{"id":19177,"date":"2026-01-10T09:03:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T09:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=19177"},"modified":"2026-01-10T09:03:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T09:03:13","slug":"celtic-diary-saturday-january-10-2026-here-we-go-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=19177","title":{"rendered":"Celtic Diary Saturday January 10 2026: Here We Go Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

In life, it’s important to make mistakes. Otherwise, you’ll never know when you’ve done something right. Let’s hope Celtic have finally got it right this time with the re-appointment of Martin O’Neill, probably the best of the bunch who have had a go at running the team this season.<\/p>\n

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We’ve had the hirseshoe formation, where the defence passed the ball to each other while they waited for one of them to come up with an idea of what to do with it under Rodgers, who to be fair was making a point about those who were restricting his plans to improve the overall quality of the squad…or at least keep it as high as it had been, then we had that French bloke who decided to do away with defenders completely.<\/p>\n

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After each of them were removed, Martin O’Neill was handed the reins to try and put things right.<\/p>\n

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The first time he succeeded, and left a working model for Nancy to move forward with. Today, he has to undo all the problems Nancy caused within the squad and get the season back on track.<\/p>\n

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Dundee United visit Celtic Park, and for the first time in weeks the support can be confident of getting a result. In the short term at least, the players will be pleased to have the gang back together on the training pitch, and when , and only when, they start to produce on the pitch can they look back and laugh at the disaster that was the last month or so.<\/p>\n

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Hard to believe it was only a month. For some reason, it feels a lot longer. Time may fly when you’re having fun, but it stood still in the east end of Glasgow for a while.<\/p>\n

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Mind you, wouldn’t it be funny if O’Neill opted for a 3=4=3 today ?<\/p>\n

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\"Hell<\/p>\n

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Just kidding.<\/p>\n

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O’Neill will start with four defenders, three midfielders and three forwards. Unlike Nancy, at least according to Stephen MacGowan in the Mail, he won’t give players instructions on basics, such as trapping and releasing the ball, or body shape. Instructions more suited to a primary school PE class than a group of seasoned professionals with titles and medals under their belts.<\/p>\n

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Mind you, if they’re wearing a belt and hiding things underneath it while they’re playing, it would explain a lot.<\/p>\n

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O’Neill will revert to what worked for him last time, because it got results. One wonders of the dip in form towards the end of his interim period was down to the players not only knowing he was leaving, but also down to them hearing one of their team mates, who had prior knowledge of the Frenchman’s methods and capability, being heard to sob uncontrollably after locking himself in the Lennoxtown toilets.<\/p>\n

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For today, O’Neill said:<\/p>\n

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\u201cJust very tiny adjustments. Not to complicate things with the players, so they’re not going on with five or six different instructions on the field. Honestly, as a player, I could never cope with it. I couldn’t cope with it. Brian Clough, a magician, never gave us new instructions like 24 hours before the game. The things that he preached was real simplicity. So, that’s the way I would go about it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"Stand<\/p>\n

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On Kasper Schmeichel, of whom it would be fair to say hasn’t been on top form, he said:<\/p>\n

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\u201cKasper’s got a lot of experience, I think a really, really terrific goalkeeper. Like everything else, you have to keep proving yourself. And this is it, I now, back again, have to do the same thing. And it’s not a throwaway line, it’s absolutely true. And this idea that people don’t have to, you know, I don’t see it.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cSo, if I can get, let’s say in terms of just getting Kasper back to what he did for me, and that’s very, very short term, that would be fine. He made some big saves for us, big moments, you know.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe had a big save against Rangers in the semi-final, he made a big save at one-each out in Feyenoord. Big save when the boy\u2019s through, makes the save again. Those are the things he’s good at.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In Schmeichel’s defence, he was trying to adjust to playing behind a defence that was also trying to adjust, so maybe it is time to wipe the slate clean and start again.<\/p>\n

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And a salad or two wouldn’t go amiss either.<\/p>\n

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O’Neill appears to have ripped up the page handed to him of potential signing targets, including an ill fated bid to bring Kyogo Fuhruhashi back on loan.<\/p>\n

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Instead, he has demanded quality and quantity to supplement a squad that is still in contention for three trophies, and he’s right , because we are going to need it.<\/p>\n

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Every game from now till May is a Cup Final, to use an old cliche, and the squad is quite thin. Several first team players are injured, several more will probably get injured, and suspensions will soon start to take their toll.<\/p>\n

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James Bell Walker , the former chelsea scout, may yet prove to be the unlikely hero of this campaign. That’s right. We’re pinning our hopes on someone called Jimmy Bell….<\/p>\n

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Some reports indicate that \u00a32m will be heading to Israel to acquire Jo Ta Bi (Jota B ? Seriously, did someone ask Tisdale to come up with a replacement for the injured Jota, and he suggested Jota B ? ) . This has raised a few eyebrows, as his club, Maccabi Netanya,\u00a0 are linked with an Israeli form who manufacture the drones used in Palestine to slaughter innocent civilians.<\/p>\n

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Maybe better to give that one a miss.<\/p>\n

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O’Neill says there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes to bring in players, and as long as none of them are on any list put forward by the quack in the hat, then I’ll trust his judgement,<\/p>\n

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But for now, can we just get back to winning ways ? Put all the other problems to one side and get everyone to do what they’re paid to do ?<\/p>\n

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We can’t have forgotten how to do that in just over a month<\/p>\n

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On Thursday, we analysed this….<\/p>\n

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\"Wilfried<\/p>\n

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\n
Corrupt Official<\/em><\/div>\n
\u00a01 day ago<\/em><\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cW\u201d, on zees side, \u201cN\u201d on zees\u2026.. Because zer eez no \u201cI\u201d in WIN.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today…..<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

\"May<\/p>\n

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

In life, it’s important to make mistakes. Otherwise, you’ll never know when you’ve done something right. Let’s hope Celtic have finally got it right this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":19178,"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":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/etims.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/quote-here-we-go-again-always-a-few-drinks-but-sometimes-even-sober-we-play-the-unhappiness-anne-enright-78-13-64.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2J7If-4Zj","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19177"}],"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=19177"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19179,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19177\/revisions\/19179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}