Well bhoys and ghirls, did you have a good North American tour?  I have to admit, I only saw the second half of the Sounders game and have had to make do with highlights of the other two games.  Yes, I know there were three but someone didn’t think to take a camera to Philadelphia.  Although I’m told we didn’t miss much.  In fact, while the whole tour probably did what was required of it – got the fitness levels up and got us some very welcome exposure state-side – it didn’t do a whole lot else.  Well, we learned that we can score penalties (three of our four goals came from the spot, plus a Fenway Cup triumph in a shoot-out), but that’s not going to be much use in Scotland now, is it?!

So the bhoys have returned to Europe where the focus must now turn.  But first, the “Development Squad” as we’re now calling the reserves, are heading south of the border to take on Lincoln City – and a reunion with an old friend who never really got a proper send off.

When Lincoln City dismissed Peter Jackson – not the Lord of the Rings guy – as manager in September 2009, they gave Chris Sutton his first taste of management.  Chris had been out of football since being forced to retire as a player due to an eye injury: a sad and quiet ending for a glittering career in which he had become famous for forging not one but two deadly striking partnerships.

The first of those began in the summer of 1994, when Chris left Norwich City for Blackburn Rovers.  At the time, the transfer fee of £5 million was a record in English Football.  Some suggested this transfer fee was excessive at the time for a relative unknown.  More curiously, it came around the same time that there were reports of Fergus McCann trying to tempt the then Blackburn Rovers manager Kenny Dalglish to Celtic, and the curious coincidence of a £5 million transfer budget was doing the rounds.

As fate would have it, one of the first games Chris played for Blackburn came against Celtic, in a friendly at Hampden Park – Celtic’s home for that season while work began at Celtic Park.  There were rumours that Dalglish himself was going to play a part in the friendly, but these were unfounded – much to the disappointment of a young Krys who was in attendance that night!  Celtic won the friendly 1-0, a goal from Willie Falconer pretty much stealing a game in which Blackburn dominated.  A friendly game I happily brought up 9 months later when Blackburn were crowned champions of England, thanks in no small part to the “SAS” – Shearer and Sutton – partnership.

When Sutton moved on to Chelsea for £10 million (double what Blackburn paid for him – not so crazy buying him for £5 million after all) big things were expected of him.  But fortunately he was something of a flop in London, never quite fitting in to the Chelsea style of play.  I say fortunately, because after just one season at Chelsea he was allowed to leave the club to join the Martin O’Neill revolution at Celtic, where he forged another deadly striking partnership – linking up with Henrik.

Do I need to say any more about Chris Sutton?  Only one word more.  Hunskelper.  I can think of no better word to describe him.  Whether he was scoring in the opening minutes of his first game against Rangers, scoring in the opening seconds at Ibrox to record what is still the fastest goal in any Celtic v Rangers game, moaning about Dunfermline lying down to them day after we’d played in Seville, or just silencing the hordes in the away end at Celtic Park who had already started celebrating a 0-0 draw by chipping Klos and completing the 2003/04 whitewash over them, Chris was a constant thorn in their side.

Sadly Chris was one of many who didn’t fit in with Gordon Strachan’s plans at Celtic, and as such he rather disappeared quietly into the night.  Chris has said himself recently that this friendly match will finally give him the opportunity to say goodbye to the fans.  I have no doubt that the travelling support will be just as willing to give him the proper send off he deserves.

As for Celtic, it’s not quite the reserves that are due to face Lincoln.   The Celtic web site suggests that Aiden McGeady along with new bhoys Daryl Murphy, Cha Du-Ri and Efrain Juarez are also in the squad for the match, so it looks like this might be the last opportunity to get those who have arrived later a bit of match sharpness before our first competitive match.

Which brings me nicely onto Wednesday night and the… big breath… UEFA Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round Non-Champions Path First Leg match… and relax… against SC Braga of Portugal.  Kick off time seems to vary.  The Celtic web site says 7pm, The BBC web site says 8pm, and the UEFA web site says 9pm.  Now, while the UEFA web site is the only one of the three that will be giving local Portuguese time rather than Scottish time, it doesn’t actually matter because Scotland and Portugal are on the same timezone!  So basically, just be in the pub for 7pm (2pm ET, 11am PT) and try not to get too drunk straight away!

Braga were, on paper, the draw we all wanted.  We weren’t seeded in the draw, so to get the fifth seed of five sounds good.  Last season’s 2nd place finish (a good 20 points ahead of Sporting Lisbon whom we’ve just met) is their best ever finish in the league though, and would indicate it will still be a tough match – not that we should expect anything else.

However, it does appear that Braga are going through a similar transitional period to ourselves.  This summer they have brought in no fewer than nine players.  One of which was former Benfica goalkeeper Quim – who played in both games against us in both of our successful Champions League group stage campaigns in 2006/07 and 2007/08, however a serious injury in training just after signing has side-lined him until the new year.  Aside from Quim though, many of the signings appear to be players in their early to mid-20s: a sure sign that Braga are planning for the future with a younger squad.  We ourselves have made a few changes, and while the deadline has now passed for signings for this qualifier, there’s a rule which lets us swap out one player for a new signing up to 24 hours before the game.  Obviously something Braga will also be allowed to do.

With all these changes in mind, it’s difficult to look at last season’s achievements of Braga and try to gauge what they will offer up – just as it’s difficult to judge Celtic on how we did last season!  So the key here could come down to which of the two sides gels faster and blows off the cobwebs of the summer break quicker.  However, the major factor which got Braga into that second spot last season was their ability to close the game down.  Many of their matches finished 1-0, and they were unbeaten at home in the league – indeed they only drew one of their home league matches and even that was a 0-0 draw.  Even away from home they didn’t appear to leak many goals (a 5-1 thrashing by Porto aside).  Assuming they play to the same philosophy it could be vital that Celtic take their chances if and when they come.  An away goal might be very useful in this tie.

The other key thing to note about Braga is their stadium.  I remember watching Euro 2004 and looking at how all the newly built stadiums looked.  The two in Lisbon looked pretty much the same with different paint jobs, while I remembered the work going on in Boavista’s stadium on the road to Seville.  But the one that stuck in my head the most was the one that appeared to have been built in a quarry!  Little wonder, since it actually is adjacent to the Monte Castro quarry!  Sure enough, Braga’s home is that very stadium – look out for how it has just three stands and big stone wall behind one of the goals!  Rather puts the “Green Monster” at our last venue – Fenway Park – to shame I think!

That’s me for another week then.  I’ll be back next week for a preview of our trip to London for the Emirates Cup and the second leg of the qualifier.  My apologies for breaking my promise about making these short by the way – but I couldn’t let the opportunity to discuss one of my all-time favourite Celtic players pass by.  Hail Hail!