Hoops News 10.30.07: Injuries, Boruc’s Blues, & Jimmy Hoffa’s Grave

By: JT | October 30th, 2007

I’ve been a little weak on non-matchday related activities lately, so let’s round up the news that’s currently swirling around the Celtic camp.

Giant Dutch target man Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink is back in training with the green and white. He could get a run out tomorrow in the CIS Cup against Hearts at Celtic Park. Here’s the preview, cause you won’t be seeing one here. As always, WGS promises what we’ll see his best XI.

In other injury news, Scotland international Steven Pressley completed his first ninety minutes since having early season back surgery, in a reserve match against Rangers. If that procedure miraculously returns some pace to the old man’s legs, I’d be eternally grateful. A better guess is that he’ll merely be adding depth to both the Celts and the national team.

Once again, rumors abound on the future of the Bhoys’ world class Polish keeper, Artur Boruc. Apparently he’s pissed that he hasn’t received an offer of an improved, new contract from the Celtic brass, although he still has two years remaining on his current one. He claims he’s still happy at the club, but “things can change quickly in football.” The way I see it, he’s 27 which gives him 10 more big time seasons, followed by a few back at Legia Warsaw to round out his career. That means he’s still got a few more left at Parkhead before he heads off to England, Spain, or wherever, which he deserves.

We all know that Tribal Football is a solid source for rumors and today they come up with the double Celtic/Milan whammy. Apparently the folks over at the San Siro are looking to add Boruc to their squad to replace Dida, who is set to move to LA Galaxy to concentrate on both his acting career and what remains of his football career. In addition, the Rossoneri want Massimo Donati back patrolling their midfield, and will be buying him back after this season finishes up. They know he just got dropped in favor of Paul Hartley, right?

Well, here’s a great story combining American football, football, and Celtic. The downer is that it also includes one of my Eagles’ archenemies, the New York Giants. It turns out that the Giants kicker, Lawrence Tynes, is Scottish born and quite the Hoops fan. In fact, if he had his druthers, he’d be celebrating victories in the East End of Glasgow rather than on the turf above Jimmy Hoffa’s grave. I may have to give up my all-encompassing hatred of the Giants until Tynes is no longer on the team, but only just a bit. Tynes is also well known for breaking a bouncer’s nose in bar fight during training camp in 2005, so I guess he’d fit right in with a solid chunk of the Bhoys’ faithful.