A diverted flight, two cross-country bus journeys, heart-stopping border control checks, rooftop Proclaimers dancing, a death-defying cable car trip and an Austrian pub so dodgy even the banjo player thought best to stand outside.
Nine days on from when Celtic’s Slovenian training jaunt first took off to, well, Croatia, my Herald & Times foreign mission has sadly come to an end. And what a mission it has been.
When we all gathered at Glasgow Airport last Monday, not even Mystic Meg clinking her way through duty free could have foreseen that Maribor Airport would decide to shut early, sending the Celtic team and everyone else on board their Carpatair flight to that well-known Slovenian outpost that is Zagreb. Thankfully there was enough fruit salad on board to keep the spirits high.
On landing, the airport café had heard of our arrival and set aside their finest platter of stale cheese and ham toasties before a three-hour bus trip eventually got us into Maribor at 2am.
The travel chaos didn’t stop there either. Only on Sunday after Celtic’s win against Sturm Graz, a delayed transfer back to HQ forced the parched press pack to the street-side hostilely across the road nestled in the leafy shadows of the UPC Arena.
It was here we met Shouty Harry, an elderly gent who, well, shouted while trying to follow us into the toilet, and a group of lubricated locals who danced away in the corner with the burly barmaid as if they were auditioning for Craggy Island Has Talent.
Read more: Scott Mullen in Slovenia: Celje the venue for birth of Brendan Rodgers era at Celtic
Anyway, in my lobster-red state, I digress.
In all seriousness, please do not be misled into thinking the last few days have been anything other than magnificently wonderful. The trials and tribulations listed above don’t detract from the journey I have been on following Celtic over the last week or so, but instead added to it.
A massive part of coming to this part of the world on such a trip is to experience things you’d not ordinarily sample back home. Even as a Motherwell man, it’s been eye-opening at times.
Celtic have been – and will be until Saturday – based in the Slovenian city of Maribor, a place our tour guide Nic Cannon went to great lengths to tell us about.
While the press pack were based in the city centre – it was handy for the gym and museums – Brendan Rodgers and his players are still enjoying the tranquil and secluded luxury of their hotel just outside of town. It’s a great set up with pitches on site and few people to hassle them.
On the park, Rodgers has fielded four teams across two games and must now be getting closer to picking a starting XI to take on either Flora of Estonia or Lincoln Red Imps of Gibraltar next week in the Champions League qualifying round second leg. With the exception of Scott Brown, who got half an hour against Graz, every player has had 45 minutes to impress. Some have seized that opportunity more than others.
For me, Scott Allan, Ryan Christie, Stuart Armstrong, Kieran Tierney and Nadir Ciftci have all been excellent. Leigh Griffiths has had a subdued start, but you’d think with a settled team behind him the goals will surely start to come. You also have Moussa Dembele to add into the mix when he makes his Celtic debut tomorrow night against Olimpija Ljubljana.
For that game, Celtic fans should expect to see a more settled team I’d imagine as that crucial game next week gets closer, before Saturday’s final friendly with Maribor puts the final pieces of the jigsaw together.
Coverage of both the final games as well as more blogs, reports, interviews and and analysis will be left to the professional that is Neil Cameron.
Zbogom!
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