Prior to the Boavista game, there had been much talk of when the SPL would decide on a date for the final Old Firm fixture of the season. Chief Executive Alan McDonald had been speaking throughout the week of when he wished for the game to be played, and on Thursday afternoon a decision was made.
The SPL's decision to make Celtic play Rangers at Ibrox, just two days after we return from Boavista is totally outrageous. We are representing Scotland in Europe, and this is how we are repayed, told to play an Old Firm title decider 2 days later. The fact that the game could well go into extra-time could add to the amounts of football being played is another influence on why the game should not be played at another date. Alan McDonald's comments that it was an 'outrageous' decision were correct, and Celtic have appealed against the decision to play the game on that day. The appeal, however, is likely to be dismissed by the appeals comittee quicker than you can say 'Conspiracy.'
Onto the Boavista game, and Celtic totally dominated the first half, without producing many clearcut chances. We should have had one, if not two penalties, where a Boavista defender appealed to handle the ball on two occasions. We did, however, get a penalty in the second half, which Henrik Larsson missed. It is now a few we have missed this season, and hopefully our inability to score penalty kicks won't cost us our season.
Boavista took the lead with a freak goal but Celtic equalised through a Larsson goal, and were unlucky not to get a victory against a boring Boavista side, quite content with a 1-1 draw. We are more than capable of scoring over in Portugal, a week on Thursday and I am still confident the Bhoys will go through.
In the second half of the Boavista game, Neil Lennon mad a pass back to Rab Douglas from about 25 yards out, which was met by loud grunts from a large section of the Celtic crowd, and boos from a small minority. To anyone who did boo Lennon, you should be ashamed of yourself, and should not return back to Celtic Park. The guy tries his heart out for the team, and that is all I have to say on the matter.
Overall, the Kilmarnock game on Sunday was a canter, Celtic never looked like losing. Two class goals from Stan Petrov and Henrik Larsson clinched the win, to keep the pressure piled on Rangers.
The new Celtic kit got revealed today at the annual Training Day, at which over 13,000 people turned up to see. The fact that we can attract more people to watch the team train than most clubs in the league can for a competitive SPL game proves how much we need to get out of the league.
The new strip looks smart, but the Carling sponsor seems to ruin it slightly. It features a new badge on the back of the strip, to commemorate 100 years of Celtic wearing the Hoops.
Hopefully we'll all be wearing the new strip with 'Champions '03' on the back next season!
So it's Hearts at Tynecastle on Saturday, in one of our vital games in hand. If we win it, the gap will be down to 5 points, with one game in hand to play. All the talk about a potential banana-skin should be laughed at looking back at the last game there, where the Bhoys were 4-0 up at half time!
Hail Hail!
Kevin Smith
Editor