Celtic Diary Tuesday May 10: Media Blackout ? Don’t Buy A Paper.

The astonishing media blackout on all matters relating to corruption and collusion at the SFA continued yesterday. None of the papers would touch it, Remarkable really, considering the new head of state media (Scotland ) is yet to take up his post.

The mainstream are ignoring it, or have been ordered not to report on it, or quite simply cannot due to some sort of injunction.

Whatever the reason behind it, as momentum against the media and the SFA grows, the whole cabal will collapse and we’ll get to see who has been involved in this orgy of mutual masturbation, and just how much of the game has been affected by this particular virus.

Kenny McIntyre, who does a show on Radio Scotland where “the fans set the agenda ”  offered an explanation…

Actually, he offered two explanations, first the “not enough to merit a discussion “line, which is fair enough if he’s doing a six day show, and secondly,  the old “legalities ” default position, which , unless there is an injunction in place, is , er,

Though note the wording, how its not “worthy “.

That shows he, too, thinks its the work of loonies, which is another default position taken by piss poor journalists when they see work appear that is beyond their own limited capabilities.

To start the ball rolling, any journalist who needs a hand here, should simply ask the SFA when they were aware of the wee tax case bill, and the letter of 20th May that accompanied it.

Or of course, we could all email Regan and ask him… seeing as how the sports press are using their balls for the sole purpose of mutual enjoyment with the SFA.

For now though, instead of buying a paper today, or any other day, pop into the newsagent and put the ten bob or whatever they cost these days into the wee charity box.

At least you’ll feel cleaner.

Speaking of the media, perhaps this explains it a wee bit;

Steve Coogan, wroter, actor and movie maker , in his autobiography “Easily Distracted “, claims that the idea behind newspapers these days is to protect the brand, and to circle the wagons when the brand is under threat. The truth is of little consequence, and all that matters is the sales figures, and the advertising revenue.

Real reporters are now few and far between, as an official from the US presidential staff confirms in a recent Washington Post;

And in Scotland it’s worse, they don’t seem to want to know anything.

This summer, instead of the usual wait for the friendlies , or renewing season books, its time to make our voices heard, and not buying the papers or listening to those aural vomit inducing shows would be a start.

Ah, the football, you say…

John Collins has announced he’s quitting Celtic in the wake of Ronny Deila’s exit;

“I came with Ronny so I think it’s only correct that I move on as well, so Sunday will also be my last game.

“Hopefully, the new manager will come in, make it six-in-a-row and have a run in Europe.

“We wanted more from ourselves and the coaching staff – we wanted more goals and better performances in Europe and the other big games.

“But we’ve tried our best and we’ve worked hard, that’s for sure. 

“The results haven’t gone our way in the big games but that’s down to small details.”

The Collins saga is a warning to other ex players, players who have served the club well in the past that what you did on the pitch counts for little when it goes wrong off it.

Collins, who stayed for six lean years, is up there with the best of them in the last twenty years when it comes to on field service, and only the harshest among us can begrudge him his free transfer move.

However, he does seem to be blamed for most of the ill feeling at Celtic just now, and maybe he , too, fell short when it came to handing big egos.

Collins mentioned his six years at the club yesterday, and reminded the support what they were like..

I never won a league title here and it was a tough six years because of that.

“A lot of Celtic supporters forget about those six years. We were behind our rivals when they were the biggest spenders in Britain. They’d half the England team. We were second-best and that was a seriously tough time. 

“[It was] miles tougher, Being in this city when Rangers are buying Paul Gascoigne, Brian Laudrup, Trevor Steven, Gary Stevens, Richard Gough, Terry Butcher, Mark Hateley – that was seriously tough, coming up against them.

“Knowing they were probably better than you in seven positions on the pitch. Massive squad as well. But it was a challenge as a player.

“And here are, we’ve been here two years, we’ve won two titles and it feels like the end of the world for a lot of people.

“Trust me, when I was a player, this club was in a much worse position, no stadium, no titles, a long way from where we are just now.

“We’ve got a magnificent stadium, five titles in a row and going for a sixth. But that’s the world we live in.

“We’ll maybe look back a few years from now when it’s not five in a row, maybe when someone else has won, and think ‘maybe it wasn’t that bad’.”

Had the management team a PR crew they could rely on, and a wee bit more support from senior players, then things might have been different.

With the new manager on the way, lets see if he can shake the place up a bit and clear out the bad apples.

Before the first qualifier takes place.

Meanwhile, football really has become a bit of a girls game of late, no disrespect to the ladies who play it, as they play it in the true spirit of the game, as opposed to the corporate game we pay into.

With the players already forced to wear bras, in order to make sure they run about a bit on the park, like when you get a tracker put in your company motor, next season it gets worse..

Wonder if this is part of a fenian conspiracy to improve Scott Browns passing ?

Teamtalks will be a little different next year.

“Now lads, make sure your hem and stockings  match up, and your bra is on correctly. ”

I suppose you could also point out that the other team will also be dressed like that, and you could tell your own players they “don’t like it up ’em “, though frankly, it’d be hard to persuade them of that.

Bras, matching hems , matching stockings.

And a game thats rigged from day one.

I’ll be watching the rugby next season, oh, wait, they all stick each others heads up each others bottoms, and then get into a big bath together after spending an hour and a half playing chase me chase me.

Golf-nope, hitting a ball as hard as you can and trudging after it ? And then hitting it again when you get there ?

No thanks.

What are we going to do ?

We need our game back, and we need it back now.

Two caption winners yesterday, Anton Owen and Charlie Saiz. Charlie with pig on horse hits cow, and Anton with If Carlsberg did Mondays, achieving a symmetry that works well as one caption…

today….