Celticrollercoaster sent me this incredible story of how he added Kenny Dalglish and Roy Aitken’s signatures to the Celtic tops being auctioned for the Walk with Shay campaign. King Kenny, showing his legendary affinity with the fans…………..
This is part three of the story. You can find part one here, and part two here.
Club Captain No 8. Kenny Dalglish-September 2015
I had been chasing Kenny for a while with no success. I had tried to tweet him with no response and then tried his daughter, Kelly Cates who did respond but effectively palmed me off saying that I should contact the club. Which club I thought? Kenny even turned up at my kids’ school one day as part of the McDonalds football programme, but I found out afterwards, which was obviously too late.
So, I decided to speak with Tommy Boyd and asked for his help to try and get in touch with my first ever boyhood hero. I remember when he left Celtic in 1977, how heartbroken I was and how much I despised Liverpool for daring to buy my hero.
I said to Tommy, I would meet Kenny anywhere to make it easy, to which Tommy cheekily replied, “So you will go anywhere for Kenny, but I had to come to you?”. Tommy’s humour is always first class, just like his help. Tommy got hold of Kenny and explained the situation to him, and Kenny agreed to sign the tops on his next visit to Scotland. I thought excellent, that’s another Captain nearly sorted, not realising the hard work I was still to go through to obtain Kenny’s signature on both tops.
A couple of weeks passed and I received a text from Tommy on the Saturday, to say Kenny was playing in a celebrity golf tournament in Archerfield on the Sunday and would sign the tops. Tommy was just waiting for Kenny to confirm his tee off time. I looked up Archerfield and thought North Berwick, that’s a nice round trip of 180 miles! I then looked at the golf course website and thought “Wow”
Kenny never did phone to confirm his tee off time, and Tommy told me just to drive up as Kenny was expecting me. This worried me slightly that I was going to turn up unannounced. I was about to set off for Archerfield, when my lad Declan said “Do you think Kenny will sign my top?” I said “you never know, do you want to come and meet him?” Declan’s face lit up and off we set! I now had 3 tops to get signed. We were 30 minutes into the journey and I decide to stop my journey to phone Archerfield to explain my position. Turning up unannounced just didn’t sit right with me. The hotel could not be any more helpful and put me through to the clubhouse and I found out that Kenny’s tee off time was 3pm, so there was no way I was going to make it in time. The tournament organiser, then suggested that I come up around 7pm and then we could grab Kenny as he came off the course into the clubhouse. I thought perfect and thanked the organiser for her help.
We arrived at Archerfield on time and having driven through the illustrious grounds, we parked up and headed for the clubhouse, passing a fleet of black Maserati’s, which were to be used to ferry the guests from the clubhouse back to the hotel. I caught up with the organiser and she invited Declan and myself to sit in the club reception and wait for Kenny to come in. So, there we were, sitting in the reception, waiting to see my boyhood hero, the man that would light up the world with that smile, every time he scored a goal. What could go wrong?
Kenny eventually came into the clubhouse, and I approached him calling out his name to get his attention. He turned around briefly, but continued to walk away. It was on the third shout that he stopped and I told him that Tommy Boyd had spoken to him about signing a couple of tops. Kenny stunned me by his response when he said “I’m signing one top only”. So here I was on the back foot and racking my mind of how do I get the second top signed? In my mind, I had already parked my poor son’s top down as a “no hoper”. Strange thoughts go through your head at times like this. I was thinking perhaps I could copy the signature on the second top? Of course, you dismiss these thoughts in an instant, but it doesn’t stop you thinking them.
I went on to say to Kenny, “But, it is for a wee baby with cerebral palsy”. Kenny took the home top from me and said “You’re taking a liberty” and went onto say “Who shall I make it out to?” I said to him, that we were auctioning the home top with all club captains’ signatures, so just need him to sign it. He said “It’s worth more, if I dedicate it to someone”. I thought “Lying bassa”, but kept my counsel and said “Could you just sign it please with your name only?” Kenny eventually signed the home top, shook my hand and moved to walk away. At the same time, I am now thinking, right how do I get the second top signed? I need to find a common ground. I blurted out “I’m off to London on Monday, to see Big Roy Aitken!” This sparked an interest in Kenny, and he says “Big Roy, where’s he nowadays?” Not sure if this was a trick question, but I mucked up the answer by saying “Saudi”, to which Kenny answers, “Naw he isne, it’s Dubai!” I thought bollocks, in this split-second I have mucked it up. I quickly rescued the situation by showing Kenny, the text messages from Roy. He says “So you are going down to see Big Roy, give me the second top?” and duly signed it. I think magic, two down and look across to see Declan’s excited but anxious face.
Am I going to let my son, down? Think CRC! Think! Again, he shakes my hand and moves to walk away again. I say to him; “Does your Mum and Dad still drink in Stamperland Social Club?” Kenny looks surprised at my comment and says “Naw, that was Marina’s Mum and Dad! How did you know this?” I come out with the killer line. “They used to drink occasionally with my Mum and Dad…Would you mind signing my son’s top and dedicating it to Declan, please?” “Sure” says Kenny. He signs the third top, this time with his smile that I remember from his goal scoring days, and shakes my hand for the third and final time. Eventually I have to let him go! Where on earth, I pulled that rabbit from the hat, was beyond me, but job done. We got there in the end, once we got Kenny warned up, but it was a very hard shift indeed!
Club Captain no 9: Roy Aitken – September 2015
As I mentioned before, we would target a couple of Captains at the same time trying a number of different sources. Roy was always going to be a difficult one to find. I had googled and found out that he had gone across to Dubai to be David O’Leary’s assistant at Al-Ahli in September 2013 from an article in The Scotsman, but I had no idea if he was still there. I decided to email Paul67 and asked him if he had any leads for Roy Aitken or Paul Lambert, who we were also trying to track down. Paul can back with a phone number for Roy Aitken that he managed to acquire from a journalist that spoke previously with Roy (probably in relation to the article I had picked up on about Roy), but he had no idea if this was still a current number.
l decided to text Roy, with details of what I was doing and waited for a reply. A week went by and nothing. It was a Friday afternoon (This was always the day I seemed to gain inspiration) in July, and I thought right let’s take a chance and phone the number. It seemed to ring for an eternity and then a voice answered. It was Roy, I recognised his voice, I reckon I had a couple of minutes to grab his attention and explained that I needed his help. Roy said “No problem, drop me a text again, with your email address and I will respond with my address and we can courier the tops across to Dubai and then back to you!” I thought brilliant and was on cloud nine.
My memories of Roy as a player started to flood back. When I was a kid, my family would mostly go on holiday to Butlins in Ayr, and the football coaching sessions were taken by a lower league footballer ( I am sure it was an Arbroath player at the time, but his name escapes me) and on the final day, a Celtic footballer would also appear and both would take part in the exhibition match on the skating rink ( yes I kid you not, a skating rink!) with the two teams consisting of the “players of the week”. There would also be a photo opportunity with the players and family. Bobby Lennox used to take part and then passed the mantle onto Roy Aitken. In the last year my family had gone to Ayr, I had managed to be selected to play in goals for one of the teams (probably due to a complete lack of decent keepers), and we won 5-4 with me saving a free kick from Roy. Yes, my CQN 5s skills were developing early.
Two or three weeks passed since my last contact with Roy and there was still no further reply. It was a Friday night and I was in the kitchen with Mrs CRC and we got onto discussing the tops and she asked if there was any word from Roy, and I said no. I went on to talk about my disappointment with Roy probably harnessing my memories of Roy as a kid, being a friendly loving guy. You tend to forget at times, that people have other things to do in their busy lives and it is not always about you and your needs! As I continued to talk about this, my phone buzzed as I had received a text. Incredibly, it was from Roy, and it read, “Marc, I may be across in the UK in August, so it may be easier to get the tops to me then. Be in touch!” I thought incredible, Roy’s ears must have been burning but he restored my faith once again in people and again heroes!
August, came and was about to disappear over the horizon, and I had heard nothing from Roy, so I decided to send him a text asking him if he had managed to firm up his plans about coming to the UK. At the same time, Plan B was forming thanks to another CQNer Greenlion2, who was also now helping us with this quest. He had been in touch with Joe Miller who was potentially going out to Dubai soon, and there was a potential that he could meet up with Roy.
Anyway, a couple of days later Roy came back to say he was going to be across the next weekend and would be staying in the Jumerah Carlton Tower Hotel in Knightsbridge, London and I should send the tops down marked for this attention. Having discussed this with Andy F, we decided that it was too risky to send the tops with eight signatures (Kenny had not signed at this time!) on them through the post. So a decision was made that I would fly down to London with the tops. Brilliant, there I was ready to fly to London the following Monday to meet up with Roy. It was also this weekend, that Tommy Boyd had been in touch re Kenny, so had I posted the tops down to Roy as originally planned, I would have missed the opportunity to meet Kenny.
So, my diary was sorted Sunday, Archerfield and Kenny; Monday, Knightsbridge and Roy. Two days, two Club Captains! Assuming, everything went to plan, only Lambo and Jackie to get!
I was like a big kid all day Monday and flew into Gatwick from Glasgow with the tops secured in my hand luggage, and got the train into London, and hopped on the tube to get me close to Knightsbridge. I had arranged to meet Roy at 5pm in his hotel, so had some time to kill. Scotland were also playing Germany that night, but I was not going to be back in time to catch the game, but this was more important.
As I headed towards the hotel. I had to cut through Belgravia, which was Embassy land. I think I must have passed 10-12 different embassies. I arrived at the hotel reception, which welcomed you with a harp player playing her eloquent tunes, I thought, “Roy’s obviously doing okay for himself”. I phoned Roy and told him I was down in reception and he said he would be down in couple of minutes! Five minutes passed, and Roy appeared and welcomed me like a friend. My memories flooded back to the jungle chants of “Feed the Bear” and “Aitken’s going to get you”. Here was Big Roy, a little greyer and older, like us all, and here I was in the presence of another hero. Roy said “let’s get a snack” and we sat down in the restaurant. I had already eaten, so decided just to get some tea and looked at the menu. £12.50 for a pot of tea was the cheapest on the menu! Just as well Big Roy paid! . We talked for around 70 minutes covering Shay, the Club Captains tops, our love for all things Celtic, various games involving Big Roy and indeed what Roy was now up to.
It turned out that David O’Leary had been sacked after about 6 months in charge, but the Sheik who ran the club liked Roy and promoted him to Sporting Director, whilst continuing to annually sacking his coaches. This was still Roy’s current position and he told me how much he loved life out there. He also mentioned that Derek Whyte was also out in Dubai (no doubt topping up his tan! ), working in TV commentary. We talked a bit more about the other charity causes, I had been involved in, and also reminisced about Butlin’s in Ayr, my free kick save (I had to get that in!) and playing football on a skating rink. Roy asked if I had been to the night for Billy McNeill, which Celtic had arranged in his honour, to which I said no. Roy had found out about it afterwards, and expressed his disappointment that Celtic had not asked him or Derek Whyte to join, as they would have made the time and effort to come across. I made an excuse for Celtic saying perhaps they could not find you, to which Roy said “Well you, a fan found me!” I took that as a big compliment.
Time was passing so quickly and I was having an amazing time, but I knew I had a flight to catch back home, so after about 70 mins, I said to Roy, “I need to go soon so I suppose I better get you to sign the tops!” Roy took the tops with the signatures to date, and ran through each one, asking how we managed to achieve them, and enquired who we still had to get. After kindly signing both tops, Roy said “Do you want a picture as well?” What a difference to the previous day with Kenny. Roy was the perfect host and Club Captain in every way. I also had brought my son’s top with me and my “Feed the Bear” book with me and Roy kindly signed them both. I thanked Roy for his time, and headed on my way back to the airport and received a text message from Andy F, “Paul Lambert is in the studios at Hampden commentating on the Scotland game”. I replied jokingly, “Great, barricade him in and I will be there for 11pm”. Just two Club Captains remaining!
If you missed Part 1 or Part 2, you can catch them here
https://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/the-search-for-the-11-celtic-club-captains-part-1/
https://www.celticquicknews.co.uk/walk-with-shay-mcneill-mcgrain-boyd-brown-lennon/
Part 4, the final part to our story, will follow soon.
If you are interested in registering an interest for the forthcoming auction of the home top, which also contains the signatures of not only the last 11 Club Captains of Celtic but also our InVIncible Club Captain and all three Treble Winning Club Captains, then contact us now via:
email walkwithshay@yahoo.com
Twitter @walkwithshay
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TONYDONNELLY67 on 19TH JULY 2017 9:50 AM
Interesting, and CQN gets a menshy.
https://johnjamessite.com/author/sitonfence/
=======
Two things caught my eye.
Aberdeen fans will wonder at Aberdeen FC silence now given their CEOS views then.
Rangers explanation about why they never registered side letters no longer stands up when we now know that they deliberately did nor reveal De Boer/Flo side letters to HMRC in 2005, leading HMRC in 2011 before the LNS saga got underway to accuse Rangers of fraud or negligence yet LNS says no question of dishonesty.
Aye right. Dickson got away with the same excuse in his FTT testimony but that FTT was only focussed on the BTC so would not have that information.
Blantyretim. I’ll be in the Blane Valley around 3 pm today.
Looking forward to the game tonight I hope that Celtic score more goals than the fingers I have on my hands?.
Please god let this post work, lol.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1697046960603282&id=100008939821986
With the current SPFL board elected a year ago and Hibs now a Premier League side not Championship, I wonder if there will be any significant changes in the club representatives next season ?
The 2016/17 SPFL Board is made up of :
Neil Doncaster (CEO),
Ralph Topping (Chairman) (to be replaced by Murdoch MacLennan)
Karyn McCluskey (non-executive),
(3 Premiership clubs) Peter Lawwell (Celtic), Ann Budge (Heart of Midlothian), Ian Maxwell (Partick Thistle),
(2 Championship clubs) Leeann Dempster (Hibernian), Eric Drysdale (Raith Rovers)
(1 club Div 1 & 2) Ken Ferguson (Brechin City)
Worth a shot:
http://scottishfsa.org/reclaimthegame/
Mikael Lustig first goal scorer.
Celtic to keep a clean sheet.
3 goals in the first half.
Jet packs by 2020…
ROBINBHOY
I’d have to go to confession if I filled in that form!
There’d be swearies every second word,thoughts on the authorities?
Aye,I know exactly what I think of them.
Local bumpkin started kicking off in the pub. Iwas very close to blurting out “”Hello, hello? What’s going on? What’s all this shouting? We’ll have no trouble here!”
Hello, hello being in a non-hun way…
And a non-Glitter way…
Although a recent Ibrox tifo may connect the two…
Obvs.
awe_naw_nae_new_article_oan_anaw_noo?
CHAIRBHOY on 19TH JULY 2017 8:21 AM
AULDHEID @ 11:51 AM,,
JJ showing today that Regan set the terms of TNS enquiry,then sat on the panel himself.
In case your interested.
Wednesday 19th July 2017
Leicester City v West Brom
Premier League Asia Trophy
11:00
Sky Sports 1 / Sky Sports 1 HD
Bayern Munich v Arsenal
International Champions Cup
12:20
Premier Sports / Premier Sports HD
Liverpool v Crystal Palace
Premier League Asia Trophy
13:30
Sky Sports 1 / Sky Sports 1 HD
Spain Women v Portugal Women
UEFA Women’s EURO 2017 Group Stage
17:00
British Eurosport 2 / British Eurosport 2 HD
Celtic v Linfield
UEFA Champions League second qualifying round second leg
19:45
Celtic TV
England Women v Scotland Women
UEFA Women’s EURO 2017 Group Stage
19:45
Channel 4 / Channel 4 HD / British Eurosport 2 / British Eurosport 2 HD
Thursday 20th July 2017
Roma v PSG
International Champions Cup
01:05
Premier Sports / Premier Sports HD
Norway Women v Belgium Women
UEFA Women’s EURO 2017 Group Stage
Looks like Ntcham WILL get game time tonight.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
I simply said, Corrupt
TURKEYBHOY on 19TH JULY 2017 1:19 PM
Looks like Ntcham WILL get game time tonight.
————————————
Excellent! As much as I love Armstrong, he obviously isn’t the future of the team and we need to get his replacement uo to speed as soon as possible. Would also like to see Benyu on as a sub.
DAVIDOPOULOS
Why did you not quietly explain the circumstances and when he refused to accept them,batter seven bells out of him after making sure he threw the first punch?
Clearly,Bury St Edmonds and Kilwinning aren’t the same.
Best laugh I had back home,and the last time this particular good pal but eejit ever mentioned football,was when Mr Green had just taken charge. There I was in the usual hellhole of hunnery in Kilwinning,and he stated loud and proud that “Charlie has got yeez on the run,we’re back,and we’ve never been away”
That was five years ago roughly. My mates back home don’t discuss football now. Certainly not in my company.
according to the celtic fc website, there are only 10 seats left in 418 section for season book purchase.
thats quite wonderful.
and tonights match is “sold out”, i hope those that cant attend have passed on their cards to others.
a full celtic park would be fantastic.
i wasnt so much looking forward to this fixture, but now i am .
cmon you bhoys in green
From John James, WTF?
sitonfence says:
July 19, 2017 at 9:56 am
The momentum is growing. The Supreme Court decision was a game changer. I am not in the habit of blowing my own trumpet but my exclusive revelations in two articles have moved the goal posts. We are now playing 5 aside, with Desmond, Lawwell, Brennan, Forrest and James on one side, with Regan, Doncaster, Bryson, Johnston and McKenzie in opposition. It is as one-sided as Celtic v the bigots without the ferry fare.
TURKEYBHOY @ 1:13 PM,
Is that the first Inquiry.
The INDEPENDENT SFA LNS Inquiry, that The SFA CEO sat on;)))
I’ll check it out…
Hail Hail
ROBINBHOY
Well,having had a few beers etc in your company,and knowing what you do for a living,sometimes you have to be diplomatic.
Other times,you hit them with all barrels,or wait till the time is right.
Me,right time every time. My concern is that the PLC are ignoring the right time.
I live in hope.
Btw,I’m home from 28/10 to 18/11 so a curry night in Troon is on the cards. Alternatives if suggested.
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
Mate, if I had understood what he was on about and was confident he would have understood what I was saying I would totally have intervened. But I’ve discovered that the six fingered locals don’t take kindly to Jock telling them what to do…
Anyway as luck would have it he showed himself the door muttering intelligible insults at all and sundry.
I carried on reading my book…
BMCUWP
P.P.S…
My Kilwinkie mate hasn’t spoken about Scottish football with me since 2011. Once Mr Whyte took over he saw the writing on the wall.
He’s a collectors item…an intelligent hun…
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
Auldheid suggested last week that we should all write to Peter Lawwell, I did and got a polite fairly non descript reply. I believe from other sources that they are “on it” but time will tell.
CFC SLO
Linfield fans will be held back 20 after the final whistle in tonight’s game, to let all other fans clear the area.
They been held back 327 years , I’m sure 20 minutes will be a dawdle.
DAVIDOPOULOS
Quite a lot of my mates in Kilwinning show rare signs of intelligence in my company. The place gets a bad name,but if that’s your roots,you make sure people know it.
Quite honestly,never had a problem wearing my heart on my sleeve,and my shirt and crest. The occasional comment,one look. Sorted.
That’s nothing to do with me,though. It’s because of who my friends turned out to be. Picked them well,it seems! And if my mates in Kilwinning didnae support Rangers(IL), I don’t think I would have any!
But I’m more careful in,say,Irvine,next door. Or Stevenston. And one or two other places. Quite simply,that mob mentality will never leave them.
And I’m getting slightly miffed that they are more to be pitied than censured.
ROBINBHOY
A Philvis thumbs-up. I got eff all in reply. Maybe lost in the post…
Afternoon Celts
Ive just cleaned out the old Anderson shelter in the back garden.
Some posters of Vera Lynn, old packets of Capstan Full Strength:)
Im hoping that these dangerous, dangerous, Linfield Huns dont run riot in Glasgow, call out the army, oh wait:)
This has got to be more dangerous than the possibility of a nuclear blast, surely:)
Im digging in, give me a shout when they have gone.
The whole city is trembling with fear, a bit like when ‘The Joker’ is loose in Gotham City, or similar to the English Civil War, as the Huns will be wearing helmets tonight:)
HH
BOBBY MURDOCH’S CURLED-UP WINKLEPICKERS
And I’m getting slightly miffed that they are more to be pitied than censured.
—————————————–
With reference to the Griffiths/Linfield situation, I am totally in favour of sticking it to the bigots for that particular reason
Slightly dismayed at the inferred meaning of Rodgers’ comments. Leigh did nothing other than show thugs they cannot win when he tied the scarf to the post. Perhaps I have misinterpreted Brendan’s views on the matter but I would liked to have seen him explicitly back Leigh in such circumstances
Davidopoulos
Out early for rolls this morning. I saw this strange looking crisp packet, did not like the look of it one bit.
It was moving about due to the wind, and goaded me into throwing a buckfast bottle at it:)
Lucky it wasnt a scarf:)
HH
I’m in Ibiza at the moment. San Antonio. Plenty of places have it advertised.
That’s for Gorbalstim.
THE GREEN MAN SAYS SACK THE BOARD
Was it Walkers cheese and onion???
In fact…was it any kind of cheese and onion.
I hate cheese btw..
While LG was being dragged through the coals for tying a scarf to a goalpost, this was also going on, move on Timmy, bit of a nut case this character?
Rangers fielded a strong starting XI for the game that saw Graham Dorrans get his first run out since making his switch from Norwich earlier this month.
In a bizarre moment, the official St Johnstone Twitter feed claimed Niko Kranjcar had been asked to leave the pitch by the match referee, with TV pictures showing the Croat being told to get off the park after an angry reaction to a rash first-half challenge.
Despite the incident, Caixinha remains positive about what he saw from his team, and added: “I believe in the first half especially, in what was a team which you could call close to the first XI, they totally understood what we want if you exclude the chances we had and didn’t score.
picture of Davidopoolos at the recent C(heese)QN hootenany
http://www.wallaceandgromit.com/gallery/lovely-cheese-gromit-0
how could anyone hate cheese?!
Davidopoulos
What freaked me out, is that it wasnt any recognisable brand. It was orange with a skull and crossbones on it, with eyes:)
The wind picked up and it chased me down the street. It was like something out of some nineteenth-century dystopian nightmare:)
Still managed to lob some bricks at it though:)
InanimateObjectsCSC
Modren nineteenth-century dystopian nightmares are rubbish …
Ntcham from the start tonight
HH
Broonie when interviewed about the Linfield game said it happens at Tynecastle and Ibrox and we are used to it, or words to that effect, the interviewer did not come back to him despite him naming two grounds here where the treatment dished out to Celtic is the same. Well done Broonie enough of this great atmosphere garbage, they hate Celtic equally as much.
With the game being on a flavour of Eurosport any idea what Glasgow pubs may be showing it – I thought I was doomed to a sausage!