Referee Mallenco scouted ahead of Celtic game

The Guardian did an excellent piece on Wednesday on how referees in various European territories would view the penalty box wrestling of the Juventus players.  In short, there is a variance in how these offences are punished.  Who knew?

Juventus knew.  I hear they watched four videos of referee Alberto Undiano Mallenco ahead of the Celtic game.

You have to admire their thoroughness.  They had a plan to combat Celtic and needed to know if the referee would let them away with it.  Gone are the days when someone at Juve would simply pick up the phone and ‘ask’.  The danger from Celtic was known, illegal holding would nullify this danger and watching a few videos established what players would get away with.

It’s no longer sufficient to scout your opponents, if you want an edge in this game, scout the referee too.

Every day’s a school day.

I hear from a good contact that a journalist who recently departed the media for a job in the lower leagues once wanted to be a bit of a Jungle Jim. Apparently he was keen to ditch his industry for a job at Celtic back in the 90s. What an escape!

On Friday 1 March the Lisbon Lions will be at the Kerrydale Suite providing commentary and answering questions on their magnificent European Cup final win in 1967. This has never happened in 46 years since that game, to say it is a unique opportunity fails to tell the whole story.

The event is part of our 125 4 125 campaign – central to reinvigorating the charitable spirit which is part of the club we love. It will be a family occasions, tickets are available at £10 for adults and £5 for children. The night has been organised by several fans working in conjunction with the people at Celtic Charity, so please do your best to support this great occasion. Individual tickets or tables are available, details here.
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