Celtic Diary Sunday August 16: There’s a New Scapegoat in Town

Poor Deydrick Boyata .

You’re teams winning 4-0. There;’s a big game on Wednesday coming up, so you don’t want to do anything silly and hurt yourself, and you spot an old pal in the crowd. eye off the ball, and it’s 4-1.

A few minutes later. you are determined not to repeat the mistake, and you notice your bootlace is coming undone.

And it’s 4-2.

Still, not everyone in the squad was unhappy.. in fact, a couple of players were positively delighted.

Well, they’ve been getting a hard time from fans of late, and they’ll be glad it’s someone elses turn.

When the full time whistle went, Ronny saved his roar for the dressing room.

Afterwards, pausing only to place a large , body shaped package, wrapped in a carpet, into the boot of his car, he wiped the blood of his hands and told the media he wasn’t too concerned about the lapse in concentration that turned a relaxing and pleasant Saturday afternoon into, almost, a but of a palaver.

Today I won’t focus on that (conceding), I’ll focus on the first 71 minutes because that was a very good performance from us We defended well and had high tempo in everything with good, quick reactions. It was a very good team performance and I’m very happy to see that today.

“The response after Kilmarnock was good.

“It (mistakes) doesn’t concern me. That hasn’t happened very often. I think it’s the first time for a long time I’ve seen that so that will always happen in football games but this was in the wrong areas and we got punished very hard.

“It’s a warning, of course, but the players know that. What we take with us now is the 70 minutes where I think we were very good.” 

It’s a good point. because as the season progresses, the periods of pace and domination are getting longer, and thats a good thing. Although the switching off is a little worrying, it’s nothing that can’t be addressed.

Have to admit though, I was a little concerned that Celtic may well snatch a draw from the jaws of victory in the closing stages of the game. Thankfully, though, Inverness seemed a little shocked at how easy it had been to get the two goals, and by the time they realised they could have got more , the game was over.

The “match day ” experience started well, with new signing Scott Allan being presented to the crowd to say hello hello. Probably for the last time in his life.

Ronny seems pleased to have got him in, but not because it will hurt another club across the city, as when it comes to comparisons on the park, they really are in a different league. Allan is a playmaker, something Celtic don’t have at the moment, and if he can get quickly up to speed with the higher level, then he will be ably supported by Brown, Biton, Armstrong and Johansen, and it gives the side another option in going forward.

When Celtic get to the tenth consecutive title-by no means certain as Hearts, Aberdeen and even Dundee look like they have progressed again this year, then who knows, it may well be a midfield of Allan, Armstrong, Mackay Steven, Henderson and Forrest that takes us there.

There is clearly a plan in place to use Scottish talent as far as possible.  Not exclusively, but the circle has turned, and now it appears a promising or talented Scot, whatever his background, will be preferred to a foreigner.

 Thats not to say continental players will be excluded, it’s just that the club have now decided that there are good players closer to home, and if Celtic pursue that line, and continue to dominate, then others will take their lead. Which can only be good for the game.

Who knows ? Maybe a Scotland side, largely composed of Celts, can do something in next years European championship finals….

Back to the game, and after just twelve minutes yesterday, Celts were two up through Mikael Lustig, who now looks a little more like the player we know he can be, and Leigh Griffiths, who just can’t stop scoring.

With the bookies not accepting bets on the elusive 7-0 at this stage, it seemed like it was a just a matter of picking the correct time for the seventh one going in. Perhaps even wondering if Celtic would declare at half time, like they do in cricket when one of the teams is so woefully bad that they just want to get it over with, and keep the game down to less than a fortnight.

 Sturat Armstrong grabbed a couple of goals that went towards securing him the sponsors man of the match award, and showed exactly what he does bring to the team.

A lot.

He was everywhere all at once, and will be a key player against Malmo.

 Scott Brown was also immense, with quieter but equally effective performances from Lustig, van Dijk and Biton, but that sevetieth mnute switch off, and  couple of substitutions brke the pattern of what was probably the best effort of the season.

It’s coming together, and common sense should dictate that whilst it’s not acceptable to let other teams back into the game, if you are going to make an arse of something, then I suppose doing it whe you’re 4-0 up is as good a time as any.

 Scott Allan also spoke to the media yesterday;

He probably stayed home last night, maybe just got a pizza and watched a movie.

After the long drawn out campaign in the papers to allow him to leave hibernian and switch to Ibrox, it was a bit of a blow for those who once had a bit of influence in the game.

 Allan not bowing to pressure, and Deila refusing to rule out signing him because of his background shows a significant shift in the heirarchy of Scottish football.

 The old establishment were given free reign to try to bully the lad into going to Second Rangers. New and old media alike combined to put an unprecedented agenda together which varied from encouragement and praise to vitriol and hatred.

Even when it became clear Celtic were involved, they didn’t relent;

Humour did feature , though, but noticably only from one side of the divide…

Mark Warburton: “We only want players who want to play for Rangers”

Ronny Deila: “Us too”  

MSM: “Scott. Are you worried you’ve let down all those who prayed to see you in Light Blue?”

SA: “I don’t give a toss about the press pack” 

Although there was one from the other side who was a little more mature about the whole episode, so credit where credit is due.

No revisionism. I wanted Scott Allan to sign for us. I’m not happy he is joining the Tic (for obvious ‘banter’ reasons). We gave it out..for years. Let’s take it with dignity Bears. A promise of good young talent & better football to come for us. Eyes forward & chins up 

When their club was killed, and their support fleeced by the shysters, it’s guys like him I kind of feel for.

But only kind of…and the feeling passes quite quickly.

There are others you fell sorry for, but in a different way, for different reasons;

Merry45bhoy said all that needed to be said there.

Another attempt to coerce the bhoy to join the Warburton Wizards came when the football authorities, unsurprisingly,  allowed a blatant attempt to unsettle the player before a Cup game between Hibernian and Second Rangers, causing the player to sit the game out, which allowed the Ibrox side an advantage before the game started.

 No action was taken, and the campaign was cranked up a notch when Allan apparently handed in his transfer request, but in the background, Celtic, who had been asked to be kept informed-its in a previous Diary, so it must be true-were, er , informed.

 Whilst the Parkhead club were entirely professional in their dealings with Hibs, the Ibrox clubs time honoured technique, well, the old clubs time honoured technique, of using the laptop loyal to help persuade club and player failed miserably.

We knew the old club was dead when it was liquidated. The new one died a little when it became apparent they don’t have the influence of the old one. Fankly, no-one gives a toss about them anymore.

It’s not hate.

It’s indifference, a far more damaging reaction.

 The new club is an irrelevance, languishing in a lower league with an unproven manager and cast of players.

Make no mistake, Allan chose Celtic as the best option for him , for his family, and for social acceptability. But compared to Ibrox, it really is chalk and cheese.

They didn’t have anything to offer him. and that’s that.

Welcome to Celtic. You’ll be grand.

There is one concern though.

Should Celtic overcome Malmo in the qualifiers, there is another part of the team that needs attention.

Quickly.

Only Grifiths is capable of scoring goals regularly out of those four, Ciftci has yet to settle, Scepovic wants to be elsewhere, and Stokes has been told he can be.

There are several rumours about incoming, from Zlatan to Hernadez to a guy who texted an Aston villa player on a plane to say he was heading to Celtic for talks.

Truth is , we don’t even know if there are plans to add a quality forward.

but you’d have to hope so…

I said quality forward.

Sorry.

Now, a word about Friday’s Diary, and one of the responses and subsequent apology.

Daviebhoy is no racist, his comments have previously been of quality and interest.

A wee mistake, thats all.

The chant, originally a retort to racist abuse suffered by Paul Wilson in the seventies, is now out of time and out of place.

Tell you a wee story.

A few years ago, we were on the bus on the way back from a game. After pretty much exhausting current ditties and the entire rebel song book, songs from yesteryear were offerd by the older memebers of our CSC.

“We all live in a catholic housing scheme,” “Jimmy johnstone on the Wing ” and so on.

Then a pause, and someone declared he would rather wear a turban than a sash, another chant which is out of time and out of place amongst the support.

Remember that film “Life of Brian ” ?

The stoning scene ?

That’s pretty much what happened next.

We have moved on from those days, and we will move on from Friday.

short again today, that garage won’t convert into a room by itself. Especially with me doing some of the work.

So, a caption competition, what’s going on here ?

apart from the fact it appears that I’ve managed to get a video to load ?