Our unofficial Celtic v Atletico Madrid match programme is now available. We preview tomorrow’s match as well as the other game in our group between Rennes and Udinese, as well as a look back 37 years to that infamous game against Atletico in the European Cup semi-final.
European nights have always been special in my Celtic supporting time. When I was a boy they would fill Celtic Park whereas it was predominantly empty on domestic duty. The modern era brought great Uefa Cup and Champions league moments but for a while, even at the peak of our Champions League prowess, the stadium lost something to corporate interests. I remember watching fans walk out of the stadium with 10 minutes on the clock when we were drawing 0-0 with Milan!
Tomorrow night will be more like the great days I remember, when every soul inside the ground was plugged into the nervous anticipation that pumps through all our veins.
Atletico Madrid occupies a similar place in our history to Rapid Vienna. If you were around during the 70s and 80s, when these two clubs eliminated Celtic on their way to European finals, by violence and dishonesty respectively, games against these clubs will have an added dimension. Two years ago we finished above a decent Rapid team in the Europa League group stage who had already dumped Martin O’Neill’s Aston Villa. When Scott McDonald’s goal went in I raised my arms and inadvertently punched the safety ladder at the back of the North Stand, the cut knuckles and bruising lasted weeks. It was a stupid incident but captures the, 40-odd-thousand-people-one-heartbeat, phenomenon that we get to experience too seldom in our lives.
I’m going to look out the hoops tonight, been ages since I’ve worn them. Bring on Atletico, Falcao ‘n’ all.
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BABASONICOS71
in answer to question 2 they have already done it.
Score Draw
Margaret
Get with the program
Any excuse to have a poppatdum.
I’m here all week. Try the veal.
The Indian players are a by product of centuries guarding Delhi’s walls.
MayoD says:
30 November, 2011 at 03:14
can you believe those cheating…yeah ..wait…..yeah we do
Who would have thought that. It was all lies about those tax cases as well.
BABASONICOS71 says:
30 November, 2011 at 03:16
Londondehli ?
MayoD,
Hahahaha,hunbelievable.
Having to see those colours and images on your link will give me nightmares (if i ever nod over) though.
I know they are a despicable bunch of eighthwits but they are capable of comedy genius.Unwittingly of course.
Its amazing how quick you can re-write history these days.
Okay nocturnal bhoys and ghirls,i’m definitely going to try and get some zzzzzzzzs.
Celtic 2 – A Badrid 1
Go on the Celtic.
OOH AH UP (NENTA)RA! ;-)
Yeah Ruben Ayala ..rot in hell!
Laters
whitedoghunch says
Mr X 2-1 good guys
There’s no good guys on that pitch – Hamburg support big on the far right as I understand it… Who can forget that union flag display when we met them in europe? Huns and mini-Huns. St Pauli – now there’s a team with the right ethos.
Indian players? Naan worth having.
long night, bhoys.
get it India
Who really gives a delhi trot what the huns arte doing.
They will be saved. Else there’s no need to be a Mason.
It’s 30C here in Sydney and I have been chilling with some Boag’s Pure.
viva cristo rey
I saw Paddy Buckley of Aberdeen score at Parkheid
But Charlie Tully scored the winner 2-1 for the tic.
See. Ah’m no a Hun.
Boring. Ahm back to the esky.
I remember the night shift was good.
Now it’s all bores. T’Internet has a lot to answer for.
morning
monthehoops
where’s Sydney tim?
He’ll keep us right about the financials.
Not sure of the time but the phantom internet prowler of the ‘royal’ is padding the deserted dimly lit corridors of ‘MRSA’ in search of somethiog to take his mind off ceiling tiles (all 108 of them including the one in the far corner that has a dark marj on it that looks like Jinky with his arm in the air). Anyway as I stare out over the purgatorial Necropolis, I can just make out the first fleeting wisps of weary ghouls skimming the horizon, sillouhetted against an unholy fanlight of regret as they queue up in orderly fashion to return to their damp dark vaults. One of them just saw me and pointed. Feck this I’m off back to counting ceiling tiles. By the way, this day 1872 was the 1st ever football international. Held in Glasgow, the result was an overwhelming 0-0 for Scotland v England . Got to go before the orderly catches me. HAIL HAIL Estadio
Good to hear from you Estadio.
Glad to see that you are feeling better/
I am not one of your big fans, you spout a lot of childish Parra handy pash. I consider you a Socialist simpleton, much like my family who live in your neck of the woods.
That being said I am glad that you are well.
viva cristo rey
Apologies for lack of formatting and paragraphing in earlier post. Sensory faculties not fully functional yet. Hail hail Estadio
Morning Estadio. Hope you are well mate.
Hh
Estadio are you still lurking? I,ve got a package for you, should I drop it into Sharkeys today or would the weekend be better? Hail Hail Hebcelt
Chris Torey says: 30 November, 2011 at 05:52
“Boring. Ahm back to the esky. I remember the night shift was good.
Now it’s all bores.”
Ok bhoys – he’s gone, you can all come out now…
JOCKYBHOY 0729
Ta for that.
Good morning from a brightening Manchester.
Hail Hail Estadio welcome back. Hope you are well.
hebcelt
Package for Estadio.
Better not be my ruddy Black Pudding.
MWD
PS. Estadio. It’s nearly bed bath time. That’s how yae canny sleep.
Gosh, it’s quiet round here this morning. Is it blowing a gale in EK? Miserable in Bonnybridge? Is everyone on strike and having a long lie? Or just silently pondering tonight’s match?
Ah, good morning googy. Good morning Moonbeams. Good morning to you too Estadio, even though you’ve given me the creeps with your post at 0613…
Estadio – This blog is a brighter place with you about it. Take it easy and well give the bhoys a cheer tonight for you HH.
Good Morning CQNrs from sunny Western Australia……
Blue sky, Big yellow ball in it and 29 degrees C
Hail Hail
Boak. I have Hun-like creatures in earshot discussing their teams “glamour” friendly from last night.
Clowns.
Morning all.
HH
Giggs
The Pantaloon Duck says:
30 November, 2011 at 07:57
Good morning Duckie.
Happy St Andrews Day.
To celebrate SNP leads Alex Salmond has empowered Christine Grahame to lead a 24 hour cull of all Irish Carholics.
MWD
Estadio good to see you about and ready to wind up the nurses. Say hello to Winnie if you see her.
Brian Wilson – Let The People Sing (The Scotsman 30/11/2011)
Brian Wilson: Let the people sing – yes, even football supporters
The Scottish Government is attacking symptoms rather than root causes with its attempt at a new form of censorship
LET ME open with a voluntary confession for Scotland’s Song Police: I know all the words of Kevin Barry and have been heard to sing them. Indeed, I think the last time was in the drawing room of Hillsborough Castle when the portrait of Lord Brookeborough glaring down at us made the temptation irresistible. “Another martyr for Old Ireland, another murder for the Crown”, and all that.
The reason I know the words is that I am the product of youthful conditioning, just as all of us are. We are brought up with traditions, values and our parents’ beliefs. As we grow older, we sort them out in our adult heads. We determine our own versions of right and wrong. We choose our own songs. I was brought up to detest sectarianism, support republicanism over monarchy, follow Celtic and regard Irish unification as a just cause. I have never seen reason to regret any strand of that DNA. Just to confuse (though there are no contradictions involved), I was not from a Catholic background.
As a rational adult, I quickly worked out there was nothing romantic about violence and grew wary of songs that glorified it, even at a distance in time. The poor sods on the receiving end of flashing bayonets and echoing Thomson guns were no more deserving of their fates than the later victims of Semtex and AK-47s.
For wholly explicable historic reasons, a reality of Scottish life is that large numbers of people identify with one tradition or another that has roots in Ireland. To those who have no such affinities, this may seem unfortunate or anachronistic, particularly because it has a habit of presenting itself through the medium of football. But society rests on mutual tolerance and respect. Nobody’s sense of personal identity, or the expressions that go with it, can be legislated away, and it is a fool’s errand to try. No particular group of people should be singled out for special treatment, to the point of criminalisation, to satisfy a political agenda but in the absence of rational argument.
Yet this is exactly what is now happening through the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill, which the Scottish Government appears determined to press ahead with. If ever there was a counterproductive piece of legislation in the making, this is surely it. Let’s separate some of the arguments. First, the Threatening Communications aspect is non-controversial. If there are gaps in current law that prevent the police from prosecuting the purveyors of death threats, sectarian or racial poison (incidentally, why not political also?) then of course cyberspace should be legislated for in the same way as other channels of communication. The complaint about the remainder of the bill is that there are no such gaps in current law. If people breach the peace or commit acts of violence, they are guilty of offences, whatever the motives. However, Section 74 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 added the concept of “statutory aggravation for offences motivated by religious prejudice” and requires courts to take account of that factor in sentencing.
Equally, expressions of support for terrorist organisations is dealt with by the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act of 2006. If these acts of “stirring up hatred” occur at football matches, they will result in criminal sentences that include banning orders. So that deals with misguided miscreants who shout “Ooh, ah, up the ’RA” though heaven knows what “RA” they are referring to when Martin McGuinness and the DUP are now the best of pals in a partitioned Ireland.
For good measure, Celtic have given life bans this season alone to 13 individuals who were detected uttering the forbidden words. That is the way it has to be. The tragedy for these individuals is that they have probably no more than the vaguest idea what they are shouting about. But the existing law, plus the action of clubs, makes a red card mandatory.
If there is any justification for new legislation, it must lie in banning something that is not already covered. But what can that be? To muddy the waters, its apologists throw in the Tynecastle assault on Neil Lennon. But the last I heard, assault is illegal in Scotland. On the other hand, the new legislation does not cover the mindset of Scottish juries – which does rather suggest it is aiming at the wrong target and, indeed, the easy one.
Under the new legislation, the potential criminalisation of singing football supporters is to be a matter for the judgment of police officers “having regard to the nature and words of the song”. Apart from placing another unwanted burden on police officers, who will now come under pressure to define what people can and cannot sing, this catch-all formula creates a form of censorship unique to football supporters.
If a song is illegal on grounds of racism or prejudice it should surely be illegal full stop – not only for football supporters. Then Roseanna Cunningham, the minister responsible for this nonsense, piously suggests there is no need for the singing of songs that have nothing to do with football, which would rule out most songs sung at matches around the world. Indeed, this seems a particularly unfortunate line of argument from an individual who presumably bawls out Flower of Scotland at Murrayfield. What does a 700-year-old battle have to do with rugby?
Ms Cunningham seized on figures showing 231 “football-related” offences involving sectarianism in Scotland last year – all of them, presumably, prosecuted under existing legislation! Forty-seven of these occurred at Celtic Park but only 14, according to police, involved the home support. And there were more than a million attendances in that period.
So where is the sense of perspective? My own view is that bigoted, sectarian attitudes are buried deep in Scottish society. They are directed mainly against minorities, principally – as statistics confirm – the Catholic minority. That is a problem worthy of the Scottish Government’s attention.
It is not too late for the Scottish Government to step back from this legislation and accept it is attacking symptoms rather than root causes. Let the people sing – proudly and legally – rather than pushing them into a corner where they feel obliged to defend that basic right, just as I would have done.
• Brian Wilson was the Celtic centenary historian, and author of A Century With Honour.
MWD @ 7:53 yep its the world famous Stornoway Black Pudding cures all known ills. Don,t worry I have,nt forgotten you. I,m back down for the Hearts game, so I,ll get something sorted for you. Hope you are keeping well. Hail Hail Hebcelt
Confession time.
I like Brian Wilson. I used to buy The West Highland Free Press even though it had the words wee and free in it . Who says subliminal advertising works?
And, there are many words of sense in the article MWD cites above. However the inclusion of this paragraph rather spoils the overall effect
“For good measure, Celtic have given life bans this season alone to 13 individuals who were detected uttering the forbidden words. That is the way it has to be. The tragedy for these individuals is that they have probably no more than the vaguest idea what they are shouting about. But the existing law, plus the action of clubs, makes a red card mandatory.”
That is a piece of Daily Mail style writing and Brian should have edited that out. “Probably” is an insufficient cop out.
This snippet may interest ole Cadizzy-
‘British singer-songwriter Elvis Costello has told fans not to buy a pricey limited edition box set of his music on sale next month, recommending they purchase some Freddy and the Dreamers instead.
Costello, real name Declan MacManus, said in an official blog post that the online retail price for The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook of $202.66, or 212.99 pounds in Britain, “appears to be either a misprint or a satire”.
“If you want to buy something special for your loved one at this time of seasonal giving, we suggest, ‘Who Wears Short Shorts’- a cute little imitation pair of baggy shorts containing 10 re-mastered albums by one of the most beautiful and loving revolutionaries who ever lived — Freddy Garrity’
The music, he added, was “vastly superior”, and cost less than $150.
While Costello’s comments may embarrass his record label, they have also generated considerable publicity for the “super deluxe” edition, which is available from next week.