Celtic's Opening-Day Dominance Continues Against Dundee
On opening weekend in Scotland, some things feel negotiable. The weather. The sharpness. The new faces bedding in.
Celtic’s relationship with matchday one does not.
Under Martin O’Neill, the champions’ intent has been almost ritualistic. He has taken charge of five league openers as Celtic manager and won four of them. The only blemish is a goalless draw with Dunfermline back in 2003-04, a reminder that perfection is rare – but dominance is not.
This latest curtain-raiser comes with a touch of novelty. It is only the second time in Celtic’s history that they have started a league campaign on a Monday. The last time they did it, in 1921-22, they swept Raith Rovers aside 4-0. More than a century on, the expectation of a statement start has barely shifted.
Reigning Scottish champions have turned opening day into a procession over the past 14 seasons, winning every single time by an aggregate score of 43-7. The last time the title holders failed to win their first game was Rangers’ 1-1 draw with Hearts in 2011-12.
Celtic’s own record as defending champions is even more ruthless. They have won their league opener in each of the last 14 seasons in which they began as champions, stretching back to a 0-0 stalemate with Kilmarnock in 2007-08. When they carry the crown into a new campaign, they tend to plant it firmly on the table from day one.
The pattern at Celtic Park is just as unforgiving. On matchday one at home, they have taken 23 wins from their last 24 league seasons. The only interruption? That same 0-0 with Kilmarnock in 2007-08. Everyone else has been sent away beaten.
And then there is Dundee.
The numbers for the visitors read like a warning. They have not won their opening match in any of their last six Scottish Premiership campaigns, drawing three and losing three since a 3-1 victory over Ross County in 2016-17. The stumble out of the blocks has become a habit they cannot shake.
Their record at Celtic Park is harsher still. Dundee have lost 23 of their last 25 away games against Celtic in all competitions, drawing the other two. You have to go back to May 2001, under Ivano Bonetti, for their last win there – a 2-0 success that now feels like it belongs to another era entirely.
So the stage is set: a champion that treats opening day as a statement of power, at a ground where it almost never slips, against an opponent burdened by two decades of bad memories.
The numbers say this should go only one way. The question, as another season begins, is whether Dundee can rip up that script – or simply become the next statistic in Celtic’s relentless opening-day story.
