Celtic Dairy Sunday June 15: With Audio Supplied by Phil Neville.

Celtic interest in the world Cup began yesterday as Georgios Samaras helped Greece to a 3-0 defeat and the bookies to five shiny pounds of my money when he put in one of typically frustrating performances , which included one of his trademark runs into the box before falling over his own feet and telling the referee it wasn’t a penalty.

The big fellow was 4/1 to score  anytime, but checking the rules they meant anytime during the game, which , if nothing else made it a little more exciting.

Another Celt in action today, who probably has more chance of scoring, is the lovable left back Emilio Izaguerre. His Honduras side face France at 11pm, and Izzy is looking forward to starting his campaign;

“All the three teams in our group are very dangerous,” Izaguirre said. “They all have top players and playing a team like France won’t be easy but we will work very hard for a result, and we will do that in every match.

“I played against Ecuador last November and we drew 2-2, and they are a good team with big players like Valencia at Manchester United and Jefferson Montero but we will do our best.

 “I played against Switzerland in the last World Cup in South Africa, and they have a lot of good players like Shaqiri who plays for Bayern Munich. They also have players who play in Italy and Germany so they are a good side. But we are not scared of any team.”

“Playing in the World Cup in 2012 gave me the opportunity to come to Celtic and I represent my country as I love Honduras. When we win a trophy at Celtic, I always have the flag in my hands.

“I thank God for giving me this opportunity and it’s always a great experience for me to play for my national team.”

Honduras probably won’t win any of their games in Brazil, but I’m going to kick every ball in their games anyway.

After Greece were taken apart yesterday by Colombia, the English football experts rejoiced when Costa Rica beat Uruguay 3-1. This, of course, means that Uruguay are shite and Costa Rica, who had been expected to be the groups whipping boys, just got lucky.

They never learn, do they ?

So, before the Italy game last night, England had already been virtually guaranteed a spot in the last sixteen.

Wayne Rooney, and to a lesser extent Steven Gerrard, emerged as the latest scapegoats as  England were beaten 2-1 by  Italy. In a fairly open game, the English youngsters looked lively, but didn’t have that extra cutting edge required to make any real impact, and Andrea Pirlo and Daniele de Rossi just raised the tempo a few times to make sure sure they got the win they wanted, and guaranteed that the police back home in England could get the overtime that they need.

Rooney huffed and puffed, but his night was summed up by a spectacularly poor corner that didn’t even enter the field of play, as it flew straight behind the goal. Quite a way behind the goal.

Roy Hodgson now has to decide whether to ditch the spud faced superstar, and give youth a chance, or persevere and hope he finally scores at this level after a mere eight years of trying. Steven Gerrard looked tired, and lacked the ability to inspire, but the good news for England is that they will have a new captain next week. his name is David Jones, and he is driving the plane home.

The fourth game yesterday, at 2am saw the Ivory Coast beat Japan 2-1, despite being 1-0 down. Although he didn’t score , it was the change , with around half an hour to go, which saw Didier Drogba enter the fray made all the difference to the Africans. Two goals in two minutes meant it was the fastest double whammy to hit the Japanese since 1945.

Tactical substitutions are actually becoming a feature of this tournament. Italy made a couple of changes to their strategy as well yesterday, with plenty of time left on the clock for it to have an effect, as did Greece earlier, something which had at least one expert confused

Closer to home, and Peter Houston has taken on the managers job at Falkirk, but has left a legacy at Celtic. Well, so he says, anyway. He’s been travelling around Europe assessing players , and has provided a dossier for new manager Ronnie Deila to do with as he pleases;

Houston told the Sunday Mail;

“Ronny knows what he wants and will make changes to certain things.

His European scouting staff, for instance…

“He will assess his squad quickly – the lads who do all the analysis were pulling stuff together for him on Wednesday.

“After that, if Ronny says he needs a No.10, a right-back or a left winger, then the information is there for him.

The information might well be. Wait till he asks for the money though.

“He will have a choice, a list of good points and bad then he can send someone to see the player. It’s all in place. That’s the beauty of being at a big club with resources to match. He’ll want to do well in the Champions League so will be looking at what he needs for Europe”

Houston’s work for chief scout John Park opened his eyes to the sheer scale of
Celtic’s operation compared to his own time as boss of Dundee United.

He said: “I had eight unbelievable months. I don’t mean to be disrespectful to United but the resources and back-up that Celtic have are unbelievable.

“I was asked to watch the targets their analysts had picked out. Last week I hired a car and drove through Portugal and Spain to watch two Under-19 groups.

“I was in Malta for the Under-17 championships – but not for Scotland’s games. I was more following England and Holland.

“My knowledge of players has increased tenfold. Not only youths, but first-team players too.

“In eight months, I was in 14 countries watching targets.

“Celtic can afford to do that and John runs a great department. They have the network there. And without a doubt Ronny will benefit. He might have some players in mind but if he asks ‘What have you got at centre back?’ – then bang, bang, the clips are there, mostly of European games.

“Wingers? Right or left sided, he can watch the footage.

“But you are not going to sign a player based on what’s on a computer.

Why not ? What could possibly go wrong ?

“That is when, for back up, they sent me out to watch them. To see if it is worth sending the manager or the assistant.

“The last man who should see the player is the manager or someone close to him who can say yes or no.

“So that was my job at Celtic and they were fantastic to work for.”

Noticeably, he doesn’t mention anyone who he recommended…

“My first task was look through the target list and narrow it down. From my experience, I would tell them ‘He didn’t defend that’ or ‘He should be tighter there’.

I’m not sure the remit should be to “narrow a list down”. If you are looking for a reason not to sign someone , you will always find one. Surely better to watch players and report back what you liked about them, what their strengths are, and so on .. ?

Anyway, I’m sure that Deilas will appreciate what Houston has done for the club. Its not always the case that the work put in by people to get the club to a certain level is recognised by supporters.

 Over at Ibrox, someone who has done a lot for the Second Rangers, might well come back to help with the launch of the third one;

Former Rangers chief executive Charles Green is seeking financial support to launch a new bid for control of the Ibrox club, the BBC has learned. 

Notice, as usual, he wants to use someone elses money…

Green led a consortium which bought Rangers’ assets in May 2012 and then raised £22m from a share issue, but resigned from his post last year.

So, hang on, if he bought their assets, then Rangers have no assets left, which means that the club playing at ibrox are-imposters ! Bit too close to the truth for the Beeb , there…

He returned for a short-lived spell as a consultant before selling his shareholding in the club.

However, he has spent the last week in talks with potential investors

Rangers plan to launch a new share issue in a bid to raise in the region of £8m and if Green is to be successful he would need to convince existing shareholders to sell to a new consortium.

Which will no doubt be headed up by Green, Dave King and Richard Gough. Who will use fans money to buy the assets again, after liquidation, and then the happy bears will think its the same club and buy season books. Surprised they never thought of it before. 

Oh wait, they did.

 Willie Fernie and Neil Mochan were the first two Celts to feature in the World Cup Finals, back in 1958. Who was the first to score , though ?

Finally, congratulations to former Rangers captain Barry Ferguson. He’s been handed the role of Clyde, in the remake of the seventies Clint Eastwood classic ” Every Which Way But loose ” ( Are you sure -Ed ? ) ( Yes, I can see why they chose him-Ralph )