Luke McCowan says no one in Scotland can touch Celtic when they’re on their game. Callum McGregor, meanwhile, is all about developing a siege mentality over everyone trying to ‘break’ the players and ‘fighting against everything else on the outside’.
One or two points of order here, gents. On league business, Celtic have faced table-toppers Hearts and today’s derby opponents Rangers five times so far this season. The record reads: zero wins, two draws, three losses. Motherwell, Hibs, Dundee and Dundee United have beaten them too. There’s the small matter of a cup final trouncing from relegation-threatened St Mirren as well.
In terms of external forces endeavouring to bring down the club as a whole, was it people on the outside who sold Kyogo Furuhashi for £10million and didn’t see replacing him as a matter of concern? Was it sinister figures beyond the walls of the citadel who appointed Paul Tisdale and Wilfried Nancy and countless ‘project players’ while failing to strengthen the first team for that fateful Champions League qualifier with Kairat Almaty?
Was Ross Desmond flamethrowering punters and shutting down the AGM and some anonymous figure firing out a 10pm Saturday night statement back in September to effectively state that ‘youse’ll all take what yees are given’ really the work of some grand Masonic conspiracy rather than a dysfunctional, cloth-eared board?
McGregor is also at pains to point out that the dressing-room feels as together as it has ever been and that ‘the football has been really good’ since Martin O’Neill returned for his second stint as manager this term. Needing last-gasp winners to see off the likes of Dundee, Livingston and Kilmarnock — bottom-six outfits with a fraction of Celtic’s budget — before the wheels came off the bogey at home to Hibs would suggest otherwise.
When it comes to McGregor and McGowan, the laddies doth protest too much, methinks.
Martin O’Neill has had much to say this week about referees and opposition boss Danny Rohl
As for O’Neill, his words in the build-up to today’s third Old Firm clash of the Premiership campaign have only added to the feeling that Celtic are rattled. Yes, it was a surprise that Rangers manager Danny Rohl expressed the view the Parkhead outfit didn’t go all-out to win their Europa League tie with Stuttgart midweek and passed comment on the fact his Glasgow rivals have an issue in terms of who keeps goal — surely Viljami Sinisalo, by the way — at Ibrox this afternoon.
It was equally surprising, though, just how heavily O’Neill took the bait. Yes, it was to be expected that he defended his side’s strategy away from home against a team high in the Bundesliga. Less predictable was his outburst about Rohl’s lack of experience as a coach and his belief the German is behaving more like a fan than the Rangers manager.
It’s delicious stuff, of course. Everything that makes life in the Big Top worth living.
However, celebrating his 74th birthday today and around a quarter of a century on from his last trip across Glasgow as Celtic manager — isn’t that, alone, a stunning indictment of how crazy life at the champions has become? — it wasn’t quite what you’d expect from an experienced head well acquainted with the politics and chess matches an Old Firm boss comes to understand intuitively.
The early act of amenable old dodderer who might not know exactly what day of the week it is and could well spill his pre-match soup down his front has slipped a bit of late. O’Neill is considerably sharper and spikier than that. It was interesting to see him rail on TV during the week when quizzed on his team needing a little more consistency in performance.
He made mention of the wins they’ve racked up of late. He maybe had a point. Not many punters who attend Celtic’s matches these days, though, seem to be raving about how good the football is. As discussed earlier, the pattern pre-Hibs was one of scraping through fixtures that should be ‘shooty-in’ by the skin of their teeth.
He’s also been part of a wider act of turning the spotlight on referees recently as well. Now, let it be said that Celtic had a point about Auston Trusty being sent off against Hibs for striking down on the arm of Jamie McGrath with great force at a set-piece.
Celtic skipper Callum McGregor seems to believe outside forces are conspiring against his club
Referee Matthew MacDermid saw the incident and, whether right or wrong, felt it unworthy of punishment, so there is a case to be made that VAR Grant Irvine getting involved was an example of the match being ‘re-refereed’.
It was telling, though, that Celtic made it clear in response to their appeal against the sending-off being turned down that their unhappiness with the SFA refereeing department is not purely about this one incident.
‘While we await the written judgment, this and other decisions in the match and in other recent games demonstrate a serious issue with VAR and its current deployment, which needs urgently reviewed,’ read a club statement.
This all kicked off, of course, with Trusty being sent-off against Hearts at the end of January after VAR stepped in. The incident was referenced again by O’Neill during the week. The reality is, though, that the American very clearly did deny a goalscoring opportunity in that 2-2 draw at Tynecastle when bringing down Pierre Landry Kabore.
It was a red card all day long. No question. The reaction from O’Neill and the club in general created the very distinct impression that they were trying to use referees and officials as a mechanism to try and bring together their angry, fractured fanbase against a common enemy.
It still feels that way. Be sure than John Beaton, in the VAR room at Tynecastle when Trusty took that early bath and the man in the middle today, will know every move he makes today will be scrutinised along with every call VAR Steven McLean may make.
Ibrox this afternoon has the potential to be a real powderkeg affair.
Celtic give the impression of spoiling for fight almost, like an ageing boxer aware his skills and engine are on the wane and looking to unsettle his opponent and give himself a puncher’s chance in a slugfest.
Luke McCowan’s assertion that no one can touch Celtic will be put to the test at Ibrox today
Accusations of the world being against them are now out there in the ether. Distrust of VAR and officials — something all clubs could make claim to, if we’re being brutally honest — has become part of the subtext of the season, a common ground upon which to meet with a disillusioned support and rally for these last 10 games of the season at least.
McGowan and McGregor, meanwhile, come across as guys trying desperately to talk themselves and their team-mates into a performance more than anything else.
Some absolute nonsense has been spoken in the prelude to today’s hostilities. No matter the result, no one will be out of contention for the title. A heck of a lot of water has to flow under the bridge before that’s all done and dusted.
One thing does ring true, though. After all the talking this week, Celtic need to deliver a performance and address that awful record against their main title rivals to back up a lot of what’s been sent out there.
Out of both teams, the onus is most definitely on the visitors to put up or shut up.
