It’s a return to to seed Ajax, which is a good football draw, although the Ajax fans and Amsterdam police make it an unwelcome tie for other reasons.
Fenerbahce lost their Champions League qualifier to Shakhtar Donetsk before beating Greek club Atromitos in the Europa League play-off round. There were no easy teams in pot three, Fenerbahce are about par for the group.
Molde beat Dinamo Zagreb and Standard Liege, so deserve some respect, they will fear no one in this competition.
Happy with the draw, it could have been a whole lot more difficult but as always, we have to arrive prepared as there are no hiding places in Europe.
GOLFERS!
There’s a chance to win a round of golf for four of you at the magnificent Aberdour course, scene of the annual CQN Open, for £1. Taggsybhoy has provided this opportunity, to raise funds to support the Celtic Foundation’s work. If you want to cheer yourself up after a hard week, read about the Foundation’s work here.
A box full of backpacks, pencils and cups for Malawi just arrived at my office (thank you) ahead of tomorrow’s collection at the Celtic Way before the game. Remember to bring along your old backpacks, pencils and handtowels if you have any.
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Lefty
Dena always looks after me.
That’s the reason I posted, networking lunch now ,,, :-(
Hunderbirds are Gone on 28th August 2015 1:17 pm
Cheers!
Just had a look at flight websites – flights from Oslo to Molde coming in at GBP 50 return on Norwegian Air in Sep//Oct/Nov, might be the thing for Bhoys coming over on Ryanair from Edinburgh/Glasgow to Oslo.
If you think our group is bad, look at some of the others (travel, weather, opposition) – especially Group C and Pot 2 PAOK or Group J and Pot 2 Anderlecht !
2015/16 UEFA Europa League group stage draw
Group A: Ajax (NED), Celtic (SCO), Fenerbahçe (TUR), Molde (NOR)
Group B: Rubin Kazan (RUS), Liverpool (ENG), Bordeaux (FRA), Sion (SUI)
Group C: Borussia Dortmund (GER), PAOK (GRE), Krasnodar (RUS), Qäbälä (AZE)
Group D: Napoli (ITA), Club Brugge (BEL), Legia Warszawa (POL), Midtjylland (DEN)
Group E: Villarreal (ESP), Viktoria Plzeň (CZE), Rapid Wien (AUT), Dinamo Minsk (BLR)
Group F: Marseille (FRA), Braga (POR), Slovan Liberec (CZE), Groningen (NED)
Group G: Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (UKR), Lazio (ITA), Saint-Étienne (FRA), Rosenborg (NOR)
Group H: Sporting CP (POR), Beşiktaş (TUR), Lokomotiv Moskva (RUS), Skënderbeu (ALB)
Group I: Basel (SUI), Fiorentina (ITA), Lech Poznań (POL), Belenenses (POR)
Group J: Tottenham Hotspur (ENG), Anderlecht (BEL), Monaco (FRA), Qarabağ (AZE)
Group K: Schalke (GER), APOEL (CYP), Sparta Praha (CZE), Asteras Tripolis (GRE)
Group L: Athletic Club (ESP), AZ Alkmaar (NED), Augsburg (GER), Partizan (SRB)
Group stage dates
Matchday one: 17/09/15
Matchday two: 01/10/15
Matchday three: 22/10/15
Matchday four: 05/11/15
Matchday five: 26/11/15
Matchday six: 10/12/15
Fixture schedule will be confirmed later today, but we will have 3 early KOs (6pm) and 3 late KOs (8:05pm) – home or away TBC
Really looking forward to going to Istanbul.
Never been before.
The atmosphere will be magic.
The celts will most likely get gubbed.
TT
Its not a ‘notion’ that our most important games are played before we kick a ball in earnest, its a fact confirmed by results.
Scottish Football, and to a lesser extent Celtic, need to waken up and smell the coffee. An admission that we are on a par with Scandinavia now is not far away. After all his exaggerated praise, the Aberdeen manager couldn’t handle a basic qualifier either. It follows that summer football will put us where we need to be in August. Just imagine, half way through our season and getting a Premier League mob who have played a few pre-season friendlies. It certainly shortens the odds.
The post-Malmo frustration is today tempered by the draw and thought of a few good games in the EL. If we instil some discipline and accountability back into the team we’ll give it a good go. Dropping a few of your personal favourites would be a good start Ronnie.
Haven’t seen all the teams in Pot 3 but surprised by Paul’s assertion that Fene were about par for that group.
I’d think only a handful of teams in Pot 1 would have a squad comparable with the Turks and in Van Persie they arguably have one of the best players in the competition.
I’d say, squad wise, we are about on par with Molde.
Ajax are always difficult to predict, they will certainly be favourites to beat us but given the turnover of players there and the onus on youth it doesn’t always work out for them in Europe. They do spend a lot more than us tho and have a lot of good technical players. Our best technical players are VVD, Bitton and probably Jame Forrest so make of that what you will.
In summary, we could be as likely to finish bottom as finish top.
Anyone underwhelmed by that group must have missed last seasons Europa games as, quite frankly, Molde will be as good as any of those sides i’d say.
I think my Turkish visa runs till end of November so I could be in Turkey 3 times this year
SYDNEYTIM
I’m on the same clock as you,bud. Damn nightshifts.
Say hi to my fellow Kilwinning Tim,Michael Collins.
And tell him to get posting again!
I’ll buy my wee season ticket and go to the home games but you’ll forgive me for getting too excited about
the draw today.
Still too despondent about our capitulation on Tuesday and the failings , at every level, that it exposed.
for getting too excited about = for not getting too excited
Michal Kadlec plays for Fenerbahce. He is finally coming to Celtic Park…
What happens between now and the end of this transfer window will go a long way to dictating what sort of points tally we can pick up.
The team is in chronic need of 2 x established footballers / leaders.
I’ve seen it written we played our best away game in qarabac and worst to Malmö.
I thought we were poor – woeful in both.
I can’t see the present team going away to play any team and having the gallas to control and dictate the game the way Qarabac did at Celtic Park.
Will we get those 2 x players?
The fact Lennon walked after being told what the 5 year strategy, the appointments and signings since strongly suggest we won’t.
TINYTIM
Istanbul is one of the world’ s great cities . A treat for the senses !
Enjoy !
LEFTCLICKTIC on 28TH AUGUST 2015 1:19 PM
What will be will be,
European fitba tae Christmas,
this bhoy canny wait
i feel we can get a result every time we take the field, if we dont then i get dejected for a short time till “WE WILL WIN THE NEXT ONE ,KICKS IN”
bring it onCSC.
:-)))
HH
Davidpolous
Should you not be at your living lunch or out getting tanked up ?
Enjoy your last day in the big smoke
Wtf is a living lunch, iPhone disnae understand
I would have taken Group F but there are plenty of tougher groups then A. I’m not bothered too much about our opponents. I’m concerned that our fans are safe and I just want our team to perform. After that let what happens happen.
Whers Mo;de fae???
Some Celtic fans really amaze me.Just WTF do they think we stand in Europe at the moment?.The Europa League is our level.To turn your nose up at it reeks of a totally misplaced sense of elitism.
I know the money has been raised this year for competing teams.If we can get 140,000 for the 3 home games,added to the money from the CL,with the prize money on offer,we could be looking at £8 million,without qualifying.Get through,and we are looking at £10 million.
Peanuts it seems to some of the more delusional among our support.
When teams in England with a 50,000 odd fan base can outspend us with ease,try and get a grip on reality.
The 60s and 70s are long gone.
You are right, it’s not original nor is it clever, but it’s true non the less.
And we will going into these games weaker.
HH
I watched the Jablonec – Ajax play-off on Czech TV. Ajax were rank rotten and very fortunate to come through the tie. Add to that the fact that Rapid Vienna put them out the CL qualifiers in the previous round and its fair to say they look like theyre struggling a bit right now.
But under Ronny we`ve been thrashed in Warsaw, shipped 4 in Zagreb to a team with nothing to play for, and been outplayed in Malmo. The record is 28 goals shipped in 20 European matches under RD but if you take the games against Icelandic cannon fodder out of that then its 28 goals lost in 16 matches. We`re not far off an average of losing 2 goals for every game we play in Europe. This is over a time when we`ve came up against some very moderate teams (Maribor, Qarabag, Zagreb, Astra etc).
Its making a great leap of faith to think a team in that type of form can come out of this EL group or get anything other than routine defeats on its travels.
I think if the seedings were a proper reflection of where these clubs are now Fenerbahce would be Pot 1, Ajax Pot 2, and Celtic Pot 3. I definitely expect Fenerbahce and Ajax to progress and I think Molde will pick up points too.
Ger57: Well said on previous article. I can’t do Thursday night football so I won’t be attending any of the home matches. However, I will be in the Bad Ass Cafe, or some other venue, cheering the HOOPS. I’m still gutted over last Tuesday though.
At least we have 6 more decent European ties to which we can look forward,
However I wouldn’t dream of predicting how we will fare.
It will be a major achievement to get to the knockout stages.
Depends which Celtic shows up.
Play like the first 20 minutes of the Malmo home leg and we could pick up a decent amount of points.
Play like we did for most of the remainder of that tie and we could be embarrassed.
Hopefully the team can raise their game especially in the home legs.Would be nice for the fans.
Excited by this draw. 2 new stadiums to go to. Interesting rivalry renewed.
We could be last in this group …..or we could actually win it.
More fun than petrofrac I think. Maybe not quite so glamorous though.
Hello Bhoys,
If you are just flying into Istanbul for the game, don’t forget to book your flights to Sabiha Gokcen airport, on the Asian side, which is where the Fenerbahce stadium is. Unless you want to spend a lot of time in the main centre of the city, in which case, Ataturk airport might suit you best.
HH
Its the next few days that will determine our chances, quality outgoing, who knows whats incoming (if any)
I know Sydneytim beats the drum that its all about PL’s bonus’ and pension, well its time he disproved that, as he has done little to disprove it (PL that is and not Sydney Tim)
It’s a fair point that Fenerbache spent a lot of money and failed to get into the Champions league. However, we spent a lot of money in comparison to Malmo and also failed.
If I had Fenerbaches money I wouldn’t be going for washed up players on their way down.
Our failure is beating sides with less money not our lack of investment. It’s how we invest and then how we prepare.
Ronny has this group to show that 4 2 3 1 works.
blantyretim is praying for the Knox family on 28th August 2015 1:36 pm
Davidpolous
Should you not be at your living lunch or out getting tanked up ?
Enjoy your last day in the big smoke
—————————————————————-
Thanks mate! I was out for a lunch where I did partake in a light libation. As it happened I was at a Turkish restaurant swigging an Efes when I found out that we’d drawn Fenerbahce!!
Now back in the office hanging around to do a handover with my boss…
An advantage we will have in Group A is that after our capitulation in Malmo, our opponents will be thinking “3 points certain at home and and least a point away”
If we can win our 3 home games (9 pts) and an away draw, 10 points should be enough. Or at least 2 wins and a draw (7 pts) at home plus a win away from home still gives us 10 points and probable qualification.
There is only 1 lengthy travel in 6 games and no reason why we cannot win all our home games. We have previous against Ajax, Fenerbahce don’t travel well plus we also have an intimidating crowd at home, and Ronny will know all about Molde.
As I’ve said, it could have been much, much worse, and I’m sure the players will have something to prove to themselves and to the fans.
TurkeyBhoy
I agree we are at our level in this tourny. We might have got a right tanking in the CL Whers the final??
Fenerbahce.
I’ve just popped on to warn our support on this trip, i’ve been to a few games in the Bul throughout the years and witnessed loads of trouble from all the big three clubs there.
Trick is to stay in numbers AT ALL TIMES.
Not sure i’ll be there due to medical issues, but be on your guard PLEASE !!!!
Siesta time zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz TGIF
Istanbul,magnificent place.Bars ,restaurants,terrific.Anyone coming over ,now is the best time.Exchange rate,4.5 Lira to £.If direct flights are expensive,look at flying to Izmir,then connecting to Istanbul.Some great prices at times.Middle of October still has charter flight from Britain.
” Only a fool would predict the outcome of the Ole Europa League”
Bock Stein
More of the same.
Under the RD-JC-PL circus we will get pumped
I’m only waiting for a new manager.
One of calibre.
Mullet and co 2 1.43pm
Anybody going on about Fenerbahce spending money and not getting into the CL should take into account that Fenerbahce were going up against the heavyweights from the bigger leagues in the non-champions route, not going up against the champions of Albania, Azerbaijan, Sweden etc in the Champions route.
So trying to transfer their situation to ours as a warning against the perils of spending money, “no guarantees etc.” is not comparing apples with apples. Its a fact that Fenerbahce faced a far higher calibre of opposition than we did to make the CL.
For what its worth Fenerbahce came unstuck against Shakhtar Donetsk, a team not shy of spending a bob or two themselves.
I completely agree with your point about them being unwise to spend their money on washed up ageing players on the way down.
Our recent European high of the last 16 vs Juve came the season after we had a tough EL group.
Lenny’s team took 6 points (finishing 3rd) Ina group with Athletico Madrid, Udinese and Renne. The players were on record as saying the experience playing those games was crucial in preparing them for the CL adventure the next year.
I hope we have a similar effect this time (though we didn’t see it this year in the qualifiers). I can’t help feeling a full volume CP intimidates our players as much as the opposition as they just aren’t used to it. First 20 mins against inter Meelan last year, for example….
I’m looking for silver linings, so while I’m at it, we should get more co-efficient points in the EL.
TURKEYBHOY
Super Coach from here to Istanbul,£25 return.Brilliant.
sounds just what we need to replace Ronny!! Only joking =))