Big Rocki was immense. a way of Celtic getting more tickets at Pittodrie !!

[Joe O'Rourke]

First thing first, it’s never easy going up to Aberdeen trying to get a win, I am always confident, but Aberdeen under Barry Robson are a different team now, much more organised, and have quite a few new players as well. Another thing I noticed yesterday at Pittodrie, that’s the biggest Aberdeen support I’ve seen there in many years, so the supporters are backing Barry to be successful, I think they will certainly win more than they lose.

Although the stadium wasn’t by any means full, it was a big improvement on recent years, that’s got to be a positive for Aberdeen. In terms of the stadium, I’m disappointed in the number of tickets allocated to the Celtic Support, the number has decreased in recent years, the last cut was the taking away of about 300 seats near the half way line, that exercise costs the Dons about £10,000. Apparently the cut was made because Sevco supporters were throwing seats at the nearby Dons fans, but why should we suffer for the behaviour of the Newco Mob?

The 300 seats consists of about 10 seats closest to the Dons from the top to bottom, about 30 rows, now there is already a big fence separating the fans, and a handrail, plus a line of steward and polis. There is a bit of banter between both sets of fans when goals are scored, but I’ve never seen any actual trouble between us and the Dons. So what is the solution? My solution would be this, give us the 300 seats back, and take an extra 300 off the Govan Mob, that equals, more Celtic Supporters when we play, and less trouble when Newco play, and no loss of revenue for Aberdeen, everybody is happy except the usual numpties.

On to the match itself. I think we rode our luck a bit in the first half, we seemed to keep gifting possession back to Aberdeen after we had the ball. Their high press was giving us problems, and we all know Big Joe isn’t Paul Mc Stay with the ball at his feet, but I thought he dealt well with the aerial challenge from the Dons. New signing Maik Nawrocki was immense, and he had to be when we lost CCV to injury, but I also thought Big Welshy played well when he came on. With Kyogo in our team we will always score goals, again the wee man was brilliant, his movement is unbelievable, he is unmarkable for defenders.

I think we will need to push through the transfer of Swedish defender Gustaf Lagerbielke, especially if Cameron is going to be out for a few weeks, it’s also a worry with Reo going off, I know he hasn’t started great, but there’s no denying he is a top quality player, and we are a far better team with him in it. We probably need to add another 3 players at least, and we need to unload some players who just aren’t going to make the grade at Celtic, I know it’s a hard ask, but can we not find another Bobo Balde, Big Bobo was a massive (excuse the pun) player for Celtic. I remember sitting behind Big Bobo in the stand when he came to Celtic at first, about ten supporters behind him ended up with restricted view seats.

So it’s been a good start to the defence of our title, six points from six, can’t ask for any more than that at this stage. We will get a different challenge next week down at Kilmarnock on their plastic pitch, and Mc Innes will have his players cranked up to repeat their great result against his favourite team last week, but I’m confident we will progress. Then it’s the Saints from Perth at Celtic Park, so it’s a case of maximum points again before we head to Snake Mountain, and it looks like without any of our own supporters present.
Glasgow’s still Green & White.