It is Eight In A Row day at Celtic Park.
The last time this happened was 1973 and I was 15.
I had first been taken to Parkhead as a seven-year-old to see the team that would become the Lisbon Lions.
As a teenager, I would go with pals to see the Quality Street Gang:
Connelly, Dalglish, Hay and McGrain.
League title after league title was won by Celtic and it all seemed so natural, so normal to me at the time.
Then, in my thirties, I watched Wayne Biggins and Carl Muggleton.
Thankfully, by the time the universe gave me a son to take to Celtic Park, his first game saw Henrik Larsson score for the Hoops.
I know that doesn’t narrow it down much as the iconic Swede had a habit of doing that on a very regular basis.
Just like today the opposition that day was St Johnstone.
Big Rab Douglas sportingly gave the visitors a goal of a start before Henke equalised.
Tommo settled the contest with a free-kick that their keeper should have got to without any difficulty.
We travelled back to Donegal happy that his first visit to Paradise had been a victorious one.
As a teenager, my fella had the privilege to see the precision-guided free-kicks of Shunsuke Nakamura defeat the best keepers in Europe.
I sent my son this image last night as he is currently vacationing in the homeland of the man himself.
And your point caller?
Savour the good times as they don’t last forever.
Players move on and eras come to an end.
This is the Nine In A Row season redux and it grinds the gears of the staunch that a club established by Irish immigrants now totally dominates Scottish football.
As I have written here many times the events of the summer of 2012 were epochal.
The death of Rangers placed Celtic in a position that only Celtic can dislodge themselves from.
Now the Fitba Fourth estate can play pretend that Rangers didn’t die and that it was only the “Holding Company Vehicle” or the “Engine Room Subsidiary”.
In doing so they make themselves figures of fun on social media.
They are certainly not journalists in any meaningful sense of the word.
The copy and paste fusileers live in a world where they grieve for the return of the “Old Firm”.
A slugging match between two equally matched titans.
The reality is that, as per the last published accounts, Celtic had more cash in the bank than Sevco had in turnover.
This is historically unprecedented.
Regular readers here will know the self-inflicted shitshow that the Sevco High Command has embroiled themselves in with Mike Ashley.
The situation at Celtic is one of a well run financial operation at every level.
Despite all the pishful thinking from the Stenography Corps today it gets real again.
In the past couple of weeks, I have canvassed people in the professional game in Scotland who I know and trust.
They’re an eclectic bunch of coaches, ex-players, match delegates etc.
I made a point of reaching out to the ones who had no involvement in the Glasgow feud.
Without prompting they all picked Celtic as the title winners for the coming season.
In that, they were in agreement with bookmakers.
Those emotionally blinded fools have also made Neil Lennon’s men strong favourites for the title.
Moreover, they will have their own data-driven reasons for doing so.
The only real obstacle to Celtic doing the Nine again is internal.
It is no secret that Neil Lennon wanted another couple of players in before now.
Doing the nickel and dime routine a la John McGinn in this season will not be forgotten or forgiven.
That should concentrate minds in the boardroom.
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Anybody read the report where gerrard complains about yesterday’s game going past the 86 th minute?no?, me neither,great player,total buffoon
Here’s a thought…
If KT is only half the player that Harry Maguire is ( I know he’s not …but bear with me…)….and Maguire goes for £80 million…does that mean we should hold out for £40 million…?
One thing’s for sure…£25 million isn’t enough.
One wee stat that stood out for me at least in the Killie game was the fouls count and distribution of cards.
Killie committed 12 fouls resulting in 2 yellows.
Pretengers committed 20 fouls resulting in 1 yellow
This needs to be monitored I think.
Everyone, anyone…..aye right. Is Gerrard so naive that he doesn’t know what he’s walked into?
Anti Catholic, anti Irish, anti SNP, anti EU…….anti everybody.
Just have a read at their fans response to the new initiative, no one will be surprised.
Phil, is not possible to block Hugh Morgan’s rants ? It’s like reading one of the Bear’s blogs where they forget to employ the Spell Check or bother with punctuation and proper sentence structure. Either that or he’s adopted a James Joyce / William S Burroughs ‘stream of consciousness’ style of prose, although I very much doubt it.
“Listen to even the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story.”
If the shit being thrown at Gerrard from his own fans after a win is a sign of things to come then it’s going to be a very long season for the Liverpool ledgend.
Ojo is already being compared to a very poor Ejaria, Aribo invisible for much of the game, Kamara getting flack for his mistakes and Barisic soaking up the usual vitriol thrown at him by the fan base.
What do these guys have in common? Only last week Ibrox Noise was talking up the value of the Rangers squad and in addition to Morelos and Tavernier all 4 were being priced up as £25m each.
Oh how a couple of days makes a huge difference.
The two most important games of the season for Rangers are fast approaching against the Danes.
Heads will roll if they fail to progress to the final Europa qualifying round against the Danes and Gerrard’s honeymoon will be well and truly over.
Of course failure in Euope will free up the squad to concentrate on the domestic front with only one, or two, thoughts in mind.
Stopping 10 IAR and/or going for 55.
Drinking and blind ✍
Do us a favour mate, wait until you can see again before post.
Aye. Or blind drunk.
Your point though, however badly put, is very valid. The sight and smell of sheer cowardice coming from the SFA is beyond embarrassing. They are utterly inept and completely dysfunctional when it comes to any kind of scrutiny of matters Ibrox.
It’s appalling that UEFA has not looked into this lack of governance. Although I suppose the fact that it does not have any bearing on the profit margins of the “big 5” countries means they have no real interest in the matter.
THEY are eqally inept when it comes to looking after the interests of any member countries other than that bloc.
As the SFA are destroying the credibility of the Scottish game by their failure to reign in the excesses of all things sevconian, so too are UEFA destroying the credibility of European competition by allowing themselves, and by extension all other member states, to be dictated to by “the big 5.
I fear for the long term future of the game we all love.
Maxwell was hired not to rock the boat, end of.
Not clear what level of educational achievement he achieved but given what we have seen of his handiwork then O Level English would have been a challenge but somehow he got the gig.
He must have some very well hidden skills or perhaps has ‘friends’ in high places?
Not a peep from Hampden about the Killie invasion, or half the Rangers team amongst the crowd, no bookings resulting from same.
It was ever so.
I caught a bit of the Ross County highlights last night where the ref missed 3 blatant hand ball incidents in the penalty box, none of which was of the 50/50 variety.
Fleming’s love childs off to a flyer indeed!
Rein in.
Can we blame the SFA BOARD for not doing anything to stop sevco 2o12 from the possibility of liquidator 2?
How can you represent your members !
Where steps put in place after their wee setback!
Canny wait for your explanation for not governing the Klan,
that’s your job governing body!
GIVING the Klan rope to hang,
Not paying attention to the problem sevco!
SIMPLY sitting back, hoping it turns out for the good isn’t enough!
Help was wot was needed for a new club,
Now look,fans are very unhappy and angry about how much their club is the joke!
There is big trouble coming soon and your SFA BOARD must share the blame!
Celtic must act now give them no tickets!
Fans should feel safe taking their children to
Watch their club!
Scott Brown is to blame! It’s Broony’s fault!
HH
Kilmarnock fc,
DISABLED trouble is only when rangers and get this shite Celtic play!
Many or tells the sun,
Definitely a great ploy by media house bring Celtic into the picture!
When have you heard about Celtic and crowd
Trouble with DISABLED people at killy!
That’s not happening here thanks Jimmy traynor Brother’s team SCUM basta..”””da
How Low can they go ,trying to bring Celtic into their agent,
That’s why nocunt likes this Klan of Bigots who try to make sure they behave like morons like freddy the frog’s blue army!
Lots to sort out sevco 2o12 good luck.
Is English your second language or are you using some internet-speak I’m not yet aware of?
You may have a good point to make but working out what it is shouldn’t need google translate.
Sportscene play down bounce bounce party, Roof collapse under pressure from Klan Joyful play,
DISABLED people ask!
Have we won the league!
Health and safety is question from SFA OFFICIALS!
SCOTTISH GAME IS NOT A GOOD PLACE TO BRING YOUR YOUNG CHILDREN,
PLAYERS JOIN FANS BY JOINING IN WITH
OVER THE TOP CELEBRATION!
BRAKING NEWS,
TALK OF DAVE KING JUMPING SHIP.
Are you from this planet, Hugh or am I the only one who can’t understand your gibberish? HH
Whilst I’m quite happy to laugh at Gerrard’s if my auntie had balls she would be my uncle thought process I can only tear my hair out at the Brexiteer nutters who have ramped up the rhetoric with their Do or Die 31st October claims.
Sounds like a 50/50 shot to me though if the economist forecasts are only half correct then we are heading for a disaster.
Leaving without a deal will see the pound collapse and thats not taking into account the billions that the money men will be moving out of the country as we speak.
No doubt Boris and his mates have already made sure that their fortunes are safely tucked away, probably in some EU country bank.
Will it take the Welsh farmers taking their tractors to London and bringing traffic to a halt before anyone pays attention to the issues facing them?
Not to worry, Trump is on standby with a trade deal that will be more beneficial to the States than the UK.
Ditto talks of trade deals with South American countries, all of which are in crisis.
Now where’s that villa in Spain I’ve been looking at?
WTF HAS THAT GOT TO DO WITH FOOTBALL? You undemocratic numpty.
Undemocratic? We keep hearing about the betrayal of 17 million gullible arseholes who believed the crap they were told by the big bus and voted to leave, if we don’t leave. We hear very little of the 43 million of the UK population who did NOT vote to leave.
SFA AND THE SCOTTISH MEDIA MONKYRULES ON SEVCO APPLY!
HERE NO EVIL
SPEAK NO EVIL
TALK NO EVIL
Disabled people are involved in fans dropping
From Roof!
Fans of sevco are still running SFA TOLERANCE TO THE EDGE!
THE BILLY BOY SONG IS COMING FROM CROWD!
FANS ARE EXCITED ABOUT SCORING!
INVADED PITCH START JOY AND CELEBRATION PARTY FOR GERARD IN LAST MINUTE GOAL!
GOALKEEPER CELEBRATE WITH FANS ON PITCH!
NO CARD IS SHOWN, REF MISSED IT?
REF GETS TOP POINTS FOR WIN!
THAT’S HIM TOP FOR THE NOW ON THE CHARTS.
Well, colour me surprised. Gordon Waddell’s article today on the club owners who have wrecked a number of them talks about the institutional vandalism wreaked on Rangers by Craig Whyte and Charles Green but not a mention of the man who brought admin then liquidation to Ibrox, step forward SDM, the invisible man when it comes to what happened to Rangers.
Green and Whyte, two individuals who Waddell and his like were major cheerleaders for, based on absolutely hee haw.
It’s all very well after the fact but the likes of Green and Whyte would never have taken over at Ibrox without a complicit media, most of whom would have been happy if some loathsome dictator had taken over the reins as long as there was a team in blue playing out of Ibrox.
Despite the court writ apropos SDI/Rangers, the Rangers board, King in particular, should be getting dogs abuse for the merchandising clusterfuck of their own making yet the likes of Waddell choose to ignore it.
Go figure.
Gerrard is in danger of straying into Warburton and Pedro territory.
The nonsense about being 86 minutes champions has been proved wrong and the likes of Chris Sutton have taken the opportunity to throw it in is face.
And bravo James Forrest for dismembering Stevie G’s claim that he will sacrifice the cup competitions if that brought the SPFL title to Ibrox.
As James points out the cup trophies belong to Celtic and are not in Rangers hands to ‘sacrifice’.
At least the start of the league season has taken the immediate attention from the merchandising clusterfuck.
Kingco will be delighted that the focus will be on the football and not where the money will come from to satisfy Sports Direct and Close Brothers though any mention in the Scottish media will be of the ‘no biggie’ variety.
the SFA have got a judge to let them know that, this new sevco BOARD, is not to be TRUSTED,
The lawyer is a BOARD member!
Caught out big time,
Fit and proper for the sevco BOARD!
Wot can the SFA do for them to ask the people who run sevco wots happening?
The MURRAY years are still here!
Can the SCOTTISH law society strike him off.
That’s the refs starting the blind eye shite,
Definitely a penalty overlooked,
Lad jumped up headed the ball and it hit his hand that was up over his head Bringing the ball down to his feet?
Some heavy tackles were made,
Rules where changed about the ball hitting a
Players hand in the box,
Must only apply to the rest of the league?
Brilliant Celtic HH
A great opening statement and a moment that was well and truly savoured …
Unfortunately there was the ‘unsavoury’ in the form of the Green Brigade setting out their own first ‘statements’ of the new season.
I don’t think any football match is the place for political banners and statements unless they are about ‘football politics’. The crass self-importance and selfishness of the so called ‘ultras’ to do it at the opening flag day match with the widows of recently departed club legends present only betrays their complete lack of consideration for others.
They are a mere 1% or do of the crowd at Celtic part and do not represent me or the majority of others who buy season tickets or I suspect those watching on tv. Whether you agree with their political stance or not. Celtic Park should not be an outlet for it.
I actually think that the majority of the GB don’t even understand what they are preaching about, especially when it comes to the ‘armed struggle’ issue… is hazard a guess that few if any were more than toddlers or kids when the good Friday agreement was signed never mind have any recollection or experience of what preceded it!
It’s about time Mr Lawwell acted for the majority of fans when it comes to Celtic Park and dispersed this group of ‘would be weekend paramilitary dreamers’….
1000 members of the Green Brigade May have season tickets , but they should have been spread throughout the ground prior to this season starting. Closing the area for a few games will punish but not cure … and will affect the inevitable innocent in the periphery.
Their voice and rhythm in keeping a sustained atmosphere in quieter matches is no longer an acceptable trade-off for the irrelevant songs they sing and which will inevitably attract fines and sour the clubs name as Scottish football tries to modernise.
Time to do something Celtic…
A bright sunny day tinged with darkness sadly!
The Green Brigade care far more about the Green Brigade than they do about Celtic.
For every occasion they make us proud there are ten where they either bring us into conflict with authorities or just embarrass us.
Get rid of them and their political views once and for all.
Let’s keep Celtic Park for football.
We have a vibrant attacking team with goals coming from all over as evidenced today.
There’s a positive change in the speed we are moving the ball at, leading to more chances being created.
Vital that we nick an away goal in Romania to put us in a strong position for the 2nd leg and open the door to the final play off round, a step away from the riches of the CL.
As some of the players have said qualification will feel like winning the first trophy of the season.
Just hope that the EPL window closes and that we retain our best players.
This could be another historic and monumental season, lets make it so.
Methinks Stevie G has a point,If the game had only lasted 85 minutes I would have won £140 correct score 6-0 I’ve been robbed it’s a disgrace .
Well said phil let the 9 in a row show begin hail hail 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀
I think it might be a tad warm in the sevco dressing-room again tomorrow. HH
What a time to be a Celtic fan.Enjoy these days this is our time 💚💚💚
Champion display today. None of that nonsense when Rodgers was in charge with our back four continually passing the ball along the back line ad infinitum.
That sends s message to Stevir G and his squad.
Couldn’t believe him falling back on the shit that if all the games only lasted 80 minutes then Rangers would have been Champions.
He’s made a complete arse of himself.
To all those who doubted Neil Lennon as prospective full time boss towards the end of last Season and this Summer I say Brendan who?
Neil’s tactics,Neil’s qualities as a Manager were on show today as they have been much of pre Season.
No longer tied to a System devoid of a soul this group of players are playing with a sense of verve and freedom not seen since the days of Lennys previous tenure.
Today Celtic cranked up the heat and the pressure on the young pretengers.
A 7 goal blitz to blow away ANY lingering doubts in the Media that Celtic have come to the battle ready for action.
No Flag Day damp squib just pure controlled,exciting and thoroughly devastating Football from his charges.
Christie the pick of the bunch but also a nice wee partnership beginning to blossom between the 106 Goal Griffiths and Edouard.
We haven’t even finished in the market yet.
Bang on. And you’re not the only fan purring about the developing partnership between big Eddie and the Griffallo. I’ve heard a right few people mention it. I’m going to stick my neck out here and say that if Lenny goes two up front domestically, those two alone will bag more than 50 goals between them. I also think our midfield are capable of getting the best part of 50 between them. Christie, Calmac, Forrest and Ntcham all have goals in them. My only wee concern is Bolly defensively. Good going foward but needs to be sharper and more aware of the space behind him.
I think 50 goals between them is a fairly attainable target.
A striker at Celtic should be netting 25 a Season on Average given our dominance and the amount of chances we create most games.
Leigh will bring 20 no problem if he is played regularly and probably more if he wasn’t on corner and free kick duties.
Thing is with Edouard’s goal v St.Johnstone Leigh knows what run he’s going to make and he knows exactly where he would want it weight wise and delivered it on a plate and Edouard is more than capable of doing that himself as we seen with the Ntcham goal.
Neil favours 3-5-2 over most other Systems and now we have a genuine RB/CB in Elhamed who can slot into the RCB slot comfortably that setup becomes easier to deploy.
I agree on Bolingoli defensively he’s looked a bit shaky to me against inferior opposition so far so let’s hope that is just nerves and settling in jitters.
If KT goes however I would be tempted to deploy Hayes as a Wingback against better sides until he is replaced with quality.
Given the figures being quoted someone like Meling at Rosenborg would be well within our reach if he went to Arsenal.
Resounding win 7 nil with LG scoring in the 86th minute. I read SG quoted as saying if the game was 86 minutes long they would have won the league last year.
Funny that eh
Lucky celtic!!! If Superleigh had waited another minute before scoring, it would only have been a 6-0 win!! 😁
Turns out Gerrard’s ‘ stone cold truth’ of the results of shortening game time is indeed fake news and Celtic would still have been 3 points to the good.
Of course our media wouldn”t have doubted any words coming from the mouth of the blessed Stevie G, even when they knew he was wrong.
Makes you wonder what other made up pish they are printing……Motherwell billionaire with wealth off the radar?
A downright lie promoted by the media as the truth, step up Jackson and his employers.
A truth that was investigated and uncovered by the then Rangers board who provided David Murray with their findings, urging him not to sell to Whyte.
As we know Murray took Whyte’s £1 despite their warnings because, as was made public in Whyte’s trial, the bank had incentivised SDM with a promise to sell back to him part of Murray International Metals, his original love child.
Of course those in the media, wined and dined at Murray”s table, have somehow avoided fingering the Edinburgh wizard for his actions which resulted in administration then liquidation for Oldco.
I reckon sevco will provide a challenge this season, because Erik the Viking will put them in their European place. It is then down to the Domestico’s to provide the challenge. What the other clubs outside of celtic must do is bring out the worst in ManChild so that red becomes his lucky colour (much like it is the lucky colour in China). He is already owned by Celtic, and managed by one Mr Scott Brown, so with Broony’s blessing, the Colombian Cruyff should be led to the disciplinary abyss by anybody sharing the same field of play.
The remainder of sevco’s title challenge will be aided and abetted by the men in black – and I don’t mean Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones.
Hah! Wayne Biggins. So good we named a stand after him. Dark days indeed…
Indeed
Could’ve been worse… Christopher Biggins Stand, anyone? 😁
That’s still better than Wayne Biggins Stand. HH
Is there a chance that Celtic are just being prudent, given the financial situation that The Rangers find themselves in.
Having a strong airline-associated industry background, do we (celtic) go head-to-head with the likes of Easyjet, Ryanair, etc in the likes of in-flight catering, and aircraft type, or do we buy Airbus A380’s, and provide Michelin-starred food? By that, I mean do we buy players to cope with the demands of domestic football – or do we buy to cope with the demands of Europe? I believe we have reached that crossroads. Remember, for example, that BA only launched their “SuperShuttle” product after British Midland horses them on price and in-flight catering o domestic routes, for example, between Heathrow and Glasgow, Heathrow to Edinburgh, etc…
Neil Francis Lennon looks calm and assured as we begin this 9IAR leg. The pressure however, does appear to be grinding in the big hoose! His pressers make him look grumpy and frustrated ala Mourinho style, and he has already started on pitches, referees, and all things performance related.
Jim Teller the Rugby Lions coach did a great motivational talk (on youtube) about the ” dishonest” players always look for an excuse. Well Mr Let’s Go….won’t watch it back, he hates pre season as player and coach, etc has given credence, to this dishonest behaviour, could be quite a few heading for the treatment table if things get tough or the Danes put an almighty hole, in HMS Sevco
Phil you are right, it all comes to end at some point, and we should enjoy, what NFL described yesterday as The Cool Calm Focus, and this group, and if they manage to turn the heat up and head to the home of the illegal Klub, with CL qualification and maximum points, knowing Mr Let’s Go, may very well Go to the first round of managerial vacancies south of the border!……. and he’ll have his media buddies trot out……well, EXCUSES!
SOS to Murty anyone?
Pedro style more like ” If the game lasted 86 mins we would have won the League ” and ” It was too hot in the dressing room”
More Pedro like than Jose ” If the games lasted 86 mins we would champions ” and ” It was too hot in the dressing room ” I think the dogs are barking .