CELTIC supporters at home and abroad will be willing their team to success when they play Oporto in the UEFA cup final in Seville tomorrow night.

And although thousands of miles away, there will be no more fervent fans than Bill Charters, formerly of Greenock, and his friends in the Fresno Celtic Supporters Club in California.

As mentioned here previously, the group are better known as the Garage Bhoys because they meet in a converted domestic garage, complete with well-stocked bar and an amazing collection of memorabilia including signed photographs of all the Lisbon Lions who won the European Cup in 1967.

The Garage Bhoys must be one of the smallest Celtic supporters clubs in the world.

At present they have only six members, but it is soon to be four as Alex and Linda Barclay are moving to Canada in June. Bill and Liz are the only members from this part of Scotland.

The garage conversion was Liz"s idea. She made the suggestion after Bill and his pals failed to find a bar or sports club that would open at 4am to let them watch Celtic games live.

Bill tells me: 'The Fresno CSC was set up in 1999 and within a month we were watching every Celtic game live, and we have not missed a match since.

'When Celtic played Liverpool we had the local television station round to take in the game.' It costs Bill and his friends four or five thousand dollars a year to screen the games, but they have had financial assistance from the Los Angeles CSC whose members visit the Fresno club.

The club attracts quite a number of visitors, including Pat Trainer and Neillie McLaughlan, who live in Canada but are originally from Greenock.

Bill and Pat had hoped to be in Seville tomorrow night but a New Jersey agency who claimed to have tickets did not come up with the goods.

I was in communication with Bill some days ago when he told me: 'Unless a miracle happens we will be watching the game in our own wee club, sombreros and all.'