2013–14 Celtic F.C. season

The 2013–14 season was the 120th season of competitive football by Celtic. Celtic had a new shirt sponsor for the season with Irish Cider brand Magners taking over from Tennent's Lager for the next three years.^[1]

ChairmanIan Bankier

ManagerNeil Lennon

GroundCeltic Park
Glasgow, Scotland
(Capacity: 60,355)

Scottish Premiership1st

Quick facts season, Chairman ...

Celtic

2013–14 season
Chairman	Ian Bankier
Manager	Neil Lennon
Ground	Celtic Park Glasgow, Scotland (Capacity: 60,355)
Scottish Premiership	1st
Scottish League Cup	Third round
Champions League	Group stage
Scottish Cup	Fifth round
Top goalscorer	League: Kris Commons (27 goals) All: Kris Commons (32 goals)
Home colours Away colours
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Celtic began the season with further Champions League success in their sights. They were faced with the burden of replacing three main pieces of their squad in; Gary Hooper and Kelvin Wilson were sold to Norwich City and Nottingham Forest respectively, whilst the highly rated Victor Wanyama was sold to Southampton for a Scottish record fee of £12.5 million.^[2] Neil Lennon rebuilt his squad by signing Virgil van Dijk and Amido Balde in the summer, and Teemu Pukki from Schalke 04 on transfer deadline day.^[3] Celtic were drawn with Cliftonville in their first qualifying round and easily disposed of the Northern Irish champions 5–0 on aggregate.^[4] They were next drawn with IF Elfsborg and squeezed by with a 1–0 aggregate win, with Kris Commons scoring the only goal in the first leg at Celtic Park.^[5] Although favoured to qualify for the group stages with minimal challenge after being drawn with Kazakh champions Shakhter Karagandy, Celtic found themselves losing the first leg in Karagandy 2–0.^[6] Celtic returned to Scotland to an electric atmosphere at Celtic Park in the home leg, in proved to be the high point of their 2013-14 Champions League campaign. They overcame the 2–0 deficit to level the aggregate thanks to goals by Kris Commons and Georgios Samaras. James Forrest completed the comeback for Celtic with a 90th-minute strike, sending Celtic Park into a frenzy.^[7]

Thereafter, Celtic found themselves drawn with AC Milan, Ajax and Barcelona (again) in the group stages.^[8] The campaign was dismal; winning only once with a 2–1 home win over Ajax,^[9] and slumping to a 6–1 rout away against Barcelona in the final group match.^[10] That game saw Celtic concede the most goals they had ever done in a single European tie, and equalled their previous heaviest defeat in Europe (5–0 against FC Artmedia Bratislava).^[10]

Celtic's 2014 domestic campaign was filled with ups and downs. Towards the end of February, Celtic had not lost a single game in the league,^[11] and drew just twice against Dundee United and Hibernian. Their league success did not translate to cup competition however; they bowed out of both the Scottish League Cup (0–1 to Morton),^[12] and the Scottish Cup(1–2 to Aberdeen),^[13] both at Celtic Park. Celtic also struggled to find a suitable strike partner for Anthony Stokes, forcing Kris Commons into a striking role. Neil Lennon signed former Hibs striker Leigh Griffiths on transfer deadline day in January 2014,^[14] as well as Stefan Johansen earlier in the month.^[15] After being unable to reach an agreement on a new contract, Joe Ledley left Celtic for Crystal Palace.^[16]

On 2 February 2014 goalkeeper Fraser Forster set a new a club-record of 11 league clean sheets in a row,^[17] surpassing a record of 10 clean sheets set by Charlie Shaw in the 1921–22 season.^[18] On 22 February, he broke Bobby Clark's Scottish League record of 1155 minutes without conceding a goal in a league match. Celtic won 2–0 away at Hearts, and Forster racked up his 13th consecutive clean sheet in the league.^[19][20] Forster's clean sheet run finally ended on 1,256 minutes against Aberdeen on 25 February 2014, as Aberdeen defeated Celtic 2–1 to end their unbeaten run in the league.^[21]

Celtic finished the season as league champions again, their third consecutive Scottish League title,^[22] scoring 102 goals in the process.^[23] Celtic clinched the title after a 5–1 away win against Partick Thistle on 26 March 2014.^[24][25] It is the earliest that the title has been won since the 1928–29 season, when Old Firm Rivals Rangers won it on 16 March.^[26][27]

Kris Commons was the top scorer in Scotland, netting 32 goals, and won both the PFA Scotland and Scottish Football Writers' Player of the Year awards.^[28][29]