VENUE #59 GLASGOW CELTIC Celtic Park

SCOTTISH PREMIER

Celtic... 3
Dundee United... 0

Saturday 21st March 2015

@ Celtic Park Stadium
          Glasgow

ORIGIN AND BRIEF HISTORY

     Celtic was formed by an Irish Marist Brother Walfrid as a way of raising money for his charity   the poor children's dinner table on the 6th November 1887.  It was an ambition of Walfrid to relieve or expel poverty in the East end of Glasgow.  He got the idea from Hibernian who formed a few years earlier out of Irish immigrants in Edinburgh.  He named the club Celtic with the intention of reflecting the clubs Irish and Scottish roots
     The first match that Celtic played was apparently on the 28th May 1888 against Rangers and became the first of what is known these days as the "Old Firm" games.  Celtic were made up of a team of guest players mainly from Hibernian and  Irish players, or players with Irish backgrounds based at Scottish clubs. The goalkeeper was named \Michael "Mick" Dolan from Uddingston, South Lanarkshire, (no relation), and he played for Drumpellier until acquired by the new Glasgow team.  The Rangers team was reportedly a reserve team called the "Swifts" and had only 4 main team players in it.
     Celtic ran out winners by five goals to two and Neil McCallum goes down in history as the player to score the first ever goal for Celtic.

     If you look at the picture, (right), you will see that Celtic aren't wearing their traditional green and white hooped shirts, that's because they didn't originate until 1903, they wore a green and white striped shirt from 1889 to 1903, again the colour green is significant as to link the team with Ireland.
     The greatest period in Celtic's history has to be the 1966/67 season when not only did they win the European cup but they also won everything Scotland had to offer, the Scottish league, the Scottish league cup, the Scottish cup and the Glasgow cup scoring a record 196 goals in the process.
   

Memorial to Jock stein outside main stand

The manager at the time was John "Jock" Stein and many fans of Scottish football believe that Stein should have been knighted after his European success as Matt Busby was when his Manchester United side emulated Celtic's achievement the following year.  Apparently, Stein wasn't recognised in the Queen's birthday list because of  the intercontinental cup clash with Racing club of Argentina when Celtic had four players sent off.  He was eventually honoured in 1970 receiving a CBE, a bit of a compromise maybe.




RUN UP TO GAME

     This will be the fourth consecutive game between Celtic and Dundee United in two weeks.  The first game took place at Tannadice park and was the Scottish cup quarter final on the 8th of March and finished in a 1-1 draw.  Nadir Ciftci scored a penalty right on half time for the terrors but Leigh Griffiths equalised in the 71st minute after earlier missing a penalty.  Paul Dixon of Dundee United and Virgil Van Dijk of Celtic were sent off in the first half for fighting and Paul Paton of the terrors was also sent off in the second half for deliberate handball which led to the Griffiths missed penalty.

Main stand building

     The second game was the league cup final at Hampden Park last Sunday afternoon which Celtic won by two goals to nil.  Kris Commons opened the scoring in the 28th minute and the man who replaced him on the field in the 69th minute James Forrest scored after being on the pitch ten minutes.  United did slightly better this time round finishing with ten men, club captain Sean Dillon was sent off for a dangerous challenge on Emilio Izaguirre.
     Just three days ago the third match was played here at Celtic Park, it was the replay of the Scottish cup quarter final and the Terrors were trounced 4-0 with goals from Jason Denayer (16), Leigh Griffiths (57), Kris Commons (79) and Virgil Van Dijk (90).  Two more sending off's in this game, Anthony Stokes was sent off for Celtic for elbowing Paul Paton and Ryan McGowan was red carded for the visitors for a foul on Liam Henderson.
     Celtic make four changes from Tuesday night, out are James Forrest, Kris Commons, Anthony Stokes and Leigh Griffiths, being replaced by Gary MacKay-Steven, Stefan Johansen, Stuart Armstrong and John Guidetti.
     Three changes for Dundee, Callum Morris, Chris Erkstine and Ryan Dow are out and John Souttar, Charlie Telfer and Paul Dixon are in.

THE MATCH

     Seeing that these two clubs had player's sent off in the previous three games I was expecting a blood and thunder, no holes barred sort of attitude from the start but it was nothing of the sort in fact the early stages were quite tentative and cautious from both sides.

Celtic players celebrating third goal

  It took Celtic a quarter of a hour to get into their stride and take the lead with a fine strike from former United player Gary Mackay-Steven, he received the ball on the right hand edge of the Terrors penalty area and fired a low shot passed the Dundee keeper and into the net.
     Mackay-Steven became provider for the second goal in the 33rd minute when he rolled the ball back to Guidetti who's shot was deflected and looped over the head of Cierzniak in the Dundee goal.
     Just as the fans were leaving their seats for half time refreshments and to visit the watering hole Celtic made it 3-0. Mackay-Steven was involved again when he was scythed down outside the Dundee 18 yard box, Stefan Johansen took the free kick which was met by Virgil Van Dijk but his shot was partially blocked by the Terrors defence and back healed into the net by Jason Denayer.
     With Celtic being three goals to the good at half time the game, as a contest was as good as over and the Bhoys tried to make the second half an exhibition match which was entertaining but lacked passion and desire for it would have been nice to see a goal at the end where I was seated as the sun was hidden behind the Jock Stein stand about 20 minutes into the half and I would have actually been able to see something for a change.
    

THE CELTIC PARK EXPERIENCE

     What an absolute fantastic day out I've had today, no real problems with the journey and everything seemed to run smoothly and efficiently for a change, I didn't even have pay for the upgrade to first class on the train.

Can see stadium from Dalmarnock Stadium

When arriving at Glasgow Central station I purchased a return ticket to Dalmarnock which cost one pound ninety.  The train, or tube if you like leaves from platform sixteen which is down the escalators at the end of the platform area, you just have to keep going down I think it was two sets of escalators and the same amount of stairs, just follow the signs and you'll eventually get there.
     When you come out the exit door to Dalmarnock station you cross the road directly in front of you and follow the main road for about a mile till you come to the ground.  You can see Celtic Park from Dalmarnock station it's like a giant vessel in the distance, you can't miss it.
     After visiting the club shop I made my way up the area outside the main stand where they have statues of famous Characters from Celtic's past.  There is one of brother Walfrid the founder of the team, Jock Stein their great manager from the late 60's early 70's and one of  their legend player of the past Jimmy Johnstone.
    

Jock Stein stand

The inside is fantastic, all corners are filled with seats and so it is fully enclosed.  The stand where I watched the game from, the North stand lower has two tiers and is fully covered so are the two end stands behind the goals the Jock Stein stand and the Lisbon Lions.  The stand opposite where I was sitting is the South stand it's fully covered but only single tiered which means the two end stands adjoining it have wind shields attached to the ends of the upper tiers.
     The toilets are in a good condition and, really, there's not a bad thing to say about the place.  The atmosphere is electric, everybody gets right behind the team and they know all the Celtic (Keltic) folk songs that they play at intervals.
     Price of entry is quite reasonable I paid £34 for my seat and for a top flight Premier club that's good.  I've been to Manchester City and that cost me £44 to get in and Chelsea's Stamford Bridge £51.
     If I have to moan about something then catching the subway train back was a nightmare, I left five minutes before the end of the game but the first train isn't until quarter past five meaning that everybody who stops till the end of the game that's travelling in the same direction as you is trying to get on the same train and it was jam packed.
     Also, I wish there had been an eclipse of the sun today for the duration of the game as it was a nightmare to see what was going on and to take pictures.

                                                          Match Details

        

VENUE #58 QUEENS PARK Hampdon Park

SCOTTISH LEAGUE TWO

Queens Park... 4

Montrose... 1

Saturday 7th February
              2015

@ Hampden Park Stadium

             Glasgow

     The threat of bad weather made me cautious once more about the prospect of this game being played.  Well, it is a Scottish league two game but this is Queens Park, the oldest Scottish league team and they play at Scotland's national ground, Hampden.  The ground does have under soil heating if Queens are aloud to use it for they only draw around 500 people per home game and I wouldn't have thought that the revenue made would go anywhere near paying a massive heating bill let alone anything else it costs to stage a game at this level.

     I arrived at Mount Florida railway station about 13:45 as scheduled but it was a close thing for the train from Wolverhampton to Glasgow Central was delayed twelve minutes for a signal failure, (again), between Birmingham and Wolves which left me minutes to catch my connection.

     Scanning Google maps I found that there was a chip shop not far from Hampden and so I made that my first port of call only to find it closed and so I had to put plan B into action and bought two sausage rolls from Greggs which was across the road.  They gave me a free chocolate and fudge doughnut because they had made too many or maybe they thought through my appearance that I'd fallen on bad times and could do with a little extra.

   

The little Hampden pitch outside the Stadium

 I took some pictures of the exterior of the ground focusing on the little Hampden pitch used by Queens Park reserves and noticed a steward paying me a lot of attention and I knew that I was going to be investigated as I made my way toward to the grounds entrance.  Hampden only opens two turnstiles for Queens games, P and O, and as I approached the steward made his way toward me and said, "Can I look inside your bag sir", I agreed and opened my bag for him, it contained my laptop and android for use on the train to write to my blog and add pictures to Facebook etc.  I think he was determined to find something to confiscate but fell short on his desire as I was clear of illegal substances and past the test, he was a little over officious but also helpful in a reluctant kind of way.

The North stand

     Last season Queens had to leave their ground Hampden Park to play their home matches at the Excelsior Stadium natural home of Airdrieonians which is 16 miles away in North Larnarkshire.  The reason for this being that Hampden underwent redevelopment work for the 2014 commonwealth games and the entire process took around fifteen months.  It is safe to say that Queens didn't enjoy the time away from their coveted home venue as they finished bottom of league two twelve points adrift of next placed team Elgin City, were as this season similar to the one before last they are contenders for promotion to league one.

     The Spiders boss Gus MacPherson makes four changes to his team from the game last Saturday when they lost 2-1 to Albion Rovers at Cliftonhill, Shaun Rooney, Bryan Wharton, Ross Gallacher and John Carter make way for Gavin Mitchell, David McGregor, Kevin Fotheringham and Jordan Moore.  George Shields of Montrose makes only one change to the team that beat Annan 2-1 at Links park bringing in Adam Harwood for Jonathan Crawford.

   

The West stand

Queens had most of the play from the start but always seemed to fall short in the final third of the field.  It took 24 minutes to make the breakthrough when the ball was pinging around the Montrose penalty area until it found it's way to Darren Miller who side footed it into the back of the net.

     You could see the confidence escalate in the Glaswegian side and it wasn't long before it was 2-0 when some intricate play found Paul woods in the Montrose box who cut inside and rolled the ball past Stuart McKenzie in the Montrose goal.

     Come the second half and Queens went back to playing as they did early on in the first and not making much impression on the Montrose goal which inspired the Gable Endies who in the 76th minute came back into the game with a fluke goal when substitute Ross Campbell charged into a sliding tackle from Queens defender David McGregor who smashed the ball against the Montrose striker and it looped over William Muir in the Spiders goal to make it 2-1 and game on.

     This sparked life back into Queens and in the 82nd minute the referee awarded them a controversial penalty which was easily despatched by Jordan Moore who totally killed the game off three minutes from time with his second and Queens Park's fourth.

Teams coming out the tunnel

     Beautiful Stadium Hampden but with a crowd of 500 and 52 thousand empty seats it just doesn't do the place justice, although I supposed it is great for these amateur players to get to play on the National pitch.  The ground is fully enclosed and fully covered as befitting a national Stadium.  The club shop is a little stall to the right as you come through the turnstiles, very quaint.

     One annoying thing is that there is no official programme to be bought at the ground, you have to download it from the Queens Park official website and print it off yourself.  I hope that other clubs don't adopt this idea as it's going to cost a fortune in ink for my printer

     Both sets of fans get to use the same turnstiles and are only segregated by a section of seats that are cordoned off.

     One drunken Montrose fan made the afternoon a little more entertaining by singing and clapping his way through a medley of Links Park favourites, (When he wasn't nodding off to sleep), and he can claim to his fellow supporters, if or when he gets home and if he can remember, that he out sang the Queens Park supporters at Hampden Park.

                                                          Match Details

         

VENUE #57 THE NEW SAINTS The Venue at Park Hall

 WELSH PREMIER

The New Saints... 6
Port Talbot Town... 0

Saturday 31st January
            2015

@ The Venue, Park Hall
            Oswestry


     The weather didn't look very promising as I looked out of the window at half past three in the morning.  A thin layer of snow coated the street and the pavements and I feared that the game would be called off again.  I tried to visit the Venue at Park Hall two weeks earlier to see TNS take on Carmarthen Town but the game was postponed due to frost on the pitch despite the all weather playing surface, and the forecast for today was to be be much colder than my previous visit.
     I decided to take the risk although every thing seemed to suggest that it was a bad idea.  I checked on the Nation Rail website and found that there was a signal failure between Wellington and Shrewsbury and that a bus service between Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury could be in forced or at the very least there could be delays.  But gamble I did and it paid off for a change, there was a slight delay when the train had problems at Shrewsbury but I had plenty of time to kill and so really it did me a favour rather than upset any of my plans for the day.

   

Mascot Spot the Dog with TNS players in unusual home kit

 TNS are running away with the league as usual and buried any chances of Carmarthen reaching the top six at the cut-off point by beating them 3-0 last Wednesday night in the re-arranged fixture of the game I went to see originally.  Manager Craig Harrison makes two changes for today's game leaving out Sam Finley and Adrian Cieslewicz and replacing them with Philip Baker and Greg Draper.  The Steelmen left it until the last day to secure their top six spot with a 4-3 home win over Bala Town.  Bernard McNally also makes two changes, goalkeeper Steven Cann makes way for Connor McFenton and defender Corey Thomas is left out and replaced by Rhys Griffiths.
     You may find this a strange statement to make but I found the game to be disappointing for as the scoreline suggests it was a very one sided affair with Port Talbot just content with turning up.  It was as though they thought the result was a foregone conclusion and so lacked any spirit, passion or desire to contribute anything to the game.
     Greg Draper opened and closed the scoring for the Saints in the 7th and 90th minutes with Scott Quigley netting the first of the brace's before half time after 18 and 36 minutes.  The next goal didn't emerge until the 79th minute, TNS made it into a bit of an expedition match which did nothing to reduce the wind chill factor around Park Hall, I now know why they're dancing in the streets of TNS, "TO KEEP BLOODY WARM".  Connell Rawlinson restarted the scoring spree with Jamie Mullan adding to the total two minutes later with a well executed goal.

Pitch side view of the Venue function room 

     I'd really love to see TNS give up their total dominance of the Welsh premier league and play in their own country, say, at Conference Premier level and see how they would get on having to battle through matches every week, no more guaranteed wins and a lot less total demolition jobs as in the game today but then again, I'm surprised how they keep their heads above water as the crowd today was reported as being 201 but I think the total was much less than that, more like 70 to 80 paying customers with quite a few of them kids and OAP's paying concessional prices.
     Another disappointing aspect of the afternoon was the fact that the Saints didn't wear their traditional green and white hooped shirts, instead they wore their second strip top which was almost a clash with their opponents.  The reason may be because their kit man forgot to wash them after the Carmarthen game or maybe he did wash them and hung them outside to dry and they didn't thaw out in time for kick off and that could have been the reason the game was fifteen minutes late to start.

   

Sign at Gobowen railway station

The ground is basically situated in the middle of nowhere with the nearest railway station 1 and a half miles away in Gobowen.  The capacity is supposed to be 2,000 with 1,000 of that being seated.  You can walk around the whole perimeter of the pitch watching the game while standing at most places,which is why I think it resembles a works league ground.  There are seating areas at the Burma road end which is where the away support usually congregate behind the goal, if any, and is partially covered.
     There is a small seating area joining onto the Burma road stand on the Venue side of the ground, it is covered but not the best by any circumstances.  The venue side is where the toilets are in a very nice function room which is accessible by a flight of stairs leading up to the doors which are manned by stewards to stop non paying people from watching the game.  The room has a bar, snack counter and a large TV and plenty of tables to sit and chill away from the football if you so wish.  It has a creche which is a ball park area where the kids can enjoy themselves while the parents are off doing other things.
     The journey home went very quickly as I met a fellow ground hopper Martin at the game and he had to catch the same train as me as far as Birmingham.  We discussed the game and past experiences and it was great to chat with someone who has the same interests for a change.

                                                          Match Details

 

VENUE #56 MANCHESTER CITY The Etihad Stadium

BARCLAYS PREMIER

Manchester City... 3

Crystal Palace... 0

Saturday 20th December

              2014

@ The Etihad Stadium

         Manchester

     What an absolute idiot I must be, travelling to the Etihad the ground of Manchester City just five days before Christmas day.  I managed to get a seat this time around on the train although the carriages were crammed with people, a lot of them having to stand for long periods as you would expect for this time of year.  No problems with delays as I've had on many of my train journey's this season, both trains were on time and things went pretty smoothly for a change.

     I had a ticket for Ashburys which is a station nearer to the Etihad than Manchester Piccadilly but decided to walk from Piccadilly for it was only a twenty minute walk and the route was easier to follow and the area was more populated and less "back streets". 

     I had my route worked out on Google so as to find the Etihad easy from Piccadilly but when I left the station I couldn't recognise where I actually was, I hung around a bit and saw a man wearing a Crystal Palace scarf with a young girl, probably his daughter, so I followed them hoping that they knew where they were going.  After about five minutes in pursuit I started to realise where I was and began to make my own way in the quicker manner that I'm used to and made it to the Etihad in good time.

 

The North stand joining the West

 Last Saturday City took on Leicester at the King Power Stadium and won 1-0, Manuel Pellegrini has made a staggering six changes to the team from that game most of them forced by injuries, missing out are Bacary Sagna, Vincent Kompany, Gael Clichy, Fernando, Frank Lampard and Edin Djeko to be replaced by Pablo Zabaleta, Martin Demichelis, Aleksandar Kolarov, Fernandinho, Jesus Navas and James Milner.  Crystal Palace were at home last weekend earning a one all draw with Stoke City and boss Neil Warnock only makes the two changes, Wilfred Zaha starts from the bench replaced by Jason Puncheon and Marouane Chamakh ruled out with Fraizer Campbell brought in.

      The first half was a little disappointing with City without a recognised striker in the team failing to impress and hit the back of the net with Crystal Palace at times looking the better side and it was Palace mid-way through the first half who had the ball in the net only to be ruled offside by the linesman who was a little late raising his flag.

     But in the second half it was more like the City we know, with Pellegrinis's words ringing in their ears it only took them four minutes to take the lead, Fernandinho found Zabaleta charging down the right flank and he cut the ball back to David Silva who's shot struck a sliding Scott Dann and the ball looped over keeper julian Speroni into the corner of the net.

Players coming out the tunnel

     Twelve minutes later and Silva made it 2-0 and this time it was Kolarov on the opposite side of the pitch making his way to the by-line and cutting the ball back again to the City midfielder who struck the ball cleanly past Speroni for his and his team's second of the afternoon.

     It was all City after that and for all their dominance it was another twenty minutes before they finally put the game to bed with a third goal, Frank Lampard coming on as sub for Silva in the 69th minute won the ball in his own half and combined with Navas and Milner to the brink of the Palace penalty area where the ball was fed to Yaya Toure who drilled a powerful shot via the post into the Palace net.

     One more goal would have put them ahead of Chelsea in the table on goal difference for a couple of hours but it ended 3-0 and at the end of the day City remain three points adrift of the league leaders.

   

Countdown to kick off

The Etihad is a marvellous Stadium and I would say the best I've seen so far, built in 2002 for the commonwealth games City moved in August the following year moving away from Main road which had been their home for the previous 80 years.  It is a 48,000 capacity all seated stadium costing around 90 million pounds.  The ground has a bowl design and totally enclosed with the two stands running the length of the pitch being three tiered and the two stands behind the goal being two tiered.  I was sat in the East stand right up with the Gods in the third tier, across the pitch is the main stand, (Colin Bell), and the two at each end are the North and the South.  One corner of the South stand that leads on to the East is reserved for away supporters which seems a bit small so I supposed that a larger area would be designated for teams with a larger away following such as neighbours United.  

     Although the Palace fans numbers were on the small side they did out-sing the City fans especially in the first half when they looked the better team.

                                                        Match Details

          

VENUE #55 MACCLESFIELD TOWN Moss Rose

VANARAMA

CONFERENCE

Macclesfield Town... 2

Woking... 1

Saturday 6th December

             2014

@ Moss Rose Ground

        Macclesfield

     Travelling to football matches using the train as my main form of transport is becoming a real pain and I'm seriously considering a change.  I always check on Nation Rail Enquiries website before I set out on a journey to see if there are any problems that may cause delays to the trains that I plan to catch and on doing so today I find that my train from Wolverhampton to Macclesfield had the yellow triangle with the black exclamation mark warning sign saying that this train could be delayed due to a person being hit by a train in the Coventry area.  You may remember that I had a similar problem last time out when I was stuck in Peterborough on a train for more than a hour and a half which subsequently meant I missed almost half hour of the game. This time however the train was only half a hour late and made up ten minutes during the journey.  

     Although there seemed to be an awful lot of people alighting the train at Wolverhampton when I finally managed to get aboard I found the carriage that I'd selected still rammed with people.  There were no seats and people standing in the passageways and in between the carriages.  This could have been a knock on effect from delays and cancellations of trains due to the earlier incident in Coventry or it might have been the fact that it was three weeks to Christmas and the trains final destination was Manchester Piccadilly.  I stood by the door and luggage compartment for three parts of the journey managing to get a seat at Stoke-on-Trent for the last twenty minutes.

 

pictures on the wall outside the ground 

   Macclesfield Town going into today's game are currently fifth in the table with a chance of going second if today's results go for them and if they manage to topple Woking who currently hold that second spot.  Manager John Askey makes just the one change from the 3-1 defeat at the hands of the league leaders Barnet at the Hive Stadium last Saturday, Andy Hall comes in for Alex Grant who sits it out on the bench for this one.  Garry Hill boss of Woking makes two changes from Tuesday night's 2-0 home win over Altrincham, Jack Marriott and Scott Rendell retire to the bench while Joe McNerney and Dean Morgan start the game.

     This wasn't a "Silky" performance at all by the home side for it was Woking who started the brighter and in the first ten minutes of the game Macclesfield found it hard to get out of their own half but after 13 minutes and with their first attack of the game they took the lead when Danny Whitaker found himself in space with the ball just outside the Woking penalty area, he fired a low left footed drive which was only parried by the Cardinal's keeper Ross Worner and into the path of the Silkmen's striker Matthew Barnes-Homer who slotted the ball home from six yards for his third goal of the season.

Teams shaking hands before match

     Macclesfield had several more chances before the break to increase their lead and started to look stronger than their opponents but failed to take the initiative and put the game beyond Woking and ultimately paid the price for six minutes into the second half and Woking were level  Dean Morgan found himself in the Macclesfield box with the ball at his feet and he fired a shot which was blocked and came straight back to him but this time he hit the ball wide of the Macc's keeper Rhys Taylor and into the bottom corner of the net.

     The game went from one end to the other after the equaliser and both teams squandered good chances and it looked like a draw would be the final outcome until the last minute of the game when Barnes-Homer got free down the right and pulled the ball back and towards  Paul Turnbull via a mistimed clearance and he fired the ball through a crowd of players and inside the bottom near post to send the Macclesfield fans wild for their side hung on till the final whistle and extended their unbeaten home run.

   

The John Askey stand

 Macclesfield Town have been playing football at Moss Rose since 1891, it has a capacity of around 6,335 of which just over 2,500 are seated.  The Silk FM main stand is covered and stretches a third of the length of the pitch and straddles the half way line.  Across on the other side of the pitch is the Henshaw's stand and is where I watched the game, it is a fully covered, single tiered and a all seated stand which was built in 2001.  At one end behind the goal to the right as you're sitting in the Henshaw's stand is the Macclesfield Audi stand which is a mix between seating and terracing with the terracing being behind the seats, (strange), and is fully covered.  At the other end behind the goal is the John Askey's terrace which is uncovered and designated to away supporters as is a third of the Henshaw's stand. 

                                                           Match Details