I described the performance last week against Kilmarnock as poor and the word frustration comes to mind after sitting through 98 minutes yesterday at Celtic Park. The highlight of last weeks game in Kilmarnock was my first visit to the Peter Scarf CSC club house in Linwood before and after the game.

The committee members who took over an unloved old work mans club have turned it into a bar and function suite that any CSC would be proud of. It is less than a 10 minute drive to Glasgow Airport and they run a 70 seater to Celtic Park for every home game.

Food for thought for Celtic fans flying in and out of Glasgow for games who are looking for an alternative to what Glasgow has to offer on matchday. I travelled to Killie away with them and was made very welcome by all the club members both on the bus and in the club house.

We were all expecting a positive response from the Celtic players after getting knocked out of the league cup in Kilmarnock but what we witnessed was a team who huffed and puffed against St. Johnstone who’s plan to park the bus worked well and they had a goalkeeper on form who gave an exhibition of time wasting.

Joe Hart showed why he is still the number 1 goalkeeper at Celtic with two great saves in a game where he was a spectator for most of the game with the exception of a few back passes which excites nobody.

Celtic had 19 corners and 18 of them were sent into the box for the keeper to catch or to be headed out to safety by their big defenders. On one occasion when Celtic played it short we had a half decent effort on goal.

We have no presence in the opposition box at set pieces so why are we not trying something different. Brendan Rodgers needs to address this on the training and quickly.

Rodgers has been very unlucky with injuries to key players and and we are missing the quality of some of the players who left in the summer. But that Celtic team yesterday need to take responsibility for frustrating every single Celtic fan in the stadium and that frustration turned to loud boos at full time.

Many fans had exited the stadium before the final minute and those who were left in the North Curve were vocal in their disapproval of Rodgers applauding the fans. This was always coming if things were not going well and the keyboard warriors were quick to call for Rodgers to be sacked and to call him a Rat.

Maybe people should just take some time to digest the game before reaching for their phones to criticise the manager and players. Fans are right to be critical of the last two performances and results but making it personal is cheap and offensive.

I’ll be honest I’m not looking forward to next Sunday. I hope Rodgers can come up with a plan to avoid defeat at Ibrox and that the players can lift themselves out of this performance slumber.

We will be watching the transfer window closely this week in the hope of getting some quality experienced players in. It’s a week where we will also find out who will be our Champions League opponents on Thursday.

Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes & Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast 

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The Celtic players should be chomping at the bit to get back on the pitch and put last week’s very poor performance behind them. Thankfully Brendan Rodgers offered no excuses last Sunday in his post interviews although I’m sure he had a few in the back of his mind having not only witnessed his players poor performance but also that of the referee.

An elbow in the head to Greg Taylor, A penalty denied in the dying minutes and a shout for an offside as those in the VAR room snoozed. I spoke to John Fallon and Charlie McGinley before the game, both have seen it all in Scottish football and they predicted what would or could happen in the game with the officials.

Unless our board come out and call the powers that be out on the cheating that goes on at the highest level in the Scottish game than nothing will ever change. Yes you may call Celtic fans paranoid but with good reason I might add.

Don’t get me wrong the Kilmarnock players were up for the game and they are giving their fans some fantastic moments to celebrate so far this season, they also beat the rangers in the league a few weeks back much to our delight also.

The Killie players played the game like a cup final and until they scored the Celtic players played it like a pre-season friendly. The vast majority of the support have got behind Brendan Rodgers but  there are a minority who are sitting close to their keyboard or smart phones waiting for him to fail.

Calling for him to be sacked after 3 games is just nonsense. He took over a treble winning team. Ange Postecoglou was a hero and loved by the fans but he decided to leave so we have to get over the fact that BR is his own man and we won’t be playing the Ange Ball way.

Three of Ange’s regulars from last year have left the club or retired and the injury list just keeps mounting up at Lennoxtown. The transfer widow is open so there is still time to strengthen the first team and hopefully bring in experienced players who can hit the ground running.

Celtic need a big performance tomorrow at Celtic Park let’s all hope we are leaving the stadium after the game with 3 points and bit more confidence ahead of the visit to Ibrox next Sunday.

Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes & Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast 

Hello troops and welcome to another of my takes on all things Celtic. Here we are at the start of what we hope will be another successful season. Little did we think a couple of months ago, that we would have a new manager in place for the start of the season and undergoing a mini rebuild.

Well Ange is gone and Brendan is back. A new era begins. I don’t want to dwell too much on the circumstances of Ange’s departure, but would rather look forward to the future under Brendan Rodgers return to the club. I for one am delighted with the return of Brendan and I think the club have to be applauded for how quickly they made the appointment after Ange left.

I think we have got the best possible replacement. Brendan knows the club inside out and he  also knows what he has to deliver to keep us on top. He also is definitely a Celtic supporter. Ok he left under a cloud midway through the season to go to Leicester City but he did leave us in a healthy position.

Let’s not forget he also delivered two trebles and an undefeated domestic season. I think he a!so comes back a better more experienced manager, having managed in the English Premiership. I can understand how some of our support, especially the younger generation, may find it hard to except Brendan back but we have got to move on and get fully behind him for the coming season.

If you think about it, why would he give himself the grief of coming back to a club where some of the support don’t like him. He must have confidence in his own ability to know that he can continue to make the team winners. A couple of good results and performances and I expect the support to be fully behind him. He will bring his own style of play to Celtic which will definitely not be as intense as the high press WE NEVER STOP style of Ange.

Ange’s approach meant that he had to use all his subs during the ninety minutes as some of them would be knackered after an hour. If you think back to the last couple of months of last season the team were running on empty because of the high level of intensity Ange demanded of the players.

The team under Brendan will still be as fit as the previous two seasons but he will bring his own more refined style of play to the club. In his first spell at the club he had us playing some great football and I’m positive he will have us playing even better this time around. His experience of managing in England will have made him a better all round coach and the current squad can only benefit from that passed on experience.

The squad have had warm weather training in Portugal and Japan. How times have changed. Back in my day our pre-season was running round Celtic Park wearing black bin bags for a couple of weeks to shed a few pounds. Changed days indeed.

Winning the league is, as always the most important thing the team has to deliver and more importantly this season as the winners again go straight into the Champions League section. The money that generates keeps us well on top of the other MOB across the road and also gives the club the high profile it demands in Europe.

Domestically there is only one team I fear this season. That’s the team in the middle of the park the side-lines and in the VAR studio. They are strong in every area and have to be feared again this season. They played well last season as we seen on many occasions but just came up short at the end of the day. I’m sure they will be determined to play better this season ( B******S).

I fully expect the board to back Brendan with some big money signings. We have got to strengthen from a position of power. We need cover in the right back position. Alistair Johnston has been sensational since he came to the club but I don’t think Anthony Ralston is adequate cover when Johnston is out.

Ralston is an honest player but not Celtic class in my opinion. We are keeping the signing strategy going with signing young players on long contracts.

Jota has left and has got to be replaced. I think Jota was a bit over-hyped and not the superstar on the park as much as he was off the park. Don’t get me wrong he was a good player and you could see how the younger support hailed him as a hero in that wing position. But he was no Jimmy Johnstone.

Again it only shows that players are only two or three season heroes before they are off to pastures new and get the big money to go along with it. Have you ever seen a deal done so quick? Celtic £25million, yes please. Jota £192 thousand per week, yes please. Both camps happy, goodbye and thanks for the memories.

In the CL Brendan’s approach may be more measured than Ange’s gung-ho and even his own attempts at Europe in his first stint at Celtic. Time will tell.

In Brendan We Trust.

John Fallon has been writing for this Celtic fanzine since 2002. The original Holy Goalie has won every honour with Celtic and played his part in the greatest ever era in the history of the famous Glasgow Celtic. John is ever present at Celtic games home and away and at Celtic supporters functions.

https://mailchi.mp/celticfanzine.com/kilmarnock-v-celtic-minizine

 

It’s was an early start on Sunday morning for our away adventure to Aberdeen. Tickets are always the talking point for these games or should I say lack of tickets. Once again at kick off time there were plenty of empty seats in the home stands. The away end was packed with Celtic fans and some were visiting fans and were mixed in with the home fans and there were some of our fans enjoying match day hospitality in the corporates.

I read somewhere after the game that the ground was packed to capacity but I think not, there were plenty of empty seats behind the goal at each end of the stand which houses the Aberdeen Ultras.

Our journey began after our CSC AGM finished on Saturday. A lot of flights in and out of Dublin are suffering from delays and Saturday night was no different but thankfully we were only an hour late taking off.

The extra time gave us a chance to chat some more about all things Celtic, what’s going on in our lives away from Celtic and to share a few laughs about shenanigans that happened on previous trips.

Aways Days
Aberdeen #CelticFC pic.twitter.com/jcmmaSmaEX

— More than 90 Minutes Celtic Fanzine (@celticfanzine) August 14, 2023

Heavy rain welcomed us in Glasgow and traffic disruptions were an unwelcome distraction on the way to the hotel.

Pints, Food and Bed before an early rise for Aberdeen. Due to my flight being home on Sunday evening, I opted to go up with a few of the bhoys by car, so I missed the early morning party bus and the after match session.

Our drive up was uneventful, but the sunshine was a nice welcome. As was a stop off in Dundee for breakfast, which energised us for a wee singsong on the way up the road on the rest of the journey. Timing is everything and when we arrived about a half an hour before kick off and we got parked a stones throw from the turnstiles.

As usual at such games outside the stadium Celtic fans chatted as they waited to give or collect tickets. Some fans held money up in the air in the slim hope of getting a late ticket. It was good to catch up with a few familiar faces I have not seen since last season and to get the summer holiday breakdown.

There were a number of security checks before reaching the turnstiles. One to show your ticket followed by a search. Some fans were unhappy to be searched but compared to some grounds when we are away in Europe it was quick and straight forward.

Once inside the turnstile you could hear the Ultra’s drum getting warmed up and the burger van was doing a roaring trade with hungry fans joining long queues to line the stomach.

Up the open staircase and into my seat (standing position for the next few hours). Four Aberdeen fans marched onto the pitch with very large flags to welcome their team onto the pitch. Celtic fans were in full voice to welcome the bhoys before a minutes applause for former Scotland manager, Craig Brown who passed away recently.

The weather was perfect, shorts and t-shirts in the sunshine watching Celtic win away. Beautiful Sunday 3-1 away from home against one of the better teams in SPFL. Barry Robson had his players well up for the game and Celtic had to work hard for all 3 points.

Brendan Rodgers has never lost in Pittodrie and spoke after the game of how tough a place it is to come and only remembers ever getting one comfortable victory there.

The first goal by Liel Abada was a strange one, it hit the back of the net in front of us, we celebrated but they were cut short by the lines man who had flagged for offside. Only for VAR to decide we could celebrate the goal which we did!

Aberdeen thought they were back in the game when they equalised but Kyogo had other ideas and made it 2-1 less than 5 minutes later. He celebrated in front of the fans who at this stage were raising the noise levels helped on by the beat of the drum.

2-1 at half time and no one is complaining. As the pies got scoffed, Brendan Rodgers was making changes in the dressing room for the second half. David Turnbull who had been MOTM against Ross County was replaced by Reo Hatate who acknowledged the fans with a wave before the second half kick off as his name was sung out from the visitors section in the corner of Pittodrie.

Stephen Welsh replaced CCV which is alarming as he is our number 1 defender and brings a certain calmness to defence but Welsh done well. After the game BR said he would be assessed during the week. Lets hope it not too serious.

The second half was competitive once again with plenty of tackles and chances being made at both ends. Although Celtic did have the majority of possesion. More injuries in the second half followed with Hatate picking up a knock and replaced by Tiago Holm.

Matt O’Riley was on hand at the back post to knock in goal number 3 and secure all three points to bring the noise decibels up another notch and send us all down the road happy.

I’m sure the buses were rocking coming back down the road and maybe a stop off or two for refreshments were welcome. But for us it was straight down the road to Glasgow Airport to catch the flight home which surprisingly left on time.

A long day but so worthwhile. Drugs or drink will never give me the high of a Celtic away day when the atmosphere is so good and the people around you are all on the same buzz. Another away day next Sunday to look forward to when it’s the plastic pitch of Kilmarnock as we start the defence of the League Cup.

Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes and host of the Celtic Soul Podcast

It’s an away day to Aberdeen on Sunday for those of us lucky enough to have secured a ticket. Away tickets are getting harder and harder to get as Scottish clubs continue to cut allocations while failing to sell out their own stadiums on matchdays when Celtic come to town.

Celtic had no problem filling the stadium with our fans last Saturday to see James Forest raise the Champions Flag. The atmosphere was really good as fans welcomed the players up Paradise Way before the real business kicked off on the pitch.

Not a vintage performance but 4 goals to cheer on and Brendan Rodgers told us it will get better after the game and it did when Kilmarnock beat the rangers 1-0. Flights were delayed home for travelling fans but it did not dampen our spirits and a few celebration drinks were had.

It will be an early start for Celtic supporters on Sunday who will be boarding buses for the journey North before many are up breakfast. I’m sure the Police will be on route to make sure nobody enjoys a few beers on the way. It could be a photo opportunity with confiscated cargo, El Chapo style.

Brendan Rodgers will lock horns with former Celt, Barry Robson, who I’m sure has been on the phone to Brendan to see what’s happening with Liam Scales who done well while on loan last season in Aberdeen.

Liel Abada who limped off last Saturday during Celtic’s 4-2 win over Ross County is fit and in contention for another start but Hyeongyu Oh is out after picking up an injury and could be out for up to six weeks.

Alistair Johnston and Marco Tilio are not expected to be in contention for some game time till mid-September as they continue their rehab to get back to match fitness.

Midday kick off’s on a Sunday are not ideal but it is what it is and my journey will begin on Saturday evening after St. Margaret’s CSC AGM. It’s a big year for the club as we celebrate 25 years on the road home and away.

For those not travelling they can watch the game on Sky and Celtic TV will show the game outside the UK and Ireland.

 

 

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