By kick-off time tonight every Battle of Britain cliche will have been used up.
The media whip up the hype in response to supporters and interest, tonight’s Celtic-Arsenal clash is a unique knock-out tie in what is basically the first week of the football season.
The build up would be much less intense if Celtic had been drawn against Stuttgart or Lyon, the club may have had to try pushing ticket sales but that wasn’t needed from the moment the Uefa draw paired Celtic and Arsenal together.
A decade or two ago the game would have been entirely different, George Graham’s ‘1-0 to the Arsenal’ side played a different brand of football even though Iain Wright and Paul Merson did add flair to a famous back four.
BEAUTIFUL
Celtic, under Gordon Strachan, hardly adopted the beautiful game, the trophies were won, the titles celebrated but the football was far from breathtaking with supporters attending through habit without any great hopes or expectations of excitement.
It’s only three games into the Tony Mowbray reign but there’s an air of excitement back amongst the Celtic support with Arsenal, to quote Martin O’Neill, providing the benchmark to judge how far Celtic have progressed and how far they have to go.
There will be passion and electricity in the air around Celtic Park but it will be a footballing match with little in the way of blood and snotters regardless of the Battle of Britain tag.
Tom Boyd has savoured just about everything that can come your way as a Celtic player and supporter, the despair and elation that are invariably mixed together before and after the huddle.
ANTICIPATION
Celtic Park has hosted all of the major names in European football over the last decade with Boyd anticipating tonight’s game eagerly without being whooped along by the hype.
He said: “The game is built up a lot in the press but it’s not a bigger match than playing Milan or Barcelona who’ve been to Celtic Park recently.
“Arsenal have very little English players, the manager has his own style of play, it’s not an English style game or mentality. He prefers the foreign approach.
ENGLAND
“Fabio Capello has also got England playing a bit differently. As a nation England are renowned for their battling style but that’s not the Arsenal way, they like to get the ball down and play, that’s why I think that we’ll have a great open style of football.
“I don’t think that the game will fail to live up to expectations. The way that both managers play the game I’m expecting it to be an open free-flowing match.
“It won’t be a Battle of Britain type of game, I’m looking forward to a lot of great players being on show. I just hope that Celtic come out of the game intact and with a chance for the second leg.”
NAKAMURA
The focus of attention for Celtic so far this season has been on Aiden McGeady and Shaun Maloney, to such an extent that the departure of Shunsuke Nakamura has barely been mentioned.
Nakamura brought class, poise and style to Strachan’s side. He wasn’t blessed with blistering pace but made up for that in other ways with a string of memorable goals and performances littering his Celtic career.
Four good seasons is as much as you can expect from players these days with Naka moving on before he had the chance to work with Mowbray.
How he would have fitted into the new-look Celtic side will remain unanswered but Boyd has no doubt that the Japanese midfielder would have thrived under Mowbray.
WIDE
The former Celtic skipper added: “When you look at the wide men, Shaun and Aiden, there is a lot of pace but Naka would be able to play as well.
“If you look at Aiden being given licence to roam I think that would have suited Naka with the way that he can play and pick his passes.
“He was never allowed to play that way. Like Aiden he had to do a job for the team in a wide midfield position and also working back the way.
“I think that Nakamura would have excelled playing in the hole and being allowed to come in off the wing as often as Aiden is.
“Shaun coming back has covered for the loss of Nakamura, him and Aiden are key players for Tony and it would be interesting to see who would come in if either of them picked up a knock.
“That would be a dilemma for the manager, would he change his style and formation if he didn’t have the pace in the wider areas that he’s getting from these areas.”
Boyd will watch the game as a Celtic supporter, partisan in his support for the side that he captained but fearful of making any type of prediction.
MINGIN
“I just want a Celtic victory, in terms of scores and predictions I’m absolutely mingin!” he laughed. “I do that in the Number 7 lounge and I’ve not had anything right for about five years.
“I’m useless when it comes to correct scores, all I want to get right is that Celtic are victorious and enter the Champions League.”
