For me, growing up in the 70s and 80s, there are two periods of Celtic history, Before Lisbon and After Lisbon. We knew about Jimmy McGrory, John Thomson, Charlie Tully and Willie Maley, but that was a dusty old history. Everything post-Lisbon was real and vibrant. We grew up with first-hand accounts of Stein, McNeill, Auld and Johnstone, titans who conquered Europe and lived among us.
Not only did they live among us, the continued to interact with thousands of Celtic fans. They travelled the globe to supporter events, signed autographs, then in later years, stood for photos. They worked the lounges and, in Stevie Chalmers’ case, sold you tickets from the club shop. If you are a Celtic fan, and you have not met Bertie Auld, you must live far away from Glasgow. And even then, you must be very unlucky.
The men from that team, now largely in their 80s, cannot continue to be available to fresh generations. No new Celtic fans will know Billy McNeill, Jinky, Bobby Murdoch, Ronnie Simpson or Tommy Gemmell. 50 years of new Celtic fans did not see the Lions play, but they got to know them personally. That chapter is slowly closing.
Our challenge is to make sure that living history we were gifted survives as long as possible. If you were around in ’67, tell your stories. If you met Bertie or John Clark on the Celtic Way yesterday, talk about that too. Explain what kind of people they are, what you discussed and how they made you feel. Great clubs are built on great stories. Keep telling yours.
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FU
Usually a right click and select Save to screen but it is not always available. I wasn`t able to do it with this one. Anyone else?
Agreed. Screensaver and deffo some sort of memorial card for Billy. Incredibly powerful image. It captures something very poignant…….
Trying to save it as we speak.
FU
I have just managed to do it.
Right Click
Save image
Right click on image
Set as desk top
I know that is not incredibly clear but I faffed about a bit before succeeding!
Bankiebhoy1,
A memorial postcard (decent size) is a smashing idea. I1ll mention iyt to John Paul taylor ( Supporters Liaison Officer) .
JJ
HOT SMOKED on 25TH APRIL 2019 9:01 AM
ok will get wife to do it.YA DANCER.
BB1 ,
I have just emailed this to JPT:
” Good morning, John Paul,
I read this on CQN this morning:
`Bankiebhoy1
Agreed. Screensaver and deffo some sort of memorial card for Billy. Incredibly powerful image. It captures something very poignant…….`
Bankiebhoy 1 was referring to the fantastic photograph taken by Frank McAllister:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D43JhXyXkAEtYrT.jpg
I would think that someone at Celtic Park might find this a suitable suggestion. The passing of our Captain has had a massive impact on our support.
James A Barr ”
JJ
Hot Smoked……great stuff, a fitting tribute and appropriate imagery for a giant of a man and a giant achievement.
Hope they run with it………..
I now have it as my screensaver!
HH
BTW…..to get it as screensaver.
I opened it in a new tab, saved it to my documents and then from there right clicked and selected save as desktop image……….
Ned Ludd CSC!
:)
HH
I thought this comment from Billy`s family was class:
” “We do not believe football stadiums were ever built to be silent. Our father would not have wanted that. They should be places of noise, passion and enjoyment.”
Cheerio for now.
JJ
https://t.co/nQtmRdMZFg
25th of april1967
Just received this from John Paul:
” It’s a fantastic image James, I’m not sure what permissions are required to use it but will pass on.
Best regards
JP”
A lot of great fund raising ideas since Tuesday, could do very well for appropriate charities.
Distribution of cup final tickets:
Even split,well you have to remember that supporters of Celtic and their opponents and others who have anti Celtic in their make up get a brief.We all know it ain’t fair but that is the way SFA. go about their business.
new article posted.
I hesitate to raise the unholy subject of modern football finance at such a time in our great clubs history. I am not religious, but the outpouring of thoughts, grief, anecdotes and personal testimonies that the Internet is currently awash with about our iconic Captain has lifted my mood, my spirit, to one bordering on an almost trance like state, and my connection to the Celtic Family, past and present, feels more tangible today, than it ever has (certainly more tangible than basket of asses FC winning the league Davie boy). I am currently viewing Celtic through some kind of ethereal lens. My Grandfather, who first saw Celtic in the 1920’s, my Gran, who knitted my first Celtic scarf, my father, uncles and even absent friends from my own era have all been dragged to the front of my consciousness. Memories of stories about games and players, stories about going to games, and games I have attended, are today available in “Neural High Definition”, rather than occupying the areas of my brain where the torch of recall cannot normally illuminate them properly any more. Billy’s death will have hit his family and close friends terribly, and my sympathies lie with them.
A few days on from the sad news of his passing however, the things that make our club special, that sprinkling of magic, that romance, has been driven to the fore, and the driver has been Billy McNeill.
At this time, thoughts of course turn to Billy’s defining moment as the head of the Celtic Family, holding the Big Cup aloft at the Stadio Naçional in 1967. In fact Lisbon has become the defining moment in the entire history of Celtic. I visited the stadium a few years ago, and if anyone with Celtic in their heart has never been, then I strongly urge you to add it to your bucket list. Little has changed in over fifty years in the stadium. It is so atmospheric, and brings the film footage that you will have watched to life. The Ghosts of Stein, Murdoch, Jinky, Big Gemmell and the others are definitely there, and now Billy McNeill will join them in the Portuguese sunshine.
I have been about the houses a bit there, but finally to my point. The following is a plea to the powerbrokers at Celtic Park. I don’t think they feel the things we feel as a support, and to them, the bottom line is the most important thing.
I have not tended to talk much about nine or ten in a row, I feel that each title has to be approached with full concentration on the job in hand,. However our club does stand on the starting line of a historic achievement, and with our financial situation as it is relative to other Scottish clubs, the board must give the manager and players (whoever they may be) every chance to gain ten titles in a row. Lisbon has been a significant anchor point on the voyage of our club’s history. With Billy’s passing, it seems somehow right that we look forward now, rather than back, and plot a new course to another significant anchor point, ten titles.
If our board are only concerned with finance, then I ask them to consider this: what monetary value to the club would you place on the Lisbon triumph? Not just directly, in the form of merchandising, but in the Kudos, and in turn negotiating clout it gives us in any commercial deals. How many extra supporters have went through the turnstiles, in the 52 years that have passed since our European Cup victory, on the back of that victory? How significant has Lisbon been, in keeping the support buoyant (and spending) during leaner times?
As the Lions pass, so does some of the fabric of our club. The Celtic Board must use OUR money to bring in the necessary personnel, players and coaches, to allow us to reach for the ten, against the forces that will be lined up against us over the next two years. We also face an existential threat from the nouveau riche of European Football, and we must strive to maintain some kind of foothold in Europe. Ajax’s run this year, has been good for our cause, but ourselves, the Lisbon Clubs, Feynoord and others like us, must try to emulate them, to stop the Money Laundering League Clubs from choking the clubs “below” them. Parsimony is not an option this summer.
As Billy passes, and Lisbon fades away and falls further into the past, it is time for new heroes in our story, and hopefully Scott Brown can become an icon at another anchor point in our history, and to a whole new group of supporters. Ten in a row, and back in the mix in Europe?… it’s what Billy would have wanted for us.
Hail Hail
?⚽️