Opinion: Results don't matter in upcoming Celtic fixtures

Celtic are currently in pre-season training, and it is not long until the Hoops play their first friendly of pre-season, against SC Wiener Viktoria on the 6th of July, which is just under one week away.

The Hoops will play six pre-season friendlies before the start of the Premiership season, with probably the biggest games being a match for Artur Boruc against Legia Warsaw and a home fixture against Norwich.

These games will all be about fitness and working on formations, the actual results of the matches don’t matter. For evidence of that, you only need to go back to last pre-season.

Last July the Hoops lost 6-2 to West Ham at Celtic Park, which was a heavy defeat for the Bhoys. But, in the end that result didn’t matter, as just 10 months later, Celtic fans were back at Celtic Park celebrating the lifting of the Premiership trophy.

What pre-season games are all about is getting to see new signings in action, and perhaps trying systems out to see if they will work out in domestic and European football.

Benjamin Siegrist will likely get a start or two in the pre-season friendlies, but when the Hoops take on Aberdeen in the first league game of the season, it will be, injury permitting Joe Hart back in goals, but Siegrist can use the friendlies he plays in to get used to working with the Hoops defence in front of him.

For some individual players the pre-season games might be important, for the aforementioned Siegrist and any other new signings that come in over the next month, and the games could be important for the likes of Mikey Johnston and James Forrest, who were on the fringes for much of last season and would like to get back in the first-team on a regular basis.

Playing well in the pre-season games could be a way