Today we’re playing for a place in the Scottish Cup Final. It is a big game. It is an important game. Today we’re going to take a major step towards a double. If we win – and we should – we will be six games away from ending another historic campaign.
There is a prize to be won here which I dare not even think about at the moment. I won’t even talk about it in this article; it’s something I can only contemplate after having a stiff drink and the time for that is going to come, of course. But right now, suffice to say that this campaign is massive for us and that we’re on the brink of something special.
A double here would, as I’ve said in previous articles, theoretically set the table for even greater success. With the Champions League jackpot secured, we have the ability to spend big money and the Ibrox club would simply not be in a position to do the same. I will write more tomorrow about why they would be in real bother if we decided to push the boat out. I’ve been thinking about that article for a long while now. The timing wasn’t right.
Rodgers has fought the good fight inside the club, the fight to get what he wants and what he needs. It looks, from the outside, as if he has won that battle. We must hope so. I am pretty sure that he has, and I am pretty sure that with the power of Desmond behind him that he’s in a good position to get the players in place that he thinks can take us forward.
He’s playing for the right to run that show. To run that rebuild as he sees fit. With a double he is the winner of nine domestic trophies out of the ten he has competed for; that is an incredible ratio of success and it would make him unchallengeable within the walls of the club.
It is those around him, those above him, who must up their game now. They should be putting in place the building blocks for the next campaign already, in anticipation of his rebuild. I hope to God that work is underway, or that it will be soon.
He is on the brink of fully justifying his own hiring, and erasing the doubts that a lot of folk in our support – and possibly the club – had about bringing him back here. We did not have a good start; losing to Kilmarnock and seeing us go out of the League Cup was an early setback he could have done without. In some ways, though, it was a clearing of the decks too … it separates this term in charge from the last one.
And it led to our enemies underestimating the man. We went to Ibrox earlier in the season with them completely writing us off. It was an incredible accomplishment for him to secure a victory that afternoon. That should have been the warning his critics needed. They did not heed it. They clamoured for Beale’s removal and lo and behold Rodgers beat Clement as well. What more does this man have to do? Win this double, and that question is answered.
Today will put us in the final, and to me it doesn’t matter at all who we end up going head to head with in that game; I expect us to turn up, perform to our best and win both this one and the trophy itself. I am looking forward to these last seven games. I am looking forward to the moment we know the title is secured. I am looking forward to cup final day.
A lot of work stands between us and those honours, but we are the best team in the country with the best manager in the country at the helm. A win today puts us on the brink of being in the strongest position this club has been in in my lifetime. We were there at the start of this campaign and those above Rodgers conspired to throw it away.
But if he secures these trophies, he will have bailed them out big time, and they will owe him, and they will owe us, big time if it comes to that. The boss is on the brink. This team is on the brink. They’ve very nearly done their part … if they succeed, the leadership has to step up, finally, and let the professionals run the football department.
Go on and win this Brendan, go and secure your cup final place and put us on the cusp of glory. That man told his critics, “See you in May.” He’s not far away now.
Beware the officials and hark back to that semi-final against Inversneckie in the Ronny Deila days…. it’s proving difficult to hold us back over the course of a league season, but in a one-off match “things can happen” that can’t be undone over the course of 38 games. Some of them will always be looking for anecdotes for their future on the sash-bash circuit.
I hate to be cynical but, I would be very surprised if the people with the real power at the club have it in them to match the ambition of brendan, and the fans for that matter. Celtic managers tend to be successful in spite of the board, not because of them. The club often appears to be run well from the bottom up to the manager. The problems often seem to arise from the people above the manager sadly.
We all want to see the team doing well on the park and winning a double this season would be an incredible achievement given the lack of support from those above the manager. I would love to see those people prove me wrong but they have a track record of missed opportunities.
Looking forward to this one big time today…
It’s on council telly, the sun is shining, for actually once we are getting on that pitch at Hampden one day before The Sevco Huns…
It gets away from the pressure and rigours of the title race although that’s more likely to suit The Sevco Huns than Celtic all the same…
However – We need to be watching Miovski all the same…
He’ll have probably heard of Celtic’s alleged interest and might be off the mind that this is the perfect platform for him to put himself in the shop window for any potential move by Brendan !
Prediction = Aberdeen 1 v Celtic 3…
Last Summer with millions in the bank I was convinced we would spend big, not crazy money, but maybe three signings around the 5 to 7 million pound mark. Then in the Winter window, with a tight title race, and still millions in the bank I thought we’d push the boat out and again get maybe three players about that cost. I’m actually past thinking this board will actually do that. Even with a guaranteed £40m CL bonus. I can still see us getting maybe one signing like that, and two or three in the £2m-£3m bracket. I just don’t trust them to do the right thing anymore.
Although we want tae be competing for every trophy, we need tae be lookin beyond domestically. If we get this title, that’s goin tae put us out of sight of ibrox with the money generated and they’re obviously goin tae be strugglin big time without it. The Perfect circumstances for lawwell and Co. tae continue their normal non-ambitious, gamblin, strategy. Things won’t change until him and his like are no longer in charge. And they’ll just sit there in silence, riding out any reactions from our support, same as every season.
Agree James that’s how it should be regarding BR , but he could also be a victim of his own success, lawwell stays on and history will repeat itself, he’s arrogant enough to believe that he’s also to be congratulated on his meddling.
Lawwell will also claim we’ll have to sell juniors players before additional players can be signed while asset stripping the team of first choice players and claiming we have to reduce the wage bill that he and his son created .
Hopefully BR can sort something with DD about what I’ve mentioned because we’ve a great chance to move forward with the 4-5 ready made players BR has requested over the past 2 windows, and if we do win this league we can hopefully do a lot better in Europe than previously with quality additions instead of Lawwells projects.
Excellent blog James, a lot of work to do yet but in spite of our freeloading board we can do it. HH
The only thing that can stop us now is the is the industrial scale cheating of the MIB.
Looks like Bobby madhun Is positioning himself to be the next head of referees in Scotland after his opinions and comments in the msm lately . We should oppose any such like appointment and push with everything we have for someone neutral without bias ,god help us if he is appointed.
Our defence is absolutely shambolic