A super Sammy strike and a penalty from captain Scott Brown were enough to take holder Celtic into the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup in Inverness today.

Lenny chose to shuffle the pack a bit with Kelvin Wilson partnering Thomas Rogne in the middle of defence, moving Charlie Mulgrew to left back and Adam Matthews returning at right back at the expense of Cha.

Also missing from the starting line up was Anthony Stokes, who dropped to the bench, Lenny favouring Sammy up front with Gary Hooper.

And that change in selection worked for the manager. With the game in a stalemate around the half hour mark, Georgios Samaras latched on to a Ross Tokely mistake to fire an unstoppable swerving shot from 16 yards to put the Bhoys 1-0 up.

The goal was no more than Celtic deserved having dominated most of the possession up to that point and seemed to settle the Hoops, although ICT very rarely threatened.

Although Celtic didn’t add to there lead until the second half, the Bhoys were never in danger.

And the game was put beyond doubt when man of the match Gary Hooper robbed ICT’s Procter on the touchline only to be scythed down by the defender for a stonewall penalty.

Up stepped Scott Brown to score his third goal in as many matches and and take the Celts safely into the next round.

As the game petered out, Sammy Hoops both missed chance3 to make the score a bit more convincing. Still, a victory over Terry Butcher and his men is always nice and made even sweeter with the way the game went.

Well done Celtic and well deserved!

At yesterday’s press conference Neil Lennon did what he does best…..tell the truth!

On the back of The Sun running a story about his assistant, and former team mate, Alan Thompson frequenting the same pub in Glasgow as the Dark Side’s Allan McGregor, Lenny let rip.

Having been a victim of sectarian abuse, in fact he still is, Neil let the media know that  THEY are as much to blame for stoking the fires of the religious bigotry as anyone.

On the one hand they tell us that this is wrong and that’s wrong, then they print a non-story to try and antagonise both sets of fans. Talk about hypocrites!

They then tried to get the Celtic manager to tow the party line and join the ‘poor Rangers’ campaign. The ‘Scottish football needs a strong Rangers’ bandwagon, you know the one I mean, the one that’s angling to let the Govan Mob off with breaking the law and evading taxes.

Well, they needn’t have bothered, because Lenny, as always, told it how he sees it.

Asked if he feels sorry for the mess the noisy neighbours in, Neil replied “No”. He then went on to tell a few home truths, and in doing so gave the media all the ammunition they need to write more sensational headlines.

What these people tend to forget is THEY need the manager of Celtic to do press conferences, THEY need Celtic more than Celtic need them, especially with the advent of current social media platforms.

And if they keep pissing off the sources of their work, then eventually they suffer the same fate as a certain team from Glasgow’s South side…….

Couldn’t come soon enough!

The transfer deadline for Scottish football has now closed. As a lifelong Celtic supporter, it saddens me to see Rangers are in such a financial situation that they cannot afford to buy players.

Now there are rumours that this once mighty club are facing administration. I know there will be small-minded fellow Celtic supporters who will rejoice in the demise of your club, I am not one of them.

May I offer my sympathy to all those Rangers fans out there and to Mr McCoist and all the players, and wish them all the very best for the future.

Yours sincerely,

Pinocchio

When it comes to bombs and bullets, war isn’t funny. People maimed and killed is no laughing matter.

But when it come to civil war, the corporate kind, like the one going on at the moment over on the Southside of the city….then you’ve got to chuckle.

Fingers are pointing in both directions, self employed owner Craig Whyte blames the old board for all the Ipox clubs ills, meanwhile the previous regime at Poundland are running to the tabloids selling their story to the very same people who KNEW all about the mess a long time ago.

Day in, day out, there’s claim and counter claim.

As a business goes, it’s intriguing to see the Govan Mob sell there best on field asset for £1.5M less than they were offered only a week previous. And they wonder why they’re going down the tubes?

What happened to the ‘phantom’ £9m that Liverpool offered in August?

Anyway, I thought it would be nice to show our noisy neighbours that we are still thinking about them in their time of need.

So, in case you missed any of the funnies circulating around the Celtic cyberspace I’ve reprinted  a few for your amusement. If you’ve seen them before I apologise, I’m only the messenger….

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This is an appeal on behalf of Glasgow Rangers FC. Can you spare £2.00
per month to help a poor Rangers player but food and clothing for himself and his family? Yes, for only £2.00 you can feel superior to those poor demented h**s in your midst. Just send your donation to:

Help A H*n Association or HAHA as it’s known!

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Rangers fans are reminded that season ticket renewals for season
2017-18 are due by 5pm tonight!

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Transfer deadline news:

Rangers have failed in a last ditch attempt to sell Broxi Bear to
Edinburgh Zoo!

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The captain of the recently sunk ship Costa Concordia has been
summoned to Ibrox to explain how best to cope with a sinking ship!

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Rangers are about to add a big name to their squad. Administrator!

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And last but not least, a wee song, to the tune of American Pie….

A long long time ago,
I can still remember how
The tax case used to make me smile

And I knew if I had my chance
that I could make our people dance,
And maybe we’d be happy for a while?

But February made me shiver
with every newspaper they’d deliver,
fab news on the doorstep,
I couldn’t take one more step

I’m sure I laughed until I cried
when I read about that football side
The laughter could be heard worldwide

*The day the Rangers dieeee*

So they’ll be singing:

“Bye, Bye”down Edminston Drive,
All the Tims will have a bevy cause the coffers are dry,
and poor fat Sally with his Frey Bentos pies

Singing this’ll be the day that we die,
This’ll be the day that we die!

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Chief Executive Peter Lawwell says he expects Celtio to come out of a transfer window stronger than when we go in.

This January you could argue that we’ve achieved just that.

The acquisition of defenders Fojut and Lustig, midfielder Ibrahim and striker Brozek gives Lenny a better choice of player for the run in, one that sees the Bhoys fighting on three fronts.

Overall we now seem to have enough cover in defence , similarly the midfield looks strong enough and the striking department has been bolstered with the addition of Polish international Pawel Brozek.

So, why did we make a last minute bid to bring Republic of Ireland’s Leon Best on loan from Newcastle?

God knows!

I tend to agree with our colleagues over at Celtic Quick News in the assertion that Leon would have been Simply NOT The Best for Celtic.

Lucky escape there me thinks….

Today Celtic completed the loan signing of Polish striker Pawel Brozek after the player passed his medical at Lennoxtown. Brozek will play for the Hoops until the end of the season, and if all goes well he’ll join the club on a permanent basis.

The player is Lenny’s fourth signing of this transfer window.

Pawel’s countryman Jaroslaw Fojut has signed a pre-contract agreement and will join in the summer if not sooner, Nigerian Rabiu Ibrahim arrived in Paradise last week and put pen to paper on a three and a half year deal, while Swedish international Mikel Lustig joined the Celts at the start of the month.

Contrast that to the goings on over at Poundland.

Players are being fed a lie just to have their photographs taken at Glasgow Airport with the supposed ‘opportunity’ of winning a contract with the Govan mob. One nobody after another.

They come to town, some play a bounce game, some don’t bother, then they leave. None of them have been offered terms. And that’s not all. In one case the Sneaky One didn’t bother turning up to meet a so called ‘target’. (Although Sky fed us the line that the club weren’t pursuing the matter any further)

The whole thing is a shambles and an embarrassment to Scottish Football. Yet the media seem to think it’s ALL Craig Whyte’s fault.

It wasn’t the ex-tycoons fault that his manager inherited a league winning team only to take them OUT of TWO European competitions inside the first couple of months of the season.

It not his fault that his manager is going round agreeing deals with signing targets before getting the say so from the owner.

And it’s not his fault that the manager with a seven year apprenticeship behind him, has lost a 15 point advantage in the league, been dumped out the League Cup and has now seen his first signing return to Spain!

Now before I get mistaken as being some kind of Craig Whyte sympathiser I must stress if I had the misfortune of shaking his hand I’d count my fingers! No sympathiser I’m not, but media darling McCoist has got to take some of the blame. But he doesn’t. He hides behind the ‘no money’ line.

When St Johnstone can offer better terms to their striker Sandaza than Rankers can, then it tells its own story.

Oh for the days of Celtic spending a fiver…..

Following on from his accusation that the Celtic support were signing sectarian songs at the Scottish Cup final, Pat Nevin seems to have a real touch of anti-Celtic bias about him.

After today’s Communities Cup semi-final between the Hoops and Falkirk the BBC interviewed the Bairns manager Steven Pressley.

During the interview Pressley, who was sent to the stand at half time by referee Euan Norris, accused the official of  giving every decision in the first half to Celtic. He went on to say that the penalty awarded to the Bhoys would never have been given had the incident taken place at the other end.

Now ‘Elvis’ is entitled to his view, but running on to the park at the half time whistle to remonstrate with the officials is a big no-no. Not only did he let himself down, he let his players down.

But according to twisted Pat, he ‘wholeheartedly agreed’ with Pressley’s view of the first half. That was until Bolton manager Owen Coyle pointed out that Garry Hoopers goal, ruled offside, was in fact a good goal, and Neil Lennon’s men should have been TWO in front before Falkirk scored!

Cowering Pat didn’t concede and changed the subject.

When Celtic take to the field tomorrow at Hampden Park to play Falkirk in the semi-final of the Communities (League) Cup it’s inevitable that comparisons will be made to the last time the Bhoys met a first division side at the national stadium.

On that occasion Celtic met Ross County in the Scottish Cup semis and the lower division side won 2-0, in one of the most embarrassing defeats the Hoops have ever suffered.

Admittedly Lenny was only weeks into the managers job, in fact he was only caretaker at the time. Many thought that reverse would ultimately cost Neil the chance of managing the club on a full time basis, but that wasn’t to be the case.

I doubt if anyone could have foreseen the change in Celtic since that day and one things for sure the fact that we’ve an opportunity to ‘right a wrong’ should be enough to see the Bhoys progress to the final.

Falkirk are doing well in the first division and have had a couple of decent results in the cup knocking the Govan Mob and the Arabs out along the way.

But tomorrow they’ll come up against a Celtic side that are going from strength to strength. Big players are coming back into contention and there’s a belief about the team that this WILL, not could, be our year.

Neil knows what it takes to bounce back after adversity, and a wee reminder of his first outing at Hampden as gaffer will be enough to see the Bhoys march into the cup final.

Much has been said over Celtic’s transfer policy, usually negative I might add.

The idea of having player after player come through the doors at Lennoxtown for a trial doesn’t always go down too well with the Faithful, myself included. It was almost as if there were more trials in the Campsies than at the High Court!

We would all much rather see the club pick an established player pay the money, throw him into the team and he becomes and instant success.

But in reality, it doesn’t work that way.

The old adage that you have to ‘kiss a lot of frogs’ could well be used when it comes to the number of ‘potential’ signings that make their way to Glasgow to earn a contract with Celtic.

The ‘frogs’ will come and go but every so often a ‘prince’ will emerge and the Bhoys will take him on to the next level.

By all accounts it looks like Celtic’s new number 40,  Nigerian Rabiu Ibrahim will be that player. The 20 year-old has done what many before him have failed to do, earn a three and a half year deal with the Hoops.

Hopefully he’ll repay the faith manager Neil Lennon has in him and become a star at the club.

Welcome to Paradise young man!