Thomson at it again. Big week ahead.

[Joe O'Rourke]

Another Celtic game refereed by Craig Thomson, another load of controversy from him. We have only played two matches and we have had a penalty awarded against us in each game, I know the penalty on Saturday looked to be the correct decision, well that will be a first for Thomson.

There was controversy as well with Griff getting booked for diving, again that seemed as if it could have been right, but Thomson was very quick to get the card out, and to be fair to Griff he tends to get his shot off rather than go down for a penalty in normal circumstances.

If Thomson got those two decisions right it was about the only two. Murray Davidson got away with quite a lot of fouls after already being yellow carded, he also got away with elbowing Liam Henderson in the face which resulted in him having to leave the field of play to receive treatment.

There was a tremendous Celtic support up in Perth, it’s been a long time since I saw so many buses on the road to an away game. I must confess it is normally a pleasant experience playing against St Johnstone in Perth, there always seems to be a good relationship between both sets of fans.

Tomorrow night gives us the opportunity to get through to the group stages of the Champions League, otherwise known as the Land of Milk & Honey. Celtic and our supporters deserve to be playing in the elite tournament in Europe. There is a lot of money to be made from those games, I sincerely hope that we invest it all on the playing squad (if successful).

The next two matches after that are against Aberdeen, the team that came second last season, and Sevco, who are playing in the top flight for the very first time. Maximum points is the priority from both those matches. Aberdeen under McInnes are hard to beat, they will come to sit in and counter attack, I think we have the pace and quality in the team now to handle that situation perfectly.

As for Sevco, I honestly wish they were not playing in the same league as us, I didn’t miss them one tiny bit for the last four seasons. They have a support which are bigoted, nasty and obnoxious, I am pretty sure the maintenance department at Celtic Park will be very busy after their visit. If I was Peter Lawwell I would video every inch of every part of the stadium which they occupy before the match, and do the same after the match.

As for the football side of the game, I think we have far too much class in our team to be worried by the likes of Joey Barton and Kranjcar. Brendan has shown in the short time he has been here that he is a top class Manager. He is very meticulous in his preparation for a game, tactically he is very astute, add that to the fact that we have a far superior football squad, then I am very confident about the outcome.

It is looking like being a very exciting time at Celtic. Onwards and Upwards. Glasgow’s Green & White.