The Offical Glasgow Celtic thread

[lynchbhoy]

Yes indeed,atmosphere it does produce,but when it is in breach of statutory legislation and the club is in risk of fines,points deductions etc as penalties then there is no option I'm afraid.

Now if the supporters could only remain seated,and boisterously sing Celtic songs and display flags and banners (often quite witty and inoffensive) then the  atmosphere would be fine and compliance maintained.

Mickey try channel 968 and work upwards,if 968 is not BBC2 Scotland it's not far off it.

maybe these fans were flouting the seating requirements (to sit down) but while this is a H&S matter (not much of one) the singing and banners ARE the reason behind this move.

pity, because since 1995 until the formation of the green birgade, the atmosphere at celtic part apart from CL or certain games, has been rubbish.
thats all that fans had been talking about in the main in these years - as well as winnng championships.

the jungle fans and great atmosphere are long gone.

[T Fearon]

With Rangers gone,there is no domestic fixture that will produce much of an atmosphere (though the 4-3 win over Aberdeen was brilliant as they came back from 2 goals down to clinch injury time win).

Certainly the jungle days will never return.Bedlam in there especially when the Rangers net bulged!

[Main Street]

I fell asleep for about 30 minutes of that game.
It could have been a mournful tribute to the demise of the Green Brigade section.
If ever a game could have done with a few fireworks going off in the stands.

The champions section of the draw is a walk in the park compared to the teams that are in the other section. I suppose any team  will do for the play off,  but least desired would be a 18 hour round trip to Kazakhstan for the first leg.

[lynchbhoy]

With Rangers gone,there is no domestic fixture that will produce much of an atmosphere (though the 4-3 win over Aberdeen was brilliant as they came back from 2 goals down to clinch injury time win).

Certainly the jungle days will never return.Bedlam in there especially when the Rangers net bulged!

One out of many examples
I was at a spring thurs night game in Celtic park v falkirk I think it was in 1996.
Place was full and the noisiest I recall ever since .
Won 2-0 with dicanio and I think van hooijdonk scoring.
The songs went on from before kickoff until full time.
D.I. Can-I-o
It's dicanio ( to the tune of 'its amore')
Walking in a Celtic wonderland
Paolo dicanio ( to the tune of go west)
Plus all the other old Celtic team songs

It didnt take games v rangers to create a full house and atmosphere less than 20 years ago.

The club have eradicated the vocal support out of the fans.

[T Fearon]

I think a lot of it has to do with seating, under Health and Safety legislation. It's a bit like the pitch invasions at Croke Park, the GAA's hands are tied by the need to comply with legislation or risk severe penalties. Times are different from 1996, with all this compliance and the legal requirement to avoid certain types of songs too.

[illdecide]

Jesus that was a poor game last nite alright, the pitch didn't help either. One more round to negotiate...

The draw for the play-off takes place on Friday, with Celtic seeded, and they will face either Austria Vienna (Austria), Maribor (Slovenia), Shakhter Karagandy (Kazakhstan), Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria) or Legia Warsaw (Poland)

[clarshack]

celtic were shocking last night - couldnt string 2 passes together, and i don't buy all this about the pitch!

some decent replacements are needed ASAP.

the worst case scenario is now europa league group stages, so at least there will be european football until christmas.

[illdecide]

celtic were shocking last night - couldnt string 2 passes together, and i don't buy all this about the pitch!

some decent replacements are needed ASAP.

the worst case scenario is now europa league group stages, so at least there will be european football until christmas.

I agree we need 3 minimum good signings but the pitch had a big impact on the game last nite no doubt about it. You see it all the time in cup matches when big teams play the weaker teams and the standard of the ptich makes it difficult for the big teams who try to play the ball on the ground.

[Apparently so]

We`re definitely needing a few quality signings. Kelvin Wilson leaving is a massive blow imo - worse than Hooper or Wanyama going. For years we have been after a solid, dependable centre back but now he`s gone. Out of our hands though. He wanted to be closer to his family and I wish him all the best. Its a big career decision, big drop down. We need a new centre back, creative midfielder and a new striker. Probably looking at 10-15m but there is absolutely no f**king chance that arsehole Peter Lawell will sanction that kinda money going out. We can afford it, we have made upwards of 40m from last years Champions League and the sales of Wanyama and Hooper. A creative midfielder would be my No1 target. We have been absolutely horrible to watch for a while now. Just sideways and backwards passing because none of our midfielders don`t know what to do with the ball when they get in attacking positions. Lenny is starting to remind me of WGS. Gets the results but the football is woeful. Needs to be changed

As for this situation with the Green Brigade - the Celtic board and Peter Lawell especially can go f**k themselves. They`ve been gunning for them as a long time now. Peter Lawell saying not too long ago, that he`s going to give them "enough rope to hang themselves". This Health and Safety shite is just a cover up - why haven`t the Health and Safety crew not closed down similar sections at Motherwell and Rangers who do a lot of similar things the GB do? Lawell is going for this family friendly pish to make us look good to the soulless English Premier League where the attitude of pay your money, sit down, shut the f**k up and go home is most prevalent. I and many other I know will be nowhere near Celtic Park until the Green Brigade are allowed back into their section. f**k the PLC

[illdecide]

Celtic got Kazakhstan champions Shakhter Karagandy for knockout game to try and make into the group stages. TBH i don't know anything about this team only the travel will be brutal and hope the damage is not done away in the first leg.

As far as i know its in 2 weeks time so hopefully a few signings will be in place by then...

[charlieTully]

Anyone for the Liverpool game tommoro?

[illdecide]

Anyone for the Liverpool game tommoro?

Yeah i'm bring my nephew tomorrow (even though he's 22...lol) and i'm on that Special Train put on for the match so not looking forward to the train tbh. I was sort of dreading the match too as i first thought Celtic were on next Wed again and thought he'd put out a weak team but the CL game is 2 weeks away so def a better feeling for the game now.

[ludermor]

This mayoman had a very good weekend just gone.

http://www.celticfc.net/newsstory.php?item=4366
Flag Day honour is a fitting tribute to John Keane
By: Brian Wilson on 02 Aug, 2013 16:19
WHEN John Keane, the Honorary Chairman of Celtic Football and Athletic Club, unfurls the League Championship flag at Celtic Park on Saturday afternoon, he deserves an ovation to match the contribution he has made to the history, success and – above all - continuity of Celtic Football Club.

Back in the dark days of 1994, John was at home in Edinburgh one evening when he received a call from Kevin Kelly, then the Celtic chairman. The news was dire. The Bank of Scotland was about to foreclose on Celtic.

The wages would not be paid. Administration was staring them in the face.
Kevin Kelly had a straightforward question for John Keane:  could he help the club out of this dire predicament?  John, who had forged a successful business career over the previous 40 years and was already a Celtic shareholder, did not have to think twice.

Looking back, he says:  "Administration was unthinkable. It would have been a slur upon the name of the Club."

An immediate £1million was needed to save Celtic from this ignominy and to keep trading. John Keane immediately phoned his own bank manager, John Brosnan of the Bank of Ireland, who was about to head off to Dublin with clients for a rugby international. 

Instead, he was on the doorstep of the Bank of Scotland in Glasgow when it opened for business the next morning, to pledge John Keane's £1million. The wages were paid. Administration was averted. The rest is history.

John Keane went on to back Fergus McCann's takeover with further crucial investment. Now, both as supporter and investor, he enthusiastically endorses the stability and commitment that Dermot Desmond has brought to the club, making it the force it is today while reinforcing the historic Irish bond – all a far cry from the circumstances of two decades ago.

John is a native of Doohoma on the Mayo coast. His mother was from Crown Street in the Gorbals and his father met her when he came to Scotland as an agricultural worker. 

They settled back in Mayo to raise the family but his mother's love of Celtic and the Scottish newspapers that were posted over to her ensured that John was familiar with the club and its traditions from an early age.

At the age of 17, he moved to Scotland himself, first of all carrying out agricultural contracts and then building a successful business as a contractor laying cables and pipes for major utility companies.

From his first days in Scotland, he became a regular at Celtic Park, developing a deep affinity with the club.

John is the most modest of men. Throughout the dramas of the 1990s, he delivered exactly what was asked of him and what he promised but never sought the limelight.  He was capable of seeing the light and shade of the saga rather than becoming a partisan. And when the chips were down, he saved Celtic for us all.

It is a story which not enough people knew and last year, the Celtic board decided that recognition was long overdue.

John accepted an invitation to become Honorary Chairman of the historic Celtic Football & Athletic Club board which handles relations with supporters and of which he is a long-standing member. He also agreed to take part in Saturday's ceremony.

He looks forward to the event with a little trepidation: "I love the club. I have supported it and nothing will change me from that. This is a great honour. I hope I don't trip and that they don't boo me too much!" 

There should be no danger of that - for all Celtic supporters owe John Keane a debt of gratitude.

[deiseach]

This mayoman had a very good weekend just gone.

http://www.celticfc.net/newsstory.php?item=4366
Flag Day honour is a fitting tribute to John Keane
By: Brian Wilson on 02 Aug, 2013 16:19
WHEN John Keane, the Honorary Chairman of Celtic Football and Athletic Club, unfurls the League Championship flag at Celtic Park on Saturday afternoon, he deserves an ovation to match the contribution he has made to the history, success and – above all - continuity of Celtic Football Club.

Back in the dark days of 1994, John was at home in Edinburgh one evening when he received a call from Kevin Kelly, then the Celtic chairman. The news was dire. The Bank of Scotland was about to foreclose on Celtic.

The wages would not be paid. Administration was staring them in the face.
Kevin Kelly had a straightforward question for John Keane:  could he help the club out of this dire predicament?  John, who had forged a successful business career over the previous 40 years and was already a Celtic shareholder, did not have to think twice.

Looking back, he says:  "Administration was unthinkable. It would have been a slur upon the name of the Club."

An immediate £1million was needed to save Celtic from this ignominy and to keep trading. John Keane immediately phoned his own bank manager, John Brosnan of the Bank of Ireland, who was about to head off to Dublin with clients for a rugby international. 

Instead, he was on the doorstep of the Bank of Scotland in Glasgow when it opened for business the next morning, to pledge John Keane's £1million. The wages were paid. Administration was averted. The rest is history.

John Keane went on to back Fergus McCann's takeover with further crucial investment. Now, both as supporter and investor, he enthusiastically endorses the stability and commitment that Dermot Desmond has brought to the club, making it the force it is today while reinforcing the historic Irish bond – all a far cry from the circumstances of two decades ago.

John is a native of Doohoma on the Mayo coast. His mother was from Crown Street in the Gorbals and his father met her when he came to Scotland as an agricultural worker. 

They settled back in Mayo to raise the family but his mother's love of Celtic and the Scottish newspapers that were posted over to her ensured that John was familiar with the club and its traditions from an early age.

At the age of 17, he moved to Scotland himself, first of all carrying out agricultural contracts and then building a successful business as a contractor laying cables and pipes for major utility companies.

From his first days in Scotland, he became a regular at Celtic Park, developing a deep affinity with the club.

John is the most modest of men. Throughout the dramas of the 1990s, he delivered exactly what was asked of him and what he promised but never sought the limelight.  He was capable of seeing the light and shade of the saga rather than becoming a partisan. And when the chips were down, he saved Celtic for us all.

It is a story which not enough people knew and last year, the Celtic board decided that recognition was long overdue.

John accepted an invitation to become Honorary Chairman of the historic Celtic Football & Athletic Club board which handles relations with supporters and of which he is a long-standing member. He also agreed to take part in Saturday's ceremony.

He looks forward to the event with a little trepidation: "I love the club. I have supported it and nothing will change me from that. This is a great honour. I hope I don't trip and that they don't boo me too much!" 

There should be no danger of that - for all Celtic supporters owe John Keane a debt of gratitude.

It's an amazing story. Readers of Celtic Quick News will be familiar with John Keane. They put his efforts for Celtic in a certain, uh, context:

Taking the huge step to save your club

2nd May 2012

Apparently, time for Rangers fans to step forward to save their club has passed.  For the want of £500k any one or collection of them could have bought an exclusive period as preferred bidder and worked on a rescue but no one stepped forward.

It is perhaps worthwhile reflecting on our hour of need 18 years ago.  Celtic had exceeded their agreed overdraft limit and the Bank of Scotland informed the club that unless the account was brought back into agreed limits that day, it would go to court to appoint an administrator.

Back then there were no transfer windows, so players could, and would, have been sold by the administrator the next day.  Celtic would have been left with an unwanted shell of a squad.

Word of the impending doom spread around the Celtic business community and John Keane decided to act.  He withdrew £1m from his account and paid it straight into Celtic's account at the Bank of Scotland.

John did this in the hope that he could buy time for the Celtic Movement to pull a rescue together.  The bank could still have withdrawn the overdraft the same day, which would have made him an unsecured creditor with no chance of a return.  There was also no agreement signed to secure the transfer of the club from the old board, each member of whom would later be dealt with on an individual basis, as shares were sold, or in the case of Kevin Kelly, pledged behind Fergus McCann's consortium.

John kept his money in Celtic and received a seat on the new board, which he retains.  He declined to appear in the publicity photos on the steps of Celtic Park when the club was rescued and although he attends the AGM every year, he remains a quiet and largely unknown figure.  He has since invested more in Celtic, money he will never see back, but which has ensured his family can block a Glazier-style takeover of Celtic.

I have spoken to him once or twice, although he doesn't know who I am, but I have often thought he deserves a standing ovation at the AGM for what he did all those years ago.  Maybe this year.

We can only wonder why there was not a John Keane across the city.

[T Fearon]

Last year it was a Sligoman,the late Sean Fallon,who unfurled the flag.

Men like John Keane will hopefully endure that Celtic FC will never move beyond Irish,or Scots-Irish ownership,unlike the Manchester clubs and Liverpool etc