The changes over the last decade have been so profound, and are now so established, it’s difficult to recall how different the balance of power was back then. In 2004, a small handful of people had complete control over the Celtic media narrative.
Was Martin O’Neill going to Leeds United? He was, you were told he was, live on the country’s most listened to radio programme. By a former Celtic player, too. Objectivity and the opportunity to challenge was controlled by the very people who were writing the headlines.
For years, this was the way it was, and it was poisoning Celtic. The ‘old board’ were worthy of little better, but Fergus McCann was brutally attacked. He was the man who would bring equality and respect to our club and fans, but he was demonised by lazy hacks who cared little for truth. So much so, he was booed by the very people who celebrated the league title his vision brought. It was a bitter experience for many.
Martin O’Neill, in some respects, like The Man 35 years before him, brought a force of personality so strong, the gaggle of critics could only stand back in awe, but the system had a flaw. Stein brought unimaginable success with little more than unimaginable brilliance. O’Neill used money, lots of it. More than Celtic were earning. His whirlwind high-spending start at Celtic ended with the £6m signing of John Hartson in 2001, little over a year after he took the job.
Martin would spend another four years working within a budget; not one that brought expenditure into line with income, we continued to lose millions each year, but one which limited signings to a fraction of what was spent on Hartson, Lennon and Sutton.
While those four years were among the most exciting in our history, it was an unhappy era.
Put yourself back in time for a moment. Celtic are champions and have beaten Ajax to qualify for the Champions League for the first time. We were imperious, had beaten Rangers 6-2 and took to a field in Turin to final take part in a tournament which for so long appeared out of our reach.
Juventus went 2-0 up but back came Celtic. I worked with a Rangers fan who was at a lower league game that night. When we equalised, his friend text “I don’t think I can take this anymore”. We had come from nowhere, an irrelevance in Scottish football, but here we were, champions of Scotland and level against Juventus.
At that moment, anything was possible. For the first time in decades, we thought, maybe just…
We soon learned that it takes more than honest endeavour to win in Italy, and visits to Portugal and Norway provided a rude awakening. This was not ’67 all over again, there was a lot of work to do, we just needed to keep the pedal to the metal.
Two years after that defeat in Turin we came close to winning our second European trophy in Seville, with a team which had, pretty much, been in place for three years. We were getting the hang of European football, but the team was aging.
For reasons that defy logic, history records the Seville season as the highlight of that team, but the achievements of season 2003-04, with 25 consecutive league wins, and eliminating Barcelona from Europe, were vastly greater.
Then the party was over. The Great Swede left, we’d lost £35m in a few short years, and reality was acknowledged; all clubs need to live within their means, or face liquidation. The climb-down was necessary, but I’m not going to tell you it wasn’t hard.
Back then few people read football clubs accounts, even though Celtic posted copies to over 20,000 shareholders, but all the clues were there, Celtic had to stem the flow. We lost £7m in the Seville season alone; wages to players and coaches were unsustainable.
Despite this, Celtic were regarded as cautious. We lost £35m over five years; Ranger lost £35m in a single season. If they could pump debt up to £80m and survive, why wouldn’t Celtic? We would learn the answer to this question in 2012, but think back to 2004, thoughts that one of Scotland’s major clubs could be liquidated were ridiculed – often, on CQN.
So how did the media deal with our club in 2004? I was driving to work one morning and had heard “What the Celtic fans want to know, is where is all the Seville money?” once too often. “Where is all the Seville money?” was a toxic question. There was no Seville money, only higher debts.
When I arrived at work I ranted about such lazy reporting. This was calculated reporting of the most pernicious type. A Rangers supporting friend suggested, “Why don’t you start a blog and challenge what they’re saying?” I’d never heard of a blog, but he sat me down and got me going.
The first CQN article, written 10 years ago today, was a modest call to “Ignore the Press”, but just before I pressed publish, I had to select, ‘Allow comments: Yes or No’. I’d no views either way but ‘Yes’ was default, so I left it.
The whole thing, the millions of comments, the hundreds of thousands of pounds raised for those in need, the friendships made, the golfers, the slimmers, those helped in bereavement, the thousands of kids attending our school kitchens each day in Malawi and the countless hours of enjoyment we’ve had, are all down to a default position on Blogger. And a Rangers fan telling me to start the fight back online. Who’d have thought it?
Now, people stop me in the street to talk about Celtic. Can there be a greater joy in life? Thanks for all the help and support.
Celtic yesterday, today, forever.
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GuyFawkesaheroforever,
I drank in the Radnor for years,spoke to someone who was In today,
loads of people in but plenty had to leave as very limited drinks available,
sums it up that they couldn’t even arrange a good swansong
just on
i don’t post often paul so thanks for ten years and here’s to the next ten
gerry123
Good Evening.
Congratulations to Paul and everyone else who helps to make CQN and the CQN community what it is.
Moonhowling, Happyclapping, Board Doubting, Mine Shafting, Horsey betting, whistle wetting, dram guzzling, beer brewing, food tasting, music playing, holiday making, Charlotte Faking, charity raising, Stein praising, golf ball driving, football fiving, Kitchen building, lilly guilding, Auld Heid digging, Kojo Jigging, Cana mala ring, Jinky Red Starring, Delaney Dunkeying, Old Tim Monkeying, Dumfries Brattbakking, Rangers hacking, Aberdouring, Neganon Scowling, PF Ayring Community caring, Rollercoasting, session hoasting, Captains Winning, regular sinning, podium chasing, opinion basing, Left clicking, curled up winklepicking, Moonbeaming, often steaming, Minx dating, player rating, game taping, marriage making, occasionally mating, consummating, anthem singing, wee minging, WeeFra Lambing, Red Top damning, Book writing, Suarez Biting, Lions Blogging, fitness jogging, long distance cycling, Larsson Liking, Hampden Going, Evander Snoing, Celtic Parking, Whitedoghunchbarking, Malorbhoying, Real McCoying, Tommy Twisting, Radio Listening, Big Cup Lifting, rude men rifting, Weather reporting……………….. but always Celtic Supporting………….CQN!
paul
congrats on the anniversary.
CQN is still the first thing i read in the morning and the last thing i read at night.
Well done Paul
Congrats on 10 in a row
Apparently the first 10 are easy.
Its the second run thats a bit tricky
Cheers
Phil
Post rarely these days but congratulations Paul on a blog giving the fans many great moments and a voice.
Here’s to your next decade.
BRTH
Superb,must have taken all day to conjure that up
Paul67, ain’t posted for a while but CQN remains go to site for me. Early recollections of CQN: Bellamy rumours and amortisation; since then stunning tributes and contributions when we lost Jinky and Phil, highs and lows during Gordon and Neil reigns and of course informed insights into the final days of Rangers and the arrival of sevco. Who knows what next 10 will bring!!
excathedra44
I have been meaning to get back to you for the last 6 months or so.
Thank you for your post concerning my friend who passed away in febuary
HH.
Congratulations on your 10 years Paul. You have created a great Celtic resource for us which along the way has done so much for so many causes. Here’s to the next 10.
James Garner rip
Cheerio maverick
HH
…nostalgia for the days of the tank at the bottom of the marble staircase…
BRTH
Brilliant. Pmsl. :-)
Weefra HH praying to Wee Oscar.
BRTH, a wordsmith!
hrvatski Jim
CQN addicts?
I’m one. How do I know?
a) just read back thro every single post!
b) once got up to the loo about 3am and instinctively grabbed the iPhone to read CQN!!!!
c) caught myself – in the nick of time! – the other day signing off a text to my much better half with ‘HH jamesgang’ rather than ‘Jxxxx’ – yellow card narrowly avoided!
Jobo. My otherwise brilliant life has been blighted over the last few days by your absence. I really miss you not being there when I wake up in the morning. Don’t dare leave me again!
That’s something I never thought I’d say to a bloke…..from EK!
6 degrees of CQN separation. Was in a brilliant italian in doune tonight. Brilliant dinner cooked from starters in front of us by a really nice bloke. Said to mrs jamesgang, he’s a CQN kind of a guy…..so Timdom, any links?
Hutchybhoy – happy to go on the bus. Unless you want to get the train early and seek out Embramike’s huge gazebo! I’m easy, old tart that I am!!
A good day on CQN. Still can’t believe poacher BMCUW got the pod. Actually I so can!!!
HH Timdom jamesgang
gordybhoy64
23:02 on
20 July, 2014
BRTH
Superb,must have taken all day to conjure that up
——————————————————————————————————————–
Sadly no — that is just the kind of SH1T that my mind conjures up — and that lot came to mind and was developed in between me answering e-mails.
If it wasn’t for CQN there is a faint possibility that I might be sane!
Jude
Magic stuff from the young bhoys today.
Tell Josh we are rootin for him.
HH
Well done Paul and fellow readers and posters. Here’s to 10 in a row with Ronny on the park now. Hail hail
CQN #1 Celtic site.
By a mile!
Paul67, congratulations on 10 years of the best Celtic blog and the best source of an antidote to lazy journalism.
Thanks again Paul, I’m not sure how soon after your first post I discovered CQN but I think almost every day since then I have been part of this wonderful blog. I was a computer teacher in a sec school in the south and no other staff supported the bhoys. At lunchtime I used to trawl the net for news and views and one day discovered CQN.
From then on from the lows of Paul McBride’s and other wee hero’s passings to the many highs including 2-1 v Barca this wonderful site has been my daily go to place for comfort and ecstasy, where you are among friends and familiar names. I said thanks to you earlier and I’ll say it again, quite simply do you really know what you have created.
BRTH
Nice post. Thought I might have caught up with you in Tenerife this last week. Just back earlier today.
Celtic_Cross, cheers.
Art of War, had a great day, thank you, although only just finished various jobs. Off on holiday on Tuesday, so lots to do.
excathedra44, me neither, cheers.
Clashcitybhoy, the place has been a wee oasis today. Football is back, so football chat will soon return in earnest, especially when we lose…………
scotlands shame, that’s a nice story, thanks for sharing.
twentyfirstofmaynineteenseventynine, no argument from me.
Pogmathonyahun, the Kano fundraising was incredible.
Lubo, it sure is.
SFTBs, indeed.
weebobbycollins, that’s incredible. You’re missing some great people.
MicktheMick, good to hear from you.
Malorbhoy, cheers.
NatKnow, thanks, fella.
Zbyszek, ah, the server meltdowns………. Remember logging in, seeing the site down, and thinking, “Rangers must have lost”. They had too.
GourockEmeraldBhoy, thanks.
gerry123, here’s too it.
BRTH, thanks for all your help and well said.
clunks, me too. Thanks.
philcool, ha! Good one.
fan-a-tic, here’s to it.
Morarbhoy, put like that, it’s been some decade.
Craigellachie10, thank you.
Maestro, thanks.
Dharma Bam, we’ve had a blast.
Yogiy, so many great memories.
Wee Jamesie is 3 1/2 inches taller than wee Javier
Paul67,
Thank’s for the help in weaning me off of Radio Clyde & The Daily Record…and lowering my blood pressure :O).
Hail Hail.
Petec,
Sorry I had hit the hay when you replied to my post. I too think we are on the cusp of something great, exciting times ahead.
Hail Hail tae you Sir.
EDB
I have never been in Tenerife in my life!
Now, Dumbarton — that is another story altogether.
Paul.
I see that everyone is congratulating you for the ten years that CQN has been running. I thought that we had celebrated our tenth anniversary on the 14th of March, just shows you how befuddled I have become, I’ll re-celebrate the event after the result on Tuesday, I feel like a wee drink. anyways Paul congratulations for keeping it going for so long, you deserve a medal for putting up with all the crap that’s been put on the blog in the last couple of years, and still being here to handle it all.All the best Paul.
I don’t post a great deal but appreciate this wonderful forum you hve created. Thanks, Paul, for these first ten years. They’ve been brilliant.
Have we signed the Mexican bhoy ?
Can’t find anything in the Spanish press that confirms anything, just rumours.
HH
THE EXILED TIM.
According to the express we have
Congratulations to CQN. Happy 10th anniversary.
To all the good ghuys who say they don’t post much anymore, the ghuys who were regular posters a few years back and still lurk.
GET BACK POSTING WE MISS YOU.
Well done Paul
ps I started work in the Radnor bang on my 18th birthday. My big bro who was a bouncer got me the gig. I’ll never forget the Sunday afternoon shift, 12.30 till 2.30 a stampede of people when the doors opened and non stop for 2 hours mental!!
HH PB1888
Paul67…never mind the Seville money, what about all the bbc fees you have been paid over the years?
householdnamecsc…
Oldtim
He will do well for us, a very decent winger.
Looks like Derk will be ofskie then-maybes ?
Did you buy that vino ?
HH
BEST CELTIC BLOG. READ EVERYDAY
Paul, have a most excellent holiday dude!
Billandtedcsc
THE EXILED TIM.
Not yet.I notice wine that was going at a good price so I bought a case.It was a sweet wine, not to everyone’s taste, but it’s good for a change.
I hope this good vibe posting continues over to future blogs. It was a nice way to respect a birthday in the family.
Oldtim
When we are back in Barca later this year, we may indulge in a drop >}
If you do get some, you will enjoy.
HH