THE LOTW DIARY

Lorra, Lorra Cilla

The introduction of the bhoy from Cavan against Inversenkie has caused a bit of a stir. Cillian Sheridan, the lanky, needs a guid feed looking, 18 year old centre forward has got the meeja and the fans, who like to put the weight of the Jock Stein stand on young guys shoulders, in a spin and the rush to get quotes from guys in the “know” must have caused a fair gust of wind doon CP way.

I mean when he came on, we were informed by Iain Crocker, the Sky commentator lackie that he was an attacking midfielder a claim backed up by Davie Judas Provan. The guy was that unknown.

Anyway Joe McBride, is he THAT Joe McBride? came oot wie the usual insight that he is guid wie both feet, a target man in the JVOH mould, scored a barrowload of goals this season, you know the usual but he then told this story.

“He is basically a shy and quiet guy but you could say he is a typical Irishman. On one of the bus journeys in Villarreal we tried to get a singsong going among the boys but no one would get up.
“But once Cillian got up, there was no getting him down again. I hope he makes it as a footballer because he will never make it as a singer.”

What? An Irishman singing songs on the team bus? Does Jock McConnell know aboot this? Could this be Celtic promoting secterianism? Hope their wasn’t any cameras aboot of the young Cilla’s carrer could be quashed by a Doanld oh the bluebells are blue Findlay moment.

Anyway, the big fellow struggled to get into the game and his lay off for the winner was all that he did of note. Hard game to come of the bench and one, which could have been detrimental to the lads career. What has to be put in focus is the lads rise to promiance is more to do wie injurys to a strike force that’s wrapped in cotton wool and the fact that a lot of the next generation are oot on loan in places like Fife and Dingwall.

Wouldn’t expect Cilla- it’s mine I came up wie the nickname- to feature heavily in the run in, as strikers regain fitness but hopefully the wee taste of the limelight will make him jog on and continue his rapid progress since playing for his local Sunday league side this time last year and a new 3 year deal for the lad means we will hopefully get the benefits.

Samuri Naka

Stranger and as rare as a Kenny Miller goal was the fact that Naka lost his cool on Sunday wie Rankin and the impressive Ian Balck. The Naka-rage moment ended wie Black being papped on his behind with a shoulder charge after the ball was away then a wee sly kick from the Japanese Internet king.
Naka, showed all the poise and diligence of a samuri as he got up and wander away thus leaving Black to get booked for his over-reaction. Could this have been when Naka broke the bone in his hand?

The news of the injury while not worrying was backed wie a more promising rumour that we were going to offer the bhoy Naka mair yen to sign a new deal at the club. This would be his second new deal in 12 months and one, which we all agree, his perfromances have deserved.

GS is now looking to the longer term with Naka being viewed as a model pro who we all should be learning from. He said

"You want to get kids to copy Naka as young as they can, and that's why we need to find out what he has been doing since he was 10."
"Our analysis shows he runs between 12.7 and 13 kilometres in a game. Against AC Milan, he did more running than anyone on the pitch. You can only do that if you have real fitness, and he has that because of the way he has lived since he was very young."

It’s a great ideal the wee fellow is pushing there but one that is very difficult to put into practice. Naka’s culture and discipline that he has been raised wie is completely different from the culture that all oor players come from. A culture that players Da’s coaches and all hingers on will fill a guid players heid full of nonsense so by the time he is 14 he thinks he is the dugs baws. Also I don’t think Fish Suppers, Burger Kings and Irn Bru are the staple diet of Japanese.

Now, while you all know I’m not a cynical bugger:-) surely this muted deal has nothing to do wie the rumoured punting of the media and internet rights for funny cash due to the upturn in interest Naka has generated from Japan and the far east? Surely it has nothing to do wie Nike pushing us to hang on to a marketable commodity in the massive far east market?

Surely it’s for purely fitbaw reasons?

Milan Beamback In the Piazza Del Duomo?

Like thousands of others I arranged to travel to Milan on the wim that if I was unlucky in the ballot, ahem what ballot?, then the san siro is vast enough that a ticket for the Milan end would be no problem. Also knew a couple of co-orperate prawn munchers that would take their allocation then lazily pass them on to meself.

Well we are all up the creek withoot a paddle eh?

By the looks of it if yer no going wie the rip off offisal partner then yer chances of attending the san siro are nowt. The guys who have already bought tickets for the Milan end are in for plums unless they can speak Italian, are a AC season ticket gadgie and look Italian and not a skinny white, well oiled hootsman in a kilt and a glint in his eye.

Celtic’s pandering to the Italian authorities over the ticketing issue reeks of distrust. The fact that we need to produce passports and go through the same checks the Italians- who are in bother not us- to enter the stadium shows a lack of backbone from the Celtic board. Remember how many fair play awards have the fans won?

With the Italians demanding that every ticket has a named owner and a passport to prove they are Sean Fergus O’Kane fae Easterhoose then the natural distribution of tickets that happen at such events can’t happen.

The usual natural event is the bigwigs get the tickets then canny be arsed going and pass them on to us minions who gladly take them. Also that we usually know someone whose supporters club gets an allocation or someone from the Association or Affilation who are always willing to dish oot returned briefs.

The fact that Celtic have succumb to the Italians request means that more than a few regular travellers- who canny be arsed wie the overpriced offisal charters, which when I think aboot it, surely Celtic cornering that market wie the incentive of a ticket is against the free trade laws or something like that? I mean basically they are trying to get you to go wie their travel company and discouraging you to travel independently, unless there is loads of tickets to be had….- that get their tickets this way will miss oot.

And why? All because Celtic couldnae say to the Italians that they trust their distribution method of the tickets and who would end up with them.

Makes you glad they value and trust oor support eh?

Into the Valley

I have absolutely nothing against Dunfermline. They don’t get ma loins stirring like a Hearts or a Motherwell. I canny find nothing to hate aboot them. While I hope they don’t win on Saturday, I hope they stay up as they are more deserving cases for relegation, again see Hearts or Motherwell.

Their new coach Stephen Kenny, strikes me as an affable man, good in the interview and has some guid ideals which in the long term the pars might benefit from. He handles the spectre of the so called Fife bard in Jim Leishamn hanging over his shoulder very well while most would want to tell him to get stuffed wie his dodgy rhymes.

Another thing that has impressed me aboot Kenny is that he hasn’t went back and plundered his old clubs for players to get Dunfermline oot a hole. Other clubs, most notably Motherwell, have taken advantage of the fact the Irish league play in the summer and January was their close season. Kenny could have quite easily went and plundered his Derry City side offering his ex-players double of treble what they were earning- or supposed to be earning judging by the financial plight of the Irish league.

This would have been an easy out for him as I don’t think the Irish players would struggle in the SPL and Derry’s performances in Europe maybe showed that they could have flourished in oor league. Instead he stuck wie what he got and signed Scottish- I noticed he signed Tam McManus, the Riordan before Riordan, this week, that wee bugger always scores against us- in a bid to beat the drop.

Now while the Irish invasion may still happen when they end up in the 1st division and the financial realities bite I’m glad that he has gave the Scottish waste of spaces the time to dig themselves oot the hole they got themselves in.

Anyway, could they get a result on Saturday? They are playing a team wie one eye on Milan, a title in the bag and nae centre forwards. We are struggle for form and it will be interesting to see what kind of side GS puts oot.

One things for sure anything other than a professional performance and we could be looking at the pars winning at CP for the second time in 14 months.

Forza The Hoops, who are looking to Milan while not thinking aboot the Pars.