Celtic Diary Tuesday June 20: Off To Belfast In The Green ?

The arrangement for the second round of qualifying matches for the 2017-18 Champions League took place yesterday, and threw up-I hesitate to say vomited-a possible clash with the worlds Second most successful club, Linfield.

Successful in this context is defined by the same criteria that another club with similar supporters also defones success, I would hasten to add.

This is known as …

Celtic face the winners of the first round qualifier between Linfield and La Fiorita of San Marino.

The Hoops will travel for the first leg, which was to be played on the 12th if July, but most of those policing the match had prior engagements that day.

As did most of the clubs officials..

Anyhoo, the game has been moved to the tenth,

and if you thought there was a touch of destiny about playing Linfield, how about La Fiorita ?

S.P. La Fiorita is a Sammarinese football club, based in Montegiardino. The club was founded in 1967. Fiorita currently plays in Girone A of Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio. The team’s colors are blue, yellow and white. 

I’m on the point of booking a flight to Kiev, just in case. you can’t ignore these signs , you know.

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2012–13	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Liepājas Metalurgs	0–2	0–4	0–6
2013–14	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Valletta	0–3	0–1	0–4
2014–15	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Levadia Tallinn	0–1	0–7	0–8
2015–16	UEFA Europa League	1Q	FC Vaduz	0–5	1–5	1–10
2016–17	UEFA Europa League	1Q	Debrecen	0–5	0–2	0–7
2017–18	UEFA Champions League	1Q	Linfield

 
Another sign you shouldn’t ignore is that La Fiorita have scored only once in their previous ten champions league games.

and when they did…

Linfield, with their formidable record in world football should march comfortably into the next round.

Should Celtic be worried ?

Not really, but there is potential for any money to be made to be swiftly returned to UEFA in the form of a fine.

There is word that Celtic may not take any tickets, but the Belfast locals won’t let that stand in the way of getting to see either the team they love or the team they hate.

Same goes for the return in Glasgow.

Off the pitch, its the worst possible tie we could have had.

The Belfast Telegraph reported it as such

Police are facing the security nightmare of a possible powderkeg clash between Linfield and Celtic in Belfast – on the eve of the Twelfth celebrations.

The sides are on course to meet in what would be a highly-charged fixture at Windsor Park on July 11. They will clash at the second stage of qualifying for the Champions League on the Eleventh Night if the Blues beat a little-known side from San Marino in the opening round. The PSNI confirmed it is in discussions over a potential tie, which would come at a time when tensions are already running high around parades.

One option is moving the game forward from 7.45pm to a 5pm kick-off, although that would still require a huge policing operation on a day when resources are already stretched.

Andrew McQuillan, a crowd safety expert, said: “If you wanted to pick the worst possible day to hold a match like that, it’s probably July 11.

“There are other competing factors for policing and security right across Northern Ireland on that day and that week.

“It’s also one of the highest-risk games in terms of security that we have had here for some time.”

However, Linfield officials insisted they are confident the tie will go ahead without incident, and are looking forward to what will be one of the biggest games in the club’s history.

Blues chairman Roy McGivern said security issues would be discussed in the coming days, but said he had no concerns about staging a game on July 11. 

The BBC added

The clubs discussed arrangements for a potential match, should Linfield first defeat La Fiorita of San Marino, after Monday’s draw in Switzerland.

The schedule date for the match is problematic as it coincides with the ‘Twelfth’ marches in Northern Ireland.

Linfield have proposed an early kick-off, which Celtic are amenable to.

Blues chairman Roy McGivern told BBC Sport the club has provisionally suggested a 17:00 or 17:30 kick-off on Tuesday, 11 July, subject to consultation with the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

McGivern said playing the home leg first is still “the preferred choice” of the Irish Premiership champions.

David Healy’s side will host La Fiorita at Windsor Park on 28 June, with the return leg on 4 July.

If the Blues progress, they will play the 1967 European Cup winners for the first time.

Celtic defeated Irish League opposition in Belfast four years ago with a 3-0 win over Cliftonville in a Champions League qualifier.

Its a nightmare.

And their “history ” pays deference to their colonial cousins… including a bizarre almost Ibroxian claim about a previous seasons cup counting the year after, giving them a world record…

Historically, as the most dominant club in Northern Irish football, Linfield holds several domestic records and even a world record. The club was one of the eight founding members of the Irish League in 1890, as well as the inaugural winners and one of only three clubs to have competed in every top division season, having never suffered relegation. Linfield has won a record 52 league championships to date – more than twice as many titles as any other Northern Irish club and the second-highest tally of national top-flight titles won by any club worldwide – behind the world record of 54 Scottish league titles won by Rangers.^[6] Linfield won a clean sweep of all the trophies in a single season in the 1921–22 season, and again in 2005-06. They narrowly missed out on claiming 7 trophies in a single season in 1961–62 season, only failing to win the North South cup. They did however win that trophy in the 1960–61 season. Due to fixture congestion in that season, the final for the 1960–61 season was played in 1962, and Linfield paraded the trophy erroneously as the 7th of a still tremendous haul of 6 trophies in a single season. Glenavon won the trophy for the 1961–62 season, similarly due to fixture congestion the final for that season was played at the start of 1963. Glenavon to this day still hold the trophy as it was never competed for again. Linfield has once won all four available domestic trophies available in the modern era, in a single season, to achieve a quadruple. They have also won three domestic trebles along with a world record 24 domestic doubles.^[7] The club has lifted the Irish Cup a record 43 times, the League Cup a record nine times, and has been all-Ireland champion (excluding the 12 all-Ireland league titles won prior to the partition of Ireland in 1921) on four occasions – 1962, 1971, 1980 and 2005. The club has never won a European trophy, but did reach the quarter-finals of the 1966–67 European Cup. 

If only they’d gone a little further that year…

On the whole, their European record suggests the tie is little more than a bye for Celtic..

I think it may be awkward, may even be one to forget, but if players and fans treat it for what it is, a tricky but easily winnable game against a smal but plucky club we’ll be fine.

Just don’t get dragged into all the palaver.

Meantime, get involved with this. There’s a storm coming, and we need to be ready.
Supporters Direct

No transfer news yet, other than what we’ve told you already…

But Thursday could be a good day…

If you look at her eyes, you’ll see she’s winking, which may actually be close to what some of our readers are contemplating, come to think of it.

Remember that financial genius who was going to sort out Rangers, or “rangers ” ? Can’t remember which..but he’s tweeted earlier today…

Better make sure you’ve jelly and ice cream around, perhasp UEFA and the SFa are already on this…

Maybe Progres Neidercorn are…

Ach, who gives a shit, the higher they try to climb, the further they’ll fall.

Yesterdays picture…