to a lot of European football. He’s done terrific in a lot of those games.”

No, I don’t know who Tim is either.

“He’s such a big frame in the goal, and that’s probably his biggest asset,” the Newcastle boss said.

“He can reach right into the corners of the goal to make fabulous saves when other goalkeepers might struggle to get up there. We’re all chuffed for him because we really liked him as a guy. Unfortunately, it was just a case of the timing not really working out.

“Timing and circumstances in life is what it’s all about, and things have worked out well for him.”

“I only had him for a short period, but he was always a confident guy, very assured about his ability.

“I think he’s a very intelligent boy and that will stand him in good stead if he is selected to play for England at some stage.”

Thats from the North East journal, and its not surprising that Pardew is covering his tracks, although its a tad unfair to over criticise him for making the wrong decision where a keeper is concerned.

Its not like he had Brad Freidel, Shay Given and Gordon Marshall on the books, and kept Marshall.

Also in the article was this surprising little tittle of information;

” Forster comes from an untypical background for a footballer – father Brian is a High Court judge at Newcastle Crown Court and he was a student at the Royal Grammar School before his football career took off. ”

Shocked me. I thought the correct word is “atypical ”

a·typ·i·cal

[ey-tip-i-kuhl]  Show IPA

adjective

not typical; not conforming to the type; irregular; abnormal: atypical behavior; a flower atypical of thespecies.

Thought so.

Just shows you. They get quite a lot wrong in that part of the world. Lovable people though.

Actually, you might not recognise him. Heres the same guy in his prime..

 Anyway, good luck to big Fraser as he starts his undercover work to cheer us all up next summer.

 Neil Lennon has spoken about supposedly want away midfielder Joe Ledley. No-one from the club, or the player himself has said anything at all which points toward Ledley turning down a new contract. Lennon said;

“I know what Joe can do. That’s not an issue for me. I just want him to be injury-free and, when he is, he will play.”

Ledley himself doesn’t sound like someone who wants to leave. he spoke to the Evening Times while he’s away with the Welsh squad;

“If you are not playing well and your club is not winning, it is nice to get away with your country to get a break,” he explained.

“But, at Celtic, we are back winning after the disappointment of that defeat to Ajax in Amsterdam, and we just want to continue where we left off against Ross County.”

Whats interesting is how he speaks of the new players at Celtic;

It is very tough for new players arriving here when there are so many breaks for internationals.

“We just want to gel as a team, and the sooner the better.

“We have done all we can to welcome everyone to the club. At the moment, they are doing a fantastic job in terms of settling in.

“Obviously, we all just want to continue playing for the club, but understand that the international dates are there for a reason and everyone who has been selected for their country will be happy to go and play for them.”

He uses the word “we ” a lot, and sounds like a senior club pro talking instead of someone looking to leave.

Lennon has spoken of building his team around his stalwarts, Joe Ledley is surely one of them.

Ajax have released a statement following their fine from UEFA of  25,000 Euros;

“Ajax have been fined by UEFA after a banner appeared on the stands of the Amsterdam ArenA during the match against Celtic FC. The banner was aimed at Ajax’s opponents that night. UEFA imposed a fine of €25,000.

( Thats the STV version, with the offending words removed. There are no plans for them to remove any offending news presenters. )

“The possible penalty for such an offense is a fine of €50,000 plus the closure of some parts of the stadium at the next European home game. After a prompt and adequate response from Ajax the fine was halved and the partial closure averted. The penalty will be recovered from those responsible.

“Another case is in process arising from disturbances during Ajax’s match against Celtic FC in Glasgow. A ruling is expected to follow on Thursday, November 21.”

 

” The penalty will be recovered from those responsible. “

Are they going to make the supporters who had the banner pay the fine ?

Thats incredible. If that catches on the Green Brigade will have to sell the drum.

There seems to be a few goings on down at Edmiston Drive as Scotlands newest club, Second Rangers, begin their descent down into hell, where they at least will be able to meet their predeccessors, Rangers, where they can all sit and argue about who did what to who, and who stole what from where.

 Pretty much like they are doing now, to be honest.

 Todays Daily Record front page features a story that STV first picked up on back in April;

This is the STV story;

STV story

So, one thing we can be absolutely certain of, is that the Record story is not the big event down that way at the moment.

 We were sent this photo of something that happened in the office down Edmiston Drive…

Perhaps the real story lies behind this, from Charlotte aka Malkiemouth

We did ask Walter for his response;

 But he’s not himself these days.

 In the run up to the most important game of the last twenty years, the one which Celtic had to win to stop Murrays Rangers from buying their tenth title on the trot, the Celtic squad popped out for a few beers during the week, which ended up with Jonathan Gould getting his head stuck in some railings. There we were, unable to sleep for a week, tense, nervous, upset, and they are out on the beer playing silly buggers.

 Still, it worked, and the rest is history. The full story, and many others , can be found on the Tom Boyd podcast. Which is perhaps the most unashamed plug the diary has ever done.

Heres a clip from the Times of March 1967. What was different about Celtic in this game ?