Celtic Diary Tuesday Novenber 17: The Way Forward: And Brown. Complete Midfielder

Apologies for the no show yesterday, I was attending the funeral of an old family friend.

There will be a minutes silence before the Kilmarnock game on Saturday to mark the events in Paris last weekend.

It won’t be followed by a minutes silence for those killed by the bombs of democracy, but they will be in my thoughts at the time.

Tickets are still available for the game, £26 for adults, £17 concessions and £400 for Kilmarnock fans. Thats not true, though it should be as they pump up the prices when we visit 1950s Ayrshire.

There is a campaign down south, where the prices truly are ridiculous , to limit prices for away fans to just £20.

Celtic are looking at this scheme, and my suggrstion is that it’s expanded to all domestic matches for all supporters, to get people going back to the games.

Scottish football hasn’t had it’s problems to seek, and we all know why, but we can either try to sort it or watch the whole thing disappear in a puff of apathy. Getting people into grounds is the first step.

With money at a premium for most clubs, especially given the recent idea that they should only pay out what they bring in, after the demise of one of the games biggest clubs, then other ways have to be looked at to raise funds, and until the stench of toxicity at the highest level is fully removed, it’s unlikely that sponsors will be haggling over the right to have their name associated with it.

Thats the second step.

We can work on the rest later.

Change would signal to the outside world that the game is putting the dark days behind us, and combined with the coplete removakl of thise in charge who allowed the mess to develop, maybe its worth looking at a few ideas.

The Sunday Mail gave us five ways to sort the game at the weekend, written by Jonathan McFarlane.

At least it should have provoked a little debate;

16 team league with two-legged Scottish Super Cup as season opener 

It’s tired and there are definite issues of, dare I say it, sporting integrity around the way the fixtures can fall after the split.

A bigger league would be an idea, and is certainly worth a shot, but eight games would be lost in this scenario. Meaning four home gates are lost, so if it’s going to be bigger it has to be eighteen or twenty teams. Or it must be saller, back to ten.

Odd;y enough, Scottish clubs won european trophies under these systems, Arguably the game was at its strongest under either eighteen or ten teams.

Revamped League Cup with Champions league style groups

Teams in the top league must play a minimum of 5 under 21s. Final played in October.

The League Cup has become a total irrelevance with shocking attendance figures. Let’s start it as a summer cup with the initial games in our pre-season. This guarantees clubs the home games lost in the league set up, helps smaller clubs with income boosting games against top opposition and demands youngsters at top clubs will get a try out.  

Almost a good idea, in that a Summer cup would be a winner, especially as the clubs are struggling to get up to speed for European games. And the weather is a factor if you want to get people into grounds.

As for playing kids, thats where a regional reserve league comes in. Which could include Junior clubs , maybe even in a pyramid system to allow progression for well ran clubs, and the removal of those who are just in it because their grandfathers were.

 By all means take the League Cup ack to the old sections, regionalised, to allow for local derbies, with the latter stages and finals held before christams, at weekends. During international breaks if need be, to allow smaller clubs a shot at a trophy.

A January shutdown with league extended till June

Let’s face it; Christmas becomes a bigger deal every year.

With the kids wanting the latest XBOX, all those work nights out and a whopping day of excess on the 25th it always takes a financial toll. Throw in the biting cold, sleet and snow that make January, on average, our worst weather month, it makes absolute sense to bomb it out and play later into June instead. 

A good idea, but for the wrong reasons. Players will need a break, especially if there’s a summer League cup, so give them a break when it’s too bloody cold to play or watch football. Mid December through to February. That would cut down on injuries as well. To players and fans.

Maximum pricing of £20 with 1 kid getting in free

The lifeblood of Scottish Football is the paying fan and the future is their children.

Without them we are toast, either now or in the future. 

Subject to availablity, of course, but I really can’t understand why more isn’t being done to encourage kids to go to the game.

This, combined with summer football will make them a little more enthusiastic.

Low Alcohol Beer in Low Risk Games 

There are no high risk games now that the club who could be held responsible for causing all the bother is gone. Open the bars, most people are drinking before the game anyway. The clubs might as well get their piece of the action.

Whatever you think of the article, and whatever you think of his ideas, at least its provoking debate, and trying to deal with the issues.

Back at the ranch, and Stefan Johansen has been getting grief from Norway fans for his performances against hungary, where the once mighty Magyars secured qualification for a major finals for the first time since the eighties.

Probably. I haven’t checked.

 “I can’t blame injuries alone for my poor form this season. I’m not the type of guy who would use that as an excuse. But I’ll be honest and say I haven’t been playing to the standard that is required.

“When the results are bad you will face criticism from fans and the media, but the criticism doesn’t bother me too much. It’s a part of the game.

“The people around me – family and friends – are more worried about it. They fear I might take it personally, but I don’t. 

I beg to differ. It is affecting his game, and he is now trying too hard. A wee break, a big hug and we might get our Stefan back.

“We have to take this one on the chin. 

No we don’t. We should never , ever have to hear that phrase again.

We can only apologise to the Norwegian people. We take full responsibility for these results, but our coach Per-Mathias Hogmo should stay in the job.

“Even though fans in Norway are disappointed now, he has the backing of the players. He can’t go on the pitch and do the running. The players, myself included, have to take the responsibility. We cannot blame the coach for these defeats.” 

He needs a rest. Maybe his lack of confidence is spreading to his club and international team mates.

Johansen is a great player, but sometimes great players don’t believe they are.

We can afford to rest johansen, because it looks like Scott Brown will be back soon.

For those of you who doubt him, it’s worth remembering that Broony, as the fans call him , is actually the complete midfielder.

He’s combative, never shirking a tackle. Creative, capable of finding that pass to unlock defenders, can score inportant goals and is capable of reading a game.

When you look at Scott rown, who do you see ?

Thanks to DaBestSeventy2 on Twitter for those pictures.

Adam Matthews has been told he can leave Sunderland. I’d be on the phone to him right now, and asking if he fancies his old job back. women all over glasgow would be happy, they had a soft spot for the Welsh full back. In fact, i mentioned it at a supporters do last night, and it seemed to please them;

It may be that Sunderland are looking at Nir Biton, but all the money in the world surely cannot compensate for a lifetime of despair and obscurity.

Still, Id give it a go, i suppose, but only if there was no other option. such as being the guy who extracts venom from snakes, or tastes food for despotic tyrants.

There is talk that former Roma and Juventus full back Marco Motta has been offered a one year deal, as he is now a free agent after failing to make the grade at Watford, where to be fair, nobody ever makes the grade anyway.

We did buy a chap from Watford once, wonder how that turned out…

Adam, come home. And see if your pal Joe fancies a trip back with you.

It’s funny how football turns out.

Have a look here at Keiran Tierney congratulating Emilio Izaguiire, and noting that determination to have his job further down the line…

We should hear shortly what we all knew, that there are no legal grounds for an appeal by liquidators BDO to the courts to overturn the finallly final decision that Rangers used EBTs unlawfully to gain sporting advantage, which of course is probably why dave King spewed out his last vengeful statement.

If thats the case, then we can get on with title stripping.

History must record what happened in those years, and then, only then, can we move on with improving the game.

Which is where we came in.

sundays picture contained the following familiar face… Celts Dobbin, McInally, PChalmers, Buckley . Also McPherson, Gunn, Clark, MacKay, Black, Davies.

Now, today…

These two youngsters made a career in the game, both played for Scotland, one played for Celtic. Spookily, seen here in those colours….

Who are they ?