CQN called this morning for a new song to be fond quickly for Paddy Roberts as the player makes up his mind whether to stay on in Glasgow on a permanent basis.
If he decides to stay, and Stuart Armstrong’s new contract is announced, as expected, next week then it will make a perfect season for Celtic supporters even better.
It is one year to the day that Brendan Rodgers walked into Celtic Park.
The initial plan was to have him introduced to the supporters on the Celtic Way. That was quickly changed and the club decided that the interest was so great that the South Stand would be opened. Even that was not enough as over 13,000 Celtic supporters turned up on a gloriously sunny May evening – and it is worth noting that Leigh Griffiths was also there – to welcome Brendan to Paradise.
The sun hasn’t really stopped shining on Celtic ever since as far as the football is concerned. Everything in the garden, it seems, is as rosy as it could be, thanks to Brendan Rodgers.
On the field he has transformed the players he welcomed back from their short holidays a few weeks later. The football this season has been an absolute joy to watch.
And off the field too the fans have responded and they too have been creative and inspiring in their song writing abilities.
We are leaving out the Tribute to the Lisbon Lions on the 67th minute this season as we will do something different with that, and we don’t want to risk the Lions not winning!
So we thought we’d look back at the new songs that have been introduced into the Celtic songbook this season and ask you to vote for your Celtic Song of the Year…
SONG NUMBER 1 – HERE I AM LORD FOR BRENDAN RODGERS
Brendan Rodgers was unveiled on 20 May 2016 to over 13,000 Celtic supporters in the Glasgow sunshine and within a week, the support had a song for the new boss, penned in late May, to the tune of ‘Here I am Lord’, it was one of the new songs that took us into the Champions League qualifiers and began our defence of the title. Although the hymn has quite a slow melody, the Celtic support gave it a rapturous hearing it at full-time in Celtic Park versus Hapoel Be’er Sheva. This was a sound and sight to behold, especially given the emotions of that night.
SONG NUMBER 2 – AIN’T NOBODY LIKE DEMBELE
Celtic signed the highly rated French teenager Moussa Dembele, as exclusively revealed on CQN, and we couldn’t wait to see just how good a player he was. Early performances and goals, one agsinst Be’er Sheva and a late penalty versus Astana, earned him his own song. However, not contented with just ONE song for our young French hero, the Celtic support gave him a SECOND song following his hat-trick against the comedy club Sevco Rangers in September and brace against Manchester City in the Champions League to the tune of ‘Ain’t Nobody’. Goals in the Betfred Cup semi and final, a goal at Ibrox as well as Champions League goals made both these songs regular fixtures around Celtic Park and away grounds.
SONG NUMBER 3- GRACE
On the night of Celtic’s Champions League classic against Manchester City, then Premier League leaders, the Celtic support singing the Irish folk song ‘Grace’ was beamed around the world. This is the saddest of all love songs and is about Grace Gifford and Joseph Plunket, who were parted by Plunket’s execution by the British following his role in signing the Declaration during the Easter Rising of 1916.
SONG NUMBER 4- LAST CHRISTMAS
The Celtic support were so impressed with their new manager ahead of the club’s League Cup final that they gave Brendan a second song, to Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’. The song debuted in 2014 as a tribute to the much liked Ronny Deila – albeit to a lesser extent; however, Rodgers’ rendition had more meaning and more widespread support as it was sung away to Kilmarnock as Celtic debuted the pink kit for the first and only time. The disappointing game – which Celtic won 1-0- on a freezing cold night in Ayrshire is remembered mostly for the pink shirt and the Wham classic.
SONG NUMBER 5 – SCOTTY SINCLAIR AND THE LOGICAL SONG
Scotty Sinclair has rejuvenated his career under Brendan Rodgers at Celtic and since his opening-day winner at Tynecastle, he has been in brilliant form scoring 25 goals in 45 appearances for the club, as well as earning the Players’ Player of the Year and Player of the Year awards. Last night he also picked up the CSA Player of the Year Award in the Kerrydale Suite. However, Sinclair’s form earned him the ultimate respect from the Celtic faithful – his own song and what a cracker it is! Taking the ravers’ classic ‘The Logical Song’ by German DJ Scooter – who once attended a Celtic match at Motherwell with CQN Magazine – and turning it into a classic that has been heard in and around grounds all season. The creative lyrics were first loudly heard at Partick Thistle in December. Although, when Sinclair put his low shot past Wes Foderingham in front of 8,000 Celtic fans at Ibrox on Hogmannay; the song erupted and was belted out in tremendous fashion. Since then, the song has been widely adopted and become a go-to for the support.
SONG NUMBER 6 – ‘WE DIDN’T START THE FIRE’ FOR DEDRYCK BOYATA
You’d be forgiven if you’d thought that Belgian defender, Dedryck Boyata, had left Celtic when Brendan Rodgers came in. The 26-year-old was behind Erik Sviatchenko, Jozo Šimunović and even Kolo Toure and was nowhere near the first team squad. He did play in that pink strip at Kilmarnock but that was it.
However after the winter break he came back into the side against Albion Rovers and has never looked back, forming a great partnership with big Jozo. Good performances, as well as goals against St Johnstone and Aberdeen, saw big Dedryck rewarded with a song of his own – to the tune of Billy Joel’s ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’. Boyata’s own song jokes about the fact that his compatriot, Hoops loanee and former City teammate Jason Denayer didn’t sign at Celtic but Boyata was his replacement. Boyata’s goal against Sevco Rangers at Ibrox was greeted with the Boyata song as Celtic celebrated their fourth on the road to a 5-1 skelping.
SONG NUMBER 7 – KIERAN TOURNEY’S SECOND SONG
Kieran Tierney, who enjoys a great relationship with Celtic support, asked the supporters for a new song after singing the Boyata song to his teammates. He was rewarded with a song that started to be song in March. His passion and love for Celtic has made him a favourite, not to mention his successful performances on the pitch which have seen him pick up numerous rewards despite having three months injured. The song has been widely used but due to the slower nature of it, it still has to catch fully.
SONG NUMBER 8 – THIS IS HOW IT FEELS
With one seasonal and one hymn to his name, Brendan Rodgers was given a new song to the Manchester classic ‘This Is How It feels’ by the Inspiral Carpets. The song debuted the week after Celtic thumped Hearts 5-0 to clinch the league and in the Kilmarnock match, the song became widespread as Brendan pointed ten fingers to the Paradise sky. The song has become an instant hit with the support ever since it was loudly sung for around 10 minutes straight in Dingwall in April. Celtic fans will also point to their back-to-back Glasgow derby successes which gave the song a platform within the party atmosphere enjoyed during the 2-0 and 5-1 wins.
SONG NUMBER 9 – THE STUART ARMSTRONG SONG
This is the newest song and one of the best for the Celtic player that Brendan moved to ‘Centre Mid’ and compliments the player on his great goals and his hair! It was sung loudly on Thursday evening at Firhill and many fans were enjoying learning the words.
SONG NUMBER 10 – THE LARSSON SONG FOR PADDY ROBERTS
Strictly speaking this song shouldn’t be included as it hasn’t actually been sung yet. However CQN called for the support to sing it tomorrow as the player has an important decision to make over the next few weeks. Read this HERE and you will appreciate why the song has been added to our top ten.
SO WHICH ONE IS THE BEST AND DESERVES TO BE RECOGNISED AS THE BEST CELTIC SONG OF THE SEASON? VOTE NOW!
There we have it, the Celtic soundtrack to 2016/17 and it has been a successful and creative one. Celtic have been phenomenal on the park and the travelling support has been fabulous – especially given we had to make it to the Highlands twice for midweek games, and twice for 12 Ko’s. Which is your favourite Celtic anthem from this season?
Sorry, there are no polls available at the moment.
