Bertie Auld might not have played in the Scottish Cup final of 1969. That he did play was due to the unavailability of Jimmy Johnstone and John Hughes. Jimmy was suspended and Yogi was injured, and this meant that George Connelly and Bertie Auld were on the wings. Bertie in fact might have played anyway even if Yogi had been available, but Yogi’s injury at St Johnstone a few weeks previously meant that Stein had no choice.
The build-up could hardly have been more frenetic or high-key. Already in April Celtic had won the Scottish League and the Scottish League Cup and were going for their second treble. Both teams had won the Scottish Cup 19 times, and a great deal was at stake here.
Two funny things came out of Ibrox in the build-up. Their centre forward Colin Stein (no relation to big Jock) was like Jimmy Johnstone, suspended.The Scottish Daily Express, a very pro-Rangers newspaper launched a campaign to have Stein’s suspension suspended, as it were, to allow Colin to play in the “showpiece” final. This campaign was backed by a Director of Morton FC (for obscure reasons) and Rangers themselves for a spell before they realised that this could not possibly be allowed and eventuallyThe Scottish Daily Express realised this as well and quietly dropped the impossible idea. Meanwhile at Celtic Park, Jock Stein said nothing, allowing those who wished to do so, to make a fool of themselves.
The other funny thing was the Ibrox Victory Parade. The Stadium would be opened on the Saturday night, musical bands had been engaged (flute bands, one imagines) and the Scottish Cup would be paraded to the adoring masses, and it would be a glorious occasion. Once again, Jock Stein maintained an eloquent and dignified silence.
Stein’s master plan involved Auld and Connelly. They were given strict instructions never to move further infield than ten yards from the touchline. He did this knowing that Rangers had a strict man for man marking policy and thus Willie Mathieson and Kaj Johansen would also stay near the touchline, and leave loads of room for the speedy Lennox and Chalmers to get the better of the more ponderous Greig and McKinnon.
The plan could hardly have worked better – to the extent that Johansen wasn’t even on his goalpost as Billy McNeill scored the first, while Alex Ferguson who had been told to go up with Billy (using the elbow if necessary, presumably) failed to do so. Before half time another two goals were presented by the disorientated Rangers defence, and the Cup was as good as won.
So Bertie Auld actually had a fairly quiet game. Maybe just as well, for things were none too gentle in the middle of the park, and had HM The Queen seen the incident between a Rangers player (no name to be mentioned!) and Bobby Murdoch when “the Glasgow kiss” (commonly known as a head butt) seemed to be offered,(but maybe my eyes deceived me and the journalists all got it wrong) there might have been no knighthood in years to come. Bertie did well to stay out of that – well, almost, more or less entirely – but he played his part on the left wing, staying where he was told except when Rangers in desperation convinced themselves that Kaj Johansen was bound to score another goal like he had done in 1966. But Celtic held on, and won 4-0.
Ibrox remained closed that night and the flutes and drummers were not deployed. But if only Colin Stein had been allowed to play by that Jesuit, priest-ridden, Vatican sympathising mob of the SFA….
As for Bertie it was his third and last Scottish Cup medal. He had more or less won the Cup on his own in 1965 (well, there was Billy McNeill’s header as well!), had been a significant player in 1967, but in 1969 his part, although important, was no more so than anyone else’s.
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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There are those who will swear that Charles Patrick Tully was the best player ever. Certainly there was a song at the time which likened him to the Lakes of Killarney. Neither Tully nor the Lakes could be bought by even the wealthiest of American millionaires.
Tully was with us from 1948 to 1958. Stories about his deeds are still told regularly. Often, as is the case with human nature, bits are added to the truth. In this one however, there is no need of embellishment. The plain, unvarnished truth will suffice.
It was a Scottish Cup tie on February 21 1953. Those of us who remember Brockville in Falkirk will probably have a few unhappy memories of poor Celtic performances, bad behaviour (it was one of the grounds where Celtic supporters could more or less be relied upon to misbehave in the 1950s and early 1960s!) and gross overcrowding with access to the ground through narrow alleyways beside a railway line and other major obstacles. Never was the overcrowding worse than on this day with many crush barriers buckling under the weight of the crowd on several occasions, and the wonder was that no-one was actually crushed to death. Several spectators were injured, some seriously.
But the crushing, bad though it was, was not the man topic of conversation. It was Charles Patrick Tully. Celtic had gone in at the interval 2-0 down. Frankly, it had not been a great Celtic performance, and Falkirk were well worth their 2-0 lead. Ex-Celts had figured prominently for Falkirk. The much respected Jock Weir had scored their first goal, but Falkirk’s performance had been orchestrated by the immortal Jimmy Delaney, now not too far away from his 40th birthday and still with a great deal of football left in him. Celtic supporters still loved Jimmy Delaney, as was evidenced when they turned on their own full back Frank Meechan for a particularly vicious foul on the Clelland dazzler. “Shame on you, Meechan!” “Keep that one for Willie Waddell” were among some of the angry shouts directed at Meechan.
It did not look good for Celtic fans at half time, and as is the way with Celtic fans, they turned silent and introspective, even saying that a defeat here might be a good thing. It might bring in a few necessary changes in the Board Room and on the field. On the other hand, Celtic had a long tradition of fighting back, particularly in the Scottish Cup.
But then about 7 minutes into the second half, Celtic won a corner kick. Across trotted Tully to take it. In these days, linesmen were a little more officious than now (no-one bothers all that much if the ball is ever so slightly outside the arc nowadays) and Mr Tully and the linesman exchanged a few words. Tully took the corner kick, the ball drifted high in the air and floated gently into the net. He had scored directly from a corner kick – a rare phenomenon, so rare that some members of the crowd wondered whether it was legal. It was indeed legal – or in this case it would have been, if he had not been “flagged” by the linesman who was still not happy about where the ball had been placed. So it had to be a retake!
The Celtic fans were furious at being denied a foothold in the tie, especially with such a piece of brilliance. But Tully stayed calm, muttered a few words to members of the crowd behind him, then gave the ball to the linesman and asked him to place it for him! He then, very politely, asked a policeman to stand back a little and took the corner for the second time. The ball followed an identical course and drifted once again gently into the net. This time the linesman’s flag stayed down and he ran up the park giving a goal, Tully performed a peculiar little dance, the crowd went berserk with joy and a crush barrier collapsed under the strain.
This was inspirational stuff, and a few minutes later, Tully was again involved in the move which led to the equalising goal. He sent a high ball to John McGrory who gave the ball back to Willie Fernie to equalise the tie. A few minutes after that with the crowd now in an uproar, John McGrory headed a third goal and Celtic now had the tie well in hand. Falkirk’s goalkeeper was carried off after an accidental collision with Willie Fernie. Falkirk’s veterans like Jock Weir and Jimmy Delaney tired as Celtic’s centre half Jock Stein, who had had a poor first half, re-asserted control in the second. But it all started with Charlie Tully, described in Charlie Buchan’s Football Monthly as “a broth of a bhoy”.
Charlie died prematurely in 1971, aged 46. He was much mourned in the Celtic community with many people recalling with affection that day in Falkirk in 1953.
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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MAN OF THE MATCH: Greg Taylor waited for his chance to prove to the manager that he should be a regular starter at left back and over the past few weeks he has worked his arse off to insure he keeps his starting jersey. Last night he had a solid performance, he showed great attitude in a game that never really came to life till after the hour mark.
HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Wonderful goal from Tom Rogic to settle the nerves, while Odsonne Edouard continues his impressive goal return of late and Kristoffer Ajer impresses every time he pushes forward. David Turnbull once again put in a decent shift, including scoring the fourth goal after a quite first half.
FIRST HALF:With the exception of the Tom Rogic goal, the first half was played like a pre-season friendly at times with both teams guilty of stray passes and both goalkeepers having little to do.
SECOND HALF: Neil Lennon had a word with the players at half-time but it still took them till after the hour mark to spring into real life but when it did it was a short story of five minute heroes. Three goals in about 5 minutes had me almost jumping out of my chair. Almost!Taylor was taken down for the penalty, Eddie stepped up and coolly slots it away, Ryan Christie looked more like himself when he scored the third after coming off the bench before the ever alert, Turnbull rocked up with the fourth and final goal. Another clean sheet and a quite night for Scott Bain in the Celtic net.
INJURED: After Stephen Welsh’s man of the match performance against Motherwell. The youngster started once again before being carried off after a late tackle from Jon Obika. The arrival of Shane Duffy on the pitch as his replacement brought out some humour on twitter as his arrival heralded the 3 goals. Lets hope the injury does not keep him out because it was great to see an unchanged 11 named for the game something that hasn’t happened too often this season.
SKY SPORTS: Before even a ball was kicked positivity surrounded Celtic fans TV sets when we all realised that Kris Boyd was not covering the game.
MATCH REACTION:Neil Lennon “We took a lot of criticism, and rightly so, after the defeat against St Mirren at Celtic Park, so obviously we wanted to put that right. That’s three wins on the bounce now, and we’ve got to try and maintain that until the end of the season.” Greg Taylor “You’ve got to bide your time. It was nice to get the early goal and it was a lovely goal from Tom in the first half, and then in the second half we managed to get a few more against a well-drilled side.”
FAN REACTION: Celtic fans in Watts App groups and across social media were in agreement that it was a positive result after the game finally came to life but it was like a Chris Sutton tweet read, Too Little to Late. Plenty of humorous comments on Shane Duffy after a day that the Green Brigade grabbed the headlines for yet another banner which has once again seen the Celtic Supporters split over the groups action plan.
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.
If you would like to support our Independent Celtic Fan Media Platform you can become a Member, Subscribe, Buy or Donate for the Price of a Pint. Your Support helps us continue to produce Daily News & Articles, Weekly Newsletter, Two Weekly Podcasts, Monthly Fanzine, Video Content & Live Shows.
St. Mirren away would normally be a handy trip for me in and out of Glasgow airport and a quick cab ride to the ground, in and out on Saturday or Sunday morning and home in time for tea. Midweek it’s a late afternoon flight, a few pints and an overnight stay in Glasgow before a red eye home the following morning.
These days it’s the comfort of my sitting room with my virtual season ticket for home games or the smirking Kris Boyd for company on Sky Sports away days. Well at least I can take comfort that he’s freezing his balls off.
Earlier today the Green Brigade unfurled another banner which read Jan Review- Parasites, Liars, Charlatans. Under normal circumstances a banner like this would be unveiled tonight inside the ground but with lockdown restrictions the Ultra group have been active outside the stadium and outside the training ground in Lennoxtown.
Failure by the board to address supporters concerns about the January review on the direction and management of the club have forced the group into action. As long as the silence remains deafening then this form of protest will continue.
Earlier today the Green Brigade unfurled another banner which read Jan Review- Parasites, Liars, Charlatans. Under normal circumstances a banner like this would be unveiled tonight inside the ground but with lockdown restrictions the Ultra group have been active outside the stadium and outside the training ground in Lennoxtown.
Failure by the board to address supporters concerns about the January review on the direction and management of the club have forced the group into action. As long as the silence remains deafening then this form of protest will continue.
The Celtic Trust have a different approach and are scheduled to meet with the club to discuss the concerns of the fanbase and look for some answers to the questions on everybody lips.
Let’s get back to tonight and the game in hand. St. Mirren are in great form of late and will be confident of another victory after beating us at Celtic Park, something that does not happen too often but this season anything seems possible such has been the form although in fairness we have won our last two games and although the swagger in this team is long gone when they arrive at an away ground. I am expecting them to win.
Everyone is expecting an open game which should see a few goals at each end. The Celtic players should be chopping at the bit to get onto the pitch tonight to reverse the recent defeat.
It would be disrespectful to play down St. Mirren’s form this season because the players have been excellent under Jim Goodman, his team were unlucky not to get into the league cup final and they look good for a top six finish but tonight has to be all about Celtic and closing that big gap on the Rangers as they close on their first historical title in their short history.
Prediction: Celtic to win but expect goals by each team and some scary moments. That’s me off to crack open a pre-match can.
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.
If you would like to support our Independent Celtic Fan Media Platform you can become a Member, Subscribe, Buy or Donate for the Price of a Pint. Your Support helps us continue to produce Daily News & Articles, Weekly Newsletter, Two Weekly Podcasts, Monthly Fanzine, Video Content & Live Shows.
Starting in the coalfields of Lanarkshire and Ayrshire, where the three men were born within a 30 mile radius of each other, all three spent time in the pits at an early age but would rise to the top of British and European football. We then hear about the men as players, all played for big clubs at the time but never reached the heights they would as managers., Stein would captain Celtic to a league and cup double, Busby played for Man City and Liverpool, while Shankly played for Preston North End. Shankly and Busby were teammates for Scotland, Stein being a few years younger.
For us as Celtic fans, there may be nothing new the documentary can tell us about Stein’s time at Celtic, which if you know the history, we know his talents however to see the other two greats talk in such glowing terms of Stein shows the impact he had on the game.
Watching them talk you can see why they were able to get to the top and if they didn’t become football managers, they would have made fine leaders in whatever industry they had chosen. Busby seems the more reserved and laid back of the trio but had a presence that gravitated players to him, he cared for them and nurtured them, we see how he built the Busby Babes, the tragic aftermath of the Munich disaster in which he said he would rather have died only for his wife to make him get back on the football field for the players that survived and the memory of those who died.
As for Shankly, a true socialist of a man, Liverpool seemed a perfect match for him. A great orator, leader, he was excitable and lively with football being his life. When he suddenly stepped down from the Liverpool team that were on the cusp of their great European runs he seemed to find it hard to find a place in the world.
Stein, our leader, our greatest manager, and you can see why. Stein was a mix of both Shankly and Busby’s personalities, he could be reserved, thoughtful but also charismatic.
Shankly seemed to hold both Stein and Busby in great affection, being the only English based manager to travel to Lisbon, telling Jock the famous line, ‘John, you’re immortal now’ after the game. Interestingly, Busby and Shankly were best friends with Shankly looking up to Busby. Busby told Liverpool to look at Shankly when they needed a new manager. Busby also had tried to get Stein to replace him at Old Trafford, which Stein had agreed, only for a change of mind. Busby was a bhoyhood Celtic fan and from the words Shankly said about Celtic he clearly had some affection for the hoops too.
The documentary also features comments from another Scottish great, Alex Ferguson who will no doubt have a similar documentary made soon enough. The Three Kings was directed by Jonny Owen who was also behind, I Believe in Miracles, which chronicled Brian Clough and the great Nottingham Forest team of the late 70’s, another good watch.
The Three Kings a thoroughly entertaining documentary that cemented the three clubs as the three biggest in Britain.
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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A True Celtic Legend, Danny McGrain graces the cover of Issue 113 of More than 90Minutes before his famous beard was grown and there were no clash of colours as the image shows Danny in action in the famous hoops sporting a big collar as was the fashion back in the seventies. The jersey has no sponsor, no sports label or club crest.
Legendary Celtic Author, Tom Campbell who appeared at Celtic AM before the lockdown makes his long overdue debut for the fanzine as he looks back on the career of Danny McGrain who made 439 appearances in the hoops.
Lisbon Lion John Fallon is back as honest as ever as he calls for change at the club as the season stumbles on. Editor, Andrew Milne looks back at Peter Lawell’s 17 years as CEO at Celtic after the club announces he will step down at the end of the season. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
Selfless Celtic Trust member, Jeanette Findlay who has done so much for the Celtic support over many years brings us up to date on the Trust as membership continues to grow. The CT gives ordinary fans and shareholders a Collective Supporters Voice.
David Potter pays tribute to Jo Venglos and Shuggie Edvaldsson who both sadly passed away recently. Alec Bodenfeatures in Potters Players. Young Author, Liam Kelly looks at the career of Willie Maley, the man who made Celtic
Dublin journalist, Rachel Lynch is feeling let down that the 10 was given up so easily. While Eoin Coyne thinks we are bottomed out and looking up. Paddy McMenamin looks back at Neil Lennon’s Celtic career and how he has suffered for wearing the Green and White of Celtic, Lenny’s time may be up but he deserves respect. Ciaran Kenny reminds us that Celtic’s for Life and not just a season.
Talented Young Glasgow Poet, Erin Boyle makes her debut for the fanzine after appearing on the Celtic Soul Podcast with A Quadruple Treble, Beautiful Sunday, 20th December 2020. A day and game we will never forget as the Bhoys done the business in an empty stadium to make history as we went through every emotion while watching from a distance in our homes.
Regular contributor, Scotty Alcroft joins us for a conversation to talk about his new book, “Bonded By Burns” while Martin Donaldson looks back in GOAL! at Henrik Larsson’s strike at the Estadio do Bessa on the 24th of April 2003, the goal that would bring us all to Seville.
We look back at the talking points of the past month in our regular Since Last Time column. Snap takes us back to the 1980 Scottish Cup final in pictures. Tim Molloy is back with his regular column in our native tongue.
The digital edition of More than 90 Minutes is now available to download.
If you would like to support our Independent Celtic Fan Media Platform you can become a Member, Subscribe, Buy or Donate for the Price of a Pint. Your Support helps us continue to produce Daily News & Articles, Weekly Newsletter, Two Weekly Podcasts, Monthly Fanzine, Video Content & Live Shows.
Several years ago, while looking for a completely unrelated thing, I found photos of Airdrie’s old Broomfield stadium (they are on pages 26 and 27 of the book) and was reminded of being in the main stand with my father in 1970 or ’71. I didn’t do anything about the photos at the time, but remembered them.
In 2017, frightened for my job as a production editor in the slow decline of newspapers, I went to my bosses at DC Thomson and suggested a department making books out of archive material. The company said: “OK, we’ll give your idea a go” and gave me time, a budget, and all the backing I needed. The first book I did was about household tips from the 1950s! How to get furniture dents out of carpets, how to stop flies entering your house, how to make tea towels last five times as long.
It did very well, your ma would love it! Now I have my own department creating books. The next title was Lifted Over The Turnstiles, which grew from those pix of Broomfield to a 260-page book. The archive I have to work with is incredible. Hundreds of thousands, probably millions, of Scottish sport images from the past 150 years.
Some are photos, most are negatives. Some have a lot of information attached, others have none. Sometimes they are painstakingly catalogued, sometimes you find Cappielow listed under “Gourock & district street scenes 1954-58”. You never know what you’ll find. The cover of Celtic in the Black & White Era is a photo of Hampden In The Sun, that I found in a box that was marked only as “1957-58: B117”. You never know what you’ll find. It’s part of what makes the job so interesting.
I’ve been a journalist for 41 years, but although fitba daft, I was never a sports journalist. I was on the news desk, chief sub-editor, news editor, production editor. I still write a weekly column for a newspaper on spelling and grammar — mostly complaining about apostrophe usage. Over the years, I made myself an expert on old newspapers, old photos, old match reports. I would go to the file rooms and look at ancient newspapers several times a week, for several decades. It’s a life-long hobby, I am the world’s foremost expert on old Sunday Posts (not that anyone else wants the title!) and it has served me very well now I create books.
I know where to look and (though it is strange to say) how to look. If you want a description of how teams played in the 1920s, read their match reports from every week of the season. Read the feature articles, taking note of who the manager praises and why praise is being given.
You have to think like they were thinking, you have to ask yourself why players are described as “clever” or “off colour”. You have to look closely at the photos and decipher what it is you’re seeing. Look at all parts of the photo, why the crowd is shouting, whether a player in a training photo looks like he is (or isn’t) trying really hard, who is the manager shouting at? All the clues add up.
The photos are a great find for fans to enjoy, tell us a bit about the archive?
The archive I work with has quirks. Sometimes you look through the index for a player’s name. Sometimes they will be filed using the name of the game: “East Fife v. Celtic”. Sometimes they are in packets listed only as: “Football actions 1962”. A photo of Celtic Park might be listed under “General scenes, Glasgow (not factories)”.
The people doing the filing might not have cared a thing for football. They were often office girls who wouldn’t know a rugby ball from a football. So sourcing the photos is an arcane process, closer to intuition than science. And often just luck. But that’s what makes the job so interesting. You might find a packet full of school sports days that, somehow, also contains three or four photos of the 1965 Scottish Cup Final.
So with so many pictures how did you decide what pictures to put into the book?
Some photos you look at and just say “Wow”. Sometimes you find a photo of a laddie doing some welding work and it turns out to be Jimmy Johnstone. I have a dream that one day I will find a packet of photos labelled “general fishing scenes” (or some such) and it will turn out to be Jimmy in his rowing boat. Other times, you know the significance of a game, or a goal, and you just know that someone, somewhere will look at it and say: “I was there, I was in The Jungle. I remember it as if it was yesterday”.
My biggest ambition is for some Celtic supporter to look through the book and come across a photo that makes them think: “I was with my long-gone father/grandfather/uncle. What a day that was. What a game. What times we had.” These books are shamelessly about nostalgia for the games, the places you went to 50 years ago, which leads on to thoughts of who you were with, and whatever happened to them. Football is the background to our lives. The books recapture time.
Finding a never-before-seen photo of a time, or a game, is like having something unlocked in your memory. I am continually told that the books have been bought as gifts for the sort of difficult-to-buy-for bloke who usually gets a new jumper or socks at Christmas — then they spend four hours looking through the book and have to be dragged to the table to eat their turkey and trimmings. I greatly enjoy these stories, I’m one of those old football blokes who would get lost in old photos.
It was an easy choice. There is so much fantastic material, so many great characters to find photos of. But I can explain this best by giving an example. If anyone is thinking of buying this book, go pick it up in a shop and turn to the Hampden In The Sun chapter, pages 40 to 57. Those photos are why this book was published. I’m going to make a huge claim: I’ve spent a lifetime looking at football photos and those are the best I’ve ever seen. Hampden looks incredible. It is like an epic movie set — Ben Hur, or the like.
The low-angle images of Dickie Beattie set against the sun breaking through clouds are incredible. The photographer could have spent weeks trying for a better angle, a better composition of a photo, and not done any better. These photos belong in an exhibition that doesn’t merely deal with football but talks of the evolution of sports photography. I’ve never seen photos that take my breath away quite like them. I intend to contact the club now the book has been published and offer them the high-resolution files in the hope that they might find them useful, or might even find a place for them on a wall somewhere within Celtic Park. I urge you, have a look at these photos. If you’ve seen better, then please let me know.
What’s in the book?
Putting together a book of great Celtic photos was easy, and yet very difficult. Easy because there are plenty of photos to choose from. The wily Jock Stein realised early in his managerial career that it would benefit his club if he kept a high profile in the media. The great man fed stories to reporters, knowing that they always thirsted after good copy. To compliment these stories Jock allowed, and encouraged, photographers to take photos of his players behind the scenes, at training, even in their own homes. So lots of candid photos are held in the “cave of wonders” that is the DC Thomson archive.
And difficult because Celtic became, as per Jock’s plan, a much-photographed team. This was great for supporters, but not so great for an author trying to find never-before-seen old photos 50 years later.
So it took a lot of work. There were more, indeed many more, photos that could have been used. But they had been seen before — some Celtic images are famous and have been endlessly featured in newspapers, books and on websites. However, the rare gems of never-before-seen photos do exist. And that’s what is in these books. It took a lot of research and a lot of hard work, but for any supporter of Celtic there are images here that won’t have been seen. Jinky at his welding job, Tommy Gemmell out hunting, Gil Heron’s debut for the club, John Thomson at home with his family and fiancée — and photos of great games that have lain hidden.
This is, by any measure, a highly significant addition to the history of the club. You’d have to see to believe the reception the players got after returning from the 1970 Leeds European Cup Semi-Final away leg. You will gaze in wonder at a 15-year-old George Connelly doing keepie-ups. You’ll laugh when you see Jinky’s come-uppance during training at Troon beach.
The biggest jewel, however — an emerald wonder — is the aforementioned collection of photos from the 1957 League Cup Final. They aren’t like other football photos you will have seen before.
There are many good Celtic books. There is an interest and a love of the history and the ethos of the club that runs deep a mong the faithful-through-and-through support. But there has never been a Celtic book like this. There never can be again. This book has material that no other can get close to. It is a unique and fascinating look at a succession of charismatic players — Bertie Peacock, Charlie Tully, Bobby Collins. It is a window on the history of the club that has never been opened before. There are photos here that will fascinate any Celtic supporter, indeed anyone interested in the history of Scottish football.
The foreword is by Marie Clark, daughter of Lisbon Lion John. She talks of her fascination at seeing her father in his youth, in photos that even she has never seen before. She relates how she, and her own daughter, pored over the photos of her mother and father from 1967 and the conversations about her mother’s dislike of hats (yet she is wearing a hat) and the dress she had on in a series of heart-warming shots that show Marie herself as an angelic toddler.
If the book touches the heart of even the players’ families, think what it might do for a supporter who remembers the classic games and players themselves, or who wants to see what it was really like back then
Putting together a book of great Celtic photos was easy, and yet very difficult. Easy because there are plenty of photos to choose from. The wily Jock Stein realised early in his managerial career that it would benefit his club if he kept a high profile in the media. The great man fed stories to reporters, knowing that they always thirsted after good copy. To compliment these stories Jock allowed, and encouraged, photographers to take photos of his players behind the scenes, at training, even in their own homes. So lots of candid photos are held in the “cave of wonders” that is the DC Thomson archive.
And difficult because Celtic became, as per Jock’s plan, a much-photographed team. This was great for supporters, but not so great for an author trying to find never-before-seen old photos 50 years later.
So it took a lot of work. There were more, indeed many more, photos that could have been used. But they had been seen before — some Celtic images are famous and have been endlessly featured in newspapers, books and on websites. However, the rare gems of never-before-seen photos do exist. And that’s what is in these books. It took a lot of research and a lot of hard work, but for any supporter of Celtic there are images here that won’t have been seen. Jinky at his welding job, Tommy Gemmell out hunting, Gil Heron’s debut for the club, John Thomson at home with his family and fiancée — and photos of great games that have lain hidden.
This is, by any measure, a highly significant addition to the history of the club. You’d have to see to believe the reception the players got after returning from the 1970 Leeds European Cup Semi-Final away leg. You will gaze in wonder at a 15-year-old George Connelly doing keepie-ups. You’ll laugh when you see Jinky’s come-uppance during training at Troon beach.
The biggest jewel, however — an emerald wonder — is the aforementioned collection of photos from the 1957 League Cup Final. They aren’t like other football photos you will have seen before.
There are many good Celtic books. There is an interest and a love of the history and the ethos of the club that runs deep a mong the faithful-through-and-through support. But there has never been a Celtic book like this. There never can be again. This book has material that no other can get close to. It is a unique and fascinating look at a succession of charismatic players — Bertie Peacock, Charlie Tully, Bobby Collins. It is a window on the history of the club that has never been opened before. There are photos here that will fascinate any Celtic supporter, indeed anyone interested in the history of Scottish football.
The foreword is by Marie Clark, daughter of Lisbon Lion John. She talks of her fascination at seeing her father in his youth, in photos that even she has never seen before. She relates how she, and her own daughter, pored over the photos of her mother and father from 1967 and the conversations about her mother’s dislike of hats (yet she is wearing a hat) and the dress she had on in a series of heart-warming shots that show Marie herself as an angelic toddler.
If the book touches the heart of even the players’ families, think what it might do for a supporter who remembers the classic games and players themselves, or who wants to see what it was really like back then
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Feelings run high amongst the Celtic Faithful at any stage throughout the year. Celtic is so important to so many of us and defines many of our lives that it is very difficult to stay impartial on major events surrounding the club. This seasons defeats saw the usual online explosion of views, debates and plenty of disagreements amongst the Celtic Faithful.
Derby defeats hurt more than any other and given the overall impending sense of almost Armageddon that is surrounding this season, the reaction from many sections of our support was no surprise. There have been many comparisons in the media between this season and the last time a club in Scotland went in quest of the “Ten” in season 1997/98, which thankfully saw the good guys triumph at the end.
One thing that wasn’t so readily available over twenty years ago was social media platforms that allows for all sorts of information but also it must be said misinformation and counterproductive and divisive comments that often go unchallenged, many without a scintilla of truth and inevitably is spewed within seconds of a poor result. A real case of empty vessels making the most noise. There always needs to be a place for healthy debate and by God there have been dozens of scenarios in the past where I have argued, often being a sole voice about an issue relating to our club.
We are never going to agree on all issues but some of the stuff I read online from a small section of our support recently was pathetic. More click baits than anything. We as a support are better than that and with an array of fantastic Celtic media outlets out there, it seems unfortunate that feeding into some of the wannabe bloggers and doom merchants in our support has been an unhealthy past time for too many Celts.
There is some super content out there and some of the podcasts, including I must say the editor of More than 90 Minutes podcast “The Celtic Soul” have been a brilliant outlet for Tims throughout the world to stay in regular contact with fellow Celts and also keep up to speed with the latest happenings in Paradise. Gone be the days when waiting for the arrival of the Celtic View was anticipated by so many to get a better sense of “How are the Bhoys doing?” Not so sure that the View always did that though!! Throughout these strange times we live in the enjoyment many within the faithful have gotten from some of the on-line podcasts, as a means to escape the trials and tribulations of today’s current affairs and daily news can never be underestimated. Still there is some irony in the fact that never before have we had such an amount of Celtic related content at the click of a button yet it can seem at times the more you read the more ill-informed you can become.
The backlash to the results this was pretty inevitable. The tension surrounding this season is enormous and is being rammed up daily by the main stream media with sensationalist headlines now becoming the daily norm. A large array of the Celtic support has earmarked this season from way out. The death of our biggest rivals in 2012 saw many begin to wonder almost straight away “what year could we get the ten??” As soon as the jelly and ice cream had been gobbled up in celebration of the liquidation of Rangers, for countless of Bhoys and Ghirls the talk was of nothing else only “The Ten”. Many within the faithful have referred to it as “The Holy Grail”. Yet throughout all of this talk of “Holy Grails” and “Biggest season ever” I have felt there is something very uncomfortable about it all. I fervently feel we need to aim higher as a club.
We reached the “Holy Grail” in ’67 and domestic dominance needs to be a spring board to greater things. Not the top of the mountain. I have watched as our ground and the surroundings have grown to become the envy of pretty much every club in the U.K. The world’s greatest players and supporters of some of the biggest clubs on the planet have queued up to eulogise the match day experience and atmosphere created by the faithful. Countless tributes have been paid to the club after playing in Paradise from the good and the great of world football.
“The atmosphere generated by the fans in Celtic’s stadium for our visit was the most impressive I’ve ever witnessed. The grounds of Liverpool and Manchester United are good and the hostile feeling of playing against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu is also excellent, but the atmosphere against Celtic was the best.”
Xavi (Barcelona)(Sep 2004)
“Celtic fans are some of the greatest supporters I know.” AC Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf (Oct 2007)
“The Celtic fans are incredible. It is always great to play there.” Cristiano Ronaldo, Man U (2008)
“I’ve been fortunate to play in some great stadiums in Europe with Barcelona but none compare to Celtic. The atmosphere their fans create make it a very special European night of football.” Messi (Sep 2013)
You could literally fill ten pages with quotes from so many well-respected names within the game on how special our ground and support are. Yet for too many in our support the height of their ambitions is about just beating a bastardised version of a club long gone. In many quarters there was talk of disappointment we even qualified for the group stages of the Europa League this season and the likes of AC Milan coming to town has been greeted with derision and disdain. A nuisance and a distraction to many.
Obviously not being able to attend the games will massively impact on our level of excitement but it still saddens me how so many within our support are completely dismissive of this seasons European games. I asked a mate of mine “We’ll where do we go after we do the ten?” The response he said embodied everything that is holding our club back, “Easy, going for 55.” Referencing the desire to beat the laughable notion that Rangers (2012) have been pushing, that their next league win will be their 55th League Championship given the previous Ibrox clubs fifty-four titles.
I’ve no doubts that the cries of “Here for ten in a row” have been music to the ears of many within the board who have frustrated a large section of the faithful for many years relating to their prudent policies that have stifled us moving forward. You can imagine the conversations in the corridors of the boardroom, “All we need to do is beat that mob and we’ll be ok, no need to deepen our pockets too much”. Imagine if the board had paid the money for the likes of John McGinn a couple of seasons back. The short-sighted penny pinching we’ve witnessed over the last few years is a shameful indictment on the board.
While we did see some positive investment this Summer it inevitably happened after we exited the Champions League and our reactionary approach to the transfer market once again came back to haunt us. There is no club on the planet like the Celtic and Paradise on a European night is unrivalled. It’s just a pity that some within our support don’t see the potential for our club to kick on. We are so much better than limiting ourselves to being champions of Scotland. Of course, that’s brilliant but there is so much more we can achieve. We have either won the league or brought it to the last day every season bar one since the turn of the century.
Ironically it was one of those seasons we didn’t win the league in 2003 when we went on our European odyssey to Seville that is most fondly remembered by many Celtic fans. It’s a shame so few are wanting to dream of such European dreams again at present and seem satisfied with beating an eight-year-old football club. As a young fella going to Celtic Park, European football was something that tended to begin in July and end in August. It was something that was just to be watched on TV. I remember celebrating wildly beating SC Tirol in August 1997 and thinking how great that we will have one more round of European football that season.
Don’t ever tell me A.C Milan and company are an unwanted distraction. Our footballing arena, envied by so many, is a stage befitting of the AC Milan’s of the world far more than Hamilton Accies or dare I say it eight-year-old football clubs dripping in bigotry and living off the history of the 2016 Petrofac cup.
I am not wanting to minimise this season’s importance to the club and our support. As someone who grew up during the previous Rangers Nine in a row era there is something very special about this current run we are on. To think that the immigrant club can achieve a run of domestic success in Scotland never seen before and most likely to be seen again is a once in a lifetime chance. Cool heads on the park and within the support are needed and I am still immensely confident we will get back next season, despite a concerning number of flat performances this season. But this season regardless of its outcome will come and go and the club we all love will remain. Don’t allow us be defined by them in any way.
Our greatest hour will always be in Europe and I believe our greatest days ahead are those magical nights under the lights. For those that disagree with me, we have to dream bigger, the bright star above the front doors of Celtic Park in memory of Lisbon reminds us it’s our duty.
Ciaran Kenny is a member of Naomh Padraig CSC in Dublin since the early nineties.He is also a regular at Celtic games at Paradise and beyond since 1995, he is a season ticket holder at Celtic Park since 1999, a Shareholder and also a member of the Celtic Trust. He has worked closely with the homeless services in Dublin City working with Don Bosco Care since 2001. He 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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In every sense of the word, John Mulrooney was an entertainer. Off the field, he was a comedian and a singer, so much so that he earned the nickname “Caruso” after the great Italian operatic tenor Enrico Caruso. His entertaining skills were much in demand when Celtic were on their intensive midweeks away at Seamill Hydro or elsewhere, or when on tour in the summer of 1912. He had a natural comedian’s face, and he had the rare ability to wiggle his large protruding ears to the delight of children and old ladies. But he was also not a bad goalkeeper
Before becoming a full time professional, he had been a miner in Lanarkshire and played junior football for Earnock Rovers. At Celtic, he was considered to be good enough to follow in the footsteps of Davy Adams, and played his first game against Queen’s Park at Hampden on December 9 1911 (a week after Patsy Gallacher had made his debut) and impressed them well enough to keep his place all that season, including the 1912 Scottish Cup final against Clyde. He kept a clean sheet on a very windy day and Celtic’s 2-0 victory was enough to give him a Cup winner’s medal, and to make sure that Mulrooney, McNair and Dodds entered into Celtic folklore.
In these days, the habit of a goalkeeper wearing a separate coloured jersey was not yet mandatory, and sometimes John wore a different coloured jersey from the rest of the team and sometimes he just proudly donned the hoops. But he did wear a different jersey on the Scandinavian tour of 1912 in the game against the Norway Olympic XI. Someone had given Jimmy Quinn a woollen white jersey with shamrocks on it. Mulrooney asked if he could wear it, and Jimmy, always ready to oblige, said yes.
Season 1912/13 was not so good for John. He was blamed for some goals, and he suffered from rheumatism. When Charlie Shaw was signed in summer 1913, John had to go (Charlie was in all truth a better goalkeeper) and John found himself playing (with distinction) for St Johnstone in season 1913/14.
On Monday July 27, 1914 (when the Austro-Hungarians had already declared war on Serbia, but very few people as yet saw any need for a major World War) John Mulrooney died suddenly at his house in Hamilton. The cause was given as heart failure, a condition possibly not unconnected with his treatment for rheumatism. Those who had played with him were absolutely devastated, but he had established for himself his little corner of Celtic history.
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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First off, if the book title “Into the Bear Pit” is Cockney rhyming slang for ‘Into the Shit” or into the Shitiest deal you will ever see in your life, then that’s a fair and good title.
The book opens with Craig Whyte’s education and quest for wealth from a young age. His love of ancient mythology and mathematics, and how they set him on a course for playing the stock markets from a relatively young age, whilst running to some old Greek prophet’s thought process. He got quite good at this apparently, moving cash from fund to fund, collecting the gain before he even paid the last fund. This point is important later.
In my opinion the book makes Craig Whyte out to be a bit of a coward honestly. The way I read this, he seemed to avoid the tough conversations when the true picture of what he was buying became clear, yet he did nothing about it, or even tried to stop the transaction. When the demise of the then Rangers Football Club was flowing in full effect, he, and the real villain in this story David Murray, were keen to “hide behind their advisors”. Their advisors got paid to appease them, telling them what they wanted to hear, not what was actually going on, I think.
If the accounts in the book are true, the old company was going under whether Craig Whyte, or anyone else stupid enough, stepped in or not. There was a squeeze and incentive from Lloyds Bank in that they were starting the default management process against Murray’s company (Murray international Metals ~ AKA~MIM) to the tune of about $130 mill that was owed. Murray’s company was Corporate Guarantor for the Rangers’ loans, which didn’t help.
Knowing that administration was coming, the book states that Murray provided financial incentives to the then Old Boys Club of a board to “get this deal done”. Lloyds would be paid by the sale of Rangers in exchange for Lloyds selling Murray back his repossessed assets for, yes £1 (I Pound Sterling GBP). But Rangers were £18-30 mill in debt. How can you satisfy £18-30 million pounds for only £1? That’s a bargain, right?
Well that’s where the poor gullible buggers we know as Ticketus come in. £25 mill hush hush (see you in court later on – let’s try and do a Man United type deal). Ticketus fronted the amount owed to Lloyds to pay off Rangers’ debts in exchange for the next 5 years of season ticket revenues, AKA a payday loan.
What’s the difference between Man United and Rangers deal? Man United had an experienced “Billionaire” owner with a global reputation for sourcing funds and turning around asset rich and cash poor companies. They floated a very successful bond sale which raised about £500 Million, which was more than enough to pay off Ticketus in full, stopping any further interest payments owed.
Man United were bought using 3rd party money and then sold the company to the market raising enough capital to satisfy all the debt. Basically the Glaziers bought Man United with nothing and now they own a £3.6 Billion global brand business. Not bad, eh? Rangers could not raise even one million if my memory serves me right. Yes we laughed – they were, and are, the gift that keeps on giving.
Now back to Rangers who had Craig Whyte, who was afraid to put his hand in his own pocket knowing that every penny was going down the toilet to the administrators. That and two tax owed cases against NHRC to deal with, and a stadium facility that was falling apart.
So even though Craig Whyte knew administration was happening before he bought the club, the crazy man still went ahead and bought the club. I think he saw the fame game, and sure there was pressure mounting from Murray’s camp. To be fair it’s usually the buyer pushing to buy, not the seller pushing the sale over the finish line. Most notably it was his “I’m nobody, about to be somebody” ego that tripped him up.
A short nine months later it was Happy Administration Day. February 14th 2012. Yep, it was Valentine’s Day for all you romantics. After this they could no longer use EBT’s to employ the services of players they could not really afford, and their once proud, sorry loyal team were falling apart. They also had an Assistant Manager who wrote his own contract extension language to say that when Walter Smith packs it in at the end of the season for Everton (Big Wally knew – what was about to happen), the Managers job is mine by default or you have to pay me £1 million in compensation. (Yeah no kidding, that actually got approved by Murray when he just wanted out. By the sound of it Murray would have signed anything at that point.)
The board subsequentially thought Derrek McInnis at Aberdeen was a better fit, but they didn’t have the £1 million to pay off fat Sally, so congratulations you are now the new Manager at the worst time in their history. All of that mismanagement, and misappropriation of funds, was followed by a failed European Campaign that cost them a significant loss of revenues. Revenues that were really needed to cash flow the business, after serious borrowing from Paul to pay Peter then using Peters cash to pay John, just like when CraigyBhoy was a financial investor, with other people’s money.
This is similar to kiting in financial terms. The well at the bank ran dry, with no new offers of support, nothing left to sell, and no back up savings account. CraigyBhoy was definitely not putting his hand in his own pocket now. Point to note that some Celtic fans of significant celebrity, fame and wealth would, I imagine, pitch in if roles were reversed.
Rod Stewart or Billy Connolly to name two of the many faces that grace Celtic Park on game day. Like Wee Fergus the Bunnet did. No offers came in from the likes of former players or Gordon Ramsay or even their board, and forgive me but I can’t think of any other celebrity fans with access to any wealth.
There was the fear of not 1 but 2 cases against HMRC, and losing confidence that they could even win 1 case. Add to that a stadium facility that was “falling apart” that needed a “major” overhaul at a proposed cost of around £15 million. There was only but one option, and on October 31st, 2012 the Ranjurs died, after failing with a CVA, and HMRC, for some weird reason, not trusting that a club with such integrity, morals, and good standing and wonderful character as The Rangers could keep to an agreed payment plan.
The club founded in 1873 was liquidated by the court. Their debts and their history were extinguished, in a 20 minute court session. That day will always be celebrated with jelly and ice cream as the day when the Ranjurs died. They claim the world, the media, the SFA, every other member club wanted to see them fail. That is probably true. Both Old Co and New Co are probably equally hated to this day.
Craig Whyte, AKA The Whyte Knight, AKA The Saviour, AKA Money bags, AKA The Billionaire Fan. Call him what you want, but from here on in CraigyBhoy will always be an honorary Tim. Fans stopping him in the street to take selfies, with green and white scarfs on, not the blue ones he followed for years.
Sometime after their arse fell out, and they had started rebuilding from the 3rd division up, the Old Boys establishment decided to pursue CraigyBhoy through the courts by alleging improper use of funds to take over a company and the charge that CraigyBhoy lied on his director application. They needed something to pin on our lad for crimes against their feelings. They had him arrested, hauled off a flight, put in a cell. To be fair, this was not the usual lifestyle he was accustomed to, between his castle in the Scottish Highlands, his place in Monaco, and his Posh Pad in London. Boo-hoo, anyway, he was busted.
The court argued that he misled the Old Co about the source of funds, not disclosing in detail that he was funding this acquisition via a 3rd party. They said he misled them about his personal wealth and how much he planned to inject into the Club. Apparently when the Daily Record printed that a Scottish Billionaire wanted to buy Rangers, that was all the old board’s due diligence done.
That’s all the research they needed, because the Daily Record said so. CraigyBhoy had to lawyer up and defend himself. Like OJ got Johnny Cochrane, CraigyBhoy got the biggest Rangers Man going. A man who held a grudge against his former employer, where he tickled the palms of many a man as a director, until he was embarrassingly removed from his position by the one and only David Murray, would help save CraigyBhoy.
One who was qualified and held the title of registered QC and could defend him. Yep, one of the old establishment old boys club, Mr. Wig himself, Donald Finlay, agreed to defend Craig Whyte.
Per the book, the court case and trial against CraigyBhoy was a piss take and a waste of public funds. Every argument the prosecution lodged against our Bhoy, Donald Finlay QC, the horrible wee man with the wig, had an answer. He took all the witnesses to task. From Duff and Phelps (he ripped them a new arse), to the old Rangers Board, some of whom he had served as a director with, yep he ripped them a new arse too.
Then came the Pay Per View Event – Donald Finlay versus The Bold Davy Murray. Not an empty seat in the courtroom. Councillor had the stage. He had the power to ask Murray anything he wanted about the demise of “his” club. When Murray scuppered and danced with his answers, Finlay reminded him he was in the witness box for the prosecution and it was Finlay’s job to defend his client. To defend him, he had to poke holes in the prosecution’s case. Therefore he had to ask What the FUCK happened for this once great club to go into tatters. He didn’t get all the answers he wanted, but he got some. Enough to clear CraigyBhoy and for the jury to find our lad not guilty on both charges.
I guess when the purchase and sale price of any asset is £5 Million and the seller calls you to negotiate the price down to £1 to complete the transaction quickly, sweet baby Jeysus look at the red flags warning you that you are not buying what you think.
There are still so many questions out there:
Why was David Murray not brought into question over the failing of the old Club? CraigyBhoy actually had to sign a “no public humiliation of David Murray” contract agreement as part of the sale.
Why were the SFA not held accountable for the constant “Blind Eye” that had allowed all of the mismanagement to occur?
Why does the Establishment, ~AKA The Masonic Lodge (massive part of their fan base), still get to influence our game and our society?
When is Administration Part 2 coming?
What’s left for them to work for? They don’t have the resources (and probably won’t ever again) to truly compete with Celtic over a season. Maybe for one game but not a season.
Their stadium facility is a shit hole, with a roof that has the most dangerous chemical, asbestos, still in it, that will cost millions to replace. How is that allowed to hold people (both pre- and post-COVID)?
I hope you enjoy this humorous book report. The book actually reads well and quickly, 227 pages, 24 chapters. Although I have pretty much summarized it all for you here.
Book Review
Into the Bearpit
Text / Chrisybhoy (Boston)
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