SENTINELCELTS

Morning,all. 

Ange’s stormtroopers did us proud on Sunday,sending their opponents homewards tae think again. And they have six weeks to think long and hard about everything that they did wrong in the lead-up to the match,during it,and afterwards too. 

Was it downright stupid for Beale and his players to be so disrespectful to Celtic and,particularly,their manager? Calling Ange lucky was laughable and so off target that the volley aimed by Beale swiftly turned round and honed in on the new manager himself. The folly of it was dissected on phone-ins,podcasts,articles on sites such as this and even in the press and on TV. 

The only place where he was lauded for it,rather predictably,was in the huns own random fandom looney tunes world,where every dig at us is a masterstroke and the sign of a genius at work. No,it is another sign of why they need to think again about everything they do,and they could make a start by concentrating on their own strengths and weaknesses. 

Was it rank stupidity for Fashion Icon/Victim/Sakala to refer to us as the other mob? See the above response about Beale’s comment for that one. This is a player who has had one good game against us. It came when we lost our first choice left back and replaced him with a right back whose mind was already elsewhere while his body might as well have been packing the suitcases for all the good he did that day. And it is important to remember that his own mob didn’t even win that day and were probably lucky to avoid defeat after Goldson’s little game of pat-a-cake was condoned or ignored by Beaton. 

Thinks he’s a world-beater entitled to mouth off at players who actually do have the medals in the display cabinet? Another one who went home to think again after yesterday,suitably chastened by his superior opponents on the day. 

Of course,they and anyone else Chez Ibrox don’t realise the error of their ways. They are after all only doing what is expected of them by their bosses. That’s their bosses in the boardroom and their bosses in the stands. It’s a helluva life,but that is the business they are in. Playing to the masses-oops!-who literally pay their wages,one way or another. But how can you play to the likes of them when they celebrate a cup final victory or a title win like it is V-Day all over again,yet leave the site of their celebration party looking like Hiroshima a few months later? 

Who,only a few months after reaching the final of a European trophy,hoist a banner in the stands demanding that standards must be reaffirmed after only two trophies in eleven years? Admittedly,it is the first time their fans have publicly declared they are a new club of only eleven years standing,but how many new clubs anywhere have achieved such glory in such a short time?

No,don’t be silly. This isn’t praise-it’s a backhanded compliment and a slap in the face for their fans,one they have so much difficulty trying to explain or justify. (I love it,it plays with their disjointed neural functions and usually ends up with them sticking their fingers in their ears and screaming-“Can’t hear you!” You should try it,hours of fun can be had with them.)

Or the really low point of walking onto the pitch on Sunday wearing their Sunday finest which unfortunately breached the accepted protocol of commemorating the occasion by omitting any mention of their opponents? Sent home to think again? What were they thinking of in the first place? That is such a cheap shot,such a low blow,that whoever came up with it should be named,shamed,paraded and publicly pilloried. 

Dignity FC,my arse. Their good ship Dignity is holed below the waterline and it is all of their own doing. Ange and his merry men simply turn up and swat them aside,like Ange does with journos at a presser or The Evil Genius on a media gig. They set them up,our Bhoys finish them off. And all the time,their fanboys,the fans with a typewriter as they were once disdainfully known by proper journalists,hail them as geniuses on and off the pitch. 

Though not all the time,as Keith Jackson proved yesterday in one of the bitterest fanboy rants ever published anywhere. This was a pleasure to read,but actually painful to dissect as you did so. Clearly the thoughts of an utterly disillusioned fan-thought there is no truth in the rumour that it was him burning his “55” rag on a clothes pole out the back door. It genuinely read like the work of someone experiencing a painful and distressing breakdown,except once you remembered it was by Jacko it just read like someone forgetting to attach a breathalyser kit to his device,and also being too blootered to remember to read back before pressing the send button. So bad in fact that my first thought was that David Legatt had got his old job back.

Perhaps The Daily Record should have taken a lesson from their sister paper,The Daily Mirror,back in the eighties. When their star columnist was unable to fulfil the contractual requirement of meeting a deadline,they simply explained it to their readers with “Jeffrey Barnard Is Unwell”. The readers understood then,and we would understand now. I should know,I once published an article after a defeat which consisted simply of “You all saw it.” What more could be said?

But to us,and this was a cup final which we won,not just one that they offered us on a plate. We weathered their early storm in each half,got our act together and began to create the chances. That only Kyogo on the day was able to take any was down to poor finishing,bad decision making,simple bad luck at times. Their goal came from probably their only decent chance,and their portly scorer was subbed shortly afterwards. I hope he broke his foot off the chair that,manchild that he is,he gave a good seeing to on the way off. 

Our display wasn’t as good as it could have been,our performance might have been lacking an edge at times. Our game management though was outstanding. That is an aspect of the game that grown ups have,the big boys at the big table. It is one that we have been missing too often in Europe for instance,but if we are learning it as we improve and gel,then it brings us serious hope of a breakthrough there sometime soon. 

But that wasn’t the most pleasing aspect of our day,pleasure though it undoubtedly was. No,that was the simple fact of sending them homewards tae think again,as it always is when we beat them. But with the special pleasure of knowing that Sunday,for them,was probably as good as it gets. 

The confetti shares are in the past,their best players are out of contract soon,their fans are up in arms,and they are on a UEFA FSR watchlist. They can think again all they like,but they are in a vice of their own making. And the view is not a pretty one. 

Which is a pleasant way to finish the article,really. 

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Above article by BMCUWP