When an unexpected name flies into the frame from left field there’s always a concern about what you’ve written about him before. I still remember the day we signed Kenny Miller, and an earlier blog with my assessment of the player (subsequently found to be on the money). While it’s important to be fair when assessing players, I’m not in the business of trashing them before they kick a ball for Celtic, so Miller’s signing was not a comfortable one.
With this in mind, I typed “Leigh Griffiths” into the articles database to check what had been written. Apart from match reports, there was only one comment, the day after last season’s Scottish Cup Final:
“Leigh Griffiths has had plenty of uncomplimentary discourse written about him this season, most of it deserved, so it should be recorded that he was the first Hibs player to return applause in the direction of Celtic fans yesterday, closely followed by his team-mates.
“This is the way football should be. For too long our game has been poisoned by the unique kind of rivalry you got in Scotland. More of the same, please.”
He unquestionably did deserve the criticism that came his way last year. If he gets his move to Celtic he needs to grow as a person, as well as a player, which is a big challenge. His move towards the Celtic support at Hampden was a modest but necessary first step towards reassessing other people.
Having said this, don’t go ordering your ‘Griffiths’ shirt just yet, I reckon a deal has no more than a 50% chance of happening. Wolves didn’t invite our interest and our need is to be ready by June, not February. Neither club has an imperative to do this deal, which is often an omen for snags to get in the way. Patience required, as you know………
Reminder to everyone who booked tickets for the CQteN St Patrick’s Day Dinner that they have to be paid by this Friday! Let me know if you can’t find details, celticquicknews@gmail.com
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Cultsbhoy if you get rid of those high earners PL will be our highest paid star!!!
CultsBhoy
I think the striker we are looking for is our own Tony Watt. Have you seen the goals he has scored in Belgium? He is fast, direct and can shoot. All he needs is more playing time. It’s good that he is getting it in Belgium. I think his loan spell there could be the making of him.
The only place you get marquee signings at Celtic these days is the ole gazebo, and even then, only when BSR remembers his quill.
79caps
14:48 on 28 January, 2014
Why is LG no longer a first pick for Wolves despite being their top scorer? Does anyone know?
Reading on the Wolves forum that he was first pick until mid December when he started talking about wanting to move back home. Since then he has started 2 out of 7 games.
TWISTS N TURNS 1229
in blatant copy and paste here’s one I made earlier podium shocker!
Kayal33
Thanks. So it sounds like Wolves will sell him if they can get a big enough fee.
Kayal 33
Leigh Griffiths needs a boot in the baws for his attitude. I honestly believe having him supervised 24/7 would be a great thing. He could be seriously top drawer if controlled properly. Good thing if Wolves have washed their hands as it tells me they will not want to keep him on their books..
Kayal33 if he wants home you can’t blame him after all he has a few families up here then surely we hold the upper hand! An unhappy player isn’t what wolves want & they can’t afford to have him kicking his heels on the bench or reserves. I hope we are not going to sell them any of our promising young players, maybe your namesake who seems to have fallen down Lennys pecking order.
79caps
15:09 on 28 January, 2014
Would think so, no point in keeping an unhappy player. I reckon about £750k upfront and another few hundred thousand if we make CL group stage and we’ll have a deal.
paolosboots FC before PLC
15:11 on 28 January, 2014
Had Kayal not been injured then he may well have gone this window. Probably off in the summer.
Fixture changes so close to games is ridiculous. No excuse, it treats supporters of both clubs with contempt (especially fans from Ireland and elsewhere with long travel distances and prepaid travel plans).
Lenny has intimated that he wants players from the UK….he likes Griffiths and surprised how much he talked him up at the press conference….seems like a done deal….or we know how much wolves want and are happy with it while giving other options a chance…remember he said he was close last week but fell through at the last minute.
Always liked Griffiths as a player….didn’t like his off field capers….but the post by livibhoy made me think he should be given a chance. Happy to see young guys turning their life’s around.
On another note, received this text
Leigh Griffiths at Ross Hall….having a vasectomy….
Kikinthenakas
Never mess with your next door neighbours Wheelie Bin.
Can anybody tell me what the goals to minutes played stats are for the following:
Stokes
Watt
Balde
Pukki
Griffith
Finbogason
These would be far more illustrative of effectiveness I think.
Cultsbhoy
“I do agree that Celtic appear to have a hit and hope signing strikers and it is not working.”
Show me a club who hasn’t signed a player who hasn’t lived up to his previous billing!
Sure some of our forwards have had less than startling stats with their previous clubs but the way some people are going on you’d think we’ve failed to have a player who can’t get 20+ goals for the last 20 seasons in a row.
‘The word marquee signing no longer has a meaning’
Leigh Griffiths
Ahh all this ” baggage” he’s got is a big tent… That’s ok then…
So we send young one striker away from home distractions to improve his attitude and keep him out of mischief and replace him with another young striker and bring him back to home distractions where e got up to mischief.
Logic in there somewhere
http://www.corrieredellosport.it/video/curiosita/2014/01/28-81045/Maradona,+il+video+inedito+del+famoso+%22gol+del+secolo%22
Footballing genius in slow motion, masterclass for Celtic players who have to play against physical players, bit like me at the 5 a sides
hamiltontim is praying for oscar
14:56 on 28 January, 2014
you tell um……hahahahahaha
Just thought of this one …….
What did the wife say to her bhun husband….? ….. “I see dead peepul” ……. Hahahahahaha
Hahahahahahahahahahaha
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaa
An Tearmann
13:56 on 28 January, 2014
Big Nan
23:39 on
27 January, 2014
I would support a particular party. I wouldn’t vote for any of the present lot.
Sorry about the break but I didn’t raise petition on part grounds and it won’t be on these grounds when it is resurrected (not if).
Sorry to hear bout the reaction to your petition at Parliament level
like your when it is raised not if raised again spirit,
let us come back at them again.
stronger.
Your work is great and inspirational
keep your spirit,that will be easy to do as you are right in what your doing.
Good Luck
An T
……………………………………….
Thanks for kind words the spirit is good and we will be back.
H.H.
I am fecking pissed off, hotel booked, flight booked, bought ticket last night on line now the effing game has been changed, same happened two years ago against St J at home. If anyone wants a ticket for the game let me know, having to cancel, lost all on hotel costs, premier inn Buchanan Galaries. Not happy
An Dun, totally agree , how come these things aren’t clarified at start of the season? Total contempt & this apology from celtic imo is mealy mouthed after doing same thing to Irish fans in particular with Turkey trip.
Kayal33, didn’t know he was injured, i also suspect he will be off, was a revelation till elbows done him.
The late moving of the St Johnstone game is down to Sky. That weekend there is no EPL games due to the FA Cup 5th round, which they don’t have TV rights for. They need something to fill in the slot where the first of their 2 Super Sunday games is normally shown and we have been chosen (QPR is the second game).
greendreamz
15:15 on 28 January, 2014
Huv ye no goat a calculatur……?…..hahahahahahaha
traditionalist88
14:21 on 28 January, 2014
Unless Tony Donnelly, Parkheadcumsalford or any of their chums offer up an alternative forum for discussion or offer any suggestions at all for resolution of the issues affecting Celtic supporters at this point in time then their anti Celtic Trust, anti Green Brigade points are invalid.
Given a possible forum for discussing and resolving issues it is childish and petty to simply slate the organiser, any time they happen to get a mention, because of a personal agenda. Absolutely laugable when no alternative suggestions are offered or the issues even debated.
These meetings are open to all CELTIC supporters.
Maybe they are not CELTIC supporters?
———————————————–
Point taken, I’m beginning to wonder myself if I am one, hmmmmmmmmmmm
Greendreamz might get you started:-)
Can anybody tell me what the goals to minutes played stats are for the following:
Stokes hibs 22/40
Watt
Balde
Pukki
Griffith hibs 31/66
Finbogason 43/50
These would be far more illustrative of effectiveness I think.
BMCUW
Shocking and unfounded allegations you have made against my podium world record. Can you prove I copied and pasted it? Whilst I can’t prove that I didn’t, I can show you my smoke damaged fingertips, acquired through typing at 1000 words a minute:-)
Lionroars67, you must have improved somewhat since the last time I played 5’s :-) Although you did nutmeg me much to my shame, hope you’re doing well are you heading out Feb 8th?
onlymallony,
Just read back and thanks for the info.
Hamiltontim, will post as soon as I find out.
Hail Hail.
Ianbhoy929, i understand your frustration, fans are second to tv which seems to be the case. No wonder our crowds are down & celtic more than any other club need fans due to poor tv revenues. As i said killing the cash cows…
Bidding for Sevco 5088 stars!
traditionalist88,
I don’t think I have mentioned Jeanette Findlay by name, certainly not recently. But, I will say only that I have had no faith in her personally since the famous Open Meeting she chaired where she tried to embarrass Peter Lawwell into appointing Neil Lennon as manager, by calling for a show of hands demanding that he do so. That was pure populism and wasn’t part of the agenda.
TWISTS N TURNS
It isnae a criminal case,bud. Don’t worry,yer safe.
However,as a civil case,it could be decided on the balance of probability.
Yer nicked!
paolosboots FC before PLC
15:27 on
28 January, 2014
Good to hear from you although you obviously cant spot a player with talent mate, i’m doing well bud thanks, yes hope to catch up with you at some point on the 8th, love watching that Maradona goal, the skill level and awareness is the best i have ever seen
If not posted.
Phillis up.
Gerry Cleary
2 Replies
Last November in the Columba Club in Blantyre I was about to take my seat on stage when I was asked to speak to someone in the crowd.
I was introduced to Gerry Cleary, a 51-year-old Celtic supporter from East Kilbride. Gerry, who is a wheelchair user, told me that he was a victim of the notorious drug Thalidomide.
Gerry’s ears turned to radar mode when I mentioned the trade name of the German-made drug. I then told him my own story, which entwined with his. In the six degrees of separation, big pharma had cut that down considerably.
When I told him that my mother was almost prescribed “Distaval” – (the name that Thalidomide – also known by in Britain) Gerry instantly realised that there was a connection between us.
In the chance and timing that controls all of us we both understood that we could have been in each other’s shoes.
Sitting in the foyer of a Glasgow hotel a few days later with Gerry and his 24-year-old son Declan, Gerry took me on his journey, and one that combined the life he was born into and one of his biggest loves – Celtic. Among the experiences he described to us was his first use of a wheelchair – being pushed around Seville in 2003 by his mates.
He also told me about a campaign he is involved in which aims to raise awareness and build signatures on an e-petition in pursuit of justice.
Gerry told me that there is a website called http://www.Showyourhand.org set up by those affected by the condition.
“There is an e-petition which hopefully we can encourage as many people as possible to support,” Gerry said.
“We can then present it to the German government and the company responsible for the Thalidomide tragedy, Chemie Grunenthal, which was one of the biggest pharmaceutical disasters in modern times.
“Ultimately we want a sincere apology from Chemie Grunenthal and to finally bring them to justice. We also believe that they should compensate Thalidomiders worldwide.”
I am of the Thalidomide generation and growing up seeing the children like Gerry on TV, struggling with what life had given them, probably introduced me to concepts like justice.
My mother was utterly engaged and enraged about the issue. Looking back, I think it was the first time I sensed that there could be reasons to be angry with the world.
Speaking to Gerry took me back to my own childhood and my family’s story. My mother had a difficult pregnancy with me, to say the least. Most of the nine months saw her confined to a wheelchair.
We were both lucky to emerge from the smashed up vehicle that had taken her husband, my father.
She only learned she was pregnant in the hospital after she had regained consciousness.
As my mother dealt with both bereavement and pregnancy, another pregnant woman she knew was given medication by her doctor to help her sleep, and so my mother asked her own doctor if she could have some too. She told him that she couldn’t sleep and that she had heard of a tablet that was safe for pregnant women to take.
Thankfully, the attending medic was very old school.
I still have fond memories of Doctor O’Flaherty, a Cork man, tending me for some minor ailment of the kind that youngsters are always picking up. Of course he knew my back story in a way that I didn’t until adulthood.
“A fine broth of a boy,” was his medical opinion as I recall.
In the 1960s, the GP practice he was a key part of wasn’t prone to prescribing the wonder drugs of the day. In those days big pharma was telling doctors that their clinically proven miracles would turn any town in the land into a Happy Valium. The Cork man and his local protégés demurred. The world now knows that those drugs only led to a valley of tears.
My mother later told me, when I was an adult, that she had once gone to the Cork man when she was suffering from depression. I was a toddler at the time and herself was attempting to come to terms with the shitty hand that life had dealt her.
“Depressed are you Bridget? Ah well, go and talk to your sister Mary, that’s what I do when I’m down. She’d cheer anyone up.”
My mother left without a prescription for anything.
Similarly, when she had asked for something to help her get to sleep when she was carrying me, the man from the Rebel County wouldn’t hear of it.
There, but by the grace of Doctor O’Flaherty, I would be in Gerry Cleary’s place now.
His mother wasn’t so lucky and neither were 467 kids across the UK, 55 of them in Scotland alone. This group of people, all around 50 years of age are told that they have the bodies of 70 year olds.
The UK distributers, Distillers, paid compensation in 1973, but the German manufacturers who passed the drug on as safe for pregnant women have never paid compensation to anyone outside of Germany.
Thalidomide victims and their families have spent decades seeking justice and fighting for the truth and that battle continues today, all the way up to the German government.
“If it wasn’t for the Sunday Times and a guy called Harold Evans in particular, the scandal would have been hushed up,” Gerry told me. “When the tragedy occurred, both the British and German governments were embarrassed as the drug hadn’t been tested properly.
“We want two things from the German government: firstly, they brought out a statute in German law which protected Chemie Grunenthal from being sued and we feel they should change that. Following that, we want them to put some pressure on the company to do the right thing and compensate those affected. Remember, it’s not just us as individuals who were affected, all our families were affected as well.”
Gerry is as Celtic as they come and the Celtic family have turned up for him in the past when he’s asked for support.
“Celtic Quick News ran an article after I contacted Paul Brennan and I couldn’t believe the support from the fans,” he explained. “Our site had over 1,000 extra ‘hands’ on the wall within 48 hours – mainly green I might add – CQN had set the ball rolling.
“The club itself has been fantastic, allowing me interviews on both Celtic TV and in the Celtic View. The Thalidomiders are really appreciative of this and I think we’ve added a few new supporters into the bargain!
“I would like to thank all of the fans for their support. This shows what our club is all about. I’ve followed Celtic all of my life, all over Europe, and being part of the Celtic family has helped me greatly as an individual.”
If I was in Gerry Cleary’s place I know that this guy would fight like a terrier for me.
I very rarely ask people to do stuff on here, but if you don’t feel outrage at this crime then we’re not on the same page dear reader.
However if, like me, you’re very angry about this then please go to here and do all that you can to help.
Please.
Parkheadcumsalford
Maybe the personal vendetta against Jeanette is clouding your judgement but I didn’t mention Jeanette Findlay by name in my earlier post either.
Twists
That was a most impressive podium piece…….where did you c & p it from?