The general opinion seems to be that records don’t matter, and are of less importance than winning trophies. well, of course thats true, but when theres a chance of making history, then you grab it with both hands.
A clean sheet against Kilmarnock tonight will equal Celtics club record of ten successive shut outs in the league. Those of us who grew up watching assorted diddies playing at the back for Celtic should especially relish this one, a feat that has been unequalled for one hundred years, 1913-14 , when teams played in black and white and it was easier to confuse forwards.
Five more after that, and Edwin van der Saars British record is up for grabs.
Neil Lennon took a break from perfecting his teapot routine yesterday to explain;
‘We’ve been pretty consistent and winning, first and foremost, breeds confidence,’ Lennon said. ‘We’ve really tightened up at set pieces against us and the reaction we got after the 6-1 defeat to Barcelona saw us concentrate a lot more.
( He’s obsessed with that club. even when they beat us he harps on about it. )
‘The two centre-halves have played really well together. I don’t know whether we’ve come up with a special remedy but we do work very hard on the defensive side of the game.
‘We’ve also got good players in those positions and don’t forget Emilio Izaguirre, who’s been so consistent and played a huge amount of games in the past 18 months.
‘So there is a comfort there because we haven’t changed the back four much, apart from the right-back position due to the injuries to Mikael Lustig and Adam Matthews.
‘We thought he’d be a big miss because he showed his qualities in the Champions League last year,’ ( on Wilson )
‘Virgil has been a more than adequate replacement. I think he can play for Holland and go to the highest level.
‘I enjoy watching him play – he’s brilliant. The first day I watched him I thought: ‘We’ve got one here.’
‘He showed composure and strength. We felt we had young, strong boys running into him and they basically bounced off him in much the same way they did with Victor Wanyama.
‘At that point we knew we had a specimen. But his ability and technique is excellent. He has quick feet and can move the ball into midfield by sidestepping people.
‘He’s graceful on the ball and, for a Dutch centre-half, he can head the ball – in both boxes. That’s one of the first things you look at in a centre-half.’
‘He hasn’t disappointed us,’ Lennon said.
‘He has so many attributes to his game and the goal from the free-kick against Hibs didn’t surprise me.
‘I see him doing it in training but he’s just not had the confidence to do it – that’s another string to his bow.
‘He’s really hungry. I saw him play for Holland under 21s and Groningen and I felt he could take that step forward into midfield just as Victor did.
‘He has an all-round game and I think we’ve won a watch with him. He’s worth a lot more now than we paid for him.
I wanted a watch for my birthday when I was about eleven, so my dad let me.
We apologise to our supporters for this late notice and the inconvenience this will undoubtedly cause. However, the matter is outwith our control.
We have made a complaint to the SPFL to record our disappointment regarding this issue and, going forward, we hope this situation can be improved to take greater account of the interests of supporters.
Kilmarnock Supporters’ Association chairman Sandy Armour said Celtic should practise what they preach.He said: “It’s hypocritical of Celtic to complain. They chose to play meaningless friendlies in Turkey which didn’t just inconvenience us but also their own fans.
“This fixture has been moved to a Wednesday night which is far from convenient for Kilmarnock fans so I don’t believe the supporters have ever been a consideration for Celtic.
“Money talks and that is the key for this. It’s never about what’s best for fans.”
( This coming from a club who a couple of years ago thought so highly of their own fans that they turfed them out of their own seats , to fit more away fans in . Hypocrisy isn’t unique to Celtic. And its a bastard to spell. Four goes at it now, and it still doesn’t look right. )
Kevin Graham, of the Affiliation of Registered Celtic Supporters, said: “It’s fair criticism by Kilmarnock fans. The armchair fan is yet again put before the paying customer.”
Except tonights game, which isn’t on the telly.
Actually, the club seem more perturbed than usual about this change, and with the new SPFL taking more control of clubs affairs, there is hope that this sort of thing will be eradicated….
So, with a clean sheet record there to be taken, Neil Lennon is wary of the threat from Kilmarnock in the shape of forward Kris Boyd, who averaged around four goals a game at First Rangers, and was the subject of offers from Barcelona, Milan and a team in America, where he became a sort of role model for the kids over there.
“Kris Boyd is a goalscorer and we all know about him,” said manager Neil Lennon “He´s always been a very good footballer and you never lose that knack of scoring goals.
“I think there is a more mature Kris Boyd these days in terms of his leadership qualities with a young Kilmarnock team.
“They had an excellent win at the weekend and they have really had a resurgence. I know they got off to a poor start but Allan has really steadied them and they have had some really positive results of late.
“But we´re at home and we want to take the game to Kilmarnock as much as we can and limit them, particularly Kris, to minimum chances as possible.”
Lennon had to praise the Ayrshire side a wee bit. Like the rest of us, he’d forgotten they were still in the Premier League. I’m sorry for still calling it the Premier League, but if you say Premiership, then the English league springs to mind, which says a lot for the branding of the new set up the marketing men had when naming it. If only they had put as much effort into finding an original name as they did into persuading the SPFL that their their services were needed…
Anyhoo, back to tonight, and James Forrest will be back, to give us the pace and trickery that we will need to break them down. Stefan Johansen played -and scored -in an under 20 game last night and won’t start, but might feature on the bench.
Lennon confirmed;
“We are playing well,” added the manager. “James Forrest is fit now and will come back into the squad and will give us an extra dimension with his pace and quality.
“Commons and Pukki will have got a big lift as well, so we definitely have a goal threat in the team as well. We have no fresh injuries from Sunday and we are hoping Adam Matthews will join in training sometime this week but obviously tonight will be too early for him. ”
Speaking of records, is Michael Schumacher trying to take Nelson Mandelas crown as the worlds slowest dying man?
Word reaches us that Amido Balde is unhappy with the song that supporters have put together for him, the structurally superb “amido amido fucking balde ” , though I have to confess I’ve never heard it.
So, before he disappears on loan to an English lower league, as reported in a couple of papers today, we’ve come up with a new ditty;
Amido, amido, he plays up at the front
Amido amido, seems like a miserable …
Struggling for a rhyme again, anyone help ?
As well as Baldes disillusionment with the lyrical creativity of the support, it appears that Holmbert Fridjonsson isn’t happy with his nickname of “the Fridj “, which is even more surprising, since its about as cool a moniker as you can get. Maybe he’ll prefer ” the moaning git ” instead.
Wolves manager Kenny Jackett has proved he’s on the ball, after Celtic had a second bid knocked back for Leigh Griffiths;
“It does seem that Celtic are very interested.” he said.
The second bid, probably about forty pence higher than the first, has been knocked back as well, prompting Stevie May to make sure his phone is charged up and there plenty of petrol in the car.
Meanwhile, Lee Wallace of Second Rangers has been the subject of a £900,000 bid from Nottingham Forrest as the old boy network springs into life to save their old /new club. Thats if Billy Davies is still in charge there. I can’t be bothered looking, because Ill see the name Kelvin Wilson again and start giggling.
The bid, which has been rubbished by everyone except the MSM, is suspiciously similar to the £9m bid they received for Nikita Jelavic a couple of years ago in a) the figure and b) its fictional content.
The MSM are trying to drive the price up, to avoid him moving across the city to a bigger club, where he will provide cover for Emilio Izzaguerre, in case he needs to go shopping or something.
Fernando de Orneales was the player in yesterdays picture, the Venezuelan who featured even less than Stephane Bonnes.
This guy was highly rated when Jock Stein signed him, only by Jock Stein , right enough. who is he, and who was he supposed to replace ?
The lead singer from brother hood of man!
John Gorman and lulu macari?
John Gorman
Joe Filipi?
is it John Oates of Hall & Oates fame?
Btw: what do you get if you cross a hippopotamus with a singing ex of Jim Kerr? hypocrisy … Arghh…
Coat already buttoned. Taxi already outside pamping it’s horn
What if you cross Star Wars Carrie Fisher with The Humans Leagues Phil Oakey. That wean would be some singer!
…. with one forking weird hairstyle …
Been following the site for many years and love the rumour mill and daily diary etc , however today the little joke about michael schumaker was in poor taste. Celtic fans are better than that
Agreed 100%….Poor taste indeed. ‘Think you’re better than that Ralph?!
Fun Police have spoken tut tut Ralph PC Gonemental is not happy.
Name 3 F1 Drivers who had Scottish place names in their Names?
Here’s 2
Johnny DUMFRIES
STIRLING Moss
Jackie Stewarton?
Naw Desi you cheated there pal….Must try harder 😉
darn it, you spotted it!
Nikki Lauder?
Wee clue …
It’s in Ayrshire
Ayr-toon Centre
Good effort on Lauder..your on the right track Desi
The answer of course is:
AYR TOON CENTER
Ayr(Toon) Centre
Lewis Hamilton and Duncan Hamilton, Eddie Irvine, Bruce Johnstone, Cal N i (a) day – bye!
H H
Brilliant!
Proof the old can use Google!
Tom Cellik?
Tom Cellic?
Yeah Schuey joke poor taste, besides, Ariel Sharon surely holds the record…
Al Megrahi was a contender 🙂
Ronnie Biggs?
Prince Philip?
Me!
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Jackie Wilson for sure. Poor fella was in a coma for over 8 years.
Moses….Top that ya bassas.
Charlie Saiz
He disnae count. What if he was slow on his feet and couldn’t swim? What if the fire brigade had not got to that burning bush on time? What if he had been dyslexic and painted an O instead of an X on the door? What if he had dropped they big stone tablets on his toes? So, he got a lot of lucky breaks.
H H
Don’t feel so bad about Michael Schumacher gags. I see Paddy Power make him odd-ons favourite for the Luge at the Winter Olympics.
Watching over him is Saint Senna Patron Saint of Skidmarks
So we can equal the club record for clean sheets tonight, well that tells me that the hun in black will be giving a penalty the first chance he gets, christ if we are still concerned aboot ,kris boyd threatening our clean sheet record then somethings wrong, i narrowly missed out on Sunday with Commons first goal and Celtic win 3-0 (was never a penalty) but the same bet going on again tonight, hail hail, KTF+
KB,
For the 200 killie fans that wil be inconvenienced tonight, I hope we gub them 5-0. ( Commons as are only scorer for all 5)
Killie fans have a cheek, there was always a possibility this game would be moved.Not as if they have far to go.
I have friends from Cork,financially at a considerable loss,due
to Saints game moved.
Ayr Toon Centre!
Your schumaker joke is a disgrace, you should be ashamed of yourself.
Knowledgeable crowd!
Hard to believe we’re on a clean sheet record after conceding so many in the CL.
£900,000!! for a league 1/2 player!! aye right!! the media are suckers for the lies that come out of Ipox still!!…investigate every avenue before reporting / printing…that theory eludes the scottish press..
The photo caption replies are so funny and brilliant…class
Ralph
Duck! All I would ask is, would there have been the same outcry if it came from the lips of Frankie Boyle or Billy Connolly? I remember a joke along the lines of insects and Bangladeshis (I genuinely cannot remember it nor would I repeat here it if I did) during the famine there. People cried shock horror but only after laughing at it. Maybe there is a bit of the hypocrite (6 goes then spell-check – it was the bloody “e” as usual) in all of us. On the other hand, Ralph, I think your tongue slipped a bit with this one.
I had a bit of the wobblies this morning when I saw the weather. I hate games when there is a howling gale and a pitch that resembles mud wrestling (no argument for the women’s’ matches). But then I realised it was at home and our only non playing worry was the weekly honest mistakes. I am not into records if other more important things are sacrificed e.g. entertainment but in recent matches there has been a nice combination. Long may it continue for I would be a liar – and a raving idiot – not to be intrigued by the prospect of records, especially 100 year old ones. I have no doubt there is a plan afoot in Ayrshire’s largest town to put a spoke in the ever turning wheel. Perhaps Killie have a magic carpet hidden away only to be taken out when they are in danger of being blown away. I predict, as in all good fairytales, a happy ending. The question is, will it be the carpet baggers or the good guys. Like I say, fairytales can only end happily.
The photo is definitely John Gorman, the famous Celtic one timer (What was Stein wearing that day, eye patches?) If I remember rightly he ended up at Spurs and did ok for himself. It just shows how Scottish talent on an equal playing field outshone English players then. Full proof that TV money talks (Didn’t know SPFL had negotiated such an improved deal, Ralph. With a bit of luck it could reach a fiver in 10 years or so).
H H
Its not john gorman
Had an incline it wasn’t given you did one of him before and the shirt gave it away too. I cheated because I was frustrated not knowing. It is John Dowie in a Doncaster Rovers jersey. I remember him simply because I worked with an uncle of his at the time. I recall he was blazing when he discovered he had signed for Celtic as the family were red hot Rangers supporters. In fact i was reminded on Wiki he started as a boy at Ibrox but ended up at Fulham. I must have seen him playing as I very rarely missed a game in those days. His biography on Wiki indicates a good reason why I did not recall him at first. He was only at Celtic for about 2-3 seasons and only played a handful of games. The irony is, his first game for us was against Rangers. I have to confess, Ralph, like many others you caught me out well and truly today.
H H
Brian Whittakers brother Roger..the whistling winger. Brought in to replace King Kenny.
Aye it was sort of in poor taste, not really that applicable to a Celtic fan website. But hey ho. The lines about the similarities between the Jelavic and Wallace “transfers” werent anything much to do with Celtic either but were bloody hilarious, so there you go, can’t win them all.
One wee tiny rant please? I m sure when lenny came in as boss his standard line when asked about a player Celtic were rumouored to be in for was “we dont talk about other teams players/ its disrespectful to talk about that etc etc” But now its all “we dont know yet if Griffiths is CL level but we ll find out…” Hypocisy! Hypocrisey! Hypocr , feck it, “Mc Coist!” (surley the by word in hypocrisy – who are these people, I trust Craig/ Craig is a pure dick, I trust Charles / Charles is a pure dick, I trust Brian / Brian is a pure dick etc etc)
Sorry to hear the Stoke tarrier carrier isn’t getting to make the trip to Perth Ralph. And yeajh, John Gorman, still looks the same, A scotsman working for the English team? Dearie me!
elcormaco…to be fair….Celtic did put in an actual bid which Wolves made public therefore in domain and player interest can be talked about.
It isnt quite the same as tactics from Oor Sally or ‘Arry Redknapp tapping up players using the classic “Oh I wouldnt talk about other teams players” followed next day with “Well i did hear him mentioned in press yesterday and of course we would be interested if poor lad is unsettled”.
Classic plead innocent while plotting in public.
Without reading other answers, I reckon that Magnum look-a-like is John Dowie, formerly of Fulham. Was he signed to replace Cesar?
Regarding our continued quest to sign Leigh Griffiths, I think Lenny makes a very good case for signing him. I watched a few Hibs games last season and was very impressed with him. He was brilliant in a poor side and really looked like he had made a big step up, performance-wise. Often he played up front on his own and turned hopeful punts into goals. He has pace, a great left foot, is a dead-ball expert, a direct style and is a proven scorer. Oh, and he’s young enough to have an increased value when we decide to sell him! I was surprised Lenny didn’t try to nab him last summer. I don’t want to damn with faint praise, but we’ve signed a lot worse, and expensive, strikers.
He’s got to be worth a punt?
Poor taste, yes. The real answer is Rangers II.
Think John Dowie was supposed to be a replacement for Kenny Dalglish. made his debut at Ibrox. Think this was the game we were 2 up and threw it away 2-3
Thought the comment about Michael Schumacher was a bit sick.You
let yourself down.
ah must be getting auld, cos i too thought the ‘joke’ in bad taste, really no need for that on a football site ( over heard in the pub…cringeworthy. On E Tims…MON NOO !!!
HAIL HAIL N aw that.
That old guy (just imagine me!) celebrating his 100th saying the record will never be equaled in his lifetime. Well, old fella, you lived too long. The wall has stood the test and is still standing. Now for the world one. Any brickies free? Bring your own hod and trowel.
Seemed like another good show, 4 going on 44 by the sound of things.
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That ref was shocking btw
The Green Mean Machine blows another team away.
Pukki ? Not good enough.
Griffiths would have scored a hat-trick,with the chances
Pukki had.
Bring in Griffiths now !!
ur jokes r usually hilarious.
but really shit today, shit and crass.
shame good man as well…