Celtic Diary Thursday December 4: Reasons to Be Cheerful

I popped into the shop on the way home from work last night to grab some cigarettes for the game. To make the cost up to a tenner, I bought, on a whim, a scratchcard. Normally, these colourful little games are just another step on the journey which culminates in asking your pal if he can keep your furniture in his garage until you get back on your feet again, but this time I found myself forty shiny pounds better off.

I should have known then that it would be one of the better evenings ahead of me.

Celtic went through the motions against Partick last night and came away with a 1-0 win. Virgil van Dijk finding the ball at his feet in the box poking home the winner. Unusually for him, it didn’t hit his feet and go in, this time he had to actually kick it.

Other than that, it was a forgettable game, one of those where the defence dealt with everything fairly comfortably, the midfeld won what they were asked to, and the forwards creatred space and chances aplenty.

Except when the best option was to shoot, the player would pass, or try to walk it into the net. When the pass was the better outlet, a shot would fizz somewhere near the goal, but not near enough.

Doesn’t matter. you get the same points for a 1-0 as you do a 6-0. Last night was all about the points, which mean that Celtic are finally clear at the top of the table.

Ronny Deila put it down to tiredness.

“We were dominant almost the whole game. We created chances and we deserved to win but it was an okay performance, nothing more.

“We try to be positive but we have to remember that we have played a lot of matches now and that’s affecting the energy in the team. But they fought it and we got the three points, and I’m very happy for that.”

He singled out the Dutchman for special praise.

“Vigil van Dijk is a very good player. He performs week in, week out now and he has that consistency.

“He’s a leader in the group and he is developing all the time, and when he scores goals it makes me even more happy.

“He creates chances as well going forward. He had a great pass to Tonev straight through the middle, and he was active for 90 minutes.” 

Ah. Tonev. Ran a lot. Got into some good positions. Not much use with the ball. A bit of an enigma really.  Its okay,Ii’ve checked. I am allowed to use that word. The way the SFA work, i thought for a moment I’d be penalised on their balance of probability rule, on account of it sounding a bit like another word, which you cannot call players.

 Tonev , of course , has his appeal heard today, and maybe once that is out of the way, he can concentrate fully on his game.

 Bad decision making was the main problem last night, and if its true that tired minds make tired decisions, then that would explain a lot.

 Perhaps Ann Budge, the new owner of Hearts was a little tired when she decided that it was time to tell Celtic that their away fans weren’t the jovial group of lads we’d like to believe they are.

“Many of our fans are supporting our efforts to improve the overall experience at Tynecastle and to create a truly family-focused culture, For this to work, we need to do everything in our power to ensure our opposition on the day also enjoys the experience of coming to Tynecastle. Friendly banter is acceptable – some might even say desirable. Threatening and intimidating behaviour between supporters is not.

“However, we also need our visiting fans to behave accordingly. Based on emails and communications received into the club it would seem both sets of supporters had cause for complaint on Sunday.

“At Hearts, poor on-field behaviour is scrutinised, disciplined and, where appropriate, punished. The same approach must apply off the field.

“The police report confirms that one Hearts supporter was arrested at the match for sectarian abuse. That is unacceptable and dangerous. 

“In line with my previous statement of zero tolerance, that individual will not be allowed back into the stadium. The same police report confirms that five Celtic supporters were arrested for sectarian abuse, coin-throwing and disorderly behaviour. I hope that Celtic will take appropriate action against those individuals who let them down. Certainly, at Hearts, we will do everything in our power to ensure they are never again allowed into Tynecastle.

“I was appalled at the vandalism carried out by our visiting supporters on Sunday. Having recently spent significant sums to replace broken seats in the Roseburn Stand, for the benefit, primarily, of our away supporters, I was hugely disappointed to witness the destruction of close to 100 seats. Similarly, the graffiti on walls, tiles, doors – basically all types of surfaces – was quite disgraceful and this is not to mention the damage to toilets.

“I have discussed all of these matters with members of the Celtic executive and we are working co-operatively to address the issues. No club should be on the receiving end of such unacceptable behaviour and no club should be put in the position of having to defend such behaviour.”  

Well, she starts off by mentioning her own supports bad behaviour, but really goes to town on the hoops fans. Despite what the papers have claimed, she doesn’t accuse them of sectarianism., merely noting that it was in there amongst the arrests.

Tynecastle is a fairly hostile atmosphere, which makes it all the more enjoyable. If you like that sort of thing.

One or two of the players might disagree about the fun factor.

Anthony Stokes @stoksey10 · 19h19 hours ago

We are addressing these matters with Heart of Midlothian and welcome the desire of Ann Budge to seek a positive and enjoyable matchday experience for all football supporters at Tynecastle. We look forward to working with her to achieve this. 

Celtic supporters have a long and proud record of positive support for the Club. Our fans have developed an excellent reputation and this is something we cherish and wish to preserve.  

It is very important to note that the vast majority of Celtic supporters and Scottish football supporters behave impeccably at matches. With regards to the reported incidents at the match on Sunday, we would like to re-iterate that any form of offensive or inappropriate behaviour is contrary to our core values and the Club will deal with those responsible in the appropriate manner.

We share the concerns expressed by Ann Budge and her aim to eradicate all forms of offensive behaviour from Scottish football. We can assure Heart of Midlothian that we will be pleased to continue to co-operate with them fully to ensure that all issues from this match concerning both sets of supporters are addressed. 

 The club didn’t add the line “So get it up ye ” , but the tone of the response means they didn’t need to. Perhaps the timing of this from the Tynecastle club is important, or perhaps I’m just paranoid, but aren’t the Kill The Bill campaigners meeting at Parliament today to try to get the Football behaviour law changed ?

 Actually, history has proved that we weren’t paranoid enough….

Hearts have a distasteful element to their support. Remember that time at Hampden when they chanted through the minutes silence after the passing of Pope John Paul II ? That was the first time I took my eldest to Hampden, and perhaps it was because i had to explain why they were so obnoxious that left me feeling a little despaired at their attitude, and feeling justified in deciding to bring my family up down south away from it all.

 Oh, and explaining why daddy had leapt up and joined in a furious chorus of “you Dirty Orange Bastards ” at the end of the silence wasn’t easy either.

 Still, with the old Rangers club dead, and the new one dying, there is obviously a gap in the market for the customer with the narrow minded viewpoint associated with the Ibrox franchise.

 Oh dear. Hope he didn’t have plans for a big family do at Christmas, as no doubt those highly trained and efficient guys at Police Scotland are already asking each  other to help read this, and within a few days they’ll be chapping at his door.

 Ah, the old Rangers/New Rangers saga. We’ll get to that in a minute, I try to save the funniest for last.

 Barry Hearn, the entrepreneur largely responsible for the growth of pub games as television spectaculars, was invited to a convention at Hampden yesterday, and its unlikely he’ll be asked back.

Simply saying what everyone else outwith the corridors of Hampden think, Hearn told the blazers,he had to tell the blazers, as those wearing them had pulled the collars up over their heads hoping he couldn’t  see them, what he thought of them, and the way they run Scottish football;

“There is so much good in Scottish football, so many positive things to say but you don’t sell yourself,” 

“I am saying you have to get yourself out there. You don’t do enough for yourself.

“I am seeing too much self-pity. That’s what the world thinks of Scottish football and that should be the most worrying aspect.

“Be proud of yourself. Don’t be a secret. If you don’t believe in yourself how can other people believe in you?

“The fact that the Premiership has not got a sponsor is not good. If you worked for me you would be sacked.” 

“In my view you have done nowhere near enough,” said Hearn, who called for the sale of alcohol at football stadia in Scotland to return.

“You have been in the shadow of the English Premier League and you have almost given up.

“Your image is not good because it is a defeatist image, completely alien to what Gordon Strachan (national coach) is preaching on the pitch.

“The blazers are not doing the job properly. It is very well looking at a beautiful petal but if the roots are damaged you don’t see a beautiful petal for much longer.

“There are lots of reasons why they are not but one of the reasons is they haven’t got enough money so it is a chicken and egg situation.

“But you can’t sell your product if you talk your product down.

“Attendances are falling across Scottish football, you are not doing your job properly

“I don’t know all the answers but is time to start running this with your head held high, as a proper proactive business with young people and dynamic leadership.” 

 “Someone needs to be big enough to say we are making decisions on what is good for the sport.

“You don’t get popular but you need to have that type of attitude, that benevolent despot, that says to the giants of Scottish football: ‘There is a bigger picture here, let’s make this cake bigger.

In the long run you will do far better out of it because of your size but at the same time we are building an infrastructure within the game that will take us to the next level.” 

 Will the SFA listen to him, will they act on his advice-this is a guy that took darts from an excuse to go to the pub on a Tuesday to a massively popular TV event.

 Actually, they’d be better off all resigning and giving him their wages for a year, and telling him to get on with it.

 At least we’d have something to show for the expense.

 Something to show for the expense….two trophies out of nineteen available over four years at a cost of over £800,000 per annum,  Ally Mccoist is under a little bit of pressure over at Second Rangers after his side blew a 2-0 lead in the last eighteen minutes of their semi final Petrofac cup against Alloa last night.

 They were 2-0 up and cruising but lost 3-2 in the end, which rounded off a good day for those of us who never wanted to see them again, but appreciate their contribution to the world of laughter.

 To add insult to injury, the wasps,, as Alloa are known, were without nine regulars, and most of their players had been at work all day. Two others were on the night shift after the game. So, er , the Wasps fielded a Bee team.

 I’m here all week, try the veal, etc.

 McCoist was blunt in his assessment of the performance;

 It appears the support were less than pleased as well;

Heres a match report; Read from the bottom up.

And the ultimate humiliation;

One guy, however, remained staunchly loyal, and defiant;

 Well, thats put my gas at a peep.

 McCoist says he has no intention of walking away. With his watertight and lucrative contract seemingly guaranteeing him a huge pay off, the Ibrox board simply cannot aford to pay him off without plunging the new club into administration.

 However, given the piss poor side he has managed to lumber himself with, he won’t be around for the semi final clash with Celtic. No chance. There isn’t a sum of money in the world that could possibly be worth it for him to endure what is looking like a potentially terminal blow to any credibility he ever thought he had.

 Imagine, Celtic in double figures, and one set of supporters cheering him, and the other berating him.

 No, even he would surely decide its not worth it.

 Then again, here’s hoping !