I HAVE made this point before, and will doubtless do so again in the future, but, it must be difficult for a non-Scot to arrive at Celtic, or at the Tribute Act for that matter.
Certainly the import will be perceived as being a better technical player than your average Scottish one; perhaps he has experience of local derbies in his own country or somewhere else in Europe, but, what he does not have is experience of the particular form of tribal football which has grown-up in Scotland since the 1870s.
That can take a bit of getting used to. Some players - Fernando Ricksen, 'The Magnificent Seven', Pierre van what's 'is name (never could spell the big Dutchman's surname) positively thrived in the febrile atmosphere of an Old Firm match - others never quite got what the Scots were all about.
This happens too in the matches against what the OF fans refer to as "the diddy teams", ie, any club other than the other lot.
I have pointed-out in the past, if you are a player with either one of the Bigot Brothers, then, when you face a diddy team, you will usually be facing two opponents who are fans, and are desperate to show, they should be wearing the jersey you have on, and three others who hate that jersey with every fibre in their being and want to thrash you. The other six opponents also want to do well, but with perhas less venom in that wish.
So, you are going to have to battle for the points. These usually accrued with varying degrees of difficulty; however, these days are past. Even Celtic are now having to shop in Aldi rather than Waitrose - the gap is closing and, as we have seen in recent weeks, at Inverness and at Dundee, with the lower-quality of foreign import now wearing the Hoops, there is, this season, probably a greater chance of Celtic dropping unexpected points on the road.
Of course, the sheer size and grandeur of Parkhead, even if fewer of "the Celtic Family" is turning up on a regular basis these days, is still worth perhaps a couple of goals to the home side. However, if the league continues to unfold as it has started, just maybe, the gap between Celtic and the Rest will narrow this season.
I certainly hope more of the diddy teams will think it worth while having a real go at Celtic this season, it could make for an interesting campaign.
THERE was an interresting wee online debate on the Herald website this week, sparked-off by my old mate Graham Spiers.
This concerned the legend of Seville; with suggestions that that journey to that cup final in Spain marked the high-point of recent (ie post-Lisbon) Celtic history.
Unfortunately, while the Lisbon Lions pulled-off the greatest win in Scottish football history, the Seville Celts won - nothing, zilch, zero. In fact, the real heroes of that Scottish season were Rangers, who won a domestic Treble that season.
But, hey, that's perhaps Scottish football 21st century style for you. We now prefer to travel hopefully rather than arrive anywhere.
SPEAKING of arriving somewhere, the Tartan Army will embark for Germany later this week, perhaps hoping, at best, for a narrow defeat as we become the first opponents for Germany since their World Cup win in Brazil.
It helps us that several key men from that winning team have either packed-in international football, or are injured. Also, this is the kind of no-hope game which tends to bring-out the best in Scotland.
We have form in winning in Germany, indeed, back in 1957 we actually went there and beat what was then West Germany, while they were reigning World Champions. For the record, our team that day, 22 May, 1957, was: Tommy Younger (Liverpool); Eric Caldow (Rangers), John Hewie (Charlton Athletic), Ian McColl (Rangers), Bobby Evans (Celtic), Tomy Docherty (Preston NE, capt), Alex Scott (Rangers), Bobby Collins (Celtic), Jackie Mudie (Blackpool), Sammy Baird (Rangers) and Tommy Ring (Clyde).
Wee Bobby Collins bagged a brace, Jackie Mudie got the other Scotland goal. OK, the West Germans put out an experimental team, but, they did have the hero fo their 1954 World Cup win, Helmut Rahn, playing, while Hans Tilkowski, the goalie in the 1966 World Cup final, was between the sticks in that Stuttgart match.
ONly full-backs Caldow and Hewie and skipper Docherty of that winning Scotland team are still with us, by the way.
It is past time we beat World Champions Germany, in Germany, again.
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