The Celtic players and supporters head off to Como in Italy this week for the last two games of pre-season after a really good work out at Celtic Park on Saturday against Newcastle.
Eddie Howe finally got a taste of what it is like to sit in the Celtic Park dugout and he can have only been impressed by the Celtic side.
Celtic running out 4-0 winners with Engels from the penalty spot, Kenny, Yang and Scales all on target.
The Newcastle fans travelled in their numbers with an estimated 10,000 of them adding to the Glasgow economy. Many of them making their presence known in rangers pubs. It was the biggest attendance by away fans to Celtic Park as thousands of Celtic season ticket holders refused to buy tickets for the game after already forking out their hard earned cash on season books.
In the past Celtic offered such friendly games as part of the season book package but not any more as they continue to get as much out of the pocket of the dedicated followers of the club.
The game was billed as the Adidas Cup and the three stripe trophy will now be on view alongside the Cork Super Cup for visitors to the Celtic Trophy Room.
The Adidas marketing team never miss a trick and they seem to be releasing a piece of Celtic kit every other week. Every time a Celtic jersey is released it creates plenty of the debate among Celtic fans about the design and price. For me I don’t really get involved as I am more interested in what player will be pulling on the jersey on match day.
One player who made his return to Paradise on Saturday was Kieran Tierney. He is a player we are all excited about to see pull back on the hoops. Kieran’s arrival back to the club has grabbed plenty of headlines and he got a brilliant reception from the fans on Saturday when he came off the bench to replace Hayato Inamura. The Japanese player who came to the club with no fanfare but has looked really decent in all the games he has pulled on the jersey.
Kieran Tierney showed what he can bring to the team this season with an almost perfect cross in to the box which met the head of Liam Scales and he powered it into the goal in front of the Newcastle fans. Many of the visiting fans at that stage had seen enough and had already headed for the exits.
Como next and Ajax, lets hope their fans can behave themselves.
Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes and Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast
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