THE VITALS:

Team: Celtic

Brand: New Balance

Era: 2016-17 (Used for the 2016-17 Scottish Premiership Season, the 2017 Scottish League Cup Final, and the 2017 Scottish Cup Final)

Name/Number: -

CONDITION: VERY GOOD

After half a decade, this shirt continues to remain in very good condition albeit however, with some wear to the Dafabet sponsorship on the front and sadly also, the Magners sponsor on the back of the shirt has worn away.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Extra Large (XL)

Pit to Pit Measurement: 22 inches

Shirt Length: 32.5 inches

Made by New Balance in their range of shirts which they introduced in 2016; these dimensions seem roomy even for an extra-large shirt, which leads me to think that this may be more suitable for an XXL, however, please take into consideration the dimension accordingly.

DESCRIPTION:

In New Balance’s second season as Celtic’s kit manufacturer, they would introduce gold as the tertiary colour of the home shirt – a very fitting application given the dearth of success ‘The Bhoys’ enjoyed that season! They also returned a foldable collar to the home shirt for the first time since the 2010-12 shirt made by Nike, while the green and white hoops were now inverted from the previous season’s effort. This shirt would also be the first to feature the Dafabet sponsorship which replaced Magners as the main shirt sponsor. This would be the home shirt worn as Celtic won their first domestic treble since the 2000-01 season and become the first ever side to go through the Scottish Premiership season unbeaten in Brendan Rodger’s legendary first season at the helm! This would be the only home shirt to be worn by Kolo Toure while it was also the last home shirt to worn by Emilio Izaguirre.

THE SEASON:

After back to back Scottish Premiership wins in his two seasons in charge; Ronny Deila would step down as Celtic manager and in his place would come Brendan Rodgers who was available after he was let go by Liverpool in October 2015. Kolo Toure would join him from Liverpool in the close season, and there were also arrivals of: Moussa Dembele, Scott Sinclair, Dorus de Vries, Cristian Gamboa and Kristoffer Ajer.

The Rodgers-era began with a 2-1 win away against Hearts on 7^th August and he would guide Celtic to four straight league wins including fantastic 4-1 and 5-1 wins over Aberdeen and Rangers respectively. A 2-2 draw with Inverness would lay the foundations for an incredible 22 match winning streak; falling just 3 wins short of the record they set in the 2003-04 season! With the final win of that streak – a 4-0 win away against Inverness on 1^st March 2017 would leave Celtic 27 points clear of 2^nd place Aberdeen with 11 games left to spare. The inevitable Scottish Premiership title win was made academic on 2^nd April when they defeated Hearts 5-0 and in doing so, they won the title with 8 games to spare tying Rangers record that they set back in the 1928-29 season! Speaking of Rangers, Celtic’s 5-1 win over their fierce rivals at Ibrox on 29^th April set the record for the club’s biggest victory away in the Old-Firm Derby! In the end, Celtic would win 34 games and draw 4 times en route to becoming the first team to go unbeaten in the Scottish Premiership!

Celtic would reclaim the Scottish League Cup after relinquishing the title in 2015-16; taking the scalps of Motherwell, Alloa Athletic, Rangers and then Aberdeen in the final on 27^th November! The Scottish Cup had alluded ‘The Bhoys’ ever since the 2012-13 season, and after back to back semi-final disappointments; Celtic would win their 37^th Scottish Cup title when they defeated Aberdeen in the 27^th May finale!

After navigating past Astana and then Hapoel Be’er Sheva to reach the Group Stage of the UEFA Champions League; they would take their place in an unforgivable Group C alongside FC Barcelona, Manchester City and Borussia Monchengladbach. Although they would finish bottom of the group, they would accrue three very creditable draws against Monchengladbach and home and away versus City, including an incredible 3-3 at Celtic Park on 28^th September!

The notable players that season(s) were:

Leigh Griffiths, Moussa Dembele, Eboue Kouassi, Liam Henderson, Scott Sinclair, James Forrest, Callum McGregor, Patrick Roberts, Tom Rogic, Ryan Christie, Stuart Armstrong, Scott Brown, Nir Bitton, Kieran Tierney, Erik Sviatchenko, Mikael Lustig, Derdyck Boyata, Cristian Gamboa, Jozu Simunovic, Emilio Izaguirre, Kolo Toure, Dorus de Vries, Craig Gordon