As Celtic set off into their 126th year one location in the history of the club tends to be overlooked- Hampden.The famous old ground in the southside is hardly a favourite of supporters but is linked so closely with much of Celtic’s history- good and bad.
Supporters of all ages will recall the crushing disappointments of defeat- from losing to Jock Stein’s Dunfermline in the 1961 Scottish Cup to the more recent and well documented failures.
Sunday’s win over Hibs ran virtually to script, crowning a season in which Celtic sealed their place as Scotland’s most successful side- achieved while living within their means as well as the laws of the game.
Getting on in years, I don’t go to Hampden any more. As all of you know, in the whole football world, it is the worst of all places to get back from.
Years ago, I had no problem, sometimes ran from that place right into the City Centre. Now I can hardly run to the toilet. Part of life, it comes to us all.
Watching Celtic collecting trophies while not being at the match is a strange experience but allows you to sit back and listen to the usual stuff and also join in the online debates.
While Celtic succeed on the park we are battered with the headlines about who the extinct club are signing- some things rarely change!
I can go back to my first game at Celtic Park, January 1942. A wee guy of 4. On that day, even allowing for the lack of years, there were on that park players like Bobby Hogg, Malky McDonald, George Paterson and Jimmy Delaney. Each and everyone plus the rest that day were Celtic through and through.
Can move through time to 1954 Coronation Cup, 1957 (7-1), 1967 Lisbon, 9-in-a-row (won not bought), then getting to the O’NEILL years. Saw them all, never missed a minute.
Those were the days when we got Henrik the Great for peanuts, but paid big money for Sutton, Hartson, Lennon ,Thompson and a few others.
All of these guys plus people like Paul McStay, Murdo McLeod, Davie Provan and others, have made it clear to the world that the best thing in all of their lives was when they wore that jersey and played in front of the best support in the world.
How many of recent footballing greats have told of how they were captivated when playing at Paradise? Could not count them.
This raises my question, despite the obvious agenda of the media, trying to break up this squad,(supported by players agents) why would any player want to leave such success and the admiration, bounding on iconic from from this great support?
OK, the answer is more cash, but with more cash comes more tax. Where else would any of this squad pick up regular silverware and European competition every season? Nowhere:
Surely those who played on Sunday will have enough savvy to tell themselves “THIS IS THE PLACE TO BE”
Obviously, I don’t want any of our top players to leave, but some of them are likely to go. They might be making a big mistake, but you can’t really blame them for following the money. It’s madness how much they can earn in the EPL. It must be hard to turn it down.
So, if they do go, I’ll wish them luck and say thanks for the memories. I wont forget this season.
And like you said, in common with everyone else that’s played in front of the Celtic support, I’m sure they wont forget it either.
HH
I love the hilarity of the garbage written by fans of Newcastle United fans.
They talk about Forster having made a mistake going to a club ten times bigger than theirs will ever be. They say how he is being held back in Scotland playing for the club ten times bigger than theirs could ever be. They also try to compare playing for Celtic and playing in the reserves for a team in an annual relegation fight.
They forget that Newcastle United manager and annula joke, Alan Pardew never even ackowledged Forster existed.He never gave him any hope of playing there, yet he was their best goalie.
He said Forster would waste away if he came to Scotland, forgetting that he wins there, plays against teams like Barcelona and Benfica, and isn’t avoiding relegation year in year out. He had already offloaded him three times prior to Celtic taking him and making him a better goalie than he was. Yeah you Geordie numpties. Forster is wasting away in Scotland with a club ten times bigger than your relegation fighters.
Could not agree more with you weetim67. You see the posts on the Newcastle forums because they appear on the news now site and you think to yourself… Are these muppets literally as daft in the head as they sound?
Playing Champions League Football, winning cups, league titles, 60,000+ fans cheering your name, becoming part of a special 125 year history… Yeah, he’s wasting his career away that guy!
That same guy who couldn’t even get a place on the bench under your diddy of manager has earned the nickname ‘The Great Wall’ by the Spanish press and Barcelona team!
So nookie fans, you can all go throw sh*t at yourselves and your under achieving relegation fighting team because we are laughing right fecking at you hahahahahahahahahahahahaha…. Ohh aye…. Your women are total slappers anaw!