Another Cup tie win for the Hoops. The hacks will hate us being successful.

[Joe O'Rourke]

Well we got there in the end, I’ve always stated, the only thing that matters in a cup-tie, is that you win, and progress to the next stage, or in the final, just win. Great credit must go to John McGlynn for the way he had his team organised, they gave us more problems than anyone else this season, I know we weren’t at full strength, but they still made us work, and scored two goals, albeit I thought the first goal should have been called up for a foul, that’s two more goals than the Deid Team from Govan scored against us.

I would also congratulate the travelling Falkirk Support, that’s the biggest away support at Celtic Park since we played Greenock Morton in the cup, so fair play to them, if they continue to follow their team with those sort of numbers, they should manage promotion. And also like Morton they were vey vocal in their support, at least until the game was all but over for them, I’m pretty sure that when their players were tiring, they got an extra boost from their supporters, that’s what supporters are supposed to do.

I was glad that Brendan accepted that he made too many changes in his starting line-up, I said to mates before kick-off, pick a strong team, and when the game is safe, then bring on your fringe players, too many times in the past we have played weakened teams and struggled to win, so lesson learnt. We also knew that Falkirk would tire in the second half, so their defenders must have been terrified when they say Nicolas Kuhn coming on, he was unplayable for his thirty-minute cameo. The back four had never played together in a competitive match, and it was Auston Trusty’s first start, so I suppose we benefitted in some ways.

I’m no fan of the Scottish Sportswriters, there are very few who write articles that are worth reading, and you get the hacks like Keevins and Jackson. Another one, Michael Gannon tried to have a few digs at the Celtic Board’s business in the transfer window, he rightly states that Celtic only signed Arne Engels and Luke McCown at the last minute, but there are reasons for that situation. Arne has been superb since he arrived, he’s an absolute Rolls Royce of a player, but he played for Augsburg in the Bundesliga, he was twenty years old, does Gannon not consider that Bayern or Dortmund might be watching the situation, you can bet Arne’s agent was hoping for a call from one of them, so when that didn’t come, they took the excellent offer to join Celtic, and sadly for us, if he maintains his form and progress, he will only be with us for two seasons at the most, and probably move on for about 40 million pounds.

Adam Idah was easier, Big Adam wanted to come, it was a case of agreeing the price, and I believe Norwich originally wanted around £15m for him. Kasper was a free agent and wanted to come, so again come to an agreement about his contract. As for Luke McCown, I know for a fact the Michael Nicholson knew of Luke, and had been watching him for a good while, but we were also watching Polish Midfielder Mateusz Bogusz at LAFC, so it’s not just one player that you watch, you watch three or four, and see who you can get. I think all in all it was a very good window for us, and we’ll see the benefit of that as the season progresses, and that will disappoint the hacks like Gannon, Keevins, and Jackson.

Our Champions League opener against Slovan Bratislava was sensational, it may not have been Barcelona or Real Madrid, but they still qualified for the Tournament, so they had to be decent, and Lubo’s assessment was spot on, they were a very big team. We all know it could have more, it we had taken all our chances we would be sitting at the top ahead of Bayern, but we’ll take a 5-1 victory any day. Next week in Dortmund will be a lot more difficult, but I think if Brendan tweaks his system a little we could do alright. Personally I would play Arne next to Callum in front of the back four, we have the pace up front to hurt them in counter attacks, but whatever happens, Celtic Park again showed it has the best atmosphere in European Football.
Glasgow’s still Green & White.