Have your say as Celtic supporters outline their expectations for next season

The Celtic Star

·23 May 2022

Have your say as Celtic supporters outline their expectations for next season

Celtic Noise has been discussing the expectations for next season after Ange Postecoglou’s successful debut season as Celtic manager saw him deliver both the League Cup and more importantly the Scottish Premiership title. Ange has a track record of being stronger in his second year at a club and certainly that is his own expectations next time around at Celtic, with a personal target for the Australian to make an impact in Europe with Celtic.

Jota centre celebrates scoring his first goal of the game during the cinch Premiership match at the Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen. Photo Jane Barlow

OneFootball Videos

As always the summer transfer window is going to have an impact on the way Celtic progress and with the likes of Jota and Cameron Carter-Vickers likely to sign on that will be a very decent start. Ange’s transfer record so for at Celtic has been outstanding and with the necessary backing from Michael Nicholson looking likely we could be in for an interesting summer.

Inevitably there will be players moving on from Celtic, the likes of Barkas, Bolingoli, Ajeti and a few others who don’t look like featuring under Ange and Celtic will be looking to offload to make way for new arrivals.

And of course across the city a similar squad update will be happening, with for the first time really, the new club having a selection of players who might attract big money offers. It will be interesting to see if that money will be reinvested in their squad or used to plug the holes in their finances.

Kyogo, Ange Postecoglou and Callum McGregor celebrate with the League Cup. Photo Jeff Holmes

There will be no European qualifiers for Celtic this summer, Moravcik 67’s excellent summary on this is well worth a read…

READ THIS…Moravcik 67 explains how next season’s Champions League is shaping up for Celtic

Perhaps the days of stacking up Trebles are gone and realistic outcome that would be more than satisfactory would be to retain the title, progressing from the Champions League Group into the knock-out -rounds or even into the Europa League to begin a run there and perhaps win a domestic cup. Anyway here’s what the crew on Celtic Noise have been saying and you are more than welcome to add your own thoughts in the comments section below or sign up (it’s quick and easy) to Celtic Noise and we’ll approve your application straight away, allowing you to post there and join our great wee Celtic forum…

IMAGO / PA ImagesCeltic v Motherwell – cinch Premiership – Celtic Park Celtic’s Giorgos Giakoumakis celebrates scoring his sides fifth goal during the cinch Premiership match at Celtic Park, Glasgow. Picture date: Saturday May 14, 2022. Photo Jane Barlow

EXPECTATIONS FOR 2022/23 SEASON…

1. SPL Trophy. 2. Europe – try as hard as we can to go as far as we can.

Then the cups, I’ve said before football is about winning things and they’re there to be won. However, the game has moved on and in reality to Celtic other than the trophy do they get in the way of our progress?

I would play: 1st team only for Scottish Premiership & Europe – keep them fresh that’s a minimum of 44 games (38 League – 6 Champions League). Youngsters & Squad for the Scottish Cup and League cup, that’s a maximum of 9 games.

This would keep the 1st team fresh and with the eyes on the main games (the ones that will earn the club the $). Also it would introduce the youngster to “win” every game mentality.

Looking forward to next season, after one of the most enjoyable seasons I’ve witnessed.

CarlisleReiver – Well-known member on Celtic Noise.

(Photo by KARIM JAAFAR / AFP) (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR/AFP via Getty Images)

THE WORLD CUP CURVE BALL

Expectations from any Celtic team always remain the same before any new season, for myself anyway.

I expect to see a team willing to give everything for the club in any game they take part in, for which we had the privilege to witness the vast majority of the games last season and with the added bonus of playing some wonderful and exciting football in the process.

Yet I still believe that we still have room to improve upon that still, yet the demand to do so will be nowhere near as high as what it was at the end of the previous season. Our club thrives on success and what Ange is currently doing with the squad gives us a great platform to build upon and potentially bringing much more success to us all.

We have to bear in mind that next season is going to be like no other before, with having the nonsense of putting a World Cup in the middle of a season. Got no idea how much of an affect that may have upon the team, yet it’s going to be a huge headache for many a manager imo.

Yet if I had to priorise where our main focus should be, I would still put the domestic trophies before Europe, yet I still hope for a better showing in Europe than what we have had over the last number of years.

John nó – Well-known member on Celtic Noise

IMAGO / PA ImagesLiel Abada celebrates Photo: Andrew Milligan

Reply from CarlisleReiver… I just don’t get that the domestic cups are more important John. Even getting a win in the group stage earns more than what we get for both cups (probably a draw does too). The more money we can earn, makes our squad stronger, which in turn can help us win the domestic cup?

Winning a group stage game – €2.8m….

Drawing a group stage game – €930,000

BALANCE OF PROBABILITIES

Hope to win the league, probability high. Hope to get a good European run, Probability CL naw Europa League. Hope to get a domestic treble (again) Probability Decent chance. Hope the board back Ange with a real transfer fund. Probability . Remains to be seen. On the field of play I would like to see a tweek or 2 on the defensive side when required ie European football. 11 out of 12 here we go.

50 Shades of Green – Well-known member on Celtic Noise

Kevza – Well-known member on Celtic Noise – Still rebuilding. Title the priority as usual. Be good to get past the group stages in either Euro competition. Cups a bonus.

Lubos left peg – Well-known member on Celtic Noise – Considering we only did the league and Cup double in Ange’s 1st season…phase 1. I think we will have to settle for a domestic treble and a Europa league trophy in phase 2. Unfortunately this means we will finish 3rd in our group with Real Madrid, AC Milan and Spurs which will be a bit of a disappointment!! Not expecting a champions league trophy till phase 3 to be honest…

bhoy4life – Well-known member on Celtic Noise – As much home silverware as possible, with the title obviously the most important. Europe isn’t that important to me at all, yes I would like to see us play well and get as deep as we can but as far as the Champions League is concerned, its virtually a closed shop that we fight for scraps from the table from. The Europa League and the other diddy one, in the grand scheme of things, are just distractions. Home silverware for me all day long.

THE NUMBER 1 PRIORITY…

The number 1 priority for me will always be the Scottish League. I’d hope for one of the cups too. Trebles are very difficult to win (only done ten times in the first 70 years, then we went and won 4 trebles in a row) so we should never take them for granted.

This season in Europe I really want us to do ourselves proud – it is a while since we have done this. I’m hoping Ange is a bit more pragmatic in his formations and tactics and less gung-ho as we will get carved open against the top strikers. Realistically I think our best chance of progressing is to finish in third place and drop into the Europa League. The medium-term goal will be to look to progress out of the CL Group Stages.

I’m hoping for another 3 or 4 high quality players to come into the squad each capable of stepping up into the first team starter roster after a very short settling in period. Of course a fair bit of dead wood will need to move on if we can find buyers for them.

Hopefully our current players will be stronger next season after a proper break, some decent time on the training ground learning rather than straight into Euro qualifiers after 10 days off at most. Our Far East contingent will have earned their break and so be even better this year. Hatate showed early on his amazing skills but was clearly shattered later on (maybe he needs the assistance of a Dutch Dr Feelgood to somehow help him make some unbelievable super-human recoveries?) I think Gucci will be a star next season, but I’d still look to get in another DM.

GG will have a proper pre-season and so get going much earlier and hopefully be top scorer. If we can’t shift Ajeti and he manages to get his fitness up, will Ange help him rediscover his magnificent goal-scoring form he displayed in Switzerland? Possibly, but I doubt we will get to find out as he will probably move away.

I am very optimistic for next season and hope the games are as enjoyable as most were this season. It was breath-taking at times and just brilliant to watch.

Bridie Bhoy – Well-known member on Celtic Noise

So let’s be hearing from you today, either on The Celtic Star via the comments section below or over on our Celtic Noise forum.