Celtic Diary Tuesday July 12: Here We Go….

Despite the game taking place against the champions of Gibraltar, the rea;l football starts tonight.

Ahead of the game, Scott Brown, still captain of Celtic, spoke very highly of manager Brendan Rodgers;

“The gaffer has come in, the training has been phenomenal and all the lads have bought into it and there is a smile back on everyone’s face – especially the Celtic fans, and if they are behind us you never know what we can do. 

Word is that the training is now more structured, and the players are getting something out of it, so he might have a point there..

 “We need to get to the group stage. It has been two years now and it has been a hard two years to take. 

He’s certainly got a point there…

“That is the reason I came to Celtic, to play in Champions League games against the big guns, and we are as good as anybody on our day. 

Oh-he was doing so well…

As good as anybody on our day ?

Celtic need not have fallen out of the qualifiers last year, all they had to do was keep doing what they were doing in games they were not only ahead in but superior to their opponents.

To paraphrase a cliche, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

The biggest hurdle to overcome in these games is concentration.

There’s quality in the side, but at this level mental strength has been an issue. Hopefully, thats been dealt with, and maybe Brown is talking through a newfound sense of faith in his own, and his teammates, ability.

“The gaffer has been talking through the way he wants us to play and it has been good from start to finish.

“We are more organised and defending from front to back, we are more of a team.

“The gaffer is huge on everyone working back, working as a team, pressing as a team and not being a team full of individuals.”

We heard all that last year, it appears the difference is that Brown and Co. have respect for Rodgers, and didn’t have for Deila.

If it works, I’m happy with that, but if it doesn’t , then we’ve been blaming the wrong people for the last twelve months or so.

So, with new found confidence, are the Red Imps-which I’m sure I remember from childhood as being in the penny tray at the dairy in Dunoon, and if I’m wrong then there is definitely an opening for something like that on the market, there for the taking ?

They were in the Dairy, as the daft old bat who ran the place used to put them near the door.

Scott Brown again…

“These games are always hard because whoever we play against we are always the favourites, especially in the early rounds.

“Folk expect us to turn up and beat them by five or six and the get 10 at Celtic Park.

“Football has changed. Everyone is switched on and focused. It’s a huge game for them but we are trying to get to the Champions League so it’s huge for us. We don’t want to slip up. The last two seasons have been devastating. We don’t want to go through that again.

“We played against a lot of them for Scotland – that was a change formation that day when we went with one defender – and it quickly changed. It was their first ever goal and it came against us. They have some good players, seven or eight from that Gibraltar team will play, they will be well organised and they counter-attack really well – as we know.” 

Yeah. Read that again.

Gibraltar team….good players…well organised…. counter attack really well…

Then the bit that says  ..”.first ever goal ”

Incredibly, although a fair chunk of that side are technically internationals, there are some who aren’t.

The manager is taking it all very seriously, though you’d hope that behind the scenes he’ll be telling the players that “this lot are shite and if we don’t take half a dozen off them you lot are fucking walking home ”

“Will we treat them the same as if we were playing Barcelona or Real Madrid?

“Yeah – that’s what I said to the team when we went through the video analysis. We will give them full respect and the same preparation whether it’s a team from Gibraltar of anyone else.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s the Champions League or a big game in Scotland.

We will always respect our opponent. 

Well, thats fine in public, but how about not showing them respect ? How about just tearing into them and leaving them in such a state that they’ll all phone in sick the day before the second leg ?

Nothing less than a resounding four or five goal win will suffice tonight, not because they are who they are, but because of who we are.

Will it happen ?

Well, we can watch on BT sport, and lets see how the “panel of experts ” talks about Brendan Rodgers, especially if Celtic don’t score a bucketful.

In fairness to the manager, he has a bit of a dilemma.

Too early to change things around ? He obviously prefers not to use the 4-2-3-1 , but the players are used to it, and it might be a bit risky to change that for these important games.

After all, when it works, it works well. Its just that our lot either couldn’t or wouldn’t do it most of the time.

I’d play it safe. 4-4-2, though. a diamond, with Brown holding.

Gordon, Lustig, Sviatchenko, Ambrose, Tierney, Brown,  Armstrong, Rogic Roberts, Griffiths , Dembele.

Hah. Efe Ambrose , in a team playing it safe.

Efe’s problem has been the same as everyone elses. confidence.

Like everyone else, he deserves a fresh start.

And anyway, theres nobody else fit.

Theres a potential problem,  as along with Stefan Johansen, keeper Logan Bailly is injured, which means rapid promotion for Leo Fasan to the bench.

Also on that ebnch should be Izaguirre, O’Connell, Mackay Steven, Forrest, McGregor and Ciftci.

If Calum McGregor were to replace Scott Brown long term, I wouldn’t be too displeased. Especially as its nearly time for Browns annual injury.

You’ll notice theres no place for Christie, Allan, ( either Joe or Scott ) and perhaps surprisingly, as he’s featured prominently in the tour games, Kristoffer Ajer.

The latter is excluded simply because, like I said, lets go with familiarity tonight. The others will get their chance later.

Elsewhere, Celtic “hit back ” at comments made by Gregory Campbell, MP for East Derry;  He posted, on his facebook page,

 “Someone told me that Celtic are due to play on the 12th, in Gibraltar.

“That info was ok but wasn’t sure what he meant when he hoped that it wouldn’t be like the last time Irish Republican sympathisers went to Gibraltar and lost.”

Like any politician, he attributes the comments to someone else.

Someone told me he was a bigoted tosser, using the  Troubles to get himself a little bit of publicity and maybe even gain himself a bit of credibility amongst hardliners who refuse to move on,  but I’m not sure what he meant by that.

Campbell was interviewed by the Vanguard Bears, and boy , you’d have loved to have been in the room for that one…

Someone else told me the mans a bit doo lally, but i’m not sure what he meant by that. Though , to be fair, after reading that, it may have become a little clearer.

Celtic replied;

 “highly inappropriate and irresponsible and not worthy of any further comment”. 

Later, the club asked if anyone else wanted to pull down its metaphorical pants and skelp its arse.

First of all, I’m sick of the club not defending itself in public. It sems anyone can say anything they like, and we just lie down and hope it goes away.

Meanwhile, those who heard or saw these comments, will automatically identify Celtic as Republican sympathisers, and it does surprise me, that with sponsors money possibly at stake, Lawwell and co. haven’t defended the club more vigourously.

Mind you, as events surrounding the liquidation of Rangers and the collusion of the SFA have shown, there is a dirty great space between the collective legs of the board where their balls should be.

Fucks sake, Celtic.

See when you’re at these league or SFA meetings, do the representatives of the other clubs take  your dinner money off you ?

Whilst their may be an argument to ignore those who make these sort of comments, and thus denying them the oxygen of publicity, its worth remembering that already have the publicity, and a good metaphorcal slap will stop them doing it again.

In other news, its the 12th of July, and we can exclusively reveal that twitter cheerleader, the Phantom, ( real name ..not yet-Ed ) and his followers will be joining in the parade with the rest of the time travellers;

As you may have noticed, as soon as it went dark last night , the Walking Dead appeared on my twitter timeline, as it appears I may have been wrong about Mark Warburton leaving “rangers ” , and he has now -according to Matt Lindsay of the Ibrox Evening Times -agreed a new deal.

Apparently, I’m “raging ”

Yeah. Gutted.

What does worry me, though, is that they are about to  make a real marquee signing, someone who has experience not only at  the highest level in the biggest leagues, but on the international stage, and whats more, he knows the Ibrox club inside out, and what is required of a “rangers ” man…

No wonder theres no  money left in the pot for Waghorn pen and Tavernier…

But we don’t want to dwell on them, its their big day after all, and a friend sent me this photo from his approach into Belfast Airport..

As Barry McColgan on twitter said;

Well, not all of them. We’d like to offer a warm welcome to the Delhi Apprentice boys, who will be out and about today…

Just to show that we are a fair minded bunch here at Etims, we’d like to congratulate a hard working and conscientuous hack who has just secured his “first silverware of the season ”

In a titanic struggle against the heavyweights of Scottish journalism, Jack beat off the might of Keith Jackson, Graeme Spiers, Tom English, Matt Lindsay Michael Gannon, Gary Ralston and all the others who have managed to avoid such stories as the Lionbrand fiasco, where a charity has demanded the withdrawal of shirts featuring their logo, and linked to a Scottish club, the Resolution 12 story, the Nimmo smith whitewash, and anything else that might bite the hand that feeds the lamb.

Well done Chris Jack.

Scottish sporting excellence in the field of journalism -a title won by an interview with Ian Durrant.

Jim Rodger would have been delighted.

Me ?

Bit grumpy this morning ?

Nah, I’m grand, as they say over the water.

The MRI scan was, as a few of you pointed out, a piece of piss, and probably the most relaxing twenty minutes or so I’ve had in a long time.

Like my last biopsy, though, I’ll need to wait for the results. And , as with the biopsy, which came back as “nothing sinister this time so stop whinging”, the longer the better, as it means there’s nothing serious.

Caption competitions ?

Yesterdays picture,

provided a few chuckles, and after much deliberation, and a very near two in a row for Oztim

Caption: Dad, do I have to go with you to “rangers” first home game in the SPL?

it has to go to first time poster-i think-