Last Man Standing – Lunchtime after the 4-0 defeat to Bayer Leverkusen

The day after Celtic lost 4-0 to Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League there was a ‘mixed’ media conference with the Celtic FC Women manager Fran Alonso and one of his players ahead of last Sunday’s match against Partick Thistle. Usually in these situations there are a few of the newspaper and television journalists present, mixed in with a handful of Celtic fan media folk, probably around eight mixed media representatives in total.

Today Celtic are back in SWPL1 action, with an important game away from home against Hamilton but for the first time since the women’s game resumed in early April after the Government enforced lockdown of the game over the winter months, there was no media conference ahead of the Celtic Women’s game.

Celtic FC Women star Clarissa Larisey speaking to The Celtic Star last Friday…

The same arrangements incidentally are in place for Tommy McIntyre’s Celtic B team but obviously not for the first team under Ange Postecoglou, where the Celtic fan media have not been permitted access this season. Last season The Cynic were allowed to ask a few questions of Neil Lennon, occasionally getting under the then Celtic manager’s skin.

Tommy McIntyre held a media conference this week but Fran Alonso didn’t, with no explanation at all coming from the club. Maybe it was something to do with the what happened last Friday – the lunchtime after the Leverkusen game when NO members of the mainstream media showed up and ONLY The Celtic Star were there from all the fan media sites.

Charlie Wellings (#21) of Celtic Women FC celebrates her hat trick following her sides 6-0 win during the Scottish Womens Premier League 1 match between Celtic Women and Partick Thistle Women at Penny Cars Stadium, Airdrie, Scotland on 3 October 2021.

So rather than getting one or maybe two questions we asked all the questions at both the media conferences with Fran Alonso and Clarissa Larisey…

Here’s what happened…Fran Alonso talks to The Celtic Star – Celtic plan to beat attendance records set by Hibs and Scotland

So why did Celtic not hold a Media Conference ahead of today’s match at Hamilton?  Why did no-one else show up last Friday? That’s not really a question for The Celtic Star but you can imagine that the fan media heads were down after the bruising encounter with the German side the night before, we can’t even imagine why the hacks didn’t show up on that occasion. Too busy gloating?

Hibs Women have had a couple of disappointing results recently.  They lost a last minute winner to Celtic before winning the Edinburgh Derby then lost at home to theRangers by 1-0 so effectively their title challenge is now not looking promising. theRangers, who haven’t played Celtic or Champions Glasgow City yet (those two recent shared the spoils in a 2-2 draw) are top of the league with a 100% record. Celtic and City are two points behind as a result of that drawn match.

Yet the Easter Road club are doing a tremendous job promoting the women’s game – attracting over 5000 supporters to that Edinburgh Derby and there’s surely a contrast there with Celtic deciding against promoting the women’s game this weekend.

Chloe Warrington (#22) of Celtic Women FC gets ahaed of Rosie Slater (#2) of Partick Thistle WFC during the Scottish Womens Premier League 1 match between Celtic Women and Partick Thistle Women at Penny Cars Stadium, Airdrie, Scotland on 3 October 2021.

The SWPL1 is very tight at the top, there can be no slip ups against the rest of the league for Celtic and it is probably going to come down to the matches against these other two title challengers. So playing Hamilton today is important and if the fans are investing in Fran Alonso’s team and the development of the Women’s game a complete media black-out – other than posting an article yesterday on the official club website – is a poor show.

This site has invested in supporting the Celtic FC Women’s game – the photographs from last week’s win against Partick Thistle were commissioned and paid for so that we can provide the coverage we reckoned Celtic FC wanted.

Hamilton too are trying to build the women’s game. They have a pay at the door or buy a stream for £5 plan in play for the visit of Celtic FC Women – the match kicks off at 5pm incidentally – but it’s not been widely promoted. The lack of coverage from the Celtic side of things is strange, to say the least.

“Right now, in the table they are at the bottom with the same number of points as three other teams,” Fran Alonso told Louise Gould from Celtic TV, as reported on the official club website yesterday. Hamilton actually took the lead against Champions Glasgow City a few weeks back, Alonso noted, before losing 3-1.

“They’ve got a lot of pace on the counter-attack and they’re very good at set plays as well as their other attributes. This could be our 19th league game unbeaten, which is something that we want to achieve. And the most important thing we would like to have is 16 points on the table after six games,” the Celtic FC Women manager said.

Shen Mengyu (#9) of Celtic Women FC challenges for a header during the Scottish Womens Premier League 1 match between Celtic Women and Partick Thistle Women at Penny Cars Stadium, Airdrie, Scotland on 3 October 2021.

“Right now, in the table they are at the bottom with the same number of points as three other teams,” Fran Alonso told Louise Gould from Celtic TV, as reported on the official club website yesterday. Hamilton actually took the lead against Champions Glasgow City a few weeks back, Alonso noted, before losing 3-1.

“They’ve got a lot of pace on the counter-attack and they’re very good at set plays as well as their other attributes. This could be our 19th league game unbeaten, which is something that we want to achieve. And the most important thing we would like to have is 16 points on the table after six games,” the Celtic FC Women manager said.

GOAL! 6-0 Shen Mengyu (#9) of Celtic Women FC scores during the Scottish Womens Premier League 1 match between Celtic Women and Partick Thistle Women at Penny Cars Stadium, Airdrie, Scotland on 3 October 2021.

Reflecting on last weekend’s 6-0 win over Partick Thistle Alonso said:  “I would like to keep the same standards, the same aggression, the same organisation and our possession to be as fluid as, if not better, than the last game.”

And on today’s away trip to Hamilton: “Hopefully we see a good game – it won’t be an easy game – with the end result being a Celtic win.”

Our usual Match Report will follow later this evening.

COYGIG

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About Author

The Celtic Star founder and editor, who has edited numerous Celtic books over the past decade or so including several from Lisbon Lions, Willie Wallace, Tommy Gemmell and Jim Craig. Earliest Celtic memories include a win over East Fife at Celtic Park and the 4-1 League Cup loss to Partick Thistle as a 6 year old. Best game? Easy 4-2, 1979 when Ten Men Won the League. Email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk

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