The first time I met Bertie Auld, I was walking upstairs at Celtic Park as he was walking down while talking to someone else. As we passed each other, he paused his conversation, turned to me and said, “How’ you doing son?” He would not walk past a Celtic fan without acknowledging them.
He was the sporting hero, the centre of attraction, but he had a gift – he knew how to light up the lives of others. And how. Put him in front of Celtic fans and Bertie came alive. That old story of the fans singing as they walked up Kerrydale St, the noise flowing through the open windows of the dressing room, lifting the team before they took the field. That was how Bertie remembered it and he told each subsequent generation what it meant to him.
In his prime in the Celtic midfield, he was brilliant, gallus and hard in equal measure. The Lisbon Lions were a team of many parts, but the creativity had three fulcrums: Bobby Murdoch, Jimmy Johnstone and Bertie Auld. In Lisbon, they set the heartbeat for a performance that swept Inter away and had the whole of Europe celebrating.
You know the story, 11 men from within 30 miles of Celtic Park stood in the tunnel, some with their false teeth in a bag, alongside the football heroes of the era, a team who had won the European Cup twice in the previous three years. Bertie said they looked like “movie stars”, unaware of his own profile. He sensed hesitation among his team mates so started a chorus; “Hail, hail, the Celts are here……”
Did it make a difference to the outcome? Probably not, but Celtic and Inter both played like the Scots were at home. Whenever I hear this story, I think back to that time I walked past him on the stairs, Bertie’s awareness of people and what to do to put them at ease was his most exceptional quality. He did this with his team mates, he did it to me and there is a good chance he did it to you.
I met the man many more times and shared a platform with him on occasion. Bertie was always an event, always, but there is one other meeting that gets to the heart so the man. I was at Celtic Park on a non-matchday and was speaking to the security man on my way out when Bertie joined us. John the security man asked, “Are you going home now, Bertie?” Bertie said, “I’ll head over to the Superstore first, see if there’s any fans in.” He would not leave Celtic Park when there was some joy to spread around.
You and I did nothing to deserve a man like this in our lives, he was a gift from above. Yesterday’s news is a profound loss to everyone he touched. For me, he was Mr Celtic; the very best of us. We will never see his like again.
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3.1 earthquake in Scotland last night
https://twitter.com/CarlowWeather/status/1460513225980710913?t=Bwm86BaSMfB9QIQk3ZL64g&s=19
HH
RIP Bertie.
YNWA
1. Austria TV : Austria match
2. Israeli TV: Israeli match
3. Polish TV: Polish match
4. Hungarian TV: Hungary match
5. Albanian TV: Albania match
6. Scottish TV: England match
ITV …..independent television 😯
Some of that nonsense ☝️is borderline libellous….
BOGNORBHOY,
It wasn’t just last night. It has been the case for every English game recently. STV must have been getting complaints, as they said yesterday that they might be bidding for the next Scotland match……
Re England games on cooncil telly.
Reminds me of the 1970’s. “Now, live from Wembley stadium, the FA Cup Final. Except for viewers in Scotland.”
We were “treated” to an afternoon of The High Chaparral. Well, if it’s an England training session versus San Marino, I think I’ll take The High Chaparral.
.
jimdom
Haven’t checked the Scottish and FA Cup Finals for the whole of the 1970s but I know for a fact that both Finals from 1970 through to 1975, were all played on the same day, Celtic played in all of them and won in 1971, after a replay, 1972, 1974 and 1975. Don’t recall watching the High Chaparral on any of those Saturday afternoons.
CELTIC MAC on 16TH NOVEMBER 2021 11:02 AM
I can’t remember the early 1970’s Scottish Cup Finals being live on the TV ? Could be wrong. First one I remember being live would be the us 1- them 0 Andy Lynch pen in 1977.
The old saying ….
“You shouldn’t meet your heroes”
?
I think the premise is simply that a face-to-face engagement with a flesh and blood human won’t match previously held views one had of a superhero type?
In Bertie’s case, the opposite applied.
Those who met him (and I am fortunate to be one of THOUSANDS) were genuinely privileged.
Speaking of heroes ….
From memory, George Galloway didn’t rate a mention on here until last month?
Now he is a daily reference point on here (for reasons I simply cannot understand)
Respectfully, the current proponent of GG’s unparalleled magnifence among human kind either needs to
get out more ….
… or meet him?
🤔
jimdom
No, they were live at Hampden Park 3pm kick off.
This is the state of play for the World Cup playoffs:
SEEDED: Portugal, Russia, Italy, Scotland
UNSEEDED: Austria, North Macedonia
POT TBC: Czech Republic, Sweden, Wales, Poland
Scotland now guaranteed to be seeded and will have a home semifinal at Hampden Park.
2 teams TBC
seen in maryhill
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FEQJFPqXsAMaQK5?format=jpg&name=small
brilliant talent
https://twitter.com/i/status/1460240344113631233
new article posted.