What an opening spell it’s been for Ange Postecoglou.
In a 1-1 Champions League 2nd qualifying home draw with Danish league runners-up Midtjylland on July 20th, we actually showed green shoots of recovery from last years abysmal campaign with a pace and effervescence to our play that was sadly missing last term.
Of course, paralleling last season we passed up countless opportunities with Odsonne Edouard continuing to saunter around up front with not a care in the world and our dud ÂŁ5 million goalkeeper Vasilas Barkas produced his latest flop for their equalising goal but that aside it was all in all much better and new boy Liel Abada scored on his debut.
After being tonked 6-2 in a friendly off of visiting West Ham – I don’t rate friendly results so paid no mind to it even though it did have some running around with their hair on fire – we then travelled to Denmark a week later for the away leg and despite gaining the lead through an incredible Callum McGregor strike we soon reverted back to last season’s form as we failed to put the tie to bed with sub James Forrest blowing a glorious opportunity to kill the tie and then paid the price at the back twice to see us exit 3-2 on aggregate.
With youngsters Stephen Welsh and Dane Murray in the heart of defence that night, it really was an inditement on the club as to how poor recent transfer business has been.
Murray and Welsh did their best and both could very well have great futures at the club but were effectively thrown to the wolves in Denmark that night and all things considered actually did pretty well.
Onto league form and our opening tie in the capital against Hearts always looked a tasty one and clearly came way too early for debuting Carl Starfelt who had only stepped out of quarantine about 20 mins before kick-off.
He along with serial defensive offender Nir Bitton were found wanting at the back either side of an excellent Tony Ralston effort which had got us back to 1-1 though we also had a good goal chopped off for offside albeit the outrage at the officialdom was somewhat dampened by the ongoing indignation a the lack of help our new manager was getting from his board in regards to incoming players.
At that stage, only the aforementioned Starfelt along with Israeli winger Abada and Japanese striker Kyogo Furuhashi had been added – notwithstanding a series of development player signings such as Liam Shaw, Osaze Urhoghide, Bosun Lawal and Joey Dawson – and with the likes of Scott Brown, Kris Ajer, Olivier Ntcham, Jack Hendry, Marian Shved and Vakoun Bayo having been either sold or jettisoned along with loanees Shane Duffy, Diego Laxalt, Jonjoe Kenny and Mohamed Elyounoussi returning to their parent clubs the squad was, to say the least, looking a little light.
Let’s not forget the job of reshaping the squad in earnest had actually begun last January with the surprise sale of Jeremie Frimpong to Bayer Leverkusen which caught everyone off guard quickly followed by homesick Hatem Elhamed returning to Israel permanently and then misfiring striker Partryk Klimala being flogged to New York Red Bulls in the MLS last April.
All in all that’s 13 first-team players out with somewhere in the region of ÂŁ33 million banked in the process in fees not to mention some huge hitters being removed from the wage bill.
Yet coming in were only Abada, Starfelt and Furuhashi for a total of ÂŁ12 million.
So what a shot in the arm it was when last Wednesday the club announced that both keeper Joe Hart and midfielder James McCarthy had been tied up on three and four year contracts respectively having both been released from their parent clubs Spurs and Everton.
Hart went straight into the starting eleven for the away Europa League tie against Czech side Jablonec the following day and despite showing our defensive frailties once again we produced a first win for our new manager with a 4-2 victory that saw goals for James Forrest, Ryan Christie, a second in a Celtic jersey for new signing Abada and a sublime goal from Furuhashi who was making his first start.
Kicking on from that Celtic then welcomed newly promoted Dundee to Celtic Park on Sunday and in the midst of a thunder and lightning storm above central Scotland Celtic rained down goals as we crushed the Taysiders 6-0 with Furuhashi sinking a delightful home debut hat-trick and Tom Rogic, Anthony Ralston and late sub Odsonne Edouard, via the penalty spot, also netting as Celtic blew their visitors away.
What a difference a week can make and seldom in football terms has it ever been better underlined than by the Hart / McCarthy double singing followed by the subsequent two results.
Celtic were sensational against Dundee in front of 29,000 fans as restrictions begin to lift across the country.
With a tempo seldom seen over the past 18 months every player was at it and his goals aside Furuhashi’s work rate was phenomenal.
Ryan Christie also clicked into gear and showed what a talent he can be when he’s in the mood with a man of the match display.
The fact Rangers, four days after a 2-1 Champions League qualifying defeat against Malmo, had also seen their 40 game unbeaten domestic league run come to an end up at Tannadice via an unexpected 1-0 humbling to Dundee Utd couldn’t help but add to the positivity.
As is always the case with this rivalry their pain is our gain and vice versa.
We now move onto the second leg against Jablonec on Thursday night where Celtic Park will finally see a full house for the first time in a long time.
Some would say the tie is in the bag but when is that ever the case with Celtic?
It certainly would be a shock if it turns out to be anything else other than a resounding victory for the men in hoops and we must hope we can continue this positive form in front a bouncing full house.
Off the field, there is still much to do with rumours of an impending striker and right back arriving and the future of Ryan Christie must be decided sooner rather than later with his contract running out in January.
Odsonne Edouard, Barkas and Boli-Bolingoli also appear destined for the exit door and the sooner the better as we look to refine the squad in Ange’s image.
But things are finally looking up having been only going down for so long now.
Fingers crossed this is the start of a revival and a season to remember rather than another one to forget.
....Always A Tim! 