strachan doing well on a limited budget

Celtic, a club with an unproven manager despised by the supporters, an ageing midfield who can't play together, a leaky defence that wouldn't be out of place in a vaudeville act and a team whose title challenge is about to come unstuck any day now such is the fragile nature of the players' mentality.

Put on a pair of glasses, attach a Ned Flanders moustache, pinch your nostrils with your fingers and get a job reading the above on the airwaves of Radio Clyde. You are now Hugh Keevins.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, since our last issue, Gordon Strachan's Celtic have not only consolidated at the top of the SPL table but have actually forged further ahead. 13 points ahead of Hearts and 21 ahead of Rangers with the nights fair drawing out.

Wilson and Keane are establishing themselves as first team regulars, Dion Dublin has been drafted in foe a few months to bring his experience to the defence or the forward line, Zurawski is making us realise what we were missing all the months he was injured (what do you mean they didn't make a big deal about that in the papers?) and we have just witnessed a record win in the SPL, together with a Neil Lennon goal. There's something in the air I tells ya!

March brings with it a CIS Cup Final and the chance for WGS to land his first piece of Celtic silverware. Should he win it, it will hopefully be the first part of a double which will be all the more enjoyable because of its unpredictability. Wins against Aberdeen, Hibs and Livingston would actually give the Hoops a chance of clinching the title against Hearts, appropriately enough on All Fools Day.

It would be an incredible achievement in a season of rebuilding. We've said it before, but after the Artmedia game, who'd a thunk of it?

MANFRED LURKER