Odds & Ends on a Sunny Friday

By: JT | January 18th, 2008

By far the most entertaining rumor circulating on the Celticnet these days is that the Bhoys’ esteemed manager, Wee Gordon Strachan, attended Wednesday’s Manchester City-West Ham FA Cup replay to watch…wait for it…Mark Noble.

Now The Mirror is reporting that Celtic are preparing a £4m bid for the Hammer.

Let’s see, Noble is born and bred West Ham and is seen by all as the club’s top young player. It would take quite a bit more than £4m to pry Noble from West Ham’s grasp, especially when they have no need to sell anyone, much less their best homegrown prospect.

To me its akin to some club coming in with a weak £5m bid for Aiden McGeady. No way, no how, get outta here.

And dangling Champs League football as a carrot? Yeah, thats true, but there are about seven other guys who’ll be playing in the midfield before Noble gets a look at Barcelona and whoever Celtic play in the quarterfinals.

Also mentioned in The Mirror’s exclusive is Wigan’s Jason Koumas. Too expensive, too temperamental. He had his chance to come to Celtic Park in the summer and decided to fight against relegation instead. Enjoy.

After Teddy Bjarnason hit the highway on Tuesday, I thought it was only a matter of time until Evander Sno followed him. Sno has commented publicly in the past about his lack of first team action, but after a bid from Basque side Osasuna was turned down by the Celts, Sno has stated his desire to remain in Glasgow.

The bastion of accuracy known as TribalFootball claims Osasuna will be returning with an enhanced bid, and Sno is ready to quit Celtic, despite yesterday’s reports.

Sno has quite a bit to offer Celtic in Europe, but his style of play really is best suited to the Italian or Spanish game. His pace is not quite what it needs to be for the SPL, though his technique is magnificent. If his prospects don’t brighten soon, it’s likely he’ll move on this summer.

Celtic have thwarted Burnley’s bid to take Derek Riordan to Turf Moor. The Clarets offer of £400,000 is well short of Celtic’s £1m valuation. Personally, I think he’s worth keeping around for the rest of this term at least, unless Burnley doubles its bid, especially if Maciej Zurawski is sold.

Celtic also rate Magic at £1m, which has frightened off many a suitor. The Pole needs first team football so he can play for his country at Euro 2008, and that won’t likely be happening anytime soon at Parkhead.

The Bhoys have inquired about the availability of Lazio central defender Guglielmo Stendardo who has fallen out of favor with his manager. Obviously Celtic are looking for a big, tough, no-nonsense complement to Stephen McManus from the continent, and Stendardo fits the bill. It seems a bit of a reach though.

The six match ban for Benfica’s Augustin Binya’s studs up assault on Scott Brown in the Champions League group stages has been upheld by UEFA. Deservedly so, because that truly could have been a career ender.

NEXT MATCH

The Bhoys head into this week’s home tilt with Kilmarnock four points behind the Huns at the top of the SPL. The margin of error is now very slim week-to-week, and victories are mandatory, starting on Saturday.

Celtic are healthy but without the suspended McGeady, and Killie’s most dangerous man Colin Nish is suspended as well. After a dour 0-0 in the season opener at Celtic Park, the Bhoys will be out to exact a modicum of revenge, and I look for this to be a straightforward affair.

~~McGeady~~ Scott Brown opens the scoring after a ~~dazzling run down the left and sweet cutback to the center. I’d say, rightfooted from the top of the 18 yard box.~~ typical run through the heart of the Killie defense, finishing with a nicely placed eight yard chip.

Big Jan will keep it going with a header from the foot of Hartley and Naka will relive his title winning free kick from April, without the shirt twirling antics after.

Killie manager Jim Jefferies admits that its near impossible to stop Naka and his free-kick genius. They’ve even spent an entire week designing ways to prevent him from doing them in, and nothing helps. He’s just that good.

3-0 to the Celts, and the clean sheet streak continues.