| The journey to Glasgow from
Reading began at 4.00 a.m. It was raining then and that was all we
saw for the whole trip.
Flying with a budget airline for less
than a tenner sounded too good to be true. And it was. After
paying to get to Luton, parking the car and airport taxes, it would have
been cheaper to take the train. And we wouldn't have been herded
like cattle in the departure lounge.
We arrived in Glasgow at about 9.30 a.m.
and wandered round the town before searching for the Hotel.
Parkhead/Celtic Park - depending on who you
ask - was a 20 minute bus ride from Glasgow town centre. We were
greeted with ridicule by the local plod for being naive enough the wear
shorts in Scotland. There must have been 1000 or so Spurs fans who
had made the trip. Not a bad number considering it was a wet Tuesday
evening and Santini had dropped lots of hints about resting first team
players.
The fact that Celtic would contemplate a
friendly when their season had already started shows how desperate they
are for meaningful football. You would have thought it was them
who would be fielding the reserves. Their team looked quite strong.
The team announcement was so muffled all
I was able to gather was that Doherty was captain for the evening.
The game itself was not memorable.
Mark Hughes look assured in midfield, Mabizela looked the best defensive
option out of Bunjy, Doc, and Richards although Defendi looked promising
in the second half. Mark Yeates made some strong running on the
right. Edson Silva showed that he needs a whole football pitch to
himself to control a pass - Rebrov must be mortified to be thought a
worse option than Silva and Bakari. Goals from Beattie (not SCBC
Beattie) and Wolves reject Camara had the Celtic fans thinking their
team was special, beating Premiership opposition. The end of the
game and - as often is the case - no acknowledgement from the players or
coaching staff for the travelling fans, who, after all, weren't being
paid to be at this meaningless friendly.
Spurs fans were - as always at away games
- in great voice and were graciously applauded at the start of the
game. Some chose to leave a good 15 minutes towards the end.
Justified I guess as it was a very long trip down the M1.
The rain held off long enough for us to
walk back to our hotel. I look on Teletext to find we had signed
another defender Thimothee Atouba ... was he going to solve our frightening
lack of pace in midfield. Only time will tell.
Our flight home Wednesday evening was
delayed, so we arrived home early hours of Thursday morning, counting
the hours to the Liverpool game. Santini pleading in the press
that we fans shouldn't expect too much as the team has not had a chance
to bed. Perhaps he has a case with Naybet and Atouba arriving a
week before the start of the season. But in not one of the 'too
many pre-season games' did he play his strongest team. |
