With the European hammering still fresh in my memory I sat down at home to watch the rangers v Celtic at Ibrox in the quarter-final of the League Cup on TV. It was our biggest test since the Lask disaster and against the team we dislike the most.
I was on my own, it reminded me of the covid season. Like so many Celtic fans I watched all of that season from the comfort of my home and it would prove to be anything but comfortable to watch.
The same could be said for Celtic’s recent visit to Ibrox it was a gutless performance from the Celtic players. The players were out fought by the home side who took full advantage of there being no Celtic fans at the game and looked to have more hunger about them. Only young Colby Donovan got pass marks on the day, the rest of the Celtic players including the more senior ones who have done it all before looked as if they had only just met each other.
We lavish these players with praise when they perform well and domestically in the league they have a 100% record, we praised them when they beat Lask 3-0 at Celtic Park only for the same players to implode in Austria.
Hopefully the players will have time to reflect and some of them need to grow a set of balls. We chanted bring on the rangers in Perth after the win over St. Johnstone sadly it fell on deaf ears.
There will have been no rangers fans at Celtic Park on Sunday apart from a couple of rows of them in the directors box and hopefully we are celebrating when the full time whistle blows and can rub it into them.
The rangers were knocked out of two European competitions already so don’t have a midweek game and will come to Celtic Park full of confidence after the League Cup victory.
Martin O’Neill, Shaun Maloney and the Celtic backroom team also need to take a look at the tactics from Ibrox and take responsibility for being out thought by the new rangers manager Derek McInnes. Why was there no plan B?
O’Neill’s team selection raised many eyebrows among the Celtic support when it was announced many Celtic fans and pundits took to social media to express their concerns that Tounekti was selected ahead of Hassan to start. While Johnstone got the nod over Sinisalo in goals but looked nervous throughout the game.
Tounekti’s best work for Celtic has always been coming off the bench I can’t remember him starting a game where he really impressed. He was substituted at half time which summed up his performance. If O’Neill had subbed more players at half time they could have had no complaints. Maybe it is unfair to single out one or two Celtic players when most of them failed to show up.
After the game O’Neill spoke about getting hammered on his first visit to Ibrox 5-1 this came on the back of the 6-2 win over Rangers at Celtic Park earlier in that season during his first stint as manager. I was at both games one filled with joy another with misery.
After that game Rangers never hammered an O’Neill Celtic team again. Most visits to Ibrox with 8,000 fellow Celtic fans were joyous occasions before they pulled the plug on the Celtic fans getting the Broomloan end and killed a part of the Glasgow Derby. Martin O’Neill signed Neil Lennon after that game and he became the anchor in midfield alongside Champions League Winner Paul Lambert. He does not have that luxury now!
Dermot Desmond and the Celtic board must take blame also for gambling once again in the transfer window as usual too little too late. Making money for the shareholders is more important than spending it for the season book holders. The Europa League is a harder ticket sell to fans who remain pissed off with those in charge of the club for their continued failure in the Champions League.
The Celtic players and management can go someway to repairing the damage inflicted in Europe and the League Cup this week by winning in Europe and beating our city rivals in the League.
Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes Celtic Fanzine & Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast
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