Season Review 2018-19

Season points

The main talking point as the season was to start was the hiring by Sevco of ex-Liverpool player Stevie Gerrard as their new manager, who had played under Brendan Rodgers. Stevie Gerrard was well remembered for a slip v Chelsea in 2014 that allowed Chelsea to score & win and go on to win their league, Brendan Rodgers was the Liverpool manager. Some say they both didn't get on, but not clear. The dynamic was to be tested, but as a psychological test there was only going to be one winner.

The season started ridiculously early, with ironically Boyata being a talking point, and highlighted a lack of foresight in sorting this out. Boyata's name was to feature prominently as Celtic's transfer window created chaos. Despite all the good notes on Rodgers, this time his team with the board had made a mess. They struggled to get any defenders in, then held onto Boyata who went into a major diva fit and practically on strike. Celtic in this environment ended up knocked up prematurely from the Champions League qualifiers v AEK Athens.

Next thing, Celtic lost Dembele who was desperate to leave (albeit for £20m) but Boyata was retained (or couldn't be shifted out). Little good was brought in terms of permanent playing staff, with two loans. No replacement for the Dembele, Armstrong etc. Celtic were still stuck with the hapless Compper, whilst Hendry in defence was a major cause for concern. Question marks on Rodgers transfer record were gaining ground.

The domestic season started briskly, but a defeat to Hearts showed the team needed freshening up and appeared to be mentally drained. Celtic were to start poorly with the First Team's worst start in 20 years with Hearts surprisingly on top of the league. Supporters started to bring out the pitchforks with some waving banners about Celts for Change revivals and shouts for the removal of Peter Lawell (Chief Exec of Celtic). In time it was clear the board were not the real problem.

The big question that was arising was if Brendan Rodgers was leaving at the end of the season. Some quotes were being taken to reflect his frustrations and his body language was being interpreted that he was losing his spark for the role. The number of loans on the books and the inability to move off nonperforming players fuelled this theory, but was he really working his ticket out? Rodgers was being criticised for his decision making and possibly his enthusiasm in the role now, concerns were arising.

An easier than it sounds 1-0 hammering of Sevco put all back on side with Rodgers, and it calmed the nerves, and Hearts were to fall away. However, performances were unconvincing but Celtic were able to keep their noses in front and stay there.

Celtic under won the League Cup at a cantor to be honest, which was a fabulous triumph and now Brendan Rodgers had managed Celtic to an incredible seven trophies in a row, the treble treble was still on.

December 2018 was a packed out month and Celtic performed well, albeit only scraping through the Europa League Group stage by the skin of their teeth. A major victory that showed the steel of the team was a back to the wall 4-3 victory over Aberdeen, possibly the most exciting game of the season.

The crunch game was v Sevco at the end of the month in the traditional match which if won would have clearly have closed the door on Sevco’s title challenge. However, Celtic lost 1-0 in what was a very one-sided match to Sevco and the title race was back on, with both sides level on points but Celtic had a game in hand. Things were not looking good, and Brendan Rodgers was getting flak, although fatigue for the players was a valid excuse, but Rodgers tactics could be too predictable and the defence and midfield were ill equipped to handle the situation.

The issues over the transfer window in the summer were repeatedly raised, and all agreed that it was not good. Brendan Rodgers was clearly showing frustrations and admitting it hadn’t gone to plan, but he deserves flak too as he purchased various figures instead of concentrating on areas like defence. The squad was bloated, and fringe players (such as Compper and Gamboa) were wasting time at the club.

January had to be a reboot, and the introduction of big name loan signings was a surprise. Weah & Burke were stars from the off but this fizzled out later on. Ex-Celt Charlie Nicholas though stated the believed that Sevco were now the favourites for the title, which at this point was ridiculous. They had strengthened but with older players. Brendan Rodgers just shrugged it off, and got on with things.

Into the New Year, things started to go right for Celtic again: long sequence of clean sheets, victories and Sevco dropping points enabled Celtic build up a comfortable 8pts advantage in the league as well as progress in the Scottish Cup. More important was the great form of players who were really making a great fist of things, such as new players like Burke and Weah. Scott Brown surprised all by having a purple patch of quality goals, and some late winners by Celtic helped to build confidence in the side.

Injuries were a bane, with Rogic & Benkovic out for a long time and Tierney out for a run of games, but the squad had just about coped despite being stretched thin. The best was the surprise form of youngster Ewan Henderson, the young starlet playing ahead of his years, another great asset to the youth set-up at Celtic.

Most important game and pivotal was probably the 1-0 victory v Kilmarnock away in the league. In Feb 2019, Kilmarnock were punching way above their weight this season with some excellent performances and pushing for top slots in the league. Celtic had lost twice away there in 2017, and Celtic struggled on their plastic pitch in this match with a late goal (89th min) by Scott Brown sealing the points in a hard fought albeit fortunate win (goal was deflected).

Celtic seemed to be on course for the league title, and then the big shock happened…Brendan Rodgers had left the building, taking some major backroom staff with him.

In Feb 2019, Brendan Rodgers surprised many by suddenly announcing that he was given permission to discuss with Leicester City for their vacant manager's role, and he was gone fast to Leicester City with a number of key background staff. The timing was disappointing as Celtic had 11 league games to go with the title still to be won and the Scottish Cup too. There had been rumours and discussions over the season that Rodgers was looking to possibly move on in the summer, especially as there had been so many loans over the past two windows and his body language was much different than before.

For many it seemed unprofessional, and understandably the support did not take it well. With the history making treble-treble potentially on the way, it was poor for the players and the club, and many felt deflated. It seemed as if the Liverpool fans complaints on their prior manager were correct. Different reports said differently if it was the Leicester's owners or Brendan Rodgers who was responsible for the premature departure. He could have waited till the end of the season, the loss of the backroom staff was also poor.

With the money on offer you could understand, but he was well paid at Celtic, and the opportunities were far greater at Celtic, He still had much to prove in Europe with Celtic (or anyone else), and really there was more to offer at Celtic for prestige.

Some wits remarked, that it was disappointing that Brendan Rogers had left the club with the reputation of being the only treble winning manager in Celtic's history not to get to a European final.

Following the unexpected and sudden departure of Brendan Rodgers to Leicester in Feb 2019, Neil Lennon was back in at Celtic at the helm in an interim role. He had only recently left Hibs under a cloud, but many sympathised with him. However, he was back at Celtic with the club 8pts in front of Sevco in the race for the league title and a Scottish Cup still to be won too, to complete a possible third treble in a row.

Celtic had the advantage with their nose in front, but that could be easily lost.

Under Lennon, Celtic carried on from where they left off with Rodgers. His first match in charge was ironically against the two Edinburgh sides, but Celtic came through in both matches. Against Hearts it was a late injury time winner which rubbed it in for Hearts.

Celtic continued to win matches, albeit there was some concern as the margins were narrow, and it was worried that Lennon was favouring players, but whilst the first team was winning and stretching their league lead, there were few complaints.

The thing is that in the league, Lennon had to hardly lift a finger as Sevco were imploding. Having been level at the end of December in the league, Sevco had since then dropped many points and were to be 10pts behind in the run up to the third meeting of the season. The match was to be at Celtic Park, and as much as this was built as the title decider, for most the title race regardless of the result was already sealed. Celtic won the match v Sevco 2-1 at Celtic Park, which effectively sealed the title (if not yet fully), and there was relief and celebrations. Celtic mostly dominated although did let Sevco back into the match, and in some ways reflected the season as a whole, but there was no denying that Celtic were the better team overall in the match.

There was no denying it was hurting Sevco, with Ally McCoist referring to Celtic Park in a TalkRadio interview Show saying:

“When I’m on that new stretch of motorway that takes you the other side of Glasgow, I look the other way. If Celtic Park is on my left, I can’t even look at it. I look to the right hand side!”

The cherry on the cake was Sevco's defeat to Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup who had also knocked them out of the league cup as well, and was the first time they had defeated Sevco in all the major competitions in one season. For Celtic it was a filip that ended another of Sevco's chances of a first top tier trophy.

It just all helped Lennon, his biggest fear was to see the advantage handed to him being lost and he would have to take all the flak undeservedly.

The result was a fine set of results over the course of his time as the interim manager, leading the First Team on to complete the domestic Treble-Treble – a truly historic achievement.

As for performances, it was a mixed bag, but there were a number of players who were not performing to the best of their ability due to mental exhaustion, injury or tiredness. The performances were in decline over his time, as the original impetus seemed to dip. The loss of key players over long stretches wasn't helping (e.g. Tierney, Christie, Griffiths, Boyata, Rogic etc) but maybe it was tactics & formations too.

The fact is though that despite the positive results and hard work done by Lennon, some were convinced he was the man for the long-run, and the defeat to Sevco at Ibrox was seen as the result that likely killed off Lennon's chances for the permanent role. It was a very poor performance and some criticised various team selections on the day.

However, the board had faith in him and offered him the job straight after the Scottish Cup final, which he accepted. Admittedly the response was mixed. Some fans felt he had passed the interim term test, others felt it was backward move, and there was frustration that despite various names having been thrown about in the media, that no other major prospects were seriously approached & interviewed for the role.