The moment Scott Brown threw himself into a challenge on the edge of his own penalty area, laser-like in precision, to dispossess Barry Robson, brought the memories flooding back. Barry was regarded by many as a journeyman when he signed for Celtic alongside Georgios Samaras in January 2008. A month later he scored against Barcelona in the Champions League knock out stage and was well on the way to convincing the Celtic support of his ability.
At the time, Scott Brown’s fortunes were different. He’d arrived the previous summer, a £4m buy from Hibs, but had yet to acclimatise to the central midfield role at Celtic. In the spring of 2008, Celtic were well behind in the title race, and playing poorly. Robson was on the bench with Brown given midfield responsibility.
The script for that season was written by a gifted hand. As the season reached a climax, Scott was suspended for three games, punishment for a rash of misjudged tackles throughout the season. Gordon Strachan turned to Barry, who was made for the moment.
Seven years ago Barry Robson could tackle, in fact, he could foul, without being noticed. He brought determination and menace to a team which was questioned in the CQN comments section for an apparent lack of leadership.
Two of our last five league games that season were at Celtic Park against Rangers. Rangers had a games in hand but the effective gap was 10 points, Celtic needed five wins, and even then their chances of winning the league were regarded as remote. Towels were thrown everywhere.
The first, a midweek game, memorably started with Barry Robson putting a thumping challenge into Christian Dailly in the opening minutes. The tone was set, Celtic were there to fight for everything. Rangers thought they had the point they needed, their manager offering high-fives in the technical area as they cleared the ball late into added time.
I still can’t quite believe what happened next. In the 95th minute Gary Caldwell threw a long ball into the Rangers box, which was won in the air by Scott McDonald, the smallest player on the field. McDonald headed across the face of goal for Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink to head into the net. Celtic survived to fight another day.
11 days later Celtic Park saw an equally dramatic game. Scott McDonald (scorer of incredibly important goals) put Celtic ahead but the season looked to be in tatters as Rangers struck back with two goals direct from corner kicks.
1-2 down in a must-win game it was an uphill struggle, but McDonald struck again two minutes from the break to level the game with the assistance of a deflection. The second half was a tense affair, so much was invested in one game of football, but one man was made for the moment.
McDonald broke free inside the box and was hauled down by Broadfoot. Barry Robson stepped forward to take the penalty, it was the defining moment of his career. If you’re in Celtic Park early enough before kick-off these days you can still hear the echo of the roar that went up when his penalty hit the net. His celebration was unforgettable.
It’s remarkable that Barry is still performing at this level so many years after his peak but yesterday’s decisive challenge by Scott Brown demonstrated the enormous leaps our captain has made since becoming a Celtic player. We need players with that fight and craft.
Many of us are still telling stories of the 1985 Scottish Cup Final. A goal down, Celtic roared back to beat Dundee United with a Frank McGarvey diving header. Frank’s offering the jersey he wore that day for auction to raise funds for Maryhill Foodbank. It’s a genuinely unique piece of Celtic history, for a very worthy cause. Check it out here.
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MWD/HamiltonTim
Thar ye go.
A reconstruction of what we’re desperate times would make an interesting discussion.
I think we all have bits of the whole.
In any event NL was the right man for that time.
IMHO of course.
jmccormick
Is it true? The language used is more in the vernacular of Scotland than Wales, I think.
JJ
Jungle Jim
Point taken, but why the comments about us ? I’m old enough to know better, probably still pissed off about Thursdays outcome.
bradpittcsc
HH
jungle jim hot smoked
20:02 on 11 May, 2015
No bother at all, we all look at things differently, no harm to the girl, by the way she has cracked politics, blame others from dragging things up and not the person who said it, she might go far at Holyrood / Westminster
Take care & Hail Hail
twentyfirstofmaynineteenseventynine
“but why the comments about us ?” Do you mean Mhairi Blacks comments? If so, Pog`s post at 20:00 gives more background . We need to know the context before making any judgement.
Anyway, that`s me for this evening.
Cheerio to all,
JJ
It is inappropriate to refer to Ms Black’s appearance.
Ed Milliband on the other hand could never be prime minister because he looks weird.
Stokes’ case put back.
While I thought it a good idea in principle at the time, I rather got the impression that the PL roadshow was designed to sell the support on the idea of Lenny as manager.
I had never before heard that the idea may have been seeded by Jeanette, and I have no idea if it’s actually true.
I’m only disappointed that 5 years down the line, PL hasn’t been back out on the beat. He represents himself and the club well in public, but when not in public view, he is misrepresented by all and sundry.
On yer bike Peter
Misogyny is alive and well on CQN.
Tom
Unfortunately misogyny is everywhere
BT sport 1 21.30pm, could be a tough watch “One Day in May” The Story of the Bradford City Fire, I only realised watching the news tonight that the game had finished, really sad stuff
Celtic under 20’s beaten 4-3 by St.Mirren.
Lost two late goals.
Mhairi Black’s anti Celtic comment was made from Firhill when her team were no doubt getting a tanking from the glorious Hoops.
Clearly none of you have ever expressed anything negative about the opposition while at a game.
Tom…
Wait until Dena or the Minx come on….hell mend them:))
thomthethim for Oscar OK
20:15 on 11 May, 2015
Stokes’ case put back.
###
Unseen Fenian hand?
What is the Stars – 19:53
“I don’t know anything about mhairi black but I think we should always rise above petty name calling etc. Criticise her policies views and so but leave the personal jibes in the schoolyard.”
You mean like the SNP activists did Jim Murphy?
Last time I looked at the Herald comments section last week (I know I know) there was nothing but personal jibes about him, great hilarity expressed so months ago too when the aggressive moron who threw the egg(and missed) so had to hit him with it I remember as well, lots of comments about how “eggsellent”(clever eh, stitch up your sides eh!!) it was, and the bit where he was jostled and harangued by another aggressive moron and his acolytes was pure Laurel & Hardy at their finest.
Curiously can’t recall any SNP candidates/MPs being treated similarly but what the heck, all good clean aggressive and intimidating fun, part of the cut and thrust of politics up here.
TBB
I’m sure you’re not including Peter’s last ‘outing’ at the announcement of the New Balance deal in your analysis of his public appearances?
jungle jim hot smoked
19:46 on 11 May, 2015
Chavez and jmccormick
Quite agree. I find some of the points quite disappointing ( and shallow).
The daughter of the guy who sits in front of me in 106 is friendly with Mhairi Black. She made her anti-Celtic comment some years ago and, understandably, is fed up having a throwaway remark/tweet brought up so often. She is a genuine supporter of Partick Thistle so the Hun implications are inaccurate. Regardless, comments from the , I assume, Brad Pitt lookalikes on here create a low opinion of those who have made them. Think about how a young woman, even a strong one, will feel if she hears of those comments and there is a fair chance she will. Bad form.
JJ
—————————–
No sympathy whatsoever. If she is upset because of one or two throwaway comments, then she is in the wrong game. Particularly considering her own track record of insulting people.
To state that you hate millions of men, women and children simply because they support a particular football club is inexcusable.
If she hadn’t have made those disgraceful remarks, nobody would have given her a second thought.
It is entirely of her own making.
HH.
That might not have came across the way it was intended…I meant hell mend the misogynists :))
Sipsini
I’m tellin’ :-)
Stokes case postponed due to the nervous disposition of his accuser.When questioned about his medical situation his alleged victim said that since the attack he had been “All shook up.”
I am not a mysogynist.
I do not hate women.
I married one.
I have a daughter.
HH!!
Jungle Jim
Just read Pog’s post, fair enough. Still dont know why she had to mention anything anti-Celtic though, unless she’s more clued up than I initially thought. Politicians for you eh ?
HH
Sipsini@20:25
That’s all Greek to me……
Patrick Thistle Quick News in uproar
pogmathonyahun aka laird of the smiles
20:00 on 11 May, 2015
Excerpt from Mhairi Black interview:
“I’ve had a Twitter account since I was 14: is every daft thing I ever said as a teenager now to be dragged out? As for Celtic, I don’t hate Celtic, I don’t hate anyone. Apart from my dad, me and my brother, my entire family are Celtic supporters”
Poor show from a Jags fan
Sorry that should be misogynist.
I think!
HH!!
My friends in Celtic,
Who on here can seriously say that when they were in their teens they have not said, written, tweeted ( if available ) or sung something they now regret or find embarrassing?
Give the girl a break.
HH.
Pog
So she doesn’t hate anyone apart from her dad and her brother ?
Thot a black mharii was a polis van??
HT…
How the feck do I get that post deleted, worried noo ;))
Prestonpans bhoys…
Nice one :))
16 Roads
Your opinion is valid. Can I ask how life looks from your impeccable perch? I assume you have never said anything foolish in your life, but assumption can be a bad way to start an argument .
Missed the smiley
I see Michelle Obama has finally spoken out about the bigotry, racism and misogyny she has faced since Barack first went for the US presidency:
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/11/michelle-obama-i-was-knocked-back-by-race-perceptions
Nothing like that would happen here!
To me the disturbing point about Ms Black’s comments is simply that at no point has she apologised for them
Like most Nats she tries to deflect by saying it was long time ago or it was Celtic fans causing bother or that she was just a daft wee lassie – yet nowhere is there a simple “I’m sorry for any offence that I might have caused”
Wonder what would have been said about her remarks if she had attacked Jews or Black people or Gay people and called them “scum”?
HH
greenpinata…
Spot on mate, I’ve often said… thank heaven there wasn’t mobile phones when I was younger, ye just gave a dodgy number back then and steered clear for a while…:)
Sipsini
Too late ive copied it should I ever feel the need to blackmail you! :-)
jude2005
that was good mate
HH
I was watching the game yesterday on CTV and the feed was lost at about 80 minutes, much to my annoyance, and didn’t manage to get it back until the last 2 minutes of time added on. As a result I left a one sentence comment on the wall under my other username hoping it wouldn’t happen again next season. I got this in my e-mail in my inbox today, which suggests that the Club does in fact give a toss about its supporters: (sometimes?)
Hi Ya Bampot, (embellished)
We wanted to follow up on the issues that you experienced with Celtic TV yesterday. We noticed your post on the wall and wanted to apologise for the loss of service personally. We encountered a system error around the 80th minute of the match against Aberdeen which caused the video to stop playing. We reacted as quickly as we could and posted out the matchday2 link on the wall and via email to anyone that contacted us.
Did you manage to get onto this link ok? Can you let us know if it worked well for you. The matchday2 link was our backup link for yesterday’s match and the video on this is premium quality so you may have noticed an increase in the quality of the video. We would be interested to hear what you thought of it.
Again we would like to apologise for any inconvenience you experienced during yesterday’s match, we have now put extra measures in place to ensure this never happens again.
Thanks for your patience and understanding.
Kind regards
Rachel
Rachel Kelly
Multi-Media Assistant
Celtic FC
Celtic Park, Glasgow, G40 3RE
Direct Tel: +44 (0)141 551 4264