Eight points clear.

Five games left.

I think a sneaky wee pound on the hoops to secure five in a row might be in order.

Celtic beat Motherwell 2-1 at Fir Park, a little more comfortably than the scoreline suggests. A Leigh Griffiths winner late on finally went through the keeper, which presumably was the plan since every other attempt on goial had been aimed straight at him. Except for Griffiths penalty, which startled the corner flag into life.

There was controversy, sort of during and after the game.

Scott (He’s fucking offside again the fat wee Aussie clown ) MacDonald , to remind us of his own  Celtic days, failed to repeat his success of years ago in sinking Celtic, but still managed one goal, and moan about not being given another. He had the ball in the net prior to his equaliser, but was adjudged offside by the referee, and anyone else with twenty twenty vision and a reasonable knowledge of the rules.

Stuart McCall, worryingly an international coach with Scotland, said

“Even when we freeze it here, I’m not sure if he’s offside or not.”

After the game, another member of the little clique that has infiltrated Scottish football at a level far higher than their abilities suggest, Mark McGhee, refused to shake Celtic boss Ronny Deila’s hand, instead pushing it to one side and storming past to have a go at one of the officials.

Ronny kept his cool, but it isn’t going to be long before someone gets it, mark my words and note the date….

Instead of saying “sorry, mate, I was in one. No hard feelings ? ” and offering his hand, McGhee used  one of the more pragmatic approaches to an accusation. Despite it being recorded by the television camera’s…

 “I have no idea what you are talking about.” 

Er, you did blank him, didn’t you, Mr Mcghee ?

“That’s not true…I have nothing to say about that, not a thing.” 

Until he could think of something, at least. And lo, after consultation with the duty solicitor…

“What actually happened was, at the beginning of the game, I felt as if when I went over to shake hands with the Celtic staff they blanked me.”  

I’ve spoken to Ronny about it and it was a total, 100 per cent misunderstanding on my part, and I accept totally he didn’t see me. That’s fine, and he and I have shaken hands.” 

I accept he didn’t see me. Perhaps there’s a reason for that…

The controversy around the “offside ” incident has been blown a little out of proportion. With the distinct possibility of more honest mistakes next Sunday, perhaps its simply to say that the penalty given for handball against Craig Gordon will just be evening things out…

Speaking of the game next week, its great to see the Celticnewsnow on twitter adopt Tom Campbells idea of writing down the name of the opposition.

The great thing, of course, is that it can easily be transferred to verbal  usage, as demonstrated by BBC Sportscene presenter Jonathan Sutherland

and it also leaves the hands, if done correctly, in a position to block any swinging arms that might come your way from those it may offend.

And there’s a lot thats guaranteed to offend this week, as the media roadshow kicks in desperate to convince the watching world that the highlight of Scottish football, the one thing that we have that the rest of the world wants, is a game between a side who have won the last four titles, and a side who haven’t.

The new club, known affectionately by it’s supporters as  “Rangers “, in a sort of tribute to the club that went into liquidation back in 2012, will play only their second game against Celtic, that’s if you can count their efforts in last years League cup semi final as “playing”.

Apparently, its all part of some journey or other that has seen them return to where they belong after everyone was horrible to them and demoted them because they were too succesful, or something like that.

Anyway, like a recurring wart on your willy.they’re back.Not the club, of course. Nothing short of a time machine can bring them into 2016, but the fans have latched onto this new entity, and as a result, the media are prtraying it as they have never been away.

Normal service has been resumed !

Except, of course , in the accident units up and down the country, where extra staff will be drafted in to cop with the extra work. Police Scotland will be in their element, making sure that equal amounts of each clubs supporters are arrested under the Football Fans Are Different From Normal People Act, and therefore justifying the existence of a self serving bill in order to keep police budgets high.

And more importantly, and more worryingly, the whole fucking world will be watching.

Non Scots tv viewers will see the image of Scotland that satisfies their stereotypical Jock, and incredibly, the Scottish media will ramp it up as something to be proud of.

As John Greechan in the Scottish Daily Mail points out, showing that he hasn’t got a clue either,

Even the most hardcore Celtic fans, those who persist in telling us that Rangers died and that they have no interest in how ‘Sevco’ fare, all the while hammering away at the messageboards and phone-ins, have been twitching and sweating without their regular fix of the age-old rivalry.

The few who pretend they haven’t missed it are almost comical in their protestations.

Note his use of quotation marks to imply that “Sevco ” is the wrong name for the club…

Do we ever learn anything ? The game had the chance to clean itself up and move forward four years ago. Now those who thought it would be destroyed, those who proclaimed Armageddon have been proved wrong, they know they cannot kill it of, but they’re going to do everything they can to drag it back a bit…

Ronny Deila has learned, it appears… ahead of the weekends game, where Celtic continue their quest to win the cup without  having played a top level side..

Celtic boss Ronny Deila: I hope Scottish Cup derby match

against Rangers is decided by the players not the officials

Absolutely correct decision to get that message out there.

Pile the pressure onto Thomson and his crew. Make sure that they know we are watching. It won’t make them better referees, but it might make them think before racing up to the television studio and  booking Neil Lennon.

To take your mind off the game, you could always have a night out over the water…

CELTIC will  be in action this Monday night in Belfast when Tommy McIntyre takes a Hoops squad to face Cliftonville in a testimonial match for their long-serving captain, George McMullan.

The midfielder (pictured above) has been with the club for the past 14 years and has made over 500 appearances for The Reds, and he captained Cliftonville when they took on Celtic in a UEFA Champions League qualifier back in July 2013.

The game, at Cliftonville’s Solitude Stadium, takes place on Monday, April 11, with a 7.45pm kick-off. Ticket information  here

Ronny ( not that one ) won Saturdays caption comp, with his remark about queue’s at the Govan shipyards the day war broke out..

Now, here’s a thing that does need explaining.