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The Celtic Report – Pre Season & European Football Part 1

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By Dean Robertson

@DeanRobertson95

Another pre-season has come and gone and we are well into the 2014/15 season now but, we here at thecelticblog thought it would be a good idea to look back on what was Celtic’s 2014 pre-season as part of our new and featured series ‘The Celtic Report’.

‘The Celtic Report’ will be a monthly series looking back on everything that happened on and off the field at Celtic.

On The Field

Celtic huddleThe Bhoys kicked off their pre-season with a tour of Austria, a tour that would see them play four games in eight days against a range of opponents. The first game of the tour seen the hoops, face Russian side FK Krasnodar in the Austrian city of Bad Wimbsbach on the 3rd of July. Celtic played a strong side that included the caption Scott Brown and last season’s top goal scorer Kris Commons. The hoops would run out comfortable winners, winning the game 3-1 with goals from Anthony Stokes, Stefan Johansen and Callum McGregor.

The Celts then travelled to the Austrian capital of Vienna to play 32 times Austrian league winners Rapid Vienna. The honours were split between the sides as the game finished 1-1 with Teemu Pukki netting for the hoops and Virgil van Dijk scoring Vienna’s goal as he put the ball into his own net.

Two days later Celtic would come out winners of a seven goal thriller as they beat Lask Linz 5-2. A hat trick from Pukki and a goal apiece for Balde and Griffiths gave the Bhoys their biggest win of the tour.

The Bhoys in green and white returned to Bad Wimbsbach on the 11th of July to play out a dull 0-0 draw against Czech side, Dukla Prague.

The Celts ended their Austrian tour with European football on their mind as just four days late the hoops would face Icelandic side KR Reykjavik in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. A goal from young Callum McGregor gave Celtic a 1-0 away win to take into the 2nd leg back in Scotland.

Celtic return to friendly action with a draw against Dynamo Dresden in Germany on the 19th of July before playing their second leg of the second qualifying round. An outstanding performance from the Bhoys would see them win 4-0 and win the tie 5-0 on aggregate. Doubles for Pukki and Van Dijk book Celtic’s place in the next round.

The hoops would travel back to Germany for another friendly against St Pauli. The Bhoys would suffer their first defeat under new manager Ronny Deila before returning to qualifying action only to suffer another loss, a heavy 4-1 away defeat to Polish side Legia Warsaw in the Municipal Stadium left the Bhoys with an incredibly hard task to achieve back home in the second leg, a task that they did not achieve as they were beaten again by the Polish side at Murrayfield but Celtic would still advance to the next qualifying round of the Champions League after it was announced that Legia Warsaw had fielded an ineligible player. This resulted in UEFA awarding Celtic a 3-0 victory and therefor securing them their place in the next round on away goals.

Before the Warsaw tie a predominately young hoops side were beaten 6-1 by English side Tottenham Hotspur in a glamour friendly on the 2nd of August.

Off The Field

The 2014 pre-season saw many arrivals and departures. The most notable arrival to Celtic Park during this time was the arrival of a new manager. After Neil Lennon left the club a host of names were thrown about as potential replacement, including Henrik Larsson and Roy Keane, but it would be an unknown Norwegian by the name of Ronny Deila that would take control at Celtic Park. Along with a new manager came a few new staff members, including ex Celt, John Collins and Haakon Lunov formally of Deila’s backroom staff at Stromsgodset.

fraser-forsterA host of player came and went during this time period as well. The Great Wall Of Celtic came crumbling down as Fraser Forster move to Southampton for a fee of 10 million pounds and the young man that scored that unbelievable goal against Barcelona left the hoops indefinitely as Tony Watt joined Standard Liege after a successful loan spell the previous season. Some young hoops also left Celtic Park. Denny Johnstone, Lewis Kidd and Michael Miller all left to go elsewhere.

The Hoops first signing of the season was ex Hearts, Sunderland and Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon on the 3rd of July, Gordon joined Celtic after almost two years on the sidelines. Later that month Ronny Deila added Jo Inge Berget to the side on a season long loan deal from Cardiff City. The following mouth three other players would join the Bhoys on loan. Aleksandar Tonev and Jason Denayer both arrive from English Premier League sides and Wakaso Mubarak joined from Russian side Rubin Kazan.

However the most talked about events off the field came after UEFA decision to award Celtic a 3-0 win over Legia Warsaw after they fielded an ineligible player during a qualifying game. This decision saw the hoops advance into the next qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League while Warsaw dropped into the UEFA Europa League. Legia Warsaw players, staff and fans reacted negatively to the decision and the club appealed time and time again as well as trying to drag Celtic throw the mud. Warsaw appealed to FIFA and Court of Arbitration for Sport but every appeal was unsuccessful and it was ruled each time that they had broken the rules and that UEFA decision would stand.

What did you make of the Bhoys pre-season?

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