The season starts now.

Everything that has gone before must be left in the past, and the players, and management must focus on winning the remaining games between now and May.

It really is that simple.

Can we be confident that everyone is switched on ?

Manager Ronny Deila is confident of emerging as the top team in the city.

“To get through against Rangers and get into the final is going to be a huge thing for the whole club, but also for me of course.” 

Partick.

We’re playing Partick.

And I’m going to apply for a job at Celtic Park.

Press conference controller.

And I am going to just sit there, with a large soup ladle, and hit whoever is representing the club over the head with it every time he panders to the press and talks about an upcoming game with a first division side.

Here’s another phrase for those who do not have English as a first language to practice. ( Deila, Johansen, Sviatchenko, Collins Brown, etc…)

“I am here to talk about todays game. ”

Compare the two headlines on the back page of the Record, which gives you an idea of who is focusing more just now;

Aberdeen are up for it, Celtic seem distracted.

Today, we need a big game from the players, and we need to see that they are not going to let five in a row slip away, whatever is happening behind the scenes.

When he eventually stopped talking bout the cup game, and I mean eventually…the ramblings continued for quite some time, he did mention the league game, but had clearly forgotten the name of our opponents;

“Aberdeen have done very well and they deserve credit for that but having said that we are now ten games away from having five-in-a-row and that is a lot for us to motivate ourselves with

We have to take the positive things from the weekend and make a good performance tomorrow. If we keep winning games no-one can catch us.

“You want to be remembered. Five-in-a-row has not been done many times in history. This is a very good opportunity. You have to enjoy this. This is why we are training every day. This is why since you are 7-years-old you want to compete.

“I have played in games where you come into the last 10 games and there is nothing to play for – you are just playing games to get rid of the season. But when you are fighting for titles then you know if you win this game then everything is going to be OK and then the next one is an even bigger game. We have out ourselves in a very good situation and we have to enjoy that.”

He’s starting to scare me.

He has the look and sound of a man who wants to be somewhere else.

Theres no direction in his thoughts, no clarity in his actions and absolutely  no motivation in himself to win. He is talking with all the emotion of a man asking for a cup of coffee at a railway station cafe

And the men from the north can sense that.

That means the onus must fall on the players to prevent an end of season collapse.

All of the senior players must do their bit, whether its on the park or off it.

During this weeks podcast, Etims colleague Desi Mond said he expected Celtic to stick with the old guard and try to grind out a title.

Is it too much to ask them to step up ?

Or do we gamble on the hunger of the young team ?

It could be argued that we shouldn’t be in this situation, but that isn’t going to help one little bit.

What will help is if the players roll up their sleeves and decide that they don’t want to be remembered as the second team in Celtics history to stop a ten in a row.

So, bearing that in mind, Celtic , hopefully, will start with Gordon, Lustig, Mulgrew, Sviatchenko, Tierney, Brown, MacGregor, Roberts, Johansen, Commons and Griffiths.

You’ll note the inclusion of Kris Commons. With the pace of Roberts and work rate of Johansen we can allow ourselves a little luxury.

Commons is a big game player, and this is a big game.

At all times one of the holding midfielders must hold back. The central defence is slow, but the inclusion of Mulgrew ahead of Ambrose is to instill a bit of calmness, and also offer the diaganol out ball should the team come under pressure.

Which it will at some point.

Prediction ?

I’ll probably smoke my way to lung cancer and drink my way to cirrhosis before tatime, and pretend its because i enjoy it, but although a three or four goal victory is achievable, I’ve a horrible feeling that unless Celtic hit the ground running in this one, we could struggle and will emerge with a single goal victory, or at worse , a draw.

The Celtic family needs to get behind the team.

And please, remind the players of what they need to do today.

On a serious note, away from todays game for now before the palpitations start, you may have noticed a bit of chatter about the Resolution 12 issue.

For those wondering what it’s all about, one of the guys behind the move to bring one or two alleged SFA misdeameanours to task for the actions has clarified where things are at just now.

Resolution 12

Have a look, and have faith in the guys working on this. They know what they’re doing.

Meanwhile, in a land far far away, but easily accesible by sea and air, a small souvenir shop has attracted a little attention, and was featured in the Irish Post.

A BELFAST shop selling a range of controversial items to coincide with the centenary of the Easter Rising is drawing in tourists with its latest accessory.

The Fenians café and gift shop located on the Falls Road, is offering customers the chance to buy Union Jack-inspired toilet rolls at £2 each in store.

The shop also boasts a range of 1916 themed T-shirts, books, flags and key rings, but the toilet tissue is currently its best-selling item.

“The Union Jack toilet paper is a novelty item, it’s drawing in the tourists,” the shop’s manager told The Irish Post. “It’s our biggest seller, the local bars buy it to have for their customers on the weekends.

“It’s just a bit of comedy. The shop is packed with tourists coming in trying to find souvenirs.”

Fenians opened its doors in July 2015, and welcomes an average of 30 people a day to its store, with a few hundred customers visiting on busy weekends.

The shop’s manager adds that the café is also sells ‘Fenian Fries’.

But before entering the shop, customers will have first seen the shop sign outside, which has the letters IRA in the centre.

“We’re located in an area with a low footfall of passers-by, so we needed something to attract people to the shop,” he said. “The letters IRA stand for Irish and Republican Accessories. It’s a fun play on words to draw people in.

“The most controversial thing we have at the store is an IRA flag outside. We actually have similar ones for sale, which will probably be high in demand close to Easter.”

While all that is a bit of fun, there’s a much more sinister side to things, as reported in the Scotsman yesterday…

El Hadji Diouf: I was sent letter bomb while at Rangers

“I had a flat in Glasgow that I was only using for games, but I got sent a bomb in the post,” he said.

“After that, all the letters that were posted to my home were searched and the police had to have a meeting with me and my family.

“As a precaution, I left my wife and children in Manchester and travelled four hours each day to training.

“Apart from that I loved Glasgow. It was the pinnacle of footballing cities.

“Every city I played in was good. Liverpool was extraordinary, Leeds was great, Lens was wonderful, but the best atmosphere I ever played in was in Glasgow.

“When I left Glasgow, half of the city wanted to cut my head off!”

“No he fucking wasn’t “, says Police Scotland spokesman

The Scottish police force have said there are no reports of the incident and have “no knowledge” of Diouf’s claims that his letters were searched from that point forward.

Diouf is hoping to enter a career in politics and made the remark to a Senegalese newspaper.

When you consider some of the rats involved in that profession, it appears he has found his calling in life.

Paul 1888 scooped yesterdays caption competition..

And today, have we found the perfect woman ?