Raptor

Wednesday 22 August 2012, European Cup, 3rd Qualifying Round, 2nd Leg, Belfast Celtic v Polonia Warszawa, Casement Park

Then Wednesday night came. The real test was upon Celtic. Once again, an entire season's hopes rested on one game.

This time, there were no early goals. Both sides were cautious, unwilling to lose a goal early on. The Polish champions were hoping for a 1-0 win on the counter attack, to take the tie into extra time and possibly penalties, whereas Celtic were confident their defence would hold, which would see them through.

It wasn't until the final twenty minutes Polonia started to become a bit more adventurous. Until then, John Dodds didn't have a save to make. In fact, he didn't afterwards either. Whenever the visitors threatened to come close to creating a goalscoring opportunity, an inspired Joe Doyle was there to clear the ball. It won him the Man-of-the-Match award, and more importantly, saw Celtic reach the Champions' League proper for the fourth time in their history.

Celtic 0
Polonia 0
Attendance: 24,044
Celtic win 1-0 on aggregate

Raptor

On Friday, UEFA's annual extravagant party in Monaco saw Celtic drawn into Group D of the first group stage. While they avoided any trips to Eastern Europe and the usual counter attacking football played over there, the Irish champions still faced a daunting task. French runners-up Nantes, Dutch champions Feyenoord and British runners-up and their namesakes from Glasgow; Celtic, were the teams the Belfast side would have to do battle with for two tickets for the second round. At least all three opponents played a style of football Celtic felt comfortable with. And they had come close to knocking Feyenoord out of the European Cup twice already in the past decade. It'd be another meeting with former coach Jan van Dijk then.

Raptor

In the UEFA Cup, Shamrock Rovers would play Legia Warsaw and Linfield were up against Schalke. Shelbourne completed the Irish trio in the competition, and faced AEK Athens. St.Pat's and Cork City failed to make it this far, and were knocked out in the summer tournament of the Intertoto Cup.

After the draw ceremony and an excessive amount of eating and drinking, the day ended with the Super Cup final between PSV and Hertha BSC, won by the Dutch side thanks to a Mika Väyrynen goal. Alan Smith, meanwhile, showed that even a move abroad didn't change his character as the PSV striker got sent off for stamping.

Raptor

One thing hadn't changed in all those years. Even though the national team always played a Euro or World Cup qualifier in the first weekend of September, the League still insisted on having a full set of fixtures as well. It split attention between McCarthy's men (despite continuing failure to do well or often even qualify for major tournaments, the manager was still in charge) and the clubs. Come Saturday afternoon, many fans were arguably more interested in the Irish League programme than in Ireland's easy 4-0 over Macedonia.

Saturday 1 September 2012, Premier Division, Glentoran v Belfast Celtic, The Oval

That night, Celtic were at the Oval for the second time this League season. On this occasion, they were up against the actual owners of the stadium, Glentoran.

And the title favourites were in for a surprise. Glens were determined to show they were better than their early position at the foot of the table suggested. Having been beaten by Rovers (1-0) and Cork (3-0), pride was at stake. What better way to regain some than through a derby win. As expected, Celtic started the brighter of the two sides, looking for another early breakthrough.

But when it failed to materialise, the home side sensed their chances. A good spell of possession in the ten minutes leading up to half time saw Glentoran create three good goalscoring opportunities. John Dodds managed to keep Derek Kenny's first out, but moments later, he had to make the walk into his net following Ronnie Bull's header. A few minutes after kicking off again, Celtic found themselves 2-0 down, when Kenny atoned for his earlier miss.

Relentless pressure from the visitors led to many second half chances, but it wasn't until late sub Dave Fitzgerald scored with virtually his first touch of the ball before Glens' nerves were tested. They held, though, and Kevin Hodges' team inflicted defeat on Celtic for the first time this campaign.

Glens 2 (Bull 39, Kenny 43)
Celtic 1 (Fitzgerald 84)
Attendance: 3,793

retired_mellnet

Stevie sat in his new posh condo reading the latest headlines after yesterday's 1-2 loss to Glentoran. He picked up the morning papers.

"No money, No new faces, No title?" read the first one. The second read "O'Mao content to bleed Celtic dry?" . He was being attacked already. Damn Stevie thought, who would do this? Well he had a good idea. The stories smelled as much of Frost as Best smelled of liqour.

Stevie picked up his cell phone and dialed MJ.

MJ Marcus.

SO'M See the papers?

MJ Yeah, the Los Angeles Stars are 4-0.

SO'M Not American football, the locals about the loss yesterday.

MJ Damn those are harsh.

SO'M You want to guess who has to be behind them?

MJ Best?

SO'M I think it is not the monkey, but rather the Grinder. Best doesn't have enough acumen to be behind this. He might have told been the crony, but surely he was reading Frost's words of a piece of paper verbatim.

MJ Makes sense. But if they are unleashing a Phony War against us, what are we going to do? I mean the money crap is just crap. We just renegotiated a bundle new deals on the youngsters.

SO'M I know that, but the mindless fans, especially with Frost stirring up trouble, are only going to see what we are doing for the club today. They don't care the war ended yesterday or that we have the future set in those ten youngsters. No they only care about today, and if we aren't careful, we might not be around when those ten hit stride.

MJ Okay but what is the plan?

SO'M What we need is a distraction, or rather a distracting spinster and I think I have the answer...

Raptor

In midweek, the national team were in Prague, where they faced the Czech Republic. Both sides had won their opening World Cup 2014 qualifying game 4-0, and both were keen to get the early advantage in Group 2.

BPL aces Robbie Keane and Stephen Dunlop were dangerous up front, but Petr Cech guarded the Czech goal well. Wingbacks Lastovka and Piesko were outstanding too. Both earned a 10/10 rating for keeping Ireland's wide men from sending crosses in, while each delivering a perfect cross to striker Stepan Vachosek in the second half. The AEK Athens forward beat Conor McDonagh of Internazionale, Ireland's new number one goalkeeper, on both occasions to set the home side on their way to a vital 2-0 win.

For O'Mao and Johnson, the Irish defeat couldn't have come at a better time. The entire media were too busy asking questions about Mick McCarthy's neverending reign as Ireland manager, completely ignoring the situation at Belfast Celtic. They knew, though, that failure to beat Kilkenny at the weekend would just as quickly attract the press again...

Raptor

Saturday 8 September 2012, Premier Division, Belfast Celtic v Kilkenny City, Casement Park

Already feeling the pressure of the imminent start of the real European campaign, Arena decided to spare some of his key players a League game three days before the trip to Nantes.

What the American failed to understand was that the general level of the Irish League was higher than he gave it credit for. You couldn't afford to rest half your first team anymore. Yet an early goal by David Healy covered that up nicely, and lured Celtic into a false sense of security.

A couple of warning shots wide off target just after half time should've woken up the Belfast side's defence, but didn't. Only sloppy passing by Kilkenny prevented them from really threatening Danny Milosevic's goal on his first appearance of the season, but Celtic settled for it.

Until the inevitable happened, nine minutes from the end. Winger Gareth Conway cut inside his marker, captain Keith Andrews of all people, and wasn't challenged on his way into the penalty area. When a last-gasp tackle finally came in, the ball had left Conway's foot, on its way to the top corner of the net. It was 1-1, and Celtic never had enough time to restore their control. Two very expensive points had been dropped against a side who were four years without a League win against Celtic.

Celtic 1 (Healy 11)
Kilkenny 1 (Conway 81)
Attendance: 17,390

Raptor

Belfast Telegraph, Monday 10 September 2012

Celtic sacrifice domestic control for Euro glory

Just four games into the new Irish League season, it's already becoming clear where Belfast Celtic's priorities lie in 2012/3. During Saturday's dull and poor 1-1 draw at home to Kilkenny, the team appeared to save their strength for Tuesday's Champions' League opener in France. An insider, who asked to remain anonymous, claimed the club's management had set Europe as their number one priority this season. If necessary, Celtic will sacrifice the League title, the source said. When asked how the club's fanbase would react to surrendering domestic control for the sake of slight European progress, the response was "People ought to trust Celtic's management. These people have an impeccable knowledge of football, and will steer the club to great success".

Recently, doubts had arisen regarding Celtic's American management's ability to run a European football club.

>>> Full match report on page 46

Latest tables
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Irish Premier Division 1.Shelbourne 4 3 0 1 12 - 8 +4 9 2.Shamrock Rovers 4 3 0 1 7 - 4 +3 9 3.Belfast Celtic 4 2 1 1 7 - 5 +2 7 4.Linfield 4 2 1 1 4 - 3 +1 7 5.Cork City 4 2 0 2 6 - 3 +3 6 6.Galway Utd 4 1 2 1 9 - 9 0 5 7.Kilkenny City 4 1 2 1 5 - 5 0 5 8.St. Pat's Athletic 4 1 1 2 4 - 6 -2 4 9.Glentoran 4 1 0 3 2 - 7 -5 310.Athlone Town 4 0 1 3 5 - 11 -6 1Irish First Division 1.Limerick 5 4 0 1 14 - 3 +11 12 2.Bohemians 5 3 1 1 7 - 5 +2 10 3.Dundalk 4 3 0 1 6 - 4 +2 9 4.Derry City 5 3 0 2 10 - 11 -1 9 5.Portadown 5 2 2 1 8 - 6 +2 8 6.Bray Wanderers 4 1 2 1 4 - 5 -1 5 7.Cliftonville 5 1 2 2 5 - 10 -5 5 8.Carrick Rangers 4 1 1 2 4 - 5 -1 4 9.Waterford Utd 4 0 3 1 1 - 2 -1 310.Coleraine 5 1 0 4 4 - 9 -5 311.Sligo Rovers 4 0 1 3 3 - 6 -3 1</pre>

Raptor

Tuesday 11 September 2012, European Cup, 1st Group Stage, FC Nantes Atlantique v Belfast Celtic, La Beaujoire

Frost's prediction Celtic would find it easier to play Western European opposition than clubs from the former Eastern Block was proved right in the first half of the Belfast side's first CL group game at Nantes. For 45 minutes, the Irish champions had the better of the game, and should've scored twice.

Should have, but didn't. Already, Celtic's lack of options up front was painfully highlighted as David Healy had a poor game but couldn't be replaced. Yes, Gary Malone was on the bench, but he wasn't fit enough to play a half, never mind the entire game. Despite playing well himself, Glen Keddy couldn't do it on his own. Effectively, that's where Celtic lost their golden opportunity to make Europe take note of their intentions.

In the second half, the visitors were always going to struggle. Having had to replace star midfielder Michael Keane (twisted knee) with out-of-form Michael Foley Sheridan, Celtic lost control of midfield. Gradually, Nantes forced their will upon the Irish team. They were helped by a goal out of the top drawer, scored by Portuguese wonderkid José Mota. Billed "the next Figo", the 21-year-old lived up to his reputation by exquisitely chipping John Dodds from 30 yards. It didn't look like it at the time, but that Mota goal turned out to be the only one of the game, and so Celtic were bottom of their group already.

Nantes 1 (Mota 51)
Celtic 0
Attendance: 39,955

Raptor

A disappointing night for the travelling Celtic fans, of which Frost was one, took a turn for the worse when they found out the French had decided to play their national sport again: Air traffic controllers went on strike that evening, and Frost's midnight flight back to Belfast was cancelled. The Irish party would return home until the following day, by train or bus.

During breakfast the following morning, he went over to Belfast Telegraph sports editor Keith Stuart, who usually covered Celtic's away games in Europe himself...

MF Morning Keith. What a bìtch of a night yesterday eh?

KS Tactically naive. Can't believe Arena didn't take one of Celtic's youngsters with him to cover for Keddy and Healy.

MF Well I can, they're not ready for first team action. But that Yank's digging his own grave by saying how wonderful Celtic's kids are.

KS He's just doing that to hide his lack of spending, while we all know O'Mao would rather please the Raptor Group with high dividends than to please Celtic's following with big-name signings.

MF We need to lose that trio a.s.a.p. Keith. By the way, I haven't thanked you for the wonderful piece in Monday's Telegraph.

KS You're welcome. As a Celtic fan, I want O'Mao, Johnson and Arena out as well.

MF "These people have an impeccable knowledge of football" They'll never even *think* of me being that "insider". I expect many Celtic fans to read that and think "like fück they do".

KS Reverse psychology, nice one.

MF It'll take something solid to get rid of them though. Have we got anything yet?

KS Still investigating a few rumours. For the time being, we'll have to settle for negative exposure. Today's Telegraph report on the game won't be too kind on Arena's tactical prowess, and with the news I just received, tomorrow's follow-up article will be even worse for him and better for you.

MF What news?

KS Remember Lee James?

MF Yeah. He'd have made the Celtic first team if he had been patient.

KS Well, he was signed by Leeds this morning. £4.4m from Palace.

MF Cool. That means 10% for Celtic. I'm still making money for them, years after I left.

KS And another 5% under UEFA rules. By my calculations, £660,000 goes Celtic's way, enough to buy at least a backup forward. If the club don't spend that on squad reinforcements then we'll hammer it down the fans' throats.

MF Make sure you don't put your own reputation on the line. I'm far too happy to have an influential part of the press on my hand.

KS Don't worry. Hey, I've got to go, my train departs in 45 minutes.