Paul67: November 2008 Archives

The champions extended their lead at the top of the table with a dogged win over an Inverness Caledonian Thistle team who refused to accept defeat until the final whistle sounded well into the 50th minute of the second half.

The game itself will be memorable for little more than a tired looking Celtic clearing their lines for the last 30 minutes as Inverness made the most of a series of free kicks which allowed them to launch attacks.

Shaun Maloney scored the only goal of the game after 28 minutes despite not making a clean connection with his shot from outside the box.  Maloney spend most of the afternoon away from his more effective central midfield role, so found little opportunity to display his creative talents.

Scott Brown and Paul Hartley never quite got to grips with the Inverness central midfield but both defended resolutely 30 yards from their own goal to deny the Highlanders space in dangerous areas.

The champions have now recorded 12 league wins in succession, turning a three point deficit into a seven point advantage.  They took one on the chin on Tuesday night but today demonstrated the character that made them champions in the first place.

Live updates will appear below after 15:00 GMT.

Tomorrow is a big day in the race for the SPL.

After Tuesday night I am glad Celtic are at home, an away venue would make a potentially difficult afternoon all the more treacherous, but Celtic Park a bit flatter than normal.  Craig Brewster will have prepared Inverness Caledonian Thistle for the task in hand; they have an excellent away record in the SPL this season, winning four of their seven games, something they are unable to boast about their home record, so Brewster has reason to be hopeful.

Gordon Strachan has to lift his players and ensure that minds and bodies remain sharp for 90 minutes after what will have been a draining week.  A win is, as ever, absolutely vital.

Before Celtic kick off the 'best of the rest' meet at Tynecastle, where Hearts entertain Rangers.  Hearts failed to show against Celtic last month, so I am having trouble mustering any real hope that they will stretch Rangers, but Tynecastle is, at best, an unpredictable venue.

Tuesday will join a growing number of disappointing days in Europe that live long in the memory.

Bratislava is the only similar episode in recent times, which surprised me when I checked my records.  Something changed in 1995, when after beating Dinamo Batumi, Celtic went out of Europe to a team we had heard of, Paris St Germain.  In the five years before this Celtic eliminated only three teams, before losing to the first team who asked any real questions, including Neuchatel Xamax.  Even the defeat to PSG contained elements of compensation from the first leg in Paris.

The Xamax game came to mind while watching Sky Sports after the game on Tuesday, when their resident ex-Celt and famine chortler concluded that Celtic were not spending enough money (they spend Aalborg's annual income on average every 21 days) and the players not good enough.  

His illustrious eight seasons at Celtic included progress beyond the first round in Europe only four times, halted by the likes of Xamax and Politechnica Timisoara, who occupy a special place in my memory as the only professional football team I have seen getting changed on a moving bus after a game in order to get to the airport on time.

I suppose this pundit should know what being 'not good enough' is all about, but the current crop of players could have an interesting 'show me your passport' debate with him on the subject.

Maybe he would be better sticking to laughing at famine jokes and leave the football debate to the best in the business, ex-Ranger, Andy Gray.

Still, along with Bratislava, Xamax and the rest, Tuesday is history now, I've finished moping and am looking forward, the future starts at 3pm on Saturday, when the players get a chance to exorcise a few demons.

The Celtic midfield have made significant advances in recent weeks, brining accurate passing and skill, where only turgid brawn previously existed, but on a hard pitch last night, Gary Caldwell, Scott Brown and Barry Robson offered plenty of physical challenge but no finesse (apart from that Jinky Caldwell dribble).  

Tactically, this was a return to the Celtic we have become familiar with in recent seasons; what more could we expect of a central midfield of Caldwell and Brown other than brawn?  Robson was perhaps chosen for left midfield to offer protection to Mark Wilson, but despite scoring an excellent goal, he is never going to be the creative fulcrum Shaun Maloney can be.

With Nakamura, knee still heavily strapped, looking forlorn on one wing, and Giorgios Samaras clearly well short of fitness up front, last night's game was never going to be anything more than a dogged affair for Celtic.  This must have been the plan.

The performance was not significantly different than those we watched this time last year against SPL opposition, the only change last night was that when a deflected equaliser was conceded, instead of Celtic pushing forward for a winner, they seemed compelled to clear the ball further, jump higher and, unfortunately, get back to cover with some urgency.

The line-up performed largely as expected.  They looked better than Aalborg for much of the game because they are better than Aalborg, but despite having abundant possession, with a deficit of craft in the side, long spells in the match passed without Celtic creating chances.

Gordon Strachan will deny that Celtic's awful run of away Champions League results had anything to do with his match planning, but he chose to match Aalborg's physical strengths instead of playing to Celtic's, which looked like a decision racked with self-doubt.

Unlike that defeat in Bratislava, which came immediately after Strachan inherited a militant shambles of a squad, there are no mitigating circumstances for this one.  We are midseason, with, by comparison, an expensively assembled squad and a lot more experience in this environment than last night's opponents.

Celtic must respond on Saturday and re-energise in the weeks to come.  The spirit which brought the players together after losing at home to Motherwell in April and carried them to the championship will be needed, in the dressing room and in the stands.

If the club retains its equilibrium for the next five weeks, four-in-a-row will be achieved in May and today will correctly be viewed with some perspective, a failure after two consecutive successful Champions League campaigns.

Celtic will leave Europe at the Champions League group state after losing tonight against a very ordinary Aalborg team.

Shunsuke Nakamura split the Aalborg defence open on 5 minutes but Giorgios Samaras could not connect with his through ball with only the goalkeeper to beat.

Minutes later Nakamura was sent clear by Scott Brown but his shot went high with Zaza in the Aalborg goal stranded.

Aalborg's only clear chance in the first half was a near-post header, saved comfortably by Boruc.

The game burst into life on 53 minutes when Barry Robson met a cross 12 yards from goal and found the corner of the net with a header.  Celtic then seemed to settle and contain Aalborg, who were struggling to get into the Celtic box but the game turned when Caca shot deflected off Stephen McManus and dropped over Artur Boruc into the net.

Celtic then lost composure, a game they were bossing earlier in the evening was now on a knife-edge and they never looked comfortable.

Aalborg's winning goal with three minutes left was something of a lottery, Glenn Loovens cleared a cross against Gary Caldwell which bounced into the net, but Aalborg got into a position to win the game and Celtic defended too deeply to prevent a ricochet costing them progress in Europe.

Live updates will appear below after 19:45 GMT.

Aalborg suffered a dire start to the season but after Bruce Rioch was jettisoned, form picked up, they have lost only one league game since September and recorded a notable 0-3 away victory at the weekend.

They also scored five goals in two games against Villarreal; five goals!

My early assumption that they would capitulate in the Champions League before now was misplaced; they have been beaten, but have clearly battled every inch of the way.

And then there is Celtic.  17 group games away from home; eight defeats, then a draw, followed by eight defeats.  Comprehensive reversals in Trondheim, Donetsk (twice) and the worst performance of all against 10-man Anderlecht, although technically they had nine men and a 17-year-old boy at centre half, as well defeats to more worthy opponents is an astonishingly poor return.

There is reason for optimism.

Celtic are a better team than Aalborg.  They were a better team than Rosenborg, Donetsk (twice) and Anderlecht, but contrived to pretend otherwise, however, this Celtic team have found a precious commodity in life, attitude.

We have never taken, never mind held, a lead away from home in the Champions League, but I expect this to change tonight.  We will lose a goal of course, we are away from home after all, but Aalborg's braveness against Villarreal cost them eight goals in two games; Celtic will get chances tonight.

Only a win suits Aalborg, so knowing we can expect them to attack in a similar way they did in Spain last month.

Score one and we may score many, and finally put Operation Champions League Away Win to bed.

HBOS, who own around 11% of Rangers parent company, Murray International Holdings (MIH), have been trying to reduce their portfolio of investments since running into funding problems earlier this year, without much success.

Lloyds TSB now expect to inherit the investment portfolio when they merge with HBOS early next year and have been busy trying to line up a buyer themselves.

It seems likely that Lloyds TSB will have to hold their investment in MIH until the appetite for commercial property business returns to the banking sector, at which point don't be surprised if an investment bank becomes a new shareholder in the MIH group of companies, not something that would normally be welcomed.

With Rangers debt set to soar again next year, it will be interesting to see if the Lloyds TSB-HBOS merger, which is expected to conclude in January, has an immediate impact on business at Rangers.

Shunsuke Nakamura is not know as a goal scorer but after yesterday's sublime strike only Giorgios Samaras has scored more goals than him for Celtic this season.

Samaras, who started his first game since September against St Mirren, was not at his best yesterday, but he still brought a focus to Celtic the club missed in his absence.

He was the player on the end of Andreas Hinkel's cross for the opening goal and turned provider for Nakamura two minutes later.

I was delighted Cillian Sheridan got on the score sheet again.  His appearances are likely to be limited from now on, but Gordon Strachan will know that he is currently joint third top league goal scorer for Celtic, behind Samaras and Nakamura, an astonishing achievement for a teenager with so few appearances under his belt, which should give Scott McDonald and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink something to consider.

The champions doubled the number of league goals St Mirren lost at home this season in the space of an afternoon in a comfortable 1-3 in Paisley.

The first half ended goalless despite Andreas Hinkel and Glenn Loovens missing good chances to put Celtic ahead.  Artur Boruc returned to the Celtic goal after missing three games due to a knee operation and was booked after tripping Craig Dargo outside the box; it was a trip, despite some creative reporting on the subject, some of which used martial arts terms.

Andreas Hinkel ran forward to support and attack after 63 minutes and found enough space on the right to send in a low cross between the St Mirren defence and goalkeeper for Giorgios Samaras to open the scoring.

Two minutes later Samaras chipped a ball into the St Mirren box towards Nakamura.  With one touch Asia's top footballer controlled the ball, took defender, Miranda, out of the play, and set himself up to pass the ball into the net.

Cillian Sheridan replaced Samaras and immediately started to cause St Mirren problems.  On 80 minutes Scott McDonald set him up for an easy finish frmo 6 yards.

St Mirren substitute Jim Hamilton returned to haunt the Celtic defence for yet another team by heading a last minute consolation goal for the home team.

Live updates will appear below after 12:30 GMT.

To my absolute horror, Sir David Murray brought profanities chanted 20 years ago against Richard Gough back into the public domain in his press interviews this week.  What did Richard Gough do to deserve to be brought into the sorry mess that is Murray's 20th anniversary as Rangers chairman?

Let the man get on with his life and hope that middle-age has matured those who did the chanting.

Gough was a successful captain of Rangers; he has family and neighbours, he can do without inference and innuendo alluding to God knows what at this stage of his life.  

As for "I have never gone out of my way to say anything about Artur Boruc", this is the most fascinating piece of inference and innuendo I have ever read.

Events render Artur Boruc a toxic subject for Rangers.  Boruc suffers sectarian-motivated abuse when completing a religious observance every time he visits Ibrox, the same observance he completes twice at every match.

I know decent Rangers fans who shudder at having to discuss the matter.

On the 'poppy issue', well done, David.  A couple of dozen Celtic fans were led up the garden path to a peaceful protest.  I knew they were being led, we all knew they were being led, but if you think Rangers Football Club is not a "broad enough church" that it too does not have a couple of dozen who are uncomfortable with the poppy uniform, you are almost certainly wrong.  Or at least, you would hope that Rangers can still pull fans from such a cross-section of the population.

The "unwritten rule among Old Firm chairmen that you don't criticise Rangers or Celtic", is a fascinating comment.  The Old Firm is dead; it is not even a loaded phrase for Celtic fans now.  It might exist in David Murray's mind, but it clearly doesn't exist in John Reid's.

Claims that Rangers have "a lot more dignity in many things" than Celtic are literally fantastic.  This is the year the Rangers chief executive dismissed the Famine Song as "banter", a song which David Murray himself called "wrong" and "unacceptable".  

It's wrong, it's unacceptable, but we can call it banter!  One can only imagine what they privately say about the horrendous Jock Stein chant, which has not been the subject of any public censure from Rangers.  The concept of dignity has just been devalued; Murray does irony so well.

This is an appeal to the fist-clenching halfwits who think Murray has just scored points in a game which only exists inside their tiny minds.  Score all the points you want in that league, you cannot swap a million of them for four in the SPL.

As I've told you before, this will not end well, or soon.  Murray and his acolytes will continue to attempt to pass contagion onto Celtic.  

The reputation of the wise will prevail, whoever they prove to be.

After Sir David Murray's astonishing "doesn't have to be re-elected to be Airdrie and Shotts again" comment about Dr John Reid, the Celtic chairman responded by saying, "We all want to be a little indulgent to David on his 20th anniversary, but I'm not entirely sure of the points he is trying to make regarding inference and innuendo.

"In any case, no one should be under any illusion that in defending the welfare of Celtic and our supporters I will continue to comment when appropriate, without fear or favour.

"I know we all welcome David's respect for Celtic's traditions and we congratulate him on 20 years at Rangers Football Club".

I can hear a whooshing noise going over the heads of some in Charlotte Square from here.

So let's indulge the guy; congratulations Sir David on your 20 years at Rangers.  You broke the club's sectarian signing policy in 1989 and even on your anniversary find time to offer respect for Celtic's traditions, which will be tantamount to signing off with a "Hail, hail" to some.

I hope you are in charge for another 20 years, as I think we both have an idea how most of them will turn out.

When asked by the BBC about his relationship with Celtic, a month after Dr John Reid's condemnation of Rangers fans signing the 'Famine Song' at Celtic Park, Rangers chairman, Sir David Murray, passed up the opportunity to condemn the song and instead exposed the distress the Celtic chairman has caused him:

"I suppose he [Reid} can say that because he knows he doesn't have to be re-elected to be Airdrie and Shotts again.

"I'm concerned by some of the comments.  I give the utmost respect to Celtic football club, they've got a great tradition but I am recently a wee bit concerned by some of the inferences and innuendo that's come from John and I think he's got to be careful and realise he's not barracking in the house of commons any longer.

"We are in a society in Scotland where every point and every word is picked up by everybody and he should be very careful with some of the chat."

The health of Scottish society is paramount, we need to find a way of healing any football or ethnicity related wounds, but wounds are not healed by people in positions of responsibility avoiding offensive and racist material.

Rangers need to make their mind up, is the Famine Song harmless "banter" or offensive racism.  I know Murray and his acolytes will have heard from some Rangers fans insisting that it is the former, but the club cannot afford to get drawn into semantics on this one.  

The merest hint of racism, and "the famine's over, why don't you go home" certainly contains that, must be consistently condemned.  Rangers must do everything in their power to ensure a coherent message is sent out on this subject.

Remember, "we are in a society in Scotland where every point and every word is picked up by everybody and he should be very careful with some of the chat."

This issue is not about Celtic or Dr John Reid, and with the passing of time it is becoming less and less an issue for most of Scottish society.  Sir David Murray should desist from making innuendo about the values of the people of Airdrie and Shotts and join the rest of us in the 21st Century.

The American owners of Liverpool and Manchester United are both facing interesting challenges this week in their attempts to squeeze every bit of revenue out of their fan base.

Manchester United Supporters Trust have reported the club to the Office of Fair Trading, alleging that the terms and conditions of their ticket sales, which forces the compulsory purchase of FA Cup tickets on all season book holders, breaches the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations Act.

They also allege that the club's pricing policy, which has seen the cost of some tickets increase by 60% since the Glazer takeover, breaches the Competition Act.

Football in Britain is far too expensive, so despite Manchester United fans abhorrent "F... the Pope" chants at Celtic Park this month, I hope they succeed, although the legal grounds for opposing the price increase intuitively seem scant.

Forcing people to buy an unspecified number of cup tickets, against unknown opposition, when they purchase a season ticket, might be a more difficult issue for Manchester United to uphold in court.

Liverpool FC has incensed Liverpool City Council by applying to the UK Intellectual Property Office to trademark the image of the mythical Liver bird.  All football clubs have purged traders in recent years who infringe their intellectual property (IP) by using club crests, but Liverpool are in the unusual situation where they adopted a city image as their crest.

Unofficial merchandise is part of the decades-long culture of football, and as long as it does not infringe IP, it deserves to be protected.  If Liverpool want to protect their logo, perhaps it's time they changed it to an image in tune with the club's current standing which was not public property.  Not that I know what an image of pernicious interest payments would look like.

It was great to see pictures of Diego Maradona holding court on Celtic Park yesterday.  I wish him every success in his role as Argentina manager but what was the Argentine FA thinking in making this appointment?

Maradona is not quite a rookie manager having taken charge of two clubs for a handful of games in the mid-90s, with a notable lack of success.  Since then he has come through a considerable array of challenges, including twice being banned from the game for the use of drugs and can now claim the title we seem to reserve for the games finest, a flawed genius.

His move from TV host to the most important job in Argentine football is irresponsible populism gone mad, eclipsing Kevin Keegan's return to Newcastle by a nose.  His team will probably have enough to take care of Scotland tonight but the experiment will end predictably.

It is perhaps just as well there is no Richter scale-type device capable of measuring profanities, as a new record would surely have been recorded in certain parts of Scotland at 15:46 yesterday.

After several good performances, inspiration deserted Celtic and we watched yet another 11 v 10 performance that defied conventional wisdom, as so many of these games do.

The Celtic midfield retreated from their recent high standards, the strikers didn't score, and the defence seemed troubled by what little work they had to do.  But as we both know, these are the days that win league titles.

Yesterday was Celtic's ninth game in 23 days, a period which saw the club suffer as comprehensive an injury crisis as I can remember, but when all domestic games were won.

I was delighted for Paul Hartley.  His winner was not the first important goal he scored for Celtic, but it is yet more evidence that he has the skill and character to make important contributions for the club.

There is only one thing to say to a team who have won 10 league games in a row, make it 11 on Saturday, go seven points clear and let the rest worry about their place in the world.

The champions are looking ominous.  Again.

It wasn't pretty, but Celtic made it 10 victories in a row with a 1-2 win on their first visit to New Douglas Park Hamilton today.

Most of the plaudits must go to Hamilton Accies, who made the most of Celtic's lacklustre performance to take an early lead and continued to make chances.

Hamilton defender Martin Canning tripped Cillian Sheridan on the edge of the Hamilton box after his defensive partner, McLaughlin, failed to read the forward ball.  Sheridan fell inside the box, the referee awarded a penalty and sent Canning off.

Shunsuke Nakamura took responsibility for the penalty and finished well to equalise on 37 minutes.  

The expected onslaught against 10 men failed to materialise until the closing minutes of the game when Hamilton Czech 'keeper Cerny was put under pressure for the first time.  After saving well from a Samaras header, Cerny punched a cross clear outside his box which was collected by Paul Hartley on his chest before he played a one-two with Scott Brown and sent a thunderous volley into the net.

This was a familiar end to a game in which Celtic struggled to find their rhythm but demonstrated again that they had enough character collect the points.

Live updates will appear below after 14:00 GMT.

Our friend Estadio has been in touch.  He and his good lady are about to embark on an enormous Celtic undertaking; I'll let him explain:

"How many times have we stood on the terraces, stands and even in the bowels of Celtic park and belted out the anthem with gusto, passion and belief proclaiming to the world what the history of Celtic means to us and them?  But more importantly when do we take the time to peel off the veneer of the words and examine the story the history actually tells, and just why it makes the club a bit special and a bit different from most of the others?

That is no boast on my part, after all I only live in the reflected glory of giants of times gone, nor is it meant to belittle the devotion that other clubs' supporters have for their own teams. It is simply a statement of fact that whether through blood-line, empathy, romantic attachment or sheer accident, once the embrace of this club swaddles you, the warmth welds club and soul with a strength that is as unbreakable as the steel hawsers that launched and guided so many Clyde-built leviathans.

We know so much of Brother Walfrid, Willie Maley,  the club's first breath drawn in the collapsing lungs and distended bellies of the famine, the 'floating bridge' of 'heads and faces'  and the hundreds of  players who have graced the turf at Celtic park. Words far more expressive and knowledgeable than any that I might fashion, have flowed like ambrosia from the pens of such as David Potter, Graham McColl, Archie McPherson, Marie Rowan, John Burrowes, Pat Woods, Peter Burns, John Cairney, Tom Greig and even a young Gerry McNee.

But rarely if at all has the hidden past, the flourishing present, and the confident future of the single most important and most influential history been adequately addressed.

The history of the fans.

Such an undertaking is impossible for any one person, any one story, or any one lifetime, but it has to be started by someone, it has to begin somewhere, it has to commence sometime.

So I and my affectionately monickered 'Slabbery Wumin' have sold up and we're off to hopefully scratch that surface of Celtic's diaspora.

In early 2009 starting in France and then over a period of time (however long it takes) we intend to make our way across Europe and Asia stopping at places where outcrops of Celtic fans have lain their hats.

Each one has a story and each story contributes a piece to the jigsaw of Celtic's hidden and untold history.

Who are these fans? How did they get there? How do they fit into the local community? How do they maintain their connection with Celtic? Where and how do they see the games? How often do they get back to Celtic park? How large are the communities? Where do they see their future? What lessons are there for others trying to start the same type of venture? How do they view the current state of the club, the players, the organisation, and the media? What is their message to the club's custodians?

These and a thousand other questions can only be answered by the people who matter the most. The fans.

Try as they might, the efforts of Celtic in becoming a world-club through holding friendlies in far-flung places will lead to little of any resilience. But the enthusiasm, devotion and example of the world-wide support can create a permanent oasis of romance and allegiance in a desert of opportunism.

So if you are based anywhere from Calais to Calcutta, Krakow to Kiev, Berlin to Beijing and would be interested in telling your story, just let me know.

E-mail me at msincent@yahoo.co.uk

Tell me where you are and obviously your contact details. We can then discuss the venture further. Assuming I get enough and a suitable spread of responses, I'll then attempt to set up a schedule and itinerary.

Stare into the depths of space on a clear Glasgow night and shining back at you will be a thousand visible stars each one telling a story of the past and perhaps lighting a path to the future. But hidden from the naked eye are another billion billion stars each one unique and each one adding the totality of the universe. It is the hidden story that gives meaning to the visible spectrum and it is the hidden history that gives meaning to Celtic's history and future.

I cant tell the whole story but perhaps I can find just a few more stars and perhaps their existence, their tales, their past and their ambitions will be the seeds that will take root in even more exotic places and ensure that Celtic has a future clothed not only in the gaudy bling of commercial necessity, but also thrives on the life-enhancing, heart-racing, blood-pumping, four-leaf-clover emblazoned hooped soul of passion!

The story of the millions of supporters across the globe needs telling, so to paraphrase


I look forward to your e-mails.

Hail Hail
Estadio"

Dr Jo Venglos was at Celtic Park on Wednesday night, not looking a day older than he was when he arrived as manager 10 years ago.  Due to the sale of several players at the end of his only season in charge, Celtic made a profit, their last for seven years until the club return positive territory in the last two seasons.

Celtic sailed close to the wind during those seven years of loss, sustained only by solid ticket sales and increasing commercial income, but without two substantial share issues, our financial situation today would be little different than that of our would-be competitors.

The years of heavy losses are over, hopefully for good, as is the false belief that spending ever-more money is a solution to all of life's troubles.  Since Dr Jo was in charge, fans, even pundits, realise that losses need to be recovered in future years if debt is not to become an ever growing burden.

But you know that anyway.

If 2008 has taught us anything it's that the league is not over until it is technically won, but this season, finance could provide some interesting midseason dramas.

Walter Smith was uncharacteristically terse after his team dropped points for the second consecutive week on Wednesday, perhaps with good reason.  Earlier this month he told reporters he would not be signing players in January and that he was likely to sell, just as he did to such devastating effect last January.

While Celtic have planned for all likely financial conditions, and as a result can afford to spend in January without the risk of 'doing a Murray' if results go against them on the field, Rangers allowed that wee voice that says, "live the dream", "for every fiver...", "one more player would is all we need" to actually make their decisions.

That hoary wee voice is dangerous if left unattended.

With a net debt of £21m in June, if January's league table shows little promise of Champions League income for Rangers in 2009, their cash flow projections will indicate debt rising close to £30m by June and towards £40m by the next year if substantial cuts to the football budget are not made.

No wonder Smith was tetchy about dropping a couple of points, if Celtic look like winners again when the transfer window opens, he is unlikely to be able to resist any offer.

We have a big couple of months in the league coming up between now and then and I don't think we can count on Rangers dropping too many more points, but if we hold it together, the prize will be substantial: negligible debt, profitable, winners on the park, in the dugout and thousands of them on the slopes of Celtic Park.

There will be more to report on this subject in a couple of weeks, but I couldn't help but think that in the time it took Dr Jo to add a couple of grey hairs, Celtic have performed an economic miracle, something perhaps Walter Smith is smart enough to have figured out.

It's not so long since we were asking, "why all the squad players?" when Gordon Strachan seemed to be spending his summer transfer kitty on players who would challenge for a first team place, instead of moving straight into the team.

Roll on a few months and Celtic have come through a period with four Champions League games and with 10 players missing through injury without dropping a point, which leaves them clear at the top of the league.

By carefully rotating his squad Gordon Strachan has ensured that new signings such as Crosas, Mizuno and Loovens have been exposed to the rigors of playing for Celtic carefully, while more experienced players were rested or injured.

In Cillian Sheridan we have even seen the emergence of another young talent who will challenge for a place when injuries are less prevalent in the years to come.

There is now more genuine competition for places that I can ever remember at Celtic, which will allow the manager to rest players, like Hartley and Robson last night, who have had a busy month and will play international football next week, while still being able to turn in a three goal victory.

The football has also been good recently, we are winning games more comfortably and playing an attractive game.  It will be interesting to see if the team can push on from this position when the more experienced players return.

Cillian Sheridan scored twice as Celtic passed their way around a Kilmarnock team who chased shadows all night.

Celtic opened smartly and missed several chances in the opening 10 minutes but it was a classic long ball in the 18th minute that finally prized Kilmarnock open.  Cillian Sheridan knocked-on a high clearance from Mark Brown in the Celtic goal to Scott McDonald, how took the pace of the ball, allowing Sheridan to spin onto it and spring clear into the box.

Clean through with 'keeper Combe to beat, Sheridan finished calmly to put Celtic into the lead.

The home team were so far ahead of Kilmarnock some slackness crept into proceedings before the second goal arrived, which left most of the crowd shuffling nervously before Sheridan pounced when Combe spilled a Massimo Donati shot to put Celtic clear.

Scott McDonald was a one-two partner for Shunsuke Nakamura to wrap things up with a third Celtic goal.

Not only did Celtic get a solid three goal win, they saw the return of Nakamura, Shaun Maloney and Giorgios Samaras from injury; light is shining brightly at the end of the injury tunnel.

Live updates will appear below after 19:45 GMT.

Celtic have dealt with Kilmarnock comfortably enough on two visits to Rugby Park this season, but the fact that five of their six goals on those occasions were scored by players missing due to injury is reason enough to be cautious ahead of tonight's game.

We know what to expect from Kilmarnock, so the squad may be stretched further for the visit to Hamilton on Sunday, but appetite for the physical battle may be the most important attribute for Celtic.

Scott Brown, Barry Robson and Paul Hartley have looked to have an insatiable appetite for this challenge recently and will be important for Celtic again.

Scott McDonald is the only goalscorer against Kilmarnock this season still fit, evidence of how important last season's talisman has become to his team-mates in recent weeks.  He looked like he enjoyed himself in the Co-operative Cup game at Rugby Park last month; more of the same should see the champions pick up another three points.

On another subject; I met a Rangers fan yesterday who told me, "It's not going to be nine-in-a-row", even though I hadn't made any suggestion that Celtic would go this far.

This got me thinking; seven months after a 12 point advantage was secured, the prospect of losing nine-in-a-row is being considered by Rangers fans.  I put him right, of course, "No, we won't stop at nine this time".

I've made sure the last article can accommodate another 200 comments on politics and will remain open for weeks, be my guest to debate the subject there, it's time for football to return to main event.

Sunday's business at Kilmarnock gave an insight into the vagaries of football fortune.  Rangers won 0-4, an excellent result away from home against any calibre of opposition, but amid the goals Kevin Thomson broke down with a knee injury which will end his season.

I believe Thomson was lined up for a move to West Bromwich Albion in January for a fee in the region of £4m.  Albion manager, Tony Mowbray, worked with Thomson at Hibs and found himself at the bottom of the FA Premier League for the first time after the weekend's games and in need of reinforcements.

I hope Thomson makes a full recovery for the start of next season but his absence means Rangers will have to look elsewhere to augment their budget shortfall in January.

Rangers brought in £9m from transfer activity in January this year while Celtic spent £3.5m, a difference which went a long way to determining the outcome of the league title and some would say the Uefa Cup.

The vagaries of fortune can be an inconvenience, but long term financial management determines the impact your luck has.

The thought was put to me last week by a Rangers fan that the "other" SPL clubs were not as good this year as last.

Dundee United took a home point against the champions and drew at Ibrox, St Mirren rose from the depths of bottom place in the table to beat then leaders Rangers, who also drew away to Aberdeen, but the lack of opposition from Hamilton, Motherwell and Hearts, to name only three, has been markedly different from last season.

Hamilton Accies put up as little opposition I can remember seeing from an SPL club at Celtic Park, and although Motherwell put on a respectable performance against a tired Celtic on Saturday, their opening 45 minutes against the champions at Fir Park in September was dire.  As for fourth placed Hearts, their capitulation at Tynecastle last month was complete.

It is unreasonable to ask that any of the "others" put in a sustained challenge for the league, but I think the fact that no team has been able to make third place their own is a significant problem.

We have seen a plethora of teams finish third in the last decade or so, from Livingston to Motherwell (and Rangers), but this is territory Aberdeen should be making their own, instead of flirting with the bottom half of the table.

The problems at Hearts are too severe to expect any sustained performance and Dundee United have the resources to lift themselves above the likes of Motherwell, but it's Aberdeen who are punching well below their weight in Scottish football.

Ironically, their old boy, Mark McGhee, is demonstrating all the attributes current manager, Jimmy Calderwood, is clearly missing, catapulting Motherwell from second bottom to third top in a single season.  I suspect a move north for McGhee would do the league a world of good.

Six days ago I said that Motherwell was our biggest game of the week, three points was the minimum requirement, a fourth win after a Champions League match this season would keep the Celtic machine rolling at the top of the league.

I knew it was not going to be our prettiest performance of the season, but there were a few fine performances, even if we didn't hit the heights of recent weeks.

Mark Brown saw a bit more action in the Celtic goal than he was hoping for in the first half as Motherwell opened smartly but his handling was faultless.  As the first half drew to a close Celtic moved up a gear and Scott Brown narrowly missed before Paul Hartley, a deserving Carling Man of the Match, put the champions in the lead.

Scott McDonald is looking a lot more confident than he was a month ago, perhaps as a result of being the senior strike partner, his first touch seems to have improved also, but the number of times he and Cillian Sheridan wandered offside beggared belief.

Making your debut with 150 seconds of regulation time left is not long enough to make an impression, but Koki Mizuno managed to spark some excitement into Celtic Park.  After a nervous opening touch he looked like a man desperate to make a point.  

I couldn't quite believe it when I saw Shaun Maloney hobble off the field.  With Boruc, Naylor, Loovens, McGeady, Nakamura, Vennegoor of Hesselink, Samaras, Killen all absent, I've never known Celtic to be so afflicted by injury.

Remarkably this has not cost us a point yet, but I'll be pleased to see reinforcements return soon.

Live updates will appear below after 15:00 GMT.

We are a diverse club, open to all colours and beliefs, always have been and always will be, which means we have a support with diverse views on many subjects, including those who protest about the military, and those in the military.

Those who died fighting Hitler did so to protect some basic freedoms, such as the freedom disagree and protest.  Is it ironic that the poppy becomes the subject of a subsequent protest?  Absolutely, but that is one of the rich rewards of freedom.

I cannot buy into the belief that we should be beating ourselves up because the poppy is worn - this is our freedom to choose - any more than I can because some believe it should not be - this too is our freedom to choose.  

Who gave who the right to police what others wear or peacefully protest about, or should I say who appointed who Fuhrer?

This is the very reward gained from the beaches of Normandy, it is the Celtic Park Poppy triumph and should be celebrated.

Poppy Scotland breached protocol in collectivising what has, for 90 years, been a remembrance based on personal choice.  This was an error, albeit a well meaning one.

The hounding some TV personalities have endured for not wearing a poppy is deplorable.  The sacrifice to win our freedoms gives them the right to choose to observe or not.  To require uniform compliance to a social norm from every person who appears on TV is the very thing so many fought against.

I suspect no more than a few dozen Celtic fans will demonstrate against the poppy tomorrow.  It has not even happened (yet) but sections of the media have grabbed the chance to write-up an anti-Celtic fan agenda already!

Forget it, it's a non-story for anyone who does not want to make it a story.  I might even buy one now, or not, just to exercise my right, of course.

There are no comments below this article, get back and read the previous article if you want to leave a comment, and buy a ticket to help those kids, for that is what our club is all about!

My friends in Celtic, I have heard from the New Jerusalem Children's Home, South Africa, who are beneficiaries of this year's Hoops 'n' Halos Christmas draw.  They asked that I forward this message to you:


"Rita Iannuzzi, International Ambassador for the New Jerusalem Children's Home South Africa, British Airways stewardess and Celtic supporter, would like to make an appeal for our support for the draw, which takes place on 13 December.  

With one simple gesture of solidarity we can support Celtic who are shaping the future of so many deserving children at Christmas time both here, in Glasgow, and in South Africa.

Together with British Airways, The Ritz of London, the Hotel Du Vin of Glasgow and kind and giving bhoys like Rod Stewart and Billy Connolly, the Celtic Christmas raffle "Hoops and Halos" was born.  

Three lucky couples will get the chance to win a fabulous all inclusive trip to New York, visit the Big Apple and experience the welcome of the bhoys stateside at the Parlour.  Another couple will be guests at the best hotel in London, the Ritz, and a third couple will experience the quality and class that only a hotel like the Hotel Du Vin in Glasgow can provide.  All of this plus the chance to win signed merchandise by Rod and Billy.   

With the donation of just one pound per ticket, you could help us reach so many children. Those at The Yorkhill Children's Hospital in Glasgow, our young rising football stars at the Celtic Youth Academy and also 100 beautifully hooped angels in South Africa at the New Jerusalem Children's Home.

For the past 3 years, Rita has represented these deserving children, saved from situations of abuse, violence, abandonment, and in some cases, illness, she wants to give them a chance, a school and a home, somewhere they will feel safe, secure and belong.  With your help, good Celtic men and Women, the dreams these children have can be achieved.  

Rita said, "They all just want to live life to the full, have an education that lasts and play the beautiful game".

Click on this link to receive full details of the Hoops & Halos grand raffle which will be drawn on the 13th December 2008.

Help Celtic FC and Rita to help them and remember that your generous contribution will be welcomed with open hearts and arms by all the children we reach.

So Hail, Hail ghirls and bhoys, the children in South Africa are waiting for you all to build them a home, the staff of Yorkhill, to help them give a better future for children in their care, and the Celtic youth academy to give help to our rising football stars."

At the start of the month I suggested that the six most important games in November we all in the league, and while there will be a few less bums on seats on Saturday, I still think that beating Motherwell will be more important that winning last night.

There will be plenty of tired legs and minds at Lennoxtown today, but recovery must be quick.

I didn't want to comment on the result at Ibrox on Tuesday until we had our own game out of the way, but it was a significant result.  The fact that Rangers dropped a couple of points infers nothing about their ability as a team, every team drops points, and it is only the emotionally fragile who cannot handle this, but there are a whole lot of emotionally fragile people going to Ibrox these days.

Three-in-a-row and behind in season four is a horrible position to be in.  It decimates confidence and puts pressure on fans, players and the manager.  More than this, Celtic have not missed a beat since their nadir in August, a further slip from Rangers would ask big questions of the club.

Rangers are in serious debt and serious loss making territory, if the prospect of Champions League football next season diminishes before the January transfer windows closes, they would be in real pressure sell whoever they can to bring spending back in line with income.

There will be one HBOS manager with more reason to be nervous than his colleagues these days.  Sometimes being emotionally fragile is a perfectly reasonable condition.

Manchester United got out of jail tonight after a slip by Artur Boruc allowed them to equalise when they had been denied by a resolute Celtic defence all evening.

Scott McDonald provided the only moment of composure inside the box when, despite blue shirts descending on him from all angles, he calmly chipped Man Utd goalkeeper Foster to open the scoring on 13 minutes after Gary Caldwell cut open the United defence with a deft header.  

Manchester United seemed rattled by this as they struggled to get beyond the combative Celtic midfielders, Hartley, Robson and the impressive Scott Brown, and failed to get a shot on target in the first half.  

Manchester United regrouped and pressed Celtic back from the opening minutes of the second half.  Their pass-and-move play matched anything we have seen at Celtic Park.  Tevez, Brebatov and Ronaldo prodded and interchanged incessantly, supported by Carrick and Fletcher, but no matter what they tried, there was a head, or a leg or a body in the way.  

Having watched a lot of football over the years, my second thought after Scott McDonald score, was that if you want to beat the European Champions, scoring so early is the hard way to do it.  But, having taken the game to United, Celtic defended from the front as well as I have seen them.  Until that late slip, every attack was repelled.

While the team, as a unit, played well, Mark Wilson, Scott McDonald and Scott Brown deserve special mention.  Wilson, let's remember, is playing out of position at left back, but while space and time was short all night, Wilson looked comfortable at this level, he is returning to his early Celtic form.

Scott McDonald is known mainly as a poacher, but tonight he showed composure, intelligence, courage, and, until his legs would run no more, touch.

Scott Brown is beginning to show us what all the fuss was about.  He is looking better and better every passing game until Manchester United hit top gear, disrupted their rhythm.

The Celtic Park atmosphere was at its very best tonight; Sir Alex Ferguson and Gordon Strachan could not have been more fulsome in their praise.  When "This land is your land...." gripped the stadium, wow!  More please.

While it was a great performance from Celtic, their fans, and one of the best we have seen from a visiting team, I was genuinely saddened to hear "F*!* the Pope" from Manchester United's travelling fans.  Reputations take a long time to earn but can be destroyed quickly; Sir Matt Busby would be appalled at such a black mark against his club.

It this came from Rangers fans, Uefa would act within days.

Live updates will appear below after 19:45 GMT.

Occasionally we discuss our place in the game.  'One of the biggest teams in the world' seems to be the consensus, and we are by any measure.

The only club outside the big five leagues to feature in the Deloitte top 20, competitors in the last 16 of the Champions League for the last two seasons, one of the top handful of best supported teams in the world each season for over a decade, but who we actually are is more prosaic.

For 120 years ours is a history of gripping victories against St Johnstone, Motherwell and St Mirren.  This is who we are, these games have been our staple diet and made Celtic the social movement it is.  

But a consistent theme has run throughout our history, we might face Kilmarnock one week and Hamilton the next, but no one, not Real Madrid or Barcelona, Milan or Manchester, can walk onto Celtic Park anything less than 100% prepared if they have ambitions to leave town with a point.

Tonight that Celtic movement, you, me and 57,011 friends will raise our game one more time.  We know our place in the pecking order; we know that most weeks we play teams from towns with an entire population that would fit inside Celtic Park, but we know that together, the Celtic movement need fear no one.

Bring it on.

While Scottish football seems compelled to have its eye drawn to the perma-circus which surrounds Rangers, the biggest competition in world club football rolls into town tomorrow as Celtic play European champions, Manchester United.

Although Celtic have played well in recent games, I would prefer to have the focus that Giorgios Samaras brings to the team before going into this one.  We are going to be matched-at least- all over the field, so having an effective target man who can hold the ball and bring others into play would be of value.

In the corresponding fixture against the same opposition two years ago a number of fascinating personal battles developed all over the field, enough of which were won by Celtic players to carry the points (Telfer v Ronaldo sticks in the mind).  

Scott Brown has lifted his form to a new level recently but tomorrow he will face a far higher calibre of opponent in central midfield.  This could be a big launching pad for the player; if he wins his personal battle Celtic will put on a good performance.

At first I couldn't quite believe Sir David Murray's statement to The Sunday Times yesterday where he not only embroiled his club in the sectarian debate, again, he also attempted to drag Dundee and Dundee United into it.  

It was not until later in the day that the 'we're all the same' agenda became evident.

Murray words were published hours before Celtic visited Tynecastle, where the away support has sung Irish republican songs during recent visits.  I understand that on cue, when the Irish songs started, every media outlet in Scotland was flooded by complaints from 'offended' spectators and listeners.

Murray's sullying of the reputations of Dundee and Dundee United was a mere proxy for his real target.

Not surprisingly, the Dundee clubs responded, saying they were, "appalled at the attempt to deflect criticism by manufacturing a situation which simply does not exist".  United will surely need no more incentive ahead of their visit to Ibrox tomorrow.  

Murray's most serious miscalculation was to send mixed messages to the Rangers support.  

In contrast to officials and most fans from every other club in the land, who stay meticulously on-message on these subjects, suggesting that some Dundee and Dundee United "websites [are] just as bad as Rangers and Celtic" will only feed the paranoia among some of his club's support that they are doing nothing wrong and are subject to biased scrutiny.  The 'we're not offensive, we're right' mentality in Scotland has just had a shot in the arm.

Attempts to build a consensus for restraint have ended.  With a few loose words he has assured that many Rangers fans will never be convinced that it is their behaviour that should change, despite unified opposition from the SPL, the SFA and the police.

The Sunday Times finish by ominously repeating the words of SFA president George Peat, "If the situation doesn't improve then all we could do is threaten to deduct points."  A scenario I have always found difficult to imagine but which becomes ever more likely.

The threat of contagion is real, Murray appears set on bringing other clubs into the mess.  This is a dangerous strategy which I suspect will backfire, although to be fair on him, I cannot recommend a strategy that I think would work better for Rangers.

As for the subject of so much 'offence' yesterday, orchestrated or not, Celtic have their own decisions to make.  Polite requests to refrain from political material have failed; this is no longer a viable strategy.  The club must accept the status quo and any collateral damage to its reputation, or find a new way of dealing with the matter.

It has been a long time since Celtic have dominated Hearts so comprehensively at Tynecastle; despite the anticipated sturdy challenges, the champions cruised home with plenty to spare.

Shaun Maloney got things underway on 7 minutes with a screamer of shot, hit on the half-volley, from 25 yards into the unguarded net after Balogh had ventured to the edge of his area to punch clear.

Gary Caldwell refused to let a Paul Hartley corner after 20 minutes rest, turning home the ninth touch on the corner without the ball touching the ground to put the result beyond doubt.

Scott McDonald latched onto a Cillian Sheridan knock-on six minutes into the second half but Zaliukas was ordered off for holding the striker inside the box.  Paul Hartley proved just how ineffective Celtic have been from the penalty spot this season when he shot wide, the first penalty miss of his career.

Celtic remained in control for the rest of the game with Scott Brown in particular enjoying the freedom of Tynecastle.  Artur Boruc had to wait until the 85th minute before making his first save of the afternoon, demonstrating the extent of Celtic's control.

Live updates will appear below after 14:00 GMT.