Celtic Diary Monday July 7: And We’re Back In The Room

After a spectacular accident involving a pair of spectacles and an arm waving about, the author underwent a period of holding his nose in place until enough people could tell him it was a mess, whilst nurses screamed and doctors fainted, until a brave plastic surgeon rebuilt him enough to allow him to face the world again, although not children and certainly those who watched Saving Private Ryan from behind the couch. 

Seriously, I went from

granted,with a pair of spectacles, to

You know its a bit rough when nurses are constantly re-assuring you that they can do wonders with surgery, and lo, after a couple of hours under the surgeon ( ooo eerrr ) I was back to the stunningly attractive specimen you are all used to.

Well, I’ve to go back in a couple of months to get the final touches applied.

Accidents happen, as they say, and you just have to get on with it. However, anyone who wears heavy framed glasses, made of high density plastic for the frames, should consider a lighter pair.

Because if you bang them, there is no give in them, and they will take your nose off. Today, I’m going into Tesco,where i got them from, and will be asking a few awkward questions.

You’ll probably see it on the news.

Anyway, we’re not here to discuss my little adventures. Not when Ronny Deilas new look Celtic are at the beginning of theirs.

After disposing of Krasnodor last Thursday, the Ronny and Jonny show moved on to vienna, and a friendly with local side Rapid, who have a special place in all our hearts after a bout of cheating straight from the Ibrox manual of manipulation.

We all know what happened back then, and its hard to apportion blame for something that happened thirty years ago on the current lot, and maybe we should let bygones be bygones.

Yeah, okay.

The club debuted the new away third kit, the one we will all buy but never see them wear, and it does look the part. White is an imposing colour to use on the field, and it is easy for the other players to pick out, as well as looking clean , smart and professional.

Some say the all white strip was instrumental in Real Madrid winning all those early European Cups, although one or two do credit the players as well.

Anyway, the game was played in front of a passionate full house, and it seemed like a good day out. Which is what these things are supposed to be. Rapid fans turned out in numbers and sang songs, let off flares and generally had a good time.

Then the game started, and Scott Brown made his customary exit from a match against european opposition, although this time, it was on a stretcher;

A spokesman for the club said;

The captain is still being assessed by the club’s medical staff and the extent of the injury is not yet known.” 

Brown knew he was hurt instantly, and signalled to come off. If he has , as feared, torn his hamstring, then he will mioss the Reykjavik games, which is a blow. Despite his enthusiastic and sometimes naive approach to big games, he will be missed, and a lot of the feelgood factor about the preseason faded as news of the severity of the injury began to filter through.

Celtic then went one down when Virgil van dijk headed into his own goal, and it wasn’t until Teemu Pukki levelled in the second half that Celtic found a way through a lively Rapid side.

The game will be remembered for what is already a contender for miss of the season when Derk Boerrigter, in the side as a sort of last chance, was fed by Anthony Stokes with the keeper beaten and when a calm and accurate finish all that was needed the Dutchman fired wide.

He should have just kept running, out of the stadium, and went home.

The first Reykjavik game is a week and a day away. I think we can safely say that Boerrigter won’t be in the team.

The two friendlies so far have seen a settled line up, and that was obviously the idea in the remaining games, simply just to get beyond the Reykjavik tie. We shouldn’t have to worry about this game, and perhaps we are making too big a deal of it. But then theres always the Artmedia debacle, which will be mentioned right up until this one is over.

And factoring in Deilas lack of experience at Champions League level should give the press enough angles to continue the doomsday scenario of no European football for a while yet.

When Neil Lennon was eased out, allegedly over his desire to re-sign samaras and add Snodgrass to the fold, no-one would have predicted being a week away from the start of the season with just a keeper on board. As clubs around Europe begin to get themselves ready for a new campaign, there will be further unrest at Celtic.

The next few weeks are possibly not going to be the fun time we all expected…

Transfer target Virgil van Dijk is now on the go -get- him list at Swansea, Fraser Forster is wanted by Southampton, and Georgios Samaras-not entirely ruled out of a new start at Celtic, is attracting attention from Lazio, which anyone who knows anything about Sammy would see as a bit of a surprise move for him. They’re the Rangers of Italy, well, a sort of live version.

Van Dijk is the subject of a story in the Daily Mail about a possible move to Wales..

• Celtic’s star centre-back Virgil van Dijk is wanted by Swansea City
• Swans are prepared to offer £6million but Scottish champions are hesitant

Thats a new use of the word “hesitant “, which is normally associated with caution, or not being sure of something. A £6m offer for van Dijk should not have been given a hesitant response, unless the hesitation was caused by surprise and disbelief.

There is, of course, a new face at Celtic. Craig Gordon has joined the club, and one or two of us prefer to remember that he came up for a late corner in a Hearts Celtic game rather than the fact that on his day he was easily the best keeper in Scotland, and one of the better ones in England when he went down there. If he’s back to being that player, we’ve played a blinder, if he isn’t, we’ve lost nothing.

Good business in my eyes, but then again, only one of them is working properly today.

Anyway, when Stevie Woods went on to the training pitch to test Lukasz Saluskas relexes, the move seemed a pretty good idea.

Celtic haven’t signed a midfielder yet, and the windows been open for days, so its only to be expected that we will be linked with a couple . This time its these two, of whom I am sure you are already fully aware;

First, we have Iraqi Hummam Tariq;

 Humam midfielder with the long mane of hair, provides silky inspiration from the centre of the park for practically every Iraq attack. His undoubted footballing gifts have been superbly honed and developed and for a youngster aged just 16, he boasts extraordinary vision and a remarkable instinct for the transition from defence to attack.^[1] He is considered to be one of the most promising prospects for the Iraqi National Team and has shown himself to be a very talented attack minded midfielder. He was one of the main players in the Iraqi U20 Squad to earn the team fourth place in the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup and reaching the final of the 2012 AFC U-19 Championship. He also represented the Iraqi U23 Squad and helped them win the 2013 AFC U-22 Championship. Due to his superb performances, Humam has been linked with moves to several clubs such as Al-Ahli, Lille OSC, Malmö FF, andBesiktas J.K.. In 2014, he chose to sign for Al-Ahli. 

A big thanks to his agent for that , which is , coincidentally, his entry in wikipedia. What does Ronny think ?

Deila said: “There is no transfer news. I have never spoken about any Iraqi players, so that is new for me.”

And then we have Necj Pecnik, a Slovenian who had a spel with Sheffield Wednesday. He’s an attacking midfielder as well, which shows that either the same guy is in charge of recrutiment at Celtic, or the same guys are doing the transfer stories.

Its probably both, come to think of it.

Bertie Peacock was the man in Wednesdays picture-was it so long ago ? -and we are going to bring it forward to the present day. Who’s this guy, and whats the link with Celtic ?