Thirty eight seconds into his Celtic career, and Gary Mackay Steven had shown why Ronny Deila paid a little bit extra to bring him to Celtic a little bit earlier when he bravely opened the scoring in a 3-0 win over Partick at Firhill, costing at least one punter two quid who had Leigh Griffiths down as first goalscorer.

His fellow ex-Dundee United man, Stuart Armstrong didn’t want to be left out, and so he finished off a John Guidetti pas to make it two, and in the second half, after several earlier attempts, Stefan Johansen finally managed to hit one between the posts to seal a 3-0 win, costing at least one punter a shiny pound, who had 4-0.

Supporters had been eagerly anticipating the new lads debuts, and they didn’t disappoint. Armstrong slotted in nicely on the left, and Mackay Steven slotted in nicely, well, everywhere. If the ball was there, so was he. Enthusiastic, hard working, not at all short on skill and blinding pace to match, Mackay Steven was a target for the sluggish Thistle defenders, but every time he was brought down, he simply dusted himself off and got back up again, with what the americans call a big shit eating grin on his face.

Come to think of it, he’s had that grin on his face ever since he signed.

Which in itself is the biggest reason to continue to sign players who want to be here, rather than those who see it as a career move.

Mackay Steven even has film star looks,

So perhaps a nice tidy short back and sides is in order.

He was, obviously, delighted with his first day at work;

“I’m obviously delighted to have made my debut, first and foremost, and to score straight away settled some nerves,  It was a great day all round for me.

“I have been here just over a week and I was itching to just play my first game. I was ineligible at the weekend and I didn’t like watching from the stands, I just wanted to be out there with the boys.

“It came tonight and it was a great experience for me, the boys helped me through it. It (the goal) was a bit of blur. You just want to get your first tough right to settle into the game but to score so early was great for me and the team overall played very well and we were well worth the three points.” 

He also expressed his delight that his pal Armstrong got a goal;

“It’s funny as we have been getting a bit of stick at the club for doing everything together We are good pals and it was only right he should score as well tonight. I was really happy for him, and he played very well, too. It was great for us.

“If you get the nod, the standard of player here is so high that you need to take your chance and convince the manager that you can cut it at this level and hopefully we did that tonight. There are so many quality players at the club and it’s just great for the manager to keep everyone on their toes.” 

That last paragraph tells a story, and its a massive compliment to the work being done behind the scenes by the management and coaching staff. With Deila not afraid to drop players, everyone has to be on their toes, which is a massive improvement on the style employed by past managers such as Neil Lennon and Martin O’Neill, who would pick some of their favourites even if their legs had fallen off, and usually they would perform like they had.

A case in point is Leigh Griffiths. The striker complained that his ankle didn’t feel right, and so he was left completely out of the squad. John Guidetti may not have scored, but he led the line well, and could be forgiven for thinking that everyone and everything is against him right now, as he tried his utmost to end the current goalscoring barren spell, but it didn’t happen. However, theres no doubt if he starts to play for the team then the goals will come, and thats what he did last night.

Deila has had one of his one to one chats with the Swede, and told the Record what he said, and how he thinks that the early hype affected Guidetti. After all, its not so long ago that he was being compared with another Swedish striker, but football is fickle, and the change in attitude towards him from the stands must have affected what is probably, with so many false starts in his career, already a fragile sense of confidence;

“The worst thing in life is to have things going well because it is so easy to use energy on other things and you’re not aware of why you are good.

“When everything is going well people start to get individualistic.

“In Norway, we have a lot of money so now everyone is thinking about self-realisation.

“It’s not taking care of each other. It’s ‘I’m going to look perfect and have the best house, the best job’.

“When things go bad everyone comes together and does the easy things. That’s what happens in football clubs too.

“When things are not in the right order then you need to be together. 

“You have to understand when things are going well why they are going well?

“Are your team-mates helping you do well? It’s a tough thing for young players to get the focus.

“When you score so many goals he is a big star and it is so easy to lose focus on the important things.

“The only important thing you have to ask yourself when you make a decision is, ‘Is this making me a better player?’

“If the answer is no you have to stop doing it and start doing the things that got you progressing and the things that get you ready for games.

“That can be hard for young players. You are a big star at Celtic but you have to understand why you are a big star. You have a thousand offers to do different things and you have to choose the right ones.

“That’s what young players have to learn. It’s my task to tell them this but they have to experience it themselves.

“When you have been there hopefully they will come back quick the next time they have a bad spell.

“Now we have to work on his mental aspect and to be a 24-hour athlete. It is about being prepared for every training session and every match.

“When you are young everything can feel okay and you are flying. But that is why young players have good spells and bad spells.

“Then you start to get conscious of why you are good. That helps you to do it over and over again. The more experienced players always know what to do to get ready for the next game.”

It seems to be working for everyone else, so theres  no reason why Guidetti can’t get back on track, unless he doesn’t want to.

Looking back at lasts nights performance, and the team is flying. Another clean sheet, another good display, and another example of how squad rotation works if applied properly. The pressure on players to play well is immense, because if they don’t then someone else will take their place. All this camraderie is great, but I think the new team bus is taking things a little too far;

Anyone watching closely would also have noticed that Scott Brown played a captains role last night par excellence. With two debutants on the park, he was a little more reserved than usual, and was often back in the right back position covering those in front of him, and helping substitute Darnell Fisher, who had been brought on to replace Adam Matthews, who along with Stefan Johansen, was withdrawn with the Inter game in mind.

With Lustig out, and the possibility that Kris Commons might not make it, these two need not be unnecessarily risked as they will be essential in the Europa game, although that does make me wonder why Emilio Izaguerre hasn’t had a wee rest yet, but then again, we don’t really have the cover.

Perth  is the next port of call on Saturday, with St. Johnstone next up in the quest for the treble, and a win would mean that Celtic would go six points clear of Aberdeen, with the dons not playing until Sunday. If Celtic win, and aberdeen lose, which is not entirely impossible, then it could be that the defining gap in the title race has finally opened.

If it doesn’t work out that way, I can wait.

Celtic also took time to thank the support after news that the Inter Milan home leg is sold out. A spokesman said;

 “The club would like to thank our fans for their magnificent support. European nights in Paradise are something special and we’ve shown before that with 60,000 fans behind us we can achieve great things.

“Our supporters play a huge role in our club so it’s magnificent that we can look forward to a full house for our biggest match of the season.”

It will be the first sell out since, well, I don’t know. My google doesn’t go back that far, but joking aside, its going to be fantastic to be back under the lights for  a sell out European game.

Add that to the new found pace and energy in the side, and Inter might be a little more worried about this game than they are letting on.

More on the ticket front, and hoops fans will receive 25,000 tickets to share amongst themselves for the League Cup final. Dundee Utd will get 15,000, with an option for 3000 more, and the other 7,000 will be divided up between people who feed off the first 43,000.

Jay Beatty, the wee fellow who scored his first goal for Celtic back in January , has been nominated for Goal of the Month.

Cynics might say that its merely a PR move, but hell, if it makes the lad happy, and gives us all a wee glow inside, then perhaps the game is being handed back to the fans after all.

Remember, football without fans is nothing, unlike the Lennon CSC Stoke  motto, which is ” football without cans is nothing.”

You can vote here, and remember to vote entirely on merit.

Jay Beatty, goal of the month

With news that the English league is about to set up its own economic system, many are wondering what we can do to improve Scottish football.

Lets jump into the Tardis and see what Shoot magazine suggested, back in 1973. A time, incidentally, when Celtic were regulars in European semi finals and finals, and even old Rangers had just won the Cup winners cup, after making the final a few years previously. And I can’t find it on google, but I’m fairly sure Kilmarnock-or another Scots team, was in a semi final somewhere round about then.

So, why, in 1973, would anyone want to improve the game ?

Oh, heres a clue.

Old Rangers were not winning titles, as EBTs had yet to be discovered, and Celtic dominated. Therefore things had to change.

These days, New Rangers are not winning anything, so theres pressure to change from above. However, this time, any changes must be for the good of everyone, and not whatever entity emerges from the current clusterfuck at Ibrox.

Speaking of Ibrox, the Record, although banned from going anywhere near anything to do with Second Rangers, just can’t help themselves. In a report that Woodward and Bernstein would have been proud of, they came up with this scoop.

Rangers chiefs dodge questions about

absurd Daily Record ban after scoffing

an Italian lunch

“Absurd ”

Couldn’t have put it better myself.

CHIEF executive Derek Llambias and director Sandy Easdale refused to give anything away to the Record as they left Bella Fresca on Paisley Road West.

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RANGERS may have banned the Daily Record but that won’t stop us reporting on the crisis club.

Chief executive Derek Llambias and director Sandy Easdale yesterday dined at an Italian restaurant just two miles from Ibrox.

But they refused to give anything away to the Record as they left Bella Fresca on Paisley Road West.

Asked if they were holding crunch talks, Llambias replied: “No, just lunch.”

Easdale then added: “It’s a very nice place to eat.”  

In other news, newspaper circulations are down. and there may be a rush to hire industry experts to help editors conclude the reasons for this. I’d like to offer my services, as I have a few ideas.

If, of course, the Record would like to continue to report on the “crisis ” club, then we could , thanks to the Clumpany on twitter, maybe point them in the direction of where a new found credibility could lie.

 Why not look into this, and ask Dave King what his thoughts are ?

It could be important if he’s actually serious about being a director at Toxic FC.

Legislation ; FAO Dave King.

Yesterday, we saw pictures of Tommy Callaghan, Dixie Deans, Phil O’Donnell and Andy Walker, the latter being the only one who didn’t make his debut against Partick.

 Speaking of debuts, Andy Walker scored on his against St. Mirren in 1987. Which other new bhoy scored that day ?