After last week’s horror show at Livingston, Celtic return to Celtic Park for league action as Dundee United come to Glasgow this afternoon.

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Both teams were in action in the League Cup midweek, with differing results, Celtic dispatched Raith Rovers 3-0 while United were knocked out by Hibs 3-1 at Tannadice.

Celtic can’t afford to drop any more points in the league so it is already a must win game. United sit a place and a point above Celtic in the table, played 6, won 3, drawn 1 and lost 2, they have 10 points. We have won 3 and lost 3, not exactly title contender form and if we harbour any hopes of reclaiming the title that form has to change quickly.

Greek striker, Giakoumakis suffered a calf injury in the warm up to Thursday’s game and joins Kyogo, McGregor, Taylor, Forrest and Jullien on the absent list. Injuries have hindered Ange Postecoglou from fielding his best team and we have definitely missed Kyogo’s movement and finishing along with McGregor in midfield.

Liam Scales came on for his debut on Thursday and looked assured, we could see him play left back with Montgomery pushed further forward, Juranovic can play in several positions and may have to play in midfield.

After the initial positivity, losing all but one away game played this season and the Dominic McKay exit, positivity is starting to run thin. It’s clear Ange is a likeable guy and a good coach as we have seen with the improvement in some players. I think given time he will do a good job, some of the football has been great, get some of the injured players back and we can no doubt go on a run. We just need to grind results out until we have a fuller squad.

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Mick Kane hails from Glasgow. He has been hooked on Celtic since he went to his first game when he was 7. Celtic beat Hamilton 8-3 at Celtic Park on the 3rd of January 1987. His favourite player at the time, Brian McClair scored four goals.

He started going regular as a 16 year old when Celtic played at Hampden for the season, being a Southsider it meant a short train journey to get to Hampden. From then he has had a season ticket travelled around Europe for games as Celtic became the dominant force in Scottish football again. A nice change from growing up during Rangers run to 9 in a row.

It’s a return to Seville this week as Celtic prepare to face Real Betis on Thursday in matchday one of the Europa League.

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Unfortunately there will be no away fans in the stadium after the local Seville authority ruled out due to covid restrictions. However I’m sure there will still be a few Celtic fans making a return to the Andalusian city.

We go into the game on the back of a 3-0 home win against Ross County, not the best of display from Ange’s men, however this was the type of game last season when we would have dropped points, yet this time people are unhappy with a 3-0 win.

It’s clear we miss Kyogo and his movement up front, he will miss Thursday nights clash too, so hopefully the two goals Ajeti scored will increase his confidence. Giakoumakis it seems is not fit having last played in May, it could be a few weeks before we see him, which means Ajeti is likely to lead the attack for the next few weeks. Jota and Carter-Vickers made their debuts and both impressed and are likely to feature again against Betis.

Betis were in action on Monday night in an Andalusian Derby away to Granada. They won that 2-1, goals from Rodri and a late winner from Canales sealed the 3 points. Betis currently sit 9th in La Liga, with 1 win, 2 draws and 1 defeat.

Los Verdiblanco were last in Europe in 2018/19, in a Europa League Group which featured Olympiacos, Dudelange and Milan, they finished 1st, undefeated after a win and a draw against each team in the group, they would be knocked out by Rennes 6-4 on aggregate in the last 32. Betis have only won La Liga once back in the 1930’s however they are still one of the most well supported teams in Spain.

As most will know Betis took their colours from Celtic after one of the founding members and captain, Manuel Ramos Asensio having spent time studying in Scotland contacted Celtic and purchased strips to change the Betis colours to green and white from their original blue, good choice.

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Seville and Glasgow are linked not only through the above link but rivals Sevilla FC were captained and manged by Hugh McColl, a Glaswegian who is buried in the same cemetery as our own Willy Maley in Cathcart.

Mick Kane hails from Glasgow. He has been hooked on Celtic since he went to his first game when he was 7. Celtic beat Hamilton 8-3 at Celtic Park on the 3rd of January 1987. His favourite player at the time, Brian McClair scored four goals.

He started going regular as a 16 year old when Celtic played at Hampden for the season, being a Southsider it meant a short train journey to get to Hampden. From then he has had a season ticket travelled around Europe for games as Celtic became the dominant force in Scottish football again. A nice change from growing up during Rangers run to 9 in a row.

Further Listening 

The story of Patrick O’Connell is amazing with so many highs and lows which Fergus goes into great detail to share the story with the listeners of the Dublin footballer who died a penniless alcoholic on the streets on London after saving FC Barcelona from Franco, winning La Liga with Real Betis as manager 81 years ago. Their first and only title win.

An Irish international player who played his club football with Belfast Celtic and Manchester United who paid £1000 which was a massive amount of money at the time. Out of that transfer his family received £4.

Outside football O’Connell ran guns from London to Dublin to be used in the 1916 Easter Rising in his hometown. He played for two seasons in Scotland for Dumbarton and his first game for them was against Celtic at Celtic Park where he marked the great Patsy Gallacher.

Further Reading

https://celticfanzine.com/gallaghers-championship-the-midweek-long-read/

Further Viewing

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Another international break over for now and it’s a return to Paradise for Celtic as Ross County travel down from the Highlands.

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The international break has brought about an injury for Kyogo, with Ange telling assembled media at the pre match presser that the Japanese star could be out for four weeks. Looks like he will miss out on games against Betis and Leverkusen amongst a few league games. Disappointing news, however it gives the opportunity for new signing Giorgos Giakoumakis to show us what he is about.

As I write this news has broken that Dom McKay has left his position as Chief Executive apparently for personal reasons. Already rumours are flying around. Whatever the story is its another disappointing story to come out after the Kyogo news.

County come to Glasgow looking for their first league win of the season, they have played 4, drawn 2 and lost 2. Currently 9th in the table with 2 points. Former Celt, Malky Mackay has a tough job ahead. The Highlanders did come to Glasgow last year and knock us out of the League Cup, it would be a big a surprise if they left Glasgow with anything this time.

With Kyogo ruled out, expect Giakoumakis to lead the line for his debut and we could see another new signing Jota play on the left wing. I also have a feeling Scales will come in at left back.

It’s a Saturday 3 o’clock kick off for team.

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On Sunday the ladies team are in Derby action as they welcome champions Glasgow City to the Penny Cars Stadium, both teams were the top two last year and if Celtic harbour any chance of winning the league then beating perennial champions City will go a long way to realising that dream.

The Celtic Women team won their opening league game last week 4-2 away to Aberdeen.

Let’s hope for wins for both the men and women teams.

Mick Kane hails from Glasgow. He has been hooked on Celtic since he went to his first game when he was 7. Celtic beat Hamilton 8-3 at Celtic Park on the 3rd of January 1987. His favourite player at the time, Brian McClair scored four goals.

He started going regular as a 16 year old when Celtic played at Hampden for the season, being a Southsider it meant a short train journey to get to Hampden. From then he has had a season ticket travelled around Europe for games as Celtic became the dominant force in Scottish football again. A nice change from growing up during Rangers run to 9 in a row.

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I woke up early this morning buzzing after beating the alarm clock. I was up and at it, packed the bag for a weekend in Glasgow what’s not to be excited about? The city will be bouncing with Celtic at home and TRNSMT Festival taking place with Liam Gallagher in town to headline the Saturday night. I was also buzzing at the thought of Celtic fans now getting the green light for Betis away and a return to Seville. Celtic CEO, Dominic McKay was far away from my thoughts this morning as I downed a strong coffee.

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The phone was on overtime with the good news from Sunny Spain between messages and social media what could be better than an Away Day in the city we took over in 2003 and showed the World of football how to party without a hint of trouble. Sure didn’t they give us a couple of awards and all.

This morning the bubble could not be burst when I met up with fellow Celtic fans from Dublin and Cork some I haven’t seen since before lockdown. It was great to catch up and also talk to festival goers who could not wait to get into festival mode in Glasgow after Ireland’s big music festival Electric Picnic had the plug pulled.

When I got to the hotel I had a few pints waiting for the room to be ready and crashed out for an hour only to wake up to the news that after it was announced that Celtic fans would NOT be given tickets for Betis away after the local authority in Seville have pulled the plug. Phone again going into overdrive.

I’m still going, Iike so many fans I have decided to travel so it looks like there will be Celtic fans in the city so it makes no sense not to let us into the ground but once again football fans have been treated poorly and are expected just to be out of pocket after paying for flights and hotels etc., nothing new but we have been mistreated for years with kick off  days and times changed with little notice for TV schedules. Modern football can kiss my ass.

Just when you thought you could turn your attention to listening to music, moving your hips and thinking about the Ross County you then get word that Dominic McKay has stepped down as Celtic CEO.

The official club statement says he has stepped down for personal reasons and your first thoughts are “I hope he and his family are ok and have not become ill”. While another part of me is thinking he was the only fresh blood with new ideas and new direction at the club so you hope he hasn’t left because of interference from others on the board.

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McKay steps down and the new acting Chief Executive will be Celtic’s director of Legal and Football Affairs, Michael Nicholson who has been part of the board since 2013. The board is now the same board that blew the 10. Am I being a little harsh on the old board?

I wish Dom McKay all the best and hope everything works out for him and his family he seems a half decent bloke in the short time he was in charge at Celtic.

Anyway what will happen now will happen away in Spain and lets see how the board room unravels in the coming weeks in the meantime it’s time for this 50 year old to get out and about enjoy the music and talking football with like minded old gits. As I mentioned yesterday Celtic AM is postponed tomorrow but I’ll be banging out the tunes in McChuills in the High Street from p.m. after match and the tunes will go on till closing at am.

Andrew Milne is Edittor of More than 90 Minutes Celtic Fanzine which he started in 2001. He has been involved with fanzines since 1989 and has written for numerous publications and online about Celtic.  He is a former newspaper columnist with the Daily Ireland and the man behind celticfanzine.com.

He is host of the Celtic Soul Podcast, Talk form the Terrace Podcast, Grand Auld History Podcast & Celtic AM pre-match events at Malone’s in Glasgow on match days and follows Celtic Home & Away. He is a season ticket holder for Celtic FC and the Republic of Ireland. He is also P.R.O. of St. Margaret’s CSC, a member of the Celtic Trust and the Celtic Graves Association. He also fancies himself as a bit of a DJ.

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That’s us back at HQ after International Duty with Ireland and the news that Celtic Away Days are back on the Agenda after we travel to Glasgow this weekend for another Sold Out game against Ross County at Celtic Park and traditional football fans favorite time of the week, 3’ O Clock on a Saturday afternoon.

 

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The International break gave us time to lick our wounds after the rangers defeat at Ibrox and to digest all the new signings at the club after the transfer window finally shut and we can now look forward to seeing the new bhoys in action as competition for starting places heats up. The transfer window also seen players leave after a long drawn out debate and conversations among many Celtic fans. For some on social media it was Good Luck for others it was Good Riddance!

Ireland fans finally returned to Dublin in the Green after the late drama and disappointment of Portugal away. Shane Duffy looks to be back to his best after his poor season on loan at Celtic but Ireland are still without a win under manager, Stephen Kenny after two home draws with Azerbaijan and Serbia.

The emergence of former Shamrock Rovers goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu as Ireland No. 1 has us all scratching our heads as to how when he was on trial at Celtic that we didn’t manage to sign him? While another Shamrock Rover and Celtic new bhoy, Liam Scales was an unused sub for Ireland on Tuesday night.

 

I had hoped to kick off our Pre-Match show, Celtic AM in Glasgow this Saturday at a new venue, Murphy’s in the Merchant City but we have had to postpone it while we wait for the venue to get the Green Light for opening in the next week or so.

I will however be in McChuills in the High Street after the Ross County game from 8 p.m. spinning the tunes at Alternative Saturday Sounds so I hope to see some familiar faces enjoying the music and the after-match conversation.

The big news however is Celtic Away Days are back, I can’t tell you how excited I was yesterday when I heard the news that Celtic fans would be getting tickets for Betis away and a return to Seville. This comes on the back of the news that Celtic fans will also be on the road again for Livingston away. I have never seen or heard such joy and excitement at the thought of going to Livingston Away!  

Elsewhere last night Celtic’s young B team got back to winning ways in the Lowland League with a 2-0 win over Gala Fairydean Rovers with goals from Dickson and Brooks in each half. 

Yesterday we also had the Neil Lennon non-story making headlines. If you want to go to a speaker’s lunch with Lennon and Paul Lambert in Glasgow for £30/ £40 or not it’s up to each individual so can we move on now as we have more important things to talk about like Saturday, Away Days travel arrangements, tickets and that all our players on international duty return fit and ready to go as we wait on news on Kyogo who limped off while playing for Japan.

 

Finally, thanks to Paul Heaton for sporting our 3 Stripe T-Shirt on stage at a festival the weekend, the power of Pop has seen the T-Shirt almost sold out now and him pictured in the shirt has also upset some of our neighbors from across the city. A great result all round.

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Andrew Milne is Edittor of More than 90 Minutes Celtic Fanzine which he started in 2001. He has been involved with fanzines since 1989 and has written for numerous publications and online about Celtic.  He is a former newspaper columnist with the Daily Ireland and the man behind celticfanzine.com. He is host of the Celtic Soul Podcast, Talk form the Terrace Podcast, Grand Auld History Podcast & Celtic AM pre-match events at Malone’s in Glasgow on match days and follows Celtic Home & Away. He is a season ticket holder for Celtic FC and the Republic of Ireland. He is also P.R.O. of St. Margaret’s CSC, a member of the Celtic Trust and the Celtic Graves Association.

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It’s the first Glasgow Derby of the season! Looking at this fixture when we started the season, I was more than a little worried. Not now.

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The unbeatable Sevco from last season are no more, losses to Malmo, home and away and an away loss to Dundee United coincided in an upturn in Celtic’s performances as the team clicked under Ange Postecoglou and having been rattling goals in most games since the FC Midtjylland defeat.

Thursday night saw Celtic overcome a good AZ Alkmaar team to reach the Europa League Group stage, it was a back to the wall sort of performance from Celtic. The sort of match we would have been beaten in last season but this time we defended well and saw Joe Hart make a couple of crucial saves, this after Hart and the defence were culpable for the AZ goals. This showed they have a bit about them, Hart in particular, if Barkas or Bain had made that mistake their heads would have been down, big Joe carried on and put in a good performance afterwards.

The Europa League Group stage has thrown up a cracking group with games against Leverkusen, Betis and Ferencvaros to look forward to.

While we had a tough match in Holland, Sevco had an easier match but a tough trip to overcome as they downed Alashkert 1-0 over two games. A game they had to travel to without Gerrard and several first team players due to finally having to deal with a Covid outbreak. They should be missing on Sunday although no doubt they will find away for at least some to return.

Celtic added Liam Scales from Shamrock Rovers who looks a decent young defender, we could see him make a debut due to Greg Taylor suffering an injury in Thursday. Juranovic will be added to the squad for Sunday and it seems we have a deal in place for Greek forward Georgios Giakoumakis, who could be a bargain at 2.5 to 3 million from VVV Venlo, he was the top goal scorer in the Eredivisie as Venlo were relegated.

We go to Ibrox in confident mood and I can see us score a few goals.

Mick Kane hails from Glasgow. He has been hooked on Celtic since he went to his first game when he was 7. Celtic beat Hamilton 8-3 at Celtic Park on the 3rd of January 1987. His favourite player at the time, Brian McClair scored four goals.

He started going regular as a 16 year old when Celtic played at Hampden for the season, being a Southsider it meant a short train journey to get to Hampden. From then he has had a season ticket travelled around Europe for games as Celtic became the dominant force in Scottish football again. A nice change from growing up during Rangers run to 9 in a row.

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It’s the first game in a big week for Celtic as we test how far we have progressed under Ange Postecoglou. After the disappointing results against Hearts and Midtjylland, we have seen the team blossom as they start to gel with Ange’s philosophy, tonight AZ Alkmaar will give us the sternest test yet.

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Celtic travel to The Netherlands two goals to the good, Alkmaar will likely feel if they score early they will have a chance of turning the score around, expect the Dutch to come out flying. Can the defence withstand the pressure? Hopefully. However with Alkmaar attacking it leaves them vulnerable at the back.

Last week’s match between the clubs was an open game, both attacking at spells and having good chances, Hart’s save early on was crucial, by the end of the match Celtic were unlucky not to have scored more and Alkmaar will feel they should have at least scored. If last week is anything to go by then we can expect another open game with chances for both teams. I expect Celtic to score tonight.

Alkmaar were given the weekend off to prepare for the game so should be refreshed. Celtic travel to The Netherlands without James Forrest and James McCarthy.

It seems Postecoglou has no intention of sitting back and trying to preserve the lead.

“If we sit back, we are just going to invite pressure on ourselves,” the manager said in the pre match press conference.

“Our best football has been going the other way, going forward, and if we score goals, it puts more pressure on the opposition.”

The winner will take a place in the Europa League while the lower will go into the Conference League.

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Mick Kane hails from Glasgow. He has been hooked on Celtic since he went to his first game when he was 7. Celtic beat Hamilton 8-3 at Celtic Park on the 3rd of January 1987. His favourite player at the time, Brian McClair scored four goals.

He started going regular as a 16 year old when Celtic played at Hampden for the season, being a Southsider it meant a short train journey to get to Hampden. From then he has had a season ticket travelled around Europe for games as Celtic became the dominant force in Scottish football again. A nice change from growing up during Rangers run to 9 in a row.

https://celticfanzine.com/shop/