Not the least of the problems that faced Jock Stein when he arrived at Celtic in March 1965 was what to do with Bobby Murdoch. Since his debut in August 1962, no one had denied that the boy had talent – but there had been little doubt that he was also an under-performer who promised a lot more than he delivered. It was of course very easy to blame it all on the chaotic set-up at Celtic Park where seldom did a settled team ever get a chance to deliver without some crazy, whimsical change, and Murdoch suffered more than most in this regard.
He missed a late penalty at Ibrox on New Year’s Day 1965 which would have given 10-man Celtic a more than deserved draw, and the poor boy was now at rock bottom, seriously considering asking for a transfer, emigration or giving up football altogether. It was a very low point in Murdoch’s and Celtic’s life.
And yet perceptive supporters, not least a primitive Celtic fanzine called “The Shamrock” which appeared with trenchant but usually accurate comments on cheap paper from an Edinburgh base, were bold enough to ask whether Murdoch was in the right position when played all over the forward line?
In particular he seemed to find it difficult to do do his best with the ball when it came onto him from behind, as it were. Might it not be a better idea to play him further back in the right half position?
The idea had been tried once or twice before Stein arrived, but with no great success in the general mayhem of Bob Kelly’s team selections, but Stein on March 20 1965 tried it out at Dens Park, Dundee The game was entertaining but not a great Celtic performance – 3-3 draw with some awful defensive lapses – but Murdoch dovetailed well into his new position with some fine balls finding their way to Jimmy Johnstone. On the Monday, Murdoch was back at inside right and played poorly as the team went down 4-2 to Hibs, Scotland’s best team at the time.
Stein had seen enough. He was now convinced that Bobby, hitherto a disappointing inside forward, could become a world-class right half – and he told him that! He backed his judgement by playing him at right half in the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden against Motherwell on Saturday March 27. Once again, Murdoch played well – but the team didn’t particularly – and a 2-2 draw was the result. But it was the replay that really made the difference.
Stein clearly had told Murdoch not to be shy, to go in hard, to take a grip of the game and to stamp his personality all over it. Bobby did just that, the team won 3-0 and one of the best careers in Celtic’s history was launched, or rather re-launched. Murdoch at right half soon became the key dynamic in the emerging team and it was not long before terms like “world class” began to be used. The Cup was won in 1965 – and from them on, neither Celtic nor Murdoch ever looked back.
Bob Kelly had, apparently, once buttonholed Stein to ask whether this was the right way to use a man who was, by nature, a forward. Stein’s reply was apparently polite (Kelly was his Boss, after all) but firm. “You’ll see how good a wing half he is!”
All this was part of an evolution as well. Not all of us realised it at the time, but I had a good friend who actually played for East Fife and was a Celtic admirer if not an actual supporter, and knew a lot more than most people about the geometrics of field positioning and team formations. He pointed out that Celtic were gradually changing from the 2-3-5 traditional Scottish formation to 4-2-4, and that Murdoch and Bertie Auld were becoming what was known as the “midfield” of the team.
4-2-4 had hitherto been despised as “continental” and “defensive” and “boring”, but of course, team formations mean very little in comparison with the quality of the men playing in them. This team was fit, lean, well managed and had Bobby Murdoch in it with his characteristic ability to chest a ball down, charge through and deliver an excellent pass to the feet of Johnstone, or two or three yards ahead of the speedy Lennox or Chalmers who could run on to it. It was football history in the making – and the results told their own tale.
When asked who was Celtic’s best player in the Lisbon era, it is of course very tempting to say Jimmy Johnstone. He has a very strong case, as indeed do Billy McNeill and Bertie Auld, but I am inclined to go for Bobby Murdoch because he was the power engine of the team, the boiler house – and he had very few bad games. Fortunate to see him in his early days and in his moderately “good enough” days of 1964, I have to use the word “privileged” to describe my lucky star when I saw him at his best in 1967, 1968 and 1969. He was, quite simply, the greatest player on earth.
With the 9-IAR practically secured, it is time to look forward to next season, whenever it will commence. Clearly a seminal season of course with 10-IAR on the horizon. This record achievement must be secured and some steps will have to be taken to make certain that it happens.
Firstly, Fraser Forster must be kept on in goal. Forster is a first class keeper and if it wasn’t for him results would not have been as good as they were. Clearly, the League Cup would not have been won if it hadn’t been for Forster. In that game Celtic played well below par and were somewhat lucky to have won. Forster played out of his skin and he saved Celtic again and again. There could be a problem as regards his salary as Celtic may not have the capacity to match that which he earns at Southampton but really every effort should be made either to sign him or to retain him on loan.
Next, Neil Lennon must find a way to incorporate Marian Shved into the team. It is high time that he takes his place in the first team. This is for the good of the team. Moreover, Callum McGregor and Kristoffer Ajermust be kept. I have to admit that, by his own high standards, Ajer fell somewhat short once or twice during the season, but he is a class player and is still very young.
We then come to the case of Odsonne Edouard. I would prefer if he stayed but it seems that the vultures are circling and it may be the case that Celtic will be unable to turn down offers from England or the continent. If Edouard leaves, the choices available to Celtic up front are Leigh Griffiths, Patryk Klimala and Vakoun Issouf Bayo. Media outlets have reported that Celtic have displayed an interest in Fadiga Quatarra who plays for Lille in France. By all accounts Quatarra is a very promising player but it is unclear yet as to whether he would be in a position to step into the first team in place of Edouard. It seems clear that Celtic will not sell Edouard until such time as a suitable replacement has been found.
Clearly, there are difficult times ahead as a consequence of the Covid-19. Other than the medical risks, we miss not having football. Hopefully, things will soon return to normal and we will come though this disease unscathed. Until such time as the new season starts “ here’s to 10-IAR”
Tim Molloy lives in Drogheda with his wife of 35 years and with (on occasions) his three grown up children. He is a life-long Celtic supporter and an Irish language enthusiast. He also speaks some Spanish and French and a few words of Polish and Czech. He also follows the fortunes of the Munster rugby team.He is a law graduate of London University and is a High Court Registrar. Other than an interest in all things Celtic, he is long time observer of the League of Ireland.
Well, the older and more cynical I have gotten – the less and less I believed the football bubble would eventually burst. Rampant capitalism surely would catch up on the game as a whole at some point, I used to reason, but as years passed and transfer fees and wages (in particular) went from huge to gargantuan to downright disgusting and the TV companies and oil-despots kept signing the checks to keep the whole operation afloat.
Nothing short of an act of God, apparently, could churn the global money machine to a halt. It was the business that simply couldn’t fail – even in spite of itself – until it did. As clubs and associations try to get to grips with the new now one thing is for sure, things will be changed in a lot of ways for a long time after this and football is going to look very different once we come out the other side of this.
First things first is the tricky issue of how to wind down the current season if, as seems increasingly likely, resuming games remains in the domain of the cock-eyed optimist. Massive credit must go to Scottish football for continuing the entertainment seamlessly since the actual football ceased with an increasingly farcical process aimed at reaching an agreement with the clubs about ending the season.
Though the actual table had Celtic 13 points clear at the cessation we may need to consider the ‘club statement’ league which would probably see rangers in an uncatchable position. Of course we’d have been mental not to expect this, this is a perfect chance to place themselves alongside soon-to-be-relegated Hearts and scream and cry about the unfairness of it all.
At least Hearts have a genuine grievance. Maybe they might have stayed up and being relegated is going to make this already tough financial situation even more difficult for them. However, as true as that is Hearts having the reported 4th highest budget in the league and having won 4 games all season can hardly claim they don’t ‘deserve’ to go down?
They are the definition of ‘deserves to go down’ for handing so much power to Craig Levein alone. Rangers would have us believe they are outraged and being placed in second when it was entirely reasonable to believe they might well have achieved…second. Them placing themselves alongside the ‘relegated by the stroke of a pen’ clubs smacks of cheap opportunism to appease their increasingly febrile fan base. In truth they will be one of the least affected clubs, in terms of league placing, finances may be another story entirely.
So it seems that Celtic have achieved the 9 in the strangest way in a very strange time in the world. At least we have our recent successes to savour and our future successes to consider – a lot of clubs are not in such a position.
First and foremost the aim has to be to make sure the actual clubs themselves make it through this. All of the clubs. Ok, maybe apart from one. Pettiness aside it’s no good Celtic coming through this relatively unscathed if there is no Scottish football left for us to play in. Nobody knows for sure how long this stasis will last the longer it goes on then the likelier it is that clubs will go to the wall.
Scottish football doesn’t have the luxury of the English TV money to soften some of the blow, a lot of clubs rely on their match day revenue so behind closed doors isn’t going to work for them. In uncertain times a plan needs to be found that allows clubs to continue to exist so they can try to start again – whenever the go-ahead is given for live football.
Personally, I hope they wait until we can actually attend the games again. I can see the argument of providing entertainment and perhaps a little joy in a dark time, but ask yourself this; is watching a game played in a stark, empty stadium going to hearten your spirits or will it remind you that – ACTUALLY – this isn’t the thing you remembered and loved but a weird dystopian interpretation of it and it won’t make you forget you’re living in a global pandemic it’ll just act as another stark reminder that these are not normal times.
Southampton v Watford in a neutral venue isn’t going to change that and it isn’t going to save anyone.
With players in England, Italy and Germany all testing positive recently even as those leagues madly try to rush back to action we should maybe ask ourselves if such a rush back is really worth the risk. I’d give anything to see Celtic again, but I’d like to do it in person, the walk up to the ground, the smells, sounds and sights of match day – then we’ll know we’re back. Then hopefully we’ll all feel a little better, when we’re together again. There’s a big party to celebrate the 9 to be had.
Eoin Coyne was born and raised in Dublin and studied print journalism back when that was a thing. Aside from blethering on about Celtic he can often be found at Richmond Park bemoaning another poor St. Pat’s performance. Once saw Tony Cascarino score a goal for Celtic. Temporary stand survivor.
The time has come for Celtic to be crowned Champions of Scotland. The talking must stop. Enough is enough, votes have been cast, statements have been issued, even a long awaited dossier delivered with little substance, an EGM called, endless debates on radio and we even had a club with no spare cash, who might still have a legacy debt to a face painter talking about paying for an independent enquiry into the powers that be charged with running Scottish football. Thankfully this has been voted against as expected at the EGM held by videoconference today.
How could an enquiry be independent if one club is paying for it with their own agenda and that agenda is to see the league null and void and they have an unhealthy obsession with trying to compete at all costs with Celtic? This obsession has seen them go bust and come back as a new club and it could happen to the new club if they don’t get a realistic plan in place.
Lets be honest here, Rangers are hurting, they took a gamble on an inexperienced manager in Steven Gerard at great expense and all they have to show for it is a half decent run in Europe and a couple of wins over Celtic, no silverware and no big investment to be able to compete with Celtic.
Scottish football does not have the financial muscle to be included in the same conversation as La Liga, Bundesliga or the EPL when they talk about recommencing this season.
This weekend I would love nothing more than to have been getting up in the early hours of Sunday morning, boarding a packed red eye flight with like minded Celtic fans and going to see Scott Brown lifting the SPFL trophy high above his head and celebrating 9IAR long into the night in one of Glasgow’s many Irish bars before waking up in a city hotel to the sight of a half eaten fish supper on the locker before nursing my hangover on the way back to Ireland. But that is a no go so where do we go from here?
This season is dead. Players are out of contract at the end of the month. How can the season be completed without players? No fan wants to see the season finish this way but we have to be realistic. People are losing their lives including front line workers.
Personally I don’t want to see football played behind closed doors but I have to be realistic and realise that football in Scotland could resume in late summer and there will most likely be no fans inside stadiums with bans of large people gathering only up for review come September
We need Celtic crowned champions, we need players contracts sorted, we need to be ready for players coming and going in the transfer window, we need leadership, we need a realistic timetable for the resumption of football not a Boris style ye but no but ye style approach.
Now is the time for real and realistic LEADERSHIP in Scottish football and an end to the mess it is becoming. The MAJORITY vote should rule not the minority who seem to be SHOUTING the loudest.
Andrew started More than 90 Minutes in 2001. He has written for numerous publications and online about Celtic. One of his essays featured in Celtic Minded 2 and he is a former newspaper columnist with the Daily Ireland and the man behind celticfanzine.com. He is host of Celtic AM pre-match events at Malone’s in Glasgow on match days and follows Celtic Home & Away. He is a season ticket holder for Celtic FC and the Republic of Ireland. He is also P.R.O. of St. Margaret’s CSC, a member of the Celtic Trust and the Celtic Graves Association.
As Celtic & Rangers lined up pre-match at Celtic Park in early May, there was very little at stake for Celtic. The championship had already been won, the league trophy was in the boardroom and the player’s league winner’s medals were safely tucked away at home. Only one issue was still to be decided. Could Celtic complete a whitewash of their Glasgow rivals?
The bittersweet end to the 2002 / 2003 season saw Celtic with no trophies to show, but some amazing memories of an unforgettable run to the UEFA Cup Final in Seville.
The 03/04 season delivered silverware & some more magical moments in Europe. Over the course of the season, Celtic & Rangers would meet 5 times, 4 matches in the league and 1 more in the Scottish Cup.
In the first meeting of the season in early October, Celtic shuffled the pack playing Chris Sutton at centre back and bringing in Liam Miller to midfield. Celtic went home with 3 points thanks to a goal from John Hartson just at the start if the 2nd half. The win put down a marker and put Celtic top of the league.
The traditional New Year’s match up was as one sided as the result suggests. Goals from Petrov, Varga & Thompson secured a 3-0 victory and an 11-point lead in the championship race.
The Scottish Cup draw paired the sides together in the quarterfinal at Celtic Park. A scrappy second half goal from Henrik Larsson ensured Celtic progressed to the Semi-Final.
29 matches unbeaten and 16 points ahead in the league, Celtic made their last trip to Ibrox and took a commanding 2 goal lead thanks to Larsson and Thompson, a late goal from Rangers could not stop us extending our lead at the top of the league to 19 points.
So everything was set for the final match up of the season. A win would give Celtic their first whitewash over Rangers since the early 1970s.
A bright start saw Celtic score early, only to see the goal chopped off for a foul in the build up. Both keepers were tested through the 90 minutes as the match looked to be heading for a stalemate.
With the match in injury time Sutton flicked on a long ball to Larsson who took a touch and complete his one-two with Sutton. Sutton controlled the ball 30 yards from goal & powered his way passed
Frank De Boer at the centre of the Rangers defence, leaving De Boer face down in the turf.
With only Klos to beat, Sutton chipped the ball in to the top corner from 25 yards out, before running to the Celtic end to celebrate with his teammates. Fans joined in the jubilation for the remainder of the match and long into the night.
With shades of memorable chip from Larsson in the 6-2 game in 2000, Sutton and Larsson had reversed roles to deliver the same glorious outcome.
Celtic would go on to complete the League and Cup double, helping ease the pain of the missed opportunities from the previous season and made all the sweeter with the whitewash of our city rivals.
Martin Donaldson is a Glasgow East End Bhoy, He made my first trip to Celtic Park in 1983 for a 0-0 draw with Brechin City & thankfully that never put him off going back. He now sits perched high in section 409 of the North Stand with his 2 kids making memories along the Celtic Way.
He loves picking out those matches from yester-year to find out much more about the legendary names & faces that have graced the Celtic Jersey over the years. He is a keen fundraiser for The Celtic Foundation & The British Heart Foundation as they both strive tomake a difference and to change peoples lives all over the world
When two second half Andy Walker goals in a minute helped Celtic defeat Dundee in April 1988 to secure the title in front of an estimated 80,000 fans, few would have thought it would be another 10 years before a Celtic captain would lay his hands on the SPL trophy. But so it proved. The season before Souness had arrived in Glasgow and he won the league at his first attempt as bit by bit he tried to bring the entire English national team to Govan.
Celtic had to react and brought big Caesar back to the club and we clinched the double in our centenary season. We have had many great years supporting this club but we’ve had few or even any better that surpassed the romance we experienced that season. It was my first season as a match going Celtic fan and I loved every minute of it. Things were looking up. Or so we thought.
Not for the first, or indeed the last, time the club failed to capitalise from a position of strength. We would finish the following season in third place behind Rangers and Aberdeen although there was some consolation as we beat the oldco in the Scottish Cup Final. Then things went from bad to worse.
Over the next few seasons, instead of challenging for the title, Celtic found themselves competing with the likes of Motherwell for a European place. Unbelievably the club finished 5th at the end of the 1990/91 season which meant no European football the year after. Disaster. As we found ourselves falling further and further behind the club that played out of Ibrox at that time, the fans decided that enough was enough and supporters groups like Celts for Change, ably aided by the fanzines on the go at the time, began to mobilise.
Fergus McCann came to the helm of the club in 1994. Firstly he set the club on sound financial footing and then after he rebuilt the stadium there was only one thing on all Celtic fans minds. We just had to stop Rangers doing ten in a row. There had been a few heart-breaking years but the one that really sticks in my mind is the one under Tommy Burns where we lost only one league game all season but still couldn’t prevent Rangers from winning the league.
They eventually matched Jock Stein’s great achievement in the 60’s and 70’s and then the season of truth was upon us. Dutchman Wim Jansen was given the task of stopping that lot from doing the unthinkable. Not too many people batted an eyelid when Wim went back to his old club Feyenoord to sign a Swedish striker for £650,000. It turned out to be the bargain of a century that would elapse three years later. In fact Henke was the bargain of that century, this century or any other bloody century you want to talk about.
After an inauspicious start we landed some silverware by beating Dundee United 3 – 0 in the league cup final at Ibrox at the end of November. It helped erase the memory of a league cup final defeat to Raith Rovers at the same venue three years earlier. That penalty shoot out defeat probably sums up the ignominy of that period.
The team were in full flow when we faced Rangers in the New Year game at Celtic Park. The last time we had won the league we beat them in this fixture with two goals from McAvennie and two screamers from Burley and Lambert meant Celtic were victorious by the same score line ten years later. We were starting to believe.
In an era where the majority of games were still played at 3 pm on a Saturday there were some nervous and exciting moments as we waited patiently for the result to come in from whatever stadium they were playing in. As it came to the last two games of the season Celtic held a slender lead at the top of the table. On the first Saturday in May 1998 we were sitting in The Harp Bar on O ‘Connell Bridge which was the then home of Naomh Padraig CSC. As we waited for the final results to come in it suddenly flashed across the tv screen that Ally Mitchell had scored a late winner for Kilmarnock at Ibrox.
There were wild celebrations as it meant that we could win the league the following day if we won away to Dunfermline. The game was to be shown live on STV and as you couldn’t access that channel in Dublin a bus was hastily arranged to bring us to Belfast the next day to watch the game on tv there.
The 50 seater bus was overpopulated the next morning. We arrived in McLaughlin’s Bar in New Lodge and the late Celtic supporting legend Roger McKiernan was holding court at his usual place at the bar. Celtic took the lead through Simon Donnelly but a late Craig Faulconbridge equaliser thwarted our celebrations for a bit longer.
A week later and Naomh Padraig had two buses organised for the decisive match against St Johnstone. I have probably spent too long on the intro to this article but I think it’s important to establish the context of winning the league that season. We had suffered years of heartache. Honest mistakes, unlucky defeats to Rangers and the one night that always haunts me. We lost a cup semi final to a ten man Rangers team at Hampden Park in the 1992 Scottish Cup semi final.
We had stood in the the then open end in the lashings of rain and were soaked to the skin. The bus and boat journey back to Dublin that night was horrible and one of the worse football experiences of my life. It’s nights like those that make the good times sweeter. Think about what the Sevco are going through now but at least for us there would eventually be light at the end of the tunnel. Last season jubilant Celtic fans in Brussels sang ” This is the day when we won away.” But the 9th of May 1998 was the day that took the pain away.
On the morning of the game we went to our usual haunt of The Welcome Inn just behind the Gallowgate. The place was of course mobbed and there was nervous expectancy in the air. I’ll never forget get when ” You’ll Never Walk Alone ” came on the jukebox. It was sang at the top of our voices proudly and defiantly as we knew we were on the brink of something special. Across town The Louden Tavern had planned a 10 in a row party.
And so to the game. We knew we just had to better Ranger’s result to claim the title. Henrik gave us an early lead to calm the nerves and we survived a bit of a scare when George O’Boyle went close for them. When Harald Brattbak made it two nil the relief was palpable. We could relax at last. At the final whistle there were joyous, tearful scenes. We watched the game from what’s now The Lisbon Lions stand and as the final whistle went I remember Naomh Padraig legend Big John O’Shea beginning to head off as he was on a day trip.
I had to tell that we’d waited ten years to see this moment and that the driver would wait ten minutes to see Tom Boyd lift the trophy.
It was a beautiful, sunny day and I remember the celebratory walk back up the Gallowgate. Flags flying, horns beeping and happy acknowledgements everywhere. And of course, being Glasgow, Buckfast rather than champagne was being passed around. We celebrated long into the night and had a great sing song on the ferry the following day.
I’ve had many glorious days and nights supporting this great club but the day we stopped the 10 in a row will always be up there.
Jason Maloney is a Shamrock Rovers and Celtic fan. His first game was in August 1987. Celtic won one nil and Souness was sent off. Celtic have been his long time mistress ever since. His first Celtic hero isnow his most hated tv pundit who should have the letter N in the middle of his surname. He comes from Dublin but can be often seen roaming about north Lanarkshire for photos opportunities with Kieran Tierney. Stopping the 10 will be only bettered by doing the 10.
The daily news updates on Covid 19 have become part of the norm as have the demented Sevco fans ranting and raving on Social Media as their leaders over at Ibrox continue to spout out crap about foul play around Hampden, while they continue to pull the wool over their loyal fans eyes. They are even rolling old Stevie G out with a wee statement here or a sound bite there to make sure season books are renewed.
They love an old season book drama, The Craig White era should still be to the forefront of their minds each time season book renewal forms come through the post.
We all know its only a false front, really they want to bank the cash for finishing in second place to the mighty Celtic so they can continue to stay afloat, old dodgy Dave jumped ship, that old sinking feeling which left Douglas Park and Stewart Robertson to steer the ship into unchartered waters and a World pandemic.
Douglas and his pals in the boardroom at Ibrox are looking for someone to blame and with Celtic keeping quiet and going about their business in a professional manner with the champagne on ice, they have turned their frustration towards the powers that be in Scottish football, blaming Neil Doncaster, Mike Mulraney, Dundee, the Pope and the cancelling of Love Island for all their woes.
They have stumbled from one crisis to another ever since David Murray ruined the club he built up by financial doping and cheating the whole of Scottish football. If Douglas, board members and their fans want to blame someone for Celtic being 13 points clear with a 25 goal difference and who are about to win their ninth title in a row, then they should look no further than their manager’s office.
Stevie G, yes the same man who celebrating beating Celtic before the winter break as if those 3 points won that day had secured him his first league title of both his playing and management career. He showed his inexperience that day at Celtic Park. Neil Lennon and the Celtic players learned from that day and came back from Dubai and went on a great run. The same cannot be said of his team.
Hearts battling relegation in the face disposed of them both in the League and the Scottish Cup. While Aberdeen, Kilmarnock, St. Johnstone and the mighty Hamilton took points off them as Celtic prepared to put them to the sword at Ibrox.
If Stevie G wasn’t on a nice earner with his high profile then Graeme Murty could have been back in charge before Celtic rode into Ibrox on the back of an unbeaten domestic run.
The fact is they need the money from the SPL, they don’t want to play out the season that would see Celtic crowned Champions instead they want the league to be null and void.
They can’t afford to pay off their manager and they are behaving like spoiled children but they can stamp their feet all they want but Scottish football does not have the wealth of the Bundesliga and Celtic will be crowned Champions sooner rather than later.
Suck it Up, Move on and get your own house in some kind of order before you release another dossier because Celtic are here for 10 in a row.
Andrew started More than 90 Minutes in 2001. He has written for numerous publications and online about Celtic. One of his essays featured in Celtic Minded 2 and he is a former newspaper columnist with the Daily Ireland and the man behind celticfanzine.com. He is host of Celtic AM pre-match events at Malone’s in Glasgow on match days and follows Celtic Home & Away. He is a season ticket holder for Celtic FC and the Republic of Ireland. He is also P.R.O. of St. Margaret’s CSC, a member of the Celtic Trust and the Celtic Graves Association.
A year on to the day from when a few of us wandered along to watch Banants Yerevan play Sarajevo in a Europa League Qualifier we were paired up with our old friends from Bosnia. Last time round we all supported Sarajevo on the basis we had all bet on them, this time we had our own team to support.
With no direct flights to Sarajevo I had a choice of where I was going through so decided to make this my summer holiday and tick off a couple of Countries I’d never visited before. On the way out, I went via Belgrade and spent a couple of days exploring the city. I did the usual football tourism to both stadiums of Partizan and Red Star, which doubled up a reconnaissance mission for a potential visit to the Marakana just in case we need to go there later in the season. The stadiums are located next to each other, not quite Tannadice Street close but within a 5-minute walk. Being the off-season work was being carried out on each stadium but I managed to get in to each of them for a quick look and grab a few photos, thanks to friendly security guards.
I tied in with my mate Allan from Inverness and we left Belgrade and made our way to Sarajevo, upon landing it wasn’t long until I along with the majority of the travelling support made out way to the Celtic Bar. It was strange to see a bar dedicated to the club in a far-flung corner of Eastern Europe and it was definitely appreciated they kept the beers flowing for a few days whilst we were there.
My pre-match prediction of 2-0 to a local TV crew never quite came to fruition but wasn’t too far away from the eventual 3-1 victory. We won fairly comfortably without playing too well which is alright at this early stage of the season, it’s all just as long as we get through to the next round. The biggest battle of the day was the elements. Like most I travelled with just shorts and t-shirt, so when a massive downpour happened I knew I was getting caught out. The stadium was entirely uncovered, so the locals took their spots in the stands with their umbrellas aloft. A few in the away section managed to pick up ponchos outside to save them from the elements, I on the other hand wasn’t so lucky like most and spent the match with my clothes hanging to me which was slightly uncomfortable and thankfully it was still warm so hypothermia didn’t quite set in.
As the final whistle went the team came over to show their appreciation which lead to the inevitable surge toward the front from the small travelling crowd. This led to a small timber bridge above the dry moat which surrounded the pitch giving way as Kirstoffer Ajer threw his jersey into the crowd. One of the funniest moments of the trip then came when one of the boys wanted to try on the player’s issue slim fit top over his less athletic body which seen him struggle getting it both on and off.
We were kept in the stadium for the usual short time after full time until the local police let us back out into the streets, which was just enough time for the rain to start again, so we all got soaked again for good measure. The combination of being soaked and a morning flight meant that it wasn’t a late one and I went back to the hotel straight after the game.
On the way home, I again took the chance to visit a different city and stopped off in Budapest. Here I got lucky and was in town as Ferencvaros were hosting Ludogorets in another Champions League qualifier.
There were a lot of Celtic jerseys amongst the locals given our shared colours which was slightly surprising, but I’m not entirely sure their politics are quite aligned with ours and I’m not certain they would be the most accommodating should we ever pull them out the draw.
It was interesting to see a couple of teams who have been potential opponents in the past couple of years, and could yet be this year. I was impressed with Sergei Rebrov’s Ferencvaros team, they seemed to be very good going forward, similar in style to us in that they play with wingers. I was particularly impressed with their Norwegian Winger Nguen who would cause us problems, especially in the absence of a right back. However, they did look like they are prone to mistakes at the back so hopefully French Eddy would have enough to see them off, but overall, they would be one to avoid.
The holiday continued as I planned out the next one to either Macedonia or Estonia as the planning for round 2 starts.
Scott Crystal has been travelling to the games on the Renton CSC for longer than he can remember. He has been watching games on the telly with the Hayes Bhoys since 2010 when he moved south. You’ll find him in one of these 2 places if he’s not off to Hamburg to see St Pauli. He is currently on a mission to tick off every country in Europe so he is always hoping for help from the UEFA ball guy to achieve this.
Many of us are looking back at old games and moments in our history at present in order to get our Celtic fix, with withdrawal symptoms I’m sure common in many of the faithful. Bus conveners and guys running C.S.C’s are also I’m sure enjoying an aspect of the break but it’s fair to say that life is currently a lot less exciting without the joy of the Celtic enriching our weekends.
Given the incredible history of our club, it inevitably means that regardless of date or month there will always be moments of the past that will allow us to celebrate and reminisce. One date in particular that comes to mind and is so often cause for a social media celebratory post is that of April 29th.
It is fair to say wall to wall coverage from the Celtic Faithful was given to four separate games played on this date. In many ways if we were to have a National skelping day of celebration each year a very good argument could be made for this date. Four of the most celebrated victories against a team playing out of Ibrox stadium over the past twenty years, victories that will be remembered and celebrated twenty years from now all took place on this date. Two of those victories were against the old Rangers with the other two being against the tribute act. they are as follows,
Rangers (1872) 0-3 Celtic – April 29th 2001
Celtic 3- 0 Rangers (1872)- April 29th 2012
Rangers (2012) 1-5 Celtic- April 29th 2017
Celtic 5-0 Rangers (2012)- April 29th 2018
My own personal recollections of these games are as vivid now as they were the day they took place. Looking back at the first of these four wins that make up National skelping day I can’t but help think of what a trip to Ibrox was previously like for those of us Celtic minded pre 2001.
Once upon a time Ibrox was a place of absolute dread for the faithful. Long before the Zombie’s spat the dummy and cut the ticket allocation for our support on the back of four straight defeats and scenes of wild jubilation within the “Free Broomloan Stand”, that walk from where the buses park at Helen Street right up to the ground were met with an impending sense of dread.
By April 2001 we had gone nearly seven years without a win there. Indeed, my own first visit to Ibrox the year before saw us stuffed four nil on a day that saw little to no positives and a collective sense of despondency on the direction as to where the club were going. A year later and that afternoon saw Lubo and Co. tear them apart, with King Henrik marking the occasion with his fiftieth goal of the season. The beginning of national skelping day had arrived. A day and a date to remember. April 29th.
Much has been written about April 29th 2012, which will go down in history as the final ever “Old Firm Derby”. One hundred and twenty-four years after their first meeting we would brush them aside in a game that is as memorable for the pre match Tifo by the Green Brigade of the four horsemen of the apocalypse, with the iconic “Your Day Is Coming” text as is the game itself.
I was actually at a very good friend of mine’s wedding and missed the game, watching it with other members of our C.S.C in Dublin. I know what many of you are thinking, he can’t have been that good a friend if he put his wedding on during the football season.
Still for all of us April 29th 2012 was the closing of the book. Both the first and last Old firm derbies ending in a three victory win for the Bhoys. It would be five years on before we faced a team called Rangers again on this date and this meeting would see us come against a new foe, albeit in the same colours and backed by the same right wing neo fascist support that permeate the terraces of Ibrox every second week.
The 2017 win at their ground really broke them. It would be my last visit to the ground and looking at an almost empty stadium with over half an hour left was both surreal and magical. A day, a date and a season we would never forget. The final addition to National hunskelping day was the day we clinched seven in a row with a five goal hammering at Paradise. Strangely enough my memory of that day was leaving the ground tinged with regret that we did not witness a massacre to surpass our famous seven one league cup triumph of 1957, given we were five nil up up on fifty-two minutes. Still what a day it was, and what a date April 29th was yet again.
To all those currently struggling we will have better days ahead and many a day to celebrate in the future. In the meantime, enjoy looking back at all those days we have been blessed with in the past. In looking back there have been fewer sweeter dates than National skelping day April 29th. We’ll all raise a glass to it no doubts on April 29th 2021.
Ciaran Kenny is a member of Naomh Padraig CSC in Dublin since the early nineties. Ciaran is also a regular to Paradise and beyond since 1995, he is a season ticket holder at Celtic Park since 1999. and a Shareholder and also a member of the Celtic Trust. Ciaran has worked closely with the homeless services in Dublin City working with Don Bosco Care since 2001. Ciaran is also Chairperson of the Irish aftercare network which advocates for better outcomes for young people in care throughout all of Ireland. Ciaran has contributed to Mt90M since 2008.
It was a long hot summer in 1969, the Beatles were walking across Abbey Road, the Viet Cong were crossing the Mekong Delta after the Tet offensive and the Battle of Hamburger Hill, Neil Armstrong was taking ‘one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’, and playing a bit of golf on the Lunar planet, Jan Palach immolates himself in Prague, Gaddafi takes over Libya, Honduras and El Salvador go to war over a football game, Joe Cocker and Jimi Hendrix perform at Woodstock, Monty Python creates mirth on the box, Native Americans protest on Alcatraz, Jackie Stewart won the Grand Prix and Tony Jacklin ‘the Open’, Kerry won the All Ireland and I was there amid 90,000, and on the streets of Belfast and Derry there was mayhem, it was the summer of ’69, unforgettable, life changing, and Celtic came into my life.
On the 14th May 1969 just after I had just ended my school days prematurely after ‘O’ Levels, I made my first ever trip to see Celtic play in a friendly in Dublin v Shamrock Rovers, about twelve of us took the train from Belfast to Dublin and made our way to Tolka Park in Drumcondra as part of a 10,000 crowd to see the European Champions of just 2 years previously, League winners for the previous 4 seasons and fresh from a 4-0 thumping of the Teddy Bears just 18 days previously in the Cup Final. ‘Cesar’ ended the Rangers career of one Alex Ferguson with a 2nd minute header, he mightn’t have been a great player but he wasn’t a bad Manager!.
So there we were a dozen feral youth from West Belfast getting out of that God forsaken part of the world for a few hours to witness the Hoops in the flesh for the first time, 6 of the European Cup winning team were playing, Jinky, Wallace, Chalmers, Auld, Craig and John Clark, and a sprinkling of the Quality Street kids, Connelly, Gorman, Hay and Macari starting with Dalglish and McGrain on the bench, it was as good a team we would ever see in our lives, Harry Hood scored and two from Willie Wallace sealed the victory as the crowd and our young selves were in our element, Man U, Liverpool and Spurs could go to hell this was our team.
51 years later through all the ups and downs it still is. We enjoyed that night in Dublin, maybe a little too much with our 6 packs of dumpy bottles of Harp, so much so that we missed the last train back and had to crash out on benches at Connolly station, probably as comfortable as James Connolly himself was on that stretcher down the road in the GPO in 1916. Back in Belfast all we could talk about was this great Celtic team, it was all Georgie Best before that night but now Jinky was the man, twisting and turning, he was the equal of Best but of course without the good looks that attracted Miss Worlds.
There was other talking points in Belfast that summer of ’69, Partition which had been in place since 1920 was becoming frayed at the edges, attacks on Civil Rights marches in Derry and Burntollet had increased tension in the artificial statelet and the summer marching season brought a foreboding of serious sectarian unrest which would be fulfilled in the extreme, football would be the last thing on our young minds for the considerable future.
Ironically for the previous 4 years the dozen of us had travelled across the city to watch Glentoran in the Irish League, one friend was from that side of the city originally and planted the idea, Linfield were down the road from us just across the Motorway but there was no way we could support ‘the Blues’, the Belfast equivalent of Rangers with the same policy of not playing Catholics, flying the Union Jack and playing God Save the Queen, their fans Rangers men to the core would parade through the city every Saturday singing their sectarian shite and at times causing riots when passing nationalist areas.
Windsor Park was a no go stadium for nationalists, it was dangerous and had always had been since the 1920’s and famously in 1948 it ended the football life of the greatest football club ever in Ireland, Belfast Celtic, as Linfield fans invaded the pitch and broke the leg of Jimmy Jones the Celtic centre forward, ironically a Protestant himself, the IFA a Unionist institution itself refused to take action against Linfield and the Celtic Directors withdrew the club from football never to play again, we used to pass the old Celtic Park stadium on our way to Internationals at Windsor, it was only a stones throw away, excuse the pun, sadly now turned into a shopping centre although a museum is in now in the centre!.
Anyway for 4 years we would cross the city to East Belfast in the shadow of the shipyards, H&W who were a dab hand at building big ships which couldn’t detect an iceberg at two miles. The Glentoran support were 90% loyalist but in the 4 years that we went there we never once had any trouble from anyone and they all knew we were young nationalist kids from the West of the city, we were probably on a cross community gig before it became fashionable and without the Grants.
There was actually a great analogy between that Glentoran team and the Celtic team of the previous 15 years, both had played second fiddle to their cross town rivals for a decade and more, Glentoran hadn’t won the league from 1953 till ’64 as Linfield ruled the roost, similarly Celtic had no League title from ’54 till ’65 as Rangers controlled affairs, but as at Parkhead with Jock Stein arriving to bring unrivalled success, John Colrain, a former Celtic prodigy and one of the ‘Kelly Kids’ in the late 50’s, arrived at the Oval and transformed their fortunes and made them the top team for a decade, even drawing twice with Benfica in the European Cup the year Man U beat them in the final in ’68, 1-1 in Belfast, 0-0 in Lisbon, just losing on away goals to the Eusebio inspired ‘Eagles’!
We would go to games at the Oval for the next few years until 1969 when the stirrings of the modern conflict made it impossible to cross the city, but as I said we never had any trouble from the loyalist kids we got to know, in fact the only trouble would be when we joined with them to battle the Linfield fans, how ironic. I’ve always thought about those kids we met at the Oval, like many on our side of the city getting involved in armed struggle, they probably got involved in the UDA/UVF and other loyalist paramilitaries in the East, as the summer of ’69 evolved football would definitely be placed on the back burner.
50 years ago my life changed forever, in Derry the Apprentice Boys parade led to the ‘Battle of the Bogside’ as nationalists fought the RUC to a standstill, in Belfast loyalists attacked the Falls and burned Bombay Street and others to the ground as the guns came out, our young lives would never be the same again, when we should have been playing football, going to football games, watching football, we were suddenly in the midst of conflict which would last for 30 years, foreign troops had landed on our streets as it evolved from civil disobedience to armed struggle, to paraphrase the old saying, ‘when we had nothing we had Celtic’,.
In the early 70’s we still had Celtic but it was difficult to even get to matches, crossing the sea from Larne to Stranraer was frought with danger as the Rangers hordes were in greater numbers, once for the ’71 Cup final they wouldn’t let us on the boat, eventually we got on but it was scary and only for Scottish cops we were in real danger, previously they had to turn a ferry around as battles raged on the boat, it would have been safer facing the iceberg on the Titanic.
Still if you want something bad enough and have the determination then nothing can stop you, a few months later in November I made it to my first ‘real’ match as Celtic played Benfica in the EC, I’ve written about it before, it was a magical night and imprinted in my memory, we were 3 months into the ‘Troubles’ that quaint Irish euphemism for murder, mayhem and slaughter, it would effect my Celtic ‘career’ for a decade, but like the old saying, ‘we always had Celtic’, it’s been a constant in my life ever since and probably always will be, it’s been a long time since that mad summer of ’69.
I’ve seen a lot of life, inside and outside football, conflict and death to friends, but also great moments of joy in Paradise, Leeds and 135,000 at Hampden, 9 in a row, Johnny Doyle against Real Madrid, 9 men winning the League, the Centenary Cup Final and the mad witch Thatcher at Hampden, 17 penalties at Hampden and fellow Belfast man Anton Rogan in tears, the alternative 9 in a row for the ‘Bears’ and the mad day at Paradise when it came close to mayhem, the new Paradise and eternal debt to Fergus, the Martin O’Neill years, Champions League and Handel’s Zadok the Priest, Seville and Henrik, Man U, Barca, Bayern, Milan, Man City, Ajax, Liverpool and Juve put in their place at Paradise, Strachan, Rodgers & Neil Lennon, 8 in a row, the first two decades of the new Millenium have been good to Celtic, allowing for Lisbon have we ever had it so good?
Paddy McMenamin was born in Belfast with Donegal and Tyrone parents. He spent the 70’s in Long Kesh. He has been going to Paradise since the Benfica game in Nov. 1969. He lived in Donegal for 30 years but now lives in Galway. He returned to University at 50 and became a secondary school teacher of history and English.
