Back to the football, a solid 1-3 away win for Ange and the team against Livi, a place Celtic have not won at for many years. I stayed up late and watched the match live. The team had spark and zip again after a few dull performances. Forrest, Jota, Starfeldt and Rogic impressed me. CalMac missed a pen but the first goal came from a corner that wasn’t a corner, so, hmmm, things even out. Still, Celtic by far the better side deserving of a win. Livi played some good football too and their Forrest brother looked lively. Eight games to go in the League and Celtic three points in front. It’s going down to the wire!

Don't worry , the players soon buy into it.
Just look at the bitter ex tims in the media, Hartson and Sutton, one is Welsh and the other is English. If want a non Brit, then you have Artur Boric, a Pole.

Yep stayed up and watched it too.
Being new to watching the SPL, is that correct, only 8 games to go? Seems a very short season.

They’ve played 30, so 38 league games is the same as the EPL I think.  There’s a weekend here or there set aside for the Cup and also and international break to go. I think the season finishes in May some time.

Overall it works out around 42 weeks for most teams. Teams competing in Europe , it’s about 44 weeks.

Comfortable 0-3 away win for Celtic, including a disallowed goal that was a bad call, to go into semi-finals of Scottish Cup and a date with Rangers in mid-April. So Ange is still in the Cup and has a small
lead in the League, with one trophy in the bag already (League Cup). It’s a very solid effort in his first season. If it falls apart and he doesn’t win another trophy he still might keep his job on the basis of the turnaround alone, given they were 25 points in second place last season and didn’t win a trophy. And this is with major injuries constantly throughout the season, noting Kyogo has been out for three months. Jota and Abada were out for this last match. Quite a resilience building in this squad. No doubt any failure to win the League this season will still have some calling for his head, but Ange has expressly earned the trust and support of many rusted on generational Celtic fans. It’s great to watch. 

You failed to mention the Japanese guy who should have been sent off for a shocking lunge on the United player Harry. Game changer right there.

Well I would have given Hatate a red for that lunge, it was, let us say, very Scottish. Still, if Maeda’s unallowed goal was actually allowed and then even if Hatate was sent off (which doesn’t happen nearly often enough in Scotland for thuggish football, as far as I can tell) then Celtic would have been up by two goals and gone a man down. If this happened, Celtic might have held on anyway. There’s a few ifs and mights in both scenarios, so I guess it all evens out in the wash, wouldn’t you say? I mean, ‘if’ Rangers hadn’t had a ridiculous amount of penalties this season they’d be 15 points of the pace in the league, wouldn’t you agree? 

I mean, ‘if’ Rangers hadn’t had a ridiculous amount of penalties this season they’d be 15 points of the pace in the league, wouldn’t you agree? 
Everyone was a stonewaller , so no i don't agree.
My point of the send off was exactly the same tackle was made in the Motherwll v Hibs game the day before and the player was sent off in the first or second minute. The rest of Scotland would loved to be refereed the same as Celtic.

From what I've seen this season, the standard of refereeing is poor in Scotland and players get away with a lot of bad tackles. 

I understood your point but you ignore mine. The whole bias argument, whether it’s a Rangers fan v Celtic or vice versa, is total and absolute fairies in the garden deluded horseshit. Winners win, and losers lose. They both choose their own outcomes by their own actions in football. That goes for all sides. Conspiracy theories are for tiny brains. Corruption in football is sometimes present but I’d argue very rare.  Refs are humans, they make mistakes.  People who whinge at refs or even worse, abuse them (not saying you do this foul thing) are dullards. When I watch football, I watch football. I salute the winners and applaud the losers, unless they are one-eyed never see the other side twits, of course. People choose what they want to be.

Yes, the refs more often than not allow poor tackles like the one Hatate did. I’ve seen a few this season and in the matches I’ve watched Celtic have been on the receiving end. No doubt Rangers get a kicking too, from the less cultures sides. 

You clesrly do not understand Scotland Harry, especially when religion comes into it.

Not going to argue with that! At least you didn’t say I don’t understand football. To be fair, to myself, I have read more than most football fans on the intersection between football, politics, religion, sociology and economics. Some of these books even cover Glasgow specifically. I think I have even referred to some of these books on previous pages. I can give you the references if you wish? But none of my wide reading makes me an expert, so to this extent, you are right.

Thanks Harry, but my references come from life experiences, good and bad, on BOTH sides.

You think because I read, I don’t also have life experiences as well, good and bad? Reading and life experiences are not mutually exclusive, well not for me anyway.  Reading has always complemented my life experiences, introduced new ideas and helped me understand others people. That’s just me I guess, and not for everyone. Enjoy the next Europe match, I think your mob will go through, they’d have to shit themselves to lose by three or more. 

lol the majority of them themselves don't even understand it

I did not mean for you to think i was mocking you.

No problem SB, it’s hard to tell but all good. I no doubt come across as a smart arse sometimes, so none of us are perfect. At least we all like football! 

Convincing 4-0 win at home for Celtic against Ross County. Another hat-trick for Giakoumakis. Maeda on the scoresheet too. Not televised on Kayo so couldn’t watch it but reports say Celtic dominant and in control. Nasty tackle against Rogic and he went off with an ankle injury straight after the tackle, in the first half, but Ange says he is still likely to travel to play for Socceroos. Good way to close out this phase before the international break. Celtic have quite a few players involved with national teams so Ange will be sweating on them coming back without injuries.

It's really theirs to lose at this point. Even if they get flogged by Rangers next round, if they get the win against St Johnstone in the final round at home they are basically guaranteed to win the league on goal difference at least. Would represent a massive turnaround by Ange in his first season combined with his league cup win and we'll see where he goes with the Scottish Cup.

Have you forgotten the 5 games after the split ?

Clearly he has. It’s an odd format I must say. And when you search up the match list the five extra games aren’t even listed as TBC, so for casual (read here Ange) observers it’s a fair mistake I guess. So it’s still wide open. Assuming Rangers beat Dundee overnight there’s seven games to get to 38 games, and 21 points still up for grabs, including two Glasgow derbies.  What’s your guess on the date for the final derby game? I’ve read the SPFL don’t like scheduling this as the final game of the season - why is this? Something historical I guess that newcomers like me have no idea about.

Probably the first game of the split. 

Interesting, thanks. 

Hey SB .... Can you explain how the 5 split games are allocated re who plays home or away for these matches? Please and thank you.

Seems so. I don't follow the league closely, just check the ladder and watch some highlights. Ignore the post.

its the top 5 verse each other and the bottom 5 verse each other. Not sure why lol but Ange had chance to wrap up title this morning if werent for rangers comeback

It is sometimes complicated because all other teams bar Rangers and them might end up playing 20 home and 18 away and vise versa. One thing that is definite this season is Rangers will have three away and two at home and they will be the opposite. Who and when won’t be known until round 33 is completed. It will be tight this year with only four points separating fourth and tenth.

Cheers mate, I just cant get a handle on how the matches are "allocated" after the split so to speak... Why, for example, will Gers have 3 away and 2 home .... is it based on table position after round 33 or some other reason? Genuine question man.