IF the festive season is about appreciating what you have and giving back, then the Celtic players have felt that burden as much as anyone over this period of goodwill. Had it not been for their victory over Livingston at the weekend, mind you, good will towards them would have been in short supply.
The negativity that had been creeping in around Celtic Park of late may not have quite been blown away by Saturday’s 2-0 victory, but it was a decent start in making up for the defeats to Kilmarnock and Hearts that preceded it on domestic duty for Brendan Rodgers’ men.
The three points were, of course, the most important thing. But there were other reasons to be cheerful for Celtic fans. For one, all of them were allowed in, with the Green Brigade reassuming their place in the North Curve and bringing with them a much-improved atmosphere.
There was also a goal for Kyogo Furuhashi, his first in eight matches. And Daizen Maeda was back in the line-up, a little rusty, but full of his trademark energy.
All in all, it was a timely boost for the champions, and they will now look to build that momentum today at Dundee ahead of what is the real big day for Celtic in the festive calendar, the clash against Rangers on Saturday.
They have made some sacrifices themselves in order to do so, as Greg Taylor gave an insight into what Christmas involves for their players.
“A hotel!” Taylor laughed.
“You train a bit later on Christmas Day so you can get the morning with your families and enjoy that with them, because they have a lot of sacrifice throughout the season. You’re away in a lot of hotels, and can be away at three games a week.
“So, as much as we are in such a privileged position as footballers, and I would never take it for granted because it’s an amazing honour to play at this club and play professional football as your living, but it is one of the days you try to give back to them because there is a lot of sacrifice for them.
“I celebrated on Christmas Eve because we were off. We had the family up and enjoyed it with them.
“They did the eating and drinking instead of me, and then we trained on Christmas Day to be ready and to prep for Dundee.
"It's been a hard week. We got a bit of criticism and rightly so, the last league performances weren't good enough. We knew we had to perform [on Saturday] and for the most part we did that.
“You know at Celtic that one defeat is a disaster, never mind two. It really wasn't good enough, albeit the Champions League in the middle was a stronger performance.
"The two league games weren't up to our level and it was about trying to find that quickly [against Livingston].
“There was a lot of forward running, good power, getting into the right areas.
"It was a hard week, but in these moments, you have to stay calm and believe in what you are doing.”
There were moments against Livingston when they had to do that too, particularly as they went in at the interval without breaching a stubborn Livingston rearguard.
A smattering of boos greeted the half-time whistle, but Taylor was grateful for the majority of fans who stuck with their team, and for the improved atmosphere with the readmittance of the Green Brigade.
"The fans were good,” he said.
“It was good having a full packed-out stadium. That helped us.
“Of course, they were a bit frustrated when we didn't get the goal in the first half, but that's natural.
“It's our job to stay calm. We want to win the game in the first half but that can't always happen.
“It’s been a lot of games [in December] and we want to finish it with strong performances and positive results.
“That starts on Boxing Day against Dundee now.”
Taylor hopes a win at Dens Park will also allow that upturn in mood to continue into the game against Rangers. And with important players like Reo Hatate and Liel Abada slowly coming back from injury, beyond that too.
“I think notoriously we have been pretty strong after the break and had a real consistent run of results,” he said.
“Having the boys back – and I’m sure there will be additions in to drive the competition up and give the boys that are out there a helping hand – we’re looking forward to the boys coming back and the opportunity that brings.
“These are players that we’ve missed, definitely. Reo gives us a real dynamism in the midfield, he’s got that ability to go past a player in midfield.
“Liel speaks for himself. He’s got so many goals at the back stick, he’s always there making good forward runs.
“So, yeah, that will strengthen the squad and give us a few more options.”
