Crosas leads Celtic squad to Derry

Crosas leads Celtic squad to Derry

New bhoy Marc Crosas will lead a strong looking Celtic XI into Tuesday night's friendly with Derry City.

The former Barcelona midfielder is included in the Celtic squad as well as Glenn Loovens, Massimo Donati and Paul Caddis who've all played first team football this season.

Adding an Irish dimension to the squad is Darren O'Dea and Cillian Sheridan while Pat McCourt makes a return to the Brandywell after his summer transfer.

After the match O'Dea will travel to Dublin to meet up with international manager Giovanni Trapattoni for Thursday's night's challenge match in Dublin against Notts Forest in a match arranged to give the Italian a look at the players on the fringes of his international squad.

Tuesday's match is to celebrate Derry's 80th anniversary and it's certainly been a colourful history with the club leaving the Belfast based Irish league in the early 70s before making a spectacular return to football with the League of Ireland in the mid 80s.

Crossas made another telling contribution in the 4-0 win over Hamilton Accies that took Celtic to the top of the league ahead of Rangers defeat at St Mirren.

The young Spaniard has missed out on both Champions League games this season but could well be in the team that faces Manchester United at Old Trafford on October 21.

VIDEO REPORT on the weekend action.

MATCH REPORT on the Hamilton Accies game

Celtic reserves streets ahead of Rangers

The young hoops continue to dominate with a very well deserved 3-1 win over Rangers today.

VIDEO REPORT

Despite falling a goal behind on the stroke of half time Willie McStay's side stuck to playing football and deservedly got their rewards with a double from Paul McGowan and Ben Hutchison winning the points.

First half injuries to Michael McGlinchey and Joe Doumbe disrupted Celtic's style with only some touches from Paddy McCourt and bursts from Hutchison threatening the Rangers defence.

In the centre of the park Mark Millar and Kevin Cawley put in a great shift with their natural flare and style being compromised for a more workmanlike approach.

At the back Darren O'Dea was commanding and assured while putting in some meaningful challenges and helping to steer Danny Lafferty through the game.

Rangers took the lead on half time with a header from a corner but after the break Celtic dominated.

McGowan should have levelled after 61 minutes when he was put through on goal by McCourt but shot at the keeper before making amends 4 minutes later by heading home from a Koki Mizuno cross.

In the 77th minute a great passing move involving McCourt and Cawley set up McGowan to tuck the ball away with Hutchison showing a great strikers instinct to lob Rangers keeper Graeme Smith from an angle to seal a well deserved win.

VIDEO REPORT

GOALS GOALS GOALS: compilation video of goals against Rangers

Don't we just love it when the ball hits the back of the Rangers net?

LOADS OF GOALS ON VIDEO

How good was Naka's strike from 30 yards that had McGregor tied in knots, the elation of Jan Vennegoor's of Hesselink's injury-time winner, Barry Robson's straight down the middle penalty, Andy Thom's belter past 'the goalie', Paul McStay's in the Centenery season, Henrik's chip in the 6-2 game, Sutton's opener, Sutton's whitewash, Billy Stark's centenery strike, John Collins predator efforts, Lubo's double at Ibrox, Petrov's diving header that came off both posts behind Klos, Maloney's belter, Bobo frightening Klos into an own goal by smiling at him, Archdeacon's bonkers goal, Murdo's goals against Rangers (every one of them) big Roy silencing them at Ibrox in 77, Joe Craig's winner in 76, Joe Miller's cup final winner and add in unlikely scorer's like Rudi Vata, Paul Byrne, Brian O'Neill, Paul McGugan, Andy Peyton and it's all enough to get you all worked up for some more magic on Sunday.

We've been having a great time since the double win in April leading to the title, Kaunas and another Champions League campaign.

Until that double win in April it had been grim, four defeats without a single goal and of the team that started on April 16 only Aiden McGeady had experienced the joy of scoring against Rangers.

Now the players know what it's like, the despair of losing at Ibrox, the league being almost written off before that double win that transformed everything and gave us a dressing room full of winners.

It's not to be recommended but the hurt and pain, the fallout of losing makes players appreciate the wins over Rangers and the effect it creates on both winners and losers.

We're back on top just now but have to capitalise on our 3-in-a-row status, to put doubt back in the Rangers players minds, remind them that Kaunas can't be airbrushed away as we set the pace whilst also enjoying the Champions League.

Celtic are likely to be without last season's first choice strikers in Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Scott McDonald but that presents Shaun Maloney and Georgios Samaras with the perfect opportunity to become hero's.

It'll be tight, nervous, probably controversial and likely to be nasty in places but after battling back last season Celtic have to keep the upper hand.

International football will soon be taking the spotlight but let's hope that it's against the backdrop of the 4-in-a-row bid being well under way.

Dundee United 1-3 Celtic

Dundee United 1-3 Celtic

VIDEO REPORT

The names change but the results and style remains as Willie McStay gears Celtic's reserve side towards 8-in-a-row.

There was no Evander Sno, Bobo Balde or Scott Cuthbert in the side but with Paul Caddis and Mark Miller becoming increasingly prominent the show goes on.

Kevin Cawley, just promoted from the under-19 side opened the scoring and continues to mix great passing and positional play with confidence in front of goal.

Joe Doumbe, yes remember Hampden, put Celtic two up before half time and although Dundee United pulled a goal back with ten minutes left to play Ryan Conroy added a third before the end to ensure a second succesive win for the reserve side.

Pat McCourt looked increasingly comfortable showing the skill and touches that earned him his transfer from Derry City.

There's bound to be a few clubs looking at getting some of our reserves on loan before the transfer window closes but whoever moves on it's fairly certain that there'll be another young player itching to get their chance to prove their worth.

VIDEO REPORT

TOMORROW: Some interesting news about Billy 'Offside' Baxter and another lesser known controversial incident involving the controversial linesman, funny how this controversial incident didn't attract so much controversy... or maybe not.

Maloney magic, video highlights of the 2006 Player of the Year

 

Well we all make mistakes, some silly ones and some whoppers.

Some VIDEO CLIPS of Shaun from 2005/2006

Usually we don't get the chance to correct them and live in regret but Shaun Maloney is now back at Celtic and hopefully ready to develop into the player that he has threatened to become.

The baby face that emerged at Ibrox in April 2001 straight out of the youth team was never going to break up the Larsson/Sutton/Hartson axis of Martin O'Neill's team and was bound for Aberdeen or Livingston until thrown a proper chance by Gordon Strachan.

In the autumn of 2005 a brand new team emerged with Artur Boruc and Shunsuke Nakamura starring alongside some forgotton talents called Maloney, Stephen McManus and of course Aiden McGeady.

The title was won in a canter as Rangers crumbled into third place in a two horse race never recovering from back-to-back hammerings at Celtic Park in November when Maloney led the way with an amazing 25 yard effort that Stefan Klos is still trying to locate.

Not unusually for Celtic some contract issues were burning away in the background, the emergence of three prominent home grown players being a novelty as they expected hefty increases to match the wages of their illustrious team mates.

In the final year of his reserve team contract McManus was sorted out but Maloney's contract issue rumbled on ominously into the new season as Thomas Gravesen and Jan Venegoor of Hesselink joined on big bucks with even Derek Riordan taking home more than Player of the Year Maloney.

Riordan took advantage of circumstances just as Maloney 'suffered' from having signed a long term deal. Whether Celtic took him for granted or not we'll never know but in the January 2007 transfer window Maloney was off to Aston Villa for £1m while Paul Hartley avoided Ibrox to join the champions.

Villa was a very strange destination for Maloney, some games here and there, some great free-kicks scored and a double against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge showed promise but when push comes to shove O'Neill will always go for brute force in the shape of Carew/Hartson/Sutton over the craft of Maloney.

He gave it 18 months, was linked with a return in virtually every transfer window but is now thankfully back in hoops, ready to resume where he left off or perhaps an even better player after experiencing that the grass isn't always greener elsewhere.

Offering cover to both wide midfield positions, competition for Scott McDonald or creating a new role tucked behind two strikers Maloney is a welcome addition to the Celtic side and can hopefully spark some action into a team that has started the season looking as stale as they were for large spells of last season.

WELCOME BACK SHAUN.

Championship ceremony and singsong

The build up was great... but there was little to get excited about by the 90 minutes that followed as the season got underway in tired fashion.

CHAMPIONSHIP CEREMONY AND SINGSONG

No new faces in the team, not even a left-back, and an unbalanced midfield due to the injury to Shunsuke Nakamura saw the champions stutter and stumble to victory.

Barry Robson struggled badly out on the right wing, continually turning inside where Celtic already had Paul Hartley and Scott Brown as St Mirren retreated to stifle the play.

All of this put the onus onto Aiden McGeady to provide some magic but with little space to operate in and few team mates to provide him with options it was a tough afternoon all round.

Brown was possibly the best player but I couldn't help but feel that the balance of the team had been disrupted to accommodate the former Hibs midfielder.

On recent form, last season, Robson and Hartley provide the best central midfield pairing but maybe Gordon Strachan is taking a medium term view and trusting his judgement that Brown is going to raise his game to a level that Robson and Hartley can't match.

If you throw in new signing Marc Crosas and the return of Nakamura there should be enough options coming up to provide the spark and excitement missing from the win over St Mirren.

Paul Caddis belatedly got a run out yesterday, replacing Robson late on despite being ready to come on just as Celtic were awarded the decisive penalty.

Caddis had less space, and time, to operate in than he had enjoyed against Manchester City. I like Caddis a lot, he has loads to his game but is largely untried defensively. Going forward he has everything, he has pace, intelligence, tackles and passes well but isn't yet ready to displace Andreas Hinkel.

The return to Tannadice next Sunday should be interesting and testing, picking up all three points will set us up nicely for two home games including the eagerly anticipated visit from Rangers when we should have a great chance to inflict a Kaunas type blow to Rangers season by emphasising our superiority and putting some daylight into the two horse race that is the SPL.

Flan O'Briens's in Bath - a FAKE Celtic bar - Thank you Bunch o Grapes

As a founder member of a successful and dedicated Celtic Supporters' Club in Bristol, I found myself in Bath on business on Wednesday evening, unable to attend the free pre-season Friendly at Celtic park.

Both myself and my wife and another Tim accompanied by a Man City fan pitched up at the Bath "CSC" and Celtic bars listed pub Flan O'Briens's in Bath to watch the game on Setanta only to find Setanta was down and showing the unsunscribed screen. All well and good pre-season and all that but the punter who ran the bar (who was in there the whole day) refused to show the game and proceeded to have a go at me for offering to phone Setanta for him. No he was off duty and "The Celtic game won't be on end of story" he retorted.

Now the bugger was ADVERTYISING THE GAME!!!!!!

I live in Edinburgh again mow so there's no local rivalry. However when I frst took a job in Bristol and before I come across the hundreds of like minded Tims there I would call O'Brien's ask if they were showing a game get a positive answer only to take the train journey and find the EPL or worse the Championship on and a refusal to show our game.

THIS IS NOT THE ACTIONS OF A BAR LISTED ON CELTIC BARS . COM.

Finally thank God for a bar who would normally have the EPL on but showed the Man City game - The Bunch o Grapes you saved the night, we thank you.

As for Fake O'Brien's the train journey shall be made to the only home for Celtic fans in that region where CELTIC comes before anything else - The Foresters in Bristol.

Hail! Hail!

Have a look at the false shameful bar here

http://www.flanobriens.com/

21, Westgate StreetBath BA1 1EPTel: 01225 312914Fax: 01225 447435

mailto:landlords@flanobriens.com?Subject=Website%20Response

Shelbourne 1-1 Celtic VIDEO REPORT

The reserves three match tour of Ireland ended tonight with a 1-1 draw against Shelbourne.

Rocco Quinn scored the second half equaliser with Scott Cuthbert, Simon Ferry and Mark Millar the top performers.

VIDEO REPORT

Newry 1-2 Celtic

Newry 1-2 Celtic XI

The reserves just keep on winning making it four out of four today with a 2-1 win over Newry.

Derek Riordan and Mark Millar got the goals in the first half before the team eased up after the break allowing Newry to score a consolation.

Reports from my man at the match are sketchy but in the first half Celtic turned on the style and really put Newry to the test with Michael McGlinchey impressive in attack alongside Riordan.

On Wednesday the team moves on to Dublin where they face Shelbourne on Wednesday night at Tolka Park.

VIDEO REPORT

Livingston 0-2 Celtic VIDEO REPORT

Effectively Celtic's third team beat Livingston 2-0 at Almondvale with Kevin Cawley and Danny Lafferty scoring the goals.

VIDEO REPORT

With the first team squad calling up Paul Caddis and Cillian Sheridan, Willie McStay had to dig a bit deeper into his resources to face Livingston but once again came up with a win.

At this level winning is important, that's what is required of Celtic teams, but it's great to see the development in players and continual emergence of new faces that are ready to take their chance.

Into that category falls Ritchie Towell and Danny Lafferty. Towell is a central midfielder that adapted well at right back while Lafferty looks both commanding and imposing in the centre of defence whilst also showing a good eye for goal.

Thomas Gravesen and Derek Riordan again played with Gravesen looking out of touch as a sole striker during the first half with Riordan playing just off the Dane.

Michael McGlinchey and Mark Millar were kept busy in the first half and put in a power of work in the centre of the park tracking back and pushing forward.

The first half looked certain to end goal-less until Celtic took the lead two minutes from the break through Kevin Cawley.

Rocco Quinn threaded a great ball through for Cawley who, coming in off the left flank, showed a real striker's instinct and composure to slot the ball beyond Livi's trialist keeper as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do.

Simon Ferry replaced Gravesen at the break and Celtic really had to dig in and work hard for their win.

The second goal came in the 66nd minute when Scott Cuthbert headed down a Riordan corner, Cawlet sent the ball goalwards with Lafferty cheekily back healing the ball into the net.

I had my first look at Ryan Marshall in goals and he looked the part with a couple of good saves, one point blank header and another acrobatic effort that was touched over the bar.

I've no idea what age Marshall is but he's agile and looks a real natural keeper.

The reserves now head over to Ireland where they face Donegal Celtic in Belfast, Newry Town and Shelbourne.

VIDEO REPORT from Livi

Tommy G and the trialist keeper help Celt's to victory

To call last night's Celtic XI interesting is an understatement.

Albion Rovers 1-4 Celtic

Up front we had the dynamic duo of Thomas Gravesen and Derek Riordan while on the bench newly signed Matty Hughes got on to make his debut in front of trialist goalkeeper Daniele Giordano.

How those four players will be remembered in Celtic history is anyone's guess.

There is one consistent aspect about the Celtic reserves and that's that they play good football, it's hard not to when you have Paul Caddis, Mark Millar and Kevin Cawley in your team.

Miller and Caddis have been outstanding for a while now and take every challenge in their stride, getting better week by week.

Caddis is really developing into a great full-back. Sharp in the tackle, pacy and comfortable moving forward he's got everything needed to make a big name for himself with the only variable being how he will develop.

I'd guess that every SPL team would take him on loan in a minute which probably would be best for his development because chances will be limited with Andreas Hinkel and Mark Wilson pushing for the right-back spot.

With Joe Doumbe also around there's plenty of cover and it looks unlikely that Caddis will get much first team football in the first half of the season.

Millar is developing at a great rate, has a good engine, essential for any centre midfielder, and can get himself forward into the box and knows how to find the net.

Two years ago Millar found himself behind Simon Ferry, Charlie Grant, Michael McGlinchey and Teddy Bjarnason in the u-19's midfield but injuries and Teddy's departure has given him a chance that he's taken with comfort.

Predictably both Millar and Caddis were in great form against Albion Rovers as Celtic raced into an early three goal lead with goals from Gravesen, Danny Lafferty and Millar.

Riordan scored early in the second half with Rovers getting a consolation from Pat Walker.

In goals for the night was trialist Daniele Giordano, a 17-year-old who has been on the books of Lecce.

He looked a bit older than 17 and had a fair bit of presence without having much to do although that will probably change in Saturday's game against Livingston.

Finally, Matty Hughes played most of the second half after an injury to Scott Cuthbert after signing on Tuesday from Rochdale who Celtic appear to be setting up some sort of informal exchange system with.

 

VIDEO REPORT

The Bernabeu to Cliftonhill in two years...

Thomas Gravesen... where did it all go wrong?

Two years ago Gravesen was a Real Madrid player that some deluded Celtic fans thought might become a Celtic player.

As the summer transfer window closed in 2006 Gravesen was a Celt as we prepared to defend the SPL title and make our mark in the Champions League.

The title was won in a canter and we qualified with a game to spare in the Champions League only to be knocked out by eventual winners AC Milan after extra-time in the San Siro.

Before then the wheels had started to fall off the Gravesen bandwagon, by the end of the season he couldn't even get a place on the bench in the Scottish Cup Final against Dunfermline while Teddy Bjarnason picked up a winners medal.

After a failed year loaned back to Everton Gravesen is back and set to play for the reserves against Albion Rovers and Livingston.

Another years salary, perhaps a loyalty payment at the end of it awaits unless an expensive pay-off can be sorted out.

It'll be a mystery how the transfer came about and a bigger mystery how the deal fell apart but for the 1,000 fans at Cliftonhill on Thursday the once Great Dane will be the star attraction.

VIDEO REPORT

Tommy Johnson VIDEO INTERVIEW

I had the pleasure to catch up with Tommy Johnson at the Masters football at the weekend where the Geordie Genius was the top Celt.

VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH TOMMY JOHNSON

TJ finished up as joint top scorer but once again Celtic lost out in the final, this time to Rangers with goalkeeper Kevin McKeown hardly covering himself in glory.

As ever it was good to see some old faces, Mark McNally, Darren Jackson, Regi Blinker and a real blast from the past with Jim Duffy called into service.

Johnson had a strange Celtic career, playing under Tommy Burns, Wim Jansen, Dr Jo, John Barnes, Kenny Dalglish and Martin O'Neill.

It was certainly a lively time at Celtic Park with TJ almost always playing with a smile and capable of the occasional spectacular goal.

He'll be best remembered for the title-clinching goal in 2001 against St Mirren and he's happy to laugh about mishitting that shot.

After Celtic he moved onto Sheffield Wednesday, Kilmarnock and others, at Rugby Park he scored a couple against Rangers before winding up his career playing for Sheffield United, Gillingham and Tamworth.

Tommy is now coaching at his first senior club Notts County and doing whatever he can for a local charity that is helping to educate kids in Guatemala and elsewhere.

Enjoy this VIDEO INTERVIEW with Tommy Johnson

Celtic reserves, pre-season schedule

Reserve pre-season friendlies

While the first team head off to the Algarve via Southampton and Fulham and onto Rotterdam it's a little less exotic for the reserves and youths.

Albion Rovers, Livingston and Berwick Rangers will all be facing Celtic XI's as well as a visit to Ireland taking in Donegal Celtic, Newry Town and Bohemians.

Glentoran will be visited at some future date, but not in July I suspect.

FULL PRE SEASON LISTING

That's why we're champions... no pesky Champions League qualifiers

Yesterday somewhere in Europe lots of wee teams were put in the draw for the Champions League dreaming of battling all the way into the real competition, picking up a few euros before getting turfed out as the big bhoys make their way into the last 16 and the proper knock-out.

TITLE WINNING VIDEO

When we won the league the euphoria and joy was real, an amazing comeback from the seemingly dead as Rearangers wilted as they finally caught up with those pesky away fixtures that they had been avoiding.

Behind the sheer joy of winning the league was a very attractive prize, straight into the Champions League without having to visit Moscow or anywhere like that.

Twelve months ago the season's build up was all towards being ready for the Champions League qualifier and despite being seeded it couldn't have been any tougher than getting CSKA Moscow away.

Remember the tension? Artur Boruc out injured, John Kennedy playing on a plastic pitch, the joy of Paul Hartley's header, the dismay as CSKA murdered us down the left at home, cancelling out our away goal, Boruc and Lee Naylor squaring up (a bit one sided), Skippy's equaliser, extra time, Derek Riordan appearing, Maciej Zurawski and Riordan scoring, Boruc saving and we're through.

Well this year it will be nice and quiet as others scrap and battle to join the real teams in the Champions League, even Arsenal and Liverpool face qualifiers and we won't face AC Milan for the third year running because they're in the UEFA Cup.

Every title win is sweet, demolishing big Eck's dream team and Hearts in 2006, seeing Paul LeGuen back across l'channel in 2007 but 2008 was very, very special, especially after too many scary home performances against too many teams to mention (such as St Mirren, Hibs, Aberdeen, Dundee United, Hearts and Motherwell)

There was no more margin for error when Walter's gladiators came calling, and twice they were turned over losing their cherished discipline as they ended both games with ten men.

Barry Robson and Paul Hartley were on fire, Gary Caldwell playing out of his skin, Aiden McGeady and Shunsuke Nakamura dazzling as we rattled off win after win and on to Tannadice.

Remarkably it was in our own hands, no outside help required and bhoy did we deliver as the other lot crumbled with another red card collected as they feebly fell at Aberdeen while the party started down the road at Tannadice.

It's six weeks now since we won the league but the dividend continues through the winter as we enjoy another Champions League campaign.

Enjoy the VIDEO FROM TANNADICE and sit back and prepare for a third consecutive Champions League campaign.