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<\/p>\nThough when I got home at around eight thirty there was not a little swearing to be heard. In fact, I seem to recall at least three Celtic players turning to the camera as I offered an opinion on how they appeared to have been performing up to that point.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
All of those memories of things not going to plan in europe resurfaced, and to be fair, a massive amount of credit has to go to the players, who despite losing an early goal, stuck to the plan and got on with it.<\/p>\n
Although Nir Biton did admit to being a little perturbed that the plan hadn’t, well, gone to plan early on;<\/p>\n
“I\u2019m really happy. Not because of my goal, but because we won the game. The goal was a bonus \u2013 the most important thing was that we got through to the next round and stayed in the Champions League.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe were all worried when they scored. We didn\u2019t want to start the game like that and concede a goal so early.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThat wasn\u2019t in the game plan, but sometimes you need to deal with this kind of thing. The most important thing is that we recovered and scored four goals.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n He went on to mention the itch, which was in a shocking state, dry, bumpy and bare in pathces, casting doubts on the legitimacy of Stjarnans claim that it wasn’t real grass;<\/p>\n “The pitch was difficult, but it\u2019s not an excuse for us. They play on the same pitch as we did. Okay, they are used to it, but as a professional, you have to be ready for this. We are not 100% yet as this is the beginning of the season, but we will get there.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n There was another doubt as to the legitimicacy of the Icelandics club claim that a water pipe had burst, which prevented the ground staff from watering the pitch, which Ronny delat with fairly diplomaticaly after the game.<\/p>\n \u201cI always ask for the pitch to be watered everywhere we go but the bastards told me the water pipe was broken.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cMaybe it\u2019s ready again now!\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n I may have edited the actual quote here. Can you spot where ?<\/p>\n \u201cIt is very difficult to assess the performance because when you play on a dry artificial pitch it is very sticky and everything is slower than normal<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe were a little bit sloppy at the start and a little bit stressed in the first half.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cBut we did better in the second half when there was really only one team on the pitch. It was very comfortable in the end.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThere is no problem to play on an artificial pitch but when it is not watered it is totally different.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s how it was though so we just had to handle the surface.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYou have to deal with the circumstances of every surface you play on and we did that.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n In the end, the 4-1 result, which didn’t flatter Celtic, was about right, but it would have made the evening a little less traumatic had the goals come in a different order.<\/p>\n Stjarnan opened the scoring by simply running at Celtic and shooting into the corner. With an ease that must have alarmed everyone watching.<\/p>\n However, Nir Bitons equaliser and in the second half Charlie Mulgrew’s low and precise shot into the corner were scored with equal ease, and that was the tie over as far it went.<\/p>\n Substitute Leigh Griffiths finished another off before Johansen completed the rout, but any observer will admit there were as many positives as negatives in the game, and we can only hope that they are ironed out before the visit of Azeri side Qarabag, who will be an entirely different proposition to the part time Icelanders.<\/p>\n Well, so everyone says, anyway. It’s remarkable how the media and support are already building the next opponents into being some sort of eastern European Bayern Munich on the basis of a few good results last season.<\/p>\n We’ll look at them in a bit more depth later.<\/p>\n We’ve a man in Baku, you see…..and he is a lot more reliable than our usual sources.<\/p>\n Apart from sticking to the plan, another encouraging aspect of last nights game was the level of fitness within the tea. It’s improving rapidly as each game comes around, as the two late goals testify. ronny isn’t afraid to change things either, and the introduction of Ambrose and Griffiths livened things up.<\/p>\n It was good to see Charlie Mulgrew take his time and pick his spot for his shot, too often recently shots straight at the keeper have been the norm, but he won’t get that sort of time and space in later rounds. His lack of pace at left back may also be an issue, but other wise he seemed to have a goood game.<\/p>\n Nadir Ciftci is trying a litttle too hard at this stage. He isn’t gelling yet, and with the importance of these European ties, and the fact he cannot attain match fitness or cohesion with his team mates domestically, he really shouldn’t be starting. He may yet turn out to be a valuable player, but there’s a worry that although he brings other players into the game, he isn’t doing the business in front of goal. I’ve no doubt he will, but it’s not worth the gamble when Griffiths is scoring.<\/p>\n Four in two games from the former Hibs man should leave Deila in no doubt who should start next week.<\/p>\n On Ciftci, Ronny seemed to agree, claiming that the Turk was a long term project;<\/p>\n This is not a project for three weeks,this is a project over months. We have a lot of training. We will get him fit,”\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n On the training ground, hopefully.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Perhaps the weaker opposition of the Icemen was the perfect time to give him a run out before his ban kicks in, maybe that was the thinking behind it.<\/p>\n Another positive aspect was the team work last night. everybodys all pals again.<\/p>\n When all is said and done, the record books will say it was a 6-1 aggregate scoreline. Which is a hell of a beating.<\/p>\n Isn’t it ?<\/p>\n While Celtic were on champions League duty, Sky sports, robbed of being able to show the game, sent out hard nosed reporter Jim White to speak to Second Rangers chairman\/owner\/director\/liability Dave King at his family home in South Africa in order to at least keep themselves in the news.<\/p>\n Well, apparently it’s a family home because it’s in his wifes name to avoid it being nationalised for non payment of tax reasons. As far as a comedy support act to warm the audience, probably mostly tims, for the big event, it did the job.<\/p>\n King, noted for sometimes not quite having the level of accuracy in his statements that would be desired by an interviewer, told the fawning White<\/p>\n The Rangers supporters have consistently, for more than a century, spent more money in supporting their club than any other team in Scotland. They have outspent Celtic and that\u2019s why Rangers have been the number one club over time.<\/em><\/p>\n “If we can\u2019t get the supporters back to outspending the Celtic supporters and I put that simply, we will be the second biggest club in Scotland<\/em>.<\/p>\n Presumably he’s seen what the rewards are when the Ibrox support dip into their pockets;<\/p>\n “In terms of how the retail contract is structured, it is not working for the club and, in my view, cannot be working for Sports Direct either,”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n “At the moment,\u00a0the fans are of the mind that the current arrangement does not support the club.<\/a>\u00a0People are very concerned that by buying Rangers merchandise or other memorabilia they are supporting Sports Direct more than they are supporting Rangers.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n If we go to Sports Direct and say that \u2018you have a contract with our football club where the terms of the contract, for whatever reason, are not working Rangers\u00a0<\/span>and we believe it is not working for Sports Direct.<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n No, clearly not;<\/p>\n “Rangers fans still support the club, even in tough times they have a reason in their minds as to why they shouldn\u2019t be doing it, but they actually want to do it. We have got to realign what they want to do, with why they should do it as well and that\u2019s the gap that I\u2019ve got to bridge.”\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n “Myself and my co-investors have agreed to reimburse any shortfall that the club may have while it is rebuilding itself and we have done that.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n “Rangers Football Club will only be the number one club in Scotland again when the Rangers fans start outspending the Celtic fans.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n A new twist on the “For every fiver they spend, we will spend a tenner ” -except he clearly has no intention of spending “one thin dime ” -to quote a man who actually did put his money where his mouth is.<\/p>\n If the Rangers fans stop doing that, or continue to withhold the funds, they will never be as big as Celtic. No matter whether an investor puts in money or not, we are not sustainable without the supporters.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Then he appealed, well, begged, Mike Ashley to look at the contracts Sports Direct has with the club;<\/p>\n “Any businessman has to respect what Mike Ashley has achieved,” he said. “You have to respect it because we are all in business for the same reason and that\u2019s to make money and be successful.<\/em><\/p>\n “Mike Ashley is still a relatively young guy,\u00a0so to have gone in and done what he\u2019s done, he\u2019s obviously a very smart retailer.<\/a>\u00a0He couldn\u2019t be in the position he is in without being a smart retailer.<\/em><\/p>\n “So, I don\u2019t think this is necessary an issue of whether Rangers should be doing business with Sports Direct. They are a very smart retailer. It comes back to: can we do it in a way that works for both parties?” \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Now on a roll in his walk through fantasy land, he decided to have a go at David Murray, who he blames for the demise of the old club. A few years too late, well after the time when he could have done something about it;<\/p>\n “I sat on the board under David Murray for most of that period, so\u00a0I was aware what we were doing with the money.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0”\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Everyone else was as well. It was thought prudent not to mention it , though.<\/p>\n “The only thing that was disappointing for me was, at the end of it, when the Murray Group was getting in trouble and\u00a0David Murray was losing control of the situation,<\/span><\/a>he should have fronted up with people like myself a lot sooner and we could have taken action at that point, early enough, before the banks came in and took control, it would have averted\u00a0what happened from the Craig Whyte era onwards.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n “For David\u2019s own reasons, whether he didn\u2019t want to come and admit to people that things were getting out of control, David maybe felt that he would turn the thing around and make it work,\u00a0so he was trying to keep it close to his chest.<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n “Maybe if he had opened up to some of us earlier and said, \u2018look, this is what\u2019s happening, I am losing control of my businesses, you have invested with me in this and we must look at other alternatives\u2019, but he didn\u2019t do that.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n “I think that\u2019s a great pity, how he as a person behaved to someone who had supported him,” King added.\u00a0“I think I put more money into Rangers than David Murray did.<\/span><\/a>\u00a0I don\u2019t think he ever put \u00a320m of his own money in. I thought it was his money, it turns out it was the bank\u2019s money.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n I’m quite sure the Scottish sports media will be banging on the doors of Murray’s house to get his response to these accusations….<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Leigh](\"http:\/\/i2.dailyrecord.co.uk\/incoming\/article6121077.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/JS68709913.jpg\")
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