{"id":16802,"date":"2021-02-23T12:07:46","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T12:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etims.net\/?p=16802"},"modified":"2021-02-23T12:07:46","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T12:07:46","slug":"celtic-diary-tuesday-february-23-when-will-the-storm-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=16802","title":{"rendered":"Celtic Diary Tuesday February 23: When Will The Storm Break ?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Often, Scottish football has been shown to be a microcosm of society in general.<\/p>\n

Mostly by me, but I’ve done it quite often.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Gaslighting is a new term, up there with “woke “, “gammon ” , or phrases like “going for 55 ”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Gaslighting is effectively when someone pisses up your back and tells you its raining.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Johnson government are particularly fond of the method, repeating downright lies until people stop listening to them, rather than challenging them. With a compliant media desperate to remain relevant, there’s no questioning of the facts, and therefore no holding them to account.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Scottish football seems to have adopted this policy to avoid any questions about how it governed, how its financed, and how its integrity has diminished in recent years.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And on an even narrower scale, Celtic have wholeheartedly grasped the notion, with manager Neil Lennon, after yet another uninspiring performance and defeat, claiming…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

…it is not the unmitigated disaster that everyone makes it out to be<\/em>…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Reese<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I suppose he might have a point. Considerbale improvement is required on all levels to elevate this season to an unmitigated disaster.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And yet we are told that its not that bad.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Time after time he tells us that what we are seeing with our own eyes, as we watch the club collapse into a pile of steaming doodoo, that it isn’t so bad.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We’re playing quite well, and just need that little bit of luck to turn things around.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then in the next sentence he’ll tell us the players don’t want to be here and he wishes they’d all just fuck off.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then he’ll tell us that he knows whats wrong and how to fix it, before elaborating on why he can’t fix it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Frankly, I think he’s lost it. To coin a phrase… nurse, he’s fallen out of bed again.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Now he’s claiming to be planning for next season, the recent pre contract acquisition of Liam Shaw from Sheffield Wednesday used to back up his latest crackpot theory, the one where he stays to fight for the title next season, although given the lack of interest from the players if he does that he’ll have to look out his boots.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It’s painful to watch.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It’s been a dreadful season, with dreadful football and that , even, could be excused if the manager was trying new players, in a new system, or at least just trying.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Instead . he’s acting like he gives not one fuck. And I’m fairly certain he isn’t acting.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As a result, the players want to leave because he has lost their trust. They can see his methods, on the pitch, on the training ground and over in Dubai don’t work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I’m always suspicious of long term injuries, as often they merely indicate a player who knows he’s made a bad move, but likes the money.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Forget about Chris Jullien. All the smoke he’s blown up our collective arse is merely hiding the fact he doesn;t want to [play here any more, at least while the Ginger Guardiola is in charge.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

James Forrest isn’t faking, but like Keiran Tierney before him, now has a serious injury that need not have been so bad if he’d been looked after properly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He’ll be\u00a0 annoyed that he’s missed out on all twelve medals from when we used to be a good side, and one can only imagine how he feels about possibly missing the only chance he’ll have to represent his country in a major tournament.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yet we’re told all is well at the ranch, when the players on field body language tells a different story.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How Lennon remains in a job is beyond all comprehension. On the one hand you have to admire his stubborn refusal to accept defeat, but on the other you can’t ignore that its not defeat he;s refusing to accept, it’s reality.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The professionalism of the players he inherited is vastly different from the mindset of those he left behind the first time he was sacked.<\/p>\n

He tried to change it, and the players turned against him. they have seen the financial and professional rewards out there, with Keiran Tierney and Virgil van Dijk going on to become wealthy beyond their wildest imaginations, and van Dijk is a european and world champion.<\/p>\n

That was as a result of the changes implemented by Ronny Deila and improved on by Brendan Rodgers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And destroyed within eighteen months by Lennon.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As a result, no one can hold up the achievements of van Dijk…or Tierney, or even Moussa Dembele, or others who have gone on to the upper echelons of the game, with all the houses and cars that come with it, and use them to attract the best youngsters to Celtic Park.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And those that are here are watching their values diminish on a weekly basis, and whilst they must shoulder some of the blame, they certainly don;t see it that way.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Put bluntly, I wouldn’t be turning our noses up at players from the SPFL any more.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It’s all we’re likely to get.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Celtic depend on two major financial streams, to top up the core of season book money.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Champions League or other European income, and player sales.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This summer, we may find out what Martin O’Neill meant when he talked of life in the slow lane.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Champions League money, largely on account of Celtic being unlikely to be champions, will depend on qualifying through the much more difficult non champions route, a taster of which was offered , on teitter, by Moravcik 67, who knows his stuff when it comes to Europe….<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
You Retweeted<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Moravcik67<\/span><\/em><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
@Moravcik67_<\/span><\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
Replying to<\/em><\/p>\n
@stephenrcardiff<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
Based on current standings we’d play either Sparta Prague, Rapid Vienna or Midtjylland in QR2. We’ll probably be unseeded for both QR3 and QR4 and need to get by any two of PSV, Besiktas, Lyon, Benfica, CSKA Moscow or Shakhtar Donetsk.<\/span><\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We couldn’t even get by Ross County in the League Cup, or in the league come to think of it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So, i think we can safely discount UCL money. And Europa-or worse- income is pennies by comparison.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Player sales ?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a normal , plague free world, we could expect ten figure fees for a number of our players. Not only is the world not plague free, we have no idea, and therefore neither do potential suitors, whether or not players who contracted Covid will suffer long term effects, and it follows that their prices will fall.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Frimpong went for \u00a39m , he never had the virus, and one must assume that those who have, such as Edouard, will not bring in a similar sum.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We may have to have a sort of fire sale, but we;d probably raise more by setting the place on fire and claiming the insurance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then there’s season book money. Hand on heart, after already paying for one year wothout football, can you see fifty thousand books being shifted of fans aren’t back in the grounds by the start of next season ?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

With these doubts in our minds, and money always being at the front of theirs, surely the board would be doing something to allay our fears, or at least to give us hope for next year…<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yet nothing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Lawwell, for once, is silent. Desmond , as ever, is silent, and the rest of them when they speak merely trot out an agreed script anyway, so its not even worth checking to see if they have said anything.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We are aware of a few incidents and circumstances that may have made this season what it has turned out to be, but thats no excuse.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And its pointless looking back anyway, we must look forward.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Which is why there has to be something from the club about how this season seems to have been played purely for the benefit of another club over the river, to give them the chance to earn the champions\u00a0 league money, lest they become the second club out of ibrox to collapse, an eevent that would surelt have UEFA finally ask questions of the cabal at Hampden and their pnechance for allowing crooks and conmen to operate under their own unique financial rules, rules that have meant that other rukes have been adjusted to suit them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It could even be argued that Holyrood has favoured them, as their Covid protocol breaches have been overlooked, after the First Minister went on record saying that football was on a yellow card , and any further breaches would see it stopped.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Not only did “rangers ” ignore that, they went unpunished, and this week we saw the SFA flout the rules as one of their own caught the plague, and still flew on a plane with colleagues, hoping that no one would notice.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It turns out that the SFA and “rangers ” use a private compnies to monitor and test for Covid, and its not hard to in=magine that they pay for the results they want.<\/p>\n

Whether they do or don’t is irrelevant, because it leaves it open to debate, and in such a serious situation as this, there should be no debate, no doubt and everyone should have to follow the same rules set by the same people and judged by the same panel.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Where the SFA is concerned, there is no room for complacency.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Yet Celtic remain silent, which is not in the best interests of shareholders or supporters, and that means the CEO is not doing his job.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He won’t be here for much longer, and a new guy has to come in and start from scratch, unforgivable considering the head start we had on our newest rivals.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Celtic have to decide whose side they are on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Are they on the side of money, and with it the corruption and collusion that has ked to Scottish football begging for scraps from the bookmakers tables ?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A country with the highest percentage of its population that goes to the games, when its possible, and still operates a system where fans are close to players, where the local lad can still make it without agents touting him around to the highest bidder, a land where learning his trade could be the key selling point for all the top clubs looking to recruit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Change is coming, Covid and its cousin Brexit will see to that, the question is do we drive it, or get driven by it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But its not all bad, there is still something to be proud of, and something that we are all a part of.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Something that those who take it for granted may yet live to regret.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They’re on the telly tonight , come to think of it…..<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Image\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Often, Scottish football has been shown to be a microcosm of society in general. Mostly by me, but I’ve done it quite often.   Gaslighting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":16803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/etims.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/unnamed-13.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2J7If-4n0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16802"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16802"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16804,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16802\/revisions\/16804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}