BT Sport had Alan Thompson on at the weekend previewing the Cup Final and I was reminiscing about him. When he played, I wrote he was the most influential Celtic midfielder since the Lisbon Lions. Not the most talented, McStay and Collins among others could claim to be more gifted, by Thompson pushed Celtic into places none of the others managed.
His goals in Europe and against Rangers are legend, and his assists record is outstanding, but despite my complete adoration of the player, he had a clear drawback. Whenever he was absent through injury, it took weeks in the first team before he looked moderately competent. So much of his game was about sheer physical effort that anything below 100% fitness made him ineffective.
This week Boli Bolingoli, Mohamed Elyounoussi, Leigh Griffiths, Jonny Hayes and Mikey Johnston started games for the first time after injury. Bolingoli (that corner kick!) and Elyounoussi both reminded me of Alan Thompson returning from injury. We should cut them some slack as they build fitness.
The same cannot be said for Leigh Griffiths, who looks as sharp as a tack. He will benefit from 90 minutes last night but he is ready to lead the line, if required.
Scott Robertson looked the part, especially early on, when Celtic had more shape than they did at the end of the game. Delighted too that Karamoko Dembele got his first outing of the season. He was not able to contribute much but he is a lad we should have plans to develop into a first team player.
Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the raffle for Tom Rogic’s signed shirt for the Celtic FC Foundation’s Christmas appeal. It is humbling to see Celtic fans in action like this. The winner has been informed by email – so check your inbox!
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My first visit to Parkhead was to watch a schools match in 61
I was at paradise for the parade of the big cup in 67 (so my
mother told me as I was in a pram)
First game I can officially remember being at was against
Atheltico Madrid in 1974 when they kicked us off the park
BHOYJOEBELFAST on 13TH DECEMBER 2019 1:09 PM
Little bit off topic:
Talking to a few friends yesterday,when and who were you with as you got your first glimpse of CELTIC PARK?
It’s a hell of a question!
I’m not sure when I first saw Celtic Park but it must be the case that is was in the company of my Father. We were fortunate some would say, to grow up in the Calton. That means that St Mary’s chapel and school and Celtic Park were part of the landscape. A thing I do remember that still brings me great warmth is the walk to Celtic Park from Tobago street with my old man. Along Stevenson street to Abercrombie street. A quick jink past the Treble Two pub and onto Crownpoint road. Past Gemmell street and Orr street and a factory on the right that had the worst smell, burning rubber I think but with a stench of decay mixed in. As we moved along more folk joined from the side streets like tributaries joining the river of the faithful. And it would start getting louder. And the occasional song would begin…hail hail… and more folk would join in, and it would get louder. At some point we’d pass Feilden street leaving the Calton and entering the old Barrowfield section of Parkhead. The eastern Necropolis would then appear on the left after we had crossed or went under the railway tracks, and on the right was that giant green door that got opened during the second half and all the turnstiles. The lift over made me feel like it was Christmas, turning and waiting for my Da’ to pay and get through. I’d run up the back side of the terrace to the right of the jungle, left of the Celtic end and breathe in. The far stand, the tunnel, the pure white of the pitch makings and goal posts. That huge green expanse of grass.
Joe, I don’t remember the first time but I remember the times I did get to go. I was very fortunate as a kid in the early 1960’s to experience Celtic Park that way. It’s a pleasure that I think is at best fleeting these days but when I do get back to the new stadium the pleasure is not diminished.
Tobago
Enjoyed that Post, Tobago Street.
First visit to Paradise
March 24th 1962 to see us beat Aberdeen 2-0
With my uncle Alex and the Greenock CSC – a ritual that was to be repeated until I left home fir my student days thirteen years later – what days- 1965 Cup, the Big Cup, the Lions, the Quality street kids and the complete first ‘nine’
Oh and Frank Haffey missing a penalty😀
BHOYJOEBELFAST,
My first visit to Celtic Park was for a tour, not a game. Summer 1980 so we had the Scottish Cup. I was with my brother, his 2 best mates and a Canadian dude who was visiting Scotland and we took him along too. Not a clue who he was!
One of tabloids has us interested in Sebastian Andersson 👍
Shameless repost from the fag end of last thread…
HUNDERBIRDS ARE GONE on 13TH DECEMBER 2019 11:56 AM
View from a dodgy stream…
A unique event last night, a Celtic European game where the result was irrelevant. What did we learn though? I think we already knew, but last night’s game confirmed it, that Fraser Forster is a far superior goalkeeper than Craig Gordon. There was some criticism of our defensive display last night, criticism that may have been merited. However I think the whole defence suffered because of the goalkeeper, as Gordon’s nervousness and indecision spread like a virus to the rest of the defence. The only positives for the defence, were some much needed game time for Bitton, Boli and Bauer (the tree B’s). Boli started well, and it occurred to me, watching him on the field, that we have missed his strength and competitive nature recently. His early promise faded, but as I have already intimidated, the entire defence had a poor-ish performance individually, but also collectively, and imo that collective failing originated from the goalkeeper. If we are unable to secure the services of Forster on a permanent basis, I think that position is where the bulk of our transfer budget should be spent. If it was not for Forster, would we be sitting top of the league? Would we have progressed in Europe? Would we have secured the League Cup? I am not so sure.
In midfield, I thought Robertson had a good debut, and N’tcham played better than he had recently, but understandably, as we were missing our entire first choice midfield, their effectiveness was, well… ineffective.
Up front, there were two successes and two failures. Griff had a good game. His runs were plentiful and intelligent, he showed superb touch on more than a few occasions and managed to get a difficult header on target. Magic Johnston gives us energy and creativity up front, and he always carries a goal threat. His positioning wasn’t always perfect, but the entire team was a bit disjointed positionally, so not all his fault. I was disappointed in Sinclair’s contribution, and I think his Celtic career is freewheeling to an inauspicious ending. He will leave with my best wishes. He was the spark of Fradger’s inferno. Finally to Lewis Morgan. He is just too weak to play top level football. He was effortlessly shifted off the ball by whoever went to him when he had the ball. Unless he can somehow gain physicality, I see no future for him at Celtic. Being a playmaker for someone like St. Mirren is his current level.
All in all, a very low key game, but the pluses are some much needed game time for some fringe players, and those returning from injury, and a well earned rest for the first team picks who stayed at home. The run outs for Robertson and Karamoko are another milestone in both their careers, hopefully as successful footballers with Celtic.
On the minus side, we have learned that some players (Morgan, Bauer, Sinclair) are not good enough to improve Celtic going forward.
In reality therefore, there were no actual minuses, as finding out some players aren’t suitable in a game that means nothing, is preferable to finding that out in a game that actually means something. All of the players now know that we can’t relax and still win games, we are not that good. So let’s all reset, pull the sleeves up and get stuck in. It’s all there for us.
🍀⚽️
Although I am a bit of a CQN nerd I very rarely save posts or articles (mine or others) but i saved this one from 2017 and I have updated the main numbers at the end:
HUNTLYBHOY86 on 14TH MARCH 2017 2:08 PM
Hey folks.
Was chatting to an ex teammate of mine (a stout Zombie) last night and we got talking about Pedro’s ludicrous claims of 144 years and 54 titles.
I obviously told him the facts of liquidation etc but you as predictable as death and taxes (see what I did there) you can imagine his automatic response (“you’re obsessed”).
I also said that this stuff about being the most successful football club in the world is also utter garbage.
He said “how? The amount of trophies we have won is a world record”.
I sighed. I then said “are you telling me you wouldn’t swap you’re 27 league cups for 1 European Cup?”
I explained that different trophies carry less or more significance/status than others.
Eventually this was something that he admitted. I made the point that officially Barca has won more trophies than Real Madrid but no one is foolish enough to say that Barca are the more successful club (11 European cups being the biggest factor of course).
So, I told him we should allocate a number of points to each trophy and then see which club had the most.
He agreed to this feeling that his beloved Holding Company Vehicle would still come out on top.
We agreed to assign 10 points to a league title, 5 to a Scottish Cup, 3 to a League Cup.
150 points for a European Cup and 75 for the Cup Winners Cup (he eventually admitted that the European Cup was twice as important given its status, this took some doing though as you can imagine due to the levels of jealousy they feel for the achievements of the Lisbon Lions).
We also assigned points for reaching certain European finals and for reaching the Champions League knockout phases.
We also analysed both teams overall performances in European competition and the historical domestic dominance in decades (based on league wins).
Here are the results.
Celtic v Rangers
League (10 points)
Celtic – 47 (470)
Rangers – 54 (540)
Scottish Cup (5 points)
Celtic – 36 (180)
Rangers – 33 (165)
Scottish League Cup (3 points)
Celtic – 16 (48)
Rangers – 27 (71)
Total domestic
Celtic – 99 (698)
Rangers – 114 (776)
European Cup (150 points)
Celtic – 1 (150)
Rangers – 0
Cup Winners Cup (75 points)
Celtic – 0
Rangers – 1 (75)
Other European Finals (50 points for European Cup Final, 25 points for Cup Winners Cup/UEFA Cup Final)
Celtic – 2 (75)
Rangers – 3 (75)
Champions League knockout round (10)
Celtic – 3 (15)
Rangers – 1 (5)
Champions League
Celtic – P161 W88 D32 L68 Win 46.81%
Rangers – P161 W62 D40 L59 Win 38.51%
Cup Winners Cup
Celtic P38 W21 D4 L13 Win 55.26%
Rangers P54 W27 D11 L16 Win 50%
Europa League
Celtic P99 W40 D25 L34 Win 40.40%
Rangers P76 W31 D23 L22 Win 40.79%
Total Europe
Celtic P334 W151 D64 L119 Win 45.21%
Rangers P313 W128 D80 L105 Win 40.89%
Total
Celtic – 100 (938)
Rangers – 115 (931)
League titles – decade dominance
1890s – Celtic 4 Rangers 2
1900s – Celtic 5 Rangers 3
1910s – Celtic 6 Rangers 4
1920s – Celtic 2 Rangers 8
1930s – Celtic 2 Rangers 7
1940s – Celtic 0 Rangers 2
1950s – Celtic 1 Rangers 5
1960s – Celtic 4 Rangers 3
1970s – Celtic 7 Rangers 3
1980s – Celtic 4 Rangers 2
1990s – Celtic 1 Rangers 9
2000s – Celtic 6 Rangers 4
2010s – Celtic 5 Rangers 2
Decades on top – Celtic 8 Rangers 5
As you can see despite having 15 trophies less we accumulate more points given the prestige of certain trophies we’ve won (here’s looking at you Big Ears!)
My Hun acquaintence of course wasn’t having this and insisted it be based on purely trophies and that I take away points for reaching finals and for champions league knockout rounds.
So I did…
Celtic = 848
Rangers = 851
I said “congratulations, according to our criteria you are still the most successful club.”
He had a smug WATP grin on his face.
I then said “that is until perhaps this weekend when we win the league and even if you somehow win the Scottish Cup we will still be in front. We welcome the chase!”
He called the usual bigoted names and then stormed off before shouting back at me “aye but you’re still 16 trophies behind eh!”
You can’t win eh lol
(This experiment also failed to take into account our historic Coronation Cup victory, the Empire Exhibition Cup, the Victory in Europe Cup, all of the Glasgow Cups won down the years so I don’t think it’s much of a debate who the most successful club in Scotland is).
I’m sure Pedro will soon have us sorted out though and restore “The Rangers” to their rightful place as number one ;0)
——————————————————————————
Since then Celtic has won:
3 League Cups = 9 points
3 Scottish Cups = 15 points
3 Scottish Leagues = 30 points
Total new points 54 + 848 @ 17th March 2017 = 902
Rangers perpetually on 851 points
Trophies:
Celtic 100 + 9 new = 109
Rangers perpetually on 115 but, even allowing for newco, their overall lead is only due to winning a few more League Cups.
My first car was a Singer Gazelle. It had more cataloy than metal holding it together.
Next was a Ford Cortina 1600E. Loved that car and wish I still had it!
Rostyle wheels, twin Cibie Oscars. My bro in law fitted an alarm to it so that it could not be stolen.
Was nicked twice!
Then my first company car, a wee Ford Escort 1100cc, I could just about run as fast as that thing.
Happy days!
BHOYJOEBELFAST, looks like I might be drunk again, that was my 2nd visit. First visit was with my brother for the friendly against China in July 1979, that was also the first and only time i got lifted over. Happy days!
Merging the 2 themes of first Parkhead visits and vehicles – Wonder how much the coal lorry would be worth. 🙂
I lived in Edmiston Street where the Irn Brew car park is from 1949. My Dad had a season book for the Stand and he lifted me over from a very young age! The season book was actually my Grandads but he never went very often.
Great memories!
Mind, a canny remember where I was last Tuesday!
PHILBHOY
I spent a few days doing a Cataloy job on my first motor, a mini. When I had finished sanding I undersealed the underneath and the sills. The car was maroon, and the black sills looked good, and as I had underseal left over, I painted the roof with it too. I reckon it looked cool, like a vinyl top, but then when I see photos of myself, and the way I dressed at 17… we’ll suffice to say, I don’t think that my idea of style back then was, well let’s be kind, and say questionable 😂🕺
First visit to Paradise 4th January 1969.
Celtic 3-1 Dunfermline,stood at Donegal corner with my da and 2 uncles God rest them.
I *think my idea of style…
🍀⚽️
Brilliant replies and some memories stirred.My first trip to Celtic Park was not for a game but on the morning of the Scottish cup final (1965 ) I was with the Andersonstown CSC that did a tour of Shawfield,Ibrox and ultimately
Celtic Park.We then took in the association rooms in kinloch street,in the presence of Mr and Mrs Hughes.
My first game at Paradise was the two nil victory in1966 v rangers Auld and Murdoch supplying the goods.My late father’s initial visit was around 1952.God Bless you Johnny!!!
HUNDERBIRDS ARE GONE
I remember around that time a mate of mine bought a banger. The paintwork was terrible and being skint we painted the car with leftover DULUX. It was a shade of brown I think.
I remember the look on the salesman’s face when my mate tried to trade it in for a newer car!
first visit to celtic park.
i think i was about 6 or 7 it was against airdrie if i remember correctly.
holding my dads hand on the way in and heard faith of our fathers was getting big licks, shivers up and down, hooked big time from then on.also hail gloria st. patrick. the good old days.
Car ? –
I left home( in 68 ) to go to Uni before my Old Man bought his first Car (69) . _A second hand careful lady driver – Triumph Herald …
I bought my first car ( A Beetle ) -second hand -careful lady driver – Welwyn Garden City . 1977 . A reliable workhouse with 1 problem . The underfloor heating couldn’t be switched off .
I have no interest in cars . Any car that’ll get me from A to B is fine with me . Mrs S Of T has 2 – one for local / one for long distance . Being stereotypically Italian she likes driving -aggressively / angrily / dangerously /disregarding of the rules and way way too fast .
I do like songs about driving –
https://youtu.be/CJYH8ugKw-E
https://youtu.be/iukUMRlaBBE
Off oot to buy a fish for dinner -on my bike !!
OOPLA _
Workhorse not workhouse !
Good evening CQN
Aha my first car was a Vauxhall Viva 🚙 in fact I bought another one for spares that’s how bad the first one was, then a Datsun Sunny 🚘 shortly after. Ah the memories of all those breakdowns.😂 never had a blue car right enough, how sad is that.
HH
D. :)
My first visit to Celtic park I think I was about 4 or 5 ish and it was either KKola or Boavista in a European game, Wednesday night about Novemberish (as I am a guy fox birthday bhoy) under the floodlights, cold, wet the jungle in full flow and me sitting with my dearly departed dad in the main stand. I can see it just now😢💚
Hail Hail
D. :)
SOT
Fish
Salar South Uist
BIG WAVY on 13TH DECEMBER 2019 1:02 PM
I don’t wanna be that person…
But…
Lewis Morgan ain’t up to it.
The Huns looked shattered by the end of their game. Real last legs stuff. Interesting Motherwell clash coming up. We need to bounce back of course.
——-
Agree on both counts. Lewis needs a loan spell away to improve his physicality but also to reset mentally, i get the feeling the jersey weighs heavily on him. McIness can be trusted with him. as he was RC
Re Huns, they were dead on their feet. High intensity at the beginning but out on their feet second half. They play high intensity and must be close to hitting the wall. Its too simplistic to think Motherwell will do something but i hope they are close to burn out. Cup Finals will do that to you.
Over the next 5 games we have a massive opportunity to pull clear.
DAVID17 on 13TH DECEMBER 2019 5:07 PM
Over the next 5 games we have a massive opportunity to pull clear.
==========================================================
Agreed.
A call to arms.
Love it .
September 1981 I came over from Belfast to visit the future Mrs Onlooker. A friend of hers (whom I had never met ) asked if I was interested in football ( and diplomatically inquired which team i supported) as her boyfriend could get tickets…….
My first 2 games which I attended with my new friend of a friend were.
Wed 16th September 1981
Celtic v Juventus ( Liam Brady playing for Rube) we beat them 1:0
Saturday 19th September 1981
Oldco v Celtic ( 2:0 ) Murdo scored rocket free kick for second
Can anyone beat that for first 2 games?
Thankyou John ( formerly of this parish) for the tickets.
HH
The Onlooker
Alan Thompson was an absolute hunskelper and was unlucky enough to be in the same team as Henrik, or he would have the pick of them all.
What a magnificent player.
HH
Driving along the auld A8 with my dad in a Ford Poplar (ESY 509) aye, before they put letters after the numbers (1963) to see the famous Glasgow Celtic.
Memories.
Celtic v huns January 1966. Diving rat Wilson scores in 2 minutes. Stevie Chalmers hits 3 Bobby Murdoch and Charlie Gallagher. Wonderful.
My goodness, some of these cars, wow.
No power steering, assisted Braking, reversing cameras, EBs, ABS, no heated steering wheel or seats, heaters/window demisters that work now, no electric windy’s, no parking themselfs, no ice warning lights, no fingerprint opening. My goodness how did I survive then😂
D. :)
David 66 🤣🤣
Wonderful stories, bringing back many happy memories of travelling to Celtic Park in the late sixties/early seventies. The deafening roars, all the smells of beer tobacco and pish, the colours and all the amazing people who shared the experience.
WHITEDOGHUNCH
Thanks for the heads up..Stored away -in case I’m ever in the neighborhood..
John Dory bought for tonight .- fennel/blood orange/black olive salad.Side order -chunky chips fried in goose fat.
Friday night -way down south.
SOT
You don’t have to be in the neighbourhood- https://www.salarsmokehouse.co.uk/
Can vouch for it.
SOT
get a side sent over
best always
JINKYREDSTAR/WHITEDOGHUNCH
Big thanks to you both .Much appreciated.
Cooking time… Lee Morgan’s mighty mighty LP-Indeed-the musical vibe.
SOT your welcome – put me in the mood, might get some myself
Enjoy the .music