This Past Week At Paradise

By Dean Robertson

@DeanRobertson95

There has been no top flight club football in Scotland this past week due to the international break, and normally with an international break, things are rather quiet at Celtic Park and the only activity is behind the scenes as everyone at Celtic keep the club ticking over until the players return but not this week. This past week has been an eventful one, a week that has had its highs and lows. So lets look back on this past week at Paradise.

Monday

Monday started off with the sad news that had broken at the weekend, but didn’t reach the attention of most fans until Celticfc.net published the news on Monday. The sad news was that a Celtic legend had passed away and that legend was the man who opened the scoring against Rangers on that famous day in the sun at Hampden Park, that legend was Sammy Wilson.

Everyone here at thecelticblog would like to extend our deepest sympathy to his friends and family. Sammy Wilson will always be part of the Celtic family and you will forever be remembered in song.

‘Sammy Wilson put the Celtic one up, in the final of the Scottish League Cup…’

R.I.P Sammy Wilson!

Tuesday

Tuesday was a very busy day as no less than fifteen first team players and two under 21 players left to meet up with their national teams.

Scott Brown, Charlie Mulgrew, Craig Gordon, Anthony Stokes, Nir Bitton, Beram Kayal, Jason Denayer, John Guidetti, Mikael Lustig, Emilio Izaguirre, Stefan Johansen, Adam Matthews, Aleksandar Tonev, Mubarak Wakaso, Efe Ambrose, Stuart Findlay and Eoghan O’Connell had all been selected for their national teams.

One of the players that was called up for his national team was Stefan Johansen and as well as getting the call to represent his country, he was voted the best players from his country as he won the Gullballen (Norway’s Player of the Year Award).

Wednesday

Tuesday saw many stars leave Celtic Park and travel to different parts of the world, but on Wednesday three stars from the other side of the world arrived at Celtic Park.

Ben Franks, Dane Coles and Keven Mealamu of the New Zealand rugby team, The All Blacks arrived at Celtic Park for a tour of the ground and a Celtic history lesson.

Friday

Thursday was the quietest day of the week but only 24 hours later all eyes were on Celtic Park as Scotland took on Ireland at Paradise.

On this rare but amazing occasion many Celtic fans at Parkhead found themselves on opposite sides as ex Celt Shaun Maloney scored a wonderful goal to give Scotland the win.

However, this amazing occasion was hit with tragedy as after the game the news broke that a fan had lost his life.

Nathan McSeveney fell in exit 33 of the stadium before being taken to Glasgow Royal Infirmary. The 20 year old from Cumnock, Ayrshire passed away in the hospital after the incident.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Mr McSeveney’s family and friends.

R.I.P Nathan McSeveney.

Saturday

Celtic FC released a statement regarding the sad events that took place on Friday night.

“EVERYONE at Celtic Football Club is deeply saddened to learn of the death of a young supporter following last night’s match between Scotland and the Republic of Ireland.

This was a terrible, tragic incident and our sincere thoughts and prayers are with the young man’s family at this time.”

Sunday

The last day of the week was quiet, however, Celtic announced on their website that both John Kennedy (First team coach) and John McLaughlan (Under 15s coach) had achieved their UEFA Pro Licence and are now able to manage in any of Europe’s top leagues but we here at thecelticblog would love to see them stay at Celtic Park.

What did you all think of the events that took place at Paradise this week?