BRENDAN Rodgers has made a habit of breaking records since taking the reins at Celtic last summer.
In his first term in charge, the Northern Irishman’s side went unbeaten and set a record points tally, a record number of wins, a record margin of victory over second place, a record number of goals and a record number of games to spare when they claimed the title.
Not bad for a first run at it. But following Wednesday’s impressive 3-0 win at Pittodrie against second-placed Aberdeen, the Hoops have their sights set on yet another landmark.
If the Bhoys avoid defeat against Kilmarnock on Saturday, they will match Willie Maley’s side of 1915-1917 by going 62 games unbeaten and in doing so equal the British record.
However, they still have some way to go before competing with Europe’s best league runs.
The Hoops are currently unbeaten in 49 Premiership games, since a 2-1 reverse against St Johnstone on 11 May 2016.
That means they still have plenty of work to do if they are to catch European football’s most dominant domestic sides. Can they do it?
104 games: Steaua Bucharest (1986-89)
Celtic still have some way to go before they can match the untouchable Romanian side of the ‘80s. In a golden age for the club, they blew away the competition domestically by winning five consecutive league titles, three of which were claimed without losing a single game.
Their dominance stretched into Europe too, where Steaua defeated Barcelona in the 1986 European Cup final on penalties with an all-Romanian side led by the iconic Gheorghe Hagi.
63 games: Sheriff (2006–08)
The Moldovans’ record was set during a dominant period when they won 10 consecutive league championships between 2001 and 2010. The Tiraspol-based outfit has been the country’s dominant force since winning its first title in 2000/01, claiming all but two since.
They became the first club to be crowned national champions without losing a game under Leonid Kuchuk in 2006/07, narrowly edging in front of Celtic’s record in the process.
62 games: Celtic (1915–17)
Willie Maley’s much-lauded side set the British unbeaten record during the First World War in an incredible run that included two games in one day against Raith Rovers and Motherwell.
That team featured another record-setter; Alex McNair remains the Hoops’ record appearance holder in the league with 604 domestic games under his belt. Celtic’s achievement came amid a run of four successive league title wins in a dominant period for the club.
61 games: Levadia Tallinn (2008–09)
The Estonians, backed by metal manufacturing company OU Levadia, quickly rose to prominence following their founding in 1998, going on to win nine titles since .
Under Igor Prins they went on a record-breaking 61-match unbeaten run that was finally ended on the penultimate day of the 2009 season by Trans Narva.
60 games: Union Saint-Gilloise (1933–35)
The Belgians, who were known as Union 60 at the time, racked up an imperious domestic run in the 1930s as they swept aside the competition to secure three championships in a row.
The feat is still remembered today with the Jules Pappaert Cup, named after Union 60’s captain during their run and handed out to the Belgian club that has achieved the longest unbeaten run each season.
59 games: Shirak (1993–95) and Pyunik (2002–04)
Two clubs from Armenia share the country’s unbeaten record, with Shirak claiming two of their four league titles in the mid-90s during their historic run.
Pyunik replied by matching their record of 59 games without defeat in the early years of a run of dominance that saw them collect 10 league championships in a row.
58 games: AC Milan (1991–93), Olympiacos (1972–74) and Skonto (1993–96)
Fabio Capello’s legendary Milan side were labelled ‘the Invincibles' as they swept aside all comers in Serie A to win three consecutive Scudetti - as well as lifting the 93/94 Champions League.
Greek giants Olympiacos enjoyed their heyday in the ‘70s under coach Lakis Petropoulos, winning three league crowns on the trot and setting another record by scoring 104 goals during the 73/74 season.
Latvians Skonto were led by coach Aleksandrs Starkovs, the man who later guided the tiny Baltic nation to Euro 2004, who instilled a winning spirit that saw the club enjoy utter dominance with 14 consecutive league titles.
56 games: Benfica (1976–78)
The Portuguese record was set while the Lisbon giants were led by Englishman John Mortimore, a former Chelsea defender who led the club on the best run in their history between October 1976 and August 1978.
Rivals Porto stopped their progress on that occasion and came very close to matching the feat in 2012, when Vitor Pereira’s side were beaten by Gil Vicente while one game away from joining Benfica on 56 matches without defeat.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel