Reo Hatate is back in the Celtic squad ahead of todays trip to Livingston. Will Reo come back into the team? or will Wilfried Nancy stick to his winning team who beat Aberdeen 3-1 last weekend at Celtic Park?

He will no doubt play some part in the game alongside James Forest who came off the bench to score Celtic’s third goal last week.

Kelechi Iheanacho, Alistair Johnston, Callum Osmand, Marcelo Saracchi,  Jota  and Cameron Carter-Vickers are all still out injured.

Kick off is 15:00 and the game is live on Sky Sports and Streamed outside the UK and Ireland on Celtic TV.

Referee is Matthew MacDermid. Running the line Frank Connor and Dougie Potter. VAR Nick Walsh and Graeme Leslie.

Full SPFL Fixture List

12:30 Hibs v Hearts (Live on Sky)

15:00 Dundee v Falkirk

15:00 Livingston v CELTIC (Live on Sky)

15:00 the rangers v Motherwell

15:00 St. Mirren v Kilmarnock

17:45 Aberdeen v Dundee United

Click image to read, watch & listen to our match day fanzine.

Don’t forget to sign up for our Newsletter & download our APP

Celtic manager Wilfried Nancy cut a happier figure at the press conference for the away trip to Livingston this Saturday. The 3-1 win over Aberdeen which saw Celtic dominate for most of the game against a 10 man Dons team at Celtic Park. The win came after 4 defeats on the bounce and calls for new managers head from a small section of the Celtic support at Tannadice after the 2-1 defeat.

Fair play to Livingston for selling out their stadium and giving 3 sides of the ground to Celtic fans. Livi have had a poor start to the season since David Martindale’s side returned to the top flight of Scottish football. They have only 1 win and 6 draws and sit bottom of the SPFL on 9 points.

On paper it looks like a comfortable win on the cards for Celtic but we all remember when we travelled up to Perth last year only to lose 1-0 to then bottom of the SPFL table St. Johnstone. Celtic went on to win the league and the home side were relegated.

Kick off is 3pm and the game is live on Sky Sports Main Event after the Edinburgh Derby which kicks off at 12:30. Hopefully Hibs can do us a favour against League leaders Hearts. Our city rivals the rangers welcome Motherwell to Ibrox.

Betting Odds – Celtic win 2/5 – Livingston win 8/1 – Draw 9-2

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

St. Stephens Day T-Shirt Sale.

All T-shirts only €9.99

https://celticfanzine.com/product-category/t-shirts/

Plus postage & packaging

Until 3pm on Saturday when Celtic kick off against Livingston.

Former Celtic assistant manager John Robertson has died at the age of 72 on Christmas Day following a long illness. Scottish international Robbo during his playing career won the European Cup twice with Nottingham Forest in 1979 and 1980. He supplied the winner in 79’ for Trevor Francis and scored the winner in 80’.

You can imagine the conversations on the team bus he had with the then Celtic manager his great friend Martin O’Neill and Celtic’s own European Cup winner Lisbon Lion the late great John Clarke who was Celtic kit man at the time. John Clarke had also served as Celtic’s assistant manager to Billy McNeill at both Aberdeen and Celtic. So they had plenty in common.

A statement from Robertson’s family sent through Nottingham Forest said: “It is with immense pain and sadness that we announce the passing of our wonderful husband, dad and grandad.

“John passed away peacefully on Christmas morning with his wife and family by his side, after a long illness.

“Our only comfort in our grief is that his struggles are now over, and he is reunited with daughter Jessica.

“’Robbo’ was treasured by many as a footballing hero but to us he was just John and dad, the family man…kind, loving, witty, fun and loyal.

“Although our hearts are breaking, we will always be grateful for the years we were privileged to share with him and the amazing memories we made. We will miss him every day and love him always.”

Former Celtic midfielder Alan Thompson offered his condolences. Tommo wrote on X: “Just heard the devastating news that my ex assistant manager at Celtic John Robertson passed earlier today. Thoughts are with his lovely family and thoughts and prayers are with them all.”

Rest easy Robbo and thanks for memories including the sly smokes up the tunnel area at Celtic Park during games. We have some memories of your time at Celtic which included the first treble since Jock Stein, the run to Seville, the 6-2 win over Rangers in the Paradise sunshine and many more.

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

Dark Night in Dundee

Peter Lawell stood down as chairman of Celtic a few hours before we left Glasgow to head to Dundee for the game against United. What followed was a toxic evening  in Tannadice. Cruising at half time 1-0 up having watched Celtic miss chance after chance in front of goal to have the game wrapped up by the time the whistle signalled for the interval.

The second half was a whole different story. Dundee United  manager Jim Goodwin changed a few small things and the home side put Celtic under plenty of pressure. The home fans got rewarded for their support with 2 winning goals while mocking the Celtic board with chants of “Keep the Board” . Chants of “Martin O’Neill” and “Sack the Board” got louder as frustration grew within the support and that boiled over into some fans calling for Wilfried Nancy to go. He cut a lonely figure walking up the tunnel at full time.

This is Our City and these are Our Colours

I was back in Glasgow the weekend for the Aberdeen game and a couple of gigs. Saturday night The Wakes blew the roof off King Tuts. What a gig it was as the band rolled through their back catalogue including the first song they ever recorded 20 years ago in the Hoops Bar The Pogues classic “ Thousands are Sailing”.

On the night over £2000 was raised from the sales of merchandise and a bucket collection for Palestine. Its not very often these days you get all The Wakes on one stage and this really was a Christmas Threat. The Wakes are back on stage in Glasgow at St. Lukes in June. Keep an eye out for date and ticket info.

Bhoys Ultras

Match day and the Bhoys are out and about early preparing for their Winter Collection. Celtic fans as usual put their hands in their pockets to donate to the bucket collections and brought warm winter clothing which will go to a number of homeless charities. Well done to all involved.

Celtic Fans Collective

The Celtic Fans Collective held a protest outside Celtic Park before the Aberdeen game at 2pm. It was very well attended. Those gathered heard speakers address Peter Lawell stepping down as Celtic chairman after allegations of harassment to him and his family which they described as baseless and part of a wider pattern of allegations being made against Celtic fans which have included a newspaper story has even alleged that a supporter brandished a knife at board members during the match against Dundee United. Photographic evidence makes it very clear that this allegation is completely unfounded.

A statement ahead of the protest from the stated The Celtic Fans Collective is committed to peaceful and principled campaigning to hold our board to account. The real story is that our club is in disarray both on and off the park. The Celtic board is responsible for the team’s decline and for the growing disconnect between the club’s leadership and its supporters. The longer they remain in place, the more damage they will do to the club we all love.

Celtic supporters have a long and storied history of organising collectively, often against overwhelming odds, to achieve great victories. This moment in our club’s history calls on fans to unite once again and to send a crystal-clear message to the current custodians: your time is up.

Finally some Christmas Cheer

 Celtic Park was like a morgue on Sunday afternoon. There was about 20 thousand empty seats. The atmosphere was empty as well. At times you could hear a pin drop or the Aberdeen fans who had travelled breaking into song and chanting “Keep the Board”

The only time the stadium came to life was after Celtic scored and thankfully we celebrated 3 goals and it should have been more as Celtic dominated the game but still gifted 10 man Aberdeen a goal to level it and heap more pressure on the new manager Wilfried Nancy until Kieran Tierney and James Forest lifted the gloom late in the game. The win will makes it a Happy Christmas and a big relief for all of us who love Celtic.

Happy Birthday

After the game we hit the turnstiles to celebrate and wish Shebeen front man Alan Quinn a very Happy 60^th Birthday. Himself and big Pat had the place rocking as usual. Next stop was the Tollbooth for more pints of Stout and a solo gig by Paul Sheridan from the Wakes before we headed to the famous Barrowlands Ballroom for the Mary Wallopers gig.

A bit of the Wee County in the City  

What a way to wrap up the weekend as we head into Christmas! County Louth is wonderful and so are their natives The Mary Wallopers, the first band ever to sell out 5 consecutive nights in the famous Barrowlands Ballroom. The Q was down the street when I arrived with Paul after he finished his gig in Tollbooth. Standing outside the venue looking up at the lights and I am hearing the Wakes lyrics about the famous venue and the East End of Glasgow in my head.8:30am at Glasgow Cross “The stars of the ballroom light up the night sky . . . God Bless Gallowgate!

Thanks to the Mary Wallopers drummer Ken for putting us on the guest list your reward is a Celtic Soul T-shirt which is making its way to you in the post. Inside the place was buzzing, bars were packed and craic was mighty and it was about to get even better when the band came on stage.

They welcomed and thanked all the good cunts for turning up over the five nights on this the final one and lifted the roof into the night sky with a performance full of energy and enjoyment. The intro music was from Joe Dolan (no show like a Joe show). When you come out on stage and mention Celtic winning earlier and your voice is almost gone from singing “Merry Christmas – Fuck the Huns” ye know your going to get a heroes welcome – which they did.

From start to finish it was a performance with love and unity both on and off stage. Sure we were off to Dublin in the Green by the time we went out into the cold Glasgow evening. After all the drama of the day we retired around the corner for a quiet pint or 2 to Traders, Carol the land lady welcomed us and we were joined by the Glasgow Godfather of Rebel Music big Pat. As the pints flowed so did the stories on nights like these you wish you had the recorder rolling to capture the conversation for the Celtic Soul Podcast.

Home for Christmas

My flight was delayed at lunchtime on Monday home but I could not have been happier, my son Conor had flown home from Toronto earlier to surprise his Mammy for Christmas.  I had just had a brilliant weekend surrounded by great friends listening to great music and watching the Celtic. What started out last Wednesday Night as a toxic evening in Dundee had turned to one of the best weekend’s of the year helped by the relief of Celtic winning.

Merry Christmas to all our readers, listeners and viewers

Click image for our Match Night Fanzine and sign up for our Newsletters

As Pantomime season descents on us. The show must go on against Dundee United tonight for Celtic. A win would lift us all on what is a miserable wet day in Glasgow. The flight this morning was a rough one at take off and landing. Lets hope it’s a bit smoother this evening for Wilfried Nancy and the Celtic players. The Celtic board will be praying for a win to relieve some of the pressure on them.

Our bus leaves at 5pm for Dundee and I am looking forward to the craic and conversation on the way up. I hope it’s a happy bus load of Celtic supporters heading back to Glasgow later tonight with 3 points in the bag.

Tonight Glasgow also pays host to the Mary Wallopers at the Barrowlands for a 5 night run at the famous venue. I bumped into Ken from the band this morning in the airport he is looking forward to the gigs and going to the Celtic v Aberdeen game on Sunday.

I also bumped into former Celtic and Ireland goalkeeper Packie Bonner. He is working at the game tonight for the BBC and like the rest of us is hoping for some improvement. Packie as a player enjoyed the highs at Celtic and also the lows during his long career at the club.

In the past year we have had the high of winning the League but we also had two cup final lows, we got close to knocking out Bayern Munich only for it to be snatched away. Brendan Rodgers and John Kennedy are heading to the riches of Saudi Arabia and Martin O’Neill is back on Talk Sport and drinking coffee in London.

You can keep Saudi Arabia and your posh coffee shops I would not change a wet and windy night in Dundee for any of it. C’mon the Hoops.

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

The games are coming thick and fast for under pressure new Celtic manager, Wilfried Nancy. His press conference ahead of the game was not an inspiring one and it was Johnny Kenny who was the player to face the media. There was no olive branch to the fan media and we are still locked out by those running the club and I don’t think we will back anytime soon.

It is hard to believe that Johnny Kenny is the only fit centre forward at the club. This time last year Kyogo was leading the line with Adam Idah as back up. The squad was threadbare before the new manager arrived.  Only 3 of the players who came in during the summer have featured regularly while the others have been spectators. Martin O’Neill managed to get the best out of the players and he had a bit of luck  in one or two of the games.

It seems that the new manager is trying to put round pegs into square holes and the players are clearly not comfortable with his playing style yet. But in saying that we need the players to rise to the occasion In Tannadice and get a win even if it means winning ugly. The Celtic Way will have to wait.

Dundee United are no World beaters. Their manager Jim Goodwin was at the game on Sunday working for Premier Sports and he will fancy his teams chances on home turf after watching Celtic crumble in the second half.

We are on the road early on match day as we cross the Irish sea once more to support the Bhoys. I am sure I will meet some of the usual suspects on my travels. The plan is to travel up on the Lisbon Lions bus from Glasgow and it will be interesting to get the members thoughts on the state of play at Celtic.

Lets hope the bus back from Dundee is a happy one. The game is live on Sky Sports and streamed on Celtic TV. Kick off is 8pm.