Legends march on after hammering Chelsea and Man Utd

The Celtic Legends are getting into gear for tomorrow's knock-out section of the Emirates 7's after handing out a 3-0 hammering to Chelsea.

Andy Walker, Pierre van Hooijdonk and Darren Jackson were on the scoresheet against the Londoners as Celtic marched into the knock out stages where they face local heros the UAE 1990 World Cup side.

After losing their breakfast time opener to AC Milan the auld hoops have found their form with Derek Whyte looking forward to further success.

"We've got Tom Boyd and Brian O'Neill together at the back and that's working a treat," Whyte explained.

"We were caught out a bit by Milan but that's not to take anything away from the way that they played.

"It's a great tournament and the boys are enjoying themselves. We're going to see Paolo Nutini in concert tonight and he led us onto the park which was great.

"We're having a great time together and looking forward to seeing how far we can go tomorrow."

The Celtic Legends will need to be on their best behaviour against the UAE side after Rangers had Derek Ferguson and Gordon Durie sent off against the UAE for swearing at the local referee.

Meanwhile in the professional part of the tournament the Celtic youth side has lost to Leeds United and AC Milan.

Filip Twardzik scored in the 3-1 defeat from AC Milan with Stevie Frail's side facing Olympiakos tomorrow.

Frail said: "We've been giving away a few years to the teams that we've been up against but we should have still played better.

"It's been a bit disappointing but a good experience. There is no age limit on the players and one of the Leeds players, Andy Robinson, has played over 200 first team matches."
Despite today's results all the teams go forward to tomorrow's knock out stage regardless of their results.
The winners from one group play the fourth side from the other group, with the second placed team playing the third etc.
That format ensures that all teams remain in the competition with today's matches effectively a warm-up for Saturday's knock out games.

Stubbs joins Masters squad

Local bhoy Alan Stubbs will join the Celtic squad for tonight's bid to win the British Masters alongwith Tommy Johnson.

It's the first time that Stubbs has played in the Masters while Johnson has been in the side a couple of times for the Scottish event.

Skipper Tom Boyd leads a strong side into the Liverpool event after victory at the Scottish Masters in July.

Celtic face Tranmere in the quarter-finals of the knock out event which hasn't quite provided the organisers high profile names with Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United all missing out.

Bolton, QPR and Barnsley have earned their place in the event with the Barnsley squad including former Celts Jim Dobbin and Wayne Biggins.

As a Manchester City player Biggins is a former winner of the Masters while Leicester, who are in tonight's competition, won the Tenerife Masters in December beating the hoops in the final.

The event kicks off on Sky at 7pm.

Kerr prepares for Masters bid

The Celtic Old Bhoys head to Liverpool on Sunday looking to win the British Masters for the first time.

After seeing off Rangers, Hearts and Dundee United the old hoops find themselves in the British final which must have turned into a marketing nightmare.

Think Merseyside and you get Tranmere, think London and it's QPR, think Manc and it's Bolton!

TRANMERE

No doubt the organisers would have been looking for Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United to join the hoops but it's not such a funny old game when you end up with Tranmere, QPR and Bolton Wanderers.

Celtic face Tranmere in the quarter finals with former Hoops keeper Stewart Kerr looking forward to a reunion with an edge.

Any outsider looking in may think that it's a jolly for the old boys on show but with an indoor arena under the lights of Sky TV things get intense and very competitive.

Kerr said: "Obviously it's different to play in these events from watching on telly. The standard is quite high, over the years younger players are getting involved and it's definitely a hard shift.

"When I watched it on telly I never realised how wide the goals are, that was quite a surprise.

FORGIVING

"It's a good format and hard work. The surface isn't the most forgiving, goalkeepers are heavily involved, the goals are quite big and the organisers are wanting to see plenty of goals flying in.

"The secret is just to keep the ball, we really found that out in the Scottish event, when we were keeping the ball our luck started to change.

"The Scottish Masters was very enjoyable, after a bad start it turned out well and now we're looking forward to the British event and going on to win that.

"There is no form in these events especially with this stage being a straight knock out. In the Scottish Masters we lost our first game 3-1 against Dundee United but beat them in the final."

ATTRACTION

The social side of the event is a big attraction with players from different eras getting together to exchange stories and catch up with each other.

The Celtic side that won the Scottish event covered a few playing eras dating back to Andy Walker and Mark McNally from the troubled early 90s to the excitement created by Pierre van Hooijdonk with Tom Boyd a constant through to the trophy winning days on the naughties.

Kerr's Celtic career covered the good, the bad, the painful and the memorable with the stories certain to flow when they meet up again in Liverpool.

"It's great to meet up with folk that you haven't seen in years," the keeper said. "You quickly go back into team-mates mode.

"There's a few square-ups when you're playing as usual but afterwards they are quickly forgotten about. It's great to get competitive again.

"Everyone just switches back into their playing mode, there is always pressure on you to win at Celtic and the supporters are there to see you win."

Kerr on Artur Boruc

Kerr video from Scottish Masters

'Back to basics suits Artur' says Stewart Kerr

by Joe McHugh
Former Celtic keeper Stewart Kerr is convinced that Artur Boruc is back to his brilliant best after brushing up on the basics.

Boruc's full length save from David Wotherspoon at Easter Road on Sunday certainly caught the eye but there were other aspects of his game that appealed to Kerr.

As a goalkeeping coach, at First Division Airdrie, Kerr is well qualified to comment on Boruc and is certain that the Pole is back to the sort of form that made such an impact in his first three seasons as a Celt.

IMPRESSED

Kerr said: "Artur is always going to make good saves but the things that I've been more impressed with have been the basics of the game. His positioning has been spot on.

"His concentration looks a lot better and hopefully that will continue. He looks to have the basics right and that's what every 'keeper needs.

"Last season he was getting criticised from certain quarters. He had a tough time of it, maybe he was expecting a move and he played all year round after being at the European Championships.

"People don't realise how much it takes out of you when you are playing constant football, especially in big games, mentally it can be very hard.

"This season he looks to have worked really hard in pre-season and that's shown in the games that he's played so far."

ZALUSKA

The arrival of Lucasz Zaluska from Dundee United appears to have added benefited Boruc with his fellow Pole providing strong competition for the goalkeeping position.

"Competition keeps you on your toes,"Kerr added. "It really helps you day-to-day when there is another high class keeper working with you in training. You help and push each other in every session.

"Every keeper I've worked with likes working with other keepers, it's a healthy position for the club to be in. Keepers stand up for each other.

"Stevie Woods is now the goalkeeping coach at Celtic, he's worked his way up through the ranks and will be working hard with Artur.

FINE TUNING

"A goalkeeping coach can't come in and tell someone like Artur what to do, you can't change his style. All that a goalkeeping coach can do is some fine tuning and find out if there any problems.

"You have to get into their heads and make them confident, work on things they are struggling with. At that level it's about tweeking things a little, with first team keepers it's a case of fine tuning and being there for advice when it's needed.

"Any team that wins anything rarely has a bad goalkeeper. Every successful team has a top keeper, if you are going to win things then you have to have the goalkeeping position secure."

Kerr will be back in action himself at the weekend as Celtic travel to Liverpool to take part in the British Masters

Part Two of this interview tomorrow as Stewart looks forward to the Masters event.