Celtic Diary Saturday December 5: Game Off, Stokes Forced To Sit In Stand

Following a pitch inspection this morning, referee Craig Thomson decided he didn’t fancy running around in this weather , and called tis afternoons clash with Hamilton off.

Now he, like everyone else will face pressure from the wife to go and get “christmas sorted “, condemning us to an afternoon of misery.

The official site added;

A new date for the fixture will be announced in due course. 

ALL tickets for today’s game against Hamilton Accies, including the free tickets distributed to season ticket holders, will be valid for the re-arranged home Premiership fixture against Hamilton. 

All activity planned for Celtic Park today, including the Scott Brown book signing at the Superstore, is also postponed. The signing session will be rearranged for another date, to be announced on the official Celtic website.

Today’s scheduled Celtic FC Foundation bucket collection has now been re-arranged for the home game against Motherwell on December 19. Collection volunteers are being contacted by Foundation staff to notify them of the new arrangements. 

It won’t just be about the pitch, but also about travelling conditions, which are looking a little severe with high winds and rain ,

The Lennon CSC, of course, is not put off by such trivialities, as shown here where a couple of guys made an early start yesterday.

 However, they are now on their way back, having made it as far as the paper shop on the corner.

Ironically, the name given to the storm currently raging up north is Desmond-they do it alphabetically throughout the year, alternating between male and female names, the next one will be a girls name beginning with E- and isn’t it ironic that the first time anything with that name is anywhere near the ground, supporters are told not to come.

 Wheres my tinfoil hat ?

Whilst deep down most of us are probably secretly glad we won’t have to sit through the weather this afternoon, Scott allan will probably be a little more disappointed than that. He may well have broken into the team today, playing in front of Nir Biton and Stefan Johansen, and potentially, just like Keiran Tierney, made a claim for a regular slot.

 Manager Ronny Deila said;

“Scott has been very good from day one. It’s always tough to come in from a Championship club, up to the best team in Scotland.

“It takes time to adapt to it and the one word which is important is patience, and he has been unbelievably patient.

“He has worked hard every day, tried to learn, tried to understand things and now in the recent games he has come on and made a difference.

“That’s what I tell all of the players as well – show me in training every day, show me when you get time on the pitch that you’re here to do something, and that you deserve to play.

“And those players will get their rewards in the end. I think he is ready, so it’s a possibility.”  

 “I think you can see that progress, I’ve seen it in training, it starts there and he’s very fit. He is very aware all of the time and wanting to learn and he’s had a couple of very good games now.” 

And that pass to Leigh Griffiths in the Ajax game showed he is capable of something that no-one else is at Celtic these days…

 “I don’t think anybody in the stadium saw that pass before he made it, so that was a magic moment in my opinion. It was a high-quality pass.”  

The player certainly sounds like he thinks he’s ready;

 “I obviously got a setback with a six-week injury but I have come back and worked hard on the training pitch. We have a few injuries so there are a few spaces available so given the chance I just need to try to make it my own.

“I’m feeling good fitness-wise considering I haven’t played much. The intensity in training gives you a good fitness level.

“I think now I’m ready, if the gaffer wants to give me the chance I will do my best and hopefully put on a show for the fans and repay him.” 

“When I came here I knew defensively I would need to get back and help out, which I have tried to add to my game, and have a good work ethic when we lose the ball,” 

If “We ” lose the ball?

Would it be cruel to remind him that it was him who lost the possession that lead to Ajax clinching a winner….?

“ Getting caught on the edge of the box wasn’t ideal but you need to bounce back from things like that. It was a learning curve for me and I won’t make that mistake again. ” 

Fair enough.

So, Scott Allan could become the next youngster to break into the side, but what about the others in the Development squad, who faced Chelsea last night in the Premier League cup.

A YOUNG Celtic Development Squad were beaten 5-0 by a polished and well-drilled Chelsea side in the Premier League International Cup at the EBB Stadium in Aldershot.

An unforgiving opening 15 minutes of quick passing and inventive movement from the home team left the Hoops with a mountain to climb as they conceded three without reply before Kasey Palmer made it 4-0 just after 22 minutes with a well-struck free-kick.

The margin could have been greater in the first-half were it not for a string of fine saves from Leo Fasan in the Celtic goal but there was little he could have done for each of Chelsea’s strikes.

The Bhoys put in an improved showing in the second-half and managed to keep their hosts largely at bay, with Chelsea midfielder Charlie Colkett also seeing red for two poor challenges late on but they failed to find a way through the Blues rearguard before a late penalty from Reece Miller rubbed salt into the wounds.

The Celts will now look to get back to winning ways with next week’s game against Liverpool.

Tommy McIntyre made five changes to his team for the match with Tyler Blackett, Conor McManus, Joe Thomson, Innes Murray and Nadir Ciftci dropping out from Tuesday’s 1-0 win over St Johnstone in favour of Dan Higgins, Aidan McIlduff, Aidan Nesbitt, Theo Archibald and Calvin Miller.

The Bhoys were in a good run of form going into the match and were undefeated in the league but they were undone twice inside five minutes as the hosts’ slick passing and high tempo cut the Hoops backline open.  

Same old story, the defence struggles against quality, which leads me to think that whoever is in charge of coaching defenders, which used to be Danny McGrain, is doing something fundamentally wrong.

Theres certainly a pattern, and maybe its time to deal with this issue.

Speaking of patterns…

Celtic took off Boerrigter at half-time after the Dutchman went down under a challenge in midfield before the interval.. 

Whoever was behind the scouting and signing of this guy should be told there is no longer a position for him. When the fee and wages are added up it can only be said that this deal has turned out to be the worst in the history of the club, and whats more, given the previous injury record of the Dutchman it was entirely avoidable.

Elsewhere, in demand, or not in demand, depending who you believe Second Rangers manager Mark Warburton has spoken of a heart to heart chat he had with owner Dave King;

The Anthony Stokes twitter controversy rumbled on, with manager Ronny Deila claiming it wasn’t just the tweet that lead to the players suspension, which makes sense. Stokes has had his problems, and maybe now the matter can be put to bed. Stokes has a future at Celtic, if he applies himself, according to the manager, but probably not as a player.

With every man and his dog offering their opinion on the issue, perhaps it’s worth noting the only one who has said anything sensible is John Hughes, the Inverness boss;

Elsewhere, there was anger from locals as the Forth Road Bridge was closed when they found out it was broken, causing traffic chaos;

And finally, can we help someone out who has been doing a great service of late ?

James Doleman, who has provided information from the numerous court cases involving a club from Ibrox needs a few quid to allow him to continue this work. If you can help, donate here;

Jame doleman fund

That way we’ll know what really happens, because, lets be honest, you wouldn’t trust the MSM , would you ?

The missing word was ecstasy in yesterdays little quiz, which presumably refers to the illegal drug, as opposed to something he maybe did in his spare time.

Blochain Star face AS Airdrie today, but the kick off has been delayed, not because of the weather, but for something a little more unusual.

What ?

Oh , by the way, the world of science has declared that a solitary gene that is completely different in humans and chimpanzees may explain why one species can talk, and the other cannot.

However, monkeys can still give a rousing rendition of Follow Follow when they get together.