A few days ago I wrote about Celtic keeping their transfer business in house only leaking news to the media when they want to. As sections of the media struggle with half decent content to fill their online click platforms.

These media outlets have been speculating on numerous players who Celtic may or may not be in talks with to bring to the club but one player who was not mentioned is goalkeeper, Ross Doohan who has signed a three-year deal which brings him back to the club from Aberdeen after coming through the Celtic Academy.

Doohan was not the glamour signing that Celtic fans are waiting for since the transfer window opened. He comes into the squad after Scott Bain exited the Celtic building with a bag full of medals from his time in the Eastend of Glasgow.

Doohan had spells with Ayr United, Ross County, Dundee United, Tranmere Rovers and Forest Green Rovers, has represented Scotland at various age levels and recently made his first team debut in a 4-0 away win over Liechtenstein earlier this month.

Speaking about his return to Paradise, Doohan said: “I’m over the moon. Coming through the Academy, spending 11 years there and now to be coming back, it’s an amazing feeling.

“It was always the dream to come back. I knew at the starting point of my career that I needed to go away and play games and hopefully the opportunity would come up to come back to the club, which I always wanted to do and thankfully that’s happened now.

“I’m buzzing to get going and to meet all the boys and hopefully it’ll be another successful season for the club.”

Doohan follows Tierney back to Celtic both came through Celtic’s Youth Academy . 

Brendan Rodgers has also spoken about his delight at bringing the goalkeeper in to the Celts’ first team squad, adding: “I am really pleased that we are bringing Ross back to Celtic. He knows the club so well and has grown up understanding the demands of the club.

“He has gone away, got some great experience, really focused on developing himself at some good clubs, so much so that he has now achieved his first Scotland cap, a great moment for him and his family.

“Ross is a really talented goalkeeper, hungry to achieve more, but he is a humble guy with a tremendous attitude to the game. I am sure he can be a real asset to our squad”.

Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes & Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast 

 

I am back in More than 90 Minutes HQ after a little break away from the typewriter and getting ready for another season on the road following Celtic. The only big news on the Celtic front since we lost on penalties to Aberdeen at Hampden has been the return of Kieran Tierney.

Celtic have been linked to numerous players since the end of the season as media outlets try to fill column space to drive traffic to their websites. In an absence of any real meaningful news it is the usual suspects who are turning out news with very little substance.

Celtic are always cagey when it comes to transfers coming and going and they generally keep everything in house unless they want it leaked to the press.

Tierney’s return is a welcome one and the club chose St. Lukes in the Gallowgate to unveil him on his return from London as he exchanges the Red and White of Arsenal for the famous Green and White hoops. As KT enters Scott Bain exits Celtic with 14 medals in the bag since arriving in January 2018 from Dundee.

I spent a week in the company of Celtic fans earlier this month at the NAFCSC convention in Las Vegas to celebrate all things Celtic. The committee put on another brilliant week of entertainment and it was great to catch up with old friends from around the globe and talk all things Celtic and share some stories of the season just passed.

Celtic have announced their pre-season fixtures with only one game taking place at Celtic Park which has been getting a new pitch laid over the summer break.

After the expense of renewing your season ticket Celtic are asking fans to stump up for a pre-season game v Newcastle which has left a sour taste in many fans mouths. This is just another cash grab by the club and many season ticket holders will watch the game on TV rather than shell out more cash.

Brendan Rodgers and the team’s pre-season kicks off on the Southside of the city v Queens Park before the team travel to Cork and then onto Faro to take on Sporting Lisbon before returning back to Glasgow for the Newcastle game and then onto a pre-season tournament in Como.

Hopefully I will see some of our readers on the road over the summer following the Bhoys.

PRE-SEASON FIXTURES

JULY

Fri           04:          19:45   Queens Park (The City Stadium)

Tue         08:          18:00   Cork City (Pairc Ui Chaoimh)

Wed       16:          TBC       Sporting Lisbon (Estadio do Algarve)

Sat          19:          15:00   Newcastle  United (Celtic Park)

Thu         24:          TBC       Ajax (Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia)

Depending on result v Ajax Celtic will play either on Saturday or Sunday.

Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes & Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast 

Today the season will come to an end. It all started back at the start of July at Somerset Park against Scot Brown’s Ayr United in a pre-season friendly. Kyogo scored a penalty in the 1-1 draw. Brown and Kyogo have both written themselves into the Celtic history books. By full time  some other players will have wrote their part in our famous history. Lets hope its of goals and glory and another treble.

Celtic are hot favourites to complete a treble but in a one off game anything can happen and who would have thought that we could lose home and away to the rangers this season. So with that in mind I travel with confidence and caution over the Irish Sea.

Aberdeen went from contenders in the early part of the season to pretenders. Some pundits even tipping them to split ourselves and the rangers. The Aberdeen fans dreams came crashing down when Celtic hammered them in Hampden Park in the semi-final of the League Cup the last time both clubs met at the National Stadium.

On a sunny night in Aberdeen last week Brendan Rodgers put out a team mostly made up of squad players and they tormented the home side and by the time the full time whistle had blown most of the Aberdeen fans had seen enough and were long gone. The Celtic players celebrated in front of us and it was James Forest who took the applause as he rolled back the years with a great performance.

Coming off the bench and scoring the equaliser on trophy day v St. Mirren has only enhanced his standing among the Celtic fans and his goal just signalled to all how special a club we are and how special his achievements are in modern football. A one club man and Lisbon Lion Legend Bobby Lennox was there to hand over the baton to the most successful player in Celtic’s History.

Forest has another season to go at Celtic and plenty of more chapters to write in our history starting tomorrow.

I’m sure I will bump into many of our readers over the weekend in Glasgow. Hopefully it will be another successful outing on the Southside of Glasgow and that the celebrations go long into the night and into the summer as the city remains Green and White.

One more game left for Celtic in the Scottish Cup Final at Hampden. A treble is also on the line and Celtic will be favourites to sign off with a win after another successful season celebrated on the streets of the East End of Glasgow last Saturday after Celtic shared the spoils with St. Mirren before Callum McGregor lifted a SPFL trophy.

The champions of Scotland  have also improved in Europe and after the Cup Final is complete, Brendan Rodgers will continue working on improving the squad ahead of next season assault on Europe along with continuing to dominate the domestic scene.

In a game that Celtic dominated possession it was St. Mirren who took the lead 5 minutes in to the second half, Jonah Ayunga slotted the ball in to the bottom corner to make it 1-0 to the visitors much to their traveling fans delight housed in the corner of Celtic Park.

James Forrest extended his incredible scoring run to 16 consecutive seasons with an outstanding last-gasp equaliser as the clock struck the 94^th minute. It was the fairytale story of the day after waiting all season to get his goal and the only headline on a day when Celtic huffed and puffed for an hour before Rodgers brought on Forest, McCowan and Yang for Kuhn, Idah and Bernardo.

The subs made a difference and they brought an intensity to the game which had been missing and have now given Rodgers food for thought ahead of Saturday’s Cup decider against Aberdeen.

Reo Hatate would have started on Saturday if he had not picked up an injury in Pittodrie so his place is up for grabs. Brendan Rodgers opted for Bernardo to start against St. Mirren but McCowan looked lively when he came on. Who will the manager opt for in the middle with McGregor and Engels.

Kuhn had a quiet enough game on Saturday by his standards and looked pissed off when he was substituted for Forest. Will Rodgers stick with him or start Forest or will he come off the bench and continue his fairytale at Celtic.

Maeda plays but will it be down the middle with Yang on the wing or will the manager stick with Adam Idah up front. Whatever 11 players start they should be strong enough to beat Aberdeen who we hammered last week at their place in a dress rehearsal that featured players mostly on the fringes of the regular starting Celtic 11.

Roll on Saturday and the last trip to Glasgow for the season. Hopefully we will be celebrating long into the night.

Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes & Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast 

We came we watched and we won on Wednesday night in Aberdeen and we leave this city today very happy and confident ahead of celebrating trophy day on Saturday and then onto Hampden Park the following week for the Scottish Cup final against last nights opponents.

Brendan Rodgers rang the changes and the players he called up did not let him or the travelling support down and it was James Forest who took the plaudits at full time as the players celebrated in front of us on what was our last away day of the season and what a way to end it.

The afternoon sun was shining as we strolled to the ground stopping off in a few bars for some light refreshments while sharing some stories from over the years following Celtic. Outside the ground ticketless Celtic fans held sterling notes high in the air in the hope of picking up a late brief.

Two young Celtic fans who had travelled over with us managed to pick up tickets in with the home supporters behind the goal and had a birds eye view of all of Celtic’s second half goals.

There were plenty of empty seats throughout the stadium and after the home fans witnessed a hammering and hearing news that Hibs had secured third place the stadium was almost empty for their last home game of the season by the time the final whistle sounded.

It is sad that they could not applaud a team who have blown hot and cold all season but that’s your team and they have got you to a Scottish Cup Final and they should have stayed to applaud their team.

Johnny Kenny finally got his start and rewarded the managers faith with a goal while his fellow country man Adam Idah came off the bench and added to his season’s impressive goal tally. I think that’s 20 goals now for the season. The 5-1 win would have been celebrated on all the buses as they pulled out of the coach park and headed back to Glasgow.

For those of us who had flown in from Ireland we enjoyed a few hours in Aberdeen’s late night establishments before a kebab and a good kip. Those celebrations continued this morning in a local Celtic Bar on the docks before heading to catch our early evening flight home.

You know its been a good season on the road following Celtic when Simply the Best comes on the jukebox to howls of laughter, claps and even some Celtic fans joining in with the chorus. Laughing at the rangers never gets tired.

That’s a wrap for away days this season following Celtic from Munich to Motherwell. Not even a fall on the way to Zagreb which resulted in broken nose could dampen my spirits this season although I was pissed off when my coat got stolen on the same trip and I had to go out into freezing temperatures.

We even ended up in Latvia on route to Munich thanks to Hynsey travel. It’s been emotional, next away days is scheduled for Cork in July.

Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes & Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast 

It has been a season that has seen us travel throughout Scotland picking up points on away days and we have also enjoyed some fantastic away days in Europe which sadly came to a halt in Munich on a bitterly cold and disappointing night.

Today we travel to Aberdeen for the last away day of the season before the Green and White half of Glasgow celebrate another trophy day down the Gallowgate, along the Trongate and into the merchant city. A double celebration to enjoy with a possible treble awaiting the following Saturday at Hampden Park on the southside of the city.

Tonight’s game will be dress rehearsal for the cup final. The Champions of Scotland will be in confident mood when they head North for the game to take on a team who have blown hot and cold this season.

Supporters buses will leave Glasgow packed with Celtic fans for the midweek fixture. The league may have been wrapped up a few weeks ago in Tannadice but tickets are still in high demand and as usual some fans will travel without tickets in the hope of picking up one outside the stadium. Some may be lucky enough while others will not be so fortunate and will have to watch in the nearest pub to the ground.

Earlier in the season we watched Celtic win 0-1 during a storm when we all got soaked to the skin in a rain and windswept Pittodrie. Today it looks much brighter as the early morning sun rises as I board the 100x at 5am in my hometown of Drogheda for the short journey to Dublin Airport to catch an 8am flight to Aberdeen.

It chose a flight out of Dublin to Aberdeen today, the only other option was to fly to Glasgow and take a supporters bus up. Always a great spin up the road with the tunes playing and a few drinks flowing but for this on I’ve taken the easier option of a direct flight and a cosy hotel. The early start is always made easier this time of the year rather than the dark and cold of the winter months.

Aberdeen started the season very well and are still in contention to snatch that third place in a shoot out with Hibs who have been the story of the second half of the season but had little answer for Celtic on Saturday at a sunny Paradise. Less than 24 hours later the Dons fans were shaking their heads as the wheels came off the bus in Glasgow against the rangers who recorded their first win at Ibrox after 7 previous attempts.

The last time the two teams met this season was back in February at Celtic Park and Celtic beat the visitors 5-1. In September their players celebrated in front of their travelling support after coming from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at Celtic Park. In November there would be no celebrations for their players or fans after Celtic thumped them 6-0 in the semi-final of the League Cup.

So we have every right to be confident ahead of tonight’s game. I expect to see a few changes from the win over Hibs on Saturday but not wholesale changes with competition still healthy for places ahead of Hampden final.

The game will be shown live on Sky Sports and streamed on Celtic TV. Kick off is 8pm.

The sun was scorching as I walked towards Celtic Park yesterday about an hour before kick off. Shorts and shades were the order of the day for the faithful all heading in one direction up the Celtic Way. The Billy McNeill statue overlooking Celtic fans with tickets held high in their hands for purchase ahead of the traditional 3pm Saturday kick off.

There were some familiar faces from the pop World including the late Shane MacGowan’s wife Victoria enjoying the atmosphere and hearing The Pogues Fiesta played before the game brought a smile to her face.

Ireland international and former Celtic player, Roco Vata was also back at Celtic Park supporting the bhoys as was former boxer Jamie Conlon no doubt he watched his fellow Belfast native Anthony Cacace later on the evening. Cacace was very impressive when retaining his IBO World title in Nottingham against Leigh Woods. The towel came in from the home town boxers corner in the round 9.

Yesterdays opponents Hibs did not live up to their billing as the best of the rest in Scotland and Celtic ran out comfortable 3-1 winners. Martin Boyle put the visitors ahead much to the delight of their traveling fans who unveiled a banner about tickets prices in Scottish football. Banners also appeared at the same time in the Bhoys section and by the Green Brigade in the North Curve.

Nicholas Kuhn opened the scoring for Celtic and Adam Idah added a second Celtic goal after missing a handful of chances in front of goal to make the half time pie all the more enjoyable. Adam splits opinion within the Celtic support but after the game Brendan Rodgers spoke very highly of his performance.

Reo Hatate put in a man of the match performance and was rewarded with a second half goal to make it 3-1. All in all a great day out in Paradise. We travel to Aberdeen on Wednesday for our last away day of the season. We have had some great adventures this season throughout Scotland and around Europe following the bhoys and lets hope we can end the endless miles over land and sea with another 3 points in what will be a dress rehearsal for the Scottish Cup Final later in the month.

Glasgow city centre was buzzing after the game as I strolled to Buchanon Bus Station, As people enjoyed the later afternoon sun with bars and restaurants doing a bustling trade On sunny days like these I wished I had booked an overnighter but an aeroplane awaited for an 8:30pm flight from Edinburgh to Dublin. There were plenty of familiar faces on the flight home from St. Margarets CSC & Mid Leinster CSC its always great to catch up and talk Celtic with like minded people.

Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes Celtic Fanzine & Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast 

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