Celtic Diary Sunday January 11: The Most Common Words..

“Ronny Deila was unconcerned by…..”

You can fill in the rest.

This time the Norwegian Fenian was unconcerned by a lacklustre and unconvincing run out against PSV Eindhoven, where Celtic were very much second best in everything in a 1-0 defeat.

 “I think it was quite an even game. We played a good opponent and that’s why we’ve come here.

“It was even in possession and chances but we got something out of it. The pitch wasn’t the best but that was the same for PSV.

“It was a bit of a messy game and we had to fight hard to get the ball back when we lost it so it was a test for a lot of players.

“PSV are a good team. They’re very offensive but we coped well with it.

“We didn’t have the final quality to win the game but we got what we wanted out of it. 

They’re offensive ? Wait till he faces the hordes of darkness in a few weeks…

Scott Brown had to go off early after he got an injury, but the unflappable Deila wasn’t bothered about that either.

“It was is just a cut. A couple of stitches and hopefully he’ll be back next weekend.” 

I checked. He definitely said cut. Another letter and it would have shown he wasn’t that unflappable after all.

John guidetti picked up a dead leg, Nir Biton ended up with a limp-no-one said what was actually limp-but everyone should be okay when the side returns to the serious stuff on Saturday in Hamilton.

 Which is just as well, Aberdeen stretched their unbeaten run to about three years-if you listen to some of the pundits-and are four points in front again.

 Time will tell if the break was a good idea or not, so we’ll reserve judgement for a while.

Though i think we should bring the bus back. Its a belter.

The chap standing next to it, Paul the Tim, who also tweeted the picture,  is not trying to steal it, or sneak into the luggage bay in order to save a few quid on taxi fares. Though bearing in mind the omnipresence he has at Celtic games you wouldn’t blame him if he did.

It has to be said that its a far more impressive vehicle than the old Parks of Hamilton, and having your own bus is the sign of a big club. You get all sorts of extras, like tvs, wi-fi and air conditioning.

 Virgil van Dijk has told the Daily Record that Celtic won’t let him leave in this window, which has been interpreted by some as him taking a bit of a huff, but is it really ?

 “Celtic will not cooperate with a departure in this transfer period.

“It would boost my career if I could step up but I have no problem to stay a bit longer.”

Depends on which bit of that you emphasise. If its no problem for him to stay and bless us with his presence, then its no big deal. If he thinks, however , that he’s being more or less forced to stay against his will, then he can go. We’ve seen better players come and go, but the problem for Deila isn’t so much as van Dijk leaving as who to replace him with.

 Efe Ambrose is a £3m target for West Ham and Crystal Palace, and that might be worth snapping their hands of for if true. Before he does something stupid. The big guy is popular as a person, but quite scary as a player, even if its probably true to say that his mistakes are amplified more than anyone elses. The Mirror, which is a sort of English Daily Record without the accuracy, said;

Ambrose, who can play at centre-back or right-back, has built a reputation as a no nonsense defender for his rugged displays in the SPL.

 However, if the stories about how Deila works are true, then he will have already decided who he is keeping long term, and who he isn’t.

On van Dijk, the manager said;

 “For me Virgil’s developing now and taking steps all the time which is very important. I am so happy to have him.

“He is enjoying his football, playing well. That’s positive. He is such an important player for us.

“He’s worth a lot of money but I am very calm. In my opinion he is a very good player now but he can be a world-class player.”

There he goes again. Calm. The man needs throw a wobbly, as we call it down here, and lose the rag with someone. Just to show us he can. Nobody likes these well adjusted and sensible people. They’re dull.

He did drop a hint as to where he is looking for additions to his squad;

 “We are looking at every player in the Scottish national team. We have a lot of players on our list and will see what is happening.

“I want to have the team as Scottish as possible because it is important that they feel commitment to Celtic. Anya is a good player. I have really enjoyed watching Scotland matches now, especially against Poland away. I was impressed.

“Hopefully we can take some of the confidence from that into Europe when we play Inter.” 

 “I have spoken to Broony. That’s important because players know each other best.

“The staff, John Kennedy and John Collins also know everything about Scotland. That is important because I didn’t have the same knowledge when I came. Now I feel I have a good control over that.

“They are good players. I did see them against England but they were tired in that game. There was a very big match against Ireland before that.

“If you are a good manager you get the best out of your players. Gordon Strachan has done very well. They enjoy playing and believe they can win.” 

Ikeche Anya and Sean Maloney have already been mentioned. Chris Martin ? The two centre backs, Grant Hanley and Russell Martin ?

Wouldn’t surprise me.

Actually, the more I think about the two centre backs the more it becomes quite plausible.

So I’m going to stop thinking about it.

Just as we can finally stop thinking about Norwegian superkid Martin Odegaard. He’s signed for Real Madrid for four million euros, and he is on around 35 thousand a week. I guess his dad didn’t really give a shit about what Ronny thinks after all, and its hard to blame him. Thats thrity five thousand reasons every week why he shouldn’t be that bothered if he doesn’t make the first team.

The sudden realisation that the game had started  brought yesterdays diary to a sharp conclusion, and if i have to be honest , i’d have been better off just carrying on writing.

Elsewhere, we hear that the new owners of Second Rangers, if anyones daft enough to actually buy it, are considering a new strip which would consolidate their links with the British military, and they even wore it in a bounce game the other day.

Their supporters are currently involved in a fierce battle for control of whats left of their club, but they did take an afternoon off recently to enjoy the fun of the fair.

Calls for summer football were rejected by the SFA and SPFL yesterday, and Mike Ashley immediately spotted a gap in the market for outdoor sportswear for his clubs fans;

Speaking of outdoor attire, the latest brand name in the USA might sruggle to catch on over here. Well, certainly in some places.

The IRA Street Team Crew. Complete with their own hats.

You have to feel for the MSM at moments like this. They want to rip into it, and they would love to catch one of us wearing it, but they really don’t want to publicise it.

Can you imagine the confusion of a Police Scotland officer when he sees one of these hats at a game ?

“but Sarge, it doesnae say anything aboot uniformed insurgent skateboarders ”

On Friday we showed a picture of the Celtic Dundee game that would have smashd all European records had the then board decided to declare things like income and expenditure accurately. At least three million people were at that game, with countless others locked outside.

Today just one person, who played one game.

Who is he ?