Dark Day in Dundee

The morning after the day before dawned and I browsed on social media to see what was the fall out of another goalless performance by Celtic. This time however it was not a draw it was a defeat at Dens Park in Dundee. It was the first time Dundee beat Celtic at home since Tommy Coyne scored the winner for them back in September 1988.

Celtic were lucky to get out with a share of the points last season, drawing 3-3 thanks to a last minute penalty. On the way back to Glasgow that cold January night the reaction was one of relief.

The fall out on social media was a mix of Brendan Rodgers out, the continued call to sack the board, the Celtic players poor performances and I’m a better Celtic fan than you and I am faithful through and through. I even saw one post blaming the referee!

Some of the heat has been taken off the Celtic board with yesterdays performance and aimed in the direction of the Celtic manager. Celtic once again dominated possession but created little quality in front of goal which once again saw zero goals in front of a very frustrated Celtic support.

I suppose throwing balls onto the pitch in protest achieves coverage on TV and highlights the fact that Celtic fans are still unhappy with those running the club. I am not a fan of it but that’s just my opinion.

Throwing balls onto the pitch at the start of the game can not and should not be used as an excuse to justify Celtic’s poor performance and Brendan Rodgers moaning about the players he has at his disposal won’t wash either. Dundee were hammered 4-0 by Aberdeen in their previous outing in what was a bottom of the SPFL v second from bottom clash.

Celtic have better players than Dundee but their manager Stephen Pressley had his team organised and they were up for the game from the start unlike the Celtic player who huffed and puffed and blew nothing down. Their players out worked the Celtic players and their manager out thought the Celtic manager.

Half of Dundee was celebrating yesterday along with half of Edinburgh. Hearts will be 5 points ahead of Celtic going into next Sundays game at Tynecastle. Unlike at Dens Park (which was half empty) their fans should fill every seat and Celtic will be given a very small allocation as per usual for the noon kick off.

Hearts will have a week to prepare while Celtic will be hoping to get their first win in the Europa League against Sturm Graz before they can think about the game in Edinburgh. Tickets are now on general sale for the game and a full house at Celtic Park is not expected.

For the Sporting Braga game we had the luxury of getting a flight home after the game with the 6pm kick off. We won’t have that luxury this week with the 8pm kick off but I am sure there will be plenty of debate in the hotel bar after the game. Hopefully we will be celebrating a win.

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