Well that was the year that was. Lets have a wee look back and see what we can remember as good bad and downright ugly…please add your suggestions in under Comments section…
Highlights of 2014
The League Win
After the hardship and heartbreak of still very recent times, Ive never been one to take these things for granted so every League win is always welcomed and celebrated. So its ‘Hooray for Three in a row’ with a due nod to the great defensive record and the early claiming of the title which we hoped would give our World cup stars a rest…which big Fraser ended up not exactly needing whatsoever.
Paradise Found
Was tempted to put this in the Lowlights but no,I’ll be generous. 2014 saw the elevation of Celtic Park and its surroundings into a world class facility.Brilliantly used to hosting the Scottish Cup Final and of course the Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games and The Queen no less. The Queen…at Celtic Park…Yes that really did happen!. The new Celtic Way is a lovely lit entrance addition and the removal of the old School saw some hilarious screams of State Aid from our blue nosed brethren. We just need the award of a European Final to send them over the edge!
Scotland under Strachan
Its been great to see the wee man prosper along with several Celts or ex Celts in the blue, white, yellow and pink of scotland. Chuck Mulgrew, Scott Brown, James Forrest, Shaun Maloney and now even the rejuvenated Craig Gordon are all loving life helping wee Gordons excellent Scotland side keep up the pressure on Germany and Poland. Of course we can all look forward to a summer game against the Republic in Dublin after our recent victory over Blessed Martin and Aidenihno at Celtic Park.
R
on Manager
With Lenny gone, the opening for Celtic manager saw the usual suspects named for the Vacancy. Moyes, Lambert, Coyle, McNamara were all touted ( along with the usual “NO THANKS” from half the crowd) and of course a certain Irishman named Royston. However the Board went in a different direction. Some will say cheap direction but I prefer to think it was forward thinking and stepping away from normal standard practise. Ronnie has a new “fitness first” approach and while the short team benefits are hard to see ( if existant), the man who actually accepted the job has a new fresh vision and that for me is worth celebrating while biting my nails.
Craig Gordon
Just WOW! Truly a Lazarus resurrection as the former hated Hearts corner comer-upper became the new hero at Celtic Park. Brilliant goalkeeping performances along with a tearing a strip off Ally McCoist for making false “I tried to sign him first” claims saw the Celtic keeper fly up the appreciation ratings from the Celtic Support. Fraser who?
Sammi & Jay
Theres a romance about Celtic. Sometimes it can lead to green coloured glasses and we create heroes where they dont exist or belong, or we over appreciate abilities and fail to see faults. The reverse is also true, we can be harsh and quickly target scapegoats. EVery now and again though, something wonderful happens to remind us why Celtic are truly special. That happened in 2014 when Sammi took a lap of honour with wee Jay Beatty. The sight of our Greek God carrying his biggest fan around the park was joyous and the epitome of Celtic class and love.To then see Sammi offer Jay a chance to go to the World Cup and the pair collect a Humanity Award from the Greek Journalist Association said it all about our by now former Greek star and the way our club generates such feelings. Now at West Brom warming a bench, he will be forever welcome back at Paradise.
Walking Away
It isnt over till the fat guy signs a confidentiality Agreement and goes on Gardening Leave. After hilariously awful results, Sally eventually had to walk away from his beloved holding company. Of course the media rallied behind him but his legacy will long outlast any “fully deserved” severance pay. The demotion of Durrant also helped raise a smile but to see the arrogant, cowardly, nasty, vindictive, self serving manager get his come-uppance was a welcome sight in 2014. Good riddance but can Lenny please now just tell us what was in that infamous whisper?.
Honourable Highlight mentions to
Stan Petrov getting better!
Anthony Stokes hairline!
Lowlights
The Departure of Neil Lennon
We had heard the rumours of course but it was still a sad shock when our Lurgan leader left out the side door in a depressingly modern “mutual agreement” fashion. After the victory speech during the League trophy presentation, there was still hope but that soon ebbed away as soon as Neil asked for transfer cash, got rejected, complained and Dermot called his bluff. It probably came as a surprise to the BBC who had hired Lenny for the World Cup analysis and had to wonder about referencing him as “ex Celtic boss”. Hey ho. Now Neil and big Johann are at Bolton and best of luck to Them and The Whites.
The World Cup
It happened didnt it?
I cant really remember it was that instantly forgettable. Or maybe its just me? I blame the saturation of football on telly these days, its 7 days a week, 365 these days. Nothing is that special anymore. Ive sat here for 5 mins trying to remember who Argentina beat to reach the final, but nope, it wont come. That cant be right can it? We had the joys of Celts Efe ( curly toe et al!) and Izzy ( aka CrazyMan) there as well as ex Celts in Sammi and Fraser as well as Lenny in the BBC portakabin with Gary Lineker and co.
Chumpions League
To paraphrase Oscar Wilde “To lose one Champions League qualifier may be regarded as a misforture, to lose both looks like carelessness!”. The blame for the humilations sit squarely with Ronnie, John, Peter, Dermot and John Parks. Truly embarrasing and should never be forgotten regardless of the outcome of the up and coming tie with Inter Milan. The Europa League campaign has been a mixed bag too but when all thoughts come to Europe and celtic in 2014, 2 words will spring to mind “Administration Error” but perhaps “Dreadful Planning” is more apt.
In/Out Bugger
It was a revolving door down Celtic way in 2014 with sadly the big names going only one way. First Joe Ledley departed for a great showing at Crystal Palace then come summer it was adios from Sammi and Fraser Forster and Lenny. It was also time up for Barca Batterer Tony Watt, who sadly looks destined for a career with charity side Dukla Pumperpherson. The failed strikers Pukki, Friðjónsson and Baldé ambled out the door and the replacement policy was rushed and scattered. Any money was banked bar a stumping up for Stefan Šćepović which was immediately queried with the loaning of John Guidetti from Man City who also gave us Jason Denayer. The loan strategy also gave us the curios of Jo Inge Berget(already away), Wakaso Mubarak and the now tainted acquisition of Aleksandar Tonev. Lets hope Peter and Co have some better plans in place than last seasons lucky dip strategy.
Can you think of any others..good or bad?….lets hear them below:
The highlight of 2014 for me was the Huns pain, the lowlight of the year was that pain not being enough.
I don’t like them!
Maribor horror show- cheers Ronnie!!
Desi
Just surviving till 2015 🙂 me not 1st ???? or is it 2nd ???? If only my doctor’s name was M. Ashley MD.
And the inspirational SPFL & SFA leaders, of course, especially the phenomenal sponsorships they brought in.
H H
High for me, was seeing the Hoops in person; here in sunny Dresden
Low is watching the shambles that’s Sevco being helped by the SFA/SPFL at every opportunity…..even appointing an ex-Season ticket holder as the referee for the game v Newco on Feb 1st!
If this is a fact surrounding Madden’s allegiance to second Rangers, are Celtic going to say anything about it?
WTF is going on?
Monti, since time immemorial we have had to contend with this.
Let’s just hope we embarrass the newco and leave the ref a mere onlooker.
Andybhoy,
I know that m8, at 43 I’ve experienced enough of it.
What really fucking annoys me is the Celtic board don’t flex their muscles and fight it.
We need another Fergus!
I still laugh thinking of Killie winning Bobby Taits famously requested AND granted last game at Ibrox
Absolutely true about Madden! He is a total scumbag! Should never be anywhere near this game
Desi,
Lovely words,re Sammi and Jay.That is indeed,
what makes our club special.
High for me,was not seeing Sevco pollute Paradise in a Final.With elbows McCulloch telling the laptop loyal,how they would win the
Treble at Celtic Park. lol
Lows,got to be the departure of Lenny and Maribor disaster.Champions League money is so crucial,for us to maintain our dominance in Scottish football.
High -winning 6-1 over dundee Utd. Standing on the new Celtic Way after the game I thought we were seeing a new dawn.
Low-Maribor and Legia.
Ralph
“Standing on the new Celtic Way after the game I thought we were seeing a new dawn.”
Instead, we got a dismal sunset!! I still think there could be a silver lining – somewhere!
H H
Och guys! There’s nothing better than proving doubters wrong, and the media’s full of doubters (and knockers). We maybe expected a smoother transition from Lenny to Ronny, and in a perfect world it would have been…but this isn’t a perfect world, so let’s look on the positive side. The team’s showing flashes of how we would like them to play consistently, Ronny just needs to get them up a few notches in terms of concentration and pace. I still think we’ll beat Inter over the two legs (not saying we’ll win the Europa though), we’ll win the League and at least one of the Cups to finish with a flourish. With that year under his belt Ronnie will be more knowledgeable and experienced and he will know what being manager of Celtic means.
My Highs of the year, every comedy sketch enacted at sevco and the obvious suffering on the faces of their friends in the press and TV. My Lows,that I have to wait until Feb to see us destroy them. If Madden disallows two Celtic goals and gives them a penalty, we’ll still win 5-0. Hail,Hail.
Highs A new approach from a new young progressive Manager.
Low Losing a Legend because of the shit he had to endure.
Mixed feelings on losing lennie,was a pleasure to have had him serve our club, but not to sure about his ability to represent our great club, but he gained valuable experience and his commitment was unquestionable.
High Ronnie starting to prove all the knockers wrong, as said above starting to see flashes of what we want to see on a more consistent bases. A wee bit of luck this could be a season to treasure. With a further really bright future from our new leader
“ability to represent our great club” What the Fuck does that mean ? Reading too many laptop loyal articles!
Lenny displayed passion and pride as Celtic Manager.Ask Celtic players about his Motivation and Love for our club??
He represented our club with leadership qualities when beating Barcelona and the last ever game against the defunct club,3-0,in case you forget.
I for one,want Lenny to come back in the future,
to takes us to 10 in a row.As long as the Manager’s,in the interim,do their job by winning the league,in the meantime!
Ronnie is the worst manager Celtic have ever had – dont beat around the bush. He is a clown. Actually still a debate about Chris Commons ? Jon Arne Berget started in Warsaw – a CL game – after only a run out with the team. Who makes that kind of mistake ? Oh a mediocre subbuteo coach from Norway. THis season will be a disaster – allready is – and this clown wont last until March.
I agree Maurice, he’s never a Celtic manager!
agree somewhat about deila,his one upfront policy especially at home is costing us points,please please someone give him a kick up the arse,I like a man who sticks to his principles,but it is a fool who can not see there flawed and unable to change direction,also on commons and Griffiths both getting a raw deal,also we do not have a settled team and we are in to the second half of the season, I have a bad feeling about the second half of the season hope I’m wrong.
Glass deffo still half empty !We need more composure on the ball , still badly missing Sammi and Wanyama.Big Victors departure revealed how poor Efe really is and did Sammi”s craft and class not earn Hooper a move to mighty Norwichs” bench.Hope Ronnie pulls his finger out quick and gets us playing something worth watching. BTW , fair play to wee Strachan . He”s doing good things for Scotland , anyone remember the shite he took off our fellow Hoops fans (while WINNING us leagues).What happened Charlie Mulgrew against Ireland? He RAN , got stuck in and generally looked like he gave a fuck. We should sign that Mulgrew , not the numpty who”s the hide an seek champion in our packed midfield. Anyhoo ,justcantgetenough
Highs and lows already mentioned above……low point for me(not just 2014)is ex-celts puttin the boot in,just cant get my head round that….high point, i’m still a TIM.