It’s always nice to open a new campaign with three points. Even nicer if you move three points ahead of your nearest challenger.
Normally, Celtic fans wouldn’t get carried away, and no one at Celtic will begin to do so. More important than the points yesterday though was the performance, which was excellent.
What this performance reveals about the Celtic team is that it’s just as hungry for success and trophies as ever. This hunger already has the competition across the city in a bit of a flap, as exemplified by their manager and his increasingly bizarre comments to the media.
Yesterday, he was practically begging for time—a bit rich, considering he’s been in the job since October. He was also asking the SFA for help in Europe, a familiar tune which the Ibrox club plays better than almost anybody.
Today, they fly out to Poland to face Dynamo Kyiv, who, like the Ibrox club, don’t have access to their home stadium at the moment. However, Kyiv’s excuse is a war; Ibrox has no excuse—they’re just incompetent. Even months after the announcement, they still can’t give their own fans a straight answer about when they’ll be able to sit in the seats they’ve paid big money for, and as everyone who has been at Hampden knows, it’s not on the same level as their ground or ours.
So, a two-point lead has a more potent significance, although no one will be getting carried away. We had a seven-point lead at one point last season, and somehow managed to shoot ourselves in the foot and let it vanish. At one stage, the competition across town found themselves in front.
Celtic will approach tackling one game at a time, three points at a time, one opponent at a time. We won’t project too far ahead or lose ourselves in fantasies about where we might end up and how many points we might get. Someone suggested the other day that this might be another invincible campaign. Slow down, folks. It’s just one game in.
Yet this already feels different from last season. We opened last season with an even bigger win at home and some excellent football. However, there was a weird swirl of negative energy around the whole club that doesn’t seem to be present this time.
It’s hard to describe what happened last campaign without resorting to spooky mumbo jumbo language. From day one, it felt like something was off.
Maybe it was the media – they were fairly relentless in pushing their narrative of doom, and although all of us fiercely fought back against it, there is something about being enveloped in that kind of negativity which starts to sap at your soul.
Maybe it was the fact that the signings were slightly underwhelming and that none of them was an obvious “straight into the first team” player.
But for reasons none of us can put our finger on, it never quite felt right until late in the campaign, when the football went up a notch, when the players started hitting their stride, when the manager started, again, to project that aura of being the calmest guy in the room and a sense of optimism started flooding through the stands.
We haven’t got the signings right so far. Everyone knows we are four players, maybe more, short of having the stronger squad we all would have liked. As we know, it’s now August, and time to build that squad is running out.
There’s frustration and some anger building up among the supporters, but it’s focused anger on a handful of people—the ones responsible for getting the players the manager wants. It’s not the free-flowing dread we felt last season for reasons none of us understood or could shake.
Yesterday’s football exuded the confidence, projected by the players and most clearly by the manager himself. I mentioned on Friday after his press conference that I have never heard a Celtic manager start the season talking as if the Treble was the minimum requirement we should be aiming for.
In contrast, the guy across the city seems more and more like someone who signed a contract extension to take advantage of the escape clause it undoubtedly contains.
If we’re racing the clock in terms of transfers, he comes across, to me, more like a cartoon character trying to stay one step ahead of impending doom, like Wily E. Coyote when his ACME rocket has shot him over the cliff, and now he’s suspended in the air above the abyss, pumping his legs to stay airborne. We all know how that ends.
Incredibly, it was Keevins, one of the dumbest people in sports media, who actually cut through all the BS surrounding the contract extension announcement. He pointed out that it doesn’t mean the manager won’t be sacked in a couple of months. We’ve been saying the same thing on this site. This guy won’t get time because their fans won’t allow it.
If things start to slip, it’ll unravel quickly.
The board will face a tough decision: stick to its guns and back the manager or give in to the supporters’ wishes and make him exit stage left.
When it comes to making that choice, they’ll go with the fans and find themselves back to square one. A new manager will come in, go on an unbeaten run, and everyone in their support will convince themselves that the corner has been turned. The media will say the same while the rest of us wait for the first loss and the start of the next crisis.
That’s how it works over there: rinse and repeat. This time won’t be any different. If the guy who got them to a European final didn’t stand a chance and was gone just months later, this guy, who might have one foot out of the top competition after tomorrow night and possibly on the end of an embarrassment, certainly doesn’t.
This has implications for us, beyond being able to laugh until our sides are sore. It’s more money for Celtic if they end up in the second-tier tournament. The dark cloud hanging over them is about to turn into a full-scale storm.
This time, it might sweep away more than just the manager.
We have a two-point lead right now, which is the kind of start to the season you want. But they’ve got to come to our house in early September. If we’ve made some big signings and continue playing the way we are now, we can open the gap to five points or more and watch the carnage over there unfold.
We have the right man at the helm, and this season, he has the team buzzing. Yesterday wasn’t just a great opening day performance; it was a continuation of the fabulous football we played in pre-season. The new style has been fantastically well adopted by the players. This attitude fills us with confidence and fills other clubs with fear.
So, two points it is. Usually, that doesn’t mean a thing after one game, and no one will get carried away. At least at the squad and management level, no one will allow complacency to take hold. But already, this feels different from the last campaign. The vibes are much more positive. There’s no black cloud of dread over Celtic.
We’ve talked a lot here about how sport increasingly runs on psychology. The next big move from a psychological point of view is obvious: add to the team, give the manager quality players, and deliver off the park what the boys will deliver on it. That is the challenge. Even this early, you can see that Brendan Rodgers and the players are stepping up to the mark and are ready to do their bit.
It feels like we’re on the brink of something big. Big and good. There is nothing like seeing Celtic back in action and smashing a side right out of the gate to give us back all those positive vibes.
I watched the rangers game and it was entertaining with players not fully match fit but a couple of observations. The two teams were closely matched and neither team had a clear game tactic to adjust and go for the win working on the other teams weaknesses.
So to summarise ranger and hearts best team’s are average and have roughly the same qualities. Neither manager has a clue tactically. I would also add the rangers keeper got himself in a pickle a couple of times. Errors crept into his game late last season and pre-season. Honeymoon over Buttland.
Tavernier played; A guy who knows they are trying to punt him (and others), motivational.
What wasted the game at Celtic yesterday was it was just too easy. I would have liked a better challenge. We had another gear or two in reserve.
Still James as you say a few first team ready recruits will see us out of site domestically and hopefully ready to progress and make us all proud. HH
The big elephants in the room however are O Reilly n Hatate, lose them n you can bet your top dollar they will not b replaced with similar quality.That is the big worry, yes yesterday’s performance was grt to watch, anyway we live in hope
3 points would be great…. for now I will settle for 2 however!
It’s all if’s an but’s, but I honestly think by the time they leave celtic park in Sept itl be more than 5pts tbh,,I can see them dropping everywhere this season on current form,,
Just lets hope St. Mirren, Aberdeen and one of the Dundee sides can mount a serious challenge this seasin to keep it more interesting… Celtic have outgrown this league by far.. which piles even more shame on our shameless board who are only too happy to hold back our potential jyst to try and keep the dross from Ibrox relevant
Ah think that’s what angers people the most. We watch that yesterday and we’re all rightly pleased about what we’re seein and we know the possibilities of what another (obviously needed) 3-4 players would dae for this team. This board have tae act, if they fail again when things are lookin so positive, that’s scandalous.
FYI: qualifying for CL will put them back on a sound financial footing. It is a very lucrative competition to be in. They are (mystifyingly) very good in Europe. There are 3 days left of the window when the play-off round concludes. These qualifiers are massive for them and will make all the difference.
It will indeed Holysmokes and they seem ultra confident on Swallow Swallow with the draw they got today in the final qualifying round (FC Twente of Red Bull Salzburg)…
They are also very confident about beating Dynamo Kyiv as well –
They are always ultra cocky all the time and never change their mantra nor their mindset…
I wish that I had their psyche when it came to knockbacks at nightclubs many moons ago !
C’mon Dynamo Kyiv !!!
It would be utter lunacy for that lot to sack Baldermort if there is a very poor first half to the season. The noises they are making (as you pointed out last week) is that they’ve learned a lesson and can’t afford this “rinse and repeat” loop they’ve got themselves sucked into. I know that lot and lunacy do go together but I just wonder if this time they are accepting of their lot and are actually prepared to tell the fans that this is the way it has to be for the foreseeable until such times as they get the finances back onto an even keel. Goodness only knows how long that will take. I think a lot of it depends on whether or not they qualify for the CL group stages.
As for Celtic – I don’t think it felt really any different last season until the Killie league cup game. And there is negativity being voiced this season too. You’re party to that negativity James. Every other article, recently, has been about what a disgrace the transfer window has been. I don’t think it helps. I accept you have your views and that’s fine. But to keep harping on about it, people pick up on that. And the MSM aren’t slow to pick up on it either. They will be desperate for Celtic to lose so they can wind up the fans by saying we’re not investing in the squad or whatever. We shouldn’t be fanning the flames, not now.
I certainly didn’t think it was a disgrace that we went into that game yesterday with a team that was weaker than it was at the end of last season. Not when you are talking about Oh and Idah who were not first picks. It will be a problem if we finish the window weaker but I think we need to wait until that happens before that is highlighted as such by the fans.
Roonsa
So if Kyogo and Taylor had to go off injured who would have replaced them yesterday?
I think the plan is Maeda and Scales, who have both played in those positions.
I’m afraid you sound very much like a Lawwell apologist.
Lawwellist, Loyalist, and treat those two imposters just the same.
Well here’s another bit of negativity for you.
Sky Sports are reporting that Celtic and Bournemouth (FFS) are in talks over O’Reilly.
We’re down to one Striker. O ‘Reilly contributed to I think 35ish goals last Season.
Do you think the Board will replace him like for like?
Or is Bernardo their answer to the vacuum in midfield if Matt goes?
If the Board get this wrong with all the money they have banked there will be absolute Hell to pay.
And just when is the Board going to enlighten us poor plebs,that funded that pile of cash, just what
the Hell they are going to do with it.
What happened to taking one game at a time James. You often criticise sevco for treating other teams in the league with contempt thinking they only have to turn up to beat them but here you are talking about opening up a five point lead if we beat them on 1st September when we still have tough away games against HIbs and St.MIrren before then. I agree we played some great football yesterday and are going to be hard to beat but let’s not start taking things for granted
We would have won that game without either in the team. I think we have enough to see us up to the close of the window.
Brendan wants to add quality to this team. That easier said than done for a number of reasons. But I believe it will happen.
Roonsa “Brendan wants to add quality to this team. That easier said than done for a number of reasons. But I believe it will happen.”
Absolute Lawwellist garbage! Of course, you can add statistics to prove me wrong, if you actually have any!!
I DON’T BELIEVE “IT” WILL HAPPEN, and that’s by looking historically at Lawwellist failure.
I believe in a lot of things but the PLC Board is not one of them as they prove, year after year, they’re not to be trusted.
For further clarity, I don’t believe in The Tooth Fairy, God or Santa Claus even though The Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus most certainly exist due to their ‘actions’. Ask any 5 year old!