Celtic Diary Saturday February 8

A distraught Neil Lennon last night was forced to consider the prospect of facing in form ( though not as in form as Celtic ) Aberdeen without winger James Forrest.  That means Celtic are down to just seven or eight forwards to choose from, although Leigh Griffiths isn’t match fit either.He’s getting there ,though

Adam Matthews is touch and go, whilst Mikael Lustig, Beram Kayal and Steven Mouyokolo won’t make it. The latter two never actually do.

With Anthony Stokes the only forward in Celtics history to make the front line less effective-no matter who he’s paired with-its time for a wee bit of boldness up front. If Griffiths manages to pass a fitness test, then he should start, alongside Pukki, with Kris Commons in a free role behind.

If Griffiths doesn’t make it, then Amido Balde should be given a start. If nothing else it willmake the game exciting.

With Scott Brown, Stefan Johansen and Charlie Mulgrew completing the midfield, the usual defence can line up-Fisher included, he deserves it, and to give Aberdeen a chance, we could put Gary Parker in goal. Its about time he came off the bench and did something.

Aberdeen , incredibly , haven’t won at Celtic Park since 2008, and that , even more surprisingly was against Celtic. Their boss Derek McInnes reckons they have a chance of getting a result today, and would even be pleased with the draw.

Celtics manager Neil Lennon took time out to ponder his image in the national press, which has been carefully cultivated to show him as a horrible wee thug who gets everything he deserved. The last straw for Lennon was an article by Graeme Spiers, who used to be quite good at this writing lark, but has sort of fell apart recently, perhaps because Scottish football needs a strong Rangers to write about. Not that any of them ever wrote anything about that club that wasn’t spoon fed to them while they had their heads firmly lodged up previous owner David Murrays arse , that is. This was actually first noticed when Murray yawned, and a journalist spotted James Traynor looking out at him.

Of course, with Murray now in hiding, journalists have resorted to another pose.

Anyway, back to the gaffer. He said;

“It was said, ‘He attracts trouble’. I don’t. I don’t go looking for it, that’s for sure.

“This ‘streetfighter’ thing – I can stand up for myself but I don’t go looking for it. I don’t fight in the streets. I don’t go around pubs looking for trouble. This portrayal is wrong. And I want it stopped because it’s not doing me any favours.

“I look at some of the comments made by some – not journalists – and they say, ‘He was a thug on the pitch’.

“But I wasn’t a thug. Look at my disciplinary record, look at my games, I never elbowed anyone, never two-footed anyone, never cheated in a game.

“So this thug persona is nonsense. It makes me angry. I don’t know where it’s come from. But people believe what they want to believe and they don’t look at the facts. The facts are I wasn’t anywhere near being that type of person on the pitch at all.”

“This has sort of come out of leftfield and again I’m trying to put my finger on why. I’m at a neutral game. I’ve been to loads of games, even the week before I was at Motherwell-Aberdeen.

“It’s this portrayal of who people think I am. People try to portray me as arrogant. But I don’t think I’m arrogant at all.

“They say I’m confrontational when I’m standing up for myself. Yes, I can be. But you would expect somebody in my position to do that, just like every other manager in Celtic’s football history has done the same.

“You get the abuse now and again and that’s fine. There’s not much you can do about that.

“But certainly in terms of the coin-throwing, it was alarming. I was sitting next to two of my staff and I’m thinking we’d better go. If we weren’t going to get hit then someone else was.”

He did raise a point about sectarianism though, which is notable;

“My troubles in Northern Ireland didn’t start until after I signed for Celtic. And certainly I had no things happen to me off the field in 14 years playing in England.

“So, again, that’s the association with being at Celtic. There’s no question, you can’t bury your head in the sands. Over the years there has been a huge sectarian element to what went on.

“I’m not saying last week was sectarian. It wasn’t. I don’t recall any sectarian abuse being aimed at me.

“But I’m not putting up with people, commentators on the radio, saying, ‘He can stand up for himself’..

“I certainly can but can they? They are not walking in my shoes. They are portraying me to be something I’m not.

“I’m not a streetfighter. It’s hard to undo that but I’ve tried. For over a year I’ve been staying away from flashpoints and controversy.

“It doesn’t work so I’m not going to bother. I’ll still go to neutral games. This won’t put me off. I’ll deal with it because I love the job.”

and heres the picture that accompanied the article in the Record;

Heres the one they wanted to use;

Remember that incident, when a disabled fan asked him for his autograph ?

Anyway, the press have acted disgracefully towards Lennon since he came to Scotland, and those who are guilty know exactly who they are, and why they have done it.

Heres a picture you never see in the press, though;

Which sort of makes the point.

Actually, thats a pose that sleekit man of the peepil ally McCoist is getting a bit more familiar with, this week it was the people who run football who were the object of his burblings, when he moaned that Ibrox didn’t get the League Cup final. Celtic CEO Peter Lawwell had this to say;

“Celtic Park is the pre-eminent stadium in Scotland. It’s the biggest and the best.

“I was asked if I’d have bet on it and of course I would because it’s the biggest and it’s the best.

“If you bet on the biggest and the best then you will always win. There is nothing else to it.

“If it was impossible to have it here then it should have gone to Ibrox but this would have been first choice, I’d have thought.

“We can configure it in a way that we can make it a real show.

“People have to see things for what they are and have to trust those running the game to do the right thing. It’s totally unhelpful to suggest otherwise. It just fuels the wrong type of speculation.”

Its good to see Lawwell speaking directly to the press, and adopting a straightforward manner. Some have accused him of grandstanding in the past, to score cheap points, but when he comes out and tells it like it is, theres no disputing that he speaks well, and tells it like it is.

The interim financial report for Celtic was released yesterday, and the club appears to be doing well. Before todays game, supporters can have their photographs taken with a copy of the report, and there will be a chance to win a signed and framed special numbered edition print as well.

Here it is !

CELTIC plc have released the interim report for the six months to December 31, 2013.

Operational Highlights
• Progression to group stages of the Champions League.
• Currently unbeaten in the SPFL Premiership and top of the league.
• Breaking long standing record for number of consecutive clean sheets.
• Academy continues to be successful; over 70 internationalists at Under 21 level and below.
• Multi-million pound investment in the area around Celtic Park, benefiting supporters and the local community.
• Launch of the Kerrydale Bar, Café 1888 and new family stand.
• Installation of a full stadium Wi-Fi network with accompanying matchday application.

Financial Highlights
• Revenue decreased by 11% to £44.8m (2012: £50.1m).
• Operating expenses decreased by 7% to £34.3m (2012: £37.0m).
• Profit from trading before asset transaction and exceptional operating expenses of £10.5m (2012: £13.1m).
• Exceptional costs of £2.3m (2012: nil).
• Profit on disposal of intangible assets £16.5m (2012: £5.2m).
• Profit before taxation of £21.3m (2012:£ 14.9m).
• Period end net cash at bank of £5.7m (2012: £0.1m net bank debt).
• Investment in football personnel of £5.0m (2012: £4.7m).
• 16 home fixtures (2012: 19).

And heres what we spend the money on.

Actually, you’d think theres a wee bit of room to manoeuvre on the living wage now….

Lawwell spoke about the money side of things.

‘Neil will have substantial funds to spend in the summer,’ said Lawwell.

‘We’re in arguably the best financial state we’ve ever been in but it makes no sense to keep the money in the bank. We want to invest in the club by investing in good footballers that create value for the club.

His colleague looks a little surprised.

Celtic can buy a £6-8m player if the value is there.

‘We would not buy a 29-year-old at £8m on a four-year contract at £40,000 a week because that is dead money. But if there’s value in signing an £8m player we will look at it.’

‘If there was any disappointment in January it was that we wanted to get as many players in as we could, to embed them and have them settled for the qualifiers. But it was very difficult and it’s getting more and more difficult, especially in January.

‘We made a few bids, and we felt we were in a good position to get players, but if clubs don’t want to sell then there’s nothing you can do. ”

Strange that, some clubs don’t actually want to sell their players as soon as somebody shows an interest.

‘We would like to get our business done early this summer, to get one or two in to make it more possible to get through the qualifiers. But there are no guarantees.’

No, there aren’t, are there ?

It was , as several of you pointed out, Bertie Peacock was the man in the picture yesterday. Heres one to ponder today..