![\"legia-celtic-ballboy\"](\"http:\/\/www.whoateallthepies.tv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/legia-celtic-ballboy.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIt’s probably a good job we won’t be playing Legia Warsaw this season. They may still hold a grudge. Which wasn’t helped in their Europa League fixture last night when they faced Romanian \u00a0side Botoani;<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Legia progressed, so the tactic of dressing all the ball boys in Celtic tops didn’t work. I doubt they saw the funny side of it.<\/p>\n
We didn’t need Stjarnan to field an ineligible player to progress, but with the tie against Qarabag looming next Wednesday, we can’t count on them doing it either.<\/p>\n
So we’ll need to step it up a bit.<\/p>\n
Not just my words, but those of \u00a0Ronny Deila as well;<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you get bigger tasks you step it up and the players will do that.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cSo we need to be at our Inter Milan level. Qarabag are a very good team.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThey beat Twente Enschede in the Europa League qualifiers and did well in the group.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a difficult draw but you can\u2019t think like that and we have to take what is coming in front of us.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWe know we are good enough. But we have to be at our best and at least we are at home first. That will be an important game.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Curiously, Ronny thinks that being at home first is an advantage. for years , the accepted advantage was playing at home and knowing what you had to do to win the tie. But he might have a point. both Qarabag and Celtic achieved better results away from home in the previous rounds, in the second legs, and it could be argued that it’s easier to absorb the pressure and break away on your opponents ground if you already have an advantage. It’s just that their ground is so, well, far away.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have to go to Scotland the same as we have to go to them.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cSo they also have a difficult journey to come to Glasgow.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cBut we have to prepare well and I think we will go there one day before the normal to adapt because it is five hours or so on the plane.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Proper planning and preparation will help, and the idea of flying out a day early sounds sensible. Ronny has been working towards these qualifiers, and , so far it’s working. Th inclusion of Ciftci in the starting line up may seem bizarre, given he has only been here a couple of weeks, but it’s apparent that Ronny sees him as part of a bigger picture to get us into the group stages.<\/p>\n Not a picture I can see, but I’ll bow to his superior knowledge of the player on this one. For now, anyway.<\/p>\n With regards to Ciftci, the press are delighted that there may be an achilles heel in Ronny’s seemingly indestructability.<\/p>\n They’re queuing up to try to create an issue of his removing Leigh Griffiths from the starting line up.<\/p>\n He was asked if this meant Griffiths was knocking on his door to demand to know why he hadn’t started the Stjarnan games ;<\/p>\n ‘Why would Leigh knock on my door when I knock on his all of the time to talk with him?\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n The honesty behind that statement leads one to think that he is in full control of the situation, and Griffiths is fully aware of what the big plan is.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n ‘It is so important we have players who are able to be a sub sometimes and can go on and perform like he does.<\/em><\/p>\n ‘That’s team spirit and putting the team in front of yourself. If he continues doing this, it is hard to keep him out of the team.’<\/em><\/p>\n The manager then pretty much explained his thinking;<\/p>\n ‘Both Nadir and Leigh have different qualities. When the games get open, Leigh is a very good player.<\/em> ‘We haven’t done that much because we have not have the time for them to get used to doing it, so everything is a transition.’\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Fair enough.<\/p>\n As Ronny has said, and we have pointed out in the Diary, the reason for the rigidity in sticking to \u00a04-2-3-1 was to get everyone playing the same way. Then he would teach them different ways.<\/p>\n He also poured a little bit of cold water on stories that he was looking to replace Emilio Izaguirre, after Charlie mulgrew took to the field in Iceland. Well, it wasn’t a field, but you know what I mean;<\/p>\n We chose Charlie in Iceland and we’ll see what do in the next game. Charlie is a good player with a lot of experience and he can fill different roles.<\/p>\n ‘Defensively, he talks and communicates better than Emilio has done recently, so it was better.<\/em><\/p>\n ‘We are also dangerous at set-plays and Charlie has great delivery.<\/em><\/p>\n ‘There are positive things but Emilio also has good things that he does going forward. He has speed.<\/em><\/p>\n ‘It’s the same as the strikers, you use them in certain situations.<\/em><\/p>\n I don’t think Emilio has been anything different from last year. We talk a lot and he knows the things he has to work on to improve.<\/em><\/p>\n ‘He’s in our plans for the future.’<\/em><\/p>\n Fair enough. Emilio isn’t a great talker, so it is something he can work on.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We’ve had our moans about the press in the Diary, although they have kind of asked for it, and it was refreshing to see, if not a little puzzling, that Stjarnan also had a wee dig at the Record;<\/p>\n Utmost respect for the people of Scotland but have to exclude @<\/span>Daily_Record<\/span><\/a> & @<\/span>Record_Sport<\/span><\/a> #<\/span>ShowSomeRespect<\/span><\/a> #<\/span>DontLikeYouAttitude<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n It’s not clear what the paper did to upset them, but this article from Gary Ralston may be at the root of it;<\/p>\n THEY erupted with the fire they had promised only for Celtic to reduce their Champions League claims to hot air and bluster.<\/em><\/p>\n Iceland once spilled plumes of volcanic cinders all over Europe and brought chaos to the travel plans of millions.<\/em><\/p>\n When the dust settles this morning, Celtic can reflect on a job professionally completed against FC Stjarnan as their journey towards the group stages of the Champions League remains on schedule.<\/em><\/p>\n Iceland can keep the ash, the Scottish champions still have their eyes on the cash, with Azerbaijani outfit Qarabag to face in the third round of qualifiers over the next two weeks.<\/em><\/p>\n Reykjavik may be the architectural lovechild of Greenock and East Kilbride, but it\u2019s a short hop compared to Baku, next up for Celtic and a round trip of almost 7,000 miles.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Basically, he’s implying the town is a dump and the country caused havoc by making a volcano erupt. The sort of thing a child might write if an Icelandic policeman told him to stop riding his bike on the pavement.<\/p>\n And the stadium ?<\/p>\n this one-sided stadium that makes the home of Inverness Caley Thistle look like the Bernabeu.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Not the sort of chap you’d invite around if you’re having a barbecue.<\/p>\n Someone else who will never be asked to taste the burgers at my house is referee Steven MacLean.<\/p>\n You may remember him as the optically challenged official from the Inverness Cup game.<\/p>\n He will be in charge for the visit of Rennes tomorrow, as someone at the SFA thought he would be a good choice to ensure that the French side don’t commit too many over enthusiastic challenges, in much the same way as Brian Madden put a stop to it against Dukla.<\/p>\n \u00a0You’d think there was someone at the SFA who didn’t like us.<\/p>\n Still, lets hope that the supporters refrain from swearing at him, throwing things at him or letting his tyres down on his car.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, Rotherham , to be precise, there’s an interesting story breaking, despite one of those confidentiality clauses which tried to keep it out of the public eye…<\/p>\n Chris Jack, of the Ibrox Evening Times drew attention to it \u00a0on twitter;<\/p>\n \n Kirk Broadfoot facing a ten game ban from the FA for a ‘verbal tirade’ \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0Former Rangers former , er, player, Kirk Broadfoot has got himself banned for a massive ten games-two more than Luis Suarez did for biting, after he said something he shouldn’t.<\/p>\n So what did he say ? And who to ?<\/p>\n Well, it was to James MacLean, the Irish winger who was with Wigan at the time of the offence;<\/p>\n I wonder what he could have said to have created such a stir…<\/p>\n Chris Jack wasn’t going to investigate further, or at least he wasn’t letting on. So, we need to read the paper;<\/p>\n Sectarian abuse ? By the way, thats not Chris Jack’s comment superimposed on the picture.<\/p>\n Seems so, as the Mirror reported;<\/p>\n Kirk Broadfoot has been handed a staggering 10-game ban for a sectarian tirade against\u00a0James McClean<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n‘It was open down in Eibar last weekend and he got his chances but it was going to be tighter in Iceland.<\/em><\/span>‘We need players who score, so he is important. We can also play two up front.<\/em><\/p>\n\nStjarnan FC<\/span>\u00a0@FCStjarnan<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\nChris Jack<\/strong>\u00a0\u200f@<\/s>Chris_Jack89<\/b><\/span>\u00a0<\/a>\u00a015h<\/span>15 hours ago<\/span><\/a><\/small><\/div>\n![\"Embedded](\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/CKnG5NfWgAAJ64U.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/CKoEpT6UcAAqqBi.jpg\")
<\/p>\nRotherham defender Kirk Broadfoot handed 10-game ban<\/h1>\n
for sectarian tirade against James McClean<\/h1>\n
The former Scotland defender will have to serve what is believed to be the longest ban for verbal abuse in English football history<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ton.twitter.com\/1.1\/ton\/data\/dm\/624273830098415623\/624273830165483521\/NR3p7W_V.jpg:large\")
<\/p>\n![\"Embedded](\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/CKpzaevWwAA-y37.jpg\")
<\/p>\n