{"id":6111,"date":"2014-12-05T10:46:03","date_gmt":"2014-12-05T10:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etims.net\/?p=6111"},"modified":"2014-12-05T10:46:03","modified_gmt":"2014-12-05T10:46:03","slug":"celtic-diary-friday-december-5-brave-new-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=6111","title":{"rendered":"Celtic Diary Friday December 5: Brave New World"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Barry Hearn loading his gun and firing at the SFa for being bloody useless, Ronny Deila has taken up arms to join him.<\/p>\n

Well, sort of.<\/p>\n

The Norwegian has broken completely with Scottish tradition, and spoken up for the game in this country;<\/p>\n

\u201cThe interest in football in Scotland is there, and so is the talent,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople are coming to games and when you listen on the radio or watch on TV, it\u2019s amazing how many people care about football, so that\u2019s something which should be spoken about.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBut we have to talk positively about Scottish football, rather than focus on the negative.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Who knows ? Maybe this new positivity \u00a0will catch on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Norway everyone is so interested in football and everyone, including youngsters, are coming to games. Maybe the quality isn\u2019t the best always, but people enjoy it and like to watch Norwegian football.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBut here in Scotland, it\u2019s also about getting the big matches at the right time, to play on the days when people can come to the games. That\u2019s so important.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHere at Celtic we have fans coming from Ireland, and from all over, so they have to know when the game is on, and at the best time for them.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Almost immediately his phone rang, and Peter Lawwell was heard to say;<\/p>\n

” Thats plenty, Ronny. ”<\/p>\n

“”I\u00a0want to connect more with the fans because it\u2019s important. You can see them doing that at clubs like Borussia Dortmund and that\u2019s one of the reasons they have so many fans at every game\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

” I said that’s plenty, Ronny. ”<\/p>\n

Speaking of Dortmund, they are now bottom of the German league, and their support, matchdays \u00a0biggest in Europe , are right behind them;<\/p>\n

\"Embedded<\/p>\n

“If you fall, I will fall with you. ”<\/p>\n

Back home, and \u00a0the signs are there that a new dawn may be just around the corner for the game. A new dawn which considers the position of those who pay to watch the game. Its not a moment too soon, because when you look back at the massive crowds of yesteryear, and the huge interest in the game, its not all down to the matches being on tv, although the saturation exposure of the English league needs to be stopped, but its about supporters feeling part of the club. All in it together. For the good of the club.<\/p>\n

\"Embedded<\/p>\n

The Thatcher years saw the demise of communities all over Scotland, and football is probably the only industry left that can rebuild them.<\/p>\n

Just a thought.<\/p>\n

Celtic face Motherwell at Fir Park in the lunchtime kick off tomorrow, and they might have to do it without Charlie Mulgrew. Mulgrew has carried a lot of responsibility this season already, and has appeared tired in his last few outings, which will make him more susceptible to knocks and tears. Time to let him have a wee rest, at least until he heads to Bolton in January.<\/p>\n

That means a run in the team for Nir Bitton, who has added mobility and strength to the middle of the park recently, and with Motherwell traditionally a difficult place to play, we’ll need a bit more physical presence in the side tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Aleksandr Tonev will also be available after his appeal result was delayed for two weks, presumably to help the SFA come up with a valid reason for their ridiculous decision to ban him in the first place because someone said he’d done something, which he denied.<\/p>\n

That new dawn I mentioned ? It won’t appear until these clowns in charge just now have gone. They’re much happier trying to keep things the way they are, even though its plain that improvements need to be made.<\/p>\n

With Dundee Utd the first of the pack to get a chance to pull the deficit back in the league tonight against ?ross county, there is no room for complacency. It took us months to get to where we are, and its going to take a huge effort to stay there.<\/p>\n

Its not just one club we need to watch out for these days, you know.<\/p>\n

Although it has been a whole lot of fun keeping an eye on that clubs successors. With the pantomime season almost on us, its nice to see something new take centre stage as the Ibrox club blunders from one disaster to another.<\/p>\n

Ally Mccoist, seen here on his way home after the Alloa game, is under a lot of pressure to quit.<\/p>\n

\"Embedded<\/p>\n

The support are\u00a0to ask questions of McCoist, and he doesn’t have any answers;<\/p>\n

\"Embedded<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The campaign to get him out of there, dignity intact, has begun. Keith Jackson, an ally of Ally, claims;<\/p>\n

Ally McCoist won’t want to walk away..<\/h1>\n

but to preserve his legacy he might have to<\/h1>\n

Thats his legacy as a player, presumably, his legacy as a manger is probably not worth preserving. Well, not by him anyway. Although a framed resume of his achievements from the dug out could be a winner in some circles..<\/p>\n

According to the Record man;<\/p>\n

McCoist has become so unfamiliar with failure that it could be that he is unable to identify it in himself.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

You would have thought that the last four years had given him some inkling.<\/p>\n

Jackson offers Mccoist some advice…<\/p>\n

McCoist should consider calling their bluff and calling time on himself. Waiving his right to a pay-off in order to ensure that his silence cannot be bought.<\/em><\/p>\n

Then at least he would be free. Free not just to to walk away from this toxic, mushroom cloud of a football club but free also to blow the whistle on what he has witnessed of it from the inside.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0to which one wag on twitter replied;<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"Richard McGinley<\/b>\u00a0@<\/span>Richiestoke<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00b7\u00a0<\/span>45m<\/span>45 minutes ago<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

@<\/s>hen1rik<\/b><\/a> @<\/s>tedermeatballs<\/b><\/a> Perhaps he could tell why he hitched his cart to the Green and Whyte horse, and why he’s taking \u00a3800k a year wages \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Effectively, Jackson is hinting to Mccoist that should he quit, he’ll make sure he gets a few quid for telling his story. And, of course, it will be edited to leave out the bits where the chubby chuckler took his share of the loot, where he allowed fans to think he was on their side, and most importantly, it won’t ever, ever say anywhere in the piece just exactly how bad he was at his job.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Radio Clyde, glasgows biggest independent radio station has a phone in show of an evening. I don’t get to here it down here, but last nights, hosted by Derek johnstone and someone else, was on the defence of the troubled ibrox boss.<\/p>\n

\u00a0One caller, according to twitter, summed up the editorial direction of the panel with this quip;<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"Electronic Tims<\/b>\u00a0@<\/span>ETimsNet<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00b7\u00a0<\/span>15h<\/span>15 hours ago<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Caller “If Ally McCoiat fell oot of his bed tonight Big Derek would blame the mattress”<\/em>. Outstanding.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Two years after the old club died, theres a chance that the spivs will finally decide they’ve plundered the carcass enough, and will send the rest off to the incinerator.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Not only are things on the field bad, Phil MacGhiollabhan, author of Downfall, which chronicles the demise of the old club, reckons the new one has just been told how much it will cost to bring Ibrox back up to a reasonable standard,- somewhere around \u00a318m- because apparently the lifts are of an older design and need to be completely ripped out.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Embedded<\/p>\n

\u00a0They showed us no sympathy in 1994.<\/p>\n

What goes around , comes around.<\/p>\n

\"Embedded<\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0Now, can we \u00a0get on with the \u00a0the brave new world ? Without them ?<\/p>\n

We’ve not done a quiz for a while, so today, heres a picture , not Celtic related , but interesting all the same.<\/p>\n

Whats unique about this moment ?<\/p>\n

\"Embedded<\/p>\n

\n

\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Barry Hearn loading his gun and firing at the SFa for being bloody useless, Ronny Deila has taken up arms to join him. Well,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":6112,"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\/12\/future.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2J7If-1Az","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6111"}],"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=6111"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6113,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6111\/revisions\/6113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}