Hindsight and all that, but looking back, Celtic’s form slipped in mid-April this year. We were imperious until that point, but even wins, like the Scottish Cup semi-final win over Newco, were not as impressive than the League Cup Final win over the same opponents a few weeks earlier.
The season petered out amid home draws against Motherwell and St Mirren and heavy defeats at Ibrox and Easter Road. The Scottish Cup Final win over Inverness was laboured compared to the League Cup Final performance.
Potency was lost when Aaron Mooy was injured in the second week of March. He returned for the odd cameo – one start and three substitute appearances, but the sharpness was gone. Adding to the issue, Cameron Carter-Vickers dropped out of the team after the Scottish Cup semi-final win in April. Aaron is now gone and it has been Cameron’s turn to put in cameo appearances this season.
Watching our midfield this season, it should be clear to all that the other big absence from the side is Reo Hatate. Callum McGregor has been partnered with two from Matt O’Riley, David Turnbull and Odin Holm. Stacks of potential there but we are missing the laser-like craft of Reo, nor have we replaced the strength of Aaron. Until this is addressed, nothing will change.
This is your timely reminder that Carter-Vickers and Jota didn’t join Celtic until deadline day two years ago. Without that day’s business, Tottenham fans would not be able to pronounce the name Postecoglou right now. We are not witnessing a managerial issue, just the normal process of rebuilding a team, while targeting valued players in demand with others fill their trollies with frees and journeymen.
Our own Mouldy67 has suffered injury in recent years, which stopped him participating in the recent Road to Seville cycle event from Celtic Park to the city we descended upon 20 years ago. I spoke to him last week for the video below and asked about his extraordinary work on behalf of the Celtic FC Foundation and the enormous challenge he is about undertake.
He will complete a virtual cycle of over 1,000 miles, including gradients, to raise money for our Foundation. For a man carrying an injury, it is a magnificent commitment, one that is an example to a few in the modern game. It was a moving insight into where we have been as a community in recent years, and Mouldy67’s take on being a Celtic supporter. I recommend it to you.
You can read more about his story, support his cycling and the work of the Foundation by donating here. Thank you.
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Also add, if Kyogo had the chance O’Reilly had on Saturday we win easily.
LAMBERT14 on 28TH AUGUST 2023 12:45 PM
I want Celtic to be successful.
I think the boards strategy has brought success to Celtic over an extended period and offers a very realistic chance of future success.
I think we could do better, but I’m happy that 5 trebles out of 7 seasons represents enough success that we should continue with the strategy
Once it stops bringing success or I think its showing signs of failing I will change my mind.
I dont think last season suggests either of those, nor does the appointment of a manager who won every trophy available to him.
We’ll need more quality for the challenges ahead but wasn’t there enough quality to score a goal against Kilmarnock or St Johnstone in successive games? How much money do you need to spend to beat a team bottom of the SPFL who hadn’t a single point or goal?
I’m not writing Rodgers off yet but as he has already admitted, the buck stops with the coach.
CELTIC40ME on 28TH AUGUST 2023 1:03 PM
SAINT STIVS on 28TH AUGUST 2023 1:00 PM
Is it a great surprise that Jota was signed on the last day of the window when his agent is George Mendez?
Or that it took us weeks after the end of his first season to get him tied. down to a permanent deal when the fee was already agreed with Benfica?
CELTIC40ME on 28TH AUGUST 2023 1:05 PM
Our victory against Hearts to win the league came at the end of a record breaking run.
SAINT STIVS on 28TH AUGUST 2023 1:06 PM
For a thousand time,
I am neither a fan of the current PLC structure, nor a supporter of any individual on the board. I know none of them and have never met a single one.
Just because I know why they do what they do as a corporate business does not mean I favour their decision making with regard to the football team. however if I cant affect a change why bother moaning about it.
Particularly if I personally dont have all the facts.
As an aside, how would you know what other sites I post on, do you think i would use the same blog name ?
i sat with 3 Sentinel celtcs on friday night. We had a good laugh about anyone thinking i was a PLC supporter.
——————-
Again you are jumping into paranoia.
I said this site is different from the other 3 I named.
You normally don’t get people like yourselves supporting the board on those sites, especially on transfer policy this summer.
That’s because it is more pro board on here.
I named you and 3 others for their pro board stance on all matters especially signings.
Lambert
Any ideas who we should sign ?
You have strong views presented as facts on how bad we have been this past 20 years under Peter Lawwell’s guidance (despite the record trophy haul) I am sure you will have views on who (from the very limited pool of £5-15m rated oven ready players out there) we could / should sign to solve our issues ?
Or are you still saying that’s someone else’s job and you just want to sit on the side and moan and groan about it ?
Lambert14 ….
With all due respect why don’t you simply edit your moniker to
“Lambert14 – I hate Lawwell”
And just post an empty comment every hour?
No matter what words you type it always comes back to the three words above.
Geebee
The lack of results from a squad costing 1000 x the cost of our last 2 opponents sets it all.
This has a lot to do with signals and structure plus attitude coming from a manager playing games with the organization and support he is supposed to respresent.
or I hate Lawell and Stivs and Turkey and Burnley.
We never stop learning.
St Johnstone deserved their point on Saturday. They had a plan, alibet a frustrating plan that negated a team worth 10’s of millions more that their own worth.
A lesson for Europe. Its not always down to wealth.
Any new manager with new players goes through a transition period. We are in transformation phase but we are still top of the league.
We have the basic tools to build on.
Joe Hart on Saturday kept it simple. Simple is good.
We have a proven goal scorer. Play Kyogo where he can score goals. More goals, m9re effect, more confidence.
A managers dream. This is what Steve Clarke recently said about Callum McGregor. Callum will confirm his class and dominate midfield in the next few weeks. However it may be in a Dark Blue outfit.
While we transform, keep it simple and play to proven players strengths
Then together we will get there.
HH, take the uncomplicated journey.
Anyone expecting significant transfer activity before we know which European competition partner club will be in – I love your optimism!
Anyone expecting multiple high-quality signings if they only make the EL- that goes beyond optimism and into delusion…..
Celtic40 @ 12:48
Lots of emotions, lots of opinions on here since the final whistle.
Yours is a very fine post. Measured and honest.
Thank you
Celtic have played 3 league games 1 league cup ,new player’s in which takes time to adapt to a new system,we go to ibrox on Sunday am I confident of a result no a draw I’ll take ,with the international break coming ,that gives some of the players lnjuries time to heal,as for Hakabasnavic I would at least keep him till the January transfer window.
CELTIC40ME on 28TH AUGUST 2023 1:15 PM
LAMBERT14 on 28TH AUGUST 2023 12:45 PM
I want Celtic to be successful.
I think the boards strategy has brought success to Celtic over an extended period and offers a very realistic chance of future success.
I think we could do better, but I’m happy that 5 trebles out of 7 seasons represents enough success that we should continue with the strategy
Once it stops bringing success or I think its showing signs of failing I will change my mind.
I dont think last season suggests either of those, nor does the appointment of a manager who won every trophy available to him.
———————-
Of course we want domestic success and all the trophies won this last few years are brilliant .
However football has changed in Scotland probably forever.
Two reasons ,the season ticket becoming normalised and clubs keeping their home gates.
Never did I think that we would ever have 4 seasons after the huns died where we had a bigger turnover than the 11 other clubs combined in the league.
Ironically we didnt win a treble those seasons.
Because of the way football has developed in Scotland and all over Europe it is not unusual to have the same club winning the title year on year.
With our in built advantages over every club including sevco winning everything seemed to become the norm for us in Scotland.
We dwarf every other club.
However our recent European record for a club of our size is pathetic.
You can’t overlook that.
So the policy you support isn’t working properly.
That can change if investment is used to bring in better, and with plenty of money available to do so then its achievable.
I am confident BR will get two players of his own choosing in prior to transfer deadline.
We will still be cash rich, especially if Chelsea put in a late massive bid for Jeremie Frimpong
So let’s use some of that cash surplus to keep faith with the fans and price European tickets keenly and competitively.
HH.
The CL group stage tickets will be expensive again, no matter who is in the draw.
I fear things will get worse before they get better.
A big win for PSV would be helpful.
BURNLEY78 on 28TH AUGUST 2023 1:27 PM
Lambert
Any ideas who we should sign ?
You have strong views presented as facts on how bad we have been this past 20 years under Peter Lawwell’s guidance (despite the record trophy haul) I am sure you will have views on who (from the very limited pool of £5-15m rated oven ready players out there) we could / should sign to solve our issues ?
Or are you still saying that’s someone else’s job and you just want to sit on the side and moan and groan about it ?
———————-
How many do you want me to name?
40? 60?
Maybe 80?
Will you be able to influence the board if I name them?
We will still be cash rich, especially if Chelsea put in a late massive bid for Jeremie Frimpong
—
At this rate Frimpong will be rivalling Morelos as one of the most touted players ever.
‘Huge network failure’ hits UK air traffic control: Nation-wide system failure causes chaos for travellers that could last DAYS – delaying hundreds of flights in and out of the country for ‘at least 12 hours’
PL at it again to stop big singings jetting in
It’s not really hindsight; many of us see we were right off the boil in the latter part of last season.
He’s been very unlucky with injuries but BR is not helping himself. I don’t like the way he’s framing things when fielding questions or being interviewed about signings/players/transfers. He comes across as aloof and not really part of the team.
The way he speaks reminds me of an F1 driver – the team give him the car, which he drives to the best of his ability. If you’re Verstappen you take the glory; if you’re Hamilton you blame the car.
Good morning all from Connollys Bar, W45th Street. Lovely lass from Westport, Co Mayo serving equally lovely beers. It’s a hard life. 🍺
CELTIC40ME on 28TH AUGUST 2023 12:48 PM
A fine post…..IMO.
“GREENPINATA on 28TH AUGUST 2023 1:34 PM
St Johnstone deserved their point on Saturday. They had a plan, alibet a frustrating plan that negated a team worth 10’s of millions more that their own worth.”
If their plan `negated` our team, how come we created so many good chances?
Hopefully a few new faces coming in and a couple of ghuys moving on this week.
Obviously, things could be complicated as the club will have to get the approval of the GB for any signings……
stilltopoftheleague
Hot Smoked,
Thank you for your reply.
Creating chances means nothing if you don’t score them. Possession also means nothing if you dont use it constructively.
The scoreline states that we failed to break them down. They limited Kyogo to a couple of chances for the whole game.
So their gameplan no matter how frustrating was vindicated from a ST Johnstone perspective.
HH.
Good blog today Paul. Too many lambasting the team for falling off the high of last season are conveniently forgetting the performance levels were on a downward spiral well before the end of last season.
We’re almost victims of our success in that too many have seen nothing but win win win. I’m from a generation that remembers years without trophies never mind leagues or trebles. The criticism was always there and it is justified now, but the vitriolic element is borne of entitlement.
BURNLEY78 on 28TH AUGUST 2023 1:27 PM
Lambert
Any ideas who we should sign ?
You have strong views presented as facts on how bad we have been this past 20 years under Peter Lawwell’s guidance (despite the record trophy haul)
———————————–
Why do you make up lies?
Whats your problem?
Is it because you come out with nonsense like ‘lust for bling’?
Ive told you repeatedly about why I had no time for Lawwell, especially his running his mouth off to Chris McLaughlin of the BBC slagging Rodgers off behind his back the night before a massive European match in Greece because Brendan was unhappy with Lawwell signing players that he didn’t want.
His lies about the 5WA and not taking the matter up with Uefa, all he had to say publicly was ‘the rules of association were ignored to being a new club into the senior set up and publicly say that Celtic want titles stripped and designated to the rightful clubs as improperly registered players should see every match as a 3-0 loss, as per the rules of association’
If he had said this publicly and to Eufa then the Sfa wouldn’t have had a leg to stand on.
The John McGinn fiasco then signing a guy off the buroo instead, Yusuf Mulumbu for Rodgers to compete against the cream of Europe after Rogers helping to bring a treble and record turnover the previous season.
The Willo Flood transfer window will go down in history as a disgrace.
He micro managed everything to the extent that the accountant was telling managers who he was signing!!
We were told we can’t compete with the EPL, yet his annual earnings were in the top 2 or
CEOs in the UK in football.
His income rose over 400% in just a few years!!
He was linked with a job as Arsenal CEO, no wonder he never took it, he couldn’t have taken such a drop in salary!!
What about the lamentable record in Europe since he took over and our dreadful record of trying to qualify for champions league because players weren’t bought in time.
On the domestic record, football has changed in the last number of years, we are giants in Scotland compared to pygmies everywhere else.
Our turnover is bigger than all the other 42 clubs in Scotland combined bar sevco and the dead huns.
The 60K stadium with 54/55K season ticket holders and keeping of home gates gives us a gargantuan advantage that was never remotely like anything we had seen before.
There are a few home truths.
Take the blnkers off ‘bling’ man
Should say Lawwells earnings were in the top 2 or 3 football CEOs in UK football
also thought BR should have told Hatate that he was going to build the team around him and not tell him to sits on his backside in the dug out.
That’s one of the problems with a PLC the more shares you have the bigger say on all things Celtic especially Dermot Desmond etc ,a working man’s game being taken over by Capitalists ,The Rebels have not won,The Spivs have won.
BACK TO BASICS – GLASS HALF FULL on 28TH AUGUST 2023 1:27 PM
Lambert14 ….
With all due respect why don’t you simply edit your moniker to
“Lambert14 – I hate Lawwell”
And just post an empty comment every hour?
No matter what words you type it always comes back to the three words above.
———————-
I hadn’t mentioned Lawwell in months apart from today when the ‘bling’ man , turks, was having a go at me and I gave him a few home truths.
So you are making stuff up.
All I said about Lawwell coming back many months ago was that it was wrong.
SAINT STIVS on 28TH AUGUST 2023 1:33 PM
or I hate Lawell and Stivs and Turkey and Burnley.
——————-
Again apart from mentioning Lawwells past cock ups I haven’t mentioned him.
I have absolutely no hate for anyone.
For only two relatively brief moments in our entire history did the “members” every have a say in how Celtic was run.
The original Committee members until Limited Liability 1887-1897.
And then when Fergus allowed us up the stairs to buy share certificates 1994-1997.
All other times it has been controlled by dynastic family groups.
That is the simple fact laid bare, accept it wont change anytime soon, unless a Saudi prince likes our green and white kit
Your continued derogatory comments to me would say you do hate.
SAINT STIVS on 28TH AUGUST 2023 2:52 PM
Your continued derogatory comments to me would say you do hate.
————————————————-
Derogatory?
How so?
Ive read what you have said regarding me and its hardly flattering
so dont bother addressing me in any of your posts, simples.
BRRB- Connolly’s is a cracking bar,great staff,food is decent too,enjoy
saint stivs
Since you are on Saint. I must admit I was not familiar with the Clune Park Primary school, the related housing etc, or its important history, until I read of the fire in the abandoned buildings only today. Looking at the abandoned architecture etc I can only surmise that it is yet another example of the neglect of Scotland’s industrial heritage and subsequent decline of the area, not to mention the vandalism of planners, politicians et al, as in further up the River, in Glasgow. Just reading of Ron Gibson’s work, and mapping of the Highland Clearances. Could be well off the mark, but what has happened to the Clune Park area strikes me a being a more modern version.