Celtic Diary Monday September 28: Celts Close Gap

Thats my audition for the Celtic View out of the way.

Celtic did indeed close the gap. Imagine what we could do if some of those shots went in.

A frustrating 0-0 draw with Hearts on saturday, probably because the players and fans couldn’t cope with this new fangled 3pm Saturday start, and all of a sudden we’re doomed again.

Immediately after kick off, by all accounts, the Hearts players all ran back to their penalty box and pretty much stayed there until just before the final whistle, when one of them broke out only to be chopped down by “Only one F in Efe ” Ambrose.

“I was happy to help my team get something from the game,” 

“I was the last man and so I had no choice but to make the tackle and save us from losing the game in the very last minute.” 

I didn’t see the game, due to being made to re cover the kitchen floor after I enthusiastically put some washing in the machine last Thursday before heading off north. We also had to get a new washing machine.

However, i did get a couple of phone calls from people at the game, who offered to leave the ground to come and help me, which is a pretty good indicator of how it went.

There’s going to be days like Saturday in any season. Hearts set out to lose, and Celtic , well, lacked the urgency which is asociated with pre european match league games.

But , as Aberdeen continued to shed the wheels off their wagon, this time in Inverness, a point was gained and it’s not as bad as some would have you believe. And it was on loan Celt Ryan Christie who did the damage, with the goal that won the game;

“If that puts me in the Celtic manager’s good books, I’ll be happy, Is there a win bonus for me? I’ll need to have a word. ” 

“I’m not sure if Celtic are on my mind. I get more spurred on by the thought of pushing Inverness and getting wins but I need to make sure the consistency is there and I’m playing well so they can see I’m ready when I get called down and can go straight into the first-team squad.

“I don’t like saying it but that’s one of the best goals I have hit. I’ve been trying to add goals and I’ve done alright so far this season.”

I wonder. Perhaps we can loan out players to aberdeens opponents on a week to week basis…

Come Friday morning, hopefully on the back of a victory over Fenebache, then we’ll be smiling again.

Well, some of us will be.

The stalemate at Hearts, as i said I didn’t see the game, but I’m willling to bet that we fired a few straight at the keeper, which seems to be our wont of a game, and there have , predictably, been a few shouts in favour of signing out of contract Carlton cole to offer us something different, presumably someone who can fire wide as well.

Mikael Lustig mentioned this, but his choice of words is interesting;

“If we do sign Carlton then it’s not going to make us worse, we will be better. 

There really was no need to say it’s not going to make us any worse. It makes him sound like he’s fed up with the forwards…

Ronny Deila may yet bring in Cole, which kind of proves that yet again whoever was in charge of bringing in a striker, or at least finding one, hasn’t got a clue.

 “You can’t be more clear in what you see and he is someone who has different skills than the players we have.

“Carlton has that and we will see what happens there but he is the type of player we have been looking for.”

Ah. I get him. He’s free. Largely because no-one else wants him. A policy which, where strikers are concerned, is probably not the best way forward.

 “We will speak and we’ll see what we can do.

“I don’t need to persuade anybody about this.

“This is something that we as a team are looking at and we’ll talk with Carlton more.

“What I can say is that you see his qualities but he hasn’t played football for a long while, so it will take time to get him going again.

“But we also know he has been consistent in the Premier League for a long time and he has a lot of qualities that we are looking for in matches like we saw against Hearts.

“He was very positive with everything with Celtic. He has been at the games and loved the experience.

“He sees opportunities here, a possibility to score a lot of goals for Celtic. We will keep on talking and we’ll see what happens.”

He hasn’t played football for a while. Neither has bobby lennox, and I know which one I’d rather have helping out the current lot.

Anyone who does think we should sign Cole should remember Ian Wright, or Tony Cascarino. If Cole says he can see a “possibility “to score a lot of goals, there’s a danger he is underestimating the quality and attitude  of the players he is facing. Like Wright and Cascarino before him.

Some of that was down to the attitude of the two mentioned, but Cole’s dithering suggests he’s still waiting for an offer from England.

A wee heart warming story now, and Craig Gordon, who was viewed with suspicion by some fans when he signed up, largely due to a foray into the Celtic penalty area for a late Hearts corner, earned a few brownie points after the game when he appeared outside the ground and had a kickabout with some young fans;

Mind you, he still wouldn’t come off his line;

A couple of the forwards were going to do a similar thing, but it was abandoned as ball after ball went sailing off down London Road.

Gordon, however, not only made it a great day for some supporters, he impressed Bertie Auld, a man who has been known to put stuff in your basket at the superstore, telling your kids that it looks great on them,  and costing  you a bloody fortune because you were starstruck.

I’m sorry, that should read ” interact positively with supporters himself ”

Auld said;

“We were brought up with the Celtic fans.

“I signed for Celtic when I was 16 and I the first thing Jimmy McGrory did was send me to a supporters function in Paisley.

“It was right out of the blue but he told me that if I was going to represent the Celtic supporters by playing for their club then I had to get to know them.

“It has been the same ever since. 

The most important thing at Celtic for Jock Stein was the fans.

“Jock used to bring the supporters up to Barrowfield and get them involved in training.

“The fans used to roll up the dress trousers inside their socks and take part in the training games with the first team players.

“They would have suede shoes, slip-ons, workies boots – you name it – the supporters would have all sorts of footwear on and join in the five-a-sides.

“Big Jock absolutely loved it. 

Jock never ever let the Celtic players take their car to Barrowfield.

“The players always had to walk up to the training pitch.

“If they were stopped by supporters on the way then they had to give them autographs and spend time with the fans.

“The players never had a track suit and it if was cold they had to run up.

“The supporters came with us and it was never an issue for Jock.

“That kind of human touch and everyday contact and inter-action with the players and supporters has been sadly lost in modern times. 

Not in the bloody superstore it hasn’t.

“Both the players and the fans have been increasingly detached from each other which is a real shame.

“Craig playing football with the kids is a total throwback to an era of football when acts like this were commonplace among the Celtic first team players.

“I love all that kind of stuff. 

Being honest, so do I.

“I am all for that kind of thing where the Celtic players and the supporters mingle with each other at any time of the day.

“I was brought up like that as a Celtic player.

“It is something I would gladly bring back but seeing those pictures of Craig and the youngsters playing football together really gladdens the heart.”

“I saw the pictures of Craig Gordon doing the jumpers for goalposts stuff with the kids and I thought it was brilliant,”

“Craig has done a wonderful thing and he has done something special and that goes to show people that he feels part of the club.

“Those kids will have a treasured memory for life and fair play to him for doing that. 

“Craig is a lovely big guy and it is just typical of the fact that he wants to put something back into the club who gave him his chance at the big time again.

“Craig was out of the game for two years but his life and career has changed again since he signed for Celtic.”  

What is interesting about this whole Gordon scenario is how different the reaction would have been had he gone over an ankle, or hurt his wrist. as far as I’m concerned, that can happen going up the stairs, but no doubt someone , somewhere, is already having a moan at him.

To me, it’s more important that those kids carry on going to the game, and one day take their own along. Such stories are what separates a club from a business.

Anyway, elsewhere in the world, comedian-sort of-Alan Davies has had a bit of a rant about Chelsea;

Do you know something ? You could substitute a few words and phrases and it could easily apply to another club.

On Saturday we showed a picture of old Rangers scoring a goal that they thought would go some way to winning the league in 1968. It didn’t turn out that way;

Caption competition today, and lets see if we can guess what this guy is thinking about…