Celtic Diary Wednesday December 23: Keeping It in Perspective

Before we start, yes, a few posts have been removed.

Then I thought, fuck this, i’m not coming in from work and spending time deciding who is upsetting who, and should I allow this one, or that one. The rest of the Etims crew are probably the same.

So its dead simple.

Stop calling each other names, this is a grown up site, and start behaving like grown ups.

If you can’t play nice you won’t be allowed to play at all.

Actually , I was out visiting relatives last night, and amidst all the doom and gloom associated with this time of year, I’ve a wee uplifting story to tell. My wee nieces wee daughter was out doing her christmas shopping the other day with her dad, and saw a homeless lady sitting in the street.

Her Dad, lets call him John, because thats his name, explained that through no fault of her own, the lady had fallen on hard times, and there but for the grace of god, go all of us.

Upset at the thought that the lady had nothing , no-one and nowhere to go, she persuaded her dad to buy some crisps, a drink and a couple of other things which she humbly presented to the lady, and received gracious thanks.

When I went to see them last night, the wee lass went to get her piggy bank and asked me if I had some change I could give her as she was collecting for the Salvation Army.

You know something, I was so happy to see that there are still kids out there who get the true meaning of christmas, and are thinking of those less well off instead of themselves.

It made me feel a little better about things. Well done Ellie, we’re proud of you.

So did this;

CELTIC FC Foundation are completely overwhelmed and exceptionally proud to confirm the wonderful success of our 2015 Christmas Appeal.

A remarkable total of over £110,000 has been raised in less than two months through the collective effort of so many people including supporters, the Club, players, Directors, Trustees, partners, sponsors and funders.

As well as direct donations, we held four key fundraising initiatives this year:

– Our inaugural Celtic Sleep Out on Saturday, November 14.
– The Ghirls for Good Ladies Lunch on Saturday, December 12.
– Our annual bucket collection on Saturday, December 19.
– An eBay Christmas Appeal auction.

The backing we received in every area has been just magnificent. 

Thanks to your incredible support, in honour of our founding fathers, we have now assisted a total of 250 local families who are faced with poverty and hardship. Santa will now visit those children and keep the magic alive. They will enjoy the kind of Christmas most of us take for granted. 

The money has been spread amongst several charities and individuals, full details here..Celtic charity News  and no doubt the papers and the tv will be praising the foundation and the support for all their efforts.

Peter Lawwell even came out from protective custody  to add;

 “Celtic FC Foundation’s Christmas Appeal resonates so closely with the origins of our Club, and supporters should be rightly proud of their magnificent efforts.

“It’s wonderful to see so many individuals and groups coming together to help those who are struggling this Christmas time.

“That unique sense of unity and purpose is extraordinary and supporters should never underestimate the difference they have made.” 

Shall we keep with a nice christmassy theme ?

Everyone still feeling pleasantly disposed towards one another ?

Good, then we’ll continue…

Whats that christmas song, you know-“there won’t be snow in Africa this christmas” ? Well, there won’t be any food, cures for endemic diseases or peace either, but I’m sure it’s the lack of snow thats getting them down.

Thats my point, its all about perspective.

Like the homeless lady mentioned above, christmas is a time for being thankful for what you have, and not rueing what you don’t.

Which reminds me, of someone else having a particularly difficult time this  christmas, and I wonder if you could offer some thoughts and prayers for her, as she attempts to muddle through a problem which is becoming all too commonplace these days

Poor Esther. My heart goes out to her, as I can’t reach her with my boot.

Perspective. Lets keep things in perspective, like  this on line petition, apparently set up by a Celtic fan, calling for the removal of Ronny Deila, which is now being dealt with by internal security.

And Scott Brown had a few words to say as well.

“It’s very harsh. We are top of the league, we are a point clear of Aberdeen, who are having a good season.

“We are in both cups and yeah, we were disappointed with Europe but there is nothing we can do about that.

“We just have to concentrate on the three tournaments that we are in.

“We know we aren’t playing the best but you go through patches like this and the fans’ support is vital.

“They are brilliant, they support us week in, week out home and away. They give us 100 per cent and we give the same on the park.

“It just didn’t happen the other day against Motherwell. 

But we will bounce back from that and this is when you see what a team is all about.

“You use your squad, you use your players and the manager will do that wisely.

“He will get the best out of the bunch of lads that is there just now.” 

Manager Deila chipped in as well, and he seemed very rational about it;

“I follow football all the time and I have seen this before. There are always ups, very high and very low, it’s never something in between. But if you see the overall situation when you are leading the league and into everything. I cannot understand everything is so unbelievably bad.

“It’s about getting clicks on the internet and it’s about selling newspapers, because it is unbelievable. 

“It just shows how crazy it is because there is so much emotion, so much focus around football nowadays.

“There are hundreds of media and everybody needs a story and everybody gets caught into this and it affects everything.

“It affects the players, it affects the club and we need to stay calm inside. That is the most important thing. We need to be together and that’s what I feel. I feel united with the players and with the staff and the people in the club.

“Yes we have challenges that we need to do better but when we stay united and are going forward then we can do it.

“We have not played well in the last two games but every team goes through periods like this. You have to see the whole picture. We hadn’t lost in the league since September, now we have to get back on track and we have been very good at bouncing back from a bad result in the past.”  

Welcome to Glasgow.

Where turning a drama into a crisis into a catastrophe is a national pastime.

Keep it in perspective.

Mind you, he’s right about the media. They do need their stories.

Here at Etims if we haven’t got any , we just make some up. Same with our opinions. They aren’t worth any more than anyone elses, and we don’t pretend otherwise.

But at last we’re honest about it. The red tops and the radio still like to pretend they are telling the truth, and that they have opinions that count.

As does the Irish Post, which noting that everything else that can be criticised about the club has been criticised,  found an unusual stick to beat us with;

THANKFULLY, Celtic’s official Christmas advert for their merchandise superstore hasn’t made it to terrestrial television this festive season.

Instead it can be seen on the club’s own internet channel Celtic TV and, quite frankly, we’re glad that’s as far as it’s gone, because it’s certainly no Coca-Cola advert.

On the other hand, it’s so bad it’s actually quite amusing, and thanks to YouTube you can judge it for yourself. Have a look at Celtic captain Scott Brown’s acting skills in the video above.

Yes, they do need their stories. We hear at least three papers are going to run with another exclusive, as stories circulate that a prominent Celtic player didn’t leave his bins out for collection the other day, and will now have to wait for the New Year for it to be taken.

And finally, can I just mention Jimmy Hill, the tv pundit who passed away this week. He was a man who wasn’t afraid to speak his mind. As a player, a manager and latterly a television expert, he may well have upset a few people, even featuring in a popular ditty amongst the Tartan Army, where they completely misjudged him, claiming he was aloof.

He was anything but, and leaves behind a remarkable legacy, probably having had more influence on the game than any other individual.:

• Born in Balham, London, on 22 July 1928
• Played as a forward for Brentford and Fulham
• As chairman of Professional Footballers’ Association led the campaign to abolish the maximum wage, which was scrapped in January 1961
• Became Coventry City manager, leading the club to two promotions before leaving for broadcast work with ITV in 1967
• Presented Match of the Day for 16 years from 1973
• Returned to Coventry as managing director in 1975, later becoming chairman
• Made Highfield Road the first all-seater football stadium in the UK
• Credited with introducing three points for a win instead of two   

He’ll be laid to rest at the family plot on Easter Island .

We haven’t had a caption competition for a while, so here we go..

I’m off to get the wife a present now, and after several years of making an arse of it, i just asked her what she wanted.

After a moment or two, she said “nothing really ”

“Fair enough”, I said “you might as well open it now ”