Celtic Diary Monday March 17

Hopefully we are back to normal service after a bunch of these guys invaded the laptop.

So, where were we before we were so rudely interrupted ?

Celtic, you probably heard, beat Kilmarnock 3-0. It looked for a while that the Ayrshire side had learned how to deal with the Hoops , simply by following the aberdeen lead of keeping Kris commons quiet, but the little man simply uped his game, and a quick one two around the hour mark set him up nicely to complete his hat trick late on.

Commons now has 26 goals this season, some of them even after the first ten minutes, and this augurs well for a role away from home alongside Leigh Griffiths in a supporting slot in next years European campaign. Both of these are superb finishers, and when chances are at a premium, and converting them match changing, then we need our best two guys on the job.

Oh, and if anyone thinks that by nullifying Commons they can nullify Celtic, it will be a nice wee surprise for them.

Another youngster from the team that has dominated reserve  football in Scotland has made his debut. Seventeen year old Liam Henderson made his debut, and like Darnell Fisher before him, has slotted in effortlessly.

Manager Neil Lennon was impressed;

“Liam has set a good benchmark for the rest of the kids now. And there are others – before Liam, Darnell Fisher has already come in and has done very well.

“Darnell has been pretty steady for us in the games he has played this season. But we think that Liam is cultured.

“Someone said he looked a bit like Darren Fletcher on Friday, and I can see the comparisons.

Presumably he locked himself in the toilet before kick off..

“It is obviously very, very early for that. But for a starting debut made by a kid of that age, it is fantastic for him.

“Scott Brown, Stefan Johansen and Adam Matthews helped him through the game, which was important.”

“We know we have a few players bubbling under who may come into the first team,” said Lennon.

“But Liam has been at the forefront of things for the majority of the season, in terms of the development squad players.

“It’s difficult at times at a big club to make the breakthrough. But you saw at Kilmarnock on Friday how confident Liam is on the ball.

“He is not an arrogant boy. He is, however, quietly confident and he has a great work ethic. We think he can play a bit, and he showed all of that at Rugby Park.”

“He’ll get a lot of confidence from that. We didn’t feel it would faze him – and it didn’t – because he’s been training with us for a little while now.

“We’ve got high hopes for him, and he’s still growing. It’s great to see one of the academy boys coming through and playing like that.”

Henderson himself paid compliment to his team mates;

“The other midfielders were always talking to me. They are top-level internationalists, and all you can do is learn from them.

“It’s a big step up in the pace of the game from the Under-20s, but I felt I became more confident with my passes as the game went on.”

When I was a youngster playing football, the older, more experienced  players were always talking to me too. Usually telling me to get out of the bloody way .

The last man to captain Celtic to more than three titles in a row was, in fact, Billy McNeill, which gives Scott Brown a bit of an incentive for the next eighteen months or so. The chance to go down in history cannot be ignored.

“We can see the finishing line. Three-in-a-Row has a nice ring to it. Now we will look to kick on. I don’t see why not.

“The lads we have in that dressing room are outstanding and if we can try to keep the squad together as long as possible we will see where we can go.

“We’ve won three before but we just didn’t quite get to four. It was hard, losing to our biggest rivals.

“It was a killer when Rangers managed to get over the line.

“But with the way it is looking now we need to get over the line with the third one then try to build to four and five. We won’t try to look too far ahead though.”

He talks like he plays football. All over the place.

He was full of praise though, for his new midfield colleague Liam Henderson.

I think.

“Liam always wants to bomb on. He can play off the strikers, on the right or in central midfield.

“I first noticed him at the start of the season – when he was giving us a lift through to training!

“No, I was picking him up before he could drive. He was very quiet during the car journeys.

“But no one quite knows how to take me the first few times!

“Liam is a really nice lad. No one in that dressing room has anything bad to say about him.

“He just wants to play football and being at a club like Celtic is a great opportunity for him.

“When I first saw him I thought, ‘This lad has a great chance’. He shows it in training and I think the gaffer loves him.

“It’s nice to see the next generation coming through and all the senior players try to help develop them –especially when Liam is coming for my position!

“Seriously, he is just a joy to play with. He will play off you, go on a wee mazy run and score goals in training. It is great. We have other good youngsters, such as Darnell Fisher and a couple of centre halves. So the future is looking good.”

A couple of centre halves ? Hope so… We might need them.

Efe Ambrose wants Virgil van Dijk to hang around for another crack at the Champions League, after the Dutchmans agent was spotted ringing “we buy any centre half .com ” in his latest attempt to flog the defender to anyone who wants to pay good , hard cash.

‘Right now, myself and Virgil are more than a partnership,’ said Ambrose. ‘We have moved from friendship to being more like brothers. It is amazing.

I had noticed something about their passing

‘We take that into games and that has helped us a lot this season. In football, you can never say what will happen tomorrow but I hope he stays. Winning the league will give us another  opportunity to play in the Champions League and that is exciting. If Celtic can keep what we have now, then next season is going to be fantastic.’

Thats a fact. With the addition of Griffiths and Johansen, and the emergence of Bitton, then the side does look a little more capable this time round. Although its not just van Dijk we need to worry about losing.

The rest of the defence will be at the World Cup, and those that aren’t are no slouches either. Matthews, Fisher and Lustig are all being linked with other teams, and we can expect the press to help any agents shift their clients as quickly as possible.

Celtic Park looked a little strange yesterday.

Dominated by red, white and blue as Aberdeen and Inverness fought ( literally ) a Cup final in front of an excellent crowd of 51,000 . The influx from the north flew in the face of the Armageddon predictions , showing that Scottish football can regain its previous position in the game, with just a little love and tenderness.

Supporters of both teams enjoyed themselves, and created a great atmosphere for watching television audiences, and the penalty shoot out provided a bit of drama , which while not great for supporters, is great for neutrals. Aberdeen held their nerve, and won 4-2 on penalties.

Supporters celebrated intot he night, some went to a strip show

Others went out on the pull

while the rest simply made the long trip home

There was only one arrest, for stealng a car, and police scotland have asked for help in identifying the offender;

Childish ? Absolutely.

Jealous ? Absolutely.

But, thats nearly all the top teams having won silverware since old Rangers died, and that means a very , very healthy situation north of the border.  Fifty thousand people travelling hundreds of miles for a game is marvellous, and I hope they all had a great time, and who knows, they might come again.

Actually, with Aberdeen winning a Cup, and Liverpool winning at Old Trafford, yesterday did have a weird sort of eighties feel to it.

Rangers were shite then as well.

The new team are preparing for their cup replay tonight, and have been buoyed by the fact that Lee McCulloch will be available again.

Just typing that sentence should make all of us realise where they are right now….

Hugh Keevins was a happy man yesterday, incidentally. He was at Celtic Park for the Cup final, his first visit since he tried to score points off the club by bringing the name of the late, great Sean Fallon into his rant.

He sat with all his friends.

Keevins earlier in the day indulged a little bit of borderline racism-you know they think they’re being racist when they say they have “friends ” or ” relatives ” from the section of society they are abusing while trying to make it look like they aren’t;

” But Celtic can always keep their support on side by ticking the begorrah box.

Eh ? 

The latest edition of the club’s magazine, published last Wednesday, has Neil Lennon super-imposed on the flag of the Republic of Ireland.

Could it be because he’s Irish ?

Above this image is a message wishing everyone a happy St Patrick’s Day from the champions.

St Patrick’s Day doesn’t actually take place until tomorrow but who’s counting?

Certainly not the shops currently selling Easter Eggs. 

And before those who are always waiting to be scandalised reach for the laptop to send the abusive email, my grandparents were from Ballymote in County Sligo and I’m as proud of my family roots as the next member of the Irish diaspora.

From the Irish, it means “Town of the Mound “, which is a lovely description of the man.

But no matter where you’re from I’m sure a lot of Celtic supporters would rather their club magazine was talking about this weekend’s League Cup Final instead of camouflaging the fact they won’t be there.

…And in this weeks Celtic View, we feature Aberdeen against Inverness Thistle…. 

Lets hope he doesn’t choose journalism as his career.

With the Records circulation now being overtaken by media giants such as Carpet Fitters Weekly and Which Nail Clipper ? its not hard to see why.

The Diary hasn’t appeared since Thursday, ( and to be honest this one hasn’t made it yet ), but if you cast your mind back to the quiz, you will remember the picture featured was of the forward Ian Wright, who was the first player to be known by rhyming slang-ahead of Regi Blinker and the often overlooked Wullie Rosiehunt.

Now, whats the story behind this letter-or is it a fake ?