What can Celtic learn from Aberdeen's Almaty trip?

BBC News

a day ago

It's the Champions League trip that Celtic had probably hoped to avoid.A short hop to Slovakia and back would have been easier - logistically, at least - than a round-trip of 7,000 miles to Kazakhstan.But Kairat Almaty upset the odds on Tuesday to beat Slovan Bratislava on penalties and set up a play-off with Celtic.The first leg is in Glasgow next Wednesday but the return, six days later, is around 360 miles from the Dzungarian Gate border crossing into China.The quickest flight time from London to Almaty is over eight hours. So when Celtic charter their plane, players and staff will be able to get through about four movies at least. And that's just the outward journey.Celtic will be schlepping further east than Kabul in the week leading up to the first derby of the season at Ibrox. It's quite the trip, but the Champions League lucre at stake for Brendan Rodgers' men would make it all worthwhile.
Tony Bennett's plane, Tallinn & steak dinners
Should they need some advice, Aberdeen made the same journey on Europa League qualifying duty in 2015. And the Scotland men's national team also travelled to Kazakhstan in 2019, an ill-fated trip on which Alex McLeish's side lost 3-0. Speak to those at the Scottish FA about it and they make the logistics sound simple. "You fly there and back in a long-range Airbus or Boeing," one said.The plane Aberdeen hired a decade ago might as well have had 'fly me to the moon' branded along the fuselage.It was - as a club insider recalled - different from the type they had used before for European away trips. Smaller, more luxurious. "I believe it was used by the singer Tony Bennett and other celebrities," they said.It didn't go too well on the football side, though, Aberdeen losing 2-1 away before a 1-1 draw at Pittodrie. But that wasn't for a lack of attention to detail from then-manager Derek McInnes and assistant Tony Docherty.The Aberdeen squad - who stopped in Estonia on the way out and Turkey on the way back - had a steak dinner before flying out late on the Tuesday for a Thursday game. The idea was that they could sleep on the plane, rather than travelling during the day, and they also all stayed on UK time so as to be better equipped to handle their subsequent league game a few days later.Kenny McLean's late winner over Dundee United at Tannadice suggests they might have had the right idea.
What can history tell us about Kazakh trips?
Rodgers and Celtic's support staff will already have a plan in place for Kazakhstan. Not least given it's a trip which will go a long way to defining their season. They cannot leave anything to chance when it comes to getting in and out of Almaty as quickly and as safely as possible, while still giving the players the optimal conditions to both prepare for and recover from the gruelling trip. It's expected to be around 30 degrees when Celtic visit, although that's likely to drop to mid-20s around kick-off time.Celtic's record against Kazakh opposition is good, although the club still await their first win in the former Soviet republic.They have never played Almaty before but have made the journey to Kazakhstan three times in the past decade or so. Shakhter Karagandy were beaten 3-2 on aggregate after a memorable night at Parkhead, featuring a late winner from James Forrest. Rodgers was in his first spell at the club when Celtic knocked Astana out of Europe in consecutive seasons.The Northern Irishman won't want the copybook to be blotted now, for all sorts of reasons. He may not fly in the same plane Tony Bennett used, but he'll certainly want to avoid a trip down The Boulevard of Broken Dreams.