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The level of hatred, anti-Irish anti Catholic bile witnessed last Saturday in Georges Square when business premises were forced to close as the Rangers fans are called out once again for their actions. History tells us that their actions are nothing new and we must keep calling it out for what it is but if they showed Glasgow in a bad light while in the Pollokshields, local residents came out to stop two people from being taken from their homes, who the Police said were illegal immigrants, showed the true spirit of Glasgow. One City, Many Cultures.
Celtic Soul Podcast Episode 70 with More than 90 Minutes, Editor Andrew Milne chatting to Tommy Sheridan.Tommy is a political activist, a former SMP, Celtic Fan and even popped up on celebrity big brother and has been very active in the Scottish Independence movement.
The conversation kicks off with Tommy and Andrew looking back over last season as Neil Lennon, Peter Lawell and Scott Brown all signed off at Celtic. While they look back and ask did the rot set in before Brendan Rodgers left the club? and talk about a recent interview with John McGinn where he spoke about what went wrong with him signing to Celtic before he headed for Birmingham and signed to Aston Villa.
Modern Football gets a going over and how important it is to have unity among the Celtic support with the vulture funds circling for a bigger piece of the pie as Super League/ New Champions League gets closer with each passing season.
The level of hatred, anti-Irish anti Catholic bile witnessed last Saturday in Georges Square when business premises were forced to close as the Rangers fans are called out once again for their actions. History tells us that their actions are nothing new and we must keep calling it out for what it is but if they showed Glasgow in a bad light while in the Pollokshields, local residents came out to stop two people from being taken from their homes, who the Police said were illegal immigrants, showed the true spirit of Glasgow. One City, Many Cultures.
Tommy goes onto speak with compassion when he talks about the Scotland he wants to live in which leads into the recent Scottish elections and the support that is growing for another referendum for an Independent Scotland while a border poll in Ireland also gets closer.
Palestine gets discussed, the solidarity showed by Celtic fans from the terraces and stands of Celtic Park and the disappointment of the club taking down the recent display of solidarity in an empty stadium as innocent Palestinian men, woman and children are bombed and murdered on a daily basis by War Criminals masquerading as victims.
Tommy jumps into the Celtic Soul Time Machine and goes back to Dixie Deans making the headlines in Cup Finals and European Semi Finals with the backdrop of the Miners being on strike as Glasgow homes fell into darkness.
Andrew Milne started More than 90 Minutes in 2001. He has written for numerous publications and online about Celtic. He is a former newspaper columnist with the Daily Ireland and the man behind celticfanzine.com. He is host of the Celtic Soul Podcast & 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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This morning I woke up to see on social media that it was 18 years since we were all in Seville enjoying the sunshine as the beer flowed and the songs were sang loudly as over 100,000 Celtic Fans were welcomed to the city for the UEFA Cup Final by the locals as the international football community looked on with mouths wide open as we turned the Spanish City and surrounding holiday resorts in Spain and over the border in Portugal Green and White.
While back in Glasgow, pubs were filled with Sombrero wearing fans, while sand and deckchairs were a common sight outside pubs in the East end of Glasgow to create an atmosphere to set the scene for those who were unable to travel. Tickets were at a premium and touts were taking advantage of desperate Celtic fans.
Celtic fans travelled by cars, vans, buses and planes from all corners of the globe to be there, tens of thousands without tickets. Some fans even cycled the whole way from Glasgow
There was a friendly atmosphere throughout the week and UEFA and FIFA even gave us an award for creating a football fan festival where the Police were on lookers and the local economy got an incredible boost.
I was lucky I got a ticket through our supporters club and I remember going into the stadium early that evening to take it all in. We went through every emotion that night as happiness turned to sadness as we left the ground. The bus back to the Costa Del Sol where I was staying was very quiet as exhausted Celtic fans slept and reflected on what might have been on another night as Moreno’s Porto team cheated their way to the trophy with play acting worthy of a few nominations for the Oscars.
Years later I asked Martin O’Neill at a Questions and Answers in Drogheda about that night and that journey he took us on. He had one or two glasses of wine and he let rip into Moreno about him and his teams antics.
I bumped into Martin again at the Aviva Stadium one night after a friendly between Ireland and Holland, I think it was the last game before we headed for a few weeks to France for the Euros and I thanked him for qualifying us for the tournament, he asked me “Was I going to France”, I replied “Yes, I hope its as good as journey you took us on to Seville” He looked at me and said were you there, I replied “Yes” to which he shook his head, smiled and said “ Celtic, Special Fans”.
On the night Ireland beat Italy in Lille on another hot night like Seville after a day of sunshine and beer, I met Home and Away Celtic fan, Gerry Brady leaving the stadium just like I had done in Seville only this time we were celebrating, I was staying on and heading to Lyon, for the France game but Gerry was climbing on a bus and heading back to Glasgow straight after the game like so many did after that defeat in Seville.
We won nothing in Seville only the hearts of the Spanish people but it was an unbelievable journey that started in Balse the night we failed to qualify for the Champions League and we sulked as we waited for the UEFA Cup draw. Nobody knew the journey we would go on but the road to Seville will live long in our memories. Like so many I have never watched that game again and I have been lucky enough to interview a number of the Celtic players who who took us on that journey.
Andrew Milne started More than 90 Minutes in 2001. He has written for numerous publications and online about Celtic. He is a former newspaper columnist with the Daily Ireland and the man behind celticfanzine.com. He is host of the Celtic Soul Podcast & 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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CALL IT OUT
Average Joe Miller from Not the View joins Andrew Milne to chat about Celtic poor season, the Rangers Anti Irish and Anti Catholic title celebrations, the Scottish Elections and Joe talks about his visit to Palestine.
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Glasgow Rangers football club are an institution, similar to their great rivals across the Clyde, Celtic; despite the obscene wealth available to English clubs there are few clubs in Britain bigger than both and not many throughout Europe, amazing stadiums, worldwide fan base, European history and unequalled success in Scotland, no other country in Europe with a population of 5m has two clubs the size and stature, and they represent, what the late, great, Tommy Burns once said, ‘a cause and a community’, but that is where the comparisons end.
Last weekend Rangers were presented with the SPL trophy at Ibrox; we are in the middle of a pandemic and social distancing is of the essence yet their supporters gathered at Ibrox in their thousands and then marched to George Square in the centre of the city, there 15,000-20,000 of their fans took over the place.
Union Jacks were in evidence everywhere in a city which has rejected rule from London and the Saltire flies proudly; street drinking was engaged in on a massive level despite Glasgow City Council bye laws banning it; the behaviour of the assembled crowd made it apparent that drink wasn’t the only substance taken; statues all around the square were climbed on, pissed on, vomited on, or spat on; the crowds that had walked from Govan to George Square did so in an aggressive manner, almost like the fascist Lazio fans who walked from the Merchant city to Parkhead two years ago.
It wasn’t a carnival approach but a threatening and violent one; anyone who might have looked ‘different’ was attacked, this mob traditionally are, ‘up to their knees in fenian blood’, but immigrants, homeless and gays might have satisfied their hatred despite some singing, ‘I’d rather be a Paki that a ‘Tim’, a form of reference for Scottish Catholics!
Anyone who watched the scenes from George Square on Sky News would have been shocked; it started off peacefully enough but then descended into an orgy of thuggery, gangs of youths attacking others, all Rangers fans by the way, individuals attacked by groups, savage, vicious, beatings handed out to the victims, knocked to the ground and kicked about the head, beer bottles thrown, shop windows smashed, young guys and girls urinating in public; young girls especially with just Union flags covering their modesty, oblivious to the passing shoppers as the main shopping area in Glasgow became a virtual war zone, a den of iniquity, it was pathetic, and of course no respect for anyone, the mob culture took over, and the massed ranks of so called football fans didn’t regale us with the classic Freddie Mercury, ‘We are the Champions’; no, the assembled bigots rattled out the regular Ibrox ‘hymn’ sheet, ‘the Sash’, ‘Derry’s Walls’, ‘Up to our knees in Fenian Blood’, ‘The Famine is over why don’t you go home’, ‘Do you want a dinner Bobby Sands’.
It’s disgusting, xenophobic, anti-Irish, sectarian bigotry; it’s like turning the clock back 300 years to the Battle of the Boyne, even further to Martin Luther, Calvinism or local icon John Knox; the hatred for Catholicism is manifested every other week on the terraces of Ibrox; for 100 years they wouldn’t even sign a catholic player, the bigotry knows no bounds, the unfortunate thing is that the young people who were involved in the disgraceful scenes in George Square, last week have been born into this crap, I mean how could young 18 year old boys and girls I seen become entangled in this disgusting hatred unless their parents and families bred it into them.
What sort of society in the 21st century should have to tolerate communities who hate others because of their religion or Irish background? What do the Scottish Government, media and society have to say about it all?
We hear all the time about racism but have you ever seen a Government Minister or the media calling sectarianism out for what it is? Did you ever see footballers take the knee because someone was called ‘a fenian bastard’? Look at the abuse James McClean gets in England where they are supposed to be above all this crap; he is targeted all the time because he’s an Irish catholic from Derry who refuses to wear the Poppy which is his right.
How many times have you heard someone say, ‘ah he brings it on himself’? That’s exactly what they used to say in Glasgow about Neil Lennon. Always blaming those who were attacked rather than the attacker. That’s always been the way in Glasgow and Belfast for a century or more and we could probably add in Gaza now.
Anti-Irish and catholic bigotry has been part of life in Scotland and the 6 counties since famine times. Both Belfast and Glasgow had a small catholic population at the start of the 18th century, in Glasgow there were more anti catholic societies in the city than there were Catholics. Over the next century rural Catholics flooded into Belfast and après famine over on the boat to Glasgow, but they weren’t welcomed with open arms by the indigenous Scots and sectarian bigotry became a byword for both cities.
The shipyards became major employers but only if you were of a certain religion, discrimination was rampant, ‘what school did you go to’ became the most important question. Sectarian pogroms in Belfast in 1920 set the tone for the new partitioned statelet, in Glasgow in the 1930’s razor gangs were rampant, the protestant ‘Billy Boys’ the most vicious, cut throat blades weren’t the preserve of Sweeney Todd.
At Celtic-Rangers games throughout the century battles would take place regularly on the terraces and around the Gallowgate culminating in the Hampden riot of 1980; in ‘69 another pogrom from the Shankill onto the Falls set the scene for the modern era, but times ‘were a changing’, the demographics of both Belfast and Glasgow were showing that the majority/minority stats weren’t as vast; up to the 1980’s it was dangerous for Celtic fans walking through Glasgow after a game, similarly in Belfast for nationalists walking through the city centre with a GAA top would be risking assault.
The sectarian bigotry in both cities and indeed in places like Portadown or Ayr has been an ongoing problem right through the 20th century and into the new millennium, that it is ignored by the media and Government sources is part of the problem, or even worse is the cop out we hear all the time, ‘both sides are as bad as each other’.
How many times did we hear that here in the Republic back in the 70’s/80’s when people were discussing the conflict in the 6 counties. When Rangers are challenged about their fans singing, up to their knees in fenian blood’, what is the response? ‘but sure Celtic fans sing about the IRA’? Now whether people know much about Irish history or not if they checked they would find out that the Irish origins of the football club which is what defines it and the songs they sing are about the famine, ‘Fields of Athenry’; ‘Grace’ about the marriage in 1916 in Kilmainham; ‘Boys of the Old Brigade, about the Flying Columns in the War of Independence; none of the songs has anything to do with anti-British, Protestant, sectarian bigotry, all reflect periods in time and part of our history, but still media and apologists will spin out the old line about mad sectarian bigots on both sides, all the time allowing Rangers football club and their fans the freedom to continue to cause mayhem and spew their sectarian hatred as witnessed in George Square last week
Amazingly last week was the second time in just two months, back in March when they clinched their first title in a decade they did exactly the same thing and the Scots ‘polis’ just let them get on with it, now you’d think surely it couldn’t happen again but once more the Glasgow ‘polis’ adopted a softly, softly, approach and let them turn the centre of the city into cesspit of hatred and bigotry.
On an even bigger scale back in ’08 Rangers played in the UEFA Cup final in Manchester and 100,000 caused mayhem in the centre of Manchester; similarly back in ’72 they played in the European CWC final in Barcelona and once again wrecked the place, there is a mentality that exists that needs to be examined, it’s a form of fascism, superiority over people of a different religion or colour, it stems from a colonial history of empire, the ‘we are the people’ mentality they espouse is to remind others they perceive them as second class citizens, it’s disgusting, pathetic, evil and wrong.
In case anyone thinks I’m writing this article from a partisan position of bias then it goes without saying, it’s not. I absolutely deplore sectarianism, along with racism it’s the most abhorrent exhibition of bigotry imaginable. I’m a Catholic by birth but it’s with a small ‘c’, equally I have loads of protestant friends, similarly with a small ‘p’. I’ve played golf with many friends who call home ‘Londonderry’ at Dunfanaghy over the years who ‘kicked with the other foot’ as they say, never once had we a bad word between us.
One of our best friends at Dunfanaghy was Brian Craig, as big a Rangers fan as you would meet, on match days we would meet up and he would have a royal blue golf jumper on as we had emerald green. We would give him golf balls with a Celtic logo as he would hand us blue tees. Après golf we would head to the Carraig Rua to watch the game, that’s the way it should be, and I’m sure there are thousands of Rangers fans who are like that in Scotland but the problem is that it’s not a minority who engage in the sectarian shit, it’s a massive problem within their club and followers worldwide, in fact even last week as the players celebrated in Ibrox they were filmed singing, ‘fcuk the Pope’, don’t know what their foreign catholic players made of that, maybe the north’s Steven Davis could explain it.
I understand sectarianism better than most; I grew up immersed with it in Belfast, in fact you can’t do otherwise, it’s in your DNA but you have to get it out of your system, you have to work at it. My parents were country people so they didn’t have time for any of that nonsense, but like everyone in Belfast we lived in a divided society, it was a sectarian statelet as James Craig and Brookeborough declared, ‘A Protestant state for a Protestant people’, it defies comprehension.
I had friends killed by loyalists in the 70’s; Jimmy McCallum was only 16 when killed by a UVF bomb in the pub he was working in ’71, six months later Norman Campbell was shot six times in the head by the UDA on a building site he was working, that was sectarian bigotry at its most vicious, they weren’t killed for anything else only their religion, neither were involved in any of the armed groups, just killed at their workplace which should have been neutral and safe, probably murdered by guys who never worked a day in their lives.
During the conflict everyone killed and no one has clean hands, but while British soldiers and the IRA were ‘at war’ and combatants, the loyalist UVF and UDA killed 1000 Catholics for no other reason than only their religion, republican militants they killed might be about 20 out of the total.
In the 70’s/80’s the ‘Shankill Butchers’ led by Lenny Murphy went on a sectarian spree which was beyond comparison. They kidnapped and killed up to 30 Catholics, but not only killed them but they used butchers knives, hatchets and spades to cut their throats and try to decapitate them, the book ‘Shankill Butchers’ by Martin Dillon is the most horrific reading you will ever come across.
How anyone could descend to those levels but that’s what sectarianism and racism does, whether it’s loyalist paramilitaries, Klu Klux Clan, white Afrikaners, Nazis, fascists, Zionist Israelis, they see their ‘enemy’ as not being human and they can treat them as such, that’s the problem with ideologies that sees a white supremacy lording over Catholics, Blacks, Arabs, Africans, in a sense we might be grateful that in Scotland they limit their sectarianism to 90 minutes on a Saturday although many a young Celtic fan had his throat slit walking through Bridgeton, and indeed just three years ago
I brought an English friend over to a Celtic-Rangers game, his first time in Glasgow, after the game we were having a beer with a German friend in a pub near the Merchant City; just around the corner a gang of Rangers fans attacked a Celtic pub and slashed three guys with Stanley knives with a guy around our age almost killed; like the Irish guy at Anfield, you could just be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Sectarianism is evil, we know all about it in the 6 counties just as much as Scotland. I know there are some bigots within the Celtic support in Ireland and Scotland just as much as there are bigots within nationalism here, but thankfully it’s a minority, the hatred we witness at what they used to call ‘Old Firm’ games comes from the Rangers support, why, it’s impossible to understand. On the Shankill Road or the stands at Ibrox in Govan you will find 5 year olds singing ‘up to their knees in fenian blood’, what sort of parent would allow their child to do that.
Generations have been immersed in this sick bigotry, why would anyone hate another human being because of their religion, even worse, why would anyone kill another person because they had a different religion, it’s disgusting and makes you wonder about all the religious wars down through the centuries, what was it all about?
Over the years society covered it up, the media in Scotland didn’t recognise Irish migrants as a cultural identity, if as was usually the case a Celtic fan was attacked or killed the media would say, ‘football hooligans’, they would never say he was catholic killed by Rangers fans.
In Belfast if the IRA killed an RUC or UDR man the media would say ‘a protestant killed’, if loyalists killed a catholic the media and RUC would announce, ‘reason for death unknown’, it was blatant but subtle avoidance for the obvious reasons. I’ve experienced sectarianism personally, I’ve mentioned it previously but you can’t say it enough to expose the bigots, living in a loyalist area I went up with protestant friends to the 12th bonfire, a bigger lad stopped me going near it, ‘f**k off you fenian bastard’, I was 8 years of age. Don’t know if he was defending the Protestant Reformation or King Billy riding his white stallion across the Boyne but sectarianism was embedded in his mind, even at 14.
In the mid 60’s a group of us went across Belfast to watch Glentoran play, a dozen token ‘fenians’ in the midst of a majority loyalist support but we never had any trouble, but then they weren’t Linfield, and no offence to big Paul Smyth who I golfed with in Dunfanaghy and is a good Linfield guy, but ‘the Blues’ are the Belfast equivalent of Rangers and Windsor was always a cold house for nationalists, although Letterkenny’s Anthony Gorman had a lucrative career with the perennial Irish league champions, don’t know if like the Dub Pat Fenlon, did he wear a Celtic t-shirt under his jersey while training at Windsor?
In 2005 along with 30 others we spent a week at Ypres and the Somme visiting the WW1 graves. It was organised by the late Glenn Barr, essentially by the UDA. Our group was mixed, Catholics, Protestants; Donegal/Derry; a British soldier and UDR man; UVF and IRA ex-prisoners; a SF organiser; HSE CEO, Teachers, Writers, Poets, Musicians; it was the most eclectic group ever. The week was spent visiting graves and debating conflict, sectarianism and division. The religious mix was never a subject even when the UVF and UDA leadership landed to talk peace after yet another feud in Belfast. Meeting a skinhead muscle bound Johnny Adair in a pub in Ypres was like having lunch with Hannibal Lector.
So there is hope. This week for the first time the Scottish Government have come out and condemned Rangers and their fanbase. Nicola Sturgeon said she was ‘disgusted by Rangers fans that rampaged through Glasgow’. SNP deputy First Minister John Swinney said they ‘indulged in vile anti catholic bigotry’. The ‘Scotsman’ newspaper, a broadsheet not known for radical thinking, called for action to end the ‘superiority syndrome’ which even former Manager Walter Smith referred to. The Justice Secretary in Scotland, Humza Yousaf, called on Rangers to ‘sack any player or staff member found guilty of anti-Catholic hatred’.
The Scots Green Party leader Patrick Harvie said Rangers fans ‘were a bunch of thugs’. BBC Scotland said ‘it was disgraceful’ and SFA President Rod Petrie called it, ‘an abomination not a celebration’. Even Rangers in a limp grovelling statement said, ‘some of the scenes were unacceptable and besmirched our name’. The main tabloid the Daily Record, known colloquially as the ‘Daily Ranger’ by Celtic fans, said, ‘sectarian songs, violence, vandalism, disgraceful scenes in the middle of a pandemic’.
Glasgow and Scotland like the 6 counties is a changing place, while the country as a whole remains predominantly protestant, 5 to 1 ratio, in Glasgow itself the catholic Irish population is between 30% and 40%. Traditionally Scotland was Labour territory with the Irish strong supporters, but the surge of the SNP has changed the whole demographic.
Previously with a Tory background the Irish vote wouldn’t go near the SNP for fear that Scotland would end up like a version of old style Stormont rule. But the modern SNP has morphed into a new progressive party which dominates Scottish politics, appeals to young people, and is preparing for Independence, the Tory and Labour vote has died a death and the Irish vote has transferred to the SNP.
It creates a new Scotland and with Independence and back within the European community, hopefully there will be a Government who will tackle the issue of sectarianism head on. The Irish community in Scotland have now taken their place in society as equal participants, heavily involved in politics, law, media and the business community. If the words of the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon after last week’s disgraceful scenes in George Square are setting a path for a future independent Scotland then hopefully the spectre of unbridled sectarianism might be tackled at long last.
It won’t be easy, just as preparing for a unity referendum in the 6 counties won’t be easy. We are all aware of the behaviour of the Orange Lodges followers during Battle of the Boyne celebrations; the 11th night bonfires; the siege at Drumcree; 3 children burnt in their beds in Ballymoney; Neil Lennon sent bombs and bullets; and Celtic Chief Executive Peter Lawwell’s house attacked with petrol bombs as his wife and children slept inside, like last week’s events that’s not celebrating your culture, that’s out and out sectarian bigotry which must be stamped out.
Who is to blame? We tend to think that it’s unemployed working class youths who left school at 15, uneducated, illiterate maybe, going by some of the slogans painted on walls; city kids from dead-end rough estates as you get the world over but throw in the sectarianism you find in Glasgow. But is it only confined to them? When the Republic played England in ’95 at the old Lansdowne the English fans caused a riot as they did across Europe at the time. When those arrested appeared in court they weren’t unemployed working class kids but lawyers, accountants, businessmen, yuppies living in £1m pads in Chelsea.
Reading about Peter Lawwell reminds me of Consultant Dr Muhammed Sattar in Beaumont hospital, I owe my life to him. He brought me back to life ten days after a brain haemorrhage, when I met him later and thanked him profusely for saving me, he replied, ‘God saved your life’! A few years previously as he worked to save someone else’s life in Dublin, bigoted racists attacked his home in Leicester with petrol bombs and his wife, daughter and two sons were burnt to death.
Lawwell’s family could have faced a similar tragedy, this time bigoted sectarianism, there is no place in 2021 for it, how we eradicate it is for society to decide but it can’t be allowed to fester any longer and create another generation of bigots.
Paddy 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.
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One club was formed with a charitable purpose to feed the poor immigrants and inhabitants of Glasgow’s East End regardless of religion, colour or creed. That is the DNA of Celtic Football Club. Some fans forget those roots and values when addressing the situation facing the refugees and immigrants of today.
Real fans who know their history will remember we are from Irish stock, many compelled to come to Scotland due to a British caused famine, where once those refugees and immigrants were discriminated against due to our heritage and religion.
The other club in question was founded on Protestant triumphalism from day one and throughout my childhood refused to sign a Catholic player in a blatant policy of discrimination that fed into the terrace hatred that was accommodated and tolerated for years and still exists within the DNA of that club. The weekly boast about being up to their knees in fenian blood is not banned, condemned or eradicated by the club because their anti-Irish and anti-Catholic hatred is in their DNA.
When that club condemns the overt and covert anti-Irish bile and anti-Catholic tirades, much of it visited on my home by squads of cowards draped in butcher’s aprons for hours last Saturday, then I will take their anti-racism statements seriously.
Do Celtic have some fans that are bams and shame the club? Yes. Is the extent of the problem similar to Rangers? Absolutely not. The culture of anti-Irish and anti-Catholic hatred is a sad and regular feature of Ibrox games and their support base. To deny it is to deny reality.
The Rangers were the best team this season and won the league deservedly. But nothing, absolutely nothing, justifies the constant and unchallenged anti-Irish and anti-Catholic bile that is spewed by so many fans. Discrimination in all and any form should be condemned from all quarters.
Tommy Sheridan will join Andrew on the Celtic Soul Podcast to chat about the season, a hate filled Glasgow city on Saturday when Georges Square was turned into a war zone and punches and bottles were thrown freely under a chorus of F**k the Pope and Up to their Knees in Fenian Blood as videos emerged throughout the day of the chaos including one of the team while local business was forced to close as the centre of Glasgow became an open toilet and after they got fed up punching each other they turned their attention violently towards to the Police.
The bhoys will also chat about Palestine, Scottish Independence and the recent elections in Scotland.
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Jeanette Findlay from the Call it Out Campaign addresses the Anti Irish and Anti Catholic bigotry witnessed on Saturday in Glasgow City Centre after the Rangers fans trophy day hate fest.
Let’s be frank about it. The season was a write off many Celtic fans would call it the season from hell. We are in a very difficult place at present regarding the near future title, the disharmony and disconnect between the boardroom and the terraces does appear to be at its greatest since the halcyon days of the takeover in March 1994, that ousted the old board and ushered in Fergus McCann and a new era at the club.
It must be noted that the Celtic Trust have played a hugely responsible role in overseeing much of the frustration of the support last season and articulating this to the appropriate channels while ensuring that all protests done adhered to safety guidelines. A shining light of the Celtic support the Trust once again stood up when counted for the support it represents so well and Share Our Values.
I really did feel that the frustration of supporters has been massively increased not just by the poor on field performances during the season, but by the sense of helplessness at not being able to attend games and have any influence, which is a huge void in many people’s lives. Celtic mean so much to so many of us, it’s never just about the games itself. It’s the journey, your mates, the pre and post-match routine.
It may seem trivial on the larger scheme of things given the crisis going on throughout the world due to the horrific pandemic. But make no mistake about it no one should underestimate the importance of the Celtic to the lives of so many within the faithful. We all need to try to keep safe over the coming months and look forward to better days ahead.
The season that promised so much was fairly catastrophic. I’m an optimist generally and do believe that there are a few twists and turns to be played out yet, but any honest assessment of the events of the season cannot but acknowledge how mediocre the team performed. Europe was a shambles and our League Cup exit on November 29th to Ross County was gutless. A defeat which saw our phenomenal run of thirty-five consecutive Cup victories end.
Yet in amongst the darker days of the season came a history making Cup final which was a tonic so badly needed to lift the mood of the faithful. A chance to secure a quadruple Treble, an achievement that will never ever be matched again. Had you told me a few years ago that Hampden Park with Neil Lennon as manager would be where we would be making history it’s fair to say I’d have had a serious level of trepidation about that prospect. It has been a venue that for the first half of the last decade was home to so many cruel defeats and days best forgotten.
Our first visit of the previous decade to the National stadium that sunny day in 2010 certainly differed from our last in December 2019 as we exited Hampden Park soaked to the skins but beaming in the joyous victory of our League Cup triumph. What was a classic back to the walls display, the victory against the Rangers (2012) that day was as sweet as they came. A performance lacking in class and flair meant little as we took the silverware back to Paradise yet again.
The previous decade certainly began seeing many of us dreading the thoughts of a day at Hampden Park, yet we would finish the decade with a sense of invincibility about playing there, as we captured trophy after trophy on so many memorable days. Truth be told for me personally the days at Hampden Park over the past few seasons have been some of my greatest days following the Celts and this certainly added to my sense of sadness waking up on cup final morning knowing it was the comfort of the couch as opposed to the slopes of Hampden Park was where I would be witnessing history being made.
The confidence going into the National Stadium was really high that Sunday morning when speaking to many Celtic mates. Such confidence helped settle the nerves prior to kick off. One younger Tim messaged me “Sure its Hampden, we always win there”. His experience certainly differed to many of us who had witnessed darker days at the famous ground.
It almost seems like a lifetime ago when the words “Hampden hoodoo” were commonly associated with the Bhoys. Defeats at Hampden Park over the past decade to the likes of the aforementioned Ross County (Twice), St. Mirren, Caley Thistle, Kilmarnock, Hearts and also on penalties to the Rangers (2012) really did give many of us a sense that there was a spell cast against us by the footballing Gods, such was the number of “Honest mistakes” and freakish goals we conceded. I had the misfortune of being present at all these defeats and I vividly recall walking through the turnstiles as we faced the Rangers (2012) at Hampden Park in Brendan Rodgers first season in the league cup semi-final in October 2016 thinking “please let today be different”.
I know talking to many Bhoys prior to the game they felt the same. All around the Celtic end that day were Bhoys smiling through gritted teeth talking about “Being back in this kip again”. A late, late Dembele double nutmeg later and suddenly “that kip” they call Hampden Park was a little slice of green heaven. Four weeks later and having secured the one hundredth trophy in the club’s history with a defeat of Aberdeen and the Celtic end was rocking.
It is fair to say coming back on the boat on the Sunday I was able to enjoy a few pints after a magic day. Our Bhoys had won the one hundredth trophy in the club’s history and as the waves crashed against the ferry on a fairly rocky sailing home, that evening it was hard to wipe the smile off your face. Season 2016/17 finished as we all know with Tom Rogic’s iconic invincible Cup final winner. The scenes of joy at Hampden that day were unsurpassed. A great friend of mine, Connor Johnson, with whom I’ve travelled with for years looked at me with tears rolling down his eyes. No words needed. Just one of those days. Unforgettable Celtic days.
The five Cup final victories in Hampden that followed carried with them memories to last us a lifetime, took our club to unprecedented heights domestically with treble treble’s secured as well as ten consecutive domestic trophies won. More than that though it gave supporters young and old days of Celtic heaven that will never be forgotten. The consistency, performances, style and aggression that we saw from Celtic sides at Hampden was a joy to watch. But better than that again was the Celtic support in full flight where we took our seats in one of the most soulless arenas in world football and created an atmosphere unrivalled.
To witness the Bhoys entering the field with Neil Lennon suited and booted at the Cup Final for the occasion surrounded by empty stands was just bizarre. As we know a roller-coaster of an afternoon saw us seal history on penalties. Celtic and Cup Final penalty shoot outs traditionally don’t end well but with Christmas on the horizon we certainly got our gifts early. It’s always special seeing the Bhoys lift trophies, with the Scottish Cup particularly having a special place in the hearts of the Faithful, but this one was different. If I’m being honest, I wouldn’t say different for the better.
There is nothing like being surrounded by your pals and family members you travel with regularly on such historic days and the sitting room and your couch, despite the home comforts can never replace that. Still, we should never look past such an historical achievement and it gave us all a bit of respite from the realities of modern life at present. For this Dublin born Celt the weekend was one to look back fondly on as twenty-four hours earlier Dublin won the All-Ireland Championship, just like at Hampden Park in an empty Croke Park. We really are living in surreal times but we can hopefully get back to Paradise soon.
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.
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The Full and Uncut Interview
Life- Football – Music- Politics- Culture- Money- Fame
Milish meets Paul Heaton the singer/songwriter who has never hidden behind the door when it comes to speaking out about politics and social issues. His CV of work and hit records is vast from The Housemartins to The Beautiful South to his solo career and to his reunion with Jacqui Abbot.
There was something rather unfortunate about Alec Boden’s playing career in that he tended to get injured at the wrong time, and of course he played for the club in the late 1940s and early 1950s – a period of time which was one of the poorest in the club’s history. He was a solid and reliable centre half like Jimmy McStay perhaps or Willie Cringan or Jock Stein himself, but possibly lacked the class of a Willie Loney or a Billy McNeill.
He was born in 1925, joined Celtic in 1943, played his debut in 1947, left the club in 1956 to go to Ayr United, and died in 2011. He played 158 times for the club.
He had one great moment in his Celtic career and it was a truly momentous one. The Scottish Cup final of 1951 (and sadly we must now have very few supporters left who can recall it) was hugely significant in the life of the club. We had not won any national trophy of any importance since 1938 and oh! how we craved a piece of silverware!
The Scottish Cup of 1951 had already seen a close call and serious overcrowding at Tynecastle, then a fine win over Aberdeen before Raith Rovers put up a great fight in the semi-final. But Celtic won through and it was Motherwell who faced us in the final that meant so much to the vast and deprived support
Hampden was crowded with an almost capacity crowd (132,000) that fine, sunny, windy spring day. Motherwell were probably a team with more talent than Celtic, but it was Celtic who took an early lead through John McPhail. From then on, it was backs to the wall as the great Motherwell half back line of McLeod, Paton and Redpath took a grip of the game and piled pressure on the Celtic defence. But Celtic’s half back line of Evans, Boden and Baillie were not overwhelmed and how appropriate it was that Alec Boden was one of the men who “chaired” skipper John McPhail with the 16th Scottish Cup! Alec had one of his best ever games taming that Motherwell forward line.
And then his other great moment in Celtic history came long after he had stopped playing. He had done some coaching and he was working as a scout for his old friend Jock Stein, the man who had effectively grabbed the centre half spot from him. He had been asked to go to a Junior football match to watch a youngster called Vic Davidson. He was sufficiently impressed, but also said to Jock that there was another youngster that was worth another look at. “Oh? Who was that?” “A young guy called Dalglish. Kenneth Dalglish. He looks not a bad player”.
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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