Season Review 2023-24 – The Celtic Wiki

Matches: 2023 – 2024 | League Table | Statistics

Season Points

Celtic win the Double, League & Scottish Cup.
The League & Scottish Cup victories secures another trophy for Hoops’ and now is 118 in the club’s history, a record in Scotland
New season new manager: Brendan Rodgers returned to Celtic. John Kennedy & Gavin Strachan retained as assistants.
The expanded European schedule has put paid to the Scottish Premiership winter break next season. A rise in UEFA league matchdays from six to up to 10 has created an increased challenge for the Scottish Professional Football League to fit in the 38 top-flight fixture dates. The league phase of the Champions and Europa League will now run until the end of January, as opposed to finishing before Christmas.

Trivia Points

“Shock surprise but my pick for league title is Rangers [sic!] (I’m being deadly serious). Ange Postecoglou lost his first match, it was a wake-up call and then went on to win and dominate…”
Ex-Rangers player Lee McCulloch on Radio Scotland podcast (August 2023)
First cup defeat in Scotland for Brendan Rodgers, league up v Kilmarnock.
Don’t buy into this “overtaking their trophy haul next session”. Sevco have 2 trophies. That’s it. The narrative is being pushed to fool us into accepting their club was founded before 2012, which, quite simple, it wasn’t.
Referee Operations department havef appointed Andrew Dallas and Greg Aitken as the first dedicated Video Assistant Referees in Scotland. The start of the new season also a VAR Independent Review Panel created to deliver assessments of key match incidents.
Willie Collum made head of Scottish referees at the end of the season, much to the chagrin of all at Ibrox who have publicly called for him not to ref games at Ibrox.
Masses of injuries in the season stumped everyone.
Celtic make Scottish football history by becoming the first team to win the men’s and women’s league titles in the same season.
There were no hat-tricks scored in this season’s Scottish Premiership – this is the first season in Scottish top flight history (1890/91 onwards) without one.
Celtic historian David Potter passed away.
Celtic support’s favourite and legendary singer Shane McGowan passed away. RIP
First ever meeting between Celtic and TheRangers in a Scottish Cup final.
Some EPL commentators in European football concerned about the transfer & financial clout of the Saudi Arab clubs and impact it will have on their dealings. Made little difference overall.
According to figures from UEFA, Celtic generated the 17th highest revenue through kit & merchandise in Europe last year. That’s more than sides such as Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid & Benfica. Celtic’s earnings – €34M.
Politics: No confidence vote saw First Minister Yusuf Humza step down, so John Swinney stepped up to become new FM.
War continues in Ukraine and breaks out in Israel/Palestine. Green Brigade are prominent supporters of the Palestine cause but have some banners that irk some (we stay neutral on conflicts on this site, as related issues are left for more appropriate forums than this).
Euros: Scotland qualified for Euros 2024, but were underwhelming and finished bottom of their group so out early doors. Matt O’Riley NOT included in Denmark squad incredibly! Four Celts in Scotland squad: Ralston, Taylor, McGregor, Forrest. Ex Celt Tierney suffered a serious injury v Switzerland likely will again keep him out of play for months.

Transfers

Celtic signed a total of nine players on permanent deals for a total of around £22M, out of those nine not one has been a regular in our starting XI.Eight of those nine have started less than thirteen matches. The year prior we paid around £8M on Oh, Bernabei & Haksabanovic, these three started seven matches collectively.
Luis Palma – £3.5M; Maik Nawrocki – £4.3M; Gustaf Lagerbielke – £3M;Odin Holm – £2.6M; Yang Hyun-Jun – £2.1M; Kwon Hyeok-kyu – £850K; Marco Tilio – £1.5M; Tomoki Iwata – £828K; Nat Phillips – Loan; Paulo Bernardo – Loan
Summer Ins
Odin Thiago Holm (£2.25m, Valerenga), Marco Tilio (£2m, Melbourne City), Yang Hyun-jun (£2.1m, Gangwon FC), Kwon Hyeon-kyu (£850,000, Busan I-Park), Maik Nawrocki (£4.3m, Legia Warsaw), Gustaf Lagerbiekle (£3m, Elfsborg), Luis Palma (£3.5m, Aris Thessaloniki), Nat Phillips (loan, Liverpool), Paulo Bernardo (loan, Benfica).
Summer Outs
SOLD: Filipe Jota (£25m, Al-Ittihad), Carl Starfelt (£5m, Celtic Vigo), Ismaila Soro (£150,000 Beitar Jerusalem), Conor Hazard (£150,000, Plymouth Argyle). Albian Ajeti (undisclosed Gaziantep);
LOANED: Adam Montgomery (Fleetwood Town), Bosun Lawal (Fleetwood Town), Liam Shaw (Wigan), Sead Haksabanovic (Stoke City), Ben Summers (Dunfermline), Ben McPherson (Queen’s Park), Tobi Oluwayemi (Admira Wacker), Matthew Anderson (Admira Wacker).
Summer RELEASED: Vasilis Barkas (FC Utrecht), Osaze Urhoghide (Amiens).
January window:
In: Adam Idah signs for Celtic on loan;
Out: Marco Tilio sent on loan back to Melbourne City in ASL; Mikey J sent to West Brom on loan; David Turnbull sold for £2m to Cardiff
Head of Transfers Mark Lawell who is the son of Celtic Chairman (and former Chief Exec) Peter Lawell was cut from his role, as really poor job.

Europe

Celtic straight into the group stages this season.
Group E: Celtic Feyenoord, Atlético Madrid, Lazio; Celtic pot 4
Celtic finally win a game in the group stages after 10 years.
Celtic finish bottom with only 4pts.
Celtic target of football after Xmas is a fail again.

Season Review

Celtic have dominated Scottish football since the death of Rangers now over a decade ago, which many in Scottish football have found hard to admit. Despite that, it’s not always been plain sailing, with still much sweat, blood & tears along the way for the players, managers and supporters. This season though was probably the most dramatic from all those years to date, even taking in the very difficult league title loss under Neil Lennon three seasons prior which was conceded very prematurely.

Into this new season under the newly returning manager, up front there was understandable confidence that Celtic would build on from the legacy that Ange Potecoglou had left behind. There was no denying that Rodgers had inherited a fine developing squad, with only the departure of Jota being a big loss. It wasn’t to quite turn out like that, and if anything the legacy slipped away quite quickly.

Back in the hot seat for Brendan Rodgers, there was a shakey start in the opening games (4-2 wins over Ross County on Flag day followed by a nervy 3-1 away win to Aberdeen) . If anything was to prove that this was a new era then incredibly the early defeat to Kilmarnock in the league cup to quickly knock Celtic out, ended both Celtic’s treble hopes and Brendan’s unbeaten Cup record in Scotland. The kinder historians see it to have had unintended benefits from it, giving everyone a fresh start and from the off removing the burden of the target of another Treble but still a surprise. In reality, it highlighted there were certain issues to address.

The early league matches showed that Rodgers was simply not going to followed the same playing philosophy as his predecessor, with the consequence that the performances were unconvincing. A no score draw v St Johnstone following the Kilmarnock league cup defeat demonstrated a transition period, but clearly not all was right. The irony is that having been handed a strong hand originally, things seemed to be unravelling. It allowed for those critics who were biting their tongues about the board and the returned Rodgers to begin to speak out again.

The bigger problem was what the first game v Sevco was very early and next up, with tensions heightened as no away fans due to a spat between the clubs. A deluge of injuries and a dip in moral meant that Celtic were actually looked upon as underdogs, but Rodgers pulled everything together perfectly for a 1-0 victory, aided by two Sevco goals being correctly ruled out. A tough ask on the day, but there were a number of unlikely heroes (e.g. Scales and O’Riley) and it was definitely a major result in the circumstances. It also proved the worth of VAR, and how it could help finally level the playing field.

For Rodgers, it helped give him the filip he needed with the support, albeit some still harboured a grudge against him. The problem for Rodgers was that while the support grudgingly welcomed him back there was still little genuine affection for him from the majority, so he had little room for error. Each game could be a test, but having got through the early sticky patch, it was like the opening and closing of a release valve that got out of the way the worst of the pressure.

A key point came at September month end in one of the most topsy turvey matches of the season. Celtic won at the death of a match (2-1 away to Motherwell (Sep 2023) after having first conceded in injury time (a goal from each side in injury time). The ‘never stop’ mantra was still alive, albeit it was a dreadful game. On the same day Sevco lost unexpectedly to Aberdeen at home, after which Sevco sacked their manager as they fell seven pts behind Celtic, and Rodger felt he was in a lucky position, for now at least.

A superb moment for Rodgers who had defeated his counterpart even though Celtic were admittedly still far from convincing at this point. Injuries were a reason but not the entire story. With the exception of O’Riley, no one was clearly standing out as having improved to date on field. Hatate was still an anchor in the side but when out due to injury, the Celtic side began to falter.

The a real surprise was to be the sharp fluctuations of Celtic’s form from early on, which was even more surprising due to what was thought to be the quality at hand, only to find that once injuries set in, Celtic were under constraints which couldn’t be dealt with. If anything the once highly vaunted squad was now back to square one.

When Celtic defeated Kilmarnock 3-1 at Celtic Park (Oct 2023), it was a brilliant performance and many thought that finally this would bring the best out of the team, and now they were settled under the new Brendan Rodgers playing philosophy (whatever that was meant to be). It wasn’t to be.

Celtic began to squander rapidly their 7pt lead, and from there, Brendan Rodgers was to find a new test which would push his patience.

The real dip in form began around late November with a series of disastrous results which effectively wiped out Celtic’s built up seven point cushion ahead of Sevco. Even when winning during this period, Celtic were often not wholly convincing, and the problems were staring everyone in the face.

The major blow was a 2-0 defeat to Hearts at home which followed a defeat to Kilmarnock. In both, Celtic were second best with the general play mostly lethargic and uninspiring. Key players were sterile and there was little to no spark to drive the side forward. It squandered what was a big lead in the league.

What was a key problem was the burgeoning injury list. The loss of Hatate was the most striking, but Abada and Carter-Vickers (on/off) had also a serious impact. Add in Maeda, Iwata, Nawrocki et al, and it seemed that Celtic were jinxed. The greater concern was that the replacements and the bench was inadequate to cover for the losses. Hatate wasn’t signing a new contract initially so there was problems from the start of the season that the manager had to stamp on.

The transfers were little succeeding excluding Palma (initially), and already in December, the general view was that the summer transfer window had been a failure, with a clear-out already required in January to come. Incredibly, even Rodgers & McGregor were openly commenting about requiring fresh blood or better quality players. Not the most uplifting situation.

If any one moment was thought to change the support’s relationship with Rodgers it was the post match rant after an unacceptable first half performance in a 3-1 win v St Johnstone in Dec 2023. It was thought this would provide the kick that the side needed, and for the concerned support it was received well. It didn’t turn out well in the following weeks, and the concerns continued.

Rodgers new system and tactics were not suiting all the players. He clearly didn’t rate the make up of the squad and the transfers he had inherited, and the disaffection from certain players was evidently being played out on field.

Various players despite numerous opportunities were failing. The second wave of Asian players were a shadow of the form of the first, and Oh, Yang and Iwata were underwhelming.

One big loss, was the once again suspended Green Brigade which was arguably having an impact, depending on who you spoke to. A dampened atmosphere making it less hostile for the opposition, subdued divided atmosphere as well as focus being diverted wasn’t helping. The results in their absence spoke volumes but the group had their critics amongst the support too.

A respite and bounceback came in a dramatic but deserved 2-1 win over Sevco at Celtic Park in the league (Dec 2023) reset the clock properly. A number of previously criticised players came through in this match, most notably Bernardo who scored the opening goal with a peach of a driver shot. For Rodgers, it was a welcome reprieve, and even at the time it was known how crucial this match was, as if Celtic had lost then the knives would have been out, albeit concerns remained. The match was overshadowed by Sevco complaints over a penalty not given (but clearly VAR called it correctly), it was smoke & mirrors again by them.

A comfortable win over St Mirren in the final match before the winter shutdown, meant Celtic maintained their league hegemony but not wholly convincing. Rodgers was clearly needing more work done both with and to the squad to ensure Celtic remained at the top. Yet many were also suggesting that Rodgers was indeed part of the problem if not the crux of it.

Europe

“I think success for us as a club is to be in Europe after Christmas. That’s what our aim is.”
Brendan Rodgers Sep 2023

With Celtic entering straight into the group stages, there was massive relief. The entry of Rodgers was hoped to helped raise some confidence that Celtic could finally push forward for a change after countless underwhelming performances, especially last season which saw Celtic hit poor low, with the only positive being that Sevco sunk even further south.

Rodgers himself opined that “I think success for us as a club is to be in Europe after Christmas. That’s what our aim is.” It would kind of come back to haunt him.

The group on paper was not by any means the toughest that Celtic could have got, and thankfully Celtic avoided the toughest seeds in the competition. Feyenoord, Athletico Madrid & Lazio were a varied section which at least on paper Celtic had a better chance of taking something.

However, even after just the first match, expectations sunk to the floor. Celtic lost 2-0 away to Feyenoord, with two Celts sent off in the match to compound matters. Celtic actually played well at times but did shoot themselves in the foot. A penalty save from Joe Hart was the highlight for all, but Hatate who was sent off sufferred an injury and was out long-term, our most valuable player.

After that, a 2-1 loss to Lazio was no surprise but off-field concerns was worrying. Lazio were actually going through a full-blown crisis after their worst league start in 21 years. Yet Celtic blew the opportunity, after taking a deserved lead but then letting Lazio equalise, with a very late injury time goal (90+5 mins) partly the fault of Carter-Vickers, and already it all looked over.

A comeback of sorts with a 2-2 draw with Athletico at home raised spirts, albeit the large Palestinian flag displays were causing consternation due to the Israel/Hamas/Palestine conflict in full force. Out of all the performances this was the best one, but Celtic came down to earth in the away leg with a 6-0 thumping, with Celtic hampered by an early sending off for Maeda. You can’t argue with this

Lazio sealed Celtic’s fate with a 2-0 victory in the penultimate match, which saw Celtic once gain collapse despite a spirited display. Late in the game Lazio brought on two top quality goalscorers to play against our tiring and booked defenders and our tired midfield, and it worked. Both goals avoidable for Celtic, but that was our responsibility to sort it out.

The final match was a dead rubber match, but Celtic finally won a Champions League group match for the first time in ten years, winning with a late goal by Lagerbielke in injury time. Admittedly though, Feyenoord could have won the game, but thankfully not. There was room for pride but admission that Celtic were hardly wholly convincing. Curiously for a dead rubber match, the game was well fought by both sides, albeit the referee let Feyenoord get away with too many challenges unpunished.

If the benchmark was to reach third to win further games in Europe in the new year, well Rodgers had failed. Some blamed the board but in fairness the money had been spent and there was a bloated squad.

In fairness to Rodgers, there were some major issues with injuries, losing CCV (on/off), Narowski, Lagerbielke, Hatate, Abada and Maeda etc, it wasn’t easy to set the team up.

In truth, there was poor luck for Celtic, and it was small margins but there’s just so often you are unlucky. Celtic had to prove themselves more, but had once again failed to. Rodgers has to date a poor record in the Champions League with Celtic. He is a highly regarded manager, but his whole tactics had to be overhauled.

Whatever, it was another sad unwanted challenge in the competition, and Celtic were back to the drawing board.

Post-Winter Break

The Turn of the year dip in form, once the league matches got going after the winter break, there was an unconvincing win over Ross County and then dropped points against Aberdeen in an away draw. After the win v Ross County, the fans let their frustrations known by unhelpfully booing the side (and even a guy in a Santa suit) with Rodgers retorting:

“I’ve had that since I’ve been here. If it’s not the result, it’s me. If it’s not me, it’s the board. All we can do as a team is win games”.
Brendan Rodgers (2024)

The new players (Kuhn and on-loan Idah) definitely helped with Idah scoring some notable goals which even led to some positing for him to now start ahead of out-of-form Kyogo, which reflected some tension from the stands. The problem was more that the injury glut was still impacting everything, but this over-reliance on Carter-Vickers and Hatate showed a weakness to the side.

Rodgers was castigated for his tactics, and many argued that his change in style was stymying Kyogo’s potency in goals, compounded that he was clearly missing compatriot Hatate. The wingers in general were failing, most notably Palma whose form simply disintegrated whilst on-loan Bernardo was proving his doubters right after his purple patch in December. Matt O’Riley seemed to have had his head turned (as he later self-confessed) from the offers from Atletico Madrid, and this had a very negative impact on Celtic.

With Hatate & McGregor out with injuries and Abada sold on, it wasn’t confidence inducing for the coming months. Many players were underperforming, especially Alistair Johnston, Iwata, O’Riley and even Kyogo, whilst Palma’s form simply disappeared.

On paper the results in the first quarter of the new year appeared mixed but Sevco were rejuvenated under their new manager Clement who despite any later criticisms to the contrary, he actually had done a decent job to rejuvenate a battered squad. Their side went on a long winning run that really put the pressure on Brendan Rodgers and Celtic. That they were still in Europe, adding to their players’ incentive to put in performances and proved that the gap between the Glasgow sides wasn’t as unsurmountable as some claimed. Their confidence was growing.

It was concerning for an underwhelming Celtic and many pitted that confidence was low, and inevitably this resurrected the targetting of the board for mismanagement but also criticism of Rodgers ability, as one Green Brigade banner put it: “Celtic Board – On your heads be it“.

It wasn’t all bad, and incredibly for Rogers he finally won his first game at Hibernian in five attempts in a 2-1 win (Feb 2024), but there were too many unnecessarily dropped point and many games were close calls. O’Riley’s dip in form was clearly part of the cause of this malaise.

The real hit in the guts was the deserved defeat to Hearts, which showed the lack of mettle in the squad (2-0 away, Mar 2024). Sevco had actually lost to Motherwell the day before, so Celtic had the opportunity to leapfrog Sevco in the title race but Hearts were on form with reportedly Ibrox-bound Shankland scoring the winner. Admittedly the refereeing was heavily questioned (especially an unwarranted red card to Yang) but Celtic missed a penalty (Idah) and really the lack in depth of the squad was having an impact.

The gap between Celtic and Sevco had been reduced to a only 2-3 pts (give or take a game in hand), and the importance of the goal difference was increasingly crucial with this tight league title race, and even that was narrowing.

Inevitably in such a close race, the matches v Sevco were the pivotal matches, but really any point earned against any side was vital.

Celtic lost the chance to put Sevco back in their box in a 3-3 away draw, after being 2-0 ahead after losing a final goal in the final moments of the game to let Sevco keep in. However, that performance really did shake Celtic up for the better having controlled the bulk of the match, in a difficult atmosphere with no away fans permitted (due to the continued spat between the clubs started by Sevco). It seemed to take a lot out of Sevco who soon after then suprisingly lost to Ross County and dropped points. It finally enabled Celtic to leapfrog Sevco and this time stay in front.

You could sense another turning point in the season as the Sevco manager had a mini implosion with some bizarre media statements whilst the Ibrox hordes turnie on some of their players (most notably their most talented Fabio Silva).

Rodgers on the other hand was generally beginning to take it all in his stride as things finally began to click onto place.

Celtic had got fortunate to this point, with Sevco slipping up the following week unexpectedly dropping points, so Celtic were now in front by a whisker. It was deserved, and yet there was still much caution.

Post-Split

After the travails of the past six months, the post split at the start appeared to throw up some potential banana skins, but Celtic were in the driving seat with a narrow advantage in points.

A welcome relief was both finally a near fullly recovered squad from injury and a return to form of star player O’Riley. It finally helped Rodgers to demonstrate what his first choice side could do on the pitch.

Dundee had taken points off Sevco recently, but Celtic managed to dodge the bullet in a 2-1 win. The real relief was a surprisingly comfortable 3-0 victory that also saw bete bout Shankland sent off. After some difficult matches this season v Hearts, this was a relief for Rodgers who was finally seeing his team come together after injuries and the rest of it.

The match v Sevco was the key and surprisingly brought forward as the second of the last set of matches. Sevco had to win, but with their fans in revolt and their manager starting to lose the plot, summertime couldn’t come soon enough for them. For Celtic, Rodgers was relaxed and even stated so before the match albeit his words were twisted by the media. Celtic were at home with no away fans and ahead in the league with a full strength squad. A 2-1 win was more comfortable than it seems on paper, and the team should have won by far more.

The last couple of matches were celebration matches, but also relief. There was a big goodbye to popular goalkeeper Joe Hart, who was retiring from play, and for the fans another emotional season of highs & lows. The league was really all that matterred especially as the winner took the Champions League automatic spot, possibly for the last time for a long while to come.

But there was still a Scottish Cup to be won, and being played v Sevco.

Scottish Cup run to the final…

The Scottish Cup final was a tricky affair with both Celtic and Sevco gunning for a double, but as Celtic had the league title, a victory was as much about putting them back in their box as much as it was silverware.

The run to the final started straight-forward with some one-sided scorelines, but it wasn’t all in easy affair. This was best exemplified by the 3-3 semi-final match v Aberdeen won on penalties (Apr 2024). This has been deemed to be one of the best Scottish Cup matches ever for neutrals. Aberdeen took a early lead only for Celtic to fight back, but Aberdeen themselves fought back too, and scored at the death both in normal time and extra-time to take the tie a stage further. Celtic’s goalkeeper was hero & numpty when firstly he took a penalty himself but missed(!) but later saved a penalty to help Celtic through to the final.

Celtic haven’t had a stellar record in penalty shoot outs and even Brendan Rodgers post match harmed back to the Scottish Cup final lost in penalties to Aberdeen back in 1990. Winning one was a real boost, but again further demonstrated that any slip ups could be costly when in the league where there were no second chances to win after the 90 minutes are up. It was a major lesson learnt, and benefitted the side, but Brendan was the one smiling at the end.

The final itself had the potential to be a dynamic affair, but really turned out to be be a drab watch with the tension affecting the players as most were off form on the day. Few chances from either side but with Celtic mostly the better performers. It took Bernardo to take the bull by the horns, riding through first a rough tackle followed by a driving run and then a powerful shot which the goalkeeper spilled for Idah to pounce on to win Celtic the final.

The schadenfreude flowed freely against Sevco and their supporters, as the fans both at the stadium and then in town centre throughout the evening and into the night. As departing Joe Hart was to put himself:

“Nowhere else on planet I’d want to play….“The three years here have been beautiful”
Joe Hart

Overview

Brendan has been through a difficult transition season. Certain retrospectives have praised him, but a more complete overview would have to reflect a more mixed picture. Up front he deserves full praise for carrying on the achievement of maintaining Celtic’s hegemony of Scottish football. The league championship was long & hard fought, coming from behind to take the title whilst the Scottish Cup victory was a deserved icing on the cake.

The squad had initially felt to be quite strong, but in reality, Brendan Rodgers had actually a nightmare situation of being lumped with an inexcusably poor raft of transfers in, and then having to juggle the team selection for the ever lengthening injury list. Working under these circumstances was tiring and stressful enough for anyone adding to the pressure already there.

His tactics were an adaption and evolution of Postecoglou’s style, but clearly he wasn’t playing the same game. Whether one is better or not is subjective, and in any case both have been successful on field with Celtic. Many actually preferred Postecoglou’s style, but it must be remembered that his first season wasn’t necessarily better overall than Rodger’s in either results or entertainment on-field.

Domestically, it is hard to fully assess Rodgers’ time due to having had little time to work with his first choice side due to injuries and internationals. When available as in the early season and post-split it was clear that his side was able to dominate and control games. Hearts were often a tough opponent but the 3-0 victory in the post-split demonstrated that on our day, no side in Scotland was on par. In between though there was a quite a wide distribution of performances, many of which were not acceptable, which even Brendan Rodger’s himself surprisingly admitted, even apologising publicly to the support after one match.

The general spine of the team when available was one that all others had to work around: Carter Vickers, McGregor and Hatate. O’Riley and Kyogo when at their best were sublime, and the others had to prove themselves. If anything, O’Riley benefitted most from the presence and coaching of Rodgers, and his value undeniably shot up over the season. Some incredible goals and touches. Liam Scales became a first team starter, despite having been fourth or fifth choice at the start of the season, whilst Hatate definitely matured as a player too through the season.

One surprise gamble paid off heavily. There’s no denying that the arrival of Idah did not wet the appetite for anyone, with many bemoaning another cheap addition when many were demanding unrealistically for an established (and thus costly) striker. Idah may not have the panache that others might have, but on-field for Celtic he scored when it matters and even in the smaller games. He was consistent and a great counter-weight to Kyogo. It paid-off, and Brendan Rodgers part in his role is undeniable.

Overall he dealt firmly with the situation, and to come out with the double in relatively comfortable style at the end is a sign of a top manager who had plenty of self belief in his ability. He deserved all the praise.

The best example of this was that Celtic did NOT lost a single game to Sevco all season, and the only game not won was a 3-3 draw at Ibrox against the odds with the equaliser at the death of the game. If anything, Sevco despite being stronger under their new manager Clement couldn’t really match Celtic when push came to shove. Admittedly, the score differences were actually no more than just the one goal, that despite having been quite dominant in certain matches, but having won 4/5 of the encounters clearly shows that the gap. Anyone denying that should look back to the havoc and raging by the Sevco hordes at the season end against their manager and board.

However, there are numerous issues as well. Firstly on paper there’s just no denying it, but Celtic were too often this season a tough watch from the stands. When on-form Celtic were a joy to watch, but too many games saw players almost paint by the numbers and not putting in the effort that is demanded by teams going for silverware and Europe. After the joys of the Postecoglou era, it was a shock to see a reversion back to some of the poor play at times. Granted it was in part due to the injuries sustained to key players, but it was also due to Brendan Rodger’s not adapting the players at hand to his tactics or suiting his tactics to them.

The wingers though in general throughout the entire season were not delivering as should have, and the introduction of Kuhn mid-season had mixed results. The main person to end up suffering to this was undeniably Kyogo, who many stated openly was underpar and not getting the service he deserves to get the goals. The tactics and play seemed to almost undermine him, and Rodgers got stick for that.

The biggest problem was the transfers. Granted this should NOT all be placed at the feet of Rodgers but at the club management as a whole. If anyone wishes to argue otherwise, then well note that Mark Lawell who was responsible for transfers was papped out at the end of the season, despite his father being the current chairman (cronyism many argue). The simple fact was that Celtic signed a total of nine players on permanent deals for a total of around £22m, but out of those nine not one by the end of the season had become been a regular in the starting XI. Eight of those nine have started less than thirteen matches. The year prior Celtic paid around £8M on Oh, Bernabei & Haksabanovic, these three started seven matches collectively. Effectively Celtic had squandered all the money earned in Europe in recent seasons.

In fairness, part of the issue was Rodgers. He may not have fancied some of the players but he should have tried to work with them better. A very caustic public criticism of some new players in mid-season was hardly going to be morale boosting. Players like Nawrocki and Lagerbielke came to Celtic highly regarded, and it’s hard to believe that they were so poor as to not be allowed to be afforded more gametime. Similar can be said of Tilio, but clearly Tilio had found the jump from the poor Aussie football league to be too much of a shock to the system when he came to the more demanding Celtic set-up. Others like Palma dropped off in standards, and for most the jury is still out on Kuhn.

As for the Asian contingent, the collapse in the return from the stable of players was concerning especially as many were afforded more than enough gametime to prove themselves. Only Iwata appeared to get pass marks from the support at the end of the season, but there was no denying the talent they had, but Rodgers wasn’t getting the best out of them.

It’s hard to know where to draw the line, was it Rodgers or the players alone? Rodgers weakness across many of his stints at clubs has been transfers, but the success of loanee Idah proved he did have an eye for talent.

What was unarguable was that similar to his predecessor, his side had also failed miserably in Europe. It had become a desperate question to answer when even certain other clubs from out peer group in Europe had done far better. It wasn’t just players but tactics and strategy too during play, and that needed some attention. An inability to stem losses was a problem.

Overall, it was a defining season of transition. The real title was the Champions League automatic spot, and Celtic were clear deserved winners. Rodgers deserved all the praise for that. The support had begun to sing his name again, as he joked afterwards that he thought the support had forgotten his name. There may still have been lingering caution on Rodgers on his return, but having won the double with clear blue-sky to the rest at the end of the season, then really he’d achieved it all. He joined in the celebrations with everyone else, and you could see his pride. He needed this and so did Celtic.

VAR

This season saw the continued development of VAR across Western Europe, albeit that Sweden was the one notable outlier holding out on its implementation. This though included a number of controversies especially in England, but when put to a vote at the end of the season, only one side voted in England against retaining VAR.

In Scotland, regardless of any opposition, VAR was here to stay as clearly any suspension of its use could make Scottish officials look more incompetent than already the case. Having no officials sent to the Euros was in itself an embarrassment for them.

For Celtic, VAR had been a mixed bag but despite the accusations from any of the more conspiracy minded paranoid, Celtic actually had a number of cases that benefitted the side, especially v Sevco. The decisions were unarguable after VAR review, and helped to balance things up.

On the other hand, Sevco definitely benefitted too as from what had become the joke of “Penalty for Rangers”, especially very curious & unwarranted ones. Celtic actually won a number of penalties too, but as both sides were generally more attacking, then both inevitably were going to benefit from VAR.

On a serious front, the red card for Sevco’s Lundstrum (May 2024) for his inexcusably dangerous tackle on Alistair Johnstone is a perfect example for retaining VAR. Without it he’d have wrongly stayed on the pitch. Challenges like that could wreck careers.

In retrospect, to the surprise of many it could be argued that this season potentially, Celtic could likely have finished the season empty handed and the Ibrox mob would have won a treble. Albeit this view is based mainly on the Glagsow derby matches. To some it has forced the game to be fairer and officials more accountable.

VAR still has to evolve but especially speed up the decision making which was frustrating everyone. Scottish football is not going to be as well equipped as their EPL counterparts but still too often the length of time to make calls was farcical.

Beyond that, the technology is here to stay whether fans at the stadia like it or not. TV companies and their viewers love it, and they have long been the paying master.

[…to be completed….]