Glasgow Celtic will bring 'the strongest possible squad' to Brandywell for next month's friendly fixture, to celebrate Derry City Football Club's 80th year in existence.

Derry chairman, Pat McDaid, that "The Bhoys" had no intention of letting themselves down when they visit on Tuesday, October 7th next, the game arranged as part of Paddy McCourt's transfer to the SPL giants a few months ago.

"As part of Paddy McCourt's transfer, it was agreed that Celtic would travel to Brandywell for two games, the first of which will take place on October 7th and in that contract it is clearly stated that Celtic would be represented by the strongest team available.

"Mr. Lawwell assured me that his club would honour that agreement and while he couldn't give any indication at this stage as regards which players would travel, he insisted that the Celtic first team would be well represented," added Mr. McDaid.

"Celtic also assured me that they were delighted that the game would be at the centre of Derry's anniversary celebrations and he acknowledged his club's strong support base in the North-West and in Donegal.

"Provided he's fit, we're hopeful that Paddy McCourt will represent Celtic and with Aiden McGeady not expected in Dublin until the following week for the game against Cyprus, we're also excited that he could be coming.

"Other players such as Artur Boruc, Shunsuke Nakamura, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Massimo Donati, Georgios Samaras, Bobo Balde will be expected to be involved provided they are not injured at that time.

"It's a huge game for us and while we've sold 2,000 tickets already, I'm hopeful that at least double that number will be there on the night.

"We will make the tickets available to outside requests within the next week, but as a community club, we would prefer to facilitate the local community first," he insisted.

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