Bawbag to Heid bummer in a year
Last updated : 30 December 2008 By Mikbhoy
Over the last twelve months Gary Caldwell has gone from zero to cult hero in the eyes of many Celtic fans but even during the dark days the big central defender never lost the faith in his own ability.
His manager too has always had faith in the man he signed from Hibernian and he admires Caldwell's single-minded disposition "Some people say it is confidence, some others say it's arrogance. It depends who it comes from." said Gordon Strachan "Glenn Loovens has come along and I think he is a top, top player but look at Gary on Saturday. It scares him more than lifts him that there is competition. He made the comment when the team was read out for Ibrox that he didn't know how we were going to cope without the midfield dynamo. Being serious, though, Gary has a belief. Whatever game he plays in, he is not scared of it. And it's great to have players like that around you."
If the signing of Loovens is helping keep the central defenders on their toes then the boss is hoping that the pre-contract signing of Dundee United keeper Lukasz Zaluska will have the same effect on the whole of the Celtic Park goalkeeping fraternity and not just the current No.1 Artur Boruc. Shut-out's against Falkirk and Rangers in the last two games have been important for the Holy Goalie's confidence and for the confidence of the team as a whole thinks the manager "It's going to be the entire goalkeeping squad who are going to have to be on their toes now because there is someone else coming along. That's the way we work." said the Celtic boss "The clean sheets help, and I hope a lot of the attention will be dragged away from Artur now and back to the good players who are doing well at the moment."
"Falkirk has always been a difficult place for us, and we've not had too many results at Ibrox," he added "It's so long ago that we lost 4-2 to Rangers at our place and so many things have happened since then. I said to the guys I don't care what has happened before, you play from now. I'm not talking about the game. I mean the minute you are involved in. The lads have handled these games well. But now it's Dundee United, and they could be one of the hardest teams in the league."
"This championship it is not all about results in Old Firm games. I keep making that point." said the manager, "I watched United recently against Hearts, and both are incredibly hard to beat."
