On Sunday Martin O’Neill reached a milestone in his Celtic managerial career when he took charge of Celtic in the 3-2 nail biting win over Kilmarnock. The win marked his 300^th game in charge of Celtic. Tonight he reaches another milestone his 1000^th game as a football manager.

Since his return to Celtic he is unbeaten in Scotland and out of his 3 Europa League games his record reads played 4 won lost 1 and drawn 1. He took 7 points out of a possible 12. Those 4 points helped Celtic to reach the knockout stages of the Europa League.

Tonight he will face an inform Stuttgart team who sit fourth in the Bundesliga. Yesterday at his press conference he commented on the challenge

“They’re obviously very strong, physical, with a lot of good players playing for them. So they’ll be difficult games for us, but while we’re there, let’s go for it.”

“Oh, without a doubt, it would be the toughest, considering the position that they’re in, considering the league that they are in as well. So this would be pretty tough.”

During the Europa campaign Stuttgart finished in 11^th spot having won 5 of their games. In Germany they have won 3 and drawn 1 of their last 5 games. St. Pauli beat them earlier in the month.

I was at Celtic Park back in 2003 when O’Neill’s current number 2 Shaun Maloney took the place of Henrik Larsson who watched from the stands. Maloney scored that night in a 3-1 win. Stuttgart had a player sent off. I think we would all be over joyed if we got  a similar result tonight.

Getting up at 2am to travel to Dublin Airport for an early flight to Edinburgh. It must have been the cheapest route left when I was booking. Back in 2003 I travelled on the bus and the boat which left at the respectable time of 9am arriving into Glasgow shortly after 5pm.

I will arrive much earlier today and I am looking forward to the match day build up in the city and maybe one or two beers.

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

More than 90 Minutes Celtic Fanzine Issue 141 is out now. Download the new issue or order the print copy and the post man will drop it through your letterbox. Enjoy another 48 page packed edition of the publication.

A big shout out to all our writers, readers, subscribers and sponsors who make it possible for us to continue to produce the fanzine 25 years on since it first went on sale outside Celtic Park. Martin O’Neill was manager then hard to believe he still is!

The cover features what could be a quality midfield partnership Cal Mac & Alex Ox. Every game now Celtic must continue to fight right until the end and that was evident in recent games with late winners. Can Oxlade Chamberlain play a vital part in Martin O’ Neill’s title ambitions?

The new issue includes a wide range of opinion and articles on the current state of play at Celtic including Wilfried Nancy’s 33 days at Celtic. During the transfer window Celtic brought in 5 players on loan before the transfer window shut what impact can they make?  Will it be broken Hearts again as in ’86?

As always Celtic Supporters and Supporters Club feature. In issue 141 we feature Charlie Glavin and the great work Cork No. 1 CSC Pat Glavin 1988 are doing in Thailand with the Mercy Foundation School in Hua Hin. In Away Days we feature Celtic Supporters in Italy for the Bologna game. Where Celtic picked up a valuable point.

Celtic Fan unrest continues we have had a match day boycott but with talks on going between Celtic Supporters and the Celtic board is it now time that we all got behind the team and start Marching with O’Neill but that march should include members of the Green Brigade who had a blanket ban imposed on them.

Brian Keenan Celtic Supporters club celebrate 25 years on the road travelling from Monaghan to Glasgow and they feature in our CSC Focus. Tain Bhoy Eoin McGuinnes features in our Fan Focus and Lurgan Ghirl, Maria Foy features in First, Worst and Leave the Best till Last.
In the Potter Archives we look back on when the late John Fallon finally got his medal returned to him from Lisbon 1967. We also feature a Celtic Fan known as the Tim Reaper for his tours of Dalbeth Cemetery next to Celtic Park.

Thanks again for the continued support hope you enjoy reading the new issue.

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

 

Back in 2002/03 season Celtic had plenty of quality attacking options including Larsson, Hartson and Sutton. Henrik was injured and a young Shaun Maloney came into the team to face Stuttgart in the UEFA Cup home leg and played up front with Chris Sutton. John Hartson was also missing.

Our supporters club would have travelled over on the bus and the boat back then and those European boats would be packed with Celtic fans sipping pints out of plastic pint tumblers wearing club polo tops or replica jerseys.

They were great times and we created some memories marching with O’Neill first time around. The Squirrel was our regular watering hole in Glasgow back then. We would have packed in for a few pre-match pints before getting a fish supper on the way to the ground. Once through the turnstiles we climbed the steps to take our seats in the Jock Stein Upper.

We all talk about how good the players were back then that Martin O’Neill had at his disposal and he had some quality players but he also had some very ordinary players and he got the best out of them. His man management skills have never been in question.

The team that night was Douglas, McNamara, Balde (Laursen 88), Valgaeren, Agathe, Lambert, Lennon, Petrov, Thompson (Smith 69), Sutton, Maloney. Subs Not Used – Marshall, Sylla, Fernandez, Healy, Guppy.

Stuttgart had a player sent off after 17 minutes for a foul on Petrov and then 10 minutes later they went 1-0 in front. Paul Lambert got the equaliser and just on the stroke of halftime Maloney scored from close range to make it a very happy half time.

In the second half Petrov made it 3-1. After the game we were straight back onto the bus to head straight down the road to Stranraer to catch the HSS sailing to Belfast. The bus down the winding road along the Scottish coast was always a time to try and get a bit of sleep before maybe a pint or two on the boat with the thoughts of going into work a few hours later never far from your mind. On the odd occasion a sick call went into work from outside the early house.

We go again on Thursday. Buses, Boats, Planes and Trains. Let’s hope Martin O’Neill and Shaun Maloney can inspire the current crop of Celtic players to another famous victory at Celtic Park.

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

On Sunday we witnessed another nail biting episode in Celtic’s season this time at Rugby Park. 2-0 down to Kilmarnock at half time and not playing well on the plastic pitch. Some Celtic fans went into meltdown on social media.

Martin O’Neill called the players magnificent after the game but only those in the dressing room will know what he called them during the break.  What ever he said Celtic came out for the second half the better for it.

The game was Martin O’Neill’s 300^th appearance and he must have been scratching his head watching that first half and wondering if that is as bad any of his Celtic teams have played in those 300 games? He kicks every ball and after the game he must have been so relieved after what he witnessed in that first half.

He made 3 changes at half time and those changes had an impact on the outcome of the game. After the Celtic fight back and the game poised at 2 goals each. Kilmarnock got back into the game and had chances including when John-Jules rattled a free kick off the cross bar to fire a warning to Celtic that they were still very much in the game.

Thankfully it was another late winning goal that sent us into wild celebrations. Araujo left it very late, the 97^th minute to score the winner. How much did he enjoy that goal leaping into the Celtic fans to celebrate.

I listened to the official Celtic podcast with him last week and he came across very humble. He grew up in working class immigrant family in the US and he has immense pride in playing for Mexico.

Substitute Tounekti scored a magnificent goal to get Celtic back into the game and Nygren once again was on the score sheet to make it 2-2. Some players were not at their best on Sunday and they will need to pick themselves up for Thursday night when we take on a quality team in Stuttgart who also won at the weekend. Tickets are still on sale for Thursday night but you would be expecting this one to sell out even with what is going on off the field between the Celtic board and Celtic fans.

The rangers v  Hearts at Ibrox came next. The Edinburgh side were the ones who dropped points. They still sit top of the table on 57 point, the rangers are second with 55 points and Celtic sit in third with 54 points with a game in hand. Motherwell beat Aberdeen to keep in the chase with 47 points they also have a game in hand.

Celtic are the only Scottish team left in Europe so that means that all those in the race for title will have more time to prepare for the weekends fixtures. Hibs visit Celtic Park on Sunday at same time the rangers are away to bottom of the table Livingston. On Saturday Hearts are at home to Falkirk while Motherwell travel to Paisley to play St. Mirren.

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

CELTIC: Schmeichel, Araujo, Trusty, Scales, Tierney, McGregor, Hatate, Nygren, Yang, Adamu, Maeda.
Subs: Sinisalo, Cvancara, McCowan, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Tounekti, Saracchi, Murray, Forrest, Donovan

 

Click Image for Match Day Fanzine

Sunday Service resumes today as Celtic travel to Rugby Park to take on Kilmarnock in another must win away day. Celtic are in a 3 horse race now with the rangers and Hearts but Motherwell proved on Wednesday night that they may not be in a title race but they are the team that is capable of taking points off any of the top three especially at home.

Motherwell played Celtic off the park in Wilfried Nancy’s last away game during his 33 days at Celtic but under Martin O’Neill Celtic are a different animal. Performances have not been great under O’Neill but he seems to be able to get the results and with some new recruits in during the transfer window including a potential match winner in Alex Oxlade Chamberlain if he can get match fit and stay fit. Things are looking brighter in the East End of Glasgow.

Celtic have scored so many late goals this season and the last time we played at Rugby Park, Brendan Rodgers was the manager and Kelechi Iheanacho scored a last minute penalty to announce himself to the Celtic fans. Who will lead the line upfront for Celtic on the plastic pitch. Will it be Junior Adamu one of the hero’s of the Scottish Cup win over Dundee or will O’Neill stick with Tomáš Čvančara?.

Neil McCann is now in charge at Kilmarnock and they sit second from bottom in the SPFL table. The Celtic game kicks off at 2pm and will be shown live on Sky Sports and streamed on Celtic TV for subscribers outside Ireland and the UK.

Duncan Nicolson is the ref. Scott Anderson and Alastair Taylor are the lines men. Greg Aitken is on VAR duties with Chris Graham.

Elsewhere the rangers take on Hearts at Ibrox and someone is dropping points or maybe both of them. That game kicks off at 4:30pm and is live on Sky Sports.