Darren O'Dea remembers Tommy Burns

Cup Final hero Darren O'Dea has dedicated his moment of glory to Tommy Burns.

The former Celtic boss lost his battle with cancer in May of last year, with O'Dea especially close to the man that took him from Home Farm to Glasgow.

When Celtic dramatically won the title last season against Dundee United two days after Burns's funeral, O'Dea was inconsolable amidst the celebrations.

The defender's extra-time header against Rangers sent Celtic on their way to lifting the Co-Operative Cup at Hampden but moments after lifting the trophy he was quick to remember the man that brought him to the club.

O'Dea told the Evening Herald: "There was only one man that I was looking to impress today and that's Tommy, he's always in my thoughts.

"Every time I pull on a Celtic shirt or training jersey I think of Tommy, he's a man that I aspire to. Everything that I do is for him."

Typically of recent Old Firm matches, there was little between the sides with both teams starting out with 4-5-1 formations.

Celtic were slightly the more adventurous, with Aiden McGeady given a free role behind Scott McDonald, but chances were at a premium with neither 'keeper over worked.

Gordon Strachan's men were a constant threat at set-pieces with Glenn Loovens twice coming close, forcing Pedro Mendes into a goal-line clearance in the 69th minute.

Celtic introduced Georgios Samaras to help McDonald, with Rangers also changing things around with Nacho Novo and Kris Boyd paired up front as both sets of supporters sensed extra-time.

Fifty seven seconds into extra-time the game turned Celtic's way when O'Dea steered his header beyond Allan McGregor from an inviting Shunsuke Nakamura free-kick.

The goal hero explained: "Naka's free-kicks are brilliant and luckily enough I got my head on the end of it. The ball was so good that I just needed to get my head on it.

"I had a chance with a header during the second half as well. I always like to think that I'm a threat at corners, as is every other player that comes up for them.

"I found out an hour before the kick-off that I'd be playing. I wouldn't say that I was scared about building my hopes up, I prepared for the game as if I was playing then it was just a case of waiting for the manager to give me the nod.

"I'm obviously grateful for him for keeping me in and I like to think that I've repaid him.

"We were the better team overall but Rangers had their spells, it's just a case of riding them out and taking our chances, so it's great to come out on top."

After O'Dea's goal Celtic really should have had the game sewn up with Samaras having two great opportunities, as well as chances falling to McDonald and man-of-the-match Scott Brown.

Cramp set in on O'Dea towards the end of the first period of extra-time with Mark Wilson moving on at left-back for the final 15 minutes.

Celtic had a clear edge in fitness during the extra-time, with Nakamura and McGeady posing serious questions of the Rangers defence with their accurate use of the ball.

It was typical cup-tie football till the end before McGeady raced away from the Rangers defence before being crudely felled by Kirk Broadfoot, who was red-carded.

McGeady took the penalty himself sending McGregor the wrong way before racing off to celebrate with his jubilant team mates before the final whistle was blown.

Just over a week after tumbling out of the Scottish Cup to St Mirren, it was Stephen McManus that collected the first trophy of the season as he raised the Co-Operative Cup to the Celtic support.

It was the first time in 20 years that Celtic had beaten Rangers in a major final, although the focus will now quickly switch to the battle for the SPL title where Celtic have a three point advantage with 10 games left to play.

O'Dea savoured the moment and the celebrations but knows that the next game, and trophy is always the most important for Celtic.

He added: "It's a great feeling, I'm absolutely delighted. We'll enjoy the celebrations but we know that there's still the run-in to the league ahead of us.

"For me it's a massive achievement but the only thing that matters is that Celtic won and hopefully that will kick us on for the rest of the season."

Two months ago O'Dea felt that his League Cup hopes lay south of the border with Burnley.

Owen Coyle was desperate to get the defender in on loan with a deal all but agreed with Gordon Strachan who accepted the need for O'Dea to play regular football.

The move could have gone through in time for O'Dea to play against Spurs in the Carling Cup but injury worries over Stephen McManus and Lee Naylor forced Strachan to backtrack on his promise to the young defender, who watched Celtic send Cillian Sheridan and Paul Caddis out to Motherwell and Dundee United while he waited on the sidelines.

O'Dea admitted: "A lot of people told me that things can change in a day and I struggled to believe them when I was out of the side.

"The move to Burnley was as close as you can get. It was all agreed but people had little niggles which stopped me going. It was literally down to the last day of the deadline and it looked like I might go. There were a few clubs interested in taking me on loan but it was Burnley that I had decided on.

"They are doing great down there but I'd much rather be here and this means much more to me. I thought I might have gone before the Carling Cup semi-final. Burnley were trying to rush it through but it didn't happen and I'm just glad I had a chance to stay."

Manager Strachan was thrilled to see O'Dea get rewarded after missing out on his loan move.

The Celtic boss said: "If anyone deserved something today it was Darren, I couldn't be more pleased for him.

"He's had disappointments. He wanted to go on loan, just to be a better player and come back and be a better player for us but I thought we were going to need him between then and the end of the season.

"He was disappointed but didn't let his disappointment affect himself or the squad. And it's great when you see young men getting their rewards like that."

Level-headed O'Dea knows that he has a battle on his hands to stay in the team and is already looking ahead to the next match. He added: "All I'm thinking about is next week and facing Dundee United. Who knows if I'll play?"

CLICK HERE or HERE for more Celtic news

Aiden chases missing medal

   Aiden McGeady is looking to complete his collection of medals by sinking Rangers at Hampden.
   The international midfielder has three SPL medals and one Scottish Cup winners medal but has still to get his hands on the League Cup -- after missing Celtic's 3-0 League Cup win over Dunfermline in 2006, which featured Roy Keane -- through injury.
   Hampden hasn't been a happy hunting ground for McGeady, who lost out on a place on the bench for the 2004 and 2005 Scottish Cup Finals despite being in the squad that Martin O'Neill took to the final.
   Although he has missed the last two Old Firm clashes, one through a club suspension, the 22-year-old is expected to start tomorrow's showpiece game and is determined to make his mark by lifting the first trophy of the season.
   McGeady told Celtic TV: "I've been to Hampden a few times and want to make up for last time, after missing the Dunfermline game through injury. I'm hoping to be on the pitch this time and win a medal.
   "There's not many games bigger than a cup final against Rangers but I won't treat it differently to an SPL game, it's a big match but you don't want to build it up too much. We're confident about our chances, this is a cup final and we know that we have a good enough team to go out and win it."
   "At the end of your career you want to be able to count your medals and this is a chance to add to that."
   Celtic squeezed past Dundee United on penalties in the semi-final to face Rangers, with both side's delighted the Hampden pitch has been relaid.
   Hosting pop concerts during the summer as well as Queens Park's Second Division fixtures has taken it's toll on the pitch, with McGeady holding painful memories from his last appearance at Hampden.
   He added: "I'm pleased to hear that the pitch has been relaid, I had a bit of a nightmare against Dundee United, the ball was bobbling around and it was tough to play on that pitch.
   "A few players played well that night but I certainly wasn't one of them!
   "This will be a one off game, it could go all the way to extra-time or penalties. The semi-final was a great game for neutrals to watch although it wasn't that great from our point of view.
   "Last week we were very disappointed losing to St Mirren. We failed to get started and I can't quite put my finger on what happened.
   "Winning any trophy gives a team a boost, the fact that it's Rangers that we're playing should give us a big lift if we can win and take that into the run in for the title."

CLICK HERE or HERE for great Celtic coverage

Re-arrangers call off reserve match

As the young hoops chase 8-in-a-row in the SPL Reserves the fixture list presented the perfect finale/clincher with a Rangers-Celtic game on St Patrick's Day of all days.

Alas the game has been postponed by Rangers.

Not due to Uefa Cup commitments or anything like that but with Celtic seeking a win to clinch the title the mighty Rangers are unable to find a ground to play the game.

First choice of Murray Park can't host a Rangers-Celtic game and for reasons unknown the 5-star UEFA rated Ibrox Stadium is unavailable.

The game has been rescheduled for April, hopefully.

No effort has been made to find an alternative venue with Clyde and Airdrie regular hosts of Celtic-Rangers reserve fixtures.

After their 4-0 win over Falkirk on Tuesday Willie McStay's side are twelve points ahead of Rangers in the Reserve League table.

Should Celtic have beaten Rangers that would give them a fifteen point lead with Rangers having just five games left to play......... game set and match to the hoops.

It's not all about winning at reserve level of course but winning is a great habit to pick up and some day soon Celtic will again be crowned SPL champions.

Stephen McManus, Shaun Maloney, Aiden McGeady, David Marshall, Craig Beattie and Ross Wallace have all played their parts down the years in the current reserve successes before going on to win first team honours.

Hopefully Mark Millar, Niall McGinn, Kevin Cawley and Simon Ferry will be graduating from the current reserve side to bring further success to the first team.

CLICK HERE for more great Celtic stories

Bad Boy Boydy Banned

Rangers leading scorer Kris Boyd is out of Sunday's Co-Operative Cup Final with Celtic after being sent home from training by Walter Smith.

The Rangers boss read the riot act to Boyd after the striker was left out of Sunday's 5-1 win over Hamilton Accies with sources at Ibrox describing the strikers attitude as unprofessional and unacceptable.

Earlier this season Boyd quit international football by texting George Burley following Scotland's 0-0 draw with Norway when he was left on the bench with Steven Fletcher and Kris Iwelumo preferred as substitutes.

Boyd is Rangers leading goalscorer with 21 SPL goals this season but has scored just once in his entire career against Celtic and has only started one of the last eight Old Firm clashes.

Kyle Lafferty was selected ahead of Boyd for the 5-1 over Hamilton Accies on Sunday and it is reported that Boyd lashed out against a pile of football boots when he found out he wasn't playing and refused to join the other subs on the pitch for a half-time warm up.

Rangers players were given Monday off but Smith, who allows assistant Ally McCoist to take charge of cup ties, confronted Boyd before training yesterday and told to report back next week.

Boyd has scored 94 goals for Rangers in the three years since his £400,000 transfer from Kilmarnock and turned down a £2.7m move to Birmingham during the summer.

CLICK HERE for more great Celtic stories

There's only one Davie Provan

He was a great player in a great Celtic side of the early eighties and is one of the few former players to have genuinely made it in to the 'meeja' off his own merits rather than relying on the former player tag.

Davie Provan linked up brilliantly with strikers whether it was Nicholas, McGarvey or McCluskey through to a newer side of McClair and le petite merde.

Playing in front of Danny McGrain, Provan was an essential part of a successful Celtic side before being struck down with ME that forced his retirement from the game with his last memorable contribution being the equalising free kick in the 1985 Centenary Scottish Cup Final win over Dundee United.

Provan has graduated through the media ranks to being straight talking, honest and controversial, but crucially not controversial for the sake of it.

In a great interview in today's Sunday Herald, which strangely almost acts as an advert for the News of the World, Brian Conney finds Provan in good form. Opening up about the loss of his father, the 'skive' of being a footballer, his political voting but most of all lifting the lid on what passes for media coverage in this country.

Admitting to the system where chairmen and managers have journalists basically on a string, or the 'grace and favour' system, Provan speaks out about how he has the independence to call it as he sees it without having to then go and plead for airtime or words with those that he has criticised.

Compromise for copy it could be called with Provan now an opinionated outsider contributing to Sky Sports, the News of the World and Radio Clyde.

Provan discusses Tommy Burns, Gordon Strachan and others with the frankness and honesty that is rarely displayed when the microphones and cameras are switched on.

He is happy to go on record with his affection for Celtic although that doesn't stretch to contributing to club publications and delivering the agreed soundbites expected with the party line.

The feature is punchy, honest and open with Provan admitting that his real friends are now in the golf club with football pals virtually non-existent.

READ IT FOR YOURSELF

Donati injured as reserves beat Dundalk 3-1

Dundalk 1-3 Celtic

I've only got some patchy details in from today's friendly at Dundalk which Celtic's reserve side won 3-1in front of 4,000 supporters.

Ben Hutchison, Michael McGlinchey and Nicky Riley were the unlikely scorers at Oriel Park.

Hutchison, who appeared as a late substitute in the 7-0 win over St Mirren the previous day, opened the scoring for Celtic midway through the first half but the home side equalised before the break.

Michael McGlinchey, who was linked with a move to Dundalk, scored the second for Celtic with Nicky Riley marking his first appearance of the season with a goal.

Massimo Donati who fell victim to an 'over-enthusiastic' challenge on the hour mark but the injury isn't thought to be too serious.

CELTIC Fox, Doumbe, Marr, Misun, Lafferty; McGinn, Donati, Miller, Conroy; Hutchison, McGlinchey. Subs Riley (Hutchison) Cawley (Donati)

CLICK HERE for match preview, CLICK HERE or HERE for great Celtic coverage

Help folk like Jinky

This Sunday Highly rated UK Rock band "Left Side Brain" will play Glasgow for the first time. Eclectic Therapy Music will donate all profits from the gig to The Motor Neurone Disease (Scotland) Campaign.We are all aware of the terrible disease after watching Jimmy Johnstone's brave fight. Although Jimmy's fight raised the profile of the MND Campaign they are still not served as much as many more popular charities and need our help to help fund the Research and advice given to MND Sufferers.The Rock Concert will be held at Glasgow Garage G2 and doors will open at 7pm with Live Music until 10pm. The cost is £5 per person and I would hope that the Celtic family can come along and contribute towards this very worthwhile cause.Left Side Brain are supported by Glasgow Band "Doves of Disorder" and Edinburgh band "The Laymanites".FUll details can be seen at www.myspace.com/eclectictherapy or through the MND(Scotland) home page.Hail! Hail!eclectictherapymusic

Music for Motor Neurone Disease please come and help

This Sunday Highly rated UK Rock band "Left Side Brain" will play Glasgow for the first time. Eclectic Therapy Music will donate all profits from the gig to The Motor Neurone Disease (Scotland) Campaign.

We are all aware of the terrible disease after watching Jimmy Johnstone's brave fight. Although Jimmy's fight raised the profile of the MND Campaign they are still not served as much as many more popular charities and need our help to help fund the Research and advice given to MND Sufferers.

The Rock Concert will be held at Glasgow Garage G2 and doors will open at 7pm with Live Music until 10pm. The cost is £5 per person and I would hope that the Celtic family can come along and contribute towards this very worthwhile cause.

Left Side Brain are supported by Glasgow Band "Doves of Disorder" and Edinburgh band "The Laymanites".

FUll details can be seen at www.myspace.com/eclectictherapy or through the MND(Scotland) home page.

Hail! Hail!

eclectictherapymusic

HELP FIGHT MOTOR NEURONE DISEASE

THE GLASGOW LEG OF THE LEFT SIDE BRAIN TOUR – ALL PROFITS TO MOTOR NEURONE DISEASE SCOTLAND.

SUNDAY 22ND FEB GARAGE G2 GLASGOW DOORS 7PM £5 ON DOOR


MANY THANKS

BILL

LEFT SIDE BRAIN

DOVES OF DISORDER

AND THE LAYMANITES

THANKS

DAVE

CFC SEASON TICK HOLDER J

HELP FIGHT MOTOR NEURONE DISEASE IN GLASGOW THIS SUNDAY NIGHT !!!

HELP FIGHT THE TERRIBLE DISEASE THAT JINKY FOUGHT BRAVELY



THE GLASGOW LEG OF THE LEFT SIDE BRAIN TOUR – ALL PROFITS TO MOTOR NEURONE DISEASE SCOTLAND.

SUNDAY 22ND FEB GARAGE G2 GLASGOW DOORS 7PM £5 ON DOOR


MANY THANKS


LEFT SIDE BRAIN "ONE OF THE BRIGHTEST LIGHTS IN BRITISH ROCK"

DOVES OF DISORDER

AND THE LAYMANITES

THANKS

DAVE

CFC SEASON TICK HOLDER J

Rangers could close, by Jim Traynor

That was a Kennedy moment, 8.20am on BBC Radio Scotland he uttered the words: "Rangers could close"

LISTEN HERE

Was I hearing rightly, of course because he almost said it again before quickly remembering the script of 'and there's no reason why Rangers would be immune, or Celtic or any other club'.

Troubled times indeed. Pre-internet we had our own upheaval and it took almost five years from the first signs of dissent against 'The Board' to seeing the White's and Kelly's departing to be replaced by Fergus McCann, a McCann with a plan if ever there was a man.

McCann managed to see off rivals for the ownership of Celtic including Gerard Weisfeld, Michael McDonald, Willie Haughey, Brian Dempsey and others to save the club as the Bank of Scotland prepared for the final whistle.

McCann took control, gave seats on the board to Weisfeld, McDonald, Haughey and others including a lot of Keane's in the form of Dominic, John and Eddie who had all played various parts in helping McCann to power and were willing to invest their own money to save and revive Celtic.

At the time Celtic had little going for it, a good support that was disillusioned, a fantastic history and Paul McStay. Not much else and there was never a hint of selling McStay to balance the books, Paul had suffered with the rest of us and wanted to be part of the revival.

Compare that picture to today and Rangers.

Every day has brought fresh drama and twists, after hearing Traynor say those memorable words another radio station mentioned Newcastle having bids in for two French based players... oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. That will be the team that's been linked with Barry Ferguson, Allan McGregor, Madjid Bougherra, Pedro Mendes and almost anyone at Rangers except Kris Boyd.

The firm hand and text-book media management of David Murray is falling to pieces when the licence draining BBC have had Chick Young mentioning administration and Jim Traynor talk that Rangers could close.

Strange, strange times indeed and still over a fortnight to go in this fantastic month before the transfer window slowly and creakily closes down.

Murray's mistakes are surfacing by the day, he is being shown up as a deal-maker and gambler rather than the shrewd businessman that his cheerleaders have portrayed him as for the last 20 years.

Mistakes down the years have been brushed aside as the latest glitzy star has been signed for Rangers, usually snatched from under the noses of Real Madrid/Manchester United/AC Milan, alongside the ominous warning to the rest of Scotland that there will be more to follow.

The mistakes have been mounting up, times have been tighter at Ibrox in the last five or six years, Celtic have presented a consistent challenge and it's no longer such fun being chairman of Rangers.

Some Rangers fans have had misgivings but some calming words from Murray, stick together, we're all part of the family (nudge nudge) soon knocked the wind from any malcontents as the 9-in-a-row era was recalled and the rest of Murray's glory.

2009 however is a very different story, the moonbeams have been lost in space, their destination unknown, some of us don't even know if a moonbeam is good or bad news but we've all heard the phrase.

Rangers and Murray are on their knees and it has very little to do with the credit crunch that has closed Woolworths and saw HM Government take major stakes in Scotland's banks.

Murray's desire to spend a tenner for every fiver spent by Celtic is hitting home and hitting hard. He has never been able to savour Rangers successes without bringing Celtic into the equation.

He gloried in our troubles through the early nineties offering free advise on how to successfully run a football club/business. When he banned Celtic fans from attending a derby match at Ibrox he sneered that Celtic couldn't do the same because we were incapable of filling the stadium with Celtic fans.

For a decade now Celtic have had a bigger stadium and more season-ticket holders.

As the latest Admiral/Adidas/Nike/Umbro kit deal was unveiled as another stunning piece of business he questioned the unique Celtic strip wondering if such a design would ever be commercially attractive.

As Celtic opened up to offer supporters shares Murray triumphed that by bringing in Joe Lewis of ENIC with plans of hotels and intergalactic domination.

Today Murray and Rangers are in deep financial troubles with no life boats around to rescue them other than the players that won't be sold.

Last week as Kris Boyd was expected to sign for Birmingham City, managed by former Rangers boss Alex McLeish, Murray told his newspaper favourites that one player had to be sold and the move was to balance the books on his terms not at the request of the banks.

With those interviews about to hit the press the Boyd deal collapsed and suddenly the whole of football knew that Rangers had to sell a player, they had to bring in £4m (at least) or what?????

As Murray spoke he was breathing a sigh of relief, crisis over, maybe another player will be sold if a decent offer comes in but that's £2m plus received after Kilmarnock and Boyd have had their cut.

Now with Boyd still at the club a week later the question is being asked, 'what if they don't sell a player?'

We can all guess and speculate. Traynor appears to have put his foot in it, he's answered the question and it's not a popular answer or the answer expected.

With favoured agent Willie Mackay bombed out selling options are limited, there is no stampede for the untouchables while half a dozen recent signings hang around collecting their wages with no inclination to move on to help Rangers out.

The Rangers support appear divided, a campaign for change has been launched with almost as quickly a campaign to sort of change but not really, well maybe, but do it the dignified Rangers way counter launched.

Strangely protesting seems not to be the Rangers way, car park protests are for Celtic supporters, it's not the Rangers way. Strangely in the early 80s there would be regular crowds gathering outside Ibrox shouting for the removal of John Greig as manager before Celtic fans started similar protests against the club's owners.

In those days communication was difficult, there was no internet or mobile phones, the only way to gain publicity was on the Radio Clyde phone-in, organising and publicity wasn't as easy as it is today.

As bigger companies and even banks have found out recently speculation can be costly, whispering campaigns can gain momentum and the full extent of Murray and Rangers difficulties are unknown.

However being heavily involved in property at this time can't be reassuring, bankers aren't likely to be impressed with a property portfolio placed against increasing debts and borrowing.

Things change quickly these days, information seeps out and it's looking very concerning for Rangers as fresh developments come to light on a daily basis.

Succulent lamb was once on the menu, tomorrow it could be spam fritters all round.

Sunderland 1-0 Celtic

Celtic's reserve side lost 1-0 today to Sunderland in a friendly match played at 'The Academy of Light'.

The home side scored the only goal of the game ten minutes into the second half.

The game marked the Celtic debuts of Milan Musan and Niall McGinn who both signed for the club in December.

Musan gave an impressive performance at left-back, that phrase requires a bit of getting used to since it's our problem position, but if the 18-year-old settles in as quickly as it appears then he could well be involved in the first team at some stage this season.

McGinn had a quieter afternoon playing on the wing but should soon be up to speed after an impressive season with Derry City that saw him gain his first full international cap.

It was the reserves first game since December 22 when they beat Kilmarnock 1-0, Marc Crosas played in the game against Killie and got another 90 minutes which should bring help his match fitness and put him in line for a place in centre midfield.

Elsewhere Cillian Sheridan looked sharp and lively alongside Ben Hutchinson in attack with the reserve season resuming next Tuesday when they travel away to face Hearts.

SKIPPY'S CHRISTMAS CRACKER

Celtic to play Sunderland

Celtic's reserve side faces Sunderland today at 'The Academy of Light' with a 1.30pm kick-off.

Making their Celtic debut's will be Niall McGinn and Milan Musan while Marc Crosas will be given another ninety minutes to regain match fitness.

McGinn and Musin were signed during December with the friendly against Sunderland their first chance to play in a Celtic jersey.

The reserves haven't played since beating Kilmarnock 1-0 on December 22 when Ben Hutchison scored the only goal to keep the side clear at the top of the table.

Hutchison and Cillian Sheridan are in the side for today's match while Paul McGowan has gone out on loan to Hamilton Accies for the rest of the season.

SKIPPY'S CHRISTMAS CRACKER

An amazing Celtic year

 

What an amazing year, glorious and tragic in equal measures as we enter 2009 with 4-in-a-row in sight and our city rivals on the brink of more upheaval as we strengthen our domestic dominance.

HAPPY NEW YEAR VIDEO

Winning at Ibrox was the perfect way to end the year, a win that meant much much more than three points, welcome as they were.

Earlier this year we were way behind Rangers, back-to-back defeats at Ibrox and at home to ten man Motherwell seemed to be the end of the road and a long painful close season in the shadow of a Rangers treble win and a possible UEFA Cup triumph to eclipse the joys of Seville held dear by a generation of Celtic fans.

How could that happen?

Thankfully it never came to pass, Rangers drew away to Dundee United, the door opened a little, we hammered Motherwell at Fir Park, beat Rangers back to back and after the horrible death of Tommy Burns and his uplifting funeral we were partying from Tannadice to Paradice and beyond as an unlikely championship was warmly greeted.

Perhaps you need to stare despair in the face to fully appreciate triumph but I wouldn't recommend it.

Again this season we've had our trials, watching Rangers win 4-2 at Celtic Park, a flattering scoreline on the day, was grim and scary as even Arthur Boruc lost his edge and a testing season loomed ahead whilst Rangers concentrated on the SPL as we faced the additional challenge of the Champions League.

The manager, the team and the squad have answered the challenge, 3-in-a-row hasn't made them complacent, it's made them hungry and the desire to avoid dark days is fresh enough to keep the team winning.

Twelve SPL wins on the bounce through autumn was a great achievement but there was still one question lurking over most of the present team... can they win at Ibrox?

Despite the title wins and Champions League qualifications there was still a cloud over the side cast by three straight defeats at Ibrox without even a goal scored.

Walter Smith's derby day record had taken a jolt in April with back-to-back defeats at Celtic Park but that 4-2 win gave legitimate grounds for concern and questions to be asked of the current team.

Did they have it in them to win at Ibrox against Rangers?

Were Hartley, Brown, McDonald, Caldwell, Robson and Samaras capable of winning at Ibrox, especially when the side is depleted?

Without Aiden McGeady, Shunsuke Nakamura, Shaun Maloney and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink fit only for the bench Celtic emerged winners, deserved winners with the players reputations enhanced by the result.

It wasn't pretty but the team held firm, limited Rangers chances and when the moment came Scott McDonald showed class in his finish to join that elite group of Celts to have scored the winner at Ibrox.

The new year promises much, a squad hopefully returning towards full strength homing in on the title and perhaps domestic silverware as well to cushion the blow of no European football.

JANUARY

Begins tragically with the death of Phil O'Donnell, never the greatest of Celtic players but a local boy that lived the dream, wore the hoops and refused to buckle despite the constant injuries that hampered his Celtic career. On 9 May 1998 Phil played his part on a great Celtic day as St Johnstone were beaten 2-0 to secure 1-in-a-row and end a near decade of misery. Barry Robson and Georgios Samaras join the club after the earlier signing of Andreas Hinkel from Seville.

FEBRUARY

Two impressive 5-1 away wins to begin the month away to Kilmarnock and Aberdeen with some special magic from Aiden McGeady the highlight at Pittodrie. Barcelona called and truth be told they wiped the floor with us, after six straight Champions League wins at home Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry and the rest give us the runaround despite the 3-2 scoreline.

MARCH

I'd rather forget. Out of the Champions League after a 0-1 in the Camp Nou is more acceptable than losing a Scottish Cup replay at home to Aberdeen after snatching a draw right at the death of the first match. A miserable month ends with a 1-0 defeat at Ibrox as the SPL slips almost out of sight.

APRIL

More misery as Motherwell win 1-0 at Celtic Park but two wins over Rangers keep the SPL race alive although help is required from elsewhere... assuming that we're capable of winning our remaining matches. Nakamura and big Jan score wonderful and contrasting goals in the 2-1 victory with McDonald and Robson the matchwinners in the 3-2 game.

MAY

Sadness and shock as Tommy Burns loses his fight with cancer just months after being part of the dug-out, an incredible turn out in Glasgow's East End mourn the loss just two days before the league is won at Tannadice with Jan the man again as the celebrations kick-off. Tannadice was a great setting to win the league, the United supporters concerned only with football matters and perhaps a little appreciative of Celtic's win after some rough decisions against Rangers in recent months.

AUGUST

Back for more but no big name signings, Shaun Maloney returns, Samaras's loan becomes permanent but a 4-2 loss from Rangers wasn't predicted whilst the Champions League draw pairs us with Manchester United, again, Villarreal, again and Aalborg.

SEPTEMBER

The start of a recovery, a devastating first half at Motherwell with four goals scored, another convincing win away to Kilmarnock but just one point from six in the Champions League ahead of the double header with Manchester United.

OCTOBER

Another clean sweep of SPL wins but nothing yet in the Champions League as we lose 3-0 to Manchester United at Old Trafford. Striking situation getting very concerning with McDonald left on his own at Old Trafford although Cillian Sheridan emerges from virtually nowhere to score in his first SPL start against Hibs.

NOVEMBER

Champions League, and European exit, after losing disastrously away to Aalborg after taking the lead. Six minutes from a home win over Manchester United thanks to a brilliant Scott McDonald goal but deep down most of us knew that we weren't equipped for the Champions League, however a UEFA Cup run would have been a decent consolation. Another clean sweep of SPL wins.

DECEMBER

Arthur has a wobbler at Hibs, Aiden and Gordon go bonkers against Hearts, Koki Mizuno scores on his debut at Falkirk and delight as Scott McDonald's goal beats Rangers to spark a flurry of text and emails involving McDonalds and 7up.

A wonderful Christmas time

How good was that?

Skippy's Christmas special video

As a game it was woeful, barely anything of note, hardly any goalmouth incidents, not many outstanding performances and little excitement or controversy.

But we all know that it's not just a game, it's not 90 minutes and three points. Winning at Ibrox is simply wonderful, in the mid eighties we had a regular run of it and again in the first half of this decade the wins came fairly regularly as well, even inspiring the stat the Neil Lennon won more SPL games at Ibrox than the messiah known as Paul le Guen.

Lenny was back at Ibrox again yesterday but a new generation of Celts added the label of 'Won at Ibrox' line to their cv.

SPL winners, some two or three times over, Champions League qualifiers, again achieved twice by some of the players.

Last season's title triumph was awesome and we're still feeding off it. The dark scary days that followed that home defeat from Motherwell are history as seven wins on the bounce, two over UEFA Cup finalists Rangers gave us a fantastic and unexpected league win on that strange, glorious and emotional night at Tannadice as our dreams came true.

Those league winners are now getting cocky, strutting their stuff and even a 2-4 loss to Rangers in August hasn't dented their confidence. A punishing Champions League campaign saw them bounce back domestically to overtake Rangers who had the benefits of a full week to prepare for SPL action as Gordon Strachan attempted success on two fronts against an injury list that almost became overwhelming.

The build up to Ibrox was dominated by who wouldn't be playing, no Shaun Maloney or suspended Aiden McGeady, Marc Crossas still short of match fitness, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink missing for three months and doubts over the match fitness of Barry Robson and Paul Hartley.

Pre-match and Shunsuke Nakamura is also out of the picture with flu and by half-time Andreas Hinkel had been kicked off the park. Despite those circumstances the resolve was solid stemming from a battle hardened core of Stephen McManus and Gary Caldwell through Hartley, Robson and Scott Brown to the magnificent Scott McDonald.

Our moany faced goal machine wasn't getting much support from Georgios Samaras whose going through an infuriating spell of almost always making the wrong decisions whatever the situation.

Remaining on the ball too long, passing when he shouldn't, beating one man too many and losing possession are all features of Sammy's play recently and they were in evidence again at Ibrox.

Until, until until the 57th minute when he got in a header in front of Davie Weir; with his back to goal McDonald knew exactly what he was doing.

With one touch on his chest to tame the ball, McDonald teed things up as he turned around to leave Kirk Broadfoot catching flies before skelping the ball over Allan McGregor into the net from 18 yards out before spinning away to celebrate in front of the Celtic support.

It was a moment of class and composure and richly deserved for McDonald who quickly corrected his scoring record against Rangers to 'three in two' from 'three in five' when he was interviewed on Setanta after the match.

Darren O'Dea was ready to come on before the goal was scored, Strachan stuck with his convictions and sent the Dubliner on in place of Koki Mizuno with O'Dea moving to left back pushing Lee Naylor further forward.

There was little threat from Rangers, although fraught with tension and fear of an equaliser there was no real panic with the central defenders dealing easily with Rangers crosses into the box and protecting the still shaky Artur Boruc.

When called upon the keeper was up to the challenge, blocking purposefully from Kris Boyd early in the second half when the striker was sent through on goal.

After the match the reaction from Celtic was sensible and restrained but after turning around a seven point deficit last season the same group of players are unlikely to throw away a seven point advantage on the back of a win at Ibrox.

The depth and determination of the squad has been tested and came out on top with a seven point advantage through the trickiest of circumstances.

The Aiden McGeady incident has strengthened the hand of a manager who will never please a large section of the Celtic support but his stubborn desire to succeed can never be doubted.

The next game with Rangers is only five SPL games away. The gap between the top two is more likely to be extended rather than trimmed, if that is the case Celtic have the ideal opportunity on February 15 to put the SPL beyond Rangers.

Having fought and scrapped their way into this position it's highly unlikely that complacency will be an issue, especially with a squad of 20 players all capable of playing their part and entitled to think of themselves as first team starters.

Happy Christmas Hoops.