Toe-curling Celtic fan chant lucky not to cop a UEFA fine for sheer embarrassment but away record is no laughing matter
The Celtic supporters’ songbook is a pretty eclectic collection, with some catchy numbers and others that can cause some folk to get their knickers in a twist.
But there’s a ditty that does the rounds that is a real toe-curler. It only gets rolled out when Hoops punters dig out their passports. The ‘This is the day that we win away’ chant to the tune of the old church hymn. Honestly, forget about pyro and political banners, Celtic are lucky not to cop a UEFA fine for this one on sheer embarrassment levels.
The fact it was doing the rounds in Dortmund could be grounds for instant ejection from the Champions League given what came next. It’s meant to be a tongue in cheek tune that sends up Celtic’s brutal away record in this competition. But it really shouldn’t be a laughing matter. And it’s something that really needs to be put to bed in Zagreb this week.
The Champions League is tough. We get that. Yet two away wins in nearly 25 years is not good enough.
Brendan Rodgers steered the side to one of those victories – against Anderlecht in his first spell at the club – and he’ll see this as a big chance to get another. The Hoops boss has restored a level of credibility in Europe since returning to the club is summer 2023.
Even last season wasn’t the failure some made out. Celtic’s performances at home in the win against Feyenoord, the draw with Atletico Madrid and even the late defeat to Lazio were decent range finders.
Take away the Dortmund horror show and it has been pretty impressive this year. The rare clean sheet and point against Atalanta in Italy was superb, as was the Slovan Bratislava demolition job and that RB Leipzig thriller.
Even the home draw with Club Brugge was admirable as that was an encounter that could have slipped away in years gone by. Instead, the Hoops dug it out and they are now in prime position to bank a place in the play-off stage with a couple of games to spare.
The visit of struggling Young Boys after Christmas is a solid insurance policy with another win needed. No one at Celtic should want to go to Aston Villa needing to get a result in the final game.
The sooner Celtic hit the 10 points mark the better – and reaching it in Croatia would be another significant signpost of progress. Dinamo Zagreb look ripe for the plucking. They are without a win in five games, have injuries to key players and a manager who is seemingly on the verge of the dunt. But we’ve heard all this stuff before.
How many times has the chat going into a European game about rivals being in crisis and then it still all goes to pot? Far too many times, that’s for sure.
This will be far from a shoo-in for Celtic but it’s a huge opportunity to bury an unwanted record and put that brutal chant to bed once and for all.
