It is a given that many in the Stenography Corps long for the departure of Brendan Rodgers from his current position.
Since he has arrived at Celtic he has delivered all six domestic trophies that were there to be won; an Invincible Treble and then a Double Treble.
However, if any of the press pack had an interest in journalism, they would want this guy to stick around.
As well as being polite, gracious and knowledgeable he will use the media when it suits his purposes.
In successive weeks he has used pre-match comments to get his dig into the guys in the boardroom.
We have had “bloated squad” and then an even more damning observation at the weekend.
“We stood still”.
Ouch!
In characterising the summer transfer activity thus he has teed it up very nicely for the January window.
He has put it out there that Brendan expects.
I reckon the Brits should ask him the handle the Brexit negotiations!
He certainly knows how to lay the groundwork for a serious sit-down.
As reported here recently he has been authorised to have a busy January with as many as eight out the door with three coming in.
I would wager that one of that trio will have to be a striker.
At the moment if Leigh Griffiths is indeed “ill” then Celtic have only one recognised Number 9.
That is particularly galling given the “bloated squad” comments from Rodgers.
On Saturday Brendan’s men clicked through the gears as they had done at Perth before the international break.
Hibs are a much tougher proposition than Tommy Wright’s charges and breached the Celtic defence twice.
However, the home side could easily have scored seven or eight as the woodwork took a battering.
Filip Benković strolled through the game.
It would be a fine piece of business if Leicester City could be tempted with a swap plus cash deal in January involving Dedryck Boyata.
I know that Celtic have tried on that one.
Fair play if they can pull it off.
Of course, there is little chance of you reading any of that in the local media.
It is self-evident that most of the Fitba Fourth estate is operating on high-Level instructions.
Impossibly optimistic good news stories apropos Sevco and worrying headlines about Celtic are the order of the day.
As these titles circle the circulation drain, they appear to be locked in a suicide pact with the Ibrox brand.
One day journalism might break out on Planet Fitba.
That would be nice.
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A good bit better. However, they have to do this against the very organised Kilmarnock and Livingston
How much money do we want for Dedryck on top of Benkovic; £5m, £10m?
A win at Murrayfield and again v the Jambos in the league will see the Bhoys in a final and topping the table.
Not bad for a terrible start to the season yet a big step closer to a historic treble treble.
It’s a bit puzzling when you lead the Ibrox outfit by a couple of points, yet our start is reported in the media as disastrous whilst Stevie G’s charges can do no wrong.
Watching the highlights of the Accies game yesterday I couldn’t help notice that Dallas ignored the clear pulling and tugging on a home team player in the box with the score at 0-0 whilst he couldn’t wait to blow his whistle for the first Rangers player when there was no way he could have seen the alleged hand ball and even after several TV reruns it was still unclear.
I thought a penalty could only be awarded when the officials were certain than an offence had been committed. This was not one of them.
Last week we had McLean make a decision that effectively cost McCann his job and after being referred to the panel saw the diving culprit suspended for two games.
Son of Dallas and McLean, just two of the products of Fleming’s failed fast track strategy. Here we are years down the road yet we don’t have a single Grade 1 referee that could be labelled as decent.
How is that possible?
I see the bbc states that Celtic had a late scare!! In what game? It could have been 6-8 as phill states but no mention of that just “a late scare” God preserves me.
I often wonder how these “journalists” sleep at night or are able to pick up their wages with a straight face,
Hey, you can even read in certain quarters that Rangers FC (the deed one) were punished too much.
PS: I don’t even think they have been punished at all……………………..yet
HH
10 goals in the last two games yet to the press we are in disarray. Benkovic was absolutely outstanding, I and the other fans around me would not begrudge Tom Rogic his MoM award but this boy has it in spades. Boyata came through nicely too.
Young Callum showed a level of maturity in his display. Forrest was sublime. Odsonne did the job.
Lustig was a liability, a great servant and I’m not turning on him but he needs competition.
On the sevco side, Dallas was again at his lodge loving best. I will be surprised if the compliance officer doesn’t investigate Morelos dive for 2nd penalty.
Any self respecting football fan would look at that mob and think they’re exactly where they need to be league wise. 5th or 6th is about their level.
Worst start to a league campaign in 29 years even after a dodgy away win.
We are in disarray
I like your analysis apart from the Morelos “dive” as you put it. As they run across the pen area in pursuit of the ball, Penny’s left thigh / knee catches Morelos’ R foot (which is in the air behind him as he runs) this pushes the foot sideways to the L so that as the foot travels forward, it catches behind his own L calf and he has no option but to fall as he is running at speed.
In rugby (see user name for clue) this would be known as a tap tackle, usually used in desperation as an opponent is getting away, a full length dive and a tap or slap on the outside of the ankle / foot will often bring them down as they try to take the next step. You don’t need a lot of force. It’s all in the timing.
I like sevco and Morelos as much (not very) as you but I will only criticise them when they get it wrong.
It’s a shame Accies blew it yesterday. It might have been a different game if the ref had awarded them a penalty for a different type of rugby tackle in the 1st half.
Disarray like this I can quite happily live with.