New Look Bhoys on the road
Yes, the troops will hit the road not long after signing, such is life.
Martin isn’t a change for the sake of change manager but what he will do is tell everyone on the bench they need to be better than their direct replacement. Well the window is shut and on paper we have assembled the strongest in decades, it now remains to be translated onto the pitch.
Under Brendan I often felt the final 11 were crucial, I believe Martin is the opposite in that he plays his best from the start. Then he calls the rest to come on. How we integrate this weeks 5 into the team is a good question but the substitute list will be looking a lot different than last weekend I predict. Looking pretty hefty.
I suspect Martin will start the usual suspects with the instruction to the subs to watch then beat their direct opponent. I do expect debuts in a few positions and I hope they are not “dig us out of a hole” debuts but rather a “show us what you got” debut and tomorrow should make good reading as we discuss exactly that.
Who do I want to see the most you ask? Personally,,,Van the Man but in saying that it would please me to the heavens if our bench has it in them to truly kill a game. I would settle for that all season long. It’s a squad game more than ever and we are stacked.
From Saint Mirren’s POV its a bad one,,,,under the lights on a Saturday night the Tims will arrive enmasse, out sing the home crowd, and more than likely outplay the hosts.
Oh dear, how sad.
The gambler in me would back Yang to score again as a partiing gift, he is kinda likeable isn’t he?
Some goals, some debuts, it should be a fun outing.
Up The Hoops!
By Mahe
sentinelcelts.com
Good news the cousins won today.
Long may it continue.
It helps us. Pressurises the Huns and maintains interest in an otherwise perfunctory league campaign. The basic silage of Scottish football.
The Huns will never be far away- as in 2nd/3rd -because of their axis of evil: legitimacy bestowed because of the funny handshake bias of Governance, elitism and supremacist nativism and patterns of onfield assistance ( a nod to Alan Morrison’s sterling work).
All of which are grounded in a formal normalised system of racism and sectarianism.
We have always existed in a sinister world, we all know that from our earliest experiences. My own from the early ‘70’s.
It’s hugely satisfying we are now living in an age where their certainties no longer apply.
And the more capable of critical thought amongst their support realise where they now reside.
Sadly, as far as our club is concerned it all amounts to no more than empty vessels proclaiming pyrrhic victory.
Proclaiming victory here is like self praise- there is no honour.
A wee reminder that the deadline to buy your own seat for Europa League is 9am ra morra. This year, I’m in.
Just seen the Mini’s penalty and the Dundee red card.
Penalty was soft but Mini’s and Huns would get them!
Red Card was a deserved Yellow all day long, seen worse tackles on our players go unpunished.
Dallas was on VAR.
Watched most of Arsenal v Chelsea.
Havertz is a brilliant and underrated player.Not all their support are fans of him.
But Arteta sees it.
Which is a pity because I don’t like Arsenal and he is crucial to their success.
Noticed their defense is never defensive in tackling.
By that I mean they are always on front foot aggressively and ready to attack.
It’s a skill we lack.
We tend to reset when we win ball in defense, pause then move slowly upfield.
With better attention to analytics and sports science we would improve.
Ditch the stupid cones and use moder tools Celtic!
Calton Tongues
If as we are led to believe Celtic pay the mos towards VAR then we should insist that VAR team leader on match day should be brought in from outside Scotland!
It’s pretty clear over last few seasons Scottish officials lack impartiality!
Fan,
Agree but then we’d have to pay for them.
Then we will be accused of buying decisions.
Fan
I was one who thought Arsenal had made a mistake when hey bought Havertz. For a big guy, has a fair bit of skill. And Arteta has gotten the best out of him. He has done better than I thought he would, and is certainly more of an Arteta style player than Gyokeres, but in some ways, that is why Gyokeres is important. He allows, if not forces,Arsenal to be a bit more direct, and in so doing, gives their attack more dimensions. Teams have to sit a bit deeper if Gyokeres is playing to defend against his runs, which actually opens up more space for players like Saka and Odegaard to play.
if it was me, I’d be playing Gyokeres, as, style aside, he’ll give you 20 goals a season, even when he is one part of the attack. Havertz gives you about 8 goals a season. In the CL, having a pure goalscorer is important, and in the cruch games, it is often who takes their chances.
i can see why Arteta wanted Alvarez. A better finisher than Havertz, but a better fit style wise than Gyokeres.
But seems Alvarez had his mind set on Barcelona, and Atletico have said they will not sell him to Barcelona now for any amount of money. Turned into a bit of a soap opera.
MIT
Havertz has a subtlety that Gyokeres lacks.
Twice Havertz had clever little back flicks that fooled Chelsea defenders and one led to winning goal.
Chelsea seemed to find it easier to defend Gyokeres direct style when he came on.
Nice luxury to have 2 very contrasting players for a vital position.
It seems like there was an unfortunate incident over at Sevco’s ground on Saturday, a supporter took a heart attack, and they had to wait a full 7 minutes until any medical staff could reach the poor man, supporters who tried to get aid from the stewards found out none of them could speak English which delayed any action being taken.
I can understand their need to try to cut costs with stewards, but using non-english speaking stewards is just mind blowing. Seems the loyal supporters are very unhappy.
“It’s pretty clear over last few seasons Scottish officials lack impartiality!”
It’s pretty clear over the last few seasons we’ve won 9 out of ten leagues and 75% of the trophies available.
Their impartiality isn’t helping those they want to succeed.
*SENTINEL CELTS PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2025-26*
*RESULTS FROM GAME #8 ST MIRREN 1 CELTIC 2 (SCALES, YANG)*
Good evening, friends.
Our first real test of the domestic season saw a 2nd v 1st clash in Paisley. A pity that only around 6,500 fans were in the ground to see it.
It turned out to be a game of very fine margins with 3 big decision – a penalty and 2 disallowed goals – being decided on centimetres rather than being of the clear cut varieties. All 3 decisions went St Mirren’s way and we learned that, in Scotland, the VAR can encourage the referee to have a guess at what the correct outcome should be! Grrrrr…
Celtic started very brightly and completely dominated the opening stages, despite Donovan picking up another very early yellow card. Our front line were very positive and Camillo isn’t just a fine footballer, but a male model in the making, displaying the whitest teeth ever seen on a Celtic player!
The first goal came in the 19th minute. St Mirren’s corner was cleared to the edge of our box but the volleyed strike towards goal hit Scales’ outstretched hand right on the edge of the box and a penalty was awarded. Sinisalo guessed right but the shot had enough power to hit the net and Celtic were behind in a domestic game for the first time this season. Consequently, St Mirren now had it in their own hands to secure the 2027-28 Champions League qualifying spot.
After half an hour it looked like Celtic had equalised. Good work from Baur released Yang on the left and his ball into the box was put home by the outstretched boot of Duran. I wasn’t totally convinced by the VAR angles but anyway the goal was disallowed for offside and Celtic went into the break one down.
Celtic came flying out of the traps for the second half and had a couple of decent chances right after half time. The best had come from good work from Hassan on the right when his whipped inswinging cross wasn’t rewarded with a goal from Yang at the back post.
But in the 50th minute we did draw level and there was a degree of satisfaction involved here. St Mirren’s opener came from a corner unnecessarily conceded due to Sinisalo’s poor decision making. Celic’s equaliser also came from a corner that the St Mirren keeper could have easily avoided. But when the ball was crossed in we shouldn’t fail to appreciate the brilliant run to the near post by Scales and the excellent glancing looping header across to the far corner. Liam concedes a penalty, then gets the equaliser and so sits at level par with 40 to play!
The next 15 minutes saw play shift repeatedly from end to end but a moment of magic from Duran was to prove significant. Camilo did very well to steal the ball inside Celtic’s half and he then progressed into the opposition half before releasing Yang in the inside left position to calmly slot the ball home. Wait a minute, didn’t I just type more or less the same for our 3rd goal against Aberdeen? It’s déjà vu all over again! And 2-1 Celtic meant that another Saturday night tin of beer could be poured!
The game remained in the balance for the remainder, not least when in the 85th minute the limping Donovan was left for dead in a St Mirren counter attack. The ball across Celtic’s 6 yard box looked a certain goal but the attacker ballooned it over the bar. I cheered loudly and poured another!
Right after that, Donovan was replaced by Murray which meant that Celtic’s back line consisted of 4 centre backs – The right footed Murray and CCV along with the left footed Trusty and Scales. Total football?
The final talking point came in stoppage time. A ball through to Mheuta, playing on the shoulder of the last defender, saw our loanee striker in on goal and a composed, well struck finish seemed to seal the points. Admittedly, whether he was onside or offside was a matter of inches but neither the linesman nor the referee thought he was offside. The automatic VAR lines couldn’t be drawn and so, surely, the onfield decision stands? But, no, the VAR calls the referee to the monitor to have a look. Now, I accept that it does look as if Mheuta was just offside. But that’s not the point here. As there was no definitive proof of offside (i.e. the ‘lines’ couldn’t be drawn) then surely the onfield decision must stand? But not in Scotland – goal disallowed!! If I were paranoid (which I am!) I’d say that many folk in Scotland are still not able to accept how the final week of the 2025-26 league season played out!
Fortunately that incredible sequence of events didn’t affect the outcome of the game and Celtic continue with a 100% win rate in the league.
Celtic have now played 8 games, winning 7 and losing 1. We have scored 21 and conceded 8. We sit 3 points clear of last season’s runners up, and 5 clear of the mob who finished third.
Another excellent turnout of voters, so thank you for that. For this latest game, 104 provided their nominations, meaning we have again hit the 100+ target, for the 7th time in 8 games. £15 was sent to the Glasgow City Mission last weekend and that’s now another £6 sitting in the pot.
The total votes cast for each player (with my own nominations asterisked) are as follows –
Sinisalo*: 3
Donovan: 11
Carter Vickers: 7
Trusty: 0
Scales: 34
McGregor: 18
Baur: 31
Nygren: 3
Hassan*: 38
Duran: 69
Yang*: 98
Forrest: 0
Sørensen: 0
Tounekti: 0
Mheuka: 0
Murray: 0
Unused subs: Johnstone, Lotombo, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Van den Berg
And so, the POINTS earned by each player for the game against St Mirren are as follows –
25 – Yang
22 – Duran
19 – Hassan
16 – Scales
14 – Baur
12 – McGregor
11 – Donovan
10 – Carter-Vickers
9 each – Nygren and Sinisalo
5 each – Forrest, Mheuka, Murray, Sørensen, Tounekti, Trusty
1 each – Johnstone, Lotombo, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Van den Berg
And the CUMULATIVE POINTS after 8 games played are as follows –
151 – Duran
109 – Donovan
108 – Yang
106 – McGregor and Nygren
89 – Carter-Vickers
83 – Tierney
73 – Sinisalo
71 – Baur
60 – Høgh, Scales and Trusty
59 – Hassan
53 – Oxlade-Chamberlain
51 – Tounekti
38 – Forrest
30 – Engels
26 – McCowan
21 – Murray
18 – Hatate
17 – Johnston
13 – Osmand
10 each – Mheuka and Sørensen
9 – Ralston
6 – Doohan
3 – Kenny
2 – Balikwisha and Johnstone
1 – Kennedy, Lotomba and Van den Berg
We only have to wait 3 more sleeps until our next league game, an away trip to St Johnstone on Wednesday evening, kick off 8.00pm.
Hail Hail!
ASWGL
My daughter is a volunteer first aid responder who has dealt with many situations at football grounds.
She and her colleagues do excellent work.
She last helped at Easter Road on Thursday where a supporter fell 15 feet over a tunnel entrance onto a hard concrete surface.
The eejit stewards moved the man before proper assistance arrived. Complete morons.
Ex Machina
Kudos to your wonderful daughter, that is an excellent service she dedicates herself to 👍
ASWGL
Thanks.
I’m very proud of what she is doing.
My point was to back up your observation that some of these stewards are loose cannons who do more harm than whatever it is they are in attendance to do.
There is a distinct possibility in the Easter Road case that they could have caused more lasting damage to the poor soul than the fall itself. By moving him before he was stabilised.
Moronic jobsworths.
Ex Machina
You raise an excellent question.
How are these stewards hired? By what process? By what criteria?
Is it the police? the club?
It seems like there was an unfortunate incident over at Sevco’s ground on Saturday, a supporter took a heart attack, and they had to wait a full 7 minutes until any medical staff could reach the poor man, supporters who tried to get aid from the stewards found out none of them could speak English which delayed any action being taken.
I can understand their need to try to cut costs with stewards, but using non-english speaking stewards is just mind blowing. Seems the loyal supporters are very unhappy.
===========================
May the supporter make a good recovery firstly.
I can understand the 7 min response and fans worrying as to what is happening? My recent experience seeing the gentleman who sadly passed away(from a distance)
We should have an ambulamce on standby and tested response times from top tier to royal(dummy runs).1 or 2 boys&girls like ExM daughter,1 or 2 per square.its the randomness of an occurance happening.
ASWGL re non english speaking stewards(jeez they used to get ignorant so me da told me,of the Gorbals then being the biggest Gaeltacht on the planet:’))
Most who i spoke to have good english,but hey ho,am not a survey:-))
,I think Mags type scrutiny of what we pay,then company x stewards and profits from.
Cost saving stewarding to policing etc.
Tis not suprising there is a foreigner at fault slant eh,or is it me?
HH
New article posted
https://sentinelcelts.com/2026/09/07/bhoys-beat-buddies-var/