Celtic Diary Wednesday February 26

So, no full season unbeaten, and no new British record for Fraser Forster.

Craig Thomsons  Aberdeen beat Celtic 2-1 at Pittodrie last night , with first half goals from Johnny Hayes and Adam Rooney, before James Forrest hauled one back for the hoops.

Neil Lennon said it was all the refs fault, after he sent off Virgil van Dijk early in the game for a mistimed tackle. Well, it looked mistimed to me, rather than malicious, but rules being rules, he did bring the guy down, and he was through on goal.

After the dismissal, instead of moving Matthews up to midfield and bringing Darnell Fisher in at right back, with Mulgrew moving to centre back, it was down to a two man midfield again to try to stop Aberdeen. As usual, it didn’t, and Celtic only really threatened in the second half when Aberdeen decided to stick with what they had.

Matthews struggled to cope with Hayes all through the game, and when he was allowed time on the edge of the box , he simply picked his spot and crashed a shot past a despairing Forster. Shortly after, Efe Ambrose did his ” where did he come ? “from stance after Adam Rooney slipped in to head a second.

Lennon was fuming;

“I thought we were worthy of the win. I thought we deserved it.

“The referee ruined the game. It’s not a sending-off. Pawlett was going across the goal rather than towards it and I’m pretty sure that Efe Ambrose was getting across.

“There was a clear hand ball in the second half. He saw it and said it wasn’t deliberate.

“Everyone else in the ground must have known it was a penalty. Two crucial decisions went against us.

“I’ve seen the red card back. I didn’t think it was one at the time and still don’t. Maybe I’m the only one who sees it that way but I’m pretty convinced.

“I spoke to the referee briefly after the game on the pitch. He didn’t give an explanation – he just said he understood I was upset and left it at that.

“I thought we were oustanding. Even before Virgil went off we’d made Jamie Langfield make two crucial saves and he made one from (Nir) Biton too.

“The first goal you can say was a great hit. You don’t mind that – it’s got to be a special goal to beat Fraser.

“The second goal was disappointing from our point of view but I thought we were magnificent in the second half and I expect that from these players.

“They’re an outstanding group of players with some outstanding individuals. We are disappointed the run has come to an end but they can be very proud of what they’ve achieved.

“At half-time I asked them to be brave and they were fantastic.

“It looked like we had the extra man, not them. We dominated but didn’t get what we deserved.”

He must have been watching a different game from the rest of us. Proof of that came when he said he was considering appealing the red card.

“We are seven points off our total for the whole of last season with 11 games to go.

“Aberdeen were good. They have been good for the full season but my team was outstanding tonight.

“We have to keep going. I want to win the title soon then plan for next season.”

Celtic defender Adam Matthews felt the spirited second-half show merited at least a draw.

The Welshman said: “We showed in the second half that we have a great team spirit and caused them problems with our 10 men. We merited a point.”

No, we didn’t.

Matthews isn’t the same player he was before his injury. He looks slow and hesitant, and is being made to look ordinary by ordinary players. Perhaps he’s missing his pal, or perhaps he knows that Mikael Lustig, once fit , will take his place in the team.

Ambrose looksed lost without van Dijk, and wherever he disappeared to last night, he took Charlie Mulgrew with him. Izaguerre played his part, but was often forced into the centre to cover for everyone else.

Nir Bitton was outstanding, so something good came out of the game. He looked comfortable last night defending, and when he gets more used to going forward, he will become the box to box midfielder, only with the guile and composure that Joe Ledley was never allowed to show.

Scott Brown fought hard, to his credit, but these two were isolated again, with Kris Commons playing too deep to do any real damage, and too far forward to be of any help to the middle men. Despite the hat trick against St. Johnstone, it looks like Stokes and Griffiths is going to be as effective as Stokes and Commons, Stokes and Pukki, and Stokes and Samaras.

Stokes doesn’t have the capacity to assess a situation and make the correct decisions. Too often he shoots when he should have passed, passes when he should have shot and turns up with his boots when he should have just phoned in sick.

Maybe I’m being too critical, maybe the team did deserve something from last nights game, but if some of the the players did, the manager certainly didn’t.

As with his mentor, Martin O’ Neill, there was no plan B -again. Commons was replaced at half time by the goalscorer James Forrest, who at least ran at defenders, the hard working Leigh Griffiths was replaced by Georgios Samaras, who helpfully stood out of everyones way on the left flank, and finally Amido Balde got two minutes at the end.

I don’t know exactly what the Gaelic is for “These weegies haven’t got a clue ” , but I’m fairly sure the commentary team on BBC Alba would have said it at least once during the game.

Lennons rant at the referee was nothing more than embarrassing. Celtic weren’t outstanding. The referee didn’t ruin the game, anyone who came in after the sending off wouldn’t have known Celtic were down to ten men. Lennon just didn’t know how to alter things.

Whats worrying is I can’t remember the last time Celtic came from behind to win a match. Though I’m fairly sure it was Roy Aitken who led the charge.

Some credit has to go to Aberdeens Derek MacInnes, who does seem to know how to beat Celtic. This new competitive Scottish league, with strong challenges from other clubs is fine in principle, but I can’t be the only one who wants to just go back to winning every game again.

Some will blame the referee, and some will accuse him of anti Celtic bias, but Craig Thomson is the guy who gave us two penalties at Ibrox, and thats not the kind of thing a true SFA minded referee would do.

So, we need to take it on the chin and move on.

Things could be worse.

They’re worse over in Manchester, as another EPL team failed to score on the big stage. They lost to Olympiakos of Piraeus 2-0, a team which will send a shudder down the spines of older Celtic fans,as it could be argued that they inflicted the defeat the brought to an end the era of Steins Celtic in Europe.

Just as they might well have ended the Moyes era at Old Trafford. With anti Drugs campaigners telling us that winners don’t do drugs, there is concern that Moyes may have a problem. In fact, he must be completely out of it.

That performance in Greece was worse than the time I watched Shane Ritchie play Danny Zuko.

Back in Scotland, Imran Ahmed failed to persuade Lord Tyre to ringfence the money he is owed by Second Rangers, although there was a laugh out loud minute when the Judge was tol that Rangers were one of the biggest brands in the world.

” Didn’t stop them being liquidated though, did it, ” he replied to cheers from the crowd and a special appearance by the Irish Brigade performing their latest chart  hit Roll of Honour.

Honour. Theres a word, and its something that Johann Lamont of the Scottish Labour Party doesn’t understand.

She may have a point. Some people must have voted for her.

With the new pay deal for Labour MPs now at a flat thirty pieces of silver each, she won’t be the only one to help secure a yes majority in the coming months. Oh, heres another

Sorry, digression again.

The Scottish Sun says that Dave King had offered a loan of £1m interest free to cash strapped Second Rangers;

Rangers turned down Dave King loan

DAVE King reportedly offered Rangers an interest-free loan – and was turned down. And King was stunned at chief executive Graham Wallace’s claims that there had been board contact with the South African-based businessman, and that he would only invest in the club if there was a new share issue.

King told The Sun: “I can’t believe Mr Wallace would have said that. Mr Wallace has never spoken to me or even attempted to communicate with me in any form whatsoever.”

And The Sun are reporting that King is ready to reveal his dealings with the Rangers hierarchy – namely that he offered the club an interest-free loan of £1 million, and had only spoken to Sandy Easdale about it.

Ibrox chief Graham Wallace claimed in an interview earlier this week that he was in talks with King over potential investment in the club, but a joint statement from fans also condemned the terms of the loan deals agreed with Laxey Partners and Easdale. Laxey are believed to be demanding 15 per cent APR on their £1 million loan, while the Easdales have handed over £500,000 to the club. The loans are also secured against Edmiston House and the Albion carpark next to the stadium. The cash is repayable by September 1st, although Laxey Partners can opt to take repayment in the form of new shares, with the approval of club shareholders ”

Bit late to moan now…

Wait till they see this; ( Taxlawplebian on twitter )

Well, we couldn’t hide the truth forever. Hope the papers don’t pick up on it.

Still, the Sun had much more important things to consider.

Front page news-Gers judge a Celtic fan. Can’t find the issue that had ” Nimmo Smith a masonic forelock tugger who will clear cheating Rangers ” equivalent anywhere.

Nor am I likely to, I suppose.

Hard to believe that the favoured football team of a judge is on the front page, when this story, from the FAC , is ignored;

” My name is Chris and I’m a Celtic fan in public service in my mid twenties. I have no criminal record and my only experience of dealing with the Police is at football matches when cameras are routinely put in my face simply because I want to watch and support my team.

I was arrested in January as I came through passport control at Glasgow Airport. Cuffed and dragged out by four police officers in front of several hundred travellers and my crying girlfriend. My supposed crime was that I allegedly held up a satirical banner shown at a pre season friendly match between Celtic and English premiership side Norwich. I still to this day don’t know if I did or not as no evidencewas ever shown to me. I do however know that the charge was absolutely ludicrous and the Procurator Fiscal obviously agreed as this case was dropped before I was required to appear at court.

I am involved in the campaign against criminalisation and a couple of fan groups at Celtic. It seems that I was singled out for this treatment because of that. I asked one of the Police officers why they choose to arrest me so publically in the airport, embarrassing my family. I was told it was because I had recently moved address and they didn’t know where I now lived. The officer didn’t respond when I said they knew where I stood at matches and no doubt where I drank and how I got to the games.

I was then taken to Govan Police station where I was eventually un-cuffed. In the three hours I sat in the police cell all I could think about was my arrest at the airport and how it was nothing more than harassment and an attempt to humiliate me. I was charged under the Offensive behaviour at football act and released from custody late at night with a court date set for February.

I never had to go to court as my case was dropped within weeks. In that respect I was much more fortunate than many of my fellow fans who have to attend court on multiple occasions and have cases and bans from matches hanging over them for months and beyond. However even in those few weeks it’s difficult not to think of the impact a court case and a possible conviction might have on your life. I work with vulnerable adults and a conviction for football related offenses in the current climate would see me lose my job and I would struggle to find another to provide for my family.

With football fans being demonised by the SNP Government particularly when they falsely claim the act is about anti sectarianism and tackling bigotry clearly having a court case hanging over me could seriously harm my career. From the recent statistics which showed only sex crimes have more conviction rates have lower conviction rates it’s clear that a lot of fans will go through the hassle of going to court, only to be found not guilty. It’s also clear that many of the conviction rates are based on guilty pleas as people like me want to avoid their employers finding out or the hassle and expense of defending yourself against charges under the act.

Almost all fans like myself would not be near a police station or a court room if FoCUS wasn’t in their faces at football matches and football fans had not been criminalised by the SNP.

Chris

Its worth following Celtic Network on twitter. This isn’t the only story they have.

Incidentally, the Sun is boasting about its own new signing-Scots funny man and podcast request ignorer Tam Cowan, who will take his unique brand of humour to the paper. That means there is a vacancy at the Record for a humourous sports column, as they have decided to go in a completely new direction.

The Sun also has Bill Leckie , who adds an irreverent look at the game in Scotland, and there already fears for the works Christmas do as the two comedic giants fight over the jokes in the crackers.

Speaking of comedy, the Scottish FA have announced there is a new away kit on the market;

The SFA have now surpassed themselves. There doesn’t seem to be anything they can do with even the most minimal level of competence. Thats just the strip. You should see the official suits.

 In yesterdays diary, we showed  a picture from the 1980 Cup Final, when Rangers supporters started a riot that ended with drink and catholics being banned from the football.

Todays quiz has been supplied by Etims colleague Desi Mond.

What goes 40, 35, 30, 25, 20….?