Celtic Diary Tuesday August 26: Second Chance. No Excuses.

Step right up for Ronnie’s Rollercoaster. The ride starts at 7.45 tonight, with around 60,000 booked up for the experience, and maybe millions more watching on the telly. It’ s on ITV 4, which means it’s free to view. Unfortunately, you pay peanuts and get monkeys. Someone called Sam Matterface is doing the commentary, and the eloquent Andy Townsend will summarise, which means that anyone with a chance to get to the game should go.

For the rest of us we will just have to shout and sing as though we were at the game, and then we won’t hear the thoughts of the two “experts ” .

There should be plenty to shout about. Celtic can put the Legia disaster firmly behind them ( what disaster ? we won 3-0 ) with a convincing win over the Slovenian champions and open the door to the group stages of the Champions League.

As usual , the media will trumpet about the money available, but for most of us-well, me, anyway, it’s more about the biggest club in Europe playing with the other big clubs. It’s that simple.

Money, of course , is important, but’s it’s not like we spend it anyway, so I’m in it for the glory. Who’s with me ?

Manager Ronny Deila faces a number of difficult choices with his selection. does he bring back Kris Commons , and thus point out to Maribor that every time Stefan Johansen wins the ball, which will be often, he’ll pass it to Commons ?  Does he stick with the off form and possibly tired Emilio Izaguerre, or shift the more defensively minded Charlie Mulgrew to left back. Ambrose and van Dijk back in the middle, with Lustig at right back ?

I’d be tempted to do that. Then in the middle we could use Bitton, Johansen, Kayal-who always plays better when he wants a new contract, and Anthony Stokes and Leigh Griffiths up front. But that means no room for Calum MacGregor, which would be stupid, as he is our top scorer in Europe. So Griffiths will no doubt stand down.

That leaves either Commons or Berget for the “creative ” slot.

Many will argue that Commons has not done it at this level, even though it was his goal against Karagandy that lifted the spirits before half time last year.  One thing I noticed with Maribor last week was that they really don’t like players running at them with the ball. Thats something Commons can do if he plays a little deeper than usual, and it will, of course, pull his markers forward, or just simply confuse them. Which in itself should be easier to do in front of 60,000 baying home supporters.

So for me, it would be Gordon; Lustig , van Dijk, Ambrose, Mulgrew, Johansen, Bitton, Kayal; Commons , MacGregor ; Stokes. ( 4-3-2-1 )

The reasoning behind keeping it a wee bit tight is simple. Maribor will play exactly the same way as they did against us last week, barring a ten minute surge at the beginning. As we see from the words of their man man, Brazilian Marco Tavares;

“I believe that we have a great opportunity. Celtic will have to play offensively but that will leave us some space to attack and get a positive result. It would be a big thing to qualify for the group stages; every player wishes to play in the Champions League and now is the time for Maribor to play there for the second time.” 

Except, of course, we don’t. We are already ahead in the tie. We don’t need to take any chances or be reckless.

As usual, the visiting manager, Ante Simudza ( is his wife called Unkl Simundza  ? I’ll get my coat. ) has played down the importance of the crowd, which means he will have told his charges to come out and try to get an early goal, to silence the crowd.

“The atmosphere will be very hot but I don’t think that will be a problem,” he said.  

” It is a football atmosphere and we like that. The 60,000 fans give energy to the team and of course make it very difficult but we know how to react to that. We have to be very focused in the first 15 minutes under pressure but that will not take our powers, it might give us additional energy.”

“I don’t know if it will affect them because Celtic is a very big team with a nice history and they are used to playing in such games but the pressure is certainly on them, I don’t gamble but we have an equal chance of going through to the group stage and I think tomorrow will be a very tough match. I had watched DVDs and my assistant had given me information which meant Celtic did not surprise me in any way, what I expected from them I saw in Maribor. It would be a big achievement if we qualified. We played well in Maribor but we have to play a little bit better in Glasgow. But we know it will be very tough because we know Celtic are a very good team. We have to be tactically 100 per cent in defence and offence and in the 90 minutes we will see where we come.”

This idea, straight from the basic book of football management works most of the time.  But not at Celtic. The crowd actually gets louder if the other side scores early on. Thing is, if they get two or three, everyone just goes home. so it’s important to stay to the end tonight, and maybe even get in a little earlier than usual. any form of intimidation will help.

Confident ?

Absolutely. Maribor are a decent team, but Celtic are a good one. And you cannot discount the atmosphere at Celtic Park.

Theres been a little bit of a revelation from former striker Henrik Larsson, which was not meant to undermine Ronny Deila, not from him, anyway, but the timing of the article, in the Scotsman, is at least  little bit suspect , if not downright disrespectful.

In the article, Larsson admits to turning down the Celtic job in the summer, which we knew anyway, and claims there are no plans to bring him to Celtic Park in November if Ronny makes an arse of it, which we know is probably true from his point of view, but theres no doubt Lawwell has yet to delete his number.

” Yes I declined the Celtic job this summer. This was something I had to think about. In the end, I chose to remain at Falkenberg.”

Larsson also denied that he has an agreement in place that will see him become Hoops boss in the future, adding: “I have no agreement with Celtic on anything.” 

 Not exactly hot news, but it s not entirely unexpected. The press have not been behind Celtics run to the group stages, and thats shameful, considering they should be standing shoulder to shoulder beside the champions of Scotland.

 But its nothing new.

 Six days remain of the transfer window, and should Celtic overcome Maribor tonight, Wakaso Mubaraks paperwork problems will be miraculously sorted, as will the arrival of Stefan Sepacovic, the Sporting Gijon forward. His 23 goals in 41 games last year is not to be sniffed at, and we can only hope he has the hunger we need to convert the chances that come his way.

 A couple of players will be leaving, Balde and Pukki could go out on loan, and then theres always the worry that Neil Lennon will land the Crystal Palace job and take Adam Matthews and Kris commons with him.

 But thats for another day. At the moment,  it’s all about getting a result tonight.

Bertie Auld, in the front row of Sundays picture, spent some time at Birmingham before returning to earn legendary status at Celtic. Here’s another legend, a picture faithfully restored by Barry McGonigle, who must be thinking about doing a book by now, who is it, and what heart stopping moment, executed cooly, did he produce in the European Cup Final of 1967 ?( The one we won. )