In the months afterwards I made a trip to the Celtic Superstore to buy the DVD of the match. I wasn’t ready to watch it but needed to have it nonetheless, for when the time came. I’ve still not opened the box.
I watched the game from high up in the Porto end. The Porto fans were great, allowed us to celebrate with all the enthusiasm you could muster for goals in a European final, then wished us well as we made our way through them and out of the stadium. Had Celtic won while dropping like flies whenever an opponent coughed, it might have been different.
Porto were favourites and would go on to prove how good a team they were by winning the Champions League 12 months later. Their players would demonstrate their prowess across the world for the next decade. They had fabulous talent, so much so, that they should have aspired to better than the gamesmanship used during their run to the Uefa Cup and Champions League wins.
On the field it was a tale of great goals and heroic defeat, off the field, it was one of the most spectacular events in sport.
80,000 Celtic fans made the pilgrimage to Seville and treated the world to a carnival. The city became the scene of one of the largest parties the game had ever known. For me the pre-match schedule involved a two hour trip north before a panicked dash across the city collecting match tickets. What a stress!
There was 10 in our party and collecting the tickets took priority. Once we had them we could afford time to eat, but what? Several restaurants were sold out, we eventually found a café with frozen chips and a meat-based slab of something or other. No choices. No beer, wine or cola either, it was diluting orange juice or water. An entire city was pretty much emptied of food and drink.
You could forget about motorised transport to get to the game, we had to walk from the city to the stadium on the very outskirts of town. It was hot and dry. An enterprising local was selling a retained stash of cola at the side of the road at a hugely inflated price, no one passed him without buying.
This was a journey to a football game, but not one any of us were familiar with.
The long walk home from the game was memorable for the incredible reaction we got from the locals. They applauded each of us as we walked past their homes in recognition of what took place in their city throughout the day. Things like this don’t happen but that day was different. Seville, like Lisbon, will always remember Celtic. Fifa and Uefa made their Fair Play Awards the following year to Celtic fans, a nomination normally reserved for clubs.
I met a German couple in the hotel elevator. “Are you disappointed?” they asked. “No. We were beaten by a good team”. I had celebrated two Celtic goals in a European final and watched as we pushed a tremendously talented team to the brink. Disappointment comes a lot worse than this, although time brought regret.
Seville 2003 was not Lisbion 67 but it was a wonderful occasion in our very proud history. Let’s do it again.
For those who prefer their nostalgia with a bit of silverware, 10 men won the league, 24 years ago today. Big Billy was back and the Celts were in control.
Speaking of Lisbon 67…… Willie’s book, pre-order your signed copy now!
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Oh aye forgot tae mention….while I was on ma knees greetin… IN JOHNSTONE
My brand new 4 man tent was in Seville….
Apparently that’s what friends are for!!!
DionewarwickCSC
I hate you all!!!
Ok, not really but reading all the stories makes me sad that I didn’t make it to Seville. A few days before hand we were offered flights for £500 for a one day trip but no ticket. As just out of uni and only a part-time job, sensibly at the time turned it down as couldn’t afford it.
In hindsight, should have just whacked it on the credit card and worried about the consequences later.
Mort
In the cathedral holy mass was being celebrated almost continuously throughout the day on two seperate alters, and services. Celtic fans mingled with the locals and Porto fans alike, there’s a side alter with a monument of the resting place of Christopher Columbus.
While everyone is in a good mood……
Anyone got a spare adult and child ticket for Sunday?
Mort
Don’t hate me…I wisnae there either….it’s just awe they other buggers:-)
How good is it to be talking Celtic ?
Seville67
Seville67
11:29 on
21 May, 2013
Wonderful!
God Bless him!
Bjmac, Jimbob71
Thanks for your posts. Terrific, moving stuff.
I think we were all at something more than a mere match
Jimbo
The exemplary conduct of the thousands of travelling Celtic supporters received widespread praise from the people of Seville and the fans were awarded prestigious Fair Play Awards from both FIFA and UEFA “for their extraordinarily loyal and sporting behaviour”.
wiki
Talks port playing Seville audio now
Just received this ‘e-mail’ from a friend. It must be my day for getting scammed!
Hello,
I really hope you get this fast. I could not inform everyone about my trip to Manila, Philippines for a program because it was impromptu. The program was successful, but my journey has turned sour I was mugged at gun point and all my valuables were stolen, (cash, credit cards and phone, where I went for sightseeing before leaving to the airport since my return flight is in few hours, luckily I had my passport in my hotel room to get me home.
It’s was a terrible experience. I need your help financially to get back home, I need to settle some outstanding hotel bills and also take a cab to the airport and also i’ve reported to the cops here and canceled all our cards,it appeared I had acted quickly enough or they almost would have succeeded in cleaning out my bank account.
I contacted my bank, but the best they can do is to mail a new card which will take 2 to 3 days to get here.Western Union Transfer is the fastest option to wire the funds to me.
Please let me know if I can count on you and I need you to keep checking your email because it’s the only way I can reach you.
C***,
Paul,
I was fortunate to spend a week in Seville. 5 days before the game and a couple afterwards. I experienced the whole thing coming together. From 60 Tims at Flaherty’s to the complete takeover of a beautiful city. Bumped into dozens of friends from all over the globe.
Missed our train back to Madrid, but all in all, a wonderful time in our lives.
Sad news for all those who were lucky enough to know Father MacNamee of St Leonards East Kilbride also served in Rutherglen and Moodiesburn, just got a phone call saying he passed away this morning.
That is one fella who is definitely going home. R.I.P
Tweeted Richard Keys about 30 mins ago about it pointing out Mourinho ten years since first Euro trophy.
Lo and behold that is exactly the spin they put on it. At least the 80,000 fans got a mention by Gray.
Was taught years ago how to write uccessful press release. Write in the style of the media outlet to guarantee success. Easy really.
LazyjournalismCSC
Things change quickly in Rumorworld .——-
I hour ago , Cavani was going to Manchester City in exchange for 45 million euros and Dzeko —- now he isn’t —— he’s going to Chelsea for 63 million euros.
I hour ago , Benitez was heading to Napoli —-now he isn’t , he’s now going to PSG .
Think the Ten Men Won the League anniversary may be pushing Keys and Gray too far.
;>{}
Great stories about Seville. I always thought it was the end of the work fergus did for the club. He promised to make us a contender again. That night we were. Pity the wee man wasn’t there to see what had been achieved in short period since he sorted us out financially. From a boycotted home game against Raith Rovers to the balmy heat of Seville. It was some journey. I didn’t think it was even possible.
LB
That Picture
bournesouprecipe
12:06 on 21 May, 2013
That Picture
——————————————–
Who actually owns that picture? At one point I had it on my RBS credit card, :-))
bournesouprecipe
I am in the very back row of that picture. Bhoys are tagging me in photo’s of Seville today I didn’t even know existed! GGreat memories.
LB
Celtic in Seville
Before the match UEFA Cup chief of security Rafael Carmona said,
‘I don’t believe 50,000 fans will travel to Seville, that is madness, it is an exaggeration. I think a fair number will be around 4,000. We are talking about a final to be played on a Wednesday, a day when people normally work’.
Pog/Livi
You can still feel the heat when you look at it.
BSR-There’s a picture in the Vogue showing thousands of bhoys at the square in Seville,takes me back every time i see it.
SSN………………………………..Luis Suarez grabs 2013 Golden Bite award
Bada Bing
This one….
http://www.sceala.com/phpBB2/userpix/2_Celtic_Seville_1.jpg
Morning all.
Ah Seville………….
Went to every away game except the semi against Boavista . Bought tickets on line as soon as they became avail. Flew to London the day before the game, flew from there to Madrid. Sat outside Madrid station waiting for the rest of the clan to gather.
Fantastic train journey to Seville (well what I can remember of it anyway) spent the time in the “refreshment” area singing etc.
Taxi from Seville station to our hotel. We stayed in the same hotel as the BBC crew, big Billy, Jim Kerr etc….fantastic place.
Best memory was just outside the stadium where a tout stood with a wad of tickets waving them about when out of nowhere a wee boy ran out of the crowd, grabbed the tickets and melted into the crowd which mysteriously opened up swallowed him amongst howls of laughter.
Wonder who he was…..anybody else see that?
Good times.
Hx2
and this is how it looks any other day…….
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_o3tqCKZ0tPc/SxVSZ1gGJ4I/AAAAAAAABBc/wCCpfW20MCw/s1600/PA105268.JPG
bournesouprecipe
The heat was unbearable. How players could run around for 120 minutes was beyond me. I was struggling to catch a breath and I was just sitting watching it. The window above the Porto fans was just streaming the sun into the ground and onto the pitch and must have been like a green house!
The players did not let us down in Seville. They gave us everything. We scored two great goals and we could not have asked for anymore.
If that game had been played north of Paris I believe we would have won the UEFA cup. If the referee had been stronger we may well have won it in Seville but Porto were a very good side. It was a pity the antics they resorted to when Celtic started to get on top in the match.
LB
On Keys and Gray. Has anything been said by them about their pal Charlie Green or were they a duped duo?
The night after the game in Seville my mate and I were sat outside a bar with a mad stirling crowd when a couple of suited guys with their wives asked if they could sit and listen to our stories.
It turned out to be David Will, at that time vice-president of FIFA and the other guy was vice-president of UEFA.
They told us then that the Celtic fans would win every fair play award going, as Lennart Johanssen had said to them that he wished Celtic could make it to a final every year as he had never seen a festival of colour like it!
I was back in Seville a couple of years ago and the main street by the Cathedral has been transformed, now pedestrianised with a Tram system, remember thinking its amazing what u can do with Celtic fans beer money!!
This sounds pretty daft but one of my memories of the game was the excitement and anxiety leading to the kick-off in the stadium – Las Ketchup were playing their one and only hit, (the ketchup song, obviously). The song is on one of my girls’ Wii games and never ceases to bring a tear to my eye. The high hopes, the deflation at their goals, the exultation brought by Henrik’s goals. The reality that we had lost.
If we were supporters of any other club, the final would have been a disaster. While we probably all harbour regret at not winning, we emerged from Seville as the best supporters of the best football club in the world. Not that we didn’t know it already. Its just the rest of the world found out.
I have watched the game again. Once. Just had to see how we had played, as in real time, it just flashed by, between moments of deep misery and sheer joy, and a lingering sense of anger at Porto’s behaviour.
Of the match, my abiding memory is of longing for any sort of drink to quench the raging thirst. The stadium ran out of all liquids, certainly by half-time.
Never seen anything like the sea of support inside the ground.
Wouldn’t have missed the experience for the world.
Auldheid @ 11.56,
Absolutely devastated at the news of Canon MacNamee’s passing. An absolute GIANT of a man.
A huge loss and not just to the Catholic population of East Kilbride. He was loved & respected by everyone who was lucky enough to cross his path.
He married my wife (non-Catholic) & I. She was slightly apprehensive upon meeting him but he could not have made her feel more at ease and welcomed her with open arms, as he did to everyone.
Having heard some stories of Priests making life a little difficult for mixed marriages I was proud to say he was my Parish Priest.
RIP Michael.
Seville .
En route , Mrs S of T and I stopped off in Marseille . Spent most of a day there and stayed overnight . We had a real good swordfish couscous in a Moroccan dive down by the old port and then headed to a market where Mrs S of T wanted to buy a pair of babouche . I wasn’t happy about the babouche [ years of shoe shopping with Mrs S of T to blame ] but I cheered up when I saw a shop selling second hand music —mostly crap but there was a wee pile of Ethiopian Jazz LPs and 45s . I snaffled the lot —–possibly the best crate digging I ever did…
ERE MELA MELA CSC —-way down south.
livibhoy
totally agree that we would have won if the game was played further north .
Its another reason to be in awe of what the Lions achieved.
I remember arriving at Glasgow airport at around 6am and we were queued at the end of the walkway over the road with a few hundred Celts in front of us singing the conga.
The plane was totally rocking and the cabin crew looked like rabbits in the head lights as they had to tell us that they could serve any booze :)
We arrived in Malaga with the temperature hitting high teens as we were herded into a bus park were we eventually found our bus and then tried to communicate with the driver to see if he could stop at an offies on the way out of town and after a lot of hand signals he smiled and nodded.
We settled into the 3 odd hour drive which saw one of the strangest things I’ve probably ever witnessed. We stopped at a huge service station which had the flags of every European country flying outside and found about 100-150 buses full of Celts singing doing the huddle and generally taking the over place. The cafe served the most dodgy food but no-one was that interested as they also served beer and had a few toilets (which was lucky as the ones on the bus we’re now backed up).
When we finally arrived in Seville the first thing we saw as the bus rounded onto the drop off point at the square was the huge fountain which had about twenty shirtless Tims dancing about in the water while others posed with a happy smiling policewoman as her male colleague took their picture.
We walked up passed the cathedral with mouths open in awe as the streets were packed with green and white.
Huge flags on poles were being waved futher down the street and tricolours and hoop shirts were hanging out of windows of hotels above our heads.
The sight itself was something but the noise and buzz was amazing. As you walked along you got caught up in about 7 different songs dancing with strangers as they walked passed. At one point we walked passed Danny McGrain who was trying to walk down the street with his family but he was being mobbed with everyone wanting to shake his hand as he was being followed by a huge group who sang his name over and over.
We were all starving but finally found a McDonald’s by the river side and were settling down to munch when some eagle eyed Tim spotted John McKay who was there reporting for Scotland Today. Not sure if he was doing a live report or a recording but he basically had to pack it in as he got dogs abuse from the several hundred fans on the street. His face was a picture.
Five of us had travelled and none of us had tickets so we decided to get out to the ground as early as possible. However when the bus dropped us at the stadium we realised we weren’t that early. The place was mobbed and basically all the touts were realising that they could name their price and someone would pay it so soon realised that wec weren’t going to get into the game, so resigned ourselves to heading back into town to watch the game.
We had a drive passed the big screens but felt we’d be so far back the we wouldn’t see anything, so we ended up in a bar which was in a wee street behind the bullring. The place was tiny and as we found out was a Betis bar but every Spaniard in the place was cheering for us. We went through all the highs and lows together and shared beers and tears at the final whistle.
On the walk back to the bus we met dozens of Porto fans who were brilliant with hugs and scarf/shirt swapping happening everywhere. When we got back to the square where we were due to be picked up I just slumped to the ground and just stared up at the sky. I think I was in shock but my old mate hit me a kick and told me to cheer the feck up as no matter what the outcome we had shown the world what a great club and great support we were and no cheating barstewards would ever change that fact.
The bus ride and flight back to Glasgow were filled with stories and songs and I cemented some life long friendships.
I have since then been to a large number of our European excursions and experienced some highs and way too many lows but I will always remember Seville.
HH
/Bishop B
Malceye
Love the horns on fb;-)