At the front of Celtic Park on Saturday a statue will be unveiled to our greatest ever captain, Billy McNeill. Billy joins our founder, Bro. Walfrid, our greatest ever manager, Jock Stein, and our greatest player, Jimmy Johnstone, in being honoured in this way.
Achievers of this calibre are so rare I cannot imagine the circumstances under which another candidate for a statue will emerge. Even if we go on at some point in the future to win the Champions League, it will be nothing like what Billy and his team did. Modern European champions are the distillation of global scouting, money and big business. They don’t take the bus from the town they were born into training for years at the club they will collectively bring to the summit.
Without being distracted by contemporary issues, I have hope for the future, and for Celtic, but on Saturday we will peer through a telescope that looks back 128 years. Billy McNeill encapsulates the values and traditions which founded and nurtured Celtic throughout this period. Not only that, he is the man who led the team (in every sense of the word) to one of the most incredible sporting achievements in football history.
Get to the game early and be there for Billy. Be there for yourself. Our memories of Saturday will last. We’ll recall the first time we saw his statue, and that we were there to share his smile on the day.
Get your friends along. Bring the kids. Tell them who he is and what he did. You or they will never again get a chance to honour Willie Maley, Jimmy McGrory, Jock Stein or Jimmy Johnstone, but you can be there to share an important occasion with Billy McNeill. That, my friends, will be a precious moment.
On Thursday morning, near Shawfield, Glasgow the Caring City are loading their latest batch of aid bound for migrants camped in Serbia. Much needed winter clothes are being shipped. They are looking for four volunteers to help load the container. Starting at 9:00 they should finish by 11:00.
It will be physical work but they are offering tea and rolls in compensation. If you can make it along to help these great people with such a worthy cause, email Ross Galbriath, ross@glasgowthecaringcity.com and let him know. I bet you also get something out of the experience you’re not expecting.
Thanks.
Stocking fillers, books, DVDs and all sorts of wonders (actually, just books and DVDs, but they are great) are available at the CQN Bookstore.
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hello again
Hail Cesar
2 days in a row wooooft
Howdy?
Early today
Celtic, Celtic that’s the team for me,
Celtic, Celtic on to victory,
They’re the finest team in Scotland, I’m sure you will agree,
We’ll never give up till we’ve won the cup and the Scottish football league.
They come from bonnie Scotland, they come from county Cork,
They come from dear old Donegal and even from New York,
From every street in Glasgow they proudly make their way,
To a place called dear old paradise and this is what they say.
Celtic, Celtic that’s the team for me,
Celtic, Celtic on to victory,
They’re the finest team in Scotland, I’m sure you will agree,
We’ll never give up till we’ve won the cup and the Scottish football league.
There’s Fallon, Young and Gemmell who proudly wear the green,
There’s Clark, McNeill and Kennedy the best there’s ever been,
Jim Johnstone, Murdoch, Chalmers, John Divers and John Hughes,
And sixty thousand Celtic fans who proudly shout the news.
Celtic, Celtic that’s the team for me,
Celtic, Celtic on to victory,
They’re the finest team in Scotland, I’m sure you will agree,
We’ll never give up till we’ve won the cup and the Scottish football league.
HH
Is there a statue of a living person anywhere else in Scotland or the UK?
HH.
Nice article Paul.
Hail hail big Billy.
Paul67
Great tribute to Billy and the Lions – I agree – their like will never been seen again. Essentially a ‘community club’ winning the Champion’s League. Incredible if you think about it. Could any club in the world muster a squad from such a small radius and compete at the very top of the football pyramid.t..In a way it is a shame and tells part of the story of football’s declining relationship with ordinary fans.
I have Uncles who would have been at all of Billy’s games who sadly now are detached from the club through a combination of financial and corporate barriers.
Saturday is a very important day and to achieve this testimony while still alive is awesome and appropriate. He’s in a class of his own!
Drat, forgot about John Greig over at Greyskull.
CHARLIEBHOY on 15TH DECEMBER 2015 12:17 PM
an emotional day for me too roy, was babysitting charliebhoy jnr he was in his walky pen thing when kidds goal came up on teletext(remember those updates?) i roared and he shit himself!!! even the dug jumped, just got him settled when that bugger kid scored again lol ……i’ll be closer to sixty than fifty tomorrow, and charles started back work after his brain op last month so kano’s wee tale brought a lump tae this eejits throat, thanks for sharing YNWA
– See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/every-games-important-for-a-squad-looking-to-repair-reputation/comment-page-9/#comment-2737818
I see Gollum has been selected as one of only eighteen referees for the Euros next summer. Disnae say much for the refs ranked 19-100 does it?
weeminger on 15th December 2015 10:12 am
Stats fans – we’re currently on our 3rd highest average goals per game since the turn of the millenium.
It’s 2.58 bettered only in 03/04 when we got 105 and 13/14 which was 102. Current projection puts us at 98, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see us top the ton
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Yeah, but with two up front we’d get 200, right? :-)
Thanks Charliebhoy.
HH
There was a picture of the lions in the Squirrel. Even without knowing he was captain you could tell. Just by the stature, pride and composure.
Imo we have had a lot of good captains, but through no fault of any individual we have never had a great one like Big Billy.
A true legend.
HH.
CHARLIEBHOY
My memories of 1986 Love St are not as good,though still as vivid.
My excuse is the pain that the nearly-men of the 80s had already subjected me to.
Two years later,I was telling the troops at Hampden that there was plenty of time yet.
Frailty,thy name is woman,and to my shame I didn’t man up in 86.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/dec/15/scotland-debt-mountain-holyrood-borrowing-could-hit-50bn-by-2020
An investigation by the Guardian has found that total borrowing to build schools, roads, railway stations, colleges and hospitals under the devolved government could reach £50bn by the end of the decade, putting a heavy strain on the public finances.
The scale of the debt, which dwarfs Holyrood’s annual budget of £30bn, has never been set out by ministers or investigated by the Scottish parliament. It has led to calls by Scotland’s auditor general, Caroline Gardner, and opposition parties for greater openness over public finances.
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Oh dear dear me
I didnae half celebrate it,mind!
Billy, with Danny and Roy Aitken were inspirational figures. They were up against two of europe’s strongest teams in Dundee Utd and Aberdeen domestically, and we still managed to triumph regularly,
I wonder if Billy, raised on an attacking 4-4-2, could have achieved more in europe with a more cautious approach. we were turned over by teams counter attacking continually, embodied domestically by Dundee Utd. It’s the same challenge Jock Stein would have faced.
When you think back to Billy’s teams, the attacking focus was always there. Out to full back, up to Provan, crossed to the box immediately. No crab football then. On entertainment value, apart from the Sutton / larsson combo, I’ve never seen it beaten.
Roy Croppie & Philbhoy
thank you for your love street memories on previous blog,CQN just the way i love it.
im getting a wee bit emotional thinking about that day and my now passed rankers fan drinking buddy getting lifted for throwing a wobbly when we won the league that day .
ohhhhhh how we laghed danced and sang as he got papped in the back of the “paddy wagon”:))))))))))))))))).
We spoke about it often up till the day he left us too young.
thank you both again
A reminder on the new thread for last orders today for orders from USA & Canada for pre-Christmas delivery. You have a four hours bhoys!
The deadline for Western Europe is tomorrow.
All orders of The Winds of Change received until midnight tonight will receive a free copy of the hilarious Unrepentant Internet Bampots – if you haven’t seen this, you will laugh your Christmas socks off!
Order at http://www.cqnbookstore.com – all books, DVDS and don’t forget the Annuals – sent immediately.
If you have ordered the Smiler Neilly Mochan book – we are expecting copies today so these will be sent straight away and first class.
What about a statue of Marty Feldman?
Well, you wouldn’t want one of Craig Whyte. would you?
“I wonder if Billy, raised on an attacking 4-4-2,”
Coolmore,
4-2-4 more like
HH
Is there a bucket collection on saturday,excuse my ignorance
LEFTCLICKTIC
Thanks pal. That would have been some hangover for your pal; I bet he didn’t rush to get the Sunday papers :))
HH
TIMALOY29
Many of us want an independent Scotland. Many are sickened by how we have fallen behind the South in the last forty or so years.
But wishing for it didnae make it achievable if the sums don’t add up.
And they never did.
I recall talking to one high-profile Indy prior to the referendum,who was convinced that oil at $100 a barrel was a reality,that output was similar to twenty years ago,and that-get this-we could get our fishing industry back.
Yep,we have rich waters. Yep,we leave the EU and we have them back again.
Yep,his ideal was predicated on automatic admission to the EU-spot the wee problem there-and keeping the pound.
Since I was home on holiday,I didnae have that many jeans with me that I could PMSL.
STILL,not my problem till I come home.
Leftclicktic
Thanks!
Hope your Mum is keeping fine!
(And you too of course!)
GEORDIE MUNRO on 15TH DECEMBER 2015 12:36 PM
“I wonder if Billy, raised on an attacking 4-4-2,”
Coolmore,
4-2-4 more like
HH
>>>
Yes, as good as a 4-2-4, or 2-4-4
https://www.facebook.com/staaandfree/videos/1510634572567325/
Cheered me up
Paul’s article got me thinking about how many other teams have won the European Cup with only players from the club’s native country. I think that Steaue, Real Madrid and Benfica have done it. Can anyone confirm those 3? Any others?
Inter won it without any Italians under Mourinho I think
Davidopoulos on 15th December 2015 12:40 pm
I thought Steaua were the only others
Davidopoulos on 15th December 2015 12:40 pm
Just checked, Benfica as well.
GREENPINATA on 15TH DECEMBER 2015 12:17 PM
Drat, forgot about John Greig over at Greyskull.
– See more at: http://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/be-there-on-saturday-for-yourself/#sthash.9VsCN8uf.dpuf
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Relax. John Grieg might still be alive and well but the club his statue stands outside isnae . :)
Gary67
I’m pretty sure Benfica had an all Portuguese team (although Eusabio was actually born in Mozambique).
Also, think that Real’s 1966 winning team were all Spaniards. could be wrong though.
Davidopoulus – Steau in 1986 and Real in 1966.
I don’t think Benfica count – Eusebio was born in Mozambique.
Davidopoulus
Steaue correct
Real always had at least on and up to three non Spaniards
Leftclicktic – yes it’s been rescheduled to this Sat