Five straight victories and five clean sheets in December meant that Neil Lennon won manager of the month, and Kris commons picked up the equivalent players award.
Lennon said;
“It’s probably harder for me to win this award but it’s not an issue for me. It’s just nice to get the recognition and given the form of the team, the goals and the clean sheets, it was bound to happen sooner or later.”
It is harder to win it for him,( not because he’s shite ) but because he’s got the biggest club, the biggest budget and so on, and thats without mentioning his unrivalled popularity in Scotland. Even Edward Longshanks didn’t get the abuse the Irishman does, but he never fell out with Ally McCoist on live tv.
Kris Commons became the first Celtic man to win the Players award this season, and he was delighted;
“It was a good month for me with the two performances against Hearts and Motherwell the highlight. The clean sheet record speaks for itself and obviously going forward we’ve scored a hatful of goals.
( He might want to watch videos of those games )
“Coming on the back of being knocked out of the Champions League, December was a good month for us and it gave the supporters something to cheer about.
“In terms of goals, in the summer I would have been looking at double figures for the season but now I am targeting 20-plus.”
Lennon had compared the little forward with legendary Slovak Lubomir Moravcik, and Commons admitted that was an honour.
BT Sport described Moravcik as an unknown quantity when he joined Celtic, presumably having played 76 times for Czechoslovakia meant he’d slipped under everyones radar, except Hugh Keevins, who knew all about him and said he was a waste of money when proven talents , such as John Spencer , were available.
Commons said;
“I would say it is an honour,”
“With the comparison, I did a little bit of research to see what sort of player he was.
“He came here at 33 and he was a true talent, with his goal scoring record, his ability, not only his left foot, but his right foot and the relationship with the fans he had.
“But I think I am way behind.”
But theres time yet, Commons could turn out to be a revered Celt, but can he trap the ball with his arse ?
He did try once
Tom Rogic will ship out on loan to Melbourne Victory. That , at least , will give him a chance to make the World Cup, where he could yet make a name for himself. There was an enquiry to buy him from Sydney FC, but that was turned away.
His agent said;
“I understand that Sydney made contact with Celtic, who were not willing to sell the player.
“In those circumstances, it was never a matter for our consideration.”
Anyone else get the feeeling we might have missed the boat here ? Still, if he does well in Brazil, we’ll get a few bob for him, and its all about balance sheets these days.
Lennon also went on to wax lyrical about new bhoy Stefan Johansen, who he hopes will be as good as Mikael Lustig.
“Stef is a good player, an all-round midfielder with goals in him and a good range of passing. He is an excellent athlete who covers the ground very well.
“He has a lovely left foot on him, a very good temperament and has enjoyed a helluva good season in Norway.
“The Scandinavians have a very good mentality and he fits that bracket. Just look at all Lustig has done since he came in – if Stef makes the same impact as Mikael we’ll be very happy.
“He can fit straight into the team, although is not quite ready yet as the Norwegian season ended in November. Hopefully he will be in our squad next week at Hibs.
“We have done pretty well with the Scandinavians over the years. They have a similar mentality to British players.
Hopefully, not the same mentality as the player behind him who is playing with a knob of butter. And what use is a knob of butter ?
Lennon continued;
“The majority are strong and I hope Stef fits that bill because you need a certain mentality to play at this club.
“He has a confidence and intelligence about him. We’ve watched him on a number of occasions and reports came back from others, not affiliated with Celtic, which were very positive and his stats were excellent.
“He can play centrally or on the left. We haven’t a set position for him yet and want to integrate him as quickly as possible. I’m sure it won’t take long before he’s in the team.”
Oh, I bet he says that to all the new signings. He’s a bit of a charmer.
As we can clearly see in the picture for January, taken from the Neil Lennon 2014 calendar;
Hopefully, he got paid up front for this gig, and isn’t relying on commission. I’ll be sticking with the one the Chinese takeaway gave me, I think.
Georgios Samaras and Joe Ledley still haven’t signed new deals, and the support is worried that Samaras might yet stay.
Neil Lennon doesn’t sound convinced about eithers plans;
“There’s still a bit of a way to go in negotiations with Sami. The longer it goes on, the more speculation there is, so we would like to get both Joe and Sami done as quickly as possible, but it’s not as easy as that.
“We don’t want to let their contracts run down. I’m not getting that impression from Joe, but it’s a scenario we are keen to avoid. We’ll speak to Sami again early next week. He may want to do that (let his contract run down), he has not given us an indication of what he wants to do, one way or another. There is interest in him, although no direct contact with any of the clubs.
“It’s a difficult thing but he hasn’t actually said he will run his contract down. If that scenario comes. then there are plenty of players who have run down their contracts before. We’ll get on with it and cross that bridge when we come to it.
“We have plenty of time, two and a half weeks to avoid that. We’ll speak to him early next week and maybe we’ll get some sort of clarity on it then. You have to weigh up his ambitions and ours and try to find a happy medium in between. We have to find something to keep him happy and keep him here to avoid him going somewhere else, either now or in the summer.”
Funny, but clarity is something never associated with Samaras, whether its on or off the field. The manager might just have a job on his hands.
Can you keep a secret ?
With money always the key issue when it comes to signing players, with transfer fees and wages often a stumbling block, for the love of god don’t tell Lawwell about Derek Riordans negotiating skills;
“It’s odd for me. I’ve offered to play for nothing and nobody’s taken it up. I’ve changed agents a couple of times and, whether you’re getting the right information back, I don’t know.
“It could be that someone’s put out a bad word about me. I think I’ve only had one breach of the peace charge in my life, so it’s not exactly that bad. I don’t know what it is. It is quite frustrating.”
I think most of us have an idea….
His plea could well have alerted whoever it is who is in charge of finance at Ibrox, as it appears they are having a little trouble paying the bills again. It seems Ally McCoist called in his players-all 56 of them, Celtic only have fifty – and bravely told them to listen to what Lee McCulloch was about to tell them.
McCoist then left the room, so as not to influence players decisions in any way, having just agreed to a pay cut himself, as Leaping Lee told his team mates that they would have to take a 15% pay cut.
( See-I never called him a sleekit horrible coward who has let down his players again and mentioned that he had failed in the most basic of managerial responsibilities at all, , and I still don’t have a job in the MSM ? Perhaps its because my parents are married. )
The answer, predictably, was a resounding no, and now there is the prospect of Second Rangers going the way of their predecessors.
Beautifully illustrated here by Charlie Tully, of KDS;
However, there are plans to deal with the immediate problems, and the financial experts at Ibrox already have a vision for the future, exposed by another KDSer , Lysdexic;
TV news got in with the details, and financial expert Neil Patey was wheeled out to tell everybody everything was fine, and his bosses at Ernst and Young were already clearing his desk. Patey said everything was fine before the old club died, and he’s giving us his reasons why the new one won’t die either.
And the MSM ? Who failed miserably last time by sticking their heads up the closest arse they could find ?
Not to worry. They’ve learned their lesson and can smell blood this time.
RECORD Sport’s chief sports writer Keith Jackson puts the questions that matter to Ibrox chief Wallace after another turbulent day at Ibrox.
Etims have got hold of the real answers that Wallace gave to Jackson before the sub editors changed them round a bit.
So the bloke who sold them to us reckons.
KEITH JACKSON: When players are being asked to take wage cuts it suggests the need for some alarm. What message would you send to the Rangers supporters who will quite clearly be concerned by this development?
WALLACE:
” We would ask them to consider paying at the gate for the rest of the season. Even if they have a season book. ”
KJ :
You say football operations represent the most significant costs for any club. But the last set of accounts indicated that the player wage bill made up around an £8million portion of the club’s entire £18m wage bill. The perceived logic is that the player wage bill now stands at around £6m.
Supporters will want to know what you are doing about addressing the wages being paid to those outside the first-team dressing room?
WALLACE:
” We will review them later, including yours. But, off the record, we’ll still do okay.”
KJ
But if an already sceptical support is to be placated, these fans will want to see some members of your board feeling the pinch. Is that going to be difficult for you to achieve?
WALLACE:
” Yes. So we are not going to bother. ”
KJ
Your problem here is that fans see suggested wage cuts and – given everything this club has endured over the last couple of years – they will quite understandably fear the worst.
The last time players took wage cuts at Ibrox the club was being plunged into a financial trauma. The question they need answered by you is clear – is this the beginning of Administration II?
WALLACE:
” yes, but they won’t notice. They never do. Tell them we’re fine.”
KJ:
But after what happened in 2012, do you understand why many fans might not be inclined to believe you?
WALLACE:
” Those idiots still don’t believe it happened in 2012. ”
KJ: If I were Ally McCoist, I might have a real problem with this. I might reasonably point to the wage to turnover ratio of under 30 per cent and say you are squeezing me too hard. Has he?
WALLACE:
” Squeeze him too hard ? I can’t even get my arms around the fat fuck. ”
It looks like pantomime season is starting early this year, and the entire Valentines Day card industry could be in jeopardy, as the 14th of February looks like being renamed.
Back to Celtic, and on a serious note, we are told that a couple of fans who were arrested are still awaiting a bit of dialogue from the club. Is someone not checking his twitters-or emails-or even post it notes ?
Or, put another way.
Will someone get in touch with the Quigleys ? They are waiting for your call. The club needs to actually back the fans, and not just tell them they will.
That was Pat Bonnars testimonial in the picture yesterday, a man who never ever lost his cool, unless a schoolboy reminded him of his kicking abilities.
Loved that wee story in the replies yesterday from Paul in the diary replies.
Going way back again, without googling, what was the final score and who scored ?
Finally, a wee political joke
No, not that one;
Why did the Better Together candidate cross the road ?
He didn’t. Far too risky.
1-0 John McPhail scored the goal.
Was it 3-3?
Oops, I thought you were asking about Bonner’s testy!
It must stick in the MSM throats, to give Lenny the monthly award.Fully deserved.
Kris Commons,too,form and goals,deserves praise.He really does put our strikers ( what strikers ? ) to shame.
When is Lawwell going to get the quality striker, that should be
doing this job ?
Good article as always, secco always good for a laugh. On the playing side I would like to see Lennon play a couple of our young players and give them a good run in the team. Gaurantee them say the next 10 league games and see if they can have it. I would rather see our young players given a chance rather than keep bringing in foreign players who are only with us for 2 seasons.
Celtic win awards so Jack Irvine launches yet another story to get Rangers stealing the headlines…whats he like!!
But has anyone ever seen Packie Bonner and James Doohan in the same room together? Ye cannae change the laws of goalkeepin’.
….Georgios Samaras and Joe Ledley still haven’t signed new deals, and the support is worried that Samaras might yet stay…. now that’s funny Ralph, great diary
Great article as always, keep it up.
My only concern is when the peopleee leave the scene this time, what will we have to laugh at.
Lets hope Joe signs on again, and sami has a good future somewhere else. Our first signing looks and sounds the part.(fingers crossed) If Peter the suit allows us a decent striker and Lennon gets some of the squad settled in and part of an attacking formation, then life could be good again.
HH, Keep the faith