The heat was suffocating, it was 35° and city was heaving. On the long walk out of town some enterprising locals were selling water or cola to the increasingly dehydrated caravan of people. I passed a few, not willing to succumb to extortionate opportunism, but soon gave in.
I walked into an orange tree earlier that day. Caught between taking directions from a policeman and setting off in a new direction I’d overlooked the towering obstacle a yard in front of me. There’d been a spring in my step, I must have bounced into the bark. Trees are hard. I fell.
The return journey was made in the cool of the night. For the first few miles we were a uniformed flow of humanity but eventually the crowd thinned. We walked through residential streets with locals at their doors and windows. They applauded as we passed. Few of us are ever part of something substantial enough that uninvolved observers openly applaud you. Such memories endure.
I’d an early rise and a long drive with a full car ahead the next day. The bedroom was packed, floor space was given over to spare bedding, the hotels must have shipped mattresses in from a hundred kilometres radius, so with the others in the bar, I took myself off for a shower.
I met a German couple in the elevator. “Are you disappointed?” the woman asked. “No, we played well and were beaten by a good team.” It was the perfect answer. These people must have been horrified when they noticed the throng which would dominate their trip, but they’d become part of the story, part of the throng. The answer was honestly given, although disappointment would come later. I went on, “We lost a minor cup final nine years ago, that was real disappointment”.
I surprised myself by what my memory spontaneously threw up when asked about disappointment. Looking back now, that minor cup final is no more than a touchstone, and indicator of where we were before the Generation of Domination got underway. It’s lost its power to inflict negative emotion. If I met the German couple once more I could again tell them I wasn’t disappointed with that day in the blistering heat. It’s one of my proudest memories, and we soon learned we were beaten, narrowly, by a great team.
This, my friends in Celtic, is what you call a journey.
I spoke to fan liaison manager John Paul Taylor yesterday and mentioned I’d not renewed my season ticket yet. I promised him I would today and that I’d pass the message on. Deadline is tomorrow, after that people can ask for a move into your seat. Consider yourself reminded! We walk the next mile of the journey soon, with hope in our hearts, as always.
Many thanks to those who donated to Mary’s Meals yesterday, and to Magners. The money raised in one day alone will feed over 30 of the world’s poorest school children for a year.
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BMCUW,
So your saying we come with the same baggage as the hun now ?
Which IMO is exactly why no one stepped in to bail them out.
We are a cash cow and without the same baggage as the hun so I have zero doubt there would be plenty wanting in, difference is I don’t believe we need billionaires or millionaires for that matter, majority fan based shareholding and a professional staff with the remit to protect the fan base and keep the team strong would keep the club strong.
Oh and why do you continue to compare us to the hun ?
blantyretim.
Don’t let her sit anywhere near those animals.it’s a sad day when those basturds come before your own Supporters,Celtic need a rethink on their PR.
Morning all.
Dreich (as ever, it feels like) down here.
I can’t get my head round Celtic supporters who feel they can influence events in the Boardroom by withholding their monies. It’s not, imo, the Board that will suffer but Celtic itself.
Again, imo, it’s like the Celtic Trust wanting a fan on the Board. I’m all for it but wouldn’t want it to be one of the Trust. Let the likes of Paul67 or Auldheid, who seem to be open to working with the Board rather than simply being antagonistic, take up the mantle.
As long as we play in Scotland, we are going to be confronted with the nonsense James Forrest so eloquently describes. Hopefully, we can find somewhere else to play,although it doesn’t look very likely at the moment.
RIP Ernie Hannigan- you sound like a great Celt.
Lots of talk about season ticket renewals today. For what it’s worth, I’ve decided to let the season ticket deadline pass without renewing, breaking a line of season ticket ownership that stretches back 21 years to Hampden 1994.
Im affected by the Sevco tax increase on the wee man’s (13-16 y/o) season ticket. So I have to tell him “yes I’ve renewed your season ticket but I can’t tell you yet what games you get for that”.
Having said that he missed a shedload of games this season due to rescheduling for TV schedules, “glamour friendlies” and training camps so it was increasingly a case of paying for an empty seat anyway.
I’m concerned at the radial silence from Celtic over the Hun “same club” myth. As Hamilton Tim says, there’s no need to shout from the rooftops about them being a new club but we should treat them as such re ticket pricing for our own fans, their away support allocation being commensurate with any other away team etc.
Let our actions speak volumes not resort to crap Rory Bremner tribute act jokes levered to get out of an uncomfortable line of questioning.
It is a fact that we were cheated out of titles and leagues. I was a season ticket holder in that period. My money and that of my fellow Celtic fans was wasted on a bent competition and the club don’t seem particularly bothered about that, nor are they bothered about the CL revenue Rangers defrauded from them in that period with their tainted titles.
Would tesco, when presented with evidence of fraud by asda that left them millions out of pocket, outsource investigations into this to a few shareholders, sit back for a couple of years, and watch as the same directors culpable for the fraud took power again at their rivals?
I don’t think so. And of course rangers didn’t just cheat us, they cheated the public purse to the tune of millions.
The SFA are supporting and enabling a Phoenix fraud and we at best are complicit in our silence as far as I can tell.
Loving DK work just now!
No bank, no credit, no worries if you got the 3 Bears putting in £1M a month!
Wonder how long that will work for?
If I was one one of the 3 Bears I think I would be getting rather nervous as time goes on and DK seems to keep leaving his wallet in SA!
Then there’s Paul Potless who has put in the square root of zero yet is in there with the club tie, blazer and brogues!
Good to see that there’s absolutely no problem with Sally getting his wages every month!
Nice touch to let slip just how much the Fat Gardener is picking up!
Good to see that the olde mysterious investors are back on the scene too – that’s worked so well in the past!
Was it not DK that said his business model was wee Fergus’?
As I recall Fergus turned up with an open and transparent plan stating exactly how much he was putting in and how long he was going to stay for and what he would do when he left
He also lined up people like DD- guys with real money who delivered that money when asked. People like BD despite talking a good game never delivered when required.
As for DK thinking they don’t have any debts apart from the £4.5M to the 3 Bears and the £5M to MA – something tells me the “Football Club” owes rather a lot to the holding company!
Then there’s MA’s pals – something tell me that they have contracts as water tight as Super Salery’s!
So there another debt lined up – to go along with the 500K that NUFC are due if the zombies get promoted!
What a great time to be a CFC fan – watching the old Huns die and now watching this new bunch simply follow, follow the same script to oblivion!
No doubt Third Rankers will be along shortly! – perhaps they might survive long enough to see us win Ten In A Row!
HH
Glorious
I share many of your concerns regarding the cheating and avoidance of taxes that went on at the bigotdome.
However as someone who has been a ST holder since the 1980s I cannot agree with your decision to withhold money from the club.
As you point out we were cheated on the field by a team using players they would not been to sign without the use of EBTs, and even using them they still went out of business, although many seem to overlook that!
Yet we were not the only team that was cheated – I don’t hear any other club stepping up to complain. Many of these clubs shared the same banker and it seems had confidential information about their finances given to the dead Huns by that very bank! In some ways they have even more to complain about than us!
You say that we have proof that they are a Phoenix entity – if they are that’s the responsibility of HMRC to tackle – not the board of CFC.
So we are all faced with a choice – support our club or walk away!
Where we ever cheated on the park in the past? We all know we were.
Did our forefathers walk away? No they stayed because they wanted to carve out for themselves and their families a place in the country they had ended up in.
They faced not only some cheating on a football park but systematic and institutional discrimination on an industrial scale – where would we be if they had walked away from any of those obstacles?
We might all be frustrated by the pace of change or in this case the pace that this saga unwinds but it will get there in the end!
In some regards I don’t care how long it takes because I know that it will eventually – in the same way that I know the old Huns are dead.
My own dear father passed away on the 1st of June 1994 in the middle of a very bad time for us as a club!
He started his working life in a steel mill in Motherwell, went on to do his time in Harland and Murphy’s (one of the very few Catholics), worked in RR during the Second World War and then went in to teaching, where he worked in some pretty difficult schools like the Candy Rock and Maryhill. Throughout his life he loved his family, his church and his football club.
He was just about to retire when he could first afford a ST for the old stand and it was his pride and joy to go and watch his team. He saw all the greats going back to the late 1920s right up to the Centenary season. Him and thousands like him supported the club through times when it was looking bleak. He helped run a bus to Dundee for the game that saved our position in the top league in 1947/48. He was at Easter Road during the Second World War when the air raid sirens went off and a German plane came in to view. He took me many games growing up and would rebuke me if he thought I was out of line!
We are truly standing on the shoulders of giants and for me it our task to keep OUR club alive and well.
If we can carry others with us to change – then great – if not – so what ?
We didn’t need any help from anyone – we built this for ourselves by ourselves!
The Huns could never ever say that. – they were always handed things on a plate – that’s part of the reason they are in this mess yet again!
We come from different stock – tempered by different circumstances. That’s why we are still going strong and the Huns are consigned to history. Like many on here I wish that my parents and grandparents were alive today to witness what they have helped achieve – from the fantastic new stadium and now the whole area around it withe Celtic Way to the whole hilarious destruction of the Huns!
That’s why I would urge anyone who can in today’s difficult economic climate to back the club and that means more than just the board or the players, that means the support and the history and heritage of the club!
Apologies for rambling – you always in Celtic
HH
Lads,
naps on here today, pleaseeeeeee…..
Cheers, fleagle1888
CQN Saturday Naps Competition : WEEK 40 results (16th May)
Well done to Som mes que un club as his loyalty to stick with Captain Dunne (@16/1) paid off eventually !
It’s tight at the top again as we enter the final furlong… as our two leaders, stretched away from the chasing pack – TheBarcaMole (Crystal Malt @15/8) and twists n turns (Tupi @5/1). Other winners : PFayr (Ginger Jack @4/1), Gweedore Celt (Time Test @7/2), Jobo Baldie (Night of Thunder @11/4).
Selections :
16 roads (Space Age)
21-5-79 (Talent Scout)
Bada Bing (Salt Island)
BMCUWP (Custom Cut)
BULL67 (Cable Bay)
Burgas Hoops (Bravo Zolo)
Cathal (Chiberta King)
Cosy Corner Bhoy (no selection)
Eurochamps67 (Shalaa)
fleagle1888 (Integral)
green T (Pamona)
Gweedore Celt (Time Test)
hashadenough (no selection)
Hotel de Paris (Captain Cat)
Jobo Baldie (Night of Thunder)
leftclicktic (Lawyer)
Nye Beavans rebel soldier (Elysian Flyer)
PFayr (Ginger Jack)
Raymac (no selection)
Rockon (Inxile)
Som mes que un club (Captain Dunne)
TheBarcaMole (Crystal Malt)
tommytwiststommyturns (Yuften)
twists n turns (Tupi)
voguepunter (Mukhmal)
What is the Stars (no selection)
Zihuatanejo (Flynsini)
Cheers, fleagle1888
Lads,
this week is the penultimate week, so you better nap those 100/1 winners sharpish… :)
NAPS TABLE :
+£44.88 TheBarcaMole (7)
+£38.88 twists n turns (10)
+£29.83 leftclicktic (10)
+£28.25 Eurochamps67 (13)
+£21.75 som mes que un club (5)
+£ 6.88 PFayr (8)
+£ 5.83 Gweedore Celt (8)
+£ 5.50 Bada Bing (7)
+£ 3.33 Burgas Hoops (8)
+£ 3.25 Raymac (7)
+£ 0.75 Zihuatanejo (4)
-£ 5.00 21-5-79 (3)
-£ 5.13 voguepunter (4)
-£ 7.80 Nye Beavans rebel soldier (5)
-£10.00 tommytwiststommyturns (2)
-£10.75 16 roads (4)
-£11.17 hashadenough (5)
-£12.00 Hotel de Paris (3)
-£12.75 fleagle1888 (4)
-£14.00 BULL67 (5)
-£14.18 Rockon (6)
-£15.00 BMCUWP (3)
-£16.50 Cosy Corner Bhoy (3)
-£17.09 green T (8)
-£18.65 Jobo Baldie (6)
-£22.52 What is the Stars (4)
-£34.50 Cathal (1)
*No selection posted (wk 40) : Cosy Corner Bhoy, hashadenough, Raymac, What is the Stars
*Non-Runners (wk 40) : leftclicktic
Cheers, fleagle1888
(Bangalore CSC)
cheers fleagle,this weeks donkey …
fabricate 1.25 haydock
Morning all.
Mullionheir for me please.
2.55pm Goodwood
BarcaMole…..just when I keep closing the gap ya stick in another winner. Great tipping bud.
I fancy 3 nags today and have thumped them in each way singles and added some dbls and a treble. Just didn’t know which one to make the nap. Opted for the one above.
Good luck all.
Red Aggressor 16:40 @ Goodwood.
Salateen
2.35 Haydock
Good luck to all
Top 5 in the competition, very well done indeed.
That is seriously impressive strike rates, even compared to the so-called newspaper experts and their Naps table.
16:30 @ The Curragh – Tuk Tuk – NAP!
Good luck everybody.
2.35 Haydock –
STORM ROCK
Jobo
Khelman 4.10 Catterick
Lads,
I strongly fancy Danzeno in the Temple Stakes, but the pressure is on to find a bigger price, so will tentatively go with :
Rhombus (4.05 Goodwood)
I’ll save the 100/1 shot for next week… :)
Cheers, fleagle1888
Twists n Turns @ 06:36… Thank you, high praise indeed, coming from your good self. Agree, so many to like today, including your nap but couldn’t go for it as it may appear to be a stymie pick! Like Taws, Salateen and a few beside. Anyway a BMCUW alert, it has gone four here and the results are in, in a Doyle Lonnegan, Henry Gondorff sort of way so to avoid being subject to any BMCUW type scurrilous accusations… I am going for PORTAGE 5:05 (the) Curragh… Good Luck..
Regards & Hail Hail
p.s. Mick, any chance of putting a line on for me pal???
Barca
Listen, if you fancied the same one as me bud ya should have gone for it. We have had about 36 weeks or so to win, so if you pick the same one as me in the final week assuming you are head I will regard it as brilliant tactics, sticking on an extra defender if you like, as opposed to Hun like tactics:-).
Are you serious about a line? If you are stuck, let me know and I can do it for you.
Ahead*
My Name is Rio 4.20 Haydock.
Good luck.
Mutarakez 2.35 Haydock
THEBARCAMOLE
Aye,mate. Nae bother. Heading to town shortly,hope you don’t mind yer betting slips Guinness-stained!
Mail or text,either is fine.
Bada …good luck….that’s one of my 3 for today.
Twists, naw really, not certain anyway that Mullionheir will get the extra furlong, if so, would be good value at 8s or thereabouts. As for the line, appreciate the offer. I’m in Cebu most of the year and leave a wedge with a neighbour for my Saturday 15… He knows sfa about the geegees and is a nighthawk but honest as the day…. Last week he missed my first on the Line of four of Ryan Moore at 11/1… The lassie in the shop knows it is for me so she suggested just put in Moore’s last one and well guess you know the rest. Happy with the outcome and not being too greedy saved many a gambler.
The BMCUW thing is just a wee wind up between friends.
Again, thanks.
Regards & Hail Hail
TBM
Bobby
Ffs go to the betting shop first. I can just envisage the scene
Location….Spain. Barca mole sitting on the veranda with a cheeky wee Beaujolais telling Mrs Barca…” 3 up so far darling, one more and we are filthy rich”
Location….Swindon toon centre. Bobby staring into the bottom of his tenth Guinness ” you know what, I’m sure there was something I meant to do this morning”
Barca
No worries, I see Bobby has it covered for you.
Good luck.
Mutasayyid 2:35 Haydock….good luck everyone.
TWISTSNTURNS
As long as there’s no trains involved,I’m usually on the ball!
Salateen 2.35 Haydock
Good luck Bhoys
Cannae find a horse at a big enough price :-))
Bobby
I will be on the Brum train shortly!
Howevah…my bets are on:-)
Litigant 4:05 Goodwood
Fleagle thank you sooooooo much again for all your efforts.
Ooooooooooooooooooops Non runner
so I will go for
Highland Castle 7:40 Salisbury
Haydock 2pm Montefeltro
Good luck everyone
TWISTSNTURNS
That’s a shame. Had you been going next Saturday-CSA meeting,we coulda met up for a jar. Or in your case,a wee tumbler of the good stuff.
14:00 Haydock
Albert Bridge
HH.