A season of fantastic memories

The season just closed, unless you are Tom Rogic, is one that no Celtic fan will ever forget.

When he arrived as manager Brendan Rodgers brought hope, after one season he delivered more than any fan could have wished for.

The bare statistics don’t begin to do justice to a 59 match season- 47 unbeaten in domestic competitions and 12 European ties that saw the club restored to the Champions League.

Amid all the highlights it shouldn’t be forgotten that the success was achieved with only two real additions to the first team.

Dorus de Vries, Kolo Toure and Cristian Gamboa may have inspired others onto new heights but the success was achieved with only Scott Sinclair and Moussa Dembele added to the Ronny Deila squad.

Players development was accelerated, European progress achieved and trophies collected over a 10 month period that has the fans chasing season tickets and interest in the club returning to Seville levels.

The new season kicks off next week in Austria, most of the players have only had a fortnight off but football barely pauses and ahead of us another season of adventures and memories are about to unfold.

Champions League return

Hapoel Beer Sheva were poised to join Maribor and Malmo but after seeing a 3-0 lead cut by two goals the bhoys bounced back.

This ‘classic’ strike from Scott Brown provided a three goal cushion to take to Israel which was badly needed!

The fans, players and management went through every emotion possible in the return leg but as the final whistle sounded the relief was obvious as a group place was clinched a few weeks after losing in Gibraltar to Lincoln Red Imps.

Demolition derby

The loss of Leigh Griffiths through injury dominated the build up- after the final whistle it was Moussa Dembele that was writing the headlines.

Mark Warburton and Joey Barton had been shouting off about what they were going to do to Celtic- never again were the dynamic duo together in action after a trashing from Celtic.

Dembele had the Sevco defence terrified with ample support pushing through from midfield, with this win all talk from Ibrox was laughed out of court as the reality of the gulf between both clubs was exposed.

A star is born

With a 100% start to the season Manchester City were cut down to size when they arrived at Celtic Park.

Moussa Dembele scored a double that made everyone in Europe sit up and take notice- ever since a string of clubs have been linked with an interest in the young French striker.

The 3-3 draw gave the side a massive confidence boost after losing in Barcelona, game by game the progress continued even though the hoops finished at the bottom of their group.

Something tangible

It had been a storming start to the season but Brendan Rodgers wanted something tangible for his side’s efforts.

The League Cup has provided plenty of heartache down the years but this 3-0 win over Aberdeen was as comfortable a final win as imaginable.

Some new faces got their hands on the trophy- ten months earlier many of the same players had lost out in a semi-final to Ross County.

Farewell old friend

There were no wins in the Champions League but away draws to Borussia Monchengladbach and Manchester City showed the progress that was made.

In both matches the team played on the front foot- there was no bus parking to snatch a point against all odds.

It was a tough tough group, hopefully next season the draw will be kinder and give the hoops a chance of securing European football after the break.

PICTURE 6

A marathon fixture list in December finished at Ibrox with the bhoys helping themselves to three points.

After a wobbly 20 minutes Celtic took control with a stunning strike from Moussa Dembele silencing the excitable home support.

Celtic dominated the second half but it required a special move involving Patrick Roberts and Stuart Armstrong top tee up Scotty Sinclair for the winning strike.

That’s why we’re champions

He nearly won the league at Liverpool- he didn’t mess about with this title success.

On a sunny spring afternoon the hoops turned on the style to demolish Hearts 5-1 with the second half goals flying in in front of the visiting support.

The celebrations were fairly low key but having clinched the title without defeat the focus switched to completing the whole campaign unbeaten.

Total domination

Stopping the treble was the last hope of the people as their tribute act lagged 30 points behind the champions.

Boosted by a 1-1 draw at Celtic Park hopes were high that the fifth best coach in Qatar could inflict the first domestic defeat on Brendan Rodgers.

The first half at Hampden was 45 minutes of total domination topped off by this brilliant goal from Callum McGregor as he passed the ball into the net as if he was on a training exercise.

A walk in the park.

A hammering at Ibrox

No words really needed to describe this scene.

With the league title already tied up the Caixinha Revolution needed to be piped down.

After winning the Scottish Cup semi final the previous week Celtic stepped up a few gears to hand out a lesson that no one at Ibrox will ever forget- it should have been more than 5-1.

Each goal on it’s own was a work of art- combined it was a lunchtime treat that no Celtic fan will forget.

The Treble clincher

It could easily have been extra-time or another sickening Hampden defeat but with the clock ticking down Tom Rogic did what he does best- burying the ball in the net.

The Australian had suffered a frustrating second half of the season as he returned from injury but his eye for goal has never been in doubt.

Unusually this strike was from inside the penalty box as he timed his run perfectly then showed great composure to side step Andy Considine then slot the ball low into the net- make mine a TREBLE