Celtic Diary Wednesday March 12

Don’t you just love this guy ?

Just thought I’d mention it

Anyhoo, Celtics “other” big signing in the last window-if you count Leigh Griffiths as a big signing-has told fans he wants to entertain us during the run in at the end of the season.

In a direct contrast to Ian Black, of Second Rangers who arrogantly assumes that fans will turn up anyway, the Norwegian midfielder has offered his views on the way the game should be played;

“A lot of people are saying there’s nothing more to play for but I don’t think so. The competition to get into the team is hard and if you want to play, you have to play well every game.

“You have to entertain the fans – they pay week in, week out to come and watch you. Football is an entertainment business and you need to entertain them.

“We lost our last away game but we want to win the rest of them this season and the team is good enough to do it. We have to keep up the hard work.

“There is a pressure to entertain. A club like Celtic should – the people who watch us have not come to see 11 guys playing in 30 metres of the pitch. They want to see us attacking and I like that style.

“In Norway a lot of teams don’t play that way but my former team did try to. One of the reasons I wanted to come to Celtic was that I had seen some of their matches and they play the football I want to play. I can improve my game here.”

Refreshing, but will it catch on ?

The inevitably of a third successive title may prove a little dull for some fans, bearing in mind the cost of a day out at the game, but nobody was put off going to see the film about the Titanic just because they knew how it would end, so there is definitely a case for trying to make the ninety minutes of action filled with, well, action. And perhaps a few special effects.

Johansen had picked up an injury, but is raring to go again, and even found time to express a bit of sorrow for fellow new bhoy Nir Bitton, who looks like he will be out for the rest of the season, just as he was beginning to settle in.

“I’m fit now and I played in the first half for my national team against the Czech Republic last week and it felt good. I’m ready for action on Friday.

“The team has played very well while I have been out so I have to fight my way back into the side and hopefully I will be able to do that on Friday. That’s the main thing for me.

“I feel sorry for Nir because he has been absolutely fantastic for us.

“I have been impressed with him and not only him – the team has been playing very good football.

“It is difficult to get into the team but as I said when I came, I knew it was a big club with big competition in the team. I think that’s good for everybody because you need to improve every day.”

One of the pleasing aspects about Johansen -and Griffiths-is that they don’t appear to have the attitude that they have made it, both claim to have something to prove, and on the pitch both of them are putting in the kind of effort that hopefully will lead to a much improved European campaign next season. It certainly should see a shift from the sidieways passing and reluctance to have a pop at goal that has helped insomniacs find a haven at Celtic Park, and might be the biggest selling point for season books come renewal time.

After all, the best advert for a product is to see it in action.

Johansen is relishing life at Celtic. He continued;

“If you can’t handle the pressure, you are working in the wrong job – or maybe you need to find a smaller club.

“One of the things I like about Celtic is that you can feel the pressure. The club means a lot to people and it is our job to win so if we lose we can expect to hear from the fans.

“As a footballer, you can’t think too much about it because it will affect your game and you’ll be scared to make mistakes.

“But I believe in myself and I don’t care about the people who want to talk s*** to me. Just let them do it because I always put the pressure on myself to do well.

“I knew it was big but when you first come here you feel exactly how big it is. The people recognise you away from the pitch but they have only been good. You can feel that Celtic means a lot to the city and playing for a club like this is what every footballer dreams of.

“It’s one of Europe’s biggest clubs and you feel that when you first come here. It’s different here – a different pressure. That’s not only from the media but from the supporters as well.

“There can be 50,000 at the game every week so it’s important you can handle it.

“I am the type of guy who puts pressure on myself to do well. I don’t feel the pressure from the media or supporters so much because I expect so much from myself. I think it is important in football to have self-belief.”

And the Champions League ?

“You always dream as a young kid of playing in the Champions League. Celtic have been there and it is important for us as a team to improve and experience the Champions League – especially for me, as a young player.

“I have never been there but I’m starting to get some international games now and playing for a club like Celtic will help me a lot now.”

Compare the attitude of those two with that of exiled superstar Tony Watt, the undeniably talented but undoubtedly dim forward who is on loan in Belgium, which is an interesting idea for one of those BBC sitcoms featuring a vicar, a middle aged couple and some awful furniture.

“They don’t know how to deal with me at Lierse,” complained Watt. “Whenever we lose I get the blame, and they always say I do things wrong. At Ostend last month I just played for 20 minutes, yet Menzo blamed me. I can’t score goals if I am sitting on the bench. Menzo has two sets of rules. But you can’t have different rules for different players. He clearly doesn’t like me.

“I was disappointed not to start that game. It is the coach’s decision and I have to respect it, even though I don’t agree with it.”

“I’ve no problem with training, even though I am not always the best player during the sessions. I haven’t yet reached my best level in Belgium. I need to play 15 games in a row to reach my top form – and if I don’t play I’ll just get fat.”

Just when we thought he was approaching adulthood, Watt shows he is still capable of petulance. If he’s not careful he will be buying a house on Obscurity Avenue, and Celtic will look elsewhere for a partner for Griffiths.

Oh, by the way, did I mention about the dream I had the other day, one that caused me to scream into the darkness and stumble downstairs for a sedative ? Its only fair to share the nightmare image. Don’t look if you are under eighteen, and certainly don’t look if you read this before 9pm.

Georgios Samaras is looking forward to Friday nights game at Rugby Park, and the match against Kilmarnock, which is apparently a ground where he has the midas touch;

“I scored my first goal there and I also scored one of my best-ever goals for Celtic there – a header after we had about 22 passes,” he told this week´s Celtic View in an exclusive interview. “It was just a tap-in, but football is a team game.

“I don´t know what´s going on against Kilmarnock but I hope it continues. I need to speak with my magician to see what is going on, with all these positive things that are around Rugby Park.

“It was probably because I scored my first goal there and it´s also the club I think I have scored the most goals against in domestic football. I can remember at least 10 goals I have scored against them – they are my favourite.”

Who’s going to tell him ?

“We need to keep the reaction we have had since Aberdeen,” he said. “That was a bad night for everyone. We had a really good start again last weekend and we want to keep that momentum going.

“We didn’t deserve to lose that Aberdeen game but you still need to find the character and mentality to go and start again. ”
“We have another eight weeks until the league is finished so we cannot relax. If we win the next few games, I know there might be a small party on the pitch and for the fans, but we still need to stay focused to have a really good finish to the domestic season.”

Reading that I thought of Neville Chamberlains “As of eleven o’clock , we are at war with Germany. ” We ? He meant “you ”

Samaras needs to make up his mind if he wants to stay-or at least tell us honestly why he wants to go. This current situation is doing no-one any good.

He might yet start because James Forrest is injured again, having picked up a groin strain while training with Scotland. His family doctor has written to the NHS, asking them to remove a few hundred patients from his list, as he can no longer cope with the workload.

One of the criticisms levelled at Celtic is that they have moved away from the clubs charitable roots, but part of that could be that very often , the work done by the clubs charity arm goes un-noticed , except for a few lines on the website or a column in the Celtic View.

What was that about the PR man again ?

The official website tells us of another event; ( there are a few, we just don’t seem to hear of them. )

SCOTTISH Disability Sport and Celtic FC Foundation have formed a unique partnership to increase opportunities for children, athletes and players with a disability in the West of Scotland to access sport.

Celtic has made a donation to SDS of more than £20,000. The funds were raised from the 1888 Charity Shield seven-a-side tournament last year, which was sponsored by Ace Refrigeration. The event will be repeated in 2014 and will be launched soon.

One of the flagship events within this partnership is the running of the fifth Scottish Disability Sport West of Scotland Para-Sport Festival on Tuesday, March 11, 2014.

The festival is being held at the Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility in Motherwell and is open to pupils with a Physical Disability or Visual Impairment from mainstream secondary schools from across the west of Scotland.

Speaking about the partnership, Gavin Macleod, CEO of Scottish Disability Sport, said: “The West of Scotland Parasport Festival has become an important event on the Scottish Disability Sport national calendar and allows us the opportunity to offer young disabled pupils from across the West of Scotland access to quality sporting opportunities across a range of sports.

“Scottish Disability Sport is grateful to Celtic FC Foundation for their vital support of this event and for the wider support they are showing to disability sport in Scotland.”

Celtic Chief Executive Peter Lawwell said: “We are delighted to team up with Scottish Disability Sport on this great initiative which will give so many young people the opportunity to get involved in sport.

“Celtic has a proud record of ensuring opportunity for all in sport and we are sure this partnership will be a great success.”

The diary is going to keep an eye out for more of this sort of thing, and it will help us to decide whether or not the club is being unfairly criticised, because in their defence, this sort of thing rarely hits the headlines.

Unless someone redistributes ( nicks ) the takings, perhaps in a charity game, in which case it instantly becomes news.

Unless it happens to be a particular club those accusations are levelled at.

A club which soon won’t be able to defend itself against any accusations of wrong-doings or shennannigans -not that too many came their way publicly-as they have parted company with their PR man , “Black ” Jack Irvine, the Dark Lord of Media Manipulation-I think thats his full title- the said  company Mediahouse has been mutually consented by Second Rangers

Whisperings that Irvine doesn’t want to hang around for the insolvency event he said won’t happen are gettting louder, but more likely he’s noticed that the chances of getting paid are low, as with all creditors at Ibrox, and he’s decided to look for pastures new.

He might find them at the SFA, currently being pressurised by campaigners led by Auldheid, on TSFM, who wants some answers;

He started with this article a couple of weeks ago;

Harper MacLeod
The Ca’d’oro
45 Gordon Street
Glasgow
G1 3PE
19 Feb 2014
Copy sent to SPFL CEO and Board Members *
Dear Mr McKenzie
We the contributors to The Scottish Football Monitoring web site write to you in your capacity as the legal adviser employed by Harper MacLeod to assist the Scottish Premier League (now the Scottish Professional Football League) to gather evidence and investigate the matter of incorrect player registrations involving concealed side letters and employee benefit trusts as defined in the eventual Lord Nimmo Smith Commission.
We note from the then SPL announcement that set up an enquiry that the initial date range to be covered was from the inception of the SPL in July 1998, but that was changed to 23 November 2000 because, according to our understanding, that is the date of the first side letter supplied by Rangers Administrators Duff and Phelps. It is also our understanding that the SPL asked for all documentation relating to side letters as well as the letters themselves.
It is a matter of public record that Rangers Administrators failed to supply the SPL all relevant documentation. Indeed the seriousness of not complying with SPL requests was the subject of an admonition of Rangers/Duff and Phelps from Lord Nimmo Smith under Issue 4 of his Commission.
Quite how serious that failure to comply or concealment was in terms of misleading the Commission and so Lord Nimmo Smith can now be assessed from the information contained at Annexes 1 to 10 attached.
We think that as legal advisers to the SPL (now the SPFL) you have a responsibility to make them aware that their Commission was misled by the concealment of documents starting on 3 September 1999, and signed by current SFA President Campbell Ogilvie, whose silence on the ebt matters referred to in the attached annexes* is questionable at the very least.
This letter but not attachments is being posted on The Scottish Football Monitor web site as this is matter for all of Scottish football and support for the issue being pursued to establish the truth can be gauged by responses from supporters from all Scottish clubs once the letter has been published there.
A copy of this letter with Annexes has also been sent to the SPFL CEO and members of the SPFL Board.

There has been little response from the beaks as I write, but you can sort of predict what it will be;

Thignis, though. They can’t hide forever, and articles such as this one are a step in the right direction. All Auldheid is calling for, like any other supporter, is for a level playing field in Scotland, and an end to the secret handshake style of governance that has in the past , and is continung to do so in the present, allowed the the Scottish game a laughing stock amongst professional circles.

Oh, its still going on. And some -and their clubs- are benefitting more than others

Speaking of that lot, Dave King, the glib and shameles liar from South Africa, is going to ” jet in ” and have talks with the board. Perhaps they are looking for legal advice.

After all, King avoided jailtime in his home country by paying a huge fine, having been convicted of imaginative tax returns, by paying a huge fine.

Oh, wait. If the solution involves paying bills it will take a while to convince anyone at Ibrox of the value of what would be a novel and refreshing approach to business.

Joe MacBride, the grandson of Celtic great Joe MacBride-arguably the finest goalscorer to wear the Hoops-is training to run the Paris marathon, which has commendably avoided the name change to Snickers.

“About seven months ago I was looking for a way to get fit and I thought I could perhaps try a half-marathon.

“I happened to be on the Stroke Association website and they were looking for volunteers to take on a full marathon. They had various choices but I really fancied the Paris one as I thought it could be a good way to see the city.

“I knew a lot about my Grampa’s goalscoring record, of course, and the fact that he missed out on Celtic´s biggest ever game through injury, but when he died in 2012, the outpouring of grief and the messages of condolence through letters, cards, social media and Twitter etc was quite unbelievable.”

“I ran the Glasgow 10K for Men´s Health a few years ago in memory of my Gran and to raise money for the Marie Curie charity,” he said. “In fact, I did it with my Grandfather and my Dad, although Grampa Joe walked it, but we still did it as a family.

“The Marathon is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I like to think I´m in good shape but the long runs are really all about your mental strength. You´re out for two or three hours at a time and you have to keep your mind occupied.

“That last mile as you head for home is really difficult. Hopefully, once I get to Paris, the adrenaline will kick in and see me through it.

“I have a donations page and there´s also my Twitter address which has been brilliant with the encouragement and messages of support that I´ve been getting.

“The fondest memories I have of my Grampa are of him taking me to football every Saturday from the age of six right up until I played Under-19s for Queen´s Park. He always had a quiet word of encouragement for me and my brother or anyone else who would want to listen.”

To sponsor Joe McBride go to www.justgiving.com/Joe-McBride1 You can also follow him on Twitter, @JoeMcBrideParis 

To raise more money, young Joe MacBride could also do personal appearances, and tell people he’s really Joe Ledley…

Celtic Football Club – Joe’s Paris Marathon tribute to his Grampa Joe McBride as this picture shows.

And don’t forget, contributor Babs is still climbing up mountains , and needs support…

Rod Stewart was the celebrity Tim in the picture of Scotland fans helping the groundsman to take down the nets at Wembley all those years ago.

Although the far left does have a chap who looks suspiciously like Gordon Strachan, as was pointed out.

Anyone remember this guy ? Whats he doing, and where ?