Celtic – Season 1 2020/2021: A review
Please Note: I don’t have many screenshots as I wasn’t planning on writing this when I started the save. I will do my best to recreate the information within the text.
The save was started with the following details:
Database Size: Large
Selected Nations: Scotland (League Two & Above)
Tactics: 4-4-2
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Immediately after taking charge of the club, it was clear that the battle to clinch 10 IAR (10 In A Row) was going to be an uphill one. A lack of quality both on and off the field meant that wholesale changes were going to be required.
Given the lack of quality player knowledge due to a weak scouting system, I was not prepared to gamble and pay over the top on players that were little more than unknown quantities.
My immediate attention was spent on getting my backroom staff organised and in place so that we could provide quality training to develop the players that we had both in the first team and in the youth team. Additionally, bringing in scouts that were significantly better than what we already had. The following backroom staff changes were made within the first month:
Gavin Strachan was let go a couple of weeks after the first wave due to me wanting to discover what was available on the market.
In came the following staff. This was done in multiple waves due to quality staff not being available and board limits:
In terms of player additions, I was struggling to find players that I knew would improve us. So, there were no additions to the IRL transfers that the club had made. There were a number of outgoings however:
Preseason Fixtures
Preseason had 5 fixtures scheduled against:
Melbourne Victory
Zenit
Red Star
Reims
KMSK Deinze
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A real mixed bag in terms of results which did not leave me too concerned as the squad was adjusting to the new tactic and upheaval off the field.
August 2020
The season started well with a 6-0 demolition of Hamilton at home and Edouard bagging a hat-trick inside the first 27 minutes. But an away trip to Kilmarnock showed we would not always have it our way. A 2-1 defeat (albeit 2 penalties for Killie converted by Eamonn Brophy) showed that this was not always going to be as easy as the opening day. A further 6-0 win at home v Aberdeen set in motion a good period for Celtic. A busy month with single knockout games against Riga away (2-1 win) and Ferencvaros home (7-3 win) either side of an away trip to Dundee United (5-0 win) meant we finished the month with a home tie v Motherwell who were suitably beaten 4-0 but 2 goals in the final 5 minutes make it seem more comfortable than it was.
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September 2020
September was a critical month to ensure Champions League qualification for the first time in a couple of seasons. The revenue from qualification could be critical to add transfer and wage funds in the winter window and into the summer of next year.
A delayed start to the month due to the international games kicked off with a comprehensive 4-1 win away at Ross County; but a late brace from Edouard gave some gloss to the scoreline.
The two weeks that followed were critical with Champions League qualifiers against Dynamo Brest at home (4-0 win) and a traditional two-legged affair with Ludogorets were going to have a big say in the success of the season.
Domestic league games against Livingston at home and Hibs would round out the month. Squad rotation was absolutely on the mind as Livingston came to town but there was certainly a domestic hangover after the Brest game. Livi left Parkhead with a 1-1 draw and it could have been worse if not for a 95th minute penalty that was scored by David Turnbull. However, the prize was Champions League football, so this was an acceptable price to pay. But it showed that the squad was lacking quality outside of the main 11. This could be a cause for concern later, but time will tell. A 1-0 win v Hibs finished the month domestically.
The home tie against Ludogorets was a cagey affair with us prevailing 2-1 but with Ludogorets getting what could be an all important away goal in the 86th minute, it meant the trip east would be more interesting than it maybe should have been.
A 1-1 draw in Bulgaria meant we would be entering the draw for the Champions League group stage. Despite the two poor results domestically, I was content with our progress so far.
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Champions League Draw
The final task in September was the drawing of the Champions League groups. We were handed a tough draw in Group E:
Liverpool
Shakhtar Donetsk
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Celtic
Finishing 3rd in the group would count as success.
October 2020
Domestically, we needed to start being more dominant and winning games more by a bigger margin. October started with a St. Johnstone away (2-1 win) before the first Old Firm game of the season at home to Rangers. Rangers had dropped points away at Motherwell (1-1) so a win here would restore parity at the top of the table for us but even more important was not lose so as not to lose further ground on them.
A great first half with goals from Edouard and Griffiths meant we went in at the break with a 2-0 lead. But a “real Jekyll and Hide performance” meant it finished 2-2 after a brace from Ryan Kent. Not the worst result but it could have been so much better.
2 European and 2 domestic fixtures remained in the month of October.
In Europe it went from the awful to sublime. An away trip to Liverpool ended with a 1-5 defeat despite taking an early lead, but a 5-1 home win v Shakhtar showed that this team does have potential. Edouard with a hattrick and a goal each for Mikey Johnston and Patryk Klimala completing the rout.
Between those two fixtures however was a very disappointing 1-3 loss at Aberdeen. A late consolation from Edouard aside, it was a poor showing and meant we had lost further ground in the title race. Rangers benefitting from not having European football to play after losing in the playoff to Sporting Lisbon were rolling on and racking up the wins in the league.
A routine 3-1 home win v St. Mirren completed October.
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November 2020
November was a perfect month both domestically and in Europe. A European double header v Borussia Mönchengladbach started with an emphatic 5-1 home win (3 5-1 results in a row!) and later in the month came a 1-0 away victory. Helped by an early red card we took all 3 points after a 49th minute penalty from Edouard. After 4 games we had given ourselves a great chance of qualification with 3 wins. A home tie against Liverpool and away to Shakhtar would follow in December.
On the home front, 2 away victories against Motherwell (3-1) and Hibs (3-1) meant we went into the final domestic fixture of the month in good spirits and form. An away trip to Dundee Utd in the League cup second round awaited. A comfortable 4-1 victory ensured we completed November unbeaten and hopefully signalled that we had found some rhythm. However, it would prove to be a false dawn…
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December 2020
Draws would prove to be the story of our December. In Europe these were welcomed as successive draws at home to Liverpool (1-1) and away to Shahktar (2-2) ensured we would qualify from Group E behind Liverpool on the H2H result.
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The draw for the next round saw us come out next to Real Madrid in a mouth watering tie that we could look forward to in February.
A busy domestic month meant squad rotation was going to be a topic. A tense home win against St. Johnstone (2-1) was followed by successive draws against Kilmarnock (3-3 home) and Livingston (1-1 away). Between those two draws was also a home League Cup Quarter final to be played against Kilmarnock which resulted in a 3-0 win. The month was rounded out with 3 wins from 3 against Ross County (3-0), Hamilton (5-3) and Dundee Utd (2-0).
We were clearly conceding too many goals, something needed to be done to try to address this as it was going to prove costly otherwise.
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January
Transfers In:
Juan Cruz Komar is a towering ball playing centre half which should add some quality at the heart of defence. The plan is to play him and Ajer as the primary two at the heart of the defence.
Curtis Jones will add some quality on either flank where we are lacking in quality, especially if we pick up an injury or two.
Transfers Out:
The decision to sell Ntcham was due to him not performing particularly well and him having 18 months left on his contract. So rather than let him go in the summer when it possibly would have raised less funds, I took the decision to let him go there and then.
An away fixture v Rangers kicked off the month. Rangers had had 1 defeat and 4 draws heading into this tie compared with our return of 2 defeats and 4 draws. A win here and we are level pegging, defeat and it is a 6 point deficit...
Well, after a tense and tight affair, Rangers came away with the spoils after a 78th minute winner from Jordan Jones. We needed to pick ourselves up and respond. And that we did, 3 games within a week against St. Mirren away (1-0 win), Hibs at home (4-1 win) and Livi at home (3-1 win) gave the perfect response. A further 2-0 home win v Hamilton sandwiched either side of domestic cup action ensured we had done all we could. Rangers lost 2-1 away at Aberdeen so the gap was back to 3 points and we could be hopeful.
A League Cup semi-final win (3-1) v Aberdeen ensured we’d be in the cup final next month and would face Rangers. A routine 4-1 away victory against Montrose ensured our safe passage into the next round of the Scottish Cup.
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February
February started as January finished, with another good league win, this time 3-0 away at Kilmarnock who had so often caused us problems this season. But another home draw cost us dearly. 1-1 v Motherwell at home is never good enough. A good 2-1 away victory at St. Johnstone set us up nicely for our home European tie against the mighty Real Madrid. What followed was nothing short of spectacular. An unbelievable 5-0 home win meant we had a real chance of progressing to the Quarter Final. However, our defensive play has been weak at times and we are hardly known for keeping clean sheets. The return leg in Madrid was something for us to really look forward to.
A 2-0 success v Ayr United in the Fourth Round of the Scottish cup was as routine as they come, before a comfortable 2-0 win v Aberdeen to round off the league fixtures in February.
The league cup final was the last order of business against Rangers at Hampden. 1-1 at the end of 90 minutes meant extra time beckoned. Ianis Hagi had given Rangers the lead after 17 minutes, but as we pushed forward Patryk Klimala netted the equilizer after 76 minutes. As we started extra time I thought it could go either way, but 2 goals in the first 5 minutes of ET first from Edouard and then from Klimala all but wrapped it up for us. Klimala wrapped up his hattrick 6 minutes before the end before Edouard put the icing on the cake with virtually the last kick of the game to seal what was ultimately a resounding victory. With it the League Cup Final which was the first trophy under our new leadership.
We were optimistic that this positive result and momentum since the loss to Rangers at the start of the year would set us up for a strong finish to the season and try to seal that record breaking 10th title in a row.
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March
The optimism was short lived…
March started with a 1-3 loss away at Dundee Utd. 2-0 down at HT and 3-0 shortly after meant we were well beaten essentially had to write off our title chances as it was really out of our hands now. Rangers had been consistently good, winning all of their games in 2021 thus far with the exception of 1 loss away at Aberdeen. We needed them to start dropping points and quickly.
The away leg against Real Madrid followed that disappointing result. Going into the tie I really felt that we could blow the advantage we had. However, heading in at HT 0-1 down after Casemiro gave Real the lead after 24 minutes, I was more optimistic. Ultimately, Real won 4-0 with goals from Benzema and Hazard with a brace but we held on for a historic victory in the Santiago Bernabeu.
Atletico Madrid awaited us in the Quarter Final.
The high of qualifying for the Quarter Final was followed up with 3 good domestic results to complete March ahead of the international break.
A 5-0 demolition of Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup Quarter Final was followed by another 5-0 win, this time away at St. Mirren before an absolutely must win home game against Rangers. Anything other than a win here would mean the title was all but mathematically gone. A thrilling encounter finished with a 4-3 victory for Celtic with Moi Elyounoussi grabbing the winner in the 89th minute.
Goals from the game…
Celtic 4 – 3 Rangers
31 - Helander
32 - Johnston
35 - Edouard
39 - Zungu
58 - Jack
65 - Griffiths
89 - Elyounoussi
The league was very much still a possibility, especially with 1 more Old Firm game to come after the split in April.
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April
A busy month where nothing but a 100% record domestically would be enough to win the league and the coveted 10 IAR.
We started well with a 2-0 away win against Ross County. Followed by back to back games against Atletico Madrid in the Quarter Final of the CL. A 1-1 draw away where Joao Felix grabbed a 91st minute equalizer gave lots of reasons to be optimistic heading into the return leg.
A Leigh Griffiths opener after 19 minutes was cancelled out by Kondogbia on the stroke of HT. With the tie level on away goals, we knew if Atleti scored we would need 2 which would be very difficult against this opposition. But with the game still 1-1 after 90 minutes our minds started to think about how to hold on to get to penalties. We’d offered little offensively in the second 45 and the players had begun to tire. On the stroke of HT in ET, the game was done. Atleti awarded a penalty with Suarez convered meant it was 1-2 on the night and 2-3 on aggregate. This is how things would finish.
Ultimately, we could be proud of our accomplishments in Europe and the run to the Quarter Final would do our co-efficient ranking the world of good for the seasons to come. Hopefully eradicating the need for the qualifiers in seasons to come.
Just 4 days later, came the biggest fixture of the season that could make or break the league campaign. A trip across the city to Ibrox to face Rangers. A big ask after 120 minutes just days earlier.
It proved too much. A weak 0-2 loss ended our prospects of winning 10 IAR and gave “The Rangers” their first topflight honour. A great achievement for a club that was only 10 years old *wink wink*. A great disappointment for everyone and confirmed what had already been known for a long time. A big rebuild was on the cards in the summer.
The fixtures continued to come thick and fast with the Scottish Cup still up for grabs. 1-0 victory after extra time ensured another final against Rangers in May in the final. A late penalty from David Turnbull saw us through but it was by no means convincing.
A 4-2 victory away at Livi ensured we remained respectable in the league. Mathematically the league wasn’t over due to Rangers drawing 0-0 at home with Aberdeen but in reality, it was done. A 9 point lead with 3 games to play was surely going to be too much to overturn.
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May
A strong finish to the season was important and we got it. With 3 home league games to finish against Motherwell (4-0), Aberdeen (3-0) and Dundee Utd (4-0) we finished the league campaign in style.
The Scottish Cup Final still needed to be settled and we could take some satisfaction from a cup double winning season if we could see it through. It wasn’t until the 79th minute when Leigh Griffiths gave us the lead after early goals from James Forrest and Zungu had kept things fairly even. Griffiths put the tie to bed 6 minutes before the end and ensured we took the trophy home.
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Close Season Activity – May & June – End of in Game Season 1
Losing the league by 6 points was a bitter disappointment, but ultimately, we were not good enough over the course of the season and major changes were needed. The work started before the official end of the FM season as there was no time to waste.
Transfers In
Transfers Out
Patrick Roberts returning would give some much needed quality on the right side of midfield and Findlay was a cheap but good option in case other options would not work out in the transfer market. He was not necessarily a big improvement on what we already had but it would not make us worse at the back.
Heraghty is a young keeper that had decent potential so would if nothing else make my youth and reserve teams more competitive.
Big departures in Rogic and Barkas. Barkas was never good enough and is not even near the top level of keepers in Scotland. So his departure was almost inevitable. Rogic has good numbers and performed fairly well but not really consistently enough so £7.5m was too good to turn down.
Behind the scenes there were also big changes with the following staff leaving:
Staff Out
Staff In
These improvements to the overall quality of the backroom staff will help but with many vacancies still to fill the job was far from done.
3 transfers were already confirmed and would join on 1/7/21 at the end of their existing contracts. Many more deals were being worked on to improve the squad. Priorities were many and improvements were needed all over the pitch. But with Barkas going, a new 1st choice keeper was a necessity.
For now, it was time to hit “Continue” and jump into season 2 – 2021/22. Where nothing less than reclaiming the Premiership title would be enough.
Please Note: I don’t have many screenshots as I wasn’t planning on writing this when I started the save. I will do my best to recreate the information within the text.
The save was started with the following details:
Database Size: Large
Selected Nations: Scotland (League Two & Above)
Tactics: 4-4-2
Immediately after taking charge of the club, it was clear that the battle to clinch 10 IAR (10 In A Row) was going to be an uphill one. A lack of quality both on and off the field meant that wholesale changes were going to be required.
Given the lack of quality player knowledge due to a weak scouting system, I was not prepared to gamble and pay over the top on players that were little more than unknown quantities.
My immediate attention was spent on getting my backroom staff organised and in place so that we could provide quality training to develop the players that we had both in the first team and in the youth team. Additionally, bringing in scouts that were significantly better than what we already had. The following backroom staff changes were made within the first month:
Date Person To Job 29/06/2020 Nick Hammond Released Director of Football 29/06/2020 John Kennedy Released Assistant Manager 29/06/2020 Gary Penrice Released Chief Scout 29/06/2020 Jay Lefevre Released Scout 29/06/2020 Mick Doherty Released Scout 29/06/2020 Craig Strachan Released Scout 29/06/2020 Tosh McKinlay Released Scout 29/06/2020 Peter Houston Released Performance Analyst 12/07/2020 Gavin Strachan Released Coach
Gavin Strachan was let go a couple of weeks after the first wave due to me wanting to discover what was available on the market.
In came the following staff. This was done in multiple waves due to quality staff not being available and board limits:
Date Person From Job 01/07/2020 Bernd Legien Unattached Scout 01/07/2020 Bernd Pfeifer Magdeburg Chief Scout 02/07/2020 Bob Arber Norwich Scout 02/07/2020 Steven Houston Unattached Scout 02/07/2020 Luc Nilis Unattached Assistant Manager 12/07/2020 Erik Larsen Unattached Scout 12/07/2020 Nicolas Chiesa Unattached Scout 15/07/2020 Zvonko Komes Unattached Fitness Coach 15/07/2020 Eric Black Unattached Coach 16/07/2020 Victor de los Santos Celaya Scout 14/10/2020 Colin Jackson Unattached Performance Analyst 14/10/2020 Michael Lucas Unattached Recruitment Analyst 14/10/2020 James Ryder Unattached Performance Analyst 14/10/2020 Martin Armstrong Unattached Reserves Performance Analyst 14/10/2020 Duane Cooper Unattached Recruitment Analyst 7/11/2020 Nathan Baird Unattached Loan Manager 7/11/2020 Clement Hazard Unattached Physio 30/11/2020 Dennis Bergkamp Unattached Coach 16/12/2020 Gavin McCarthy St. Johnstone Physio 17/12/2020 Jamie Ritchie Unattached Recruitment Analyst 17/12/2020 Gert Verheyen Unattached Coach
In terms of player additions, I was struggling to find players that I knew would improve us. So, there were no additions to the IRL transfers that the club had made. There were a number of outgoings however:
Date Person To Type Fee 17/07/2020 Anthony Ralston St. Johnstone Loan £0 17/07/2020 Luca Connell Ayr United Loan £33,000 19/07/2020 Ryan Mullen Cove Rangers Loan £3,800 20/07/2020 Ewan Henderson Dundee Loan £5,750 23/07/2020 Stephen Welsh Queen of the South Loan £1,600 28/07/2020 Karamoko Dembele Hamilton Loan £0 15/08/2020 Connor Beedham Ross County Transfer £14,000 08/09/2020 Dane Murray Greenock Morton Loan £2,700 21/09/2020 Jaden Ferguson-Williams Annan Athletic Loan £0 05/10/2020 Armstrong Oko-Flex Dumbarton Loan £50 17/10/2020 Finn McRobb Annan Athletic Loan £0
Preseason Fixtures
Preseason had 5 fixtures scheduled against:
Melbourne Victory
Zenit
Red Star
Reims
KMSK Deinze
A real mixed bag in terms of results which did not leave me too concerned as the squad was adjusting to the new tactic and upheaval off the field.
August 2020
The season started well with a 6-0 demolition of Hamilton at home and Edouard bagging a hat-trick inside the first 27 minutes. But an away trip to Kilmarnock showed we would not always have it our way. A 2-1 defeat (albeit 2 penalties for Killie converted by Eamonn Brophy) showed that this was not always going to be as easy as the opening day. A further 6-0 win at home v Aberdeen set in motion a good period for Celtic. A busy month with single knockout games against Riga away (2-1 win) and Ferencvaros home (7-3 win) either side of an away trip to Dundee United (5-0 win) meant we finished the month with a home tie v Motherwell who were suitably beaten 4-0 but 2 goals in the final 5 minutes make it seem more comfortable than it was.
September 2020
September was a critical month to ensure Champions League qualification for the first time in a couple of seasons. The revenue from qualification could be critical to add transfer and wage funds in the winter window and into the summer of next year.
A delayed start to the month due to the international games kicked off with a comprehensive 4-1 win away at Ross County; but a late brace from Edouard gave some gloss to the scoreline.
The two weeks that followed were critical with Champions League qualifiers against Dynamo Brest at home (4-0 win) and a traditional two-legged affair with Ludogorets were going to have a big say in the success of the season.
Domestic league games against Livingston at home and Hibs would round out the month. Squad rotation was absolutely on the mind as Livingston came to town but there was certainly a domestic hangover after the Brest game. Livi left Parkhead with a 1-1 draw and it could have been worse if not for a 95th minute penalty that was scored by David Turnbull. However, the prize was Champions League football, so this was an acceptable price to pay. But it showed that the squad was lacking quality outside of the main 11. This could be a cause for concern later, but time will tell. A 1-0 win v Hibs finished the month domestically.
The home tie against Ludogorets was a cagey affair with us prevailing 2-1 but with Ludogorets getting what could be an all important away goal in the 86th minute, it meant the trip east would be more interesting than it maybe should have been.
A 1-1 draw in Bulgaria meant we would be entering the draw for the Champions League group stage. Despite the two poor results domestically, I was content with our progress so far.
Champions League Draw
The final task in September was the drawing of the Champions League groups. We were handed a tough draw in Group E:
Liverpool
Shakhtar Donetsk
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Celtic
Finishing 3rd in the group would count as success.
October 2020
Domestically, we needed to start being more dominant and winning games more by a bigger margin. October started with a St. Johnstone away (2-1 win) before the first Old Firm game of the season at home to Rangers. Rangers had dropped points away at Motherwell (1-1) so a win here would restore parity at the top of the table for us but even more important was not lose so as not to lose further ground on them.
A great first half with goals from Edouard and Griffiths meant we went in at the break with a 2-0 lead. But a “real Jekyll and Hide performance” meant it finished 2-2 after a brace from Ryan Kent. Not the worst result but it could have been so much better.
2 European and 2 domestic fixtures remained in the month of October.
In Europe it went from the awful to sublime. An away trip to Liverpool ended with a 1-5 defeat despite taking an early lead, but a 5-1 home win v Shakhtar showed that this team does have potential. Edouard with a hattrick and a goal each for Mikey Johnston and Patryk Klimala completing the rout.
Between those two fixtures however was a very disappointing 1-3 loss at Aberdeen. A late consolation from Edouard aside, it was a poor showing and meant we had lost further ground in the title race. Rangers benefitting from not having European football to play after losing in the playoff to Sporting Lisbon were rolling on and racking up the wins in the league.
A routine 3-1 home win v St. Mirren completed October.
November 2020
November was a perfect month both domestically and in Europe. A European double header v Borussia Mönchengladbach started with an emphatic 5-1 home win (3 5-1 results in a row!) and later in the month came a 1-0 away victory. Helped by an early red card we took all 3 points after a 49th minute penalty from Edouard. After 4 games we had given ourselves a great chance of qualification with 3 wins. A home tie against Liverpool and away to Shakhtar would follow in December.
On the home front, 2 away victories against Motherwell (3-1) and Hibs (3-1) meant we went into the final domestic fixture of the month in good spirits and form. An away trip to Dundee Utd in the League cup second round awaited. A comfortable 4-1 victory ensured we completed November unbeaten and hopefully signalled that we had found some rhythm. However, it would prove to be a false dawn…
December 2020
Draws would prove to be the story of our December. In Europe these were welcomed as successive draws at home to Liverpool (1-1) and away to Shahktar (2-2) ensured we would qualify from Group E behind Liverpool on the H2H result.
The draw for the next round saw us come out next to Real Madrid in a mouth watering tie that we could look forward to in February.
A busy domestic month meant squad rotation was going to be a topic. A tense home win against St. Johnstone (2-1) was followed by successive draws against Kilmarnock (3-3 home) and Livingston (1-1 away). Between those two draws was also a home League Cup Quarter final to be played against Kilmarnock which resulted in a 3-0 win. The month was rounded out with 3 wins from 3 against Ross County (3-0), Hamilton (5-3) and Dundee Utd (2-0).
We were clearly conceding too many goals, something needed to be done to try to address this as it was going to prove costly otherwise.
January
Transfers In:
Date Person From Type Fee 06/01/2021 Curtis Jones Liverpool Loan £0 06/01/2021 Juan Cruz Komar Talleres Transfer £1,400,000
Juan Cruz Komar is a towering ball playing centre half which should add some quality at the heart of defence. The plan is to play him and Ajer as the primary two at the heart of the defence.
Curtis Jones will add some quality on either flank where we are lacking in quality, especially if we pick up an injury or two.
Transfers Out:
Date Person To Type Fee 06/01/2021 Joe Morrison Stranraer Loan £30 08/01/2021 Tobi Oluwayemi Queen's Park Loan £70 08/01/2021 Liam Hughes Dundee Transfer £4,800 09/01/2021 Liam Otoo East Fife Loan £775 17/01/2021 Ismaila Soro Maccabi Tel Aviv Loan £35,000 31/01/2021 Ewan Henderson Livingston Loan £1,300 19/02/2021 Olivier Ntcham Spartak Moscow Transfer £7,500,000
The decision to sell Ntcham was due to him not performing particularly well and him having 18 months left on his contract. So rather than let him go in the summer when it possibly would have raised less funds, I took the decision to let him go there and then.
An away fixture v Rangers kicked off the month. Rangers had had 1 defeat and 4 draws heading into this tie compared with our return of 2 defeats and 4 draws. A win here and we are level pegging, defeat and it is a 6 point deficit...
Well, after a tense and tight affair, Rangers came away with the spoils after a 78th minute winner from Jordan Jones. We needed to pick ourselves up and respond. And that we did, 3 games within a week against St. Mirren away (1-0 win), Hibs at home (4-1 win) and Livi at home (3-1 win) gave the perfect response. A further 2-0 home win v Hamilton sandwiched either side of domestic cup action ensured we had done all we could. Rangers lost 2-1 away at Aberdeen so the gap was back to 3 points and we could be hopeful.
A League Cup semi-final win (3-1) v Aberdeen ensured we’d be in the cup final next month and would face Rangers. A routine 4-1 away victory against Montrose ensured our safe passage into the next round of the Scottish Cup.
February
February started as January finished, with another good league win, this time 3-0 away at Kilmarnock who had so often caused us problems this season. But another home draw cost us dearly. 1-1 v Motherwell at home is never good enough. A good 2-1 away victory at St. Johnstone set us up nicely for our home European tie against the mighty Real Madrid. What followed was nothing short of spectacular. An unbelievable 5-0 home win meant we had a real chance of progressing to the Quarter Final. However, our defensive play has been weak at times and we are hardly known for keeping clean sheets. The return leg in Madrid was something for us to really look forward to.
A 2-0 success v Ayr United in the Fourth Round of the Scottish cup was as routine as they come, before a comfortable 2-0 win v Aberdeen to round off the league fixtures in February.
The league cup final was the last order of business against Rangers at Hampden. 1-1 at the end of 90 minutes meant extra time beckoned. Ianis Hagi had given Rangers the lead after 17 minutes, but as we pushed forward Patryk Klimala netted the equilizer after 76 minutes. As we started extra time I thought it could go either way, but 2 goals in the first 5 minutes of ET first from Edouard and then from Klimala all but wrapped it up for us. Klimala wrapped up his hattrick 6 minutes before the end before Edouard put the icing on the cake with virtually the last kick of the game to seal what was ultimately a resounding victory. With it the League Cup Final which was the first trophy under our new leadership.
We were optimistic that this positive result and momentum since the loss to Rangers at the start of the year would set us up for a strong finish to the season and try to seal that record breaking 10th title in a row.
March
The optimism was short lived…
March started with a 1-3 loss away at Dundee Utd. 2-0 down at HT and 3-0 shortly after meant we were well beaten essentially had to write off our title chances as it was really out of our hands now. Rangers had been consistently good, winning all of their games in 2021 thus far with the exception of 1 loss away at Aberdeen. We needed them to start dropping points and quickly.
The away leg against Real Madrid followed that disappointing result. Going into the tie I really felt that we could blow the advantage we had. However, heading in at HT 0-1 down after Casemiro gave Real the lead after 24 minutes, I was more optimistic. Ultimately, Real won 4-0 with goals from Benzema and Hazard with a brace but we held on for a historic victory in the Santiago Bernabeu.
Atletico Madrid awaited us in the Quarter Final.
The high of qualifying for the Quarter Final was followed up with 3 good domestic results to complete March ahead of the international break.
A 5-0 demolition of Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup Quarter Final was followed by another 5-0 win, this time away at St. Mirren before an absolutely must win home game against Rangers. Anything other than a win here would mean the title was all but mathematically gone. A thrilling encounter finished with a 4-3 victory for Celtic with Moi Elyounoussi grabbing the winner in the 89th minute.
Goals from the game…
Celtic 4 – 3 Rangers
31 - Helander
32 - Johnston
35 - Edouard
39 - Zungu
58 - Jack
65 - Griffiths
89 - Elyounoussi
The league was very much still a possibility, especially with 1 more Old Firm game to come after the split in April.
April
A busy month where nothing but a 100% record domestically would be enough to win the league and the coveted 10 IAR.
We started well with a 2-0 away win against Ross County. Followed by back to back games against Atletico Madrid in the Quarter Final of the CL. A 1-1 draw away where Joao Felix grabbed a 91st minute equalizer gave lots of reasons to be optimistic heading into the return leg.
A Leigh Griffiths opener after 19 minutes was cancelled out by Kondogbia on the stroke of HT. With the tie level on away goals, we knew if Atleti scored we would need 2 which would be very difficult against this opposition. But with the game still 1-1 after 90 minutes our minds started to think about how to hold on to get to penalties. We’d offered little offensively in the second 45 and the players had begun to tire. On the stroke of HT in ET, the game was done. Atleti awarded a penalty with Suarez convered meant it was 1-2 on the night and 2-3 on aggregate. This is how things would finish.
Ultimately, we could be proud of our accomplishments in Europe and the run to the Quarter Final would do our co-efficient ranking the world of good for the seasons to come. Hopefully eradicating the need for the qualifiers in seasons to come.
Just 4 days later, came the biggest fixture of the season that could make or break the league campaign. A trip across the city to Ibrox to face Rangers. A big ask after 120 minutes just days earlier.
It proved too much. A weak 0-2 loss ended our prospects of winning 10 IAR and gave “The Rangers” their first topflight honour. A great achievement for a club that was only 10 years old *wink wink*. A great disappointment for everyone and confirmed what had already been known for a long time. A big rebuild was on the cards in the summer.
The fixtures continued to come thick and fast with the Scottish Cup still up for grabs. 1-0 victory after extra time ensured another final against Rangers in May in the final. A late penalty from David Turnbull saw us through but it was by no means convincing.
A 4-2 victory away at Livi ensured we remained respectable in the league. Mathematically the league wasn’t over due to Rangers drawing 0-0 at home with Aberdeen but in reality, it was done. A 9 point lead with 3 games to play was surely going to be too much to overturn.
May
A strong finish to the season was important and we got it. With 3 home league games to finish against Motherwell (4-0), Aberdeen (3-0) and Dundee Utd (4-0) we finished the league campaign in style.
The Scottish Cup Final still needed to be settled and we could take some satisfaction from a cup double winning season if we could see it through. It wasn’t until the 79th minute when Leigh Griffiths gave us the lead after early goals from James Forrest and Zungu had kept things fairly even. Griffiths put the tie to bed 6 minutes before the end and ensured we took the trophy home.
Close Season Activity – May & June – End of in Game Season 1
Losing the league by 6 points was a bitter disappointment, but ultimately, we were not good enough over the course of the season and major changes were needed. The work started before the official end of the FM season as there was no time to waste.
Transfers In
Date Person From Type Fee 04/06/2021 Stuart Findlay Unattached Transfer £0 15/06/2021 Jacques Heraghty Queen's Park Transfer £0 24/06/2021 Patrick Roberts Manchester City Transfer £3,400,000
Transfers Out
Date Person To Type Fee 09/06/2021 Kerr McInroy Motherwell Transfer £0 09/06/2021 Cameron Harper Kilmarnock Transfer £0 09/06/2021 Owen Moffat Inverness Transfer £0 09/06/2021 Finn McRobb Dunfermline Transfer £0 09/06/2021 Paul Kennedy Queen of the South Transfer £0 09/06/2021 Kieran McGrath Hearts Transfer £0 11/06/2021 Tom Rogic Dynamo Moscow Transfer £7,500,000 11/06/2021 Vasilis Barkas Spartak Moscow Transfer £6,250,000 15/06/2021 Luca Connell Livingston Loan £12,000 17/06/2021 Andrew Gutman Aberdeen Transfer £0 19/06/2021 Ryan Mullen Motherwell Transfer £5,500 19/06/2021 Stephen Welsh Livingston Transfer £9,500 19/06/2021 Armstrong Oko-Flex Carlisle Loan £0 19/06/2021 Leo Fuhr Hjelde Ross County Loan £3,600
Patrick Roberts returning would give some much needed quality on the right side of midfield and Findlay was a cheap but good option in case other options would not work out in the transfer market. He was not necessarily a big improvement on what we already had but it would not make us worse at the back.
Heraghty is a young keeper that had decent potential so would if nothing else make my youth and reserve teams more competitive.
Big departures in Rogic and Barkas. Barkas was never good enough and is not even near the top level of keepers in Scotland. So his departure was almost inevitable. Rogic has good numbers and performed fairly well but not really consistently enough so £7.5m was too good to turn down.
Behind the scenes there were also big changes with the following staff leaving:
Staff Out
Date Person To Job 31/05/2021 Colin Meldrum Released Reserves Goalkeeping Coach 31/05/2021 David Creighton Released Reserves Physio 31/05/2021 David McFadyen Released Reserves Physio 31/05/2021 Scott Breddy Released Reserves Sport Scientist 31/05/2021 Brendan Culhane Released Under 18's Physio 31/05/2021 William Currie Released Sport Scientist 31/05/2021 Daniel Friel Released Physio 31/05/2021 Jack Nayler Released Head of Sport Science
Staff In
Date Person From Job 08/05/2021 Gordon Young Unattached Reserves Assistant Manager 02/06/2021 Neil Sullivan Hull City Reserves Goalkeeping Coach 03/06/2021 Donal Gallagher Cove Rangers Under 18's Physio 03/06/2021 David Hartley St. Mirren Reserves Sports Scientist 03/06/2021 Tony Strudwick Sheffield Wednesday Head of Sport Science 03/06/2021 Iain McKinlay Clyde Reserves Physio 03/06/2021 Chris McConnell AFC Wimbledon Sports Scientist 04/06/2021 Ross Grady Hearts Reserves Physio 16/06/2021 Fernando Lacomba Malaga Physio 19/06/2021 Alberto Coyote Unattached Under 18's Asst. Manager
These improvements to the overall quality of the backroom staff will help but with many vacancies still to fill the job was far from done.
3 transfers were already confirmed and would join on 1/7/21 at the end of their existing contracts. Many more deals were being worked on to improve the squad. Priorities were many and improvements were needed all over the pitch. But with Barkas going, a new 1st choice keeper was a necessity.
For now, it was time to hit “Continue” and jump into season 2 – 2021/22. Where nothing less than reclaiming the Premiership title would be enough.
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