Yesterday we started looking at an alternative way to determine who The Celtic Star’s Player of the Year will be. Given the season we’ve had to endure we didn’t reckon that there would be much appetite for a Poll this time around, so we thought we’d try something different and look back to Sandman’s Definitive Ratings to determine who contributed what in this campaign.
Maybe there will be one or two surprises when we count up the marks given for the Celtic starting eleven throughout the season. We do accept that this is only Sandman’s opinion, and he is often criticised for being over generous in his marks out of ten given to each player. And we mentioned that alcoholic consumption is Male too high for any analytical rubber stamp to be issued, but it’s all we have to work with so Sandman, even though he didn’t know it at the time, will have been deciding on our Player of the Year single handedly as he posted his ratings – which remain an outstanding regular feature on The Celtic Star, even during the season we’ve had. If you don’t laugh you’d cry.
Yesterday we looked back at August 2020 from Flag Day, dropping our first points (needlessly) at Rugby Park, Bolingoli, three more wins and of course the Champions League disaster against Ferencvaros, after which we heard about the Celtic Want Aways. You can catch up on all that below…
READ THIS…Sandman’s Definitive Ratings plus our August Review – Bolingoli, Ferencvaros and the Celtic Want Aways
September 2020 was perhaps the most successful month of the season for Celtic. Five games played and all won, 14 gaols scored and just 3 conceded, three clean sheets too. The Europa League qualifier was negotiated away to FC Riga but there were two significant factors that we didn’t realise at the time would have a devastating effect on our season. Christopher Jullien hurt his back in 2-1 away win against St Mirren and James Forrest injured his ankle in the narrow 1-0 win over Riga (Sandman didn’t award Forrest a rating for that match, even though he started, so we added in 5 points).
September opened with a 5-0 win up in Dingwall, perhaps a more convincing result that the performance merited, but no-one at Celtic were complaining. Then came that St Mirren match, before Livingston were defeated at Celtic Park (3-2) , the against Riga was next and the month finished with an impressive 3-0 win over Hibs that suggested Celtic were moving up the gears.
When we add September’s ratings from Sandman to August this is where the leaderboard stands at the end of September 2020. Callum McGregor has taken over at the top of the leaderboard just ahead of Scott Brown. Ryan Christie, starting one game less is doing well in third spot an Vasilis Barkas is maybe surprisingly in fourth position. Both Shane Duffy and Albian Ajeti have started to register decent points totals while talisman Odsonne Edouard is in a lowly 13th position. Injuries to Forrest and Jullien will see them fail to register many more points this season, a huge factor in what went wrong.
READ THIS…Lou Macari on Jock Stein, a Dublin Priest, Wee Fergus and the legendary Stoke City Kit Man
SANDMAN’S DEFINITIVE RATINGS FOR THE SEASON BY END SEPTEMBER 2020…with Callum McGregor moving ahead of Scott Brown at the top.
1. CALLUM McGREGOR – STARTS 11 POINTS 78.5
2. SCOTT BROWN – STARTS 11 POINTS 76.5
3. RYAN CHRISTIE – STARTS 10 POINTS 68.5
4. VASILIS BARKAS – STARTS 9 POINTS 64.5
5. GREGG TAYLOR – STARTS 10 POINTS 61
6. KRISTOFFER AJER – STARTS 9 POINTS 60.5
7. OLIVIER NTCHAM – STARTS 7 POINTS 45.5
8. JAMES FORREST – STARTS 8 POINTS 45.5
9. CHRIS JULLIEN – STARTS 7 POINTS 45
10. NIR BITTON – STARTS 6 POINTS 43
11. MOI ELYOUNOUSSI – STARTS 7 POINTS 42.5
12. ODSONNE EDOUARD – STARTS 6 POINTS 40.5
13. JEREMIE FRIMPONG – STARTS 6 POINTS 40
14. HATEM ELHAMED – STARTS 6 POINTS 34
15. SHANE DUFFY – STARTS 5 POINTS 33
16. ALBIAN AJETI STARTS 3 POINTS 22
17. PATRYK KLIMALA – STARTS 2 POINTS 11.5
18. SCOTT BAIN – STARTS 1 POINTS 6
Sandman’s October Ratings and month review to follow tomorrow…
READ THIS…Book Review: Alec McNair – Celtic’s Icicle by David Potter
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