Normal Order Resumed In Scotland As Celtic Conquer Europe (Again!)

It would be easy to get distracted with a fan running onto the pitch and doing something daft as that would take away from the monumental victory Celtic had against the best team in Europe. The same team which struggled to stop Celtic earlier this year.

Celtic have replaced legendary figures such as Lennon and Petrov with equally worthy first team additions. Celtic went a long time without buying first team players but the arrival of Donati and Scott Brown have propelled Celtic to a new place.

Scott Brown was the most sought after player in the last year in Scotland. Let's not get away from that. You can sign your Whittakers, Thomsons, and Naismiths for 2m each but when it comes to the real deal Celtic slapped down the cash. Lawwell slapped down the cash and met the asking price by Hibs and we're seeing that Brown is a steal at 4.4m quid. An absolute steal, not only financially but because he's the player Rangers F.C. lusted after.

So what of the new look Rangers. It can't be forgotten that they performed well for part of the Stuttgart game. Sure you can't ignore the fact that Stuttgart are the German Champions but when you consider their stuttering performances of late, with them losing 0-2 at home tonight, showing there's more to it than a simply awesome Gers revival.

Then you have to look at the Lyon result and admit that is superb whatever way you paint it. Interestingly, Rangers apologist Gerry McNee was in the paper saying that Lyon were truly pathetic at home on Tuesday night. Usually McNee will deliver a Rangers sermon which will be a wonderful eulogy to the passing of the performance but not this week. This hints at something not being right in Rangersland.

One can more easily see the raw situation with the initially ruthless Rangers getting these results in Europe and then suddenly misfiring on the domestic front. This is generally where article writers such as McNee are coming from in that they see the writing on the wall and even the usual furious writing of excuses won't save them.

Spare a thought for poor Walter Smith though. Here's a guy who is a tactical dud in Europe who got lucky in season 1992/93. His last season during the 10IAR that wasn't has long been forgotten. You have a guy who couldn't do it back then and now he's at the helm again. Two games gone and 6 points in the bag can only mean one inevitable result. History is against Rangers from this point forward and every bear knows that.

What of our UEFA Cup reps? Let's not waste anytime. Aberdeen are rubbish and will get humped by the next unpronounceable team they are drawn against but at least they scored a goal.

So where does that leave Celtic? We just happen to be sitting comfortably in 2nd place and are about to play the mickey mouse team of the SPL so anything less than a tanking will be hearsay. We will be back on top in this decade of Celtic where we belong by dinner time Sunday. If you remember, we're now on course to be a goal and a point from 7IAR this season which is simply amazing.

We have also just gubbed Milan who are the Champions of Europe. The number uno club in the world containing the best player in the universe in Kaka, yet a 700k FCM player brings them to their knees.

Life is sweet in timland.

Paul Le Gone!

Scotland's #2 club has plunged into their biggest crisis of 134 years with a non-stop period of embarrassment and humiliation at the hands of individuals who have caused infighting on a level never before seen in this country.

Even at the bleakest period in Celtic's history when John Barnes was thrown from the revolving door at Paradise and landed in the car park doesn't compare to the constant aggravation a club which can't be at peace with itself continues to portray.

Rangers have been in bother since Sir David Murray failed to back Alex McLeash this time last year with the 48m raised from giving away the retail outlet to JJB Sports. Had Big Eck been given that cash then he would have taken Rangers further than the last 16 place in the Champions League. Indeed, it isn't unreasonable to assume that they could have reached at least the semi-final given they were undefeated against the Spanish team Villareal, who themselves were unlucky not to be Finalists.

It's against that backdrop that the entry of Paul Le Guen, with a treble of French league trophies, breezed into Ibrox. According to the daily comics, Le Guen was a much-lusted after coach who could have chosen any team to go to on the Continent. They argued that he snubbed Real Madrid when he got the Rangers Calling. Well, there's not a lot you can do to chose between those two.

After all, Celtic have the same ability to bring talent like Roy Keane, who snubbed Madrid for Paradise, and Thomas Gravesen who we swooped for from Spain in August, so who are we to disbelieve that Rangers are Celtic's equal in this regard?

So we were set up with the most desired manager ever at the Rangers helm to build on McLeash's success and we started to see this with the amazing signings that Le Guen brought in.

Moonbeams aside, the ability to recruit first team players from Austria Vienna is not something that every club has an ability to do. That each and every signing made by Le Guen turned out to be a class one dud is of no surprise to many tims who looked, shook their head, and then laughed.

Le Guen's record basically speaks for itself. He won less that 50% of his games and was gone in a shorter time span than Barnes but has been met with friction, resistance, and downright insubordination to his rules and regulations.

If you look closely at Rangers you will see that Le Guen is the victim of a cancer which is growing within Rangers F.C. This club once was the biggest in Scotland and their fans still demand the same level of spending to try to be Celtic's equal. Rangers fans hate Murray for what he did to the club through the wasted Advocaat years. Then his refusal to back Big Eck by putting money into the club like those hard working bears have is the final straw for many.

Add to this, you now have an ex-captain who has never been accepted for fleeing Ibrox for the first EPL club which came calling and his sheepish return after that flop and his inability to match his level of play before he left has made him the hated figure some see him as.

Then you've got the same player who has consistently undermined his new boss by trying to create unrest in the dressing room and on the field of play by telling players what to do and how to play counter to his manager's instructions. Barry Ferguson is a disruptive influence who has gotten his manager into bother causing the Chairman to have to chose between him and his manager.

By backing his former captain, Murray has made Le Guen's position untenable and forced him out of the club. For somebody who claims to not sack managers, it's hard to tell with the third occupant to the managerial chair in less than a year - or 4 if you count Durrant taking temporary charge.

So what of the current situation. Manager-less Rangers are now trying to sign Webster and the Hibs duo. Who is making these decisions by meddling in team affairs? How can you buy players without a manager? If this was any other club, such as Hearts with Romanov or Celtic, then the hypocritical press poodles would be going ballistic. But even in the darkest hour at Ibrox you see a restrained adherence to the natural order. Some will speak out of line and get whipped in the long term, but the majority will meekly applaud as Murray is seen as a hero for righting wrongs at the club.

So who to be the successor by drinking from the poison chalice at Ibrox? The front runners are the "Dream Team" of Sally McCoist and Walter Smith, with some combination of Stuart McCall and John Broon to give the back room some "muscle."

This is totally flabbergasting. McCoist is being groomed as the successor, they claim, with Smith being Director of Football "upstairs." Now, tapping of the Scotland management team aside, what credentials does Sally have to think he could manage Rangers where Le Guen failed? He's never been a manager before and the jovial and laugh a minute McCoist isn't the personality nor the tactician to pick Rangers out of the sewer.

Appointing McCoist and Smith is doomed to failure and generally suggests a mark of desperation given the French Revolution ended with Rangers getting their head chopped off. A total shambles doesn't even begin to describe it and it's only the fourth day of 2007.

Happy New Year, Rangers!

Unhappy Christmas For Tims Coming Up

It would be easy to think that going to Ibrox at this time of year will land Celtic with three gift wrapped points and 19 points of a distance between them and their smaller rivals, but that is wishful thinking.

While in the recent past Rangers have often entertained the spirit of goodwill by giving us enough points to bring a smile to timdom, the air of complacency currently settling over Celtic Park will cause us to be in for a rude awakening on Sunday.

Celtic are currently focused on bigger things than the Old Firm game because we just had the draw for the last 16 of the CL. Celtic, being the first British club to win the European Champions Cup in 1967, are rightfully back where they belong amongst Europe's elite.

Drawing Milan puts us amongst the unknown element as the Italians have an aged team which is made up of many of the team who were lucky to beat Celtic in the group stages 2 years ago at the San Siro. Back then their central defence had a combined age of 70 so they are likely to have a defence which has a total combined age of 140 by now.

With the speed and firepower Celtic have in attack with Jan Venegoor of Hesselink and Kenny Miller, we are almost certain to cause panic and mayhem on the park with Milan. If we beat them by a couple of goals - even 1-0 will do - then you absolutely have to fancy Celtic to score away to them at least.

Celtic have a reasonable away record in European qualifiers if you ignore Basele and Artmedia away. We've recently beaten Ajax away and won convincingly in Budapest, so all this nonsense of not winning away in the CL is just that - nonsense.

So what of the Old Firm game. Rangers are in the last 32 of the UEFA Cup at this point. In the old days of the UEFA Cup, before the nonsense of the "groups" where you play each team only once, Rangers would have been in the second round of the UEFA Cup.

So when guys like Ferguson and Smith (or whoever the kid was) says Rangers can do a "Celtic" and reach the Final of the UEFA Cup then who are we to disbelieve them. Rangers is a team filled with quality players who are starting to get their game together.

This was shown by the flawless performance against Hibs last week where clinical finishing and precision passing destroyed the best footballing team in Scotland. Contrast that to Celtic, who have struggled away from home on every occasion this season and you see the current trend.

The Hooped Ones struggled to snatch a draw at Easter Rd a few weeks ago and we embarrassed ourselves against Dunfermline last week. Not a lot is going right for Celtic and when you consider that the last time Kenny Miller scored in the SPL was against Rangers at Celtic Park then you can see the extent of the real problem - strikers who can't score.

So it's for this reason that Rangers are pretty much guaranteed to win this six pointer. Our defence is probably at its most vulnerable for many a year so we could be in for a gubbin of Artmedia proportions.

I fear for Us on Sunday.

Big Guns All Through To Last 16

While disappointing to not get another win in a nothing CL game, it can't be forgotten that Celtic done all the hard graft before tonight. Resting players is always a temptation that Europe's top sides have to evaluate and Strachan is no different.

Putting Nakamura on the bench when he is currently the best midfielder in Britain is always a difficult choice but we have one eye on the big SPL games coming up against Rangers in a game or two.

We can always take a break from the domestic drudgery, but we can't forget that the reason we're in a position to qualify from the CL groups is all down to our dominating the League Championship for the last 10 years.

Next week when we draw our opposition from one of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Milan, Lyon, or Valencia, we would do well to remember that those teams will need to come and play us in the second leg. There is no more terrifying an arena in the world than Celtic Park.

We will probably have won the League by the time we play these games at the end of February but by then we'll have spent a chunk of the Petrov fee and used some of the money from the CL run this year. Who we buy will be interesting.

Bobo isn't the rock he once was. While he is still recovering from injury you have to ask if he or Caldwell is really the answer. Caldwell is a liability after he sold the Benfica game away. In the middle of the park we had Jarosik and Gravesen who together are not the answer. We definitely need Nakamura's creative influence balanced with Lennon's predatory defensive midfield duties. Upfront we were without JVoH who would have been better suited for tonight.

So who of our opponents? The weak links in the list are Lyon and Chelsea. You'd have to fancy going through against either of those two given Mourinho's ego problem and Lyon being an unknown lot.

We'd probably want to avoid our old foes of Liverpool, Valencia, and Milan. It's Bayern Munich and Arsenal we should fear. Getting either of those two gives us no chance, any of the middle mob will need us to score a couple away and Chelsea/Lyon are the teams we shouldn't fear.

We can worry about the CL quarter-finals afterwards.

We're Through To The Last 16

1) All you WGS doubters should apologize now.

2) Who says you need to win away matches?

3) Celtic qualify with dignity. Not embarrassment.

4) Superb performances by every Hooped Hero tonight

5) God Bless Celtic

Celtic Close In On Greatness

15 days ago Celtic swept Benfica aside in Paradise in a display of football which hasn't been seen for many a night. Under MON Celtic played a game which played to our strengths, but Strachan's Celtic Team Two has an added dimension of killer pace upfront.

The second goal from Celtic V Benfica in a sweeping break from their opponent's corner is probably one of the greatest goals ever seen in Scotland. The speed and directness of the goal and the clinical finishing shown by Kenny Miller that night is still amazing to watch in re-runs.

Shaun Maloney has developed into such an influential attacking midfielder that he could become almost as brilliant a player as Paul McStay. McStay at his peak was probably one of the best midfielders in the world so for Maloney to be in such company isn't to be sniffed at.

Kenny Miller himself is turning into the type of forward that his former team desperately need. Le Guen's Rangers have plummeted to the depths of Celtic during the Brady/Macari era, with David Murray's barricading himself in the Boardroom of Ibrox being reminiscent of the situation of the old board at Celtic.

A broken team, a weak manager, and a fan base who are ready for car park demonstrations is all so different to the Celtic position recently announced financially and footballing wise by Chairman Quinn. Celtic are in such a dominant position over Rangers at this time that Murray's failure to spend even 2 quid for every 10 quid Celtic spend has the usually loyal press cohorts turning their crayons on their former Master.

It is a situation made worse by the fact Celtic have a pile of money to spend in the January transfer window. When you consider we have found a gem of a midfielder in Evander Sno, who has just been called into the Dutch squad, and have an embarrassment of riches all over the field you could almost take pity on the poor bears who see Celtic getting stronger as their team gets weaker.

Rangers lie in a seeming position of disrepair compared to Celtic's position as financial kings of the SPL, and when you compare the Murray Park conveyor belt of talent to the players who are emerging today at Celtic Park then the picture looks all the more depressing.

If you do the numbers you will see Celtic are basically a goal and a point away from 7IAR. We're well on our way to winning this year's title and you have essentially had a decade of dominance of Celtic over Rangers, with the odd flurry from Rangers in between.

And Celtic are only getting stronger.

So what of the away game against Benfica. If ManUtd win and Celtic take a point then both British teams would progress to the last 16. While we haven't won away for 10 CL group games, the law of averages says it has to happen eventually, and what more appropriate location than Lisbon?

Celtic, returning to their spiritual home when they became the first British (and only Scottish) club to win the European Champions Cup, are in as good a position as we've ever been. We've been robbed before when an accidental hand ball led to a penalty away to Lyon three minutes from time, then another stolen penalty in the away game to Juventus 5 years ago robbed us of our rightful progressing.

Tonight is the night we return to the place we have been on sabbatical from. We will get at least a point and return to Scotland as legends.

Lennon The Hero For Celtic

There is no better player in the Celtic team than Neil Lennon over the past couple of games. This guy gives 100% every time and has constantly shown he is a stand out in Europe and against our lesser Glasgow opponents. Tonight, as with Saturday, he was simply superb.

There are those who would toss him from the side at every opportunity just as there are those who don't really grasp what he does. His classic role is to guard our backline by breaking up the opponent's attacks or push them away from goal.

One good example of this tonight is his ability to push an opponent out onto the wing with a run which guided the Copenhagan player away from goal. Lennon might not be the fastest but his positional sense and his ability to draw out the other players in the Celtic team are more important than raw pace.

Lennon is second to none in the holding role.

Now, Celtic have positioned themselves well in the CL group stages with a good win over the Danes. This team was made to look rather ordinary despite the fact they had major height advantage and were meant to be decent passers of the ball. They looked like an ordinary SPL side like Rangers.

Whlie it was 1-0 going on 4-0, you can't overlook the missing player Jan Venegoor of Hesselink. What a talent this striker is and him being missing meant we were at an extreme disadvantage. It's equivalent to when we were missing Larsson during the glory years in Europe of MON.

But tonight Miller ran the line in fine fashion running himself into the ground for the cause. He is a totally team driven player whom is so focused on the result than selfish self-interest. A guy who has overcome the criticism to start to emerge in the Celtic team. His goal scoring statistics are starting to look impressive. In the last 2 international games and his last two club games, he's scored 4 times which is the level of consistency which separates him from the likes of Kris Boyd.

With the Danes taken care of, we are now sitting on three points after two games, with Man Utd on top with 2 wins. Benfica stand between Celtic and a place in the next round of the CL. If we beat them at Celtic Park and grab a point away then we will be sitting pretty for the visit of Man Utd in game 5. We will get at least a point from that game as Man Utd will already have qualified on 12 points, and we'll be on at 8 or 10 points.

So we can probably qualify for the next round by game 5 which will be impressive. I took a look at Benfica tonight against a stuttering ManUtd side. The Portuguese side did not look too clever, no matter what lofty and misguided reputation they seem to have gained from their lucky run last season in the CL. They looked pretty ordinary and offered no real way back once they went behind.

So, if it goes to plan we'll be nicely setup for future rounds in Europe. Overall, it's going according to plan, and, again, Strachan deserves the plaudits for what he is doing this season.

I watched the game tonight on the uefa.com website. Talk about an amazing experience. They showed the teams warming up and the transmision was as smooth as a pint of Guinness sipped at a pub in Dublin.