No idea where the first one went. I was just about to publish and off it popped.
So you’ll have to take my word for it that it was the best ever.
Celtic beat Partick 2-1 on Saturday. The result moves the club closer to that fifth consecutive title, and although aberdeen kept pace with a 2-1 win of their own, thats one less game they have to overhaul the hoops.
Nine games to go now, and if we all stick together, we should be okay.
Leigh Griffiths opened the scoring just before half time, which perhaps settled a few nerves, taking his tally to thirty five for the season, and showing that he’s still hungry.
Calum MacGregor added the second just after half time, which seemed to be enough to make the game safe, until referee Stephen finnie rememebred he hadn’t given Partick their penalty yet, and when a clumsy Erik Svaitchenko sort of tried to pull back Steven Lawless, there was no hesitation from Finnie, although he didn’t send the big Dane off, which means he will be sitting by himself in the lodge from now on, and certainly has no chance of refereeing the cup semi final.
This was Particks first penalty kick in 69 games, and the first they have scored since February 2014. alan Archibald is currently undergoing counselling to help him deal with the shock;
“Shocked, stunned. I was very surprised to see the penalty, we haven’t had one in a year and a half.”
If Partick make the top six, there’s every chance he’ll see his side awarded at least one more before the end of the season.
Calum MacGregor , now all grown up since he moved back home, spoke about how bad he felt after his recent drink drive conviction, and how the manager helped him through it;
“I had some dark days after it, “I was so disappointed in myself.
“It was a hard thing to take and I needed to try and get my head around it. It was an awful time.
“But while I thought that might be it for me in terms of my Celtic career, the manager came and out an arm around me and told me that I had to have a think and then try to lift myself.
“He told me it was stupid but that the most important thing I take out of it is a lesson.
“I am so grateful that I have been handed another chance and I am desperate to take it.”
We all make mistakes, but this particular case is indicative of the lack of guidance given to youngsters at Celtic in the matter of how to behave in a manner befitting a menber of the team when he’s off the park.
Someone should maybe have a think about creating a full time position within the club helping these youngsters , thrust suddenly into the limelight, cope with the trials and tribulations of being in the old goldfish bowl.
Or , of course, just helping them to grow up.
The Partcik game was kind of a microcosm of the season. Cruising comfortably, expectied to win, and then all of a sudden it became a little nervy.
There will be many more penalties and , er, controversial decisions during this run in. Celtic need to make more of the chances in front of goal. Saturday not only saw a return to centre back of Charlie mulgrew, instead of using him as a draw back, and things did sem a little calmer in our own half.
Kris commons also came back into the side, as Deila looks to have decided to put his faith in the old heads to get us over the finishing line.
However, we need to dithch this policy of shooitng straight at the keeper , when combined with plan b, which is to hit it as far away as humanly pssible from him, is resulting in an awful lot of chances going a-begging.
Ach, if we keep the heid and stick together we’ll be fine.
Theres an old Arab proverb which kind of sums this season up for me, and maybe also explains a lot of things…
but its down to how you deal with the rain….
You’ll have to forgive me for the brevity if this second Diary, as time is now more of a problem than when i started the first one, which appears to have been seized by one of those societies showing people how to write witty , informative and entertaining blogs.
Aye, okay.
Todays caption competition …
and finally, Happy birthday to john Clark, enjoy the cake…
Oh, we haven’t done a book review for a while, so keep an eye out for our summary of this potential classic…
Caption: the search goes on for the fabled £30M warchest
D.King gets ready to chain himself into a wooden box submarine prototype as he trys to find where he planked the Warchest .
How come it says “Houdini” on that photo of Billy Bremner?
Caption Police Scotland divers search Ally McCoists illegal slipway on the Clyde as the hunt for the fabled Warchest goes on…
Avery good blog, hoping a lot of the ref`s(?)will be sitting cracking their own knuckles before the end of the season. Happy Birthday to John Clark.
Caption, the only gers support who says ‘they are a new club’ now learns his fate…
Talking about ditching policies, how about ditching the policy of bringing Richards on….at any time, in any match……he is mince, add him to the list of “strikers” we have bought
Other than that, good result and I agree re Big Charlie
Caption: A young Alan Brazil decides to throw himself into the drink……..and not for the last time!
Caption: The moment Houdini realises that not even he can escape the SS sevco.
Sunk then, sunk now and sunk forever.
🙂
they brought Richards on to play out wide Left a little bit like how they used to use Samaras (as a wide Target-man). I honestly didn’t expect it to come off. Richards does not seem to have the reactions required to play at this point in the season. I will reserve judgement until after pre-season (hopefully he will get game time).
caption is that last weeks seance were the sons of strooth asked houdini how to escape liquidation
Still baffled by both the Carlton Cole and Kazim-Richards signing. Both have terrible goal records going back a decade.
Apparently our recruitment team have no heard of “form” or “statistics”? Otherwise we wouldn’t have signed Pukki, Balde, Miku, Lassad, the two previously mentioned and others to boot.
Otherwise a good result on Saturday. Softest penalty I’ve seen against Celtic in a long time. Which speaks for itself.
Caption Entry:
A one-time giant pillar of entertainment & showmanship sinks without trace, having tragically failed in the illusion of cheating death….
On an unrelated note – heres a picture of Houdini on a boat or something…
Caption: Hull find a way to get rid of Jimmy Bullard for good!
Caption: lee grifiths does a houdini in the box yet again, saves the sinking ship on the watery partik pitch
Caption:
A young Archie Macpherson starts to have doubts about his colleagues insistence that he take part in the “standard initiation ceremony” for new BBC journalists…
Caption; Press gang deal with Warburton after record semi-final defeat
At last, for the sake of music lovers everywhere, people decide what to do with Mick Hucknall and Simply Red
I’m holding back the tears 😉
Something got me started 🙂
Caption…”New Club…New Anthem….Let’s hear it for ‘Simply the Vest'”
Hail Hail
Sue
brilliant, except simply the semmit doesnt rhyme!
what difference Charlie Mulgrew made on saturday…for the first time in a long time we looked settled at the back and Mulgrew calm on the ball and coming forward to help start our attacks…..this is what big Virgil did and we have missed that but Mulgrew for me controlled the game and he should play there for the rest of the season….compare him with Boyata whlo is a total disaster with no composure or talent ….it makes all the difference to our whole team……every game Boyata plays we are shocking at the back and this affects the whole team…….Boyata should never play another game for us again and he should be the first player sold in june
ewanghoy; You’re spot on there bhoy. I’ve held back from a lot of this Ronnie stuff for a long while in the hope that he would start to get the team to gell and it looked like it’s starting to happen with the goals on Saturday; until the Hun with a whistle did his bit, however, one big mistake Ronnie did make on Saturday was to play Commons and Biton, Biton looked like he couldn’t give a toss and should have been taken off at halftime at the latest. Commons, jf he was trying, and that’s a big if, should have never been put on the field, he should have played his last game for Celtic(I was a big supporter of Commons until this last 12/18 months )he’s depriving good young players of an opportunity to show what they can do. Hail. Hail.
caption
overzealous exhibitionists prepare to break the world record for spectators watching a pre war head job by a pre dated emmanuelle on a curly undeserving twat
should be voyeurs
Caption:A ship load of Aberdeen fans have stopped the vessel from leaving Port until the 10p piece that fell overboard, is reunited with it’s owner.
They find that it actually hit the owners head on the way down as he scrambled to get it and bounced into warbo’s warchest
Ralph the captain of our beloved ship, prepares to search for the legendary lost post believed to be in the pocket of the equally lost (AND CONFUSED) Monti
Ewan and Gerald,
Astute observations on the game, although I do not agree entirely with all of what you say. Firstly, I do not think that the defence looked solid. High balls i to the penalty area still cause panic. The defensive coaches really need to get on top of this. There seems to be uncertainty amongst the defenders on their roles….with the exception of Tierney who does the work of at least one other defender. Gordon remains rooted to his line when he should be calling out and going for the ball. Does he not like physical contact? If this does not get sorted we could lose or draw games unnecessarily.
I do agree that both holding mids were ineffectual….haven’t used word for a while! Let me use it again….ineffectual! What has happened to Brown? He has lost at least ayard in pace, and can even be brushed off the ball. Opposition players who used to stand off him now believe they have a chance to win the ball from him. Is it his recent injury or does he not give as much for the cause? Or, perish the thought, has he turned that last corner in his career that happens to everyone? I hope not.
We were back to 4231 in this game, whereas we really played 433 against the Ton. Chances were created(and missed) butthe attack did not flow as it did against Morton. Coincidence? I think not!
At 2-0 the manager should have closed the game down by throttling the midfield….something he did in the last 5-10 minutes. Still the fact that he belatedly saw this as an option is progress, I suppose.
All in all, a reasonable performance, not a great one, and one that should be seen as a plus for the manager. However, why can I not shake the feeling that we are always one bad decision away from dropping points? Simply, because we are
Rebus(back because I was not missed!)
Oh look the long term injured are now back and the team is finding a bit of form coincidence mammy?
Naw son just common sense.
jesus charlie, we beat a lower league team at home in the cup and beat the mighty partick thistle 2-1 there, hardly can be classed as finding a bit of form… we will see how things go up to the 17th of april
Charlie,
I admire how you defend your position, but surely you must see that current performances have been consistently below where they could or should be? The manager has been in charge now for approaching two seasons. Do you see signs of an improved team? Do you see the makings of a team that could not only qualify for the CL but hold its own there? We are scraping results against teams that are nowhere near moderate European levels. Sure we have had injuries but we have a bigger and better player pool than any other club in Scotland, we should be able to weather this easily. Now, I agree that it is not all the manager’s fault because he has been saddled with strange purchases like Cole and CZR. There are other areas of the club that need fixed, but the formation that the manager selects, his non variation of that, and his use of subs are all his responsibilities. If he is doing well, why did he stop the Ronnie Roar…ludricous that it was!
Rebus
No I see the signs of a team depleted by the loss of 2 key men in the Summer and injuries to several others that have caused the Manager no end of headaches.
What little quality we have has to perform otherwise we become a very average side indeed.
This is a direct result of our signing policy not the result of poor management.
I forecast we would win the League with a lesser margin this season due to the fact we were weakened in the summer and Aberdeen added.
Let’s see what happens eh.
What has losing denayer and vvd got to do with not being able to score enough goals v Motherwell. Kilmarnock. Hamilton. Ross county etc etc
LConceding goals has been the issue this season not scoring them.
Charlie,
I see I shall never change your mind. Let us agree to disagree for you will not alter my opinion.
The Motherwell result was the clincher for me. To lose to them at home had nothing to do with who we recruited versus who they recruited; nor who was injured.
Still, the only way that I shall learn is if someone opposes my views with counter arguements.
Have a good evening,
Rebus
Charlie S,
Deila is shit, it’s as simple as that!
He’s a fuckin poor man’s Tony Mowbray.
You talk about having experienced players back, but he dropped Kris Commons ( at the time our most creative and most potent goal threat) for the Maribor home game.
A fatal mistake that cost the club.
He dropped Commons because he doesn’t work hard enough when not in possession.
It’s that simple.
Utter shite!
Lazy slow and as a result unable/unwilling to close men down.
More shite,keep squeezing it out!
32 goals from an attacking midfield position, Scotland and Celtic’s player of the year, prior to Deila taking the job.
What did Deila do, play inge Berget and drop Commons? Fucking nonsense.
I had a small chat with Logan Bailly who happened to be on my flight to Edinburgh on Friday as I went on a family trip to Glasgow. Much to my surprise he was also on my flight back to Belgium on Monday. He spoke about the dissapointing quality of the league and that he would probably be on the bench against Partick “as always”. The earliest flight back to Edinburgh would be today or on Wednesday. Anyone know if he would be missing training sessions? Along with the Cole and Mc Gregor situation something just doesn’t seem right…
ronny is definitely the pressure….he is now coming to Dunoon for his nights out….
Ewan,
What does he do while he is there. We should be told. Has he been seen doing the 4231 at a nightclub?
Rebus
he kept himself to himself and the bouncers wouldnt let anyone near him…. wouldnt even pose for photos
feeling the pressure
hes barred from everywhere else………….
Rebus
Do I detect a tune change from yourself ? Whilst always supporting the team and what they stand for I’d reached frustration overload since Thistle on Boxing Day so the Diary is a great outlet for this. I can also read things about the game that I never noticed and this informs me for the next game. We discussed Boyata before and as others have said, we were much better without him. Hindsight is great because I felt like taking Mulgrew a square go after Dundee.yet he id make a difference back there
How is the Rioja these days ? Easter Sunday seems so far away !
against Dundee Mulgrew played midfield where he did nothing but when he plays in defence he is a much better player…..when he won player of the year that was when he was playing center defence
Steve,
I am not sure what you mean. If you mean my comment about the performance vs Thistle being an improvement and that is a plus for the manager, then I am trying to be fair to him. I really wanted him to succeed because I think the club needed dragged into the 21st century on some aspects. I suppose it is possible that he may improve to an acceptable level but I see little sign of it. Did Ralph not say that he talked to Strachan and the latter turned the job down as a replacement until the end of the season? That shows that the Board want rid of him but they have not come up with a viable alternative. I have said that if he is still in charge after the end of the season, I shall not throw my money at the club. However, I am not sure I can do this. I love the club and enjoy the rock and roll ride that is associated with supporting them. I just hope that the Board will make the correct decision at the end of the season and save me from having to make a choice.
Another way to look at this is that it took years for him to get success at Stromgodset, and then he left them. If he is permitted to learn the job at Celtic and does achieve success, then he will be off to the bright lights of England. We are better than a training ground for coaches that are slow learners.
On Boyata, I am torn. I do not think he should be written off just yet. He has not played a lot of games in his career in total so he is still learning. Trouble with bringing players like him on is that there is such pressure on the first team to get results and we are squeeking them out at the moment.
Rebus
I know that ewanbhoy and he did a useful turn at left back as well but what was RD thinking he could or would do in midfield that Christie or Allan couldn’t. It couldn’t have been for dig because he wasn’t near enough anyone to do this. It wasn’t for passing because he was rarely in space or even showing for it. Still, the idea of a team is that you help someone out that is n’t playing well. They couldn’t because they were all at it.
Lenny played Mulgrew in Midfield as has Strachan.
Whilst I maintain he’s best in as the left sided CB he can still do a job in several areas at a push.
Hence why he is more important to hand onto than say a Boyata or Forrest ie 2 one trick ponies.
hang’
Yyyaaaawwwwnnnnn
Charlie Mulgrew was awarded player of the year, playing as a central defender, he can pass the ball into midfield with accuracy and composure, this is where he should be deployed.
You could always play Ambrose in midfield, that should calm everyone’s nerves for the run in.
African nations cup winner you know, balloon D’or!
Ambrose has played in there before and done just fine.
Deila may well be unaware of the fact he can though you would have thought he would have been informed on arrival?
Pace,strength,strong in the air and can pick a pass.
HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA LOL
Charlie,
I agree Mulgrew’s best position is at CB. What has alarmed me over the last two games is the performance of Chenko. He can be beaten for pace but I think he is a smart player. I would not count the penalty against him……soft as they come. Events like that show up the inconsistency in reffing. Clashes like that happen at every corner or free kick into the box. Calling one and not the others shows the ref up in a bad light but we shall never know if these issues are discussed.
Rebus
to change the subject a wee bit bhoys,
jinky passed away years ago yesterday, you will always be in our heart and souls, you will always be the greatest celt ever,
RIP jinky, we miss you and will forever love you
jimmy johnstone a celtic legend.
god bless
10 years ago, stupid computer
Torrancetim,
God bless wee Jinky, never seen the man play, mores the pity.
R.I.P. Jinky
Monti,
You missed something. He had it all…even saw him head a clearance off his own line, against Red Star(I think???)
Anyway, it was the match in which Jock said that if we won with a comfortable goal margin, Jimmy would not have to fly out for the second leg.
But, of course, after the game he told Jimmy that the Red Star manager was so impressed that he wanted his fans to see Jimmy!
Rebus
yeah rip jinky…..a true celtic legend
ttbomb
My sister died of MND (aged 49).jIinky died when she could still cry and she did. My son and two mates are visiting every SPL ground in a day this Easter to raise money for research into what is a truly terrible disease. A stranger from CelticMinded gave them £100 and they will take anything to add to this. One of his mates plays for Morton and was brought up sevconian. He asked them for a signed ball to raffle which they gave no problem. All the grounds will take around 23 hours and they will finish at Celtic Park.
steve,
do you have a just giving page or a link where the etims community can donate???
just a wee reminder
Torrancetim,
Good stuff in a heartbroken way! HH
a true tim
‘lord of the wing ‘ by Charlie and the bhoys at Barrowlands is a great tribute.
Remember seeing Jinky on stage at a CATB concert there, might have been the wolfetones lol
Jinky brought the house down!
A lovely tribute to Tommy Burns by Jim Mcintyre the Staggies Manager,well done to Jim and his team on Sunday,thought they played well.Strachan was fulsome in his praise of Jim his team and his tactics.Ex Celtic players,Jackson Irvine MOM and had Mcginn in his back pocket,Michael Gardyne,winger supreme,credit where credits due.
Mike,
I have been impressed with McIntyre and his ability to alter his tactics. What impressed you this time round.
Rebus
Rebus, among many things his intensity, calmness,his obvious reading of the game and being able to communicate this to his players along with his humility and clearly his players would run through a brick wall for him.Very impressive if was asked to manage the tic then i for one would be happy.
H.H.
Mike,
While I respect your views on Jim Mcintyre I don’t see the guy as a Celtic manager, I see him as a good Ross County manager and there was no doubt he was harshly treated at Dunfermline.
Who knows, maybe I’m wrong.
Celtic need to go to the next level Mike, we need a manager who can attract a higher standard of player than we currently have, this can only happen when the board reverse it’s transfer policies.
It’s a simple game this, the board put a quality management team in place, they put a team on the park that is exciting and entertaining and the fans bring the whole thing together by filling the stadium. HH
Monti, Its all about opinions,every manager has to start somewhere,the Board took a chance on Big Jock and we know what followed.Jim Mcintyre is a very competent Manager and i get the impression that he likes the Tic.While i do not think that he is ready yet for the Tic. job,i will be watching his progress with interest.At the moment you are correct Celtic need a Manager to galvanise the support my own preference at the moment would be MON,either the younger but especially the older.Lets hope that happens.