THE Twelfth of July celebrations of 2013 went well, for the dinosaur branches of the Rangers family, who still take cognisance of the club's "traditions" - the great Ulster divide was maintained, with just one or two small flashpoints, their age-old "right" to parade their bigotry on the streets of Belfast and, today, around various douce Scottish towns was maintained - and, as an added bonus, "THEY" got humped in Berlin.
I lang syne became sickened by the whole Twelfth, Marching Season nonsense. I have a former school class-mate who is just about as big as they get in Orange circles. He was a numpty at school, he's now a pensioner and still a numpty. He could have done with a few years in England, the guaranteed cure for such Wearrapeepul nonsense - as could those on the other side who perpetuate victimhood and, sometimes from a residence in some of Scotland's more upmarket neighbourhoods, try to insist that Kaffliks are second-class citizens in 21st century Scotland.
Right, rant over - but, what about Celtic's pre-season results? Of course, to the ranks of the great put-upon, whose spiritual home is in post code G51, Ra Sellick losing to German Second Division opponents is the ideal mid-summer pick-up. GIRUY as they say. Here, in the real world, disappointing though the results have been, I doubt if too-many people, from Neil Lennon down, are telephoning the Samaritans.
Pre-season games are all about getting rid of the rust and stiffness; they are rehearsals for the real thing. Better to fluff one's lines somewhere in suburban Berlin, with comparatively few watching, than in front of where "the Jungle" used to be on a must-win European night.
What's that old saying: "Poor dress rehearsal - great first night"? If I was connected to Cliftonville, I'd be getting a wee bit worried.
Of course, the fact that Celtic's relative presumed discomfort has kept the cyber-warriors of both persuasions busy is welcome in the management floors of our newspapers - nothing gets the punters commenting online like a wee bit of Old Firm controversy.
THE draw for the first round of the League Cup has been made, so, the start of the season is just around the corner. Once again in 2013-14, whichever club wins Scotland's third trophy, their success will not be a passport to Europe. Some think this is wrong, that a domestic cup success should be rewarded by entry to the qualifying stages for the Europa League.
I hae ma doots. At the moment European entry, apart from the lottery of the Scottish Cup, is based on league success. My view, for as long as those clubs finishing closest to Celtic in the league continue to be blown away by even the weakest of continental opposition, better to leave it to the clubs which have shown themselves to be the most-consistent over an entire season, rather than to clubs who, perhaps through a combination of a helpful run of draws and, maybe, an off-day by the big team, gets to win the League Cup.
That is not to say, we dismiss the League Cup out of hand. IF (and I am going to ask for a suspension of reality here) the Hampden blazers really had a thought for the good of Scottish football, and a notion of how things work in the real world, they would be using the League Cup to try to better the game here.
For a start, they could go back to the original format, and use this competition as one which allowed the clubs to ease themselves into the season, trying combinations and players in groups, prior to the real effort of the league.
Or, in my view, even more relevant to today's football: they might think of designating the League Cup as a "Scotland-only" competition, and insist that all players fielded must be Scotland-qualified.
This would give our young players a chance to show what they could do, and, forced to rely on Scots, those clubs who rely on non-Scots in key positions, just might be vulnerable to lesser sides, which would make for an even-more unpredictable competition; and, the League Cup has, over the years, thrown-up some surprise winners and finalists.
Anything to shake-up the normal drab sameness of the game here has to be welcomed and worth trying.
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