For Brendan Rodgers and Celtic, the new season doesn’t officially start until the first weekend of the Scottish Premiership fixtures in August.

Facing Derek McInnes’ Kilmarnock, Brendan Rodgers will kick off the 2024/25 season’s fixtures on Flag Day on the 4th of August which gives the Celtic manager just under eight weeks to prepare.

But for other teams in the league and across Europe, their season starts that little bit early due to participation in the qualification stages for UEFA’s three European tournaments.

And that is what former Celtic coach, Damien Duff is preparing for.

Duff recalls Celtic’s Red Imps adventure

Now manager of Shelbourne, Duff is preparing to take the Irish side into Europe for the first time since 2006.

He faces Maltese side, St Joesph’s in the Europa Conference League first-round tie at Tolka Park on Thursday night.

Admitting frustration at the lack of scouting data available, Duff references the night when Celtic lost their first-leg Champions League qualifier to Lincoln Red Imps back in 2016 as a warning to his side not to take the Maltese side for granted.

Duff said [Irish Independent], “I think Brendan Rodgers’ first game at Celtic, they lost 1-0 to the Imps.

“So I know how difficult it is. I’ve watched the Ireland games there, I know the type of games they are, the ball is hardly in play, it’s like a game of basketball at times.

“Like I said, it’s two legs, it’s over 180 or 200 minutes and it starts this week in Tolka.”

Celtic eventually saw off the European minnows 3-1 on aggregate after beating them 3-0 at Celtic Park in July of that year.

Brendan Rodgers then took Celtic into the group stages after beating Kazakhstan side Astana 3-2 on aggregate.

For Duff though, the last time his team played in Europe was in the now-defunct Intertoto Cup so he will be looking forward to not only Shelbourne’s long-awaited first taste of European action but also his own as a manager.

The Reds are currently sitting top of the Irish Premier Division as Duff seeks to win the title for the first time since they last appeared in Europe in 2006.

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