retired_amyslack

The Glasgow Herald
November 9th, 2001
Celtic Go Dutch In UEFA Cup

In yesterday’s draw for the UEFA Cup 3rd Round, Celtic were paired with Dutch side Feyenoord, with the first leg to be played later this month in Rotterdam. This offers Tick Jones and his team an opportunity to gain a measure of revenge for their cruel elimination from the Champions League at the hands of Ajax.

retired_amyslack

Scotland On Sunday
November 11th, 2001
Celtic Well Below Pars

After their midweek heroics in Moscow, Celtic came down to earth with a thump as Dunfermline left Parkhead with a narrow 1-0 victory under their belts. For the second game in succession the Celts suffered at the hands of the Dutch. In this case the hands belonged to Dunfermline keeper Marco Ruitenbeek. The experienced Dutchman repelled the best of Celtic’s attacking efforts with a string of fine saves and took the plaudits with the Man of the Match award. The Pars defended well throughout but in truth the Celts never really got into their attacking stride. The match winner came against the run of play in the 72nd minute as Stevie Crawford skinned Colin Hendry in the area and shot past Rab Douglas for his first goal of the season. Seconds later Celtic suffered another blow when Jackie McNamara hobbled off. His steadying presence in defence will be missed over the next few weeks.

retired_amyslack

The Glasgow Herald
November 15th, 2001
Bosnia Defeated

Last night at Hampden Park Scotland recorded a solid 2-0 victory in their friendly against Bosnia. First half goals from Allan Johnston and Scott Dobie were enough for the win, the second friendly victory in as many months. One of the main features of the match was the excellent contribution of the two wingbacks Paul Telfer and Gary Naysmith. With Bertie Vogts now operating a slightly modified 5-3-2, the wide defenders form an important element in both defence and midfield. The favoured lineup uses 3 centre backs and only two central midfielders, with an additional attacking midfielder behind the front two. The wingbacks give the only real width to the team and as such are a critical link between defence and attack. Telfer and Naysmith seem to have established themselves as first choice and are performing the role very effectively.

retired_amyslack

The Glasgow Herald
November 16th, 2001
Hedman Heads Off

The transfer of Celtic keeper Magnus Hedman to Blackburn Rovers was announced yesterday. Graeme Souness is believed to have agreed a fee of around £2.7M for the Swedish international.


Scotland On Sunday
November 18th, 2001
Celtic Back On Top

In last night’s televised encounter at Dens Park between Dundee and Celtic, the Glasgow side came out on top. Their 2-0 victory takes them back to the top of the table and drops Jim Duffy’s side to third on goal difference behind Rangers. Dundee’s potent front pair of Fabian Caballero and captain Steven Milne were well marshalled by the Celtic defence, although the dangerous Paraguayan was still able to test Rab Douglas on several occasions. The impressive teenage midfielder Mark Kerr was on target for Celtic in the 25th minute to open the scoring. Celtic just edged the overall possession and had the greater number of chances, but had to wait until 12 minutes from time before Kevin Gallacher made the game safe.

retired_amyslack

The Glasgow Herald
November 23rd, 2001
Dutch Courage In Rotterdam

Celtic fought bravely against a strong Feyenoord team in their UEFA Cup 3rd Round First Leg tie in Rotterdam last night. Although they lost 2-1 on the night, the precious away goal may give them a fighting chance back at Celtic Park. Captain Paul Lambert was back in the starting lineup having recovered from his recent calf injury and the youngsters must have appreciated his authoritative figure in midfield. Feyenoord started enthusiastically but the Celtic rearguard kept them at bay initially. However, the home fans must have been encouraged by the fact that their team scored with their first attempt on target when Bonaventure Kalou neatly finished off a flowing passing move in the 18th minute. There was a further blow for the visitors when young Shaun Maloney hobbled off after 24 minutes. Fortunately, Celtic were able to see out the half without further damage. Ten minutes after the restart Mark Fotheringham grabbed an equaliser after the Feyenoord keeper had spilled a shot on the turn from Paul Shields. Parity lasted less than 10 minutes before Anthony Lurling lost his marker to turn home a low cross from Feyenoord captain Paul Bosvelt. Celtic came close to a second equaliser when Mark Kerr picked out Shields in the area but his header was well saved.

retired_amyslack

The Glasgow Herald
November 26th, 2001
Old Firm Triumph For Celts

Celtic recorded an emphatic 3-0 victory in last night’s televised encounter with Rangers. Parkhead was buzzing as a sellout crowd of over 60,000 were treated to powerful Celtic performance. Once again young Mark Kerr ran the show in midfield, overshadowing Rangers captain Barry Ferguson. The Gers started out with a very cagey approach but this only served to hand the early initiative to the home side. Celtic capitalised by scoring twice in the first 25 minutes. Kevin Gallacher got the show on the road when he headed home a diagonal cross from Kerr. Rangers young keeper Alan McGregor must take some blame as he allowed the diminutive forward to get to the ball first. Allan Johnston added a second minutes later, neatly sidestepping Neil McCann to shoot home. Once again there was a question mark over the keeper’s positioning as it wasn’t the best struck of shots. Rangers boss Alex McLeish clearly shared our misgivings as the youngster was replaced by Stefan Klos a few minutes later. Rangers tried to up the tempo and get back into the match but with Celtic captain Paul Lambert patrolling in front of the defence the visitors never made any impression. The game was killed off with 20 minutes remaining when Charlie Miller was bundled over in the area by McCann. Young defender Eddie Forrest calmly sent Klos the wrong way and that was that.

retired_amyslack

The Glasgow Herald
November 29th, 2001
League Cup Goes To Form

Last night’s League Cup Quarter Final matches all ended pretty much as expected. Celtic beat Aberdeen at Pittodrie by a single goal scored by Gary McCutcheon in the 51st minute. The match was not as close as the scoreline suggests and the Dons captain, veteran Danish keeper Peter Kjær, made some stunning saves during the course of the evening. Rangers saw off First Division St. Johnstone 1-0 at Ibrox thanks to a Steven Thompson strike in the first minute. Once again an experienced keeper was a significant figure as Alan Main repelled a number of scoring efforts. Kilmarnock also beat Divison One opposition 1-0 with an early goal as visitors Arbroath lost out to a Peter Canero goal after 4 minutes. But the closest match of all was the visit of Third Divison Albion Rovers to Dundee United. The Tangerines were pushed all the way and finally triumphed 3-2 with Craig Easton getting the winner in stoppage time. This was really tough on the part-timers as they put up a terrific fight. Albion took the lead through the excellent Chris Silvestro after 19 minutes. This only lasted 10 minutes as United scored twice in a minute through Billy Dodds and Stephen Carson. But Rovers got back on terms after an hour when Silvestro scored his second. They then withstood a frantic assault from United and just when it looked like they would hold out their luck deserted them. In the Semi Finals United will now face Celtic and Kilmarnock play Rangers.

retired_amyslack

Scotland On Sunday
December 2nd, 2001
Dull Fare At Parkhead

Before yesterday’s encounter between Hibs and Celtic at Parkhead, Hibs boss Bobby Williamson promised that his improving team would “give Celtic a helluva battle”. Well he was half right at any rate. A famous writer once described war as “long periods of boredom interspersed with moments of sheer terror” but yesterday all we got was the boredom. Hibs were totally bereft of any attacking ideas and successfully managed to drag Celtic down to their level and Nick Colgan dealt competently with the few Celtic goal attempts. So devoid of incident was the match that the 55,000 fans at Celtic Park could have had a nice quiet afternoon nap. In short, this was as dull a 0-0 draw as the scoreline suggests.

retired_karamelkel

Nice story Bobbev. Are you a journalist by trade?

retired_amyslack

Thanks EH. I'm not a journalist, I work in IT as it happens.

The Glasgow Herald
December 7th, 2001
Eight Goal Thriller At Celtic Park

The Celtic fans and players endured an emotional roller coaster at Parkhead during their UEFA Cup encounter with Feyenoord. A thrilling game finally finished in an incredible 4-4 draw as the advantage swung from team to team. Paul Shields, later voted Man of the Match for his performance, got Celtic off to a great start when he opened the scoring after just 8 minutes. This tied the aggregate score at 2 apiece but with Celtic having the advantage of an away goal. But 10 minutes before half time Feyenoord struck back with two goals inside a minute. The first came from ex-Celtic striker Pierre van Hooijdonk who prodded home the rebound after Rab Douglas had spilled the big striker’s initial header. And then as the game restarted Paul Shields was caught in possession by Anthony Lurling who dispossessed the youngster and then ran straight at the heart of the Celtic defence. He left Jackie McNamara for dead and dummied Douglas into committing himself before sliding the ball into the empty net. The visitors were 4-2 ahead on aggregate and Celtic had a mountain to climb. But the home side set about their task and shortly before half time the excellent Stephen McManus made it 2-2 on the night when he finished off a slick passing move. But 5 minutes into the second half the visitors were back in font when South Korean Song Jong-Kook outjumped the Celtic defence to head home a free kick. With Feyenoord now ahead 5-3 on aggregate Celtic needed to score 3 more goals. Shields got one of them 8 minutes later with his second of the evening to give the fans hope. But it was back to square one again 10 minutes after that when McNamara was sent off for a dangerous two-footed challenge and van Hooijdonk easily converted the resulting penalty. But Celtic refused to give up and a second goal from McManus in 74 minutes tied the scores on the night. Gordon Durie was thrown on as an extra attacker as the 10 men gave it their best shot but the two goals required were beyond them and Feyenoord qualified 6-5 on aggregate.