Ready for take-off
Strong showing: Trusty holds off £55m man Elanga Celtic look set to soar out of the blocks in title defence after brushing star-studded Newcastle aside with ease 21 Jul 2025 - Scottish Daily Mail JOHN McGARRY Chief Sports Feature Writer at Celtic Park CELTIC are now crunching through the gears so quickly that their defence of the Premiership title looks destined to start at a fiendish pace. Coming off the back of an impressive victory over Sporting Lisbon in the Algarve , Saturday’s dismantling of an expensively assembled Newcastle side was every bit as comprehensive as the scoreline suggested. Notwithstanding the fact that Eddie Howe’s men are two weeks behind Celtic in preparation for the new campaign, you could only admire the way in which Brendan Rodgers’ side bettered them in pretty much every department. While results in pre-season are notoriously poor indicators of what lies ahead, performances do count for something. And with so many familiar faces hitting the straps a fortnigh...