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Pyros, pits, Seville and heritage

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By on CQN BLOG & Comments

Earlier this year I wrote that the pyrotechnics problem was one of the free rider. There are reputational and Uefa fine costs to Celtic, but the perpetrators hide among a crowd, so encounter no costs. Celtic pay the fines, Celtic fans, as a group, carry the reputational damage, those who create the problem act with impunity.

Two who set flares in Istanbul have been identified and banned by the club. This ban will prevent them attending away fixtures in Europe for a considerable time, but it will not prevent them walking through turnstiles at Celtic Park, or some other Scottish grounds. Celtic have announced that they are considering their position and may raise a civil action to recover fines imposed –aligning consequences with actions.

Whenever I hear someone ‘considering their position’ I don’t expect them to act. Those who act tend to only provide advanced notice when legally obliged to do so. There is a flip side to this, however. If Celtic raise an action the issue is dead – it will not happen again. If Celtic don’t raise an action it may well happen again. Steps to hide identities will be improved, perhaps making it impossible to identify another offender. The stock defence of football clubs, “We’ve done everything we could”, will not wash.

It’s only 12 years since 80,000 Celtic fans went to Seville and didn’t so much as spill a drink. What chance that now?

When they were at their peak, 1.2million miners went down the pits in Britain. Before the pits, the population of Lanarkshire was a fraction of what it is now. They build railways in the late 19th century, allowing coal to be taken to the cities and ports, and people were drawn to places like Bellshill, Motherwell, Coatbridge and Wishaw.

This subsequent years saw the greatest migration from Ireland to Scotland, and an enormous migration from rural to urban Scotland. People came to Lanarkshire to work in the coal industry, and to Glasgow and other surrounding towns to work related industries, like shipping and heavy engineering.

The work was almost always dirty, often dangerous and inevitably poorly paid. Poverty and its associated diseases, including social diseases, were difficult to escape. Even today, the twin towns of Hamilton (a market town established for centuries) and Motherwell (a 19th century town established by the coal and steel industries) are separated by a significant gap in employment opportunities, property values and wealth. Physically they are only two miles apart, you can walk between them in minutes.

Football was the real opium of the masses. They worked five and a half days a week, on their half day they went to a game. Entrance was cheap, even the poor could attend, all boys could play, all men could talk a good game (it remained a predominantly male pastime for decades).

Coal, and its by-products: railways and heavy industry, shaped the industrial towns of Scotland, Wales and much of England. Without it, cricket would be our national game (it was once popular even in Scotland). You wouldn’t have Celtic.

Today the last miner will emerge from a British pit, in Kellingley, North Yorkshire. The pits around Lanarkshire are long gone, and there are few bings left. Jobs now are cleaner and safer, but we’ve lost a link to something Celtic fans value more than most, our heritage.

Speaking of which, get to Celtic Park before 13:00 tomorrow. Wallow in the abundant heritage that is Billy McNeill!

We’re shipping same day from CQN Bookstore, but there’s not long left before Christmas!

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  2. Celticrollercoaster supporting Shay,our bhoy wonder along the way on

    Need to dash as picking up Mrs CRC and Caityrollercoaster from the hydro

     

     

    Catch up later with the LMS6 quiz winners

     

     

    HH

     

     

    CRC

  7. Hamiltontim on

    CRC

     

     

    Brilliant, magic, fantastic! It was the quiz that got me into CQN in the first place. Many thanks.

     

     

    Sftb

     

     

    Great effort mate, well done.

  13. Saint Stivs on

    CELTIC fans who unfurled a banner calling Rangers fans “huns” walked free from court after a three-day trial.

     

    The Sun

     

     

    Green Brigade members Daniel Ward, 23, and Daniel McCorgray, 22, both of Glasgow, were charged with breach of the peace aggravated by religious prejudice at a Celtic v St Mirren game in August 2010.

     

     

    Their banner showed Hoops boss Neil Lennon outside a flaming Ibrox with the slogan ‘Huns FC’ on the main stand. Another banner said: “Let’s go to war.”

     

     

    The pair were granted legal aid as the court heard complex legal arguments in the trial.

     

     

    But Sheriff Alayne Swanson took just 20 minutes to return a not proven verdict last week at Glasgow Sheriff Court.

     

     

    Ward’s lawyer, ex-Celt Gerry Britton, said as no-one had complained there was no breach. He added: “The charge tried to link two banners but they were separate.

     

     

    “Our argument was that the word “huns” may be none too pleasant, but is not a religious comment.”

     

     

    Read more: http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scot…#ixzz1qCvlLdP7

  14. praecepta on

    CRC

     

     

    Enjoyed that – thanks!

     

     

    Just like the old days – except my brain’s slower and my eyesight’s not as sharp! :-)

  15. Delaneys Dunky on

    SFTB

     

     

    Wow! We are not worthy! :)

     

    Well done.

     

    Thank you CRC. Magic wee night in sober on a Friday. :)))

  26. Celtic Mac on

    Celticrollercoaster

     

     

    Fine effort! I must admit I was waiting on a Billy McNeill themed question as in;

     

    When did Billy score his first goal for Celtic?

     

    I’ll give you all a clue, it was my first time seeing the Bhoys!

     

     

    instantkarmaformecsc

  35. Almore on

    Delaney’s Dunky: Enjoy. Thank ghod I didn’t book the last match! Let me know when you have tickets for Stranraer. HH to all Celtic supporters

  36. Melbourne Mick on

    Hello again all you young rebels.

     

     

    Presently down the peninsula in our wee Celtic caravan, no

     

    wifi so using the library and haven’t managed to read back

     

    on the blog, are we a happy place ? hope so,anyway we

     

    had a visit from HEBCELT’S lovely girl and she brought me over

     

    a cracking Stornoway csc shirt which i shall wear proudly at

     

    our final bash this year on Sun. at our club , going to be a scorcher

     

    so all you Oz tims or visitors on the peninsula get down to the

     

    Bay hotel Mornington 3. o clock k.o and enjoy our usual reb

     

    music from resident band Tara, ice cold Guinness, raffles, and

     

    great craic from all our members .

     

    Hebcelt

     

     

    What a great lhass you have and just like Cowiebhoy’s lhass who

     

    gave us a visit last year an absolute credit to you and your family

     

    and talking about club shirts the Stornoway csc one will join my

     

    Dubai hoops csc, London No1 csc, North American fed csc, my

     

    Brisbane csc. and many more, now for a club in some peoples eyes

     

    as small and insignificant in world football were doing not bad as

     

    far as i’m concerned and i haven’t come across any Real Madrid ,

     

    Chelsea, Man city, supporters clubs in my travels, have you? and as i

     

    always say to you all….

     

    The Celtic wha’s like us?

     

    H.H Mick

  40. Saint Stivs on

    1980 players reviewedThis is a featured page

     

    Matches : 1979 – 1980 | 1979-80 Pictures | Players

     

     

    Celtic return to pre-seasion training, 1980

     

    Sunday Times, The (London, England)

     

    July 25, 2004

     

    Author: Neil White

     

     

     

    By 1980, Billy McNeill had stamped his mark on a Celtic team he had inherited from Jock Stein two years previously. McNeill’s first two signings, Murdo McLeod and Davie Provan, had been instrumental in the championship-winning side of 1979. Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen took the title north the following year, though the Scottish Cup was firmly in McNeill’s grasp.

     

    Celtic were about to embark on back-to-back championship seasons, a feat that would not be matched at Parkhead until the arrival of Martin O’Neill. McNeill achieved this through a combination of shrewd acquisitions and the fruits of a scouting and youth system that would be the envy of any Premierleague side today.

     

     

    Of the seven players pictured, only Dom Sullivan and Tom McAdam came from other clubs.

     

     

    Mick Conroy, who was signed in the latter months of Stein’s reign, remembers the impact that McNeill’s arrival had on the squad. “He was a breath of fresh air, a young manager with big ideas and big ambition,” said Conroy. “We had a great dressing room, with a lot of young, confident guys. It was a lot of fun. There was a group of them coming through the boys club, Charlie Nicholas, Willie McStay, later his brother Paul, and Danny Crainey. They cottoned on to the fact that I was the only senior player who wasn’t married and knew they could get in to my flat if they pulled on a Saturday.”

     

     

    Despite a vibrant social life, this Celtic side were the dominant force in Scottish football in the years prior to the emergence of Aberdeen and Dundee United as the New Firm of the Premier Division.

     

     

    1 Tommy Burns

     

     

    Tommy twists, Tommy turns, Tommy Burns. So the song went, and it was a fairly accurate description of the strengths of a midfielder who, by 1980, had already been at Parkhead for six years. It would be another 10 before he would depart, to become player-assistant manager at Kilmarnock. A Stein signing in 1975, Burns played 353 times for Celtic, scoring 52 goals from midfield and receiving eight Scotland caps. At Rugby Park he succeeded Jim Fleeting as manager and impressed his former employers so much that he was enticed back to Parkhead in 1994. During Rangers’ run of nine consecutive championships, he came as close as any Celtic manager to breaking that sequence, often losing crucial Old Firm games which led him to suggest “Andy Goram broke my heart” for his epitaph. He was sacked in 1997 and had an unsuccessful stint at Reading before returning to Celtic to head the club’s youth development programme, a job he combined with his role as Scotland No2 when Berti Vogts invited him on board in 2003.

     

     

    2 Dom Sullivan

     

     

    McNeill’s changes were not all made overnight, and it was not until over a year after his arrival that he looked to his former club, Aberdeen, for an addition to his midfield. “We needed a little boost in that area, Billy saw that and he knew Dom well from his time at Pittodrie,” said Conroy. Sullivan started out at Clyde, where his promise on the right wing saw him capped for Scotland at under-23 level.

     

     

    After 84games and 12 goals for Celtic, he left in 1983 to join Morton. He returned to Clyde for the last game played at their old Shawfield stadium, in 1986, as Alloa manager. He is now a publican in Stirlingshire.

     

     

    3 Tom McAdam

     

     

    If McNeill could not sign the players he needed, he could always re-train the ones he already had. McAdam was a burly centre forward when he arrived from Dundee United in 1977, but McNeill moved him to centre half. A total of 48 goals from 362 games is an impressive return for a player who spent most of his nine years at Parkhead at the back, before moving to Motherwell in 1986. Following a spell as player-coach at Airdrie, he returned to Celtic as youth and reserve team coach.

     

     

    4 Charlie Nicholas

     

     

    “You could tell he was something special straight away,” recalls Conroy of the striker who was yet to break through at the start of 1980/81. It would be two years until Nicholas exploded on to the scene, scoring 48 goals as Celtic lost their title to Dundee United, yet Nicholas was allowed to leave by a Parkhead board unwilling to come close to the wages offered by Arsenal. He returned to Scotland with Aberdeen, before a second spell at Celtic left him with a record of 85 goals in 188games. He finished his playing career at Clyde and is now a pundit with Sky Sports.

     

     

    5 George McCluskey

     

     

    The forward formed a lethal partnership with Frank McGarvey during the early 1980s, often providing the chances for his more prolific teammate, although he averaged a goal every three games himself over an eight-year Celtic career. It was one such strike that won the Scottish Cup in 1980. McCluskey redirected a Danny McGrain volley past Rangers goalkeeper Peter McCloy for an extra-time winner. He went on to play for Leeds United, Hibs and Hamilton, and was capped seven times for Scotland. He is now a community coach for Celtic and is also part of their matchday hospitality team. He lives in Uddingston.

     

     

    6 Billy McNeill

     

     

    Stein’s successor took Celtic to three league championships in five years but left in 1983 after a dispute over pay. He accepted an offer to return in 1987, but left four years later, as Rangers’ stranglehold on the championship tightened. As well as Aberdeen, McNeill managed Clyde, Manchester City and Aston Villa, and had a short-lived spell as director of football at Hibs. He now works in the media in Scotland and Ireland.

     

     

    7 Mike Conroy

     

     

    Conroy was 20 when he was spotted playing for Port Glasgow. Spent five years at Parkhead from 1977, before joining Hibs. He finished his playing career in Ireland with Cork City while earning his coaching qualifications. He became assistant manager with Cork, but was sacked in 1993. Now settled in Ireland, he has developed a centre of excellence that produced Colin Healy and Liam Miller, who both played for Celtic. He also writes a football column for the Irish Sun and scouts for Blackburn Rovers.

     

     

    8 Packie Bonner

     

     

    Bonner notched up more than 600 appearances for Celtic in 17 years and picked up 80 caps for the Republic of Ireland. Was duelling with Englishman Peter Latchford for the No1 position at Celtic as the 1980/81 season kicked off. Bonner is now technical director and goalkeeping coach for the FAI in Ireland and was once singled out by Pope John Paul II after his penalty shoot-out heroics in the 1990 World Cup second-round match against Romania. “I know you are the goalkeeper,” said the Pope to Packie when the two met. “I used to play in that position myself.”

  41. garygillespieshamstring on

    Crc. Enjoyed quiz, thanks.

     

     

    St stivs I thought Michael Conroy was an excellent player for celtic. Would be a great I’m the “big Victor” role.

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