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<\/p>\nWe hear that John Collins idea of playing on red ash ( see above pic ) to toughen up the players was rejected by the SPFL, and thats the real reason we didn’t play Partick at the weekend.<\/p>\n
Alright, I’m making that up. Though it wouldn’t have surprised me.<\/p>\n
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It kind of tugs at the heart strings. Legia Warsaw have appealed to Celtic to consider a one off match to settle who should go into the Champions League play offs. Their chairman sent us a letter, which coincided with a tv appearance to plead for clemency, or mercy , or whatever he wants to call it;<\/p>\n
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He may have a bit of a wait. We believe the answer from Celtic only had two words in it, and one of them rhymed with luck, somewhat ironically.<\/p>\n
Actually, there was an official statement;<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are disappointed by Legia Warsaw’s comments. This is entirely a matter for UEFA and its processes. Accordingly, we will reserve further comment for the appropriate time.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Which pretty much amounts to the same thing.<\/p>\n Cleverly, the men who made the mistakes that cost their club millions of pounds have somehow shifted the blame away from themselves and on to Celtic. All we did was adhere to the rules. If they had done that, then they would have gone through and they would have deserved their place. Theres no room for cheats in European football.<\/p>\n ( Of course, this doesn’t apply to Scottish football yet, at least not while the SFA still holds any sort of power. )<\/p>\n Fraser Forster has gone. He’s moved to Southampton to further his career and is already looking forward to the glamour of games against Hull, West Brom and Stoke. He will, of course, face a higher quality of striker in the English league, although none of them will be English, and we wish him all the best.<\/p>\n No, we do. He’s done four years with Celtic, improved enormously as a player, and whilst it appears his medal collection is probably complete, he will at least improve his bank balance.<\/p>\n The big man said;<\/p>\n “I really want to thank the Club and the Celtic fans for all they have given me over the past four years.\u00a0 It has been a wonderful honour to play for one of the world’s great football clubs and I wish everyone at Celtic and the supporters every success for the future.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI have received tremendous support during my time at the Club and it has been a brilliant experience being part of a squad which has won titles and trophies and taken part in the Champions League.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI know the Club wanted me to stay, and I know the Club has done everything they possibly can to keep me, but I felt now was the right time for a new challenge in the English Premier League.”<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI would like to pay a special tribute to Stevie Woods and the Club’s fitness coach Bill Styles for their hard work and commitment during my time at Celtic.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n “I hope the Manager, the players, the staff and of course the fans enjoy more and more great times ahead.\u00a0 I have accepted a new opportunity away from Celtic, but I am a Celtic supporter for life and will be cheering the Club on in everything they do.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0Ach, good luck to him. Ronny Deila tried to persuade him to stay, watched by a nervous Peter Lawwell in case he actually did;<\/p>\n “Clearly we were desperate to keep Fraser at the Club but we fully understand that players can seek new challenges.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe did everything to keep him here, but that’s football and we understand the situation.\u00a0 When a player wants to look at a new environment it is always very difficult to stand in his way, this is nothing new.”<\/em><\/p>\n “Although I have only worked with Fraser for a short time, I can see that he is a top class goalkeeper, a magnificent professional and someone who gave his all every time he pulled on the Celtic jersey”.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI wish Fraser all the very best for the future, I am sure he will be a great success at Southampton.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n There was a story that Forster offered to stay for the Maribor game, but to be honest, if he has decided to go, then let him go.<\/p>\n Craig Gordon will now get a couple of competitive games under his belt , starting with St. Johnstone on Wednesday and then Dundee Utd on Saturday. Lets hope he’s ready.<\/p>\n Aleksandr Tonev, the badly spelt Aston Villa winger who was the subject of a \u00a32m bid from Celtic last year, is set to join on loan for a year this week. He’s in Glasgow for talks, a medical and a career kick start, largely because he, er, can’t get in the Aston Villa team. Well, he managed 17 games for them last season, didn’t score , and for some reason he’s coming up north as part of Ronnys Revolution.<\/p>\n So, a goalie who hasn’t played for two years because he’s injured, and two on loan wingers who hardly play when they aren’t injured.<\/p>\n What was it Ronny said ?<\/p>\n “Loan deals are a possibility but they are not ideal. You don\u2019t want to develop other clubs\u2019 talent”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n No wonder the players have no faith in him. No wonder the supporters are a little nervous about the coming season.<\/p>\n There is talk of a bid for Aaron Johansen, who co-incidentally was also linked last year. He’s the Icelandic chap who plays for the USA. We’re “close ” to agreeing a fee.<\/p>\n Probably.<\/p>\n We’ll wait and see.<\/p>\n Anyhoo, based entirely on the way Celtic performed against Legia Warsaw, the two games this week could easily see us six points behind both of our opponents.<\/p>\n Both sides recorded away wins at the weekend, while Celtic rested their players from their exertions of, well, whatever it was they were trying to do at Murrayfield, with Saints winning in Dingwall, and Dundee Utd hammering Aberdeen at Pittodrie.<\/p>\n Whilst all those knowledgeable pundits on telly and in the papers think that the league is a foregone conclusion, I don’t.<\/p>\n The players clearly don’t want to play for the manager, and the manager doesn’t seem to know how to, er, manage.<\/p>\n He may be a great, forward thinking coach who knows how he wants to play football, but he puts me in mind of Brian Clough when he joined Leeds Utd. The players didn’t take to him, because Clough had a management style that didn’t work with seasoned, experienced pros, and Deila looks to have encountered a similar culture shock at Celtic.<\/p>\n Still, with Henrik Larsson available in November, the Norwegian has a couple of months to make it work, and Celtic have their back up plan to revive interest in a potentially disastrous season.<\/p>\n That may sound a little pessimistic, largely because it is. but what we have seen so far doesn’t inspire confidence, and you have to feel for Fergus McCann, who will raise the flag on Saturday, in front of a support that may be a little disillusioned with the club so far this summer.<\/p>\n If I was him, I’d ring in sick. The wee man will think we hate him.<\/p>\n The situation is quite scary. And one story kind of sums it up.<\/p>\n We all love Georgios Samaras. He’s done his time at Celtic, and has moved on. Well, sort of. Apparently he keeps knocking back million dollar deals, and according to some, its because he wants to come back to Celtic.<\/p>\n But is that the level we have slipped to ? Bringing back an erratic forward after we already refused to give him a pay rise ? If we wanted to keep him, we should have paid the going rate. He’s been loyal, he’s maybe not the greatest and most consistent player we ever had, but he had heart, and never really hid when the chips were down.<\/p>\n More importantly, is he going to be brought back to hide the lack of transfer activity elsewhere, while the money received for Forster and probably one or two others \u00a0just goes into the bank for a rainy day ?<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the football season started back at the weekend, and all the clubs with somewhere to play managed to get a game on.<\/p>\n Celtic are still putting Celtic Park back together after the Commonwealth games, but it should be done for Saturday. Unless we rent it out to someone else in the meantime.<\/p>\n Dundee Utd , as we have already mentioned, set the standard with a 3-0 win over Aberdeen, and there are signs it won’t be as easy in the league this season as we might have thought.<\/p>\n With a strong First Division as well, the cups could also prove tricky, especially as Hearts recorded a win over Scotlands biggest and newest club Second Rangers, which outlines the depth of quality in that league.<\/p>\n ( Unless you watched the game, that is, when you would have seen that there is no depth of quality whatsoever. )<\/p>\n Hearts saw a second half lead cancelled out in the 90th minute by the Ibrox side, but while the blues were still celebrating , the Edinburgh side ran up the park and scored again.<\/p>\n Rookie manager Ally McCoist had to be separated from one of his young players such was his mood, according to tales on twitter, which means they haven’t quite got it right this season, and may struggle now they have to play full time teams.<\/p>\n Look out for moves to expand the Premier dividion to 22 teams, or however many it takes to include them in time for next season.<\/p>\n There were also rumours that McCoist has actually left the club, but unless he waddles away, then the severance package would bankrupt them.<\/p>\n Oh, and by the way, sherriff officers have been at their door again, popping in with those polite reminders about paying the bills…<\/p>\n![\"Aleksandar](\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/8\/83\/Aleksandar_Tonev.JPG\/220px-Aleksandar_Tonev.JPG\")
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