CELTIC are still waiting to hear if Egyptian striker Hossam Hassan is

joining them for a trial period, writes Ian Paul.

Assistant manager Chic Bates said yesterday that they had received no

official confirmation of his arrival at Parkhead this week as they had

anticipated. The man who gave Celtic a hard time when he scored four

goals in Neuchatel Xamax's 5-1 thrashing of the Glasgow side two years

ago has not been in touch with the club.

Allegations of ''tapping'' by his Egyptian team, El Ahly, were denied

by Bates, who said that Celtic had not even spoken to the player.

''People got in touch with us to say he was available,'' he said, ''but

we can't do anything until we know whether or not he is coming.''

Better news is that Paul Byrne is unlikely to need a knee operation

after all. The Irishman has been training this week after having

received treatment and resting the injured leg. He is in line for a

return to the team for the game with Dundee at Dens Park on Saturday.

''We would like to see him get a reserve game on Friday first if we

can arrange it,'' said Bates. ''But he has suffered no reaction to

training.''

Rangers striker Duncan Ferguson is hoping to recover from an ankle

injury in time to have another reserve outing this weekend, and keeper

Andy Goram has restarted training after his knee operations. It is too

soon to anticipate his comeback date, but assistant manager Archie Knox

hinted that there would be no pre-publicity about the moment when it

does come.