Celtic on this Day and a Happy Birthday to Brendan Rodgers | OneFootball

Celtic on this Day…Another busy day for Celtic with Conor Spence adding to the work done previously by the late David Potter. It’s also the Celtic manager’s birthday so Happy Birthday to Brendan Rodgers from everyone at The Celtic Star…

Brendan Rodgers with the Premier Sports Cup after Celtic’s victory over theRangers on 15 December 2024 at Hampden Park. Photo Kenny Ramsay

26 January 2014

Virgil van Dijk in action for Celtic against Hibs at Easter Road on 26 January 2014. Photo Geo -Big Lens

Hibs 0-4 Celtic. Neil Lennon’s relentless Celts march on in their pursuit of a third consecutive league title with a 4-0 victory at Easter Road. Three late goals sent the Hoops 15 points clear of Aberdeen at the top of the Scottish Premiership. 22 games unbeaten and a ninth consecutive clean sheet in the league for the first time since the 1920s. Virgil Van Dijk’s free-kick was the pick of the bunch with the Dutchman curling one into the top corner from 22 yards.

26 January 2011

Paddy McCourt celebrates during Celtics 4-0 win over Hearts at Celtic Park on 26 January 2011. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Celtic 4-0 Hearts. The Hoops well and truly put the Jambos in their place with an unforgiving performance. Hearts arrived at Celtic Park knowing a victory would reduce the gap between themselves and Celtic to 4 points. However, goals from James Forrest, Paddy McCourt and a double courtesy of Anthony Stokes displayed Celtic’s title credentials.

26 January 1997

Clydebank 0-5 Celtic. This Scottish Cup third round tie was played at Firhill. Bankies were playing their home games at Dumbarton’s Boghead having sold their ground to developers to stave off increasing debts. Boghead did not meet SFA requirements for Category A games hence the switch of venue. Cadete x2, MacKay, Van Hooijdonk and Di Canio were all on the scoresheet as Tommy Burns’ side swept aside the part-timers.

26 January 2002

Kilmarnock 0-2 Celtic. Surviving a blackout, a downpour and an impressive dynamic Killie side, Celtic managed to make their way through to the next round of the Scottish Cup with a hard-fought win in tough conditions. The match only just went ahead after three pitch inspections by referee Hugh Dallas following a combination of heavy rain and a power-cut which delayed kick-off for around 45 minutes. Gary Hay diverted the ball into his own net six minutes after the restart – and 10 minutes later Henrik Larsson settled the contest mainly through terrific vision from Alan Thompson.

26 January 2019

Scott Sinclair scores for Celtic against Hamilton on 26 January 2019. Photo AJ (The Celtic Star)

Celtic 3-0 Hamilton. Two goalkeeping howlers from Ryan Fulton in the Hamilton net gifted Celtic a comfortable margin of victory. Green Brigade unveiled a banner saying, “10 on a row is not a project, Back Rodgers or lose him,” after the manager voiced his displeasure around January recruitments. Rodgers would leave Celtic for Leicester City a month later. 8 goals in 7 matches for Scott Sinclair and 13 for the season had a lot of fans asking whether he was reigniting his form of the previous two seasons? Post-match, goalscorer Callum McGregor said, “it was frustrating at times for us, credit to Hamilton, they sat in and maintained a decent shape. We are delighted to get another three points.”

Conor Spence

The late, great Celtic Historian David Potter’s Celtic Diary each morning on The Celtic Star looked back at key Celtic events and matches on this day starting on 26th January 1918…

Hugh Brown scored

SATURDAY 26 JANUARY 1918 – A thrilling 3-3 draw at Celtic Park against Airdrie entertains the 10,000 spectators but means that Rangers who won today are now level on points with Celtic at the top of the League. Celtic’s goals were scored by Patsy Gallacher, Adam McLean and Hugh Brown. The weather is pleasant enough for the end of January, but the arrival of spring in 1918 is dreaded for it will mean another “push” in France, and this time the Germans will be reinforced by their victorious army from the East. The British now have the as yet unproven Americans. Loads of money, loads of “mouth”, but is there any mettle?

Billy McPhail scored

SATURDAY 26 JANUARY 1957 – Celtic’s inconsistency is truly astonishing. After some absolutely appalling performances, today they turn it on, and to the delight of the 17,000 crowd, beat Falkirk 4-0 at Parkhead with goals from Neil Mochan, Billy McPhail, John Higgins and an own goal.

WEDNESDAY 26 JANUARY 1966 – In a game switched from Kiev to Tblisi in Georgia for climate reasons, Celtic earn the 1-1 draw which is enough to win the tie 4-1 on aggregate over Dinamo Kiev. Dinamo score first through Sabo but then Tommy Gemmell equalises after some fine work by John Hughes. A black mark is the ordering off of Jim Craig after a clash with Dinamo’s Khmelnitsky, but Celtic are now in the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners’ Cup.

SATURDAY 26 JANUARY 1980 – 18,000 are at Celtic Park to see an undistinguished Scottish Cup performance against First Division Raith Rovers. The final score is 2-1 but with a bit of luck, the Fifers might have earned a replay. Bobby Lennox and Johnny Doyle score the goals for Celtic, but the crowd are not slow to show their displeasure at the poor fare on offer.

SATURDAY 26 JANUARY 1991 – With the First Gulf War raging in the middle east, Celtic travel to Forfar to play the local side in the Scottish Cup for the second year running. They struggled last year, but this year they have fewer problems in a routine 2-0 victory with goals from Tommy Coyne and Dariusz Wdowczyk.

David Potter

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