11/29/2002

Petrov set for new Celtic talks

Stilian Petrov's agent has revealed he is ready to revive contract negotiations with Celtic as soon as manager Martin O'Neill gets in touch. The 22-year-old still has over two years remaining on his current deal, but talks broke down after both parties failed to reach an agreement over new terms.

The Bulgarian international captain then upset O'Neill when he said he would not sign the new contract and he would be forced to leave for better money.

But Petrov has since got back in Celtic's good books and shown how influential he is to the club during Celtic's UEFA Cup run and return to the top of the Scottish Premier League.

The midfielder's agent also revealed he is happy at Parkhead and is ready to reopen discussions with O'Neill at any moment.

Latchezar Tanev said: 'He has a contract there at Celtic that goes on for two more years and he is not interested in anything else at the minute.

'He is very happy at Celtic and does not want to leave. He has a lot of respect for the manager and he is very professional.

'In the future we will see what will happen with him because he is a very good young player, who has so much ahead of him.

'I am ready to speak with Martin O'Neill at any time he makes contact, but I have nothing special to speak to him about at the minute.

'But if he wants to reopen talks with me soon then of course I am willing to do that because Stilian is very happy in Glasgow.'

Petrov was Celtic's best player in their 1-0 UEFA Cup win over Celta Vigo at Parkhead, illustrating how important he is to the club.

The youngster has been linked with some of Europe's biggest clubs, but the latest news is encouraging for O'Neill.

The midfielder produced a superb display, despite having 15 stitches in a facial wound at the weekend and his boss singled him for extra praise after last night's performance.

'He was terrific,' said O'Neill. 'I wouldn't have given him much chance to play on Sunday when he came off at Livingston.

'But his spirit never wavered and he epitomises our own performance and the side also played with plenty of spirit and determination no doubt about it

11/22/2002

Bonnes off to Luton on Loan.

Celtic have let Stephane Bonnes go to Luton on loan in an effort to let the young Frenchman experience first team football.

11/21/2002

BOTH UEFA TIES LIVE ON BBC.

BBC Scotland has secured the rights to screen both legs of Celtic's Uefa Cup third round clash with Spanish side Celta Vigo. The live action will be the latest in a season of wall-to-wall televised football on BBC Scotland.

The first leg at Celtic Park takes place on Thursday 28 November with a 2005 GMT kick off

11/20/2002

Awards for Swedish duo.

Bhoys duo Johan Mjallby and Henrik Larsson won Defender of the Year and Striker of the Year respectively in Sweden's top awards ceremony. The Celtic pair were honoured by their countrymen in Stockholm, along with several other Swedish football stars including Arsenal's goalscoring midfielder Freddie Ljungberg. There is little surprise in Larsson's acclamation - the Parkhead hero is very much back to his best having scored 22 goals in all competitions so far this season, despite claims that he looked jaded and should be dropped earlier in the season. And Mjallby's award will be a welcome confidence booster for the player signed in a £1.5m deal from AIK Solna four years ago on Wednesday, having picked up an injury which has forced him out of Martin O'Neill's first-team plans for the last three months.

11/18/2002

Motherwell game switched.

Celtic's home match against Motherwell scheduled for Sat 30th November 2002 has been moved back 24hrs to the Sunday due to our qualification for the next round of the UEFA Cup.

11/18/2002

Welcome back Lubo.

Great to see the Slovakian magician back at the ground yesterday even if it was only to do the Paradise Windfall draw.

11/16/2002

Celta Vigo live on Sky.

Celtic fans will get the chance to see our next opponents in the UEFA Cup, Celta Vigo's match against Real Betis is being show live on SKY TV on Sunday evening.

11/16/2002

CELTIC VICTORY FOR SCOTTISH PRIDE

All of Scottish football should be delighted with Celtic's victory over Blackburn on Thursday night.

Celtic had faced a lot of stick after the first-leg performance at Parkhead and the critics have long ridiculed Scottish football as being nothing more than mediocre.

Celtic went down to Blackburn and silenced them in style.

Blackburn had more possession but Celtic were more ruthless around the box.

Sutton had a cracking game and Rab Douglas did his reputation no harm at all.

The further Celtic can go in the UEFA Cup, the better for all of Scotland.

11/12/2002

Blackburn Rovers v Celtic clash will go ahead

Blackburn Rovers have insisted that the second leg of their so-called Battle of Britain Uefa Cup second round clash with Celtic will go ahead at Ewood Park on Thursday night as scheduled.

This is despite the Fire Brigades Union calling a national two-day strike, starting from 6pm tomorrow night.

Rovers have contingency plans in place for their clash with Celtic on Thursday night which have been approved by Lancashire police and local authorities.

Blackburn's stadium safety manager John Newsham said: "We have contingency plans in place for the strike action.

"We will revert back to stewards doing the fire cover rather than the fire officers.

"All the stewards have been trained in putting fires out anyway.

"There are certain other options we can look at like banning leaflet distribution and reducing the risk in certain areas such as kitchen areas.

"We have discussed this with local authorities, certified authorities - who issue our safety certificate - and the police.

"A fire strike should not prevent a football match from going ahead."

11/12/2002

GLENBOIG CSC

This branch is having a Games Night on Friday 6th December in the Big Shop Glenboig. Event commences at 8pm, and all are welcome. Teams of four are encouraged, with entrance being £1.00p per person. All money made is for Club Funds. Categories are speed pool, speed pint, dominoes and a short quiz. Further details are available from Neil Galbraith on 01236-875973

11/12/2002

Referee for Sunday :

Celtic v Partick Th.

Kevin Toner

11/11/2002

From the BBC website. Petrov agent cools speculation

Celtic star Stilian Petrov's agent insists the player has not ruled out extending his stay at the club. Latchezar Tanev told BBC Sport Online that nothing had changed since last week when he told the BBC that negotiations would restart in the summer.

Petrov was reported on Sunday to have turned down a new £3.75m five-year deal and declared that he would not consider any new offer.

But Tanev told BBC Sport Online on Monday that Petrov had made no such decision.

"Stilian has two-and-a-half years left on his contract," he said.

"A lot can happen in two-and-a-half years. He would never say he would never sign."

Celtic manager Martin O'Neill insisted on Sunday that he was comfortable with Petrov's apparent decision not to extend his current contract at the club.

The Bulgarian international was quoted as saying that he would leave the club at the end of his current deal, which expires in 2005.

But O'Neill, like Tanev, stressed that there was no need to rush into a decision.

"He has another two-and-a-half years still left to run at the football club which, to be perfectly honest, is an eternity these days," O'Neill said.

"It's not as if Stan will be leaving next week."

O'Neill stressed that Petrov's omission from the team that beat Dundee United had nothing to do with the player's decision.

But he suggested that the player would face internal disciplinary action after speaking to the Sunday Mail without permission.

11/8/2002

Bus seats available for Blackburn game.

The Port Glasgow Emerald CSC has five seats available for anyone wishing to travel to the Blackburn Rovers game. Supporters wishing to travel must have their own match tickets.The trip leaves on Wednesday morning at 10.00am, accommodation will be in Blackpool for two nights on a bed and breakfast basis. Total cost is 75.00 per person; this includes transfer to Blackburn for the game and returning to Blackpool after the game. The coach departs Blackpool on the Friday shortly after lunchtime. All enquiries should be e-mailed to mdinning@yahoo.com

11/8/2002

Blackburn Rovers Official Site

CELTIC TICKET STATEMENT

Rovers officials have discovered two instances of season tickets holders purchasing tickets on behalf of other individuals that who have turned out to be Celtic fans.

The individuals concerned have been contacted and will be interviewed by the club. Depending on individual circumstances action taken against supporters who have bought tickets for Celtic fans will range from a ban on buying tickets for matches at Ewood Park, to a loss of their season tickets.

Rovers Secretary Tom Finn said "We are disappointed that some fans would choose to profit from their right to purchase tickets and thus jeopardise the segregation arrangements for this match. We will continue to monitor ticket sales closely and take strong action against any individual discovered buying tickets for the use of away supporters."

11/5/2002

LIVERPOOL BEWARE!!!!!

FC Basel who knocked Celtic out of the Champions League qualifying stages are just one point away from going through to the second group stages. The Swiss side defeated Spartak Moscow earlier this afternoon by two goals to nil. If they can secure one point at home to Liverpool next week then they will go through at the expense of the side currently sitting in pole position in the English Premiership.

11/5/2002

Mick McCarthy resigns from ROI post.

Mick McCarthy has left his post as the Republic of Ireland boss, no doubt speculation will start now linking him with the Celtic job if Martin O'Neill decides not to extend his Celtic contract.

11/5/2002

WEEKEND REFEREE

JOHN UNDERHILL will take charge of Sunday's BBC TV SPL clash between Dundee United and Celtic.

11/4/2002

From the Association Website

BLACKBURN TICKETS FIASCO FATCATS 3700 - HARD CORE 1500

The breakdown of tickets for the UEFA Cup tie in Blackburn is as follows : Out of an allocation of 6900, an incredible 3700 have been given to "Right to buys" which is more than double the usual amount of 1800 for domestic away games. Only 1500 have been given to CSCs, with each Club receiving 15% of those on the Euro ATRS. Many buses will be forced to travel to the game with 3 or 4 tickets between 50 people, a recipe for disaster in one of our most high profile games in recent years. The rest will go to Individuals on the European ATRS. In other words once again the hard core who are the life blood of the Club are being ignored in favour of those with a few bob, hangers-on and many who haven't been to a game in their lives. The Club cannot say it wasn't warned.

11/3/2002

LARSSON SCOOPS ANOTHER AWARD

Celtic's Magnificent Seven scoops Opta's SPL Player of the Month award for a second successive time, illustrating that there is quite simply no one to match the Swedish striker in Scotland.

Henrik Larsson played just three SPL games for Celtic during October, but in that time he managed to score five times, courtesy of an unnerving 83% shooting accuracy average and 42% chance conversion ratio.

The Bhoys' hitman also retained his excellent all round standard of play, with his efficient 77% passing accuracy average helping him bag his sixth assist of the season.

Incredibly, Larsson's last six competitive matches have brought him a total of 12 goals, and should this form continue, he looks odds on to win Europe's Golden Shoe award for a second time in the last three seasons.

11/1/2002

Aberdeen match goes ahead

Aberdeen have confirmed the game at Celtic on Sunday will go ahead.

There had been fears the Dons would ask for a postponement after a virus swept through Pittodrie during the week.

The club had to call off the midweek CIS Insurance Cup tie against Motherwell after 22 players succumbed to the illness.

But the club and the SPL have announced the game at Parkhead will now go ahead as scheduled.

An Aberdeen spokesman said: "Things have improved greatly and only five players have been sent home on Friday.

"However, we are still hopeful some of the first team players will be fit for Sunday's game."

The stadium had been closed until Friday to prevent further illness at the club as many players and staff fell victim to the bug.