| Matches: 2012 – 2013 | 2012-2013 Pictures | League Table | Statistics |
Trivia
- Celtic win the Scottish Cup & League double.
- Neil Lennon becomes third man to win the Celtic double as both player & manager.
- Celtic win league for second year in a row
- Celtic win Scottish Cup for 36th time, and League for 44th time.
- Celtic reach last sixteen of Champions League.
- Celtic defeat Barcelona at Celtic Park, the then highest rated club side in the world.
- First season without the now deceased Rangers FC.
- Hearts survived the season despite concerns from some parts they would go under.
Season Review
| "We want to create our own memories & our own legacy for the players here. We want them to be heroes!" Neil Lennon 18 Sep 2012 (just prior to the Champions’ League group stages) |
Brave New World?
The SPL was entering a whole new world for Celtic and Scottish Football. Possibly the most fundamentally different environment since the league reconstruction that brought in the Premier Division set-up in the 1970s.
The Huns were dissolved thanks to the taxman, and with Sevco ('The Rangers") formed anew as a tribute act from the left overs starting back in Division 3. You'd think they'd be an irrelevance but not if you read the sycophantic media. Media Huns like Jim Traynor (before he actually jumped ship to be employed officially by them) were pushing repeatedly for league reconstruction to push up the Zombie Rangers to the SPL next season! Pathetic!
But you know what? No Big Huns this season and we were going to enjoy it. However, there was no denying the financial impact of this in certain respects. Achieving both at home and in Europe was therefore vital. The current economic malaise was not helping and season ticket sales were buoyant but not sold out, so testing times.
Amongst the coaching staff, for Lennon, a painful change as he had to dismiss old comrade Alan Thompson from the coaching set-up in what became an unamicable situation. It was now a two man lead team with Lennon partnered by Mjallby. Maybe the shake up would be a good thing to shock new impetus into the side.
The fans expectations: domestic dominance and a quick title win at home.
The fans hope: Champions League group qualification. We had to be honest, just qualifying this time would be an achievement.
Away from Celtic, the country had been gripped by Olympics and Paralympics fever. An extraordinary set of performances saw TeamGB win an incredible haul of medals after many inspiring performances. This included a Celtic fan from Glasgow who won silver in the swimming, with his race shown live on the screen before a match.
Adding in a first British Tour de France win, Andy Murray's tennis Grand Slam win and Rangers collapse, it was truly a golden year for UK sports. Celtic's league win in the previous season was the cherry on top for ourselves. Were we to keep it all going into the second half of the year?
Transfers
The transfer window was to be a damp squid for Celtic for much of the time. The wailing and gnashing of teeth was in full flow but the simple fact is that financially we were limited in our options. The EPL teams were newly minted with another record tv contract, ours was cut. We'd a lot of deadwood on the wages and we weren't as yet guaranteed money from European competition group stages.
The big stories centred around Ki Seung Yung, with figures thrown about his worth with rumours that Arsenal et al were watching him. Eventually he moved to Swansea for less than the predictions at est £5.5-6.3m plus add ons. Some saw it as disappointing to see such a talent go for below value to a third rate side. The rest just accepted the financial reality.
Otherwise, the club began possibly its biggest summer clear out ever it seemed. Out went….
Players out:
- Andre Blackman, loan to ICT
- Daryl Murphy, loan to Ipswich
- Josh Thompson, free to Portsmouth
- Sung-Yong Ki, £5.5M to Swansea
- Mohamed Bangura, Loan
- Pawel Brozek, released
- Glenn Loovens, released
- Daniel Majstorovic, Free to AIK Stockholm
- Dominic Cervi, Released
It was a good way to free up wages and was nice to see the club cut its losses where need be.
Various players were loaned out, mostly youngsters to lower league, the exception being Bangura who was loaned out to Dec back to Sweden after a lacklustre last twelve months (he was leaving with his tail between his legs after his initial haughty expectations).
As for players on their way in, Forster was finally transferred in permanently for a bargain £2m it seemed. Else nothing till the last minute with three players drafted in and one free transfer afterwards….
Players in
- Lassad Nouioui, free from Deportivo La Coruña
- Luboš Kamenár, loan from Nantes
- Efe Ambrose, Undisclosed fee
- Nicolas Fedor, loan from Getafe
Loans aren't necessarily great business but in the current climate it was prudent to use them. Little spent but it was recession time, and we only ended up qualifying to the Champions League stages late, which guaranteed us income some income much to the relief of the accountants.
It was sad to see we couldn't get any blue ribbon signings. There were reports we were after Italian legend del Piero for a season (now in his last playing days) but he opted for a lucrative contract in Sydney. Disappointing but Paddy McCourt was still here (cue cheers or frustration depending on your view on him).
Despite the minimal traffic in, one bright light was the emergence of the young talent. Tony Watt, Twardzik, McGeouch and others had made their mark last season and it was hoped they'd build on it for this season. Lennon was rearing some good talent amongst the youth.
It all begins at home
Following the summer set of matches, expectation was such that the fellow clubs in the SPL would not be able to mount a challenge to us. Last season became reasonably comfortable after the poor first third, and we expected to see this momentum carry on.
The summer friendlies were poor for us following trouncings off Ajax and Real Madrid, but little should be read into those results. Better to learn now than later and work on the issues, but would be nice to get a result now and again.
If one set of problems was showing up already it was injuries. Within ten first few weeks already we had a lengthy list of players on the treatment table inc long stretches out for Kayal, Ledley, McGeouch, Stokes and Rogne.
Most difficult was Scott Brown who was diagnosed with a degenerative hip injury. Lennon had to regrettably admit that Brown was only to be considered for the European games due to his condition. It was quite a blow as he had grown into his role as captain and we were a far better side with him than without. However over the season, he managed to play more domestic games than was at first anticipated, but we did miss him. He had grown to be irreplaceable.
League Challenge
If things were to be easy in the league, nobody had told Celtic that even if all else were saying it. The team ended up enduring its worst start to a season since 1998-99. A shaky start in our first game showed early season nerves which saw surprising draws with Hibernian and Ross County, albeit with some victories along the way too.
The introduction of Danny McGrain as the new first team coach was an interesting move. The respect the support have for this majestic player doesn't need repeating (as it would take up so much space) and his presence alone would lift the spirits of the players. It was a curious move as people had been saying that an older head was needed for experience alongside Lennon, however Lennon was no longer a rookie so why now? Doesn't matter, no one could gripe over this change.
The big reality check came in the 2-1 defeat to St Johnstone. Despite a very early goal by Celtic, all predictions went out the window. The hammering went through other way as our side put in a lethargic performance that let St Johnstone into the game and they promptly won the match deservedly. Some may have read that eyes were on Europe, but that's little convincing, in this case. The Celtic side were bereft of ideas.
There was bad luck such as in the late draw with Dundee Utd which us lose a two nil lead in the last minutes of the match for a draw. A deflection off Ambrose ending in the net. It was a great game to watch and both sides left this one happy.
Can't say that for every Celtic match. Our own support was getting a little cranky with some of the results and performances in the league. Many were left baffled after the draw with St Johnstone after having hammered them five nil only a few weeks before in the League Cup. Frustrating but that's football.
Shouldn't forget some great wins for us such as trouncing St Mirren 5-0, Inverness 4-2 and Raith Rovers 4-1 and but it wasn't the norm.
For Scottish football it was a great advert and fans across the board were lapping it up. Motherwell, ourselves and Hibs had take the top spot in the league and so given the league a fresh look. Interest was definitely up.
If there was some wary news it was over Hearts. Not a club we most endear, but threats were looming of administration and liquidation. Sympathy for the devil? Not really from Celtic fans (who sang 'You're going down with the Rangers') but could be a blow to the SPL as their situation was not due to the Rangers style tax evasion cheating. However later deals sealed a tax payment to solve it and the club was involved in a fan buyout farrago.
Bizarrely we were losing games late, an ironic fact as we'd managed to garner a reputation over the years for winning games at the death! Were our concentration or physical levels dropping? Were our players tired or was this just coincidence.
A more likely answer was that the first team were not treating the league with the same focus as they should. With one eye on Europe, and the number of games there, players were wary of injury to miss out. You can see both sides but the bottom line is that we need to win at home. That's the bread and butter.
If matters came to a head then it was surely at the defeat to Inverness Caley, which saw Celtic drop points in what was a very uninspiring performance with little in reply from our own players. The main talking points was to be a reaction from Lennon who snapped back at fans sitting behind him in the dugout who were criticising him. Post match he stated that if the fans wanted him to move on her would. It was all an over reaction and came after what was a disappointing defeat to Benfica away in Europe. All had a huddle afterwards to make up, but showed that our manager was still as emotional as always.
For anyone doubting our form despite the league position then how come we had scored just seven goals in seven home league games leaving us joint bottom of the table in that statistic? All came in the shadow of the incredible achievements in the Champions League.
Some players had really come to the fore. Wanyama was one of the main topics around world football for especially his Champions League performances. Forster similar and his form at him was also great domestically.
One of the great pleasant surprises was that of the defence. Wilson was the unsung hero of of season as it was to turn out. Never flash or brash, yet he was still pushing beyond what was expected of him. Notably he was written off completely at the end of last season and only just remained. All fans happy he did. Sadly, Kayal was on the other trajectory. Passed over for others in the overburdened central midfield slots, he just wasn't regaining the form that made him stand out in his first season. It's a concern and disappointing. Lustig was making a name for himself too with many fine performances, very ably moving between acting as a wing-back and full-back in his right-back slot.
We ended the calendar year with a dispiriting defeat to Hibs in the league, where no one came out of it well. It stifled the side after what was a good run of wins domestically up to then. Nevertheless, it shouldn't put a dampener on the past twelve months which could be heralded amongst the most memorable for the support. The League title, Europe and collapse of the Huns were the real joy. The last game defeat should be seen as reflection that we still were progressing and shouldn't rest on our laurels.
We were also very entertaining, and sides were not afraid to attack us in matches. Sides seemed to see matches against us as the biggest test, so went at us like a cup final each time. It was good for the paying customer.
In what was a calendar year ranked as the finest in British sporting history, it was quite an anomaly that it was also one if the greats in our club's history too and for that we thank Neill Lennon as much as we do the Taxman.
Europe
The coaches, players & support surpassed everything that was expected. It was humbling and a very proud experience for all. Defeating Barcelona (then the highest rated side in the world and ranked as one of the greatest ever) was an exceptional high-mark which will be repeatedly recalled in years to come.
For a longer analysis of Celtic in Europe during the season, see following link:
Into the New Year
However to the new year and important simple fact was that despite the mixed performances at home, Lennon and his team had steered the club very well. To prove this fact, we were still in all four of the same competitions as we had begun at the start of the season, the first time since 1968/69. Players had to perform in many high pressure games, so it was inevitable that something would give and that was some league matches, yet net we'd kept our heads above water. It was good management and a sign of maturity by Lennon et al.
The squad was in tact, the players were developing, youngsters were being given the odd chance and exposure and the fans were enjoying the whole fare. It was all positive.
Notably, journos Traynor and Keevins tried to take Lennon to task, but Lennon tweeted in reply that they should be ignored as he himself ignores them and finds them irrelevant. In reflection this is a bigger point to note than it at first seems. It was previously only the online supporters pushing this line, but now we had a Senior figure stating the same point. It is an important note for the media, and the print media need to take it in as it's a clear admission from the frontline of the decreasing importance of the print media. In the past, there might have been repercussions but increasingly who really cared? Their own decline was being publicly acknowledged by the main men and it was a blow to the old dinosaurs in the tabloid print media who were struggling to adjust and clung on only by unashamed sycophancy to the Huns.
January transfer window
If anything, this window reflected the state of the economy, lots of supply and great demands yet little trading across the board. Even the big guns across Europe seemed to keep their powder dry for the summer. For Celtic, the main fears were of losing Hooper and Wanyama, but despite serious overtures they were still here at at the end (Norwich in particular pestering to recruit Hooper). Disappointment was an inability to shift more deadwood but maybe January isn't the time for it.
Out did go Andre Blackman, Rabiu Ibrahim and a never played Czech goalkeeper. In came, highly rated Aussie Tom Rogic, Gershon (loan) and a reserve Swedish goalkeeper. Not much to get excited about, but keeping players was probably more important than bringing in players.
One thing was apparent already. The past summer's transfers were already a failure. Miku, despite the quality CV, was simply not good enough despite moments of quality, and Lassad flattered to deceive. Neither was expected to play much of a role in the remainder of the season (and that's how it panned out).
Diverted attentions….
From January, Celtic finally started to impose their strength on on league. Where previously we were just keeping our noses in front, now we were pushing all the way and finally creating a gap between ourselves and the rest in the league.
Problem was that all eyes were diverted to the the upcoming Champions League games v Juventus. A good problem but a distraction for the domestic campaign. Some would even argue that after the Juventus matches were over that certain players acted as if the season was over and kind of switched off. We were knocked out easily and that is a dampener. In fairness, it’s a giant step down from Europe so a comedown is inevitable (especially with the build up that went with that match), however prolonged absences on the field are not acceptable.
If one match stood out and seemed to capture all the elements that have made up Celtic domestically this season then it was the incredible 4-3 win over Aberdeen. In what was the best match of the season domestically, Celtic went ahead in the first minute only to then screw it all up and end up soon enough three one down. Tragic performance and a symptom of the lackadaisical attitude of some players (we had lost our last four games). Yet the game turned with a remarkable comeback sealed with Samaras scoring a cracking overhead goal in injury time to grab us an unlikely 4-3 win and turn the season back our way.
The league challenge was exactly like this match. We were favourites to win but fought for it and had some mighty scares over the year, and sealed it off comfortably. It wasn't the walk over as many were predicting and there were scares but can't hide that once we got our nose in front we stayed there and deservedly so. Other teams came and took up the challenge and played some good football. Some of our players needed to pull up their socks. Can't take any match for granted no matter what level.
Regardless of the Aberdeen game which showed great mettle, the general view of Celtic in the second half of the season prior to the break was that there was a bit of malaise. Some truth to that and some exaggerations. Celtic actually went on a bit of a goal scoring spree. Hooper et al helped to boost Celtic’s goals for tally with Dundee Utd in particular in the firing line for some absolute spankings from our first team including a 4-0 and 6-2 defeat in January and February respectively. Dundee also lost 5-0 to Celtic, so the Tayside teams were a boon for the first team. We were having a bit of a ball.
The strikers this season had had a very interesting season. The big tests were in Europe, and Samaras in particular stood out with some exceptional goals. He'd now learnt to score with his headers (something he wasn't as good with in the past), and domestically he put in one of his best season tallies despite not being a starter in all games. The strikers were switched around often. Hooper was still the main man, and popped up with a wonderful tally of 4 goals in Europe and 19 in the league. He had a knack to get in the right position and get the goals, and despite overtures from Norwich et al down south he remained at the club. He had his fallow periods but he made up for it in other games. Stokes on the other hand was frustrating. We all love the guy but off-field could still overshadow on-field, and his return was fair but not brilliant. Commons & Ledley had a greater return in the league. Goals from midfiellders is a great bonus, but our strikers must make a return. Granted, if you need a goal in a game others can't score in, then Stokes is a valued player. Yet, he was not achieving what was possible from him.
Overall apart from Hooper, none of our other strikers were necessarily wholly reliable for a consistent supply goals despite Stokes & Samaras having scored some important goals, so moving forward a fresh approach was needed.
Tony Watt was the young pretender to the strikers. He was exceptional at points, but since his zenith in the 2-1 win over Barcelona, he was little utilised and stories were abounding that he had spat out the dummy. Hopefully the stories are apocryphal as he is a precocious talent. He has a long way to go but we have faith in him, and patience and good management is needed.
However, one major issue was to become a bugbear. After defeating Inverness CT in February, Celtic didn’t win another away game until late May! This included defeats to Motherwell away and Ross County. The first team even went on a four game losing streak in February/March which brought back some of the old concerns over Lennon but that was unfair. Teams can have these blips and the team had done enough to be allowed some slippage.
Despite certain trip-ups along the way, the other sides tripped up more than we did with our nearest competitors in the league not able to take advantage of any our errors. So we were covered in that area. There was little consistent challenge from the other sides which was disappointing.
For the support, with the league title just a finger tip away the attention turned to off field issues. The Scottish Government had brought in a football orders bill which was a heavy handed way for the SNP to try to show it was handling the game. It was a shambles of a bill which allowed police & authorities to harass supporters with the Green Brigade in particular targeted. On 6 March, the police kettled the Green Brigade and other supporters unnecessarily which created tension and further exacerbated the current low confidence in laws governing football supporters. It ended up going international and became a national embarrassment for the government. The support were behind the Green Brigade, not just at Celtic. The Celtic Supporters Trust must take credit for their stance and assistance, with a demo at George Square being well attended and handled to decry the current situation and push for change.
League Cup
Our first tentative steps to the treble surely clung with this little trophy. No Oldco (dead) and no Sevco after they were laughably pumped out the tournament early doors by similar low league teams. Ha!
So into the semis against St Mirren. Straight forward win of course having scored 22 goals against them with no reply in our recent meetings. However, complacency and admittedly arrogance laid waste to Celtic's efforts, and St Mirren humbled Celtic 3-2. Charlie Mulgrew had a torrid time. Missed a penalty that would have been decisive only to then concede a penalty (which was converted)but Mulgrew scored at the death but by then it was all over already. St Mirren were the better side on the day and deserved their victory, and the team were rightly chastised by Lennon publicly.
It was disappointing as again we'd lost a chance of a coveted domestic treble. It also revitalised concerns of Lennon's frailties on big occasions, which was premature after the excellent run in Europe (still not over at this point).
We'd now lost three times in a row at Hampden, what was the issue there? Possibly better to live and learn from a defeat here than in any of the other tournaments but learn the lessons we must.
Post split (League)
No point stating otherwise, but there was no real excitement of more an inevitable awaiting for the league title. Poor scheduling by the powers that be meant that an early match between second placed Motherwell and ourselves was missed, and we won the title instead against Inv Caley and collected the title instead against St Johnstone.
Players were playing below par which in some ways was disrespectful to the paying support. Anyhow, Celtic defeated Dundee Utd away in the final league match, and it was incredible that this was our first away victory since February.
Looking at the players, there were exceptions such as Commons who had come to the fore in particular in the second half of the season, and was the second highest scorer in the league for us. He was exceptional for many the player of the season, back to his best. Others such as Wanyama and Ambrose that shone earlier were not at their best later on. Forster in goals had not really returned to form after an injury and the defence was becoming creaky again especially after Ambrose's stark dip in form after returning from the African Cup of Nations.
We missed Scott Brown. He may have his detractors, but we're a far superior side with him than not. Some of the other midfielders just don't have what he brings (which is almost ineffable). Kayal, Forrest and Ledley are all great players but this wasn't a stellar season for any of them although not saying any of them were necessarily poor either. No stand-out there.
The midfield area was very overcrowded in the squad, and with the exception of Wanyam & Commons, few really came to the fore for much of the season. Pretty much hit & miss. Forrest was out with injuries which didn't help, and Samaras was used commonly more as left-side winger than a striker. This doesn't reflect on the midfielders that others were doing their duty. Kayal in partictular has never fully recovered from injuries. His first season form has yet to be repeated, and all are disappointed & frustrated with him. The midfield was an area that achieved a lot with Wanyama & Commons but not with others. Will need work on for next season.
Most of the matches domestically were fair competition and and oppositions wanted to win to end the seasons on a high, especially those battling for European matches. Ach well! Must add add the state of some grounds pit was abysmal. Totally unacceptable. It could be a relief to be back in Celtic Park.
It was a proud achievement to win the league, and you could see from from faces of all the players that it all meant very much to them. Strangely the early title wrap up meant that there was a greater appetite now for the cups, previously much side lined.
Scottish Cup
If we were to have the unwanted honour of facing the Huns in senior competition this season it would be through the Scottish Cup. With their early record hopefully we'd avoid them as they'd be knocked out unless we had the poor luck to be drawn with them early enough on.
Early trip up against Arbroath (two leagues down) saw us play our an embarrassing draw at home, only scrapping through the replay through a wonderful debut goal by Matthews.
After the troublesome Arbroath matches, the competition became quite interesting. Next came Raith Rovers and a 3-0 victory was easy enough but gave back some confidence after the shambles in the last round.
However, it was St Mirren next and it was time for payback after they knocked us out of the League Cup. Thankfully this time there was no repeat, and the support went home mightily relieved. A lot of credit to St Mirren. Having taken a number of tankings from Celtic they held their own well in the cup matches.
The semifinals and the tackling of the Hampden hoodoo. Dundee Utd were our next challenge, and this match became the toughest of the lot. Despite going ahead it was to be a very exciting affair that saw Dundee Utd fight for everything, and come back form behind and take the lead only to see Celtic fight back and Dundee Utd pull another goal to take the match to extra-time. Commons was the main man grabbing a double in the first half, but Daly for Dundee Utd kept the 'Arabs' in the match. It went down to a late goal by Stokes in extra-time to seal the victory for Celtic, much to the relief of all. Sympathy to Dundee Utd but what a great advert for Scottish final as was also the other semi-final.
The final was to be another stick in the craw for the Huns. An all green final between Celtic and Hibernian was a fitting finale. It was a big affair for both. For Hibs, as we were repeatedly reminded hadn't won the Scottish Cup now for over 100 years and had been humiliated last season by Hearts etc etc. For Celtic, to show our strength we had to win at least one domestic cup on top of the league. So both sides had a lot resting on this match.
This sun was out and the fans' displays from both were excellent. It was though all one way, and the Celtic dominance saw some great goals. One or two scares from Hibs but no argument on the conclusion of the match, we'd won the cup now for the 36th time, and we'd sealed the double. Hooper was the hero grabbing a delightful double.
We'd sealed the double! It was incredible and for Lennon it marked him down in the annals of Celtic history becoming the third Celtic man to have won the double as both a player and manager. He deserved the respect from this as do his backroom staff.
Also helped to settle concerns over 'Hampden hoodoos'. Not a place we'd had too much success of late.
If anyone questioned the respect of the players they just had to see their faces on winning this trophy. They enjoyed it thoroughly and it clearly illustrated their love for the club and the general camaraderie between the players.
A Word on the Youngsters
It's been a mixed season for youngsters at Celtic. A number were given debuts and opportunities but none have had a sustained presence. Tony Watt is the poster boy after his dream goal that defeated Barcelona in the European Cup. However, since then he was given few opportunities with rumours flying about that he had spat out the dummy. Still young so still time. McGeouch was like the others pushed to the full but not enough were making the grade despite impressing in the odd game. McGeouch will be given further opportunities but needs to show more before he loses all his hair.
The rest were given a single match run-out if that, and so little to say even though few put in any disappointing appearances. Cynics would say they were token appearances to allow them the chance to have appeared at least once for the first side and nothing more. If the coaching team deserve any criticism then in truth they had more than the opportunity in light of Celtic's lead late in the season to bleed & test the youngsters further, but they didn't. That's disappointing.
Overall Tony Watt is still seen as our best hope but it's not yet a stellar return. Our development of youngsters is not paying sufficient dividends, and that is as much the fault of the coaches as is the players (if not more so). Buying in transfers has been getting more expensive and difficult, we may have to rely more on the youth scheme in seasons upcoming than we have needed to for a long time.
Summary
The league was done and dusted, and we should be proud of what was an entertaining and thoroughly uplifting season. Only the most churlish of supporters could really complain about our haul this season (best ignore them).
The European campaign and the domestic success are the bread and butter of what we should aim for. To have achieved it in this difficult season was incredible. It's a lot to ask of the players to have to perform on so many different fronts. Some did sway and saw their form slip at points whilst others caught up a bit late. Consistency is something to work on.
Lennon and his staff had grown in their maturity. Tactics were being better deployed whereas once he denied using any. The players were happy and the mood was positive in the team. Fans had been rewarded with a £100 season ticket discount for the next season but this would have some ramifications financially which must be noted, but should help all in what is a difficult financial climate. It was dispiriting to see waves of empty seats at games at Celtic but money is tight for many.
Transfers record was a bit of a disappointment, and the failings of both Miku and Lassad had major repercussions for Celtic. They were papped out at the end of the season. In the past few years, we’d now failed repeatedly to bring in and develop quality strikers. Brozek, Bangura, Murphy and Rasmussen are other names to add to the failed list. For a club that has had many great imports (e.g. Cadette, Larsson, Viduka etc) this was a puzzle. In short-term, we will need to stop trying to pick up 'enigmatic' forwards on the cheap and invest some time effort and money into strengthening this area. With the cost of transfers increasingly getting out of grasp, might have to look at bleeding more youngsters.
From this season, the Barca victory is what will be remembered most by the footballers but it's not the only hight point of the whole season. Europe was an unexpected joy for us all but the coaches can't live off of it forever. It all starts up again very soon due to Champions League qualifiers in July, but in their meantime all have the right to bask in the glow of the past season's successes.
Other Notes
One good surprise was that of the great wee Gordon Strachan becoming the Scotland manager. He had burgeoning respect and support from Celtic after his genuine support in the media for the club in Europe and for that we praise him (a far sight better than the antagonism we get from many).
In an environment where independence seemed to be the fashion, with Scotland arguing for independence, Conservatives announcing a future referendum on UK in the EU and various EU regions fight for more autonomy, Celtic seemed to buck the trend a little as we normally do. Hopes for greater integration in preferably a European league set up is long off, whilst the EPL are a next alternative. Neither was at the time likely. Celtic are a big fish in a shrinking pond, and despite a greater battle in matches from fellow clubs, Celtic's dominance was inevitable. There is solidarity with the other SPL clubs but its also a case of staying small unless we move on. So far nothing, but moves were always afoot.
Scottish, Dutch, Belgian and Scandinavian sides have suffered in the new oligarchy world of football, and we have just kept our heads above water. It's no easy matter with free football streamed on the net of every match in the world, so if you're poor then it's cheaper that than pay to watch your local side. Football really is not (and has not been for quite a while) the workings man mode of respite. Celtic had to just keep pushing above their weight and this season has been phenomenal on that side but it can't be guaranteed each season, and despite the good football and success it's dispiriting to see so many empty seats at matches. It's a battle for clubs like Celtic in the smaller leagues.
The media as ever were a shambles. Pages were devoted to the Zombie Huns even though the old Deadco damaged Scottish football. Celtic on the other hand had to deal with the usual nonsense. Still seemed to be the case that articles couldn't appear about Lennon without a gruesome ranting image, completely at odds to his character. One sycophant even jumped ship from the old media to join the Zombie Huns as their press relations manager. Laughable.
In contrast, the international media was far more sympathetic to Celtic with the Barcelona victory giving Celtic unheralded coverage across the globe. It's a start but need to build upon it.
As for the Zombie Huns? That can all be left to somewhere else. The rest of Scottish football was coping fine without them, and attendances were holding up fine and the matches were great. It wasn't all easy, and testing times for everyone. Performances were picking up and league reconstruction kept on rearing its head, to be resuscitated next season. It was and entertaining season and we all hoped that it would carry on. Importantly, we all want better for Scottish football.
It's been a great season and one to remember
Links
- Matches: 2012 – 2013
- Champions League 2012-13
- Statistics 2012-13
- League Table 2012-13
- Scottish Cup 2012-13
- League Cup 2012-13
- KDS Player of the Year 2012-13
- Team Line-up Picture 2012-13