The Walk with Shay team sent me the next in their series on living club captains and their incredible raffle. The first can be found here, goo luck to all participants.
“The countdown is now on for the Walk With Shay Green Raffle Army prize draw on 25th May 2017 at Paradise. There is still time left to purchase raffle tickets to win our Club Captains of Celtic Away Top, covering 53 years of our Clubs unbroken history and a host of other amazing Celtic prizes, but don’t leave it too late.
Here is the next part of the club captains story”
Captain No 3: Tommy Boyd-November 2014
Tommy was an inspiration as Club Captain and still raises the bar high amongst the Celtic family as a Club Ambassador; giving up free time, and taking part in numerous fundraising events within the club and with the supporters, always taking time to talk to fans, signing autographs etc. Indeed, when we had a few beers in Mollies, he spent the entire night happily being interrupted by fans asking for photos and signatures. He obliged them all without a moan or groan. His wife told us that he loved the attention and was in his element. I had gone to the toilet at one point and a Chelsea fan who was standing next to me as we passed the time of day, asked “Who’s that you’re with? And I said to him joking, “Imagine, not knowing that! That’s Tommy Boyd, he played for your team”. I thought nothing more of it, until the boy appeared beside Tommy, ten minutes later asking for a photo. I later told Tommy, that I had chatted him up in the toilets earlier, for him.
For Tommy’s signature, I got in contact with Tommy’s CQN buddy who agreed to put the wheels in motion to assist with Captain number 3. A couple of days later, I was in the Kerrydale Bar having a pre-match beer with CQNer, TTTT. It was very busy, but who appears in front of me, as if by magic, Tommy Boyd. We had a brief chat and I said to him that I needed a favour as I was looking for him to sign the two tops. He said” Sure no problem”, and gave me his mobile number and told me to call him. The next week after a call, there was Tommy Boyd in my office at work signing the two tops. Tommy still claims to this day that he was the only Club Captain that came to us, to get the Tops signed… At this point, I had told Andy F about my plans and had enlisted his support and help in the search for the 11 club captains. There was still a long way to go and I started to realise that to complete this momentous task, that I would need help.
Captains No 4 and 5: Danny McGrain and Scott Brown-May 2015
Thanks to Andy F, this was a breeze in the park, as he got in touch with Tony Hamilton, CEO of Celtic FC Foundation who agreed to help. We duly and slightly nervously handed the tops into Celtic Park for signing in due course. The tops had never been out of possession up to this date, but we knew that they would be well looked after by Tony.
Danny had taken ill at the time, so we knew he had not been working at Celtic Park, but Tony went out his way to get both Danny and Broony to sign the tops, within a short space of time. The significance and uniqueness of the tops started to dawn on everybody now involved in collecting signatures, but we still had a long way to go to achieve the dream.
Captain no 6: Billy McNeill – March 2015
Billy, I had thought would be one of my easiest signings to obtain given his previous assistance on the Bringing Martin Home and Wee Oscar 4 Life campaigns. It was a joy to be invited into the McNeill household and for Billy to recall various Celtic stories. His wife, Liz was also lovely and they both knew my youngest daughter, Niamh who went to the nursery ran by Billy’s son. In fact, there was many a day when Billy popped into the nursery with lunches for the kids and I would have great delight in telling Niamh, just who the man, that regularly brought her lunch was.
I contacted Liz via text shortly after I had come up with the idea of the tops, but there had been no response. Billy was struggling with his illness and was going through a difficult time at this period. I had sensed that all was not well, and decided to put Billy’s signature on the back burner. It was actually not until the following March, that Liz got word to me, that they were waiting for me to pop in, so Billy could sign the tops. I arranged to pop in and since it was March 17th (St Patrick’s day), I bought 4 cans of Guinness for Billy and some wine and flowers for Liz and took them across. You could tell that Billy was struggling, but as they always did, the McNeill’s made me welcome in their house and we chatted for ages. Billy signed one top and Liz told him that it was a poor signature. I jumped in and say it was wonderful, Billy proceeded to sign the other top. He still regaled some great Celtic stories from years ago, but you could see at times how he struggled to remember and that he had a tear in his eye when he talked about Jinky. I gave him the four cans and he said thank you, to which he then said to Liz, “Am I allowed these?” She replied “You can have one can tonight, due to your medication”. I smiled as here was the legend Cesar being closely marked and had little or no room for manoeuvre.
Little, did I realise, that the signatures I had received that day were probably one of the last signatures given by Billy, due to his deteriorating condition which would restrict him from signing in the near future. It says a lot for the McNeill family that they had went out their way to help us, when this should have been the last thing on their minds at this difficult time, but this was the McNeills’.
Club Captain no 7: Neil Lennon-August 2015
We took a few months out in the quest for the Club Captains signatures, and started to push it again in August 2015. My Dad’s friend was Neil Lennon’s agent’s father (less than six degrees of separation!!) and I had previously pestered my Dad to speak to him to see if his friend could help. Eventually, it all came good and I was to pass the tops over to Lenny’s agent, Martin Reilly, as he was travelling down to Bolton to catch up with Lenny and Johan Mjallby. The tops were duly passed over to my Dad, with the instruction “Lenny only please” and he passed the tops over to his friend with the same message.
I got a call a week later to pick up the signed tops from my Dad’s friend house, and popped in after work as he lived just around the corner. As he brought the tops out, he said there was a little problem and told me that Johan had signed the tops as well, but it was ok as he was a Captain as well. I tried to hide my look of horror and not trying to sound ungrateful and I said “Thank you, but he wasn’t a Club Captain though, but never mind”. I thought “How am I going get around this one? Can I hide or cover it up, perhaps? Maybe even rub it out!” It is amazing what runs through your head at times. I was also struggling to get hold of Roy Aitken, and a crazy thought came into my head for an instant; “Perhaps I could kid on it was Roy Aitken’s autograph?”. As I looked at Johan’s signature more closely, I saw the number 35 next to his signature, I thought “Nope!” And dismissed the mad thought in an instant. This was going to be our Celtic kinder egg!
Part 3 to follow soon.
The countdown is now on for our amazing draw on 25th May 2017 at Paradise, but there is still time left to purchase (or sell) raffle tickets to win our Club Captains of Celtic Away Top, covering 53 years of our Clubs unbroken history, and a host of other amazing Celtic prizes.
Contact us now via:
email walkwithshay@yahoo.com
Twitter @walkwithshay
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IMATIM – that wasn’t Syme – it was R.H. Davidson (Airdrie)
A Stor Mha Chroi on 16th May 2017 3:23 pm
Absolutely correct (as you often are). The Easter Rising was led by the IRB; the “old IRA” was 1917 and the IRA was from 1922; the Provisional Wing was established in 1969 when it split from the Original IRA.
However, to a good many people, the are all the same body.
KTF
VFR
Scrap that
Ceremony for Joe Dodds at 2pm st Convals on Saturday afternoon
PHYLLIS DIETRICHSON on 16TH MAY 2017 3:42 PM
IMATIM – that wasn’t Syme – it was R.H. Davidson (Airdrie)
……………………..
I stand corrected but in my defence – Have you seen a handsome Hun.
REGGIE:
Then like me you’ll agree that the bombing of Dresden was a war crime, up their, but not quite, on a scale with the dropping of the A bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Have you ever stopped to consider, had the British not invaded and occupied Ireland, not a single British citizen would have died at the hands of those who tried to reclaim their freedom and rights.
NOT A SINGLE ONE would have died.
blantyretim is praying for the Knox family on 16th May 2017 3:41 pm
How to spot me – if I was a pirate I’d be greybeard!
KTF
VFR800:
Then they are ill-educated and again like I said, they celebrate their glorious battle honours on the wrong date.
VFR
How to spot me
I’m the fat baldy one with freestate Charlie and TOHG ☘️☘️
A Stor Mha Chroi on 16th May 2017 3:46 pm
A good play (fairly short to read) called Translations by Brian Friel gives a great account (IMHO) of that oppression going back hundreds of years and clearly shows how the snatching of land and the desire to make money was the root of it all.
Much like oil in the 20th and 21st centuries I suppose!
KTF
I wonder what NB think about a Scottish hack trying to get a world wide ban on one their products
HH
Anyway. Has Shane Logan had a call from the Compliance Officer yet for assaulting LG by bouncing the ball off his heid…? Whatever was being sung, and whatever goading of the fans Logan is alleged to have done, the assault was on camera and is a clear breach of rules.
NAT KNOW .
Octopus were marketing bits of the Ticketus investment as higher risk and therefore potentially much more rewarding .
VFR800:
I’ve spent a large part of my life reading book after book about Ireland and how she and her children were treated by the occupying forces. I don’t read it anymore, I’m tired of upsetting myself.
If you want any books, I have shelves full of the history.
A STOR
John Beaton’s angle invariably isn’t that good especially at Ibrokes.
I think the SFA scale goes from no very good, to downright cheat.
A Stor Mha Chroi on 16th May 2017 3:48 pm
And omitting the role Papal troops played in the victories they had in the War of Grand Alliance as well as the fact he rode a black horse!.
That one always perplexes them!
KTF
What about the ubiquitous ‘NY’ yankees cap?
T
The UFH has a lot to answer for.
First it was Green…….then it was Whyte……….and Brother Pedro will have the pleasure of finishing them off.
You seriously couldn’t make this up
Lurking Huns GIRFUY
BT
You got my tee shirt?
NATKNOW
Banter mate.
Nothing to see here CSC
A Stor Mha Chroi on 16th May 2017 3:55 pm
I have a few myself and always find it fascinating reading!
KTF
blantyretim is praying for the Knox family on 16th May 2017 3:49 pm
There will be more than a few fat baldy gents on show; I’ll look out for the t-shirt!
KTF
Would Martin Dempsters proposed ban include the basketball and American football tops frequently seen at golf tournaments in the US? Should the Canadian golfer who donned an ice hockey shirt at the Pheonix open be punished by the USGA?
Or does it only apply to football tops?
Or maybe even to one particular football top?
How about sashes Martin? They ok?
You forgot his sexual orientation and the intrepid wee black mole assassin. Both or which causes their ulcers to erupt when brought up in conversation.
(being honest i didn’t know about the ‘black’ horse. Was that written out of history)
Oh and don’t forget what happened to his army at his next battle, although he’d already skied it by then.
Glendalystonsils
Celtic strip is an iconic work of art.
Its sheer jealousy on the part of the zombies.
HH
Witness says that Octopus were “keen” to let David Murray know a financial company was involved in takeover.
BOOM BOOM
SOUTH OF TUNIS on 16TH MAY 2017 3:53 PM
NAT KNOW .
Octopus were marketing bits of the Ticketus investment as higher risk and therefore potentially much more rewarding .
————————–
They don;t seem to have calculated their risk/reward ratio to expertly…though I guess there’s still a way to go and perhaps they’re sitting on a tangible asset that simply needs to be re-purpose to make it more liquid? Now THAT would be funny….. :-))
VFR
Willie Maley is not bad on Glasgow and the Easter Rising.
HH
Has Robin van Persie signed for Sevco yet?
Have you had to walk 500 miles?
Were you advised to walk 500 more?
You could be entitled to compensation.
Call the Pro-Claimers NOW
BOURNESOUPRECIPE on 16TH MAY 2017 3:59 PM
NATKNOW
Banter mate.
Nothing to see here CSC
—————————————
You’re right. “Snarling” Leigh Griffiths should know better.
If the roles had been reversed and LG had thrown the ball at Logan’s heid I’m sure they’d all have been chuckling away. What with being 3-0 down and all that…
GLENDALYSTONSILS on 16TH MAY 2017 4:01 PM
Would Martin Dempsters proposed ban include the basketball and American football tops frequently seen at golf tournaments in the US? Should the Canadian golfer who donned an ice hockey shirt at the Pheonix open be punished by the USGA?
Or does it only apply to football tops?
Or maybe even to one particular football top?
How about sashes Martin? They ok?
————————————————————————-
Exactly.
IMATIM on 16TH MAY 2017 3:34 PM
THETIMREAPER on 16TH MAY 2017 3:31 PM
‘If you’re good enough, the referee doesn’t matter.’ Jock Stein
……………………….
Have you ever seen the photos where Big Jock went apoplectic at Syme
*according tae slyme he actually said “yer faither would be proud of you”, in reference tae his da wullie another dob mitb.
and if yer good enough didnae help in stopping a treble in 1970, a result which may have affected us in Milan, or in the Final in 73 when a good Jinky goal was chalked off.
Thetimreaper,
And how did that work out in the world club championship final ?
Bryan says he was instructed to speak to Craig Whyte and ask for assurances Murray was aware of the transaction
Later received an email from Whyte assuring him Murray had been informed “It was not all Craig’s money”
I was interviewed out walking in my street recently by a morning news crew here in Las Vegas.
Bobcats coming doon from the hills to attack dogs, what’s my thoughts on that etc etc.
I was wearing my auld bumblebee tap, accompanied with a very stylish felt fedora and Raybans.
Avoided watching masel on the Telly, as I don’t need reminded I’ve a coupon like a slapped erchie. Howeva…
I’m told the Spanish speaking cameraman zoomed in on the Celtic crest briefly during the
interview.
:-)
Up yours Hootsmon rag.
Id be surprised if Brendan and the bhoys allowed Brother Bobby to effect our magical season.
FK him and his handshakery, and Aberdonkey.
If there is any justice,the good guys win.
Might have to be about 7-3 though by the time that rocket is finished:)
HH
Received a few emails from CQNers, will reply today tomorrow. Been swamped at work.
Mountblow Tim- coming over in six months or so. Beers on ice please. Also, gave the Kano Scarf to a wee lassie at a Timbers game in Portland, Oregon recently. Beaming with delight she was. Her dad said it will make a showing at every game.
BOURNESOUPRECIPE:
I think the SFA scale goes from:
Novice
Apprentice Cheat
Time served Cheat
Approved Cheat
Senior Cheat
Senior gifted Cheat
Master Cheat
Grand Master Cheat
Busted
Retired on privileged fan funded pension Cheat ( now sipping pina colada’s on a Bermuda Beach as you’re watching his brethren hump you one more time.)