The TalkCeltic End Of Season Review
Part I

CHAMPIONS!
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We've won the League again: fly the flag, fly the flag!
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So the 2011/12 football season has come and gone, and my goodness what a season it has been! There have been many campaigns in the history of the Beautiful Game that they described as "a rollercoaster" but without a doubt this one takes the cake.

We have witnessed farce after farce, shared in laugh after laugh, raged at friend and foe and roared in celebration as Neil Lennon led his Bhoys to their fourty-third earned and untainted Scottish League Championship.

The summer of 2011 was spent on a pre-season tour of Australia as Celtic continued their policy of taking the Hoops to the supporters in far-off lands. Preparations began on 2 July with a narrow 1-0 defeat to the Central Coast Mariners, before the Bhoys returned fire with 2-0 and 1-0 victories over Perth Glory (9 July) and Melbourne Victory (13 July) respectivley.

While in Australia, Celtic made a number of changes to the makeup of the side. On 1 July, the club confirmed that a number of players had joined according to pre-contract agreements: young Welsh right-back Adam Matthews had joined the club from Championship side Cardiff City. He was joined on the same day by English centre back Kelvin Wilson from Nottingham Forest while former youth player Dylan McGeouch returned from Rangers.

Making way were German international Andreas Hinkel, January signing Freddie Ljungberg and young striker Ben Hutchinson. Soon after, Northern Irish winger Niall McGinn moved to Brentford on loan while the club agreed to cancel Graham Carey's contract. Carey would soon join fellow ex-Celt Paul McGowan at St Mirren, while Sean Fitzharris and Ryan Conroy dropped to lower division clubs.

On the day of the game against Perth Glory, Celtic completed the transfer of Kenyan Victor Wanyama (brother of Internazionale's McDonald Mariga) from Belgian club K Beerschot. Many of Celtic's new signings would make an appearance in a 1-0 win over Cardiff in Wales on 20 July.

Victor Wanyama has became a popular figure among fans
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Due to the up-coming European Championships this June, the 2011/12 SPL campaign kicked off early and Celtic began their title challange in Easter Road on 24 July. Ki Sung-Yeung and former Hibs striker Anthony Stokes scored the goals in a 2-0 victory for the Celts.

Two days later, right-sided Mexico international Efrain Juarez joined Spanish side Real Zaragoza on loan.

It would not be until August before Celtic had another competitive match and the time was filled by more friendlies. Wolves won 2-0 at Celtic Park in a game that saw trialists Stipe Pletikosa and Katlego Mphela try and earn themselves a contract before the Hoops saw a similar result against Internazionale in the Dublin Super Cup; Celtic would win their second game in the competition by five goals to nil over an Airtricity League select XI.

Our last friendly came in August, when we against lost 2-0 away to newly promoted Premiership side Swansea City.

August saw the return of goalkeeper Fraser Forster from Newcastle United on a second loan spell, while AIK Stockholm's Sierra Leone striker Mohammed Bangura arrived for £2.2m. A number of squad members were loaned out, such as Daryl Murphy (Ipswich), Josh Thompson (Peterborough), Richie Towell (Hibernian), Greg Spence (Hamilton) and Jos Hooiveld (Southampton).

The Celts returned to League action away to Aberdeen, however in the 1-0 victory Emilio Izaguirre accidentally broke his ankle, which would rule the Honduran left-back out until the new year. This was the first major blow to Celtic's campaign as Izaguirre was a vital part of Neil Lennon's side; to compensate, Badr El Kaddouri was drafted in on a six-month loan from Dynamo Kiev. Around the same time, Shaun Maloney departed Celtic Park once again to sign on at Wigan.

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Izaguirre breaks his ankle at Pittodrie
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An impressive 5-1 victory over Dundee United at Celtic Park would follow, but this would prove to be something of a false dawn for Celtic's season as it preceded a disappointing dip in form. Celtic had been drawn against FC Sion from Switerzland in the qualification stages of the UEFA Europa League. Having flubbed their lines at this stage last season, the Hoops were determined not to make the same mistakes again.

Sadly, they did. The first leg, played on 18 August at Celtic Park, ended in a lowly 0-0 draw that left the tie on a knife edge going into the return leg. The weekend match against St Johnstone was supposed to prove a solid workout in preparation of the Sion match, but a Dave Mackay goal saw Celtic suffer their first home defeat to the Saints since 1998.

Things did not improve in time for the trip to Switerzland - a first minute penalty conceded by the red-carded Daniel Majstorovic gave the Swiss an early lead, which soon became 2-0. Although Charlie Mulgrew would pull one back for the Celts, Sion would finish the tie 3-1 up to send Celtic crashing out of European football yet again.

Or so we thought. In fact, the Sion tie was the start of one of the most farcical sagas of a season that would prove to be packed with farce. It transpired that Sion were in the midst of a row with Fifa over the transfer of Egyptian goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary from Al Ahly in 2008; Sion had been hit with a transfer ban but had proceeded to sign players anyway. Five such players, including former Celtic trialist Pascual Feindouno, were played against Celtic in the Europa League.

In the end, Sion were expelled from the competition and their place handed to Celtic (each leg was recorded as a 3-0 Celtic win). Despite threats of legal action, Sion insisting that they would turn up to games even if they weren't playing and talk of adding them in as a fifth team in the middle of December, the Europa League would carry on as normal despite the chaos engulfing Swiss football.

Following victories over St Mirren and Motherwell, the Bhoys travelled to Spain to face Atletico Madrid in European competition. In typical fashion, Celtic conceded a goal to Falcao in just 3 minutes to undo Neil Lennon's gameplan; the Castillians would go on to win 2-0.

The first Old Firm derby of the season was next on the agenda for Celtic when the team made their way to Ibrox Stadium to face off against Ally McCoist's Rangers side. In season 2010/11 this fixture had been the source of some horrendous scenes and headlines and everyone was hoping that civility would rule again - it did, but the result went the wrong way as Celtic, leading 2-1 at half-time, went down 4-2 in the end.

Allan McGregor lets Badr El Kaddouri's shot slip into the net.
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The remainder of September would end reasonably, although perhaps not on the high note that we were hoping for. Ross County were seen off by two goals to nil on their own stadium in the League Cup while Inverness lost by the same scoreline at Celtic Park before the Hoops returned to European action with the visit of Udinese.

The Italian side had impressed many people across Europe when seeing facing off with Arsenal the previous summer, but Ki Sung-Yeung converted a third minute penalty to give the Bhoys a valuable early lead. However, as would become rather typical of our Europa League campaign, just two minutes from time Udinese would score their own penalty after Gary Hooper bundled a man over in the box.

October proved to be something of a disaster for Neil Lennon and for Celtic. Our month of "Halloween Horrors" began at Tynecastle, where Rudi Skacel and Ryan Stevenson scored a goal a piece, as Kris Commons was sent off, to send Celtic crashing to defeat.

What followed was an awful yet incredible display at Rugby Park, where an underperforming and stunned Celtic found themselves three goals down at half-time. With Neil Lennon perhaps just 45 minutes from losing his job, the Bhoys came out fighting and, with less than twenty minutes left to play, rallied back to a three-all draw.

Three goals in six minutes from Stokes and Mulgrew saw a remarkable comeback that stopped a dark, dark month from being Lennon's last as Celtic manager. Celtic struck back with a 2-1 win over Aberdeen and a 4-1 away win over Hibs in the League Cup, but our frustrating form would return soon after as we finished October toothlessly drawing 0-0 at home with the self-same Hibernian side we had just put four past.

Celtic, who had so often made their task more difficult than it had to be, had done it again. Something brilliant was needed; a miracle was needed. And, this time, we got one. It began in the Europa League, where Celtic picked up their first win in the competition 3-1 at home to Rennes.

Then came Fir Park, and Motherwell. With Rangers fifteen points ahead (and Motherwell second) on the morning of 5 November, Celtic fell behind to a Higdon goal before Anthony Stokes struck back immediatley. A late winner came from Gary Hooper, and the fightback was on!

As Rangers' form collapsed, Celtic kept on winning. Bar a defeat to Atletico Madrid on St Andrew's Day, they just kept winning. ICT lost 2-0, Dunfermline 2-1, St Mirren 5-0. Into December it rolled on, with four SPL victories and a draw with Udinese giving the Celts cause to celebrate in the run up to Christmas, New Year and, more importantly than all that, the second Old Firm derby of the season.

By now, Rangers' lead had withered dramatically and, astonishingly, Celtic were on the verge of topping the table in 2012 despite being 15 points behind on 5 November! As we all know, the Hoops came out on top as Joe Ledley headed in the winner on 51 minutes to send the Celtic fans into raptures despite the loss of Beram Kayal to injury.

Joe Ledley bests the Rangers
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Celtic's unstoppable form rolled boldly into January, where the Bhoys kicked off the New Year with a 3-0 victory in Peterhead to book a place in the next round of the Scottish Cup. The League leaders also booked a place in the final of the Communities League Cup with a comfortable 3-1 win over Falkirk at Hampden Stadium. Dunfermine, Dundee United and St Mirren were also defeated in the League.

January also saw a number of changes to the makeup of the Celtic squad. Jos Hooiveld completed an agreed permanent transfer to Southampton, were he was already on loan, while Dominic Cervi and Morten Rasmussen had already left on short-term loans. Swedish international defender Mikael Lustig arrived on a free transfer from Rosenborg BK on 1 January, and he was soon joined by Nigerian midfielder Rabiu Ibrahim from PSV and Polish striker Pawel Brozek on loan from Turkish side Trabzonspor.

Youngsters Josh Thompson (Chesterfield), Lewis Toshney (Kilmarnock), James Keatings (St Johnstone), Paul Slane (MK Dons) and Nick Feely (Clyde) were all loaned out to their respective clubs during the window.

February 2012 will be a month that will forever live in the memory of Celtic fans, and not just for the footballing display that saw Hearts, ICT, Hibs, Dunfermline and Motherwell beaten while Celtic progressed in the Scottish Cup. On Valentines Day, fate touched the hearts of every Celtic fan when Rangers were plunged into the shame of administration and a ten-point penalty, all but guaranteeing that Celtic (now 14 points ahead with a game in hand) would win the League.

March would, however, be something of a disappointment on the field as Celtic picked up just one win from four games. Although that was a four-goal stomping of Dundee Utd, Celtic drew away to Aberdeen and, disappointingly, lost the League Cup final 1-0 to a Kilmarnock side that was certainly superior on the day. Perhaps equally disappointingly Celtic failed to win the League at Ibrox, with two goals in a late nine-man rally not enough to claw back a result.

Further Cup frustration would hit Celtic in April as they lost their second game at Hampden in a row; the Hoops crashed out of the Scottish Cup in the semi-finals after a poor display and some unfortunate refereeing helped Hearts to a late 2-1 victory.

However it would prove to only be a minor pain for the Celts as the rest of the month was a run of League victories, including a sensational League-clinching display at Rugby Park where the Champions romped home in style with a 6-0 win.

Needless to say, we had been waiting a bit too long for that particular party!

This was followed up with an equally impressive and enjoyable 3-0 victory over a flat, defeated and decaying Rangers at Celtic Park in what may well be the last such derby game ever. It is fitting, if you know your history, that Celtic should win by a margin of three goals.

The Green Brigade mock Rangers with the Mona Lisa of banners.
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With the League championship secured once again, Neil Lennon's title-winning side were finally presented with the SPL trophy on the last game of the season at home to Hearts.

The Champions put on a show for us, with a five-goal bonanza from SPL top goalscorer Gary Hooper rounding off a perfect end to the season that also included the long-awaited visit of the "Thai Tims" to Glasgow and to Celtic Park.

And we just can't seem to get enough!