6/30/2003

D-DAY FOR GOALKEEPER BROTO

Celtic goalkeeper Javier Sanchez Broto is facing D-Day in his bid to stay at Celtic Park. The Spaniard’s short-term deal expires tonight hoops boss Martin O’Neill has made his first and final contract offer to keep him at the club.

Joe Royle, the Ipswich Town manager, has admitted an interest in Broto, who joined Celtic from Livingston during January’s transfer window, and decision time is here.

Broto originally joined as back-up to Rab Douglas while Magnus Hedman was ruled out for the remainder of the campaign with a knee injury.

It was expected to be a short-term stay, but the former Real Zaragoza and Malaga No1 impressed in his nine outings and was preferred to Douglas in the title decider against Kilmarnock on the final day of the season.

6/24/2003

Yet another rumour doing the rounds.

Aston Villa manager David O'Leary is believed to be closing in on a deal to make Celtic midfielder Colin Healy his first signing at Villa Park.

Republic of Ireland international Healy is available on a free transfer this summer and is set to reject a rival offer from relegated Sunderland to join Villa.

6/24/2003

Other rumours doing the rounds this morning.

Celtic keeper Broto for Ipswich Town?

Stephen Crainey interesting Fulham, seems to be a procession of players leaving but as yet no new players coming into Celtic Park.

6/24/2003

Lubo for Raith? gie's another wan.

LUBO MORAVCIK has dashed Raith Rovers` hopes of luring him back to Scotland. Reports on Monday claimed Raith had offered the veteran former Celtic midfielder a one-year contract.

The 38-year-old has responded to the reports by saying he does not know what he will be doing next term, but insisted he will not be plying his trade at Stark's Park.

He said: "I don't know what I will be doing next season, but I won't be playing for Raith Rovers.

"I am going to finish my house, enjoy the holiday, rest, see my children and, in August or September, will decide what I am going to do."

6/24/2003

Ross Wallace signs long-term Bhoys deal.

Celtic teenager Ross Wallace has signed a four-year deal with the Bhoys.

The 18-year-old midfielder has agreed his first professional contract with Martin O'Neill's side and is looking to continue his impressive progress at Parkhead.

"To be honest it didn't take me very long at all to weigh up the pros and cons of signing on with Celtic," he told the club's official website.

"I'm here now until I will be 22, so I want to use that time to step up the ladder.

"A few of the lads in the Under-21s will be moving on this close season so hopefully I will become more of a regular there but I think I'll have to be a bit more patient when it comes to the first-team."

6/24/2003

Bastürk not keen on move to Celtic

CELTIC have had an audacious €4.5m bid for the Turkish playmaker, Yildiray Bastürk, accepted by his club, Bayer Leverkusen. The bad news for Martin O'Neill is that, once the executives of the German club communicated Celtic's interest to Bastürk, the midfielder made it clear he is not interested in playing his football in the Bank of Scotland Premierleague.

If Bastürk can't be persuaded, it will be a major blow to Martin O'Neill, particularly as the price represents such good value. The Irishman must hope for the chance to use his skills of persuasion to deflect the Turk's gaze from the Premiership, particularly the prospect of moving to Anfield where Gérard Houllier, the Liverpool manager, is a confirmed fan.

The fact that Celtic have a chance of Champions League football this season could come into play but, as usual in persuading quality players to move to Scotland, salary will be of primary importance.

Bastürk would be a significant capture for Celtic in their bid to replace the creativity missing since Lubo Moravcik retired a season ago.

Bayer Leverkusen are left with a sizeable wage bill but no European football with which to offset it. Bastürk is one year from going out of contract and Leverkusen are keen to sell. The player may choose to see out the remaining 12 months of his deal and leave on a lucrative freedom-of-contract transfer.

Rainer Calmund, Leverkusen's managing director, said yesterday: "We have received an acceptable offer from Celtic for Bastürk but now it is up to the player."

6/22/2003

Celtic relishing challenge ahead.

Former European champions Celtic FC captured the positive mood after the draw for the UEFA Champions League first and second qualifying rounds.

Last hurdle A total of 38 clubs learned today who stands in their way if they want to reach the third qualifying round in August, the last barrier before the prized group stage. Twenty sides will compete in the first qualifying round, with the ten winners joining 18 more clubs in the next round.

Success wanted Celtic, who lifted the European Champion Clubs' Cup in 1967, were hopeful of another successful campaign to match the feat of reaching last month's UEFA Cup final. Speaking to uefa.com, Ronny Hawthorn, the club's head of operations, revealed that his team were confident of overcoming either HB Tórshavn of the Faroe Islands or Lithuania's FBK Kaunas in the second qualifying round.

'Tremendously important' He said: "We will now start doing our homework very carefully and finding out as much as we can. We are a confident team and as we went through the competition last year the confidence really grew. We will approach it with our feet on the ground and give our opponents the utmost respect. It is tremendously important, there is no question about it."

First task For their part, Kaunas are just concentrating on overcoming HB. "I don't think that playing the Faroe Island champions is a cakewalk," said coach Sergei Borovski. "There is no weak opposition in Europe anymore. But of course we should be in the second round."

6/19/2003

Hoops await Champions League draw.

Celtic are the only former European champions among the 32 sides awaiting the draw for the first and second qualifying rounds of the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League.

Celtic, the 1967 European champions and last month's beaten UEFA Cup finalists, are among several sides entering the second qualifying round with recent Champions League experience - notably RSC Anderlecht, Rosenborg BK and FC Shakhtar Donetsk. Twenty teams are in the hat for the ten first qualifying round matches. The ten winners will join 18 sides in the 14 second qualifying round ties. In both rounds, a team from the seeded section of the draw will be paired with an unseeded side. All matches will be played over two legs. The first qualifying round will be played on 16 and 23 July and the second qualifying round on 30 July and 6 August.

6/18/2003

Ex Celt Andy Payton signs on again for Celtic.

Burnley hero Andy Payton is off to Celtic, but it won't be his first excursion into the Champions League. The striker who retired from the Football League in May is set to play for Stalybridge Celtic.

6/17/2003

CELTIC TARGET OFF TO MADRID

Basle midfielder Hakan Yakin, a target for Liverpool and Celtic, has disappointed both by agreeing a move to Atletico Madrid.

The Switzerland star was at the haert of the Basle team which effectively put paid to the Reds' Champions League hopes by securing two draws in the first group stage.

Yakin's performances caught the eye of Anfield boss Gerard Houllier, while Hoops boss Martin O'Neill was another admirer, but he will be playing his football in La Liga next season.

"We have agreed contract terms with Atletico for Hakan and expect the deal to go through this week," Yakin's agent Ertan Irizik said.

6/13/2003

Hoops fans in line for award.

Celtic are likely to receive a special European award to recognise the behaviour of their fans at the Uefa Cup final.

Around 70,000 Celtic fans flocked to Seville for the match with FC Porto last month – and received widespread praise for the way they supported their team.

Despite the disappointment of seeing their team defeated in extra-time, there was not a single arrest on match day.

That has been noted by Uefa, and Celtic are in line to become the first Scottish club to win a special Fair Play award to recognise their efforts in creating a fantastic atmosphere.

The 'Tartan Army' have won similar awards in the past for their behaviour following Scotland at Euro 92 and the 1998 World Cup.

Celtic's main rivals for the award are the fans of AC Milan and Juventus for their good-natured support of their teams at the Champions League final at Old Trafford in Manchester.

6/10/2003

Healy joins Sunderland on a Bosman free.

Radio Clyde reported tonight at 5.30pm that Celtic's Republic of Ireland international Colin Healy has joined Sunderland on a Bosman free transfer.

6/10/2003

Coventry trials for ex-Celtic duo.

Coventry manager Gary McAllister has agreed to give trials to forgotten Scotland internationals Simon Donnelly and Phil O'Donnell after both were released by second division Sheffield Wednesday.

The pair were team-mates at Celtic before moving to Hillsborough on free transfers in 1999, when the Owls were a Premiership side before their catastrophic slide from the games upper echelons.

Midfielder O'Donnell, who was capped once for his country 10 years ago, struggled with an Achilles problem while a pelvic injury held back Donnelly, who won 10 caps before leaving Celtic.

Now former Scotland skipper has given the "O'Donnelly Twins", as they became known, ten-day trials at Highfield Road, beginning in July.

The players' agent Raymond Sparkes said: 'Both these players were international team-mates of Gary McAllister's and they are going there in the hope of winning permanent deals.

6/10/2003

Jackie appeals for privacy.

Sadly, Jackie McNamara's mother passed away this morning.

A spokesperson for Celtic Football Club comments:

"It is with great sadness that we confirm that Linda McNamara, the mother of Celtic's Jackie McNamara, passed away this morning. Mrs McNamara has been fighting illness for some time. The thoughts of everyone at Celtic are with Jackie and his family at this very difficult time. Naturally, we would request that the privacy of Jackie and his family is fully respected."

6/10/2003

Dundee Utd give up chase for Jackie.

DUNDEE UNITED manager Ian McCall confirmed that he would love to sign Celtic defender Jackie McNamara but admits the player is beyond the club's reach. McCall acknowledged that the Scotland international would be too expensive for the Tangerines and has now given up any hope of a deal.

"I would love Jackie to come to Tannadice and he is one I've mentioned in the past," stated McCall.

"But, we can't afford him and I also believe Celtic want to keep him."

6/10/2003

Thistle start rebuilding by signing Celtic connection.

Partick Thistle have signed Celtic Striker Stephan Bonnes, and Ex-Celtic midfielder John Paul McBride

Frenchman Bonnes is a mystery man around parkhead, He was signed by John Barnes but has never made an appearance in the Celtic first team despite being there a number of years, however he scored a double against Thistle under 21's in the first game of the season and scored 9 in total last season.

John Paul McBride, Left Celtic for St Johnstone before being released and going to Ireland to play for Derry City before leaving them in the summer.

Both players have signed one year deals.

6/9/2003

ADMIN ERROR COULD HIT IRELAND U21S

The Republic of Ireland Under-21s are facing a rap from UEFA after fielding an ineligible player in Friday's 2-1 win over Albania.

Celtic midfielder Liam Miller, the Under-21 skipper, should not have played after having received two yellow cards during the European Championship qualifying campaign. However, the two cautions were not spotted and Miller led the side to victory.

The Irish now face punishment from Europe's governing body which could see them have the points they gained taken away from them, and Under-21 manager Don Givens said: "It has been brought to our attention by UEFA that one of our squad members, Liam Miller, was ineligible to play against Albania after picking up two yellow cards in the previous fixtures."

He added: "The FAI has written to UEFA acknowledging and apologising for the error and we have indicated to UEFA that under no circumstances would we play a squad member knowingly aware of a two yellow card situation and this case is a result of communication and human error.

"We are now awaiting a decision from UEFA but Liam Miller will take no part in the game against Georgia and we wait to hear what decision will be made with regards to any further development."

Following the error, the FAI's newly-appointed CEO Fran Rooney has asked for a full report into the incident and the Association will introduce a new checking procedure to include a database for all their squads, to ensure this mistake is not repeated. The FAI have also given a commitment to UEFA that it will not happen again.

Miller was booked in the game at home to Switzerland back in October and again in the fixture away in Albania in April. In normal circumstances, UEFA would fax the FAI and follow that up with written communication as to the player's availability, and Givens is now trying to find out what went wrong.

"This has been missed by everyone and we are just checking the facts at the moment," said Givens. "There has been an error along the line somewhere and I don't know if the fax from UEFA came into our international department.

"His first booking was eight months ago and I don't think UEFA have got it wrong but we have only just found out so we are still checking. We have to think about a team without Liam and also make sure this never happens again."

6/5/2003

Quiz winner to be announced soon.

our quiz winner for the wekend break for two at Arties Hotel, Blackpool will be announced over the next couple of days. The answers to the quiz have now been posted on the quiz page. Thanks to all who took the time to enter.

6/2/2003

Miller grabs late draw for Ireland U21

Ireland 2 Germany 2.

A late goal by Celtic's Liam Miller grabbed a draw for Don Givens' Ireland Under-21 side in their friendly against Germany at Turner's Cross today.

Ireland took the lead through Cork City's John O'Flynn after 20 minutes. O'Flynn was making his full debut for the Irish Under-21 side.

The German fightback did not take long to arrive as prolific Mainz striker Benjamin Auer scored his 10th goal in 13 starts for Uli Stielike’s side by firing home on the half hour.

Then Aston Villa midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger sent his country into the lead three minutes later with a stinging shot from inside the area and into the top corner which the diving Stack could not reach wide to his right.

The double whammy did not knock the Irish out of their stride, however, with O’Flynn again causing problems.

Ireland continued to press In the second half but it looked like Germany were going to sneak victory.

But with just four minutes left it was another Corkman, Celtic's Liam Miller, who grabbed an equaliser for Ireland.

The captain's goal was enough to earn Ireland a creditable draw.

6/2/2003

Young Celt captains Ireland U21's.

Celtic's Liam Miller captains a new look Ireland Under-21 side for today's friendly international against Germany at Turner's Cross today.

Miller leads a new look side named by manager Don Givens, which also includes a first start for Cork City star John O'Flynn.

“I’ve told the players that if they perform well they will be in the team for the competitive games. I hope that this is the team that plays against Albania on Friday,” said ahead of the game.

6/1/2003

Football festival cancelled

Celtic's youngsters have been dealt a blow with news that this summer's Manchester International Football Festival has been cancelled.

The tournament was to feature Under-19 sides from China, Japan and Thailand, along with Italian side Parma, Scottish giants Celtic and Rangers, Manchester City and Oldham.

But the event has been called off due to continuing concerns over the SARS epidemic.