Craig Gordon has been 1st choice Celtic keeper since the start of the Deila reign. He left his previous club Sunderland in 2012 and for 2 years battled knee injury without a contract. It is remarkable for a professional player in any position to have, effectively, a 2 year “career break” and come back to … [continue reading]
Archives for January 2017
Celtic Loves You More Than You Will Know
Many Celtic supporters believe since Tommy Gemmell, we have been starved of quality left backs until Emilio Izaguirre signed from Motagua (Honduras) in August 2010, with the honourable exception of Tom Boyd (364 appearances over 11 years). And now we have Kieran Tierney, a Celtic boy who has grown up at the club. As Izaguirre … [continue reading]
Albion Rovers 0 Celtic 3, by numbers
A terribly exciting match for Celtic By Numbers (CBN) as several “records” were shattered. CBN has been recording match, player, opposition data since the start of the Deila era, and so “records” in CBN terms is a similar concept to Sky claiming English league football started in 1992. For my purposes “records” started at the … [continue reading]
Artificial Intelligence
Celtic start the 2017 Scottish Cup campaign against Albion Rovers at the Excelsior Stadium before a sell-out crowd. The last game against Albion Rovers was in the 1976 League Cup when Celtic won 5-0 aided by 2 assists from King Kenny Dalglish. Soccerbase provides a head-to-head search facility to retrieve historical matches between clubs. Contemporary … [continue reading]
Mikael, that’s a beach ball…..
Mikael Lustig has had his Celtic contract extended to the end of the 2019 season. He is seemingly at ease with his role at Celtic as a senior pro, and appears connected to the club and support. His fashion sense is impeccable, matching colour, style and accessories with flair. Currently 30 years old, this is … [continue reading]
Give Me Wings
Over the last few days following the Heralds claim that Forrest is reborn and with Celtic apparently looking at options to extend Roberts’ stay, I looked at Forrest having his best Celtic season and Roberts, dipping from a stellar start to his Celtic career, but showing tremendous potential. Here is a “quick and dirty” look … [continue reading]
Paddy’s Lament
Paddy Roberts signed on loan from Manchester City in Feb 16 for an unusual 18 month loan. The player was estimated to cost Manchester City a maximum of £11m and minimum of £5m, after 22 appearances for Fulham. Even for a cash rich team, it was a significant investment on an 18 year old. Appearance … [continue reading]
James The First – Redux
James Forrest recently signed a new deal to 2019 and today the Herald proclaims the second coming. Has Rodgers worked a miracle? (Note I look at the last 3 seasons for detailed performance data as this is what I have personally collected but some overall career summary data to start (source Transfermarkt)). Forrest Appearance Data … [continue reading]
Deila vs Rodgers, by numbers
Overall Records The Deila era yielded 2 (expected?) league titles, 1 League Cup and 1 post New Year European run in the Europa League. Those, like me, who have followed Celtic for 40+ years do not take European football after the Bells lightly (1 post New Year appearance in my 1st 27 years of support). … [continue reading]