![\"tardis\"](\"https:\/\/etims.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/tardis.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWhat 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.<\/p>\n
On a completely unrelated note, Stoke City will be paying for all their supporters travel \u00a0to all their away games this season.<\/p>\n
Now, its suddenly occurred to me that perhaps Celtics marketing arm \u00a0has 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.<\/p>\n
Theres still time…<\/p>\n
What do we know about Legia ? Well, there are a few things we have in common with them.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
So it is a club with a tradition of developing players and moving them on.<\/p>\n
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 \u00a0a young player of the month award for January, and even scored in a 3-1 win for Motherwell over Celtic in April.<\/p>\n
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;<\/p>\n
- \n
- 01 Forster<\/span><\/li>\n
- 03 Izaguirre<\/span><\/li>\n
- 21 Mulgrew\u00a0<\/span>Booked<\/span><\/li>\n
- 23 Lustig<\/span><\/li>\n
- 25 Rogne\u00a0<\/span>(McCourt – 67′ )<\/li>\n
- 18 Rogic\u00a0<\/span>(McGeouch – 73′ )<\/li>\n
- 33 Kayal<\/span><\/li>\n
- 67 Wanyama\u00a0<\/span>Booked<\/span><\/li>\n
- 09 Samaras\u00a0<\/span>(Stokes – 78′ )<\/li>\n
- 32 Watt<\/span><\/li>\n
- 88 Hooper<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Substitutes<\/h4>\n
- \n
- 24 Zaluska<\/span><\/li>\n
- 05 Gershon<\/span><\/li>\n
- 20 McCourt<\/span><\/li>\n
- 46 McGeouch<\/span><\/li>\n
- 10 Stokes<\/span><\/li>\n
- 28 Keatings<\/span><\/li>\n
- 37 Atajic\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Still, we shouldn’t take them lightly, at least according to Michal Zyro, their midfielder;<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the first leg, we didn\u2019t play as we can. We showed in Ireland how well we can play. The 1-1 draw in Warsaw was an accident \u2013 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?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
\u00a0Legia have only won one of their previous eleven home games in Europe, and in the same period just four away matches.<\/p>\n
So, with five out of twenty two, maybe they do have a Murray Park type conveyer belt after all…<\/p>\n
Well, their manager is the graceful ex Former Rangers man Henning Berg;<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/i4.dailyrecord.co.uk\/incoming\/article2805207.ece\/alternates\/s615b\/CD8594827.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThat picture, incidentally, was the only ever Spot The Ball poser where no-one got anywhere near the ball with their little cross.<\/p>\n
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;<\/p>\n
THERE’S a running joke in Poland which seems to rear its head at this time of year.<\/em><\/p>\n
A young Polish boy asks his father: \u201cDad, what is the Champions League?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
His father replies: \u201cI\u2019m not sure, son. You should ask your uncle in Lodz.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n
\u00a0Look, 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;<\/p>\n
Berg\u2019s experience as a manager may have been slightly lacking but it was his record on the pitch which attracted the club\u2019s president.<\/em><\/p>\n
Having played in the Champions League for Blackburn, Manchester United and Rangers \u2013 and able to call upon advice from his former boss Sir Alex Ferguson \u2013 the 44-year-old was seen as the ideal man to lead Legia back amongst Europe\u2019s elite.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Perhaps they chose him for his \u00a0managerial experience, for example , his time at Blackburn;<\/p>\n
While working as a pundit for Norwegian TV, Berg had made a withering assessment of Blackburn’s owners,\u00a0Venky’s<\/a>. He said: “There are no real managers with credibility who would accept a job like that.”[12]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0On 31 October 2012, Blackburn Rovers announced that Berg had accepted an offer for a three-year contract to manage the club.[2]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0He 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]<\/a><\/sup><\/em><\/p>\n
Berg’s first match in charge of Blackburn came on 3 November 2012, a 2\u20130 defeat away to\u00a0Crystal Palace<\/a>.[13]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0His first and only win was on 17 November 2012, a 4\u20131 victory away to\u00a0Peterborough<\/a>.[14]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0That 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]<\/a><\/sup><\/em><\/p>\n
On 14 February 2013, the LMA lodged legal proceedings to the high court against\u00a0Blackburn Rovers<\/a>\u00a0for non-payment of wages to Henning Berg.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n
\u00a0The 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.<\/p>\n
\u00a0And, 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.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Derk 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.<\/p>\n
Coach Stevie Frail explained the thinking behind the game;<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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,\u201d he said.<\/em><\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a good run-out in blistering conditions, with some of them playing 45 minutes and some 60 minutes. It\u2019s always better having an organised game rather than just a bounce game amongst themselves, so I think they got a lot out of it.<\/em><\/p>\n
\u201cAnd 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. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n
\u201cAmong 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.<\/em><\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always nice to score goals and there were plenty of chances of created,\u201d he added. \u201cIt was really hot and the work-rate was good.<\/em><\/p>\n
\u201cYou had guys like Henderson in the middle of the park, while young Dylan\u2019s energy was terrific, and it was also \u00a0good 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.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/em>New coach Ronny Deila is certainly making the players work for their wages…which is no bad thing at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can see it from the level they are training at that, they are getting used to it,\u201d he added.<\/em><\/p>\n
\u201cPlaying 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\u2019Connell, Henderson, Findlay and Waters. It\u2019s great for us that the manager trusts them and is putting them into these sessions.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n
CELTIC (4-3-3) Fasan; Trialist, O\u2019Connell (Fraser 62), Findlay, F. Twardzik (Waters 35); McGeouch, Bitton (Irvine 60) Henderson; Atajic (McMullan 60), Watt (Fridjonsson 46), Boerrigter (Fisher 46)<\/em>
\nNot used: Hart\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0Elsewhere, congratulations to Aberdeen and St. Johnstone who got through their respective ties in Europe last night, and commiserations to Motherwell, who were beaten by \u00a0Keith 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.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Stewart Regan, delighted to see two Scottish clubs join Celtic in the third rounds, said;<\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/profile_images\/378800000654794962\/d46302e361947de6007a9e4f8009c77c_normal.jpeg\")
Stewart Regan<\/b>\u00a0@<\/span>StewartMRegan<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0\u00b7\u00a0<\/span>11h<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nSo chuffed for the Yorkshire brothers! Gold and silver medals for
@<\/s>AliBrownleetri<\/b><\/a> and@<\/s>jonny_brownlee<\/b><\/a> in the triathlon. Nice one lads!<\/p>\n\u00a0Before waking up this morning to remember what he actually does for a living;<\/p>\n
- 05 Gershon<\/span><\/li>\n
- 03 Izaguirre<\/span><\/li>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/profile_images\/378800000654794962\/d46302e361947de6007a9e4f8009c77c_bigger.jpeg\")
Stewart Regan<\/strong>\u200f![\"simon](\"https:\/\/etims.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/simon-lynch-2.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n