It’s strange when you go to a ground like Easter Road, and after a massive reduction in our ticket allocation, you find that the majority of seats you were denied access to are lying vacant, and to compound that situation, we had at least 1,000 more supporters at Feyenoord on Thursday night than was allowed into Easter Road yesterday. The SPL/SFA need to sort something out with this farce. Most teams in the SPL complain continuously about lack of funds, yet when they play Celtic at home they continually reduce our allocation. There will come a time in the future when they will be happy to have the Celtic Support, we should then remember the times when we weren’t welcome.
I suppose yesterday we should have expected a wee reaction to our exertions on Thursday night in Rotterdam, but after a shaky start we managed to control the first half and go in two goals up at the interval. We defended well in the second half, but as usual Nick Walsh and VAR conspired to award a penalty against Liam Scales, it was a pathetic award, much like the one given in the cup semi-final against Tony Ralston. Walsh is a terrible official, and once again Celtic with 60% possession has double the amount of fouls awarded, questions need to be asked about his performance, we saw how it works with the Newco in Govan when they complain, the non-award for handball against Livingston was a disgrace, VAR didn’t even review the clear handball.
The Martin O’Neill impact since he came in has been truly remarkable, winning six out of seven, and five on the trot domestically is a fantastic record. The victory on Thursday night in Rotterdam was no fluke, Celtic certainly deserved that victory, and were worthy winners. Martin has changed the way we play, he has inspired our players, Reo Hatate has been outstanding under Martin, you have to ask yourself, how many of those six games would we have won under Brendan playing his style of football. I would love to see Martin still involved at Celtic, I don’t know what role that would be, maybe we need to create a role for him, but if he is inclined to still be involved, then we should make it happen.
With the major injuries we have right now our squad is definitely not as strong as required, and will need major investment in January, but we have managed to claw back the points deficit, and gave ourselves an opportunity to get back to the top of the league in the next few weeks. So as I’ve said previously, we need to make sure that we give everything in every game, starting on Wednesday night versus Dundee, we have three home games in a row now before the cup final against St Mirren, then another four games by New Year. It was the Scottish Cup draw yesterday live on Sportscene, the saying goes, only two things are certain in life, taxes and death, well there is another two on the list, Celtic will get drawn away in the cup, and Sevco will get a home draw, I would bet there is not another team in World Football that get as many home cup draws as the Deid Club.
If as reported Wednesday night is Martin’s final game in charge, then let’s make a memorable night for him. Let’s make Celtic Park rock with the noise, let’s concentrate 100% on making sure we get the victory we are looking for. Dundee away recently was one of our lowest displays, let’s make sure this game is one of our greatest displays, and get the victory.
Glasgow’s still Green & White. We will march with O’Neill.
