Champions Diary Sunday May 3: Yes ! Yes ! Yes !

From Africa to Tokyo the sounds of the Ronny Roar hit the air as Celtic clinched their fourth consecutive title. after the 5-0 destruction of dundee on Friday night, reckoned by many to be the best performance of the season-I don’t know, I missed it-Aberdeen had to beat Dundee united to keep the race alive.

However, a first half strike from Robbie Muirhead had Tims everywhere keeping an eye on evelopments, and just before five o’clock, the job was done, and the celebrations began…

But first, a word of thanks to Muirhead, and as with Albert Kidd in 86, maybe he’ll be remembered fondly by the support. Perhaps even a CSC or two will bear his name.

Come on, it’s the least we can do.

Bless him…

Ronny himself was over in Norway on family business, which means he’ll be looking at these headlines this morning..

You don’t really need to be able to speak norwegian to get the gist of the headline.

And I have to admit it, thats exactly how it was for some of us.

Alright, me.

Mostly me.

Time for me to get a knife and fork ,

At first, it was difficult to see what Ronny was trying to achieve, and even when it became clear as to what the plan was, doubts emerged over whether it would work.

There had been a successful side in place, and I didn’t see any real need for change. Ronny changed it, and the results were horrific.

Tony Mowbray was long gone, but the images were returning , that of a man standing motionless at the side of the pitch wondering first of all how he got into this mess, and then trying to work out how to get out of it.

Ronny stuck to his guns, and eventually won over the players. Then he went to work on the fans, and now, nearly a year since he got the job, he has more than earned any accolades coming his way.

In fact, he’s probably worked harder than any other Celtic manager that I can remember. And I reckon that if you cut him open you’d find a rod of steel where his spine should be.

So, from all of me, to all of him.

You can tell the supports happy. One old dear down the road from me, despite one of her brood giving birth yesterday, took time out to celebrate regardless of what people thought.

She did a mean version of the Foggy Dew after a couple of scoops, and many present reckoned it was even better than Sinnead O’connor’s.

Anyhoo, back to the manager, and he was chuffed with the days events, and showed again the camraderie between cpatain and boss with this tweet, which i’m certain is genuine ..

Thanks to Broony for texting me the Aberdeen score. Wasn’t watching, I was at a republican March. #toptunes 

Apart from being delighted for Ronny Deila, you can’t help but feel happy for John Collins as well. Colllins was at Celtic in the dark days of the nineties, and despite a public image of aloofness, he would have shouted a few “Get It Up Ye’s ” as well when the result came in.

 Collins gave Celtic six years, but is more often remembered for exercising his right to a free transfer. Had the rest of the team, with a few exceptions, been a player of the same standard as Collins, then he’d have been a legend.

Collins spoke to the Record;

“Ronny will enjoy this moment but, being the type of guy he is, he’ll already be thinking about next season.

“We have to move on now and plan ahead. The next challenge is those big 
European games in July.” 

Two months away.

The failure to qualify for the champions League last season had several repercussions, not least the moving of several matches to a Sunday, which was a nightmare for some season book holders, adding to the economic argument not to buy one.

 The management and board have to get it right this time, but for the moment they can sit back and pat themselves on the back for giving us an entertaining first season as well as a successful one.

Collins again;

“Ronny deserves enormous credit. We didn’t get off to a great start and it added to the pressure.

“People can write you off very quickly in football but he kept believing and stuck to his principles.

“There was huge 
attention on him and we were involved in massive 
European games right from the kick-off.

“So all credit to him. Ronny has proved to 
himself that his methods work and that will be the most satisfying thing.

Elsewhere, there’s growing evidence that the alleged favouritism of one club over others amongst the refereeing fraternity may actually have some truth in it..

Credit to Second Rangers, in just their third full season they finished third in the First division, which means they will enter the play off stage.

It’s their highest ever league position in their short history, and the play offs mean they still have a chance, albeit small, of making the top division.

They were unlucky yesterday when, at 2-0 ahead, veteran substitute Lee Mcculloch came on for the last ten minutes, but even his experience couldn’t prevent the Ibrox side conceding twice as title winners Hearts roared back to earn a draw.

Manager Stuart McCall , who hasn’t quite hit the ground running since taking over the team, says he will turn to the famed Murray Park youth academy to help guide the club to the top, thus utilising the sports science and tactical nous to achieve his goals;

In other news , there was delight throughout the land as a Royal Baby entered the world, despite initial panic when the silver spoon became wedged in a delicate position.

Still, at least this one’s not ginger, Phil the Greek was heard to comment, as he has lost all his contacts in the motor trade and would have difficulty in setting up another adjustment to the total civil list bill,

If theres still time, pop to the bookies, as we hear, in a tribute to his late motherthe baby will be called Mercedes.

This comes after the midwife who delivered her said she could see a resemblance to the late Princess Diana, but that could have just been all the blood.

And in case you missed it, David Beckham was 40 yesterday. To surprise him on his special day,wife Victoria jumped out from behind one of the candles on his cake.

Aye, a wee bit more cheerful today.

The old jungle, according to the Celtic Wiki had the official name of the North End Terracing….

Caption competition, just to keep the chuckles rolling…