It is enormously sad news that our friend Kano, Martin Kane, succumbed to his illness this morning. Kano was an ever-present on CQN for four years, on occasion writing our match reports, until illness struck in 2008. He was left completely paralysed, eventually only able to communicate through a machine, requiring round the clock care.
He was isolated in hospital in his home city of Perth, Western Australia, lonely for him and difficult for his wife Carolyn and their family, with no realistic chance of recovery. On hearing this news, CQN reacted in an incredible way. Our also now-departed friend, Pablophanque, wrote, “We need to get this guy home”, and a campaign started to raise the tens of thousands of pounds required to transform part of his home into an appropriate care facility.
As the campaign got underway I remember being concerned, it was going to take at least £60k and I thought we had no chance of getting close to this. Pablo (memorably) didn’t want to head the campaign he started but others soon stepped in and the Bring Martin Home got underway in earnest. Those behind it moved heaven and earth, and within a few months, the money was in place and Kano was back living at home with his family.
The Kano Foundation, a remarkable self-funded organisation which takes kids groups and charities to Celtic games, was established by those running the Bring Martin Home campaign, to harness the expertise and goodwill for on-going good, in Martin’s name.
When I first met Kano’s dad, Matt, who himself is no longer with us, six years ago, I was caught off-guard when he talked about Kano’s life expectancy. Unable to move he was enormously vulnerable to any prosaic infection. He suffered a few health scares but fought through them for far longer than many anticipated.
We got him back on the blog briefly, sharing some of his gratitude for the work done and his humour, but he explained the hours it took to compose his few sentences. He continued to watch Celtic, of course.
This morning our thoughts go to Carolyn and the kids, as well as to his good pal Ramie and those who cared for Martin. Those who decided to get off their arses and change the world for one family back in 2008 should be very proud of what they did, and the years at home they gave Kano.
2,068 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- ...
- 48
- 49
- 50
- 51
- 52
- 53
- 54
- 55
Goodnight Timland.
We’ll win the league,so chill…..away, it’s Saturday night ffs.
The negative overreaction from some on here is a joke.
Celtic finally get some sort of challenge and some throw in the towel already. Man alive.
m6bhoy
17:45 on 10 January, 2015
Captain Beefheart 17:14 on 10 January, 2015
An absolute joke that we didn’t play our fixture. Whose bright idea was it though, the football or the business department?
————————————————————————————————————————
You have to remember that the football department is now a sub-section of the business department. We are slowly but surely being turned into the footballing equivalent of the Harlem Globetrotters.The bottom line is all that matters these days.
—————–
Someone posted on here before that Celtic have said we make no money from this trip so it must be a football decision.
Every manager in football cries out for a winter break, hopefully it works out for us.
tinytim
17:39 on 10 January, 2015
We will not countenance paying the salary Shaun Maloney earns ,unless we get 2 players off the wage bill .
TT
_______
Only two? We need a clear out and have to be ruthless with it, there is a pool of forty first team players on our books, who condoned all these signings hoping they would come good?
Our PL, £1,000,000 a year?
No wonder we can’t by a player that can walk into our team and do a job and give the support something to look forward to as we walk to the game.
Ps, keep practicing the pool, Delaneys reckons he’ll granny you at the next meet:))
chrisvan
A very good observation IMHO. HT has highlighted the stat, which must be unique since the days of Ferguson if ever?, the biggest niggle for me, is not about Celtic or Aberdeen’s chances, if it’s down to players and history, we’ll win.
I think Aberdeen have a system.
new article posted.
Chrisvancoupon
And who’s thrown the towel in?
Majority are saying the challenge is a real one.
Sipsini
Bang on. It’s detroys me that the best backup defender Celtic has is Efe Ambrose.
The squad was unbalanced when lennon left and it still is.
Still no competition at left back. Still no midfield enforcer type. Still a lack of pace. I stil think teams have dissed commons, so he needs to up his game, like he did on Monday, more often.
I was very moved by the many many posts here in tribute to Kano, as a lurker of only a year or so i did not get to know the man or to read his posts, but the way everyone holds him in such exteem leads me to believe he was a wonderful man. What this community did for him with the Bring Martin Home campaign and then the Kano foundation is in some way an extention as to what being part of Celtic is all about.
Football is our life, our club is our way of life, with the passing of Martin and Wee Oscar it humbles me to be a part of this world wide family of ordinary people that love not just our football team, but also one another, and especially those that have so much love and time to give for others that could be on the other side of the world and they have never even met.
I am not a deeply religious man, I find it hard to believe at times when there is so much suffering and so many good folks lose closely loved ones early in life. Perhaps there is a reason for this and one day I will understand better, for now it breaks my heart why all the good ones are taken from us so soon.
Garbriel’s first post yesterday was wonderful, I copied and pasted it (hope you don’t mind pal if your reading) I will be reading it many times in the future.
Friends in Celtic, you guys have a wonderful blog, I love reading it every day at work on my fone and at nite on the lappy, perhaps I will contribute from now on. I’m not a happy clapper or a mineshafter, nor am I a hun as I know you will ask lol
Let’s look forward to a successful 2015, my favourite memory of last year was our Greek Ghod walking around the pitch with Wee Jay, that had the tears flowing. I miss Sammi, he truly got Celtic, its now the time for new heroes to step up and take his place
Pedro
It’s the overly negative vibe of some that irks me.
“Celtic can’t keep clean sheet!”
“Why are players training in the sun”.
chrisvancoupon
17:52 on 10 January, 2015.
I fear celtic a touch soft these days .
##############
I fear that’s an under statement mate , celtic have IMHO been toothless for ages . We did have a wee spell with steel in the middle of the park in Wanyama , but as you know it wasn’t destined to last . But I do agree that something needs done to beef up our team . With regards to guidetti , as far as I’m concerned , Griffith would be ahead of him in the pecking order . Overall money needs spent to combat the challenges that lie ahead over the next few months . But I won’t hold my breath on that one , unless a loan signing or two .
Bannan could hide in Ledleys beard
chrisvancoupon
Not sure why Bitton needs to “man up”. I’ve seen him win plenty of tackles. If he doesn’t go in for a blood and guts tackle but tries to nip the ball, so what. That’s his style. Nothing wrong with that.
Did you see the zidane turn he did which got him away from 3 PSV players attempting to tackle him and got us out of trouble and attacking.
There ARE times when you want a player to get inae them, but when 2-0 up against Kilmarnock isn’t one of those times.
Bitton has a job to do, he does it very well. Rather than looking at what he doesn’t do, look at what he does do.
Again, he fellow team mate , Craig Gordon, seemed to appreciate what he does.
….pfayr supports weeoscar
17:49 on 10 January, 2015
Anybody fancy our chances of keeping eight clean sheets on the bounce
>>>>>>>>
Yeah, moi ……………!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
supersutton(theplayer)
18:23 on 10 January, 2015
chrisvancoupon
Not sure why Bitton needs to “man up”. I’ve seen him win plenty of tackles. If he doesn’t go in for a blood and guts tackle but tries to nip the ball, so what. That’s his style. Nothing wrong with that.
Did you see the zidane turn he did which got him away from 3 PSV players attempting to tackle him and got us out of trouble and attacking.
There ARE times when you want a player to get inae them, but when 2-0 up against Kilmarnock isn’t one of those times.
Bitton has a job to do, he does it very well. Rather than looking at what he doesn’t do, look at what he does do.
Again, he fellow team mate , Craig Gordon, seemed to appreciate what he does.
******
Correct.
The boy is class.
He is the only player we have who consistantly plays the early ball to a team mate…and is available for the return.
It will take a while for the residue of the stodgy, slow, turgid style of post Larsson O’Neill, Strachan and Lennon to work it’s way out of our supports psyche!
Commons and Maloney….and rotate them!!
RIP Kano.
You sound like a diamond of mhan. Wish I could have chatted with you;
YNWA.