I hear the modest noises which Shakhter manager Viktor Kumykov made after their win over Celtic last week have been replaced by more robust predictions. Kumykov told the most senior local apparatchik, Baurzhan Abdishev, that Shakhter will score a few goals in Glasgow and progress into the Champions League group stage.
I always like to hear confidence like this from the opposition camp. Let Celtic do their talking on the park.
Shakhter are further away from home than any team participating in Champions League history, apart from Celtic who faced the opposite journey last week. The second half on Wednesday kicks off at 01:45 Kazak time; no matter what the score at the halfway point, the latter part of the game will be when the visitors are at their most vulnerable.
Meanwhile Kazak news report that Shakhter have shipped shirts to some Glasgow-based football fans, who will be attending Celtic Park on Wednesday as newly-recruited Shakhter fans.
Did we mention practicing penalties? The entire squad should spend time today and tomorrow doing so, but Kris Commons especially. He is the one penalty taker Shakhter will prepare to face.
Memory of the day:
We lost the first leg of our European Cup, first round, tie against Partizan Tirana in 1979 1-0. It was thought important for Celtic to score first in the return but Partizan doubled their lead and scored an away goal.
Celtic went on to hit four and progress, although none of the strikers got on the score-sheet, Davie Provan played arguably his best game for the club.
Bring it on……..
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CQN Wars, Episode 1888, A New Hope
Paul67: You know, I think that a log-in may have been stolen.
Oldtim: What makes you think that? Where’s the Hendrick’s?
Paul67: Well, I stumbled across a post on CQN. It claimed to be from someone named setting free the bears. I thought he might have meant old sftb. Do you know what he’s talking about?
Oldtim: Uh-uh. Have you hidden the Hendrick’s?
Paul67: I wonder if he’s related to sftb?
Oldtim: That sftb is just a crazy old man. Now, tomorrow I want you to take that CQN log-in and have it erased. That’ll be the end of it. Now where is the bliddy Hendrick’s?
Paul67: But what if this setting free the bears comes looking for a new log-in?
Oldtim: He won’t. I don’t think he exists anymore. He disappeared about 125 days ago, about the same time as the Hendrick’s apparently.
Paul67: Why did he disappear?
Oldtim: I told you to forget it. Pass the Irn Bru . . . . . . . .
Starring –
sftb
Paul67
Oldtim
Produced and directed by Ulryc
Partizani Tirana memories: Some of them wore odd socks and Vic Davidson played for Celtic. I’m pretty sure George McCluskey and Murdo MacLeod had a tete-a-tete at the centre following their goal. Think I still have the match programme somewhere too.
henriks sombrero
12:14 on 26 August, 2013Just seeing on twitter rumours that big Forster has shut his twitter account down as a result from Celtic fans abuse after Saturdays game.Shocking if true.
Could be digging an escape tunnel…
Paddy Gallagher@13.17
I could do with a made up name doppelganger on here.
Unfortunately, and I am sorry to have to break it to you, you are a real person so you do not have the person specs for that job :-)
SETTING FREE THE BEARS 1320
Blinkin flip….
Have you been saving that last paragraph up for 125 days?
Welcome back sftb
BMCUW
I hope you have sent it in for Pseud’s Corner in Private Eye- it’s bound to win.
Sftb
Posters are asking that celtic spend the money recejved for hooper on a goalscoring centre forward. The deal was on the table for hooper. Therefore the money had been set aside.
No one is asking for Celtic to spend what we can’t afford.
At last someone who knows something about fitba
sftb welcome back
It’s well known that I am no fan of the law re Breach of the Peace (in particular)
But I think any fans of some deid club who intend to attend on Wednesday night are liable to a charge of Conduct Likely to Cause a Breach of the Peace.
There you go,whatever you copper fellas call yourself nowadays,you can have that one for free.
Scottish champions Celtic are one of a host
of clubs interested in signing Al Ain winger
Jires Kembo Ekoko, Sport360° understands.
Ekoko is free to leave the Tahnoun bin
Mohammed Stadium this summer following
the recent arrival of Michel Bastos from Lyon.
The Congolese star, 25, only joined Al Ain on
a four-year deal from Rennes last summer,
and despite helping the club to a second
successive league title last term, he has been
told he is surplus to requirements.
Ekoko was a notable absentee from the club’s
recent pre-season training camp in Austria
and an exit now looks a certainty before the
transfer window closes next Monday.
Al Ain’s domestic rivals Al Nasr expressed an
interest in the player last month, but have
since turned their attentions elsewhere,
landing Ibrahima Toure from Monaco and
closing in on a deal for Vasco de Gama winger
Eder Luis.
Clubs from England, France and Spain have
made tentative enquiries about Ekoko’s
availability as have Celtic who are in the
market for reinforcements.
The Hoops have money to spend after selling
key duo Victor Wanyama and Gary Hooper to
Southampton and Norwich respectively earlier
this summer for a combined £17.5million,.
However, their transfer plans are largely
dependant on the outcome of their Champions
League qualifier against Shakhter Karagandy
on Wednesday night, with Celtic trailing 2-0
from the first leg in Kazakhstan.
Should the Hoops overturn the deficit and
qualify for the group stages, however, a firm
offer for Ekoko could be forthcoming although
they could face stiff competiton for his
signature.
Sport360° understands two Premier League
clubs and one from the Championship have
also asked to be kept informed of Ekoko’s
situation with a season-long loan his most
likely escape route.
A return to France, where he starred for six-
years with Rennes before moving to the UAE,
remains an option as Spain with interest from
La Liga.
Ekoko made 28 appearances last season for Al
Ain, predominantly from the right wing, and
scored 10 goals.
SETTING FREE THE BEARS
Still flicking through the dictionary…
Mohammed Rabiu – Ghanaian holding midfielder at Evian – and a guy I said we should sign to replace Wanyama. Neil watched them in the French Cup final, so I am sure we must have had him on our radar. He has now joined Kuban Krasnodar in the Russian league – 3 year deal. I really think we have let a good one get away there.
Hi John – yes no problem at all
tommysbhoy
frazier must stay?? He does, on his bloody goal line!!. He’s like a big statue at times. He should go down George Sq and do one of them mime artist things. He wd make a fortune.
Mort
Nice Stat work there as well.
Alfie must still be in contention.
Turned down the new contract at Heerenveen
Heerenveen need the money.
Player and Agent must seriously considering moving.
A lot depends on Wednesday eh?
Those Pukki stats have enhanced my opinion though.
Celtic may well be the club where it all comes together
for him.
Hi SFTB – welcome back to you. As you can see I have persisted with generally upsetting everyone!
Actually I hadnt thought of the lazy journo approach – you are probably right.
Still think its our expectations that are being carefully managed though :)
Good Neganon. I may commence with your assassination. Pl has given me poison to put in your pint. I will keep in touch Neganon. Thanks.
“See how easy it is to mistake similarity for uniformity and to fail to discriminate between seperately derived concordance of opinion with brainwashed acceptance by dictat.”
BOOM!!!!
Ok We have got SFTB & The Green Brigade back, now just qualify for Group Stages & all will be well with the world again.
Traditionalist88 – as I said, regardless of what I think or would do, the prevailing mood amongst the celtic supporters I have spoken to over the last week (quite a few) has been one of “if they wont spend then I wont”.
I agree this will have consequences but lets be clear here – the purse strings have never been loosened.
John – I am surprised its taken him this long to get round to it :)
BlantyreKev-thoughts and prayers with Wee Oscar and family
12:36 on
26 August, 2013
I was at the Tirol game. David Hannah was selected at right back (injuries)…. didn’t have a clue what he was doing. Fans in the main stand were yelling at him, stuff like “He’s behind you!!” as Hannah kept losing his man – turning his back etc. It was like something out of a kids pantomime.
ASonOfDan
13:30 on
26 August, 2013
Ever seen UAE football? Absolute garbage. Like pub football, without the alcoholics obviously.
BT
“No one is asking for Celtic to spend what we can’t afford.”
I would not be too sure about that. We are addicts for new bling on here and when some of them do not look like they are working out because we write them off early on here (Boerigter-sicknote; Van Dijk- no pace; Moyoukolo- permanently injured; and Balde- cannae play fitba) and demand replacements for the replacements.
Of course Celtic are too light in the firepower department, especially if Watt and Atajic are not ready to play the Miku/Lassad roles yet. Our only disagreement is about whether we should just buy anybody and just pay their clubs anything.
We sold Hooper for £5m but that is not what we spent on him. We bought him for over £2m. The Lyon/Porto trading up model did not work on the principle that you
1) Buy a player at £2m and sell him for £5m
2) Buy a new one for £5m and sell him for £10m
3)Buy a replacement for £10m and sell for £20m
It went more slowly than that
1) Buy a £2m and sell for £5m
2) Replace with a £3m player and use the rest to pay improved wages to players you want to keep.
3) Sell your £3m player for £6m and buy a £3.5m player using the profit to tie down better players in your squad.
I’ll be happy with a goal scoring forward regardless of what his price tag is.
Nice to see SFTB Back, straight into the fray @ 13;20,
“See how easy it is to mistake similarity for uniformity and to fail to discriminate between seperately derived concordance of opinion with brainwashed acceptance by dictat”
Now that’s easy for you to say…
Hail Hail
Teemi Pukki is the main target for Neil Lennon and Celtic
The Celtic manager is happy to leave the pursuit to chief executive, Peter Lawwell, and chief scout, John Park, as he concentrates all of his attention on Wednesday’s Champions League play-off tie against Shakhter Karagandy.
Finnish striker, Teemu Pukki, is the man the Hoops are close to bringing aboard. Schalke’s general manager, Horst Heldt, confirmed they are negotiating, but added: “Celtic are very persistent in trying to make the deal happen.
“It is open for a transfer, but not until our Champions League tie is over.”
So, Lennon will have to wait a little longer to get his man.
“We are hoping to get a signing done, and it’s a player who has been mentioned for a while,” said Lennon as he attempted to keep his cards close to his chest.
“We have another player’s representatives coming in today for talks, and we are hoping we will get a deal done there as well.” Schalke rejected Celtic’s initial offer for Pukki, not least because they are short of attacking options after their main striker, Klass-Jan Huntelaar, was sidelined for two months with knee ligament damage.
But Celtic have refused to drop their interest in him, along with Heerenveen’s Alfred Finnbogason, who was also the subject of an earlier bid.
Though any new signing would be ineligible for the play-off tie against Shakhter as the registration deadline passed a week ago, new Uefa rules would allow Pukki – who came on as sub for Schalke in the Champions League play-off against PAOL Thessalonika – to play for the Hoops in the group stage of either this competition or the Europa League.
They have until September 2 to register players for the next round.
Lennon has also confirmed the other player whose representatives are scheduled to arrive at Parkhead for talks today is a midfielder.
But he will be content to be updated as to any more developments as he is focused on Wednesday which could unlock another £15million cheque if they can turn around the 2-0 deficit.
His first call today was to the medical room to get an update on the condition of the clutch of players currently receiving treatment.
Lennon said: “The squad is decimated, particularly in the forward areas. We are hoping at least two of them will be fit, Georgios Samaras and Kris Commons. There may also be a chance for James Forrest and Derk Boerrigter.
“Anthony Stokes has a calf strain and we will need to see how that is.”
The manager has all but given up on Beram Kayal recovering from the groin injury which forced him off against Inverness, and is also eager to hear the extent of the hamstring issue which saw Virgil van Dijk leave the field in the second half.
Neganon, he has been busy running Scottish football as well as manipulating the politics in Syria.
Passed Rosshall this morning – popped in nothing to see except lots of thank you cards on the wall from wee Sean Maloney and big rogne!
SFTB – now you cant have it both ways. Accussing me of:
“mistake similarity for uniformity and to fail to discriminate between seperately derived concordance of opinion with brainwashed acceptance by dictat”
While at the same time putting your perspective on someone else’s view and portraying their intentions as something else:
“No one is asking for Celtic to spend what we can’t afford.”
I would not be too sure about that. We are addicts for new bling on here and when some of them do not look like they are working out because we write them off early on here (Boerigter-sicknote; Van Dijk- no pace; Moyoukolo- permanently injured; and Balde- cannae play fitba) and demand replacements for the replacements.”
As I say welcome back!!
John – here was I under the mistaken belief that I was far more important than those things………
Is that Paddy Gallagher from Bailleston back?
Sevco have offered up Murray Park before the Karagandy game as they wish to slaughter an animal as part of their usual ritual.
Possible candidates include, Fernando Ricksen, Robert Fleck and Kirk Broadfoot to name a few, all for their looks and some for their cart horse similarities.
One man who hit the nail on the head was Cloughy…
Brian Clough: “What team did you say you support again?”
Man in the studio audience: “RANGERS!”
Brian Clough: “That’s not a football team! That’s a gang of villains.”
The irrepressible Brian Clough on “Sport in Question”
I got a phone call from the States a wee while ago saying, ‘ Crivvens… Jings…Help ma Boab…. That cannae be 125 days already ! ‘
Welcome Back.
SKYSPORTS now reporting that Dylan McGeouch is set for switch to Spurs with Celtic snapping up Gareth Bale plus £12million
Speedy recovery to ex Assistant Manager John Robertson,who is stable after a heart attack at the weekend.
BBC Radio5 now reporting that Juan Mata and Luis Suarez at Ross Hall
setting free the bears
“mistake similarity for uniformity and to fail to discriminate between seperately derived concordance of opinion with brainwashed acceptance by dictat”
You been talking to Rancho franco whilst away ? ;-)
Fáilte ar ais arís