Author: David Faulds

Brendan Rodgers faces an Ibrox lock-out for next month’s vital Scottish Premiership match. Yesterday the Scottish FA disgracefully cited the Celtic manager for his post-match comments at the weekend. This happened because theRangers supporting VAR official John Beaton effectively re-refereed the game to substantially influence the outcome. In doing so Beaton  negated the damaged down the day before when Motherwell unexpectedly defeated theRangers at Ibrox. Referee John Beaton Photo Malcolm Mackenzie PSI Incompetence A furious Celtic manager hit out at the VAR official for the sending off of Yang and the penalty decision awarded to Hearts after the ball struck…

Celtic face competition from Watford for the signature of top Academy talent Rocco Vata, whose current Celtic deal runs out at the end of the season.  Amid interest from several Italian clubs in the January transfer window, Celtic, on a better late than never basis, finally got round to opening contract negotiations with Rudi Vata’s son. Deal on the table  The club have offered the player a new deal running through to the summer of 2027 but there’s still no sign of pen being put to paper. Those appear to have stalled and now, according to a report in The…

Celtic loan move as Bernabei set to join Brazil side SC Internacional… Brendan Rodgers is offloading Argentinian left-back Alexandro Bernabei with the £3.75m signing set to join the Brazilian Serie A outfit on their transfer deadline day, in what is initially a loan deal. Bernabei paying the price  The Celtic manager dropped Bernabei from his squad after his dreadful defending cost Celtic two points against Kilmarnock at Celtic Park, and it now looks like the player’s time at Celtic is coming to a close. Signed by Ange Postecolgou, Bernabei has never gained the trust of Brendan Rodgers in that left-back…

Celtic Legends set to face Borussia Dortmund Legends in Foundation Charity Match… Celtic FC Foundation are delighted to announce a Legends Charity Football Match – sponsored by Dafabet – at Celtic Park on Sunday, May 26, 2024, with a 2pm KO. Captained by Scott Brown The Celtic Legends team will be captained by Scott Brown and we look forward to a fantastic encounter with a Legends squad from German giants, Borussia Dortmund, featuring the likes of Marcel Schmelzer and Roman Weidenfeller, among many others. In what will be Celtic’s first charity match at Paradise since 2018, it promises to be…

Alistair Johnston isn’t going to get himself stressed out worrying about a tight title race with theRangers as Celtic look to clinch a 12th title in 13 seasons. Both title hopefuls lost at the weekend with the biggest shock being theRangers failing to take anything from Motherwell at Ibrox (thus using up another home game). Celtic reverse at Tynecastle was a more challenging fixture on paper and so it turned out thanks to the disgraceful interventions of theRangers supporter working the VAR levers for the corrupt to the core Scottish FA. It’s a break from Scottish Premiership action this weekend…

Liel Abada has reportedly now completed his medical ahead of his transfer to Charlotte FC from Celitc. The deal should be all done within next 24 hours with Abada joining the American side as a young development player. Abada’s legacy at Celtic was easier this evening reviewed by James French, writing on our big sister site, The Celtic Star. James had this to say about the 22 year-old Israeli’s time at Celtic… What is Liel Abada’s legacy at Celtic? 112 appearances, 51 goals contributions, two league titles and three cups, Liel Abada’s stint at Celtic may have been a relatively…

Neil Lennon has added some insight to the Callum McGregor injury that kept him out of the Scottish Premiership match on Sunday against Hearts at Tynecastle. The Celtic captain was replaced at half time last Wednesday night in the match against Dundee and Brendan Rodgers subsequently revealed a calf strain problem was responsible. Fears that McGregor could be missing for upcoming vital league matches have been eased by Neil Lennon who revealed via The Herald that the Celtic captain told him that he’s likely to be back after the international break. Celtic are in action this weekend against Livingston in…

Former Celtic manager Neil Lennon reckons that the only problem with VAR is the personnel employed, at a considerable extra cost to the clubs, to implement the technology. And the former Celtic manager reckons he has the ideal solution that would at a stock improve the outcome which has been controversial from the very start and has never seen a standard of competence worthy of the sums paid to the Scottish refereeing brotherhood. VAR incompetence Sunday’s game at Tynecastle without VAR would have resulted in just one wrong call in Neil Lennon’s view. He reckoned that the early Celtic penalty…

Stephen McGowan from the Scottish Daily Mail has described VAR as a pig in a poke and reckons that it is becoming an expensive failing in the Scottish game. Speaking to colleague Graham Spiers on the Press Box podcast, McGowan reckons that VAR had no right to intervene in the referee’s decision to issue a yellow card to Celtic wining Yang. And in doing so McGowan finds himself agreeing with Brendan Rodgers in his angry post-match where he accused John Beaton of incompetence and of trying to re-referee the game. He could have added to suit is own agenda. Referee…

Former Tottenham Hotspur defender, Stephen Kelly, has described the penalty awarded to Hearts on Sunday against Celtic as ‘ridiculous’ and admits that he cannot understand how anyone could come to the conclusion that that was a foul inside the box and therefore a penalty kick. Yet theRangers supporting John Beaton managed to find an offence by examining his VAR screen and called referee over to the VAR screen to look at the incident only he had spotted. Sometimes players dive to con referees into awarding penalty kicks. On other occasions there are contentious decisions to be made around handball (unless…

Celtic have confirmed that the club will make an appeal against the red card shown to Korean winger Hyunjun Yang at Tynecastle on Sunday afternoon. Referee Don Robertson’s initial decision was a yellow card. However he was called to the VAR monitor by theRangers supporting VAR official John Beaton. This was just the first of the controversial interventions from Beaton that changed the course of the game. He would also call Robertson over to look at a ‘handball’ against Tomoki Iwata.  That resulted in Robertson awarding Hearts a penalty – a disgraceful decision by both match officials., as this photograph…

Brendan Rodgers yesterday called out John Beaton in all his post-match interviews with Sky Sports, BBC Scotland, Celtic TV and in his post match media conference. Even Lawrence Shankland reckoned that the Yang red card decision was harsh, while Hearts manager Steven Naismith said his side were fortunate with the award of a penalty. Beaton, Rodgers reckoned changed the course of the game and was responsible for Celtic’s failure to take anything from the game. Adam Idah’s weak penalty The annoying thing about the red card is the it happened so soon after Adam Idah’s weak penalty effort was saved…

Ever felt cheated?… https://youtu.be/v9IXyzfRv90?si=W5z0spc7cMUWH0hv Brendan Rodgers took the highly unusual decision to criticise the match officials after his side’s controversial 2-0 defeat at Tynecastle. That’s a result that keeps theRangers top of the league and one that has delighted ALL of their supporters, including presumably the one making the calls that dramatically changed this match in the VAR van. 1 Week Apart… Scottish Referees Ladies and Gentlemen. pic.twitter.com/E7uGaaR1Cd — Liam (@Liam98__) March 3, 2024 John Beaton, again At his post match media conference the Celtic manager could barely hide his anger at the impact that John Beaton on VAR had…

Brendan Rodgers has made one change to the Celtic side that won 7-1 in midweek against Dundee. Callum McGregor misses out through injury and he is replaced by Paulo Bernardo in the Celtic team that will start against Hearts at Tynecastle. Joe Hart is in goals and the back four has Johnson, Carter-Vickers, Scales and Taylor. In the middle of the park Tomoki Iwata will sit allowing Matt O’Riley and Bernardo to push forward to support the front three of Yang, Idah and Daizen Maeda. Big day for Celtic. Three points and back to the top of the league looking…

With under 600 Celtic supporters attending today’s Scottish Premiership match at Tynecastle against Hearts, the vast majority of Celtic supporters – at home and abroad – will be glued to their television screens to watch Celtic’s most important match of the season so far. Greg Taylorcelebrates after he scores our fifth during the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Dundee at Celtic Park on February 28, 2024 in . (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images) With Callum McGregor likely to sit this one out, Paulo Bernardo is likely to come into the team that thrashed Dundee 7-1 in midweek. Joe Hart…

When Celtic’s travelling support booed the substitution of Tomoki Iwata last Sunday at Fir Park with Celtic chasing a winner, they did so because they felt that the Japanese midfielder had been having an outstanding game. Brendan Rodgers later admitted his own surprise at this reaction to taking off a defensive midfielder to introduce a forward as he looked for a vital winning goal with the scoreline tied at 1-1. It worked out well for Rodgers and Celtic. Adam Idah scoring his second goal of the afternoon to put Celtic ahead.  Then Luis Palma making sure of the points with…

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has admitted that this season has been one of the toughest of his managerial career and accordingly would be the most special of all if he can guide his team to the title ahead of the strong challenge being put up by theRangers, since the arrival of the new club’s current manager Philippe Clement in October. Yesterday Clement suffered his first Scottish Premiership defeat at Ibrox, losing 2-1 to Motherwell and his only other loss was at Celtic Park on 30 December 2023 when goals from Paulo Bernardo and Kyogo gave Celtic the points in a…

Motherwell win at Ibrox to give Celtic to go back to the top of the Scottish Premiership with a with against Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday… Motherwell impressed in the first half last weekend against Celtic at Fir park and deservedly took a 1-0 lead in at the break. The Scottish Champions turned things around superbly in the second half with two goals from Adam Idah and another from Luis Palma. That kept Celtic’s 2024 unbeaten run intact but it possibly should have been regarded by Philippe Clement and his league leaders ahead of the visit from Motherwell. The most…

Chris Sutton reacted to the news that Mark Lawwell has called time on his role at Celtic after resigning to pursue other opportunities. This of course is corporate speak for accepting a settlement to allow Celtic to move in a different direction. The rumour mill Rumours have been circulating for a few weeks that Lawwell Jnr was resigning and that has turned out to be correct. As soon as the rumour surfaced numerous folk pointed out that the problem went beyond Mark Lawwell and was further up the food chain at Celtic where the strategy was set and the wheels…

Brendan Rodgers yesterday praised stand-out performers Yang and Tomoki from there performances over the past few games, Matt O’Riley for his impact throughout the season and also provided welcome news on an imminent return for Reo Hatate. Yang – now for consistency  Yang Hyun-Jun of Celtic and Owen Beck of Dundee – Celtic v Dundee, Scottish Premiership, Football, Celtic Park,  28 February  Photo Mark Runnacles/Shutterstock On Yang the Celtic manager is pleased for the player but now insists that it is all about consistency now for the Korean winger, who was named Man of the Match on Wednesday night as…