Ronny Deila!

With Peter Lawwell about to head out on his holidays, it was important that a new manager was in place quickly, and after a couple of weeks helping the bookmakers to get that swimming pool, the club appear to have made their choice. It should be announced on Friday.

He’s not exactly high profile, but he has obviously impressed Lawwell. Frankly, I’d rather have a good manager than a big name, and this guy sounds good.

( oohh, thats not you said the other day. –Ed )

( Thats me-fickle as feck –Ralph )

On this site theres an excellent introduction to the man, written by Wolfie, which if you haven’t looked at yet, do so now.

Right, is that you back ?

On we go then.

Deila sounds exactly like what Lawwell feels we need, and to be honest, his record at Stromgodset is nothing short of remarkable, and he certainly feels like he’s ready to step up, and he sounds a much better option than any of the other candidates.

But does he have the outgoing and strong personality required   for the job ?

Probably.

But will he sell catalogues ?

My wife saw me looking at this picture on twitter last night, and swiped the phone. It took me ages to get it back, and now she wants to go to the football. apparently if thats what he does in the frozen Norwegian climate, she seems to think he’ll be dressed like that all the time in Glasgow.

He hasn’t got the job yet, but its not worth going to the bookies to put money on it. The pen would cost you more than you would make on the bet.

But is he the right man ? Especially with the season defining champions League qualifiers making it a proverbial baptism of fire ?

Vidar Riseth, who used to play for Celtic before things got better and spent six months at Stromgodset under Delia , is in no doubt;

“Ronny has such a strong mentality that he will be ready for the challenge of getting Celtic through the qualifying matches,. “It is a big step up, but he is definitely ready for it.” 

When Lubo Moravcik was brought to Celtic, a lot of people asked, ‘Lubo who?’ because, to them, he wasn’t a big name.

“But they took him to their hearts when they saw what he could do, and I am sure it will be the same with Ronny. His teams play football the way everyone likes to see it played. He always wants to attack from the first minute of games, with full-backs pushing on

“What he did last year with Stromsgodset was terrific.

“They were a young team which did not have much money spent on it. Stromsgodset had just 10% of the budget of clubs like Rosenborg.

“So, to win the league was unbelievable.

“They sold three or four of their players in January, including Stefan Johansen to Celtic, and people predicted they would struggle this season. But, Ronny has brought in more good young players and they are doing very well again.”

 If Stefan Johansen is an indicator, we’ve just won a gold watch. 

Players want to play for him.

“If they don’t, then maybe Celtic is not the club for them.

“He is very tough on the pitch, but also fair. He speaks to players all the time. If they are dropped from his team he explains why, and they know what they have to do to get back in.

“All players appreciate a manager like that.”

Deila likes his teams to play high up the pitch, pressurising opponents and using the fast passing game Barcelona employed for a couple of years until we showed how to beat them. Players are taught to know where their team mates are, and to use them as often as possible.

For instance, if Scott Brown is in possession, and looking to break from midfield, he will instinctively know that James Forrest will be in the treatment room.

The board deserve credit for this kind of thinking, and Deila will be given time to adapt. So what if we hit the Europa League while he beds in ? If the team converet over the next few months to this more exciting style, then a decent run in the europa League will have the benefit of improving our co-efficient. Maybe we will have to take a step back to take a couple of steps forward.

As long as we then keep moving forward, we will be patient.

According to Jan Aage Fjortoft, the new man is happy with his deal at Celtic, and is ready to make the switch, having been offered the job. The only snag is that Celtic have offered “too low ” in compensation. Which is no surprise, but thats how you do these things.

Celtic are expected to up their offer from £4 8s 6d to a full five pounds, and that should set the wheels in motion.

Theres no news on an assistant, or if he will bring his own with him. John collins has been tipped for the job, by Michael Grant in the Herald. So it won’t be him.

A little known fact about Deila is he actually coached the England team once. He’s the one who taught them how to stand around dejectedly shaking their heads after a penalty shoot out.

Good luck , Ronny, we’re all counting on you. And welcome to Paradise.

But seriously, though. does anyone know a good tailor ?

Right, now thats sorted, what else is happening ?

Leigh Griffiths has learnt that his impending expulsion from football and two years in the Riddrie flats has now been ” postponed indefinitely ”

Apparently, the football authorities can’t pass judgement until the police have decided what he’s done wrong, and they don’t want to do that because of the work required in identifying and locating everyone else in the pub who was singing.

And even if they do, it will set a precedent which would increase their workload by around a million per cent, leaving them less time to harass people who walk on the cracks in the pavement or insist on hanging around in groups of more than three.

An SFA spokesman said: “Thursday’s hearing has been cancelled, but no new date will be set until Police Scotland conclude the on-going criminal investigation.” 

Griffiths will not be celebrating by going out with his mates for a pint, instead, he’ll be working on his act for “Britains Got Talent ” , because he wants to be in a room with Simon Cowell, that way he won’t feel like the biggest prat on this earth.

Celtic faced accusations of money grabbing last night when they announced that you could buy a ” piece of paradise ” . The old pitch is being dug up and a new one put down in time for the teams return from Murrayfield, thought to be sometime in December.

The official website tells us;

A Piece of Paradise is an 8cm clear acrylic cube containing a piece of Paradise, forever encased and inscribed with the club crest and text “A Piece of Paradise”. 

This will also come with a certificate of authenticity and high gloss-quality presentation box.

 Eight centimetres ?

Is there a shortage ?

There can’t be. They’re fifty quid.Now,  I’ve been known to buy all sorts of tat because its an official Celtic product. But I’ll give this a miss.

I’ve actually got a limited edition Celtic European cup watch, it goes tic tic and tells the tim.

And I’ve the new Celtic Sat Nav. The Tim Tim.

I’m here all week.

Stewart Regan , the high heid yin at the SFA got himself into a bit of a tangle on twitter last night.

Stewart Regan‏@StewartMRegan

You need to see the athletics track inside Hampden Park which has been built for the @Glasgow2014 Commonwealth Games. Looks amazing!

to which he received a number of replies, including this one;

@StewartMRegan @Glasgow2014 can they flatten it after? It’s crap for football!!

Which prompted the SFA man to ask

@rigm @Glasgow2014 and leave all that history and heritage behind?

To which an extraordinarily sharp, intelligent and no doubt attractive chap replied

Richard McGinley‏@Richiestoke

@StewartMRegan @rigm @Glasgow2014 we can buy that separately I believe.

 Neil Doncaster was unavailable for comment, because he doesn’t know any words.

Also on twitter, Keith Jackson made a startling admission that he might have got it wrong when he described Craig Whyte as a billionaire with wealth off the radar;

Electronic Tims‏@ETimsNet

@tedermeatballs @dmccarthyDR Fair play to you for responding….and apologising.

Indeed. Jackson comes across as quite likeable on twitter, so well done to his editor.

Elsewhere, the triumphant return to Glasgow of Kenny Miller was noted by Matthew Lindsay in the Evening times

He started his article with a quote from Millers previous coach;

KENNY MILLER has the ability, experience and fitness needed to help lead Rangers back into the top flight of Scottish football next season. 

And then gave us the full story;

 Vancouver Whitecaps coach Carl Robinson, the former Wales international, believes Miller will be a shrewd acquisition for his boyhood heroes.

Robinson said: “We are going to miss Kenny at Vancouver. He is a fantastic professional both on and off the field and he has fantastic leadership qualities.

“That is the main thing he brought to my team, leadership.

“He was very helpful to all of my young players and I am sure he will be the same with the young players at Rangers.

“On top of that, he is still a top player. He has looked after himself very well throughout his career and still performs to a very high level whenever he takes to the field.

“He is a great professional. He has played for a lot of big clubs in his career and has played at international level for a long time – and you can see why when he plays.”

Presumably, that will be why he wanted to keep him. Miller said in February;

“If Carl (Robinson) wants to walk through and offer me a two-year deal right now, I’ll sign it right here in front of you,”

 Lindsay then added, in perhaps an undestatement to match the one by Neville Chamberlain when he declared in 1939 that Adolf Hitler might be a bit of an attention seeker,

the capture of Miller by Rangers manager Ally McCoist is not seen by many fans as being particularly forward-thinking.

Really ? Lets ask them;

34 year old retired footballer signs for

Championship side.

Miller time. Again.

After an extensive search for fresh legs – consisting of a scroll through the numbers in his mobile and a mental search for the people whose name he can remember – we come to this happy occasion.

Thankfully for us all, no humility or fashionable desire to be excused from consideration has been forthcoming and as a result the manager of up-and-coming Scottish Championship side Rangers has decided to offer a contract to recently-retired Kenny Miller.

Miller, 35 this December, and a man whose international retirement was announced last season, scored a baker’s dozen worth of goals in the past two years at the Canuckian Whitecaps of Vancouver and has at the time of writing evaded successfully those members of the (once) local population keenest to make his acquaintance. 

Amid the jubilant scenes expected at ‘Murray Park’ (finally soon to be changed but perhaps in deed rather than name?) and thereafter at Ibrox stadium, it is anticipated that a petition of thanks proclaiming the return of Kenneth Miller will be presented to much-loved director of something Alexander Easdale. Others will clearly be disappointed.

FF can reveal (EXCLUSIVELY BYRAWAY) that Miller was and is not the only ex-Ranger to be on the list of wanted men supplied by super Ally to the board of directors. And you can forget that Kris Boyd guy (and incidentally isn’t it telling that some at Ibrox don’t fancy him but will roll out the red carpet for KM?).

Critics of the Miller deal are likely to be significant in volume. They include in their number most of the people still awake and also many of those dreamers who have watched football before and whose memories of our performances of late haven’t been expunged from the brain by an early-summer binge of boxing, tennis and other f*&^%$g boring sports, but, crucially, not the real football men: those who’ve played the game and are paid MORE THAN A FECKING HALF MILLION POUNDS A YEAR TO LEAD THIS QUEST FOR SPORTING EXCELLENCE REMAIN PROPHETS IN THIS DULL LAND OF IGNORANCE.

Still, people will carp about limited return for money spent, grumble about the two main strikers available to the club being a combined 143 years old and no doubt insist that as we seem more comfortable playing only one main striker we perhaps should be looking elsewhere to strengthen. But we’re interested in a 28 year old recently-released defender with a cruciate injury history to be proud of, so support the team, buy your season ticket and shut up.

It is to be hoped that Carlos Cuellar, Magic Centre Circle Bougherra, Sebo Weiss and other fondly-remembered recent visitors to Glasgow can be added to this youthful assault. Maybe we can ask for that in #readytolisten pt. III

Thats from Follow Follow, where the opinions of the support can be gauged as seeing the deal as “less than forward thinking ” I thought it was an excellent article, and almost felt sorry for the Ibrox fans. 

Almost.

Yesterdays picture showed   Neil Mochan, Bob Rooney Jock Stein and Sean Fallon.

The World cup is almost upon us. In Englandshire hopes are already high that they can bring the trophy home after nearly fifty years of hurt, when the three lions roared etc. ( They aren’t actually Lions on the badge, they’re leopards, but thats just another aspect of reality they ignore )

England played Ecuador last night, and fielded a defence that looked to be even less solid than that of Oscar Pistorious. As usual, i’ll have thirty one teams to support, and again hope that they make the semi finals before losing on penalties. I love it when they get their hopes up. This time, I’d like it to be Fraser Forster who gets them that far, but he is left out of the last game because he supposedly can’t handle the pressure.

So, for a few days anyway, our little teasers are going to be about the biggest tournament of all.

Which player has won it most times ?