Last night the champions showed why they are deserving of that title.
Indeed, they might be on the way to another one.
A title that is…
Dear reader, you may recall a conversation that I recently related to you.
It was between your humble correspondent and a genuine footie professional.
Although he wasn’t discounting the possibility of a genuine title challenge from Sevco he asked me to re-visit the subject with him at the end of the year.
His reasoning was that the Ibrox club had some difficult away fixtures piling up.
It is almost as if he was not convinced that Mr Gerrard and his team had the mental toughness to see the job through.
Of course, I couldn’t possibly comment.
Although the Liverpool legend had a stellar career as a player it is worth noting that he doesn’t know what it is like to triumph over the gruelling marathon of a league campaign.
Neil Francis Lennon does.
So last night Celtic had a couple of minutes to retrieve a difficult situation.
It was a time for leadership.
For the avoidance of doubt, this is not the world as the Stenography Corps would wish it.
Rather it is the world that Scott Brown rams down their throats.
With that league fixture card out of the way, it is now all about the Fantasy Final on Sunday.
In the summer of 2012, the mainstream media were stunned about what had happened at Ibrox.
Consequently, in an unguarded moment, they printed the truth.
Over the next few days, these terminally ill titles will present a false narrative about the League Cup Final to their dwindling readership.
They will say that Celtic will play the same club that beat them in the 2011 final when Nikica Jelavić scored the winner.
The klan were on maximum volume as they lovingly remembered their favourite member of the Ku Klux Klan and his fascist street gang.
Reasonable people were appalled at this racist karaoke.
However, the SNP Minister for Justice Kenny MacAskill didn’t see it like that at all.
For him, renditions of the Billy Boys and the Famine Song constituted “great advert for Scottish football”.
It is almost as if anti-Irish racism will be quietly tolerated in their tartan nirvana of the future.
I’m sure that the Ibrox klanbase will recognise the provenance of the title of this piece.
After all, they do seem to have a World War Two obsession.
Last night they were two goals to the good and coasting against an Aberdeen team that is short on confidence.
Indeed, their manager had conceded before the match that Sevco had better players than he had at his disposal.
At two-nil down the Dons counterattacked and the team in Norwegian Blue routed in disarray.
I’m told that the away crowd got ugly.
On message board land the klan didn’t take kindly to the Dunkirk Spirit being in evidence at Pittodrie.
Moreover, the fortitude shown by the Celtic side last night was not to their liking:
There was a moment of controversy in the Granite City when referee John Beaton failed to award a penalty to Sevco when Alfredo dived outside the box.
Such injustice!Mr Beaton has since apologised to Mr Gerrard for this glaring oversight.
I do hope that they manage to restore relations.
Of course, Sunday is a different occasion.
The chap ostensibly in the middle of the contest has special powers.
He has demonstrated an ability to award a penalty to a team from Ibrox without even having to witness the alleged event.
I understand that Mr Collum was once considered to be the protégé of a certain Hugh Dallas.
For the uninitiated, he was a chap who was once rather high up at the SFA.
As for Sunday, then Celtic have been there before in a League Cup Final.
Last season to be precise.
However, Sevco have not.
Now, it is entirely possible that the basket of assets will triumph on the day and lift the League Cup.
If they do so they will add it to the only other cup they have ever won- the Petrofac Training Cup.
Now, that is a forensic fact that the Stenography Corps will avoid for the most venal of reasons.
The sad thing is that some of them were once journalists.
However, all of them are now fully paid for members of the Old Firm re-enactment society.
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Fucking crackpot…
If you enjoy having an intimate relationship with kitchen utensils, who am I to denigrate you, or your “rather unusual” penchant?
Sorry I need to take you to task, “I’m told the away crowd got ugly”.
That’s how they look and act 7 days a week.
I’ll cross them in and you burst the net!
The BENNY’S at it again tonight on their forums acting completely bonkers again . After showing a flag at a previous game from earlier this season promoting John Beaton as one of the KLANS very own even mentioning the pub he drinks in with them. Well on FF tonight they are calling him out as a cheat and a Celtic man Oh dear they never let you down the sevco fans with just how stupid they can be . You think you’ve heard it all but they always get another daftie to pop up with another belter of a story and this is it. A ref that celebrated with the KLAN and photos to go with it and they say he is a Celtic man you could not make that up . I’m quite surprised they have not been demanding that club 1872 get involved in this with another one of those old famous statements that get released after a bad result . Maybe they’re saving it for after the defeat on Sunday when they will probably riot after game and need some back up to explain the damage and the pitch invasion. Celtic will get the blame of it though because they won the game just like Hibs fans did .
Their Norwegian Blue is dead.
It is pining for the Fjords…
I take it Stevie Boy omitted to mention the very clear penalty the whistler failed to award Aberdeen, which was very clearly in the box, when Tavernierninho hauled him down.
Phil it will be interesting to see how long it takes before we see Beaton ref a sevco game again . After all the last ref to feel their wrath disappeared for months . It’s funny Slippy G gets these 1to1 with refs and apologies but we never hear of other teams or managers having this special treatment. Once again they drop points but it’s never their fault for this or their players or manager it’s the ref that gets blamed or linesman. We had 2 penalties against Hibs denied which everyone had known as definate penalties and not one official commenting on it . Double standards of cheating at it’s best.
What next from Gerrard, another if the matches only lasted 85 minutes quote?
I expect the vast experience that the Celtic squad have accumulated over the years in Hampden cup finals will stand them in good stead.
All the pressure will be on the guys in the blue jerseys, can they handle it?
Can Morelos continue to keep a lid on his temper, no doubt questions will be asked of his discipline.
A sending off in a high profile cup final isn’t going to impress any potential suitors.
Ditto Tavernier if a goal is scored because of his lack of defensive nous.
Could it be Kamara to Juventus to raise some cash to pay off Big Mike. It was in the papers, the Scottish ones, so it must be true!
Bring it on.
They seem to have an overload of home games. Then when it comes to the split they will get 3 home ties. Potential to play us, Aberdoom and Motherwell 3 times at the asbestos dome.
There’s no way they will get anything other than a balanced 2 home and 2 away when it comes to Celtic and derby games.
And Hibs!
If the split happens as the table stands just now the only fixed home game they would have is Killie. Two of the other four THREE TIMES AT HOME!!
That interview, last night after that game in Aberdeen, was actually the first time, the Celebrity Coach, looked done, actually done.
It was as if, he knew he was rolling the same dice in team talks again and this time NO effect. “Win the second the half, it’s nil nil, reset” Oh my what inspirational words…..I wonder if he wrote that on a tactics chart.
He’s an emotional character, and when it’s all rosy, it’s easy but now, it was more than a two goal lead they surrendered last night and what’s more they know it…..
the major wheels could come off the wagon come Thursday night with the Europa game. I’m sure their “£2,500,000” gate receipts is already accounted for….. Even if they win their first major honour, it’s the league thats the most important.
Celtic shouldn’t get over confident, it was hard going through that game last night. All we got was some early morning twilight, the sunrise, begins on the 29th with victory.
In Neil Francis Lennon we trust
After such a painful evening, would it not then be absolutely hilarious…
if TRFC got humped, say 1-5 on Sunday?
That would tip a fair few number of the blue horde right over the edge.
Karma can do that sometimes! 🙂
This is Celtic, they have this capacity to take me to the depths of despair and make me dance in the north stand seconds later. The relief round the stadium was an outpouring of joyous celebration.
The comments from Slippy about the ref need investigating. Shocking if true.
‘Old Firm Re-enactment Society ‘
That’s a keeper!