Well, Thursday night was a bit of an unmitigated disaster.
Yep…..this just about sums it up.
On a night eerily similar to our capitulation against Cluj in the Champions League qualifiers way back in August Celtic showed once again that in European competition we still completely lack game management when ahead in a knockout tie.
Just like against Cluj we were ahead due to an away goal yet couldn’t see out the tie.
And also just like gainst Cluj we shot ourselves in the foot more than once.
After a pretty dominant first half where a patient Copenhagen refused to show their hand and where we passed up several good opportunities, you could only see one team progressing.
Six minutes into the second half though Jozo Simunovic had a ‘Jozo moment’ as he dithered on the ball and allowed Michael Santos to mug him before big Chris Jullien then panicked and ultimately Santos put the ball in the net.
A total gift.
Though how we ever allowed ourselves to be in a two on two situation in the first place at home in a tie where we were ahead is beyond me.
From then on we struggled and you just knew it wasn’t going to be our night but then out of nowhere we got a penalty thanks to VAR after Ragnar Sigurdsson had needlessly handled in the box.
The celebrations were short-lived.Â
That man Odsonne Edouard stepped up and executed the spot-kick with aplomb and suddenly we were back in this.
But in almost identical fashion to the game against the Romanian champions over six months ago, we then handed the advantage back to the visitors who scored through Pep Biel only two minutes later with Celtic’s defending completely shambolic.
Dame N’Doye then farcically sauntered through our meek backline minutes after that to make it 3-1 and complete the embarrassment.
So that’s that then.
A campaign that showed so much promise with a superb display in the group stages ultimately went the same way as the last three times we’ve gone into the Last 32 stage that being with us going out with a whimper.
To make matters worse the tournament has totally opened up too with big names like Benfica, Porto, Ajax, Arsenal, Sporting Lisbon and Red Bull Salzburg all exiting as well.
Indeed Copenhagen have been drawn against Ä°stanbul BaĹźakĹźehir in the Last 16 which looks at a totally winnable tie and could have been us but alas………..
Oh and of course Rangers quite comfortably navigated their way through earlier in the week against far tougher opposition. On the bright side, it means we have a week of rest leading up to the next Old Firm game whilst they don’t but that’s scant consolation.
So it’s back to domestic action and the pursuit of the ‘Quadruple-Treble’ as Celtic visit McDiarmid Park tomorrow afternoon.
Big Tommy is waiting.
We should be pretty confident considering we’ve won our last seven ties against St.Johnstone with an aggregate score of 26-0 which has included a 7-0 and 3-0 in our last two games against them.
They are actually in pretty good form at the moment with no losses in their last six games and only two losses in their last 15 domestic matches with seven wins and six draws.
Sixteen goals in their last eight games also shows their recent attacking prowess and Stevie May has refound his shooting boots during that period netting five times over that spell.
Their last game saw them battle to a 2-2 draw at home to Rangers too so they’ll go into this tie confident based on recent form and also hoping to take advantage of our European hangover.
I foresee us returning to a 3-5-2 with Griffiths starting upfront with Edouard and on reflection, we should maybe have gone with that on Thursday night from the start but everyone has a degree in hindsight of course.
Alas, a chance for our longest European cup run in sixteen years is gone.
Celtic survived Hibs and their fans as we secured a 2-0 win at Easter Road to make it an incredible 25 consecutive domestic cup wins and as well as 11 straight domestic wins on the bounce as we progressed to the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup.
Not much to talk about in the first half as it was pretty stagnant stuff but we got our act together in the second half as the game opened up a little. Still, it was difficult to see where a goal was going to come from until James Forrest took matters into his own hands and fired a bullet in on 62 mins that nearly ripped the net out and sent us on our way.
Hibs didn’t have much in the way of a response and we pushed on eventually getting our rewards when Edouard set-up captain Scott Brown who glided into the box and past the Hibs defence before rifling a thunderbolt in at close range to put the tie beyond doubt on 75 mins.
Goal machine!
The victory means Neil Lennon has gone 2-0 since his unexpected return to the hot seat at the club on Tuesday with both wins coming in his old stomping ground of Edinburgh.
Off the field, the Hibs fans showed far more resistance than their players as they unsuccessfully tried to pelt Scott Sinclair with a Buckfast bottle and later on a coin as he attempted to take corner kicks in the second half.
In the aftermath, Hibs tried to deflect attention by claiming there had been a bottle thrown by a Celtic fan too. Strange no TV or press cameras picked that up.
Of course, all of this is just a west coast of Scotland problem apparently. That’s the narrative that has been put forward anyway in the last few weeks. The kids in Leith, Dundee and up in Grampian are holier than though we’re told. Mmmmmm…….I wonder how they’ll spin this latest incidence?!
Michael Stewart will no doubt be calling for strict liability which is a total non-starter and easily abused anyway but I wonder if anyone will point out the fact that the game kicked off with an early Saturday evening start time? I tend to find that in our society that that’s when people tend to consume the most alcohol. Just a thought. Others will use it as further evidence that we shouldn’t sell alcohol within football stadiums which is also absurd as the problem is being caused by people bringing in alcohol and the type of stuff you’d never be able to buy in a football ground anyway.
The draw for the semis isn’t until Monday night on BBC after the final match of the round which is Partick Thistle vs Hearts at Firhill and with Rangers playing Aberdeen at Pittodrie tomorrow, as well as Dundee Utd visiting Inverness Caley, whoever we get at Hampden it’s bound to be interesting, to say the least. Isn’t it always.
Tomorrow, of course, Brendan Rodgers begins his reign of broken promises and empty soundbites with Leicester City away at Watford. He says one day he’d like to come back and maybe manage us again once all the fury over his departure has calmed down of course in about ten or so years. What is he like?! I think I speak for all of us by saying I hope he and his new team get resoundingly pumped tomorrow.
C’mon Watford.
As for Celtic our players now get a much deserved week-long rest before being back in action at home to Aberdeen next Saturday at Celtic Park. This should give us a chance to try and get Callum McGregor and Ryan Christie back to fitness as they are definitely being missed. I’m not Nir Bitton’s biggest critic and admire his persistence and professionalism but he and Brown do not for a creative midfield make.
Anyway, that was a good win with two excellent goals that I’ll definitely put up when they become available. It had banana skin written all over what with Hibs three game-winning run under new boss Paul Heckinbottom coming in, the fact that we hadn’t won on our last three visits there and the irony of Neil Lennon being back at his old club so soon after his quietly acrimonious departure in late January.
Job done and we still have a historic Treble Treble within our grasp which seemed like it could be derailed after the past weeks pretty stunning and upsetting events in regards to our former leader.
Another day, another article, another clean sheet but not a third 2-0 in a row instead Celtic – with a full measure of their opponents having met them twice already in the previous ten days – drilled Tommy Wright’s hapless Perth side by five to nil and there could have been a few more to boot as we resoundingly made our way into the Scottish Cup quarter-finals and the seemingly relentless march to the treble-treble continues.
It all started in only three minutes when Olly Burke rampaged to the byline and cut it back across the goal. It appeared as if there would be no takers but Scott Sinclair arrived at the back post and from an acute angle drilled it past Saints keeper Zander Clark at his near post. A mere six minutes later it was 2-0 when captain Scott Brown picked up on a loose ball and from 30 yards out sent a howitzer straight as an arrow past Clark once more and into his top left-hand corner for a collector’s item strike.
Broooooonie!
Celtic took their foot off the peddle for the rest of the first period though another terrific run to the byline and cutback from Burke deserved better. In the second half, the men in Hoops were back at it with Jonny Hayes feeding James Forrest who placed it through Clark’s legs on 52 mins and only two mins later Scott Sinclair got his second via a tap in after Burke once again left the Saints defence in his wake and crossed from the byline. Sinclair finished it all off on 89 mins with his second hattrick of the season after substitute Edouard’s shot was blocked and it fell to the winger who turned and finished from close range. He now has 19 goals for the season which is an incredible return and is only six off his total from his debut season at Celtic when he received Player of the Year.
That’s a three from Scott.
So it was all rather easy as we made it seven wins from seven games as well as an incredible 21-0 over the duration and even more good news with the unexpected return of James Forrest to the starting line-up and Odsonne Edouard coming on from the bench indicating both should be in fine fettle for Thursday nights huge Europa League clash with Rosenborg………..sorry Valencia
Jonny Hayes got a rare start at left-back and impressed though that was with our opposition on the back foot all day. That will not be the case on Thursday night.
Oliver Burke stole the show, however. I always thought his pace would terrify defences up here and so it has proven to be thus far. He picked up a knock but early indications are it’s not something to worry about too much. He really could be vital for us. His pace is electric.
Elsewhere on Saturday Eddie May took over the reins at Hibs one last time as they eased to a 3-1 win over League One’s Raith Rovers. He now will make way for the big name ultra-ambitious appointment that is Michael Appleton. Expect season book sales to tumble.
Speaking of tumbling as expected St.Mirren fell to Dundee Utd, 2-1 at home. Oran Kearney claimed it was the worst first-half performance he’d seen at the Paisley club since taking over back in September so considering how poor they’ve been these past five months it must really have been bad and Partick Thistle visited Bayview to earn a hard-fought 1-0 win over another League One outfit in East Fife who’s stadium features the bizarre site of being surrounded by solar panels. A bit better than the old decaying Methil power station that used to provide the vista right enough. I was wondering what had happened to it – used to notice it on the early rounds Scottish Cup highlights show back in the 2000s – but wiki tells me they demolished it back in 2011. You learn something new every day.
Out with the old…….
…..the future’s green.
In the evening game, Kilmarnock and Rangers served up a bit of a stinker with the only highlight being a first-half penalty conceded by ex-Rangers hero Kirk Broadfoot which resulted in James Tavernier cracking it straight down the middle and off the keeper’s legs. In the second half, Jermaine Defoe dived – though nobody in the media dare talks about it – and Killie’s Irish midfielder Alan Power unsuccessfully tried to remove Ryan Jack’s head. They aren’t scared to talk about that. The match ended goalless and they will now replay a week on Wednesday at Ibrox.
On Sunday after Celtic’s rout at Parkhead, Hearts swatted away the challenge of Junior side Auchinleck Talbot 4-0 as the Ayrshire men fought bravely but alas were completely outgunned by the Edinburgh side who now seem to have most of the key players that got their season off to such a good start back from injury.
And in the final match of the day, Aberdeen won out 4-1 against the Championship’s Queen of the South but had a second-half scare when goal machine Stephen Dobbie cracked in probably the goal of the round with a 35-yard beezer that gave Joe Lewis in the Dons goal no chance in hell. Incredibly that’s his 38th goal of the season for the Doonhamers. Up the other end though Aberdeen have a goal machine of their own in Sam Cosgrove – which as just as well as his strike partner is Stevie ‘Couldn’t hit a barn door’ May – and he grabbed a double one of which was a penalty to get his 16th goals of the campaign.
🚀 What. A. Hit.
A tremendous equaliser from @OfficialQosFC's Stephen Dobbie.
Tonight will be the final game of the Scottish Cup fifth round – notwithstanding replays – as Ross County and Inverness Caley Thistle go at it in a hotly anticipated Highland Derby at the luxurious Global Energy Stadium, Dingwall. Both are doing pretty well in the Championship this season with Ross County looking to bounce straight back up after last seasons relegation from the top flight. They sit top and despite trailing them by 12 points their Highland rivals from Inverness still sit in a play-off place and have scored 10 goals in their last two cup games in the competition this season. The draw will then proceed thereafter and it’s always interesting to see who we’ll get out of the hat. At this stage of the competition, it’s bound to be tough no matter who it is so bring it on.
As Celtic continued their charge for the mythical treble-treble and a record third consecutive Scottish Cup we welcomed the team once named Airdrie Utd before being re-Christened Airdrieonians – in tribute to the team that were liquidated back in 2002 – to Celtic Park for the unusual kick-off time of 5.15pm on Saturday night as Premier Sports finally began their new coverage of the Scottish Cup.
It was, of course, all meant to start at the luxurious surroundings of Cowdenbeath’s Central Park the night before but Rangers kitman, the infamous Jimmy Bell put paid to that as the game was called off due to a frozen pitch allegedly at wee Jimmy’s instance. Well, that’s what Donald Findlay QC claims anyway.
Getting back to Celtic and it was as expected pretty easy-peasy as we coasted home to a 3-0 victory. Having missed a penalty and an open goal in the first half Scott Sinclair tapped in on 37 minutes to give us the lead. At the other end just before halftime keeper, Scott Bain made an incredible five saves in a row and all within the space of about seven seconds too.
In the second half, Celtic laid siege to the Airdrie goal with Sinclair tapping in a second, then was denied his hat-trick after being adjudged as offside despite two opposition defenders clearly playing him on.
Substitute Timothy Weah came on for his debut and after being fed through from Dedryk Boyata finished beautifully to make it 3-0. Another debutant Olly Burke missed a header late on that he really should have buried but that aside I thought he looked pretty good showing some nice touches. Both players injected energy and enthusiasm into the side and look like positive additions.
Over the piece, it was three going on seven and the visitors did well to keep the score down.
Considering the kick off time and lowly opposition getting a crowd of just under 30,000 inside Celtic Park for the tie was pretty impressive and the pubs were definitely rammed to boot. What is all that about January being a dead month when everyone is skint and off the booze? Not around these parts anyway.
Off the pitch, Airdrie’s lovely Section B fans showed up and after nearly being overrun by the Green Brigade outside the ground before the police arrived to save them, they were escorted into the stadium where they serenaded the home support with some classic sectarian anthems and catcalls for 90 minutes. Apparently, the Section B-boys were all ramped up by the rumoured attendance at the game of their man crush Tommy Robinson though in the end he never made it. Wise call Tommy.
In other matches, BBC 1 decided to give live television coverage of the all Ayrshire battle between Ayr Utd and Junior side Auchinleck Talbot. I get the romance of the cup and all that but this was some pretty desperate early Saturday afternoon viewing with Ian McCall’s men – who are somehow in the chase for promotion to the Premiership – looking simply woeful without the services of goal machine Lawrence Shankland up front.
The game was dire on a grey and cold day with the only highlight being one of the Talbot players rattling the upstairs window of a house behind the Ayr goal in the second half. Though in fairness the headed goal by former Ayr defender Craig McCracken on 78 minutes was well executed leaving the Ayr fans behind the aforementioned goal with their big union jack flag absolutely gutted.
Aberdeen somehow contrived to draw at home with Stenhousemuir, who currently sit bottom of League 1 and will now replay in 10 days as will Dundee who continued their season-long woeful form with a 1-1 draw at home to Championship side Queen of the South.
St. Mirren were written off by Chick Young with 22 minutes to go probably due to being 2-0 and a man down at home to Alloa Athletic but that only served to galvanise them as they charged back to win 3-2 and Motherwell continued their bleak season as last year’s runners up exited to the cup 2-1 at home to Championship high flyers Ross County.
The rest of the 4th round results pretty much went as expected save League 1’s Raith Rovers flattening Dunfermline Athletic 3-0 in the Fife derby as Stevie Crawford’s reign as the new Pars manager got off to a ‘flyer’.
On Sunday Hearts went some way to avenging their 5-0 embarrassment away to Livingston five weeks ago as they beat the men from the Tony Macaroni arena 1-0 via a solitary Sean Clare strike at Tynecastle in another BBC televised live game and another forgettable affair.
As for the draw for the 5th round – or last 16 as they say in Europe – we got St.Johnstone at home which you’d imagine should be pretty routine. Elsewhere there is a Highland derby, Auchinleck got Hearts at Tynecastle which will likely be live on the BBC and will also likely be awful, St. Mirren will host Dundee Utd in a ‘Pick’Em’ encounter and barring the worst result in their history a week on Wednesday when they finally meet Cowdenbeath, Rangers should be playing Kilmarnock at Rugby Park in what will be the tie of the round between two teams currently only separated by one point in the league though of course, Killie could be miles ahead of them by the time the tie comes around on the weekend of the 9th/10th of February.
So finally the SPFL have come to an agreement over the new TV deal something which has been getting discussed far and wide across the Scottish footballing spectrum for the past 18 months or more.
And the winner is…….Sky. That brand that we all know and love with wonderful coverage being provided by the gorgeous Hayley McQueen flanked by the stunning pairing of Kris Boyd and Kris Commons.
Dream Team
Safe to say it isn’t the winner we wanted. By we, I don’t just mean Celtic fans but all of Scottish football. A recent online poll found that 90% of Scottish football fans surveyed would prefer BT to win the rights as they generally provide superior coverage with far more in-depth analysis and passion for the game up here.
The likes of Chris Sutton, Steven Craigan, Michael Stewart and Ally McCoist might not be everyone’s cup of tea – each one’s popularity usually depending on what team you support – but they sell the game as opposed to Sky who’s coverage often borders on apathetic to the point of disrespect.
Commons was a wonderful servant to the club but he usually gets lost in his own analysis and Boyd wavers from boring to confusion then onto anger and all in one sentence. Either way, both are pretty limited pundits and would be blown out of the water by the BT guys.
Hayley does her best to fit in what she can from her meagre surroundings in the blink and you’ll miss it introduction and post-match analysis segments and there is a general air of disinterest about the whole thing. The general impression is that they can’t wait to get back to their beloved English Premier League
BT, on the other hand, are fronted by wisecracking Darell Curry who is often required to act more like a referee as opposed to a presenter in order to reel in the often hilarious quarrelling that occurs between Sutton and the rest of the panel. Added to that every game no matter how seemingly inconsequential it might appear in the grand scheme of things is given a worthy amount of build-up and analysis so in other words…..respect.
The BT boys delivering the goods.Â
So bearing all that in mind it’s come as a surprise that BT was so easily outbid by Sky and not only that have lost all rights to the Betfred League Cup as well.
That means that BT will in just over 18 months have literally no relationship with Scottish football at all which is pretty shocking considering the effort they have put into promoting the game during these past five years.
Now as much as I would have preferred BT to have gotten the rights the facts are that they refused to put their money where their mouth is. The deal has now been unofficially confirmed as being worth ÂŁ160 million over a five year period beginning the season after next with Sky Sports having inclusivity to all 48 top flight live matches.
I can’t mention my source but all I will say is that he is a board member of a Premiership club. All members were asked to take a final vote yesterday at around 2pm and the decision was unanimous. Some had earlier baulked at Sky’s offer believing the rights could be worth somewhere in the region of ÂŁ40-50 million per season but the facts are that BT’s preference was to continue the current carve-up between themselves and Sky whilst individually investing less and that the likes of Amazon, Eleven Sports etc when sounded out just weren’t really that interested. Sky’s offer of just over ÂŁ32 million per season was by some distance the best financial package and an initial offer of three years was actually negotiated up to five to give extra long-term security. The deal was apparently brokered by a consultant who had been involved in the English Premierships’ last round of TV contract negotiations and he was keen to point out to the members the fact that TV sports rights in the UK across the board are generally decreasing in value as opposed to increasing.
The EPL themselves have seen their own rights tumble pretty dramatically from ÂŁ5.1 billion for a three-year deal to ÂŁ4.775 billion which begins next summer. That’s a drop of ÂŁ325 million, around about ÂŁ108 million a season. Even then those figures are pretty optimistic with some sources claiming the drop was nearer the ÂŁ500 million mark.
The final two packages available in the first round of bids back in February actually went unsold and weren’t negotiated until six months later when Amazon and BT picked up what was left. Not long after Richard Scudamore announced he was stepping down from his role as the EPL’s Executive Chairman which he had held (though previously called Chief Executive) since 1999. Coincidence? Hardly.
As much as I, like just about everyone else it seems, prefer BT’s coverage the facts are that they were have thrown the kitchen sink at both Champions League and English Premiership TV rights to such an extent that they have hardly any money to invest in anything else. So it shows where their priorities lie. The SPFL is not the only rights they failed to retain as they have also lost the rights to Serie A, UFC and NBA with all being picked up by the new player Eleven Sports.
This unsurprisingly goes hand in hand with the departure of chief executive Gavin Patterson who back in 2013 led BT’s assault on live sports rights. The hope was that impressive sports packages would also entice new broadband customers but this strategy has failed dramatically as the number of new subscribers each quarter having apparently collapsed. As a result at the time of the announcement about Patterson’s future, or lack of, BT’s share price had fallen around 14% over the previous four weeks alone with full-year results showing a 1% drop in revenue, not helped by the company dealing with the aftermath of an accounting scandal at its Italian division, which resulted in a ÂŁ530 million write-down and a major fall in its share price last year.
Neil Patterson in more affluent times.
Shareholders at BT had wanted Patterson out for some time and with the news, any hopes of BT being capable of competing with other major providers for sports rights renewals went with him.
The new deal will see 48 matches – a reduction from the 60 shown previously between both Sky and BT – all appear on one format each season along with six playoff matches and kicks in the season after next. We can only hope that in that time Sky takes on board the feedback and improve their coverage to match a significantly increased investment.
It’s not only the league games though that BT failed to retain. They’ve also let the Betfred League Cup slip through their fingers and into the hands of Irish broadcaster Premier Sports. Again their coverage there was spot on and they played a big part in changing the format so that it would feature regional league matches played in the summer by teams not competing in Europe. This coverage came at a cost of a measly ÂŁ8 million over four years but was by all accounts much better than the previous deal in place with the BBC. Premier Sports offer whilst apparently better wasn’t significantly so but BT once again failed to invest and just as with the league games their coverage will cease to exist from the summer of 2020 onwards.
The Scottish Cup rights are a whole other kettle of fish with Premier Sports and the BBC sharing them with Sky letting them go, and of course, the BBC has also renewed their deal with the SPFL which will see them retain league highlights as well as showing 20 live Championship games per season starting in a few months, on a new channel, to be unveiled next year.
I’ve seen some people unfavourably comparing the deal to the new one signed by the EFL down south which is a ÂŁ595 million contract over three years. The thing about that is it covers 130 matches per season across three leagues and 72 clubs and also includes League Cup games so actually in the grand scheme of things most English clubs have got a poorer deal than the SPFL.
All in all, it’s more money. How much more is difficult to quantify but we do know that it was widely accepted that the total pot of TV income was ÂŁ21 million last season with ÂŁ17.5 million of that coming from the league TV deal alone. This new deal secures at least ÂŁ32 million per season and could be more when factoring in a new foreign TV rights deal with beIN sports as well as the new Scottish Cup and League Cup deals.
Is it what we wanted? No. But is it the best deal we could get……yes. And just like in every other aspect of life money talks and there was no way Scottish football was walking away from an extra ÂŁ10 million plus per season.
I like BT. We all like BT. But the fact is they obviously don’t like us as much back. That and the fact that they are skint.
....Always A Tim! 