Celtic FC: Here We Go Ten In A Row

Patrick Roberts on 28 Jan 17:25
Hearts post match media conference.

"Another good afternoon for you!?"

"yeah, it was a nice afternoon, the sun was out and we played great, Hearts gave us a scare but we played well enough to survive, it was a good three points."

"You had another great day today by scoring and making an assist, how do you feel your performance has been in the past few months."

"It has been great I have been able to contribute to this club and being able to score many times this season feels good."

:Do you think having Brendan Rodgers as your manager helps at all?"

"Yeah, absolutely he has, Brendan is one of the best managers around and knows how to get the best out of his players, it has been a joy to work with him this season."

"Has Brendan came to you about a permanent transfer or an extension on the loan?"

"We have been talking and I am really enjoying my time here but it is still too soon to make a decision."

"With four goals this month do you feel the winter break helped?"

"Totally, it was nice to take some time off and relax especially after the hectic December with nine matches."

"Finally, are you ready for the PSG match?"

"As best as I can be, PSG are a great team and this will be a tough result but we will be fighting until the final whistle in the second leg."

Today 25 May 2017 Celtic FC celebrate the 50th Anniversary of their European Cup (Champions League) victory over Inter Milan by a score of 2-1 at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon, Portugal. I felt that it would be nice to have my 50th update of this season in game to also be on the date of the 50th Anniversary.

Celtic became the first British Club to win the trophy.

The Lisbon Lions is the nickname given to the Celtic team that won the European Cup at the Estádio Nacional near Lisbon, Portugal on 25 May 1967, defeating Inter Milan 2–1. All but one member of the 15 man squad were born within 10 miles of Celtic Park in Glasgow, Scotland (Bobby Lennox was born 30 miles away in Saltcoats). Celtic's style was the antithesis of the cynical, but highly effective, defensive style of Inter. Jimmy Johnstone described the team's style as "like the Dutch speeded-up."

Alessandro Mazzola opened the scoring for Inter with a 7th-minute penalty after Jim Craig had brought down Renato Cappellini. The Italians then retreated into their famous 11-man defence. Inter did not win a single corner and forced Celtic goalkeeper Ronnie Simpson to make only two saves. Celtic had two shots off the crossbar, and 39 other attempts on goal, 13 of which were saved by Italian goalkeeper Giuliano Sarti, seven were blocked or deflected, and 19 were off-target. Craig made amends for his penalty mistake on 63 minutes, when he laid off the ball for Tommy Gemmell to fire home for the Celtic equaliser. With 83 minutes on the clock, Gemmell was allowed space, and he played the ball to Bobby Murdoch, whose long-range shot was deflected by Steve Chalmers past Sarti into the net.


A display of some of Celtic's trophies, with the 1967 European Cup featuring prominently
Celtic were the first British club to win the European Cup, and still the only Scottish club to have reached the final. Celtic are one of only three clubs to have won a "Quintuple", the others being Barcelona (2009 and 2011) and Inter (2010). They reached the final again in 1970 but were beaten 2–1 by Feyenoord after extra time in the San Siro Stadium in Milan.

Here are a few videos of the Lisbon Lions:



This is the match:

It just would be the perfect time to replicate the success of 50 years previously, wouldn't it! The legacy left by those Celtic legends will certainly be something for your current stock of players to look to live up to!

The build for the PSG game is brilliant, very excited. Hope you can pull off an incredible result.

Justice We are almost there!! if we do not advance then I feel the Lisbon Lions will still be super proud of the amazing season we are having.

ScottT I hope so too

A good win over Hearts man and the Lisbon Lions piece is a very good read!

mgriffin2012 Thank you!!

Due to the winter break it was a relatively short and quiet month. All in all we only had two matches and it was another great month. January saw us enter the Scottish Cup Fourth Round.

The biggest event of the month is the ongoing transfer window. It has not closed yet but Celtic have had a fairly quiet window so far adding two players who will join before the next season.

Manager Brendan Rodgers had this to say about Patrick Roberts,"He is turning into a great player and the day he leaves it will be a massive loss to our firepower, I will do whatever I can to get him to stay in some shape or form."


Here is your spoiler free recap of January

---

After a nice break it was time to return to action, this time in the Scottish Cup. It was an easy win as Celtic advance after a 4-2 victory. The match started off with a own goal from a Hamilton player and it went down hill from there for the Accies. Patrick Roberts would be the star of the show as he scored a hat-trick. Next up in the fifth round is St. Johnstone.

---

The final match of the month came against a very tricky and unpredictable Hearts. Patrick Roberts scored his fourth goal of the month and collected an assist. This was also the first Premiership game since October that Craig Gordon allowed a goal.

---

The Dafabet Player of the Month award for January goes to none other than Patrick Roberts. Paddy has been on fire for the past few months and here in the two games played. He scored 4 goals including a hat-trick against Hamilton and tallied an assist against Hearts.

---

---

February will be a very busy month competition wise. Starting on the first we will be facing Aberdeen at Celtic Park. Four days later we meet up with St. Johnstone in Perth for one of two matches this month on the 5th. A few days later at Celtic Park we welcome St. Johnstone in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup on the 11th. Three days later on Valentines Day the Bhoys host Paris Saint-Germain in what will be an exciting Champions League Round of 16 match up. Finally we finish the month with meetings with Motherwell on the 18th and Hamilton on the 35th, both matches will be at Celtic Park.

Winter 2017 Transfers

From the start my main goal of this transfer window was to start looking for players who will make an impact this season. I feel that this current group of players is perfect and I do not want to mess with a good thing. I did have a few offers for players like Mikel Lustig for around £3M from a La Liga team but I wasn't ready to sell him, plus there was nobody out there who I could find in such a short time. The two players I added will contribute next year



A guy with the last name Larsson who wears the number 7 how perfect this transfer will be. I felt Sebastian was a great buy especially on a free. He might not be the best in the Premier League anymore but he will be amazing in Scotland. His leadership and set-piece skill is what drew me to him.


I have been watching Jason for some time now and I am very pleased that he will be joining us. My scouts were very mixed on him and I got so many opinions on him, my heart and mind said for me to take a chance on him. You see Jason was once a promising goalkeeper in England but his career is in a different direction right now. I want to change that and make him what he was predicted to be.


On the departures it was a very normal time as a few players extended their loans to the end of the season and one of my promising youngsters was moved on a loan to get more first team experiences. We even had a team bid a good sum on a player who was on loan with them at the start of the season.


In November I sat down with Kouassi about his playing time. He was a bit concerned he wasn't getting enough chances due to the depth of the squad and a few players above him at skill at the moment. We discussed a possibility of going out on loan and he agreed. Several clubs including MLS squads wanted him but I felt AIK was the best place to send him.


Saidy was never in my plans from the start so he was loaned out to Barnsley. To be honest I never really saw him as a Celtic player and wanted to shop him around. Well Barnsley gave me a very nice offer and I accepted. I wish him the best but being able to make a little over a million from him was a great deal.

January may have been not so busy on the pitch, but there was plenty of transfer activity occurring! Two good players secured for next season, with the latter surely playing a major role in seasons to come, and it is nice to see you make a bit of money on sales too!

Justice I got a feeling Steele is going to be really really good

Celtic and Rangers have been drawn home ties in today’s Quarter-Final draw.

Several games including Livingston and Ross County along with Inverness CT and Partick Thistle and three others will have to play in a replay.

The replay of the fifth round is set for 22 February.

Brendan Rodgers on 13 Feb 12:15
Brendan meets with the media a day before the big match against Paris Saint-Germain.

"PSG manager Unai Emery has been speaking highly of you in the build-up for tomorrows match; do you have any comments on that?"

"I appreciate Unai's comments and he is a great manager especially during his Sevilla day, I look forward to seeing him before the match begins."

"That is surprising to hear you praise a manager like that especially before a big game."

"Don't be ridiculous, I respect Unai as well as many other managers, don't try to make it sound like I am trying to make him better than me just because I am a respectful person."

Your Celtic side have defied the odds making it all the way to the knockout stage. How much further can you make it?"

"I told the guys during preseason we should shoot for the final in honour of the Lisbon Lions bur we need to be realistic as PSG are a great side, I (we) will take it game by game and we will see what happens."

"Do you feel that your team is ready for a side like PSG, what are your plans of beating them?"

"Yeah, we are ready, this will be a hard game but the guys are ready to go. We will have to be sharp and that is all I am going to stay on the game plan."

"Some believe you will pull off the upset, will you?"

"We will give it our best shot. I know this squad is good enough to win; we just need to go out and play our natural game."

"This will be a bitter sweet game for Moussa Dembele as he faces the club he started out with, what is his thoughts on the match?"

"Moussa is ready and wants to dominate from the start. He has something to prove that it was a mistake that they (PSG) got rid of him. I feel Moussa will have a good day tomorrow."

"Finally, do you feel you have an advantage being the home side first?"

"Of course yes, Celtic Park is going to be rocking tomorrow and the supporters will be a big asset."

Hopefully you can try and get a win at home, giving you the advantage ahead of the away leg. Come on you Bhoys, aye?

ScottT I hope so but the key is not to get my ass kicked 7-0