Martin O’Neill united Celtic Park last night for 90 minutes. He got a good welcome but with the exception of both Ultra Groups the rest of the Stadium remained quiet with the exception of the 4 goals scored by Celtic that got us all up off our seats and a little burst of song near the end of the game. The song book was Oh Martin O’Neill and Sack the Board from both corners of the ground that both Ultra Groups take up.
The Green Brigade and The Bhoys will be absent from Hampden on Sunday when Celtic take on the rangers in the semi-final of the League Cup. It is a shame that we won’t have both sets of Ultras in the ground to create an atmosphere. Both clubs have had their allocation slashed by 500 tickets over the use of pyrotechnics. The Ultras argument is that there were not 500 fans involved in the Pyro displays and have decided to boycott the game.
It will be like stepping back in time on Sunday. Martin O’Neill in the dugout and no Celtic Ultras at the game. It will now be up the Celtic players to lift the Celtic fans and get us singing and backing the team after last nights positive result. Four goals and a great night for Sligo’s Johnny Kenny hitting the back of the net twice with Ben Nygren and Seb Tounekti also on the score sheet.
After the game Martin O’ Neill charmed the media with his humour and wit as he spoke about not complicating football and players playing to their strengths and meeting Marcelo Sarrachi ahead of the game for the first time without name checking him instead referring to him as the left back when asked about Kieran Tierney’s absence.
He also had high praise for the Celtic captain who again he did not name check and James Forest who he joked about being as old as him.
With so much divide at the club over recent weeks with both Brendan Rodgers and the Celtic board splitting the fans it was refreshing to hear Martin O’Neill and see everyone united in welcoming him back and getting behind the team.
Even Dermot Desmond made a rare appearance in the Directors box with Michael Nicholson shuffling up two seats for him and a very tanned Celtic chairman Peter Lawell who has been posted missing for a number of games now so you would presume he was somewhere sunny to get away from all the unrest surrounding Celtic.
With the club’s AGM coming up at a time of continued fan unrest with the performance of the current board will DD shuffle the chairs in the board room or will we see some much needed new blood with new ideas coming in. The rumours are doing the rounds.
Just before 7pm last night a large crowd gathered at the front of the stadium to protest about the current board’s lack of ambition to take the club to the next level both on the field of play and off it. It was peaceful with chants of sack the board and the call for individuals to step down. From where I was standing I could not hear any speakers and I have since heard there was a problem with the PA. The protest finished with some Pyro before the fans made their way to the turnstiles to get in for kick off and welcome back the Gaffer and back the team.
After the game as I settled into the hotel bar for a night cap with the usual suspects it was with a sense of relief that Celtic had won and Hearts had dropped points in Paisley against St. Mirren to narrow the gap to 6 points.
Our opponents on Sunday the rangers took all 3 points at Easter Roads after Hibs missed a last minute penalty. Both teams have had a new manager bounce. Confidence will be higher in both camps ahead of the game than it has been over recent weeks.
For myself its back to a rain soaked Drogheda before we are back in the road following Celtic on Sunday.
Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes & host of the Celtic Soul Podcast
Copyright 2018 Celtic Fanzine | Developed by Blueberry Design