Another message from those guys at the Dresden CSC which may not have been noticed amongst the replies the other day tells us of the effort they’ve put in to help visiting fans to the German city this weekend;
All,
Our apologies for harping on about the upcoming Celtic v Dynamo Dresden game, but we wanted to give you an update.
We have planned the following entertainment during your stay for those who are traveling over for the game;
Friday 18-7-14 : We have a local singer to entertain anyone who has arrived early for the game, played the follwoing day. Admission is free and no surcharge for the band.
Saturday 19-7-14 : After the game, we have organised a singer from Glasgow (member of Celtic Cousins)! He will entertain us hopefully celebrating our victory and there will be the chance for everyone to ‘give us a song’ during the evening.
Sunday is, well it’ll take care of itself!!
Both events will be based in the Shamrock Irish Pub (details in this link https://etims.net/?p=5206)!
Before the game, most members of the Dresden CSC will leave from the Dubliner Irsih pub (see link above), as it’s closer to the stadium!
Anyway, for those traveling over for the game, we hope you enjoy the trip and hopefully enjoy the hospitality we’ve tried to put together!
Hail! Hail!
Dresden CSC
If only all trips were like that….
The name on everyones lips after Tuesdays win over Reykjavik was Calum MacGregor. The youngster had impressed during the pre season tour of Austria, and Ronny Deila handed him a starting slot in the absence of Scott brown. It was he who scored the winer, and his Shaun Derry, his manager at Notts county, where he spent last season on loan, was not surprised he rose to the occasion.
” A huge amount of responsibility was placed on Callum at a very young age at Notts County last season and he handled it very well.
“Callum had a fantastic season for us and I am sure it was an invaluable education for him to be involved in our successful attempt to stay up so early in his career.
“He was brilliant for us on the park and, more than that, he was a great lad to have in the dressing room and around the club as well. We were glad that we had him.
“We were keen to keep him, but he wanted to go back to Celtic and fight for a place in the first team. I am pleased to see he has made the breakthrough and am sure he will go from strength to strength.”
MacGregor spent the whole season in the English midlands, but when he was reportedly offered as a swap for Leigh Griffiths , then at Wolves, it may have appeared that he was surplus to requirements in Glasgow.
Derry was pleased that he extended the initial six month loan to a full season;
We felt that if we had lost Callum in January then it would have made our task of staying up far, far harder. It was a huge boost for myself and for the Notts County fans when we managed to hold on to him.
“Callum was desperate to stay with us for the second half of the season and we were desperate to hold on to him. We were all grateful to Celtic for being so good to deal with at that time.
“He stayed and trained with us after his initial loan deal expired. That was a testament to the character of the lad. There was interest in him from League One and Championship clubs. But he was keen to stay with us and continue his development.
“It was still far from plain sailing after he stayed. But having a player of his undoubted quality on the park was certainly helpful to us. In fact, I think it was a turning point in securing our safety. We loved having him at Notts County.
“I was unbelievably impressed with how well that he did when he was at the club at such a young age and I know the fans were as well. He is a special talent and has a bright future in the game.”
The player himself, ( incidentally he will be at the Ticket Office today signing things and chatting to customers. You’ll easily spot him, he’ll be the one walking about two feet above the ground ), was a little more matter of fact about the whole thing;
“I feel ready for this, Going on loan to Notts County in League One was a big help to me.
“I feel like I have come back a better, stronger player. I feel mentally ready for this challenge now.
“Obviously I’m delighted with the goal and I’ll enjoy it but I know I need to keep working. Once I get back into training on Thursday I’ll get the head down and keep striving to be better.
“Being at Celtic means the world to me and if I can be here for a long time I’ll be delighted.”
We can safely say that under Neil Lennon, MacGregor would not have started, so even though a lot of the football on offer in Iceland was very similar to the style of last season, Deila is beginning to make his own mark on the side, its just that he’s not making a song and dance about it.
In fact, under Lennon, the general pattern was that if went out on loan, you never got back. Maybe MacGregor, and possibly even Tony Watt, can reverse this trend. Young and hungry, keen to do well at the club ? Then step right up, it seems you’ll get a chance under Deila.
One Celtic fan clearly got a wee bit excited when MacGregor scored on Tuesday, he was captured for all as he plummeted down a few steps when the celebrations started..
Fraser Forster has been on twitter, telling us what his new strip reminds him of, and there is a similarity between the big keeper and a television superstar;
” Close enough ” tweeted Forster, who despite stories in the press, still hasn’t been the subject of any bids from any clubs. Which is good.
No one has bid for Virgil van Dijk yet either, so maybe there won’t be the big clear out and rebuild that we feared.
There is a bit of paper talk that Celtic are looking at Moudo Barrow, a Gambian forward at Ostersunds in Sweden. Also interested in him are a host of English mid table sides, so if its about money we can forget him.
But apparently, according the the Daily Mail, we are leading the chase…and they have a quote from Ostersunds president Daniel Kindberg to back up their story, unusual for a newspaper these days.
‘We have rejected a £600,000 bid,’ Kindberg told Sportsmail. ‘We put Modou in the price range of £1.5m but it depends on the structure and sell-on clause. We also want to look after the player.
‘He has just arrived back from Bolton because we have an important game on Friday when we start the autumn part of the season.
‘We had a very encouraging report from (Bolton boss) Dougie Freedman about the player. We also have interest from Celtic, Middlesbrough and Swansea.
‘We have an English manager in Graham Potter and a Scots assistant in Billy Reid, who has been speaking to people at Celtic about the player.
‘Celtic’s youth coach David Moss has been here with his team and Celtic have an exceptional scouting record. They know the Scandinavian market well. We are taking their interest very seriously.
‘Billy is an expert in getting talented players to the top level from his years in Scotland and has done a great job with Modou. We think he will take some big steps in the game.’
Well, is he any good ? Billy Reid, not the one in the song, seems to think so;
‘Modou is sensationally quick and technically good. If anyone was going to be worth big money in the future, it is this guy. He’s got great potential.’
You can just see Peter Lawwells ears twitching…
The draw for the next round if the Champions League takes place to orrow, supposedly to allow clubs more time to organise travel , and such things. With Celtic pretty much through already, we could have a look at who we are likely to get..
Theres an overwhelming amount of Eastern European clubs in the hat, along with Welsh, Irish and one from Denmark. Aalborg, who we once faced in the group stages.
Joe McHugh, on the VideoCelts site, sums it up;
Cliftonville were well deserving of their 0-0 home draw against Hungarian side Debrecen while the hoops of Welsh champions The New Saints will entertain Slovan Bratislava looking to overturn a 1-0 defeat from the first leg.
Celtic’s other possible opponents are HSK Zrijinski (Bosnia) or Maribor (first leg 0-0), Partizan Belgrade or HB Torshavn (Faroes) (first leg 3-0), Dinamo Tiblisi or FK Aktobe (Kazakstan) (first leg 0-1), Malmo or FK Ventspils (Latvia) (first leg 0-0), Valeta (Malta) or Quarabag (Azebaijan) (first leg 0-1) and finally FK Rabotnicki (Macedonia) or HJK Helsink (first leg 0-0).
I think we’ll worry about that next week. The next round is played July 29/30 and August 5/6, which doesn’t allow time to mess about, and even though the Icelandic game has been more or less dealt with, the nerves won’t go away, and the game against Dynamo Dresden on Saturday should be taken a little more seriously than most friendlies.
John Collins was sitting in the dugout looking like the cat that got the cream yesterday, no doubt remembering finer timers, and looking forward to even better ones. Or , as was pointed out, he’s remembering what he looks like in the mirror.
Celtic are off to Germany at the weekend, and heres a German chap. Who is he ?
Andy Thom, who scored a thudering drive against the team formerly known as Rangers
“he gets the ball and scores a goal Andy Andy Thom”….
Here’s hoping that the new manager will nurture some of the young talent we have that are fired up now they see a better chance of breaking intae the first team now LENNONS gone and James Forrest has bought a season ticket for the treatment room, we need to put some of the younger players under a bit more prolonged pressure and give them more experience by giving them a longer run in the team, some have tasted it and enjoyed it so give them a lot more, hope Tony Watt gets another chance, I honestly think he has it all and maybe the new managers different approach to football and his man management will suit Watt.. HAIL HAIL+
Stokes Out!!
Really glad to see McGregor start and score on Tuesday.
If we have to complete with teams with much bigger budgets than we have, there are 2 ways to do it. Have an extensive scouting network to pick up raw talent before the richer clubs get them and nurture your own young players. We’ve been excellent at the former but fairly abysmal at the latter.
We’ve become so good at spotting talent from abroad that we flood the first team squad with signings which in turn reduced the chances of the McGregors, Watts, Fishers etc from breaking into first team.
John Park and his scouting team have done a great job but it needs to become part of a TARGETTED strategy whereby if the manager needs a position filled then the scouts will find someone instead of just going out and grabbing every decent prospect they can find
It is part of our strategy Martin but unfortunately for most of our Youth coming through our Support demands that we win every game possible and starts moaning when we don’t.
It takes months to bed young players in effectively and the modern fan simply does not make allowances for these kids if they are struggling to hit the same levels week in week out.
This is why we have our Development Squad playing in Tournaments like the Next Gen Series and going out on loan so they get that experience of a higher level without the risks involved in letting find their feet in the first team.
Sure there are exceptions but those are limited at Celtic.
Seems modern managers wan,t perfect players,with little personality,and watt did not come into that category,I suspect Jinky and quite a few of the Lions would struggle with today,s
circumstances,but they had the greatest manager ever looking after them,and he knew just how much to give
Totally agree with this post.
Lenny had a terrible habit of picking personality over raw talent.
He’s the most exiting Striking prospect to come out of our Youth team since Charlie Nicholas I think.
Pace,physique,technically sound and knows where the net is instinctively.
Play him through the middle as the main Striker and watch the goals come.
I remember my mate telling me a story that Tommy Burns used to say “I know, I know, just pretend you cannae see him” every time Andy thom hit the deck and was crying out for medical assistance, which was a LOT!
Thom is German for fragile.
If this kid has the potential Billy Reid thinks he has then I think we should go in for him.
Our new signing policy is set up to target this type of player,he’s young,quick,technically sound and not going to cost a fortune.
As for the likes of those mentioned coming through our own system well if these bhoys are good enough Ronny unlike Lenny will give them their chance to shine and develop AT CELTIC.
If they are good enough then they will stay and play if the likes of this kid Barrow are not then they will be moved on and forgotten about very quickly.
Good goal that against rangers (IL) however the most important goal he scored was against Dundee Utd in the Scottish Cup at Celtic Park…Utd 1 nil up with seconds left…I think big Pierre equalised with a header and almost straight from the re start. Thom raced through and fired an unstoppable shot into the net from 18 yards…cue mass joy among the Celtic fans and total dejection at the Utd end…Happy Days !
Didnt Andy Thom score a late, late late equaliser / winner against Dundee Utd in a scottish cup game at Celtic Park too?
Glad to hear Celtic are in the market for a forward, in fact I was wondering if Celtic had forgotten that the transfer window is a time to bring players in as well as out. I hope he is a proper #9 though, not another #10 / #9 and half, wide man who comes inside, plays behind the front man, attacking midfielder a la Stokes, Pukki, Commons, Forrest, Griffiths etc etc. I m not talking £6m or whatever either, the price is no guarantee, just some big scary looking guy who says, “I m a striker, dont bother trying me in the hole or any of that, coz I m just a striker”. If Tony Tony Watt can do it all the better, but this “lenny doidnt give kids a chance”, wasnt it lenny who put him on agisnt Barca?
He can play on either wing going off what little footage there is on him on You Tube.
I don’t think it’s a bad thing having Attackers who can alternate across the front 3 myself it allows them to mix it up during the game thus keeping the defence on their toes.
Lenny did give bhoys a game or two your right but he was also guilty of playing the usual faces week in week out even if they were not producing.
The fiasco with Watt sending him to Belgium and then keeping him there under a clown like Menzo for another 3 months when he knew the guy was slating Watt publicly was beyond a joke I thought?
Get him back and pput him under Brown,Mulgrews or even McGrain wing for 3 months would have been far more productive to the progress of Watt methinks.
Did we not get a similar report about Bangor a from Henrik?
*Bangura
Excellent point Elco. I think he gave them a chance in some situations and not others. End If for the day he was the manager and he knew more than just form and performance but things like where their head was at as well. Which we are not -and should not – be privy to.
Feck me 3 in a row in the comments on etims – what an achievement. I can take my place with with Lenny , Gordon, Jock, etc….
But your comments are tainted because Rangers aren’t there…..;)
Wasn’t Balde the “quick, powerful number 9, with potential ” we already signed ?? just asking !!
feck the bhunz and the bhunnish hoardes fae hades
Binkabhoy…you have too much time on your hands! 🙂
Always got time to talk pish on a Celtic forum… 😉
You should read the Aberdeen and Motherwell Europa cup report on the bbc website…the first couple of paragraphs are priceless….no mention that Motherwell threw away a 2 goal lead…and that Aberdeen failed to win at home and they squandered chance after chance…no sir…we keep that shite for Celtic…..bring it on…
Hail,Hail
Aussie guy at my work follows Notts County ( ‘simply because they’e the oldest club in the world’ )he has been talking about macgregor all last season, and heres me not even knowing he was on loan from Celtic ( macgregor, no ma workmate )
MON THE HOOPS !!!!!!!!