{"id":11514,"date":"2017-06-02T08:09:20","date_gmt":"2017-06-02T07:09:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etims.net\/?p=11514"},"modified":"2017-06-02T08:09:20","modified_gmt":"2017-06-02T07:09:20","slug":"celtic-diary-friday-june-2-fisching-tattle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=11514","title":{"rendered":"Celtic Diary Friday June 2: Fisching Tattle"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Johnny Hayes story is gathering pace in the papers.<\/p>\n

Underwhelmed Celtic fans everywhere are shrugging their shoulders and re-affirming their faith in Brendan Rodgers, claiming if he thinks he’s what we need, then he must be what we need.<\/p>\n

A fee of \u00a31.2m has been mentioned, with Ryan Christie heading to Aberdeen as a make weight in the deal.<\/p>\n

Anyone else not quite see the point of this ?<\/p>\n

If a move is to be made for Hayes, and he is a decent player, surely it would be better to wait until Manchester city have given a yes or a no to selling Patrick Roberts ?<\/p>\n

Or is it a case of getting Hayes in early so as he is not seen as a replacement for Roberts should the English youngster decide he’s not for the returning ?<\/p>\n

Hayes is in \u00a0the Ireland squad for their friendly with Uruguay in Dublin on Sunday, and Celtic are “keen” to get the deal sorted before then.<\/p>\n

Or are they ?<\/p>\n

John Kennedy spoke to the press yesterday;<\/p>\n

‘The important thing is keeping the squad together and that we don’t make too many changes,’\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

‘If you can add one or two who can make us better then you want to do that because you want to improve in all areas, but it’s very difficult to do that.<\/em><\/p>\n

‘We have a strong group and if you are not going to make the team stronger, then there is no point bringing in extra bodies.<\/em><\/p>\n

‘Our approach will be, if it’s better than what we have then we will add, and if not then we just go with what we have got.’\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Hayes is not better than what we have got.<\/p>\n

He’s better than what any other Scottish side has got, but not Celtic.<\/p>\n

Viktor Fischer, however, is different.<\/p>\n

The Danish winger\/striker\/attacking midfielder, depending on where you read about him, was one of those wonderkids we hear about from time to time.<\/p>\n

He came through the ranks at Ajax, and made a bit of a name for himself. 111 games, 33 goals, including one against Celtic at Celtic Park in 2015.<\/p>\n

A move to Middlesborough has turned sour, and he wants out.<\/p>\n

At 22, he still has plenty of time to revive his career, and was last seen in a video shop asking for a copy of the Scott Sinclair Story.<\/p>\n

This fits more with the idea of adding quality, and is more in sync with the policy of buying in a player who can be improved and sold on for a profit.<\/p>\n

Again, however, there doesn’t seem to be any great urgency from Celtic to do early business, as the tone of Kennedy’s words above implies.<\/p>\n

There is one player we might want to take a look at, and thats the top scorer in the league last season, and when you consider what Celtic achieved, his was no mean feat.<\/p>\n

Liam Boyce, the boy from the Falls Road, told the Irish News about his best season in football;<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, it was unbelievable, but there\u2019s a funny story behind it,\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMy fianc\u00e9e\u2019s mum used to text me every week saying \u2018Scott Sinclair scored again\u2019, so I had that at the back of my mind and, once I scored four at Inverness, she texted to say \u2018that\u2019s you level\u2019, so I just tried to concentrate from then on in because he got so far ahead of me I didn\u2019t think I could catch him but, thankfully, I did.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSo I was trying to keep the in-laws happy and then that makes sure I\u2019ll be happy,\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cObviously, Celtic did so well on so many fronts that you would expect them to have the top scorer,\u201d he adds.<\/em><\/div>\n

\u201cThey scored more than 100, so for me to score so many goals for our team, it was more important because they were important goals that took us away from the relegation fight towards the end of the season. I think that was what was the most pleasing thing about it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

And on the day it was confirmed Boyce was Scotland\u2019s golden boot \u2013 when Sinclair failed to score in Celtic\u2019s final day win against Hearts \u2013 there was no need for a text message from the usual suspect.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI was sitting in my fianc\u00e9e\u2019s mum\u2019s house watching it with them and, right up until the end, I thought Scott was going to score a hat-trick, but thankfully he didn\u2019t,\u201d \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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He’s just had the season of his life and all he’s talking about is Celtic !<\/p>\n

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Huddersfield Town have appointed David Moss as director of football.<\/p>\n

Moss leaves Celtic with a considerable track record as chief scout, having a decent claim to finding Virgil van Dijk and Victor Wanyama, among others. Will he return to Celtic Park waving a cheque book at some of the squad ?<\/p>\n

Huddersfield have been promoted to the English top tier, and with that comes a few quid, which they will be anxious to start spending.<\/p>\n

And this leads us to why you should, if you haven’t already done so, cancel Sky TV.<\/p>\n

Celtic are on the cusp of something special. You can feel it.<\/p>\n

Yet money talks-actually, it screams obscenities- and there isn;t a man on this earth who wouldn’t be distracted, tempted and finally seduced by the wealth on offer down south.<\/p>\n

A look at the cash earned by the EPL clubs is frightening…<\/p>\n

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By comparison, here’s the figures for Scotland..<\/p>\n

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We must not underestimate how well Brendan Rodgers is doing in keeping our squad together, nor must we fail to appreciate how hard it must be to lure players to Glasgow, for all its charm, when the money in the game down south is so grotesquely distorted.<\/p>\n

Then again, our revenge will be our laughter when it all goes tits.<\/p>\n

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But in the meantime, cancel Sky. No need to be a part of it.<\/p>\n

Over at Ibrox, and their new signing Bruno Beckenbauer is having trouble doing the club handshake…<\/p>\n

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they’ve also secured Carlos de la Pena, google it yourself, i can;t be arsed, and Ryan “Father ” Jack from Aberdeen.<\/p>\n

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Have they taken that photograph in the lift ?<\/p>\n

For those of you who know he played for Aberdeen but didn;t notice him last season, lets consult Wikipedia…<\/p>\n

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The triple signing spree has elated the hordes of darkness, who have begun their usual bout of we’re coming to get you nonsense.<\/p>\n

But, as Kenny Brown on twitter pointed out… all of this might be too much \u00a0too soon for the new club…<\/p>\n

Kenny Brown<\/strong>\u200f\u00a0<\/span><\/span>@kennybrown131<\/b><\/span><\/a> 12h<\/span>12 hours ago<\/span><\/a><\/small><\/p>\n
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More<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Replying to @TheClumpany<\/b><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
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If @<\/s>RangersFC<\/b><\/a> was a dog it would be the same age as Bruno Alves\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Whereas another Tweeter summed up the difference between Celtic and “rangers ” ..<\/p>\n

George Just<\/strong>\u200f\u00a0<\/span><\/span>@gjust67<\/b><\/span><\/a> 19h<\/span>19 hours ago<\/span><\/a><\/small><\/p>\n
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More<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Celtic fans are unhappy that we might sign Aberdeens best player while Rangers fans are ecstatic they are signing Jack.That’s the difference<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As you know, it’s Friday, and that means its time for Etims…<\/p>\n

Knob of the Week\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

In a week where Theresa May showed how to run an election campaign,<\/p>\n

\u00a0where Donald Trump claimed showed he genuinely thinks that glabal warming is a myth started by China..<\/p>\n

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Agent Ath Cliath<\/strong>\u200f\u00a0<\/span><\/span>@agentathcliath<\/b><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n
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