Glasgow Celtic

[grandslam]

Group draw for Europa league tomorrow lunch time GMT. Better than nowt i suppose. Ah see the huns got their usual easy draw in the champions league. Stuttgart who theyve played a plenty , Seville, and some two bob mob from romania i cant even be bothered to pronounce. Hail hail

[salty]

Group Draw.

Hamburg, Celtic, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Rapid Vienna.

It doesn't look too difficult. The final of the competition is in Hamburg so perhaps some useful advance information of the stadium.

[salty]

The Fixture List;

Celtic's Europe League fixtures in full

Celtic start with a tough trip to Tel-Aviv before facing Rapid Vienna at Parkhead .

.28 August 2009 15:35 PM

Comment....119286

UEFA have announced the full fixture list for the Europa League Group Stage handing Celtic a tricky opener in Israel.

Tony Mowbray's men will face Hapoel Tel-Aviv at the Bloomfield stadium on September 17. Rangers lost 2-1 at the stadium in 2007 but defeated the Israelis 5-2 on aggregate after winning 4-0 at Ibrox. Celtic will be hoping to go one better than their Old Firm rivals by taking three points in the group opener.

Matchday 2 brings Rapid Vienna to Celtic Park on October 1. The Austrian side are in the Group Stage at the expense of Martin O'Neilll's Aston Villa, who they beat on away goals in the playoff.

The third group game is also a home tie for Celtic on October 22. They face an attacking Hamburg side in what could be one of the games of the round. Celtic travel to the German port for the return match on November 5.

Hapoel visit Glasgow on December 2 before the final set of fixtures when Celtic travel to Austria to take on Rapid Vienna on the ground where Aston Villa lost earlier this month.

Group C fixtures in full:

September 17 2009

Hapoel Tel-Aviv v CELTIC

Rapid Vienna v Hamburg

October 1 2009

Hamburg v Hapoel Tel-Aviv

CELTIC v Rapid Vienna

October 22 2009

CELTIC v Hamburg

Hapoel Tel-Aviv v Rapid Vienna

November 5 2009

Hamburg v CELTIC

Rapid Vienna v Hapoel Tel-Aviv

December 2 2009

CELTIC v Hapoel Tel-Aviv

Hamburg v Rapid Vienna

December 17 2009

Hapoel Tel-Aviv v Hamburg

Rapid Vienna v CELTIC

The top two teams in each group progress to the knockout stages.

Last updated: 28 August 2009, 15:59

Not much danger of heat exhaustion in Vienna in mid December.

[imola]

wouldnt worry about all that lot salty, if i were you id be far more concerned about

hibees away tomorrow , top of the table cruncher it is an all, anyway its on the box ,

truesport3 at 6.30. HI-BEES

[CelticBhoy]

Thanks for the info Salty old son.

Playing in Israel, Germany, and Austria.

I shall resist the 'obvious-link' route.

Hibs in a few hours. Looking forward to it.

Bet wee ginger baws is in the crowd. He's

always been a Hibs fan.

(Will we be wearing our bee costume

against the Hibees?

[grandslam]

wouldnt worry about all that lot salty, if i were you id be far more concerned about

hibees away tomorrow , top of the table cruncher it is an all, anyway its on the box ,

truesport3 at 6.30. HI-BEES

Si lly boy

[salty]

Hibs 0 Celtic 1

Another 3 points today thanks to a Samaras goal a few minutes before half time. Is it me or did any of you find yourselves a nervous wreck in the last few minutes. Some of the defending was dreadful and it was thanks to Boruc especially one sensational save that we escaped with 3 points. Incredibly man of the match was given to Samaras. Apart from the goal he drove me mad. As ever his first touch can be terrible and he missed a great chance to ease the nerves with a few minutes to go.

The sending off of McGeady has and will probably create a lot of discussion. After looking at several replays the pundits now agree it was justified as there appears to have been no contact. A fine player but has a tendency to whinge if he doesn't get a free kick. It looks as if he fell down in this case.

Overall Celtic far less assured than in previous 2 SPL matches. The defence coninues to worry me and they look far from comfortable when under pressure. But 3 points today unlike last season when 2 visits to Easter Road produced 1 point.

[Moonrakers]

We have 2 of your youngsters on loan until January: Simon Ferry and Ben Hutchinson.

Both started Saturday. Hutchinson had a quiet game, not bad but not great either but then he can't be match fit. Ferry however looked very good and was man of the mach. Anymore you can tell me about these boys?

Also, the scorer of our first goal was Scott Cuthbert whom we bought from you permanently pre-season. He's done well also.

[CelticBhoy]

Our D-team lost to Benfica in Canada.

Let's hope our E-team do better in Cork . .

[CelticBhoy]

Nice to see that we thrashed Cork

by a mighty 1 goal to nil with, ironically,

McCourt scoring our one measly goal.

(That's Paddy, not Frank just so's you know).

[salty]

Even nicer to see Barry Robson played for the full game. How we missed him for the last few months of last season.

[salty]

Celtic 1 Dundee Utd 1.

DU continue to be a thorn in our flesh. Saturday afternoon game so not on TV. Did any of you guys see it live over there? As usual they do not seem to have come to Parkhead to defend. Saw the Rangers game live and was hoping we could take advantage but not to be.

While typing Jermain Defoe has put Spurs 1-0 up in 50 seconds against Man Utd with a stunning overhead.

[CelticBhoy]

Game wasn't on live here either.

Have to wait until midweek before

its being shown - according to the

TrueVisions website! Go figure.

Read the review on the 'Tic site and

Niall McGinn sounds well impressive.

Look forward to seeing his performance.

Pulled off a fine debut it would appear.

Wish we'd taken advantage of the Scum's

earlier 0-0 with the 'Well though.

[salty]

Hapoel Tel Aviv 2 Celtic 1

An appalling 2nd half display by Celtic. Without playing well we led at HT through Samaras. A well taken goal very well placed inside the post from a tight angle after controlling a well timed pass from Caldwell on his chest. Samaras also had a header from a corner pushed onto the bar by the keeper. Even from an early stage it was worrying the way Hapeol were creating shooting chances against a fragile Celtic defence.

At half time it was obvious that a forceful display was needed but instead in the best traditions of Celtic away games they fell back and invited trouble. Teamwork,application all disappeared and they were hanging on from an early stage. It was infuriating to watch. Hapeol looked like they had 2 extra players on the pitch. Any time Celtic had possession they gave it back promptly. Teamwork seemed to be completely foreign to them and inevitably we paid the price. A goal for Hapeol had been coming long before the equaliser and just to make qualification more difficult conceded again near the end. Almost a carbon copy of the away game against Aalborg last season.

Having watched a spirited display by Rangers last night in Germany it is profoundly depressing to compare it to Celtic's dreadful display tonight.

[CelticBhoy]

Sad start to the campaign.

Just read the report on 'Tic website

and looks like Boruc was on form

again . . . . . . . thank <deleted>. We would

have gone done badly if not.

[CelticBhoy]

This is at the end of the report from the Hoppy T. AV game:

Celtic striker Samaras had to limp off midway through the second half after crashing into the away dug-out at full speed and the manager admitted he was lucky to avoid serious injury.

He said: “Georgios shattered his shin-pad on a kerb next to the dug-out. He’s got a badly bruised shin just now.”

How do you run into the dug-out? What a balloon.

I guess his hair got in his eyes!

[CelticBhoy]

Just watched Killy hold the Scum to a 0-0

draw at Rugby Park. 2 red cards and about

400 yellow ones. Rotten football. Pure drivel.

Let's hope we can take advantage tomorrow

against Hearts. (Which is not on here as it's a

home game - apart from Old Firm matches we

can only see Celtic, or Rangers, when they play

away - go figure!)

[Jockstar]

Just watched Killy hold the Scum to a 0-0

draw at Rugby Park. 2 red cards and about

400 yellow ones. Rotten football. Pure drivel.

Let's hope we can take advantage tomorrow

against Hearts. (Which is not on here as it's a

home game - apart from Old Firm matches we

can only see Celtic, or Rangers, when they play

away - go figure!)

Have a look at HERE!

[salty]

We failed to beat Hearts last season at Parkhead drawing both league games. As far as I am aware the game is not live on any channel here. It was originally a Saturday fixture but with Celtic playing now on Thursdays in Europa League it was switched till Sunday as will other fixtures.

I have to confess anyway my main attention today will be on All Ireland Gaelic Football Final.

[CelticBhoy]

I'm going to try that link you sent, JS.

I like the look of the site, I just hope

I can get it to work!

Don't you be worrying Salty old son.

We'll be fine tonight. I feel it in my

bones. (Enjoy your Gaelic Footie Final).

[salty]

2-1 win so you bones were correct Celtic Bhoy, but as Wellington said after Waterloo it was a dam_n close run thing. Just seen the goals on Sky. Boruc looked poor on the Hearts goal I thought. It seems to me that we continue to be fragile in defence and going a goal behind causes major problems.

Next up in the SPL is St Mirren away lunchtime ko on Saturday. It will be live on ESPN so good time for you guys out there.

[CelticBhoy]

I will sneak out of work today at

lunchtime as the game is being

shown at 1:30pm on TS3.

I tried to watch it on some website

live, but I felt like John Logie Baird's

apprentice must have. All stopping

and starting. Hard to follow.

Nice wee result though . . .

[salty]

Saw 5/6 minutes of highlights last night on Sky. Defending was dreadful for Hearts goal and Boruc should have saved it. Another mix up between Caldwell and Boruc almost led to a 2nd Hearts goal.

On the other hand we hit the bar twice and the post once so I suppose we deserved our late winner. Maloney very lively in keeping the ball in play and crossing for Killen to equalize. Killen missed a sitter after that. Mindless challenge by Hinkel in the box could have conceded a penalty but we also might have got one.

So we are 2 points ahead but the defending is a major worry.

[CelticBhoy]

Gary Caldwell has warned Celtic he is ready to walk away from the club next summer if they fail to meet his demands over a new contract.

Caldwell's current deal expires at the end of the season and he could sign a pre-contract agreement with another side as early as January.

The 27-year-old insists he wants to stay at Celtic and has expressed his frustration after talks with them broke down.

"My agent went in and asked for figures which weren't anything near the highest paid player at the club,'' Caldwell said. "They were on a par with the players who are playing week in, week out, which I have done now over the last four years. I've proved I'm an asset to the football club and we asked for figures which fell in line with that.

Good news and bad news from this 'Soccernet' story:

Good - the useless pr*ck is on the way out.

Bad - we have to wait until the end of the season.

He is utterly useless. And he's given the captain's armband. I'm speechless.

[salty]

Caldwell had a decent season last year (Player of the year) but he is playing <deleted> again this season. The entire defence is very shaky which will probably have us all nervous wrecks in both Rapid Vienna and Rangers games next week. Caldwell is doing himself no favours with his megaphone negoiations.

To add to our troubles McGeady brought on last night with 20 minutes to go when we were 3-0 ahead. He went off with a bad injury with a few minutes to go. The vibes from Tony Mowbray is that he will be out for some time.

[CelticBhoy]

But the good news, Salty, is that

McCourt played a blinder. Let's

keep looking on the up side!

'Bout time he made his way into

the first team. And a good 4-0 win

to boot. Well done the 'Tic.

[salty]

St Mirren 0 Celtic 2.

Presume you watched it CB. Celtic poor as admitted by Mobray. Your hero McCourt slalomed through for 1st though if it was the Celtic defence we would not have been impressed. Caldwell dropped .

3 points and the good news from Ibrox where Rangers dropped 2 more points. 3 League games without a goal. Long may it continue. A 4 point lead going to Ibrox next Saturday but we need to play far better than today.

[CelticBhoy]

I did watch it Salty. And to be honest

I was well impressed with every man

on the park, until Samaras came on.

He doesn't do it for me.

Wee Paddy McCourt is a class act. A

style all of his own. McGeady's injury

is the only reason he got a start, and

bhoy did he take advantage of it.

Fox is slow to warm up, but he's tireless.

N Guemo (sp?) may not be the quickest,

but he's on his feet after 99% of tackles.

Killen and McDonald need to put their heads

together and feed off one another better.

It will be interesting to see the team that

Mowbray puts together this Thursday - it

will have to be the best in his opinion. So

I'm eager to see what he considers 'best'

at the moment.

4 points clear before an Old Firm game is

just fine and dandy with me!

[Jockstar]

Lets just hope(me) that Rangers turn it on. Not really doing it at the moment. Maybe the calm before the storm? Maybe Celtic should be more worried? But its an Old Firm game and form goes out the window.

[CelticBhoy]

The build up to tomorrow night's game

has been handed to dinosaurs who love

to dwell in the past.

This from the BBC (no surprise):

Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell has urged supporters to focus on the match itself when the team face Rapid Vienna in Thursday's Europa League tie.

There was trouble when the sides played 25 years ago in the European Cup-Winners' Cup and much of the build-up to Thursday's game has focused on that.

"Much has been said about the events of 1984," said Lawwell.

"But, as a club in 2009, all we are focusing on is what happens on the pitch on Thursday evening."

The Glasgow side won 3-0 at Celtic Park in 1984, overturning a 3-1 deficit.

But Rapid player Rudi Weinhoffer falsely claimed he had been struck by a bottle thrown on to the pitch and a replay was ordered.

We all know what happened at the replay . . .

. . . but let it go.

My bones are telling me it will be fine again!