Celtic players at the big dance.

There is no escaping the World Cup. It is actually a dirty little secret of mine that I highly enjoy the Summer break of football where there is nothing to worry about, no disastrous losses to pick over, no words and interviews and fans forums to pore over. Of course the wins make this all worthwhile but it's to the benefit of myself and my relationships with those around me that I can take a break from it all and not let it consume my life! But alas, the grandest prize in football is upon us and in full swing. Aside from the dazzling football (er, or not, as the case may be for the last week) it is always in every club fans mind to look out for players or ex-players playing for their nation on the biggest stage of them all. As the first round of matches is officially over I thought it would be worthwhile to have a look at current and ex-Celts in the context of their squads and what role they might play at the finals.



There are six such players at the World Cup. Of these six there's two you would say are strictly on the fringes of both teams starting XI's and they were both perplexing at points over the 2009/10 Scottish season, those being Landry N'Guemo and Edson Braafheid who play for Cameroon and The Netherlands. The inclusion of Braafheid in the highly talented Dutch squad seems completely insane if I'm being perfectly honest. I don't rate him as a Celtic player, never mind a Holland player. Thankfully for Oranje fans he is strictly back-up for the seemingly eternal ex-Rangers player Gio Van Bronckhorst. As such he is unlikely to feature much if at all over the course of the tournament. N'Guemo is a more permanent fixture in the Cameroon squad with 20 caps to his name but likely to play a similar back-up role to the strong, athletic and skillful Indomitable Lions midfield. Although with Paul Le Guen providing some nonsensical tactical decisions against Japan we may see him, it's anyone's guess. I would hazard a guess that we WILL see him at some point, so keep an eye out for Cameroon line-ups and if you're really interested waiting an hour or so for the substitutions.

Georgios Samaras quite frankly put in a performance of Ross County proportions in Greece's opener with South Korea. If you didn't see it, feel lucky because it was genuinely infuriating, embarassing and at points hilarious. We all know that sometimes the bold Greek can put in a performance and provide a bit of magic for his team that placates the niggling doubts about him in the back of your mind. We also know that when bereft of confidence and form he can be one of the worst players around, by running in what seems like slow motion and completely disrupting attacking phases by passing from the opponent's penalty box back to the halfway line. Sadly for him, us and a whole nation of football fans his path was laid on the latter. It remains to be seen whether he'll be used in Greece's remaining games, his substitute replacement Dimitrios Salpingidas livened the Greeks up when he came on and may be used instead of Samaras in future.

Ex-Celt Chris Killen is a key member of the New Zealand squad. He celebrated a quite fantastic point for the All Whites against Slovakia on Tuesday. He is one of only a handful of players for New Zealand to play their professional football beyond his homeland or Austrailia. He has 11 goals in 32 appearences for the small nation (including 2 against Italy and 4 against.... Papua New Guinea) and is likely to feature in every game in the tournament they play. I for one am rooting for the 'plucky underdogs' in their quest to maybe get another point or the golden ticket of three. I am of course hoping the big man can maybe use his head to get a goal. He did miss a sitter in the opening minutes against Slovakia sadly.


One young Celtic talent put in a very impressive performance against Greece in South Korea's opener. Ki Sung-Yong set up the Asians first goal of the competition with a delicious delivery into the box from a free-kick which outfoxed the desperate Greek defence and connected with a waiting team-mate at the back post. He then proceeded to be a large part of one of the most impressive performances by a team in the opening games. He was able to effectively retain possession and link most of Korea's play between defence and midfield. It was efficient and precise and it left many Celtic fans hopeful of his potential after a series of mixed bag performances in the Hoops. It is likely he will be part of subsequent starting XI's for the Taegeuk Warriors so if you weren't planning to, you should tune in and watch the 21 year old.

Samurai Blue Shunsuke Nakamura performed a starring role in each season he was with Celtic, consistently being our best player for a number of years. Sadly he sat on the bench for Japan's opener against Cameroon and never featured in the match at all. This was due to below par fitness and match sharpness after a fairly lengthy injury which put him on the sidelines for most of run up to the World Cup. He did feature for half an hour in Japan's last warm up game but apparently was deemed not worth risking against Cameroon. Japan head coach Takeshi Okada hinted to the press that Naka would be a 'super-sub' at the tournament, coming on to the pitch when they were struggling or losing, needing an injection of creativity and a perfect foot for set pieces. I hope we see the wee man at some stage, I haven't seen him play a game since leaving Celtic and unlikely will unless he is featured.

In the future it is likely I will provide my own list of scouted players from the World Cup that perhaps Celtic may be able to attract in the near future. Until then keep enjoying the tournament and hope for more 3-3 thrillers instead of 0-0 shutouts! Oh, and Celtic signings!

Supporting Neil Lennon is all we can do.

There's no doubting, looking at it with strictly logical and pragmatic eyes, the Neil Lennon appointment looks at best a massive gamble and at worst an imminent disaster. However it will be spun by Celtic, to any football fan outwith Celtic it is a curious decision. The precedent for a rookie manager being appointed at a club the size of Celtic and being successful is limited. Moreso on the back of two disastrous footballing seasons provoking a need for massive squad upheaval and against a veteran manager who domestically is one of the most successful in your bitter rival's history.

A myth has often been propogated by sections of our support in the last few years that any manager worth their salt could come in a sweep up the rotten remains of Rangers Football Club, propelling Celtic into a new era of domination while Rangers scrabble around trying to fight it out for third or fourth place. This isn't true. You cannot underestimate Rangers FC. There can be no mistake, Neil Lennon's task next year is massive. It is harder than John Barnes', Martin O'Neill's, Gordon Strachan's and Tony Mowbray's job was coming into the club.

This isn't to say Lennon has no redeeming qualities at all to be a successful Celtic manager, it's just that they are either wishful thinking or speculation. For example we have to hope the 8 game league unbeaten streak is a sign of things to come rather than the Semi-Final disaster at Hampden. We have to hope the words Lennon spoke on the radio to Chick Young in the wake of said disaster were the words to carry us forward and not the words of an unburdened man shooting from the hip because he could. We have to hope Neil Lennon, a winner on the park in the peak of his career, can somehow transfer that mentality to a squad of players who at times, if we're being honest, just look like they can't be bothered.



For a squad needing major surgery, it seems odd a manager would be appointed who is entirely untested in the transfer market. We are venturing into the unknown here, little can be written about or speculated about how successful or not Lennon will be in this aspect. All we know that either the powers that be at Celtic have been wowed and won over by Lennon's thinking in all areas of the team and club, or they are throwing their dice into the dark and hoping for sixes.

One thing Neil Lennon will excel with is handling the press. It's no secret he has friends within the Scottish sports media. I have been very impressed with the way he has handled the scrutiny so far. There should be no question that he has the mentality and strength to deal with them if an occasion arises where they turn on him, which when dealing with the fickle Scottish sports media there's a high chance of. Though as much as this seemed like the main talking when Mowbray was in charge, it isn't as big an aspect of being a successful Celtic manager as most newpapers would like you to believe, Mowbray let them walk all over him, Lennon won't.



It is also worth noting that although Lennon is vastly inexperienced in being a football manager, I can think of very few people available for the role that has the rich depth of experience he has of Celtic Football Club and all that goes with it, being the fans, the history and the passion. He was a player for seven years, a captain for two. He has watched Gordon Strachan win trophies and he has watched him going wrong in the eyes of many fans. He was there when Tony Mowbray made a multitude of mistakes, when he lost the dressing room and the respect of the Celtic fans. If he can go halfway towards learning from their mistakes, it's halfway to where we need to be.

At the time of writing, it is still unclear whether Stuart Baxter is going to be employed in some sort of mentoring role for Lennon. In a way I don't think it matters too much, I have little belief he will have much say on the day to day decisions and I'm confident he will strictly be moral/technical support for decisions Neil makes. One thing obvious is the ties he has with a footballing market Celtic would do well to tap, Scandinavia. Whether this is the beginning of some sort of formal partnership with sections of Scandinavian football remains to be seen. That would go some way to making some sort of sense of a truly bizarre appointment in Baxter.


In my opinion, although it will be very hard for some not to feel initially negative or at least let down about the hand we've been dealt with this appointment, going forward the most important thing we as fans can do is to ensure we don't fall into the easy trap of being negative for the sakes of being negative. It is most important to support Neil Lennon, Celtic manager. It would be dangerous to condemn the decision from the start. If the fans can bring a feelgood factor back to the ground, if we can hope and believe and be positive about the appointment it will most definitely help the whole club. There ARE chinks of light coming from Neil Lennon and we can only judge his appointment truly with time and hindsight. Until then he needs our backing because it's the only constructive action we can take right now.