Paradise Prepared for Cup Hoopla

Paradise Prepared for Cup Hoopla
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Celtic Park, Glasgow
Sunday, 21 January 2024
16.00 GMT

The Hoops make their return after the winter break this weekend, in the 4th Round of the Scottish Cup, when they host the visit of Highland League side, Buckie Thistle.

Brendan Rodgers' team should be well rested and ready for the resumption of competitive football, as they turn their attentions to successfully defending their Scottish Cup crown, beginning with the Highland Hoops visit.

There are some historical ties between the two clubs - not least of which is the famous green and white hoops which have linked the two clubs for over a century.

In the early years of the 20th century, Celtic made a gift of the instantly recognizable hooped kits to the Jags, which the Buckie club adopted ahead of their entry into the Highland League in 1909, and have continued with ever since.

On the pitch, the sides have never met competitively, but have done so twice previously in charity friendlies, both at Victoria Park - Buckie's home ground on the Moray coast. The first being in March 1981, which helped to raise funds for repairs to a local Catholic church, with the Bhoys winning 3-2. This was followed in July 1989, whch marked Thistle's centenary season, with Tommy Burns scoring twice in a 3-0 win.


The Paradise faithful will be hoping to get their first look at new signing Nicholas Kuhn in action

There are 4 divisions and roughly 50 teams between where the two clubs are currently placed in the Scottish Football pyramid, but such is the potentially once-in-a-lifetime luck of the draw in the Cup.

The visitors from the North-East have been having a very good season as they hope to potentially gain a place in the SPFL. Indeed, they are well in the hunt to win the Highland Football League, and despite currently sitting in 5th and 6 points off the pace, it must be noted this is due to a series of forced postponements, with the Jags having played 3-4 games fewer than all of the teams that sit above them on the table.

Thistle reached this point in the Cup with wins over Tayport, Forres Mechanics and Broxburn. And while all of those successes have come away from home, there is a big step up to take on the Cup holders at Paradise.

There is tell that as many as 5000 fans - which would represent literally half the total population of Buckie - could be set to follow the Jags down for this game and will be looking to enjoy the big occasion in Glasgow's east end. But one famous face that most likely will be missing is renowned author, Stephen King.

In all fairness to the visitors, it will require a horror show straight from the pages of one of his novels if the Jags were to cause nightmares and misery for Brendan Rodgers what would be one of the biggest upsets in the history of Scottish Football on Sunday.​

World renowned author Stephen King with his Buckie Thistle colours on display

By the Numbers​

• The Hoops are coming into this game on the back of 4 consecutive wins across all comps for the first time this season.

• Celtic have kept just 2 clean sheets in their last 11 home games in all competitions.

• The Highland club are undefeated since September and have won their last 10* games straight, obviously including the 3 previous Scottish Cup games (albeit one via shootout).

Team News

Celtic will hopefully have Cameron Carter-Vickers, Stephen Welsh and Tomoki Iwata back from injury, in addition to new signing Nicholas Kuhn, with the German winger keen to make his debut.

However, the Bhoys will be without the services of Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda, Yang Hyun-jun, Oh Hyeon-gyu and Marco Tillio, who are all away at the Asian Cup.​

As for Graeme Stewart's side, they have recently secured the signature of striker Liam Harvey on a 3 1/2 year deal from Aberdeen, but the teenager is Cup-tied having featured in an earlier round while on loan at Elgin City.


Daizen Maeda scored in the 3-0 win over St Mirren. He is now away on Asian Cup duty with Japan

Referee: Chris Graham

This will be the 34y.o official's first time taking charge of any match involving Celtic and this will be his 8th Scottish Cup game overall since his debut in October 2019.

VAR: Steven McLean

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