I read somewhere that nine out of ten Scottish sports journalists are stupid.

Not Neil Cameron, of the Herald. He claims to be in the other one per cent. And backs it up with this;

 Kris Commons must be in Deila’s line-up for Old Firm semi-

final.

The only thing he got right there was that it is, in fact, a semi final.

I don’t usually mention the Herald, because I hardly ever bother with outlets that appeal only to a small section of society, but in a week of piss poor promotions for what will almost inevitably be a piss poor game, this one kind of stands out.

Well, so far, anyway. There’s a few others putting together their own efforts even as I type.

Yeah, I can’t wait either.

Cameron, who presumably hasn’t watched the fading Celt, seems to think that he’s tailor made for the big occasion.

And to be fair, Commons is a big game player.

Except this isn’t a big game.

May I humbly remind you the only time Celtic have played this lot resulted in a comfortable win which had the hoops wanted to could have turned into a cricket score in the sense that Scott Brown  would have declared at half time ? ( for non cricket fans , that means that the captain thinks he has already got enough runs to win the game, and can’t be arsed carrying on. )

It’s a big game only in the minds of those that wish to see it as a validation of the perpetuated same club myth.

Cameron says;

IT has been said that the only man to hail from Nottingham with a bigger backside than Kris Commons was Friar Tuck. 

Fair enough, he uses an analogy involving a famous character from legend, or myth to begin an article on another myth, and adds one of his own. Commons, of course , was born in Mansfield, which is near to Nottingham, but its like telling a Greenockian he’s from Glasgow.

Greenockian probably isn’t a word, but do you see how when these people make things up it’s easy to join in ?

Commons is a match-winner and Deila needs to make sure he wins this match. 

Another way of Deila making sure he wins this match would be to pick eleven players, give them all a kit and some boots and tell them to be at the ground in time for kick off.

Cameron then offers his reasoning…

… in this fixture, and please look away now if you believe this is to be an absolutely brand new game which bears no resemblance to any past what used to be called Old Firm matches, experience counts for so much both then and now.

Even if we accept that, then surely the counter argument, and indeed the article, would focus on the fact that “rangers ” have only two players who have played in this fixture.

And one of them is getting on a bit. Actually, he’s getting on a lot.

I’m not sure what his point is, but as with the rest of the SMSM, I’ve got a fair idea.

We need something from an ex Celtic player to balance it out, but of course the media avoid the ones who tell it like it actually is. You see, you can only say something bad about “rangers ” if you follow it up with something bad about Celtic.

And the Sun found Craig Burley, allegedly the inside contact for so many media exclusives during his time with the club…

Why would I watch a bang-average Rangers team, that has won the second level in Scotland, playing against one of the worst Celtic teams in recent memory,?

“Celtic and Rangers fans will watch it, I get that. But if you’re an outsider, why would you?”  

And thats as close as we will probably get to an accurate summation of the game anywhere….

Ronny Deila , perhaps unwittingly, but more likely in a carefully worded answer which will put pressure on Mark Warburton, played up the game, but not the fixture.

“No, you can’t say that. It’s a game of football, but it’s a special one.

“This is not just about the clubs, you can see it involves the whole country. It’s a big, big game and something we’re really looking forward to. 

Of course, it’s very important. We’re hopefully two games away from getting a trophy. We’ve had two semi-finals – and lost two – so we want to get back to a final and get a new trophy.

“Two trophies, of course, is better than one. That would be much better. We have put ourselves in a good position in the league, but this is one game and it’s going to be tight. But we are really looking forward to it.”

Clearly, its the PR guys day off, and Ronny has been left to go with his gut feelings…

There was a little bit of encouraging news ahead of the game, regarding the defence, even though we probably won’t need one;

“He (Sviatchenko) has a good chance so we will see, it’s too early to tell right now, but it’s only a grade one pulled muscle so I think he has a good chance.

“Boyata missed training but he will be fine. That’s just a small thing. Everybody knows what’s coming up and they want to make themselves ready for Sunday now.” 

“We have a lot of players here who know this derby And that’s always a positive thing. There is always pressure when we play. But it’s a semi-final, one game, and we’ve seen before in semi-finals that things can happen.

“We need to be very concentrated. We know we have the skills and good players – we’re a very good team when we are at our best. Everything is in our own hands.”  

Handled superbly.

He merely referred to it as “this derby”…which, in fact is another town near to Nottingham.

Warburton, of course, has been downplaying the match.

In the same way as a rabbit downplays its chances of moving out of the headlights.

The desire of the media to build this game up way beyond what it actually is could backfire tremendously on the former city trader.

Whatever we think of the game, and the hype around it, we must also take into account the feelings of the other lot, who actually think they are continuing the   rivalry of yesteryear, but in fact are merely proving that they need acceptance from us to improve their own standing.

The establishment needs for Celtic, and its support, to treat this game not as one against “rangers “, but as one against Rangers, which, of course, no matter how much they want it to be, it isn’t.

So, here’s what we do.

It’s been done before…

Remember many years ago…jorg albertz free kick ? Everyone in the Broomloan opening up a newspaper, as though relaxing on a sunday afternoon at home…

Take a paper to the game.

At kick off, open it up and hold it there so everyone can see exactly how much we rate them.

After the emergence of Graeme Souness a couple of days ago, his old number two Walter Smith had a few words to say yesterday..

Which should keep the hordes and their sense of victimisation bubbling along quite nicely for Sunday.

“I think it [ill feeling] will always be there There was no necessity for Rangers to be put down into the Third Division.

“I think that’s the thing that will always stay in Scottish football, I think there will be a bitterness in the Rangers ranks that it happened. It will be a massive motivation for the club, it would be for me.

“There’s no doubt it was the wrong move in my eyes. Scottish football’s been worse off and a lot of the teams who were happy to see Rangers go down there have suffered and found themselves relegated or in the process of being relegated. So there will be that bitterness.

“How can they forget what happened to them? They can’t forget that. Nobody can forget.” 

Actually, I think everyone, including Smith, has forgotten. For some reason, they keep going on about it still being Rangers, instead of “rangers “

Smith is getting on a bit, so maybe he needs his memory jogging a little..

Its a shame to see this titan of Scottish football begin to lose his faculties, and the media should be thoroughly disgusted with themselves for allowing him to embarrass himself on the public stage.

I only hope he didn’t wet himself or anything. No-one wants to remember him like that.

Smith also said, without a hint of irony

“I think Rangers being out of the top flight has in many ways caused problems to quite a number of the teams that have been there and Celtic are one of them in the sense that they’ve been left more or less alone to win a championship. 

Like his lot were when they practised a unique financial policy that allowed them to spend other peoples money at inflated rates whilst  applying their own interpretation of tax rules.

And any other rule that involved paying bills, come to think of it.

It’s only Wednesday.

Already there seems to be a campaign to bring about disharmony on sunday, an irresponsible attitude which can only lead to chaos on the streets.

Incredibly, the very people who will condemn the aftermath on Monday are the same one’s claiming that this fixture is what Scoittish football is all about.

Their excitement and energy has been directed into making this the game of the season, but simultaneously feeding the monster that thinks it has been persecuted by actually allowing them free reign to claim they have.

The chance to eradicate the cancer of sectarianism has gone.

A chance to rip up the old model and start again has disappeared.

Those responsible for that seem almost delirious it’s returning.

What the fuck is wrong with these people ?

Meanwhile, over at Glasgow airport, it’s a little busy as Glaswegians decide to spend the weekend elsewhere…

All a bit gloomy today, but thats because I had a row with the wife last night. She wanted to watch a documentary on womans rights, but I wouldn’t let her.

The post split fixtures have been announced, though you wouldn’t have noticed.

Celtic, if both the hoops and Aberdeen win their next two games, could win the league, at home, to Aberdeen.

Now that is something to look forward to….

You’ll notice another trip to Tynecastle in there, which was given as a concession to the SPFL when their attempts to shoe in the Warburton Wunderteam failed.

The scouts were out the other day, looking at Obbi Oulare of Watford, a promising Belgian striker who hasn’t made the grade at Watford.

Is there a dossier of players who never made the grade somewhere in the offices at Lennoxtown?

If so, can someone who works there slip it into their pocket and put it on the fire when they get home ?

The policy isn’t working, so why keep doing it ?

Long suffering Tarrier Carrier pilot Chrisbhoy won the caption competiton yesterday, with his statement that the invention illustrated would not catch on in the motor.

What he really meant, he’s too polite to say, is

“Thats all you’re drinking today, Ralph”

I don’t know what the fuss is about. I went to sleep for a while when we stopped off on the way back last time…

And I was first one back to the motor..

today, can you explain this ?