{"id":18698,"date":"2024-07-23T15:03:55","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T14:03:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=18698"},"modified":"2024-07-23T15:03:55","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T14:03:55","slug":"celtic-diary-july-23-2024-butterflies-collecting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=18698","title":{"rendered":"Celtic Diary July 23 2024: Butterflies Collecting ?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apologies for the gap of several days between the last Diary and this one, but I forgot my login details, and then forgot where I’d put them.<\/p>\n

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But I’ve found them now, and have put them somewhere safe.<\/p>\n

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One or two supporters have began to get increasingly nervous about the lack of incoming players in this transfer window, and since the object of the exercise is to be stronger when we come out of it than we were when we went in, there is perhaps some justification for it.<\/p>\n

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Especially when you factor in the struggles of our neighbours over the river.\u00a0 We’ve seen this movie before, the one where we do just enough to win our league and our European memories are restricted to good atmospheres as opposed to good results.<\/p>\n

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Are we right to be worried?<\/p>\n

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Given previous windows, especially when one considers the speed with which Ange Postecoglou did his business, then probably.<\/p>\n

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But what are we worried about ?<\/p>\n

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So far, we have lost several first team players, such as Hart.<\/p>\n

Well.<\/p>\n

Just Hart, when you think about it.<\/p>\n

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Oh, Vata, Haksanawhateverhisnamewas, Tilio and Montgomery back out on loan, Johnny Kenny is still on his original loan, and doing well.<\/p>\n

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Let’s be honest, talented professionals one and all but hardly something to worry about.<\/p>\n

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Hart has been replaced by two goalkeepers, an experienced international and a promising young international.<\/p>\n

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Not much to moan about there.<\/p>\n

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The real issue seems to surround Bernardo , where it’s claimed a deal has been done, although we’ve yet to see actual evidence.<\/p>\n

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Perhaps, as one intoxicated individual told us, his arrival depends on the exit of Matt O’Riley, which also seems to be a concern for the support. If this is the case, then another plan has been executed which seems to have been in place for a while.<\/p>\n

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The support seems more concerned about having a quality replacement for Bernardo whatever happens to O’Riley.<\/p>\n

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The reality is that real quality will not come to be a back up, which means they would have to displace a first team player.<\/p>\n

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So Bernardo would instead be an understudy to another player, despite having done his twelve months apprenticeship.<\/p>\n

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You can see the delicate balance needed when bringing in new players…it only takes one wrong ‘un to upset the equilibrium of a dressing room….and signing players just for the sake of it becomes self defeating.<\/p>\n

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Should O’Riley go, and it will not be for pennies, then Bernado will move up a place, and another apprentice will either be promoted …hence Lawal and Holm\u00a0 getting\u00a0 starts and the same applies to the defence…..or brought in, probably on loan, to get used to the club.<\/p>\n

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It’s worked over the last few years, both on the field and financially.<\/p>\n

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But only up to a certain point.<\/p>\n

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If the club wants to compete at a serious level then overall quality has to be stepped up, and the difficulty there is that quality players tend to wait out the window to see what’s on offer.<\/p>\n

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We’ll just have to be patient and trust the management and recruitment teams.<\/p>\n

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Which explains the butterflies….<\/p>\n

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Elsewhere, and by that I mean Lalaland, where the little pixies live, the problems at Ibrox Stadium won’t go away.<\/p>\n

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Back in December 2016, the Diary noted;<\/p>\n

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….stories circulating that Ibrox is again in a state of disrepair, prompting some supporters to decide not to go anywhere near the place on Saturday.<\/em><\/p>\n

Me, for instance. And quite a few others I know.<\/em><\/p>\n

The word on the street, courtesy of Irish reporter Phil MacGhiollabhan, is that the club will put nets under the roof to catch any bits that fall off, but not until after the game, as presumably the structure won\u2019t become unsafe until Sunday.<\/em><\/p>\n

Which means they think all the noise and jumping about will knacker it further, or, more worryingly, it means the place is already fecked and they need the money from the game to pay for repairs.<\/em><\/p>\n

You know, in the way a similar club once needed European revenue to stave off administration.<\/em><\/p>\n

We can only hope that the story has been fed to MacGhiollabhan to undermine his credibility, and its completely false. He\u2019d be happy with that, but he also has a tendency to be rather accurate where the big stories around Ibrox are concerned.<\/em><\/p>\n

Whilst Celtic have said they are aware of the rumours, it appears they are willing to take the Ibrox clubs word on the safety of the ground, and in fairness, there\u2019s little else they can do.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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These days, the big hoose is shut.<\/p>\n

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Some steel didn’t turn up, and someone got sacked. It was in all the papers.<\/p>\n

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Except, we never found out who got sacked.<\/p>\n

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We never found out what steel never turned up, what it was for, why it was late, when it will arrived and who they had ordered it from.<\/p>\n

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Oddly enough, they didn’t try to source any from anywhere else.<\/p>\n

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what’s not so strange is that no one in the media has asked any of those questions.<\/p>\n

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Maybe they have, and they’ve not been given answers, which is pushing it a bit when iot comes to giving them the benefit of the doubt, but I’m trying to be fair and open minded.<\/p>\n

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As it stands, ( or falls down ..lol ) Ibrox cannot be used and no one knows why.<\/p>\n

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Yet eight years ago, they were thinking of putting nets under the roof to catch falling bits of whatever was falling.<\/p>\n

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Nothing has been done about it, and it looks like nothing will.<\/p>\n

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There are, of course, several theories floating around, as tends to be the case when no one wants to tell the truth, some of which are borderline bizarre…such as the one about some steel being late…..and some which may hold a little more water than others, such as the one about the concrete….<\/p>\n

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Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete was quite popular between the 1950s and 1980s. In short, it had big holes in it , which should have made it stronger, but as concrete is porous, it allows water in, then it wears away over time as anything does when water runs over consistently.<\/p>\n

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It’s why several buildings, such as schools, have had to have work done on them to improve safety.<\/p>\n

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I asked an expert if Ibrox was built of this stuff, or at least had quite a bit of it in there, and he replied ;<\/p>\n

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“How the fuck should I know ? I’m an accountant ”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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Well, I think we’ve all had enough of experts, so we’ll go with a somewhat soaked seer who says he clearly remembers delivering sevral hundred tons of the stuff to Ibrox when it was being rebuilt.<\/p>\n

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And what’s more, he clearly remembers warning them that they were doing it on the cheap and within fifty years they’d be playing at Hampden.<\/p>\n

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He was told in no uncertain terms that the club would be dead by then so it didn’t matter.<\/p>\n

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Then Charlie Green bought it on the cheap, largely because the place was about to fall down, and he didn’t give a toss either becuase he knew he’d be out of there soon.<\/p>\n

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He might have been drunk and perhaps exaggerrating a bit…well, a lot, but incapable of coherent thought or not, he may have had a point.<\/p>\n

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Of course, simply opening up to the media and telling the truth is also an option for the beleaguered Ibrox board, but that isn;t going to happen soon….perhaps because they, too, in the old Ibrox tradition, know they won’t be there for very long either.<\/p>\n

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Last time we had this….<\/p>\n

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

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Danny<\/div>\n
\u00a06 days ago<\/div>\n
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Peter Lawwell takes charge of Vatican finances and downsizing era kicks in as new Pope mobile is shown in public for first time<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Today….<\/p>\n

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

Apologies for the gap of several days between the last Diary and this one, but I forgot my login details, and then forgot where I’d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":18699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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\/2024\/07\/its-all-right-to-have-butterflies-in-your-stomach-just-get-them-to-fly-in-formation-quote-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2J7If-4RA","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18698"}],"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=18698"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18700,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18698\/revisions\/18700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}