The draw for the third round of the Champions League threw up the intriguing possibility of a trip to Dublin when Celtic came out of the bowls paired with either Legia Warsaw or St. Patricks Athletic, the latter, of course, being based in the Irish capital. Picture the scene, O’Connell Street busy with Celtic fans, all putting their money together to buy a pint of porter and twelve thousand straws…

Another website, which operates a swear filter for certain words they deem unacceptable ( such as nouns, verbs and adjectives, ) appears to have influenced  the Irish examiner, who ran with this headline today;

Celtic carrot for St Pat’s

and we would like to help the paper out here, by emphasising that this is what they mean, as in the saying which implies an incentive,

and not , in fact, the word that “carrot ” replaces on the popular Celtic forum;

For anyone still unsure , think of the rather unfortunately named BBC childrens presenter from the seventies;

a man who lives in perpetual fear that cockney wide boy actor Ray Winstone will recognise him in the street, and greet him with a loud and enthusiastic “Oi, Cant ” , which, of course, would in turn prompt a response from David Cameron, were he to be within earshot;

Now thats digressing…

St. Pats gained a credible 1-1 draw over in Poland in the first leg, and must fancy their chances of getting through to face Celtic, and the extra incentive might just give them the edge.

Saints captain Ger O’Brien is relishing the prospect of what the Daily Record thinks will be like a home tie for Celtic, with “preliminary ” talks already taking place to move the game to the Aviva Stadium;

“Average attendances in our league are approximately 4000 at a push, so our players would love playing in the Aviva atmosphere.

“We took on Hannover two years ago and I’ve been fortunate to play at the Aviva in glamour friendlies against both Manchester giants.

“It’s important to grab these chances with both hands and embrace every minute. However, it would represent a home tie for Celtic, we wouldn’t kid ourselves otherwise.

“The League of Ireland have worked so hard to boost the attendances in our domestic game but the bottom line is we are a country saturated by English Premiership and Scottish football. All the idols for our kids are over the water and that’s reflected in the replica kits they wear on the streets.

“That includes Celtic and the majority of fans in the stadium, if we get through, will be Celtic supporters.

“We know how close our two countries are and how much Celtic mean to so many people over here. We played them before in Europe and competed well.

“It would be great for this generation to have the opportunity to do likewise.” 

The Irish champions have already had to move the home leg of their tie with Legia, as O’ Brien explains;

“We’ve had to move our home leg against Legia from Richmond Park to Tallaght Stadium, home of Shamrock Rovers, for security reasons so we know what it’s like to play in unfamiliar surroundings.

“There are so many Poles coming over for the game and so many live in Dublin that the Gardai wanted it moved to a bigger stadium.” 

Which prompts the observation that if you do go to Dublin, you are likely to see more stadia than you are Celtic tops. The appeal of Celtic has fallen away in Ireland in recent years, largely due to football froma foreign legue being available on request via the telly, similar to the domestic game in Wales and, of course , Scotland.

Surprisingly, none of these league associations has even hinted at a challenge to the legality of this, as it obviously has an effect on their own income and expenditure.

But then again, we have people such as Stewart Regan, Neil Doncaster and Campbell Ogilvie running our game, so I’d actually be surprised if they have noticed that theres any football of any sort on the telly, largely because they cannot see the screen with their heads firmly wedged inside their bottoms.

We would all like to go to Dublin, but while its a great day out, the tie itself would probably be the trickiest of any we could have got at this stage, due to the enthusiasm of the opposition when they take to the field.

However, that enthusiasm is matched by Miroslav Radovic, who scored Legias goal in the first leg; Something which seemed to surprise him at the time;

He said;

I’m sure on Wednesday we will beat the Irish and go through to another round.

Hasn’t anyone told him, you’ll never beat the Irish ? No matter what you do ? etc, etc…

I’ve always thought that song could be re-written , for Celtic instead of the Irish. Never fails to set the airbag off when I’m playing the drums at traffic lights.

Radovic continued;

If we play Celtic, I’ll be really happy. It’s big club, the fans will watch two interesting games. 

“We won’t be without a chance. Maybe the name of the club is impressive, but the team is within our reach.For now, though, I’m focused on revenge against St Patrick’s.

“We must play well to make people forget about the first shameful game in Warsaw.” 

Legia are managed by  ex-former Rangers player Henning Berg, who lets face it, can’t be as bad a manager as all the other guys from that club who have gone into management ( go on-name a successful one )

“We’re extremely disappointed with the performance in the first leg,” said Berg. “The tie is not over, though. It’s possible for us to win in Ireland.”

Oh, hang on. He might be. Looks like letting all your players drink , gamble and rely on honest mistakes  might be what old Walter Smith tells them when they ring for advice…and of course the latter doesn’t apply in Europe, or anywhere else apart from Scotland.

 Funny, I thought Old Wally kind of already knew that.  ( Did that sentence need grammars  definite article in that line ? -note, grammars definite article is not another one of those country and western songs , its the grammatical  term for the word “the “, which wouldn’t make for a good song at all, but  will be released by Robbie Williams anyway. ) 

Well, thats enough of what our potential opponents think, whats the word from Celtic Park ?

Assistant manager John Collins gave us his thoughts;

“It’s a good draw but, obviously, we’d prefer to play in Ireland..

“I’m sure they’ll be highly motivated to play Celtic in the next round.

“There’s no doubt there would be a wonderful atmosphere. But first thing’s first, we’ve got to take care of the second leg against Reykjavik.” 

Manager Ronny Deila noticed the reporter speaking to his number two, and raced over, removing his jacket as he did so…

” Are these feckers ( he’s bought a Father Ted video after a walk round the Barras market ) on about the next game before we’ve finished with this one ? ”

“Leave it Ronny, its not worth it ” exclaimed  Collins, placing his perfectly formed torso between the new manager and the reporter…

Celtic are in Germany today, and play Dynamo Dresden later on. Theres a lot of travelling at the moment, and the management must decide whether to continue with the match fitness programme, or maybe rest one or two ahead of Tuesdays return with Reykjavik at Murrayfield.

Collins, who is taking his new job very seriously, said ;

“As every game goes by, every 90 minutes, the players are getting sharper and are getting their touch and their confidence back and fitness. We have taken a big squad so we will look at a few of the players.” 

It will be high-tempo football. We want to be creating chances and scoring goals.”

 Meanwhile, yesterdays story about Nir Bitton has made the newspapers-well, the Record, anyway..

Celtic star Nir Biton sparks fury

on Instagram by supporting Israel’s

ongoing military offensive against Palestine.

Reporter David Taylor tells us…

THE 22-year-old midfielder posted pro-Israeli propaganda on his Instagram account. It was quickly taken down, but not before copies had been made and circulated on various websites.

Pro Israeli propaganda ? Is he at the BBC now ? 

A copy of the Hebrew Prayer for members of the Israel Defence Force, which contains the line: “May Hashem (God) cause the enemies who rise up against us to be struck down before them.” appeared on Thursday evening.

It was quickly taken down, but not before copies had been made and circulated on various websites, including Twitter.

At least 240 Palestinians, including scores of children, have been killed by Israeli air strikes since July 8.

They launched the offensive to stamp out rocket attacks from Gaza and the army has recently vowed to continue with ground and air assaults.

The attacks are aimed at crushing terror group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. But the area is so densely populated that many innocent civilians have been caught up in the violence.

An estimated 23 Palestinians were killed this morning in an Israeli assault on Gaza.

And the world was united in grief earlier in the week when pictures emerged of four youngsters who were killed on Wednesday by a shell fired from an Israeli gun ship as they played football on a Gaza beach.

I’ve seen some piss poor articles in the Scottish main stream media, but the tone of this one already implies that Bitton better have an alibi when the War Crimes people start making enquiries. Actually, he could say he’s the British Prime Minister. That usually works. 

Outraged Celtic fans, some of whom claim sympathies with the Palestinian cause, reacted with anger following Biton’s post, with some of them calling for him to be sacked.

Some of them aren’t. Some of them are mature enough to understand the background to this issue. 

In a 2009 Europa League match against Israeli team Hapoel Tel Aviv, Celtic fans of them waved Palestinian flags in protest at the invasion of Gaza the previous year.

Pro-Palestine football fans in Europe frequently attend matches brandishing the Palestinian flag in shows of support.

Oddly enough, the Record covered a story back in 2009, when the STUC asked Celtic fans to wave Palestinain flags at a game against Barcelona in 2009. 

The story back then claimed;

Stuc deputy general secretary Dave Moxham said: “Millions around the world will be watching, including those living in Israel and Palestine.

“I am today writing to Celtic and Hapoel Tel Aviv outlining the reasons and purpose of this call and making clear that we attach no blame either to Hapoel Tel Aviv players, nor their fans, for the outrageous actions of their government.

“We hope that Celtic fans will join with us in a demonstration of support for a just and lasting peace in Israel/Palestine based on a safe and secure Palestinian homeland living side by side with Israel.”

He added: “This December marks the one-year anniversary of the Israeli invasion of Gaza in which 1400 men, women and children were killed.”

Which prompted a reply from Celtic at the time..

“Celtic has always been a club for all people, regardless of gender, age, religion, race, politics or ability.

“We therefore believe Celtic Park is no place for a political demonstration. The club recognises the influence of football to bring communities together. In this regard, we recognise the work of Hapoel for their efforts within their own communities to act as a catalyst for positive change.

“The club is extremely concerned to learn of a call to hold demonstrations.”

The reporter described Celtics reply as “furious “, and added

Elements of Celtic’s support have backed the Palestinian cause, while factions among Rangers fans have demonstrated solidarity with Israel.

The reporter back then ? 

 David Taylor. 

Taylor continues;

Biton’s post could cause storms within the Parkhead dressing room – before a ball is even kicked in the new season.

Celtic midfielder Beram Kayal was born in Israel, but is of Arab descent, though he has not voiced any political views.

Presumably, he’s hoping that Kayal and Bitton will be currently touting for support amongst their team mates ready for the big mass brawl on the plane back from Germany. They are in Dresden today. Perhaps if Bitton does need to learn anything about the horrors of mass bombing , the club could get someone to talk him through the history of that tragic city.

And maybe we could mention it to a few of the supporters as well. Which, given the consistency of their own beliefs, will no doubt mean that we won’t be signing anyone from any of the countries who supplied any airmen in what was one of the most atrocious examples of mass murder during the Second World War

No-one is condoning the actions of the Israelis in Gaza. Thats because there is no justification in any conflict for murdering civilians. Ironic, though , that Celtic are in Dresden today, while all this ” fury ” is raging through the support.

The bombing of that city served no strategical purpose, and its the main reason the man behind it, Arthur “Bomber ” Harris remains the only chief of staff not to be knighted.

What would the Record say, for instance, if Peter Lawwell laid a wreath in memory of those murdered by the RAF ?

The point here is that all wartime civilian murder is wrong. Horribly wrong.

But if someone back then could have posted a prayer asking for the safe return any of the airmen involved, would it have created such a fuss ?

Lets get things into the correct context here. Bitton was not supporting the Israeli actions. He simply posted a prayer asking for the safety of his own friends and family. None of us has any idea what is going through his mind.

How about we leave him be now ?