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.
Probably the most deflated I’ve felt since we were eliminated by our beloved Govan neighbours at the semi-final stage of the Scottish Cup back in April 2016.
In some ways, this feels even worse. Sort of like discovering that, that old antique your dad has been harbouring in the attic for years is actually worth sod all or that your winning scratch card is a fake.
Or perhaps more accurately that your bird who you thought you were in love with and was in love with you has been having it off behind your back with some guy she met on a night out down south the whole time.
That’s what it was like to discover that the man who claimed he was in his dream job had actually found a dreamier one and that all of the things he’d said over the years about his love for the club and his ongoing commitment were all just words. All said just to keep us sweet and onside while his eyes wondered elsewhere. I guess this is how the first Mrs Rodgers felt.
Brendan of course rather unceremoniously left us yesterday afternoon drawing to an end a highly successful – domestically anyway – 33 months in charge.
Below are some pictures from the day:
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Initially, this article was about our 4-1 win over Motherwell at Celtic Park on Sunday where we maintained our 8 points lead at the top of the table in a game that saw the visitors score a highly contentious goal when they refused to honour the unwritten rule of passing the ball back to you once it has been put of play for an injury.
It was all much ado about nothing in any case as we scored two goals either side of it – one an absolute peach of a free kick from Odsonne Edouard – but then the news started to filter through that the game was afoot over at the Celtic training ground on Monday afternoon. Instead of churning that out I thought I’d wait to see how events transpired hoping of course that it was all smoke and no fire. Let’s be honest as all the rumours started intensifying yesterday young James Scott’s ill-advised decision to take advantage of the throw in situation on Sunday which seemed oh so important at the time had rather paled into significance when it became obvious that Sunday might actually have been our manager’s last game in charge.
I awoke this morning to hale of What’s App activity. It had the same kind of feeling as when the Mojo story broke back in ’89. That being that something unthinkably bad was happening.
Some sources were diving right in and announcing his departure as confirmed whilst the BBC and others held the line insisting it was still only at the discussion stage. The latter, of course, led to an outbreak of mass denial on Twitter. Countless messages read that there surely was nothing in this and that indeed it was just anti-Celtic desperate journalism at its worst.
However, even a clock gets it right twice a day and yesterday the press was on the money right down to the second. Our beloved Brendan, the man who masterminded ‘The Invincibles Season’ and the famed ‘Double Treble’ was for the offski and he wasn’t even hanging around to say goodbye.
Rumours had been circulating for some time that he was being targeted by Leicester City with their manager Claude Puel’s jacket hanging on a shaky peg for months now. But surely not to them? Not to a club who are mid-table, safely above relegation but way off any potential European places and out of the domestic cups so with literally nothing to play for?
The kind of support Brendan got at Celtic.
But in his day and age money talks and bullshit walks and the English Premiership side have the money so Brendan did the walking.
Of their financial power, there is no doubt. Last season we broke our turnover record as we surged to ÂŁ101.5 million thanks in the main to Champions League revenues but despite finishing only just above the relegation zone in their league the Midlands side made the Champions League quarter-finals and with that plus their usual English Premier League cash bonanza they hit ÂŁ176 million in total turnover for the year.
That affords them the ability to pay fees and wages that we can only dream about and this appears to be the main reason that our once beloved leader has abandoned us.
That’s what it is by the way. It’s abandonment. Not just leaving us for pastures new but all out, pure, unadulterated abandonment. What the hell else could you call it when you do it on the eve of a vital league game and with a historic Treble Treble on the cards and only two and half months of the season to go?
The timing of bad news is never good but at least do it at a time when it makes sense. If Brendan had achieved the aforementioned trio of trebles goal then he could have departed into the sunset with his head held high and all our best wishes this summer.
But to do it now just smacks of both arrogance and most hurtfully indifference.
Yes, the board and in particular, serial panto villain Peter Lawwell will take a lot of flack with once again the debacle that was last summer’s transfer window coming in for renewed withering analysis but today’s decision and the stunningly awful timing of it is all on Brendan.
For him to be wearing the Leicester City tie and stiltedly reading out scripted pish from an autocue where he confirmed how much of an honour it was to be managing them and even going as far as to offer up his life in his pursuit of their success was as absurd as it was stomach-churningly hollow. Yeah, Brendan, you’ll give it ‘everything’………….until something else comes along.
The kind of support he’ll get at Leicester.Â
When Chris Sutton seemed to pretty brazenly insist he thought Rodgers was off at the weekend I laughed. Yeah, Chris, I seem to remember you predicting the Rangers signings of Jermain Defoe and Steven Davis had pushed the title race in their favour. That was obviously pish and so was this. The only thing is it wasn’t. The second prediction anyway.
Once again we are reminded that nothing lasts forever in football and that unfortunately our geographic proximity to England in this day and age often works against us. With the exposure and TV money on offer down there dwarfing what we can get up here it means that even blatantly smaller clubs whos stadiums are half Celtic Park’s size such as Leicester can come and pinch our most prized talents from top to bottom. Back at the turn of the century, it was quite literally the other way around.
As for Brendan himself, he was dominant domestically. He won seven consecutive trophies and gained a colossal 24 straight wins in domestic cup competitions. In the league, he suffered only 8 defeats from 103 matches which is quite incredible. He also only lost one of thirteen Old Firm games. But let’s be honest……who was he up against? Mark Warburton, Graeme Murty (twice) and Pedro Caixinha?? Hardly stellar tacticians. As for Europe, he achieved only 16 wins in 42 games with 8 draws, 18 defeats and 63 goals conceded. Yes, he brought us back into the group stages of the money-spinning Champions League but once there he stubbornly refused to adapt to our far more harsh surroundings and as a result, we endured some of the most degrading nights ever as Celtic supporters.
Let’s not forget that some of his predecessors such as Gordon Strachan and Neil Lennon were also faced against opposition with superior resources on the continent and emerged with somewhat miraculous results by comparison. Whilst under those two scalps such as AC Milan, Benfica (twice), Manchester Utd, Ajax and of course Barcelona were taken and legendary nights were born instead under Brendan the ‘big scalps’ were Astana, Be’er Sheva, Anderlecht, Leipzig and Rosenborg, the latter on multiple occasions. Hardly in the same bracket.
In Europe, there’s little doubt he was a failure but yes domestically an overwhelming success.
He leaves with both my disappointment and mutual indifference. Personally, I hope he never darkens our door again and it’s too late now to insult us with the flattery of undying love and regret that it ended the way it has.
Ah, it really does feel like only yesterday or thereabouts that we were unveiling him on a bright Friday afternoon in May 2016. This was our response to the Rangers calamity the month before and what a response it was. It put the shitters up them so much they quite literally ‘Hibsed’ the Scottish Cup final the very next day to Hibs.
I was actually travelling down south to work in the north of England over that weekend when the announcement came through just as I was pulling into Leeds train station. As I boarded my connecting train to Dearne Valley some local oaf sitting close by announced to his mates “Why is he going up there?” with puzzled arrogance. “Because we’re Celtic!” I thought to myself with a big smile on my face.
Alas, how things change………………..
Lenny will be in the dugout until the summer. Though it’s highly likely he’ll spend much of it in the stand. I’m underwhelmed but he gets all of my support. He goes straight back into the lion’s den against Hearts tomorrow evening in what should be, to say the least, an interesting occasion. Suddenly tomorrow night is huge with only 11 games to go in the title race. After that, it’s onto his former club Hibs – whom he left in a blaze of unspoken acrimony last month – at the weekend in a vital Scottish Cup quarter-final.
This is testing time for all of us but at least we’re well and truly in the driving seat.
As for the big story, in summation…..goodbye Brendan, it was quite a ride but in the end, you discarded us with about as much empathy as a piss head at a music festival does to an empty beer can so ultimately good riddance.
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.
I took in our game on Sunday from the Dolphin pub in Partick, a good Celtic boozer if you have never been. The green and white sign with the ‘EST1888’ above the door should be a giveaway.
Anyway there with a few friends, I witnessed our match with league leaders Hearts at Murrayfield in front of a crowd of over 60,000.
Due to Hearts pretty incredible results since the start of the season – which has seen them win 13 from 16 matches with two draws and only one defeat – combined with our own patchy form since the start of the term this had been built up as a near 50/50 encounter with many favouring the Jam Tarts.
Indeed they had already defeated us 1-0 earlier in the season at Tynecastle and bounced back from their only defeat of the season so far against Rangers at Ibrox three weeks ago with wins at home versus Aberdeen and away to Dundee to maintain their spot at the top of the Premiership.
But the Celtic side that lost to Hearts back in early August has fairly ramped up the performances levels since then, especially in the past month, and with the capital side also without long-term injury absentees Christophe Berra, John Souttar and Uche Ikpeazu I was personally quite surprised at how close so many thought it was going to be.
Still, that meant that interest had peaked for it and led to not only a magnificent attendance at Murrayfield but also a large crowd in the pub which would be otherwise unusual for any normal national cup semi-final involving us and anybody but Rangers.
A packed our Murrayfield sees green smoke.
The first half was pretty scrappy stuff with Hearts veteran striker Steven MacLean grabbing all the headlines via standing a mile offside as he placed the ball into the Celtic net only for it to be flagged and also grabbing a handful of Eboue Kouassi’s testicles into the bargain. He’s since been cited for it and according to his ex-St. Johnstone teammate James McFadden on last nights Sportsound he’s known for it so I’d imagine he’s facing a ban. Then again Morelos got his red card rescinded for trying to volley Scott McKenna off the ball at Pittodrie earlier in the season so who knows.
Hearts talisman Steven Naismith also walked off early doors with a knee injury and you sort of suspected any chance they had of beating us walked with him.
That aside Scott Sinclair had an excellent effort saved by the Hearts keeper but by in large it was competitive but uninspiring stuff to such an extent the guy sitting beside me announced he’d had enough and staggered out leaving a full bottle of Peroni and an untouched whiskey chaser behind him. Outrageous.
In the second half, we got a spot-kick after Ryan Christie went down under a Ben Garrucio challenge – hardly a stonewaller but the type of incident which is given all the time these days – and Sinclair stepped up to smash it home. Then the Herts keeper Zdenek Zlamal tried to gather a speculative Rogic drive which escaped his grasp and trundled over the line before he clawed it clear. James Forrest was on hand though to bury it and put to bed any necessity for the linesman to make a call. And just in case there was any lingering doubt Ryan Christie capped off a fine few days in a Celtic jersey following on from strong display away in Leipzig on Thursday night as he buried a 25-yard piledriver past the despairing Zlamal on 72 mins.
Thereafter it was a bit of a turkey shoot as Celtic rained down wave after wave of attack on the Jambos goal but a combination of Zlamal atoning for his earlier error plus some last-ditch defending kept the score respectful. Though one of my mates was gutted as he had us to win either 4-0 or 3-1 with the bookies. A sore one indeed.
All in all, it was a professional performance and Celtic have now won 21 consecutive cup ties and have booked their place in their fifth consecutive cup final in doing so. The ‘Treble-Treble’ now really is on plus we also got to shut-up serial moaner Craig Levein who despite his pre-match defiance saw his side ultimately check out with a whimper.
Of course, this was all pretty much night and day compared to Thursday night’s display away in Germany where a toothless Celtic side limped to a 2-0 defeat to Red Bull Leipzig.
Having the suspended James Forrest back was undoubtedly a factor – as was the inferior opposition of course – but also returning was the imperious Tom Rogic and central defender Filipe Benkovic both of whom hadn’t made it for Thursday nights game. No one is really talking about it but personally, I’m a bit disappointed that Sunday was clearly given precedence over an away tie in Europe and one which I honestly think would have been very winnable against Leipzig’s second string if Rogic and Benkovic had been involved. The notion that they suddenly returned to full match fitness in the space of 64 hours is, of course, total bollocks.
Europe now does seem to now be firmly regarded as a pipe dream with domestic success being given the superior status based on decisions like that.
Anway we’re in another cup final on December 2nd so the question is who would we be playing?
That game, of course, took place later on that evening at Hampden Park where Steven Gerrard’s apparently rejuvenated Rangers would battle it out against Derek McInnes’s toiling Aberdeen.
Even with their only real striking options out for this one just about everyone I knew made the Govan side the clear favourites with most regarding it a mere formality.
It proved to be anything but as the Dons produced a classic smash and grab performance that ex-Rangers manager Walter Smith himself would have been proud of as the nephew of Barry Ferguson headed home the winner on 79 mins. He’s called Lewis Ferguson by the way and he won me a not unsubstantial amount of money as I found the long odds on the reds to be too tempting not to indulge.
Even with over 10 mins plus injury time remaining my money looked safe as the toothless light blues failed to breach a pretty rock solid Aberdeen defence and 1-0 is how it finished.
Stevie G congratulates Goldson on their loss.
So it’s Aberdeen in the final in five weeks. I must admit to being a tad disappointed as an Old Firm final would have been far more appetizing and despite undoubtedly impressive results at home and in Europe, the Stevie G project looks decidedly shaky anytime it’s taken out on the road with Sunday being a perfect example of that.
What with them out of the first domestic competition of the season combined with sitting only joint fifth in the league I wonder if rumours will now abound of an unsettled dressing room, player fallouts and acrimonious relationships between the manager and the board? Or is that only reserved for our manager? I think we all know the answer.
Oh, and what happened to that Richard Wilson’s tweet from Thursday evening which claimed that after Sunday was out the way there would be ramifications due to the performance and result on Thursday night? It’s Tuesday and still nothing. Maybe it will all kick off tomorrow. Or maybe it was all bullshit to start with.
....Always A Tim! 