CELTIC manager Lou Macari yesterday hit back at the rumour-mongers who
claim he is on the verge of quitting after discovering the true extent
of the problems at Parkhead.
Suggestions were rife last weekend that Macari would quit following
the Scottish Cup tie against Motherwell, exactly three months after he
joined from Stoke.
There were strong hints that Macari had been caught out by the scale
of the task facing him -- a struggling team on the pitch and a
cash-strapped, unpopular board off it. But Macari yesterday used the
club's newspaper, the Celtic View, to quash all the speculation by
insisting: ''How stupid do people think I am, suggesting my first couple
of months as manager have been an eye-opener?
''Absolutely nothing has taken me by surprise. I'm not daft enough to
think I'd have a fairytale return where everything would be hunky-dory
and we'd suddenly achieve the sort of success that has proved beyond us
in the past five years.''
Macari claims that he is not concerned about the present, but ''how
things will pan out long-term.'' He added that the cup defeat by
Motherwell had been ''a blow, not a disaster. It's not the end for
Celtic.
''Frankly, it's been dramatised to the point that people have got
carried away about its significance.''
Played last night
B INTERNATIONAL
Wales 2 (Roberts, Pembridge pen), Scotland 1 (McCart).
EUROPEAN SUPER CUP FINAL.
SECOND LEG
AC Milan 0, Parma 2 (Sensini, Crippa), after extra time: score at
90min 0-1. Agg:
1-2.
SCOTTISH LEAGUE. DIVISION I
Hamilton 0, Stirling Albion 1 (Watters).
DIVISION II
Arbroath 1 (Diver), East Stirlingshire 1 (Craig).
Stranraer 2 (Sloan 2), Forfar Athletic 0.
FRIENDLY MATCH
Clydebank 0, Rangers 2 (McPherson, Boyack).
RESERVE LEAGUE
Meadowbank Thistle 3 (Price, Gardner, Coulston), East Fife 4 (Logan,
Trialist, Andrew, Trialist).
FA CARLING PREMIERSHIP
Coventry 1, Ipswich 0.
Today's fixtures
Reserve League -- Motherwell v Celtic (1.0, at Troon).
Youth League -- Cowdenbeath v Hearts (7.30).
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