Celtic Diary Wednesday December 31: Another Year Over…

Good news today-John guidetti has signed a contract , worth £30,000 a week to him. All we need now is for someone at the club to sign it as well.

That appears to be the problem. The Swede has decided how much money he wants, and yet again it seems that the battery on Peter Lawwells phone has gone dead.

Its not going to happen. Keep your eye on Ivan Santini. The Croatian striker has scored 47 goals in 21 games  ( it might be the other way round ) for Kortrijk, his Belguim club , but he fancies a move to a club thats easier to spell.

St. anthony on twitter seems to have got wind of another potential signing, albeit on loan.

Well, now that we’ve missed out on Lewis MacLoed , the support will demand we go for someone of at least equal ability, so maybe theres something in it….

Anyway, Ronny Deila isn’t so concerned about signing new players. He’d be happy enough just to keep the ones we’ve got;

 “Our main goal is to keep our best players. It’s about consistency.

“You always know what you have but you never know what you could get.

“I’m quite sure we’re going to keep all the players we want to keep.

“That’s what Peter Lawwell wants, that’s what the board and me and the whole club want.

“That’s why I can’t see anything happening.”

 He means Virgil van Dijk;

 “He is settled more, training well, playing well and happy.

“Here he also knows there are going to be big games and he can fight for a lot of trophies. He is looking more to summer now than January.” 

 Until the phone goes….

 Kris Commons is another who many think will be away, and Deila was asked if he wanted to keep him;

“Yes.

“We want to keep the best players. He has a contract until the end of the season and we want to keep the players who have quality.” 

I wonder….

Come with me for a moment….I’m not going far. Just back to July 2012, and the words of a chap called Christian Wulff, who knows Norwegian football.

Instead, Strømsgodset needed to be Moneyball. Today, there is hardly a more successful proponent in European football of the already overused term used to describe a the methods of a club with limited resources but with an excellent scouting set-up and an above-average common sense approach to transfer fees and wage demands. 

My favourite stat about Strømsgodset this year is that of the 20 outfield players representing them this season only two are between the age of 23 and 32. One of them, 29 year old Lars Iver Strand had been frozen out by Andresen at Vålerenga, getting only two appearances since in the last two seasons. Deila has allowed him the space and time to blossom up again at Strømsgodset, Strand now coming close to the potential that lead him to be capped for Norway seven years ago.

It is the way Deila has managed to blend and develop this group of youngsters, veterans and undervalued talent such as Strand into an almost irresistible force of aggressive, offensive football that makes him the most unique coach in the Norwegian league since Nils Arne Eggen. A group with an unshakable confidence in its combined strength, but also with a grounded humility and the knowledge that they need to perform at a level higher than just the sum of their parts. 

Strømsgodset’s season is also a shining example of the value of stability and long-term values. While league positions of 11th, 12th, 7th and 8th the last four seasons have been impressive in terms of the players and financial strength the club have, nothing had really prepared Norwegian football for how spectacularly tings would come together for Strømsgodset this year. It seems it has all been  leading up to this. Where they to hold on and win their first league title in 42 years, it would be the most sensational achievement in Norwegian football since Moss won the league as a promoted team in 1987. Their coach that year was, of course, Nils Arne Eggen.

He would leave the club after that season to begin his now legendary transformation of Rosenborg from a decent Norwegian club side to Champions League stalwart. If Deila leads Strømsgodset to the league title this year, his next move would be just as eagerly anticipated. He has a very long way to go in order to equal Eggen’s achievements and his contribution to Norwegian football. But Ronny Deila is taking some very determined steps in that exact direction. 

Looking to the past can help us predict the future.

Deila doesn’t want to buy any big names, its not what he does.

But he has proven that he can mold together a squad that will over achieve.

2015 sees Celtic aiming for four trophies, a position we’ve not been in for a while. He might be the man to deliver.

See that machine in the picture above ?

Lets see if it can go in the other direction….

We won’t get out of the vehicle,  but we can look out of the window.

 John Guidetti didn’t hang around, he went to Southampton. Ikeche Anya came in, and he was a revelation out left. He was the main reason we made the last four in the Europa League, proving an outball for a beleagured defence. Leigh Grifiths and Stefan Scepovic stepped up to the plate, and finished the season as a partnership. 

 Virgil van Dijk enjoyed the ride, but he’s going now, and the summer will be spent looking for a replacement. 

 Still, the domestic treble, which turned out a little easier than we thought after Derek MacInnes was lured to take over at Third Rangers, more than made up for it. It was close-quite exciting at times, and the cup final was a belter, as Celtic won a seven goal thriller by the odd goal in the Hampden sunshine. 

 There was a seven goal thriller in the League Cup semi final as well, but this time all seven came for the hoops. 

 In fact, it looks like this summer will see an awful lot of contented hoops fans who will be wondering what all the fuss was about…. 

And back in the room….

See, it turned out nice again.

And we’ll start tomorrow with a 7-0 thrashing of Partick……

The game is live on Sky for anyone still awake then, and I’m telling you, sooner or later its going to happen.

* Etims accepts no responsibilty for anyone taking any notice of this fucking idiot when he does predictions. Seriously, he hasn’t got a clue. Come to think of it, that applies to anything he says. In fact, we wouldn’t even ask him what time it is. 

Right, things to do, people to see, places to go.

Thanks for reading this shite throughout the year, I’ve enjoyed doing it, I’ve enjoyed the comments and criticisms, but mostly the laughs.

Thats what its all about. Thought provoking intelligent discussion , with a hint of passion and humour.

Whatever you wish for in 2015 , I hope you get it.

All the best to everyone, and above all, remember to drink responsibly.