Yesterday’s defeat at the hands of Yokohama F Marinos has been met with the usual hysteria form an element of our support.

They really have to ask themselves, why? Yes, it’s never nice seeing your team suffer a defeat, but in the grand scheme of things it means nowt.

Remember Ange’s side being humbled 6-2 at Celtic Park by West Ham? Or Brendan’s Invincibles being beaten 4-0 at Celtic Park by Lyon? And guess what? Each time Celtic were crowned Champions the following seasons. There’s also a number of other examples of similar score lines in the past.

The thing is, it’s only a practice match, just getting fitness into the legs and trying out different formations etc. that’s the whole point of these games, it’s just an exercise nothing more. Peter Grant repeatedly made this point during the Celtic TV broadcast yesterday, recalling in his own playing career going up against lower league sides from Germany who had a few week’s more training in their legs and really struggling to handle the games in the early stages of pre-season.

Yesterday’s game was in an incredibly humid environment where most of the non-Japanese players had never been before.

If we go on to win the league, games such as yesterday’s are never remembered. And despite our comical defending, Celtic actually played quite well! They mean nothing. Time for folk to remember that. The purpose as it always is is to get the squad ready for the first game of the season and that’s against Ross County at the start of August.

Just an Ordinary Bhoy

HUGE SAVINGS IN THE CELTIC STAR’S SUMMER SALE!

The Celtic Star’s Father’s Day Promotion has been so successful, with hundreds of books at great prices being posted to Celtic fans all over the world, that we’ve decided to continue with the sale until the end of July. We’ve reduced all six books currently available from their usual retail price of £20 and prices are as low as £6 (see below).

All books are high quality hardback, with some signed by the author. And it’s also worth noting that you only pay postage on one book, so it’s free for the second, third and so on. ORDER HERE or click on The Celtic Star image above…this is how it feels to be Celtic!