NIR Bitton can boast better spoken English than some of his team-mates but even he didn’t quite get a phrase just right when speaking about how he makes a living.
The Israeli, I am sure, won’t mind his words about what real graft is compared to how he makes a penny being translated into Scottish.
“Football is better than digging holes in the road,” is what he meant to say.
Celtic play their 33th competitive game of the season at Tynecastle tomorrow afternoon. Most of the squad are internationalists and so when you add those games, plus friendlies, then by the time the Rangers game is over on December 30 there will be some with over 40 appearances to their name.
The sound you hear are small violins everywhere been given some laldy.
However, for all that Bitton and his pals have a great life, the car he drove past me on the way out of Lennoxtown belonged to a man who never worries when punching in his four numbers, being a professional sportsman can be tough.
If not exactly workman tough.
“I think a lot of people look at us and say ‘he’s a footballer, he doesn’t do much,” said Bitton.
“But you work hard. You are not outside working in the cold all the time, or working with your hands, but you are still working hard and you have to make a lot of sacrifices.
“I think people on the outside take what we do for granted. They say: ‘Oh Celtic are playing Hamilton so they should be winning 4-0 at half time.’ But it’s not like that. It’s never easy.
“All the teams we face want to take our unbeaten run. We’ve lost more points this season than last season. It’s difficult this time.
“The amount of games we are having to play is crazy. Some of our boys have played over 30 matches and it’s not yet January. But you need to enjoy that, deal with it, and make sure that your body is ready.
“You don’t have much time to rest between games but I think it’s better. It’s easier. The ones who haven’t played always have a hard session after matches because you never know who is going to play in the next one.
“That creates a good mentality because everyone is pushing to start and fighting for their place. For those who are playing regularly, it means that we aren’t training so often.”
Celtic go to Hearts tomorrow, then it’s away to Partick Thistle, Aberdeen at home, Dundee on Boxing Day and then Rangers visit Parkhead.
After that the players get a week off before heading to Dubai for warm weather training and a bit more downtime. This three-week break worked wonders last season for Celtic. The belief is it will again.
Bitton said: “I think it was an important part in what we achieved last season. We went into the winter break after beating Rangers 2-1 and everyone was saying: ‘their run is going to end.’
“But the winter break gave us the opportunity to get back together, spending time together in Dubai with the new guys. Since we came back from there we were unbelievably brilliant. It was just enjoyable.”
Rodgers has been proud of the way his players have continued to win at home despite the hectic schedule.
And while he’s hardly had a minute to himself, the manager did make the point that busy team tends to be a winning one.
“We have played a lot of games but if we are going to be successful, that’s what happens,” said Rodgers. “From coming in at the start of the season, the only real gap in terms of midweek games was early September. But that’s because we have been successful.”
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