Celtic Diary Tuesday October 20: Celtic Not Growing On Molde

It’s notoften one person gives a lifetime of service to a football club, so congratulations must go to Kath Cassidy, the tea lady who is retiring after 52 years at Newcastle United.

Think about how many cups she must have seen in that period.

None.

Looking ahead to the Molde game on Thursday, and the advantage of Ronny Deila could be countered by the norwegians knowing all about him, and compatriot Stefan Johansen. Ole Kamara, who plays up front for the Norwegian side, claims his side are out to give the Celts a hard time;

“There will be extra motivation for the guys when Stefan comes.

“We don’t want him to come home and do well.

“The players will be competitive and he’s going to have a hard time.

“We know he is a great player so we need to try and take him out of the game. It will be the same for Nir Bitton.

“For the people of Norway this game is bigger than our first two matches with Ajax and Fenerbahce.

“In the media we always write about how Ronny and Stefan are doing in Scotland.

“Everybody is aware how well they are doing and how Celtic are doing so that’s why this is such an important game.

“I will catch up with both of them them after the game and hopefully I will be the one with a smile on my face.

“Ronny is a top guy and it will be nice to see him and Stefan but I’m not thinking about that just now.

“I’m just thinking about scoring goals and beating them.” 

Am I jumping to conclusions here, is he hinting that he -and others-don’t specially like Johansen ?

Kamara spent four years in Deila’s Stromgodset side, and was part of the championship winning team, in fact he was top scorer, when deila made his name with the unfashionable side.

“I spent four and a half year working under Ronny from him saving us from relegation when he took over to winning the championship.

“He had such a big influence on me and winning the title was the highlight of my career.

“We were not supposed to win the league because all the other teams had more money. But we did.

“I haven’t worked with any coach as good as Ronny. He is brilliant at motivating young players.” 

Thats an interesting insight into how Deila is viewed in his homeland, and again, it’s worth remembering that it took him a while to transform Stromgodset. Another reason to be patient with the man ?

However, none of that will count for anything on Thursday.

The Etims twitter was contacted and we now know all about Molde;

Our Fjord dwelling mole informs us Molde are a strong defensive unit who counter well on the break with plenty of crosses into the pen area 

It’s going to be a long game.

And yet Celtic’s game is designed to stop teams from having possession in their own half, and so therefore maybe they won’t get a chance to break forward as often as they did against Fenrbache or Ajax.

The disciplined performances the side are capable of could well get a result in the land of the midnight sun, and so perhaps we are worrying for nothing.

Nope, not convincing anyone , am I ?

did I say Land Of The Midnight Sun ?

Look at the place. It looks fantastic;

And at night ?

Not sure why there are space hoppers in the harbour, probably something to do with the long winter nights.

Molde are at the top of the group. They are on a high, and will not be afraid of playing Celtic.

We , however, are still a little nervy when things aren’t going our way, and although we are twenty or so games into this season, for one reason or another, Deila still hasn’t settled on a defence.

Lustig and Izaguirre are fine, Boyata is getting better, Ambrose is veering from the sublime to the ridiculous, while Blackett looks like , well, a Manchester United reserve player and Simunovic is obviously spending some time with Charlie Mulgrew so they can get to know each other and form yet another central defensive partnership.

Blackett spoke of the culture shock when he faced Aberdeen;

My debut was a harsh early lesson. It was something I have to get used to about life in Scotland and Glasgow itself.

“It was something I was thrown into really and personally I didn’t have the best of games there.

“You look back on it and think of things which you could have done better but you try not to dwell on it too much.

 “There was some criticism but you try not to pay attention to that sort of stuff, but you do hear it and see it, take it on the chin and try to learn from it

“The result wasn’t what we wanted on the day but personally I have to get used to playing in those types of games.

“It does help that I have come from Manchester United but everything is different at every club. You have to understand it and get used to it. 

Did he say “take it on the chin “?

Right. Thats it.

I never wanted to hear that phrase then and I don’t want to hear it now.

 The situation which has led to the , er, uncertainty at the centre of defence  points to not keeping a player who wants away (van Dijk ) or bringing in someone who was never going to stay ( Denaayer ) and hoping for the best.

When they want to go let them go.

And replace them properly.

Bin this idea of loannees. It doesn’t work unless there is an option to buy at a realistic price.

The Carlton Cole Will He Hope He Won’t saga took another twist as former Celtic boss Neil Lennon admitted he wants to take the striker to Bolton.

“Carlton’s a free agent and he’s a striker, so it’s definitely a possibility.

“We’re still looking to add one or two and it’s no secret that I want a centre-forward 

If he gets him for Bolton, it will be one of the best signings he’s made for Celtic.

Speaking of strikers, that lovable little scamp Leigh Griffiths just got even more lovable;

He tweeted this last night, supporting the kind of thing that we should all support.

In other news, be thankful this sort of thing isn’t happening in your postcode;

The most bizarre picture I’ve ever seen comes from my new friend who I met on the train to glasgow the other week. He’s from Burton on Trent, where they make beer, and he was astonished to see this the other day in the town;

Sure, there’s plenty of Tims in the Army, and plenty who have served. Thats neither here nor there, it’s the Britain First bit that made me sit up.

 A little unusual to see tims behind a banner of bigotry ?

And PES, who do them video game thingies, have a lot to answer for, portraying Celtic supporters like this;

Oh, by the way,  I’ve been asked to clarify that protesters were referring to the fight against climate change , and not a football club when they paraded this banner at a recent march;

Slow news day ?

Yup.

By the way, the man love for Ibrox boss Mark Warburton appears to have become infectious  as this unusual and somewhat intimate physical act between two of the players shows.

I considered using this picture for a caption competition, but there was something disturbing about some potential replies .

Oh, go on then.

Be careful though, big brother is watching

Yesterdays picture ? I don’t know either. Thats why I asked !