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As part of a sophisticated plan to watch something that didn\u2019t involve a Member of Parliament setting themselves on fire I diverted my attention to something that really matters, namely Celtic\u2019s preseason tour in Slovenia.<\/p>\n
At lunchtime today I treated myself to listening to Brendan Rodgers discuss the benefits of the location (it\u2019s sunny and the hotel does not sell Skol) and the time spent with a new squad especially in terms of being able to implement his footballing vision. Ostensibly the trip is a good idea \u2013 Brendan needs time and space to develop his knowledge of the squad, as it is. The players also need to be immersed in how things are going to be. This is an ideal opportunity to sort out who is up for it and who should be speaking to their agent in the very near future. The business conducted by Celtic since the season ended has been encouraging and this tour should hopefully help to get the players ready for a title defence and getting in to the Champions\u2019 League group stage.<\/p>\n
As you will no doubt be aware this is not the first time that Celtic or any other football team have ventured abroad prior to a new campaign. Apparently Celtic toured Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1904 \u2013 I remember reading about it in the Willie Maley book. There have been some colourful moments reported and rumoured to have happened whilst the fine tuning takes place. There\u2019s the often mentioned tale of Charlie Mulgrew forgetting which time zone he was in, Strachan going mental at him and Alan Thompson stepping in with his wallet. Although the bus was in Poland Mulgrew ended up getting off at Wolverhampton. I never realised how fastidious Gordon Strachan was about the \u2018correct change only\u2019 policy.<\/p>\n
One particular favourite of mine was when we won the Wembley Cup (I don\u2019t know if this event strictly falls under the \u2018tour\u2019 category but I\u2019m going with it). It was the start of the Mowbray era. We were looking forward to a more expansive, attacking and entertaining brand of football. The weather was agreeable and a squad of us had set up shop in the pub for a few days. I was heartened with the crushing of Al-Alhy, being a Zamalek man myself. However, the beating of Spurs ignited a session where dreams of conquering Europe were entertained and the league would be won by the October week. A few months down the line and we lost 4-0 in Paisley despite having 3476346734 strikers on the pitch at the same time. This episode would suggest that preseason success is an omen of doom. Then there are more glorious tours to consider.<\/p>\n
In 1997, prior to the stopping of the ten, Wim Jansen took his squad to the Netherlands. This was in an era where the internet hadn\u2019t made us the nosey bastards that we all are now; the Dutch were generally regarded as being magic at football, we were supposed to be copying them according to think tanks and we had just appointed an \u2018unknown quantity\u2019; who had won the European Cup, played in a World Cup final and was cited by Johann Cruyff as one of four people in the world who understood football. There was a feeling that this tour might not be so great. Wim Jansen showed his knowledge of the Dutch pub scene as Celtic battered FC Beatrix 21-0. The match report gives a detailed analysis of the formations used as well as explaining which players moved around\u2026
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Then there are the American adventures. The glorious forays in the name of brand development, the crusade to capture the imagination of an emerging market, the chance to have a few barneys with Manchester United in another country. But, more importantly it was the golden opportunity for a newspaper to crack the crest. Yes, most of us will remember it but a certain newspaper printed a cracked Celtic badge following a defeat in a friendly in the USA. A. FUCKING. FRIENDLY. THAT. MEANS. FUCK. ALL.<\/p>\n
However, what is the virtue of a preseason tour, well, from speaking with a few people who have been involved in them they seem to be popular. They allow time and space to set the agenda, identify strengths and weaknesses as well as being conducive to a spot of experimentation (behave yourselves). Trips in the past to the USA, Japan, Australia etc. have clearly been used to promote the more commercial side of things \u2013 fine if it works. This trip to Slovenia, unless I\u2019m misinformed is about getting the squad ready for the CL qualifiers \u2013 hence the readiness to accept the invitation to play Leicester, Inter and Barcelona as opposed to playing \u2018guess the time zone\u2019.<\/p>\n
There is an important health warning with these tours; they mean absolutely bugger all and can leave you looking rather silly if you don\u2019t really know the local area\u2026<\/p>\n
Then there are the American adventures. The glorious forays in the name of brand development, the crusade to capture the imagination of an emerging market, the chance to have a few barneys with Manchester United in another country. But, more importantly it was the golden opportunity for a newspaper to crack the crest. Yes, most of us will remember it but a certain newspaper printed a cracked Celtic badge following a defeat in a friendly in the USA. A. FUCKING. FRIENDLY. THAT. MEANS. FUCK. ALL.<\/p>\n
However, what is the virtue of a preseason tour, well, from speaking with a few people who have been involved in them they seem to be popular. They allow time and space to set the agenda, identify strengths and weaknesses as well as being conducive to a spot of experimentation (behave yourselves). Trips in the past to the USA, Japan, Australia etc. have clearly been used to promote the more commercial side of things \u2013 fine if it works. This trip to Slovenia, unless I\u2019m misinformed is about getting the squad ready for the CL qualifiers \u2013 hence the readiness to accept the invitation to play Leicester, Inter and Barcelona as opposed to playing \u2018guess the time zone\u2019.<\/p>\n