Celtic v Dundee Utd – It’s Flag Day at Paradise for second weekend in a row | OneFootball

It’s Flag Day at Celtic Park for the second weekend in a row!

This time it’s a very special occasion as it’s a day when history will be made in Paradise as the Celtic FC Women side led by Swedish head Coach Elena Sadiku and long-term club captain Kelly Clark will be acclaimed by the Celtic support as the Scottish Champions raise the flag for the first time ever!

It’s a lovely day, tickets are just a tenner for adults and a pound for children, and with so few tickets available for Easter Road tomorrow (count the empty seats when watching that game) then watching Celtic FC Women raise the flag then put on a show against Dundee United at Paradise is not a bad way to spend your afternoon. Kick-off is at 1pm so why not get along and give the Ghirls a well deserved cheer!

Yesterday afternoon The Celtic Star spoke to both Brendan Rodgers at Lennoxtown and Elena Sadiku and her captain Kelly Clark at Celtic Park, with our editor over at Lennoxtown and myself speaking to Elena and Kelly ahead of today’s eagerly awaited flag-day at Celtic Park. Can’t wait! See you there!

Here’s everything that was said as Elena Sadiku and Kelly Clark spoke to the media ahead of the SWPL1 season opener against Dundee United at Celtic Park today.

COYGIG!

Q: How does it feel to go into the season as defending champions?

Kelly Clark: “Exciting. I can’t wait for tomorrow. It almost feels like an extended celebration. I’m just so proud that we’re the first ones to do a flag day, as we call it here. And I just can’t wait to be walking out of Celtic Park again for the occasion that it’s going to be. Like I said, I feel like it’s an extended celebration with the fans, which is important. I’m just looking forward to it.”

Q: What was the main learning experience for you in Sweden?

Kelly Clark: “The main learning is learning to play with new players who are joining us for the first time in a competitive match tomorrow. Getting to know each other on and off the pitch which I think is really important and one of the things that helped us be so successful last year so a really important week away with everybody before the season starts. I think the key learning is how we play together on the pitch, how we play, how they fit into our system, us adapting to their strengths, little differences from players we had last year and stuff like that. And just making sure we’re ready to go from tomorrow because there’s no easy game and we’re going in with no complacency. Yeah, we’re champions, but we have a job to do, and it starts in 24 hours.”

Q: Does it feel good to have options in the squad and does it take the pressure off a bit?

Kelly Clark:: “Depends on how you look at it. It might take pressure off, but you could also flip it and say it’s going to make us really competitive all over the park because we’ve got places to play for. And so, the pressure is maybe on rather than off. I think it’s a healthy situation to be in because all it’s going to make sure we do is that we perform to our best, both in training and in games every single week to try and make sure Elena’s got a headache every Friday night picking the team for the weekend because we all deserve to play. Come the end of the season, it’s really important to have the depth because it’s a really stressful and intense run but it’ll hopefully make sure that from the very start, we’re all playing to the best of our ability because if we don’t, then there’s 100% somebody sitting on the bench who will steal your spot.”

Q: What’s your message to the fans ahead of tomorrow?

Kelly Clark: “I think we have to enjoy tomorrow. We will do our very best to be the best versions of ourselves and to put on a performance you can enjoy, but we also have to enjoy it. Like I said earlier on, it’s the first flag day in the women’s game. We created history on the last day of the season, probably given the fact we did it in the 89th minute, it maybe hadn’t set in that we had done it when we were enjoying ourselves after the game so tomorrow’s a real chance to come and hopefully watch some good football, but also to look back at what we did last season and enjoy what we did in a less stressful environment, because I’m pretty sure a lot of them felt stressed on the last day of the season before we scored that goal in the 89th minute.”

Q: Elena, what were your own biggest take aways as a coach from the Sweden trip?

Elena Sadiku: “I would say different things. What Kelly just said about the group and the strengths of the group last season, how close we were to each other, that’s something that we need to keep building on and make sure that we have the same cohesive group that we had last season, if not stronger. I think that was a great thing to be a part of. For me, the biggest thing that I take with me is what we do domestically is one thing, but we have to know that there are other teams out in Europe that are strong. So how can we come to Scotland and make sure that every training is the best that we can do so we can make sure that we are ready for Europe. And I think that was something that I wanted the girls to see and experience was that we are the best in Scotland but there are other teams in Europe that are doing really well, and I think that was the best thing I could give the girls was that experience and that understanding that just because we’re champions and we’re the best team in Scotland doesn’t mean that we’re the best out in Europe. And that’s something I feel we should be reminded of sometimes when we go to training is that we don’t only have domestically to think about, but we also want to challenge out in Europe.”

Q: Talking about the game at Celtic Park, do you know what to expect from Dundee United?

Elena Sadiku: “I have staff members that have their roles and responsibilities to make sure that opposition analysis is ready. I always try to focus more on us. The girls know that we always have things we need to be aware of and things we need to exploit but the main focus will always be us. Always be us. And that’s something we’ve been talking about today as well because Celtic – how we play is about dominating. And that’s something we’re going to go through in every game ahead of us.”

Q: And how about team selection – any injury concerns?

Elena Sadiku: “Right now, we have four players who aren’t in the squad. And that is Chloe Logan, Natalie Ross, Amy Richardson and Kit Loferski. So, the good news is that Hana Kerner and Luana Munoz are both back. That’s something that we’ve been seeing in pre-season, they’ve been adapting, getting their minutes and they’re back in the squad again.”

Q: How was pre-season?

Kelly Clark: “Pre-season has been really good. A little bit different for us because there’s an international camp that kind of gets in the way but that makes the trip away even more important. Because what you lose with a couple of players being away, you get back through travelling together as a group and spending 24 hours of the day together. We’ve played hard competition which is important. We went down and played against Everton, and it was a successful outing. Challenging yourself against players who play in the best league, one of the best leagues in the world but certainly the best league in the UK. Over to Sweden, we played two really good opponents. We tried things that we want to try and when it doesn’t work, we can learn and reflect and we’re doing it in a safe environment when we don’t have any pressure. So, pre-season’s been good. It’s been hard, the girls would’ve felt it in their legs, but we’ve made it to the end and the occasion tomorrow is what the squad deserves after putting in miles for the last few weeks.”

Elena Sadiku: “I think she gave you a perfect answer!”

Q: “Was it a fully successful pre-season?”

Kelly Clark: “It depends how you look at it. We had situations that we weren’t really happy with but that’s something we learn from. That’s the meaning of success. We make mistakes, we learn from it, and we correct it so that mistake doesn’t happen again. So that’s something we see as a success.”

Q: For Kelly, you’re Celtic captain for another year, how does that feel?

Kelly Clark:  “I think I get prouder every season to lead the squad. For the last four/five years, since we went professional, leading the team out stronger and stronger every year, and then this year, leading them out as champions is something that I probably never expected before the last couple of years. It’s a massive honour, I don’t really have the words for it. It’s a massive club. I love representing them on and off the pitch and to lead a group of girls that you genuinely like as people before the fact that you absolutely love playing with them as professionals, it means a lot.”

Q: Where would you rank being able to lead the girls out on flag day out of all the moments in your career?

Kelly Clark: “The only thing that would top it is lifting the trophy above my head. Like I say, I say it all the time, but in my entire career at Celtic, I’ve watched the men do it so often. I’ve probably been at almost every flag day, the one just there is probably one of the first ones I’ve missed. I’ve watched them do it so many times, I’ve watched them lift trophies so often, and to be doing it for this club tomorrow, I just can’t wait. It’s just amazing.”

Elena Sadiku: “I promised her that she would do it. Do you remember?”

Kelly Clark: “Yeah, she actually did when she first came in. She’s lived up to it!”

Q: Elena, how happy does it make you that your team are getting the chance to kick off their league title defence at Paradise?

Elena Sadiku: “I think the girls know how much it meant to me when we lifted that trophy last season. I celebrated that evening but then I moved on to thinking about how to prepare them to do it again. Because that’s just who I am. I try to enjoy it, but my thoughts are always how can we improve? How can we get better? And I think that in this year’s squad, I feel like there’s competition in every position, and I think that the girls think the same. So that will make us even stronger. It starts tomorrow. I’m just so excited to go out there, the girls will get what they deserve, and then it’s all about starting the season well, doing what we’re good at, and that’s playing very good football.”

Q: Looking at the squad as a whole, are you happy with it?

Elena Sadiku: “Yeah. We have two players in each position and three in another, so it’s pretty intense. Like Kelly’s saying, it’s not easy for me to pick a squad this season. It’s been a lot of talks within the staff. I have new members of staff as well who are challenging me, and we do everything together so I feel like we have different opinions and that’s something that I really like because we look at things differently. With tomorrow’s squad, hopefully.”

Jessica Elliott

Here’s the video of a very entertaining media conference, it’s a really cool idea to have both the player and the manager doing their media duties together rather than in separate conferences. Hopefully that’s a feature for the new season.

CLICK TO VISIT OUR NEW SISTER SITE – CELTICSHORTS.COM

Help raise funds for Celtic Youth Academy by playing the Celtic Pools Weekly Lottery and you could win up to £25,000. The lottery costs £1 per week.

More Stories / Latest News

Celtic v Dundee Utd – It’s Flag Day at Paradise for second weekend in a row

Aug 10 2024, 10:17

Transfer Latest – Schlupp would be a good signing

Aug 10 2024, 9:23

Sign best possible players – Brendan Rodgers on succeeding in European football

Aug 9 2024, 17:43