Celtic Diary Monday February 2: Much Ado About Nothing

Celtic dutifully put paid to any hopes that Scotlands newest club Second Rangers had of securing a first ever national final with a competent 2-0 win over the Ibrox side at Hampden yesterday.

A tenth minute opener from Leigh Griffiths seemed to set the stage for the goalrush Hoops fans had expected, but even though Kris Commons fired in a second on the half hour, Ibrox man of the match Craig Thompson -himelf a late replacement for their main man Bobby Madden-made a couple of timely interventions to prevent a landslide.

The former Hibs man was booked for celebrating in front of the opoosition support, and to be fair, the zombie impression was asking for trouble;

Back to Thompson, and he made his game changing intervention when he  managed to halt Leigh Griffiths who was set for a one on one with Keeper Simonsen, and followed it up by turning  a couple of certain free kicks and penalties into a get out of jail free card for the Blues, but , try as he might, he couldn’t stop the inevitable winning outcome for Ronny Deilas side.

Celtic went two up, and could have had a couple more before half time as the  sluggish First Division outfit failed to up  their game for the occasion, and in the second half Celts simply played out the remaining period with the emphasis on not getting hurt, not getting booked, and in Craig Gordons case, not doing any movement.

Despite the shocking condition of the pitch, and it was awful, perhaps the SFA/SPFL ought to look closely at whoever is in charge of the groundsmen, and maybe look elsewhere, Gordon didn’t have a mark of dirt on him, and whether thats testament as to how good the Celtic defence was, or how bad the Second Rangers forward line is open to debate, but its a fact, and not one that should go un-noticed.

Quiz time now;

Look at this picture closely; 

Is the correct decision

a) A foul on   the green and white shirted player

b) A foul on the blue shirted player

c) Booking for Hooper

The correct answer is b) .

a) is never the correct answer, and c) is only correct if the player is in a five mile radius of the incident.

Oh. b) and c) then.

John guidetti had a mark on his back, shaped like a boot, which is what happens when your direct opponent is the ageing and clumsy Lee McCulloch.

Did I say ageing and clumsy ? Sorry, I meant talentless , sleekit hammer throwing simian lump.

McCulloch, amazingly not booked in the game, elbowed Leigh Griffiths from behind, stamped and elbowed John Guidetti, as well as a catalogue of snide little challenges which surely must signal the end of his career at the top level. If not by the authorities, who should right now be examining the tv evidence and issuing a retrospective red card, then by his manager , who should, by now, have  decided the player has become little more than an embarrassment.

Speaking of tv evidence, did anyone see the dissection of this incident on the BBC Sportscene programme last night ?

Has anyone read the condemnation of it in the papers this morning ?

No, and no.

Neither of these mentioned the incident, almost as though they would rather it hadn’t happened, which in itself is bizarre, because this kind of “action ” is what they sell these games on.

The predictable songbook got a full and lusty airing from the new clubs fans, showing beyond doubt that they have happily carried their old problems onto the new club, and thus proving that a second big club in Glasgow , free of the baggage of the old one, isn’t going to happen, despite the liquidation event giving the decent amongst them a chance to join the rest of us in the 21st century.

Although one suspects the decent have already given up on the present entity.

Had Leigh Griffiths been allowed to score Celtics third, then it could well have been the high scoring win Celtic fans had desired-not that much, but it would have been funny-as the Ibrox side would have resorted to kicking and screaming sooner, thus waking the Celts from their training game mentality that dominated the second half.

Which in turn meant that the papers, having been looking forward to all sorts of fireworks, were disappointed. No riots, no sendings off, no humiliations and no real moments of controversy.

A bit like most of the games between Celtic and the original club, actually.

If there are still some within the /Scottish game who feel that this fixture is a necessity, then those of us  who have a genuine interest in Scottish football need to get together and banish them from the game forever.

For they truly know not what they are speaking of.

Scott Brown knows, though. His performance yesterday was a perfect display of controlled aggression and drive. If he can do that in Europe, then we might yet have a shout at the Europa League.

Brown also dealt admirably with the press;

“I felt we were in control of the game from start to finish,Rangers didn’t bother Craigy at all. He came out and caught a few crosses just because he was getting bored, to be perfectly honest. He’s gone through 90 minutes and not made a serious save. That tells you how much we dominated it, especially on that pitch which couldn’t have worked out more for Rangers than it did for us.” 

He was equally honest about the pitch;

“We were trying to pass the ball but it was bobbling about and skipping which made it hard for us, We managed to battle as well which showed you what a good team we are becoming. It’s as bad a surface as I’ve played on. Shocking. As soon as you step on it, your foot skips into the ground. For a national stadium, it’s not really good is it?

“The biggest thing is, someone could easily have got injured. You saw Kenny Miller going down on the right hand side early in the first half. He went to cross the ball and could easily have done his cruciate on it. If that happens, they’d be questioning it – but they should be questioning it before the game.” 

As for whatever else is in the press, its entirely predictable and not worth repeating, save to say the hacks were upset, largely because the game proved that the fixture is dead, and its legend is only kept alive by supporters, who without a hint of irony, failed miserably to keep their own club alive.

And heres a message for them, from ByTheMin Celtic, on witter. I have a feeling we all endorse it.

Transfer deadline day today, and theres a lot of rumours around (as usual ), some exciting, (as usual ) and some a little disappointing, prompting suspicions of under ambition within the board (as usual )

Pint sized Barry Bannan might come in on loan, which is interesting, because it suggests that Gordon Strachan still has a bit of influence at Celtic Park, because the player is short, useless, and plays for Scotland.

Michael Duffy, the Derry City lad who scored twice against Newcastle in a development match, will sign today, he can play as a winger and a striker, which will no doubt be sold to the fans as two signings.

Theres no further news on Belgian winger Bakkali, or on Dundee Utd midfielder Stuart Armstrong, although I suspect the opportunity to bring in the latter, and his team mate Gary Mackay Steven before tomorrow went out the window when Dundee Utd beat Aberdeen on Saturday to book their League Cup final spot.

Not only will they want both players for the game, they will equally not want to be facing them.

Still no sign of any defenders, and realistically, it has to be said that Deila has expressed quite fervently his priority was to keep players rather than bring any in, so come midnight tonight, we shouldn’t be too surprised if nothing happens.

The wintry scene in yesterdays Diary was supporters trudging over the pitch after a Celtic – Third Lanark game was postponed in 1950. I’m not sure of the exact date, but it looks to be around June or July.

Lets have a caption competition;