august 2005

Tuesday 2nd Celtic's bid to become the first side ever to win a European tie after losing the first leg 5:0 ends in failure. A 4:0 victory against Artmedia isn't enough to prevent our season in Europe being over before it's even started. Gordon Strachan was gutted but still had praise for his players: 'Pride, sadness, injustice - they are all rolled in there. I have told them that it could possibly have been the best night of their careers if they had pulled it off. They were good team-mates. In terms of heart and commitment, I cannot fault them. I am proud of them... I think it shows that these were two good teams, one of which had a freak night when they played the best that they will ever play, while we played the worst we will ever play... The money is not the thing for me. Not seeing this kind of excitement of the crowd until next season is the major disappointment.'

Neil Lennon said: 'We can take a lot from the game, like the performance, and the fact we never gave up and fought to the death. I'm happy for the manager because he has had to take a lot of stick recently but tonight we showed that we are all behind him. Maybe the game came too early for us as we have brought a lot of new players into the club. But slowly it's beginning to come together.'

Wednesday 3rd August Fools' Day, apparently, as Rangers chairman David Murray urges huns to stop buying 'certain newspapers' (i.e. the Herald) he believes are unfairly critical of the Scottish champions. Murray told the Orcs' official website that meetings he had with newspaper editors have failed to change attitudes. 'If you don't not like what certain journalists are writing then stop buying their newspapers,' he said. 'If the product starts to lose sales then maybe their editors will begin to take note of the reason why. From the beginning of the 2004-05 campaign until virtually the final kick, we were continually criticised in certain sections of the press and media on a variety of topics and a lot of it was very personal and, I believe, unnecessary,' he said. 'Manager Alex McLeish was savaged, individual players were abused and the club was continually made a target by certain individuals. I also bore the brunt of critical attacks.' Murray said he received thousands of emails and letters from fans urging him to ban certain newspapers or journalists from Mordor or from news conferences. 'I do not want to make martyrs of these people who seem intent on hammering Rangers at every opportunity without any apparent justification. The people want me to react and they want you, the supporters, to react. If we do so, it gives them credence and I, for one, am not willing to do that. They want me to ban them, because it will give them a badge of distinction.' Pausing only to pull a peeled onion from his pocket and hold it under his nose, the beleaguered Ibrox supremo went on, 'We live in a world where we believe in democracy and freedom of the press, but some of the personal attacks on Rangers people have been way over the top - and they know it. Don't be fooled by the occasional positive article which must have been hard for them to write.'

By 'occasional' we must assume Murray means every day for the last 25 years? We can also only ponder what the reaction would have been had these words been uttered by a Celtic director. Paranoid? Us...?

Saturday 6th John Hartson and Craig Beattie are the scorers in a 2:0 league win at Celtic Park against Dundee United. Shunsuke Nakamura makes his debut and he turns in a performance that has his manager gushing: 'That was as good a debut as I've seen in a long, long time. I just said to him enjoy the game and the atmosphere. There was a lot of pressure on him - not just here but back in his own country where he is a big star. The people of Japan will be wanting to see how he got on and you can tell the Japanese people that he did very well.'

In a gaffe worthy of Prince Philip, the Celtic programme features a centrefold poster of Nakamura... which turned out to be a picture of Chinese centre-half Du Wei.

Rangers win 1:0 at Inverness, the home side being denied a stonewall penalty by referee Calum Murray.

Monday 8th Bobo Balde is in France and is seemingly preparing to exercise the infamous clause in his contract which will reportedly see him signing for Marseille within the next day or two.

Tuesday 9th Hold that result: Bobo's back. 'Everyone knows I have a clause in my contract which allows me to talk to other clubs until August 31,' he told waiting hacks. 'I took the opportunity to meet with Marseille, considered their offer, and I'm very happy to return to Celtic.'

Wednesday 10th Rangers issue a statement denying they will have to pay former shareholder ENIC if they reach the Champions League group stages. Martin Bain told assembled brethren of the Laptop Loyal: 'I can confirm that Rangers Football Club have no such requirement and/or liability. David Murray's holding company, Murray International Holdings Limited, acquired ENIC's shares. And it is this company which has an obligation to make added payments... The vast majority of any top-up payment is contingent on the club joining the English Premiership. The balance is payable annually only on successful qualification for the Champions League until season 2009-2010.' Whatever that means.

Friday 12th Another bench warmer off the wage bill as Dundee United sign David Fernandez on a three-year contract. Signed by MON from Livingston for £1.25 million, Fernandez made eight first team starts in three years.

Saturday 13th Celtic come back from a goal down via the penalty spot to beat Falkirk 3:1. Allan Thompson scores two of the goals and celebrates with a cupped ear gesture to the crowd, obviously not happy with the stick he was getting during another poor performance. WGS could also feel the vibe: 'They got a lift from going ahead and the crowd got a bit edgy. If they want passing football, that can happen. But I'm happy with the number of chances created and the number of chances we restricted them to.' It's a bit worrying when he starts talking about restricting Falkirk. At home too!

Sunday 14th Plucky Rangers fight back from two down to get on level terms at Pittodrie before giving away a late winner to the home side in the dying minutes. This wasn't in the Sunday Herald's script at all (below).

Tuesday 15th Craig Beattie scores twice in Scotland U21's 3:1 victory against Austria, a match which also featured David Marshall and Shaun Maloney.

Wednesday 16th Celtic View day again, at last! In the big interview Mo Camara is asking for more time to prove his worth to the team. 'I can only say to the fans that I know I have not done well so far and promise them I am a better player than I have shown them. But I am working very hard to get my fitness to the highest possible level and, when that happens, I think they will see the real Mo Camara. So far, they haven't seen anything from me that I'm happy with... This is a massive club and, when you arrive here and have to get used to a different manager and different players, it does take some time. I knew myself it wouldn't be easy. But, if I wanted it easy, I would have stayed in England, where I knew I could be a success, and signed for a club like Leicester or Ipswich.'

Friday 17th The board reveals that the club's debts have risen to close to the £20m mark. following a drop in turnover and a poor season in Europe last term. The amount owed at Celtic Park has risen by £3.7m to £19.5m after turnover dropped by 9.9%, leaving Celtic reporting a loss of £7.7m for the year to July. Brian Quinn said: 'We don't like to see debts getting out of hand, but they are not out of hand. However, I would personally get a bit jumpy if they rose much higher. On the face of it, last year marked a pause in a remarkable run of success enjoyed by Celtic in recent years. Turnover was down for the first time in 10 years, with sales of merchandise, in particular, falling fairly sharply following several years of uninterrupted growth. Over a longer period, the picture looks quite different. In the last five years, revenues have grown from £42m to £62m and profit from operations has been consistently positive. Backed by strong performances in domestic competition and a high profile in Europe, the Celtic brand has clearly strengthened and expanded. Perhaps most important, but little appreciated, the company has come through the first real recession in the football sector, achieving football success while avoiding the financial difficulties that have afflicted so many clubs both in the UK and in Europe more generally... We have arranged the departure of 13 players and recruited seven and I believe supporters acknowledge that changes on this scale are not always negotiated smoothly and are ready to give Gordon the time needed to bring about the reconstruction of the squad.'

Peter Lawwell added: 'The close-season transfer activity resulted in a substantial reduction in football wage costs and this, together with a planned reduction in amortisation costs will result in a reduced cost base and a sustainable financial position.'

Saturday 20th A relatively sedate game against the Huns at Mordor turns into the Stuart Dougal show after Alan Thompson's challenge on Nacho Nogoals after 23 minutes and gives the hacks a new phrase which looks set to become part of the lingua franca of Hackdom, 'career-threatening tackle'.

Celtic lose 3:1 but Strachan is spared too much wrath thanks to the MIB. Neil Lennon is also shown a red card for foul and abusive language and will face a lengthy ban after doing his nut at the official at the end of the match. 'They say you don't see a good referee during a game', said WGS afterwards. 'We saw plenty of this one.'

Monday 22nd In the most sincere apology since the Bash Street Kids said sorry to Mr. Snodgrass and in no way designed to mitigate an almost certain extended ban, Neil Lennon has apologised for his reaction at Stuart Dougal's antics on Saturday. 'Clearly, although I felt the red card - my first in the SPL - was totally unjustified, I understand that my reaction was wrong,' said Lennon. I apologise for my reaction towards the referee and his assistant. I spoke to the referee about his performance and he then showed me a red card while I was shaking hands with the Rangers players. I also apologise to Celtic and our supporters,' Lennon said on the official club website.

Tuesday 23rd As expected, the SFA confirm that Neil Lennon will be asked to appear before their disciplinary committee on 20 September. Drew Herbertson said: 'We understand that the player will be reported for misconduct. That will be passed to the disciplinary committee.' Interestingly, the SFA have not waited until the arrival of Dougal's report to start proceedings. 'We can't comment at all on potential action that will come of this,' said Herbertson, the SFA's head of referees and discipline. 'The next meeting will be on 20 September and as to what action will be taken is now a matter for them.' Scottish FA referee's chief Don McVicar publicly backs Stuart Dougal's decision to send off Celtic's Alan Thompson for his foul on Saturday. 'Any tackle that endangers the safety of a player must be considered serious foul play and a red-card offence. The referee did the job he had to do and the job the SFA wants him to do,' said McVicar, clearly unaware of any double entendre. 'I would consider Thompson's tackle on Novo to come into the career-threatening category (There's that phrase again). There was the intent and there was aggression. The referee was criticised for showing too many cards, but his only fault was that he possibly didn't show enough cards.'

On the eve of his side's Champions League qualifier at Mordor, Famagusta's Timuri Ketsbaia has responded to allegations by Fernando Ricksen that the Cypriots were indulging in some diving during the first leg of the tie: 'If you`re asking me about cheating I would say what about the sending-off of the Celtic player on Saturday? I didn`t know such things happened in Scottish football, but we have seen this with our own eyes in the last week. After that it was easy for them to get the win. After 23 minutes the match was finished.'

Thursday 24th Jeremie Aliadiere decides against staying on loan at Celtic for the rest of the season and joins West Ham on loan instead. 'I am very disappointed this has not worked out the way I thought it would,' he said. WGS blames the outstanding form of Shaun Maloney and Craig Beattie for the Frenchman's inability to feature in his plans.

Friday 25th Having reportedly knocked back a bid of £4 million from Fulham for Stilian Petrov, WGS tells the media that the midfielder will be staying at Celtic as an integral part of his team: 'Out of courtesy we told him that there was interest and a bid from Fulham. Stan listened to what I had to say, but he is a big player for us and he is going to be even bigger, so there's no way I'll let him go. He sat there, listened, didn't say a word, which is good (Er, is it? Worried Ed), and then thanked me and walked out. There has been a bid, but he is not going anywhere. I want to build a team around Stilian Petrov and people like him. He's buzzing now and he was absolutely fantastic last week against Rangers. He's not for sale as long as I'm here. I know we've all said that as managers and if somebody comes in with a bid of £50m then I'll say 'thanks Stan' but that's life.'

Saturday 26th Hearts continue to set the pace in the SPL with another win. Meanwhile, at the Death Star, plucky cash-strapped Rangers manage to hold out against Hibs until late in the game before an Ivan Sproule hat-trick gives the visitors a 3:0 win and the home side some practice at playing in an empty San Siro in the Champions League.

Sunday 27th John McGarry out-swoops Swoop this morning with an exclusive on the back page of the News of the Screws which breathlessly reveals that Bobo Balde is off to Fulham: 'His departure leaves Gordon Strachan with another gap to fill in a defence that has leaked goals since the word go this season.'

McGarry's fellow hack, Kenny MacDonald, has the back page's main exclusive: 'Preston could end Rangers' interest in James McFadden'.

And as if not being able to compete with Preston North End in the transfer market wasn't bad enough, The Cat is quoted as saying, 'I think James would be too expensive for us even if we were interested in him.'

Inter Milan and Porto will be shitting themselves at the strength in depth of the SPL as Scotland's Champions League wunderteam are consigned to fifth place in the table following Celtic's 4:0 victory against Dunfermline at East End Park. Magic Zurawski and Shunsuke Nakamura both open their accounts and John Hartson continues his goal a game average.

On TV after the game Stilian Petrov insisted that he was content to stay at Celtic Park: 'Celtic have made it clear, and I still have two years to go here. I know it will come one day - like every player I want to play in Spain or the Premiership, but I'm happy to see out my two years.'

Gordon Strachan told hacks that he did not expect to sign any more players before the transfer window closes. 'If something exceptional comes along and we could afford it then yes but there are not many exceptional things we can afford at the moment.' But he also said that neither Petrov nor Bobo Balde would leave. 'He (Balde) is obliged to write us a letter if he is in talks with anybody. He has done that so far so I see no reason why he would change that. He is a good professional and an honest man so if he was he would write us a letter.'

Tuesday 30th With the transfer window about to slam shut, Celtic finally sign Chinese defender Du Wei on an initial 6 month loan period for the princely sum of £60,000, with a further £600,000 due in January if his initial period is a success. Memo to McGarry: Bobo's still at Celtic.

Diary compiled by SAMUEL PEPYS-SHOW and HACKWATCHER

 

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