Virgil van Dijk was outstanding against Dundee Utd on Saturday, most of us would agree. In fact, most of us would admit that he might just turn out to be the centre half we have been looking for. Not the Scotsman. Not if you take the inference in the headline.<\/p>\n
Finally ? He’s only been here a couple of weeks !<\/p>\n
Anyhoo, the defender seemed pleased with himself;<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this was one of the best games I have played\u00a0\u00a0\u2013 but I have not played many. It\u2019s good to be playing again after injury.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely the best is still to come from me, I\u2019ve never been 100 per cent fit. It\u2019s coming and I also need time to adapt to the Scottish game and my team-mates.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cIt needs a little bit of time.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all I want to be fit and then I know what I\u2019m capable of producing. That\u2019s rule number one \u2013 then I can see what comes from that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fellow defender Mikael Lustig may have damaged ligaments at Tannadice, and is in a bit of a race to be fit for the Hearts game in a couple of weeks, but hopefully will make the Champions League opener with Milan on the 18th of this month.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not believe it to be anything serious but I\u2019ll have it checked on Monday and then we will see.\u201d said the big Swede, in the same tone as if he had just ordered a coffee.<\/p>\n
Injuries are a bit of a problem of late, largely down to the intensity of the opening programme. Manager Neil Lennon spoke of the omissions from the team on saturday;<\/p>\n
“We had to patch a few up – Joe Ledley, Adam Matthews, Kris Commons – from Wednesday night. Mulgrew had a bug, Forrest had a sore ankle so he wasn’t fit.”<\/p>\n
Theres an international break now, and Celtic have a few on duty, unless they can catch a cold or go down with food poisoning or something. \u00a0Lennon doesn’t think that any of his wounded will miss their chance to play for Scotland.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Yes, I think they will be fine for Scotland. James took a heavy one on the ankle towards the end of the game on Wednesday night and didn’t recover on time to play on Saturday.<\/p>\n
“Charlie had a stomach bug, he didn’t feel well on Saturday morning so we decided not to take any chances with him.”<\/p>\n
Right idea. Wrong game.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Last word on Saturdays game, and you have to admire Paul Paton of Dundee Utd, who gave his thoughts on the free kick that led to the winning goal;<\/p>\n
\u201cI was annoyed at their free-kick. It wasn\u2019t me who made the tackle but I could see it was clearly a dive and there was no\u00a0contact<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cBut he still has to put the ball into the back of the net and did that superbly. It was unbelievable. We had a free-kick in a similar position but we hit the wall.<\/p>\n \u201cThat wee bit of difference is maybe why they are champions and we are not.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a go at him (Stokes) but that is just part of the game \u2014 I have a go at my own players as well,\u201d he smiled.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, he has gone down and put the ball in the top corner, what can you do about that? We can\u2019t hold a grudge though. We just move on.\u201d<\/p>\n Thats from the Dundee Courier, and you have to praise his honesty. No big deal, no fuss, but telling everyone what he thought, which he is entitled to do.<\/p>\n Which is pretty much how Stokes sees his ongoing contract situation with Celtic.<\/p>\n “My agent has been in touch with Celtic and we are waiting on them coming back. I am sure it will sort itself out. “I love the club, they are a great bunch of lads.”<\/p>\n ” A great bunch of lads. ” I’m sure thats how someone described Andy Goram once.<\/p>\n Thats the transfer window all done as far as Celtic are concerned, despite the rest of civilisation still doing business. Interesting to note that the SFA cited Saturday as a working day as a reason not to extend, and yet were they not closed the day supporters of the now defunct Rangers marched on their offices one fine Saturday ? Oh, and does anyone remember this, from presumably more enlightened times ?<\/p>\n ” \u00a0Scotland extends transfer window<\/p>\n Shaun Maloney and Pedro Mendes have recently moved to Scotland<\/p>\n The Scottish Football Association has extended the summer transfer window by 24 hours to Monday 1 September. It makes it all the more difficult to understand why they refused to do it this year . Surely it wasn’t to prevent Second Rangers signing some players today, as their embargo only went up to 31 August, instead of the end of the window ? Not that it would matter to anyone if they did. If someone wants to give McCoist money to spend, its their issue, although personally I wouldn’t trust him with a penny.<\/p>\n Reminds me of the guy at work who I asked to get me twenty Bensons one time. He asked \u00a0what he should \u00a0get if theres no Bensons, I told him to “just get me anything.”<\/p>\n He came back with a meat pie.<\/p>\n And I’d trust him before I trusted seasoned rookie McCoist. \u00a0Especially with a pie.<\/p>\n Here he is when he spotted the delivery man at Ibrox once<\/p>\n Then realised he’d forgotten his wallet<\/p>\n Ah, the SFA and Rangers.<\/p>\n The legendary five way agreement has finally come into the public domain, thanks to Charlotte Fakeover, who put the whole lot on twitter. This was the secret document that was thrown together in the wake of First Rangers going out of business. Or was it the first time Rangers went out of business ? \u00a0I get mixed up.<\/p>\n 5-Way-Agreement-As-issued-to-all-parties-for-signature<\/a><\/p>\n A long and turgid doucument, as are all of that type, and at first glance there doesn’t seem to be any need for secrecy. Ah, but wait. As Charotte then tweeted..<\/p>\n ” As part of the deal EBT Trial and Costs were assigned to OldCo = Creditor Shafting by the Football Authorities. BDO should reject outright.<\/p>\n The Rangers didn’t need to accept any penalties from the authorities. Any team playing out of Ibrox would have walked straight into SFL3.<\/p>\n However as a newco they would not have been permitted to play as a variant of Rangers. Craig Whyte was key to this whole charade. He was\u00a0bought off by Imran\/Charles, although they bumped him after publicly being outed. The Rangers had to accept a form of punishment in order to\u00a0continue with this illusion of being the exact same club. Charles and Imran were willing participants, the fans were the victims all along.<\/p>\n Those who were instrumental in requesting this document remained confidential should all be charged with bringing the game into disrepute. ”<\/p>\n He didn’t stop there.<\/p>\n Who was looking to take advantage of negative Rangers news then and at the expense of shareholders?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n“A significant number of associations have decided to move the closure of their window,” read an SFA statement.
\n“It would seem to make sense to assist our clubs and ensure that they are not disadvantaged in any way when trying to sign players prior to the deadline.”
\nAssociations in England, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands have also moved their windows back to 1 September.
\nSome associations will still be closing their window at midnight on Sunday 31 August and the SFA has moved to ensure this does not cause Scottish clubs any problems.
\n“The SFA will make arrangements to have registration department cover on 31 August as well as 1 September to deal with all enquiries,” added the statement.
\nAfter the 1 September deadline has passed, the transfer window will re-open on Thursday 1 January. ”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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