Commons welcomes winter break
Celtic winger Kris Commons believes the SPL's winter break has come at the perfect moment, despite interrupting his comeback from injury.
Commons returned after six games out with a thigh problem when Celtic rounded off the first part of their SPL campaign with a 1-0 win over Motherwell on January 2.
While the Scotland international had not played much football immediately beforehand, Celtic had played two games each week since mid-November and the break allows them to recharge ahead of their Champions League clash against Juventus on February 12.
Celtic, who are aiming to tie up the signing of Israel and Standard Liege defender Rami Gershon, are flying to Spain this week for a training camp in Marbella and Commons believes the break will be a welcome lift for the likes of Scott Brown, who has been playing through a hip problem.
The 29-year-old told the Celtic View: "It will be like a mini pre-season and it will get our minds back in gear ahead of a few really big months.
"We have both domestic cups as well and we want to win them, so everyone has to be fit and ready to be called upon.
"We've struggled at times with injuries and had to patch people up but they've all worked hard to get to this break and give their bodies a rest.
"You look at Browny doing everything he can to play games, and he managed to get through them with good performances at the same time.
"That's credit to him and how much he wants to play and win with the club - I admire that.
"He's a role model in terms of his captaincy, leadership qualities and he sacrifices a lot of his own game to give the likes of me, Hoops (Gary Hooper) and Sami (Georgios Samaras) the freedom we need to express ourselves going forward.
"He's the hard worker who does the nasty stuff not many people like to do and he does it so well, so he's a pleasure to play with."