Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Heal let the football do the talking
LINFIELD manager David Healy is determined next week’s Champions League clash with Celtic at Windsor Park is all about football and not taken over by outside factors. Even before the eagerly awaited second round qualifying game was confirmed, the match in Belfast was switched to Friday, July 14 with a 5pm kick-off due to security fears when it was originally scheduled to be played on July 11 or 12. Then, much to the annoyance of Celtic supporters, came an announcement the Glasgow giants would not be taking up their allocation of away tickets. Having overcome San Marino outfit La Fiorita 1-0 on aggregate on Tuesday, Healy wants Linfield’s historic first meeting with Celtic to be remembered for sporting reasons. “From my point of view, I want to be talking about a football match and nothing else,” said Healy. “It’s about hosting the game. Can we do it? Of course we can. Belfast hosts big games. We have the proper stadium now to do that and hopefully everyone in the media lets us get on with that.” On a similar theme, Linfield skipper Jamie Mulgrew, above, added: “You can understand from their perspective why they aren’t taking tickets for the game. “It’s an unfortunate situation in that some sections of the media are already blowing it out of all proportion and giving it negative press. “I think that’s a bad attitude and a bad way to be, but that maybe typifies the attitude of a lot of people in our country unfortunately. “We have a team here and a playing staff from the first-team to the academy that is probably the most mixed in Ireland. This club has come a long, long way and all credit to the people involved in that over the years. “I think some people are already waiting for a disaster or something bad to happen instead of looking at two really good games for Linfield. “For us to play Celtic for the first time in our history is fantastic. From my point of view, I’ve had the opportunity to go to Ibrox and captain Linfield there and hopefully I will be able to do the same at Parkhead. That would be very special for me.”