Getting a bit sloppy but time is ticking. Donāt want to jinx anything but weāve every chance of hanging on here.
How come Scott Brown is playing? I thought he was off for surgery after the Spartak game.
Fuck that was close
Good save Forster.
Kayal unlucky at the other end, another good save. Real cup tie.
Big save from Forster. We got caught 3 v 1 at the back there.
Surgery has been cancelled after further consultation between the medical team, management and Brown. Heās adamant that heās feeling much better in recent weeks. Seems an odd enough one.
must be one of those injuries that constant work done in the gym on the core area can prevent operationā¦its times like these youĀ“d miss S&C guru Kev around the place to provide a more definitive answerā¦
I hereby withdraw my support of Celtic.
Never knew you were a supporter up to now, pal.
Great news.
Good, the last thing we need are bandwagoner johnnycomelately fans like Bomber
Mo Bangura has returned to Celtic after AIK turned down the chance to extend his loan spell. He scored 5 times in 15 appearances over there.
The reputable and influential Football Italia website are linking Juventus with a January move for Gary Hooper.
McCourt linked with a move to Portland Timbers.
Lennon named sky sports manager of the year.
Makes an even bigger joke of the fact that he wasnāt even nominated for the Irish one that Billy Walsh won.
http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11096/8344915/Football-review-2012
Splendid interview with Neil in The Guardian today.
Iām in the pub. carryharry, copy and paste please.
Carryharry is asleep at the wheel so Iāll take over Bandage:
Fri 21 December 2012
Neil Lennon has never been one to seek endorsements of his professional ability. If he ever did, however, the Celtic manager could take confidence from the admiration afforded to him by the most respected manager in British football.
Celticās season, which has featured a victory over arguably the best team ever, Barcelona, as well as progression to the last 16 of the Champions League, could not have started better. On one Sunday afternoon in August, Sir Alex Ferguson paid a visit to Celticās training ground and, in doing so, played a part in Lennonās coaching development.
āHe gave us two hours of his time, which he didnāt have to do, and I thought it was a brilliant gesture,ā Lennon says. "It was in the privacy of a room at the training ground, just myself and my backroom staff, some tea and pancakes.
āHe was in great form. He has given us little titbits along the way for the Champions League games. Iām not saying that has got us over the line, but every little bit helps. He was one of the only managers to write me a letter when we won the championship in May and Iāll be eternally grateful to him for that, as well.ā
Celticās training ground is an enthusiastic, confident environment at the moment. The success in the Champions League, where Juventus await in February, and the virtually certain defence of the Scottish Premier League are crucial to that. Looking back to how they got there, Lennon refers both to his maiden title win as Celtic manager and progression through the Champions Leagueās qualifying stage as āpivotalā.
āYou never get fully comfortable in any managerial role but you get more confident with success like that in the background,ā he says. "I got fed up with people saying: āHeās a young manager and heāll make mistakes.ā
āOld managers make mistakes: Wenger makes mistakes, Ferguson makes mistakes, Mourinho makes mistakes. So what do people call them? Before winning the league, I felt like I was on probation. It has been a massive year for me, personally.ā
Perhaps there was prescience from Ferguson in noting that Lennonās managerial stock would soon be on the rise. Just as a clutch of Celtic players ā Victor Wanyama and Gary Hooper among them ā have received admiring glances from England, it is logical to suggest Lennon, too, could be coaxed to a more lucrative environment. Yet, in a nod towards the continued allure of Celtic, Lennon stresses it is wrong to suggest he would be tempted south by finance alone. āPeople speak about that but I havenāt had one phone call,ā Lennon says. "I have an agent who would have told me if there was any interest or even a whiff of it.
"And even then, it would take a lot for me to be tempted. It would have to be a club where there is the same substance to the job as I have here. That might not be in England, it might be abroad, but it would have to be a hell of an offer and a hell of a club to take me away from here at the minute.
"I really want to put the club at the forefront of European football again. Now that is a huge challenge because we are up against it financially, but it is one I enjoy.
"Other places wouldnāt give you the same buzz. You would really have to go to a Champions League club to match what you have here. The opportunity to win trophies and the exposure you get at Celtic is something only maybe five or six clubs in England could match. The intensity of life here is something Iām used to, Iām institutionalised in it. In Glasgow, there is always a challenge.
āSomething else coming up isnāt something I think about. Itās nice to have people patting you on the back but it lasts a month until your next bad result, and people go away and talk about somebody else.ā
Lennon speaks through uncomfortable experience. He left Glasgow once before, for a brief playing spell at Nottingham Forest. āI just couldnāt get my head around it at all, which was my own fault,ā he recalled. āThere was a lack of intensity, a humdrum lifestyle of a footballer down there.ā
Scotlandās own football landscape has been altered significantly by the removal of Rangers from the top flight and, therefore, the routine Glasgow derbies.
āI donāt particularly miss the to-ing and fro-ing,ā Lennon admits. āI think everybody misses the build up to the game itself and the raw energy that those matches bring but as a manager I donāt miss them because they are not a nice experience at times. When you win, you just feel a pressure release and when you lose you are in a dark place for two or three days. People on the outside, the supporters, love all that theatre. Me? Iām happy without it.ā
And in the inevitable circumstance that the Glasgow duo meet again, will things be different? "I think it will be. I donāt think Rangers are as strong on the pitch and I donāt think they are as strong an institution as they once were.
āAnd we are, we have got stronger. We have got better on the pitch and the revenue we have brought in this year will leave us financially stable for a long, long time. I donāt know the ins and outs of Rangers, I just look at their team and it has been significantly weakened because of all the big players who have gone.ā
Lennon is more content, too, with a relative serenity around his private life after the string of threats which earlier endangered his safety. Eight months ago, two men were jailed for five years each after being found guilty of sending suspect packages to Lennon and two other high-profile Celtic supporters. āI think those guys getting put away in April has become a deterrent for anybody else. Things havenāt been as bad for me, which has made life a lot easier,ā Lennon said.
"I think without the Rangers-Celtic thing there has become more banter than anything sinister. At times when the two teams are competing for things there seems to be more of an edge to the sectarian element.
āThis is my job and I love my job. There were days when I thought about rapping it but you see the players progressing, you come here close the door and get on with your work. You realise there arenāt many better jobs in the world. Do you really need to give it up? I was well looked after security-wise, had to put up with a bit of crap here and there but as long as the security people tell you that you arenāt in imminent danger, you just get on with things.ā
Lennon remains more eloquent, erudite and engaging than many have routinely given him credit for. Should his detractors be in the Northern Irishmanās company for 10 minutes, they would acknowledge that. Still, the image of Lennon as a hot-head is one that irks the man himself .
āKenny Shiels and Steve Lomas [in charge of Kilmarnock and St Johnstone, respectively] at the minute are in trouble with the SFA. They are seen as a breath of fresh air for calling things as they see it, whereas Iām perceived as lāenfant terrible or the thug on the touchline. Itās the perception people have,ā Lennon said. "It has bothered me because I was just, like Kenny, trying to be as honest as I could.
"If you look at my results over my three years in charge, we have been pretty successful here. I know how to get a winning team on the pitch more times than not and I think thatās the most important thing.
"That doesnāt give me the right to behave in a certain manner but I think I have toned that down as well. There are still times when you will lose your temper, when you donāt think referees are having a good game. Now people donāt perceive me as making as big a fuss about it. Other managers do worse than me without getting the negative publicity that I would get.
āThis isnāt me bleating about it, itās just a fact of life. I keep going back to the Celtic managerās manual; people keep telling me I canāt do this, canāt do that. Where is this green book that I need to read? You stamp your own personality on the job and take it from there.ā
Lennon has done that. And some. Just as intriguing as Celticās upcoming games with Juventus is the question of how far their managerās talents and ambitions can take him.
Scoreless at half time at home to Ross County today.
Playing 4-3-1-2 with Hooper behind Samaras and Lassad. Brown and Kayal narrow on either side of Wanyama and both pushing forward and weāve been quite open and lacked structure.
They missed two great chances - one from a punt forward and another on the break - and they really should have taken one of them. Forster saved on each occasion but they were both tentative efforts.
Kayalās probably been our best player - very busy and tidy and had a couple of decent long range efforts. Hooper had a good headed effort saved and weāve had plenty of balls knocked along the 6-yard box that havenāt found one of our players.
Forrest is back on the bench today after being out for a couple of months.
Just gone 1 upā¦