Well, thats that then. Another possible domestic treble has gone, and the players and management only have themselves to blame. After Charlie Mulgrew missed a penalty shortly after half time, we all might as well have given up. The players and management certainly did, at 3-1 down the camera cut to Lennon and Mjallby leaning against a wall with their hands in their pockets. Inspiring stuff. All we can hope is the next team we play who wear black and white stripes are made to suffer.<\/p>\n
Lennon said, afterwards;<\/p>\n
“I am bitterly disappointed with that performance, it was soulless, it lacked intensity,desire and will to win, all the attributes this team has shown over the last six to nine months. That was an impersonation of a team I know. There is not one player, maybe with the exception of \u00a0Hooper, that would get pass marks today. There was a lack of discipline in our shape and play. I thought we were defensively awful, the decision making was poor and there was a lack of quality in the final third. some of them behaved like spoiled kids out there. The treble has gone, we have only ourselves to blame. The criticism is going to come our way, and rightly so.”<\/p>\n
With the transfer window still open, Lennon added ominously;<\/p>\n
“I can take losing to Kilmarnock \u00a0in the final and the semi final last year (Ed-that was against Hearts) because our performances were decent, but that was awful today from what I perceive to be top class players.. But maybe I have got it wrong and maybe I have to look at this week and change things. I don’t know.”<\/p>\n
If you can’t be bothered reading all that, here is the abridged version;<\/p>\n
“We were shite. And I’m going to kick their heads in.”<\/p>\n
We could spend all day pulling the performance apart, and pointing out what went wrong. But the abridged version sums it up pretty well. Except, there may be more to it.<\/p>\n
Rumours still abound about Gary Hooper going to Tottenham, but it didn’t seem to affect him, whereas the statement from the Kenyan FA president, Sam Myamweya, may go some way to explaining Victor Wanyamas piss poor day at work yesterday;<\/p>\n
“Wanyama will soon be joining one of the big two clubs in the world. It is an exciting moment for us, which means Kenya is a powerhouse in world football.”<\/p>\n
As far as we are concerned, he is already at one of the biggest clubs in the world, but it seems that the Kenyan chief isn’t aware of that, so it looks like Barcelona or Manchester Utd then. The most recent Etims podcast discussed what Graham Hunter, the Barca based reporter had told us, so there might well be something in this.<\/p>\n
With Zaluska doing his best to move out of the way of shots, he must have read Alex Fergusons comments on players being killed by the ball hitting them, and the outfield players totally devoid of imagination and creativity, then perhaps something has to be done this week….<\/p>\n
So , thats one less trip to Hampden we have to budget for, and the famous old stadium has not been kind to Lennons Celtic. Something clearly has to be done, and done very soon.<\/p>\n
The big picture, of course means that Armageddon, so enthusiastically predicted by Scotlands piss poor sporting press hasn’t happened. If St. Mirren go on to win the League cup, it will mean the last four trophies have been won by four different teams. Which , although it doesn’t feel like it just now, has to be good for the game. Actually, it will be if Hearts win it as well, but I just didn’t want to go down that path.<\/p>\n
SPL clubs will meet today to discuss reconstruction, and based on the spread of success within the game, they should just have something to eat, something to drink and decide to leave things just as they are. Crowds are generally on the up, and with a positive spin from the media, the game could easily be reborn without juggling things about just for the sake of it. Neil Doncaster said;<\/p>\n
“Everyone is agreed we need change to refresh the game, so we face stark choices on monday”<\/p>\n
Er, the biggest change has already happened. The club who cheated their way to titles and cup wins have been found out, and as a result they have gone out of business. The rest of us have moved on, and for now that will do. Any new set up will only lead to confusion and disarray.<\/p>\n
As the St. mirren chairman said on SSN this morning, “Its great not to be playing one of the Old Firm in a final.”<\/p>\n
With the Old Firm no longer existing, then Stewart Gilmour is right. Theres one team to beat in Scotland, and thats Celtic. beat them, and you might just win a trophy.<\/p>\n
And more than anything else, that is the mentality they took into yesterdays game, and its why they won.<\/p>\n
Still, when things are bad, and not going your way, its important to laugh at those less fortunate than oneself.<\/p>\n
Charles green, who forecast that his Third division Rangers tribute act would not make a profit this year, is actually in breach of stock market regulations with this statement. Oooops!<\/p>\n
After the weekends 1-1 draw with mighty Montrose, the Sevco Rangers boss Ally McCoist admitted ;<\/p>\n
“I was booing myself”-proof indeed that the clubs mentality is to follow a leader-any leader-and he reckons he was as angry as he’s ever been. On the late equaliser he claimed;<\/p>\n
“you could see it coming, you could absolutely see it coming.” He then offered these words of wisdom to his players;<\/p>\n
“They had better switch on kind of quick, or they will be completely switched off.”<\/p>\n
A cruel, independent observer might say that this result is to be expected when the ref forgets the obligatory sending off to help McCoist side, but when the manager talks like that, no wonder no-one wants him or his players.<\/p>\n
David Templeton, who made the career destroying move to Ibrox at the start of the season, was a little apprenhesive ahead of next weeks cup clash with Premier league giants Dundee Utd.<\/p>\n
“Dundee Utd are a strong side and we can’t give them any chances near the end of the game because they will punish us.”<\/p>\n
Near the end of the game? That game will be done and dusted before half time, but you can’t fault his optimism.<\/p>\n
Also, the British military have decided that their staff will not take part in any more circuses like the remembrance day “celebrations” at Ibrox last year. The dignified show has embarrassed the staff officers and won’t be allowed to happen again, despite a spokesman for Sevco saying that their tacky show “was the biggest inScotland.” which shows that they completely missed the point. but we knew that anyway.<\/p>\n
Aplogies for spending so much time on the Third division non entities, but with the dual contracts issue about to be discussed by the beaks, its important to keep laughing at them. After all, they are only eleven players short of being a decent side.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead to the Champions League, Nicolas Anelka has joined opponents Juventus until the end of the season, prompting suspicions all is not well with the Grand Old Lady, and to be honest, adding anelka to the mix isn’t going to help.<\/p>\n
And Celtic? Will Lennon be panicked into making a swoop for a few new faces? Will Hooper and Wanyama still be here at the end of the week? \u00a0Will Fraser Forster ever play for Celtic again? \u00a0Tune in for the next exciting episode tomorrow.<\/p>\n
Joe Kennaway was the Celt who was capped for three different countries, the USA, Canada and Scotland. Dmitri Kharine did play for Russia, the CIS and the USSR, but they aren’t really different countries, and his international career was done by the time he joined Celtic, as indeed was his playing career.<\/p>\n
Who, on signing for Celtic, saw the new stadium, and said<\/p>\n
“It will be impossible to play badly here?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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