Celtic

Watch all the highlights from Celtic's narrow 2-1 victory at St Mirren, including two disallowed goals for the visitors. Available to UK users only.

Celtic fans, we asked for your views after Sunday's narrow win in Paisley made it five wins in five in the Scottish Premiership.

Here's what some of you had to say:

Keith: Celtic churning out another three points. A sixth league title seems inevitable.

Joe: Celtic will not progress in Europe with this team. Mika Baur, Haissem Hassan, Liam Scales etc. are not up to European standards - they're second or third rate players.

Alec: Another struggle to break down a well-organised team but glad to see us playing quicker and on the front foot. Standard definitely dropped when subs were made. Callum McGregor and Benjamin Nygren look lost when they haven't got someone protecting them and Oliver Sorensen look woefully of the pace and out of his depth just now.

Ian: Great result against a very good St Mirren team. Higher tempo second half was the difference, with Yang Hyun-Jun leading the line. He'll be a big miss next weekend.

Brian: Very gritty performance by Celtic against a very aggressive opponent, great to see new players settling into system so quickly.

John: Why is Scales still at Celtic Park? He is a liability, passable going forward, but no good at all under pressure. Anthony Ralston another one not nearly good enough for Celtic.

Celtic new boy Oliver Sorensen has a similar "energy and hunger" to Kieran Tierney, according to the club's former defender Erik Sviatchenko, who played with Sorensen at Midtjylland. (Daily Record), external

Read the rest of Sunday's Scottish gossip.

Champions Celtic made it five Scottish Premiership wins out of five and consigned St Mirren to a season's first league defeat after coming from behind in Paisley.

MATCH REPORT

HAVE YOUR SAY

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Celtic manager Martin O'Neill: "I'm delighted that we've won the game. St Mirren played really splendidly as we thought they would do and caused us loads and loads of problems.

"We did create a number of chances. I thought that perhaps we didn't have the fluency that we've had in other games. On the break, we were very, very dangerous.

"Overall, there were some sparkling moments from us and some moments where we had a total contrast. We took the game in the end. I think for the chances we created probably deserved it but we can improve."

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Celtic striker Camilo Duran is dreaming of a Colombia call-up after a blistering start to life in Glasgow.

The 24-year-old, who has featured for Colombia at youth level, has already scored six goals in seven games for Celtic and set up a further two.

And now he's got an eye on a place in the senior international squad, which the forward feels he is getting closer to achieving.

"As everyone knows I came here and my dream is to win a lot of titles," he said. "And also to go to the Colombian national team, which is my dream.

"I know that if I continue to work this way, I'll be there soon."

Duran has quickly become a fans' favourite at Parkhead, with supporters at the weekend repurposing a song used for former Celt Scott Sinclair with the new attacker's name.

And the Colombian is feeling the love from the stands.

"I didn't even know they had a song for me but when I heard it I'm happy because I've felt their love from the start and their backing from the stands is very special," he added.

"Every time I go out on the pitch, I try to repay that."

Duran joined Celtic from Qarabag in the summer and while a spot in the national team and winning silverware is his dream, he's constantly thinking about his family.

"My dad, my brother, my sister who's in Colombia, they follow all the games," he said.

"I even talk to them before the game and they wish me good luck, and for me it's an honour to be here, and every time I go out on the pitch I think about them, and I'm happy that they've always supported me."

Celtic were prepared to pay around £9m for Gvidas Gineitis, but Torino value the 22-year-old midfielder at closer to £13m and head coach Ignacio Abate is delighted to retain the Lithuania international. (Glasgow Times, external)

Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton finds it confusing why Celtic signed Landon Emenalo, an 18-year-old left-back who has yet to play for Chelsea, on loan as cover for Kieran Tierney instead of Dundee United's Will Ferry, Motherwell's Emmanuel Longelo, or PAOK's Greg Taylor. (The National, external)

Former Celtic manager Gordon Strachan has suggested the Scottish champions' recruitment "has been phenomenal" despite criticism of the board's transfer business. (Daily Record, external)

Read Saturday's Scottish Gossip in full.

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St Mirren midfielder Killian Phillips remains out with a shin injury but will return to training on the grass on Monday, while Liam Donnelly (abductor) and Malik Dijksteel (hamstring) are also out.

Celtic could include new signings Joel van den Berg and Jordan Lotomba, but Landon Emenalo is not ready.

Kasper Hogh and Kieran Tierney remain out with thigh strains, while Callum Osmand (ankle) is also absent and Jota is still working his way back from a long-term knee injury.

Charlotte Cohen & Andy Campbell
BBC Scotland

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Celtic manager Martin O'Neill maintains young players will come through at clubs if they "are good enough".

An ongoing symposium in Scottish football looking at youth development has led to a summit of clubs and associations in St Andrews in Friday.

The Scottish FA are to offer clubs financial incentives to play youngsters while data analysts and Club Brugge recruitment director Guilian Preud'homme presented to those assembled.

O'Neill first managed Celtic from 2000-05 and has also managed extensively in England and with the Republic of Ireland.

"One of the things that I believe they might be discussing at St Andrews today, I think, is maybe bringing young players into the squads, like they did when I was here 25 years ago," O'Neill said. "We had to have a couple of players, at least on the bench, to play.

"Now, it's got some merit and it's also got a lot of drawbacks as well, because eventually you need these players to be good enough.

"There's no point if they get a false feeling that they have made the grade when they're brought into the squad and they're maybe miles away from it, but you've had to do it because of a reason. And secondly, and you know the old selfish reason, as a football manager, you have to try and win some games. So, it is a difficult one.

"I've always had this feeling that if you're good enough, you will come through. Of course, you need people to believe in you very, very early on. You need coaches to believe in you, you need a manager to believe in you and you need belief in yourself.

"But if you are good enough, you will come through."

And O'Neill added: "My concern is that the players are naturally being taken away so early here, out of Scotland, because the rewards, or seemingly the rewards, or the immediate rewards are a lot of finance to the player and the family, are things that you probably can't turn down.

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Celtic manager Martin O'Neill feels the decision to ban away supporters from matches between Celtic and Rangers this season was "inevitable".

The SPFL announced the decision after Celtic challenged the decision by their Glasgow rivals to give them just 300 tickets for the League Cup clash at Ibrox on 13 September.

For last season's Scottish Cup quarter-final, also at Ibrox, Celtic were given the traditional allocation of 8000 tickets but following crowd trouble at that game, a reduced figure of 2500 was agreed.

But in light of Celtic's decision to challenge the 300 ticket allocation, the league have decided to ban all away fans from the ground.

"I think that was inevitable, really, when Rangers were offering 300 tickets, and we refused that," O'Neill said of the decision.

"Really sad, I must admit, just from a normal punter's viewpoint. It's a great, great fixture when the ground is absolutely full. And I think the away fans make this.

"I can think back of the years gone past, at the beginning of the century, when I was involved, and they were magnificent fixtures, absolutely fantastic. It is quite sad.

"Hopefully the two clubs will maybe get together at some stage or another and try to iron out the particular problems.

"It's not to say that we haven't had a few problems in the past, but they seem to have escalated over the last number of seasons, which is a problem."

Charlotte Cohen
BBC Sport Scotland

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Celtic manager Martin O'Neill has been speaking to the media as his side prepare for Saturday's trip to Paisley to face St Mirren.

Here are the main points:

• On the announcement that there will be no away fans at games between Celtic and Rangers this season, O'Neill thinks it was "inevitable" but admits it's "really sad from a normal punter's viewpoint".

• O'Neill stresses the derby matches are "a great fixture" which "loses a great deal with the big allocation of away fans not being in the stadium".

• Looking at Celtic's transfer window as a whole, O'Neill says "we've got some players in, so I'm really really pleased".

• The 74-year-old adds that "if we can avoid serious injury to the players here" then he is "happy" with the number of signings in the building.

• While O'Neill admits "ideally it would be great to have got players in early" he just wants to "get on with it now".

• Five of the six players brought in on the penultimate day of the window were loan deals and while O'Neill notes "loans are sometimes a bit of a concern" he says "it depends on the player".

• Celtic had to leave three of the new signings - Landon Emenalo, Shim Mheuka and Joel van den Berg - out of the league phase Europa League squad and while O'Neill says "in an ideal world I would have had them all on board", he insists "our bread and butter is the league".

• Missing out on Gvidas Ginetis from Torino was "not a problem" for O'Neill who is "really pleased with what we have now at this minute".

• Kieran Tierney and Kasper Hogh, who missed the game against Aberdeen, are both "on the mend" and could be ready for the game against St Johnstone next Wednesday 9 September.

• On St Mirren, the Northern Irishman says Craig McLeish's side have been "an absolute delight" this season.

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• Camilo Durán has scored six goals in seven appearances for Celtic in all competitions, including three in his last two Scottish Premiership matches. The Colombian is averaging 97 minutes-per-goal for Celtic in all competitions.

• Benjamin Nygren has five goal involvements in Celtic's four Scottish Premiership games this season, scoring three and assisting two. However, the Swede has scored or assisted against 10 of the 11 sides he has faced in the competition, failing to do so only against St. Mirren (three games).

• Under Martin O'Neill, Celtic have won all seven of their games against St. Mirren in all competitions by an aggregate score of 16-2. In the club's history, the only managers to face a specific opponent more while winning 100% of meetings are Jock Stein (11/11 v Raith Rovers), Brendan Rodgers (9/9 v Hamilton Academical), and Ange Postecoglou (8/8 v Ross County).

• Celtic have won each of their last 11 league games, including all four so far this season. Indeed, since the start of last season, the Hoops have won 23 of their 27 league matches under Martin O'Neill (D2 L2), averaging 2.63 points-per-game with the Northern Irishman in this time.

• St. Mirren have won four of their last six league matches (D2), more than their previous 20 before this (W3 D4 L13).

• When a side starting the day second in the table has played at home to the side starting the day top in the Scottish Premiership, the team in second has won on three of the last five occasions (D1 L1), more than the previous nine beforehand (W2 D3 L4).

• Celtic have won each of their last five league visits to St. Mirren by an aggregate score of 17-3.

• St. Mirren have lost 12 of their last 14 league games against Celtic (D2) since a 2-0 victory in September 2022.

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Celtic plan to rekindle their interest in Torino and Lithuania midfielder Gvidas Gineitis, 22, in January. (Record - subscription required, external)

New Celtic midfielder Oliver Sorenson, 24, wants to turn his loan move from Parma into a permanent arrangement. (Glasgow Times - subscription required, external)

Sorenson wants to apply the lessons he's learned from Scotland international and former Serie A opponent Scott McTominay, 29, of Napoli. (Record - subscription required, external)

Friday's Scottish gossip

Celtic fans, we asked for your views after Wednesday night's 3-0 victory against Aberdeen made it four wins from four in the Scottish Premiership.

Here's what some of you had to say:

Patrick: Very comfortable win. Great to see three different players score. Camilo Duran is looking like a real signing, long may this streak continue.

Paul: What a wonderful goal and another five star performance from Duran, his contribution thus far in a Celtic jersey has been somewhat meteoric and his stock has risen considerably. With these new acquisitions being added to bolster the squad recently, Benjamin Nygren scoring habitually again, Yang Hyun-jun looking rejuvenated and showing improved form, it certainly augurs well for the rest of the season.

Peter: Good performance. Three points. Unbeaten start to league. With all the new arrivals competition for places is going to be fierce. That is good news. Strongest squad we have had for a long time. Dominance in Scotland for sure, let's hope we can up our standard in Europe. The management team have been given the tools. Let's see what they can do. Could me a memorable season I feel, even at this stage.

Ben: Shumaira Mheuka and Callum Osmand are both too good to be on the bench every week. A left-back is still required to back up Kieran Tierney. Liam Scales is a liability which will be heavily exploited in Europe.

George: I hope the fans give all the new boys a chance to settle in. It's time to get behind the club.

T: Haissem Hassan looks to be getting up to speed and I think he's going to be a good signing getting lots of crosses in to box, which was missing.

Watch all the highlights as Celtic scored three first half goals to beat Aberdeen and continue their winning start to the Scottish Premiership. Available to UK users only.

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Celtic could continue their late transfer spree after Uefa's registration deadline passed.

Five players were signed on Wednesday, with Joel van den Berg joining loan arrivals Jordan Lotomba, Sam Johnstone, Shumaira Mheuka and Landon Emenalo.

Oliver Sorensen agreed a move on Tuesday and made his debut off the bench, along with Mheuka, in a comfortable 3-0 home win against Aberdeen.

The Scottish transfer window closes at 17:00 BST on Thursday and any more additions would not be eligible for Europa League fixtures.

Speaking after the victory over the Dons, manager Martin O'Neill said of the flurry of signings: "I'm very pleased that they're in the door. I think that they'll definitely add something to us.

"The transfer window is there and I'm pleased that we have done what we have because there's quite a few who have left the football club.

"Even if they miss the European deadline, if there is a possibility of getting someone else in, I would definitely want to do that if we can."