Morning of the Match I had learned to control my eating patterns before matches so as to feel at my best for kick-off time, so I was up fairly early on that Saturday morning and having breakfast just before 9am. Corn flakes with a banana (or two) on top were the order of the day …
Following the Scottish Cup Final We did not come into training on the Sunday morning, as the Boss had just been winding us up about the Dundee United match. We only found this out on the trip back to Celtic Park from Hampden after the final, which was something special. The streets from the National …
4th May A headline in one of the dailies after the loss to Dundee United summed up the situation precisely and succinctly; Vital Points Surrendered by Celtic And that summed up the feeling running through players, management, directors and fans; the loss to the Tangerines was a real blow to the guts. In another paper, …
8th May On the Monday after the Rangers match, the press was quite unanimous in their reporting of Celtic’s season thus far; Celtic’s silver season ‘Celtic are the kings of Scottish football today – and on 25th May, when they met Inter Milan in Lisbon, they may well be the emperors of Europe too. At Ibrox …
‘Operation Lisbon’ the papers called it. It was their term for the departure of the group of first-team players who headed down to Seamill for a week to prepare for the European Cup final against Inter Milan the following Thursday.
When the press had been writing about the fact that players would be going down to Seamill before the European Cup final, the articles almost it seem that a holiday camp atmosphere would be the norm. Nothing could have been further from the truth, as the Boss pointed out to the assembled journalists just before …
Another trip to the Inverclyde Physical Training Centre in the morning, where we put in a good stint, concentrating on moves down the flanks and then balls into the middle for the strikers. Very much, in fact, like the move which would lead to the second goal in Lisbon. Variations from corners were also …
Last day at Seamill, so we set out to enjoy it. The routine was similar to yesterday, breakfast, chat among ourselves, training, lunch, a quick few holes on the golf course, back in to the swimming pool, baths and showers then changed into ‘proper’ clothes for dinner.
There was one final workout at the Inverclyde Centre, a light lunch back at the Hydro then it was back up the road to Celtic Park to pick up the cars before heading home.
I got up early on the Sunday morning and went for a walk round the local park, as it was a beautiful day and I had learned that my body works better if I keep it exercising. There were few people about and I thoroughly enjoyed the peace and quiet.