Strachan Gets His Man

There can be fewer inspired signings than this transfer coup less than 48 hours before the transfer window slams shut. Let it not be said that Gordon Strachan is a man who doesn't have his pulse on the transfer market. He is a mover who makes things happen.

When you consider some of the duds that Martin O'Neill embarrassed Celtic with, such as Juninho, Henri Camara, and Craig Bellamy, then you can see the pedigree of the latest recruit to the youthful ranks of Celtic.

Where Celtic were a considered an aging team under MON, Strachan has went for the heart of this problem by recruiting players in their youth, at the prime of their career. Guys like Paul Telfer & Roy Keane join Dion Dublin with years in front of them.

What brilliant work to bring in Dublin as a replacement for the aged Chris Sutton. Moving on a 32 year old is the key to it all. No wonder Celtic are laughing at Birmingham's expense.

And no wonder Celtic are laughing at the rest of Scottish football. We solved our defensive woes with a masterstroke which is up there with the stuff which made David Murray the majestic transfer genius we know and love.

But Murray's duff signings have been overshadowed by a player who is too good for a relegation cert team from The Championship. This is almost as good a signing as Mo Camara.

To think Rangers have had to make do with a dodgy striker with a girl's name signing for them and are still lumbered with scoring sensation Francis Jeffers.

I mean, who the heck would you chose: Jeffers or Dublin?

We must be favourites to go to Ibrox next month and get slaughtered. Our defences average age is almost 150!

Old Firm Manipulation By The Media

The best thing for the media is to continually pit Celtic and Rangers against one another in a manner which creates conflict, discontent, and bitterness. It allows them to continue to do business by selling newspapers.

The general outline of a move for a player will show both Old Firm teams in for a player; when the player signs there is an account of where the other tried to steal the signing at the eleventh hour; when the first interview from the player occurs the media try to get a quote which alludes to snubbing the other Old Firm club; finally, when the player makes his Old Firm debut then you have the story of how the opposition fans will react to the debut.

This is a tired old routine churned in and out in a story-starved media who need to create stories rather than reporting on facts.

So when you have the likes of Kenny Miller signing for both sides of the Old Firm during his career you have further cranking up of the drama of how the player will never be accepted by the mythical "boo bhoys" or "baracking bears" who are talked about of burning scarves and ripping up tickets outside their club's ground.

It's a pretty sad state of affairs as this is ground which has been gone over and over before and the majority of Old Firm fans couldn't give a damn about the players background.

So, media, stop concentrating on irrelevant events and do something like technical analysis of how the player has developed over his career or report some other facts which fans CARE about.

Kenny Miller's prior clubs should be irrelevant to his future success in Paradise.

2006: Happy New Horror, Celtic

2006 isn't even 2 weeks old but already Celtic have been plunged into a double crisis after a horror showing at Broadwood Stadium and with the news that some of their top players were caught engaged in dubious song singing.

This writer observed a couple of weeks ago that Celtic's defence was due a gubbing of fair proportions and it's worth saying that Clyde did not disappoint. Not that we can take anything away from The Bully Wee's performance. They outplayed, outclassed, and outfought as lacklusture a Celtic performance as there has ever been.

Celtic met new depths this weekend in this game but some of the over the top reaction and hysterical hyperbole truly needs some people to get a grip. This was a freak result that caused Celtic to get caught cold. They didn't show Clyde the respect they deserved and along with 2 debutants should be a game which is put into proper context.

Celtic have been sinking for several weeks but this one was not the one which knocks the stuffing out of the Strachan juggernaut. That battlefield will be decided in the Scottish Premierleague not is some town whose name escapes me. What's it called, again?

On the topic of this being the worst defeat in the history of the Old Firm, that honour still goes to the game involving Berwick who knocked a team who were to go on to contest a European Final that same season. Celtic are hardly European class, like Rangers are, these days.

So, how about debut bhoy Roy Keane? If this performance is anything to go by, Keano will be an angry guy. As a well-known perfectionist, the Cork man does not mince words when it comes to lethargy. Let's hope he gives some of the Celtic players a rocket up the arse for the Killie game.

Further trauma for Celtic came in the form of a poor quality video which allegedly has John Hartson and Stephen Pearson doing things which they should probably regret. The morally outraged on one gutter level Rangers web forum even orchestrated a campaign to bring the dodgy video to the attention of the Scottish press, who weren't exactly clamouring over one another to print a shocking indictment once they saw the "evidence."

Clearly the outing of Donald Findlay is still fresh in their minds as the video didn't exactly implicate Hartson and Pearson in anything more than heresay and attempts to implicate their actions in some way which is counter-intuitive to most normal folks.

The ghost of Findlay does run deep and fresh in the minds of some. There were even some mad rantings of accusing Aiden McGeady of getting up to similar shennanigans even though he wasn't in said video. Such hatred is not very healthy, folks!

Goodbye To A Wonderful Celtic Player

The end of an era was reached today when Martin O'Neill's first signing Chris Sutton finally left after 5 and a half years of Glory. Sutton was a 6m pounds capture from Chelsea at a time when his signature was in demand in the EPL, right after Marko Viduka had fled Paradise for a second time.

Sutton's value to Celtic is immeasurable. Where Henrik Larsson is the most valued signing the Scottish game has ever seen, Sutton followed a close second. With him and the Swede is attack we taught Scottish football to fear Us.

When you consider his versatility, he was such an excellent all round player up there in the Roy Aitken mold. The guy could play any outfield position better than those who specialized in it, and he often put his opponent to shame.

In Scotland, Sutton is the player who brought Rangers to their knees and finally extinguished the untruths about their invincibility, ruthlessly exposing them for the pretenders they were in the Legendary 6-2 Humping II. A match which still causes every bear to break out in a cold sweat.

Sutton's arrival in Paradise came at a time where we had reached the lowest level since 1994. We were a broken side who were is severe crisis, but Sutton's confidence and refusal to bow down to those who demanded it was the back bone which hauled Celtic from the depths of Scottish dispair to the very peak of European Greatness.

Where his first goal in the 6-2 mauling of Rangers was the beginning, his flying header against Stuttgart in Germany on our run to the UEFA Cup Final typified the born winner that Chris Sutton is.

The guy is pure class and not afraid to speak his mind, no matter how it upset the Establishment. If it wasn't highlighting that Rangers were there for the taking, it was shining the light on Scotland's little side arrangements of wee clubs doing favours for their Ibrox superiors.

Sutton spoke the unmentionable and didn't know his place like he was expected to. This rubbed the noses of certain individuals up the wrong way but those individuals were not even bold enough to rubbish these issues as they are facts.

So just as a Legendary manager has left us, so to does our best player. All I can add is good luck to him and may be a success at Birmingham City and let's hope Strachan has got it right by allowing him to leave.

Those tims who want to remember Sutton at his very best should search out the DVD published last season in tribute to this brilliant player.