Celtic Diary Wednesday June 18; John Collins Announced as Number Two.

Celtic officially announced that John Collins will take up the post of assistant to Ronnie Deila. The Norwegian said yesterday;

“I am delighted to appoint John to the position of Assistant Manager. I have had a number of meetings with John, I can see what the Club means to him and I can see the qualities that he will bring to Celtic.

“He is a first-class coach and has ideas on football which are very similar to mine so I am sure he will be a great addition to my team.

“He will start immediately and together we will now prepare for this first day of training next week. We have important matches in the near future so I am pleased that I have been able to secure him so quickly. Now we can get to work.”

Collins, a player at Celtic between 1990 and 1996-was it so long ago?- was delighted to accept the role;

“It is a huge honour for me to return to Celtic, the Club which has always been such a major part of my life.

“I am grateful to Ronny for giving me this wonderful opportunity and I look forward to working closely with him and the players to ensure that we can continue to bring the good times to Celtic.

“I know what a great club Celtic is and I know exactly what the Club means to our fans.

“I will support the Manager in every way and I am sure that together with our players, the backroom staff and the fans, we can all play our part in bringing success to the Club.”

Collins was an outstanding midfielder in his time with Celtic, right player, wrong time along with his midfield partner Paul McStay. He left Celtic and went to Monaco under freedom of contract, and at the time, under European Community rules, no fee was payable. Fergus McCann took it to court, arguing that Monaco, an independent principality wasn’t part of the EU, but he lost when the judge ruled that as they play in the French league, they were classed as French.

Monaco had the advantage over other clubs in that residents pay no income tax, so fifty grand a week was fifty grand a week , meaning they had an unfair leverage when negotiating and paying wages.

This model was later copied by Rangers, but they found out that UK tax laws are different, as in tax has to be paid, and it sent the club into liquidation,  so the tale does have sort of a happy ending .

In his time in management, at Hibernian, most notably, Collins has been accused of having a bit of an ego. Which is unfair, everyone has an ego, its just that Johns is bigger and better than everyone elses.

If it means he demands high standards, then I’m all for it. Can’t help feeling that the team will look an awful lot different next May compared with last May.

Anyway, we wish him luck, and hopefully we can now get on with the pre season training.

Over in Brazil, at the World Cup, which is now entering the second round of matches, Emilio Izaguerre has turned into a nasty little piece of work, far removed from the cuddly , all action left back we used to know.

And Efe Ambrose is in real danger of becoming the laughing stock of the tournament, not helped by his former manager Neil Lennon picking on him during the studio analysis.

Its a pity that Virgil van Dijk never made the Dutch squad. Lennon could have told the watching millions that he’s rubbish as well, and then Southamptons new boss Ronald Koeman might lose interest. not that he’s actually expressed an interest yet, but the papers are certain he will.

Interestingly, Lennon  talks as though he is still Celtic manager, which is a little worrying. Hasn’t anyone told him about Ronnie ? It could be embarrassing if he reports back for pre season training…

The fixtures for the upcoming SPFL season will be announced today, but it seems twitter have got advance news;

Judging by the date at the top of the letter, its extremely advanced, but the SPFL have shown they probably don’t even know what day it is before.

Its all nonsense of course.

The official club website says;

CELTIC will celebrate the achievement of winning the SPFL Premiership title with a Flag Day celebration against Dundee United at Paradise on August 16*.

The new season kicks off on August 9**, but with Celtic Park being restored to its primary role as a football stadium following the hosting of the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in July, the champions’ first home game of the new campaign will be the following weekend.

In between then, Celtic’s first league game of the season will be against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park on Wednesday, August 13.

Flag Day at Paradise on August 16 is sure to be a day of celebration for supporters as Fergus McCann will be the club’s special guest on the day.

Hang on, what do those wee dots mean….?

*All fixtures subject to change.

** Celtic’s home game against Partick Thistle, originally scheduled for August 9, will be re-arranged. 

Here we go again….Theres probably a full list of all the fixtures available , but its really not worth looking at. Like the manager says , its best to concentrate one one game at a time. The next one.

Well, we had to wait to pick up the trophy, so its no real surprise we’ll have to wait to unfurl the flag. The idea to give Celtic Park up for the commonwealth games is looking dumber by the day. Nice new walkway or not.

The clearout at the SFA has begun. Well, we hope its a clearout, and we hope its just the beginning,

Compliance Officer- a title that sounds as though it originated in Germany in the thirties- Vincent Lunny has quit, amidst rumours that now Neil Lennon has left Scottish football, he won’t be asked to do anything.

Lunny, who was an extremely important man in his own eyes, will be remembered as the official who made sure no one brought the game in Scotland into disrepute. They weren’t allowed to swear on camera, or to talk down the referees. However, scamming millions of pounds from supporters whilst pretending to be a club which has been placed into liquidation was deemed perfectly acceptable.

“The last three years have flown by,” said Lunny, in the vain hope that someone was interested.

“They have been the fastest three years of my life. It has been a real privilege to have worked at the Scottish FA and it has been a tremendous experience.

“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time here and in Scottish football but I am also looking forward to progressing my legal career. The process of becoming an advocate started back in 2005 for me, and I just completed my entrance exams in February.

“I now have nine months of training ahead of me, commencing in October, and I am looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead.”

We’re just glad he’s gone. Can he not get Campbell Ogilvie or Stewart Regan a job at his new place, making the tea or cleaning the windows ? something that would match up with their capabilities ?

Oh, wait, Ogilvie especially will be anxious to stay away from members of the legal profession for as long as possible.

 Normally , at this point in the Diary, we will poke fun gently at those over the other side of the city. But today, we don’t need to. They’ve done it all on their own…over on Rangers Media…

She had been battered, raped and pillaged for several months. Every fresh blow seemed to bring her closer to that final crushing blow. Like a wounded animal she tried to stand on her feet, to regain her dignity and honour, but the attacks were relentless and to the shame of all, none would come to her aid. And finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the end was near. The Haters, Vultures and Ghouls made their way towards Ibrox for the telling knockout blow. In the interests of “sporting integrity” a boxing referee was enlisted to deliver the final count. At the doors of Ibrox they were met by two sentinels who barred their way. Alistair McCoist and Lee McCulloch. It was pointless asking them to move. Neither would walk away. “Start the count” demanded one of the haters. And so it began. But not as as they had expected. 10….9….8 “Wait, wait your counting wrong” screamed the haters. 7…6….5 The two sentinels were no longer alone. For on either side of them filing quietly into line were unknown faces wearing Rangers shirts with No. 12 on the back. They didn’t need names on the back, it was the badge on the front which was important to them. There were young and old, sprightly and infirm, the capable carried the less capable lest they stumbled. As the count continued the numbers, grew, and grew, and grew, until thousands joined the two sentinels barring the way to Ibrox. The silence was broken momentarily when a whisper filled the air, some say to this day it came from within the walls of Ibrox itself……. “We’ve got the battle fever on” “Who are these people?” asked one of the haters. Ally McCoist stepped forward……. “Allow me to introduce you to my No. 12’s……they don’t do walking away either” And so it began. In years to come Rangers historians will recite stories of Baxter, Woodburn, Cooper, Laudrup, McCoist, Gough and of course of No. 12. In the coming months news outlets would feature stories about the No. 12’s – the fans who would not let their club die. Their loyalty, faith and passion in a football club would capture the imagination of nations. They would become the benchmark which other supporters aspire to. Whatever is thrown at them or their club No.12’s will come back for more, time and time again until eventually our detractors can throw no more. Wherever their club goes the No. 12’s will be there. And every other Saturday Ibrox will be filled with No. 12’s. Our children’s children will proudly tell their friends at school that their grandfather was a No. 12. No. 12’s will be the topic of conversation every Monday morning, in factories, offices, wherever people assemble. Newspaper columns will mention the No.12’s in the same breath as resilience and a never say die spirit. Who am I and how do I know all this ? Im a No. 12 and I am taking my place in history.

Aye. Okay. Very good. I have to disagree with one tiny point. The authors grandchildren will not be telling their pals their their old granda was a number twelve. They will be too embarrassed to mention the deluded old fool, who by then will be even further removed from reality then he was when he wrote that rubbish.

  Still, at least he’ll be able to say he was there at the beginning of the clubs history, and very probably the end as well. Happily for him, there’ll be another one along after that he can hitch his trailer to.

 Henrik Larsson managed three goals at World Cup finals during his time at Celtic. It makes him the clubs highest scorer in the latter stages.

 Who made the most World Cup finals appearances as a Celtic player ?