What a day Saturday was at Celtic Park, the home of the 5 in a Row Champions. You would have got long odds on Celtic winning the Title in January, after the disaster that was Wilfried Nancy, the job that Martin and Shaun, and the rest of the backroom team have done, is nothing short of remarkable, we just need to train well this week and be ready for Dunfermline on Saturday to complete the Double. There have been a few iconic title days in our long unbroken history, this is just an addition to the list. I’ve been following Celtic for over seventy years, and been at every one of the title winning days, this one was magical, it compares with the Centenary Double, which was emotional for obvious reasons, we scored a few late winners that season as well. Then there was the Magic of 86 at Love Street against the same opposition, and of course, probably my favourite, when Ten men won the League against the Oldco in 79 at Celtic Park.
The atmosphere on Saturday was outstanding, from the moment the team bus arrived, until the final whistle. I suppose the only disappointment was the pitch invasion after the third goal, even if they had waited until after the final whistle had been blown, it wouldn’t have been so bad, and you heard the disapproval of the rest of the supporters who stayed in their seats. One thing you really can’t be doing is confronting opposition players, and I know Shankland and a couple of other Hertz players got involved more than they should have, but no Celtic supporter should have gone near any of them. Hearts made a big deal of taking their players and Guests away immediately after going up the tunnel, because they feared for their safety, more nonsense, once up the tunnel they were in the safest part of the stadium, surrounded with security personnel and police. According to reports there were Hearts players covered in blood, if that was the case, I’m surprised they didn’t head for the Glasgow Royal Infirmary instead of the Gorgi Road.
The game itself really only came alive for us in the second half when we knew what was needed, I have to say I was disappointed with the goal we lost to Shankland at the back post, Hearts are the Arsenal of Scotland scoring a lot of goals from set piece plays, and we seemed to lose too many goals like that this season. We knew how Mc Innes would play, all his waffle about coming to attack was bluff, that’s why he left out his Player of the Year, Braga, and played the big bruiser Kabore, so they got exactly what they deserved, nothing. Hearts did everything to slow the game down, there were Hertz players falling down all over the pitch, sometimes when no-one was near them. There were no real controversial incidents, apart from Daizen’s goal, so I don’t understand how we managed to receive six yellow cards form a total of ten fouls committed, and with 67% possession. How ironic it was that the eight minutes added on time was mostly due to Hertz players wasting time by feigning injury.
Daizen Maeda certainly hit form at the right time, if this Saturday is to be his last game for Celtic, then we should wish him well in his new venture, the timing of his form, and the return of Arne Engels and Alistair Johnston was crucial, as was the magic of Kelechi Iheanacho, and it was brilliant to see the return of young Callum Osmand, and for him to get the clinching Title winning goal, will help his confidence greatly, the Bhoy looks like he can have a big say in our future success. Again when it matters our Captain was outstanding, Callum just oozes class, and his commitment to Celtic Football Club is greatly appreciated by all our supporters, he has at least another 2/3 seasons left in him, I think he wants to keep going to try to win more trophies than Peter Pan, Jamsie Forrest.
Finally, once again Police Scotland have a go at Celtic for incidents that happened about four miles from Celtic Park, Assistant Chief Constable Mark Sutherland is seeking urgent talks over partying in Glasgow City Centre, the last time I checked, I don’t think Glasgow Celtic have any jurisdiction, or responsibility over that area of the city, and you can bet that a fair number of the people there who were partying or causing any sort of trouble, probably were nowhere near Celtic Park when the match was being played. This is the same Police that caused chaos before our recent cup win over at Snake Mountain, and also stood idly by when hundreds of people wearing balaclavas attacked Celtic Players & Staff, as well as Supporters at the end of the match. The same Police that only last week decided to let 2,000 Sevconians out of Celtic Park at the same time as almost 60,000 Celtic Supporters. They then let both sets of supporters go down Springfield Road at the same time, with very little Police presence, and with six Police vans sitting blocking the road with their drivers posted missing. I have demanded a meeting with Police Scotland ASAP, let’s see how long that takes, if it happens at all.
Congratulations to everyone connected with Celtic Football Club on winning our 5 in a Row, and 56th Title.
Glasgow’s most definitely Green & White.
