Getting to Know: Celtic FC

By: Martin | August 17th, 2009

Tomorrow presents a tricky away match at Celtic. Celtic’s home record in European competition is very, very respectable, and Parkhead is a notoriously tough place to play. I could pretty much sum up my knowledge about Celtic in a sentence–they play in Glasgow, they have a lot of loud fans, they have really awesome home shirts, and either they or Rangers win everything in Scotland every year. So to help me and all you get to know a little bit more about our upcoming European opponent, I enlisted the help of Matt, who does a tremendous job over at The Celtic Offside, to give us a better idea of what to expect tomorrow. If you’re interested, I returned the favor for him and answered some questions about the state of things at Arsenal, including Wenger’s job security, our position in the top 4, the current system for Champions League qualifying system, what Arsenal needs to do to advance to the group stage, what Arsenal fans think about having drawn against Celtic, and the “Fever Pitch” movie. I asked Matt several questions about the current state of his Bhoys:

Question 1: Celtic are underdogs in the tie against Arsenal. What do you make of your chances of advancing to the group stage, and what does Celtic need to do for that to happen?

Celtic know they are the underdog, but have been in this position before. Before losing to Dinamo Moscow in the first leg of the previous round, Celtic were almost unbeatable at home during European competitions, with only Barcelona getting a result. Celtic’s much maligned central defense will have to shut down Robin Van Persie. Yet, I would not expect to see Celtic playing 10 behind the ball to do this. One, it is not in Tony Mowbray’s attack at all times mentality, and two, a 0-0 draw at Celtic Park would not leave Celtic with much confidence. Arsenal are a world-class side, but Celtic will attack and get some chances. They have to convert these chances in the first match or else it could all be over by the time it gets to North London. A Celtic result in the first leg is crucial.

Question 2: What impact do you think the Celtic supporters will have on this tie?

Celtic supporters are known for their performance and involvement in big European nights and Tuesday will be no different. Fortress Parkhead has gotten that reputation for a reason, just ask Manchester United and AC Milan. The fans will definitely be up for it and will be a wall of sound.

Question 3: After three consecutive league championships, Celtic was nipped by Rangers late last season and finished 2nd. Was this just a speed bump or could we be in for a few seasons of Rangers being the premier team in Scotland?

It seems to just be a speed bump. There were large scale problems with the old manager, Gordon Strachan, and the system he was implementing. The SPL seemed to figure out Strachan’s tactics and he could not seem to adjust his policies. He played players out of place and seemed to alienate the best attacking options. Thankfully, Celtic and Strachan parted company after the season and Tony Mowbray, an attacking minded coach who’s system suits the natural attackers on Celtic like Aiden McGeady, Shaun Maloney, and Scott Brown. Rangers, meanwhile, have found themselves in financial trouble and have not added to a squad that looked poor last year. Celtic looked poor as well last year at times, but that was mostly due to the system in place. Celtic seem to be a much improved squad and will hopefully reclaim the SPL title.

Question 4: How do you think Tony Mowbray will do as Celtic manager?

Tony Mowbray is off to a good start so far. His style fits with the “Celtic way” and he has addressed the needs that have been so obvious to supporters for so long ( a Left freaking Back). He’s made some seemingly good purchases in the transfer season and seems to have the respect of the squad. So far, so good.

Question 5: How important is it, in terms of both finances and prestige, for Celtic to make the group stages?

Financially, it would be great for Celtic to make the group stages. To me, it’s a bit of a joke that either Arsenal or Celtic will not be in the group stages. I think UEFA really messed up with this new “Champions route” of qualifying. While some new teams from smaller leagues will make the group stages now, this will only further the dominance of the top clubs of Europe. Arsenal and Celtic have a much better shot of knocking off the Man U’s and Barcelona’s (since both, you know, have beaten these squads before) than the champion of Luxemburg. It’s always nice for Celtic to get some more money, but the club is not in the hairy financial situation that Rangers and many EPL teams are in, in terms of the debt of the club.

As far as prestige, since most of the SPL teams in European competitions have shit the bed up to this point, it’d be nice for Celtic to qualify. The SPL (often times, rightfully so) takes some shots about being a smaller league with two big fish. Celtic have qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League two of the last three years and have gotten some nice skelps in doing so. (Not that I like to defend them) Rangers has had some European success in recent years as well, yet Scotland still takes pelters. Celtic qualifying for the group stages would continue to help with that.

Question 6: Most Arsenal supporters, like me, probably aren’t very familiar with Celtic or the SPL–who are Celtic’s key players we should keep an eye on?

Aiden McGeady is a young Republic of Ireland winger who has the talent to start in any EPL club. He has amazing footwork, but his final ball is his only weakness. Arsenal would be wise to mark McGeady Tuesday. Of course, Artur Boruc is a world class goal keeper. He seemed to be distracted last season and struggled. However, Boruc has been spectacular this season so far. Finally, new signing Landry N’Guemo has been an absolute dynamo in the midfield this year. He has been running the midfield in every game, making tackles, stopping counter attacks, and starting the Celtic break with a great first pass. He’s just the type of player who could run the SPL and Mr. Fabregas and Mr. Arshavin might need some ice packs on their shins because of N’Guemo.

Question 7: Final prediction time. Who’s going to advance?

I usually finish many of my posts of the Celtic Offside by saying “Keep the Faith!”, so clearly I am going to predict the Celtic upset. I see Celtic getting a 2-0 result in the first leg at Celtic Park with new signing Marc Antoine Fortune getting his first goal in the Hoops and then Scott McDonald poaching Celtic’s second goal in his “the Australian Pippo Inzaghi” fashion. The trip to London will see Arsenal score an early goal and make things nervy. Arsenal will bombard the Celtic goal, but another clutch game by Artur Boruc sees Celtic through.

Good stuff. A very special and sincere thanks to Matt for helping out–he does a great job over at the Celtic Offside and it was very kind for him to take the time to help us out over here.

I’m not sure what the deal is outside of America, but I do know that the Celtic-Arsenal match tomorrow will be televised on FOXSports. I’ll be DVRing it and watching it tomorrow evening after work, but we’ll try to put up a game thread tomorrow afternoon for those of you watching it live. I’ll also have a short mini-preview tomorrow, but given that Matt has teed up the game quite nicely for us, and I give my thoughts on the match-up in more detail over at the Celtic Offside, I won’t go into too much detail.

Other than that, there’s not too much going on in the way of news. Barcelona have apparently conceded that Cesc Fabregas will not be leaving Arsenal this year. But Pep Guardiola couldn’t let it go without noting ominously that
“[h]e is a very interesting footballer, but now he will play another year in England.” Sounds to me like Barca fully plan on trying to pry him away from us again this time next year.

Is it concerning? Yes, of course. But the bottom line is that if Wenger doesn’t want to sell him, and Cesc doesn’t want to leave, he’s not going anywhere no matter how much money gets thrown at him. And for me, at the moment, Cesc loves the club and is happy where he is–despite all the media speculation, and attempts by Spanish clubs and the Spanish media to unsettle him with rumors, Cesc has firmly and repeatedly stated that he is happy at Arsenal and is here for the long haul. I believe that he loves the club, loves the fans, and loves Wenger, and wants more than anything to win trophies at Arsenal.

And it makes sense, too–if he wins a trophy at Arsenal, it will be HIS team that won a trophy–he’s the captain and arguably the best and most important player. At Barcelona at the moment I’m not even sure he gets into the first team, and that team is firmly Messi’s (and Xavi’s, and Zlatan’s, and Thierry’s, and Puyol’s, and Iniesta’s, etc.) team–Cesc would definitely contribute, but if that team won the Champions League again, he’d be one of the contributors. Whereas if he led Arsenal to the league, Champions League, or even FA Cup trophies, he’d cement his place as an Arsenal legend.