Celtic Diary Sunday March 30

At 2am this morning the clocks went forward, and so we have lost an hour. Which is a shame, because most of us would have preferred that the switch to British Summer Time had happened yesterday at 3pm. And then say another hour for luck.

Celtic came back from a goal down at home to Ross County with  a typically post title winning somnambulent ( It is a word. I checked. Despite what the spellchecker says. ) performance , when there was more than a suspicion that the players, allegedly unable to celebrate in the week, seemed to have their minds on whatever they had planned for the evening.

“I think the players made plans for this evening and some of them might have had half a mind on it before the game.” said Neil Lennon, checking his watch and wondering where his taxi had got to.

He continued;

“We were a wee bit flat. I totally understand that. The game was an aside to the celebrations really.

“We had no preparation for this at all and you could probably see that by the way we played, but overall I am not angry or disappointed or anything like that.

“We will play better between now and the end of the season that’s for sure.

“When we get the trophy that will be another day of celebration and quite rightly so.

Wow ! But I don’t think we could take another day of celebration like yesterday.

Seriously. We can’t.  

“But they deserve it and we are still looking forward to the remainder of the season, where I am looking for six wins if we can.

“We might change the shape of the team as we go along as well, I will look at different aspects of the way we want to play. I want a bit more vibrancy in the next six games.”

Lennon was able to give a debut to 18-year-old defender Eoghan O’Connell while 17-year-old Liam Henderson made his fifth appearance.

The former Celtic skipper said: “Eoghan did very well and grew into the game and got better and better so I was very pleased with his contribution, and Liam as well.

“It was his fifth appearance and he played with great maturity for someone of his age.

“I am excited about the likes of Liam and Eoghan coming through, but I would like to finish the season on a high and we will do that ”

Regarding the youngsters, he can’t play too many of them, a defeat would set their development back months-maybe even terminally, but the senior players need to be helping them, and they ought to remember they were rookies once. Just like the lad learning to drive who gets all nervous and blocks the road after a stall, its important for the first team squad to  remember that they were that lad once…

Unless he runs over a bus shelter full of kids. Then a ticking off would be in order.

Anyway, we’ve all forgotten about Ross County, who needed points to avoid the relegation play off place. They weren’t here for the party, and showed it. In fact, Derek Adams was disappointed..

“I thought we were better than Celtic today, that’s the way I look at it,” he said.

“You’ve got to be happy coming here and taking a point, it’s a difficult place, but you become greedy at times.

“I’d have taken a point before the game, but after it I’m disappointed we haven’t come away with three points.

“I thought we played really well, created good chances and were unlucky not to score another goal with Graham Carey’s drive off the post.

“Celtic didn’t really create much, they had a lot of possession, but I thought we should’ve won the game.”

The limbo between winning the title and collecting the trophy, which is a complete nonsense designed to make sure that supporters keep going to games and tv doesn’t lose interest either, is a horrible time. For Celtic fans, theres little else to look forward to now until the Champions League starts, and then it will be three high octane nervous breakdowns until the group stages are reached.

Except watching and encouraging youngsters to break through.

Except enjoying football without your jacket, scarf hat and hot water bottle.

Except introducing the kids and grandkids to football where you won’t have to explain to the wife why they have blue lips and icicles hanging from their eyebrows. and if you find a pub with a playground the little ones might even want to come again.

Just as the team is building for next season, so should the support. Get your mate to come along-you know, the one who sits on the forum telling everyone the atmosphere is shite.

Or the guy who watches the English league on sky. Drag him to the game. He might even enjoy it, but you will have to explain to him that in the stadium there is no -one actually doing the commentary.

Theres about a half dozen games left. Try to take someone with you to at least one of them.

Manager Neil Lennon is going to sit down with Peter Lawwell and Dermot Desmond next week, and discuss a new five year plan, which will involve massive investment in roads, railways , factories and agriculture. Oh, wait, that was Stalin. Or Roosevelt, or both.

Its certainly not Cameron…..

Sorry. Bit of satire there.. I’m here all week.

By the way, did you notice Gay marriage is now legal in England and Wales. For anyone who is confused about how that works, think of a traditional marriage but with more arguments about who left the toilet seat up.

Alright. I’ll stop now.

Gordon Waddell, in the sunday Mail , covered the new plan;

” FIVE year plan to be drawn up by Lennon, Dermot Desmond and Peter Lawell to work towards 10 in a row and better showings in Europe

NEIL LENNON will sit down with Dermot Desmond and Peter Lawwell this week to plot a decade of dominance for Celtic.

But he insists he wants some of the budget spent now.

Now they’re drawing up a new five-year plan which they hope will take them to Eight in a Row then build an empire to endure beyond.

Bloody hell. Get on with it. Repetition is the policy for old Rangers fans, usually to allow lies to appear as truths.. We don’t need such infantile reporting…

Lennon will also ask Hoops chief executive Lawwell and majority shareholder Desmond for more immediate investment in his team as he bids to prevent another Champions League collapse.

Collapse ? We got knocked out, sure, but it was hardly a collapse, bearing in mind the sides we were grouped with. Only the away Barcelona game was a collapse, and that was a meaningless game for both sides. 

He said: “I’m meeting Peter and Dermot here next week and we’ll go over the budget and what the next five years hold.

“Basically the board work that way, a five-year strategy. We’re getting round to that again.

“We have frank and open discussions and it’s always pretty healthy.

“Dermot’s satisfied with the way things are going and has his finger on the pulse of the club.

“I think we’re on the same lines. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not about my elevation – it’s about me elevating Celtic.

“They’re the same. It’s not about Dermot’s elevation, Peter’s reputation or anything like that, it’s about the security and the future of the club.

“They have all the information in front of them and that’s the way they lead the club.

Lennon acknowledges the Euro superpowers battling out the last eight of the Champions League are out of Celtic’s reach and will give his board a reason to rein in any spending.

That makes no sense. Is Waddell hinting that we are never going to do any better, so we should just give up and shut up shop ? 

But he feels the squad still deserves some investment to allow them to do themselves justice in the groups. The Celtic boss said: “It’s £250m at that level – Man City can’t do it, they’ve only made the last 16 once.

Don’t say that in the meeting Neil, Man city are not exactly a side with enormous European pedigree. ~In fact, they aren’t a side with enormous English pedigree.

“Looking at the latter half of our Champions League campaign this year, we need a bit of extra investment in the squad in terms of quality.

“I want Champions League football every year and to do that we need to bring players in.

“I have a good core here that I’m very happy with. I just need to add a bit of quality, a few faces.

“Will they throw me a bone? They might. That would be nice.

They might even let him sit on the couch.

“Whether you think the board are pragmatic or not, they are very smart. They will go about it the right way and I will be involved in those talks.”

Or they might just take him for a walk… 

Lennon , equally, is smart. He knows that two, maybe three experienced quality players are needed. And thats before the annual campaign to sell our best players.

Good luck, Neil, we’re all counting on you.

Meanwhile, the Sydney Morning Herald is talking about Tom Rogic again, presumably because like the acting profession over there, there aren’t very many professionals.

Rogic has been left out of the squad for the upcoming Asian Champions League game against Shunsuke Nakamuras Yokohama .

Michael Lynch reports;

” Muscat is not one to criticise  his players in public, but it’s fair to say there is some disappointment in the Victory camp about Rogic’s contribution since he arrived, with much fanfare, on a loan deal from Celtic in January.

No one doubts the midfielder’s ability, but there are some at AAMI Park who doubt his commitment to the cause, especially now at the business end of the season. There is speculation about just how desperate he might be to put his body on the line to help the club finish as high on the ladder as it can.

With the benefit of hindsight Rogic’s arrival may not have been the best thing for  the club. It was more about his, and Socceroo coach Ange Postecoglou’s, desire for him to play regularly in the lead-up to the World Cup. ”

Bring him home and give him Kris Commons place in the team for the rest of the season. Kris gets a nice break, he’s earned it, and we get a chance to see what this lad can do. Because he isn’t getting that chance in Australia.

Another caption competition today, “Oh George haven’t you grown ?- I’m sure we can do better

That dog doesn’t look in the least bit uncomfortable, does it ? The black one, that is. Incidentally, the baby has his name on his jumper to help his parents remember which one to put in the car after the shoot is done.

Oh, by the way. today is Mothers Day, and a friend of mine is off to light a candle for his. Surely he should just pay the arrears on her electric bill ?