Astra started their season on a historical high, eliminating Lyon from European competition, but their 8 games since August have brought five defeats, two draws and a solitary win against opponents currently 14th place in the Romanian league.
On paper this sounds as straightforward as previous European ties did against teams from Karagandy or Maribor but as we found out on those occasions, European ties are seldom straightforward.
The cynic in me suggests there is more going on at Astra than meets the eye. Any team who can win in Lyon would be heavy odds against shipping three goals in the cup to lower league opponents a few weeks later, which Astra did. They then turned up away to league leaders Steaua Bucharest to keep their only clean sheet since August. Another coupon buster.
Astra, it would seem, are a gift to those who bet outsiders. They are long odds tomorrow, so I’d caution against backing Celtic for a comfortable win. The visitors will apply themselves, just as they did earlier this month against Salzburg, who won by a single goal.
The Celtic books we have published in recent years have been a real labour of love. After a biography of Willie Wallace and a football journey from Tommy Gemmell, we published your story of Seville, a record of its impact on the Celtic Movement.
Today we launch Caesar & the Assassin, the accounts of Billy McNeill and Davie Hay as Celtic managers, told in their own words. It documents the period of our history from when Billy took over from Jock Stein in 1978, through to the end of his era 13 years later, including Davie Hay’s four years in charge.
Most of us lived experienced that period first-hand but it has been an absolute education to read about the games and events which we watched as spectators from the managers in charge. It’s the best CQN book yet.
The first batch of orders will receive a copy signed by Billy and Davie, more here.
If you fancy watching Sunday’s game against Kilmarnock in comfort…….. We have secured another pair of Premium Seat tickets for the Jock Stein Stand from Celtic sponsor Magners. To win the tickets answer the following question:
Which country do Thursday’s opponents FC Astra come from?
Optionally, if you have £1 available, please donate it to Mary’s Meals at this MyDonate page, which will send your £1 straight to Mary’s Meals, then send me your contact details (with or without donation confirmation) to celticquicknews@gmail.com
Competition closes tonight (Wednesday) at 10pm, so get your entries in now and watch your inbox Thursday morning. You can donate more than £1 if you like, of course. Terms and conditions are available here.
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hoop doggydog
You would have thought KC would have had Sky……. Lawwell get tae ;-)
Skyisalandfill…yeah he sure does….Kris may have been having just a soft drink. but being in the pub til 11 or so would suggest he aint playing tonight although of course the game is a 2005 k.o.With Ronny’s diet regime maybe he was drinking protein shakes.
Lymmbhoy…..maybe he hates Rupert Murdoch ??
hoop doggydog
Maybe Lisa had the remote ;-)
HH
Lets hope Celtic do the business tonight.A win for us and a win for Salzsburg would be good for our hopes of progress
Could be right Lymmbhoy ….is there not a Coronation St double header on a Wednesday ?
Hope Adam Matthews is ok for tonight.
When he is fit and on form he is a quality Celtic player.
Michael Lustig is the same and I hope all is well with his
we lassie and, for that reason I’d leave him out of things tonight.
Having said that…..looking at the big picture, I’d get rid of the two
of the above players coz, players who seem to be always injured
will be just that – always injured.
In the next transfer window I’d like to see Celtic bringing in Aberdeen’s
Shay Logan – a fine player. imho
Liverpool – Brendan Rogers is a guid Celtic fan and a Tim.
I think BR will have to dispense with his attempts to play TB(RIP) type
of football – it disny work unless you have Mr Stein’s Lions at yer disposal.
Aberdeen have always been my 2nd favorit team – that remains.
If I had to pick an English team, it would be Liverpool FC.
I think the ‘reds’ would be a magnificent team if – Jose Mourinho was their
boss. imho
Folk sneer at JM’s ‘parking the bus’ mindset – I think that you don’t win 2 CL
Trophies with 2 different clubs if ye don’t know yer stuff.
Idealists dont win.
We might be about to painfully find that out – I hope not.
I’ve always reckoned that, Stefan Johansen had shades of my favorit Celtic
player – Murdo – and that is saying something.
A tidy,diligent, industrious, switched-on, tough as teak, good user of the ball,
chips in with some quality goals, type of player is not too much to ask for the
Celtic ‘supporters’ to be treated to, eh?
Midfielders who ring my bell….
Bobby Murdoch
Bertie Auld
David Hay
George Connolly
Ronnie Glavin
Murdo
Michael Conroy
The Maestro
Tommy Burns(RIP)
Johnny Collins
Craig Burley
Paul Lambert
Alan Thompson
Neil Lennon
Jackie Macnamara – junior and senior
Roy Keane
Barry Robson
Paul Hartley
Vic 67
Stefan Johansen
Neil Simpson who we should have signed when the huns bought Hurlock.
Neil Cooper
Gordon Strachan – best ‘ever’ player in the EPL. imho
John Holt – Dundee Utd
Steve McMahon
Ronnie Whelan
Ray Houghton
Paul McGrath – ROI
Andy Townsend – ROI
Ronald Koeman
David Batty
Btw…David Batty getting injured is the reason that the huns beat Leeds.
I’ve saved the BEST for last…King Kenny Dalglish.
Kenny is the BEST player ‘ever’ in the history of British football. imho
Some folk will say – George Best but, King Kenny is for me the BEST
player ‘ever’ in the history of British football and, Cetic’s BEST player ever.
Effff it….Dalglish is up there with – Pele – Maradona – Cruyff – Messi.
Aint kidding there – Dalglish is without an equal imho.
I seen the last 4 / 5 years of Dalglish in the hoops and was almost in
tears as the Jungle roasted his erse every time he touched the ball in Mr Stein’s
Testimonial game.
When Kenny left for Liverpool, the next season as a Celtic supporter was what I
imagine purgatory to be like.
Judith Durham ‘We shall not be moved’ – CSC
Bed time, bye. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I have no idea hiw tonights game will go due to a lack of knowledge of our opponents and our own unpredictability.Will take my seat tonight (which once again has been moved to accomadate EUFA sponsors)and hope for the best.
Hiw = how.Sorry.
Good morning CQNer,
Winning the next 5 fixtures would see the team progress on 3 fronts and all but guarantee European football in the New Year. It’ll be a true test of Ronny’s credentials and if he can steer a winning path through them I may have to reconsider my opinion of him
Next 5 fixtures
Home – Astra
Home – Kilmarnock
Home – Partick Thistle (League Cup)
Home – ICT
Away – Astra
The priority tonight as ever is concentration, especially in defence.
The more I see of VVD the more he reminds me of Franz Beckanbauer. The confident manner when he brings the ball out of defence and surveys all in front of him is reminiscent of Kaiser in his pomp.
VVD is a long way off that standard but I’d love to see a goal from him after one of his runs out of defence, tonight may provide that opportunity if, as expected, Astra defend deeply.
Man Kev J that was an impressively long post.Takes me ages to post on my phone and when I do there is usually a mistake in there somewhere.Loved King Kenny also a good Milton boy.
Morning all
Exciting day today what shall I do?
Allotment or continue with the epic bathroom…
Tonight I hope it is an unchanged team although I can’t see Lustig playing due to his wee daughters illness, although it might be the tonic they need, either way he and his wife have our prayers and best wishes.
Will tonight be the continuation of our great efforts on Saturday, can we finally string two decent games together and move on from our stop start season.
I think we can but I don’t think it’s going to be easy.
3-2 Celtic.
Ayrshire is Green and White
Must say I enjoyed Real’s dismantling of Liverpool last night.What a goal by Ronaldo..
The Daily Record having yet another free dig at us.
7.45 and my bloods boiling already with this anti Celtic rag.
Fgs board, listen to the fans and boot them out of Parkhead!
Morning all.
Dank, dreich, cold and wet down here. Hope the mood in Celtic Park tonight is a lot lighter and brighter.
Marrakesh Express
This was posted rearlier by jimmci.
I noticed the headline and I bet our players’ behaviour was not even commented on by Ronny in the actual article.
Get that rancid rag out of Celtic
jimmci
00:07 on
23 October, 2014
I see many were upset with the DR’s headlines today. The one tomorrow is even worse….
RONNY: I TRUST THE BHOYS TO BEHAVE.
then goes on to tell us no action will be taken against Zaluska. I genuinely despair.
FFS, Celtic Board, finally grow a pair. Throw thus lot out of CP, remove all advertising from stadium, match programmes and Celtic View – to hell with any one off costs, break the contracts.
Last, but not least, stop the freebies being handed our in the hospitality lounges. Their circulation is diving so please don’t give them our active support.
Whomever asked that question if our manager should have been frigmarched out of the pres confrence.
tbh the manager should have been prepared for a stupid question like that and used it to highlight the fact that his players are under threat from not only mindless neds but so called fellow professionals.
Is it now ok to assualt our players off the psrk as wel as on Iit?
BT
Our PR dept do not seem ? To offer any guidance to Ronny on what to expect and how to answer
And our legally trained Chairman not interested ? In defending his club
Hes to busy telling us to behave
A very poorly governed Celtic, allowing all and sundry to walk over us
Hail Hail
From the local rags up here….
++++++++++
Dundee United could drop stars Paul Paton and Mark Wilson from the squad for Saturday’s trip to Inverness.
The Tangerines announced they were investigating the conduct of two players “following information received”.
No further detail was given but that pair are in hot water in the aftermath of an incident in Glasgow early on Monday which left ex-United goalkeeper Lukasz Zaluska needing hospital treatment.
The 32-year-old was out partying in the West End of Glasgow when he was assaulted and rushed to hospital with head injuries.
Current United stars Paul Paton and Mark Wilson were also in the area at the time.
Police are investigating the incident, and no one has been arrested in connection with the assault.
The club are not passing judgement or suggesting any involvement in the Zaluska fracas.
But until all the facts are known, there’s a feeling at Tannadice it wouldn’t be appropriate for either to be involved at first-team level.
See tonight’s Evening Telegraph for the full story.
Not wishing to re-open the poppy debate, but I’m pleasantly surprised to see the official song for the poppy appeal is Eric Bogle’s Green Fields of France. I’ve heard this sung at a few parties and I’m sure has been posted on here in the dead of night on many occasions.
Maybe next year they’ll do BOTB.
So…
Mark Wilson who has already admitted to coming across his friend, LZ, injured, and assisted him until the medical people arrived, but DU deem it inappropriate for him to play?
How odd……..
Morning all.
A message to the Celtic board:
Ffs, grow a pair and banish that DR rag. What are you waiting for?!
HH!!
Som mes que un club, what paper is that in?
It was reported earlier in the week that Mark Wilson and Jim Goodwin were there but not involved, and provided assistance to LZ until the ambulance services arrived. Very unusual for DUFC to have taken this stance with him.
It would be very disappointing if it turned out he was somehow involved in the actual cowardly attack on LZ.
Are you based in Dundee? I’m out in the wilderness of Carmyllie myself.
HH
Tallybhoy, second that.
DR GTF.
Kev J
You said above that “..idealists don’t win…”.
So Jock Stein wasn’t being idealist when he said just prior to Lisbon that he wanted Celtic to win by playing “..beautiful, inventive attacking football; the type of football that makes the neutrals want us to win.”
Sorry, mate, you don’t “get” Celtic if you don’t agree with this.
phyllis dietrichson
Check out this version and some of the other songs on the sidebar……what a singer.
http://youtu.be/s1QoUCAJInI
HH
Completely useless piece of information.
On a trip to find the grave of a Great Uncle killed in that war was shown the grave of Willie McBride during a tour of some of the Somme battlefields and cemeteries, spookily there is another Willie McBride buried a few rows away from him in the same cemetery. Our guide pointed it out to us as we were Irish and knew the song.
som mes que in club
Mark Wilson was in DU development team due to play on the Monday.
Jackie won’t have been pleased at his example to his teammates
a ceiler gonof rust
Yes, Not so far awayfrom you, in Broughty Ferry myself.
It was a Twitter link from The Tully…
http://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/sport/dundee-united/dundee-united-could-drop-pair-for-inverness-game-following-zaluska-incident-1.642652
Celtic mentioned on rip off britain for price of jerseys,.
Celtic blamed wholesale price from nike…
Bada Bing
From last night. I made two posts where I said I was sure Polish player from Dundee was not there and it was not the Pole who did it to Zaluska. If “I’m sure” is not enough I can say in another words – I know this.
Mickbhoy1888
You keep writing plot theories about assault on Zaluska and you still write “just maybe” under your posts. To be honest with you I find your job at least out of order in the circumstances I’m not interested in the news where, who and what writes about this assault. You said Polish community forums write this and that. Are these Poles communicating in English on Polish forums or you do speak Polish and know what people write?
If you don’t know what to do, always try to help the victim or leave the victim alone.
blantyretim is praying for the Knox family
The price of Celtic shirts is shocking. I can buy just about any world kit for my boy cheaper than I can buy the Celtic kit and it saddens me. The Celtic shop should be the cheapest place to buy our kit. Get the punters through the door and get the kit flying off the shelves. They will also buy other products whilst there. With the money going direct to the club surely they can undercut the rival stores by 10% or 20%. Makes no sense to me that our shirt is amongst the dearest in Britain. We want our kit to be worn. It is a kit that most fans have a liking to. The Celtic shirt is loved the world over. Why are we making it difficult for people to buy it? I can get a whole range of kits for the boy all under £20. I can get older kits for around a tenner for the full kit. Even the old away kits on the Celtic superstore site are dearer than new kits for other teams.
The only other kit that seems to be worse to buy than Celtic is the Scotland one. They use one shop to sell the kits and the 2-3 years was £35 and included only shorts and no socks.
A major reason why kids in this country will buy other kits from across the UK and the world is because of the price. Our kits are way over priced and Celtic must be asking Nike why?
LB
igc – you have mail
BT
Celtic said that “the price was driven by the manufacturer’s wholesale price”
isn’t everything
Site updated.
Dundee United have dropped pair for Inverness game following Zaluska incident
By TELE REPORTER, 23 October 2014 8.37am.
Dundee United have dropped stars Paul Paton and Mark Wilson from the squad for Saturday’s trip to Inverness.
Genes/lb
maybe thats the excuse for leaving nike, new manufacturer may be cheaper therefore cheaper
pricing….
I know I’m daft…..
Kerrydale suite opens at 5pm this evening.
thanks to JP Taylor for the quick response to my email.