The Begining.....We Have Moved.

After a few hairy moments we have finally moved to OleOle. Here's The Blog it's bigger, better faster and stronger. Same old shite getting written but what do you want for free.? Blood? Sweat? Tears? A limb?

The reasons for moving are explained here. The Lord Of The Wing homepage is here. The Celtic homepage (which you can update and manage) is here.



Let the revolution begin.


Forza

The End......

"The Lord Of The Wing" (LOTW) started three seasons ago so that I wouldnae get bored at lunchtime. It has grown without ever troubling the "Top 4" Celtic Sites, which pimp themselves on newsnow.

In football terms we are like Reading. Nice wee side, never going to win anything but play decent football but ultimately will be like your wee cousin who you like but you feel quite sorry for as he gets bullied at school and is useless at sport.

Over the last 3 seasons we have seen 3 titles, 2 cups and 2 last 16's of the Champions League. I think we have improved content wise since those early days but all things change and nothing stands still. So with great sadness I announce that http://www.thelordofthewing.blogspot.com/ will be no more from 28th May 2008.

You can stop celebrating at the back. As the Wu Tang Clan said once the revolution would be televised. Well LOTW is joining the revolution that is http://www.oleole.com/ . A football revolution on the net. An alternative idea, which, for me, is like John Lydon and The Sex Pistols swearing on national tv. Here is the blurb that can explain it better than I can.

The nice people at oleole want LOTW to become the featured blog on Celtic. It was an oppertunity I couldnae miss. We are in at the start. It's the future and I reckon it will be bigger than King Kongs gonads.

What will change? Nothing. Well, we will get a new address (http://thelordofthewing.oleole.com/) and a new lick of paint (the design is that top secret I have just seen a snippet, then the jpeg exploded) plus the chance to add new features.

So, here is the Lord Of The Wing profile page. Log in, tune in and drop out. It's life but not as we know it.

I hope to see all the LOTWites that have made this wee blog what it is over on oleole. If I don't then I hope to see you someday on the other side. Enjoy. I'll leave with a wee song that I think is apt.

Hello Goodbye.

Forza

*T-shirt at the top of the blog is available at Kerrydale Street. All proceeds going to charity and they are the must have of the summer. I've got mine. No it isnnae an extra large....

Helicopter: Destination Dundee

In all the buzz of winning the league on the last day (for the first time since we stopped 10, is it better this time than then?) I forgot that we actually won a game of football and it took me 1 hour after the final whistle to remember that we had qualified for the Champions League next season.

Once again we have been deemed too good for the UEFA Vase Trophy. But make no mistake I will be quite happy to drop into the UEFA Vase trophy should our quest for the last 8 (set them high bhoys) fails after three 3-0 defeats away from Celtic Park.

The performance has been forgotten after our 1-0 victory. Nobody is talking about that we played some controlled and inventive football in the first 35 mins, football, which was not expected due to the circumstances. Yes, in the end a stalemate was looking likely due to our failure in front of goal but as soon as the news came from Aberdeen I knew we would score.

Jan Vennegor of Hesslelink has had a habit of scoring big goals in the last 6 weeks to prove why he gets a game. His 124th minute strike against The Huns and on Thursday night are stuff of Celtic folklore. Stuff that means he will never need to buy a drink down The Gallowgate again.

Paul Hartley swung in a cracking ball and Big Jan was there with his big bear type head to score another goal from a set piece at Tannadice. Just like the boxing day game he settled the nerves. Just like boxing day as well Paul Hartley was part of the reason we went to the 5th hardest away ground in the SPL (behind Aberdeen and Hibs) and saw the game out in a party mood.

And what an emotional party it was. This was a massive league win. 3 in a row for the first time in 40 years. Maley, Stein and now Strachan. It was coupled with the watching of the biggest (but expected) collapse since The Berlin Wall came down.

But unlike us in 2005 they (The Huns) didn't throw this away. We won this league by winning 7 games in a row (4 home games 3 away) at the business end of the season. Celtic FC: Taking Care Of Business since 1888.

The fall out from this has been fun to read and poses questions.

This from The Guardian has been typical of the reaction. Praise where praise was due but it's all grudging. The media wanted to be creaming themselves in print over "Walter and Ally" but a wee Ginger who treats them like the lowlifes they are got one over on them. The only hope the media have is that GS leaves and they can beat the Celtic support with the sticks that we chased him away because he is not Celtic minded.

What big bulls bollocks.

So is he going to leave. His impassioned speech in the huddle at the end of the game (when he kept pointing to the fans) I thought was off a man that was leaving. Thoughts of Wim The Tim went through my mind when I saw him calling all the players over. My gut instinct was that he would leave as he has always said 3 years is a long time at a big club. Seems I might have been wrong, not for the first time (see Paul Hartley, Barry Robson and Skippy)

Scott McDonald, Barry Robson, Peter Lawell and Neil "The Waterbhoy" Lennon have been gushing with praise for their boss. Add to them the comments and from Dermot and John Reid
then I sense a fear from the club that he is going to walk away. Maybe, they are just trying to cover all bases to ensure that he stays right enough.

Update: Dermot ramps it up a bit by saying Gordon will have a job for life. Doesn't say that it will be as manager right enough. Stadium facilities manager? Catering assistant? Head Steward in the Lisbon Lions stand?

Also today we have this feel good story from The Ragger. The season must well be over and their exclusive deal with the darkside run out if they are printing 2 of Celtic best players to stay stories.

Over on the darkside they are hurting. We have Barry Nicholson and Jimmy "The Fat Orange Midget" Calderwood annoyed that their team tried against R*ngers and they couldnae join in the celebrations. They were probably annoyed that the Aberdeen fans rubbed "Scotland's Shame" nose right in a big pile of dug shite after it has eat a left over vindaloo.

A wee word to the F.O.M and Barry. GIRUY. Oh and Barry enjoy Southend or Colchester and I'm sure we will see you soon with St.Johnstone or Queen of the South you little beastie.

Enough, the highlights. I'm off to put a fiver on Queen Of The South to win the cup.

Forza

*Thanks to Number7 on Kerrydale Street for the picture.

The Fat Eddie Murphy Has Sung....

Last Wednesday morning I was searching the glove box of my battered banger for some music to listen to on the way to work. The Radio was full of the UEFA Vase Trophy build up and I couldnae be arsed listening to that.

Out fell an album by the popular beat combo Oasis. It was their last album "Don’t Believe The Truth". Decent album by recent standards and the title is the mantra of the Scottish press who believe moonbeams and shit.

It was the CD that caught my eye, though and not the thought that I wanted to listen to it. The CD says one word. "Believe". That’s apt I thought. So on it went and it has been on since.

When the anti-football of the wattnaccio lost to Zenit then we had "The Battle Of Manchester" I started to "Believe". The wistful tones of Beatles copyists suddenly became the soundtrack of the comeback.

I will tell no lies. If R*ngers had won the UEFA Vase then I would have probably wiped Seville from my mind. It wouldnae have mattered if they were the worst team ever (which they were as the stats proved) they would have surpassed our achievement.

The FACT they were pilloried for their "style" from all corners of the globe and then a significant "minority" ((C) Martin Bain and the Scottish Press) made sure that their UEFA run would be remembered for one thing and one thing only has made Seville all the sweeter.

Bitter and small minded that maybe. But I couldnae give a flying monkey from The Wizard Of Oz even if it shat over my car. It’s a rivalry. We play in a two horse town, with one horse being so ugly they willnae make it into clue and the other a thoroughbred.

6 weeks ago we needed a 12 point swing to even have a chance or to win the league. We had two games against them and we had to hope that R*ngers terrible away record (9 wins out of 19, 5 defeats and 5 draws add to that 1 win in 10 away games against top 6 teams and them only winning 10 games out of 20 against top 6 teams) meant that if we won those two games then it was game on as they had the harder run in.

They had a harder run in as they had played all their hame games in Feb and March. A fact often overlooked by the suits at the pox. They also started moaning about the amount of games they had to play. This moan did play on the players mind.

Christen "will sell soul for two pieces of silver" Dailly says here, that the circumstances did have a bearing. This is the same "player / thug" that said a few weeks ago that he didnae mind the amount of games as it comes with being successful?

Wonder what changed his mind? Two soul destroying defeats and being part of one of the most embarrassing periods in R*ngers history? Is the fact that he was an integral part in the biggest collapse since the flats in the Gorbals were blown up and the team has been proved to be not very good not have something to do with it?

I said at the start of the season that losing to a team that contained the likes of Weir, Broadfoot, Papac and Novo (The Skankmonster) was a sacking offence. Maybe that comment was made in haste as R*ngers found their best form for 36 years.

Their home record was second to none (only one defeat all season) and against limited fodder at home and abroad their "style", ahem, was bludgeoning and effective. As we floundered in two major spells during the season it look like a shrug of the shoulders and the acceptance that sometimes it just wisnny meant to be.

This blog was going to highlight facts, figures and bullshit saying that we played and done quite well this season. Now, I can back up the facts figures and bullshit wie the saying CHAMPIONEES 2007/08.

In the 3 seasons we have had under GS and the 3 times we have won the league under GS (GIRUY!!!!!) we have finished with 91, 84 and 89 points. The winning margins have been 17, 12 and 3 points.

Now, this may be seen as a downward trend but I think winning the league this time is his greatest achievement as manager. He has seen off a team on a fantastic run. The last 2 times they were on that type of run we have lost out by a goal and a point.

We have scored 19 more goals this season than last. Most of that is down to the signing of Skippy and the progression of Aiden McGeady. GS can take credit for both of these factors.

This season we lost only 26 goals. The past 2 the figures were 37 and 34. For a defence that was as shaky (to some) as a Lex Ballie-Paul McGuigan combination and the media compared it as being a Lada to R*ngers BMW of Weir and Ugly Betty.

How did we get the best defence in the league? Fuck knows. Half the season we were shouting for (not me!"!!!) Bobo to return and most wanted Gary Caldwell chucked of the Empire State Building tied to a B&Q paving slab.

So in the absence of any logical answer then I will give GS credit for this and say zonal marking is the greatest thing since white see through trousers.

But for every silver lining there is big black rain cloud. It was his fault that we were put through the wringer. Our home record was the main bug bear. We dropped points against Kilmarnock, Hibs, St Mirren, Dundee Utd and Motherwell. Add to that domestic cups defeats against Hearts and Aberdeen and we can safely say that Fortress Parkheid is no more.

We don't hammer teams at CP anymore. We have scored an average 2.21 per game both home and away this season. I would expect the home average to be higher. We seem to lack motavation against "smaller" teams. That is something we need to sort. Not that we lacked motavation in the last 7 games.

Was it something to do wie the returning Neil Lennon? Or the fact our manager bit the bullet and stuck with a winning midfield partnership and decided that his two big money midfield signings were not cutting the mustard. Or was it this interesting article from E-Tims, which alludes to a meeting between GS, Tommy Burns and John Reid in which the continuation of the Celtic Way was agreed.

Mind you what John Reid knows about fitba' is probably about the same as I know about strating a war in the Middle East.

Whatever it was (I reckon a combination of the above) no man for me has done more than Barry Robson. Whether he only got a game due to suspension or by accident it was the best forced decision GS has made in his Celtic managerial career.

Maradona gets credited for winning the 1986 World Cup singled handed. Barry Robson should get the credit for pulling us back from the brink of nowhereville and headlong into the light that was 3 in a row. The Ginger Naka was this years Nakamura. He step up to the plate in this his best season of his career.

His first challenge in the R*ngers game when he pole axed Christen "sell his soul for two pieces of silver" Dailly showed what he was about. He was not about to be bullied. He then went on to score the winner in the next derby game.

He can be added to the list of successful signings or manager has made.

So when did I think we could do it? 94th minute of the the first R*ngers game at Celtic Park. It was the Alan Stubbs in 1997 moment. The moment the season turned. One perfect pin point Caldwell pass, knock back from Skippy and diving heider from Jan meant that the Brittannia that was ruling the waves from the Lisbon Lions Stand was sunk by a U-Boat coming up the Clyde.

Perfect.

I leave you with a bit of Frank Sinatra and his classic opening lines from That's Life.

"That's life, that's what all the people say. You're riding high in April, Shot down in May"

Forza

Post Match Session: CHAMPIONEES.

My eyes were in Dundee tonight, my ears in Aberdeen and I witnessed a brillant sight, the best sight I have seen. The League took many twists this time and also many turns......but Celtic won the league this time for Tommy Burns.
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Tonight we met our destiny, fulfill our date with fate, on such tense and stressful nights, LEGENDS we create, from Boruc to McDonald, behind them to a man, emotions will be fragile, the joys of being a fan, the pride of following Celtic, seeps out from every pour, behind them untill the bitter end regardless of the score, so sing the songs with pride, songs with which you've grown, and remember as a CELTIC FAN YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE.

Forza

Dundee Unt v CHAMPIONS - FT 0-1

Massive result - that's what's makes us CHAMPIONS !!!

We did on our own - don't needs results elesewhere or help from MIBs to help us.
We are CELTIC.

Won by POINTS and a KNOCKOUT

Where's that helicopter ???

Hail Hail - THREE in a ROW !!!

Dundee Unt v Celts - HT 0-0

Nerves jangling.

In normal times this is what you would call a cracking game.
Both teams going full pelt, and both having clear cut chances.
Not being "normal times", we want Celtic goals.

I hope Gordon tells everybody to calm down a bit. Things are very frantic there.

A couple of players not at their best: Naylor (what does Wilson have to do to get a game?), Naka (control let him down a few times), defense generally shaky.

We still have 45min to make the difference.
But it gonna be hard.

Dundee Unt v Celts - Preamble

Well, here we are - in less than an hour the New Firm will kick off against the Glasgow Giants to finally determine which way the helipcopter will go.

After the last couple of weeks in which we Celts have been put thru one hellava emotional wringer, we are finally back in the driving seat for the final game of the season.

We know that a win will ensure the 2007/08 league flag and 3 in a row.

Lately, we have seen the worst the football world has to offer, and we have also seen the best.
Plenty of ink has already been spilt on all that - and tonight we are about to go through the wringer again to write the final chapter.

We have the players - we have the class - we have the will to win.
Whatever team lines up in the hoops is better than anything the SPL has to offer.

Tonight, I think we will win this, not by goal difference, not just be points but a knockout!!!

Go for it, Bhoys - make us proud.

Decanted Last Day Squeaky Bum Newsamble

Sunday morning "Sweeney" on ITV4. You canny beat it. A bit of Regan, Carter and un-PC 1970's dialogue, hard drinking and the beating of "nonce's". You also get the straight down the middle nicknames. Like on Sunday, the Welsh "nonce" was called "Taff".

Sure I heard them mention leeks and sheep as well. Superb. Changed days now as a few seasons back Craig Bellamy was called a "Welsh basturd" by a nasty Hearts fan who was promptly lifted and charged for racist abuse. I have heard worse coming from the lowlifes from the East.

Where am I going with this? I'm worried, you see, I might offend the couple of folk that read this rubbish if I call R*ngers "Scummy bottle merchant c*nts" or "Shitebagging inter breeding yer mums yer sister we didnae want an extension to cheat oor way to the title arseholes".

I know that there is a lot of decent Raunjers fans out there. I know some. I mean the battle of Manchester was all those nasty Chelsea / Millwall / Man U / Rusden and Diamonds Casuals who bought tops and kidded on to be Scots. No mention of the FACT that all of those arrested were Scottish.....strange that. Mind you it was the News Of The World it peddled that shite.

In this day and age you have to watch what you are saying. So would R*ngers being labelled bottle merchants, shitebags or just plain fecking shite offend anyone when, after all, they have took the season to the last extended day? Or will we be again the bottlers and watch all our good work come crashing down when we fail to seal the deal.

The Monday night game that R*ngers had was always going to be the gimmie. They have only lost one game against teams in the bottom half of the league all this season. Though it was away from home and it was only 3rd away win since Feb it was a case of them not making massive inroads to our goal difference.

Was quite confident that this wouldn't happen as it wasn't exactly Sutton, Hartson and Larsson they had up front. Novo, Boyd and Darcheville weren't going to score a barrowload even if St Mirren (as they did) put on the worst display seen in the SPL this season. Enjoy your holidays lads you showed last night that being on the pish in the South of Spain was all that was on your minds.

Wonder what will be on the minds of the players of Aberdeen and Dundee Utd?

CQN highlights the decent records both teams have at home. A scratch underneath the surface of these stats shows Aberdeen winning 10 out of 19 home games, drawing 5 and losing 4. Their goal average is 1.63 but they lose just over a goal per game at home. This is dangerous considering R*ngers record of winning 26 out of the 28 games they have scored first in.

Added to that, Aberdeen have a terrible record against the top 6 teams only winning 4 times against these teams. No matter R*ngers poor away form if they score first they should win three points.

So that makes our job simple. We need to win. We need to go to a stadium where the last time we lost was under John Barnes and have not a bad record at. We have had a few draws but mostly victories. I won't lie. If I had to choose an away game for the last game Dundee or Aberdeen would have been it. Wouldn't have fancied Easter Road or Fir Park.

So is my confidence misplaced? Probably. Dundee Utd have won 9 out of 18 home games, drawing 6 and losing three. More importantly, for me, the goal average is 1.44 per game and worryingly they have only lost 0.72 this season. They also like scoring the first goal. 21 times they have went in front this season (Celtic have 25 times) and have held on to win 14 and only lose twice when they have scored first.

Celtic on the other hand have won 23 out of the 25 games they have scored first. It's becoming clearer that whoever scores first in both games will have a MAJOR bearing. As listen to this...Dundee Utd have lost the first goal 13 times this season and lost 11. They drew the other 2. Aberdeen have also a poor record in this department. Losing the first goal on 18 occasions and only coming back to win 3 times.

I don't think we would be worried if the Hoops went behind right enough. We have lost the first goal on 10 occasions this season, winning 4, drawing 2 and losing 4. But...that doesn't tell the whole story.

At the start of April we were down and out. We needed a 12 point turn around for us to have a chance going into the last game. 18 points out of 18 followed and now, unbelievably, we are in the driving seat going into the final game. We couldn't imagine that when we left Celtic Park after a 1-0 defeat to Motherwell.

Still I agree with McGhee and "Walter" that we are still not favourites for the title. Indeed, Mark McGhee calls it correct when he says we have the hardest game left on the final day as Dundee Utd are the better team than Aberdeen.

Even our own manager is not liking the "favourites" tag. As he quite rightly points out a few weeks back there was a major number shouting for his head and that the media here seem to like building Celtic up for a fall. Also he quite rightly says that those of a "dignified" persuasion should shut up and get on with it. This is the first time the league season has been extended for any team no matter what darkside spin they try and put on it.

But....none of us that wear green and white will be overly confident this week. The spectre of "Black Sunday" hangs over this club when it comes to last day collapses. Not one of us will be thinking that it is a gimmie or an easy game even though we have not lost in our last 4 visits to Dundee (3 wins and a draw).

Recent history shows that Celtic have not won the last game of the league season for 3 seasons, ok 2 games were meaningless but the last MUST WIN game we blew big style. Difference is...that team was on the way out, they were dead on their feet and a shadow of their former glory.

Today? Team 6 games unbeaten, stood up and been counted in the last 6 high pressure games (2 wins against R*ngers included) and must have a bit of confidence going into this. We need to treat this as a one off, a cup final if you like.

Some people are saying that the players will win it for Tommy Burns. I want the players to win it for themselves. I want them to realise that the fact that they have got themselves into this position (one that they put themselves in) is too good an opportunity to pass up. The opportunity to become legends of 3 in a row. The opportunity to be remembered.

Gordon Strachan said the other week one of the greatest things about being Celtic manager was becoming Tommy Burns friend. I canny talk for Tommy, but I think he would say the greatest thing about being Celtic manager is having nights like Thursday. 27 years to the day we last won the league in Dundee. 10 years since we stopped 10 in a row. Celtic Football Club is 120 years old.

Bring it on.

Forza

Tommy Burns

Tommy Burns

Was walking from the hall to kitchen when I heard Alan Brazil on Talksport say “I’m speechless”. I stopped in the kitchen and listened to the rest of the bulletin. “Diagnosed with cancer in 2006, came back March 2008” then the words “Celtic first team coach......”

Truth is I can’t remember what else was said. I had just finished writing this post and the laptop was cooling down. It was fired back up again and this simple post was written.

At the time I didn’t know what to write. Not one memory stuck in ma mind of TB. When Jinky passed the picture of the wee man sitting on an oversized armchair beaming from ear to ear sprung to mind. When Phil O’Donnell passed away the image of Phil in those thick Hoops scoring against Partick Thistle jumped into my memory right away.

In the car on the way to work I was still struggling to get one memory that stood out for me. Even though I started going to the games in the early eighties, TB the manager is how I remember him. A job that became too much for him because he cared too much.

I remember that night in Govan when I knew his time was up as manager. Was sitting in the front row of the Govan Stand (Gary McDonalds seat- it had a wee plaque on it, it didnae by the end of the game) when I saw Paulo Di Canio ignore TB’s pleas and continue to play where he wanted as we fell to a 1-0 defeat against the Falkirk Bairns.

I remember thinking that it was a sad way to go. Pishing wet night, at the home of your greatest rivals and losing to a lower division team. A man that with hindsight gave us oor club back. A Celtic minded appointment that gave us back oor pride and the Celtic way.

TB once said that “Andy Goram broke my heart” well every Celtic manager since TB has had the weight of the style and flair of his team on their shoulders. How many times have wee discussed that Gordon Strachan’s or Martin O’Neills Celtic are not as entertaining as TB’s. Every week for the last 10 years? Every Celtic managers since TB gravestone could read

“Mines wasn’t as good as Tommy’s”.

It wasn’t until lunchtime and I looked at the emotional Kerrydale Street thread that a moment jumped out at me. Scottish Cup Final 1988.TB's interview with Jim "Billy" White. I remember now watching this over and over again when I was younger as, like most, I used to record all the Celtic games to keep. I still, probably, have them in the loft.

The passion and emotion in that interview just summed up what Celtic meant to him. I’m angry at myself for not remembering that moment right away this morning. How could I have forgot that? Watching the videos, slideshows and tributes has made me realise that today we have lost a modern day Celtic Legend. A legend that to guys my age is like the older generation losing one of the Lions.

It’s hard to fathom that he is gone when in early August 07 he was sprinting across the CP turf to jump on The Holy Goalie after the penalty kicks win over Spartak. Aiden McGeady’s face in this photo sums everything up.

He has been taken too young and all our thoughts are with his family. It’s always the good that die young.

You’ll Never Walk Alone TB.

Tommy Burns

Legend.

You'll Never Walk Alone.

It's Terrible When You Get Proved Right.....

The banner unfurled (as above) at a recent Glesga derby has never been so apt this morning. I'm sure the people of Manchester will be looking at their raped, pillaged and violated city and thinking the exact same thing.

Our sympathies this morning to go the people of Manchester.

At least the axis of peace has returned to the world and the football gods proved that they still do exsist.

Fact Of The Day: R*ngers were the worst ever side (statistically) to qualify for the UEFA Cup final. They also willnae be getting a Fair Play Award in the post anytime soon..

Manchester, so much to answer for.....