A super Sammy strike and a penalty from captain Scott Brown were enough to take holder Celtic into the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup in Inverness today.

Lenny chose to shuffle the pack a bit with Kelvin Wilson partnering Thomas Rogne in the middle of defence, moving Charlie Mulgrew to left back and Adam Matthews returning at right back at the expense of Cha.

Also missing from the starting line up was Anthony Stokes, who dropped to the bench, Lenny favouring Sammy up front with Gary Hooper.

And that change in selection worked for the manager. With the game in a stalemate around the half hour mark, Georgios Samaras latched on to a Ross Tokely mistake to fire an unstoppable swerving shot from 16 yards to put the Bhoys 1-0 up.

The goal was no more than Celtic deserved having dominated most of the possession up to that point and seemed to settle the Hoops, although ICT very rarely threatened.

Although Celtic didn’t add to there lead until the second half, the Bhoys were never in danger.

And the game was put beyond doubt when man of the match Gary Hooper robbed ICT’s Procter on the touchline only to be scythed down by the defender for a stonewall penalty.

Up stepped Scott Brown to score his third goal in as many matches and and take the Celts safely into the next round.

As the game petered out, Sammy Hoops both missed chance3 to make the score a bit more convincing. Still, a victory over Terry Butcher and his men is always nice and made even sweeter with the way the game went.

Well done Celtic and well deserved!

At yesterday’s press conference Neil Lennon did what he does best…..tell the truth!

On the back of The Sun running a story about his assistant, and former team mate, Alan Thompson frequenting the same pub in Glasgow as the Dark Side’s Allan McGregor, Lenny let rip.

Having been a victim of sectarian abuse, in fact he still is, Neil let the media know that  THEY are as much to blame for stoking the fires of the religious bigotry as anyone.

On the one hand they tell us that this is wrong and that’s wrong, then they print a non-story to try and antagonise both sets of fans. Talk about hypocrites!

They then tried to get the Celtic manager to tow the party line and join the ‘poor Rangers’ campaign. The ‘Scottish football needs a strong Rangers’ bandwagon, you know the one I mean, the one that’s angling to let the Govan Mob off with breaking the law and evading taxes.

Well, they needn’t have bothered, because Lenny, as always, told it how he sees it.

Asked if he feels sorry for the mess the noisy neighbours in, Neil replied “No”. He then went on to tell a few home truths, and in doing so gave the media all the ammunition they need to write more sensational headlines.

What these people tend to forget is THEY need the manager of Celtic to do press conferences, THEY need Celtic more than Celtic need them, especially with the advent of current social media platforms.

And if they keep pissing off the sources of their work, then eventually they suffer the same fate as a certain team from Glasgow’s South side…….

Couldn’t come soon enough!

If  media reports are to be believed the the Dark Side will today make their first signing of the current transfer window.

The tax dodgers from down Govan way are set to swoop for Swedish midfielder 21 year-old Mervan CELIK!

Now for those of us round these parts, the players surname is pronounce C-e-l-i-k, in fact fat Sally pronounced his surname that way in a recent press conference.

As you can imagine there has been a barrage of jokes and quips about the MM signing a player called Celik. Some have even suggested that his wife’s name is Mona!

But all this hilarity has gone down too well in some of the newsrooms around these parts. In the news bulletins this morning the sports commentators were at pains to pronounce the players name as “Ch-e-l-i-k”!

Well if they canny beat the real Cellik, they might as well sign someone who sounds as good!

*Update, apparently the Celik player has signed AND he’s got Bougherra’s old number 24. Does that make him a “Magic Celik” player now?

Celtic will play away to the winners of the Inverness Caley Thistle and Dunfermline replay in the 5th round of the Scottish Cup.

The draw keep Lenny’s record of never having a home tie in the cup going.

No doubt the media will be making plans for ‘reminders’ of Celtic’s past ‘bad days’ against either ICT or the Pars. Nothing’s surer.

Meanwhile the suspended mob are at home to Dundee United….if they’re still trading!

Each year when the Scottish Cup comes around the mainstream media like to remind us of our ‘bad days’.

Clyde, Caley Thistle, Ross County are all rolled out, year in year out.

To be honest it makes you wonder who the holders of the trophy are?

But then again winning the Scottish Cup in May comes under the ‘good days’ and that doesn’t fill the newspaper pages….does it?

Anyway, the fact that Celtic are up in Peterhead tomorrow for the first game in defence of the Cup gives the press an excuse to beat us with the previous mishaps. Anywhere North of Perth and we’re ‘in for it’!

So it’s up to Lenny and the Bhoys to take care of the ‘Head and progress into the next round. I’m sure Neil will have the Hoops ready to do the same professional job we did earlier in the season when we visited Dingwall to dispose of Ross County in the ‘League Cup’.

Anything less and the headline writers will have a ‘field day’!

P.S. a quick ‘hurry back’ to Beram Kayal, see you in the Final!

To say 2011 was a year of mixed emotions is an understatement as far as Celtic are concerned. As expected there was so much going on around the club, off the park as well as on the park.

Let’s take a look at on the field of play first.

Highlights:

The New Year started so well with a makeshift Celts going to Poundland and winning 2-0 courtesy of big Sammy. The result was major surprise and one that turned the Greek from zero to hero. (Although that wasn’t to last)

We also had a great day in the sun the following month, whipping the Dark Side 3-0 to continue our good SPL form. The highlight of the game Kris Commons’ 25 yard ‘swerver’ that left McGregor scratching his arse.

Into March and The Hoops did it again against the MM, this time in the Scottish Cup thanks to a goal from defender Mark Wilson. The game was later to be named the ‘shame game’ though Celtic and our players’ discipline was exemplary throughout the night when the Govan Mob lost the plot.

For manager Neil Lennon the Scottish Cup took on a whole new importance with the loss of the Co-op Cup and eventual misfiring in the SPL. The Cup Final at rain soaked Hampden saw Lenny finish the season with his first trophy as Celtic manager when the Bhoys thumped Murderwell 3-0. Not the league title but a trophy nonetheless.

If we thought last season was hard to take, then this season has produced a real mix of highs and lows. Keeping on the ‘highs’ theme the second half performance against Kilmarnock when the Hoops found themselves 3-0 down must rate as one of the most dramatic 45 minutes the club has ever played in.

Little did we know then the goals from Anthony Stokes (2) and Charlie Mulgrew would galvanise the team and ultimately go on an unbeaten league run that would turn a 15 point deficit into a 2 point lead.

And that lead was achieved by ending the year with a 1-0 win at Celtic Park on Wednesday thanks to Joe Ledley’s headed winner.

Celtic sit proudly at the top of the SPL after underachieving during the early part of the season.

Not only can Neil and the Bhoys be proud of their recent league form but they can equally be proud of their performances in the Europa League after FC Sion were banished for fielding ineligible players.

In a group that featured Atletico Madrid, Udinese and Rennes, the Hoops were effectively denied progress to the next stages by a ‘dodgy’ penalty decision against the Italians in the final minute of the game at Celtic Park.

Our off the field highlights must begin with the Celtic Park ‘huddle’ in the final SPL game of last season. The whole stadium, including Rod Stewart had Paradise rocking even though it was the day we lost the league.

The Faithful repeated the feat just a few days ago but this time the audience were undeserving of the spectacle!

And we can’t leave this year without mentioning the impact of the Thai Tims.

These children have touched the hearts of the Celtic support near and far even though their existence was brought to our attention by the tragic murder of Reammon Gormley.

They are a credit to the Bhoy and a reminder of how special our club and the people who support the club are…

and of course, you The Fanzoners who visit the site day in, day out, make producing the Celtic Fanzone a real honour, thank you all!

Lows to follow……

As Derby matches go it wasn’t a classic but it wasn’t bad either.

Lenny pulled a real surprise before kick off with the inclusion of Norwegian defender Thomas Rogne at centre back and Adam Matthews at right back. And neither let the manager down.

The game started quite frenetically and the Dark Side had a decent chance when Wallace had a header clawed off the line by big Fraser who I thought looked really assured all night.

TV pictures would later show the ball mostly over the line but not even a Russian linesman would have given the goal!

That was the wake up call Celtic needed and responded with Sammy knocking the ball over McGregor after the goalie spilled Broonie’s shot but was rightly disallowed for offside.

This was to prove the last correct call the incompetent Willie Collum was to make all night.

And just to prove how bad he was, right on the stroke of half time he stopped play when Sammy was free to run in on goal. A strange decision as the fourth official had yet to show the time board!

Anyway, although we were the better side we in the first half we weren’t creating enough chances or working McGregor hard enough.

That all changed early in the second half. First young James Forrest stung McGregor’s finger tips with a stunning drive and from the resultant corner Joe Ledley out jumped Broadfoot to head the ball into the Rankers net!

From then on win you could see there was only going to be one winner.

The Dark Side began losing their discipline. Bocanegra became the first in the book with a rash, but not his first challenge on Gary Hooper. He was later followed by The Laff who kicked, dived and cheated his way through the game without recourse.

His tackle on Adam Matthews could easily have been a straight red. But the worst ‘tackle’ or maybe you’d be best calling it an assault came from David Healy who took James Forrest out waist height on the touchline.

Everyone in the crowd, and I mean EVERYONE, could see this was a straight red…except Willie Collum.

Hell bent on keeping the game 11 v 11 he spent the night watching Jelavic commit foul after foul, then allow Lee McClogger take Beram Kayal out the game with a cynical tackle that could quite easily have broken the Israeli Bhoys ankle.

Even though we won the game, the fact they managed to end the game with a full compliment of players baffles me. It may not look much at the moment but the yellows for The Laff and Healy in particular should they have been reds would mean automatic suspensions and further deplete their squad.

Enough of that for now, it’s a great feeling going into 2012 at the top of the league, now we need to stay there. After turning around a 17 not 15 point swing I’m sure the Bhoys will manage!

Well done Neil, well done Celtic, you’ve gave the Faithful a Happy New Year already!

With Celtic on a run of seven straight league victories manager Neil Lennon took the opportunity to treat us with some light hearted banter yesterday.

News that the Dark Side’s former ‘hitman’ Kris Boyd has ripped up his contact in Turkey and is looking for a return to football on these shores, Lenny hinted that he was an admirer and wouldn’t mind him in a Celtic jersey.

As the January transfer window is just round the corner, the boss has already stated he needs a ‘different type’ of striker, one with a physical presence to compliment the forwards he has at the club.

Does Kris Boyd fit the bill though?

No. Apart from being ten stone overweight and a former Orc, his return of scoring ONE goal against the Hoops in his seven or eight years in Scotland is hardly prolific.

I know he rattled a few more in, mostly penalties, but Boyd in the Hoops…..

Must be Panto season!

The above quote came from Garry Hooper when asked about his intention to stay at Celtic Park.

Gary was speaking after he scored Celtic’s only goal in Italy against joint Serie A leaders Udinese in Thursday night’s Europa League tie.

How ironic that Hoops recognises the size of the club after he came to Glasgow from Scunthorpe, when we’ve so called supporters who purport to love the club just don’t get the size of our club.

As much as we can blame the media for a lot of the finger pointing that goes on, this time we can’t.

Celtic Football Club are, and always will be, bigger than any player, manager supporter or Chief Executive for that matter. We are ALL in this together and it’s up to us to keep the good name of Celtic alive and as the Chairman says’ ‘weed them out’, referring to ANYONE who shames Celtic’s name.

I f ind it amazing that since Thursday night we’ve had a couple, and I’d like to stress only a couple of ‘fans’ trying to shift the responsibility for the stupid banner display.

Surely it’s only blind faith that supports their argument…

Because the other 99% of the Celtic support want NOTHING to do with it!

Since he first pulled on the Celtic goalkeepers jersey there has been an uneasiness between young Fraser Forster and the Celtic support.

Even though the Bhoy kept a record equalling 21 SPL clean sheets last season he has yet to really win over the Faithful.

In his defence, excuse the pun, he’s only 23 years old and has had more than his fair share of ‘bomb scare’ central defenders in front of him. Think Mssrs Maj and Loovens to start with….

He has made a few howlers, but tell me a keeper who hasn’t?

And of course, he’s had a number of really good and important saves. But none more important than yesterday.

With only a couple of minutes left on the clock, referee (I didn’t feel threatened) Calum Murray pointed to the spot after he ‘thought’ he saw goalscorer Victor Wanyama handle the ball in the Celtic box.

Eventually, Heartz’ Eggert Jonnson took the spot kick and Fraser threw himself full stretch to his left and shoved the ball away from danger. At this point the Celtic Park erupted!

That save effectively meant that the Hoops took all three points instead of one, and kept us firmly in the hunt for the SPL title.

It might also help endear the big fellow to the Faithful…