TalkCeltic - The Ultimate Celtic FC Forum

The arrival of Ronald Koeman at Southampton has resulted in a flurry of rumours in recent days. While Dejan Lovren has handed in an official transfer request to the South Coast club, Koeman has also been promised a transfer kitty with which to build upon the foundations already prepared at St Mary’s.

As such, it seemed almost a tragic inevitability that Celtic’s Virgil Van Dijk would be linked with a move to the cash-rich EPL. This is the nature of silly season with the press hordes.

Much has been made of Van Dijk since his arrival at Celtic last season. Largely imperious in the Scottish League throughout the duration of last term, many felt he had a right to be aggrieved at a failure to be rewarded with a World...

Now that the dust has settled and Neil Lennon’s replacement has been appointed, a time of reflection on the Northern Irishman’s tenure at Celtic Park would appear appropriate.

Joining the Club in a coaching capacity back in 2008, few could have anticipated his promotion to caretaker manager a mere two years later in the aftermath of Tony Mowbray’s disastrous period at the helm.

While Celtic finished the league strongly that season (winning all their remaining games,) a loss to Ross County in the semi finals of the Scottish Cup looked set to end any chances Lennon had of securing the job full time.

However, it was his response to the defeat that endeared him to...

Balde, Pukki, Stokes, Griffiths, Fridjonsson, Watt, Murphy, Hooper, Lassad, Miku, Bangura & Samaras. A raft of options up front Celtic have, or had, on their books in recent years.

Hooper was a huge success during his 3 full seasons with the Bhoys – a return of 82 goals in 138 appearances earning him a move to Norwich, in England’s top flight. Norwich’s relegation this season cannot be blamed on the striker, who again topped the scoring charts at the Club he represented.

In fact, a return to Celtic for the prolific striker has recently been mooted; although one suspects his future lies elsewhere....

A late surge from St Johnstone and a rather weak concession of two late goals by Scottish champions Celtic, on a typically chilly spring evening in Perth, ensured that the Hoops will ultimately fail in their quest to break the 100 point barrier in the league this season, despite leading 3-1 in the game with less than ten minutes to go.

It had been the hosts who had actually started the brighter of the two sides, hitting the post early on through Michael O'Halloran, against a much changed and weakened Celtic side that had been put out by manager Neil Lennon to give some key players a rest and also reflect the upcoming end of the current campaign.

The most notable of the changes to the Hoops' starting XI was the introduction of Lukasz Zaluska in place of Fraser Forster, with this being the former's first...