Match Pictures, part 2 | Matches: 2007 - 2008 | 2007-2008 Pictures

CELTIC win the league on the last Day; Championees!!!!!

Trivia

• Celtic win the league on last day of the season.
• A double header with Dundee Utd v Celtic and Aberdeen v Rangers, needs us to win but Rangers not to win by scoring more than 5 goals than us. Mission accomplished. If we'd have drawn then Rangers would have won the league if they'd won and so on.
• Rangers lost 2-0 to Aberdeen, so we won the league without needing them to do worse than us. Nacho Novo sent off for Rangers (great!) in their game.
• WGS became only the third Celtic manager and the first since Jock Stein to win 3 league titles in a row.
• First game since Tommy Burns' death, his funeral was two days before hand.
• Celtic into the Champions League group stages straight in with no qualifiers.
• At one point in the run-in we were 7pts behind and the huns also had a game in hand, and yet we won the seven games in the run in to take the title as deserved winners helped by the stuttering huns. Exceptional.
• The league season had been extended for Rangers due to their fixture congestion [they'd reached the UEFA Cup final (!), and at one point thought they'd be able to do an unworthy quadruple! Didn't happen, thankfully.].
  
• For further background on it all see season review (link)

Review

Well what can you say? Celtic went into the game requiring to win the game and needing Rangers to do less than winning their game by 5 goals. Rangers had drawn againt Motherwell the Saturday the weekend before, and so we had the advantage with both on equal pts with Celtic +4 in terms of goal difference compared to Rangers. A nervous day for all with many worried that this could be a repeat of Black Sunday from 2004. A full strength side for the Celts against a pumped up Dundee utd smarting after injustices v Rangers two weeks back (see: link).

Anyhow, as for the game, from the start nervous stuff and we attacked incessantly with various chances going our way, however Dundee Utd counter attacked very well but thankfully didn't take their chances well enough (and were unfortunate not to get a goal). McGeady in particular squandered a great chance for us, and half-time no goals in this or the Huns game so all to play for in both games. Dundee Utd had their chance as well, but luckily nothing came of it. Everything was still close, and could change in either sides' direction very quickly.

Second half was a bit different and we could have gone in front after just 90 seconds, but didn't happen. Later Naka was disgracefully yellow carded for diving when it was a definite penalty. Terrrible. News then filtered through that Aberdeen had taken the lead against the Huns! The fun was beinning, and then we scored in our own game via a wonderful corner kick by Hartley to JVoH to score and the whole league title was in our hands. Must be added that this was not easy going. Our defence was weak at points, and Naylor simply lacks pace and gave people cause for concern over his ability against some pacey Dundee Utd players.

Aberdeen then amazingly scored a second v Rangers, and we were home and dry!!!

Full-time, we won 1-0 and Rangers lost 2-0 (with Nacho Novo sent off late in their game), and we were crowned champions. Cue celebrations like as if we'd just won everything in sight. In many ways we had, as the Champions League is where it's at. We were straight into the group stages (phew!) whilst the huns were to go through two KO sets of games.

An emotional time for all as Tommy Burns had died only a week before with his funeral only two days before hand. We'll all miss him, and the victory was dedicated in his memory with the players wearing t-shirts in rememberance of him at the final whistle. RIP

Great day for the club tinged with a moment of reflection for Tommy Burns, but a great memory and we're all proud. For many the greatest league victory for many a year (since 1988 at least), and how we came back from 7pts and a game played more behind the Huns is just stuff of legend!

Seven league wins in a row which led to the title...

Below lists the 7 games we won in a row to take the title, where we came from 7pts behind Rangers in the league plus a game played more to win the title. An astonishing achievement.
Apr
3th, Motherwell 1-4 Celtic. Premier League
16th, Celtic 2-1 Rangers, Premier League
19th, Celtic 1-0 Aberdeen, Premier League
27th, Celtic 3-2 Rangers, Premier League

May
3rd, Motherwell 1-2 Celtic, Premier League (Setanta)
11th, Celtic 2-0 Hibernian, Premier League (Setanta)
22nd, Dundee United 0-1 Celtic, Premier League (Setanta) (***SPL Championees!***)

Quotes

"Its been one of the most memorable seasons i've ever had in my life. I throughly enjoyed the challenge. We've achieved what we set out at the beginning of the season to do. Now i'm away, its only fair that i go now and be with people who supported and believed in us for the whole season."
WGS on the league win (last bit a wee dig at the media) (May 2008)

"It's great. Obviously we had a lot of motivation for this game and we had to win ourselves and we managed to do that.
"Six or seven weeks ago there was folk all over the country writing us off, but we always believed we could do it and it's been great to prove everybody wrong. There's nothing better in football than proving people wrong."
Stephen McManus, Celtic captain

"We loved him. He was just a gentleman at heart. God rest his soul. We did this for you Tommy - God bless."
Scott McDonald on team coach Tommy Burns who passed away a week earlier (RIP)

"When you look at last season, the majority of people would say we’d have won the league if we didn’t have all the games we had. When you consider those last two or three weeks, it was virtually impossible for ANY team. We had so many games before the league decider against Aberdeen. But we can’t sit here and make excuses. It didn’t work out and Celtic won the league. "
Kris Boyd on losing the league in 2008 (always a complete fud) (Mar 2009)

Teams

Dundee Utd team:- Zaluska, Dillon, Dods, Kenneth, Grainger, Flood, Kerr (Robb 80), Gomis, Swanson (Robertson 79), de Vries (Daly 80), Hunt.

Subs Not Used:- Camara, Wilkie, O'Brien, Smith.

Booked:- Flood.

Celtic team (4-4-2):-
Boruc,
Hinkel, Caldwell, McManus, Naylor (Wilson 76),
Nakamura (Scott Brown 62), Hartley, Robson, McGeady,
McDonald, Vennegoor of Hesselink (Samaras 81).

Subs Not Used:- Mark Brown, Donati, Sheridan, O'Dea.

Booked:- Nakamura, Samaras, Boruc

Goal:- Vennegoor of Hesselink 72.

Att: 13,613

Ref: S Dougal

Articles

• Match Report
• Manager Interview
• Celebrations
• (see below for more articles)

Pictures

• Match and celebration Pictures
• More pictures

KStreet

• Pre-match
• Pre-match 2
• Match
• MoTM - Robson (Link to MOTM Winners)
• Post-match
• Congrats to WGS
• Gloating thread!!!

Stats

Dundee Utd v Celtic
Possession

41%

59%

Shots on target

4

9

Shots off target

7

2

Corners

4

8

Fouls

15

10

Articles

Celtic captures Scottish title

Celtic captured the Scottish Premier League title yesterday after a 1-0 victory over Dundee United and Rangers' 2-0 loss to Aberdeen.

Celtic and Rangers were tied with 86 points heading into the final day of the soccer season.

But in the end, Celtic's win didn't matter because of the Rangers loss.

Celtic secured its third consecutive league title and 42nd overall when Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink headed in a corner from Paul Hartley in the 72nd minute.
Gordon Strachan is only the third Celtic manager to win three league titles in a row, joining Willie Maley and Jock Stein.

"I'm with a bunch of guys who believed in me and I believed in them," Strachan said.

"I really do believe this is one the most satisfying nights of my life – not for me really, but to see the players who have come under a lot of pressure during the season."
Celtic endured an emotional week with the death of popular coach Tommy Burns, 51, of skin cancer on May 15 and his funeral last Tuesday.
The club said it would dedicate the league win to Burns, who was also part of the coaching setup for Scotland's team.

"We loved him," Celtic striker Scott McDonald said. "He was just a gentleman at heart.

"God rest his soul. We did this for you Tommy. God bless."

McDonald denied Celtic the league title in 2005 when his two late goals for former club Motherwell against Celtic handed the trophy to Rangers, which has 51 Scottish titles.

"After three years ago, it's great to put that right and I'm certainly going to enjoy this," McDonald said.

Rangers lost to an Aberdeen goal in the 63rd minute from Lee Miller and one from Darren Mackie in the 77th. The Gers finished with 10 men when striker Nacho Novo was sent off for a foul on Stuart Duff.

It was Rangers' third match in six days, and manager Walter Smith found fault with the Scottish Premier League for not extending the season for Celtic further than four days.

"Overall, a failure to balance a set of circumstances which were unusual for a team to have to deal with has led to us falling down as much as anything else," Smith said.

2008 CTVglobemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Strachan follows in footsteps of Stein

CELTIC'S third successive Scottish Premier League championship, secured by a 1-0 victory over Dundee United at Tannadice last night, would have a deeper emotional impact than either of the previous two under the managership of Gordon Strachan.

Just two days after the funeral of Tommy Burns, Strachan and his players would be released from the strain of a painful week by the goal from Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink which brought the title-clinching three points.

With their closest rivals, Rangers, faltering once again with a 2-0 defeat by Aberdeen at Pittodrie, the widely anticipated goal difference was not required to separate two teams who have been engaged in a neck-and-neck race for the line over the past two months.

The ecstatic Celtic supporters chanted Burns's name before, during and after the 38th and final match of a nine-month campaign, clearly aware that the late player, manager and coach had scored the winning goal that brought the championship at the same venue 27 years ago.

For Strachan, however, it would be a personal triumph over those 'fans' who had called for his sacking as recently as seven weeks ago, on the day the team lost 1-0 to Motherwell at Celtic Park, sliding six points behind Rangers, who had two matches in hand.

The manager had also endured some criticism in the media, although he has always claimed to have been unaffected, on the grounds that he does not read papers or tune into sports programmes.

Nonetheless, his future at Celtic has been the subject of speculation for two of the three seasons he has been in the job since he succeeded the widely revered Martin O'Neill in the summer of 2005.

In the immediate aftermath of last night's momentous events, he remained characteristically reluctant to dwell on the personal significance of an achievement - three successive championships - that had last been recorded under the legendary Jock Stein more than 40 years ago.

Instead, he preferred to deliver a brief resume of "an incredible season" and leave the media with a barely disguised put-down, the inference from which was that, despite his claim not to be a reader, he was aware of some of the criticism directed towards him.

"It's been an incredible night," said Strachan, "and it has been an incredible season. I want to thank our players for their character, their belief and their ability. It has been the most incredible season of my career.

"We've achieved what we set out to achieve, and now it's only right that I should go and be with people who have believed in us and supported us throughout the season." That pay-off line was a clear suggestion that, at that moment, he felt he was not in the presence of the people he had described.
It was the first indication Strachan had given in public that all the speculation over his future, the sometimes relentless questioning of his managerial abilities, had affected him. It seemed unarguable that this latest championship, and especially the manner in which it was won, presented him with an unmissable opportunity to declare his dissatisfaction with certain aspects of the campaign.

Strachan was still on the field with his players, waiting to receive the trophy that had been delivered by a helicopter that had hovered in the Dundee area, when his counterpart last night, Craig Levein, gave his own admiring appraisal of the Celtic manager.

"When you look at the league table at the end of the season, it doesn't lie," said the Dundee United manager. "Celtic deserve to win the title because they have had the resilience throughout the season.

"I'm especially pleased for Gordon. He has taken a lot of stick at various time throughout the season, but he kept faith in his players and in himself."
(c) 2008
The Scotsman

Night of twists and turns is a fine tribute to Tommy Burns

FOR long enough, Helicopter Thursday looked like failing to lift off. After so much discussion about the league being settled on goal difference, was that really going to be the case after two nil-nil draws instead of the expected victories for Rangers and Celtic?
That was at least the distinct possibility that confronted us just after 8:30pm, when the matches at Pittodrie and Tannadice reached half-time without a goal to show between them. Both visiting teams had been largely on top during the first 45 minutes of their respective matches, but Dundee United against Celtic and, to a lesser extent, Aberdeen versus Rangers had at least looked sporadically threatening.

Neither title challenger could take anything for granted, then. Not at that stage. Nor could they afford to think too much about what be happening at the other ground. With only 45 minutes of the league campaign to go, it was more than ever the case that Celtic and Rangers would be focused on playing the game in front of them rather than trying to get their heads round any complicated permutation involving events at the other ground.

With each game still in the balance there was sure to be nervousness in abundance in the visitors' dressing-rooms on Tayside and 70 miles or so further north, but, in the case of Celtic, it was surely tempered with a whisper of optimism. They were the ones four goals to the good. Time was on their side.
Rangers, on the other hand, were fast running out of it. Even if Celtic only secured a single-goal victory at Tannadice, they would need five at Pittodrie to take the title on goals scored.

Anyone who has seen Rangers in recent weeks knows how improbable such a goal haul would be over 90 minutes in any game. Five in half that time, in a fixture which has been an embittered grudge match too often over the past couple of decades, were simply inconceivable.
Of course, for as long as the two games remained without a goal to their names, the faint hope existed for Rangers that Celtic would fail to beat United, and that they could then claim the single-goal victory which would be enough to give them the title. Or even that Celtic would lose, and that Rangers could therefore claim the league trophy for the first time since 2005 simply by drawing.

But when was the last time that either Glasgow club - never mind the pair of them on the same evening - went through a match without anything eventful happening? Having won their last six matches, including the two Old Firm games at Parkhead, Celtic were determined to make it seven in a row and put the maximum pressure on their rivals.

If they needed any additional motivation to do so, they surely found it in the knowledge that a victory and the title which would go with it would be a fitting tribute to Tommy Burns. This was the first match Celtic had played since the death last week of their former player and manager, who won the title at Tannadice back in 1981.
Asked before the game how those circumstances would affect his players, Gordon Strachan said it would be hard to tell until the game kicked off. The passing of their friend and colleague had had a traumatic effect on many of the players and staff at Celtic Park, and the manager - in common with the team, wearing a black armband - was surely right to suggest that the on-field reaction of the team was difficult to predict.

In two of the four stands at Tannadice, however, the Celtic supporters were in no doubt about the appropriate tone for the evening. This was to be a celebration. So, for some time before kick-off, they began to sing the tune with which they had celebrated the midfielder in his heyday. "Tommy twists, Tommy turns, Tommy Burns," they sang.

After a minute's applause in memory of the man at both grounds, referee Stuart Dougal got the match at Tannadice under way. It seemed a reasonable supposition then that there would be a few more twists and turns in events before we knew who were to be Scottish champions for season 2007-8, and, sure enough, after those first-half stalemates at both grounds, that was how it turned out.

The majority prediction since Monday night, when Rangers beat St Mirren 3-0 to draw level on points with Celtic but still four goals behind, was that the two Glasgow teams would win by similar, narrow margins, and that Celtic would thus hold on to their title. But that all changed some 18 minutes into the second half, when Lee Miller put Aberdeen in front. As the news broke, the Celtic supporters began to celebrate, and they had all the more reason to do so nearly ten minutes later when Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink headed home what turned out to be the only goal of the game.

For Rangers, the second half at Pittodrie turned out to be a miniature version of the slow shattering of their hopes which has occurred over the past few weeks. Not long after the Celtic goal, Darren Mackie put Aberdeen 2-0 up to end any chance Walter Smith's team had of pushing Celtic all the way. Then, to make matters worse, Nacho Novo was sent off and, as a consequence, will miss tomorrow's Scottish Cup final.

Back at Tannadice, Dougal blew the final whistle and the celebrations began. Strachan wore a disbelieving grin; his players donned Tommy Burns tribute T-shirts; and the helicopter bore down on the ground, the SPL trophy on board.

(c) 2008
The Scotsman

How Celtic 'won it for Tommy';Football

Celtic were crowned champions of Scotland for the third season in succession last night amid emotion-charged scenes at Tannadice.Related Topics

The 1-0 victory against a game Dundee United side, combined with Aberdeen's 2 0 win over Rangers, was enough to hold off the gallant challenge of Walter Smith's team fatally weakened by a brutal schedule over the closing weeks of the campaign.

However, Celtic fans were obliged to endure a high-wire act right up to the moment that Lee Miller opened the scoring for Aberdeen at Pittodrie to give them some respite. Ten minutes later, in the 72nd minute of the match at Tannadice, Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink smacked home a header to sink United - and Rangers. Until then Celtic had endured a nerve-gnawing hour, knowing that a goal for either Dundee United or Rangers could have brought them crashing to earth.
In the end, Celtic's seven wins on the spin through April and May - reeled off while Rangers were toiling through a Stakhanovite workload of cup ties and league games - was too hot for their rivals to handle.

Scott McDonald, the Celtic striker, dedicated title triumph to Tommy Burns, the former coach, who died seven days ago. "We loved him," McDonald said. "He was just a gentleman at heart. God rest his soul. We did this for you Tommy - God bless."

McDonald famously denied Celtic the title in 2005 when his two late goals for Motherwell handed the trophy to Rangers. The Australian, who finished the season as the SPL's top scorer, was delighted to play his part in Celtic's third championship in a row. "It's something I'll never forget," he said. "After three years ago, it's great to put that right and I'm certainly going to enjoy this."

Stephen McManus, the Celtic captain, said afterwards: "It's great. Obviously we had a lot of motivation for this game and we had to win ourselves and we managed to do that.

"Six or seven weeks ago there was folk all over the country writing us off, but we always believed we could do it and it's been great to prove everybody wrong. There's nothing better in football than proving people wrong."

Peter Lawwell, the Celtic chief executive, hailed the achievement of Gordon Strachan's team who for a long stretch of the season looked set to lose the title to Rangers.

"We've been written off and come back," Lawwell said. "It's a wonderful night for this club. It's been a week for this club that we should all be proud of. It's been a very emotional week - terrible grief, terrible sorrow - but tonight we can be proud to be a Celtic supporter."

Lawwell offered praise for manager Strachan who became the first Celtic manager since Jock Stein to win a hat-trick of league titles. "He goes down in Celtic's history as a legend," he said.

For Rangers, Smith was wondering how a season that had promised riches beyond the dreams of avarice had come down to this. Just a month ago Rangers had their hearts set on a quadruple. But their bravura run to the final of the Uefa Cup faded away on a night of recrimination and regret in Manchester, and the ill-timed 1-1 draw at Motherwell three days later gave Celtic the decisive advantage in the title contest.

Now Smith's players, who must feel emotionally and physically pulverised after their sapping spring offensive, face a fresh and fearless Queen of the South in the Scottish Cup final.

(c) Times Newspapers Ltd, 2008
(c) 2008 Times Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved
The Times

Celtic champions of Scotland; Edge Dundee United 1-0 while arch-rival Rangers lose to Aberdeen on final day of season

Celtic captured the Scottish Premier League title yesterday following a 1-0 win over Dundee United and Rangers' 2-0 loss to Aberdeen.

Celtic and Rangers were tied on 86 points heading into the final day of the season.

But in the end, Celtic's win didn't matter because the Rangers lost.

Celtic secured its third straight league title and 42nd overall when Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink headed in a corner from Paul Hartley in the 72nd minute.
Gordon Strachan is only the third Celtic manager to win three league titles in a row, joining Willie Maley and Jock Stein.
"I'm with a bunch of guys who believed in me and I believed in them," Strachan said.

"I really do believe this is one the most satisfying nights of my life - not for me really but to see the players who have come under a lot of pressure during the season."
Celtic endured an emotional week, with the death of popular coach Tommy Burns from skin cancer on May 15 at the age of 51 and his funeral on Tuesday.
The club said it would dedicate the league win to Burns, who was also part of the Scotland coaching setup.

"We loved him," Celtic striker Scott McDonald said. "He was just a gentleman at heart. God rest his soul. We did this for you Tommy - God bless."
Rangers lost to Aberdeen on goals from Lee Miller and Darren Mackie. The Gers finished with 10 men when striker Nacho Novo was sent off for a foul on Stuart Duff.
It was its third match in six days, and Rangers manager Walter Smith blamed the Scottish Premier League for not helping the club by not extending the season further than four days.

"Overall, a failure to balance a set of circumstances which were unusual for a team to have to deal with has led to us falling down as much as anything else," Smith said.

Last week, Rangers were in contention for an unprecedented four trophies, including the league title.

Celtic hold their nerve to retain crown

Sport | DUNDEE UNITED 0 CELTIC 1

Celtic were asked to honour the memory of Tommy Burns at Tannadice last night and they did so, clinching their third successive league title, if not with a flourish, then with a hard-fought but much-cherished victory. The green thousands who had made their way to Dundee celebrated as if a siege had been lifted and, emotionally, they clearly felt that way. They knew too well that this was a night that might also have belonged to Rangers.

Anxiety and frustration were audible at the hour mark as a combative Dundee United pushed on, but then came news of an Aberdeen goal and then on 72 minutes Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink headed in a winner, just as Burns had done here to seize a championship back in 1981.

It means that Gordon Strachan, heavily criticised this season, has won three titles in a row, a feat last achieved at Celtic by Jock Stein. As the helicopter carrying the league trophy - stationed midway between Aberdeen and Dundee at kick-off - came into view, there was delirium

Some Celtic folk had wondered aloud about the possibility of Burns' death and funeral "draining" the team here. But any attempt at trying to politely concentrate on the opposition alone was rendered impossible by the incessant chanting about Burns from well before kick-off and the huge green-and-white banners celebrating his significance to the club.

It is not something to be ignored. The sense was that Celtic could beat Celtic as well as Dundee United could beat them. The statistics appeared to back that up: United had drawn 0-0 at Parkhead in March but had not won in any of their last six matches. Celtic were on a run of six straight wins but it had taken them 68 minutes to score at Tannadice in December.

Yet when Aiden McGeady was released 12 yards out by Shunsuke Nakamura in the 15th minute, a decisive seventh victory seemed about to be set in train. McGeady's shot was on target, but Lukasz Zaluska made a brilliant reflex save to touch the ball over. Two minutes later Zaluska did it again, this time denying Barry Robson on his return to the club who sold him in January.

Nakamura created that opening too, but as he faded so did Celtic's confidence and the home team might have scored twice themselves. Danny Swanson had a 27th-minute half-chance but the one that fell to Mark de Vries five minutes before the interval was clear-cut. Eighteen yards out, unmarked, De Vries smacked the ball a yard wide.

It could not be said Celtic were in control. That feeling increased when Vennegoor of Hesselink squandered a good opportunity seconds after the restart and Artur Boruc made fine saves from De Vries and Swanson.

But at eight minutes past nine came the news from Pittodrie and nine minutes later Vennegoor rose to nod in Paul Hartley's fast corner. Cue mayhem.
Dundee United (4-4-2): Zaluska; Dillon, Dods, Kenneth, Grainger; Flood, Kerr (Robb, 80) Gomis, Swanson (Robertson, 79); De Vries (Daly, 80), Hunt. Substitutes not used: Camara, Wilkie, O'Brien,Smith.

Celtic (4-4-2): Boruc; Hinkel, Caldwell, McManus, Naylor (Wilson, 75); Nakamura (S Brown, 61), Hartley, Robson, McGeady; McDonald, Vennegoor of Hesselink (Samaras, 81). Substitutes not used: M Brown, Donati, Sheridan, O'Dea.
Referee: S Dougal.

Top of table
P W D L F A Pts
Celtic (C) 38 28 5 5 84 26 89
Rangers 38 27 5 6 84 33 86
Motherwell 38 18 6 14 50 46 60
Aberdeen 38 15 8 15 50 58 53
Dundee Utd 38 14 10 14 53 47 52
(c) 2008 Independent & Media PLC
The Independent