If you haven’t had a chance to listen to the podcast I did with the LostBhoys on Celtic in the 1950s (superb production quality, you should check out what they are doing), I took the opportunity to mention the Hibs team of the late forties and early fifties, including the celebrated Famous Five forwards.
They won three league titles and narrowly missed out on another two as they unequivocally dominated Scottish football. They were probably the best team in Europe at that stage, only the lack of a formal European competition denied them recognition. Celtic battened down the hatches against Hibs in the 1953 Coronation Cup final but nothing would be the same again for the Edinburgh club, although reputation got them an invitation to the inaugural European Cup, in which they reached the semi-final in 1956.
We learned today that the last surviving member of the Famous Five, Lawrie Reilly, died, aged 84. Their achievement should be suitably acknowledged (this is not an endorsement of Willie Ormond’s later work, obviously).
The news that Hibs have today bid £200k for a striker is significant. £200k doesn’t buy you much in English football but it is a substantial investment for any club, apart from Celtic. Maybe Hibs long period in the wilderness is coming to an end.
I only caught up today on the Scottish Sun’s online coverage of the arson attack in Salsburgh (alas, not unique in the bus industry), complete with photographs of Celtic supporters and Neil Lennon (all of whom were four hundred miles from the incident). I remember reading a story on rape, robbery and assault in London in The Sun back in the 80s, accompanied by inner-city photos featuring exclusively Afro-Caribbean-Londoners going about their business. Real subtle.
Remember the email Charlotte Fakes produced on negative news stories against ‘other’ clubs being planted? Utterly breath-taking. Scottish football, as it was, and for some, still is, is inherently an unstable influence on Scottish society. We need to take our business elsewhere and I don’t believe any of our top-flight colleagues would object.
[calameo code=000390171b241bb2703f4 lang=en page=132 hidelinks=1 width=100% height=500]
912 Comments- Pages:
- «
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- ...
- 24
- »
KevJungle
The club are using the header on the current website that you spoke and we listened in relation to the fans. Put in a survey which newspapers people buy and which should be not made welcome.
blantyretim
I have just been speaking to two idiots at work who said to me ‘What about all the trouble in Brentford? Your fans are absolute scum.’
I did ask them what trouble and then realised that all they had done is reiterate what they had heard from the press and Sevco forums. This is the danger of the modern world of the internet. Tell a Hun his club is going bust and give them facts and they think you are making it up. Why? The reason is simple. Every time they release any story about Celtic fans it is either exaggerated, made up or both. The press in Scotland do not do us any favours either.
The club need to get stories rescinded and ask for apologies when articles are untrue not accurate or just plain lies.
LB
Blantyre Tim – guessing from your message above you’ve been in a bad way?
Hope you’re ok and I get to catch up with you soon.
67Heaven … I am Neil Lennon..!!.. Ibrox belongs to the creditors
12:41 on 22 July, 2013
kevjungle
12:20 on 22 July, 2013
The creditors….no level of corruption changes that…..
____________________________________________
I hope the same as you amigo
But – think about this – where do ye think awe the orcs will be on the day that it’s announced – Ibrox to be flattened ?
My guess is that – the amount of orcs who invaded Manchester 2008 would be ootside their stadium and not one pair of b#lls will be found to take them on !!!
I hope I’m wrong – but there ye go M8
Anyway nae fawin oot oer it – eh ?
Hail Hail n God Bless Ye – Off oot NOW.
Livibhoy.
The orcs still think they are the same team.
Ignore their crap. I can only say that as I’ve not been at work for few weeks. .
St martins bhoy.
Good to have you back.. wee leg op few weeks ago. Getting better daily.
You missed some turn pre cup final in club..
.
Behind the scenes of Fergus McCann’s takeover of Celtic – exclusive book extract
David Low and Francis Shennan
Saturday 19 December 2009
IT is 1992.
Dissatisfaction with the Celtic board has grown into revolt. There are various factions anxious to wrest control of the club as it seems to teeter towards disaster. The battle to win over the club will take two frantic years. Alliances will be formed and will be split.
This success was built on a strategy drawn up by David Low. It involved quietly building a stake in the club. In The McCann Takeover: The Inside Account, Low and Francis Shennan have revisited the dramatic tale of how Celtic were saved from administration. The plan was based on buying shares … sometimes in the most unusual places.
ONE measure of the range of support for Celtic was the variety of places where one found their shareholders. Shares were being found in out-of-the-way places, including South Fermanagh. David Low flew to Belfast Aldergrove airport and was picked up by a colleague. They had to drive to the home of one particular shareholder because he had no phone. In that area, two men in suits in a black BMW would not usually have been good news. They knocked on the door and waited. No answer, but a curtain moved. They decided to go for lunch and returned to the farmhouse in the afternoon. A ruddy-faced man in black overalls and wellingtons appeared from round the corner of the house.
“Good afternoon, I’m Mr Low. I’ve come to make you an offer for your Celtic shares.”
The man looked at him suspiciously.
“Could I come in to discuss it?”
“Come in here.”
They followed him into a cowshed.
“Sit down there.”
He motioned to a group of milk churns. The trio sat down to talk.
It was to be a lengthy conversation. Low was wearing a tailormade suit that had not been made for cowsheds. “Like I said, I would like to buy your shares in Celtic Football Club.”
The farmer’s father had gone to Glasgow as a young man to make his money and, while there, had acquired shares in Celtic. “I could never sell those shares,” he said. “they have been in the family for 60 years.”
The conversation moved backwards and forwards. “No, no,” said the man yet again. But the negotiations continued. Then the man suddenly said: “If you upped by £1000, I would have to deal there.”
This was one of the more bizarre dealings in Low’s hunt for Celtic shares that took him to Montreal, Phoenix and the Caribbean. The blueprint for the takeover of Celtic was to be The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli. The book’s reputation gave us the adjective Machiavellian to describe clever or devious strategies.
Low’s plan was to make a takeover without making a bid. It rested upon gaining the support of smaller shareholders, those ordinary people who had largely inherited their shares. They had kept them without receiving dividends and had been largely ignored by directors.
A takeover without a bid had two major advantages: first, it would not enrich the men being blamed for the state of the club and, second, it was feasible.
Almost the first problem in dealing with each shareholder approached was to convince him or her that it could be done. Nearly everyone had a desire for change, but nearly everyone thought Celtic was a closed shop. Most at some point told Low that he was wasting his time. “It isn’t possible. The board and their families have it sewn up.”
Brian Dempsey, who had most reason to suspect Low, had been quick to respond. When Low first met Dempsey he was seen as being close to Michael Kelly [part of the incumbent board].
Low had first appeared on a BBC Scotland programme in which he criticised Dempsey. After Low examined the Robroyston plan [a proposal for a new Celtic stadium], he apologised to Dempsey for misjudging him. “I had lots of doubts,” said Dempsey. “It took me a long time to trust him and I told him so.”
The trust grew with every event. “He assessed everything 99% accurately” said Dempsey. “He was always dead on.”
Low dreamed up joke nicknames for each of the main participants. Celtic was codenamed Shinty and the campaign was Operation Shinty. Celtic directors were nicknamed Meanie, Shifty, Sleepy and Jammy.
Low had an analytical, cynical and calculating mind. In the heat of the corporate battle, with its stress, with its rumours flying around, it was easy to become confused. Low was able to stand back and say: “If we go down this road, we win.”
His plan became known among the inner circle of rebels as Route One to goal. The name came from a BBC programme called Quiz Ball where contestants could pick a one, two or three-answer route to goal.
The money for the share purchases was put up by John Keane [a Celtic-supporting businessman]. In just two years, £500,000 would be spent. The new alliance began with shareholders outside Scotland. There was a good chance they were the most neglected and the rebels’ activities were less likely to alert the board.
That was what took Low to Fermanagh. And it what was ultimately what led him to Celtic Park in March 1994 as part of the successful rebel group that took over the club.
Summa
LiviBhoy
12:46 on 22 July, 2013
__________________
Yeah I know – that’s all well n good but – it’s buck passing. imo
Why don’t the folk who are hansomly paid to run the club
take the bull by the horns and joost dae it – ban them awe !!!
They wurny slow in banning Keevins – is just cheap easy shots that
they’ll take ?
Off oot
tallybhoy
12:29 on 22 July, 2013
………….
Yes, I feel that we need change and maybe amalgamating football associations is the answer, its happening elsewhere.
As ever, If the money men want it, then it’ll happen.
Paul67
Would you say that the board are active in the regionalisation thinking i.e are things happening behind the scenes as their silence on so many matters when they imho should be commenting on is baffling. I was all for keeping our powder dry but to me and many other fellow fans it has gone way beyond a joke now …………………….. a simple yes would be a good answer ;@)
Roddybhoy
Ah Paul67 that old chestnut, playing in a British league.
Three years on from our wee meeting with you know who and we’re no further forward, we’re still playing in this dismal hell hole.
I’m as you know in the ‘happy clapper’ camp but PL’s failure in this aspect is very obvious.
St Martin’s Bhoy
12:41 on
22 July, 2013
___________________________
I live in St. Annes mate.
Paul 67. If you wish to go to a party you need an invitation if you have no invitation it means for you no party.Currently as far as I am aware Celtic have no invitation to a better league so they have to play where they are,we the support can wish and dream about being in a different league but all it is at the moment is dreaming.We also are not setting the heather on fire with new recruits to our playing staff and Lennie keeps on giving us his dream that Hooper wont leave which is a long shot in my view. I just hope this faffing about does not cost us a CL league place.H.H.
BT
Nice to be back! Hope the leg is better soon and I can imagine pre Cup Final was quite a do…..anyone I know? ;-)
Big CQN catch up session this morning after a great week in Tenerife which included enjoying the victory over Cliftonville, made me reminisce about the best game I have seen while on holiday and the 5-1 thrashing of Oldco during a winter break in the same resort in 1998 takes first prize.
Bawsman
It’s a long way off but I have a couple of charity ventures in mind for 2014 and then a potential belter involving your neck of the woods in 2015.
As I say, quite a while away yet but time goes so fast as my years advance! :-)
In 2005 alleged aggressive behaviour by Stagecoach drivers, seeking to compete with Scotbus, resulted in an arson fire at a Stagecoach East Scotland garage.
There was also a “bus war” between Stagecoach Manchester and a smaller operator, UK North, over the lucrative 192 bus route between Stockport and Manchester in 2006
The company was engaged in a similar bus war with Preston bus, however this ended with the purchase of Preston bus in January 2009.
-Lifted from Wiki/EWLM/EWTB
“negative news placement”????
“Jackanory………Jackanory………………Jack..”
HHH
.
See Ice Cream Wars..
Summa
St Martins bhoy.
Usual suspects. .hibs fans in the small lounge and jackie mac snr also there..
Olace was full to capacity. Three bars working flatout…
Hope to see you in the new season.
Blnking flip..
No news day again on bbc1 0 ((
St Martin’s Bhoy
12:57 on
22 July, 2013
________________
Bit cryptic mate
.
Please Celtic..NEVER Ever. Play in a English..British league..NEVER..
You would be Hated like Never before..
I Have said for Years..A Bigger Champions League ..2 Leagues..? Playing Friday to Sunday and Domestic league Midweek is what will Happen and benefit Celtic FC Most..
Summa
BT
Sounds cracking and yes, we’ll definitely bring our happy band to see you this season…more than once I hope!
.
Strachan recalls Celtic trio and Kenny Miller for England game
Celtic captain Scott Brown has been recalled to Gordon Strachan’s Scotland squad for next month’s friendly international against England at Wembley.
Club-mates Charlie Mulgrew and James Forrest, who sat out the 1-0 victory in Zagreb, return too.
Strachan also included uncapped Brighton defender Gordon Greer, Motherwell’s Steven Hammell and 68-cap striker Kenny Miller in his 29-man squad for the August 14 encounter.
Welcoming Brown back after a hip injury ruled him out of the Croatia match, Strachan said: “Yeah it’s always good to have him about. He gets better and better as he gets older.
“He still has that energy but is controlling himself a lot better.”
Greer was another player who missed the Scots’ last outing as a result of a tonsillitis bug but Strachan insists the 22-year-old is in on merit.
He said: “Gordon Greer is in as well. He was unfortunate that he picked up an injury the last time he joined us.
“I don’t think age is a real problem [for the squad] but I’d like to get more youngsters through.
“But unless they get to a certain standard, I can’t just throw them in. I’ve seen certain managers have said over recent years that they are playing youngsters at their clubs. It’s easy to play youngsters but if they are not good enough they are not good enough.”
Vancouver Whitecaps frontman Miller also returns after hamstring issues ruled him out of contention for the Zagreb trip but Strachan believes the 33-year-old former Rangers and Celtic forward – this week linked with a third spell at Ibrox – still has a future at international level.
He said: “Kenny was always going to be back in the squad.
“I spoke to him before he had this problem with his hamstring when we went away to Croatia and it was better that he rested. That seems to be a good idea. So hopefully it has benefited him and he is back for this squad.
“We look forward to having him back because he is a top professional and sets a standard at training that is great for the younger guys.”
Not included for the Scots’ first trip to Wembley since Craig Brown’s side registered a 1-0 win in an ultimately unsuccesful Euro 2000 play-off in 1999 are skipper Darren Fletcher, defender Gary Caldwell and striker Steven Fletcher.
All three are currently out injured, with Sunderland striker Fletcher nearing a return from an ankle problem and his Manchester United namesake hopeful that the stomach issue that has plagued him for the last two years is now nearly at a manageable state.
However, Strachan was reluctant to speculate on when he will be able to call either player up again.
“Steven won’t be right for [the England game] but when you are talking about injuries like this, I think it is better to leave it to the clubs to tell you exactly what is going on,” said the former Celtic manager.
“I spoke to him about two weeks ago and the situation might have changed.
“It’s the same with Darren, I’ll leave it to the club to tell you what is going on rather than me.
“But they are top players and top blokes. They will be missed, that is for sure. The quicker they get back the better.”
Summa
Bawsman
You’re right and i’m sorry! I’ve got a few folk that I need to get agreement from first before I can get cracking properly but it would involve a long walk with Lytham as a starting point.
As I say 2015 so a long way off but as soon as I saw you refer to Lytham St Annes I thought I’d say hello. :-)
.
Pete sets off from Celtic Park to Villa Park for Stan
ASTON Villa supporter, Pete Gough, set off this morning (Monday) on a 310-mile trek from Celtic Park, in aid of raising money and awareness for the Cure Leukaemia charity.
He has set himself the toughest of challenges as he dedicates the next 13 days to making the trip down south on foot, all in aid of Aston Villa and Celtic legend, Stiliyan Petrov.
Before embarking on the first day of his trek, Pete spoke to the official Celtic website and explained how he was feeling ahead of the journey.
“Today will be interesting as I try and find my way out of Glasgow and then after that, hopefully, it will be plain sailing because it will be a straight road out of Scotland,” he said.
And he is also delighted with how well the fundraising has been going so far. Yet another target was accomplished this week, meaning they are now in line to raise three times the original aim.
“It´s been superb,” he said. “We now have over £3,000 in the pot. The target originally was only £1200 but we smashed that right away and the support has been tremendous.”
Former Hoops defender, and team-mate of Petrov, Tom Boyd, was there to send Pete on his way and he was amazed with his determination.
“It´s a fantastic effort. There have been so many great causes to raise money for charity but obviously this is a lot closer to heart here at Celtic and Aston Villa,” he said.
“Stan is such a nice boy and it´s fitting so many people are doing so many different things for him. I wish Pete all the best, and I hope he raises a lot of money.”
Boyd will be playing in the #19 match for Stiliyan Petrov at Celtic Park on September 8 and he´s looking forward to reuniting with his former team-mates for one more run-out on the Paradise pitch. And to do it for such a great cause is something he is proud of.
“I´ll need to get myself fit!” he laughed. “I´m looking at the guys who are coming back and I´m not getting any younger. In saying that, I suppose they aren’t either!
“We know the Celtic support will come and support a magnificent player that Stiliyan was for us. He´s one of the most genuine and nicest boys you will meet so I´m glad to see him come through this.
“The Celtic support always turn up and support great causes and there´s been a tremendous effort from everybody concerned at the football club.”
The match takes place on Sunday, September 8, (2pm KO) – tickets are now on general sale, on a first come first served basis priced at £10 for adults and £5 for concessions. They are available to purchase online HERE, by calling 0871 226 1888** or by visiting the Celtic Ticket Office.
Premium tickets (£25) and corporate packages (£100+VAT) are also available by calling 0871 226 1888**, Option 4 or emailing matchdayhospitality@celticfc.co.uk
Net proceeds of the game will be passed to Celtic Charity* and will support Stiliyan Petrov’s nominated charities plus a range of other projects and worthy causes within the local community and beyond.
The funds raised will help others across the country facing a similar diagnosis to Stiliyan and also some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.
* Celtic Charity is the “known as” name of Celtic Charity Fund, a registered charity in Scotland, number SC024648.
** Calls cost up to 10p per minute, telecoms provider dependent. Mobile and other provider charges may vary.
Summa
south of tunis
12:11 on 22 July, 2013
BMCUW
The Royal Oak .
Vicarious pleasure / nostalgia .
Over 40 years since I was last in The Royal Oak .
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I doubt it has been done up since them,or even had the pipes cleaned!
The Princess and The Magpie were both excellent,though-so my thanks.
The Swan in Hammersmith? Whoever ruined a great pub needs a kicking.
Great day though,and thanks and apologies to everyone I met….
summa of sammi….
13:03 on 22 July, 2013
………
Agree with that and think we’re partly to blame on that score, we seem to behave better abroad than when we play down south.
Celtic will beat Elfsborg in the air.
Bawsman
You better get some walking boots!
Gary Hooper will return to the squad for tomorrow.
Summa of Sammi @ 13 03..
Significant fitba is currently in the hands of FIFA/ UEFA and the likes of Sky ..
The likes of Sky will have a fight with FIFA /UEFA . The likes of Sky will win that fight .
The big boys will play for big pay per view money . The rest will play for what they can earn for themselves and get from national broadcasters…
As for Celtic ——we’ll see
.
Green Edge
13:10 on
22 July, 2013
summa of sammi….
13:03 on 22 July, 2013
………
Agree with that and think we’re partly to blame on that score, we seem to behave better abroad than when we play down south.
..
I Lived in England for a Few Years..50-60% of English Fans would be the New Rangers/Hearts fans to Us..
Especially in Southern England..London Area..
The No Blacks/Irish on Bed and Breakfast windows are no longer Displayed..But..?
Europe Celtic..
Summa
St Martin’s Bhoy
13:07 on
22 July, 2013
_____________________
I’ll wave you off with a pint ;-)
Paul67
You have put the idea forward on several articles and cited Russian / Ukranian cross border. Is this purely what you would like to see happening but accept its unlikely or is there something in the offing? Do we as a club have any chance of moving this forward where something will get done about it? Cheers M2M
.
South Of Tunis
13:16 on
22 July, 2013
Summa of Sammi @ 13 03..
Significant fitba is currently in the hands of FIFA/ UEFA and the likes of Sky ..
The likes of Sky will have a fight with FIFA /UEFA . The likes of Sky will win that fight …
UEFA/FIFA Want Celtic..England Don’t..
Sky..(Foxtel AUS)..FOX (US) Know CELTIC FC are a Cash Cow..We will be Invited with Barca et al..
Will they Invite Wigan..QPR or Norwich..?
Summa
Bawsman
:-) Thank you! Might need a few the night before to give me strength for the journey! :-)
Once I have more to tell you I’ll be in touch but got to get this year’s Newcastle to Paradise walk done first in September and then plans for 2014 after that.
Absolutely chucking it down and blowing a gale here in The Maldives. Nae kidding.
justlikehomeCSC
BMCUW @ 13 08
” Hammersmith ”
Is The Red Cow still doing business ?