Celtic Diary Tuesday December 17

Defender Efe Ambrose has revealed that he hated playing as a defender earlier in his career. When he started out, back in 2006, with Kaduna United in his homeland, he was a midfielder. The big Nigerian said;

“The first coach who asked me to play as a defender was Ben Duamlong. Initially, I hated it but he saw something in me and today, I thank him for helping me make the change,” Ambrose told supersport.com.

Ambrose also identified former Nigeria internationals, Samson Siasia and Henry Nwosu as coaches who helped him grow and develop as a professional footballer.

“I also want to use this medium to thank my former coaches Siasia and Henry Nwosu for helping me grow.

“When I first started, I was just running around the pitch. I did not understand the rules of positioning or tactics. ”

He’s coming on a bundle, isn’t he ?

Speaking of the defence, most supporters would say that it is far and away the strongest part of the team, and arguably the only area that doesn’t need strengthening in January. Neil Lennon, the manager, disagrees;

Apparently, statistically speaking, and statistics are what matters here, Celtic have only kept eleven clean sheets in twenty matches thus far this season. Or roughly, give or take a game or two, one in three. This sudden attention to detail appears to have been brought on by the freak thrashing from Barcelona in a meaningless Champions League game. Think about it, four games in twelve months between the sides, three of which were decided by the odd goal, the other a heavy one sided win. So, which one was the freak result  ?

But Lennon thinks it could be better. And it will stop us thinking about his misfiring strikers, although now that Hugh Keevins has written off Teemu Pukki, UEFA have  cancelled this seasons Golden boot competition, and awarded it to the Flying Finn.

Lennon said;

“It is always important for the team to keep clean sheets. That is three in a row now domestically which is obviously good.

“We have certainly shown we are capable of scoring goals, but we haven’t kept as many clean sheets as we would have liked this season.

“I think Fraser Forster and the rest of the players want to build on that in the games we have coming up. I would certainly like them to get more clean sheets.”

This obsession with clean sheets is a little strange, and I’m sure theres a term for this. And not just amongst the parents of teenage boys with internet access.

Well, I’ve got news for him

Alfred Finnbogasson, said by many to be the answer to all Celtics problems, has not ruled out a move to Scotland. Well, sort of. Someone asked him where his future lies, and he said;

“England, Germany, Scotland . . . who knows? I just want to score goals, be it in Holland or somewhere else.”

With Peter Lawwells name being scratched off Christmas card lists all over the country, he might feel that he has to do something to win back favour from an increasingly disgruntled support.

I can help him here, all he needs to do is fill in the blanks.

Celtics support is split down the middle, and Lawwell has decided to put all the blame onto the Green Brigade, and not just the drummer. It now transpires that the hooligans who smashed up seats at Fir Paqrk were not, in fact members of the  group. And all those stop searches before the Hibs game, when such offensive material as this

was refused inital admission, and the owners told to go back to Ireland, the club have scored a massive own goal, which will not help Neil Lennons bid to improve the clean sheet ratio.

Time to take a trip back in time, to August the sixth this year……

Doc commented on the diary yesterday with this;

excerpts from FOI requests to GCC re issue of General Safety Certificate for Celtic Park:

FOI 4384361 23/08/13

The Safety Team has been in discussions with Celtic Football Club since 2010 concerning crowd management issues such as crowd migration, overcrowding, lateral movement, crowd surfing, bouncing and ‘moshing’ within section 111.
At a meeting of the Safety Team on 6 August 2013 Celtic Football Club advised the Safety Team that spectators located within Section 111 would be relocated from the area or, alternatively, receive a pro rata refund of their season
ticket should they decide not to be relocated. The Club also advised that the spectators would not be relocated as a group.
The Safety Team noted that this decision had been taken by Celtic Football Club of its own initiative but acknowledged and agreed that given the ongoing serious concerns regarding spectator safety within Section 111, including continued lateral movement, the closure of the Section was a proportionate and reasonable response by the Football Club.

FOI 4406226 10/09/13

Celtic Football Club requested a further meeting with the Safety Advisory Group that was held on 22 August 2013. At this meeting the football club advised that, following discussions with and assurances provided by spectators located within section 111, the club would not be continuing with its decision to relocate spectators from section 111.

Can the GB honestly say the they stuck to their end of the deal. Closure of section 111 or risk no safety cert and stadium closure?

 The Diary on august 6 said;

” After several unheeded warnings, Celtic took a big decision yesterday to close Section 111, the home of the group of supporters known as the Green Brigade. Theres a wordy statement on the official site, which basically says we told you to behave and you have ignored us.”

There can be no reason for the club to ban the GB if the GB just behave themselves. It may all seem like harmless fun, but they need to remember that the vast majority of people at Celtic Park go to watch the football. Not to crowd surf, not to set off fireworks, and not to be annoyed by fellow supporters.

Maybe they need to take a look at how others see them, and listen to what is being said.

Interestingly enough, there are no home games for a while, which means there could still be room for negotiation. So, maybe its time to talk. ”

And so it proved to be, because on August 22

” The Green Brigade will be back in 111 for the Karagandy game, statements from the club and the supporters group are expected later today. ”

They were given another chance, but they are banned again for breaking a rule about a political banner.

Then a load of kids misbehaved at motherwell, and the Green Brigade got the blame. Easy target ? Possibly. Got the wrong guys ? Definitely.

But the clampdown has spread, and with the club holding details on supporters via the season ticket register, there is the risk of being filmed and identified and then having your back doors knocked in at six o’clock in the morning.

All because you sang the wrong song, or chanted the wrong chant. which is why we go to Celtic Park in the first place. In years gone by it was the only place we could go and feel comfortable enough in our surroundings to be able to do this. Now the club we built don’t seem to want us to do that. It doesn’t fit the corporate image.

Thing is, if we just wanted to watch the football, its on television, or on a computer stream. We want the atmosphere. Thats why guys like me get up early, and head to Glasgow. Its why guys like those in the Naimh Padraig, or the Eire Go Bragh travel across the water. Take away the match day experience the real one, with real people, and not  the over priced pies and ridiculous guy in a doggy suit-and you take  take away the rawness of the atmosphere, which is why we go in the first place. remove that, and you also  take away a big chunk of our identity.

Thats not to say that flares, mock fighting and sitting in seats that are not yours and then smashing them are acceptable, because it isn’t. You break a seat, you pay for it. You misbehave, you get chucked out. a degree of common sense is needed.

An entirely separate issue is the law itself that makes virtually any form of  extrovert behaviour illegal. Youngsters need to enjoy the football. They need to get hooked. The day is not far off when I’ll be attending games with a tartan rug over my knee. Someone will have to help me up the stairs.

There are correct channels to express the disenchantment with the law itself . Such as the Celtic Trust. Despite what appeared in the Scotzine magazine, they have a passionate and competent voice in Jeannette Findlay.

( Incidentally, the tabloidesque character assassination was carried out by a chap called Andy Muirhead. I don’t do character assassinations myself, so don’t read this link. curious-case-of-67fanzine )

Or you could email your MSP, such as Christine Graham, who is always ready to help. As she said in her reply to one concerned constituent;

” I know many of you have been asked to e mail us
Do you understand that by overwhelming my in box you have blocked emails from desperate constituents who need housing etc?

Just a thought
Feel free to multi send to others
Sent from Samsung Mobile

Just in case you want to remind her what her actual job description entails, her email address is Christine.Grahame.msp@scottish.parliament.uk

If you don’t get hold of her and she doesn’t reply, just wait a while, because i hear she’ll be hanging around here very soon.

Or, of course, there is the more direct route. as it stands, the weak board at Celtic will not stick up for its customers, and treats them like something they have stepped on on their way to work. If a supermarket searched everyone who went in, or told say, an Indian customer to return to the sub continent, they wouldn’t be in business very long.

Give the pies and bovril a miss next time, or bypass the club shop. Don’t bother with a programme, or a pint in the kerrydale suite.

They should get the hint, and maybe then the club will speak out against the bill. After all, the government is more concerned about corporations losing money than old people not being able to afford the heating.

Lawwell must have his own reasons for what he is doing. He just needs to be told he’s wrong.

The black and white picture yesterday was a very old image of Celtic Park, and heres another image of another  ground whats the story here ?

PS-Rino Gattuso up for match fixing ? Wonder if he was on McCoists list ?