{"id":4814,"date":"2014-04-04T09:41:08","date_gmt":"2014-04-04T08:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etims.net\/?p=4814"},"modified":"2014-04-04T09:41:08","modified_gmt":"2014-04-04T08:41:08","slug":"celtic-diary-friday-april-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=4814","title":{"rendered":"Celtic Diary Friday April 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Derek Johnstone, who has a column in the Evening Times where readers are invited to ask him his opinion as though it matters, has given his tuppence worth on Lee Mccullochs assault on Beram Kayal, which had the Israeli describing the delicate McCulloch as “not the worlds cleanest player ”<\/p>\n

The former Rangers forward, remember him ?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What is it about that team and the unique hairstyle known as \u00a0“Bugger grips ” in the prison world ?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Surely it was only their club that got raped by crooks ?<\/p>\n

Anyway, Johnstone was asked ..<\/p>\n

Is Lee McCulloch ‘not the world’s cleanest player’?<\/p>\n

No. It was a real cheap shot by Beram Kayal this week to say that he was.<\/p>\n

I couldn’t remember the tackle the Celtic player was talking about. And bad challenges tend to stick in the mind.<\/p>\n

Anyone who saw the game will remember the challenge. Except Johnstone and McCoist. Who, in fairness have difficulty remembering a lot of things. such as the death of their club, or in McCoists case, his agreement to take a reduced salary. Or the names of the people on that panel, or … thats enough-Ed.<\/em><\/p>\n

Having seen it again on television, it is just a 50\/50 challenge where Lee’s momentum has carried him into the opposition player.<\/p>\n

In the same way that the momentum of the tanks carried the German army into Poland in 1939.<\/em><\/p>\n

Kayal has rubbished Scottish football and said he wants to leave Celtic. Fair enough. Tatty-bye Beram!<\/p>\n

He’s rubbished Scottish football ? The bastard. Isn’t that the medias job ? Or the SFA ?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Frankly, the picture and caption accompanying the piece is at best misleading and at worse downright revisionism.<\/p>\n

\"Lee<\/p>\n

Lee McCulloch and Beram Kayal lie injured after a 50\/50 challenge during an Old Firm match in 2011<\/p>\n

The papers editor probably realised a wee bit too late how absurd that article sounded, and rushed to former Celtic player and manager Davie Hay to put a wee bit of common sense in its pages.<\/p>\n

“It happened so long ago but it was a harsh challenge.<\/p>\n

“It is probably sourness from him now because his career hasn’t developed the way he thought it would have and might have done.<\/p>\n

“That injury set him back and he never imposed himself the way he did prior to it.<\/p>\n

“I am sure that will be a frustration for Beram and he has reacted this week.<\/p>\n

“He was progressing well but, after that injury, he did not devleop into the player we thought he would do.<\/p>\n

“If he had been playing regularly, he wouldn’t have made the comments he did about Scottish football.<\/p>\n

“It is down to frustration that he has not done what he thought he would do at Celtic.”<\/p>\n

Which is probably about right.<\/p>\n

Efe Ambrose will be one of the busier Celtic players this summer, with a seat on the plane to Brazil already booked for the big Nigerian, but he doesn’t need rest….<\/p>\n

( Unless we are playing Juventus… and he’s just got off a plane )<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I need a break or a rest,\u201d he said. \u201cI just like playing football because I enjoy it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you start playing for the national team you don\u2019t really get a break. At the end of the season you\u2019re be involved with the national team and then, before you know it, you have to come back for pre-season so it\u2019s been like that for the past four or five years.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, I don\u2019t think I need a week off. I always prefer to play.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, from now on others will be the judge of that. his attitude, though, is tremendous<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I\u2019m Efe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Effin stupid ?<\/em><\/p>\n

The defender looked ahead to the Scotland -Nigeria game next month which is being held in Fulham, nowhere near Nigeria and a long walk from Scotland.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a tough game because Scotland are a good team now,\u201d the Nigerian defender said. \u201cThey\u2019ve got some good players coming into the squad now and they\u2019re playing well. I\u2019ve been watching them for the past five games and they\u2019ve done well.<\/p>\n

\u201cNigeria has a good squad as well, so it\u2019s going to be a tough game, and the best team will win on the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had discussions with Browny about it. It will be hard playing against him because he\u2019s a player who motivates the team and he has great qualities as a leader, so he will help Scotland, but we will put the fact that we\u2019re Celtic team-mates aside for this game. I\u2019m really looking forward to it, and I think we\u2019ll win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Theres no doubting the players strength and commitment, but he can be his own worst enemy sometimes. On and off the park.<\/p>\n

He did add his thoughts on Beram Kayals opinion of the Scottish league , though..<\/p>\n

“That is Beram, that is his own opinion.<\/p>\n

“For me, the league is getting better day-by-day. So many teams are coming up now, believing that they can win the title.<\/p>\n

“Day by day people want to know what is happening in the Scottish league. In Africa everybody knows Celtic, and all around the world, because we always play in the Champions League.<\/p>\n

“For me, it’s a brilliant league, and I’m becoming a better player and they are helping me become a better player than what I was in Israel.”<\/p>\n

When Stuart Pearce was at Manchester city, one of his signings was Georgios Samaras, so its only fitting that the big Greek should be linked with a move to Nottingham Forest.<\/p>\n

From Football Direct News;<\/p>\n

A source close to the club\u00a0told\u00a0FDN<\/strong>\u00a0that Pearce is a long-term admirer of Samaras, who he signed for Manchester City in 2006, in a \u00a36million move from Dutch side Heerenveen.<\/p>\n

According to the Forest\u00a0\u00a0source, their chances of luring him back to England will increase significantly if they achieve promotion to the top-flight via the play-offs.<\/p>\n

No shit !\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The Holy Sea, in yesterdays comments, mentioned this guy as a possible blue chip signing in the summer;<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"Jonatan
\n\u00a9 FOTObyHOFER<\/a><\/td>\n		\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Name in native country:<\/td>\nJonatan Soriano Casas<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Date of birth:<\/td>\n24.09.1985<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Place of birth:<\/td>\nEl Pont de Vilomara i Rocafort<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Age:<\/td>\n28<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Height:<\/td>\n1,80<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Nationality:<\/td>\n\u00a0\u00a0Spain<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Position:<\/td>\nStriker – Centre Forward<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Foot:<\/td>\nright<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Market value:<\/td>\n4.400.000 \u00a3
\n5.000.000 \u20ac<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

PERFORMANCE DATA OF CURRENT SEASON<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Competition<\/td>\nMatches<\/td>\n\"-\"<\/td>\n\"-\"<\/td>\n\"-\"<\/td>\n\"-\"<\/td>\n\"-\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nChampions League Qualification<\/a><\/td>\n2<\/a><\/td>\n1<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n180<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nEuropa League<\/a><\/td>\n9<\/a><\/td>\n11<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n716<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nBundesliga<\/a><\/td>\n22<\/a><\/td>\n26<\/td>\n14<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n1879<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n\u00d6FB-Cup<\/a><\/td>\n1<\/a><\/td>\n3<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n90<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total:<\/td>\n34<\/a><\/td>\n41<\/td>\n20<\/td>\n–<\/td>\n9<\/td>\n2865<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Probability:\u00a0?<\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0futbol.as.com<\/a>\u00a0<\/b>status:vage\u00a0\u00b7 According to source, transfer takes place in: Summer\u00a0<\/i>
\nEs el capit\u00e1n del equipo y lleva 14 goles en lo que va de temporada. Anderlecht y Celtic se interesaron por sus servicios, llegando a ofrecer los escoceses 10 millones por sus goles
\nLas evoluciones de Soriano no han pasado desapercibidas. Varios equipos de la Liga (Celta, Rayo, M\u00e1laga) trataron de seducirle con la posibilidad de regresar a Espa\u00f1a. Descartado. Lo mismo, aunque con m\u00e1s dinero, sucedi\u00f3 desde B\u00e9lgica y Escocia. Los ojeadores del Anderlecht y Celtic entregaron informes inmejorables de Jonathan Soriano, aunque los ejecutivos del Red Bull contestaron de manera negativa y ante ala avalancha de ofertas que se les acercaba decidieron que era el momento de blindar al jugador, capit\u00e1n del equipo y uno de los m\u00e1ximos goleadores del concierto europeo actual.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The site obviously has spellchecker problems, but the bit at the beginning is interesting. and the rest of it might be. Although my wife and I can speak two languages, its only one each, so the rest of that article is a little confusing and difficult to understand.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Wow, we started with Derek Johnstone, and we’ve ended up with a description of him.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u00a0Actually, we’re not finished yet.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u00a0Celtic are off to Tannadice tomorrow, its the live game at lunchtime for those of us who prefer to sit on our arses in the warm. Dundee Utd will be our favourite team a little later in the season, but thats no reason to give them a confidence boosting high scoring win , and we’d hope that in the interests of sporting integrity the tackles will be flying in.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
In the pre match press conference, Neil Lennon is expected to announce he will give youth a chance again;<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Incidentally, Celtic are reportedly monitoring the process of another Barcelona youngster;<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Back to the game, and Uniteds assistant boss, former Celt Simon Donnelly is confident of a result;<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“I think we’ve given a good account of ourselves against them this year,” Donnelly told the\u00a0Dundee Evening Telegraph<\/a><\/b>. “We lost to a last-minute free-kick at Tannadice early in the season and then at Parkhead, when we’d had a chance to make to 2-0 and kill the game, they equalised in injury-time.<\/p>\n

“The boys took a massive lift from the performance and you saw that when you looked at the results on the back of it,” he added. “They went six or seven games scoring a lot of goals and winning matches.”<\/p>\n

Fancy meeting a couple of the players ?<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
THE Celtic Store in Argyle Street, Glasgow\u00a0is the place to be next Tuesday, April 8 as Virgil van Dijk and Emilio Izaguirre will be in the shop on a Championship signing mission.<\/p>\n

The defenders will be signing Champions t-shirts, flags and scarves bought in store on the day.<\/p>\n

This is a FREE ticketed event, and tickets can be collected in advance from Argyle Street, Sauchiehall Street and the Superstore at Celtic Park on a first come, first served basis..<\/p>\n

The players will be signing the merchandise at the Argyle Street store on Tuesday, April 8, between 2pm -3pm<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u00a0I went into a book shop yesterday, and asked the fellow behind the counter if he had a copy of Ally McCoists new book on the current issues surrounding his club.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u00a0“I think I’ve sold out ” he said<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u00a0” Thats the one, ” I replied.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u00a0Barney Battles was the player from the past you would have got from the two pictures yesterday.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Try this one….<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/div>\n
\"\"<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Finally, Rangers fans were claiming victimisation again yesterday.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“Its not fair, we’ve been punished enough ” said a spokesman when it was revealed that the new England tops would retail at \u00a390 each.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Derek Johnstone, who has a column in the Evening Times where readers are invited to ask him his opinion as though it matters, has given…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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\/2014\/04\/kayal004sm.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2J7If-1fE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4814"}],"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=4814"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4816,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4814\/revisions\/4816"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}