Apologies for yesterdays ommission of the diary. After several hours trying to produce a perfect article, such are the high standards on this website, the end product was deemed unacceptable and consigned to the trash bin.<\/p>\n
Or I could have been stuck on the M25 en route to Gatwick Airport since about four in the morning.<\/p>\n
The household has \u00a0had two guests over Easter, girlfriends of two of my sons. One from Estonia , one from Ireland, plus the son and heir home from university, to add to the two sons still in residence, despite the road maps left at random throughout the house.<\/p>\n
So, as you might gather , the place has resounded to joyous , happy laughter whenever they all went out.<\/p>\n
Anyway, to keep up the pretence of actually writing something yesterday, I’ve decided to lower the standards for this article, so I’m afraid you’ll have to put up with it. Okay, lower them even more.<\/p>\n
The big news of the week is the resignation of Johan Mjallby, assistant manager to Neil Lennon. He goes at the end of the season, to pastures and challenges new, and his departure will leave a massive hole at the club, as he apparently keeps forgetting to open the door when he goes out.<\/p>\n
The big man, described a “bloody good looking big bastard ” by men and women alike , told the official website;<\/p>\n
\u201cI have enormous affection for Celtic Football Club and it is with sadness that the time to leave has arrived. However, I now leave to seek some different opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Club has been part of my life for almost two decades and I have been dedicated to them in every way, first of all as a player and then in management.<\/p>\n
“As a player, it was a time when we achieved great success and I had the privilege to work with football people and players who were first-class and real quality. We had some great moments and memories I will always cherish.<\/p>\n
“It was an honour to return to the Club and work in management with Neil, Garry and the players, and we have worked hard over the last few years to once again bring the Club success.<\/p>\n
“I hope Neil, the staff and the players can deliver many more trophies and titles for our fans in the future. I would like to sincerely thank all our supporters for all they have given me and everything they have given to the Club.\u00a0They are special fans, the best I have ever seen in football.”<\/p>\n
Perhaps he’s away to get a bit more experience before he comes back for the top job….<\/p>\n
Mjallby inspired cliches like no other-phrases such as “he always gave 100% ” and other nonsense will be forever attached to a man that actually gave a whole lot more than that.<\/p>\n
Chris Sutton gave us his own tribute;<\/p>\n
JOHAN MJALLBY used to drive \u2028me nuts.<\/p>\n
When we were team-mates at Celtic under Martin O\u2019Neill, he would treat every single session like a matchday and trained like he played.<\/p>\n
If I was being absolutely honest, I\u2019d admit that I was perhaps not one of that nature.<\/p>\n
Frankly, Johan would get right on my nerves at times.<\/p>\n
We would be having a session in the middle of the week and he would tackle hard or he would thump right through the back of me.<\/p>\n
I would look at him and think: \u201cWhy are you doing that? We\u2019ve got a game on Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n
But that was Johan……<\/p>\n
……<\/p>\n
Johan was an excellent player and knew his strengths and weaknesses on the pitch, although there were not that many weaknesses.<\/p>\n
I shared a dressing room with him and can only tell you how much\u2028influence he had in there as well as \u2028on the field.<\/p>\n
Johan was not a guy with a big \u2028ego. There were others at the time \u2028who would get the headlines and \u2028the adulation.<\/p>\n
But his only focus was performing well and doing his job to the best of his abilities.<\/p>\n
For Johan, that is what gave him the satisfaction and the pride.<\/p>\n
It is sometimes easy for people to trot out the same lines about being winners but that was \u2028absolutely the case with Johan.<\/p>\n
He simply hated getting beaten. That\u2019s how he played.<\/p>\n
Seriously, he was aggressive and he was fair, someone who could dish it out and take it, but he had an awful lot more than that to his game.<\/p>\n
He wasn\u2019t the quickest but he read the game so well and used his \u2028body to tremendous effect that opponents would find it almost impossible to get past him.<\/p>\n
Johan was a loss to us as a group when he finished up playing \u2028and he will certainly be a loss to Celtic\u2019s backroom staff. ”<\/p>\n
Thats from a team mates perspective, and I’ll try to add a fans thoughts.<\/p>\n
When the big Swede arrived , much was made of the physical attributes of his game, reference was made to a Swedish sports tv feature entitled “Johanns Tackle of the Week “, where opponents would be gently dispossessed of the ball and hardly ever needed help getting back up.<\/p>\n
And at a time when Celtic were perhaps guilty of being bullied by their old opponents from the dar side of town, much was expected from him to reverse that trend. He is a big lad, and his arrival was expected to signal the beginning of a shift in power..<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And he didn’t disappoint.<\/p>\n
Ask Jorg Albertz , the “hammer ” who found out that when you ran into Johann you just bounced off. Still one of the biggest cheers ever at a Celtic -Old rangers game…<\/p>\n
Or ask Fernando Ricksen, the first player to change his shorts at half time in a Celtic Rangers game….<\/p>\n
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