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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Thanks Paul,
Great times , great blog.
you forgot to mention GreenLion2’s summer reading list. Where did that go Joe ?
Seville67
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1jY5fYjV-U
Hail! Hail! Here’s to the next ten!
Well well 10 years, 8 years older than sevco!
Cheers for bringing this informative site to guys like me who otherwise would have been relying on the redtops and the phone ins. Thank you!
Cheers to all the great bloggers, some still around and some moved on
Some that I strongly agreed with, other that I strongly disagreed with
but most of all Cheers for the efforts and the information when the huns were being bankrupted, without this site and one or two others, the huns would probably have still been in the SPL
Viva los bampots!
Viva the timternet !!
heres to another 10 !!!
Hail hail CQN from sunny Playa Blanca.
Made so many friends through CQN far and wide( and that’s not just their waist lines.)….
…but more importantly it has made me a better person by realising that helping others is a privilege.
Still need a striker though!!!
Anybody know if Tuesday’s game will be on TV.
HH
CRC
G’day Celts
Nice day along the Fylde coast, just back from a long cycle now for some urgent DIY :<(
Afternoon all
Thanks to Paul for the last 10 years – I lurked for years only plucking up the courage to contribute after Pablo/Stephen passed away.
At times – not least when I am in full flow- the blog can become a place where , as the original Radio version of Only An Excuse put it, erses become experts. Most of us have our favourite posters and others we dislike but there few who never write anything worth reading.
I am not so sure that these are days in Celtic’s history which we shall look on with that much fondness – and I mean Celtic specifically – but I hope we are still arguing about them on CQN
Here’s to the next 10 Paul
Jimbo67 praying to Oscar Knox and for Thomas Worth
Paul67
What a great leader, thanks for everything yir a star (green thumbs up)
Vinny
Boabby Murdoch etc..
Thanks, Pal…
Noo, n Again.. Ah Let the Mask Slip.. jist a Tad..
Heck!
But, Ah alwiz manage tae Slip it Back,quickly…. in Place .. afore , the Gang Finds oot..
that Ah Am jist a Sentimental Fool..
Like the Rest of You Folk!
Shucks , Ah widnae Like tae Disillusion.. Ma . Critics!
Kojo
Still,Laughin’
Thanks Paul.
Paul,
As a permanent lurker and occasional poster may I add my sincere thanks for all the valuable time you have spent keeping this fantastic blog alive for the past ten years.
My thanks also to your family as there must have been many times when they could have seen the time you have spent on CQN far enough!
Long life and happiness to you and yours.
An ever grateful,
Terrymac
Hail! Hail!
Paul – thank you for creating this wonderful community.
10 years have flown by – here’s to the next 10!
Sláinte to all CQNers and particularly the Brennan family.
DavieL
Paul 67
Amazing journey through the seasons this blog has taken us, we dont always agree about things to do with the club and the team, nor should we, but this blog is an essential read for me every day, I thank you.
Can we please get the PR sorted at Celtic Park , not in a North Korea way but in a way that the good that is done by many, is in the public eye and not the continual negative press we get for at times trivia.
BMCUW
You’re always telling me that jealousy will get me everything. :-)
Weefra HH praying to Wee Oscar.
Congratulations Paul67. Many happy returns to the blog, tonight I will raise a glass to Paul67, the blog and to posters no longer with us.
What an awesome post, thanks for the memories.
Great blog, keep it coming.
Happy CQN Birthday Paul….you have created something quite awesome.
Congratulations and thanks for everything, including our fights about Sutton as centre half (I was right by the way :)
Beware E15 gasoline if they try to push it on you in Europe………
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceW9Nc1hVHU
Paul67
The Seville milestone and the aftermath that has become CQN – congratulations on 10 years of; fact, information, friendship and charitable works.
Well done – glad I was converted from lurker to poster many years ago.
H!H!
No Paul, thank you.
BMCUW ,
Best holiday myself and the kids have had so far.
We couldn’t catch any games, that was the one downside.
Back to reality on Tuesday, nightshift, so can’t make the game, still my nephew and his lovely Barra Wife will use the tickets.
Hope all is well down your way.
Paul 67,
Nothing much to add to what has already been said except to add my own personal thanks for the best Celtic blog. As I lived down South 10 years ago your blog kept me up to date with all things Celtic and told a different story to what we were fed by the gutter press.
Keep telling it like it is mate.
BMCUW
It’s just a shame you’re no as quick up to the bar mate as you are to thon podium. I’ll be putting you through your paces soon. Get some training in.
HH
celticrollercoaster luvs his luminious lime boots
14:30 on 20 July, 2014
Loving the pics on FB from your Hols.
Tuesday’s game not on T.V.
Keep the Faith!
Hail Hail!
Only a very occasional poster but ” Here we go for another 10 in a row “.
10 years of internet destruction of MSM lazy journalism, 10 years of charitable causes being assisted, countless friendships being formed a legacy to be proud of Paul, keep going CQN
Nice article Paul 67.
Congratulations on your testimonial year!!
Hail hail
Congrats Paul67.
It was your blog quite a few years ago now that led me through the gates of the Timternet and although others may be not so grateful for that, I most certainly am!!
I very, very rarely read through the comments here at all in recent seasons but read the blog every day, my first port of call for my Celtic(quick)news then off to newsnow via the link provided, I doubt that will ever change. Here’s to the next ten years and 10-in-a-row in passing!! HailHail.
Paul67,
..and us supporters who constantly search the internet for news of our club were delighted to find a new voice, a discerning intelligent thoughtful voice that I and many have listened to and read for these last 10 years with absolute pleasure.
Lets us all be upstanding as we raise a glass to your endeavour and good health and look forward to many many years of supporting our special club in the right way, the Celtic way. To Paul!! (clink – clink – clink – clink……..)
Congratulations to Paul67 for 10 unbroken years of CQN.
Thanks for everything , I have met some great people through CQN and had many a fantastic day/night oot with them .
Its great to be Celtic supporter .
COYBIG.
Paul
A tremendous job having this blog for 10 years, long may it continue
I wish Pablophanque was here to see this day. Still thinking of you Steve. YNWA.
Lennybhoy, cheers having a ball spending Jobo’s 3rd place winnings from the Predictor.
HH
CRC
Ps don’t tell him :-)
paul67,
Congratulations on reaching 10 great years of CQN, I lurked for many a year and still only post occasionally but it is my essential fix of all things Celtic and a few others to boot.
Hail Hail
AR
KOJO
We’re all sentimental at heart.
We’re all a buncha argumentative gits as well.
Hence the pleasure we get from clicking on links to days gone by,and equally in the,erm,discussions we have about the present.
I’ve not met anyone from here who I haven’t liked. Though some of them may have!
When I put that to a poster in here just over a year ago,he refused to believe me. Not possible,he reckoned.
Well,he’s met a fair few since.
And for a guy who hates to be wrong-don’t we all- he’s delighted.
And absolutely amazed.
Frankly,so am I. It shouldnae be possible for all of that number over the years to get together,with different ideas on so many things-including Celtic-and not be huge barnies.
(Not a reference to FF in purple,btw)
It just seems to me that people don’t want to let themselves down in CQN company.
Strangers,really. But not quite.
And maybe take that into everyday life as a result.
Whit did happen to the Seville money
I remember you telling me you had launched CQN, Paul. Back then I made the mistake of thinking it was a wee hobby for you. But I started accessing it about eight years ago and Wow, I was hooked.
On every major football issue you’ve been literally years ahead of the hack pack. Here’s to the next ten. Congratulations.
Paul and all who sail in the good ship CQN.
Feliz aniversario!!
Here’s looking forward to the next 10 years!!!!
Congratulations Paul.
You are a fine ambassador for Celtic.
Respect to you for your charity work and tolerance of different opinions.
Of course, not forgotten, thanks Paul67 for providing the drug that is called CQN.
HH
CRC