These are strange times.
The British government seems to be comfortable with their contingency plans deal with medicine shortages and bread riots.
Apparently, this a price worth paying in order to get blue passports for their citizenry.
If you think Operation Yellowhammer is bad then wait till you see the details on Operation Snow Bunting!
Across the Pond, the reality TV President in the White House believes that he is “the chosen one”.
Oh, and the Amazon rainforest is on fire.
It could be the tipping point to a climate catastrophe that is irretrievable.
To complete the end of days feel to all of this I find myself in total agreement with the message on a Green Brigade banner last night.
I suspect that not even Nostradamus saw that one coming.
Last night also saw a novel tactical approach from the Hoops.
Celtic played their best central midfielder in central midfield and not at left back.
It was a cunning plan that worked a treat.
The announcement of a signing DURING the match was emblematic of the haphazard nature of Celtic’s recruitment performance during this and previous windows.
For the avoidance of doubt, the capture the quiet giant who shut out Messi et al in 2012 is a fine bit of business.
Fraser Forster is definitely a better keeper than Bain or Gordon.
I was also encouraged to learn this morning that the loan deal had the approval of Neil Lennon and Stevie Woods.
This is how it should be for all acquisitions.
However, the message held up in the North Curve last night remains incontestable.
The second game against Cluj was a wakeup call.
Sadly, the alarm clock didn’t go off in time and the financial hit is in the tens of millions of pounds.
If that reduced the funds for transfers then it must be hoped that quality would come up through the ranks.
I thought Mikey Johnston was a constant threat down the left and gave the AIK defenders a real problem.
It is heartening to see that the Celtic Academy continues to produce players able to step up.
However, on the Green Brigade theme, someone in the Lennoxtown talent factory was obviously dozing on the job when young Liam Morrison was snatched by Bayern.
I’m told that Mr Desmond has asked some pointed questions about that one.
He seems to have an aversion to his underlings presiding over failure.
However, like all good commanders, he doesn’t meddle and lets those below him in the chain of command get on with it.
He only steps in when his subordinates have clearly failed.
The last time such an intervention took place was in the summer of 2016.
My information is that he is back in hands-on mode.
Of course, his designated driver nodded off and missed the turnoff for the Champions League Group Stage.
An expensive lapse.
Moreover, such a costly detour has happened four times out of the last six seasons.
The two exceptions were when there was a competent manager in full charge of all football matters.
Starting to see a pattern here?
Now the VIP who is accustomed to getting chauffeured around has got in behind the wheel.
Like the road to Galway, I wouldn’t start from here.
As it stands the squad is overloaded on the wings and is seriously short of defenders.
Moreover, if Olivier Ntcham is sold in the coming days then Celtic are a couple of injuries away from a crisis in central midfield.
This shambolic recruitment isn’t something that dropped out of the sky during this transfer window.
Rather it is a pattern of underperformance that should have been dealt with several transfer windows ago.
What could have been done differently?
Jaysus…
Where to start?
Ok, firstly when Señor Terminado fecked off in February that should have been the last day at Lennoxtown for Lee Congerton.
It made no sense to have him hang around.
I recently learned that Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo is a Congerton production.
Then the temporary appointment of Nick Hammond in the recruitment role is also redolent of the sticking plaster on a problem that should be addressed by long term planning.
Despite this costly shambles Celtic still has the financial muscle to address these issues in the remaining days of this transfer window.
They can then take stock again in January.
The shambles of last summer-and it WAS a shambles- was to some extent addressed in the first month of 2019 through loan deals.
Oli Burke and Timo Weah certainly gave energy and impetus to the champions in the final third during the business end of the season.
I realise that there are a few climate emergency deniers in the Celtic support and that everything will work out peachy.
The man who took me to my first Celtic game was fond of saying:
“It will be all right when you make it all right”.
My grandfather Murphy knew stuff.
The time for self-congratulatory snoozing is over at Parkhead.
We are already behind the curve.
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Ian, like yourself I am desperate for something to happen on the signing front, to give us a real boost for the season ahead.
However, given the previous of the PLC board, I for one will not be holding my breath. HH
Leonard spot on. i agree that Rebel chants should be done away with, but Rebel ballads are a different matter entirely, in my opinion. Having been a big fan of the ballad ‘Grace’ I think it’s marvelous that the support sing it in unison…what a sight.
Back to the GB. In the event of these morons getting the club into bother again, the authorities must step up. These little bastards think that they are untouchable. At away games the REAL Celts should self-police these dolts. They need to have ‘some manners put on them’, as the old Belfast saying goes.
At CP on the other hand, EVERYONE entering the safe-standing section should be stopped and searched for contraband i.e. smoke-bombs, flares and the like…and probably drugs too, knowing those bastard Snowflakes.
Anyone refusing to be searched should be refused admittance to dear old Paradise. Anyone doing so aggressively should be frog-marched off to a secluded part of the ground, and, subjected to the ‘ould rubber-glove treatment. Now that would be a laugh..HH.
Absolutely correct, Magua. I enjoy the GB most of the time, but there are some self-obsessed little tossers who care not about Celtic, and let themselves, GB and the majority of Celtic fans down. Suffice to say that chants like ‘Edouard’, and the ‘Celtic’ echo are embraced and chanted around the ground, whereas an IRA chant falls on unapproving ears,
Not sure it is wholly relevant to bring Liam Morrison into this? If you know the regulations surrounding youth players then you’d know that clubs cannot force them to sign contracts. Child protection etc. even before the principle of Bosman. Of course Lenny was wholly unaware as well stating, ‘He’s our player, we will not let him go’.The lawyers soon put him right. Last minute effort to persuade him by taking him on a foreign pre-season jaunt did not work. Perhaps he got to see close up the tactical nous of our leader? Certainly seems that way given his comments since signing?
So, no, Celtic had no say in which club Mr Morrison chose. Were they asleep? Well, he played in the same birth year team as Mr Dembele and perhaps they were too busy blowing smoke where the sun don’t shine with him? Or perhaps the persuasive Mr Rodgers and the 5 year plan was sufficient rather than engaging in mild threats? Don’t all our academy players have 5 year plans? If not, why not?
Tactical nous you say?
The last Manager deployed McGregor at Left Back 11 times.
Failed to get past the last 32 of the Europa League at 3 attempts (2 at Liverpool with a £300m Transfer Budget) and once deployed Sinclair at Right Wing Back.
Agree that the GB banner was spot on but as for the GB themselves I have a major problem with those little swines. Please indulge me for a moment. Any time they cause trouble at games, whether home or away, they trot out the mantra:’ Not guilty your honour…it’s our FOLLOWERS who cause trouble’. Utter pish, if you’ll pardon the turn of phrase. Does that ‘excuse’ remind you of another organisation who employ the same tactics…i.e. our old friends the Orange Order. To some that may seem a tad extreme. However, if these little bastards behave like Huns they should be treated like Huns and fecked out of the ground and boycotted by the REAL Celts, as happened with the so-called ‘celtic’ casuals many years ago.
If the support don’t confront these selfish, entitled little ‘ricks with a capital P’, then it is only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured or worse, at the behest of these thugs. If they have nothing to be ashamed of, why do they feel the need to cover their faces with scarves and hoodies? Hoodlums with hoodies…now there’s a thought.
So what is to be done? Well here’s my take on the problem. I cannot and will not condone violence against them, as happened with the casuals, so here’s my solution. If any of them happen to be members of your supporters club, give them a choice…supporters club or GB. You cannot be a member of both. If they drink in Celtic pubs throughout the land, bar them. Tell them to GTF. If they turn up at away games, the support should give it a few choruses of:’Casuals, casuals, get tae f@@k’. Older supporters will remember the tune. These mugs do not care about the damage to our reputation and that is the major problem. They simply DO NOT CARE. Well now, they should be bastard well MADE to care…and if they don’t like it they can f@@k right off to Ibrox, where they belong. Rant over, you’ll be glad to hear. HH
I wonder what criteria UEFA applied in selecting a section of Ibrox to be closed for the return game with Legia, when clearly the whole ground joins in with their favourite ditties.
Funny that UEFA can identify the problem but those goons at Hampden see no evil, speak no evil when it comes to the Ibrox club,
The UEFA ruling should be hugely embarrassing for Maxwell and his board.
Are they taking the view that the singing only occurs in Europe when we know that it happens week after week home and away in the SPFL..
Police Scotland had no problem wading into those AIK nutters last night but week after week stand by whilst the law of the land is being broken in front of their eyes.
The SFA is not alone in the dock on this matter.
Can anyone inform me just what Maxwell has done, if anything, since taking the top job?
Drink coffee, what else do loafers do?
Spot on. I want to see utter and unrelenting ruthlessness from the board in giving Celtic the best chance to succeed. No one could possibly say that they are doing that in the transfer market. Or indeed in dealing with the football authorities.
Although it appeared strange, Forster was announced during the game as he was paraded at half time.
We have about 9 days left of this window to get things sorted . The Board must know we are watching and waiting. They better not let us down.HH.