1967 was not necessarily a good year for all of Glasgow. Yes, I know that Rangers fans hated it because they had to endure the sight of Celtic winning the European Cup and then their own team losing the final of the Cup Winners’ Cup the following week, but even worse news befell the lovers of Third Lanark AFC, for their team went out of business in 1967, and for them there was no rescue plan or resurrection. They simply disappeared.

Glasgow in the heyday of the 1950s had six football teams, and that was possibly one too many when Glasgow began to lose population with the slum clearances and the “overspill” population which tended to migrate to “new towns” like Cumbernauld, East Kilbride and Glenrothes rather than be resettled in Glasgow itself. Third Lanark were the unlucky ones, but of course, there was more to it than that. We are talking here about corruption and even theft, with a man called Hiddleston blamed (after his death) for what had gone wrong. It was a shame to lose the Thirds however, for they were a great part of Scottish football.

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Cathkin Park

Founded in 1872 as an offshoot of the Third Lanark Rifle Volunteers (a group whose main task had been to extirpate Jacobites, although it was the working class which was beginning to cause more concern in the 19^thcentury), they were founder members of the Scottish Football Association in 1873 and the Scottish League in 1890. They played at a ground called Cathkin Park, but that is misleading for there were two Cathkins, and the one that they played on in 1967 was in fact Second Hampden Park, for they moved there in 1903 when the new Hampden was built.

Known as the “Redcoats”, the “Thirds”, the “Warriors”, the “Sodgers” and the “Hi-Hi-Hi”, Third Lanark twice won the Scottish Cup in 1889 and in 1905, and once won the Scottish League in 1904. Their first win in the Scottish Cup was against Celtic in the final (Celtic’s first season of existence) and it was a controversial one. The final was scheduled for February 2 and Thirds won 3-0 in the snow at Second Hampden before 20,000 spectators, but the conditions had rendered the pitch unplayable and the game was played as a friendly (but the crowd were not told that, for fear of a riot!) But we are told that some of the crowd sang songs “such as might be heard at a political meeting”. Intriguing! But all this means “A Nation Once Again” and “The Wearing O’ The Green” sung with gusto by the Celtic element. Slightly better weather prevailed the next week when the real final was played, and this time Thirds won 2-1. They also beat Rangers 3-1 in a replay in 1905, and that was a year after they had won the Scottish League in 1904 their manager had the unlikely but somehow appropriate name of Frank Heaven.

Third Lanark in 1905 with the Scottish Cup after beating Rangers.

They had many connections with Celtic. Tom Maley played for them before he joined Celtic, and Johnny Campbell finished off his career with the Thirds. Between the wars, Alec Bennett was their manager, and of course Tommy McInally played three years for Thirds between his two spells at Celtic famously “pining for home” after his first falling out with Willie Maley. But Maley always confessed to a “soft spot for the boy” and took him back.

By the 1930s they had become a yo-yo club between the two Divisions, although they reached the final of the Scottish Cup in 1936. Their last big game was the Scottish League Cup final of 1959/60 when they lost to Hearts. Around 1961 they had a great forward line with players like Harley, Hilley and Gray – but financial circumstances compelled Thirds to sell them. In 1962 they met Celtic in the quarter final of the Scottish Cup and were 3-1 up at half time but Celtic then got going and were heading for a 4-3 win, until Thirds equalised at the death before Celtic won the replay 4-0. On Monday April 8 1963, they won their last ever trophy when they beat a woeful Celtic team 2-1 in the Glasgow Cup final. They were relegated in 1965, somehow lasted two years in the Second Division with no money and loads of debt, and finally succumbed in 1967.

There remains a residue of affection for the Hi-Hi-Hi’s and many of their supporters defected to Celtic when they went out of business (this was 1967, after all). There is now an amateur team playing at Cathkin, and one would love to see them come back into the Scottish League – but that seems some way in the distance.

Born in 1948, David Potter first saw Celtic at Dens Park, Dundee in March 29. It was a 3-5 defeat, which equipped him admirably for the horrors of the early 1960’s. He had “followed” Celtic for a few years before that and recalls having been called upon to impersonate Jock Stein and receive the family silver teapot which had to do for the Scottish Cup as it was presented on April 24 1954, after he and his father had spent a nerve wracking afternoon listening to the radio!  Since then, he has “followed” every Celtic game with bated breath, and has written extensively about the club in magazines and books. His favorite team was that of 1969 (which he rates marginally better than 1967) and his favorite player was Henrik Larsson.

His ambition for Celtic is for them to keep on winning silver in Scotland and to be something in Europe once again. His other interests are cricket and drama. He is 70, a retired teacher of Classical Languages, married with three children and five grandchildren. He now travels on the Joseph Rafferty bus from Kirkcaldy. He also loves Forfar Athletic.

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Transfer Window Shuts Praise the Lord

The transfer window is shut. The amount of half-truths and rumours that we have had to listen to and read about is unbelievable (excuse the pun) and it’s the same every time from it opens till it closes. I understand the newspapers need to fill column space and that Sky Sports News needs to fill minutes that turn to endless hours of repeating itself and now with social media we have the bloke down the pub telling us that he has heard from a good source that Victor Wanyama among others is on his way back to Celtic Park. Funny the bloke down the pub never mentioned O’Connor, Frimpong or Taylor. Praise the Lord its Shut!

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Young Bhoys of Ireland

Before the window shut Celtic signed of versatile Irish youngster Lee O’Connor on a four-year deal. He can play anywhere across the back four or as a defensive midfielder.

O’Connor who joins from Manchester Utd where he has been since he signed as a 16 year old. The Waterford native was Irish under 19 captain at the Euros during the summer where they reached the semi-finals. After signing in Glasgow yesterday he re-joined Stephen Kenny’s Ireland under 21 team in Dublin and Irish based Celtic fans could get a glimpse of him at Tallaght on Friday night when the Boys in Green take on Armenia in a Euro qualifier.

O’Connor joins other underage Ireland players at Celtic, Luca Connell who signed from Bolton Wanderers earlier in the summer and Jonathan Afolabi who played alongside O’Connor at the Euros and joined Celtic after being released by Southampton.

O’Connor also joins another Celtic player who was part of the Euros squad Barry Coffey. With Armstrong Oxo Flex and Ballyfermot’s goal hero from Sunday Johnny Hayes making up the Irish contingent at Paradise.

Jeremie Frimpong from Man City

Young right back Jeremie Frimpong signs for Celtic on a four-year contract from Manchester City. Speaking to the Celtic website, he said: “It feels amazing to have joined Celtic. What a massive club to be part of. I’m just lucky to have been picked and I’m grateful for everything. I’m just happy to be here and I just want to get on the pitch and show the fans everything that I’ve got.”

“I started going on YouTube to watch Celtic, and when they were on TV, I watched the games. I watched Sunday’s match against Rangers. What a game! Celtic were brilliant and deserved to win.”

Greg Taylor from Kilmarnock

Another young player in on a four-year contract from Kilmarnock is Greg Taylor. The Scottish internationalist is still only 21-year-old and comes highly ratedI have no doubt that the likes of Tosh McKinlay and Willie McStay will have had an input into all of the young players who have joined us over the transfer window.

He told Celtic TV “It’s been a whirlwind of a day but I’m over the moon to be here and thankfully that’s it over the line,” “As soon as I knew of Celtic’s interest, I was desperate to come, so it’s been a great day, certainly now that it’s done.”

After signing he re-joined the Scotland squad, which also includes Callum McGregor, Ryan Christie and James Forrest. Steve Clarke was a breath of fresh air in Scotland while at Kilmarnock his success got him the Scotland job and he has shown faith in the left back by giving him his international debut in the absence of the injured Tierney and Robertson. The Sevco fans won’t be happy as he was supposed to be one of their own but if so he has now seen the light and will be reborn in Green and White. Praise the Lord.

Loan Deals

Ewan Henderson joins Ross County on a season-long loan.

Anthony Ralston joins St Johnstone on a season-long loan.

Jack Aitchison joins Forrest Green on a season-long loan.

Hopefully regular first team football will improve all the bhoys and they should take heart from Callum McGregor and Ryan Christie who both had loan spells and came back to claim first team regular spots.

The Final Word

“ Now that it’s over the line I can’t wait to be part of this squad, and to say that I’m a Celtic player is a dream come true” Greg Taylor after he is reborn and signs for Celtic

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Last week Bobby Lennox celebrated his 76th birthday, David Potter looks back at his career and legacy

“Little Lennoxie” as he was affectionately named by an adoring fan was a star. There were few more likeable characters in Scottish football, and without Lennox, Celtic’s consistent success would not have been so sustained. There were of course too many good forwards in the Stein era. Lennox could not always be guaranteed a place, but he never sulked or went into the huff but bounced back, always ready to play for his beloved green and white and always in among the goals.

The fact that he is second only to Jimmy McGrory in goal scoring for the club (309 in 524 appearances) is ample tribute to the man. Little really more needs to be said on the statistical side on things, but much should be made of his speed, his ability to run on to a ball and his ability to “keep the heid” when presented with a chance.

He also helped the club in a far more subtle way in his close friendship with Jimmy Johnstone (“Jimmy wasnae daft, but he did occasionally do daft things”) which prevented things from getting silly now and again. He was a stabilising, comforting character, perpetually cheerful and always willing to be one of the boys. I recall the day at Aberdeen Station when “the likely lads” of Lennox and Johnstone stepped off the train, greeted the awaiting fans and then put their arms round each other and started singing the Beatles song “Roll Over, Beethoven”. Stein, organising the removal of the hamper from the guards’ van looked on. He didn’t exactly smile tolerantly, but his face had the philosophical look of “What can you do about that?”

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1962

Bobby’s Celtic career started in 1962. His debut was a game against Dundee (League Champions-to-be that year) which Celtic won, but Lennox had a poor game, and for a few years he drifted in and out of the reserves. And yet I recall him playing for the reserves at a deserted Tannadice Park one day in February 1964 and somehow or other, he just looked like a football player!

A football player he was and Jock Stein knew that. He was recalled more or less simultaneously with the joint arrivals of Bertie Auld and Big Jock himself, and Celtic never looked back. In fact, what I thought was his most significant goal for the club came in February 1965 against Queen’s Park at Hampden. Stein would not yet officially take up his duties until March, but clearly already had an influence on things. This game was a Cup tie, the Queens were in the Second Division, Celtic were playing atrociously and a huge upset even seemed possible against the spirited amateurs until a long ball found Bobby just outside the penalty box, and he ran in and scored. It was a routine goal (he would score many more like it) but never was there a more significant one. There might not have been a Cup run that year, and there might not have been Billy’s glorious winner.

1980

His playing career lasted until 1980. He was one of the ten men who won the League in 1979 (well, he was a substitute) and if you count appearances on the bench he won more Scottish Cup medals that McNeill or McMenemy – and that is saying something. He never gave anyone any bother – never did he give grief to Stein or McNeill, always co-operative and a genuine team man, and apart from the collective madness in South America, his discipline record was impeccable.

There was one man however to whom he gave a lot of bother, and that was John Greig of Rangers. Time and time again he was simply too fast for the ponderous Greig who actually normally played well against other Celtic players. On one unfortunate occasion in 1976, a tackle by Greig broke Bobby’s leg, but to John’s credit, he did express regret and it was an accident. (Or was it?)

Injuries seldom got Lennox down. He was a great Celtic servant and his record for the club will seldom be surpassed.

DAVID POTTER

Born in 1948, David Potter first saw Celtic at Dens Park, Dundee in March 29. It was a 3-5 defeat, which equipped him admirably for the horrors of the early 1960’s. He had “followed” Celtic for a few years before that and recalls having been called upon to impersonate Jock Stein and receive the family silver teapot which had to do for the Scottish Cup as it was presented on April 24 1954, after he and his father had spent a nerve wracking afternoon listening to the radio!  Since then, he has “followed” every Celtic game with bated breath, and has written extensively about the club in magazines and books. His favorite team was that of 1969 (which he rates marginally better than 1967) and his favorite player was Henrik Larsson.

His ambition for Celtic is for them to keep on winning silver in Scotland and to be something in Europe once again. His other interests are cricket and drama. He is 70, a retired teacher of Classical Languages, married with three children and five grandchildren. He now travels on the Joseph Rafferty bus from Kirkcaldy. He also loves Forfar Athletic.

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Happy Mondays

Celtic fans woke up around the World this morning slightly hung-over with very large smiles on their faces and they may now be heading for the Monday Club for more celebrations. Scott Brown is heading on holidays while most of his team mates are joining their national teams for international duty and Stevie G, his backroom staff, his players and all Sevco fans are now firmly back in their box, while Celtic fans are cashing in their bookies dockets. Yes we really were 2-1 to win the game, the bookies got that one wrong as did the MSM in Scotland and Lenny was quick to remind them after the game.

Transfer Window Closes

Thankfully the transfer window closes tonight, since the end of last season we have been linked with any player who ever had a fish supper in the Glasgow area. Hopefully Lenny will be busy and get who ever else he needs to gets in as we continue to dominate Scottish football and give us a decent shout of European football after Christmas.

Social Media Watch

The continued comedy circus continues on all social media platforms, cartoons, videos and some very funny quotes, little stories and comments have been making us chuckle since Celtic ripped Sevco apart on their home patch but a post on Facebook by Rob Milne just summed up how hurt some Sevco fans are and in this case it’s all self inflicted.

“After seeing some lad in Glasgow City Centre wearing a Union Jack Onesie (yes, they exist), head-butting a wall with a bottle of Buckfast in his hand. #peoplemakeglasgow”

Todays Weather

Sunshine for the international break in the Green half of Glasgow while across the city in the Blue half they are experiencing very dark clouds, its very cold in Celtic’s shadow and most of the natives are staying in doors, The Orange order have asked all Sevconians to stay indoors to avoid Sunshine Tim’s.

The Final Words

“Everyone wrote us off. We were very motivated, hungry and had great belief about us.”

Neil Lennon after pumping Sevco 

“He deserves his red card, he deserves his ban and he’s got everything to do now to get back in my team.”

Stevie G after watching his team get pumped by Celtic comments on Jordon Jones sending off

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It’s the big one today as Celtic travel across the city to face a Sevco squad and fans in confident mood as they go for their first league title tilt.

If this game had been a week or two ago, Celtic would have been traveling with a cloud over their heads, having crashed out of the Champions League to Cluj and then an out of sorts performance at home to Dunfermline. There was some discontent amongst the fans in regards to the transfer activity as well.

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This week however the side should be as equally confident as Sevco. Navigating what could have been a tricky two legs against the Swedish champions AIK, 6-1 on aggregate, scoring four goals away from home in Europe is not a sight we have yet grown accustomed to as a Celtic support.

Sandwiched in between the two European games was a dominant performance at Celtic Park against Hearts with Bayo putting in an impressive performance to remind everyone what he has to offer.

Loan Signings

Signings of Fraser Forster and Mohammad Elyounoussi has added a bit of excitement. Although both loans, these are the sort of loans that can be accepted when they should improve the team, too many loan signings in the past have failed to deliver. With Forster there is a likelihood he could become a permanent signing. Elyounoussi would appear to be out of our budget having only moved to Southampton last year for £16 million.

There have been numerous reports suggesting Kilmarnock left back Greg Taylor will be concluded before the window closes on Monday.

Going into the game at Ibrox it’s clear our defence is our biggest weakness, although there have been signs of improvement from both Christopher Jullien and Boli Bolingoli. It’s still to be seen if Ajer has recovered from an injury he received during the AIK win. Edouard also came off early with an injury however Neil Lennon is confident he will make the game.

Sevco

Sevco also go into the game having qualified for the Europa League with a last minute winner from Morelos knocking out Legia Warsaw.

We can expect Sevco to come out quickly and we need to match them all over the park. From middle to front we are clearly better than them but if the team play the way they have in the last two visits there then we will be in for a tough time.

I can see the game being tight between the two teams and I keep seeing a draw being the outcome. Will Elyounoussi make an appearance? Even better will he make an impact? Let’s hope so.

Prediction: Sevco 2-2 Celtic

Mick Kane hails from Glasgow. He has been hooked on Celtic since he went to his first game when he was 7. Celtic beat Hamilton 8-3 at Celtic Park on the 3rd of January 1987. His favourite player at the time, Brian McClair scored four goals.

He started going regular as a 16 year old when Celtic played at Hampden for the season, being a Southsider it meant a short train journey to get to Hampden. From then he has had a season ticket travelled around Europe for games as Celtic became the dominant force in Scottish football again. A nice change from growing up during Rangers run to 9 in a row.

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After Thursday nights game I wrote an article titled Europa Nights for the website. I was buzzing from the result and performance but I was disappointed to see some of our own fan websites who were not at the game lifted half time footage from social media of Celtic fans being beaten by Swedish Police with Batons and making up sensationalised headlines some even blaming Celtic fans.

Celtic fans are no angels but generally we don’t get much hassle from the local Police when we visit foreign lands, in fact we probably get more at home from Glasgow’s finest. Much of the hassle in Scotland came after the introduction of the OBA which thankfully was defeated by FAC.

Jumping the Gun

How could I comment on what happened at half time when I watched the game from the comfort of my sofa. So unlike others I waited to speak to fans who were at the game. Yesterday I got to speak to Dixie ( Left Wing Badges) a fellow member of St. Margaret’s CSC. It was he who posted one of the videos so he was there and thankfully he told STV, the Press Association and others where to go when they asked about using the footage and fair play to him he told us that we were the only Celtic fan website to ask for permission to use the footage.

I asked Dixie what happened and he told me in his own words and I think his video backs it up

“During the half time break security entered our section of the stadium and headed to an area behind the Green Brigade banner I made my way towards that section, by the time I got there (30 seconds) there seemed to be a stand off, then out of nowhere security started to use their batons again with a line of them ensuring no one could assist the fans being attacked. After a bit there was a pause, and some Swedish lads spoke to the security. We then spoke to security in front of us and we asked why are the batons being used? From their reply I think they had checked CCTV and were trying to identify the pyro lads but no one was arrested they took away some flag poles and then the security retreated from the section”

It’s worth noting folks that some of our own fans who run blog and websites are just acting as another wing of the main stream media who will never let the truth get in the way of a sensationalised Headline.

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.

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Last night the Celtic players put in a great shift to win 4-1 on the night and 6-1 on aggregate. I did not travel to Sweden,  but Scott Crystal was there to cover the trip for us for the Away Days column in the fanzine. Seldom does Scotty miss an away day in Europe.

A few of the other bhoys from our supporters club also travelled over so I will also get a full report when they get back. I will get the lowdown from all of them of the overall trip, the result, the fans reaction from inside the stadium and I will also speak to them about what happened when Police drew batons and confronted a number of Celtic fans.

One thing I won’t be doing is creating sensationalised headlines until I know the facts. Which is what some of the other  Celtic bloggers should do instead of trawling twitter for video footage and comments to create headlines which may or may not be true.

There was plenty to write about after the game without going down the tabloid route. We have enough scribblers in the laptop loyal without having some within our own independent fan media. Maybe its all about getting money from google adverts for them and not about quality content, Click and Bait I think they call it which is quantity over quality.

Putting in a Shift 

As I mentioned above the Celtic players put in a great shift, European away wins don’t come easy and we have suffered many defeats over the years on the Euro road so hopefully the players will take last nights form into Ibrox on Sunday. I have no doubt that the bhoys will have partied some where in Stockholm and will be moaning about the price of a pint when they arrive home.

Talking about Ibrox what about the Legia Warsaw John Paul II banner and Artur Boruc another holy goalie leading the fans on the megaphone. I noticed he was wearing a hoodie with Old School wrote across the front. This Bhoy certainly is an old school rocket I love the man. When he left Celtic he contacted the fanzine to ask how he could get the fanzine posted out to him. Once a Tim always a Tim.

I always want to see the Sevco beaten but maybe its better if they have to play the same amount of games as us after they scraped their way through to the Europa League.

By now you may have read a match report or two so I won’t bore you with a re-write of a re-write ( click and bait anyone) only to say we looked great going forward, moved the ball well and the new bhoys are steadily improving. Ajer and French Eddie went off and we now have wait to see if they will be fit for Sunday.

91AR

The Holy Grail this year still remains the league and the 9IAR but I am looking forward to some more European nights at Paradise and some away adventures in Europe but we need to bolster up the squad defensively because there is plenty of quality in the Europa League. So later today I’ll tune into the draw and see if I can get some cheap flights to some far flung destinations or England and booking my flights and 3 match package for Paradise and hopefully some disco lights moments.

PS I hope someone can borrow the JP banner from Artur for Sunday.

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