Listen to the Celtic Soul Podcast with Michael Pringle talking all things Celtic, a bit of music and heading down Away Days memory lane to Spain during the 2002/03 season and the trip to play Celta Vigo when a John Hartson goal was enough to put Celtic into the draw for the next round.

Watch the highlights and all the goals from Celtic’s 7-1 win over Hearts and In Conversation with Edmund Kelly about his upcoming play Walfrid about the life of Celtic’s founding father.

Don’t forget to sign up for our Newsletter, Download our App and please hit that Subscribe Button on our YouTube Channel Celtic Fanzine TV.

https://mailchi.mp/celticfanzine.com/morethan90minutesmatchfanzine-13853086

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So much has happened since then and they return after both attending Sunday’s 7-1 win over Hearts at Celtic Park in a happy mood after European disappointment again on Thursday in Lisbon against Benfica.

With a bad run of results except for the away win against Motherwell the win will have eased the pressure on Martin O’Neill. With the rangers drawing with Dundee away on Saturday night Celtic now top the table by 4 points.

They chat about both games and look ahead to Celta Vigo on Thursday night at Celtic Park before next weekend’s game against Hibs at Easter Road. Thursday night the Green Brigade will not be present at the game so the atmosphere they create will be missing as a protest in response to the current Celtic board’s lack of ambition in Europe.

Memory lane takes the bhoys back to the 2002/03 season when Celtic travelled to Spain to play Celta Vigo in the UEFA Cup on the road to Seville.

They also touch on a bit of music including The Blades gig in Dundalk, The Proclaimers new album and upcoming Dexys gig in Glasgow.

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Having a seat up the front of the aeroplane made my exit sharpish when we landed in Scotland and I made the 13:50 bus to Glasgow which took just over an hour before a quick dash to the taxi rank to grab a cab and fair play to the driver he got me there in quick time. Kieran Tierney opened the scoring after only 7 minutes while I was on route coming up the London Road.

The atmosphere was loud with the stadium rocking after the early goal as I walked up Paradise Way. Then Nygren added a second on 10 minutes and the noise levels grew even louder as I took my seat and got an update from the gentleman who sits to my right. I was 10 minutes late and had missed 2 goals which I would see replayed at halftime on my phone.

Martin O’Neill had opted for Duran to lead the attack with Hassan and Osmand on the wings. Osmand was making his first start for Celtic after some cameo appearances off the bench in big games . He has spent so much time out injured it was a delight to see him score Celtic’s third and fourth goal. He brings youth and a fearless attitude to the Celtic attack and is already a fans favourite.

Hearts did pull one back before half time when Mendy scored. The goal upset Martin O’Neill on the touchline after the throw was taken higher up to the pitch than where the ball had gone out. He made his feelings known to the fourth official.

Celtic were not finished yet in the first half and Baur done brilliantly to weave in and out of the Hearts defence before shooting with the Hearts defender McCart helping by turning it into his own goal to make it 5.

Hearts fans had come thinking they were contenders but many of them left at half time realising that they may always be the Bridesmaid of Scottish football. We agreed at halftime that we had not expected to be 5-1 up at the break as we sipped our Bovril while watching videos circulated on social media showing trouble outside the ground before kick off between Celtic and Hearts fans. Not what you want to see and I hope no one was badly injured.

With 45 minutes in his legs and two goals Osmand made way for the fans favourite Jota who once again caught the eye during the second half and it is great to see him back and getting us off our seats again.

We did not have long to wait in the second half for goal number 6 when Duran struck 4 minutes in. On the hour mark McGregor got the rare luxury of some rest time and was replaced by Oxlade-Chamberlain with Hogh coming on for Duran and Tierney made way for Emenalo to make his debut in the Hoops. Forest was the final sub replacing Hassan who had his best game in the Hoops since arriving at the club.

Hogh did not get the goal we all longed for him but he did get an assist for Nygren’s second of the day. 7-1 the final score. As my dear old Mam says “One good day does not make a Summer” but I did enjoy the game and the after match pint tasted sweet on a day that the Celtic Fans remembered the late Johnny Doyle the Celtic fan who lived the dream.

A quick look at the stats on the way back to Edinburgh Airport showed that it was Hearts who had more possession with 52% with 20 shots ( 5 on target ) to Celtic’s 18 (10 on target). Celtic now sit 4 points ahead of the rangers who drew 2-2 away to Dundee on Saturday night.

A positive afternoon on the road following Celtic but I was happy to get to my bed after midnight. I am back on the road on Thursday for the Europa League clash with Celtic Vigo under the lights at Celtic Park before we get back to domestic action against Hibs at Easter Road on Sunday.

Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes Celtic Fanzine & Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast 

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Thursday night was our fifth time playing the Eagles in Lisbon and each time we have suffered heavily. But the ironic thing about the games with Benfica is that we have had almost identical results in the games at Parkhead in our favour.

In November ’69 we defeated them 3-0 with Gemmell, Hood and Wallace scoring in what was my first game ever at Parkhead. But Celtic went down by the exact same score 0-3 in Lisbon and it went to the toss of a coin and famously it bounced off Cesar’s boot and the ref  tossed the coin again and Celtic won through.

After the match Bob Kelly on behalf of Celtic objected to the tossing of a coin which led to the introduction of penalty kicks to decide drawn games. Interestingly in that first game eight of the Lions played with the sub keeper in Lisbon John Fallon in nets, Harry Hood and big Yogi up front. In the away game Tommy Callaghan and Jim Brogan came in to replace Clark and Hood.

We didn’t come out of the hat together again for 37 years until October ’06 in the new Champions League format. We had another 3-0 victory with goals from Miller(2) and Pearson but once again a 0-3 defeat in Lisbon.

Naka and Sno featured in both games. I suppose when you consider the talent we had available then to now it still doesn’t appear to make any difference to the score lines.

In October ’07 we were drawn together once again; like buses none came for almost 40 years and then two in two seasons. We lost 0-1 in Lisbon but won the home game 1-0 with McGeady on the scoresheet. The Holy Goalie Artur Boric was in nets, Lenny in midfield and one Sean Maloney playing.

In 2012 Celtic went head to head once again with Benfica at Paradise but in a game which bucked the high scoring trend it finished 0-0. We lost the away game 2-1 with the ‘great wall’ Forester in nets, Wanyama in midfield, and Georgie Samaras up front and until Thursday night the big Greek was the only man to score against Benfica in the Stadium of Light in almost 60 years since we first played them.

Thursday night was a disaster waiting to happen. There is something not right about the team, it’s definitely not playing like an O’Neill team. I think also that he hasn’t figured out what his best starting eleven is yet.

Definitely the changes made at half time changed the shape of things and I’d imagine that Sunday’s front line could be Hassan, Duran and Osmand. Giving away a penalty so early is never in the plans.

Gary Caldwell gave away a penalty after 10 minutes against Benfica back in ’06! I think Thursday night also showed that Liam Scales is a must in the back 4. Defenders have to defend and some are lacking in that department, as indeed we are lacking in midfield too. I’ve never seen so many stray passes and two led to goals. One other position which is up for question is in nets? How a keeper can kick a ball straight down the middle to an opponent is beyond me? Big changes ahead for Hearts on Sunday?

As for the Europa League I wouldn’t be too alarmed just yet? We have played the two most difficult games, now we have two at home to hopefully get the points on board? Then we have relatively easier games to come so I would agree with MON that qualification is still on the cards? It’s early days yet, there was never Daffodils blooming in October!

Paddy McMenamin was born in Belfast with Donegal and Tyrone parents. He spent the 1970’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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It’s a tough one to explain to those outside the world of Celtic, I mean when asked what you wish to achieve different to last year really all we missed out on was the Treble. Realistically competing in Europe is something we all wish for but if we are to be honest sorting out our house at home seems just about all we can master this season.

Watching Celtic on the opening night of the season filled me with hope that it may be possible we won’t have the same dire season and a lot of that relied on how Celtic played out the last few weeks of the transfer window with signings, who we kept and who we brought in!

The spotlight is still on one of our summer signings, Kasper Høgh who is not shining in front of goal and has had a frustrating start to life at Celtic with a hattrick against Kilmarnock his only goals so far since becoming Celtic’s record signing.

I guess the boards plan was to sit and wait on the outcome of European play off. They have banked more money than they spent and once again Celtic failed to qualify for the Champions League. It really is a sad state of affairs we find ourselves in, instead of really going for it and going into Europe wanting to give a good account of ourselves we waited on an outcome that then decides what team we will have for the duration of the season and for the Europa League.

It’s a brutal business model yet it’s one the board insist is the only option for us while they insinuate we expect too much. It’s the same old story from me each season I know, and I have got to the point of why am I even wasting a paragraph discussing it as nothing has changed. Even with the constant online talk and protests things just stay the same.

Fans shouldn’t be made feel being prepared for a game like LASK is looking for too much or that we are wanting to achieve outside of what we are capable of. The margin between success and failure is enormous financially and competitively, the board many of us fans will argue has the responsibility to strengthen the squad before the first leg rather than after it.

Hopefully tonight Celtic can pull off a shock in Europe and Hogh can get a goal he badly needs to score.

Rachel Lynch a journalist from Dublin with InTallaght. She has supported Celtic her entire life with a home address of Celtic Park she didn’t have much choice. Her first memory as a child was the road to Seville and also her first team seeing the likes of Larsson, Thompson, Petrov, Sutton & Hartson. Some would say she was spoilt from the start with Celtic, she was….

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After a long international break Celtic returned to winning ways against Motherwell on Sunday and the 2-0 win maybe flattered Motherwell after Celtic missed a lot of goal chances and the home team’s goalkeeper pulled off some fine saves. The win put Celtic back on top of the SPFL table after the rangers went top for less than 24 hours after beating Kilmarnock on Saturday .

Benfica warmed up for tonight’s game with a 2-0 home win over Vitoria. They sit second in the league in Portugal and were beaten by table toppers Porto 3-1 away from home a few weeks ago. In the Europa League they recorded an impressive 2-0 win away to AC Milan in their opening game of the competition.

The home side are 5/19 heavy favourites to win the game with the bookies. Celtic are 11/1 and the draw is 13/2. Could Celtic pull off a shock win in the city of Celtic’s greatest ever victory back in May 1967.

For Celtic fans attending the game the meeting point is Praça Do Comercio available from 2pm. From there use the Metro blue line to Colegio Militar and it’s a short walk to the stadium

Advice is be at the stadium around 6pm as it’ll take a while to get everyone through the search lanes, be early especially if bringing kids. Banners up to 2 metres are fine, no drum no megaphones are allowed.  Banners can’t cover the passageways

No drink on sale in the stadium  and there will be a holdback for 30 minutes before heading back to city via the Metro.

If you’re not attending the game here are your options to watch on TV. You can watch it in Ireland and the UK on TNT Sports 3. HBO Max  and Discovery+ are streaming it. The CelticPlayer will stream the game outside Ireland and UK. United States CBS Sports Network and Paramount+, Canada DAZN/ One Soccer and Portugal Sport TV5.

Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes Celtic Fanzine & Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast 

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The bhoys chat about Brother Walfrids early days in Sligo, his journey to Glasgow and beyond and his formation of Celtic and those who joined him on the journey. As the Podcast title says His Passion Fought Poverty and His Faith Found “Paradise”.

WALFRID

The Founding Father of Celtic FC.

A drama in words & music exploring the Legend, The Legacy of Brother Walfrid. The humble man whose roots in Sligo, grew the grassroots of one of the biggest football clubs in the world. Formed & forged in Glasgow’s East End. When abject poverty restored faith in Community- The Foundation of Celtic Football Club, where ordinary men teamed together and became Legends and Heroes in their Lifetime, set to a soundtrack of music that landscaped the passion of its supporters – All the drama, tears & laughter on and off the pitch, catapulting Paradise onto the European and World Football stage.

The show was written by Edmund Kelly and Adapted & Directed for stage by Paul Moore

An Arts Enigma Production runs at Cottiers Theatre in Glasgow

11th March: 7.30pm

12th March 7.30pm

13th March 2pm & 7.30pm

14th March 2pm

https://www.tickettailor.com/events/cottierstheatre/2333295

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In keeping with the founding ethos of Celtic Football Club, the AICSC has always maintained a strong commitment to community, charitable work and supporting those in need. This commitment is reflected throughout the country on an almost weekly basis through the fundraising and community initiatives undertaken by our member Celtic Supporters Clubs.

The AICSC is extremely proud of its long-standing relationship with the Celtic Foundation and remains committed to supporting the Foundation and its work in any way possible.

The Annual Charity Dinner is about much more than raising money for worthy causes. It provides an invaluable opportunity for members of Celtic Supporters Clubs from every corner of Ireland to come together, renew friendships and share their passion for Celtic in a fantastic atmosphere.

The event was made even more special by the presence of two Celtic legends, Tosh McKinlay and Peter Grant. Both gave their time freely and enthusiastically, mingling with supporters, chatting with fans and posing for photographs alongside the League Trophy and Scottish Cup.

Both players spoke passionately about their love for Celtic and entertained the audience with stories and anecdotes from their playing careers. Their memories provided supporters with a fascinating insight into their experiences at the club and created a wonderful connection between past and present generations of Celtic supporters.

Following the dinner, speeches and raffle, the entertainment continued with a fantastic performance from The Druid Ballad Band. They soon had the room on its feet, with supporters singing and dancing along to the music. The evening also included a poignant moment of solidarity, as those attending paid tribute with a rousing round of applause to the under-siege residents of the Garvaghy Road.

An event of this scale simply could not take place without the dedication and commitment of the many members and volunteers who give their time behind the scenes.

The AICSC would like to extend its sincere thanks to all our members, volunteers and Association Committee members who worked tirelessly to ensure another hugely successful Charity Dinner. The amount of work involved in organising the event, preparing the room, producing the dinner programme, arranging the music, securing prizes and managing the many other details is colossal. However, it is undoubtedly worthwhile when it results in such an enjoyable and memorable evening for everyone in attendance.

A massive thank you and sincere appreciation must also go to all the staff at the Shamrock Lodge Hotel for their professionalism and hospitality. We would also like to acknowledge the generous sponsorship that helped make the Annual Dinner Programme possible, as well as the tremendous assistance provided by Athlone CSC in the lead-up to the event and with the preparation of the room on the day itself.

Most importantly, we would like to thank everyone who attended and all of the Celtic Supporters Clubs who travelled from across Ireland to make the evening such a memorable occasion.

The success of the AICSC Charity Dinner is a testament to the strength, generosity and togetherness of the Celtic supporters’ family in Ireland.

Until next year.

Hail Hail!

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My first games at Celtic Park were in the European Cup; Benfica in November ’1969,3-0, 75,000; Fiorentina, March ’1970, 3-0, 78,000; and Leeds at Hampden Park in April ’1970, 2-1; 136,505; they created a love for European football that has never waned.

The European Cup began in 1956 after two French journalists Gabriel Hanot and Jacques Ferran came up with the brainwave. They had studied the Latin American version and UEFA accepted their idea. As we know

Real Madrid won the first five tournaments and older Scots recall the famous final in1960 at Hampden when a Puskas  /De Stephano inspired Madrid defeated Eintracht Frankfurt 7-3 in front of almost128,000; coincidentally Frankfurt defeated our Glasgow rivals in the semi 12-4 on aggregate.

Interestingly the English FA refused to let champions Chelsea enter the ’1956 European Cup and unfortunately for them it was 50 years before they won the league again to get the chance to enter the new Champions League.

In Scotland Aberdeen were champions but the Hibs chairman who was also chair of the SFA put forward his club who had finished 5th and they became the first Scottish and British club to enter the European Cup and indeed reached the semi final; and we think Infantino is crooked!

Benfica won the next two tournaments in ‘1961 and 1962, then AC Milan in ’1963 followed by their local rivals Inter in ’1964 and ’1965 before Real Madrid won a sixth title in ’1966. Celtic’s first appearance in Europe was in ’1962 in the Fairs Cup losing to Valencia; in ’1964 they reached the semi final of the European Cup Winners Cup losing to MTK Budapest; in ’1965 our long running relationship with Barcelona began with a 1-3defeat then in ’1966 we reached another European Cup Winners Cup semi final v Liverpool.

It was controversial defeat with a late goal disallowed. These games were in the lesser European tournaments but Jock Stein’s return brought a title after 12 long years and of course the greatest day in Celtic history in Lisbon in ’1967 as we defeated Inter Milan on that famous day to become the first Scottish and North European team to lift the trophy. It was a day that made me and probably many other Irish people become Celtic supporters.

Après match thousands of us marched down the Falls Road waving tricolours passing close to the old Belfast Celtic stadium who had left football just 19 years earlier after a riot with Linfield fans. The Lisbon Lions created history and we should have won more European Cups but it wasn’t to be. A year later Man United followed Celtic an lifting the trophy at Wembley inspired by the great Georgie Best and Denis Law.

In ’1969 we faced AC Milan again and after a 0-0 draw in the snow in the San Siro we were favourites to go through but an unusual defensive error by Billy McNeill let Milan score the only goal of the game and they went through to a semi final with Man United and eventually winners again.

In ’1970 Celtic were back in the final again after the magnificent semi final victory over Leeds United, a game I was present at and would never experience anything like it again. Sadly while we were odds on favourites in the final against the unknown Dutch it wasn’t to be and Feyenoord lifted the trophy after a poor performance by Celtic, we would never make a final again.

The Dutch domination of football continued with Ajax winning 3 in a row led by Johan Cruyff and the national team featuring in two World Cup finals in the 1970’s.

Celtic made the semi final again in ’1972 but lost in a penalty shootout against Inter Milan. Bayern Munich continued the pattern from ’1974-’1976 winning 3 in a row led by Franz Beckanbaur. Celtic reached the semi final once again in ’1974 but lost to Atletico Madrid after a rough game at Celtic Park with 3 Atletico players sent off and following a 0-2 defeat in Madrid alas was the end of our great European days as the 1970’s. After that we witnessed early defeats to Olympiacos, Krakow, Zwickau, Innsbruck, they were hardly teams known for their European pedigree. The seven years between ’1977 &’1983 witnessed the domination of English clubs in the European Cup. Liverpool in ’1977 & ’1978 with a certain Kenny Dalglish featuring; in ’1979 & ’1980 Nottingham Forest under Brian Clough and featuring Martin O’Neill lifted the big cup, a magnificent achievement for a provincial club.

1980 was the last time Celtic reached the business end of the European Cups, (apart from Seville); two great games with Real Madrid in the quarter final produced a 2-0 victory at Celtic Park but a 0-3 defeat at the Bernabeu and sadly for the next 20 years we were European also rans. Liverpool returned in ’1981 defeating Real Madrid in the final and then Aston Villa made it 7 in a row for English teams beating Bayern Munich. I might be slightly biased but I think that period was a low standard for European football.

Hamburg broke the English dominance in ’1983 but Liverpool were back the following year to lift European Cup Number 4 and along with Real Madrid became one of the most successful teams in European history, alas it could have been Celtic possibly if we had kept hold of Dalglish, Macari and Hay. Just a little anecdote, my youngest son Kevin who went on to play for Donegal in the GAA, ‘Wappa’ as he’s known went over for a trial with Aston Villa in the early 1990’s after Gary Shaw had spotted him in Derry and Peter With was Head of Youth Development, both played in the ’1982 team that won the European Cup!1985 was a defining year for European football with the Heysel disaster after Juventus defeated Liverpool and 39 football fans died and along with Hillsborough it brought all seater stadiums and greater crowd control, it also ended English monopoly on the European Cup for the guts of 20 years and eventually would lead to a new tournament for a new millennium.

The next few years would see a miss mash of teams lifting the cup, Steaua Bucharest, Porto, PSV before the great AC Milan team won two with Paulo Maldini and the late Franco Barresi. The 1980’s were a disaster for Celtic in European competition despite great individual results against Juventus, Ajax and Sporting Lisbon we were more or less first round exit material against teams like Timisoara, Real Sociedad, Nottingham Forest, Rapid Vienna, Atletico Madrid, Dynamo Kyiv, Borussia Dortmund, Werder Bremen and Partizan Belgrade.

It was a disappointing time and honestly I couldn’t figure out why we kept losing early not realising that Scottish football was on a downward spiral.

In ’1991 Red Star defeated Marseille and Rangers almost made the final and then relatively late in the day Barcelona won their first in ’1992 which was the last in the old format. Marseille were the first to win the newly revamped Champions League, AC Milan won their third in a few years in ’1994; Ajax ’1995, Juventus ’1996, and Borussia Dortmund with a certain Paul Lambert were victorious in ’1997.

Paddy McMenamin was born in Belfast with Donegal and Tyrone parents. He spent the 1970’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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