Irish Karaoke Heads North 

Celtic and their singers will be out in force in Inverness this Saturday, just after noon, for the early kick-off against a rejuvenated Inverness, fresh from their fireworks at Kilmarnock.

The Glasgow club have recovered some form after a shaky period which has seen champions Rangers open up a twelve point gap at the top of the table.  Europa league victory over Rennes and an SPL win in the crunch game for second place over Motherwell has boosted their confidence, and their fans expectations are recovering somewhat.  Neil Lennon, he of the Juanjo incident, is not out of the woods yet and defeat in the Highlands would not best please the Celtic board.

Once again the international break disrupted the flow of the SPL games as Scotland went to Cyprus for a break, and won 1-2 with a brilliant finish from Kenny Miller the pick of the goals as the Cypriots rattled the woodwork around McGregor.  Celtic's Daniel Majstorovic got himself into the record books in the England v Sweden international match.  His header was the 2000th goal scored by England.  Congratulations Daniel, it took England 43 years to beat Sweden, you must be so proud. 

Not to be outdone on the international front, Terry Butcher has become the first Englishman to be inducted into the Scottish Football Museum's Hall of Fame.  A great accolade for Singapore born Butcher who has spent something like half of the last twenty-five years plying his trade north of the border.  Terry played at Rangers for four and a half seasons and has manager of Motherwell and Scotland assistant manger to add to his CV.

But, we are here to look forward to this weekends game, weather permitting, at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, scene of some dramatic encounters between these two sides.  Who can forget the second Scottish Cup win for Inverness when a Dennis Wyness goal put Celtic out of the competition, or Michael Fraser's outstanding save as we came from two goals down to win 3-2, with ten men, and of course the game that decided last seasons destination for the SPL trophy as an inspired Inverness took the wind out of Celtic's sails with another sensational 3-2 win.  There are however, some games we would rather not be reminded of, such as the cup game in 2007 when after leading the Hoops for 71 minutes, eventually losing 1-2 as Pressley and Miller scored 89th and 90th minute goals to ruin Graeme Bayne's 18th minute strike.  Annoyingly, Celtic duplicated the scoreline in 2010 as Ledley scored a brace after Rooney had netted a penalty before half-time.  Aye, there has been some wonderful games between these two sides, let's hope it's football that makes the headlines this weekend and not the karaoke, or is it more like the X-Factor.

Remember this is a 12:30 kick off for this televised game

GingerJaggy is looking ahead to this game and has put together this preview for you..............

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 The last international break is over; it is time for the major push before the festive period. Caley Thistle still sit bottom of the table but things are now looking like they are coming together for Terry Butcher's new lads. After the debacle at St Johnstone when it looked like 11 men had been picked up off the street prior to kick-off, Inverness has slowly but surely started to hopefully turn the corner. It has been frustrating so far this season with Caley Thistle not picking up the points that some of their performances have merited. This is reflected by the brilliant performance against Motherwell with no reward, Rugby Park though, we hope, was the day when CaleyThistle made the breakthrough. That 6-3 result has given everyone a huge lift as Celtic lies in wait to become Inverness's next victim, fingers crossed. 

The history of this fixture will have been regurgitated so many times because of our ability to shock the club from the east end of Glasgow. Everyone will always remember the 8^th of February 2000, and Dennis Wyness against Martin O Neil's European finalists. For all of Craig Brewster's failings in his second spell he still gave us one of the best comebacks in our history. Celtic were 2-0 up before the half hour mark and looked like there was very little hope of securing any points. But a John Rankin penalty, a David Proctor header and a neat finish from Don Cowie turned the tie on its head. We even managed to hold on to the lead with 10 men for about 20 minutes. They were three great results and this hoodoo we seem to have over the Parkhead club has continued under Terry Butcher's leadership. Celtic at home in his first match always looked hard but a battling performance meant we came away with a point. That was a taster of things to come with Butcher master minding a 2-0 deficit into a point at Parkhead last season. But this was eclipsed by a performance that can only be described as heroic. The game had no meaning for an Inverness team that were safe from relegation and looking pretty comfortable to finish top of the bottom six. Add in the news that two of the club legends were being released, suddenly Caley did have something to play for; pride to wear the badge. It ended 3-2 but in truth the score line flattered Celtic who could have been on the end of an absolute tanking. This season has seen the teams play only once. That was in Glasgow with the home side ending up 2-0 winners but the result wasn't as comfortable as it suggests as Caley Thistle put in a real good shift and were unlucky not to at least have our name on the score sheet.

The form of the Hoops this season should be an encouragement for the homesters. Celtic has conceded a lot more goals than they are used to and have dropped points in unexpected games this season. Hibs and St Johnstone have already been and taken points off them at Parkhead with the latter actually winning the game. They have also been beaten at Hearts and had to come back from 3-0 down at Kilmarnock to rescue a point. Obviously our form hasn't been too consistent so far this season but our home form has been pretty decent. We should have picked up a few more points from some of our home performances this season, but things are hopefully looking up.

The 6-3 a couple of weeks ago was just what the doctor ordered and after a slow start it looks like we have got ourselves a gem in attacking midfielder Andrew Shinnie. He has now scored 5 in the league with his last four coming in the last 2 matches. Inverness always gives the Old Firm a tough game in the highlands and I don't see any different here as all the pressure will be on Celtic who vitally need the win to try and reduce Rangers lead down from 12points. The pressure certainly isn't on us, even if we are still languishing at the bottom of the table after this match the gap between us and 4^th place is only 7 points. We won't get relegated losing this game and so here is hoping we can excel again and get off the bottom of the table. 

This game won't be easy; it is one of the Old Firm after all. But what the last game has shown all the supporters is that we are a better side than what the league table currently suggests. We have had some really good performances this season and not reaped the reward that some of them have deserved. Celtic haven't been at their best so far this season and so should give us optimism to write another chapter in this remarkable story of being Celtic's bogey team.

Latest Team News

Inverness' hall of fame & Doctor of Sport, Terry Butcher, will still be without long term absentees Aaron Doran and Owain Tudur-Jones.  Doran has begun some light work, but neither will figure until after the new year.  Lee Cox and Nick Ross played in a bounce game against Aberdeen this week and could come into contention, as will Chris Hogg and Thomas Piermayr, both ready after suspension.  Forgotten man Billy McKay (who?) did not feature.  Butcher's problems are now metamorphing from who to play to who to leave out, but after the scintilating performance at Rugby Park he should be cautious to tinker with the team selection too much.

Celtic's under fire manager Neil Lennon has Kris Commons and Gary Hooper itching for a start.  One man not on the team sheet will be Mohamed Bangura who may require an operation to repair a knee problem.  Ki Sung-Yueng and Cha Du-Ri both hobbled back from international duty and are struggling for this clash.  Charlie Mulgrew and Glenn Loovens are still missing, but Joe Ledley returns after a calf injury.  On the brighter side, England's landmark 2000th goal scorer Daniel Majstorovic is fresh though, and that should be a bonus for Gregory Tade.

Karaoke or X-Factor, let's look forward to an entertaining days sport and the possibility of moving off the foot of the table could be enough for Inverness to remain undefeated on the day, X factor for me.  Scoring draw on the coupon.

SPL News

The SPL will require a new sponsor in 2013 as the Clydesdale Bank will end it's handouts at the end of next season.  The bank has been dishing out the money since 2007.  Neil Doncaster believes that all the controversy surrounding the game north of the border is positive publicity..........Aye right, does he also believe in Santa?

Billy Brown has thrown his name into the mix for the vacancy at Easter Road.  He was the current number two to the deposed Colin Calderwood and feels the time is right to step up to the managers position.  Brown has served a long apprenticeship following Jim Jeffries around for some 23 years.  He will be in charge for this weekend's game against Kilmarnock.  Pat Fenlon and Michael O'Neill are thought to be among the top candidates out of ninety plus applicants.

Hearts have a novel way of keeping the wage bills down.  For the second month running the players have not received their wages on time, allegedly due to the club trying to pay off a £1,000,000 tax bill.  On top of this, Paulo Sergio has received a five match ban and even worse, rumours abound that Vladimir Romanov is about to sell Hearts............trouble ahead methinks.

Dunfermline are jumping on the cost cutting bandwagon and expect to save £20,000 per season by closing their North Stand.

Rangers date with the tax man has been put back to the middle of January as her majesty's revenue and customs man tries to recover a staggering total of £49,000,000.  Administration beckons if the Ibrox club lose this one in the courts.

Robbie Neilson & Stephen Hughes have joined Dundee United and Motherwell respectively.  Both former Hearts players, Neilson has signed on at Tannadice until the end of the season and midfielder Hughes signs on at Motherwell until the new year.

Sone Aluko has gone on trial at Ibrox.  The former Aberdeen player is without a club at present and is training with Rangers this week.  Aluko had scored 13 goals in four seasons at Pittodrie.

Minor League news

Meanwhile, back in Scotland during the international break, a Grant Munro inspired Ross County continued their march towards the SPL with a fine 3-1 victory over nearest challengers Falkirk, which sees them open up a six point gap at this stage of the season; better get those extra seats installed pronto gudgies. Whatever next.