Look For The Positives

Celtic  3  FC Alashkart  0

UEFA Champions League – 1^st Qualifying Round

I look for the positives in everything I do, so when it was revealed that I would no longer be working for the boss I’d been with for five years, who I had a great relationship with, I had to get my head round the fact the whole ‘Getting To Know You’ process was going to have to start all over again.

Not only that, the new gaffer was based in Glasgow, so that meant my monthly regional meetings were no longer going to be in Liverpool, Stoke or Manchester, they were going to be North of the border.

Ok, it’s a ballache of a journey, but I love travelling, and at the same time, the whole World of Scottish football was about to open up to me, as long as I planned it correctly. Remember those words about planning it correctly!

Hail, Hail, The Celts Are Here!

The first meeting was scheduled for the Thursday, and that meant travelling up on the Wednesday, and as I’m a proper tight sod, even when it comes to the companies money, I did the old tickety split trick and set up a journey that involved a change at Crewe.

That change at Crewe gave me just over ten minutes to get from one platform to another to get the train to Glasgow, but what it also meant was I’d get into my destination at just after 5pm and because of that, I’d be able to take my pick of pre-season friendlies, and the one that jumped out was Johnstone Burgh v Irvine Victoria.

I could check in, drop bags, have a couple of pints and still make the 7pm kick off in the small town to the West of Paisley. The theory was fantastic, but….

The Crowds Gather

A train fire outside Derby meant that the Crewe train had some delays, and to cut a long story short I arrived in Crewe just as the Glasgow train also arrived, but, despite a sprint over the bridge, I was agonisingly seconds too late, pressing the button on the train didn't work, the shites would not let me on!

I had dropped one, if I’d got the earlier train this wouldn’t have been an issue, but a tight connection did for me. I now had two issues, the first being the next train was an hour later and that completely spannered my football plans, the second issue was the fact I had an invalid ticket, and despite my protestations to customer services, I had to fork out for a new one. The £92 will be claimed on expenses, but for me it was the principal, anyway, I will be sending in a letter of complaint demanding some compensation.

In a bit of as huff I sat in the bar at Crewe station and pondered my options over a pint, and due to kick off times and trains it was looking a bit bleak. I then checked the Celtic website and saw tickets were available, as were connections on trains to the ground, assuming we were on time.

Paradise

A match ticket was secured online, and with collection at the ground sorted, it was just a case of making sure the train arrived on time, getting to the hotel, checking in, and both buying a ticket and getting to the platform for an outbound train to Celtic, all in the space if fifteen minutes!

To cut a long story short, I managed it with a few minutes to spare, but I had a sweat on, and it was managed despite the hotel giving me a key to a room that was already occupied! Once on the Dalmarnock bound train I could finally relax.

I’ve been to Celtic once before, with Mrs H when we had a break between Christmas and New Year a couple of seasons ago. We saw them beat Ross County, it was a great experience, but I got the feeling for a run of the mill SPL game, the atmosphere was a bit muted.

On a gorgeous night, with hundreds of others I wandered up from Dalmarnock to Paradise to collect my tickets, with the lone piper playing at the side of the road. There was a buzz about the place, but also a sense of inevitability as Celtic were already 3-0 up from the first leg in Armenia against the national champions.

Celtic Park, or Parkhead, or Paradise, depending on what you like to call it, is a fantastic stadium, but from a location point of view it feels like you are in the middle of nowhere. With just a smattering of retail and business units around it, it doesn’t feel like you are at one of the great traditional football grounds because you would ordinarily expect to see houses, roads, pubs and takeaways, I get it with a new build, but not at a stadium that’s been around since day one!

But, as a stadium it’s tremendous, and other than the South Stand it’s a huge two-tier bowl that oozes of the clubs phenomenal history.

Tickets were not readily available, I bought one of the last few, but because the game was included in the season ticket package, it may have been a sell-out, but it certainly wasn’t full, principally because a proportion of the season ticket holders chose not to bother.

Sat above the Green Brigade, who make all the noise at Paradise, I had a tremendous view of proceedings, and if I’m honest, the game was a bit of a non-event.

Hose Pipe Ban?

Celtic took the lead early doors through the very impressive Moussa Dembele, only to see Jozo Simunovic receive a red card moments later for a challenge that Roy Keane would have been proud of! Dembele then scored a second from the penalty spot before James Forrest finished off a superb counter attacking move to make it 3-0.

The second half saw no more goals, and in fairness with a 6-0 aggregate score and a next round tie against Rosenborg in the bag, you can understand Celtic taking the foot off the gas.

The journey back was a simple one, and over a pint in the Crystal Palace on Jamaica Street it was the chance to reflect on an experience that certainly wasn’t planned, but one I was glad I’d embarked on.

Scotland is clearly going to be a whole new experience for me on so many levels, and writing this on the train back from a meeting that was curtailed early doors so we could all enjoy a few pints in the sun, I think this is without doubt a positive move! Clearly I was never going to argue with that philosophy, but at the same time, a new World is going to open up from a football perspective, assuming the dates fall right.

Positives, always look for the positives, and inevitably, you’ll find them!

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