With Sevco being skint and continually borrowing money from pretty much anywhere that they can get it from, it was no surprise at all to me when we drawn against them in the semi final at Hampden.
I know that us playing a lower league opponent in a cup semi final is nothing new but they are skint and they seem to be close to administration.
Shortly before Rangers went bust, I remember playing them seven times in the one season. Yes, that would generate a lot of money for Celtic but I think it’s safe to say that they needed it more than we did. We just sell our best players to ensure that we have a good amount of money in the bank.
I’d guess that the tickets for the League Cup semi-final will start at £35 per person and if they get 50,000 fans paying that, it’s £1.75m on tickets plus hospitality deals and other add-on’s.
Perhaps I just don’t trust Scottish football any more but as the people running it seem to think that a team who plays out of Ibrox, regardless of who they are, is essential to the survival of the game, that’s why I predicted this tie.
I have to say I am not looking forward to it all. Keep in mind that when the fans of Sevco, who are largely made up of fans of the defunct Rangers, indulge in their sectarian bile, as they are known to do, that will be reported and widely acknowledged as being a problem for the “old firm”. The same “old firm” that doesn’t actually exist.
We will hear all the usual rubbish about how our fans are just as bad as theirs.
When Rangers were in existence, I disliked everything about them from their racist and bigoted signing policies to their style of football. This new club seem to be trying to model themselves on Rangers so I was hoping that Celtic would never have the misfortune of having to be in the same stadium as them.
That said, by the time the match comes around, I’ll be in either Laos or Myanmar (Burma) so hopefully I can persuade a local bar to find the game on a TV for me to watch it.
Other than that, it’s been good to see the team getting back to winning ways. Does this mean that they are starting to play for Ronny Deila? The last blog I wrote was about how time was running out for Ronny so I’m glad that he’s started to turn things around.
Of course, the win against Ross County was dismissed by some in the MSM as being a win against a poor team and we should always be achieving high scores against a team who isn’t doing very well. I don’t buy that at all, we still have to work hard for every goal and win.
The Partick Thistle game was dismissed as well because they had a man sent off. For me, that just shows that some will never find anything positive to say about Celtic.
One in particular who has had a lot of negative things to say about Celtic is Chris Sutton. In particular he’s been very critical of the manager and, at times, it almost seems like there is something personal. Did Chris apply for the managers job or assistant managers job when Neil Lennon left? Or is his criticism justified?
As a player, I thought he was great but he appears to be one of many who now make a living from sticking the boot into Celtic when things aren’t going as fans might want them to. That’s always disappointing, I’m not saying Chris or any ex players shouldn’t have an opinion, I just find it disappointing when some seem happy to go out their way to get tore into the club.
I’ve mentioned earlier about the improvement in results being a sign that Ronny Deila is starting to get things right but is it that or is simply the case that we have an on form striker in John Guidetti? I’ve read some reports saying that we’d have to pay £5m to sign him in January.
Unless I’m mistaken, he’s available for a free at the end of the season and we have him until the end of the season. He can sign a pre contract with anyone in January so I’d like to think that he’s offered a contract in January and is available to become a permanent signing for us as of the start of next season.
His goal scoring record has been what a team like Celtic should always some giving us. History shows us that Celtic have always had our share of attacking players so all going well, we can get a good few years out of him and a lot of goals to go along with it. The thought of a Swedish striker banging in the goals at Parkhead is something that will always bring a smile to my face.
Perhaps we could apply a ‘Sevconian’ logic and say that becauce he comes from the same place (Sweden) and plays in the same football strip that he is actually Henrik?