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Celtic Diary Friday July 25: Legia. Not Really That Good.

Celtic confirmed the times and dates of the third round  Champions League games with Legia Warsaw yesterday. Wednesday the thirtieth for the away match, with the return at Murrayfield the following Wednesday. With the delays in getting through to Edinburgh last Tuesday still fresh in the mind, fans are advised to start travelling to the home leg before they travel to the away one.

The club will be helping with an official vehicle;

tardis

What they won’t be doing is laying on a charter flight for anyone wishing to go to Warsaw. As usual, the unofficial traveller was faced with rapidly rising air fares as demand grew throughout the day, and many were disappointed to see the club announce that because of costs and a low demand, there would be no supporters plane.

On a completely unrelated note, Stoke City will be paying for all their supporters travel  to all their away games this season.

Now, its suddenly occurred to me that perhaps Celtics marketing arm  has missed a trick here. ( I know I keep harping on about the PR at the club, but it scores at the wrong end of the ground too many times ) Surely chucking a few quid towards subsidising such a flight wouldn’t mean we have to sell another defender ? Its not always about money, and having a few extra fans at what promises to be a difficult game would surely benefit everyone.

Theres still time…

What do we know about Legia ? Well, there are a few things we have in common with them.

They , too, have 1916 marked down as a special number, being formed in the March of that year. In the 1970 European Cup they were in the semi finals, along with Celtic, Leeds and Feyenoord. At the time, they fetured a couple of the games most famous names, such as Kazimierz Deyna and the goalkeeper dubbed a clown by the legendary Brian Clough, Jan Tomaszwieski. Clough famously dismissed the keeper before the Pole put on a memorable performance to keep England away from the World cup in 1974.

Another goalkeeper we may be familiar with is our own Holy Goalie, Artur Boruc, who stills refers to the club as his first love. In fact, quite a few Legia players have been at Celtic over the years, such as eighties nightclub legend Dariusz Dzeikanowski, his then team mate Darius Wdodczyk, and the enigmatic Maciej Zurawski, who used to terrorise Dunfermline, but not really anyone else.

In fact, a glance at a list of former players throws up a more than respectable list, not Murray Park conveyer Belt class, but certainly not to be sniffed at.

So it is a club with a tradition of developing players and moving them on.

What about the current side ? Any good ? The only familiar face is Henrik Ojamaa, who spent a season with Motherwell, back in 2012-13, and finished up as the player with the most assists in the SPL. He also bagged  a young player of the month award for January, and even scored in a 3-1 win for Motherwell over Celtic in April.

That was the game when Gary Hooper opened the scoring, and then Motherwell scored three times in about thirty seconds. Well, thats how it felt. Something else to think about is how many of the Celtic squad that day ( just fourteen months ago )will be involved in Warsaw;

  • 01 Forster
  • 03 Izaguirre
  • 21 Mulgrew Booked
  • 23 Lustig
  • 25 Rogne (McCourt – 67′ )
  • 18 Rogic (McGeouch – 73′ )
  • 33 Kayal
  • 67 Wanyama Booked
  • 09 Samaras (Stokes – 78′ )
  • 32 Watt
  • 88 Hooper

Substitutes

  • 24 Zaluska
  • 05 Gershon
  • 20 McCourt
  • 46 McGeouch
  • 10 Stokes
  • 28 Keatings
  • 37 Atajic 

 

Last season Legia were in the group stages of the Europa League, where they faced Lazio, Trabzonspor and Apollon Limassoll. They won one game, 2-0 at Limassol, and lost the other five. The two goals in that match were the only two they managed in the six games.

Still, we shouldn’t take them lightly, at least according to Michal Zyro, their midfielder;

Celtic should not underestimate us. You saw the real Legia out there in Dublin. They gave us lots of space and we were able to take advantage of it.

“In the first leg, we didn’t play as we can. We showed in Ireland how well we can play. The 1-1 draw in Warsaw was an accident – it was just a bad day at the office for us. When we play Celtic, they can expect the Legia of the second leg to show up and not the second leg. We are confident we can beat Celtic and go though. Why not?”

 Legia have only won one of their previous eleven home games in Europe, and in the same period just four away matches.

So, with five out of twenty two, maybe they do have a Murray Park type conveyer belt after all…

Well, their manager is the graceful ex Former Rangers man Henning Berg;

That picture, incidentally, was the only ever Spot The Ball poser where no-one got anywhere near the ball with their little cross.

Berg , according to the Daily Record, is already under pressure in Warsaw to get his team into the champions League, and , apparently there is a joke doing the rounds in that country to illustrate the point;

THERE’S a running joke in Poland which seems to rear its head at this time of year.

A young Polish boy asks his father: “Dad, what is the Champions League?”

His father replies: “I’m not sure, son. You should ask your uncle in Lodz.” 

 Look, if you have to explain it, its not funny. Certainly not as funny as this , from further down in the article, written by Ryan Hubbard;

Berg’s experience as a manager may have been slightly lacking but it was his record on the pitch which attracted the club’s president.

Having played in the Champions League for Blackburn, Manchester United and Rangers – and able to call upon advice from his former boss Sir Alex Ferguson – the 44-year-old was seen as the ideal man to lead Legia back amongst Europe’s elite. 

Fair enough, he was part of the famous treble winning squad at Manchester Utd, though not really a regular, and that should be respected, but his time at Blackburn saw the English side finish bottom of a group that Legia qualified from, and he was at Rangers when they finished bottom of their group in 2003-4.

Perhaps they chose him for his  managerial experience, for example , his time at Blackburn;

While working as a pundit for Norwegian TV, Berg had made a withering assessment of Blackburn’s owners, Venky’s. He said: “There are no real managers with credibility who would accept a job like that.”[12] On 31 October 2012, Blackburn Rovers announced that Berg had accepted an offer for a three-year contract to manage the club.[2] He became Blackburn’s first foreign manager. Berg said of his previous comments about the club’s owners, Venky’s: “That was me looking at it from the outside without knowing really what was going on in the inside. I think this club at the moment is going in the right direction.”[12]

Berg’s first match in charge of Blackburn came on 3 November 2012, a 2–0 defeat away to Crystal Palace.[13] His first and only win was on 17 November 2012, a 4–1 victory away to Peterborough.[14] That was to prove to be his only win as Blackburn manager, as Berg was sacked on 27 December, after just 57 days in the post.[15]

On 14 February 2013, the LMA lodged legal proceedings to the high court against Blackburn Rovers for non-payment of wages to Henning Berg. 

 The Diary must conclude, after careful consideration of the evidence placed before it, that Legia Warsaw are considerably shiter than most teams we could have faced at this stage.

 And, in fact, it was St. Pats who had the off night, possibly because they already knew who their next opponents might be, and it affected their concentration.

 Derk Boerrigter finally scored against Morton yesterday, something no-one could manage last season, and his opener was added to by Liam Henderson and Paul McMullen to give Celts a fine 3-0 win, but sadly too late to allow progression in last seasons League Cup.

Coach Stevie Frail explained the thinking behind the game;

“The manager wanted to use it for guys to get some game-time, and even some of the lads who were on the bench against Reykjavik played, so the likes of Bitton, Boerrigter, McGeouch and Watt all started,” he said.

“It was a good run-out in blistering conditions, with some of them playing 45 minutes and some 60 minutes. It’s always better having an organised game rather than just a bounce game amongst themselves, so I think they got a lot out of it.

“And it was good for the manager that the game was there and he could use it for that. The younger ones played, but the starting team were the ones who have been involved with the team since pre-season.  

“Among the younger ones, Paul McMullan and Calum Waters both came on, while guys like Stuart Findlay, who has been away with the first-team, started. It was still a reasonably young side, although there was a wee bit of experience in terms of those who have been training with the first-team.

“It’s always nice to score goals and there were plenty of chances of created,” he added. “It was really hot and the work-rate was good.

“You had guys like Henderson in the middle of the park, while young Dylan’s energy was terrific, and it was also  good that young Darnell Fisher got 45 minutes. So it was excellent from that point of view, and hopefully it was pleasing for the manager to see these guys in this environment and playing at this level.”

 New coach Ronny Deila is certainly making the players work for their wages…which is no bad thing at all.

“You can see it from the level they are training at that, they are getting used to it,” he added.

“Playing is excellent but they are training like this every day, and you can see the levels getting higher in everything they are doing from guys like O’Connell, Henderson, Findlay and Waters. It’s great for us that the manager trusts them and is putting them into these sessions.”

CELTIC (4-3-3) Fasan; Trialist, O’Connell (Fraser 62), Findlay, F. Twardzik (Waters 35); McGeouch, Bitton (Irvine 60) Henderson; Atajic (McMullan 60), Watt (Fridjonsson 46), Boerrigter (Fisher 46)
Not used: Hart 

 Elsewhere, congratulations to Aberdeen and St. Johnstone who got through their respective ties in Europe last night, and commiserations to Motherwell, who were beaten by  Keith Lasley , who conceded three penalties in their two games against Icelandic opponents, having forgotten that European referees tend to stick to the general rule that only the ball should be kicked.

 Stewart Regan, delighted to see two Scottish clubs join Celtic in the third rounds, said;

So chuffed for the Yorkshire brothers! Gold and silver medals for and in the triathlon. Nice one lads!

 Before waking up this morning to remember what he actually does for a living;

Magnificent European wins for Aberdeen and St Johnstone last night but nothing beats watching CG with your daughter on her first night in UK

No, obviously far too much trouble to check twitter as well as type on it.

 Henrik Larsson has a statue to his name in Helsingborg, and of course that was the one featured in yesterdays diary

 Incidentally, his son, Jordan,  has just followed in his footsteps by moving from Hogaborg to Helsinborg, but has admitted he would rather skip the Feyenoord bit as he retraces his fathers steps back to Glasgow.

 This guy followed in his fathers footsteps at Celtic. Who is he ?

simon lynch 2

 

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owen
9 years ago

Methinks Simon Lynch

Divitbhoy
9 years ago

Simon Lynch, his old man scored the winner at my very first cup final, god memories.

9 years ago

Big Dariuz Danesh has let himself go

pensionerbhoy
9 years ago

Ralph

I just want to prove I do get up in the morning sometimes.

I am totally supercalifragilisticexpialidocious about the way Ronny Bhoy is building up the team. Like you said, it is time the belladonnas worked for their fame. Of course, Izze and Big Effe think they are back on holiday – could see them moving on to night-shifts. And he is sticking to developing those young guns. At this rate, Lennoxtown will be redundant. Or was it already up till now?

I look forward to your weekly rant tomorrow about changes to kick off times. I admit to being right on your side with this. It is reaching Sevco levels in its ridiculousness and total disregard for fans. And you talk of travel subsidies from the club. I now know you are not only definitely depressed but probably on the brink of madness. Maybe you could have a word with our PR gurus when you are in loony land – naw, just eliminate them. You can plead insanity.

The young busker in the photo is singer Simon Lynch who made Just Can’t Get Enough into a hit – well after the fans already had done. I am told he used to play for Celtic like his dad, Andy, but I have to confess I can not remember him even in photos. I remember his paw well, though. I can remember him being sent off against Ayr Utd. when he booted wee Johnny Doyle up in the air after he took him to the cleaners for half an hour. Shortly after, Johnny was in his beloved hoops RIP. I also remember Andy used to put the clampers on wee McLean when he played against him. McLean could torment us at times but Andy must have had a few words or other expressions in his ear prior to kick off because he seemed to never kick a ball against him.

See Ralph. If you were my age, you would never get depressed just senile.

H H

the lurgan tiger
9 years ago

It is indeed Simon “geez the ball Shaun or ahm tellin Martin” Lynch

charlie
9 years ago

i see her wee maj lizzie has been digging out her wee green numbers and touring the celtic trophy roomt he zombies will be turning in their gr….s eh whatever zombies turn in ha ha

Peef
9 years ago

I remember his old man scoring two own goals in a midweek game at Motherwell. Both were perfectly weighted lobs over the outrushing goalie. Got the Well a point from a game where they were dead and buried.

Joe Hacket
9 years ago

Jackie McNamara

stubhoy
9 years ago

The one thing I picked up on that Berg said was – Celtic should not underestimate us. You saw the real Legia out there in Dublin. They gave us lots of space and we were able to take advantage of it. This to me is the answer to stopping Legia by giving them no space they cannot play as their brain needs time to pick a pass and if we play like we did in the second leg against rejkavivic or whatever lol we should win both ties comfortably HH

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