{"id":6841,"date":"2015-03-22T10:56:32","date_gmt":"2015-03-22T10:56:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etims.net\/?p=6841"},"modified":"2015-03-22T10:56:32","modified_gmt":"2015-03-22T10:56:32","slug":"celtic-diary-sunday-march-22-a-lovely-sunday-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=6841","title":{"rendered":"Celtic Diary Sunday March 22: A Lovely Sunday Morning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Went out for a pint with John Kennedy and Stevie Woods last night, but it all ended in tears when we went to a club and the bouncer wouldn’t let me in with trainers.<\/p>\n

We’re all in a good mood again today after the series of matches with dundee united came to a close with another Hopps win, this time by 3-0, but manager Ronny Deila has promised that Celtic will try in the second half of matches as well from now on.<\/p>\n

The game was done and dusted by half time, with goals from Gary Mackay Steven, John Guidetti and a cheeky back heel from Jason Denaayer.<\/p>\n

Guidetti raised a few eyebrows with his celebration-or lack of it-and many are asking if he’s in a huff, or just biding his time until he moves on.<\/p>\n

Many more couldn’t give a toss.<\/p>\n

After the game, Deila confirmed he’s looking ahead to next season, and with no more domestic football until april 3, he’s going to use the break to have a look at a couple of players.<\/p>\n

\u2018We will bring in players but I think we will bring in younger players to build the next generation behind the current one.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018If we are going to fight with the best clubs in Europe for the best 22-year-olds, then you can forget it. No chance. The only chance we have to get a world-class player is to go to 16\/17-year-olds and say: \u201cYou will train with the first team\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018That\u2019s our chance to get a player in. We have to find some very big talents that can be the best ones.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We have to think younger and give them the chance to get in the squad and train with the best ones.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2018Ajax get it because they have an unbelievable reputation \u2014 and we have to build, over the years, a reputation. That if you come to Celtic, you see what is happening, you get sold to the big clubs and you get a good development.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n


\nMartin Odegaard’s name keeps cropping up, sometimes linked as a loan signing, but also used as an example of Deilas ability to develop and encourage youngsters;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018There are players there, maybe not at Odegaard level, but close, With a good development, they can be past Odegaard if he makes the wrong decisions and we make the right ones.\u2019<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Not now, but maybe sometime in the next couple of years, Odegaard will wear the hoops. Unless he cements a place in the Real Madrid side very soon, which lets be honest, is unlikely.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Away from transfer talk, and the boss is happy with yesterdays efforts;<\/p>\n

“It was one of the games where you feel that you have total control from the start to the end,” said the Norwegian.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0The first-half performance was good and we didn’t push as hard as we could have in the second half.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0“It has been a terrific week, good results and we are now in a very good situation going into the matches which come after the international break.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0“Some players can get some rest, which is good, some have to go with the international team. But I think it is good for everybody to get some days away from each other and also get ready for a very exciting end to the season.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0It does promise to be rather good, doesn’t it ? With twenty golascorers this season, the multi pronged attack is working, not only are the strikers scoring, but there is space being created for others.<\/p>\n

Even Beram Kayal might have scored for this team.<\/p>\n

\"too<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

One other thing, and perhaps its just the general feel good factor this morning, but Virgil van Dijk has been talking about his relationship with Jason Denaayer;<\/p>\n

\u201cJason now talks very well off the pitch \u2013 and quite a lot!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cFrom day one I\u2019ve chatted quite a lot with him. I\u2019ve helped him out as much as I can.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cJason\u2019s a young boy who came over with his father. He didn\u2019t know anyone. But he\u2019s a great lad.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cJason was quiet in the beginning. I\u2019ve helped him but he has also helped me.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re both learning things. You need to know each other and we\u2019re much better together now than we were before.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou get to know each other\u2019s weaknesses and the strong points too. Our partnership is getting better every week.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe socialise a lot and with other players. But the team spirit within the group is very good. Last year was the same but this season it\u2019s especially good.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a good place right now, with winning the League Cup last week, reaching the Scottish Cup semis and also being top of the league.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve improved on most is pressing high up the pitch. If we lose the ball then straight away we\u2019re winning it again.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what we trained on the whole six months before we had the winter break. It\u2019s showing right now.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve started to score goals and the clean sheets help as well. It gives confidence to \u2028everyone. Everything is falling into place.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

We’ve all more or less accepted the Dutchman will move on. After reading this , I’m not so sure, although thats probably more in hope than expectation, although it did seem to startle the journalist who wrote the article;<\/p>\n

Van Dijk has been linked with a move to the\u00a0<\/span>English Premier League<\/a>\u00a0and if he leaves this summer he wants to sign off by helping the Hoops claim a historic Treble.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI really want to win the Treble. I want to write history, like everyone in the dressing room. We have a really good chance.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we are up for it and go for it 100 per cent, we can win everything from now on.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be difficult but I\u2019m confident we have the quality and the players to win it.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Personal awards are not important to me. Yes, they are a reward for a good \u2028season but I would be \u2028happier to get the Treble.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIf I was rewarded with a Player of the Year award it would be nice. But if I wasn\u2019t to get it then I couldn\u2019t be disappointed. It\u2019s all about the team.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

He’s not sounding like the typical Dutchman here, seeking only personal rewards on and off the field.<\/p>\n

Has Deila worked his magic on him off the field ?<\/p>\n

The possibility of a sixteen team league next season is getting closer as the Second Rangers entity gets further away from being promoted to the existing one.<\/p>\n

One of their more realistic supporters tells us how he feels as the reality of their \u00a0situation sinks in<\/p>\n

\"Embedded<\/p>\n

Reality is also beginning to sink in amongst the MSM, now that it’s become apparent that the new board isn’t in any position to wave wads of wonga at the problems, in the way that the original club did.<\/p>\n

Aidan Smith, writng in the Scotsman , is among the first to call for a bigger league;<\/p>\n

Scotland needs a bigger top league<\/h1>\n

Remember, the old big league was removed after Celtic won it nine times in a row. The new smaller one appears to be on the way out because Second Rangers aren’t good enough to play in it.<\/p>\n

The opening paragraph tells us how far \u00a0the MSM are from reality, and how they still can’t understand the basic sporting premise of the best teams are at the top.<\/p>\n

IT\u2019S very near now, the end of this Championship, a league like no other in the story of Scottish football. Never again, you think, will three of our most famous institutions find themselves playing outwith the top flight. Today Hibernian and Rangers take part in a contest which the Premiership cannot match for intrigue, with both desperate to achieve promotion and return with runaway leaders Hearts to where they rightfully belong. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0Unlike the two Edinburgh clubs, who assessed their situation, and dealt with it accordingly, the Ibrox club have just moaned a lot , hoping some sort of Fairy godmother will hear their cries.<\/p>\n

the fallen Glasgow giants would seem to need a ticket back to the Premiership at the first available opportunity to restore credibility and a good name after the wrongdoing and mismanagement. The Ibrox club, like Hearts, have taken their punishment and supped their medicine. Now Rangers want to rev up that old coal lorry which once delivered the Cup Winners\u2019 Cup to the boardroom for another grand procession, returning the team to all the grounds they once visited as part of their entitlement, with Celtic Park naturally the top destination.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I suppose financial mismanagement doesn’t come more mismanged than liquidation.<\/p>\n

Not quite sure how he thinks that they’ve taken their punishment and supped their medicine.<\/p>\n

One of the ways to get people to listen to your opinions, and perhaps even change their own way of thinking because of them, is to cite credible sources.<\/p>\n

Smith, however, doesn’t seem to understand that, if his choice of source is anything to go by;<\/p>\n

But Barry Ferguson has just yanked on the handbrake. \u201cAnother season in the Championship for Rangers won\u2019t be the disaster people are predicting,\u201d he wrote in his always-readable newspaper column the other day.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Always readable ?<\/p>\n

I suppose thats one way of describing it.<\/p>\n

The hurt is obvious, as is the fear of another season away from the top table while the other clubs get stronger.<\/p>\n

Already we have seen Aberdeen, Dundee United and Inverness improve. Hibernian and Hearts will make up a strong and competitive top six next year, which means that the Ibrox franchise is becoming insignificant. ( hurrah ! )<\/p>\n

In fact, Hearts must be daming their luck for forcing them to play Celtic early in both Cups this season, because they would have given anyone else a real test.<\/p>\n

They deserve praise for how they dealt with their financial issues, and will be welcomed back. And I like going to Tynecastle.<\/p>\n

It’s a great stadium, and the atmosphere is usually fantastic.<\/p>\n

Same with Easter Road.<\/p>\n

The press aren’t finished yet, and we hear they are going on the road to spread the word;<\/p>\n

\"Embedded<\/p>\n

All of that, LL tour apart, should allow a stronger hand in negotiations over an improved tv deal for Scottish football.<\/p>\n

When Sky are forced back to the table when they realise no-one wants to pay for the obscenity that is the EPL anymore.<\/p>\n

The collection of articles last week has seen discussion take place on several other forums already.<\/p>\n

Not Kerrydale Street yet, but theres hope that after the next committee meeting the embargo will be lifted. despite their reluctance to discuss the same issue in consecutive months, but is appearing elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Do your bit.<\/p>\n

Instigate discussion on any forum you can get onto. Including lower tier English clubs, or even , if you live abroad, on foreign sites.<\/p>\n

Their game is suffering too.<\/p>\n

Fight the good fight, and keep fighting it.<\/p>\n

And just in case you have forgotten the number, it’s<\/p>\n

0344 261 0244<\/p>\n

Yesterdays picture was a flashback to the 1966 ties with Nantes, and the Flying Flea is on form.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Where is this, and when was the picture taken ?<\/p>\n

\"Embedded<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

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

Went out for a pint with John Kennedy and Stevie Woods last night, but it all ended in tears when we went to a club…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":6843,"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\/sunday-morn.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2J7If-1Ml","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6841"}],"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=6841"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6844,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6841\/revisions\/6844"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}