{"id":6795,"date":"2015-03-17T09:55:10","date_gmt":"2015-03-17T09:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etims.net\/?p=6795"},"modified":"2015-03-17T09:55:10","modified_gmt":"2015-03-17T09:55:10","slug":"celtic-diary-tuesday-march-17-dont-tell-broony-what-day-it-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=6795","title":{"rendered":"Celtic Diary Tuesday March 17: Don’t Tell Broony What Day It Is."},"content":{"rendered":"

Trumpton UKIP, a twitter parody account which one feels represents the views of the political party they don’t want to be made public, wishes all its Irish friends a Happy St. Patricks Day, and says we should all get drunk before they repatriate us.<\/p>\n

Made me chuckle.<\/p>\n

The Unseen Fenian hand has been at work all over the world today. Everythings gone green.<\/p>\n

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Which is nice. In Scotland, we hear that the establishment is going out of its way to extend the hand of friendship as well, as a Mr. Brendan O’Leary has had his sentence for cycling without lights reduced to just two years. And his appeal might even go through, as he claims he didn’t know that was illegal during the day.<\/p>\n

Today is traditionally a day of good humour and goodwill towards everyone. I can’t wait until i see the postmans reaction to the hilarious new costume I’ve put on the dog.<\/p>\n

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Though I’m not sure I’m happy about Scott Brown’s decision to celbrate on sunday night, to give him time to recover for tomorrows game;<\/p>\n

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That mock up-and it is a mock up, for anyone at the BBC sharpening their pens of self righteousness, was done by Barry McGonigle, who is good at that sort of thing.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Ireland and humour, this months manager at Second Rangers was surprised to see Shane Ferguson, one of the players loaned to the club by Mike Ashley, had been chosen for the Northern Ireland squad.<\/p>\n

” I thought they were the Occcupied Six ” claimed the new clubs first catholic manager, in a desperate attempt to get out of there.<\/p>\n

Actually, what he did say was;<\/p>\n

\u201cI find that amazing because he is registered to us but hasn\u2019t been here. That has astounded me. From what I\u2019ve been led to believe, we won\u2019t see him this season.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know anything about it. I don\u2019t know the reasons behind it but he\u2019s not been through the doors here certainly.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cObviously he\u2019s contracted to us but, when I spoke to the doc when I came in here, as far as I was concerned he was going to be out for a fair length of time. I\u2019ve not (had communication with Newcastle) since I\u2019ve been here.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI have left that to the medical team and the docs here. All I\u2019m aware of is that he\u2019s a long way away from playing football.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Whereas as previous managers had their own catchphrases, such as McCoist with his ” of that there is no doubt ” and McDowall with his ” Can I go yet, I’m not cut out for this ” it’s early days yet, but I have a hunch McCall may use ” from what I’ve been led to believe ” a lot in the coming months.<\/p>\n

Last night he met with Paul Murray, the man who is now chairman. Murray got the job purely because he was the one with the least criminal convictions, and the pair sat down to discuss transfers, as there is still a couple of weeks for them to get freebies in to help with their push for promotion to the top league.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I hope that reading the last part of that \u00a0sentence gave you as much pleasure as writing it gave me.<\/p>\n

Why ? Heres a message for them.<\/p>\n

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Poor McCall. He’s always wanted the big job at Ibrox, it’s probably upset him he’s got his timing all wrong. On this form, let’s hope he doesn’t get all upset and chuck himself behind a train.<\/p>\n

To be fair to him, he’s ditched his \u00a0track suit and worn his suit-well, someones suit, to try to ingratiate himself with the support.<\/p>\n

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He even pretended to be one of them…<\/p>\n

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I suppose we’d better mention Celtic at some point, before I forget why we’re here.<\/p>\n

Anthony Stokes has been singing the praises of manager Ronny Deila. Perhaps it’s a smoke screen so he can pop out for a wee sing song tonight, but it’s more likely he’s had that habit beaten out of him by his “relentless ” manager.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Stokes played well on sunday, and deserves another chance , but he’ll have to up the ante if he wants to keep Sturt Armstrong out of the team.<\/p>\n

\u00a0But the attitude is right, and that deserves a bit of credit.<\/p>\n

Tactically we are playing slightly differently and the intensity in our game has gone up a level.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just the way the gaffer wants us to play. It seems to be working.\u00a0We\u2019re playing well and on Sunday, although it wasn\u2019t an outstanding performance, we dominated<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cGradually it\u2019s getting a wee bit easier out there on the left. The hardest thing has been changing my work-rate because when you play out there you have to put in so much graft to get back in.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou also have to cover in the central area too.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019ve been trying to work on it. I\u2019m working really hard in training \u2013 probably the hardest I\u2019ve worked on my game ever.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about adapting to playing out there. I\u2019m enjoying my football and that\u2019s the main thing.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe gaffer came in and changed a lot of things. He has brought in a real work-ethic.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s relentless. We break things down, work them into the ground then let our football take over. He has been brilliant.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re improving \u2013 that has been a gradual thing. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a question of us buying into it now because everyone did buy into it.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to play the way the gaffer wants and work at the \u2028intensity he demands if you are to get into his team.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing the benefits of it now. We\u2019re in a great position for the Treble but need to maintain the level of performances.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Stokes, Commons and a few other players who could reasonably classed as core Celts have adapted. Notably, the loannees-with the exception of Jason Denaayer-have all decided that they would be better off elsewhere. At first, back in July\/August, the disproportionate amount of borrowed players was one of the reasons I feared for the club under Deila, but fair play to him, he’s weeded them out and it’s quite possible that he’ll do exactly the same with any more that Lawwell forces on him. Is that another favourable comparison with Stein ? Has Deila quietly decided he’s in charge of all matters concerning \u00a0the playing side ?<\/p>\n

\u00a0Which can only bode well for the future.<\/p>\n

Scott Brown is still getting it from hurting journalists. This time its Aidan Smith. ( Who? -Ed ) ( I don’t know -Ralph )<\/p>\n

TWO club captains who also lead their countries. Two front-page stories showing them in controversial downtime mode. Back on the pitch, two performances which demonstrated no obvious ill-effects from the downtime, helping bring about two victories. Two celebrations mocking the tabloid pictures. Two sets of team-mates defending their skippers and emphasising how much they inspire their teams. And one complaint about a footballer being entitled to a bit of \u201cprivacy\u201d being echoed by another.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s astonishing how much Scott Brown and Wayne Rooney have in common right now. Brown hits the town with some mates, visits lapdancing bars, consumes takeaway pizza, has a wee lie doon. Rooney gets the boys round to his place, mucks about with boxing gloves, takes a punch, has a wee (involuntary) lie doon. The captains struck these contemplative poses, which were captured on fuzzy cameraphones, within 48 hours of each other. Their games were on Sunday and might well have ended with the same 3-0 scoreline if Brown had responded to the Celtic fans urging him to take the penalty-kick which was ultimately missed. But is the debate about what players do in their spare time really done and dusted? \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

What part of a journalists psyche actually thinks your average fan gives a toss ? All we care about is results.<\/p>\n

Ronny Deila is happy enough with Brown. So is John Collins;<\/p>\n

\u201cScott\u2019s display on Sunday was magnificent.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a typical Scott Brown performance \u2013 winning every 50-50, driving his team-mates on and lifting the crowd.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOn the pitch he is 100 per cent the role model that young players should want to be. You can see it on the training pitch when any of the boys come up from the youth team \u2013 they watch him because that\u2019s how you train.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t have asked for a better captain. He is everything you want on the football pitch.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHe hates losing, goes from the first minute to the last, never shirks a tackle and his passing is good. He shouts at his team-mates, growls at them when it\u2019s needed \u2013 that\u2019s what you are looking for in a captain.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Thats what matters.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Gordon Strachan has announced his squad for the upcoming internationals against Gibraltar and northern Ireland. Well, perhaps internationals is putting it a bit strongly, as none of the teams involved are actually independent countries, but you know what i mean.<\/p>\n

\u00a0He’s left out Gary Mackay Steven and Stuart Armstrong, which is good, because they have more serious work to attend to, but included James Forrest, who presumably hasn’t.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Strachan was also asked about Browns antics, as , after all, he’s his captain as well.<\/p>\n

” Get a life ” he told the hack.<\/p>\n

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Strachan also commented on the prospect of his side facing former Celt Paddy McCourt;<\/p>\n

\u201cPaddy is as gifted a footballer as I have ever seen. Some players can see a pass, but not dribble. Others can dribble, but not see a pass. Paddy can do both,\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

True, but not for very long.<\/p>\n

Caption competition again today ? Oh , go on then.<\/p>\n

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First cup is the sweetest ?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trumpton UKIP, a twitter parody account which one feels represents the views of the political party they don’t want to be made public, wishes all…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":6796,"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\/2015\/03\/guinness_array.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2J7If-1LB","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6795"}],"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=6795"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6797,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6795\/revisions\/6797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}