SENTINELCELTS

Morning,all.

How do I follow two excellent articles from SALTIRES EN SEVILLA and BILLY BHOY? Celebrating the “All Our Yesterday’s” in two contrasting but complementary articles? 

In the only way I know-by bringing you all back down to earth!

We have already discussed how,after a fairly quiet start to the season,we suddenly face a schedule of 13 games in only six weeks. Our first two months saw us play only ten games,and I have to say that they were by and large successful. We are two points clear at the top of the table after seven league games,into the League Cup quarters,and with a fighting chance of finishing second in our CL group. 

I’d mark that down as a success,albeit one heavily soured by a very poor performance in our last outing,away to St Mirren. Everyone is entitled to a poor performance now and again,but I’ve always said that if three players are way off the level required,then any team will suffer-no matter how well the other eight perform.

Simple fact is,we had quite a few more than those three that day,and bugger it,it’s gone. No point in worrying about it,learn from it and get back on the upward curve. It’s what we do,what we have always done under Ange. AP didn’t escape criticism on the day,of course,and he doesn’t strike me as the type of fella who likes to make mistakes twice.

We have three CL group matches in October,and a further one the following month in Madrid,one of the fabled stadia in Europe. Ptchaa,we play in one of them every fortnight! Santiago Bernabeu will faze us not one jot. We won’t be over there for the sightseeing,even if I don’t expect much more than a proper performance on the night. 

No,our CL ambitions lie in those three matches in October. TWISTY has already broken down the permutations,but a win against Shaktar and four points against RB will see us clear. 

Europe should always be our benchmark,the height of our ambition,and we are so many miles short of the likes of Real. So what? We scared them shitless at Celtic Park,and we should view the performance in our first half against them as a new benchmark. Rinse and repeat,and bring those levels to the table every game-but for the full 90 minutes plus. 

Meantime,Europe is a faraway country! We have to deal with our battles on so many fronts one game at a time. Tomorrow sees us play Motherwell at Celtic Park,a league game at our own ground for the first time since we humped the huns four weeks ago. As the headline suggests,it really is auld claes and purritch time,and I apologise for those of you unfamiliar with the Ayrshire vernacular,or the Kilwinning patois!

What it means is,that for all the grandiose splendour of a European night under the floodlights,with Zadok The Priest ringing around the ground at full blast,and even while I am happy to agree that it is spinetingling and everything that supporting Celtic has always been about…

It’s the auld claes and purritch of a successful league campaign that gets us there in the first place. Everything else is gravy,whether we like it or not. Learn to walk,then learn to run. Earn the access,then learn to compete. And don’t make the same mistakes twice. 

And btw,I bet the huns have been looking forward for so many years to hearing that Champions League anthem too. Just don’t ask them what it is called!

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Above article by BMCUWP