Loan Hoops - Update

Correct as of 21/11/11


On the 1st of January Dominic Cervi, Morten Rasmussen, Jos Hooiveld & Greig Spence shall all return. The rest of the loanees shall return in the summer. I think possibly Jos Hooiveld has still a place at Celtic after he returns and I would desperately love to see Efraín Juárez back in the squad. Curiously enough Morten Rasmussen could also still be a useful squad player. I've still time for Daryl Murphy after his goal against Dundee Hibernian. Here is the list of our 10 players out on loan and some information.

Niall McGinn - Brentford

Season long loan deal, made 16 appearances scored twice.


Efraín Juárez - Real Zaragoza

Season long loan deal, made 12 appearances scored once.


Darren O'Dea - Leeds United

Season long loan deal, made 15 appearances scored twice.


Josh Thompson - Peterborough United

Season long loan deal, made no appearances.


Daryl Murphy - Ipswich Town

Season long loan deal, made 4 appearances, yet to score.


Richie Towell - Hibernian

Season long loan deal, made 10 appearances.


Greig Spence - Hamilton Academical

Six month loan deal, made 10 appearances, Scored twice.


Jos Hooiveld - Southampton

Six month loan deal, made 11 appearances, Scored twice.


Morten Rasmussen - Sivasspor

Six month loan deal, made 6 appearances, Scored three times.


Dominic Cervi - Greenock Morton

Six month loan deal, made 2 appearances.

The day Celtic returned

Inverness Caledonian Thugs 0 Celtic 2
Stokey 60
Stokey 72

Keeper
F. Forster

Defenders
A. Matthews
V. Wanyama
D. Majstorovic Yellow Card
B. El Kaddouri Yellow Card Substitution 69

Midfielders
B. Kayal Yellow Card
J. Ledley
J. Forrest Substitution Out 82
G. Samaras Substitution Out 55

Strikers
G. Hooper
A. Stokes

Used Subs
K. Commons Substitution In 82
P. McCourt Substitution In 69
S. Ki Substitution In 55

Unused Subs
L. Zaluska
F. Twardzik
D. McGeough
M. Fraser

Celtic produced a vintage performance today to close the gap on 1st place with a delightful and memorable win against a thuggish ICT side today in the Highlands.

Stokes was the man in form with his two goals, both Professional and clinical efforts.

I was delighted to see the return of Ki to the team who has been diagnosed with a mystery illness a couple of weeks ago, heralding the return of the play maker. I can see Celtic improving still further with the return of Kelvin Wilson & Emilio Izaguirre in the future. Combined with captain Brown.

Celtic have also announced the signing of Andre Blackman on a free contract. Expect many more in the winter window.

Hail Hail
TC

In Lennon I Still Trust!

For the last two months I have flitted between faith, anger, hope, disinterest, optimism and uncontrollable pessimism while watching the team that I love stumble and stagger through the early stages of the season like a primed boxer who has suffered a headshot which has turned his legs to jelly. It’s been in a word ‘horrific’ and it hasn’t looked liked getting any better. I’ve sought solace in the words of fellow fans hoping for grains of comforts in the dark hours after a disappointing performance, I’ve read through the majority of blogs in the hope of finding answers and for a good while there I found comfort in them, I agreed with them all, it is all down to the board, we deserve the best players but the manager is being manipulated by these evil dictators that wouldn’t look out of place in North Korea. I agreed that each and every one of us, are part of the greatest support in the world and that we deserve success because of the part that we play. After the defeat to Hearts I started to agree that Lennon isn’t the man for the job, he’s naive, inexperienced, scared to make the BIG calls and tactically inept, I found throughout all of these feelings I only needed to switch  on my phone to twitter and I could get these feelings validated.

Then two things happened.

Firstly my five year old daughter commented on life in general to me in the car by stating “Good things only happen when you believe” as she gazed up at the stars in the night time sky and secondly in a moment of clarity later on that evening as I read through my twitter timeline I realised ‘Misery loves company’.

I questioned myself that night on the reasons why I support Celtic and on why I could place so much faith in Neil Lennon and the answers for me and me alone were as follows

1. I support Celtic because I love Celtic. Throughout any success or failure in my own life they have always been there. I get low I pop on a Celtic DVD. I become successful in something I stick on the Celtic tunes and party. Quite simply I AM CELTIC and CELTIC IS ME.

2. The principles of the support identify me ‘FAITHFUL THROUGH AND THROUGH’ Stand against oppression and know how to enjoy yourself!

3. I don’t judge my own life by success and I’ve never judged Celtic by the trophy cabinet. Personally I enjoy the good times in my life to the fullest and work ten times harder during the bad times.  This is the theory I attached to supporting Celtic as a bhoy, I guess it helps that I was born supporting Celtic during desperate times but the majority of older fans I speak with from years back say the same thing ‘If yer in it for the silver, go support the Huns fir yill never beat a true Celtic man’s spirit’

4. I support Neil Lennon because when he was appointed I felt differently to how I had felt about previous appointments. I had the sense that we had a man at the helm who wanted the same as the support. A man who wouldn’t leave us and would rebuild us into what we once were, I didn’t expect it to happen overnight, I saw it as a long term project, this excited me as for once it didn’t feel like an all or nothing appointment it felt like finally we were all in agreement that this was the time to rebuild and grow together as a support and as a team. Last season Neil Lennon gave us all a glimpse of what it could be like, what it WILL be like if we stay the course.

5. I support Neil Lennon because he is an emerging manager with great potential. Yes he has made mistakes and you can be damn sure he will make more but that is part of the process of becoming successful. You learn from it and whether you choose to believe it or not Neil Lennon is learning from his mistakes but if we don’t stand strong in the bad times with him we will never see the progress being made and his potential become realised.

6. I support Neil Lennon because he makes the big calls! It may not seem like it but he does, Lenny has had a large section of support pinning the blame directly on him for the tactics he has employed yet yesterday proved to me as a supporter that yes I personally still would like to see a change in formation but regardless of the tactics used if you have 2 or 3 ‘egos’ in your team who clearly think they’re bigger than the club your tactics go out the window. This also leads on to management of players. Some I’m sure will say that if that is the case then Lenny should have confronted the problem players earlier but would Lennon have been right to call out Kayal and Hooper as trouble makers earlier in the season when arguably Beram and Gary alongside Kris Commons are the main fan favourites and their lack of spark could easily be explained by their agents as ‘early season dips in form’ therefore allowing Lennon’s detractors to accuse him of not being loyal to his best players? What Lennon has done is shrewd he has shown guile and wisdom by playing the problem players  until they expose themselves  to the Celtic faithful thus ensuring there can be no illusions, no counter claims in newspaper articles from ego driven players and agents and no hiding place for them behind the criticism levelled at Neil Lennon. They have been exposed and now they have to react and I’m sure if Lennon doesn’t see the reaction that he desires then these players will be punted in January with the full backing of the club and the support!

Quick point on Beram Kayal do a bit of googling on his new agent Pini Zahavi and you will understand why Beram is acting like a prick for want of a better word!

Getting back on point, we live in a world with an ‘I want, I get’ mentality! This culture has been seeping into football like a virus since the dawn of the 90’s and Celtic are not immune to it. We have become ‘expectant fans’ rather than ‘hungry for success fans’ we expect to win every game, we expect to win every tournament we enter and when we don’t we wield the axe on the failures who have not delivered with stunning regularity. So I have to ask when did we as a club, as a support receive this divine right to win everything. When did we acquire this mentality of ‘deserving success without effort’ Success isn’t bought and paid for, it’s achieved through consistency, hard work, determination, development and perseverance. We experienced good times in the early to mid naughties but in two stark contrasting fashions. One was the ‘splash the cash experience under O’Neil’ that wielded direct results from day one, the other was the direct result of paying for the ‘splash the cash experience’ which was the ‘living by our means and developing a team’ under Strachan. We all may have enjoyed it more under O’Neil but we were more successful under Strachan. Since this period of continued success but more importantly prior to it we have been a confused club and its time we as supporters took responsibility for our part in it. It seems like whenever we go through bad times with a team we automatically demand change and expect instant success as a result, when it doesn’t go to plan we blame the board for the lack of quality on the pitch then we attack the manager and demand he resigns or is fired. What we are experiencing now isn’t anything new we’ve been doing it since 1990!

Yes I know the board are to blame for everything from Hitler to Osama Bin Laden according to some but you know what, you aren’t telling us anything that we don’t already know!

As bad as the board are they are also the ones that sanction the moves for the players that you do adore and approve of, they have changed managers that didn’t bring you success, they have sold entire squads to appease new managers, they have listened to the mood of the support during the bad times and acted on it, which for me is their biggest crime because constant change leads to instability and anger, when what we need is stability, the type of stability that brings consistent success. I hate Rangers and everything they stand for but in truth they stick by their managers through good and bad while we chop and change and the results are crystal clear they are more successful when it comes to a trophy count. (Yes a little part of me died inside writing that but there you go).

We proclaim to be a ‘family’ we are not, families stick together through thick and thin and endure the bad times because they know together the good times will be better for it. In reality were more ‘the oldest swinger in town’ constantly seeking love, thinking we’ve found it then throwing it away when it lets us down, never actually stopping to think of the part we play in the failure of the relationship because there always seems to be a sexy alternative that will surely deliver and match our needs.

I’m tired of all the constant change that happens at Celtic then the inevitable new burst of excitement when we hire a new manager who signs new player after new player who is photographed standing with scarf aloft inside paradise ready to become an idol of our own making when he only see’s us as a stepping stone to the EPL or worse a place to warm his arse on the bench for the entirety of his contract. I’m tired of all the doom and gloom merchants telling me ‘it’s the board’s fault’ then shouting anyone down who disagrees with their opinion. I’m tired of reading blogs about why Lennon is tactically inept and he should have adopted this or that approach from people who are seriously beginning to believe their own hype in a faceless cyber world. It’s time to be brave and change mentality as a support, let’s see the storm through and witness the new dawn we all wished for when Lennon took charge only 18 months ago, lets stand up for Lennon and the bhoys who want to be there and show them that they have our belief and faith and that we want THIS team to be successful. Let’s just support rather than judge! LET’S EARN OUR SUCCESS!!!

I am 100% behind Neil Lennon, I have stated some of the reasons as to why on here and could continue till my fingers hurt from typing. To put it simply my daughter summed it up better than any other could…

‘Good things only happen when you believe”

I believe in Neil Lennon

I believe in Celtic

I believe in the Celtic faithful.

@AngusSunblest reporting for Total Celtic aboard the good ship SixtySevenLive.

Super Ledley Is Majestic Defending Was Atrocious

Another SPL game another win for Celtic. If only the story was as simple as that. Celtic have had two relatively easy wins in the league and cup since last weekend’s defeat but there is more to this than meets the eye.

What was apparent was the scintillating and very eye catching performance of Joe Ledley against an underpowered Inverness who never really threatened anything except to win a lot of corners and make the Celtic defence yet more jittery than usual. It was clear that Ledley’s superbly taken goal did a lot to raise the team’s spirits and overall performance as another stunner featuring yet another direct run and finish by James Forrest soon followed.

The real talking point of course this week has been the obvious nervousness and lack of confidence at the heart of the Celtic defence. Like a lot of commentators I used to attribute the at times shambolic play by our defenders as a by-product of the nervousness of the crowd at Celtic Park that would somehow be transmitted to the players on the pitch, and that the crowd and players would add to this nervousness as the intensity rose and games got tight. That however is now very much last season’s theory.

As this nervousness has shown itself in both home and away games this season and clearly had some bearing on the overall poor performance of the team at Ibrox last weekend, there seems to be a lot more to this phenonmenon. Confidence just seems to go out the window especially in the goalkeeper and the central defenders and this in turn seems to infect the entire team at times when flowing moves turn to anxious flails. In golfing terms we seem to get the yips.

Other sporting teams have tried it before, and as major personnel changes are at least a couple of months away, but is it time for Celtic to get a mind coach into Lennoxtown to get to the root of this anxiety before it derails the season? Sure some of our defenders have individual weaknesses and Forster seems to have a psychological problem with commanding his penalty area – as the Kevin Bridges joke goes ‘no fear of anyone sending Fraser Forster a dangerous parcel as he’d never come to collect it.’ So could it be that it’s all in the mind and some positive thinking, followed of course by some positive action on the field, may cure the problem?

Strangely there are times when Celtic seem to be only one intercepted pass away from reaching the blistering form of the end of last season and in fact the 4-0 thrashing of Motherwell only two weeks ago was probably one of the best Celtic performances of the past few years.

For me it’s clear we’re missing that special added ingredient of our best form. That liitle ‘je ne sais quoi’ of past performances. That’s the width, speed and inventiveness of our attacking wing-backs.

Emilio Izaguirre and Mark Wilson were a key element in some of Celtic’s best performances in the last campaign. It’s obvious that with Emilio out through long-term injury and Wilson showing nowhere near the same form as last season Celtic have lost some of their zest and cutting edge. Izzy and Wilson were stand out performers in some key matches last season and their replacements have yet to show the same flair and sheer speed to cut though opposing defences and create more openings.

However with Emilio approaching recovery we have to hope that he will soon be back in the first team and that his contribution can be matched with a return to form by Mark Wilson. But in the meantime those yips need to be cured and with the resources that are available to the manager.

And if the team is being affected by the off field antics of the despicable Scottish press then they will just have to learn to become immune to it and ignore the ongoing attempts to unsettle the players and the management team. Leave it to the citizen journalists to shame the traditional media into action and report the truth and too apparent imbalances that happen on a daily basis in the SPL.

As Neil Lennon said today 'the fans were brilliant'. And we all need to be brilliant both on and off line too.

@the_eriugena chief reporter on Celtic and the media for @SixtySevenLive

The smell of fear - Forty thousand Orcs.

Lhadies & Ghents, Bhoys & Ghirls it's that time again. The first Glasgow derby of the season. Can you smell it? Although that could be the smell of fear from thousands of Orcs soiling themselves in abject fear.
Have they got over the 2^nd January yet? Or what about the 20^th February when we tore them to shreds. The 2^nd of March was also very pleasing.

Last season against the Kinning Park XI was great for a number of reasons. We beat them three times, drawing two and losing two. Scoring 10 goals in the process. Undefeated at Govan Zoo.

4 October 2010 Celtic Park 1–3

02 January 2011 Death Star 2–0

06 February 2011 Mordor 2–2

20 February 2011 Celtic Park 3–0

02 March 2011 Celtic Park 1–0

20 March 2011 Hampden Park 1–2

24 April 2011 Snake Mountain 0–0

This game promises so much more, with our fans in the free broomloan trying to evoke a party atmosphere with beach balls and Taxman masks, while the bitter and twisted fans of 1690 FC engage in the usual sectarian choir of hatred and right wing jingoism. Let us only hope that Patrick Nevins oversized head or the SFA is listening, this Tim shall not be holding his breath.

This question also has to be asked - Will the club that practiced religious bigotry for most of its history be able to field a team for a future derby? Two court orders freezing their bank assets of many months of wages and the upcoming £50,000,000 HMRC tax case says its more than likely that the 138 year establishment club shall not see 139. This could well be the last time we face “Scotlands Shame”.

Two great new fads were borne of last season. The Broony & The Lenny. It will be interesting to see what new Hunskelping antics the team have in store. Talking about Hunskelping this past couple of weeks in the Timternet has been particularly hilarious. What with the Billionaire Craig Whyte on the verge of taking Cessnock FC into administration, the extremely funny attempts of the Rankgers twitter account inviting questions for David “Jurassic” Weir with the TwitterCSC hijacking it & the general GIRUY to the Scottish Sports “Journalists” who are clueless when it comes to this HMRC tax bill.

To summarize the pavement pirates have been weakened over the transfer window while Celtic have got stronger. But as the saying goes. “a wounded animal is at its most dangerous when cornered” But I shall state in no uncertain words that I do believe that Celtic shall win the league this season. But we shall need to go out and work for it and want it more than the scum. I shall leave you all with this little ditty. Oh, the Rangers are Shite.

Hail Hail

TotalCeltic

On-board the good ship SSL.

P.S All you mad Tims should be getting these printed if you are on you're way to iPox.

Uefa Rule Against Euromillions Rollover

Well it looks like justice has been done at last. The official Uefa website declares, ‘The Appeals Body heard the parties and decided to reject the appeal lodged by Sion, confirming that the Swiss club had fielded ineligible players in both matches. As a consequence, Celtic remain qualified for the UEFA Europa League group stage and will play against Club Atlético de Madrid on Thursday 15 September.’

So it looks like a victory for common sense after the Swiss club clearly broke Uefa and Fifa rules and fielded ineligible players in both legs of the Europa League tie against Celtic. In short FC Sion cheated, and knowingly cheated, and in spite of their attempts to circumvent football justice by appealing to just about every Swiss civil court they could find, they have been finally find guilty – and any further appeals would come after the Madrid v Celtic tie.

In truth though, as we reported at the time, the best way to have avoided this whole sorry situation would have been for FC Sion to have never been allowed to play in the Europa League against Celtic in the first place. They had broken the rules of football long before the tie took place and they only compounded their offence by fielding ineligible and therefore illegal players against Celtic in both legs.

The implications will be that despite their legal successes in other courts, FC Sion and their directors have bought the Swiss league and all those associated with it to a very low place and there should be repercussions for all Swiss football for allowing these clear rule breaches to continue and there has been much reported discontent with FC Sion from other clubs in their home league.

Not that the schism in Switzerland has been much reported by any Scottish or UK hacks apart from the well informed Videocelts blog. It was with an air of great reluctance that the Scottish media reported today’s ruling against Sion, and indeed it speaks volumes about the media that it was left to Celtic Football Club themselves and Tony Hamilton as @polishturnstile on Twitter to break the Celtic Europa victory via the web and social media.

For there is clearly no kudos for Scottish and UK journalists in breaking a positive Celtic story in the week of the run up to a Glasgow Derby game and especially when last night saw the inner circle of the press sharing an intimate Indian meal with Motherwell billionaire Craig Whyte as they attempt to shield him from the glare of being interrogated by any real journalists.

It would have been so consoling to the toothless Scottish hacks to have a nice juicy ‘Celtic out of Europa league again’ bone to suck on at this difficult time for Rangers and the Rangers media entourage. Sadly horrific dreams of administration and indigestion are to be the only hangover from Whyte’s last supper.

So Celtic can look forward to a Europa league campaign after all, and the fans can anticipate another Beach Ball Sunday if, that is, their opponents can field a team. All this at a time when the Celtic team showed their optimum form of the season overcoming a clueless Stuart McCall’s Motherwell outfit last weekend with some often breathtaking attacking football.

Because the other thing that the media entourage are not reporting is the obvious dissatisfaction and dissent among the Ibrox side most notably that of Jelavic who mysteriously seemed to discover an injury on his return to Glasgow having played a full and injury free game for Croatia last week – see my conversation with @CroatianSoccer on Twitter for more.

But it also looks like the normally well oiled media machine that surrounds Rangers in the week leading up to a Glasgow Derby has come well and truly unstuck as reports emerge tonight that former chief Martin Bain has secured the freezing of a further half million pounds of Rangers assets over fears of ‘insolvency’.

For Celtic there are only positives to be taken from today’s events as win, lose or draw against Atlético Madrid on Thursday it will be a rewarding experience for the young Celtic team and their still young manager to face more inventive opposition than they normally meet in the depressed SPL.

The outcome will be all the more rewarding too in other respects as the Euromillions from the campaign will be all the more welcome at this difficult time for Celtic’s poverty stricken opponents.

@the_eriugena chief reporter on Celtic and the media for @SixtySevenLive

Celtic Transfer Window Activity

IN: 4 @ £3,100,000

1 July 2011...........Kelvin Wilson..............Nottingham Forest.....Free
1 July 2011...........Adam Matthews...........Cardiff City...............Free
9 July 2011...........Victor Wanyama..........K. Beerschot AC.......£900,000
30 August 2011....Mohamed Bangura......AIK............................£2.2 million

LOANS IN: 2

17 August 2011.....Fraser Forster..............Newcastle United.......Season Loan
31 August 2011.....Badr El Kaddouri........Dynamo Kiev............6 Month Loan


SOLD: 1 @ £1,000,000

31 August 2011.....Shaun Maloney............Wigan Athletic...........£1,000,000

RELEASED: 11

1 May 2011...........Michael Ordish..............Out of Contract..........Released
1 May 2011...........Jordan Lowdon..............Out of Contract..........Released
1 May 2011...........Matty Hughes.................Out of Contract.........Released
1 May 2011...........Kieran Brennan..............Out of Contract..........Released
4 June 2011...........Sean Fitzharris................Greenock Morton......Free
7 June 2011...........Paul McGowan...............St Mirren...................Free
20 June 2011.........Ryan Conroy...................Dundee.....................Free
1 July 2011............Freddie Ljungberg..........Shimizu......................Free
1 July 2011............Andreas Hinkel...............Out of Contract..........Released
1 July 2011............Ben Hutchinson..............Kilmarnock................Free
8 July 2011............Graham Carey.................St Mirren...................Free

LOANS OUT: 8

7 July 2011............Niall McGinn...............Brentford......................Season Loan
26 July 2011..........Efraín Juárez................Zaragoza.......................Season Loan
4 August 2011.......Darren O'Dea...............Leeds United................Season Loan
9 August 2011.......Josh Thompson............Peterborough United.....Season Loan
25 August 2011.....Daryl Murphy...............Ipswich Town..............Season Loan
25 August 2011.....Richie Towell...............Hibernian......................Season Loan
26 August 2011.....Greig Spence................Hamilton Academical...Season Loan
31 August 2011......Jos Hooiveld................Southampton.................6 Month Loan
5 September 2011..Morten Rasmussen......Sivasspor.....................Six Month Loan

Not guilty – Scottish football’s darkest day

As it’s the end of the transfer window most football managers in the UK will be huddling with their chairmen and chief executives or whispering into mobile phones as the last transfer deals of the day are put to bed. For Neil Lennon, however, today has a different significance.

May 11, the darkest day of world football of last season when the Celtic football manager was physically attacked by a fan while standing in the dugout at Hearts Football Club while carrying out his professional duty, has cast its dark shadow on this transfer window finale.

For today the Hearts fan that the whole world saw attack the Celtic manager live on Sky TV has been cleared of assaulting Neil Lennon after an Edinburgh Sheriff Court jury found the case against him not proven. The attacker was found guilty of breach of the peace by running onto the pitch at Tynecastle and shouting and swearing at Mr Lennon, but the actual assault, along with the aggravated by religious prejudice element, has been thrown out.

Once again the world is being asked not to believe their own eyes when dealing with attacks on Neil Lennon and the wider Celtic Football Club. The justice system is telling us that the incident was a mere breach of the peace and that we should all go about our business as if it never happened.

This denial of the truth, this attack on human intelligence, this attack on the basic human rights of Neil Lennon and this attack on all right thinking and fair minded people is a much darker day for Scotland, for Scottish football and for world football than the original offence itself. It is a mockery of natural justice and renders ridiculous any notion of a fair and just society for all. This is, in essence, a football story but it echoes the kind of justice that was used by now thankfully extinct or near extinct eras such as the apartheid system in South Africa and the Unionist totalitarian state in Northern Ireland.

This is a football story but it bring shame to the Scottish judicial system, to Scottish society as a whole and to the administrators of Scottish football and especially to Neil Doncaster who had quickly sought to exonerate Hearts Football Club even when the attack happened in their stadium and was incontrovertibly committed by their support.

Today is a much darker day for Scottish football even than last Thursday when both Hearts and Rangers crashed ignominiously out of Europe before the end of August. As Celtic Football Club said in a statement tonight: 

‘We find the accused's acquittal of the charge of assault difficult to comprehend bearing in mind our knowledge of the incident.’

‘One thing is clear - this was a disgraceful incident involving Neil Lennon, seen by the world - the sort of incident which should not have happened in any football stadium and one which embarrassed Scottish football.’

Both Hearts and Rangers are both tettering on the brink of financial disaster. Their football methods and the nefarious activities of their fans have brought Scottish football almost to its knees and in recent years has become the laughing stock of world football. Today that reputation has fallen even deeper into the darkness.

Celtic Football Club was born out of oppression and the dark aftermath of famine and political adversity. Neil Lennon, Celtic and the Celtic supporters will overcome days like these and grow stronger because of them. Celtic will still survive long after Hearts, Rangers and Scottish football itself have all long become extinct.

On days like these we become stronger.

@the_eriugena chief reporter on Celtic and the media for @SixtySevenLive

Team Samaras - Explained

Written by @Chibchenko

Last night, I spent a highly amusing few hours encouraging people to join Team Samaras. Obviously, this was started as a bit of a laugh, however inevitably I did get some comments from those who were astounded that anyone could actually appreciate him as a football player. I promised an explanation, and this is it.

Giorgios Samaras is a highly frustrating player, of that there is absolutely no doubt. The reason for this frustration, for me at least, is down to the fact that, under that mess of hair, there is a player of some ability struggling to get out. When he signed initially on loan, he scored that fantastic debut goal in the 5-1 pumpfest at Rugby Park, darting down the wing and casually finishing. I immediately thought to myself "here, we could have a player here." Sadly, as we all know, it hasn't quite worked out like that. His talent has flickered here and there, but all too often he, for want of a better phrase, makes an absolute arse of it.

And here, we get to the crux of my Samaras defence. If you were to take someone who knew nothing of football and played an audio of some of the abuse Samaras takes from his own fans, I'm sure at times you'd think he played for our biggest rivals. Errors that other players may get away with are just not acceptable when it comes to Samaras. And for me, the reason he is always so noticeable on the field is because, and I must apologise profusely for this cliché, he always gives his all. He is always looking to get on the ball and never hides on the football pitch, which is something he should be admired, not pilloried, for. The likes of Hooper and Stokes can go missing completely at times, which - some may say unfortunately - Samaras very rarely does.

Yes, Samaras makes aimless runs into players, refuses to release the ball, and is very often the definition of the "forward's challenge." However, let us not forget that with his frustration, at times comes genius. His delayed pass to Izaguirre to set up Hooper's second in the 3-0 game against Rangers at Parkhead last season. His entire performance in that game was outstanding, despite not troubling the scorers. And of course, who will ever forget the New Year game at Ibrox when we were all expecting a trouncing. The latter game showed Sammy at his best - up front on his own, with McCourt playing just behind him. Samaras is a forward who does not work well with other strikers. This has been evident on several occasions, most recently against Sion. And who do fans blame for this? Samaras, for the most part. The question I pose is this - does Samaras really deserve the blame for tactical decisions which don't allow him to perform in his preferred way?

That, my friends, is essentially it. I recognise Samaras is average as a football player, who often runs up blind alleys and borderline refuses to score goals. However, he's also a player that thrives on confidence. Is it any wonder he struggles when the fans are on his back for the slightest error? Jump on the bandwagon. Support Team Samaras.

Bangura Bangs Them In

T-1 Day. The last day of the transfer window looms.

What an interesting transfer window it has been. Celtic have to date brought in some real talent. First we had Kelvin Wilson who looks very much the defender we have needed for a good while and Adam Matthews was brought in and looks like a real player too and, given his age, could be a great player in the future. To bring in players such as K Wilson and Matthews on a free transfer shows a deft touch in the over inflated English market. Credit to Celtic for this.

Victor Wanyama came in a little after that for £900,000 and though his chances have been limited he looks another player for the future. Fraser Forster then made a reappearance on loan after more than three keepers were invited to Celtic to train. Today has seen Mo Bangura join for £2,200,000. Bangura was  touted as a good player by none other than king Henrik Larsson himself, so I'm willing to believe he could be a great player for Celtic.

So far Neil Lennon has been recruiting a very young, physical team. And with 30 players registered in the first team at the moment things look promising. No doubt there will be more twists and turns tomorrow. As always we shall see what happens.

We have also seen 20 players leave Celtic in this transfer window. Most noticeably Freddie Ljungberg, Andreas Hinkel, Niall McGinn, Efraín Juárez and Daryl Murphy. Out of those seven are season long loans. I would be surprised if the likes of Morten Rasmussen and Jos Hooiveld stay at the club beyond the 1 September.

There are also notable rumours that Georgios Samaras and Shaun Maloney may be leaving. Sammy has been linked with a move to either Saint-Étienne or Sunderland. It seems Wigan have definite interest in Maloney and we will see what develops on that during the course of tomorrow.

I have been very impressed with the tactics used so far by Celtic in the transfer window. Firstly with the goalkeepers being invited in and even playing in friendly matches while all along our target was Fraser Forster. This was also evident in the use of targeting Baba Diawara while going after Mo Bangura. As soon as the transfer of Bangura went through Celtic pulled out of the transfer citing ‘permit issues’ just after a meeting with the SFA.

I will be reporting live from 12 noon tomorrow on all the comings and goings on transfer deadline day. It looks to be fun packed and full of interesting rumours and other fabrications by the mainstream media. Today I even saw a BBC reporter claiming David Trezeguet had been a target for Celtic. All I can say to these license fee thieves is they are destroying their own reputation and fan run media is now leaving them far, far behind.

Hail Hail

Total Celtic

Win for Celtic but Scottish football’s still enslaved

It reads as a comfortable 2-0 scoreline over St Mirren, but for Celtic it was a strangely uncomfortable win.

Daniel Majstorovic started while Ledley and Commons were on the bench with Hooper and Stokes restored up front as the attacking force. Stokes and particularly Hooper looked very sharp right from the start. Hooper took his chances well and seems to be back to his best form, which was fortunate as otherwise this could have been another one of ‘those’ games we have occasionally seen from Celtic in the past twelve months.

For this match became the curious case of the St Mirren team that suddenly started to play as if they were 2-0 up and lot losing by two well taken Gary Hooper goals. Yet Celtic should have one by a lot more. The myopic Willie Collum chopped off an absolutely fine goal by Anthony Stokes, while Ki Seung-Yeung was particularly wasteful when through on goal in the second half when it would have been much easier for him to score.

Celtic are missing the width of Izaguirre and Mark Wilson which was an important element of the team’s great performances from last season. Cha has oodles of energy on the right side, but very little precision and while Charlie Mulgrew has many other assets he doesn’t have Izaguirre’s pace and attacking threat on the left wing. Mulgrew would be an effective and more assured centre back partner for Kelvin Wilson and he can pass quickly with assurance turning defence into attack.

Once again Majstorovic’s jittery approach to pretty much every situation seemed to infect the rest of the defence like a virus, and a remedy for this before the end of the transfer window is devoutly to be wished.

It’s a bit of a cliché but stars are made at Celtic rather than imported and Ki Seung-Yeung is proving to be one of those Celtic-made stars who has been reborn this season. However he seemed out of sorts against St Mirren that also accounted for their periods of sustained dominance.

Post match rumours of a move away by Ki were quickly shot down by Alan Thompson saying, ‘We don't want any of our better players leaving,’ while there is still time for a few much needed reinforcements if the team are to improve on the successes of last term.

Celtic did win of course and did begin to put some of the disappointment of the Europa League behind them. The ineptitude of Uefa and Fifa in not banning FC Sion for fielding ineligible players could still mean that Celtic are only provisionally out of Europe. No matter how embarrassing any reinstatement would be the fact is Sion cheated and should rightly face the consequences.

But what are the consequences for Scottish football after last week’s European failures by Rangers and Hearts as well as Celtic?

It seems apparent that the Scottish football media and the SFA in slavishly promoting the anti-football of Rangers and Hearts, the two establishment teams, have helped create a downward spiral for Scottish football.

The bias of the media and the incestuous affiliations of those who control both the SFA and the SPL are malignant growths on the game. These forces are always there enslaving the game at every turn and at every level of performance. They drag the game down to the lowest common denominator. Kick your opponent. Rush the ball. Cheat whenever you can. All applauded by drum beating hacks. That’s the establishment way. So that too has become Scottish football’s way.

This undying love for the negative approach is the reason Scottish football is enslaved in a dark depression, compounded by the further negativity of Sky, the BBC and other mainstream broadcasters. As long as these dark forces seek to make a living from the game and take against those teams playing more positive, less Scottish style football, then Scottish football will continue to decline.

A neutral media would be celebrating the attacking football that Celtic have been known to play under Neil Lennon in recent times. Instead, corruption has clouded their vision and their judgement. They can only see what they are told to see and hear what they are told to hear. Objectivity and truth have been poisoned along with the game itself.

Celtic are a team with Irish roots who play in Scotland and when at their best don’t play the Scottish way. The Celtic way is more European, more skilful and has had much more style and passion since long before the Jock Stein era.

A decline in Scottish football should not necessarily mean a decline for Celtic, even though it looks ever more unlikely that Celtic will escape the quicksand of the SPL any time soon. As with the Europa League itself, there may be little hope for Scotland but there is still hope for Celtic as long as the team and Neil Lennon are allowed to play the Celtic way and have the support from all levels to do so.

This is my first of many blogs for SixtySevenLive one of the brightest new sites in the Celtic media, created by like minded people who simply want to report the truth at a time when the truth is very rarely reported.

SSL is a collective and has an open policy that does not attempt to impose a particular viewpoint on the Celtic support. SSL tries to unite and heal rather than divide and rule. In this we applaud the great work of other sites, most notably the very professionally produced new additions to the CQN family.

This is a time for all right minded people to come together and speak plainly and clearly. It could still be a long and difficult season.

@the_eriugena chief reporter on Celtic and the media for @SixtySevenLive

You Learn More in Defeat Than In Victory!

Celtic 0-1 St Johnstone  21/08/11

"I heartily recommend this very sane report from Shipmate Sunblest live from the stormy seas" AnonymosCSC

It’s all over folks, rip up your season tickets, burn your tops, sack the board, sack Lennon, blame Samaras!!!!

We, yes we Glasgow Celtic Football Club Est 1888 lost a game of football today!!!!

Hmmm doesn’t seem as dramatic when you type it out, compared to when you experience the feeling when witnessing it either at the game or on Channel 67.

We need to take a step back and look at it calmly, yes we lost, yes we were wasteful in front of goal, yes we need to practise penalties more but performance wise we created almost the same amount of opportunities as we did when we put five past Dundee Utd our passing before we conceded was crisp, our movement off the ball was exemplary, for this old reporter it boils down to some days you score eight, some days you miss a penalty, hit the post twice and make the keeper pull of a string of great saves then suffer the humiliation of the Scottish press falling over themselves to question Neil Lennon, which in turn leads to the support questioning each other on who should go, who should stay, who should play, who shouldn’t and who is the more committed supporter, all because we lost 1-0 at home to St Johnstone.

So let’s quickly run through the team then see what we can learn from the defeat!

GK: Fraser Forster   Largely untroubled throughout the match, pulled off a great save prior to the winning strike, effective and seems to have improved his kicking.

Defence:  Young Matthews was in at RB and in the opening 45mins really was a standout with his willingness to get down the right hand side, faded a little in the second half as he experienced for the 1^st time the loneliest place on planet earth for any footballer, Celtic Park with the fans voicing their opinions at an disappointing performance.

Chico started at LB, proving again how versatile a player he is, he didn’t have one of his best games and either by injury or by performance was benched at half time. His replacement was Mark Wilson who unfortunately didn’t fare much better as St Johnstone adopted the tactic of pinning back both full backs with diagonal balls into the channel thus ensuring Mark couldn’t affect the play as I presume Lennon had intended.

Dan and Victor the unrepentant Kenyan b*****d, in fairness did little wrong. It seems only after the goal went in did the crowd voice their unhappiness at their display, primarily at Dan, this affected him and he began to make silly mistakes which seemed to only incense the support more.

Midfield:   Broony was back starting on the right and with Matthews tearing down on the overlap in the first half this allowed Broony room to cut inside and roam into space effectively, again in the second half he seemed to lose focus after the goal but still tried to drive the team forward at every opportunity.

Ledley and Ki were in the middle again and retained possession very well though it is more than fair to state that we miss Kayal as neither of them really marshalled the troops after we conceded which led to Ledley being subbed in the later stages.

Commons was back on the left and unfortunately failed to convert his penalty. After this it was clearly evident that his confidence took an almighty knock, however suggestions that he is not the same player are well wide of the mark as his almost technically perfect FK rebounded back off the St Johnstone post, a superb effort, I hope Kris overcomes this little blip in confidence as he is a pivotal cog in Lennon’s green and white machine.

Forwards:  Maloney and Stokes both at times today looked excellent their link up play especially! Unfortunately today for both front men they were very wasteful in front of goal.

Subs:  Young James Forrest made a good impact when coming on as he stretched the game by staying out wide and committing the fullback though was guilty of snatching at a glorious opportunity when the ball rebounded back into his path after McCourt’s dribble.

Paddy came on to a chorus of cheers, with the hopes and expectations of millions on his shoulders and bhoy did he give it a try, he almost tried too much some might say! For this reporter I believe it’s too much pressure to put on one man’s shoulders, granted he is a eye catching, truly gifted dribbler but to assume he will come on and walk the ball into the net is naive as in reality the efforts Paddy puts in, disrupts the fluidity of the teams tactics which was clear to see today. To make matters worse is that when he doesn’t score that goal of the season and saves the day, the man gets criticised. Paddy deserves credit for his efforts today but should also himself realise sometimes making the goal is better than scoring the goal!

So overall what can we learn from today?

For me three things are blindingly obvious!

1)    We are too complacent against so called lesser opponents! (Ross County, ICT,FC Sion, St Johnstone) Why? Is it arrogance, over confidence, ego?  Quick answer is NO to all three! We have a very motivated coaching team who would never ever allow that to creep in and a squad of players with a good work ethic about them. The reason we are complacent is because we lack patience, the patience to stick to the game plan when things aren’t going our way, the patience exhibited by all the great teams like Barcelona, Man Utd, the players are too quick to take it upon themselves to be the ‘hero’ but this will rectify itself in time as the team evolve together and learn that when in times of trouble don’t go gung-ho, just trust the man beside you!

2)    Secondary Phase Play!  Our reaction to any situation in the second phase of play today was poor and in truth it has been our Achilles heel as a unit since the Lennon era began, we are not anticipating what will happen next in the way a Neil Lennon, Paul Lambert, Johann Mjallby used to under O’Neil, this is crucial for any team who desire to dominate a domestic league competition and make inroads in Europe, if you don’t anticipate a follow up clearance or a follow up chance to score, it will inevitably lead to trouble.

3)    You can’t take £50 Million Pound worth of talent out a team and expect the same quality to come in! Not an excuse being formulated but rather facts! Gary Hooper is a predatory finisher who makes incisive runs that Stokes and others thrive off, he also is a proven top level goal scorer purchased for 2.5Million even though he outscored the most expensive English forward today whilst in the championship Andy Carroll at £35million. Value now £12-£15million......Emilio Izziguire  Scottish player of the year and in truth, the most exciting left back in Europe Est Value £15-£20 Million...... Beram Kayal, The most coveted player in the squad, interest from Man Utd, Liverpool, Valencia and rumblings of interest from AC Milan why? He bosses a game, rarely wastes possession and has an eye for a defence splitting pass! Est Value £15-£25Million!

The good news is they are all injured and likely to be at Celtic until next summer and hopefully beyond, the point being when you list what we have against what we don’t have it paints a very different picture.

I urge all Celtic fans to look at this result as what it is! A chance early on in the season to look at our shortcomings and fix any problems, better it come now than in the run in as experienced last season. So let’s put it into perspective and rally round like only Celtic Supporters can and get 110% behind Neil Lennon and the bhoys as we head out to Switzerland to face FC Sion in the biggest game of the season!

I’m Angus Sunblest reporting for Total Celtic onboard the good ship @sixtysevenlive

Until next time me mateys

Hail Hail 

I ate too much Toblerone last night! Celtic v FC Sion 0-0

"Below is Angus Sunblest’s latest match report. I would like to add that before the game we were discussing the five illegal players that FC Sion named in their squad. After the game we can report that they played four of them. This constitutes blatant cheating in sport, not just a minor bending of the rules. It is to be expected that Scion will be dealt with accordingly by the football authorities. 

When I learned that Croatian Marijo Strahonja would be refereeing the game I expected a fair and impartial official. Even today I still can’t believe that the Croatian made so many blatantly biased decisions that would have left even the SFA with embarrassed faces. The referee’s performance was simply incredulous. So with no Fifa decision until after the second leg last night may still prove irrelevant. However it was the first European night in Celtic Park of the season and everyone, including the manager, expected more." AnonymousCSC

Ar me be feeling a little glum me hearty’s this morning L. Perhaps I did over indulge in one too many bars of sweet, nutty Swiss chocolate pre match, our maybe it was that feeling you get every time things don’t turn out as you anticipated or planned. You know the feeling. It’s different for all of us, frustration, anger, contempt for some, sympathy, reflection and contemplation for others.  Overall the pain is the same. ‘WE DIDNT GUB THE CHEATING INELIGABLE FIELDING BASSAS’ 

No matter how any of us feel the @sixtysevenlive captain and first mate @AnonymousCSC and @AnonActionCelt want to get the message out that win lose or draw, be you angry, upset or hopeful, they are here for you and will never divide the support in times of perceived trouble. So tweet them for a remedy to your ails (lashings of rum is always advised), seek them out on twitter onboard the good ship @sixtysevenlive and let them bring a great big Timmy smile back on to your face.

Let’s begin the report

GK  I think the GK debate ended last night once and for all, unfair as it seems for Zaluska and we all have sympathy for him. Neil Lennon has an obligation as Celtic manager to field his perceived strongest team and rightly or wrongly he sees Fraser Forster as his No 1 and in fairness the defence did seem collectively calmer with the big man between the sticks. He was rarely called into action last night and handled his first competitive appearance of the season well.

Defence The Terminator Cha was in from the start and was immense. His recovery speed, willingness to get forward was great to see. ‘Charnie’ really did himself no harm in his quest to go back in time and eliminate John Connor; I mean stake his claim for a starting berth in the first team at the weekend.

Dan and Chico were back together in the heart of the defence, reunited like lost lovers due to Kelvin ‘Sexual Chocolate’ Wilson’s dead leg and enjoyed a fairly comfortable night’s work. Dan looked commanding throughout while Chico helped to try engineer build up play from the back.

The ambassador Mark Wilson was shifted to left back to accommodate Chico’s move inside to centre half and as always Mark gave it his all, though in truth his impact on the game was limited as he favours hugging the touchline and found this hard to achieve last night as he was switching inside a lot. All in all Mark and the whole defensive unit performed well and rarely looked worried by the attacking threat of the Toblerones.

Midfield  Kris ‘Puff’ Commons was placed out on the right hand side for last night’s match to accommodate for El Capitan taking up a central position. He seems to be coming in for some stick from a section of the support and as much as their opinion is valued and respected, surely they can see that ‘Puff’ is proving to be a very versatile and hardworking member of the squad. I can only surmise that his electric start to his Celtic career was expected to continue unabated with Kris shooting thunderbolts out his arse into the net every time he receives the ball regardless of what position or tactical job he has been assigned.

Super Joe Ledley gave yet another tireless performance throughout, his ball retention and calmness under pressure last night did not go unnoticed neither did his constant tracking back to help out in defence.

The Seoul bhoy playmaker Ki started in the centre of midfield but was then pushed further forward to play just off the striker, this isn’t his normal role, as for me Dave is much more of a deep lying playmaker but as it seems that he is currently the most creative player in Scotland it was to be expected that he would be tasked with playing just off the striker. Later in the game as Celtic brought on more natural wide men Ki was able to drop back into his more natural role and began to dictate the game which created a few more opportunities.

Broony was brought back into the centre of midfield to play the Kayal role (god how we miss him) and did his job admirably. Scott will always give his all, though you can see even he seems to no longer favour a central position as he understands he can give more to the team out wide. A solid performance by the man who does this \0/

Forwards Stokes started up front but was moved out to the left wing in a tactical change to combat the ball being freely played forward into dangerous areas early on by Sion’s right back. Again as with Commons this in this reporters mind shouldn’t be criticised it should be applauded as the bhoy is fulfilling a duty. He wants to score goals but until you win the tactical battle in any match you are unlikely to create the chances to score. As for the penalty claim I’ve seen them given and like last night I’ve seen them rejected.

The Greek Gazelle: love or hate Sammy he must have one helluva pair of broad shoulders to take the criticism heaped on him. The fall guy for some, the ace in the pack for others, I can only say he was willing to play the lone striker role due to the formation change and won his fair share of headers, ran the channels and took the knocks required to play that role. For me quite simply Giorgios of Samaras has all the attributes of a modern day front man but needs to simplify his finishing technique. In essence he thinks too much when a chance arises and ends up snatching at the opportunity.

Subs: McCourt, Maloney, Forrest all came on to try and change the game. They all applied themselves well, though in fairness the tactics employed by the opposition to kick any Celtic player within a 40 yard radius of the goal proved troublesome in their quests to turn the tide.

Overall Summary We were without an estimated  (lower end valuation) £30 million pounds worth of talent last night in the form of absentees Emilio, Beram and Hoops add to this Sexual Chocolate missing and the change of natural position for Commons, M Wilson, Brown, Stokes and Joe Ledley coupled with a change of tactics early on from an attacking interchangeable 4-4-2 to a containment based 4-2-3-1/ 4-5-1 to counteract Sion getting at us down the flanks. You can see why it may have came across as a bit of a disjointed performance. These aren’t excuses I’m offering these are facts though in all honesty I believed we played well against a team set up to play in effect with 6 at the back. This is European football, teams park the bus away from home in the hope of scoring a sucker punch away goal or to lose by just one and to their credit Sion defended albeit robustly (hacking) and, with the help of some dubious refereeing, admirably. I for one would be delighted to see Celtic adopt their tactics in the second leg as I firmly believe we are better than Sion in every department. People will argue about not getting a valuable goal but in reality if Sammy had scored with that header, had he managed to poke home his sliding effort to give us a slender lead, what we have done with it in Switzerland? We would have tried to sit in and defend what we have and mostly likely end up being beaten.

Now we go to Switzerland with the knowledge that we have to play, we have to score and that is what makes Celtic tick. That is the Celtic way!

Until next time me matey’s 

#keepthefaith

I’m Angus Sunblest reporting for Total Celtic onboard the good ship @sixtysevenlive