![\"Embedded](\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/B9JqWzeIUAAWEun.jpg:large\")
<\/p>\nScottish Cup day today, and another step towards the domestic treble ? This week has been a very good one in Timland, and today could be the icing on the cake.<\/p>\n
Celtic travel to Dens Park, and face Dundee in front of the Sky cameras at lunchtime, and everyone-bar Charlie Mulgrew-is fit and raring to go. The two lads from Dunde United are cup tied, and therefore cannot play, so maybe ronny Deila will go with the same team that started in lat weeks game against first division Second Rangers. Although Anthony Stokes may find himself relegated to the bench after a fairly anonymous effort at Hampden, with a possible start for Liam Henderson on the right, with Kris commons shifting to the left.<\/p>\n
Commons, who spent last night staring at his new contract and shouting “yes ” at regular intervals needs now to buckle down and prove he’s worth it. Deila has shown he won’t hesitate to drop anyone who isn’t doing the business, and with the contract issue now sorted , commons should be able to kick on and remind us why he got the deal. And why Dublin council have named a street after him;<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
His own views on staying at Celtic were refreshingly honest, and it shows that after a didgy first few minths, the manager is starting to put his own mark on the side;<\/p>\n
\u201cI absolutely had to change Ronny\u2019s mind about me, He was probably a little bit sceptical about whether I could change the way I am at 31. When my age was spoken about in terms of why I might not get a two-year deal, I thought that was just an excuse, something he said because he didn\u2019t want to say I was lazy or not fit enough.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt has taken hard work and dedication to show him I am willing to not so much change my game, but adapt to give him what he wants on the pitch while winning matches. It was mainly off-the-ball things he wanted. Being a \u2018number 10\u2019, you can get away with being a little bit lazy in the SPFL. I wouldn\u2019t say I was lazy, I would just say you can probably get away with it.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThere are certain games where you don\u2019t have to produce your best football but can still find yourself in good areas, bright enough and intelligent enough to hurt the opposition without actually putting in the work. But Ronny wasn\u2019t asking me to do anything I wasn\u2019t capable of. I now feel fitter than I\u2019ve ever been. Since day one, Ronny has come here and wants us to try and play not like a Scottish team, but in a Barcelona or Bayern Munich style. He\u2019s a real big fan of Pep Guardiola, the way he plays and treats his players.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cHe wants us to be elite athletes, 24 hours a day. That was a big hit for lads who had not done that for four years and getting that way when you are not winning games, as it was at the start of the season, is more difficult than when you are winning.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cBut we are all on the same page now and going in the right direction. The lads are flying and we have some good games to look forward to.\u201d \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n The manager agreed;<\/p>\n \u201cKris and I have talked a lot over these last eight months since I came to the club. I always told him I thought he was a very, very good football player. I can\u2019t teach him so much about football but he still had something more to give in the way he trains and with his fitness. If we could get that even better, what a player he could be then.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIn the beginning, I didn\u2019t see that kind of improvement from him. That\u2019s why I waited to give him the contract that he wanted. But in the last month he has really bought into it and has been working really hard. You saw his performance against Rangers last Sunday was really good. So I\u2019m happy that he understands what I want and agrees how we are going to do it.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYou need players who want to develop all the time. From the first day I came to Celtic, I told the players there were two things I would demand. One, you have to be fit. Two, you have to give 100 per cent in training every day. Players had to know what that means and it was maybe a little bit of a change from before. But Kris is an intelligent guy. I\u2019m delighted he has signed now and I think he will play a better game now because he can stop talking and thinking about the contract. It will make him a better player.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThe best players, the ones who achieve things, always look forwards and learn. They have to make the small things better. I\u2019m delighted he is staying because he is going to be important for us. But it was also important for me to see that he wanted to do it, because he is a role model for the youngsters. If the role model doesn\u2019t buy into what we want to do, then it\u2019s very hard for him to continue.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWhen you come in and take over a successful team, who have won the title for the last three years and been in the Champions League, it\u2019s so hard to change. They are thinking, \u2018Why should we change when we are winning?\u2019 But I\u2019m not Neil Lennon, I\u2019m Ronny Deila. I have to do it my way. I believe in my way.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Does the boss think its been a good week ?<\/p>\n \u201cIt will only really be a good week if we beat Dundee I have to thank Peter Lawwell and the board for getting us what we wanted from the transfer window, both in signing new players and keeping hold of our best ones.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt shows the players that the club really wants this treble and they are giving everyone the trust they need.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n The second half of the season promises to be \u00a0a little more exciting than we had possibly dared hope. Four trophies to chase, and you can’t help but expect a memorable season, for all the right reasons, as opposed to the dark days of autumn where teams took turns to make Celtic look like a side on the way out.<\/p>\n \u00a0If anything , though, that should help spur the players to success, and prove the old maxim, that if you don’t do something wrong, you’ll never know when you’re doing something right.<\/p>\n Todays game promises to be a cracker, and thats what we need -a great game, lively and open, with television showing the world that Scottish football is thriving, and armageddon never happened.<\/p>\n \u00a0Celtic published the accounts yesterday, and the club posted a healthy profit leading up to December. Of course, it would have been so much better if the SFA\/SPFL had got their way and parachuted Second Rangers in at the top, but hey ho, we’ll just have to live with it. Not to be discouraged , the press went with headlines such as this;<\/p>\n this;<\/p>\n this;<\/p>\n and this<\/p>\n Instead of recognising that the club is still making money, despite an early European exit from the big money competition, and the generally agreed poor state of football in the country, playing in a league without a sponsor, i would have thought that posting any kind of profit was an achievement, not a disaster, as seems to be the medias take on it.<\/p>\n Yet of you widen the search, and look elsewhere, the normally piss poor Talksport Radio was announcing the results of a study;<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 10-most-financ<\/a>ially-stable-clubs-football-revealed-150206135135<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0Celtic come in at a very respectable number three, which must have made Talkshite presenter Adrian Durham choke on his biscuit-hopefully nothing trivial happened to him when he did-behind Ajax and Arsenal, although the claim that Celtic are the most financially stable club in Scotland seems to have been made by someone who hasn’t the faintest idea about the game up here.<\/p>\n But then thats not surprising, as no-one seems to be bothered about trying to sell the game, or even let the rest of the world know we’ve actually got a fairly competitve and exciting set up north of the border.<\/p>\n \u00a0The more I think about it, the more Scottish tv subscribers should threaten to cancel their subscriptions if Sky and BT don’t put more of our money back into our game.<\/p>\n \u00a0The pantomime at Ibrox, already running well beyond the traditional season for that sort of thing , was cranked up a notch yesterday when the current board announced that Dave “Lying ” King has got his EGM.<\/p>\n \u00a0There was something in how they announced it, however, that hints at a rather large amount of cleaning fluids may need to be ordered to get the blood off the carpet when the meeting takes place on March 4. A word of caiution , though. Anyone considering supplying the said goods might want to insist on the money up front.<\/p>\nCeltic’s pre-tax profits down<\/h1>\n
Celtic plc report slump in revenue and profits<\/h1>\n
European failure causes Celtic revenue decline<\/h1>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"fight!\"](\"https:\/\/etims.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/fight.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Embedded](\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/B9Jgk1fIAAEJ6jJ.jpg:large\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/media.victoriaadvocate.com\/img\/photos\/2011\/01\/26\/JO_movie_extras_012711_01_c_126866.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Embedded](\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/B9KOYZqIYAA3PtE.jpg:large\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.whufc.com\/javaImages\/ee\/14\/0,,12562~11932910,00.jpg\")
<\/p>\n