11 short days before CL duty

Work ahead of the new season is underway in earnest after Celtic came through a game in Austria against top flight Russian club FC Krasnodar in Austria yesterday afternoon.  Every hour has to be carefully planned from now on.

Ronny Deila has only 11 days before taking to an Icelandic field on Champions League duty.  Players need to step up, from 45 minutes against a fellow-preseason team, to 90 minutes of competitive action against a team who are already midseason.  Pushing muscles too hard now will be counterproductive; players need a planned gradient of training, rest and games to get them as close to peak condition as possible.  No matter how well this goes, the players will be short of their peak for weeks.

Trying hard not to think or talk about signings but it’s good to see Craig Gordon confirmed.  Fraser Forster is the most committed professional at the club, so he’s not a player who needs to be driven to improve, but we all need fresh incentives to go back to the well again, and the arrival of Craig will give Fraser fresh focus after returning from a disappointing World Cup campaign.

Welcome to Celtic, Craig.

There are around 36 CQNers already out on Aberdour Golf Course in what could be described as ‘fresh’ conditions.  A great night lies ahead.

This year we are raising money for Glasgow the Caring City and The Cookiejar Foundation. We have two copies of this magnificent canvas, signed by Billy McNeill, one is available to the highest bidder on ebay here.

The other is available for raffle. Every donor to this JustGiving page gets an entry in the raffle. The minimum donation is £1, which we can all afford to participate in, although you can donate as much as you want. Our thanks to @BarryMcGonigle for the image on the canvas and OPG Graphics for creating the work.