Scottish Cup day today, and another step towards the domestic treble ? This week has been a very good one in Timland, and today could be the icing on the cake.

Celtic travel to Dens Park, and face Dundee in front of the Sky cameras at lunchtime, and everyone-bar Charlie Mulgrew-is fit and raring to go. The two lads from Dunde United are cup tied, and therefore cannot play, so maybe ronny Deila will go with the same team that started in lat weeks game against first division Second Rangers. Although Anthony Stokes may find himself relegated to the bench after a fairly anonymous effort at Hampden, with a possible start for Liam Henderson on the right, with Kris commons shifting to the left.

Commons, who spent last night staring at his new contract and shouting “yes ” at regular intervals needs now to buckle down and prove he’s worth it. Deila has shown he won’t hesitate to drop anyone who isn’t doing the business, and with the contract issue now sorted , commons should be able to kick on and remind us why he got the deal. And why Dublin council have named a street after him;

His own views on staying at Celtic were refreshingly honest, and it shows that after a didgy first few minths, the manager is starting to put his own mark on the side;

“I absolutely had to change Ronny’s mind about me, He was probably a little bit sceptical about whether I could change the way I am at 31. When my age was spoken about in terms of why I might not get a two-year deal, I thought that was just an excuse, something he said because he didn’t want to say I was lazy or not fit enough.

“It has taken hard work and dedication to show him I am willing to not so much change my game, but adapt to give him what he wants on the pitch while winning matches. It was mainly off-the-ball things he wanted. Being a ‘number 10’, you can get away with being a little bit lazy in the SPFL. I wouldn’t say I was lazy, I would just say you can probably get away with it.

“There are certain games where you don’t have to produce your best football but can still find yourself in good areas, bright enough and intelligent enough to hurt the opposition without actually putting in the work. But Ronny wasn’t asking me to do anything I wasn’t capable of. I now feel fitter than I’ve ever been. Since day one, Ronny has come here and wants us to try and play not like a Scottish team, but in a Barcelona or Bayern Munich style. He’s a real big fan of Pep Guardiola, the way he plays and treats his players.

“He wants us to be elite athletes, 24 hours a day. That was a big hit for lads who had not done that for four years and getting that way when you are not winning games, as it was at the start of the season, is more difficult than when you are winning.

“But we are all on the same page now and going in the right direction. The lads are flying and we have some good games to look forward to.”  

The manager agreed;

“Kris and I have talked a lot over these last eight months since I came to the club. I always told him I thought he was a very, very good football player. I can’t teach him so much about football but he still had something more to give in the way he trains and with his fitness. If we could get that even better, what a player he could be then.

“In the beginning, I didn’t see that kind of improvement from him. That’s why I waited to give him the contract that he wanted. But in the last month he has really bought into it and has been working really hard. You saw his performance against Rangers last Sunday was really good. So I’m happy that he understands what I want and agrees how we are going to do it.

“You need players who want to develop all the time. From the first day I came to Celtic, I told the players there were two things I would demand. One, you have to be fit. Two, you have to give 100 per cent in training every day. Players had to know what that means and it was maybe a little bit of a change from before. But Kris is an intelligent guy. I’m delighted he has signed now and I think he will play a better game now because he can stop talking and thinking about the contract. It will make him a better player.

“The best players, the ones who achieve things, always look forwards and learn. They have to make the small things better. I’m delighted he is staying because he is going to be important for us. But it was also important for me to see that he wanted to do it, because he is a role model for the youngsters. If the role model doesn’t buy into what we want to do, then it’s very hard for him to continue.

“When you come in and take over a successful team, who have won the title for the last three years and been in the Champions League, it’s so hard to change. They are thinking, ‘Why should we change when we are winning?’ But I’m not Neil Lennon, I’m Ronny Deila. I have to do it my way. I believe in my way.” 

Does the boss think its been a good week ?

“It will only really be a good week if we beat Dundee I have to thank Peter Lawwell and the board for getting us what we wanted from the transfer window, both in signing new players and keeping hold of our best ones.

“It shows the players that the club really wants this treble and they are giving everyone the trust they need.” 

The second half of the season promises to be  a little more exciting than we had possibly dared hope. Four trophies to chase, and you can’t help but expect a memorable season, for all the right reasons, as opposed to the dark days of autumn where teams took turns to make Celtic look like a side on the way out.

 If anything , though, that should help spur the players to success, and prove the old maxim, that if you don’t do something wrong, you’ll never know when you’re doing something right.

Todays game promises to be a cracker, and thats what we need -a great game, lively and open, with television showing the world that Scottish football is thriving, and armageddon never happened.

 Celtic published the accounts yesterday, and the club posted a healthy profit leading up to December. Of course, it would have been so much better if the SFA/SPFL had got their way and parachuted Second Rangers in at the top, but hey ho, we’ll just have to live with it. Not to be discouraged , the press went with headlines such as this;

Celtic’s pre-tax profits down

this;

Celtic plc report slump in revenue and profits

this;

European failure causes Celtic revenue decline

and this

Instead of recognising that the club is still making money, despite an early European exit from the big money competition, and the generally agreed poor state of football in the country, playing in a league without a sponsor, i would have thought that posting any kind of profit was an achievement, not a disaster, as seems to be the medias take on it.

Yet of you widen the search, and look elsewhere, the normally piss poor Talksport Radio was announcing the results of a study;

10-most-financially-stable-clubs-football-revealed-150206135135

 Celtic come in at a very respectable number three, which must have made Talkshite presenter Adrian Durham choke on his biscuit-hopefully nothing trivial happened to him when he did-behind Ajax and Arsenal, although the claim that Celtic are the most financially stable club in Scotland seems to have been made by someone who hasn’t the faintest idea about the game up here.

But then thats not surprising, as no-one seems to be bothered about trying to sell the game, or even let the rest of the world know we’ve actually got a fairly competitve and exciting set up north of the border.

 The more I think about it, the more Scottish tv subscribers should threaten to cancel their subscriptions if Sky and BT don’t put more of our money back into our game.

 The pantomime at Ibrox, already running well beyond the traditional season for that sort of thing , was cranked up a notch yesterday when the current board announced that Dave “Lying ” King has got his EGM.

 There was something in how they announced it, however, that hints at a rather large amount of cleaning fluids may need to be ordered to get the blood off the carpet when the meeting takes place on March 4. A word of caiution , though. Anyone considering supplying the said goods might want to insist on the money up front.

 The statement, which can be found at this link,  Rangers Board Statement In Full  doesn’t pull any punches, and Dave King might finally now realise that he is up against a formidable  and streetwise opponent in Mike Ashley.

A  little taster of the sort of language it contains ? Oh, go on then;

Mr King was convicted in South Africa on 41 counts of contravening s.75 of the South African Income Tax Act. Mr King was previously a director of the company that formerly ran Rangers Football Club, The Rangers Football Club PLC. He held office at the same time as Craig Whyte from 2011 until that company entered administration on 14 February 2012. 

Noting the above and WH Ireland’s obligations as a NOMAD,WH Ireland have informed the Board that should Mr King be appointed to the Board, WH Ireland will resign as NOMAD and Broker to the Company with immediate effect. 

In the event that the NOMAD resigns, the Company’s shares will be suspended from trading immediately. Under the AIM Rules, the Company will then have one month to replace the NOMAD. The Board is of the view that in the circumstances, there can be no guarantee that a new NOMAD will be appointed.

In the event that a NOMAD is not appointed within a month of the suspension of trading, the Company’s admission to trading will be cancelled. Accordingly, if this were to occur, the Company would no longer be traded on any Stock Exchange. In the judgement of the Board this is likely to make raising capital both more difficult and more expensive. There would then be no regulatory oversight of the type to which companies admitted to AIM are subject, and there would be no market for Shareholders to sell their shares 

As the two wild dogs tear each other apart as they battle over whats left of the club, all we can do is sit back and watch in both bemusement and amusement.

Actually, maybe there is only one way to settle it.

The event could take place in the murky swamplands that surround the ground, away from prying eyes…

 That picture reminds me of something…

Perhaps its wrong to constantly portray Ibrox supporters as zombies. In fact, in the interest of fairness and balance, heres a dapper chap who obviously puts a lot of effort and thought into his attire.

I think I’d rather be a zombie.

 Brian McClair, the massively under rated striker who was top scorer in each of his four seasons at the club, was the man in the Motherwell colours. Heres someone else in the colours of the team we got him from, coincidentally battling with McClair in the clours of the team he went to. For a pittance.

Who is he ?