My top three Celtic memories

On my drive to work this morning, I was thinking about how I am starting to miss the football and we all know there is quite a long wait before we get back to action again so I thought (with a little help from the internet) that I would try and recall three big events at Parkhead. The events may not mean much to others but they stand out for me.

Hopefully reading this will allow other readers to re-live their first experiences at Parkhead and I’d be grateful if people can share those experiences via the comments box as I quite enjoy reading comments on what I’ve posted.

The first time I ever went to a match, it was against Dundee Utd at home and we lost. The match was played on Saturday, 24 October 1987. This was less than a month after my 5th birthday so I’m afraid I can’t say who my man of the match was or give much of an opinion on the match.

I do remember there being a lot of noise, a lot of bodies that I could see every time I looked up (well a lot of legs anyway) and being amazed that there could be so many people all in the one place just to see Celtic.

That experience was probably the first time that I had any indication of how big Celtic are. To me, a 5-year-old, I thought that the whole world had turned out at Parkhead that day. The streets of Glasgow and every other street around the world must have been desserted.

I went to the game with my Dad and we were standing in the jungle. Given the fact that I was so young, I probably never saw a great deal of the match but one thing that does stand out is the fact that, after Utd went ahead, I decided to change my allegiances.

I wanted ‘the orange men’ to win. I remember my Dad telling me that I couldn’t say that and to stop talking about the ‘orange men’. Little did I know, that the ‘orange men’ were not the opponents on the pitch that day ! ! ! ! !

Apart from having a sketchy memory of being in the jungle watching the match, I remember wondering why I couldn’t hear the commentator. There was commentators on the telly so why not at the stadiums? Was it not supposed to be better seeing the game at the stadiums? And why was there no way to see a replay of what had just happened? What happens if you want to go to the toilet? Do they stop the match so you don’t miss it? Why not?

I also remember hearing about pies and bovril. Now, I had just turned 5. I knew what a pie was but a bovril just added to the excitement and mystery of the day. I guess it probably still does as I can still find no valid reason for drinking a cup of watery gravy, yet, on a cold day, I still enjoy one.

Despite the fact we lost the game, I loved it and my Dad continued to take me regularly until I got my first season ticket – when Tommy Burns was in charge.

CLICK HERE for page 2 Malky Mackay and Paolo di Canio.

The next event, is another defeat. This time it was a 1-0 loss to Aberdeen at home. The match was played on Sat 4 September 1993 but the reason this match stands out for me is because I spent most of it, along with other fans shouting “sack the board”.

Does an 11-year-old even know what a board is or what their purpose is ? I probably had no idea but I joined in regardless.

Six months later, Fergus McCann turned up and took over the club. Looking back, I really don’t have a lot of memories of the actual match. By this time, we had moved from standing in the jungle to near one of the pylons in the old Celtic end (the pylon that was closest to the jungle).

That is where my Dad used to stand (his Gran lived in the houses that used to be where the coach park now is) so that is where we would go. It feels like our part of the stadium. Funnily enough when the Jock Stein Stand opened we moved our season ticket seats from the south stand to near where that pylon once stood.

The reason I am mentioning this particular day is because every time any directors were spotted in the stand / directors box there was a lot of booing and shouting at them along with the “sack the board” chants. Looking back, I would like to say that fan power can make a difference.

Also, with the team doing so poorly back then, it was a group of what I refer to as ‘hard core’ fans who were there – there wasn’t much glory going on at Celtic then so the glory hunters were in hibernation at this point.

I think, at such a young age, to be amongst people who cared so much about the club and saw it as much more than just a football match had a lasting impact on me. Yes, we all want to see the team doing well, but with Celtic, it’s more than just a team winning a football match – it’s not something that can be explained either.

Now on to my 3rd and final memorable event – it was when we beat Rangers in a Scottish cup match at Parkhead. The match in question was played on the 6 March 1997 and we beat them 2-0. Malky Mackay scored from a header and Paolo Di Canio from the penalty spot.

The reason I pick this game out is because by then, I was 14 years old and it was the first time I had been to a derby match that we had won. That was the first win in 10 attempts against Rangers, I wouldn’t even like to think how many derby matches I had been to prior to that but I’m sure if anyone else tries to recall their first derby match where we won, it will be a massive occasion in their lives.

So that’s my first major experiences of Celtic. Of course, there are bigger events since but for me, these three events just stand out in my memory.

Yes being in the stadium in Seville in 2003 will always live on, as will being at Parkhead when Wim Jansen’s team stopped 10 in a row, the 5-1 win v Rangers when we had Dr Jo in charge, the 6-2 match when Martin O’Neill was boss, knocking Barca out of the UEFA cup in the Camp Nou are all massive things and I know there are many others but the events described are probably my earliest significant memories.

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