What a difference a few short months make. Its not so long ago that supporters-alright, mostly me-we decrying the new management team, screaming about ineptness on the park, and worrying about the possibility of not even wining the league.

But its turned out nice again.

The Europa League draw yesterday awakened memories in the older fan as Celtic came out of the bowl against Inter Milan, the side Celtic put to the sword back in 1967 to become the first Northern  European side to lift the European cup. We all know what happened then, but just in case you think it was 2-1, and Stevie Chalmers scored a late winner, have a look at this Pathe news report from the time, taken from the huddleboard;

Winning goal in Lisbon

Just goes to show you, you can’t trust the media.

On hearing the news of the draw, one man immediately closed his curtains, locked the door and booked himself a three month break in Tahiti.

Former Celt John “Dixie” Deans was quite happy that over  forty  years have passed since Celtic last played Inter, and that meant that hardly anyone would mention his sub orbital penalty that saw Celtic exit the European cup in 1972 after two 0-0 draws with the Italians.

However, despite trying to hide, the press caught up with him, and he spoke of that night…

“I remember we were all in the circle on the halfway line and the referee kept blowing his whistle for me to come,” he said.

“I had never taken a penalty in a game before and none of us had ever experienced a penalty shoot-out to decide a game.

“I had no idea that I had to walk from the halfway line all the way to the 18-yard box.

“You could have heard a pin drop. Near on 80,000 people in the stadium and the place was silent.

“I remember picking up the ball and wiping it on my jersey but by then I had lost it.

“I was totally panicked. To this day I still don’t know if I imagined it, but I think their keeper moved a fraction and I tried to lift it over him.

Well, I certainly did that!

“It has been a long time since Celtic met them again in a competitive game, but it would be nice to think they could win. I’d love to see it.”

 The ball still hasn’t landed, but it did have an early prototype camera attached to it, and at least one image was sent back…

Inter were complimentary on their website;

The legendary Celtic Football Club was founded on 6 November 1887 at the St. Mary Church in East Rose Street, Glasgow. They are the only Scottish club never to have been relegated and can boast an incredible array of silverware in their trophy cabinet: 95 national honours, including 45 Scottish Leagues, 36 Scottish Cups and 14 League Cups. Celtic have only tasted continental success once in their long history, beating none other than Inter to claim the 1966/67 European Cup. The final, which was played in Lisbon, ended 2-1 in the Scots’ favour (Mazzola, Gemmell and Chalmers got the goals). That win, against Helenio Herrera’s Inter side, remains the only time a Scottish club has won Europe’s premier competition. There have only been two further meetings between Inter and Celtic in the two teams’ history, both of which came in their 1971/72 European Cup semi-final, which the Nerazzurri won on penalties. This season, Ronny Deila’s side are on top of the Scottish Premier League with a six-point cushion over second-placed Inverness. They qualified for the Europa League after losing to Maribor in the Champions League play-offs. In the group stages of the competition, Celtic finished in second place in Group D with eight points from the six games (two wins, two draws and two defeats). 

Manager Ronny Deila continued with the general feeling of bonhomie between the clubs;

It’s going to be a very good match and I’m really looking forward to it, We are meeting a big opponent but we always have a chance.

“I know Roberto Mancini is their manager now, that they have been struggling a bit for the last year or two and aren’t the team they were in 2010 when they won the Champions League.

“But they are a good team and it’s going to be a tough game. Everything is possible, however, and we have everything to play for. We will have to be at our best in both games to hopefully go through.

“The history adds to the match and every training exercise and match will be to prepare us as good as possible for the matches.”

He also added a wee line about on loan striker John guidetti, which should shut a few journalists up for a while;

“It will be a positive thing to have John with us during these games,”

“It’s important to get everybody ready for the game, keep them injury-free and keep the squad as good as possible.” 

 Thats confirmation that Guidetti will not be going anywhere in January, as far as I’m concerned. We knew that, of course, but the MSM still have difficulty in dealing with facts.

You’d think that the MSM would be excited about the upcoming Europa game, and get right behind their nations representative.

 Heres the Herald;

Burgnich backs Inter for revenge

INTER MILAN legend Tarcisio Burgnich insists the Italians will finally gain revenge for their loss to the Lisbon Lions when they face Celtic in the Europa League.

: “It’s a good draw. The Celtic of today are not the Celtic of our times. They are not a team with top players.

“Scottish teams have a good spirit, but are struggling these days and are certainly not the best in European football.

“Teams from Scotland were very, very strong, but they don’t have the same quality as they had back when I played.

“For the Final in Lisbon, I knew we would be in trouble because we were missing Luis Suarez, our midfielder, who was the key to our team.

“Celtic should have won by more goals.Our keeper Giuliano Sarti made save after spectacular save in the second half.

“We even joked with him to let them score just to relieve the pressure on us!

“I remember the Scots as being particularly aggressive and a good team.

“But it would be nice to beat Celtic now.”  

And this, from, er, The Herald…

Troubled Internazionale fancy their chances against Celtic

INTERNAZIONALE have insisted that an electrifying Parkhead atmosphere coupled with the pressure created by a disastrous start to their domestic season is still not enough to tip the balance of a mouthwatering Europa League showdown in Celtic’s favour.

Something tells me that someone ditched the story that had the headline;

Now Is The Time To Play Inter, Because They Are not Very Good. 

The previous meetings between the two are locked away in the past, if we are to start creating another chapter in our history, then what better side to open the story with than Inter.

Heart warming stuff, now, and Georgios Samaras, who left Celtic in the summer, has been given an award. Wee Jay Beaaty, the ten year old with downs syndrome who was seen celebrating a samaras goal during the World cup went out to Athens to meet him.

From Ekathimerini.com;

Samaras was awarded for his “contribution to sports and his ethos” on Monday by the Greek Sports Journalists’ Association at the Peace and Friendship Stadium on Athens’s southern coast for the bond he has formed with “Wee Jay.”

In its invitation, the union said the award is for “the message of humanity and sensitivity which they sent worldwide.”

Samaras had a personal tragedy when his grandfather passed away, but he refused to let the wee fellow down, and still turned up for the ceremony.

They don’t make them like him very often.

Meanwhile, just two years into its existence, and Second Rangers face SFA charges relating to dual ownership as the governing authority spring into action at the slightest hint of any wrongdoing.

Well, wrongdoing that isn’t by one of their own, that is.

Mike Ashley, owner of Newcastle Utd and shareholder of Second Rangers finds himself in breach of the rules, a breach which could lead to the revoking of the clubs licence , which would mean that, like their catastrophic predecessor, they will slide into oblivion.

If the ” Guid Rainjeers” men want another club to rise from the ashes, then they’ll have to go aout and find one, change its name and hope that the support will be stupid enough to empty their pockets a third time.

St. Mirren are still for sale, Airdrie /Clydebank are little more than a hollow vessel for anyone who fancies a crack at owning a football club, and theres always Donald Findlay at Cowdenbeath.

Stories are emerging that the old guard are looking to buy a club, rebrand it and hope that everyone will forget about the last few years. Prhaps that explains the SFAs move to punish the Second lot.

To make way for the Third lot.

Its all very confusing, but the whole idea was to bump the old club, keep things ticking over with a holding club, and then start all over again.

Wasn’t it ? I’m sure I read that somewhere…

Of course, the papers won’t be delving too much into this story, they’ve got to defend their hero Ally Mccoist, who has given notice of his intention to quit his post as Second Rangers manager.  While some are shocked that his wage doubled upon handing in his notice, a sympathetic Gary Ralston in the Daily Record explains what it really means, as the campaign to save Allys reputation and protect him from anyone pointing out the obvious gets well under way;

He was due a year’s salary at the old levels if he took the decision to serve his notice, but would have been due at least 18 months’ money if the club decided to axe him.

Effectively, by taking his stance he will cost himself around £400,000, as Record Sport revealed on Saturday morning.

 Well, I never thought of it like that. What a wonderful guy.

The sooner that club and its resident vultures disappear, the sooner we can get on with starting over. It should have happened when the old club dies, but  terrified administrators swallowed the line about how much they were needed, and it was picked up by potential sponsors.

They tried to take everyone down with them, as we knew they would. Don’t let them try again.

Which reminds me, we got a taxi while in glasgow on sunday-don’t ask-and turns out the driver was a fan of the new/old club, and he had a few songs on his cd player. I pulled out my ear plugs, which I carry for such an occasion.

” I see you’re prepared “, he chuckled

” aye “, I replied, and inserted them into my nostrils.

Yesterdays picture, taken from a commercial advertisement sent to potential advertisers who are being asked to invest in the Murray Park training complex, provoked a flurry of replies, and lets just hope Kris boyd doesn’t see them.

Now, whats being said here. We are particularly keen to hear form a Mr Lennon or a Mr Parker on this one…