{"id":7838,"date":"2015-09-30T09:44:01","date_gmt":"2015-09-30T08:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etims.net\/?p=7838"},"modified":"2015-09-30T09:44:01","modified_gmt":"2015-09-30T08:44:01","slug":"celtic-diary-wednesday-september-30-waggy-warning-to-celts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etims.net\/?p=7838","title":{"rendered":"Celtic Diary Wednesday September 30: Waggy Warning To Celts;"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, we might not get Carlton Cole after all, as it seems he hurt his leg in training. Well, at least he had the decency to get injured before he signed a contract.<\/p>\n

So, wonder who is next on the agent inspired list of players that no-one else wants…<\/p>\n

Cole would have been drafted in to offer back up for Nadir Ciftci and Leigh Griffiths, although sceptics might argue that Ciftci has so far failed to impress, and that Cole would have been shunted up the queue to allow the Turk time to settle.<\/p>\n

An indication of how much Celtic rely on Leigh Griffiths came when the SFA decided to fine and suspend him in the wake of his sing song along with a few Hibs fans before an Edinburgh derby last season. An immediate ban would have been a problem for Celtic.<\/p>\n

He got a \u00a32,500 fine and a two game ban , which was suspended, so it appears that here as well a wee bit of plea bargaining had gone on, because , as with the court case, Griffiths could easily have fought it should he have desired, but the nature of the offence, effectively racism, meant that it was better to admit it, and most importantly , learn from it.<\/p>\n

Racism is still a problem in society, however much we try to deal with it. For instance, remember the Spice Girls ? You have to wonder why the only black girl in the pop combo was named \u00a0“Scary Spice “.<\/p>\n

Anyway, ahead of tomorrows game against Fenerbahce, there’s a warning from the Evening times;<\/p>\n

Fenerbahce remains Celtic strongest opponents in the<\/h1>\n

Champions League<\/h1>\n

So, it’s not just Second Rangers they would put in the champions League….<\/p>\n

Despite losing their opening game 3-1 at home to Norwegian side Molde, the Times reckons the turks are the main rival to Celtic in the Europa group.<\/p>\n

The paper called it “the biggest challenge of the campaign so far ” and called upon Dedryck Boyata to offer his thoughts on the game;<\/p>\n

\u00a0“You never know what can happen in European games, but before you play the games, on paper you can say which team you think is strongest.<\/em><\/p>\n

“And I think on paper Fenerbahce are the strongest team in the group.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBut you never know what happens out on the pitch. It\u2019s a team game. We all want to play well and come off the pitch having done our jobs well.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

It’s not just the lads decision making that needs working on. It appears his thought processing isn’t up to much either. But to be fair, he is talking about the ever popular “if the game was played on paper ” route that some players and reporters take when they can’t be bothered doing proper research.<\/p>\n

And maybe it’s unfair to blame Boyata for his comments.<\/p>\n

In fact the press may have been a little harsh on the Belgian, who is finding life a little more difficult than he thought it would be a Celtic. They let him ramble on about Robyn van Persie, now at Fenebahce , but not geting a game;<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI remember playing against Robin van Persie for Bolton and it was tough. Very tough.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI came on as a substitute at centre-back and we were 10 men against 11 at the Emirates, which made it even harder.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know van Persie. Wherever you go, if you say his name to people they know he is a real quality player.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHe can finish really easily and if we leave him a bit of space in front of goal he will kill us.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to be really tight on him. You only need to type his name into YouTube to see the amazing goals he has scored across his career.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHave I typed his name into YouTube before? Yes, in the past, not before this game but I\u2019ve seen all his amazing goals for Arsenal and even before that.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just a really good and really dangerous player.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAs a defender and a football lover, I\u2019ve seen him play. His movement is great and he can hold the ball up well. He\u2019s technically good and he scores goals easily. He has a lot of positive qualities.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Then it appears they let the penny drop;<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know he was not getting a start in recent games.<\/em><\/p>\n

There is \u00a0good news from the camp.<\/p>\n

Stuart Armstrong is back in the squad after recovering from injury. Armstrong plays well, Celtic play well. We’ve missed him.<\/p>\n

Emilio Izaguirre will miss the game, he’s suspended , Charlie Mulgrew is injured , which means it will either be Keiran Tierney at left back, or Tyler Blackett.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Whoever gets the nod, be it the inexperienced Tierney or the incapable blackett, the man directly in front \u00a0in the wide left position will need to track back.<\/p>\n

A lot.<\/p>\n

Which could well be Armstrong, Or maybe even Tom Rogic, as there’s little doubt Stefan Johansen will resume in the number ten role.<\/p>\n

It will be a big night for Efe ambrose as well. He has stepped up to the plate since being handed a little more responsibility at the back, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed back in Nigeria. This is from the “Leadership ” newspaper, which, to say the least, has an unusual title;<\/p>\n

Celtic coach John Kennedy has hailed Efe Ambrose for his performances for the team in recent times.<\/span><\/em>
The Nigerian returned to his preferred centre-back role following the departure of Virgil van Dijk and injury to new signing Jozo Simunovic, and in the process Neil Lennon\u2019s side have kept three consecutive clean sheets.<\/span><\/em>
Though Efe got the marching order against Hearts on Saturday, Kennedy feels the former FC Ashdod player is beginning to show his worth to the club.<\/span><\/em>
\u201cThe big positive is Efe has come in and done really well for us. He\u2019s been patient,\u201d Kennedy told Dailyrecord.co.uk.<\/span><\/em>
\u201cHe\u2019s been patient. He has found himself out of the team when maybe he thought he might have had a chance, but he has trained well and he has certainly come in and done a great job for us in recent weeks. So there is competition there as well.<\/span><\/em>
\u201cHe has done it under Neil Lennon for a long time,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/em>
\u201cHe has made some errors in the past, as all players do. He has probably been unfortunate at times to find himself out the team.<\/span><\/em>
\u201cBut he is a great professional, a terrific player to work with, and when he concentrates he can put in good performances like he has shown in recent weeks,\u201d he concluded.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

What does Ronny have to do to shake himself free from the shadow of Neil Lennon….?<\/p>\n

\u00a0Fenerbahce will not want to lose a second game in the group. So it will require hard work, concentration and an impassioned support.<\/p>\n

Which won’t bother the Turks, apparently.<\/p>\n

Cocky Raul Meireles says Celtic fans will be<\/h1>\n

wasting their time trying to intimidate Fenerbahce.<\/h1>\n

Which shows how much he knows. Celtic supporters don’t really go in for intimidation, it’s the support for the hoops that matters. Maybe if the opposition get a penalty there’s a bit of whistling and scarf waving, but that’s about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know Celtic is a big stadium and I know their atmosphere is well known.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBut if they think they can intimidate a Turkish team? All I can say is good luck.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI have played in some big games in Portugal and\u00a0England<\/a>, but there is nothing like playing in Turkey.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI think on the return game, they will find out what intimidating means.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

He isn’t the first, and won’t be the last, to misread the effect of the crowd on a Celtic team.<\/p>\n

Fenerbahce are not playing well. Van Persie has fell out with the manager, they lost their first game in the group, and they were beaten by Besiktas at the weekend, a result which knocked them off the top of the turkish league.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Meirles denied , though, that now was a good time for Celtic to be playing Fener.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe Celtic do think it\u2019s a good time to be playing us, I hope they do.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes. Because that’s what any team would like to be up against. A fast, confident side, roared on by a big crowd, who think you’re shite.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe result in the opening game was disappointing, but we are still very confident we can progress.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have some of the top players in Europe, there is never a good time to play us. I don\u2019t expect Celtic to make it easy for us, but we are ready.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSigning players like Nani, Van Persie and Lazar Markovic was a big injection of confidence for us over the summer.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cNew players can sometimes need time, but these are players who are used to big games and who have the ability to do special things in these big games.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOf course we wanted to be playing in The Champions League, but we are not and we accept that.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a competition we want to win and it is a competition we will be doing out best to win.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

He used to play for Chelsea and Liverpool. But not very often.<\/p>\n

Celtic really need to start taking this season seriously. not only do we have the challenge of europe, a competition which qualification from the groups is a must, we have the resurgent aberdeen leading domestically.<\/p>\n

And that’s not all….<\/p>\n

Martyn Waghorn believes Rangers can challenge<\/h1>\n

Celtic and Aberdeen for Champions League football next season.<\/h1>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0“In the short term the Champions League is not unrealistic. It’s realistic if we get promoted, anyone can beat anyone on their day.<\/em><\/p>\n

“We’re going to set our standards to get into the Champions League, I think that’s realistic for Rangers, how it’s developed and how it’s run.<\/em><\/p>\n

“We want to be as high as we can as quick as we can. I want to be a part of a successful team and I’ll do anything I can to bring that here.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"laughter\"<\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

They’ve only played one Premier league side this season, St. Johnstone, and the Perth side, three up ahortly after half time, felt sorry for them and let them have the ball for a bit.<\/p>\n

Quite how they fancy their chances at the top table of european football is , well, a little bemusing.<\/p>\n

And amusing, to be honest.<\/p>\n

“You can see in the cup in the previous week teams were knocking out other teams.<\/em><\/p>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

The difference isn’t that much anymore, the gap is getting tighter and tighter.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Gaps don’t get tighter. They get smaller.<\/p>\n

“I want to be part of a Rangers team that is getting into Europe and winning trophies. We just need to concentrate on getting the job done by making sure we get promotion.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Anyone know how they can make sure of promotion ?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The defeat to St. johnstone, which should have given them a reality check, wasn’t so bad, according to the man the press have dubbed “Waggy ”<\/p>\n

“We just had an off day against St Johnstone and it was there for everyone to see. But we’ve analysed it, learned from it and it will make us better. We will improve.<\/em><\/p>\n

“The manner of the defeat, but St Johnstone played well and they had a gameplan and scored three very good goals. Sometimes you have to take you hat off and say well done.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"Embedded<\/p>\n

“But we know if you dip below those standards you get punished at a club of this size. But we showed on Sunday you are a strong squad. Sometimes ittakes a defeat to take a step back and progress again.” \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

might help them the next time they play a full time team, I suppose.<\/p>\n

That story is just the latest in a long line of PR pieces designed to keep the forces of darkness on message. Things, they would have you believe, are all rosy in the Ibrox garden.<\/p>\n

Exceot Phil MacGhiollabhan, the author of downfall, which logged the death of the old club, has been digging around again, and he feels that there is more bad news on the way.<\/p>\n

Phil MacGhiollabhan article<\/a><\/p>\n

A couple of interesting revelations in there, including the closure of Murray Park, and the use of Ibrox confined to just match days ?<\/p>\n

You’d think the press would be sniffing around those stories, rather than how Waggy thinks the club would get on in the champions League.<\/p>\n

Still, it was partly due to media ignorance or \u00a0neglect the old club died, so happily, it appears they haven’t learned their lesson yet.<\/p>\n

Oh look, a squirrel…<\/p>\n

\"Embedded<\/p>\n

A walk down memory lane now, as today would have been the seventy first birthday of the legend that is Jimmy Johnstone.<\/p>\n

\"Embedded<\/p>\n

What is the story linking the great man to this rather exquisite ornament ?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

So, we might not get Carlton Cole after all, as it seems he hurt his leg in training. Well, at least he had the decency…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":7840,"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\/09\/doomed.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2J7If-22q","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7838"}],"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=7838"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7841,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7838\/revisions\/7841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}