Celtic can take another step towards the title tonight when Partick Thistle come across town for the big Glasgow Derby. Derby games should be on a Saturday, but that’s all I say about that.
Will Anthony Stokes keep his place up front ?
Ronny Deila explained why he chose the Irishman for Fridays game at St. Mirren;
“… he has been very positive lately, and been good in training. It was a tough game for him to play, but I wanted to see him up front again,”
“In the end, we managed to break down St Mirren and get the goals we needed for the victory.”
Just not from Stokes.
But it is a team game, and the competition is good for a healthy squad. what’s important here , though, is that Ronny was true to his word, and by impressing in training, Stokes was given a chance.
And by putting in the work, he has earned that chance, so despite not scoring on friday, if Ronny thinks he deserves a run in the team, then I’m happy enough to go along with that.
Sometimes, due to the manager being with the players all week, he will see things that the supporter doesn’t, and this explains why one or two team selections have led to a bit of head scratching in the stands.
Where Stokes is concerned, in that lone striker role, we may not agree with what Deila is doing, but we should be impressed by why he’s doing it. We certainly don’t want a return to the days of certain players being picked automatically, or even shoe horned into an unfamiliar position just to get them on the pitch.
Scott Brown will miss the game, he’s suspended for one game having reached a disciplinary points barrier, and that could mean johansen dropping deep again, which didn’t really work, or Stuart Armstrong playing alongside Nir Bitton,
Ronny agrees-or is it me agreeing with Ronny ?
I was much more nervous when Broonie was missing through injury at the beginning of the season. We needed him more then,” he said.
“We have international players for his position. Nir Bitton can play there, and Stefan Johansen is good there as well.”
Since the manager seems to want to include Commons and Johansen, then the former is more likely, meaning Armstrong , Gary Mackay Steven and James Forrest will battle for the two places either side of Commons.
Something that surprised me when I read it was that Calum MacGregor-remember him?-has actually played more than James Forrest this season, and scored more goals, which is an indication of how little we have seen of Forrest this term as he gets to a level of fitness that he wasn’t allowed to attain under Neil Lennon.
He’ll be hoping for a start tonight, and as a supporter I am looking forward to seeing a twin attack of Mackay Steven and Forrest, because I think that on their game, they are two of the best doing what they do. When they do it well, that is.
Tonights squad, minus Brown, is;
Celtic squad: Gordon, Denayer, Matthews, Izaguirre, Ambrose, Van Dijk, Tonev, Bitton, Armstrong, Mackay-Steven, Johansen, Forrest, Commons, Scepovic, McGregor, Wakaso, Griffiths, Guidetti, Fisher, Zaluska.
According to STV, anyway. It’s probably just a guess, seeing as how it includes Aleksandr Tonev, and not Calum MacGregor.
Ronny has been a little more relaxed of late, now that the bulk of the work has been done this season, and a treble is within sight. But it wasn’t always like that;
“I must admit, there was a period when I doubted whether I wanted to do it (the Celtic job). I felt it was a little unfair at times.
“I’ve always said I want to build and create but when you come in and everything is ‘result, result, result’, it’s tough to think how are you going to fix this in the right way.
“If it’s only about the results it’s not fun. If I have to go in to work and think: ‘I can’t make mistakes today’ then there is no development.
“At the beginning I wanted to build a foundation but for the first two or three months I couldn’t find the land on which it was going to stand.
At the time, he wasn’t the only person who thought he couldn’t do it, but he’s made of stern stuff, and he proved all the doubters wrong, and actually has us looking forward to games again.
He also spoke about settling in off the pitch, and getting used to certain aspects of living in Scotland.
The accent, for instance;
“I don’t find it hard to understand Scottish. It’s not hard to know the language. I can understand 70 per cent of you and the other 30 per cent is very difficult.
“Broony is one of the hardest. He is so quick. Half the time I just try to laugh at the right moments! However, I am now getting to understand more.
“It’s most tough in social situations. When people try to be funny then I don’t follow so easily. But it is good for me to see how people are in a foreign country because I’ve always been in Norway.
“I understand it is not so easy to be a social guy when you don’t understand what everyone is saying. On those occasions you just try to be in the room.
“In the first three weeks in this job, after trying hard to listen to what people said for five hours every day, I would go home at night and be totally gone, so tired. All the time I was sitting thinking: ‘What is he really saying?’ There were so many new things.
All of which should help him to understand what it’s like for any new players coming in from overseas. Or it might be why he’s decided to steer towards a policy of snapping up local talent.
Whichever it is, it shows he is adapting, and is a more flexible manager than perhaps we thought.
Anyone from Coatbridge here ?
As far as I can remeber, theres a large Irish diaspora in and around the town, and perhaps UKIP candidate Scott Cairns should have thought it through when he tweeted this, amongst a series of tweets that prove that democracy, whilst a good idea in principle, isn’t always working.
His Granny sounds such a delightful old dear, although judging by the age of Cairns, she’s probably in her late thirties.
And Cairns ? I vaguely remember something about him before. Is he the guy who went for an IQ test and it came back negative ?
Remember , the first rule of UKIP club is that it’s probably a good idea if they don’t talk about anything. Anything at all.
There were cheers all over Glasgow when convicted tax fruadster and shameless liar Dave King-GASL, as he is described in the Rumour Mill, was given the all clear to become a director at Rangers International or whatever it is they are called these days.
The irony of a man done for tax fraud taking over the new club that emerged from the last one, largely due to imaginative tax issues is completely lost on their support, and indeed, some of the media.
The new club is now officially thrown off the AIM, which means they can’t raise money publicly, but it does mean that “emotional investors ” can invest, and that was the plan all along.
As for all those supporters who invested under the previous regime, well, there shares have finally stbilised in price after a turbulent few months;
Rangers International Football Club PLC
| Range | – |
| 52 week | 17.00 – 37.00 |
| Open | – |
| Vol / Avg. | 0.00/60,260.00 |
| Mkt cap | – |
| P/E | – |
| Div/yield | – |
| EPS | -0.13* |
| Shares | 81.48M |
| Beta | – |
| Inst. own |
To get that into perspective;
Related companies
| Valuation | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Company name | Price | Change | Chg % | d | m | y | Mkt Cap | |
| RFC | Rangers Intl. Foo… | 0.00000 | 0.00000 | |||
| CCP | Celtic plc | 76.38 | +0.88 | 1.16% | 70.08M | |
| GOAL | Goals Soccer Cent… | 218.00 | 0.00 | 0.00% | 127.45M | |
| TLA | TLA Worldwide Plc | 43.45 | +0.45 | 1.05% | 54.16M | |
| REL | Reed Elsevier plc | 1,154.00 | -14.00 | -1.20% | 12,988.70M | |
| SWD | Sportsworld Media… | 0.00000 | 0.00000 | |||
| PAA | Parallel Media Gr… | 18.00 | +0.50 | 2.86% | 526,620.00 | |
| BET | Betfair Group Ltd | 2,198.00 | -9.00 | -0.41% | 2,036.81M | |
| SPO | Sportech plc | 65.00 | 0.00 | 0.00% | 134.05M | |
| WMH | William Hill plc | 379.00 | +1.00 | 0.26% | 3,340.28M | |
| BOX | Boxhill Technolog… | 0.103 | +0.003 | 3.00% | 1.39M | |
Happily, for those who care, all they have to do is put some more money in and away we go again….
Congratulations to Gary Caldwell who has landed his first managerial post at Wigan athletic, who sacked Malky Mackay earlier this week. They must be able to see something in him that others can’t.
God help those supporters behind the dugout, although they should be able to negotiate a restricted view price should the cranially magnificent Caldwell stand pitchside.
Alan McInally and namesake Jim McInally were in yesterdays picture, which to be honest, isn’t a very flattering snap of either.
Today, thanks to Celtic Collectibles again for this one.
Spot the Celt…
bertie at birmingham ?
Ten thirty in Birmingham squad before he came home.
HH
forrest is to strt on the bench tonight ralph
he must be going with armstrong, commons and gms……
Bertie with the Blues, made his debut in the League Cup final at Wembley, Sir Bob wasn’t happy with Ten Thirty and sold him, big Jock brought him back in 65 I think?
Always good to look forward with anticipation the derby between Glasgow’s top two teams, enough said !!!!
Should be a step nearer to 4 in a row after tonight’s game, I am astonished that the court of session sanctioned the tax dodging, squinty eyed skint African, in the words of Sallly……name these judges, I would imagine thier first name is a surname and the wear brown brogues….I have a feeling that, in which to compete, they will revert back to EBT’s as they have deliberatly been dismissed by the AIM’s board and as usual the….we do SFA, will allow it to happen…
2 – 0 to Celtic tonight….
Is that prick from Coatbridge?
I’ll send ma youngest out to sort him out if he comes a knocking
Earlier in the season:
“Hey Boss, that boy Berget is sheidt – nae way he should go straight intae a European game!”
“Ho Ho Ho Scott – you’re so funny”
Ralph
Listening to the CTV bigot commentators while typing. I feel my feminine side to the fore given I am multi tasking. I can only hope I finish one task or the other so that I can reclaim my male dominance.
Enough of the sexism. The bhoys are making heavy weather of it tonight. Sounded like one of the old cavalry charge starts petering out into a charge of the Light Brigade. I expected them to be more convincing against such weak opposition made even weaker with the sending off. But it is sounding laborious. Still, the result keeps us on course for that treble.
Could it be we are suffering from rotation syndrome. I am not a great believer in constant team changes but I guess Ronny sees the current league advantage as an opportunity to assess players for his future plans. He is a man with a creative mind and I am convinced his final product is far from complete. I know using hindsight can appear hypocritical but I also know I supported Ronny from the very start and his latest words have vindicated my stance. I saw a man of vision restricted by circumstances, pressures, expectations and inheritance but with the energy and determination to stamp his mark on the club, the players and the support in spite of many being agin’ him. I would not be surprised if he is weighing up a potential summer clear out in order to reduce the baggage to a minimum. Unfortunately for me, he seems convinced that somewhere in that non-athletic physique of Forrest, there is a footballer – as you and many others do too. I still need convinced and even then I know I will not be.
2-0 but expected a lot more.
If Coatbridge is worried about the political atmosphere around the town it should remember its neighbour’s history. Airdrie was as blue as Coatbridge was Green and not even a white line to separate them. But down here in Angloland UKIP will be a real threat even without the bigotry. The conditions are ideal for the downtrodden common folk to turn to extremists for comfort even though they have no real solutions and will in fact cause them untold harm and grief. It was such a socio-political climate that created the fertile soil to grow the seemingly acceptable face of Nazism. I think UKIP is a very dangerous entity. It is fascism with a smile and is captivating many of the excluded and vulnerable especially in England. Unfortunately there are a lot of gangsters who support nutters like the Coatbridge pile of stones and who will become the enforcers when required. And see what such extremism leads to. A convicted criminal is approved for office in spite of the law. But who will object? How many Turnbull Huttons are out there now? Will Peter or A.N.Other fill his shoes or simply cow-tow? UKIP may only be a name but its kind of danger is everywhere we allow it.
Did I mention I saw Bertie play for Birmingham v Coventry back in the early sixties? Aye? Well this is just in case you forgot.
H H
Ralph
Meant to say that is a great picture at the top. I do not remember the Wee Barra ever jumping that high. Bobby Collins and Bertie Peacock both R.I.P. – two greats.
H H
Ralph
Took a closer look and I am wondering if the player challenging is John McPhail and not Bobby Collins. It could explain why he is as high as the defender. Can anyone confirm one way or tother? Must be Hampden as Firhill never had a stand like that that I remember nor could it hold a crowd that big. If Hampden, it was a cup game and probably sometime in 50s. That would mean both McPhail and Collins could be playing.
H H