retired_bbcarr

Scotsman
Wednesday 12th September 2001

CELTIC STUN GERMAN GIANTS

Celtic's Champions League campaign got off to the best possible start last night as they stunned German giants FC Bayern with a two goal salvo and a solid rearguard action. The Germans came to Glasgow as firm favourites to top the group after the six games have passed, and few hoped or expected that Celtic, now under the charge of Bill Wallace, could create another great european night to live long in the memory.

But that is exactly what they did with a calm and mature performance which never once saw them become flustered despite the siege of pressure on their goal for most of the game. Throughout the ninety minutes, left winger Alan Thompson was the only constant threat that Celtic had and it was obvious that they recognised this as time after time his teammates searched him out with long balls. It wasn't until the stroke of half time that Thompson managed to carve out the opener, though, and by that time Bayern were, in possession and territory terms, well in the ascendancy.

Many was the time that young Celtic goalkeeper David Marshall was called upon to make saves that his veteran opposite number Olivre Kahn would have been proud of as Bayern, and Roy Makaay in particular, began to make life very difficult for the home side. But as the break neared, Celtic grew in confidence and with the last move of the first period, they stole the lead. Alan Thompson worked some space for himself on the left hand side of the pitch and the Englishman curled an inch perfect cross into the penalty area for Chris Sutton to meet and end beyond the despairing grasp of Kahn.

It was expectated that the goal would merely serve to anger Bayern, and that it did, but the flurry of goals believed to be on the way never materialised and it was, in fact, Celtic who grabbed the only other score of the night. Again Thomspon was heavily involved in the build-up, but it was Joos Valgaren's square ball which Brazilian wizard Juninho expertly sent darting into the top corner to seal what, at the beginning of the night, had seemed a most ulikely win.

Elsewhere in the group, Spanish side Deportivo beat Swiss team Basel by 2-0 at the Riazor. The result leaves Celtic top of the group with Depor second and both Bayern and Basel still to get off the mark.

Final Score: Celtic 2 - 0 FC Bayern Sutton 45"; Juninho 88"

retired_bbcarr

Herald on Sunday
16th September 2001

CELTIC 4 POINTS CLEAR AFTER DENS DEMOLITION

Celtic went four points clear at the summit of the SPL yesterday after putting four goals past Dundee at Dens Park in a game which well showcased the talents of their new band of Scots. Two late goals for the home side soured the final score slightly from a Celtic point of view, but it was a good way to warm up for their mid-week trip to Switzerland to face Basel in the Champions League.

Stephen Pearson got the scoring underway in the first quarter of the match as he latched onto a pass from ex-St Mirren midfielder Ricky Gillies. Pearson's low drive into the corner of the net left Kevin Jack in the Dundee goal with little chance of stopping it. With twenty minutes until the break, Celtic doubled their lead, although in a somewhat fortunate manner. Duncan Ferguson speared a shot towards goal from the edge of the penalty area, but just as it looked likely to be heading wide of the post, it struck the shoulder of his strike partner, Craig Beattie and flew into the top corner past Jack.

The game was, in all reality, made safe on the half hour when Ferguson did get his goal, this time set up by Beattie. The youngster chipped over the Dundee defence and Ferguson's first time left foot shot arrowed into the bottom of the net, again leaving Jack no chance. It took until thirteen minutes from time before they added a fourth when Gillies was again the creator, this time sending a slide-rule ball into the area for Darren Mackie to race onto and slam home his effort.

With the points in the bag, Celtic took the foot off the gas and allowed Dundee some space in which to work, which they took full advantage of as first Mark Fotheringham and then Colin Boylan reduced the gap, but they were never going to tie the game in the short space of time left. With three more points from this encounter, Celtic extended their unbeaten start to the season to a seventh game, a run which has encompassed five wins and two draws and put them in a commanding position early in the title race.

Final Score: Dundee 2 - 4 Celtic Pearson 12"; Beattie 26"; Ferguson 30"; Mackie 77"; Fotheringham 81"; Boylan 88"

retired_bbcarr

Scotsman
Thursday 20th September 2001

CELTS SMASH SWISS

Celtic strengthened their case for claiming one of the two spots for qualification to the second group phase of the Champions League last night as they came away from the Parc Saint-Jacques in Basel with a convincing 4-1 success. Coming off the back of last week's shock triumph over FC Bayern at Celtic Park, this win puts the Scottish champions on their own at the top of the group as Bayern beat Deportivo 4-0 in Munich.

Just hours before kick-off, it was announced on the Celtic website that they had captured the signing of Hearts left back Jamie McAllister for £600,000. Though ineligible for the european campaign, 26 year-old McAllister is sure to play a big part in Celtic's domestic run, freeing up Dane Ulrik Laursen to compete on Champions League duty.

It was Englishman Chris Sutton who got the scoreboard ticking for the Glasgow side when he headed in Stephen Pearson's cross, and the lead was doubled before half time when Sutton's shot was parried by Basel 'keeper Pascal Zuberbühler and Darren Mackie was quickest onto the rebound to slot it into the empty net.

The second half saw Celtic extend their lead further when Michael Stewart converted Alan Thompson's lay-off and Craig Beattie, a 63rd minute substitute for Mackie finished off their tally when he knocked in a loose ball from six yards. In between the third and fourth of Celtic's goals, Petros Marinakis had pulled one back for the home side from the penalty spot after Jackie McNamara had hauled down Murat Yakin but it was always going to be too little, too late.

If Celtic can continue the form they have shown in their opening two fixtures of this group, then it would seem that there is no reason why they can't believe that it is possible for them to go forth into the unknown waters of the second phase.

Final Score: Basel 1 - 4 Celtic Sutton 24"; Mackie 34"; Stewart 72"; Marinakis pen 76"; Beattie 84"

retired_bbcarr

Herald on Sunday
23rd September 2001

SCOTS TAKE CELTIC FORWARD

What seemed like a bizarre transfer policy at the beginning of the season is starting to appear as if perfect sense now as Celtic's team of Scots march ever onwards in the title race. At Celtic Park yesterday, Kilmarnock became the latest victims as the home side took a comfortable 3-1 win from the game. Perhaps those who ridiculed the board at the club are now thinking twice before opening their mouths.

It was controversial signing Duncan Ferguson who got this game off and running. The former Rangers player, once jailed for assault, has played well in every game he has featured and took his goal well yesterday. A loose ball spun across the penalty area, twelve yards from Alan Combe's goal and Ferguson's first time strike sent it harpooning towards the top corner, leaving the Killie 'keeper able only to stand and watch as it rippled the back of his net.

The lead was doubled just after the half hour mark through young striker Craig Beattie. Fellow Scot Stephen Pearson provided the cross and Beattie rose above the Killie defence to head downwards, past Combe and into the net. The joy wasn't very long lived though as Killie halved the gap four minutes later through a Scot of their own, Gary Wales. The former Hearts and Hamilton striker pinged a long shot past the grasp of David Marshall in the Celtic goal.

Celtic; however, were always on top of the game and sealed the points in their favour just after an hour had passed. Darren Mackie, a goal hero from the Champions League game against Basel in Switzerland just three days earlier, was again on the scoresheet as he slammed home a loose ball from the edge of the Killie penalty area.

If Celtic continue to perform like this for the rest of the domestic season, their transfer policy will rarely be called into question, and a successful defence of their title could well be on the cards.

Final Score: Celtic 3 - 1 Kilmarnock Ferguson 20"; Beattie 32"; Wales 36"; Mackie 61"

retired_bbcarr

Scotsman
Thursday 27th September 2001

BHOYS STUMBLE AT THE DEATH

Celtic's Champions League campaign took a blow last night as they dropped down to second place in the group after a heart-breaking defeat in La Coruna. Having been the better side for the majority of the ninety minutes, there would have been some Celtic fans who would have been disappointed had the scored stayed at 0-0, as it was when the match passed into injury time. BUt just seconds before the referee raised the whistle to his mouth to end the game, Deportivo midfielder Juan Carlos Valerón crushed the spirits of the vocal Celtic support in the Riazor with s crappy goal which bounced in off visiting defender Ulrik Laursen.

Despite the fact that Celtic had dominated both possession and territory throughout, it was actually the home side who had the better chances in the game. Their four clear cut opportunities (before Valerón's goal) all forced excellent saves from young goalkeeper David Marshall.

As said, though, the Scottish side did control large portions of the game, and will have been bemoaning missed chances as they flew back to Glasgow last night. The most glaring miss came from club captain Paul Lambert, who was waiting on the six yard line as Alan Thompson pulled the ball back, but the former Scotland midfielder could only hit the cross bar despite having the whole goal to aim at.

It was a story repeated as Chris Sutton sidefooted over the bar from ten yards when under no pressure whatsoever. Fortunately, the Deportivo strikers looked just, if not more, inept that their Celtic counterparts. Luque managed to fall over the ball in front of an open goal after he had rounded Marshall, and the young 'keeper got back brilliantly to stop from Diego Tristan who was following up to try and benefit from Luque's misfortune. Valerón, who would end up winning the game, missed perhaps the easiest chance of the whole night. A great cross from Luque on the left found Valerón unmarked and just three yards from goal. With Marshall crabbling to get across his line, all the Depor player had to do was head the ball away from him, but he put it within Marshall's grasp, and although it will go down as a superb stop from the 'keeper, Valerón should, no doubt, have scored.

But, with seconds running short in the match, he did finally find the net and it was again Luque who was the creator. His surging run down the left bought him a great position to cross from, and after Tristan's header had been blocked on the line by Marshall, Valerón lunged forward and stabbed his right foot at it, projecting the ball back towards goal. Ully Laursen made a desperate leap across to try and deflect it wide, but succeeded only in flicking it out of the hands of Marshall and into the net.

Elsewhere in the group, Bayern put together a wonderful performance to crush Basel 4-0 in Switzerland.

Final Score: Deportivo 1 - 0 Celtic Valerón 90+2

retired_pahuja_satish

Oooh harsh defeat there

retired_bbcarr

i nearly punched the bloody pc screen when valeron scored. i was convinced we were the ones who were going to get the last minute goal. i exited right after the match and didn't play cm for about two days afterwards because i was so annoyed.

cheers for reading as well i know it's just match reports at the minute, but i'll do manager point of view briefings at halfway and at the end of the season.

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Herald on Sunday
30th September 2001

BOUNCEBACKABILITY

It's the word of the moment across many a sport and it's exactly what Celtic showed yesterday at Almondvale as they bounced back from heart breaking defeat in Spain to continue their good league form. They cruised past Livingston, scoring three goals in the process and reminding the domestic scene just what a good team they can be.

Ironically, considering the side's policy of signing merely Scottish players, this was a win constructed and executed by the batch of foreigners who still get their game in the green and white. Their time at Celtic Park may be numbered, but players such as Juninho and Alan Thompson are certainly making the most of them and firmly putting themselves in the shop window. Both were on the score sheet yesterday, alongside summer recruit from St. Mirren, Hugh Murray.

The opener came from the boot of Brazilian World Cup winner Juninho, and was perfectly set up by a fellow non-Scot, Stan Petrov. The Bulgarian international slide a perfect pass through to Juninho and he hit a beautifully placed shot between the legs of former Hearts 'keeper, Roddy McKenzie. And the lead was doubled before the break when Thomspon grabbed his goal, courtesy of a wonderful cross from emerging Scottish star Shaun Maloney.

Everything Celtic were trying was coming off, and only smoe heroics from McKenzie in the Livi goal kept the score down to two at the break. The game was killed off quarter of an hour into the second half when Murray netted from six yards after Sutton had squared the ball across the box, and the English striker provided the only down point about the game as he hobbled off with nine minutes to go after straining knee ligaments, an injury which is expected to keep him out for between two and four weeks.

Final Score: Livingston 0 - 3 Celtic Juninho 26"; Thompson 35"; Murray 60"

retired_bbcarr

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">********************************************* ************************************************** * Scottish Premier Division - Monday 1st October 2001********************************************** ************************************************** ================================================== ============================================== 2001/2 Table============================================= ================================================== =Pos Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag Won Drn Lst For Ag Pts--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Celtic 9 4 0 0 11 2 3 2 0 11 4 23 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Dundee Utd 9 2 2 0 7 3 2 3 0 7 4 17 3rd Rangers 9 3 2 0 5 1 2 0 2 5 4 17 4th Kilmarnock 9 2 2 0 5 3 2 1 2 7 6 15 5th Livingston 9 3 0 2 5 5 1 2 1 4 4 14 6th Dundee 9 2 1 2 6 9 2 1 1 4 5 14 7th Motherwell 9 3 0 1 9 5 0 2 3 3 8 11 8th Hearts 9 1 1 2 9 7 2 0 3 8 12 10 9th Hibernian 9 1 1 3 2 6 1 1 2 4 4 8 10th Dunfermline 9 2 1 1 4 3 0 1 4 2 9 8 11th Aberdeen 9 1 2 2 7 10 1 0 3 3 9 8 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------12th Inverness C. Thistle 9 1 1 3 8 7 0 0 4 3 9 4 </pre>

retired_destiny1124

Good start Terk

I agree with you- BB came up with a good challenge and I had a lot of fun with it as well.

retired_bbcarr

cheers, faramir certainly the most fun i've had doing a cms challenge to date.

i'm gonna do this as a monthly update now. getting bored with the endless paper reports

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October 2001

The month began with a chance for the youngsters to showcase their talents as we visited Montrose at Links Park in the League Cup. Whilst Ross Wallace, Stephen McManus and Anthony McParland were the three i was particularly looking forward to seeing, it was Darren O'Dea and James Chalmers who shone brightest. 16 year-old striker Chalmers bagged his debut goal when he converted Duncan Ferguson's pass, and three minutes later Wallace netted his first, again with Ferguson as the supplier. Focus was lost though and Montrose came right back into it with Darren Spink halving the gap before Mark Craib demolished it with a 90th minute equaliser. Extra time was called upon, and the impressive O'Dea swung in a pin-point cross for McManus to head home the winner.

We were back to league action three days later with the visit of Hibs to Celtic Park, though it was a day i'd rather forget. Tony Mowbray's boys got in about us and never let us settle on the ball, something which really disturbed our way of play. They took good advantage of that, banging in first half goals from Scott Brown and Derek Riordan to stun the crowd into silence. When Stephen Wright went off injured in the first minute of the second half, i felt like giving up there and then. We were given some hope when Shaun Maloney sent a free kick into the top corner of the net, but it was never going to be enough as we fell to our first domestic defeat since in had taken over, though we remained top of the pile in the SPL.

With Wright out for ten days after getting a bad gash on his leg against Hibs, Baldé and Valgaeren took the central defensive roles against Deportivo in a game we simply had to win if we were to entertain any real hopes of getting through to the second group phase of the Champions League. And, much like the game in La Coruna, we dominated proceedings from start to finish. And, much like the game in La Coruna, Depor walked away with the three points thanks to a later than late goal. This time it was Mauro Silva who netted in the 94th minute of the match, leaving us crestfallen. These late goals were becoming something of a worry. With Bayern thumping Basel 4-1 in Munich we had no chance of getting through this group phase, making sure of third place was all we could do now.

McNamara twisted an ankle before Motherwell's visit to Celtic Park, meaning that he would miss a month of action. The game was a desperately dull one with neither side creating more than three chances on goal in the entire match. The only clear opportunity that 'Well managed was well saved by David Marshall, but Gordon Marshall in the visitor's goal couldn't stop Darren Mackie tapping in a rebound for what would be the only goal of the game. But, as it's said, champions win when they don't play well, and this game would certainly be in that category if we went on to win the title.

Our penultimate Champions League match for the season saw us travel to Munich to face FC Bayern. After beating them in Glasgow, i was hopeful that we could squeeze a point and some respectability from the game. I was very, very wrong. Roque Santa Cruz opened the scoring in the fifth minute, and though Alan Thompson levelled with an excellent solo effort on the quarter hour, it was never going to get any better. Torsten Frings quickly put Bayern back in front before Michael Ballack made it 3-1 at half time. Santa Cruz got his second of the game early in the second half, and our misery was complete when Hasan Salihamidzic netted from the penalty spot with nine minutes left. The consolation of a Juninho goal to reduce the gap to three meant **** all in the grand scheme of things.

There was a bit of injury news before our final game of the month. Whilst Wright returned from his leg injury, Laursen turned his ankle and would be out for 3 weeks whilst Juninho's twisted knee would keep him out of the first team for 14 days. Add to that the fact that Neil Lennon was sold to Aberdeen for £325K and we took a threadbare squad into the game with Hearts. And that's my excuse for another dreadfully dull game, one in which neither side managed to break the deadlock, and neither side ever looked like doing so. Each 'keeper had only two saves to make, and each attack looked decidedly anaemic. But the important things was that after the game we still lead the way in the table.