[BOTB] SongQuest III - Seven Sensational Seasons - Songs Only

Round 5

2010/11

Bringing Back the Thunder



To tell the story of why this was such a memorable season for Celtic, it's essential to go back to the previous season, in order to put it into context.

With Strachan announcing his intent to resign as Celtic boss toward the end of the 2008/09 season the search was on to find his replacement, with there being talk of Neil Lennon, Owen Coyle and even David Moyes being mooted to take over, before it was announced that former Celtic captain, Tony Mowbray, would be the 15th manager of Celtic.

Mowbray's time had not been a particularly good one. Akthough he had not that long in charge, he still largely was responsible for taking apart much of the squad who had won the 3IAR under his predecessor, and largely the football on offer had hardly been consistantly particularly good, all too often blighted by errors, but this did not detract from some truly bizarre tactics. The formation used at defending at set pieces for instance truly beggared belief. And it could not be said that he was not backed in the transfer market, where even in the January window, Mowbray was backed and despite being midway through a season, attempted to make even more wholesale changes.

Neil Lennon had taken over from Tony Mowbray in March 2010, following a humiliating 4-0 loss to St Mirren. In truth the writing had been on the wall for a while, even while conscious of what he had been permitted to do in January. It all came crashing down however, after that dismal showing in Paisley proved to be the proverbial final straw, leaving the club with a squad seeminly in limbo and uncertain of direction.

Lennon had a pretty big task on his hands, but he took to the task with relish, guiding the team to 8 consecutive league wins to round out the season. Too late to prevent R****** from taking the title. even with a 2-1 win over them in the final week of the league season. The one stumble came in the Scottish Cup where the Hoops were knocked out by First Division Ross County. The Highland club completely outplayed the Bhoys and it prompted Lennon to make an impassioned apology to fans upon the return to Celtic Park, where amongst other things, questioned the character and desire of some of the players that day.

It was a brutally honest appraisal of a squad that he had inherited, filled with loanees and others that were not up to scratch but it could also be seen as a mistep in man-management, and perhaps even from that moment there was enough to suggest that changes would be coming. All in all, though, there was enough promise to show that Lenny could be the man that would be able to take the club forward, and get it moving in the right direction.

And so it was, that on 9 June 2010 that he was confirmed as the 16th appointed manager, on the terms of a rolling one-yeat contract. The promise of what he had achieved in the closing months of the previous campaign whilst the interum boss, coupled with his renowned energy and passion gave hope that, despite his limited credentials, this was the right choice. Lenny was not alone though. Joining him were other former club favourites, Johan Mjallby and Alan Thompson amongst his backroom staff. Announcing his intent was to 'bring back to the thunder', there were few with any doubts that Lennon had the passion to do it. Fewer still could have anticipated what he would have to go through, which would have been more than enough for most to question just why they were willing to endure all this. And noone could have guessed just how dramatic it would all be.

By season's end there was not a single supporter that could have any doubts about just how much inner strength, self determination, audacity, hunger and sheer defiance beat within the heart of this man.

It was clear he had some very specific targets in mind, but to make way required a not inconsiderable clearout. Some, such as loanees Robbie Keane, Landry N'Guermo and Edson Braafheid (who, to the bewilderment to Celtic fans everywhere based on what we had seen of him during the months he was at Parkhead, would play in the World Cup Final later that summer) were returned to their parent clubs, but this was the extent of this, with the sale of fans favourite Artur Boruc, former captain Stephen McManus, expensive flop Marc-Antoine Fortune, and prized asset Aiden McGeady (netting a new Scottish record transfer fee of £9.5m to Spartak Moscow) among a list of more than 25 players that departed Celtic that summer, in sales, free releases and outgoing loans!

With the decks cleared, funds raised and room in the budget to now work, Lennon began in earnest to put together a team of his own design, signing a number of players that would become the nucleas of the new Celtic team. Charlie Mulgrew, Joe Ledley, Gary Hooper, Beram Kayal, Emilio Izaguirre and Anthony Stokes all signed on in addition to international defenders, Cha Du Ri and Daniel Majstorovic and agreeing terms for the loan signing of goalkeeper Fraser Forster, while there was still a raft of quality still on the books, such as Brown, Maloney and the youngster, James Forrest. There had been no really big names added, especially to replace the likes of Keane or McGeady, but what it did underline was how well the scouting group had done in identifying talent from lower divisions and lesser fancied leagues.



With the embrionic new team finding their feet, there were a few stumbles early on, including being bundled out of both European competitions, but that did not seem to effect the team's confidence, as they proceeded to win the first 8 SPL games of the campaign. Coupled with what he had done in the league after taking over from Mowbtay, that meant that the firss league 16 games he had been in charge of had resulted in victory.

This did come to an end though, as the Hoops lost the first Glasgow derby of the season in mid October. The visiting side had also carried a 100% record going into this game, so there was much crowing from the blue hue to contend with also now, especially as they were now in the driver's seat hunting down their third successive SPL title. But if anyone thought that this result was going to prove a major setback, then they had not been paying attention.

The Bhoys bounced back with back to back wins over St Johnstone in the SPL and League Cup, and following a visit by Hoops legends Henrik Larsson and Chris Sutton to Lennoxtown and at the following game, the Hoops rattled up a record 9-0 win over Aberdeen! Hatricks by Hooper and Stokes lead the way as the victory set new records for the biggest win in the history of the SPL, as well as inflicting the worst ever defeat of the Dons ever!



There was controversy also though, a feature that sparked a lot that season, as the Green Brigade's anti- Poppy banner caught not only the attention of the football community but the wider UK audience also. It was not the first time that thr Green Brigade had caused a stir and wouldn't be the last either, and perhaps in isolation it is understandable the reaction it provoked, but in the context of what else had been happening to Celtic fans, players and the club as a whole it's much more difficult to seperate.

One such occasion had been in a match at Tannadice against hosts, Dundee United. Although the final 2-1 result came courtesy of a late 89th minute winner from Hooper, the match highlighted the paucity of the quality and integrity of referees and some of the astoiundingly questionable decisions that had blighted so many games. Dougiegate was sparked when the referee Dougie McDonald first missed a stonewall penalty, then saw fit to award one shortly thereafter, only to rescind this one also after seeminly consulting with one of his assistants.



In the wake of this clusterf*ck, the SFA and the referees themselves made a complete hash of covering up what had happened, and how to conceal this incompetance. The referee and his assistant both were said to have been asked to lie, and in the end essentially blamed each other. The match report was evidently fabricated and the SFA made a further mess of all this. All of this was compounded just weeks later, the head of referees, Hugh Dallas, was found to have forwarded emails of a sectarian nature, which seemed to add validity to questions about bias among the officiating ranks.

Although the media chose to berate Celtic for much of this, the facts speak for themselves - that Celtic had nothing to do with this and in fact that this was a case of the SFA and officials having spectacularly messed up. Scpttish Referees ended up going to go on strike in late November, protests that the SFA were not doing enough to protect them from all of this unwanted attention - even though they had certainly contributed in no small way to this whole situation. This all meant that for the first time in over 100 years Scottish League matches were having to be officiated by refs brought in from outside of Scotland, and indeed, immediately following the strike, Dougie McDonald announced that he was resigning with immediate effect. But he was not alone, as it also cost the Head of Referees, Hugh Dallas, and 5 others, who were either forced from office or resigned over the whole month long affair.

Unfortunately though, this did coincide with a dip in form for Celtic. Silly dropped points here and there were adding up and it was causing some worry among the Celtic faithful, all still too recently remembering a similiar slump timed the previous year under Mowbray. As December rolled in the weather took over from the referees as being the main cause of frustration, as it played havoc with the fixtues, leading to a number of matches being postponed across all of Scotland. The question was, could Celtic manage to get back on track?

By the turn of the year however, Celtic were sitting on top of the table by a single point, although, R****** did have 2 games in hand. The second Glasgow derby of the season - one of seven such games this campaign across all competitions - would give an indicator of if it was going to be more of the same, or if this Celtic team really could turn it around. What we got was a sensational start to the year with a performance from the entire team, most especially Samaras at his enigmatic and devastating best, scoring both goals in a resounding 2-0 victory.

Ahead by 4 points, but that question of those 2 games in hand for R****** always meant it was no time to take the foot off the gas with the pressure really on, but the Hoops continued to build. As February rolled in there was another meeting with our old foes, once again at Ipox, but this time in the Scottish Cup, and it was a classic. The home side took an early lead, only for Celtic to level through January new Bhoy, Kris Commons. The Hoops however, were then handed a double blow, as goalkeeper Fraser Forster was shown a red card five minutes before the interval, with Naismith going down in the box resulting in a penalty that was put away. But the second half saw the 10-men Celts fight back with Kayal and Brown completely dominating the midfield battle, and managed to get back on level terms for a second time, when a rare, but completely superb, Scott Brown goal not only gave us a moment to savour, but one of the defining images of the season, with arms outstretched wide, and a touch of the Cantona about it, as 'the Broony' was born!



Two weeks later, and the Hoops once again proved that they had the measure of their old rivals, with a comfortable 3-0 win, and despite opening up a bit of a gap at the top of the table, those games in hand for R****** would continue to gnaw. With the Scottish Cup replay a week away, perhaps attention had been diverted away. And all the good work was undone, as the Bhoys went down 2-0 to Motherwell the next week. With a Scottish Cup replay to come as well as the League Cup Final, the Glasgow derbies were coming thick and fast, and no doubt it was never comfortable having to constantly be looking over the shoulder.

in more ways than one. In the days following the January meeting between the sides there were bullets sent in the mail to Lennon and Celtic player, Niall McGinn, which were intercepted by a mail sorting office. This had laid a precursor for later incidents throughout the second half of the season. Lennon and his family had to be given police protection as more threats continued to pour in. Th sight of Lennon having to be escorted by police as he showed up for training underlined this, as death threats, hoax or legitimate raised tensions as the season continued to reach a climax.

The Scottish Cup replay will be forever remembered for some of the most unpleasant reasons. An unlikely goal hero, Mark Wilson, providing the sole goal of the game, that was more remembered for the complete lack of siscipline of the R****** players, with them collecting 7 yellow cards on top of the 3 red ones that were shown to Whittaker, Bougherra and Diouf. By contrast only 3 Celts found their way into the ref's book.

On top of this there was an angry exchange between McCoist and Lennon, that took staff from both sides to seperate. It was an ugly match, filled with flashpoints and flare ups, which in many ways reflected the poisonous atmosphere that was engulfing Scottish Football at the time, and where any talk of the dignity of R****** went completely out the window. Diouf was completely out of control the entire night. While Bougherra manhandled the referee multiple times, even trying to physically prevent him from showing him the red card, Doiuf was even more inflamtory, by refusing to leave the field following his red card. Instead, he went to the travelling fans, and potentially incited further violence, before finally leaving several minutes after being dismissed.



Of course the authorities did their bit in the aftermath. The SFA elected to deal extremely leniently with the Ibrox three of Diouf (fined £5k), Bougherra (£2.5k despite manhandlng the ref) and McCoist, who esceped censure entirely, and neither of those players recieved a ban at all. By contrast, Lennon on the otherhand, already on the hook of a culmulative 6 game touchline bad for an assortment of minor incidents, was dished an additional 4 match ban. Go figure, huh?

"The SFA are tonight officially the laughing stock of world football. And they have been shown now to be not merely disfunctional and not merely dishonest but biased"
- Paul McBride, QC.

The ill-feeling continued to swell, with the death threats escalating. Liquid exploseive parcel bombs were sent through the mail, addressed to a number of prominant Celtic supporters in addition to Neil Lennon. Threats, bullets, now bombs... What next?

The sides met again two weeks later, to contest the League Cup Final. Celtic, reduced to 10 men ended the match at 1-1, before going on to lose 2-1 after extra time. If the behaviour on the pitch had improved somewhat compared with the tempestious meeting a fortnight before, it was not reflected in the stands, with journalist Graham Spiers noting that "The incessant bigoted chanting by Rangers fans at Hampden was shocking. Unarguably the most socially-backward fans in British football."

It is no coincidence that there were rumours already being widely circulated about the extent of the financial state of R******, with the excellent work of the RTC blogger shedding light on so many unwanted truths, about the precarious state of affairs and the sizeable debts that the Ipox club had accrued. Of course, this would not come to pass until the following season, but it would be remiss to not at least mention it here, as surely this contributed to the behaviour and actions of some of that blue clientele, lashing out against a backdrop of uncertainty.

With the SPL title going down to the wire, with that other team having caught up on their games in hand, and so it was, that despite winning all of their next 5 league matches. it was not enough to prevent R****** from gaining a small edge. With just 3 games remaining, Celtic lost 3-2 away to Inverness, a rearranged fixture from when the weather had disrupted over the winter, meaning that the 1 point deficit would be hard to claw back, unless they dropped points somewhere along the way. But it wasn't to be, as the Hoops finished agonizingly short.

You would think after all that had gone before, that it could not get any more bizarre, but just a week after that disappointment in the Highlands, Celtic travelled through to the Capital and a midweek fixture with Hearts. It was there, with Celtic looking the goods in a 3-0 win that one of the abiding images of the season occured, with one of the Jambos supporters rushing along the side of the pitch in an attempted assault on Lennon, only to be deterred by Alan Thompson and security. After everything else that had proceeded it, no other football manager has had to endure such a season of personal threat for no other reason than for doing his job. It was a truly low moment - a moment all of Scottish Football needed to take time to reflect on what had happened this year.



Despite the disappointment of the SPL title slipping through their fingers, the season did finish on a high note. The final home game at Celtic Park resulted in a 4-0 win over Motherwell, but more impressively, there was Lennon, full of defiance, delivering an inspiring address to the home faithful, and ensuring a rousing send off, before the Bhoys headed to Hampden the following week, to triumph over that same competition, 3-0, to secure the Scottish Cup was heading to Paradise for the 35th time.

It was a moment that was fully deserved. To have something to show from a season unlike any other. To capture that prize, even though had missed out on the SPL title, really was an important moment, and sheer delight on having something tangable to show after all the tribulations, noone could deny. A taste of things to come and somethng to build upon.

The Celtic team had been revitalized. In Hooper, Stokes, Samaras and Commons the team possessed a real potency that had not been evident in a long time. With Brown, Ki, Kayal, Ledley and the academy graduate, Forrest. there was a midfield that combimed guile as well as bite, while in defence, the likes of Forster, Wilson, Mulgrew, Majstorovic there was a base from which the team could go forward. But it was the Honduran, Emilio Izaguirre who ended up walking away with most of the individual honours, claiming the Player of the Year and Player's Player of the Year gongs.

Lennon's appointment had been a very big gamble, and that was even before taking into account just how much he had to overhaul the squad. And while the league title had evaded us by a single point, there was so much to be taken from the season. It was more than just Lennon though. It was more than just the team, or even lifting silverware. The fans had been subjected to it, the bias of the SFA had been exposed yet again, the Jungle Bhoys and the Green Brigade had brought an electric energy to every home game. The Reverse Huddle and 'Do the Broony' was born. Celtic were not going to roll over. The foundation for everything which has followed were laid in this season.

It wasn't the end - it was just the beginning. A season of change, perserverance and defiance, which had tested every fibre and the very fabric of what it meant to be a Celt, and having to contend with so much that no previous manager has had to endure. It was only through unity and solidarity that the manager, the team, the club and as a fanbase came through. The team had entertained, while so many others needed to take a look at themselves. The trial had been put through, had come through. We were all Neil Lennon. Unbowed. Unbroken.



And by Heavens, the thunder was back!​

 

Round 5

Quarter Final 1





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Round 5

Quarter Final 2




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Round 5

Quarter Final 3





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Round 5

Quarter Final 4




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Round 5

Quarter Finals

So the 4 Quarter Finals have now been posted.

As you can guess, in this competition, it is a straight knockout at this point.

Jury Voting

As previously noted, from this Round on, it is purely about the Jury deciding who progresses.

For each of the 4 pairings, simply award the point to whichever song you prefer from between each of the 2 options.

1 point for each of the 4 Quarter Finals.

The song with the most points from each of the 4 match ups will progress to the Semi Final stage.

Th other 4 will then join the Jury.

Good Luck to our Final 8. ​

 

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