Lotw Diary

The festive season is in full flow, drinking, merriment, tomfoolery and the chance to get some blackmail material on yer boss at the xmas party. Next time he pulls me up aboot ma “net” time, i will remind him aboot Janine the skill seeker.......see the pluses of being sober....

While oor defence has resembled a drunken office party, trawling round the trendy wine bars of the toon centre, UEFA decided that they would combine their xmas jolly wie the Champions League and WAFFA cup draws.....so at this point all here at LOTW would like to say C’mon the Tifilli- which is Greek for The Shamrocks.....proddie schools ye canny beat them, eh Duffield?

So, we all wanted Madrid, but the man from UEFA- David Taylor ex SFA munkie- said no, no and a further no. Here, "have Barca yah taigs” i’m sure I heard him comment on Five live. Joking there obviously.

When the name crackled through the airwaves, I was disappointed. Four times we have played them since 2004. The Cules of Catalonia will be calling Scotland their holiday home they have been here that often. Of course the suits, in the bunker underneath the main stand counting the shillings will be pleased. It only took them an hour and a half to put ticket information on the website.... and I’m sure the chance to shift the annoying half Celtic and Barca scarf’s, that have been gather dust in the bowls of the Celtic Superstore.

“We know Juan Laporta, we know his team well and I think in terms of the clubs there is a real simpatico between the supporters through the ethos and foundation of the clubs" says the SSM. A simpatico between the supporters. Hopefully that means that the Barca fans will not go as we will only get 4,500 tickets and we will need double that. A simpatico, hopefully that is still in place after the visiting orcs peshed EVERYWHERE and generally were a disgrace to Scotland much like the Proclaimers.

Interesting that the SSM mentions both clubs ethos. That widnae be the same ethos that “New Celtic” are trying to distance themselves from? At least Laporta uses the ethos for political and monetary gain.

After the initial ohnoagain-ness wore off, a feeling that I have had a few times this season, the FACT that Messi, Xavi, the bucktooth genius, Terry Henry and Eto will be gracing CB on a cauld Feb night disnny half fill you wie a warm glow and FEAR. But, lets look at the stats....

Played 4 in the naughties and UNBEATEN three times. A win and two draws- both in the Camp Nou. They are the only team we have witnessed breaching the mythical Fortress Parkheid. So can we do it?

“It is realistic,” he said. “It can be done because we’ve shown that when we are at our best, we can beat anybody. He also said we want to beat them – we really want to beat Barcelona.” So do we all Gordon..... But realistically all we are aiming for is giving them a game at least showing that we want to win the game. I don’t want to turn up and just sit there and take a pounding knowing that resistance is futile..... I want to get right into them. Give oorselves a chance of at least saying WE HAD A GO.

I.e. I don’t want the Wattienaccio or the Anti-fitba..I WANT MESSI RAVING ABOOT THE HOOPS... saying, “That’s how to play the game, I will move there next season” in the tone of a dwarf Argentinean...

But, all this is in the future. It’s the spectre of xmas present that is causing the most worry. 5 points from the last 12, coupled wie, statistically speaking, GS worst start as Celtic manager, add to the mix, a resurgent but limited ability orc threat and the final concoction to the Molotov cocktail the MIB’s gaining brownie points wie lodge masters up and doon the country, week in and week oot…means that tomorrow is a MUST WIN.

In fact EVERY GAME between now and the Scottish Cup tie wie the Beanos is a MUST WIN. Nae mair slip ups. Performances must improve and wins must be ground oot or spectacular 3,4 or 5 goal victories must be delivered.

Wie us having no injury worries for tomorrow, apart from the long-term casualties, whom wie every passing week get more and more missed. Oor manager says, "When you are playing with four centre backs and you have a young winger playing at left-back, you know that all is not comfortable back there."..Not half and he goes on to say "We need to cut out the silly mistakes because if you look at some of the goals we have let in away from home this season, they are silly mistakes."

Thing is tomorrow, once again, we will have 3 CB’s and 1 Left Winger playing at LB. We have been quite steady at the back at home this season, the week Hibs have mean that tomorrow could be quite comfortable as well.

When Hibs come to visit, it was always wie the expectation that we would get a right guid game, as the game at Easter Road in the early part of this season proved. They like to play Fitba the correct way. Tomorrow, I would expect them to be no different but…..if we SCORE FIRST….I canny see anything less than a comfortable win to set us up for the trip to Tannadichie on Hangover, eh, Boxing Day…..

One thing, I think we can always rely on is the player’s attitudes, maybe they stink playing wise at times but, as I have said before THEY DON’T LACK EFFORT. Wee Skippy says “We haven’t had the best of times in the league over the last few weeks, so it’s important to try and get a win and we really want to win the SPL."

So do we Skippy so do we……..

Forza