So, bonfire night.<\/p>\n
Thats when everyone celebrates the last occasion that the British Government actually found weapons of mass destruction.<\/p>\n
Remember, never go back to a firework once its lit. Especially if you’ve just put it through someones letterbox.<\/p>\n
But all the festivities are just there to take our minds off tomorrow nights crucial game in Amsterdam. Celtic have a superb record over there, with two wins in two attempts in the last thirty years, and with Ajax currently enjoying the type of form that comes to be expected when you have a former Rangers player in charge, the omens are good.<\/p>\n
( Well, the first one was okay, but the sequels were terrible. )<\/p>\n
Former manager and current cheerleader Gordon Strachan thinks that Celtic will make the last sixteen of this years tournament, and I’m beginning to agree with him.<\/p>\n
“I think Celtic can win on Wednesday and I think they can beat AC Milan, That\u00b4s not just hoping. I definitely think they can beat them.<\/p>\n
“At the moment I think Celtic have the strength and the know-how to definitely get a result there, because Ajax are not in the best of form just now. And they can definitely beat AC Milan.<\/p>\n
“Celtic are a better team than Ajax at this moment. The Ajax team will develop – they look like a youth team \u2013 I don\u00b4t think anybody has had a shave in that team. When you look at them and the Juventus team Celtic played last season, they were men.<\/p>\n
“The Ajax team will develop in the next nine months, a year, into an exceptional team again. Ajax\u00b4s problem, like most clubs, is they keep improving players then somebody buys them.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Scotland boss also thinks that the experience of the Champions League for Celtics players has a knock on effect in the national side.<\/p>\n
“There\u00b4s absolutely no doubt about it, Celtic\u00b4s experience in the Champions League has helped Scottish international football,” Strachan said. “Apart from Celtic, the players don\u00b4t have European football, which is a pity. I\u00b4m sure if they had it, they would definitely get better.<\/p>\n
“It\u00b4s not an arrogance. It\u00b4s a confidence you feel. When you might have thought: \u00b4Am I good enough?\u00b4 It becomes: \u00b4Yes, I am good enough.\u00b4<\/p>\n
“I would love to get players with that experience staying in Europe longer. How to deal with it, things like travelling all the time and getting used to having less training sessions.”<\/p>\n
But we don’t really care about that.<\/p>\n
Nir Bitton will miss two Champions League games after he was handed an extra suspension for his sending off in the first game, but Scott Brown will travel with the club regardless of the fact he can’t play.<\/p>\n
Thats can’t play in the game, not an overall assessment of his ability. Thought that needed clarification.<\/p>\n
Neil Lennon said;<\/p>\n
“Scott is coming with us, and I think Adam Matthews will, as well.”<\/p>\n
Theres no place for Bobby Lennox or Bertie Auld, though.<\/p>\n
Asked if the captain still had a role to play, even though suspended, the manager said: “Why not? It’s always good to have Scott there.<\/p>\n
“He is very encouraging and very good in the dressing room, and he will do a bit of training while he is there.”<\/p>\n
Why don’t they just say that he was able to tell his wife he’s away to Amsterdam for a couple of days and its work ?<\/p>\n
I only got as far as ” I see Celtic will be playing Ajax ”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lennon was happy with the fact that no-one else got injured on Saturday against Dundee Utd, and was pleased that one or two are getting sharper;<\/p>\n
“That was another good 70 minutes for Joe Ledley on Saturday,”<\/p>\n
“Derk has come back, Kris Commons and Georgios will be back, James Forrest got another 90 minutes, which was good, and we rested Beram Kayal, which was good.”<\/p>\n
Lennon also sounds quite confident about the game..<\/p>\n
“We have got to believe that we can get the result we want tomorrow, otherwise there is no point in turning up.<\/p>\n
“We will have to be positive, and to get something out of the game would give us a great chance in the last two games.”<\/p>\n
So he should. Celtic played very well in milan, and were unlucky to lose. Ajax will have to come at Celtic as they need to win the game to have any chance of European football after Christmas. That means Celtic can play the counter attacking game that suits them at this level.<\/p>\n
Samaras and probably Forrest will be crucial tomorrow night. If they are up for it, then another win at Ajax is certainly not beyond the realms of possibility.<\/p>\n
Of course, by the time tomorrow rolls around, I’ll be back to being the nervous wreck who thinks we’ll get cuffed.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, Scottish football will now be shown in China after a \u00a320m ten year deal was signed to show games in that country. Thats \u00a32m a year divided between forty two clubs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The guys who negotiated this deal really went for it, and lets be honest, with negotiating skills like that, you’d have had their dinner money off them every day at school.<\/p>\n
Still, in one sense its money for nothing. Which , ironically sums up what these guys do for a living.<\/p>\n
And there is another downside, no doubt we’ll be signing a Chinese player soon, whether he’s any good or not, and you’ll be pleased and surprised to know that we’ve already been linked with one.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He’s an attacking midfielder from the Beijjing Guoan club called Zhang Xizhe , who has been described as ;<\/p>\n
” one of the few current Chinese players capable of making a real mark on European football.<\/p>\n
Indeed, there has been a growing sense in recent months that it will be difficult for Guoan to retain the youngster, who provided 11 goals this season and topped the Super League charts for assists with 12, appearing in all 30 league matches for the capital side. ”<\/p>\n
Frankly, its hard to believe that somewhere on a red ash pitch in the west of Scotland there isn’t someone of at least equal capabilities. And could you have a look for a striker as well.<\/p>\n
If anyone in China is reading this, and knows which hotel Lawwell is staying in, go and have a beer with him. Then, when he’s drunk, nick his passport and his shoes. That way he might never get back.<\/p>\n
Today sees the draw for the Scottish Cup fourth round, and its the one where big teams like Celtic enter the competition, and as usual all the wee teams ( like Second Rangers ) will be hoping for a big name to come out alongside theirs.<\/p>\n
The wee Rangers will be hoping for Motherwell, which is roughly the equivalent of a bye for them, while Celtic will be hoping to avoid the Ibrox club, even though it is roughly the equivalent of a bye for us.<\/p>\n
Alex Ferguson will be pulling the balls out of the pot, which is live on Sky at midday.<\/p>\n
Call me a suspicious old scroat, but the media interest in the tournament is a little worrying, which surely doesn’t mean there are a couple of hot balls in there somewhere…<\/p>\n
Alan Hansen, once a great player, now a terrible pundit, reckons that Fraser Forster should get a game for England. But he does have his reservations;<\/p>\n
“If you are being brutally honest, Roy does not have any genuine alternatives.”<\/p>\n
“Forster had a fantastic game for Celtic against Barcelona in the Champions League last season, but we have not seen him on the biggest stage,”<\/p>\n
For someone who avoided heading the ball, Hansen has the knack of talking like someone who has suffered cranial injury, and although he seems to be referring to the World Cup as the biggest stage, its fair to say that players such as George Weah and George Best didn’t really lack something in their game that could have been put right by playing against Zaire or Costa Rica.<\/p>\n
Hansen was quite popular on the BBC, but never quite graduated to a bigger stage.<\/p>\n
Poor Joe Hart. He doesn’t even realise he’s going to be dropped. Hodgson has told him, but it went straight over his head.<\/p>\n
Yesterdays picture showed a still from the 3-0 over Cologne in 1992, which promised to be the start of a great run in Europe. It wasn’t, and there wasn’t another great run for years. In fact, there wasn’t a great game for years. But heres one-where and what ?<\/p>\n
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