MATCH 1934 - Saturday 16 September 2023

SEASON 2023/24

SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE

Venue:  CELTIC PARK

CELTIC  3  DUNDEE  0

Scorers:  Turnbull, Kyogo, O'Riley

Back to Celtic Park after three weeks and three second half goals give Celtic the three league points.

A few debuts for Celtic today - Nat Phillips (joined on loan from Liverpool), Luis Palma (Honduras) and Paulo Bernardo (Portugal).

Personal note:

• 67th time attending this fixture. League 61, Scottish Cup 3 and League Cup 3
• 61 at Celtic Park and 16 at Dens Park
• Overall my 1132 match in Scotland's top league.

MATCH 1933 - Saturday 26 August 2023

SEASON 2023/24

SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE

Venue:  CELTIC PARK

CELTIC  0  ST JOHNSTONE  0

Only the second home match of the season and it ended in a goalless draw.

Personal note:

• 62nd attending this fixture, 55 of them in the league
• 46 of them at Celtic Park
• The 7th draw seen between the sides

MATCH 1932 - Sunday 20 August 2023

SEASON 2023/24

SCOTTISH LEAGUE CUP 2nd Round

Venue: RUGBY PARK

KILMARNOCK  1  CELTIC  0

Scorer:  Watkins

An understrength Celtic struggled all game to get into the match and pay the price by exiting the cup.

Personal Note:

• 7th time attending this fixture in the Scottish League Cup.
• Overall the 84th time attending this fixture.
• 29th visit to Rugby Park all for Celtic games.

MATCH 1931 - Sunday 13 August 2023

SEASON 2023/24

SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE

Venue:  PITTODRIE STADIUM

ABERDEEN  1  CELTIC  3

Scorers: Miovski;  Abada, Kyogo, O'Riley

Beautiful Sunday with Pittodrie basking in the sunshine

A lovely day in Aberdeen (not something you say too often) for my first visit to Pittodrie since 2012.  

A hard fought win with Celtic's new recruits having to learn the Scottish game quickly as Aberdeen tested their resolve and quality however it was the "old bhoys" that got all three goals.

A full house which was good to see and the noise that accompanied the equaliser was like the old days.  As Barry Robson said "what a great game of football".

Match report: LINK

 Personal note:

• My 37th match at Pittodrie Stadium  (36 v Celtic and the other v Man Utd)
• The 132nd time attending this fixture - the 110th in the league.
• Same scoreline as my first Pittodrie visit in January 1982.

MATCH 1930 - Sunday 6 August 2023

SEASON 2023/24

ENGLISH CHAMPIONSHIP

Venue: STADIUM OF LIGHT

SUNDERLAND  1  IPSWICH TOWN  2

Scorers:  Neil;  Broadhead, Hirst

Att:  41,409

Really good game. Score could've been anything.  Sunderland started very well but couldn't get the breakthrough.  Ipswich had a couple of good chances on the break themselves but when they did take the lead on stroke of half time it was due to a touch fortunate, as a huge deflection took the ball into the net.  The type of luck Sunderland don't seem to get. 

In the second half Ipswich doubled their lead with a finely taken goal and looked like they were about to run away with the game especially as Sunderland were reduced to ten men with just under 20 minutes to play.

However the home side dug deep and got back into the game with a few minutes to go however the officials added on 13 minutes for injuries and time wasting which lead to an all out onslaught from the ten men, who were very unfortunate not to equalise when they hit the post in the dying moments of the game.

Great seat on the upper level of the main stand.

Match report: LINK

Personal note:

• My second time seeing Ipswich - the first was December 1985 at Old Trafford.
• 49th Sunderland match
• 31st match at the Stadium of Light.

MATCH 1929 - Saturday 5 August 2023

 SEASON 2023/24

SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE

Venue: CELTIC PARK

CELTIC  4  ROSS COUNTY  2

Scorers: Turnbull(2), Kyogo, O'Reily;  White, Brown

Celtic begin their new league campaign at home to Ross County.  After starting the match well, the visitors fell behind when Celtic's full back, Taylor was tripped just inside the box.  A fortunate start for Celtic but they took full advantage and before half time had raced into a 3-0 lead. 

County kept up their good level of play in the second half and were rewarded with two goals to reduce Celtic's overall advantage to two.

Pre-match Celtic raised their 53rd league flag for their efforts of last season.

Match report: LINK

Personal note:

• 22nd time seeing this fixture in the league - Celtic Park 16, Victoria Park 6.
• Overall, I've now seen Ross County 26 times - v Celtic 25 plus v Hibernian.
• The 1st league match of the season makes it number 1122 times I've seen Celtic in the league.

MATCH 1928 - Tuesday 1 August 2023

SEASON 2023/24

JAMES FORREST TESTIMONIAL

Venue:  CELTIC PARK

CELTIC  3  ATHLETIC CLUB BILBAO  2

Scorers: Hatate, Bernabeu, Turnbull;  Unai Gomez, Muniain

A testimonial match for Celtic's James Forrest, who first appeared in the Hoops in 2010.  Very welcome opponents to Celtic Park are Athletic Club from the Basque Country.

It was an entertaning 90 minutes with Celtic coming from behind to record a good pre-season victory. As it was pre-season, returning Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers used two different teams in each half.  The first half XI lost 2-1 but the second half XI were able to turn the deficit round.

Personal note:

• 1st time seeing Athletic Club
• Forrest is the 11th Celtic player I've seen have a testimonial 
• First Celtic game of season 2023/24 ~ My 43rd season

1st August in Scotland - "weather is Dreich"

 

MATCH 1927 - Saturday 29 July 2023

SEASON 2023/24

FRIENDLY

Venue:  BRUNTON PARK

CARLISLE UNITED  0  DUNDEE UNITED  2

Scorers: Moult, Middleton

Attendance: 2,853

My second Dundee United match in two weeks and a huge improvement on the Spartans match.  United played all the football and were in complete control for 70 minutes when they made six substitutions, but it had no effect on the game as Carlisle were very poor and never looked like getting back into the match. 

A sparse crowd in Brunton Park today but a decent away support of 738.  My ticket was in the away end which cost £18 and maybe the reason for the poor turnout.

The happy away support

Match Report: LINK

Personal note:

• 3rd Scottish club I've seen in England - Celtic (multi times) and Rangers (v Man Utd 2004) the other two.
• 129th Dundee United match (H-37, A-80, N-12)
• 22nd visit to Brunton Park

FOOTBALL FOCUS - ROY AITKEN - Friday 28 July 2023

 Question & Answer Session with a true Legend - Roy (Feed the Bear) Aitken

Venue: Barras Art and Design (BAaD)

The early part of my football match days were spent watching some great Scottish footballers, one of my all time favourites was ROY AITKEN.

Therefore it was a bit special for me to be part of the audience listening to great stories from a  terrific era in Scottish Football

Roy came across as very honest and loyal to not only his Celtic team-mates but also to his old foes from rival clubs. and even referees.

Jock Stein gave him his debut for Celtic as a 16 year old schoolboy and also made him captain for a number of games when he was still a teenager.  Then he was a huge part of Billy McNeill's Celtic teams.  He was also selected by Alex Ferguson for Scotland. Three of the most iconic men of Scottish Football.

Although I never seen the start of Roy's career it was a pleasure to watch him for almost 10 years with Celtic.  During this time I seen him win 3 league titles, 3 Scottish Cups and 1 League Cup.  His teammates included Danny McGrain, Tommy Burns, Murdo McLeod, Davie Provan, Pat Bonner, Paul McStay, Charlie Nicholas, Frank McAvennie, Mick McCarthy and Mark McGhee.

I witnessed Roy playing for Scotland many times including: 

• captaining the nation to a 1-0 win over England at Hampden in 1985.  I was in the small schoolboy enclosure, ticket price: £2:00 got on the day of the game from the Ticket Office 
• at the 1990 World Cup Finals in Italy in which I attended all three of Scotland's group matches

Away from football I also seen him win the Balloch Highland Game 90-metre sprint in 1983 or 84.

I was delighted when he was finally invited back into the club in an ambassador role in 2017.  There isn't anyone more fitting for the role as he has never said a bad word about the club.

Roy's Celtic career in figures - I seen 24 of his Celtic goals.

MATCH 1926 - Tuesday 25 July 2023

SEASON 2023/24

SCOTTISH LEAGUE CUP - Group Stage

Venue:  LESSER HAMPDEN

    QUEENS PARK  5  ELGIN CITY  0

Scorers:  Paton(4), Fox

Attendance: 676

Another Elgin City match to tick off another lower league ground.  This was my first visit to Lesser Hampden, a little ground next to Scotland's National Stadium which has been redeveopled into a modest all seated ground.

The ground consists of one neat stand and a directors stand which resembles a royal box with nothing behind either goal at present.  The main stand although small has very good sightlines for the spectators making it a present experience.

As for the match, championship Queens Park proved to be too good for Elgin and comfortably scored five with centre forward, Ruari Paton scoring four of the goals.

Personal note:

• New ground - taking my total to 119 (53 in Scotland)
• 4th time seeing Queens Park and 11th time attending an Elgin match
• The 406th different senior fixture attended.