Celtic Diary Tuesday February 23: Trouble at T’Mill ?

I’ve worked out why the crowds at Celti Park appear to be less than the official attendance figures. It’s not that difficult actually, and kind of obvious when you think about it.

We arrived in glasgow round bout midday on Saturday, and proceeded to the bowling club on London road to settle up the fares and tiket money. Its what we normally do.

Then we headed out toward the ground, as we normally do.

A sudden downpour forced us to take refuge in the bar before the traffic lights on the opposite side of the road. Opposite where the wee dairy used to be. Oddly enough, there was a downpour in there as well as they still haven’t fixed the roof, which is still leaking, the wallpaper is still peeling, and you have to hand it to them for giving the licensing industry the new concept of eighteenth century drinking den, complete with all the dampness and  fungal trimmings.

In keeping with the new “Retro” industry, I think supporters of a certain vintage can sit awhile, and remember the days of rickets, tubercolosis and omnipresent asthma with a better than average chance of experiencing them all over again.

From there we crossed the road, where there was another bar which served food and had a more modern interior, feturing electric lights and heating, and as we sat chatting it wasn a bit of a shock when someone among our number pointed out it was a quarter to four.

Now, whilst its true we cannot exactly be entirely absolved of blame for not putting in the effort to walk the last hundred yards or so of a two hundred and fifty mile journey, I feel the other patrons of the bar are at least partially to blame.

Normally on matchday, with around fifteen minutes to kick off, there is a mass exodus from the pub. This did not happen on saturday, and thats why the ground looked empty.

Noticing the score at half time was 0-0, and that it was still raining, and I had a burger and chips and a beer in front of me, it became apparent that i wasn’t going to walk the final mile.

Unforgivable behaviour.

Not as unforgivable as putting tomato ketchup all over my dinner -why do people do that without asking, its not like you can take it back off if you don’t want it ?-but unforgivable nonetheless.

Anyway, Celtic relaxed in the second half, and came away 3-0 winners. Leigh Griffiths is now on 32 goals for the season, and Gary Mackay Steven, having given him a fair enough head start , is doing his best to catch up.

The six point lead has allowed those of us who were a little worried about securing title number five in the great run can now ease off a bit.

I would have written about this in Sunday’s or Monday’s diary’s, but on sunday my leg and hip were playing up, due to sitting down for about fourteen hours on Saturday, and Monday morning i had to go over to Chester. So apologies for the Diary not appearing, but i’ll do two the next time I go up.

The game did allow for the combined debut of the Allan Christie Roberts axis in midfield, which did -i’m told-make a difference to the attitude of the team.

Manager Ronny Deila thought so as well.

….

….we also had subs that came on who were lively and that’s a positive thing. They were very positive and had energy. They looked like they wanted to show themselves and I’d expect that when you play at Celtic Park.

They played with confidence and worked hard. That’s the combination I’m looking for. They have skills that can open defences and they take people on so that’s positive.

I could have put them on at half-time but maybe we wouldn’t have gone on to win, it’s hard to say. 

In the first-half we didn’t create enough and had too many sideways passes. We were too slow but the second-half was more direct and we got more movements.

Defensively we were good. They had a set-play chance and a one-on-one with the goalkeeper. That was a good save but outside that they didn’t have anything.

If we win games the others have to cope with that. If they do that, it’ll be tough all the way but we can’t do anything about that. We just have to do everything we can to get three points.

Careful now , Ronny. Taling like that you might have to stay beyond the summer…

Still, at least the win has stopped people asking those difficult and awkward questions, such as those in the media harping on about his future, and his his assistant manager  wondering what these yellow things are for.

Onwards and upwards, we hope, with a visit to Hamilton on Friday night, and a chance to go nine clear at the top, and make Aberdeen a little less convinced that they are a serious challenger.

Away from matters on the field, and the big story is that winger James Forrest has turned down the contract offer put in front of him.

He said;

Er, I can’t actually find what he said.

His agent said;

Er, nope, no idea.

You’d think if that were the case, one or the other would have spoken out.

However, Ronny Deila has given us his tuppence worth, which , coincidentally, was roughly the size of the contract on offer.

“We made him a very good offer, We offered him a contract and he has turned it down. I am disappointed on a personal level because we want to keep all of our good players at the club.

“But it has been made clear that he does not want to sign it. It was a good deal, a very good deal, that the club offered him and I don’t think that there could be any complaints on his part about it. It was a solid offer from the club.

“He has told us that he wishes to see what his other options are. He wants to know what else there is. It is disappointing but I think that will be it from us. I cannot see that we will go back to him with another improved deal because to my mind it was a very good offer that the club put to him.”

Forrest is in an awkward situation here. He can’t go running to the press, and complain about the offer, or even tell us if he turned it down.

From several sources, and I mean several, we are hearing he didn’t turn it down at all.

In the above quote, Deila claims he wants to keep all of the good players at the club. It doesn’t appear to me, on the face of it, that this is the case.

I don’t know the terms of the contract. So its not for me to say whether it is a good or a bad offer.

But its a little disconcerting that the player has turned it down, and yet we’ve not heard his side of the story.

My own thoughts, and these are based on the way Celtic treat their players, for example Ledley, who was called in from training to be sold, or Hooper, who wanted to stay, but wasn’t given the money he wanted, it appears that Celtic have decided that forrest will be the next player to swell the coffers.

In the past, the diary has made mention of the Conservative leanings of the board. If, and again, I may be wrong, Forrest has been offered a contract in the knowledge, or expectation, he won’t accept it, this is tantamount to constructive dismissal in the real world, a policy that one or two on the board will be familiar with, along with not paying a living wage, waiting two years to appeal any workplace issues, and sending kids up chimneys to earn their keep.

Has Deila been told  someone has to go, and as he wants to keep johansen, Biton shows no sign of leaving and no-one wants anyone else, forrest is the fall guy ?

Its all speculation of course, but when there is no information from club and player, just a short message from the club, then doubts start to creep in.

Forrest gets a lot of stick from fans, as did McGeady, a similar player, before him. Faced with making the difficult pass at the end of a move, he has a harder job than others who can simply play the ball sidieways-which they do with an exasperating frequency.

Its easy to criticise, but the lad never hides. He is always, if not succeeding, at least trying to create something, and in Europe his pace is a vital outball, if used correctly.

His contract, a little unusually, is up in December. Is the current panic because someone has only just noticed this, and knows he’ll get his arse kicked of the player leaves for nothing next winter ?

Theres too many questions, and not enough answers.

Deila might want to be careful here, as it seems the dissent in the dressing room is catching on, and becoming public…Scott allan, for instance, has finally spoken out…

 “I don’t want to be here and just make appearances off the bench. I want to get on from the start and I’m working hard to do that.”

Maybe take a pay cut ?

You’ll be the first name on Lawwells team sheet every week.

It looks like the Great Exodus is about to begin. Emilio Izaguirre, Efe Ambrose, Anthony Stokes, Kris Commons, Charlie Mulgrew and maybe James Forrest.

All internationals. All experienced.

Too much ? Surely it would be better to do this a bit at a time ?

Change can be a good thing. It can revitalise a club, and it can be inspiring.

But something isn’t sitting right at the moment, and I’ve a horrible feeling that although there is undoubted promise within the squad, we are going to need some of those players named to help bring it through.

There will be no-one left to look up to.

Ach, time for a laugh.

and you can provide it.

With todays caption competition, an early audition for the Celtic Park Cheerleaders