Glasgow Celtic Football Club Plan Pre-Season Australia Tour in July

Live in Oz? Get ready for a Celtic invasion!
 
Glasgow Celtic have confirmed that a pre-season tour of Australia has been set up with Central Coast Mariners, Perth Glory and Melbourne Victory, providing the opposition for Neil Lennon's men when they visit in July.

Dates for the matches have been set as

• Central Coast Mariners on July 2
• Perth Glory on July 9 
• Melbourne Victory on July 13

After a successful trip to the land down under in 2009, the decision was made to return in 2011 as their pre-season money-making summer trip. During the last trip, a 3-0 win over Brisbane Roar was the highlight of the exhibition.

“Brisbane was a fantastic experience for all the players and it really emphasised the difference between Celtic and other football clubs,” club captain Scott Brown told Celtic’s official website.

“Celtic is a global club and I am really looking forward to leading the team down under as club captain.”

After a trip stateside last year, Neil Lennon—also speaking on The Celtic website—said, “I'm really excited as the cities we are visiting are full of Celtic fans. A tour like this gives us the opportunity to go and meet those fans and thank them for their support.”

One of Celtic's opponents this time around, Melbourne Victory, have ex-Hibs and Dundee United player Grant Brebner in their ranks, and with the Melbourne side only having returned to training the week before, this really should be a walk in the Melbourne Park for the Glasgow side.

Celtic’s game with Melbourne Victory, who count former Hibernian and Dundee United midfielder Grant Brebner amongst their ranks, will come just a week after the Australian club return to training.

Adrian Leijer—the Victory captain—told SBS, "Despite our lack of game time, we are eagerly anticipating the fixture."

"For us guys in Australia it's fantastic to play against a team ranked pretty highly in the world of soccer that's got a fantastic history."

“They've got some good players, a proud history and they're a well known team in Australia and I think a lot of people will turn out to watch them.”

Celtic Plan Pre-season Tour of OZ