SCOTT BROWN yesterday declared himself fit for the Betred Cup semi-final at Hampden against Hibs. The Celtic captain went off with an ankle problem in the midweek win over St Mirren and manager Neil Lennon admitted afterwards that his captain was a doubt for the semi-final.
However while others might have missed out, Broony was never likely to sit this one out and he has already confirmed that he’ll be ready for the game.
Incidentally as Celtic have won the Treble Treble that means that we have been to Hampden 11 times and Murrayfield once since we last suffered a defeat in a semi-final or final of the two cup competitions.
Remember when the talk in the media was all about Celtic’s Hampden hoodoo because we’d lost a few games to the likes of Ross County, St Mirren, Hearts and Inverness Caley Thistle (in highly controversial circumstances)? Yet we’d won games and trophies too in that period – but the Celtic Hampden Hoodoo was always the big story as the MSM eagerly anticipated another Celtic defeat at the national stadium.
Your point is, I hear you ask…well consider this.
The Rangers have their own Hampden Hoodoo and their fans were talking about it on one of their forums last night. You would think that this would be a major story, would you not, given the relish in which the hacks used to write about the supposed Celtic Hampden Hoodoo/
The old Rangers actually went from 1903 to 1928 without winning the Scottish Cup so they had their own Hoodoo although it wasn’t fatal, it was their reckless spending that killed them.
The club Charles Green founded has also developed its own the Rangers Hampden Hoodoo, which you probably won’t read about in the papers this weekend.
Here’s the Rangers recent record, for the record if not in the Record…
6 defeats in a row at Hampden
5 games without scoring
13 goals conceded
2 goals scored
12 goals conceded since last goal scored
Andy Halliday’s goal v Hibs the last Rangers goal at Hampden
3 managers since last victory at Hampden
2-3 v Hibernian 2016 SC Final
0-1 v Celtic 2016-17 LC Semi
0-2 v Celtic 2016-17 SC Semi
0-2 v Motherwell 2017-18 LC Semi
0-4 v Celtic 2017-18 SC Semi
0-1 v Aberdeen 2018-19 LC Semi
*NOTE that they never had to play at Murrayfield…
The Bear who posted this gives some commentary to the above hilarity…
“More worrying is the fact that we have deserved to lose every game, comfortably outplayed by the opposition on each occasion, with the possible exception of Motherwell’s streetwise thuggery.
“So, is it just coincidence, a combination of poor players and management and the striker bad luck last year? Or something more seriously wrong with the psyche? I guess we’ll find out on Sunday.”
MON the Jam Tarts!
Back to Broony. “I’m fine,” he said. “It was feeling a bit tight, but I came off and managed to do the cool down.
“I’ll train on Friday and I’ll be fine for the game. I know my body more than anyone and sometimes you know when it’s the right time to come off the park before you do any damage.
“It’s a huge week. We’ve had a lot of hard games and fatigue is going to kick in. It’s about doing what’s best for everybody for Saturday and focusing on the game.
“We have Lazio next week, but the focus is only on the semi-final. It’s a huge game. Hibs did really well against us at Easter Road and make it very difficult for us.
“We need to make sure we step up again.
“The appetite is still as strong as ever. You want to win every game and every trophy going.
“For me it’s about making sure we are in the cup final. We can’t look too far ahead as we were guilty of doing that in the past and blew up. The focus is on Hibs.
“It’s a great run. Everyone we play against is determined to stop it, but that’s part and parcel of being at Celtic,” Broony said at yesterday Betfred Cup Media Conference, as reported by Evening Times.
ALSO ON THE CELTIC STAR…
You cannot remove politics from football. Football is much, much more than the game on the pitch
