Season Review 2010-11

Matches: 2010 – 2011 | 2010-2011 Pictures | League Table | Statistics

Trivia

• Neil Lennon's first season as full manager
• One trophy, Scottish Cup title.
• Season is best known for off-field events.
• Walter Smith's (Rangers Manager) last season.

Review

Following Lennon’s appointment at the end of the prior season, he proclaimed that he wanted to bring the “thunder back” to Celtic Park!!!! Inspiring as that sounds it is simply hyperbole, and action rather than words were needed after two lost seasons. Lennon had a fair run in his time as temporary manager but now it was time to make a difference in the full management position. He’d brought in old stalwarts Johan Mjallby & Alan Thomson to assist in the coaching, and the first thing obvious was their lack of experience, so a very fresh approach and a big gamble.

An old head might have been a good addition to the coaching staff for experience and wisdom although advocates of the new coaching team could argue that Barcelona were the top dogs in world football with a similarly young management team. However, we were hardly anywhere near their status, their players had been together through much of their playing lives and their coaching staff was far larger than ours. Anyhow, we had set out our stalls and it was time to get going.

Firstly, it was to be another rebuilding exercise. The inevitable departures of the highly regarded McGeady & Boruc helped to refill our coffers but on the other hand we had to replace the loan signings of N'Guemo, Kamara & Robbie Keane, all three of whom added value to the first side. No easy task for a rookie manager and morale was low amongst the support but pressure was high.

In came, a variety of players which quite on their signing simply didn’t excite anyone. Beram Kayla, Izaguirre, Juarez Danny M, Forster (loan) and Ledley were not exactly big names from big sides. There was no real big marquis signing, and there were murmurs amongst the support that we were trying to do it all on the cheap, a new cheap management team and cheap new players. Not too exciting it seemed. One obvious error was he overloading of midfielders in the squad, and the frustrating fact is that most were already crying out for another forward or central defender as we seemed underdone in those areas. Only time would tell.

Europe
First up was European football and our stay was about as short as this summary. Drawing Braga (Portugal) in the Champions League qualifiers seemed to be a good deal but an embarrassing 3-0 first leg defeat away sealed our fate to drop down to the Europa League. Braga later made it through to the final if the Europa League so they were no mugs but we partly underestimated them but also we were really not prepared to face them.

Next being drawn against Utrecht of Holland should have been more within our range and despite a very comfortable 2-0 home win, we threw it all away somehow with an appalling 4-0 defeat which saw the gnashing and wailing of teeth begin already. Fortuné was thankfully sold the next day and we were left to focus fully on the domestic front. There wasn't much enthusiasm last season for the Europa League, some were mourning that we were out but it was indicative of the fact that we were still way behind where we should be.

The European defeats reflected Neil Lennon's lack of experience. The away games showed tactical naivety in that he was unable to put out a side able to swamp the midfield and stop possession for the opposition. The Utrecht away game should have been simple to negotiate but we let a poor side dictate the second leg and we paid the price for it. It was a steep learning curve for Lennon; the domestic and foreign games require two separate skill sets.

The loss of European Football was though a big hit for revenue for the club and it followed a sharp decline in the sale of season tickets (due to the recession and the poor fare on the pitch in recent years). The club was simply desperate for any finance it could get, and with TV money down in Scotland (and in a mess) following from the Setanta TV (UK) collapse, low attendances were painful for the club. It was an alarming time for the board, and focus turned back to the bread & butter support at the gates rather than trying to spread our net wider (e.g. Japan). We were going back to basics.

Domestic
Early season was acceptable. A long run of consecutive victories is nothing to be sniffed at but it was matched by the Huns, and in truth our performances were not wholly convincing. We managed to put together a good stretch of victories without conceding goals, but much was still evidently wrong for the more observant supporter. Most of our early wins were shakey and we were not beating many teams in the league convincingly (St Mirren excluded). An imbalance in the squad meant there were too few defenders compared to a large surplus of midfielders. Continual rotation to keep the midfielders happy was never going to quickly help to embed a successful partnership in the central midfield positions either.

When we did concede goals, it was the case that we were first to do so in the match and so end up behind in games as against Hamilton & Kilmarnock. However, we learnt to battle back in these matches which was a welcome change from last season when simply we’d have just sunk and lost. We were to some extent still riding on a certain good fortune as the players were still gelling together, and it was a much changed side from last season.

One notable match was against Dundee Utd. After what seemed to have been our best performance in the first quarter of the season, we squandered our lead to recover late on through perseverance with a late winner, but the game is better remembered for a double penalty incident. Firstly a stonewall penalty wasn't given by the referee, then a penalty was actually given for another challenge only for the referee to change his mind and reverse his original decision! Baffling!!!

This started off a chain of events in Scotland which had some far reaching consequences. The referee and his seniors lied & lied again and tried to cover-up their errors and it all just spiralled out of control. Pathetically, we were vilified by certain sections for standing up for ourselves for asking for the truth. At the end after the revelations of what occurred, the referee and his senior were sacked! Next followed various others out the door as well. It was surreal and set the tone for a set of confrontations between Celtic and the incompetent authorities through the season. See (link) for fuller details.

Possibly one of the welcome surprises in early season was the return to form of Sean Maloney. Eager to prove his doubters wrong, his commitment cannot be faltered and some good goals and strong play was something that most will feel happy with. Most had written him off last season or at least in the summer. It was good news. Scott Brown had found some form also but had become the new target for the boo boys amongst our own support early on! The £4.5m transfer fee was a weight on his shoulders, and he hadn't lived up to it in his first season(s) but he was performing but injury halted his role early into the season. Mark Wilson came out of nowhere against Dundee Utd in Oct 2010, to win plaudits despite being on the physio's bench for much of the past few seasons! Izzaguierre was beginning to catch the eye as an effective left-back.

As ever the Rangers games are the benchmarks, and into the first Celtic v Rangers match, both teams achieved 100% on points. So someone had to give, and that was to be us. A lacklustre performance with some shoddy defending made unwelcome heroes of the Rangers team in particular Kenny Miller. It just seemed ominous with the “wily” Rangers manager out-thinking his Celtic counterpart. The referee was exceptionally poor awarding a penalty to the Huns (diving cheating Broadfoot) but we did concede after we were ahead due to an own goal by Loovens (so effectively shot ourselves in the foot).

It seemed that this season was following the pattern of the last. We came back strongly with two resounding victories, including an SPL record 9-0 victory over Aberdeen (a side who were sinking fast). It was frightening to be reminded that ex-Celtic manager Gordon Strachan had recommended Mark McGhee (the Aberdeen manager for this drubbing) to be his successor! Lucky escape for our club.

Then we experienced a brief lull, and we then began a slump. We lost to Hearts in midweek before scraping a 1-0 win v St Mirren and then drew our next three league games in November & December. We were falling behind the Huns in the league and they were winning even when they were playing poorly. It seemed that this was to be a repeat of last season, where a bright start was followed by a slump that ended our season prematurely. We ended the calendar year with two victories in December in the league but things weren’t convincing and the Huns were marching ahead of us. Lennon was beginning to get openly criticised by sections of the support, and to make things worse, Sean Maloney was out for a long period with a new recurring injury, it was as if he was cursed.

Our shaky performances were giving Rangers a platform to build upon, but they themselves did slip at points. The difference between the sides ultimately was bearing out to be our defeat to Rangers. It was a tight and unforgiving contest for the league flag and it wasn’t even the second half of the season.

It wasn’t just Celtic hitting a low. It was fast becoming the worst season ever for Scottish football. Crowds across the board were down, a rapid decline in Aberdeen's fortunes & performances and poor officialdom was depressing everyone. The collapse of old giant Dundee FC brought home that no club was safe from the current worldwide financial malaise. Piss poor kick-off times for matches to suit TV wasn’t helping. A grave recession was losing the game paying punters and it wasn't clear that they may come back if things picked up. The perennial argument of league restructuring was raised again but this was akin to shuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic. Let’s leave out discussing the national side, as despite having a good manager, their situation would be just too depressing to analyse and is best left for the Scotland fan forums.

Added to the malaise was a cold spell that was to be the worst recorded in 100 years. It gave our first team some breathing space with matches called off, however it also gave the Huns breathing space taking in their own injuries. Problematically, Saturday gates were lost which was financially a massive hit for all clubs in Scotland. So even the heavens seemed to now be against Scottish football! Continuing stories of financial woe for the Huns wasn't enough to cheer us up enough (but it helped!).

After the multitudes of off field incidents it's amazing that anyone can recall any football at all.

As said, we were slumping fast. Sides were beginning to have no fear in playing us even at home. Not that is necessarily a bad thing as a repeated criticism in prior seasons was that teams sat back too much against us rather then giving it a go and make a game of it. Can't win with some people we guess!

Morale was low and we were repeatedly shooting ourselves in the foot. The performances were unconvincing and the Huns were feeling increasingly confident in stretching their lead, and simply we had to stop dropping too many silly points. Walter Smith was being ridiculously beatified in the eyes of the Hun media for their run in the league and gathered overblown praise for their performances in the champions league competition.

Some were actually bringing out the stats books now and comparing the current form to that of old stalwarts John Barnes and Tony Mowbray, showing that Lennon was no better to this point of the season than either of them. It was a new way to get in new criticism and make an easy jibe. It wasn't helping but the facts couldn't be ignored that we were fast seeing another short campaign.

New Year’s Derby turnaround
It was all came down to the match v Rangers in January for Lennon, and it seemed we were entering the new year derby to witness the premature end to our season once again. We were missing too many first team players (such as the mercurial Scott Brown and only real goal scorer Hooper) and playing away at Ibrox was expected to be humiliating after the mullering in the last derby match. No rational Celtic fan or any media pundit predicted us to be able to even scrape a win.

Yet that is not how it panned out! An even first half laid the ground to steady our nerves. The second half was all one way and a double from Samaras (who hadn't scored in the league all season) sealed an incredible victory at the Hundome. It reignited our season and renewed belief in many players. Previously, all that anyone had to say about Samaras was GTF! Kayal was fast becoming a new hero gaingin particular praised for reigniting the first team. The support was rejuvenated and the league title was back on the menu. Scottish football as much as Celtic itself needed this.

Importantly, it saved Lennon’s job. It’s probably correct to say if we’d have lost this game we’d have been so far behind (8pts assuming Rangers won their games in hand) that it would have been possibly untenable for Lennon to remain in his job. He was seen as having been tactically inept too often losing all the must win games (Huns, Scottish Cup, Europe etc) and this was the first major victory for him. Samaras was much maligned but his one great game in the season had saved Lennon’s back and given him the boost he so clearly needed.

The Huns could not handle this defeat, and it began a new campaign against our manager. A package was addressed to Lennon which contained bullets, but thankfully it was intercepted at a sorting office in Mallusk, County Antrim. Player Niall McGinn was also targeted. It was the first of a few of these incidents to come. There was now a violent campaign brewing against our manager by the Hun support.

Must add a big word for Izzaguirre. He played in the overlooked left-back position and we hadn’t just filled that spot in but got won the lottery into the bargain. He was more than cementing that position with his incredible pace, composure and intelligence, and was deservedly being proclaimed by our support as easily the best player in Scotland. Mexican midfielder Juarez on the other hand after a bright start had slumped as early as just after our departure from European competition, and rumours abounded that he’d had a tiff with the management over our exit. He should have just got stuck in rather than moaning. It was his loss and with the improving form of our midfielders, with Ledley, Kayla, Brown, Maloney (early on), Ki and others, he wasn't needed! It all backfired on him.

The strikeforce was working very well also. Stokes and Hooper were a great team, with Hooper bagging many goals with some great play. Samaras though was hopeless with the double against Rangers his only saving grace. He was a haddie but seemed to gather backing from many in the support. No denying his workrate but little else in terms of actual goals.

The win over the Huns began a major turnaround for the club, which saw us pick up points with some increasingly confident performances. Far better than in the first half of the season, and the support was back on board. Great victories such as a

Strangely, Hearts were quietly picking up steam and it wasn't irrational to believe that they were becoming credible title challengers or at least able to come second. Some great victories against both Celtic and the (big) Huns had given them momentum, and when they defeated Rangers one nil at Ibrox, there were nervous voices amongst our support as we were to next to face them.

Against widely held predictions again, we outplayed them giving our finest performance all season and won four nil. Stokes was on form bagging two goals, but every player played their part and it was the whole team’s performance that caught the eye. Scott Brown was finally getting the credit he was deserving all season with the boo boys finally getting off his back and on his side. His partnership with Kayal was impressing everyone. The midfield in general was functioning well, with Kayal and Ledley fitting in exceptionally well, with Ki and Forest fitting in well whenever asked to play.

As for the January transfer window, well the attention was more on Rangers than ourselves. We signed Kris Common (another midfielder) who was linked with the Husn also and on his debut scored after just 6mins against Aberdeen (in the league cup) and then set up another goal from his corner kick 4 mins later! What a start. Surprisingly we did not sign another striker or centre-half as the support was demanding. Ex-Arsenal player Freddie Ljungberg was signed as an old-head for a short contract, but overall he played little part for the first team. Possibly was useful just to have him around for his experience.

Rangers on the other hand were scraping the bottom of the barrel, and they signed El Hadji Diouf, a veritable scum bag of the highest order who is infamous for many deeds including having spat at a Celtic supporter for an unwarranted reason during a match in 2003 when he was with Liverpool! Absolute disgrace, in recent weeks the man’s reputation was so low that most commentators in Englad were saying openly that there was no way any club would take him. His loan transfer to Rangers was a cheap jibe at Celtic. Pathetic and reflects poorly on them.

Into February, it seemed that only the matches against the Huns were to matter, and due to the cups and replays, we were scheduled to play the Huns four times in around six weeks!

However, the league is most important, and every game is three points. We carried on in a great vein of form, with new signing Kris Commons hitting the ground running with some spectacular goals. Victories over Aberdeen and Dundee Utd with a fighting draw against Rangers in the Cup boosted morale. It was a big change for all.

The third and final league game at home against the Huns was another bonanza, but for the first time in at least two seasons Celtic were favourites going into the match. What was served was remarkable both on and off the pitch. On the park, Celtic strolled to an incredible three nil win which was the most one sided affair for a long time. The team played some exceptional football and we could have won by far more! Off the pitch was just as exceptional. The atmosphere was a rated the best since mon left. The whole support was rocking. The thunder was back.

The destiny of the league title was now back in our hands, but the Huns were down but not out! Three more games against them to go against them. It just felt like the good fun times were back. What was lacking under Strachan and Mowbray was a rapport with the support and entertaining football on the pitch. We were all celebrating together after much of the drudgery of recent years.

And then we shot ourselves in the foot! A two nil loss away to Motherwell on a pitch like a mud farm, turned matters back in the Huns favour.

Next was the Scottish Cup replay against the Huns and a one nil win in a nervy match was the least of the issues. Like to talk of our positives but this powder keg match was all about the Hun negatives. Three Huns sent off as they hacked and bashed their way to just one shot on goal! Ally McCoist created a tantrum with Lennon at the end. Sadly the press tried to keep equidistant between the sides and we were portrayed as in the dock with the Huns. As for Diouf, he created bargies on the pitch and against our bench before being belatedly sent off!

Lennon had a suspect package intercepted before he was to receive it from N Ireland. Sick people. The support rallied round him. Next the police were to investigate unfounded allegations by some of the "public" that Lennon had been racist to Diouf! All pathetic and quickly Rangers PR machine made up an article for the press to lap up stating Lennon wasn't a racist and that Diouf respected him all along. Then in the disciplinary meeting, all the Rangers players plus Ally McCoist were let off from any further punishment (McCoist won his appeal). Neil Lennon had lost his appeal. Bias as clear as day from the SFA who had it in for Celtic.

League Cup
Interspersed within the season was the much relegated League Cup. It holds less and less attention unless you get to the final, and that we did! Playing Rangers in the final who were not having any luck against us, we went into the game with some confidence. Earlier rounds were little difficult, so can be breezed over for this review, but the match against Rangers was a bit of a disappointment for Celtic. Tactics weren’t all wrong, but we weren’t good enough. Rangers won in extra time.

Both sides lost out on penalty decisions (ours should have stood) but we shouldn’t have need to rely upon them. One up for Rangers with two trophies left tom play for.

Back to the league
Into April, after only one league game in March, all focus was back to the league. Rangers had the early advantage with games in hand, all that was required was a slip by anyone to let the other in front. Celtic were ahead on points (but Huns had games in hand) and after a shakey start to the month with uneasy 1-0 wins over St Mirren and St Johnstone, normal service was resumed with hammerings of Aberdeen (in cup) and Killie in the league.

As a reward for our success, it emerged that Royal Mail intercepted a total of two ‘viable’ liquid-based parcel bombs addressed to Lennon, and also to high-profile Celtic fans Trish Godman (MP) and Paul McBride (legal). This isn’t football banter, this is evil. As an aside, Rangers were charged by UEFA for sectarian chants at a European game! Wahey.

With the other sides not making enough dents, the last game against Rangers in the league was vital. We had now the upper hand (although they were in front but we’d a game in hand), and despite huge amounts of anticipation and nervousness, this match was a damp squid! A no goals match which admittedly Rangers had the better of, didn’t really add much to the mix. It will be remembered though for Samaras’ penalty miss. He wasn’t the prime penalty taker but he demanded to take it which was saved by the Hun keeper. We lost the points cause of him and it proved to be vital.

The match was notable also for the Hun support. Were they disgusted by the antics of elements of their support who were harassing Lennon and sending explosive devices to him? No, they were chanting: “What’s it like to live fear?”. It was disgusting and clearly illustrative of the embedded sickness in their supporters’ culture.

It was all going down to the wire.

League Split
What should have been an exciting league run-in for us, became a disaster. An unexpected 3-2 defeat to Inverness Caley (a game in hand) lost us our advantage and it was all in the hands of the Huns. We got our tactics wrong that game, and there was little we could do. The rest of the league put up insufficient resistant to the Huns, and they won all the rest of their games to take the title. There isn’t much to say. We blew it, but the authorities had assisted them and we were angry.

Two sets of moments stood out though. The first was bizarre, in the away match against Hearts, a Jambo managed to run onto the pitch and it was only a timely intervention from Alan Thompson that stopped him reaching his intended target, Neil Lennon.

This followed around a vindictive campaign against Lennon:

– A group of neds (5 girls plus 2 boys) were arrested for drapping union flags outside Lennoxtown and trying to take snaps of themselves with a gun (not know if real or replica).
– Graffiti was daubed on a chapel in East Belfast in red paint to give the message a sinister look to accompany its equally sinister message. “Lennon RIP”
– Lennon attacked during the match by Hearts fan
– Lennon was sent another bomb again in the post.
– Lennon sent another bullet in the post.
– There was a raid made in Ayr on homes suspected of people who sent bombs to Lennon, two arrested.

It was frightening stuff, and the whole Celtic support was behind Lennon. However, the press were not unequivocally supporting him, Jim Traynor asking why it is that Lennon was irking the other club's supporters. It was a nonsense, and much was because simply he was a successful N Irish Catholic in Scotland managing Celtic. Martin O'Neill also got it in the neck but Lennon was a N Irish Catholic player on the pitch back then and got the flack that would otherwise have been at MoN, and it’s carried onto him as a player. Totally pathetic, and the Huns have got away with too much.

This led to a very contrived Scottish Parliament press conference to show they were doing something about it (sic!), but the equidistant handling misjudges the whole nature of the situation. The problem is the Rangers support, it was not a case of two sides of the same coin. The press have to start stating this, only Graham Speirs seems to do so stating “The incessant bigoted chanting by Rangers fans at Hampden was shocking. Unarguably the most socially-backward fans in British football".

Lennon was in the hearts of the Celtic support, and there were many rammies we were to back him on. For example, the SFA didn’t know their own rules. Lennon was given touchline bans, and the SFA said the bans should run consecutively but that’s not what the rules state. The punishments should run concurrently, and the intervention of our legal eagles won us the day, and the SFA had more egg on their faces.

They complained that they found our complaints tiresome, however if they can’t even interpret their own rules properly and then simply try to aim to work against us then we will fight our corner. We will NOT sit idly by. Our chairman, John Reid, was doing a stellar job in following this.

The other great moment was in the final league game of the season. We lost the league, and Killie put up no opposition to the Huns in the other match. However, our heads were not down and the support was celebrating and supporting our manager, with a mass huddle in the stands really touching the whole support. As Lennon was to put it: “This Isn't The End…It's Just The Beginning”.

Scottish Cup
The Scottish Cup may be devalued for some football supporters, but it has a tradition and history that you can love. For Celtic, after the disappointment of the League Cup and the League, the importance of lifting the Scottish Cup was more than just a statistic. For Lennon, it was to be his first trophy won as manager, and it was the least he deserved.

Earlier rounds provided little opposition, with Berwick Rangers providing the opposition in January with little resistance, although they weren’t wholly pushovers. Then we were drawn with the Big Huns, Rangers in February. The match was managed well 2-2 as stated earlier, the most interesting thing to come was that lennon and his team appeared to have worked Rangers out, and Smith & McCoist didn't have an answer to us. We won the replay 1-0 in an unbelievably explosive match elaborated on earlier. It was a great booster to the team and support.

Having defeated Rangers, we were obviously favourites for the cup, but Inv Caley provided stern opposition and we had to come back from behind with Ledley providing the goals. Our defence was shocking. Aberdeen in the semi-finals proved to be as expected, as we again pummelled them 4-0. At times watching Aberdeen collapse against us was sad to see. Too easy.

The final was important. Motherwell’s first final for twenty years (cue papers going on about the “Family Final” from the early 90s). Despite some bizarre moments from Danny M in defence (lucky to stay on the pitch) we dominated the game on a very wet day, and won comfortably 3-0. Great to see Mulgrew score from a free-kick. He’d really come a long way. Having been a whipping boy at the start of the season, he was shovelled into the central defence role in the second half of the season much to the chagrin of many, yet was a revelation. Not perfect but did an exceptional role and gained many deserved plaudits.

Enjoyable to watch, and to see us lift some silverware this season was a great sight and boded well for next season.

Overall
The real victory this season was not any trophies, but the struggle for some respect for Lennon & Celtic. Lennon had to endure a season where few in the media would unequivocally support him. What had he done so wrong? Nothing! He’d got through a season where really no one could have blamed him for his own safety and that of his family’s to have decided to call it a day. He stuck by us and we will unquestionably stick by him.

The Hun sycophants in the press had made a rod for their own backs, and despite repeat victories for Celtic in every event we tackled, they refused to show any leniency. Bizarrely, despite law courts having deemed Jim Farry as unequivocally wrong in his actions against Celtic years earlier, Jim Farry's name was brought up as stating that we hounded him! No we didn't, he was in the wrong and we successfully won our case in court. The whole Scottish scene was a shambles. The new Scottish SFA chief executive must have been wondering what he had got himself into.

The Huns may have won the league but the repercussions as we flexed our muscle will carry on for seasons to come. We will not be sidelined and be made to roll over, but deserve fairness. That’s all the club asks for.

Lennon's lawyer was right when he said that the SFA "appears to be institutionally dysfunctional".

New season was to come early and we were feeling positive despite the weak economic environment and we can only hope for the team to carry on as they did in the second half of the past season.

The Support
One of the great additions of the season was the emergence and growth of atmosphere at the ground, headed primarily by The Green Brigade (Section 122 of the Lisbon Lions Stand) & initially by the Jungle Bhoys & The Comrades (Section 111 of the Jock Stein Stand). The Green Brigade after a shaky start (coupled with antagonism from various sections of the support) grew into an incredibly strong and impressive group at putting together displays as well as loud singing, the atmosphere is now incredible at many games (whereas before it was becoming a library). Videos of a young "capo" leading the support became an internet sensation!

Most famous are the mass Huddles and the “Let’s all do the Broony!” which have gone worldwide.

Many people left games discussing and talking about the atmosphere and the Green Brigade as much as the matches themselves. Full credit to them and they helped to attract back supporters to the ground.

The “Thunder” was back, and it was as much due to the Green Brigade as to the work done by Lennon & his staff.

A huge furore occurred due to a provocative banner unfurled by the Green Brigade over Celtic players being made to wear the poppy on “Poppy Day” but that’s for a wider discussion elsewhere. It allowed critics of the club to easily jump on a soapbox to voice their mock outrage. It was pathetic but the board came down against the group. Difficult situation for them to get a balance. (see link)

However, it wasn't all plain sailing and the Jungle Bhoys group decided to call it a day in December 2010, deciding that their organisers didn't have the resources to continue. A painful loss but the rise in the Green Brigade helped to cover for this. Various people from the Jungle Bhoys moved onto the Celtic Graves Society. They got off the ground, and conducted successfully a few remembrance events to mark the lives of former club players. Very poignant and a great reflection of the importance the support places on our history.

On a sadder note, many of us lost friends and colleagues. This site lost the services of administrator John Condron/Auldbhoy who was combatting cancer, and he later died in December 2010. He will be much missed, and we on this site will always remember him. (see link)

Another was Reamon Gormley, a young Celtic fan who returning home from watching a Celtic match in Blantyre was attacked and killed. He had previously been to Thailand to help the children at the Thai Tims, and all spoke highly of him. Our condolences to him and his family. (see link).

It's been a topsy turvy season, but as a support we've come out it strongly despite losing the league. We can hold our heads up high and there was lots of room for optimisim.

Manager

• Neil Lennon
  

Players

Goalkeeping Statistics
NUM	NAME
26	Fraser Forster
24	Lukasz Zaluska
47	Don Cervi
Outfield Statistics
NUM	NAME
3	Emilio Izaguirre
5	Daniel Majstorovic
8	Scott Brown
16	Joe Ledley
88	Gary Hooper
12	Mark Wilson
10	Anthony Stokes
21	Charlie Mulgrew
33	Baram Kayal
18	Ki Sung-Yueng
9	Georgios Samaras
13	Shaun Maloney
49	James Forrest
11	Du-Ri Cha
25	Thomas Rogne
22	Glenn Loovens
15	Kris Commons
27	Daryl Murphy
20	Patrick McCourt
14	Niall McGinn
4	Efrain Juarez
–	Jos Hooiveld
–	Marc-Antoine Fortune
7	Freddie Ljungberg
–	Olivier Kapo
–	Marc Luque Crosas
–	Milan Misun
36	Graham Carey
56	Filip Twardzik
–	Richard Towell
28	James Keatings
45	Lewis Toshney

Transfers In

15 Kris Commons, £300k form Derby County January 2011 [BBC]
?? Tony Watt, £100k from Airdire United January 2011
07 Freddie Ljungberg, Free December 2010 [BBC]
77 Olivier Kapo, Free/out of contract from Wigan November 2010 [BBC]
26 Fraser Forster, on loan from Newcastle United August 2010 [BBC]

05 Daniel Majstorovi? from AEK Athens August 2010 [BBC]

16 Joe Ledley, free/out of contract from Cardiff City July 2010 [BBC]
11 Cha Du-Ri, free from SC Freiburg July 2010 [BBC]
21 Charlie Mulgrew, free from Aberdeen July 2010 [BBC]

Transfers Out

Graham Carey, Free to St Mirren July 2011
Ben Hutchinson, Released, July 2011
Freddie Ljunberg, Released July 2011
Sean Fitzharris, free to Morton, June 2011 [Scotsman]
Paul McGowan, Free? to St Mirren, June 2011 [St Mirren FC]
Marc Crosas, £300k to Volga Jan 2011 [STV]
Milan Misun, Free to Swindon Jan 2011
Olivier Kapo, Free/out of contract Jan 2011

Links

• Supporters – John Condron(Auldbhoy)
• Supporters – Reamonn Gormley
• Paul Lennon and The Good Child Foundation
• 2010 – Rescinded penalty and lying official (Oct 2010)
• 2010 – Celtic & The Poppy Appeal
• 2011 – Improvised Explosive Devices sent to manager Neil Lennon (Apr 2011)

Stats

• League Table
• Statistics

Tournament

• Champions League
• Europa League