On Wednesday night Celtic equaled a 50 year record of 26 domestic matches without defeat. On Sunday they went one better and broke said record by going 27 unbeaten with a 4-0 demolition of Hearts at Celtic Park.
This is quite a feat by the current Celtic team.
In the previous two seasons under Ronny Delia, Celtic’s best run of form was 13 unbeaten and 2 defeats in 27 during 2014/15 and 12 unbeaten with 2 defeats in 26 last term.
It’s easy to see the incredible difference in consistency and momentum.
Quite simply Celtic look head shoulders above everyone else at the moment and domestically are seemingly unbeatable.
The league table of course underlines that with a mammoth 22 point gap between Celtic in first place and our Govan neighbours in a distant second for which they are caught in a neck and neck battle with Aberdeen to secure.
What’s really incredible about this enormous improvement in form is how little augmentation Brendan Rodgers has made to the previous two seasons squad and specifically the starting 11.
Back in the summer the new manager introduced 5 players whilst 8 fringe players departed. Of the players leaving only Stefan Johansen had made any serious contribution to the first team in the previous term. Of the 5 players coming in only 2 have been involved regularly. The impact those two have made though has been impressive to say the least. Scott Sinclair commanded a hefty fee by modern Scottish football standards but has weighed in with goals and assists whilst Moussa Dembele has been a significant upgrade on the departing Colin Kazim Richards by hitting the net 20 times and providing 5 assists in 38 games.
By comparison CKR hit the net twice in 13 outings.
But these two new signings aside the upturn in fortunes of more seasoned Celtic stalwarts has been rather incredible.
Scott Brown looked to be on his way out last season. This term he looks better than ever.
James Forrest was literally on his way out of the door with 6 months of his contract left and a quick escape route for the 25 year old winger being sought by both his agent and the fans. Yet somehow Brendan has been able to revitalize a once hot property resulting in a new 3 year contract.
Similarly Tom Rogic had previously been no more than a bit part player under both Delia and Neil Lennon. This term he’s hit the net 10 times in 23 games and looks dangerous for as long as he’s ever usually on the pitch (about 70 mins.)
Craig Gordon has also overcame some testing early season moments as well as being temporarily dropped and is now even a target for English Premier League leaders Chelsea.
The partnership between Erik Sviatchenko (who continues to go from strength to strength) coupled with Jozo Simunovic ( who’s now finally showing the class previously curtailed by consistent injury problems) has heavily contributed to Celtic conceding only 14 domestic goals in the 27 match unbeaten run.
For me though the standout performer has been Stuart Armstrong.
He embodies everything that makes up a top level modern footballer.
Game after game Armstrong motors up and down the pitch and transfers between midfield ball winner to attacking goalscorer almost instantaneously.
His turnaround in fortunes, in particular, has been a joy to behold and a clinic in man management from Brendan.
Whilst Armstrong initially looked a superb signing under Delia and made an immediate impact back in 2015, his form and confidence dipped badly last season.
In fairness he was not alone as the pressures of managing Celtic began to envelop Ronny Delia but still the 180 degree turn in his general play has been incredible.
He is now a linchpin to the side’s ongoing success.
Just to finish though let’s go back to the original record.
In that instance Celtic went 16 matches unbeaten in the league before succumbing to Dundee Utd 3-2 on New Year’s Eve 1966 at Tannadice.
Strangely enough their only other domestic defeat that season was also to Dundee Utd by the same scoreline at Celtic Park over 4 months later.
Added to the original unbeaten 16 game league run Celtic had also won 10 consecutive games in the old League Cup format between August and October 1966 scoring an incredible 35 goals and conceding only 7, culminating in defeating Rangers 1-0 at Hampden in front of 95,000 as Celtic secured the first part of an historic quintuple.
For some reason though Celtic’s 3 match winning run in the Glasgow Cup between August and November seems to have been forgotten as this would put the unbeaten domestic run up to 29. In that specific competition Celtic beat Rangers, Queen’s Park and Partick Thistle by the identical scorelines of 4-0.
To dismiss it from the record as the competition is no longer regarded in the same manner it once was and certainly was back then would be churlish.
Added to that Celtic had also won through two rounds of European football by the end of November 66′ in the European Cup winning all 4 matches in the two ties against FC Zurich and Nantes. So in actual fact the unbeaten run all in ended at 33.
I guess what I’m trying to point out here is that any comparisons to the Lisbon Lions are only ever skin deep and collapse under scrutiny. They were and always will be the best. But in the contemporary realms of possibility Brendan and the current Celtic form is about as good as it gets.
Paul Cassidy is a happy Celtic fan tonight, who is proud of our new record but wants to consider it in context.