Celtic Diary Saturday May 30: Guess Who’s Back ? Shady’s Back!

On the world stage, congratulations are in order to Sepp Blatter, who managed to garner enough support amongst the FIFA member nations to win a fifthe term as presodent with a slightly reduced majority of 32,000.

He immediately answered his critics in the United States by awarding the next two World cups to North Korea and Iran.

Stewart Regan, the man who is suddenly a fighter for transparency and accountability, said;

 “We are disappointed but unsurprised by the election result and will consult with UEFA to consider our collective position in order to achieve the essential governance changes required within FIFA.

“There could be a rival body. There could be threats of not participating in competitions. There are a number of options that will be available.”  

 A rival body, to move away from a corrupt and self serving organisation, for the good of the game ?

Now there’s an idea…..

Sky TV were predictably gutted, their coverage was a little one sided on their news channel, they moved their stance to asking about change, which for them would be finding another way to squeeze money out of the poor sods who pay for all this.

They don’t have the world cup, and Blatters re-election means they never will.

 There will be demands on teflon coated Sepp this term, and a priority must be to address the Qatar World Cup, and if not actually cancelling it, then at least sorting out the horrific working conditions.

If, before the Scottish cup final today, a minutes silence were to be held for each death associated with the stadia constructions in the middle eastern country, the game would be delayed until tomorrow night.

That would make people think.

Like this from Richard Keys makes you think, the former Sky TV presenter who was sacked for being crap. Amongst other things.

It makes you think he’s a fucking idiot.

The Washington Post versus the guy who used to work with Andy Gray.

Hard to decide who I believe.

Meanwhile, the blinkers are well and truly in place amongst the newsroom staff at the Celtic website….

CELTIC fans have given the brand new 2015/16 home kit a huge thumbs-up since it went on sale last Saturday. A week on and fans are still buying the kit in their numbers, with Celtic fans of all ages keen to don the newest version of the iconic green and white hoops.

Paradise was full last week to acclaim the SPFL champions, with many fans sporting the New Balance kit in the stands.

Superstore staff have reported a brisk trade in fans personalising their kit with their own name and number on the back, while many have opted to show their support for specific players with the likes of Brown, Mackay-Steven and Griffiths amongst the most popular so far. Total cost for any name plus any number is just £12.  

I must have missed the thumbs up. all I can see are complaints about the quality. Especially the kids kits.

Perhaps the supporters who were happy with it hadn’t taken it home to wash it at that point.

 Adults tend to wear them less than kids, which would explain the smaller versions making up the bulk of the complaints.

 I was concerned when the deal was announced because I still remember the “two for one ” that we got with the first Nike hoops, which after a few washes turned from…

into…

I’ve emailed the club, asking to speak with the man who did the deal, to give him a right to reply. So far, there’s been no answer. but the early signs are that he will have a lot to answer.

 Sky sports have noted that Danny Wilson has left Hearts, having activated a clause in his contract, so we can expect either an aye or a nay on whether or not he’ll be wearing the hoops next season. Not the big name we would want, but there is certainly potential in the lad, who , of course , is a product of the world reknowned Murray Park conveyer belt, along with such luminaries as John Fleck and Jamie Ness and others to obscure to mention.

 However, with proper coaching , he can forget all of that and start anew.

The diary is going to try to stay away from transfer speculation, as there will be plenty of nonsense floaing around in cyberspace if you like that kind of thing, and we are going to try to stick to facts, unless it’s a slow day and then we’ll just make something up, which is actually part of a journalist course we are all taking.

 So we’ll try to keep away from the guff.

 Teemu Pukki, currently on loan at Brondby, might be forced to return to Celtic, which will no doubt please him.

Per Rud, the sporting director at the Danish club, said that although he wants Pukki to stay at the club, they are not prepared to break the bank for him.

 “ The proce that has been set we will not pay. so the ball is back with them ( He means us ) .

“Now either they go down with their price or they don’t”  he added, showing he has a grasp of how these things work.

If they do not then there will be no Pukki and we will accept that.

 Pukki wants to stay there, in fact . he wants to be anywhere that isn’t Glasgow, but that doesn’t mean we should let him go on the cheap.

Youngsters Luke Donnelly and Connor MacManus have signed two year extensions to their contracts, an indication of where the club sees the future, which is good news. With Ronny Deila planning to trim the squad and make it up with the best of the development sides then there will be opportunities for them, unlike in recent years, so they need to ready when the chance comes.

The pressure is on Stuart McCall to pull a rabbit out of the hat for Second Rangers, who according to Phil McGhiollabhain, are struggling to pay the bills again. In his blog, he says he has been told that a certain PR firm haven’t been paid, as well as various current and former employees.

 McCall has had a bit of a PR makeover himself;

 Mind you, this from al Jazeera , copied from a post by Valencia Bhoy on the huddleboard, would have made him aware of something he might not have known;

There are precious few clean hands in football. Anyone who follows European or American soccer can readily recite a lengthy list of shyster administrators and rogue officials that have plagued the game at all levels — from the Calciopoli matchfixing scandal in Italy, to Glasgow Rangers’ bankruptcy (and the tax convictions of its new chairman), to Aaron Davidson, head of the North American Soccer League, who was indicted for bribery on Wednesday.

Somehow, despite the evidence, the myth persists that chicanery obtains to some regions and not to others.  

Hope i haven’t broken his concentration ahead of the big game;

Meanwhile, not all the journalists in Scotland are oblivious to the reality at Ibrox.

This is an extract  from Gary Keowns piece in the Herald. which is worth a look;

The ground was more upbeat and thunderous than it has been in years, too. The atmosphere created by a sell-out crowd as the teams walked out to the strains of ‘Simply The Best’ was just as it was when Walter Smith was threatening to get the club into the Champions League final far less the climax of the UEFA Cup.

The problem is that, while Ibrox is ready to welcome back the good old days, Rangers are not. While Ibrox has not lost its essence, Rangers most certainly have.

The current team is a reflection of the chaos of the last three years, a collection of players thrown together on exorbitant wages with no long-term plan. Their seemingly-inevitable failure to win promotion, if nothing else, will allow the history books to offer more accurate guidance on how awful some of the football has been.

This is a collection of players who cannot be depended upon when it comes to the nitty-gritty, as shown in cup defeats to the likes of Raith Rovers, Alloa Athletic and Queen of the South and their failure to make Hearts so much as sweat in the SPFL Championship.

This defeat, if nothing else, confirms most of them must be emptied in the summer. Indeed, McCall’s decision to put on the impressive Tom Walsh with 35 minutes to play almost felt like an admission of that.

McCall’s hopes of returning as Rangers manager to the level he enjoyed as a player now appear to be fading as well. It is harsh. He did well to get the side to this stage of the campaign. They were in danger of missing the play-offs altogether when he took over in March.

Everyone else, you may remember, expected a comfortable win for the Ibrox side, based on well, based on very little, to be honest. Keown went to see what it was like over there, and reported on it truthfully.

And  the support seem to have been watching closely as well;

and post match…

 right, time to reminisce…

Who is this guy, and whats your favourite story about him ?