We get a Top Class Manager, and Celtic flex their Muscles.

[Joe O'Rourke]

Well Friday was an eventful day for us Celtic Supporters, we finally got to hear from Brendan Rodgers as he was officially unveiled as the new Celtic Manager. There weren’t too many smiley faces amongst the Scottish Football Reporters, you would have thought someone had pixxed on their Cornflakes that morning, and I guess in some ways, Brendan did that particular deed.

As press conferences go it was relatively quiet and short, I’ve been to plenty in the past, I think this one was the quietest in terms of the amount of press there. I suppose one reason for that was the barring of BBC Scotland and PLZ Soccer, and that was due to some comments attributed to Tom English for BBC, and Peter Martin for PLZ. I mean Peter Martin is such a Giant in Scottish Sports that he doesn’t even use his correct name. the brave Peter thought that being known as Peter Mc Guire might harm his prospects in journalism, so he used his middle name of Martin, I might add, there is nothing illegal about that, perfectly legal, it’s just that the name Mc Guire was probably too Irish/Catholic for him to get the big gigs.

I was happy when Celtic took that stance, Michael Nicholson had contacted BBC re Tom English’s comments, which were derogatory to both Celtic and Brendan, my information is, that BBC did not show any contrition or offer a retraction, so Michael told them not to bother turning up, I don’t know how the conversation with Mr Mc Guire went, I was just informed that he was told not to attend either. So the question is now, how do both react to the banning? In the past the BBC were banned from Snake Mountain for about two years before publishing a grovelling apology, but given it’s close season they can probably hold out for a bit, and knowing that very few, if any Celtic Supporters buy their Rag, does it matter to them? And more importantly, does it matter to us?

The press conference itself as I said already was pretty quiet, there were only three reporters present from the televised media, the main man being Mark Benstead of Sky Sports, Ronnie Charters of STV, and some wee guy next to him who I didn’t recognise. Benstead and Charters asked the questions I expected, the other wee guy was in the brown brogues mode. He say’s to Brendan, “You know Michael (Beale) from the past, are you expecting a stronger Rangers”? I personally think this is when Michael or Peter Lawwell should step in and say, we’re here to talk about Celtic, and the future not the past, and if that doesn’t suit your agenda, you can go outside and join English and Mc Guire.

From a personal point of view, I’m absolutely delighted that Brendan is back at Celtic Park, I thought he handled the press very well, in a professional and intelligent manner, I don’t the press guy’s present on Friday are going to give him any sleepless nights. But let’s just forget the press, Brendan is here to carry on with the work he did in his first time at Celtic, as he said on a few occasions, “I like my teams to play in a fast aggressive manner” if we maintain and improve the quality of the playing squad, we can look forward to more dominance in Scottish Football, and real progress in the Champions League. We have got ourselves a real Top Class Elite Manager, I believe he will be even better this time around, with the experience he gained from his previous time here. Brendan also understands better now the structure we operate under now, he understands the markets we sign players from. Overall I think we have certainly got a Fantastic Manager in Brendan, I’m eagerly looking forward to the new season with great optimism.
Glasgow’s Definitely Still Green & White.