PRE-SEASON friendly matches are the epitome of a necessary evil in the minds of football players.
Even managers, for whom these games are viewed as essential, have little time for a 90 minutes which is all about conditioning, their men not getting injured and also not really trying. Gordon Strachan is the perfect example.
When John Collins, the Celtic assistant manager, was in his prime as a player at the club, the first bounce game of the summer tended to be in Scandinavia or Ireland, a good month and more before the Premier League season began. None of these were classics. Most utterly forgettable.
At St Mirren Park tonight, Celtic take on Dutch side Den Bosch and as always there will be a few thousand hardy souls who will travel to Paisley not expecting to be entertained, but at least they will get something of a football fix.
Collins, however, promises that this will be more than just a knockabout. The FC Stjarnan first leg is only two weeks away and the players have to hit the ground running. Actually, make that sprinting.
"We will look for everything in the pre-season friendly games," said Collins. "We look for passing and movement, for good reactions, and you want your fitness, too. They have to get ready for the big Champions League games.
"If they play 45 minutes or 60 minutes, it has been at 100 per cent. That's what we'll ask, get your fitness and sharpness up. We won't be strolling about. We don't want to see any player strolling around the pitch any day.
"If you are going to get better, you give 100 per cent every day. Of course it will be hard in the first 30 minutes of the game, players getting a second breath and finding rhythm. But we've not had a long period off and we hope to see a good performance."
The player who will be of most interest to the Celtic supporters is Dedryck Boyata, the only new signing so far, who is going to start the match.
The Belgian, a £1.5m purchase from Manchester City, has impressed over his first few weeks at Lennoxtown. He is big, strong, vocal and has a touch. In short, for someone so big, he is everything Collins likes in a defender.
"I'm really looking forward to seeing Dedryck out there," admitted Collins. "I've really enjoyed working with him on the training pitch and he's a quality player. I think the Celtic supporters will enjoy watching him. He's very composed and technically very good.
"I think he's similar to Jason Denayer in that he's very good on the ball and a good defender. Jason was terrific for us at 19 years of age, but Dedryck has come in and is desperate to get playing first-team football. I can already see he's a very good passer of the ball with great composure and good pace."
Boyata is also a communicator. The best centre-halves tend not to be shrinking violets whether going in for challenges or telling a team-mate what to do.
"He is a very good talker on the pitch," said Collins. "Even on the first day of training, he wasn't quiet. Jason was younger and was very quiet. Dedryck is completely different.
"He is very vocal, which is so important when you play at the back and you have midfielders in front of you, full backs right and left, and you need to guide them. It's a big part of being a defender. So you can tell he has that attribute."
Collins also confirmed that Charlie Mulgrew could partner Boyata in that first Champions League match. He said: "Virgil van Dijk is suspended for the first game so someone will be playing left beside Dedryck. Charlie has a chance of playing there."
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