http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/dinamo-bucharests-former-accies-striker-warns-astra-can-do-a-hamilton-on-celtic-in-eu.25752447Dinamo Bucharest's former Accies striker warns Astra can 'do a Hamilton' on Celtic in Europa League return
Phil Gordon
Sunday 2 November 2014
CELTIC have been given a warning from Romania that their Europa League encounter with Astra Giurgiu on Thursday is far from academic.
The premonitory comes from former Hamilton Academical striker Joel Thomas - now playing for Dinamo Bucharest - who is convinced that the Group D makeweights will be a bigger threat on their own soil than they were at Parkhead.
Astra might be pointless following three straight defeats to Dinamo Zagreb, FC Salzburg and Celtic, but Thomas believes it would be foolish for Ronny Deila's players to write them off in Giurgiu.
The Frenchman says Astra are a far different proposition in their compact 8500 Stadionul Marin Anastasovici, as he knows from going there with Dinamo Bucharest.
"It will be a different story at home,"he insists.
In fact, the 27-year-old, who had three spells at New Douglas Park, thinks Astra are a lot like Accies because they have punched above their weight since quitting their native city of Ploiesti and relocating to Giurgiu, 75 miles away.
"Hamilton is a popular club with the local fans but from a small town," explains Thomas. "It is a smaller club than Astra, but Astra have done very well in the last five years. The president, Ioan Niculae, put in a lot of money and brought in good players even when Astra played in Ploiesti.
"But they were not even the most popular club in Ploiesti, that was Petrolu, who used to be champions. Niculae moved Astra in 2012 to Giurgiu. He is trying to make it like an NBA franchise and rebuild the club elsewhere.
"So that is why Astra only get about 3000-4000 crowds for league games, but it will be full when Celtic go there, because everyone in the town wants to be there on a big European night. That's what happened when they knocked out Lyon in the play-off round.
"People in Romania are disappointed that Astra have not got any points in the Europa League. Astra felt they should have got something in Glasgow. Everyone knows that Celtic are a big club and hard to beat - well, except by Hamilton. But Astra are capable of being a more dangerous team."
Thomas's reference about Alex Neil's team winning at Celtic Park in the Scottish Premiership last month, shows that he's very much in the loop, despite leaving Hamilton in January 2011 to move abroad again.
That is because he met his girlfriend, Jennifer, while living in Glasgow and she moved to Greece, and then Romania in 2012, with Thomas. The couple now have a daughter. "Olivia is almost three and she speaks with a Scottish accent," jokes Thomas.
The Frenchman joined Hamilton in 2008 and earned them £225,000 when Paul Lambert took the striker to Colchester, returning there on loan before signing for Billy Reid again in August 2010.
Thomas has made a career far from the comfort of home. Since leaving Bordeaux in 2005, this is the fifth country he has played in, after Germany (Kaiserslautern), Scotland (Hamilton), England (Colchester) and Greece (Ionikos) before now-bankrupt Turnu Severin took him to Romania in 2012.
"Severin had problems paying wages," said Joel. "I did well on the pitch and scored six goals but the club went bankrupt, which happens a lot in Romania. But I got a move to Dinamo.
"It was easier for me to settle in here because Romanian is closer to the French language and I could understand things. It was more difficult for Jennifer. I met her when I stayed in Glasgow. She comes from Kirkcaldy, but was studying in Glasgow. Now we have a lovely daughter and we are enjoying this adventure.
"When I went to Scotland, not many French players thought about going there. But that did not bother me. I like to be different. I wanted somewhere to play football and experience different life. One day, though, it would be nice to come back and play in Scotland or England. That is a big objective for me."
Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2014 11:48 pm
