Celtic Diary Tuesday March 17: Don’t Tell Broony What Day It Is.

Trumpton UKIP, a twitter parody account which one feels represents the views of the political party they don’t want to be made public, wishes all its Irish friends a Happy St. Patricks Day, and says we should all get drunk before they repatriate us.

Made me chuckle.

The Unseen Fenian hand has been at work all over the world today. Everythings gone green.

Which is nice. In Scotland, we hear that the establishment is going out of its way to extend the hand of friendship as well, as a Mr. Brendan O’Leary has had his sentence for cycling without lights reduced to just two years. And his appeal might even go through, as he claims he didn’t know that was illegal during the day.

Today is traditionally a day of good humour and goodwill towards everyone. I can’t wait until i see the postmans reaction to the hilarious new costume I’ve put on the dog.

Though I’m not sure I’m happy about Scott Brown’s decision to celbrate on sunday night, to give him time to recover for tomorrows game;

That mock up-and it is a mock up, for anyone at the BBC sharpening their pens of self righteousness, was done by Barry McGonigle, who is good at that sort of thing.

Speaking of Ireland and humour, this months manager at Second Rangers was surprised to see Shane Ferguson, one of the players loaned to the club by Mike Ashley, had been chosen for the Northern Ireland squad.

” I thought they were the Occcupied Six ” claimed the new clubs first catholic manager, in a desperate attempt to get out of there.

Actually, what he did say was;

“I find that amazing because he is registered to us but hasn’t been here. That has astounded me. From what I’ve been led to believe, we won’t see him this season.

“I don’t know anything about it. I don’t know the reasons behind it but he’s not been through the doors here certainly.

“Obviously he’s contracted to us but, when I spoke to the doc when I came in here, as far as I was concerned he was going to be out for a fair length of time. I’ve not (had communication with Newcastle) since I’ve been here.

“I have left that to the medical team and the docs here. All I’m aware of is that he’s a long way away from playing football.” 

 Whereas as previous managers had their own catchphrases, such as McCoist with his ” of that there is no doubt ” and McDowall with his ” Can I go yet, I’m not cut out for this ” it’s early days yet, but I have a hunch McCall may use ” from what I’ve been led to believe ” a lot in the coming months.

Last night he met with Paul Murray, the man who is now chairman. Murray got the job purely because he was the one with the least criminal convictions, and the pair sat down to discuss transfers, as there is still a couple of weeks for them to get freebies in to help with their push for promotion to the top league.

 I hope that reading the last part of that  sentence gave you as much pleasure as writing it gave me.

Why ? Heres a message for them.

Poor McCall. He’s always wanted the big job at Ibrox, it’s probably upset him he’s got his timing all wrong. On this form, let’s hope he doesn’t get all upset and chuck himself behind a train.

To be fair to him, he’s ditched his  track suit and worn his suit-well, someones suit, to try to ingratiate himself with the support.

He even pretended to be one of them…

I suppose we’d better mention Celtic at some point, before I forget why we’re here.

Anthony Stokes has been singing the praises of manager Ronny Deila. Perhaps it’s a smoke screen so he can pop out for a wee sing song tonight, but it’s more likely he’s had that habit beaten out of him by his “relentless ” manager.

 Stokes played well on sunday, and deserves another chance , but he’ll have to up the ante if he wants to keep Sturt Armstrong out of the team.

 But the attitude is right, and that deserves a bit of credit.

Tactically we are playing slightly differently and the intensity in our game has gone up a level.

“It’s just the way the gaffer wants us to play. It seems to be working. We’re playing well and on Sunday, although it wasn’t an outstanding performance, we dominated.

“Gradually it’s getting a wee bit easier out there on the left. The hardest thing has been changing my work-rate because when you play out there you have to put in so much graft to get back in. 

“You also have to cover in the central area too.

“But I’ve been trying to work on it. I’m working really hard in training – probably the hardest I’ve worked on my game ever.

“It’s all about adapting to playing out there. I’m enjoying my football and that’s the main thing.” 

“The gaffer came in and changed a lot of things. He has brought in a real work-ethic.

“He’s relentless. We break things down, work them into the ground then let our football take over. He has been brilliant.

“We’re improving – that has been a gradual thing. I don’t think it’s a question of us buying into it now because everyone did buy into it.

“You have to play the way the gaffer wants and work at the 
intensity he demands if you are to get into his team.

“We’re seeing the benefits of it now. We’re in a great position for the Treble but need to maintain the level of performances.”

Stokes, Commons and a few other players who could reasonably classed as core Celts have adapted. Notably, the loannees-with the exception of Jason Denaayer-have all decided that they would be better off elsewhere. At first, back in July/August, the disproportionate amount of borrowed players was one of the reasons I feared for the club under Deila, but fair play to him, he’s weeded them out and it’s quite possible that he’ll do exactly the same with any more that Lawwell forces on him. Is that another favourable comparison with Stein ? Has Deila quietly decided he’s in charge of all matters concerning  the playing side ?

 Which can only bode well for the future.

Scott Brown is still getting it from hurting journalists. This time its Aidan Smith. ( Who? -Ed ) ( I don’t know -Ralph )

TWO club captains who also lead their countries. Two front-page stories showing them in controversial downtime mode. Back on the pitch, two performances which demonstrated no obvious ill-effects from the downtime, helping bring about two victories. Two celebrations mocking the tabloid pictures. Two sets of team-mates defending their skippers and emphasising how much they inspire their teams. And one complaint about a footballer being entitled to a bit of “privacy” being echoed by another.

It’s astonishing how much Scott Brown and Wayne Rooney have in common right now. Brown hits the town with some mates, visits lapdancing bars, consumes takeaway pizza, has a wee lie doon. Rooney gets the boys round to his place, mucks about with boxing gloves, takes a punch, has a wee (involuntary) lie doon. The captains struck these contemplative poses, which were captured on fuzzy cameraphones, within 48 hours of each other. Their games were on Sunday and might well have ended with the same 3-0 scoreline if Brown had responded to the Celtic fans urging him to take the penalty-kick which was ultimately missed. But is the debate about what players do in their spare time really done and dusted?  

What part of a journalists psyche actually thinks your average fan gives a toss ? All we care about is results.

Ronny Deila is happy enough with Brown. So is John Collins;

“Scott’s display on Sunday was magnificent.

“It was a typical Scott Brown performance – winning every 50-50, driving his team-mates on and lifting the crowd.

“On the pitch he is 100 per cent the role model that young players should want to be. You can see it on the training pitch when any of the boys come up from the youth team – they watch him because that’s how you train.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better captain. He is everything you want on the football pitch.

“He hates losing, goes from the first minute to the last, never shirks a tackle and his passing is good. He shouts at his team-mates, growls at them when it’s needed – that’s what you are looking for in a captain.”

Thats what matters.

 Gordon Strachan has announced his squad for the upcoming internationals against Gibraltar and northern Ireland. Well, perhaps internationals is putting it a bit strongly, as none of the teams involved are actually independent countries, but you know what i mean.

 He’s left out Gary Mackay Steven and Stuart Armstrong, which is good, because they have more serious work to attend to, but included James Forrest, who presumably hasn’t.

 Strachan was also asked about Browns antics, as , after all, he’s his captain as well.

” Get a life ” he told the hack.

Strachan also commented on the prospect of his side facing former Celt Paddy McCourt;

“Paddy is as gifted a footballer as I have ever seen. Some players can see a pass, but not dribble. Others can dribble, but not see a pass. Paddy can do both,” 

True, but not for very long.

Caption competition again today ? Oh , go on then.

First cup is the sweetest ?