PIERRE VAN HOOIJDONK VIDEO INTERVIEW

Catching up with a footballer after 11pm on a Saturday night isn't the best of times but Pierre van Hooijdonk was good enough to talk to me for a few minutes.

PIERRE VAN HOOJIDONK VIDEO INTERVIEW

Pierre's Celtic career was certainly memorable enough playing during an era when the club came back to life again with the return to the rebuilt Celtic Park whilst ending the six years trophy drought with the 1995 Scottish Cup Final win over Airdrie.

The lows are equally as well documented with a promising team featuring 'The Three Amigos' failing to fulfill it's promise with Pierre, Jorge Cadete, Paolo di Canio and manager Tommy Burns all departing in quick succession before the championship was regained in 1998.

Unlike most of today's players Pierre never shirked a question off the park which caused him some grief at Celtic as well as Nottingham Forest whom he left Celtic for.

The measure of his talent however can be gauged by the fact that he won 46 caps scoring 14 times during a golden period for Dutch football.

Over a decade on from leaving Celtic Pierre is a regular visitor to the club and speaks especially warmly about his friendship with Tommy Burns.

When Pierre joined Celtic the club was training at Barrafield and playing in front of 23,000 supporters most weeks at Hampden.

The transformation in the club can often be overlooked as we chase further glory both in Europe and in terms of domestic dominance with a generation of supporters now accustomed to crowds around 60,000 at home matches regardless of the opposition and expecting Champions League campaigns.

That is the sort of achievements Celtic should be hitting regularly with the seeds for that success planted by the eye-catching team of the mid-nineties that dragged Celtic out of depression with Pierre a massive part of the clubs rebirth.

Coming soon video interview with Tom Boyd and Stewart Kerr

Mark McNally VIDEO INTERVIEW

by Joe McHugh

Mark McNally was the unexpected matchwinner at Saturday's Masters Event at Braehead with the goal that beat Dundee United 3-2 in the final.

VIDEO INTERVIEW with Mark after the Masters, a bit rushed and uncordinated but I'll get better, it's never easy in pre-season.

Mark had a strange Celtic career, playing under four different managers during his 113 first team appearances.

Originally from Newarthill he first appeared at Celtic during the Centenery season benefitting from the decision to play in the Reserve League West which was basically for the youth team with the main reserve side playing in the Premier Reserves.

A good number of players progressed into the game from that period with the reserves managed by Bobby Lennox with Benny Rooney taking the 'third team'.

Gerry Crainey and Stevie Fulton made an impact at Celtic before being transferred for useful fees while Gerry Britton, Davie Elliot, Stuart Balmer and Alex Mathie all had good careers in the game playing into their thirties.

When former youth team players start turning out in the Masters it's a bit of an eye opener, much like finding Owen Archdeacon's son Mark playing senior football.

Despite leaving Celtic in 1995 Mark McNally has been a regular at matches and functions and made a few appearances on Celtic TV as well, never hiding the fact that he was a keen supporter.

His Celtic playing career brought only one medal during that difficult period of the early 90s, ironically that came in his last ever Celtic match when he stood in for the suspended Tony Mowbray and injured Brian O'Neil in the 1-0 Scottish Cup Final win over Airdrie in 1995.

After Celtic he went on to play for Southend, Stoke City and Dundee United before running his career down at Ayr Utd, Clydebank, Partick Thistle and finally Stirling Albion where he went on to become assistant manager to Allan Moore.

During his time at Stirling he took the team to Celtic Park for a Scottish Cup tie in January 2008 before taking up a coaching post at the SFA.

 

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Blinkin magic, Regi is the master

 

Celtic won the 2009 Scottish Masters title at Braehead with the unlikely double act of Regi Blinker and Mark McNally as the goal hero's!

The night started slowly with a 3-1 defeat from Dundee United but goals from Andy Walker and Tom Boyd, yip Tom Boyd, put Celtic two up on Rangers before being pegged back to draw 2-2.

Dundee United then hammered Rangers 6-2 to top the group leaving Celtic requiring a two goal win over Hearts to reach the final.

A double from Walker put Celtic in front but Alan Lawrence pulled a goal back before the interval.

After the break Pierre Van Hooijdonk put Celtic in front, and in the final, and with Hearts chasing the goal that would take them into the final Darren Jackson scored to give Celtic a 4-1 win and place in the final.

Celtic came out the traps flying in the final with a double from Blinker putting Celtic in control before Paddy Connolly pulled a goal back.

Craig Brewster equalised for United but Mark McNally popped up with a winner as Celtic took the title and booked themselves a place in the British Finals in Liverpool.

Stewart Kerr deserves a special mention in his first Masters competition with some great saves that won't have done his old back injury any favours.

During the event I had the good fortune to catch a few video interviews with Boyd, Kerr, McNally and van Hooijdonk which I'll be posting through the week.

The Mowbray era kicks off in style thanks to:

Stewart Kerr, Tom Boyd, Brian McLaughlin, Chic Charnley, Mark McNally, Andy Walker, Darren Jackson, Pierre van Hooijdonk.

 

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Tony Mowbray's footballing thoughts and ideas

"My job is to bring better players to the club to help the existing players that we have," said Tony Mowbray towards the end of last season as West Brom manager.

"You can't go and change all ten or eleven players and bring in some world stars, we haven't got the finance to do that but I think that we have some very talented boys at this club.

"If we can keep going and add one or two per season I think that we won't be far away in the end and hopefully have a team that the fans can enjoy watching and be proud of supporting."

TONY MOWBRAY INTERVIEW

Those words from Tony Mowbray could easily be interpreted as his application for the Celtic job!

Two weeks after the departure of Gordon Strachan it seems very likely that Tony Mowbray will be appointed as Celtic manager.

A discrete process to appoint a new manager has been carried out in a new age where alongside the guesswork of traditional media internet rumours have been appearing daily and sometimes hourly with a Friday frenzy claiming that a new 'dream-ticket' of Mark McGhee and Henrik Larsson were posed for the gig.

A few others would have been looked at but after Davie Moyes ruled himself out it was probably a straight contest between Mowbray, Owen Coyle and Roberto Martinez.

For various reasons I think that Mowbray would have just edged that contest ahead of Coyle, Burnley's promotion and the timing of Strachan's departure (during the match that won Burnley promotion!) ruled Coyle out with Martinez a more interesting and exciting option than media darlings McGhee and Craig Levein.

We were never going to get the perfect manager but only Martin O'Neill has arrived at Celtic with a better pedigree than Mowbray.

He was a shock choice to become Hibs manager in 2004 when Alan Kernaghan was expected, in his first season he took the club to third place in the SPL lifting the hangover of a CIS Cup Final defeat to Livingston whilst developing Derek Riordan, Scott Brown, Gary O'Connor and Gary Caldwell into Scotland players and transferred on to bigger clubs.

Realising the limitations of Hibs he moved to West Brom and stabilised the club after Premiership relegation to win promotion in his first full season in charge playing good passing football that had the West Brom fans excited and enjoying their football.

I have my reservations over being relegated last season sticking to principles, being pragmatic and adapting to circumstances is an essential part of management and possibly with a few adjustments West Brom could have survived alongside Stoke and Hull.

That is now in the past for Mowbray, he's 99% certain to be the new Celtic manager and will hopefully have learned some important lessons to be implemented at Celtic.

As a player Mowbray was at Celtic when the playing style drew praise without winning silverware under Liam Brady and Tommy Burns.

His time at Celtic ended without any medals although a bizarre booking against Partick Thistle, possibly after arguing with Chic Charnley, earned him a suspension and cost him his place in the 1995 Scottish Cup win over Airdrie.

Playing good exciting, entertaining football shouldn't be at the expense of winning matches and trophies in the grim SPL of 2009.

For years we've been buying up the best of the SPL and as recently as January of this year held a seven point lead over Rangers.

Despite winning the SPL Rangers remain in serious financial difficulties with at least six wages to be shed during the summer alongside raising money from the sales of any combination of Kris Boyd, Allan McGregor, Madjid Bougherra, Pedro Mendes and Steve Davis.

Mowbray has a big challenge in lifting players who've taken criticism for almost a whole season and getting them ready for very difficult Champions League qualifiers whilst hitting the ground running in the SPL.

That's part and parcel of the challenge of managing Celtic and everything about Mowbray the manager and person suggests that he is well capable of taking it in his stride.

The Match-of-the-Day critics gave West Brom a pounding last season but Mowbray responded sensibly to their comments while sticking up for the way that he sees how the game should be played.

Answering back at his television studio critics Mowbray added: "I don't let the criticism effect me to be honest, people get paid to give comments and generally they have earned the right to do that.

"They've had fantastic football careers and won lots of trophies, I totally respect their opinions but the bottom line is that I'm the manager of West Bromwich Albion and I'm bringing my own philosophies to the team. That's what football is.

"There are lots of different ways to play the game, some want to keep possession of the ball and move it around and some go back to front asking defenders questions with 6 foot 4 centre forwards coming down on top of them.

"You make choices in this game and live and die by them. What I think is that you make your choice, stick with it and believe that it's right and I'm doing that.

"It would go against the grain for me to just start going direct and getting the ball into the box and fighting for the second ball.

"I feel that I have a responsibility to improve footballers and make them better to give them an opportunity to take their careers as far as they can.

"When I watch football I don't see many top teams hooking the ball over their shoulders and playing long balls into the box and fighting for scraps.

"I see thoughtful, clever, technical, gifted footballers playing, passing and moving and trying to get the ball into the box."

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DEREK WHYTE INTERVIEW: When you play at this club it's like a tattoo on your skin, it never leaves you. It's with you for life and that's a great feeling

It was great to catch up with Derek Whyte after the Tommy Burns match.

CLICK HERE for full interview

Derek spent six eventful years at Celtic, winning two championships and two Scottish Cups before moving on to Middlesboro and Aberdeen before finishing his career at Partick Thistle where he had a spell as joint manager alongside Gerry Britton.

Seventeen years after leaving Celtic he still loves the club as much as ever, the bond is there amongst players past and present and the lure of playing again at Celtic Park as strong as ever, even in the tragic circumstances of a match to commemorate the life of a former team-mate.

Tommy Burns played in front of Derek when he broke into the first-team but before then Tommy and Danny McGrain had already been working with him, showing him the ropes and preparing for the unique demands of playing for Celtic.

Derek went on to make over 200 appearances for Celtic under Davie Hay, Billy McNeill and Liam Brady before moving on to Middlesbrough where he spent five seasons playing in the Premiership and First Division.

"When you play at this club it's almost like a tattoo on your skin, it never leaves you, it's with you for life and that's a great feeling," sums up Derek's views on playing for Celtic.

CLICK HERE for full interview, the sound quality isn't quite the best but I'm working on that

Celtic v Rangers final in Hong Kong 7s

Celtic face Rangers at 6.45pm Hong Kong time in the final of the annual 7 a side tournament.

Ryan Conroy's goal against the Australian national team in the semi-finals earned Celtic their final place while Rangers beat Aston Villa in the other semi final.

The Celtic side, coached by Willie McStay, beat a Hong Kong select, under the name of Citizen, 3-1 in the last eight thanks to a double from Mark Millar and another goal from Conroy.

In their previous match Celtic beat local side Kitchee 2-0 with Millar and Paul McGowan the goalscorers.

Celtic are making their tenth appearance in the tournament which covers all levels of football from under-16's through to veterans.

Included in the Celtic squad is Cillian Sheridan, Niall McGinn and Milan Misun.

Details on the tournament aren't easy to find but this site seems to be covering it

 

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Celtic reach final of Hong Kong 7's

Celtic have just beaten the Australian national team 1-0 in the semi-finals of the Hong Kong 7's and will play either Rangers and Aston Villa in the final with Ryan Conroy scoring the goal to defeat the Socceroos.

The Celtic side, coached by Willie McStay, beat a Hong Kong select, under the name of Citizen, 3-1 in the last eight thanks to a double from Mark Millar and another goal from Conroy.

In their previous match Celtic beat local side Kitchee 2-0 with Millar and Paul McGowan the goalscorers.

Celtic are making their tenth appearance in the tournament which covers all levels of football from under-16's through to veterans.

Included in the Celtic squad is Cillian Sheridan, Niall McGinn and Milan Misun.

Details on the tournament aren't easy to find but this site seems to be covering it

 

CLICK HERE for more Celtic news and views

Managerial merry-go-round madness

Thankfully the recent pain of watching Celtic throwing away the title to a woefully inept Rangers side has been eased by the departure of Gordon Strachan.

What happens next is the big guessing game, and guessing game it surely is with internet message boards as likely to come up with the answer as any old fashioned traditional media.

Without doubt only Dermot Desmond decides on who manages Celtic, Peter Lawwell gets on with the legwork and John Reid delivers soundbites for reassurance.

On past evidence Desmond prefers to recruit from England which makes Davie Moyes, Tony Mowbray and Owen Coyle the obvious contenders with Roy Keane a very interesting dark horse.

The sounding out process will have been underway for a while, no one ruling themselves in or out and knowing that being linked with Celtic won't do them any harm in future contract negotiations.

Personally I think that Mowbray is the favourite but there are similar cases to be put up for most candidates with three of those four being former Celtic players and Coyle a very obvious Celtic fan if not quite in the Chic Charnley mould!

A new direction is urgently required at Celtic but curiously I think that just three first-team signings are required to create a team capable of winning next season's SPL with some ease.

Those signings start at left-back, the position Celtic have been screaming out for for two years or four transfer windows in real money.

A competent, steady-eddie type would do nicely, shouldn't burst the bank and provide some welcome stability to the defence with enough central defenders to pick a solid combination from to complement Andreas Hinkel on the right.

Two strikers to compete with Scott McDonald and a fully fit, and confident, Shaun Maloney would make a world of difference while Scott Brown and Aiden McGeady can form the basis of a strong midfield backed up by others such as Marc Crossas, Barry Robson and Paul Hartley with hopefully Mark Millar and Simon Ferry making first team inroads.

The new manager will also inherit Scott Cuthbert, Paul Caddis, Cillian Sheridan and Paul McGowan who have been spared the last five months at Celtic whilst enjoying regular first-team football in the SPL.

It's unrealistic to expect all five to make a first team impact next season but when Strachan arrived he couldn't have anticipated the contributions of McGeady, Maloney and Stephen McManus in his first season.

We have a more than capable squad for winning in Scotland for the new manager to inherit. Adding some variety to the style of play, some belief and new faces to that squad will work wonders.

Realistically the Champions League is unlikely next season, our main pleasure is likely to be watching a woeful Rangers side recreate the campaigns of the mid 90s when giants like Auxerre and Grasshoppers were assured of easy points with Christian Gross once famously describing Rangers as a team of holidaymakers.

Our concern however is Celtic and after the straightjacket approach of Strachan the support is crying out for some entertainment mixed with success, elements that can be achieved together.

The new appointment is eagerly anticipated with a new direction required, one that is successful and pleasing on the eye without having to be Brazil 1970ish.

Reaching out and communicating with supporters is a key element, there are enough channels available to the new manager through the club website, Celtic TV and the Celtic View for the manager to get his message across without digging a hole for himself with childish run-ins with the traditional forms of media.

All sorts of names have been guessed at in newspapers with some happy to cover five or six names in the one piece illustrating that outwith a very small circle, possibly consisting of only three men, no-one else really has any idea of how Celtic are going about the recruitment process.

Without any genuine leads some have turned to criticise the Celtic support with the old chestnut of 'Celtic-minded' coined by Jock Brown I believe, the favoured way to put in some sly digs at the support.

Celtic fans like people who understand the club, Henrik Larsson, Jock Stein, Wim Jansen and Danny McGrain weren't born and raised as Celtic supporters but quickly realised the unique importance of the club to thousands of supporters near and far and knew that being at Celtic was more than just a nice line on their cv.

Almost all of Martin O'Neill's players quickly realised that Celtic was a bit different and special, Alan Thompson is often seen at Celtic matches, I doubt if he holds Aston Villa or Bolton in the same regard.

Does Chris Sutton follow Chelsea and Blackburn as closely as Celtic? Does John Hartson keep tabs on Luton and Arsenal the way that he watches Celtic?

Celtic are different from others in a way that's hard to describe, impossible for the sceptical outsider to realise.

Some crucial decisions are coming soon at the club, a new leader and direction to emerge which will hopefully point the club back in the right direction giving the supporters the same feeling as the Larsson inspired O'Neill years or the highs of Champions League qualifications under Strachan.

 

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No cull of u-19 squad

Some Chinese whispers are going around suggesting a massive cull of youth team players at Celtic in particular the u-19 side.

Sweeping comments about every player being axed aren't correct, I don't have the full facts but believe that those players in their final year with the under-19's have been released.

Other players from the current u-19 side remain at Celtic, amongst them Richie Towell and Luca Santonicito.

James Forrest who played so well when he made his reserve debut against Dundee United is of course retained as is Andrew Kennedy who has played in goals for the last two reserve matches.

Sadly it is the end of a brief Celtic career for many players but there are examples for them to follow all over the place.

Mick Doyle is captain of Coventry, John Potter is the St Mirren captain with various others making an impact throughout the game including James Goodwin at Huddesfield, Kevin McBride (Falkirk), Gary Irvine & Chris Millar (St Johnstone), David van Zanten (Hibs).

There are plenty of others littered around, development and progress comes at strange times, hopefully some of the released bhoys can find a level and platform to go on and make a career for themselves, always knowing that at one stage they were good enough to wear the hoops.

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10 man Celts come back to win the league

CELTIC 4-2 RANGERS

 

Thirty years ago tonight Celts were celebrating, a fantastic triumph against the odds to clinch the title, the night that Ten Men Won The League although that harshly takes away from Johny Doyle's role.

Amazingly in this media age only the 56,000 inside Celtic Park were really aware of what unfolded when Billy McNeill's side came back from being behind to win 4-2 and create a piece of Celtic history and folklore.

Before the internet! before satellite and digital telly the game was played without live radio commentary, a Monday night being damn inconvenient! a league decider was taking place.

Across the globe there was BBC World Service or perhaps a very expensive phone call home to someone that didn't know the score because there was no coverage of the match!

It had been a strange season, a great start from Celtic as McNeill settled into the manager's chair with new signings Murdo MacLeod and Davie Provan making an instant impact and importantly midway through the season the return to fitness of Danny McGrain.

A harsh winter had robbed us of league football for almost three months leaving us regular midweek fixtures throughout the spring with the season running on through May with no big deal about re-arranging.

With Ibrox being reconstructed the Rangers-Celtic fixtures were switched to Hampden with Rangers calling a game off due to a small flutter of snow to avoid playing Celtic on the Saturday after being dumped out of Europe by 1FC Cologne.

Celtic rediscovered their touch and went on a late winning run that included a Friday night win against St Mirren at Ibrox as Love Street was redeveloped and a Monday night win over Hearts thanks to Mike Conroy's goal that set up the chance to win the league at home to Rangers.

None of our 9-in-a-row title's were clinched at Celtic Park but for the Lisbon generation of supporters here was the chance to see the league won at home with Rangers as guests!

Without reading through old books I remember the night clearly, as a primary seven pupil going to the match with my granda and uncle and sitting in Section B of the stand. My granda went to speak to an old work colleague, Tommy Burns dad, and found out that TB was devastated at missing the game through injury.

We were all devastated early in the first half as Alex MacDonald put Rangers in front with the distant cheering from the Rangers end painful on the ears, half time came with Rangers in front and Derek Johnstone back in defence to help Rangers to the draw needed to give them the title in their remaining games against Hibs and Partick Thistle.

Ten minutes into the second half it was despair as Doyle was sent off for having a kick at MacDonald who spring to his feet to square up to Doyle.

As Doyle trooped off it looked like a night of misery but this side had come back regularly from going behind and did so again with Roy Aitken and George McCluskey putting Celtic in front.

Johnstone was put up front again for Rangers and our lead lasted just a few minutes when Bobby Russell shot through virtually everyone from a cleared corner to draw Rangers level.

Despite being a man down Celtic poured everything into attack, win or bust as Rangers clung on knowing a draw virtually gave them the league in John Greig's first season in charge.

The circumstances were hazy but six minutes from the end Colin Jackson headed into his own net and the scenes were incredible.

The title was in touching distance, just as it had been earlier when we went 2-1 up but now there was five minutes to survive to win the league against Rangers with ten minutes.

Agonisingly the clock barely moved but as the final minute approached Celtic broke forward with Murdo letting rip with an amazing shot that flew into the top corner of the net.

It was an amazing finale, an incredible game which will forever rank amongst the finest 90 minutes ever played by a Celtic side.

Outwith the stadium virtually no-one knew the score or had any idea of the drama, STV's highlights programme was cancelled due to industrial action, footage lost just as it had been at Hampden in 57.

In those distant days folk did get their news from newspapers, the drama described with the closing 20 minutes squeezed into a few late paragraphs to make the print run.

The entire squad from that season deserved congratulations but on the night it was Peter Latchford, Danny McGrain, Tom McAdam, Big Shuggie, Andy Lynch; Roy Aitken, Mike Conroy, Murdo MacLeod; Davie Provan, George McCluskey, Johny Doyle that started the game with Bobby Lennox coming on as a sub and Vic Davidson an unused substitute.

Poor old Doyle was having his early bath fearing that he'd be on his way from Celtic as the guy that got sent off to gift Rangers the league, I never heard how he celebrated but the following season he had his best ever season culminating in an amazing Scottish Cup replay win over St Mirren at Love Street.

But thirty years ago it was a Celtic title win we celebrated with a largely homegrown team coming back from the dead to defy the odds and create their own history

HHAIL HHAIL to them all.

 

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Maloney ready for Ibrox role

Shaun Maloney closed the debate about his fitness with a dazzling 45 minute performance for Celtic's reserve side in the 4-0 win over Dundee United this afternoon.

Maloney hasn't completed 90 minutes since picking up a hamstring injury against Hearts on December 13 but was back to his best against a Dundee United side led by Lee Wilkie.

Brief substitute appearances in the last two SPL fixtures against Aberdeen have barely tested Maloney but today's run out showed the 26-year-old back at his industrious best highlighted by a great solo goal in the 15th minute.

Playing behind Kevin Cawley in a role designed to give him as much of the ball as possible the former Aston Villa striker buzzed about around the park spraying passes and beating defenders without flinching from a single challenge.

It was Maloney that set up the first goal with a through ball to Ryan Conroy on the left whose cross was headed home by Mark Millar at the back post after 13 minutes.

Enjoying the space that he's unlikely to get in first team action Maloney wrong footed a couple of defenders two minutes later before drilling a low shot past former Celtic 'keeper Michael McGovern to put Celtic two up.

There's little chance of Maloney starting against Rangers on Sunday but with the game likely to be tight and dominated by four and five man midfields the option to introduce Maloney must be an appealing one for Gordon Strachan.

Maloney has the temperament and experience to handle the big occasion after making his Celtic debut in the 3-0 win at Ibrox in Martin O'Neill's first season made memorable by a double from Lubo Moravcik and Henrik Larsson's 50th goal of the season.

"Who's the wean?" supporters asked that day when Maloney appeared, hopefully the fully grown 'wean' will be able to make a telling contribution this time around.

As the reserves collected their eighth consecutive title the conveyor belt of talent coming through the ranks produced another name to look out for with James Forrest making a very accomplished debut.

Replacing Simon Ferry, who picked up a back injury after half an hour, Forest looked quickly at ease demanding the ball and making telling runs off the right flank into the Dundee United penalty box.

Cawley had added a third goal before Forrest capped his reserve debut with a goal worth looking out for on Celtic TV.

Exchanging passes with Cawley, Forrest curled his shot around McGovern from just inside the penalty box to round off a useful day out before the SPL Reserve trophy was presented to the squad.

Celtic team: Kennedy; Doumbe, Marr, Misun, Kurakins; Miller (Vallers), Ferry (Forrest) Donati, Conroy; Maloney (McGlinchey), Cawley.

SUBS not used: Fairley, Gardner, Hughes, Tidser.

 

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Video Celebrations for 8inarow

 

What a great day out it was at Ibrox today as Celtic's reserve side clinched the title for the eighth season running.

CELEBRATIONS VIDEO

Simon Ferry was the goal-den bhoy with a brilliant 'Van Basten' like volley that former Scotland 'keeper Allan McGregor never got anywhere near.

It was great that Simon got the goal, he's had a horrible time over the last two and a half seasons with various ankle injuries but has refused to buckle, kept upbeat and has been a regular first team substitute over the last few weeks.

Celtic had dominated the first half without scoring but moved up a gear after the break but had to wait until the 70th minute for the big breakthrough.

Ryan Conroy deep cross from the left wing was met sweetly by Ferry whose volleyed flashed across McGregor into the net.

Ferry whipped off his top and set off on a run towards the empty Govan Stand while the 3,000 Celtic fans in the enclosure celebrated away.

Every win at Ibrox is to be enjoyed by the Celtic support, a win that brings silverware is that bit special regardless of what level it's at.

Peter Lawwell recently referred to the reserves as the 'development squad' which is a fair description, the players with the real potential to break through into the first team are out onloan: Paul Caddis, Scott Cuthbert, Cillian Sheridan and Paul McGowan.

Today's team was mainly emerging talents featuring a number of recent signings from the club's extensive scouting network covering centre-half Milan Musan, left-back Anton Kurakins and Irish recruits Niall McGinn and Paddy McCourt.

Youngsters Kevin Cawley, Jason Marr and Danny Lafferty have had their first season at reserve level leaving a team made up of Ferry and Ryan Conroy plus 'keeper Mark Brown and forgotten man Massimo Donati.

Guiding them all is Willie McStay who went to Ibrox with an impressive record, in 1981 he helped Celtic win the Glasgow Cup and did the same as Celtic manager in 1998 as well as guiding the reserves to a draw against a star-studded Rangers reserve side in the mid-90s with 30,000 Rangers fans demanding success with Celtic down to nine men.

Today's success was a good achievement for all involved, the real success will be judged in years to come. Two years ago Celtic lost 5-0 to Rangers in the SFA Youth Cup Final at Hampden, from that Celtic side Caddis and Sheridan have gone on to play in the Champions League.

The Rangers side was a real strange mixture, some relative unknowns but also names like McGregor, Andy Webster, John Fleck, Aaron Niguez and Steven Naismith, none of whom did themselves any favours.

By tea-time on May 9 today's events will be long forgotten but any trophy success and win at Ibrox will be welcomed and enjoyed by the Celtic fans present and others kept in touch by text messages and the internet.

 

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Reserves poised for title win

Celtic's reserve side can clinch 8-in-a-row by beating Hearts next week in a game scheduled to be played at Stirling Albion's Forthbank Stadium.

After Rangers delayed the Rangers-Celtic reserve match due on March 17, Willie McStay's side returned to action with a 1-1 draw against Inverness Caley Thistle on Monday of this week.

Rangers 2-0 defeat from Motherwell yesterday leaves Celtic 10 points clear at the top of the league with four games left to play with Celtic clinching the title with a win over Hearts or a Rangers failing to beat Aberdeen.

Reserve titles on their own mean very little but there's little doubt that over the years the success of the Celtic reserve side has contributed greatly to the success at first team level.

Stephen McManus is the most obvious example, indeed he is going for his own personal 8-in-a-row having helped the reserves to four titles before being promoted to the first team where of course he is heading for another 4-in-a-row.

Others like Aiden McGeady and Shaun Maloney had brief reserve 'careers' with their promotion almost automatic through from youth team to first team.

Reserve glory has never been the aim, otherwise players like John Kennedy, Scott Cuthbert, Paul McGowan, Paul Caddis and Cillian Sheridan wouldn't be sent out on loan.

Those players would gain little from reserve team football which allows others like Jason Marr, Kevin Cawley and Danny Lafferty to step up into the reserve side to test themselves at a higher level.

The club's recent influx of young Eastern European players have been given valuable exposure and experience to becoming a Celtic player in a competitive environment where winning is expected.

No allowances are given for youth, winning is demanded but there's plenty of flair about the reserve side with Paddy McCourt and Mark Millar probably the most influential players in the current squad.

The future can rarely be predicted but the development of players is assured at Celtic, those good enough to move up from the youths get their chance, those too good for the reserves get loaned out for extra experience.

Hopefully Caddis and Sheridan will be part of next season's first team picture, Millar could be a dark horse as well with possibly McCourt or Koki Mizuno taking the leap from useful substitute/stand-in to a contributor at first team level.

Hail hail to the reserves regardless of what the SPL attempt to do next season, surely club's can carry squads capable of playing 22 games over a ten month season?

SPL Reserve Table CLICK HERE for more Celtic news and views

Boozegate, getting very, very nasty and personal

 

Kenny Miller is a regular in the News of the World, Barry Ferguson is a regular in The Sun, John Collins was incredibly critical of the Daily Record's role in the transfers of Kevin Thompson and Scott Brown from Hibs.

Football journalism at the highest level is all about cultivating contacts, getting close to prominent players, managers and chairmen. The journalist gains a valuable inside contact for off the record information and the player/manager/chairman has a sympathetic public voice to discreetly get their point of view out to the public.

The downside of this is that rival papers tend to go OTT in their comments about people who appear to side with rival newspapers.

More than a can of worms has opened, or exploded, during the recent international break. Lifetime bans and club suspensions have been handed out but today things have taken a very unusual twist with The News of the World upping the ante to escalate the recent Booze'n'vikkygate episode into a rammy between the two biggest clubs in the country as well as between the two biggest newspaper groups.

From Burley v Ferguson & McGregor we now have Celtic v Rangers and News International v Trinity Mirror.

The News of the World have gone to unseen levels to claim that the DR and one journalist in particular have dropped Ferguson and McGregor in trouble to protect Scott Brown.

I really can't remember any football incident where one newspaper group has given publicity to a rival by 'crediting' their part in a blockbuster story.

The News of the World have some very detailed allegations, there's nothing hit or miss or sketchy about it, they name times and places.

Amazingly the thrust of their story is that the DR protected Scott Brown as they exposed the story. The story was also run by The Sun who have a certain fondness for Barry Ferguson.

Whatever The DR could do to protect their man surely The Sun could do for their favoured player.

For the News of the World to give the DR such publicity is incredible as is the claim that the DR has the power to stir things up against two players in order to protect their man, whatever the DR can do The Sun can do at least equally well.

This story still has some running to do, Ferguson and McGregor won't be the only casualties.

A very messy tabloid war is out in the open which could be much nastier, and certainly more public, than anything in the world of football.

Having a pop at a rival paper is fair game, when the DR miss something The Sun gloats with the Day'late Record, when it's the other way around the DR laughs at the English-based tabloid.

Players need to be very discreet with what leaks out from dressing rooms and behind closed doors, Celtic have had their incidents already this season which quickly find print.

The Booze'n'vikkygate story has fingerprints all over it going back to certain camps and factions.

With a financially lucrative title to be won and lost and desperate times in the newspaper business there is still a lot of muck to be thrown around over the most spectacular and newsworthy international break ever.

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Let's stay winning, Hampden video

 

The one week thrill of the Co-Operative Cup!

CUP WINNING VIDEO

It was a great feeling, very enjoyable as it always is when you beat Rangers, especially so in a Hampden Cup Final which many of us haven't experienced, scarily Mo Johnson was almost a Celtic player the last time that a Cup Final was won against Rangers.

Darren O'Dea was the unlikely first goal scorer but with only one real goalscorer on the pitch at the start, Scott McDonald, then an unlikely goalscorer probably wasn't really too unlikely!

It was a classy header from O'Dea well placed with a good connection to Shunsuke Nakamura's free kick, Celtic had threatened repeatedly through the match with Glenn Loovens and O'Dea both coming close to scoring earlier in the game from set pieces.

After O'Dea's opener Celtic carved Rangers open and should have had the match decided long before Aiden McGeady went off on a great run before being hacked down by Kirk Broadfoot who was in the dressing room by the time Aiden smacked the penalty the penalty into the net.

The celebrations were great with half of the stadium cheering Stephen McManus and the team as they collected the cup, danced around the sponsors podium then showed the trophy to the supporters who were in full voice.

Fast forward seven days and it was the familiar frustrating story of the season as we drew 2-2 with Dundee United, passing up the chance to stretch our lead over Rangers to five points.

With Rangers throwing away a two goal lead to Hearts the previous day the stage was set for a decisive move to be made in the title race, Scott McDonald obliged with a first half header but before the hour mark Dundee United were in front through a double from Francisco Sandaza, at this rate he could be the latest from Tannadice to make the move to Celtic.

Lee Naylor pinged in the equaliser but there was not to be a late winner with the lead at the top of the SPL table remaining at three points.

One point gained or two lost?

Arguments can be put up for both outcomes, what can't be denied is our unchampionslike form since the turn of the year, especially away from home.

One away SPL win, at Kilmarnock, alongside draws at Inverness, Motherwell, Dundee United and defeats at Aberdeen and St Mirren in the Scottish Cup don't inspire confidence. Neither does a one man strike force with the other two options contributing a total of two goals since the turn of the year.

Full points are non-negotiable from the next two matches, at home to Hamilton Accies and Falkirk, after that it gets much tougher with the remaining seven matches all against top six opponents.

The Co-Operative Cup Final win showed the desire of the team to succeed, away games at Hearts, Rangers, Aberdeen and AN Other will test that resolve to the full if the league is to be won.

On a cheerier not have another look at the Co-Operative Cup celebrations