Wow.
Aye, wow.
League deciders or attempting to get over the line are usually tense affairs when we are involved apart from that 5-1 home mauling of Livingston in 2002 or Dundee in the Centenary Year .
1998? $hitting milky buttons. 2008? Struggling to score but being helped along by our rivals hitting the self destruct button until Jan Vennegor Of Hesslelink towered above a packed penalty area. 2006? John Hartson early goal then we hung on for dear life. 2007? Nakamura in injury time.
So, Saturday was special. Like this league season has been special.
In last seasons Cup Final I was pleased for the unsung heroes or the unfashionable players who were getting their moment in the sun (or in the rain). I mentioned Charlie Mulgrew and Mark Wilson in particular as though both had spectacular seasons I couldn’t see a future for them.
We had signed Kelvin Wilson and Adam Matthews and I felt that these two were likeable Uncles having the last dance at family celebration before we never saw them again.
But as Mark Wilson was sitting in the ESPN studio, Charlie Mulgrew was proving that he is indispensable. A massive header and a decent impression of a goal our 1st team coach scored at Ibroke many moons ago eased any jitters that we have had for a few weeks.
It was his assists for Glenda’s and Hooper’s goal that impressed (well, also his general play was not to bad either). Both balls screamed ‘Take Me Out’ so loudly to Kilmarnock’s defenders and goalkeeper that Paddy McGuiness turned up to take them to Fernando’s and for some snorkeling.
So, what went so right that had been going so wrong since we beat Hibs on Feb 19th (a game that strangely enough both Hooper and Mulgrew scored)?
Before I get onto the simple solution please let my indulge my fanciful notion of cursed kits. Saturday saw us in the Wasp resplendent with black shorts. The League Cup Final saw us wear grey, silver and green shorts. In the last decade some of our darkest moments have came in green shorts. Bartislava and Clyde. THAT League Cup final.
We have won the league now three times at Rugby Park wearing black shorts. Can someone send me the Nike e-mail address. We need an away kit that allows black and black only shorts. Ok, my argument falls down like a wardrobe falling down the stairs when you consider our coquetry with the V2.0 of the Bumble Bee but that top was always an afront anyway.
No, no, no….we regained our form by our manager picking a team comfortable in it’s own skin. The over-cooking was left to a Masterchef reject and unlike at Ibroke players were picked to play in their correct positions or were the strongest available (Charlie Mulgrew at LB – I still feel that is his worst position).
We also got over the line because we have lost the league from a winning position. You have to lose or get in the position to lose a league to learn how to win one (see Man City).
R*ngers benefited from us winning the league in 2008. They also benefited from massive financial mismanagement in the proceeding years as a recently released creditors list proves. Those are tainted titles.
This league win deserves more than capricious photoshops accompanied by fortune cookie wisdom.
We are witnessing the best Celtic Way side since Tommy Burns. This is the team that Tony Mowbray promised but Lennon has delivered. Lennon’s team has it’s own Jackie (Charlie Mulgrew), Thom (Commons), Cadete (Hooper) and Di Canio (Stokes). It also shares the same sieve like tendencies as Glenda is just John Hughes with a different nationality on his passport.
Sunday sees us looking to take the season to the final day once again. A chance to get us to our fourth cup final in a row. A chance to see Lennon complete a remarkable sequence that could see him complete a full sweep of leading a team into the last day of every domestic competition it has entered in the last 2 seasons with the chance of winning it.
Forgive me but that makes me want to wave Andre Blackman’s One Love flag and dance like Mo Bangura and Rabiu Ibrahim.
Though this reads like it. The season has not finished. Hopefully it’s just begun again.
For me the third and forth goals were great. I liked Twardzik when he came on. The flick through for the fifth goal was superb.
The chants at the end of the first half magnificent.
Long may it continue.
Mulgrews ball for Hooper was as damn near perfect as you will ever get. Actually ALL 6 goals were perfection in different ways.
Great to see Commons back.
That grey and green kit was cursed the minute Izzy went off at Pittodrie. I’ve been arguing that since it happened with those who have moaned all season about the wasp kit.
And it is the full kit that matters. Green shorts got us to Seville 🙂
Aye, true but it was a yellow top. 🙂
Plus those green shorts (having just checked a pair) are dark bottle green. So it’s dark shorts that could be key.