Sing When We're Winning......

Think all we can take from Saturday is the fact that even though it was a tired lethargic performance we got the expected 3 points. We were lucky that Dunfermline’s players didn’t have the ability to execute their game plan. But a win after our European exertions is not to be sniffed at as I think, vaguely, I remember struggling under MON after European nights and during the Seville run we dropped 12 points after European games.

But you would have thought the “supporters” would have appreciated that? Seems the new breed of consumer is an unforgiving beast and not one inclined to partake in the Celtic Way.

On Saturday the teams got read out and one name was loudly booed, and he wasn’t an ex r*nger player. Paul Telfer’s name was booed by his own support. Not a minority of the support. The vocal majority. During the game his every touch was roundly jumped on, abused and berated- sometimes justifiably- with venom only usually seen at Glesga derbies or against Hearts.

Now looking at some of the vein popping eye bulging supporters coupons I thought maybe they really think, that if they shout loud enough Telfer will turn suddenly into Ronaldinho his passes will always find a Hooped player and his crosses would always find his target.

Logically this was never going to happen. Doesn’t matter how loud you boo, hiss, scream or give yourself a hernia he is still going to be a 35 year old, journeyman of limited ability who has made a career of being a journeyman of limited ability.

It doesn’t matter if we think it is right our wrong to play Telfer. For the record I think Caldwell should move to RB when Balde is fully fit, but if Telfer plays then he deserves our support and a bit of a break. A couple of times when a Telfer mis-placed pass was hit and meet with howls, a few seconds later a Maloney, Naylor, Gravesen or a Naka would do the same thing and they were met with the cries of unlucky, c’mon son and applause.

Double standards I think and all players deserve our support no matter what our personnel preferences are. The bottom line is we have no cover in the full back areas so maybe we might need to get use to seeing the Telf again.

But then again what do I expect when the board interrupt the John Thompson song for an advert to get more cash from us? An important moment of our history interrupted for a money making appeal to the consumer advertisement. What do I expect when Celtic sell their travel rights to Thomas Cook, give them the majority of tickets and then ensure that fans lose out on a trip to Old Trafford when the travel company hand back tickets the night before the game thus ensuring empty seats in the away end and tickets on sale around Old Trafford.

The board don’t care about us or the Celtic way and the home support are beginning to morph into the consumer disposable fan willing to be fleeced and only there when were winning. But only happy when were winning 15-0.

Since I have talked about oor Paul may as well talk about oor Lee Naylor. Now on Wednesday night at Old Trafford I thought his crosses were rushed and looked of that of a man unsure of his own ability. The amount of 1st time crosses he swung in without taking a touch reek of panic to me. But we did sign him from the midlands and not Milan so he did well with it being his CL debut and all that.

His performances since joining have been decent and he has proved to a player who can perform at a decent level but lacks what makes a top drawer full back. Too many of his crosses are swung in hopefully without a look up first. Then again if our strikers read them and moved accordingly then maybe they would be more productive.

As someone said on Saturday if Henke was in that team he would have scored a few at OT and a few on Saturday. Problem is JvoH is no Henke and Kenny Miller is usually outside the box and nowhere near getting on the end of the majority of crosses.

After his disaster on Wednesday Tommy Gravesen had a quiet home debut. The gallus-ness of his debut was replaced with a refrained performance, one that looked like a pit bull being kept on a leash. Maybe he just needed to settle himself down after Old Trafford and due to his lack of games needs to play against St. Mirren of Paisley on Tuesday night.

With our hectic schedule, which by the end will see us playing 7 games in 17 days then team selection on Tuesday without compromising quality of the fielded team is a difficult balance GS needs to find. JvoH is looking tired, Balde needs a game if he has to come into contention for the derby, Maloney’s recovery must continue with another start and will we see the lesser spotted Deek Rioirdon that feather haired creature last seen doon Leith.

Our back line is creaking with niggling injuries- says a lot for the commitment to the cause- Craig Beattie could do with a run out, Kenny Miller needs a goal, Magic needs a run out as could do a lot of our squad players.

Do we treat this competition with content, which the consumer will by not turning up, or play a strong team, which will take us through and worry about potential injuries afterwards or play a strong-ish team, which should take us through and give those a needed rest and those a needed run out?

Why has the penalty kick shoot out game with Partick just sprung into my mind?

Hail Hail