TalkCeltic - The Ultimate Celtic FC Forum

WHEN Scott Brown signed for Celtic in May 2007 as a cocky 21 year old with an abundance of raw talent, few could have envisaged what he would go on to achieve as a player in the green and white hoops over the next decade. His £4.4m transfer from Hibs is still to this day the biggest transfer exchange between two Scottish clubs, and, it is fair to say he has been worth every single penny of that fee, despite having some bumps along the road. 415 appearances, 37 goals, 76 European games and 12 trophies later, he is still going strong as the driving force within the Champions' midfield. Yesterday marked the skipper's 10 year anniversary with the club, so I feel it is only fitting that in the week where he is celebrating such a tremendous milestone, we take a look back at the career (so far) of a modern day Celtic legend, with a look at the gaffer's who helped him along the way..

Gordon Strachan was entering his third successive term as Celtic manager in the summer of 2007. His squad were coming off the back of an impressive campaign both at home and abroad, where they had wrapped up not only a league and Scottish Cup double, but also a Last 16 Champions League place, falling only to eventual winners AC Milan in the San Siro during extra time. Strachan, or 'WGS' as he was often referred to, had assembled a squad with a varied mix of talent, from hardened players such as Stephen McManus and Paul Hartley, to those who could change the tide of a game in an instant, like Aiden McGeady and, of course, Shunsuke Nakamura. One thing that...

CELTIC and Brendan Rodgers continued their imperious march towards potential immortality with a pulsating 3-1 victory over Aberdeen at Pittodrie last night. The 3 points not only saw the Hoops hit the 100 point mark in the league but also put them a mere 2 games away from becoming invincibles in the SPFL Premiership, an achievement which, if managed, will write each and every member of this current squad into the Parkhead history books. The 'invincibles' tag has been hanging over Rodgers and the players for months, however it is only now that it really seems within touching distance, and there is sure to be no let up.

With a Scottish Cup Final to come at the end of the month, you would be forgiven for thinking that Brendan Rodgers may have chosen to field a slightly weakened side in these remaining games. However, once again, the strongest possible XI (minus Scott Brown) was sent out onto the Pittodrie pitch in order to try and quash any hopes of the Dons springing a surprise and handing Celtic their first defeat of the domestic campaign. Sinclair, Tierney, Lustig, Armstrong and Roberts were all given starts and could not have hoped for a better start to the match.

An away trip to a venue such as Pittodrie can always cause problems to any Celtic side, no matter the form they find themselves in. Neil Lennon can testify to that, as he watched his Celtic side...

Five Star Celtic in Derby Demolition

Scottish Premiership
Ibrox stadium, Glasgow
Saturday 29th April

Rangers - 1 (Miller, 81)
Celtic - 5 (Sinclair 7, Griffiths 17, McGregor 51, Boyata 64, Lustig 86)

Celtic piled on the misery against their Glasgow rivals at Ibrox today with a stunning performance and 1-5 victory with goals from Sinclair, Griffiths, McGregor, Boyata and Lustig. In what was a five star performance, Brendan Rodgers men were relentless in possession of the ball and gave the hapless Rangers defence a torrid time. Pedro Caixinha was quoted as saying that he believed he was taking over the greatest squad in Scotland when he took the Rangers job. If his ignorance to the extent of the task that lay ahead wasn’t obvious then, the two showdowns with a vastly superior Celtic team in the last week will have been a firm wake-up call for the former stopper.

Brendan Rodgers said prior to the game that his only disappointment about the semi-final encounter last Sunday was that the hoops hadn’t won by more goals in what was a dominating 2-0 victory. Since his arrival at Ibrox, Caixinha has come out with some bizarre statements regarding his team and tactics and formations, and in his interview with Sky Sports before the game today he revealed that he would be deploying a diamond formation with the aim of preventing Scott Brown from dominating his Rangers midfield once more. For the second time in a week Pedro attempted to utilise a plan to nullify the Scotland captain, and for the second time in a week Pedro failed.

In the opening few minutes, Rangers appeared to be showing the type of aggression and energy that had been lacking at Hampden a week previous. However they found themselves up against it after only 7 minutes thanks to a moment of lunacy from left back Myles Beerman. The Maltese defender showed his inexperience with a needless lunge to win the ball in the penalty area,...

On Sunday, for the fourth time this season, Scotland's champions will face a tribute club that calls itself Rangers. Without going on too much of a tangent, we know the truth, they know the truth and we know that they know the truth about the fate of their old club, even if they won't admit it to themselves.

Despite this, fans of the new Rangers continue to have delusions of grandeur; they think they have an inherent right to be competing for Scotland's major trophies every season, despite this being their first ever season in the top flight. The superiority complex is a great source of amusement for fans of the bhoys in green and it's been fantastic watching Brendan Rodger's Celtic outclass them this season, on an off the pitch.

Mark Warburton's tragic hat has been returned to storage and labelled as faulty, while the Englishman himself has been replaced by Portuguese manager Pedro Caixinha. Previously manager of Santos Laguna, Caixinha has been seen on video congratulating Celtic on our title win in 2015. This is largely due to an affiliation that existed between Celtic and Santos Laguna, but it still caused much amusement amongst the Celtic support as the video resurfaced around the time of Caixinha's Ibrox appointment.

The laughs continued after Caixinha's first press conference saw him claim that Rangers have the best squad in Scotland. He could be forgiven for his ignorance, perhaps he hadn't been shown the league table at that point. Celtic might now be more than 30 points clear of Rangers, but at least their fans can still count the size of the...

Don conned as County steal point

Scottish Premiership
Global Energy Stadium, Dingwall
Sunday 16th April 2017

Ross County - 2 (Gardyne, 50 Boyce, PEN 90)
Celtic - 2 (Tierney, 34 Roberts, 78)


Celtic’s afternoon clash away to Ross County today resulted in a share of the spoils after a late Liam Boyce penalty made it 2-2 but it will be the referee Don Robertson who will be stealing the headlines for his part in awarding the penalty, along with the sending off of Celtic captain Scott Brown in the aftermath of the penalty decision.

The penalty was awarded in the final minute of the game when the referee was conned by Ross County substitute Alex Schalk. Despite absolutely no contact from Erik Sviatchenko, the County striker threw himself to the floor in a theatrical fashion and somehow managed to fool the officials. In his interview with Sky Sports after the game, Brendan Rodgers claimed that it was the worst decision he had witnessed in Scotland during his time as Celtic manager and few could argue with the statement from the Irishman.

If the nature in which the three points were lost wasn’t enough to anger the travelling support, then what occurred in the following moments surely was. In what can only be described as a moment of red mist, Scott Brown was sent off for a foul on Liam Boyce. Clearly agitated by the penalty decision and some previous challenges in the game, the industrious midfielder made a poorly timed challenge that sparked an inevitable reaction – no sooner was he back to his feet than he was surrounded by County players, which no doubt aided the referee in his choice of card.


Players from both teams...