Celtic Diary Saturday November 29: Ronny Wants, Wait, What Does He Want ?

Manager Ronny Deila has decided that he wants an easy team in the first round of the knockout stages when the Europa League kicks in again in the New Year.

 “We want the easiest team so that we can go through,” said the Norwegian.

“We want to stay as long as possible in this tournament.

“We’re not here to play show games. We’re here now in the Last 32, and we’re going to do everything we have to do to go through.

“We want a team that suits us best so that we can go further.”  

Thats from the Evening Times, the Record story begs to differ;

And then theres the domestic treble…

‘Every time I wake up in the morning, I see that in front of me,’ Deila revealed.

‘That’s really the goal, to win everything, and I think that’s what the players are doing, as well.

‘But we have to think how we are going to achieve it.

‘It is easy to talk about results. You have to do the job, and that starts every day with what we do in training and to prepare for every game.’ 

Or is it new signings ?

‘You speak to a player, ask him about signing for Celtic, (and) you can tell him about playing in the Europa League knockout stage. Hopefully, also two cups while also trying to win the league.

‘There can be so much to achieve. It is very positive for the players who are here and the players we want to bring in.

‘We haven’t come so far yet. It is too early to talk with players. We talk with agents. You have to have many names. You start at the top of the list and then start ticking.

‘But there are so many factors and things you just don’t know.

‘One of the positive things, though, is that we are through in Europe and can play that next year. We can say to players “Come to us and play in Europe”.’ 

 “Start at the top of the list and then start ticking. “

We’ve been here before. Poor Ronny. He’s about to understand our transfer policy. Genuinely, this will be a test of his strength of character. I hope his initial reaction will be

” Hvordan i helvete skal jeg vinne noe med denne dusj av shite ? 

Slutte å ta piss og handle som du vil at denne klubben til å vinne noe . “

Thats Norwegian for “How the fuck am I supposed to win anything with this shower of shite ? Stop taking the piss and act like you want this club to win something. “

When actually, perhaps he just wants the guys to talk to him. To maybe take in some lunch, or a movie.

Somewhere inside Deila there is a good , possibly even very good manager trying to get out. I want him to succeed, but he must first of all realise that this is a serius job at Celtic. Not like anything he’s ever had before. I don’t think he’s quite got the hang of that  yet, but he has come a long way in five months.

 Whatever else we may think, theres still a chance of that memorable season we spoke f a couple of months back.

Still, the show must go on. Celtic travel to Tynecastle tomorrow where Hearts will be looking to continue their recent good run by taking a major scalp in the Cup. The Edinburgh side are clear favourites to take the First Division title, and get themselves back in amongst the big boys.

They’ve earned it.

Complete financial restructure and living within their means , combined with a bright young manager and some decent, enthusiastic players has seen them put together a club their fans can be proud of. Their fans , of course, dug deep to save the club from administration, which just shows what can be done when everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet.

 Hearts boss Robbie Neilsen reckons a different approach is needed to get a result for his team.

“We’ll stick to our principles in that we really want to pass the ball and move the ball and get after the game,” Neilson said. “But we may also need to change it a little bit to try and combat them. We’re playing against a very good team, so we must make sure we work on our defensive side a lot more than we probably would against other teams.

“I think we can compete if we pass the ball. [In the League Cup match] we found it difficult in the wide areas with their movement – that’s something we’ve been working on to try and combat this week.

“It’s a different environment – they’re coming to Tynecastle, it’s going to be another big crowd, and it’s the Scottish Cup, which has another effect on the game as well. If we do the things we can do properly, pass it and move it and combat a lot of their stuff, then we’ve got a chance. 

 That will confuse the Celts. The concept of giving the ball to a teammate, and perhaps even running into space to collect it back is beyond most of them. We could be in trouble.

 Leigh Griffiths hates Hearts with a passion. Why not combine his energy with John Guidettis guile up front ? Put James Forrest in a free role behind them, with. from right to left across the midfield,  Scott Brown, Stefan Johansen and Charlie Mulgrew behind them ?

 The defence will just be the four fittest, but I’d still advocate dropping Virgil van Dijk. He’s away in his own world so much these days he probably won’t even notice.

 Tough game ahead, but Celtic should have too much for Hearts. One things for sure, it won’t be dull.

 Craig Whyte,  a hero to many, a villain to many but really just an all round great guy, flew back into town to answer charges that he was involved in a fraudulent take over at Rangers (1872) before the whole thing went under back in 2012.

 He’s actually being accused of being fraudulent, as opposed to the people who sold him it, who at some point would have told him it was well worth his quid.

 Well, theres a stadium valued at £47m, there was players valued, well, off the radar. There was a car park, a training ground, all for a quid.

 Fraud works both ways , you know.

 Anyway, Whytey, looking every inch the film star had a police escort through an admiring crowd,  one or two of which called him by his pet name “you fucking bastard ” before heading off to the Riddrie flats, or some other such place of rest, before his appearance in court on Monday.

He’s been in Mexico of late, but no-one knows who with.

 This is Whyte, being escorted by the police, who incidentally , helpfully told any of his admirers present that he’d be back in court monday morning, and he doesn’t quite look the same,  does he ?

Still, good to see he realised that having a priest with him would prevent any attacks by the forces of darkness. He’s going to have to get used to that kind of abuse.

 For some reason, he is still getting the blame for the mess that Murray made, but then, some say that was always going to be the plan anyway.

 Even the press have it in for him, well, they were never going to bring Murrays name into this. Keith Jackson, for instance, who was genuinely misled by reports that Whyte was a billionaire-if only he’d checked, or even asked his dad-a former cheif superintendent of police-to check for him,  wouldn’t be reduced to the bitterness of such tweets as this;

 As the nineties turned into the noughties, it became clear  Murrays somewhat unique sense of financial management was never likely to work in the real world, Whyte came in to see what he could make from the obviously now doomed club by way of a fire sale. He had to borrow money to pay off a substantial debt to Lloyds bank, who had taken over the Bank of Scotland, which had previously not bothered with asking some of its customers to repay loans, or at worst, operating a sort of “give us what you can when you can “policy.

 When it became obvious that Lloyds had a more conventional approach to repayments, then Murray didn’t hang around. Whyte took on the debts and borrowed a few quid to pay the Lloyds debt. Not to buy the club, as some have suggested.

 Long story short, and the vultures have since taken turns in picking whatever they can from the carcass, while others try to cash in on fans who have been led to believe theres actually a way back for the club.

 Of course, my mistake. Theres no way back. They died. The new entity is simply somewhere to store the carrion while its shared and  devoured.

 Still, Ally Mccoist , the manager over there, has brought a book out about this role in the shennannigans;

 Which reminds me, the League Cup semi final against the new entity will be on Sunday , February the first at 1,30pm. It will take place at Hampden, which we hear was the subject of an enquiry regarding using it as the base for a new club which won’t have a ground of its own.

 Of course for a new club to enter the League set up, another would have to fold.

 Football fans are a strange bunch. In Mondays Diary we ask  if the football team you support influences your life in a disproportionate way.

 We’ll be hearing from a Wolverhampton wanderer, a queens Park Ranger, and a Nottingham florist.

 Some great answers to the last caption competition, which featured Michael Douglas being restrained by Dermot Desmond, presumably because a netball game was taking place in the next field.

 Heres another, a little more recent;

 Thats from Cath cfc on twitter. Any other suggestions as to how the conversation went ?