R-E-S-P….I-C-T
It seems the blue half of glasgow will try anything to coax players into signing for their team even by going as far as trying to give the club a more warming and homely outlook by bringing a player into the fold with the name ‘Welcome’, but sadly so far the rangers P.R. have failed and are yet to welcome any ‘major’ signings at all.
Names have only been touted, such behemoths of world football as Pompys goal shy hitman John Utaka, Rapid Vienna striker Jelavic, Cillit Bangs Barry Scott (to clean up the midfield), the moose from the wine gums current campaign (Seen as a perfect foil for Kenny Miller) and the pavarotti-esque opera singer from the go compare advert as possible backup for current number one, Two Fingers McGregor.
Meanwhile at Paradise:-
With Joe Ledley, Efrain Juarez and Gary Hooper all signed up and James Forrest now being brought more into Lennons first team plans it can point simply to progression.
To put this in comparison with rangers is a tough one with the only comparison being the combined ages of Joe Ledley, Efrain Juarez, Gary Hooper and James Forrest all equal up to David Weirs current age. (…and that is not yet known with rangers backroom staff having to turn to their plan ‘B’ of chopping off one of Weirs legs and counting the rings.)
This youthful exhuberance with Lennons added mixture of the experienced Cha Du Ri, Samaras and Scotty Brown all head into a first league fixture against I.C.T.
For those of you in the know about football acronyms and don’t want to know the result of this next patronising outburst please look away and scroll down……………..now.
Football for dummies – Education for the day
“I.C.T. Isn’t that something to do with Information Computer Technology?” some new football fans or un-knowledgeable readers may quip.
Well no that stands for Inverness Caledonian Thistle. This exert was brought to you by the letters I.C.T. and the number 1.
As we all know it is certainly a tough fixture to kick off with. On paper we should be looking for the win and beating them comfortably but as we all know away days at Inverness can be very frustrating as well as gail force blustery with more wind than Vanessa Feltz after a night on Vindaloo and Guiness.
Coincidently with this fixture coming up it is suffice to endevour into one of my elaborate true tales. I once spent a night on the lash with ex-celt Liam Keogh in Nairn, which is a couple of miles up the road from Inverness, It was a strange old night, we arrived at a pub down a sidestreet in Nairn round the corner from the beach, we were meeting my mrs’ cousin and when we went in sat beside my mrs’ cousin was Liam Keogh. Me being the knowledgeable Celt noticed him straight away and my mrs’ cousin introduced us.
We sat and had pints, with the talking initially not being about football at all. Then I spotted a gap in the conversation and I started to ask Liam about Celtic. I obviously picked his brain about his days at Celtic and spoke about the good times that he witnessed whilst at Paradise. He had nothing but nice things to say about Mark Viduka and that some of the things Viduka did in training was nothing short of mercurial. He even quipped about how he set up Henrik for a goal in a match.
Sadly Mr Keogh, who had a spell at Caley himself, had to retire due to consistant niggling injuries. It was a shame that he was not at Celtic for any longer as from what I remember in person he was a great guy to speak to and more than welcoming. He could have been at the celts for a longtime had it not been to injuries preventing him from heading towards his full potential.
I woke up the morning after sat at the breakfast table with my family. I was feeling a bit surreal from what I had not expected the night before, that I got a first person perspective insight into Celtic and the football life.
What Liam said and how his career tailed off changed my views in a way that a lot of footballers do not have a long shelf life at all. People always complain about how much they get paid but when you are a professional in touching distance of being a possible mainstay for one of the biggest clubs in the world and you are struck down with injuries well before your prime, I cannot complain anymore about the massive wages they are on. Out of the hundreds of thousands trying to makke it as pro’s only a select few actually make it to the top level. It seems more like a lottery style rollercoaster where only in some cases the ‘lucky ones prevail’.
Football is definately a funny old game and as our lads head to Inverness this coming weekend we need to remember that all what matters is now.
So come forth Browny, Sammy, Juarez, Ledley, Loovens, Zaluska, Cha, Mulgrew and the rest. If you have a chance to see this Celts XI remember for what you have in body and time may not last long but it is what you do now that will be forever remembered by us, so go out there in every match this season and become the league champions once again.
The league starting blocks at Inverness await you.