Another good victory in Edinburgh yesterday. Question's need answered about the Sevco ticket allocation.

[Joe O'Rourke]

It was a nice day in Edinburgh yesterday for a change, and I was sitting in the middle of the front row of the top tier, so for once I actually sat down throughout the game, apart from jumping up to celebrate the goals of course, and to be honest, I should have had to jump up more than twice, it could have been a much bigger margin than two goals, but I’ll take any win, especially away from home.

The first half was very good, plenty of pace in our attacks, and plenty of movement from the whole team to create space for themselves. The front six were outstanding, and the back five didn’t have a lot to worry themselves about, I like the look of Kasper Schmeichel, especially with the ball at his feet, he looks really comfortable in possession. I loved Big Joe Hart, but I have to admit I was crapping it when the ball went into his feet, I think that’s why Big Joe was called “The Cat” not because of his ability to spring around his penalty box, but because every time he got the ball at his feet, the Celtic Defenders and all the supporters had “Kittens”.

We definitely dipped a bit in the second half, we should give Hibs a bit of credit for being better organised and competitive, especially in defence, but having said that, we could have scored at least another 3/4 goals in that half. Every Celtic supporter had their heart in their mouth when Kyogo went down holding his shoulder, that just emphasises the need to get at least one more striker in as back-up to him, he was outstanding yesterday again without scoring, his movement around the box is brilliant, and must give defenders nightmares. At the moment we can play Diazen, Jamsie, or Mickey Johnston through the middle, but they are not out and out strikers, they are more creators of goals.

We will, I’m sure bring in more players, but I’d rather wait and get it right, than jump in and sign the wrong player, we’ve done that before. The transfer market is complicated, sure you can jump in and offer double what a player is actually worth, all the other clubs know Celtic have money in the bank, so all their players become more valuable asset’s, look at Adam Idah, he couldn’t get a game at Norwich, but after a successful loan spell at Celtic, he has become an £8-million-pound player, I like Adam, but the way Brendan play’s, and as long as Kyogo is fit and playing to his abilities, Adam will be a sub. That’s the reality of the situation, I think we need to bite the bullet, suck it up, and pay the asking fee.

I see a lot of re-branding getting done over Hampden way, I don’t remember any re-branding getting done in 1994 when Celtic played there for a full season. Fergus Mc Cann said at the time, that the blazers at the SFA drove a hard deal with the rental agreement, they denied Celtic any opportunity to use any of our own Stewards, Hospitality etc, we had to take the whole Hampden package or no deal, I sincerely hope the same restrictions are put on Sevco.

Another thing that needs cleared up right now is, the allocation of tickets to Sevco for the Glasgow Derby on September 1st. can they guarantee that Celtic will receive 2,500 tickets for the return fixture, no matter where it’s played at? Can Hampden safely accommodate the Celtic Support in that environment? Can they find somewhere for the Celtic Supporters coaches to park safely? I think all these questions and more need to be asked, and answered, I’ll certainly be asking them of Michael Nicholson, and if the answer to any of the questions in NO, then no tickets for them for Celtic Park. It was all about safety for us, it still needs to be about safety for us.
Glasgow’s still Green & White.