Am I Really Beginning To Forgive Strachan?

The Diary hopes everyone now hates Cowdenbeath

This was meant to be posted yesterday. But, Spain, Chile and beer got in the way. You will be beginning to see how this daily Diary will become dailyish due to shoddy work ethic. The Diary wouldn’t survive in North Korea. I would be shot in a field before mid morning tea.

Still, the delay means we have some sort of news to scorn. If this had been published yesterday then you would have a had me going on about the impressive Japanese and how their celebrations after their 3rd goals against Denmark reminded me of the Ewoks celebrating at the end of Return Of The Jedi.

So we have been told that “Stoke City have emerged as favourites for Joe Ledley” and that he will “only move to the English Premier League“. Suppose Stoke is more reflective of Cardiff then. Jimmy Bullard was being offered “a £2m golden handshake to leave the club (Hull)” , which he must have knocked back as it’s reported today that Hull “have taken a call from Celtic asking about the possibility of taking Jimmy Bullard on a season-long loan.We’ve told Celtic we’d be willing to let Jimmy go out on loan and it is now up to the player.” The feeling that it’s no to late for someone to offer Jimmy a golden shower not to come anywhere near Glasgow is overwhelming me.

“Aiden McGeady hires super agent” to “get him into the English Premier League“. Really, I don’t understand the need. If a club meets “the Parkheads club £10m asking price” then he will get into the Premier League. Why does need an agent then? Unless it’s Inspector Gadget who was a super agent and could say “go, go gadget arms” to make sure Aiden drops into the English Premier League. I would hire Inspector Gadget. It would be great fun.

Still, I wonder if the club will regret not accepting Birmingham’s “package potentially worth £14m in January“.

Aston Villa are mentioned. “Martin O’Neill has earmarked his old protege McGeady” as a replacement for James Milner who will go for a couple of hundred million after firing in a few decent crosses against the European powerhouse that is Slovenia.

Talking of Martin O’Neill, the BBC are currently running a series call “Managing The O*d F*rm”, which I really should be reviewing in the Radio Ga Ga bit of thecelticblog. But…the truth is I can’t listen to it. I have tried to listen to what is possibly award winning radio but I can’t get past Chic Young’s intro. I just want to throttle the little scrot. I just know that he will be cringeworthy, arse-licking and his pish patter will stain the broadcast like beetroot.

Surely the BBC can release it on a podcast without him introducing and doing tedious links? Just leave him asking the questions. Also, cut out the bits with the R*ngers managers.

“Despite Porto’s talent, and despite the fact they went on to win the European Cup the following year, WE should have won the game.” rued Saint Martin in one of the episodes without stating that his inability to sign us a decent goalie cost us that chance.

Gordon Strachan is on today’s episode. The fantastic History DVD seems to stop right after he appears on The Diaries Tv. Funny that. He inflicted 18 months of hurt akin to getting your fingers smashed with a hammer and his second last game at Easter Road was like watching your pet dog being shot. It’s as painful as anything you have witnessed as a Celtic fan. Mowbray surpassed it, unbelievably.

“No, I’m not a Rangers type thing. I loved everything about the philosophy of Celtic – the way they played, I loved the strips, everything.No, it just wouldn’t have been me at Rangers.” he says making my heart melt a little bit and remember elements that I enjoyed under him.  There was some good times.

The Celtic guide to managerial appointments is laid bare. Drunk and at the races. “Dermot said (at Cheltenham Races 2005) ‘Would you be interested in taking the Celtic job?’. He said he was serious.Yep. That sounds good’. But I never thought about it again. I thought it was a wind-up because I’d never met the fella before. But because there was singing and dancing, and all the rest of that going on there, I just thought they had all had a good drink and I’d leave it at that. I thought he would wake up and not remember! ”

Gives you confidence eh?

We all remember Bratislava? Well, the inside track, from the managers point of view is this.”We had only 12 recognised first-team players. Paul Telfer met the boys just before that game. Bobo Balde was trying to get himself a move in the afternoon. He missed training in the morning as he was on the phone organising moves.”

“So we were a shambles as a club.”

To Strachans credit we went on to play some decent stuff in the proceeding seasons but the feeling that nothing really much has changed since that night in Bratislava and the start of that was a drunken meeting at Cheltenham is one that will be debated for years.

I’m just not fully blaming Gordon now and I’m blaming Mowbray for that.

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