Long live the King

There is no perfect time for a manager to leave a football club but Brendan Rodgers’ decision to walk out on Celtic at such a vital time of the season leaves a sour taste. He was always going to head by south eventually but the manner of his leaving flies in the face of so much of what he has said during his time at Celtic. I can only surmise Leicester played hardball and told him it’s now or never. Such is the nature of professional football in the modern era, we move on quickly. There is a title to be won, a cup to be fought for and the best support in football waiting to be inspired.

I won’t be giving Brendan a hard time as I’ve seen it all before but it does still rankle that he could have taken Celtic to another level. Whether he lost patience with a board which allowed talent like Dembele and Roberts to go without adequately replacing them or whether they lost patience with his spending on players who haven’t exactly set the heather on fire, we’ll never know. What we do know though is that he gave us seven consecutive trophies and a hat full of memories. He brought organisation and self-belief to the team with many players showing huge improvement under his control. Some of the triumphs he engineered will live long in the memory; from the demolition derbies (5-1, 5-0, 4-0, 5-1) to the last minute cup triumphs, it was and remains a great time to be a Celt. History will record he performed exceptionally well in domestic football although he presided over some humiliations in Europe. Losing so heavily to PSG and Barcelona was one thing but that Red Imps result was appalling. Less than a year ago he said…..

"If you're happy, ultimately that's all that matters. The money's irrelevant. You can have 'X' amount of pounds in your bank every month but if you're not happy and you're not finding peace in what you're doing, it doesn't really matter. I love the Premier League, the quality of the players, the quality of the coaches. There are great challenges. But there are arms and legs flying off managers down there. You can come here and my genuine love is improving people and making them better, helping the club improve and getting the chance to develop and win things. I came here because I was asked by the major shareholder, Dermot Desmond, to be the architect of the club. I don't have to control absolutely everything because it is very difficult to do that now in the modern game. I don't need that. Celtic is one of the great clubs of the world. There's a pressure here that's different. You have to win every game. There's not a club in England that has that. I'm in a position where I'm in my dream job. As a guy from Northern Ireland who supported Celtic and worked in football, I'm living my dream here. There will be a time at Celtic where I’ve done everything I possibly can here and between the club and I, we will look at it and see where we’re at. I have to do the best with the resources we have here. That’s not a lack of ambition. That’s me at a club where I have a sense of happiness every day."  (March 2018)

He was always likely to head back south again but most of us thought he’d do it in the summertime and not leave the club as it gears up for the run in to a possibly historic season. That will annoy many but when the dust settles we all know it’s done and we need to move on fast and get on with the game. No one is bigger or more important than the club and we’ve survived worse.

I’ve seen a few Managers come and go in my time following Celtic. Stein’s shabby exit in 1978 was probably the worse example of the board mishandling a delicate situation. Others such as Barnes, Mowbray, Brady and Macari didn’t quite fit and left in due course to various levels of relief among the Celtic support. Tommy Burns and Billy McNeill found their employers less than patient when demanding success and they were harshly treated in the end. The fans loved them though and will always hold them in their hearts. Wim Jansen stopped the Ten and then wandered off leaving Celtic supporters to wonder why we always squander strong positions instead of building on them? Ronny Deila was perhaps one of the few who left in a dignified way and history might be kinder to him than many fans were during his tenure.

Neil Lennon steps into the dugout with the opportunity to clinch the title and cup which he knows might put him in a strong position to get the job permanently. Others in the frame will of course be the likes of Steve Clarke and an outsider like Red Bull Salzburg’s Marco Rose but should Lenny perform well and bring home the Treble, few would be anything other than delighted to see him become permanent boss.

We shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that Lennon left in 2014 as the club sold good players like Hooper and Wanyama without adequately replacing them. He was deflated by Celtic’s seeming lack of ambition. Striker Georgios Samaras hinted at the time that decisions about who went and who arrived weren’t always the Manager’s….

“I cannot lie to the people. I had a chat with the manager. He would have loved me to stay at the club. But me and the gaffer, we don’t make the decisions – there are people above us who make the decisions and they never approached me.”

But Lennon is perhaps arriving at Celtic at a good time. Few Celtic Managers have arrived with the club so far ahead in the league and so financially robust. He has a good squad to work with and has learned on his travels that to be successful in professional sport takes steely determination and organisation. He will be tested with trips to Edinburgh coming up which won’t be easy bit he’ll relish the challenge.

There is much anger at the way Brendan Rodgers exited the club he professed to love but I’m philosophical about such things. He’s an ambitious guy who brought us great success and left the club in a better position than when he found it. Finances will always constrain Scottish clubs from reaching the highest level in Europe but then for all their money, Leicester will never have a history like Celtic.

When all is said and done though, players come and go, Managers too but the supporters remain constant. We’re in it for life and as Tommy Burns said, ‘they’re there and they’re always there’ and as long as that remains the case Celtic will be fine. There is much to play for this season and it all begins tomorrow night. Once the whistle goes and the match begins so too will a new era for the club. The Rodgers era is over and by God it was good but all things come to an end. It’s up to Neil Lennon now to drive us on to more success.

The King is dead, long live the King!

The Dark Ages

The Dark Ages

This has not been a good week for Scottish football nor indeed Scottish society. The ignorance and bigotry which scars the footballing rivalry of the country’s two biggest football clubs has dragged the game through the gutter again. Steve Clarke, the manager of Kilmarnock, was subjected to sectarian abuse at Ibrox during his side’s Scottish Cup tie and said during a somewhat emotional press conference after the match…

"When I was approached by Rangers about taking over the job here I was assured that 'we don't have that in the west of Scotland any more. It's gone. They can call me a bastard or a wanker. No problem, thanks, guys. But to call me a Fenian bastard, come on. Where are we living in, the Dark Ages? They are not allowed to call my assistant a black bastard but they can call me a Fenian bastard. What are we doing in Scotland? I wake up every morning and thank Chelsea for coming and taking me away from the west of Scotland because my children don't understand this. Thankfully when I go down there my children, my grandchildren don't have to worry about this."

Clarke has been refreshingly honest and direct since returning to Scotland and has had the balls to hold a mirror up to the unacceptable face of Scottish football and ask us what we see. The events at Ibrox may have been depressingly predictable but nonetheless we owe Clarke a debt of gratitude for saying; hold on, what are we doing here? Is this being accepted as normal in 2019?  It is deplorable that Keith Downie of Sky Sports reported his statement as an ‘astonishing rant,’ when in reality it was a brave man calling out bigotry.

Reaction to events at Ibrox also came in depressingly predictable form as a storm of ‘whataboutery’ on social media drowned out the voices calling for change. It was, according to some, the fault of everyone from the SFA to the police and of course the denominational school system. In reality it is the personal responsibility of every single adult who engages in bigoted chanting. Every large football club has its share of fools and knaves following it and the club I hold dear is no different. There is no moral high ground from which to pour scorn on the bigots at Ibrox when some in the Celtic support behaved in a similar manner towards Kris Boyd at Rugby Park. I know this makes for uncomfortable reading to the vast majority of decent Celtic supporters who don’t engage in such chants but it has to be said, it was and remains hypocritical to engage in the very thing you claim to despise in others. There are very real issues about historical and current prejudice Catholics have had to deal with in Scotland but the moronic minority among the Celtic support give a cheap and easy get out of jail card to those in the media who like to say it’s both sides of the coin; both as bad as each other and thus avoid tackling head on the anti-Irish and anti-Catholic prejudice which still lingers in the dark corners of our society.

Catholic Schools, as usual, were held up by some as the reason for prejudice in Scottish society despite no evidence whatsoever that this is the case. Anti-Catholic prejudice in Scotland is centuries old and existed long before Catholic schools did. I did my final thesis at University many years ago on the subject of denominational schools in Scotland and interviewed people as wide ranging as Cardinal Winning and Jack Ramsay the then Secretary of the Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland. My historical research explored incidents such as the Gordon riots of 1780 when Parliament sought to reduce the level of official prejudice against Catholics set out in the Penal laws. This led to serious rioting by anti-Catholic mobs in London which soon spread to Edinburgh and Glasgow. Such was the fury of the mobs seeking to halt the lessening of Penal laws against Catholics that one historian spoke of events in Edinburgh with the following words...

‘From Bishop George Hay we have eyewitness accounts of the disturbances in Edinburgh in early February 1779, written a week later. He begins by saying that Roman Catholics had been forced to stay indoors as their appearance in the streets of Edinburgh would be met with calls of ‘Here is a papist, there is a papist, knock him down, shoot him. The mob soon returned to Bishop Hay’s new property in Trunk’s Close. They attacked the outer door with stones and hammers. They forced the doors and in a moment the house was full of rioters. Using stones and hatchets, they began breaking all the doors, cupboards and drawers. By now a huge crowd had surrounded the house and all its approaches. The cry went up to set fire to it immediately. Straw, tar barrels and other combustible materials were placed in all parts of the house. Before 10 o’clock that night, the whole house and most of the furniture, which belonged to the five families that lived there, was reduced to ashes. The mob expressed their delight with shouts of glee—their only regret being that they did not have one of the priests to throw into the flames.’

All of this was going on in Edinburgh long before Catholic school existed in any real form in Scotland. One historian noted that in 1790 there were just 39 recorded Catholics in Glasgow while simultaneously there were 43 anti-Catholic societies! The Orange Institution was introduced to Scotland by soldiers returning from fighting in the 1798 Irish Rebellion and found a fertile soil in which to grow. It is long past its peak but still offers a focal point for bigots despite their protestations to the contrary. I could continue in this vein but the point was to demonstrate that historically and indisputably anti-Catholic prejudice in Scotland far outdates Catholic Schools. Indeed in post reformation Scotland barely 1% of the population held onto the old faith and that was only changed by the arrival of thousands of Irish migrants in the years after An Gorta Mor.

It is also a matter of historical record that the success of the new ‘Irish’ club Celtic in late Victorian times led many in Scotland  to lament which Scottish club would put the ‘Irishmen’ in their place. Celtic’s strong links to Ireland and Catholicism touched a raw nerve for some in Scottish society and the club suffered prejudice from the start. Indeed their inspiration Hibernian FC, were denied entry to the Scottish game initially on the grounds that they weren’t a ‘Scottish club but an Irish one.’ As it transpired Rangers grew to be the main challengers to Celtic and around them gathered many decent supporters but also many who saw the club as a bastion of Protestantism and Unionism. Thus was born one of sport’s most eager and bitterly contested rivalries. Celtic had from earliest times played a mixed team but in the years after World War One Rangers avoided signing Catholic players. This situation continued until 1989 when Mo Johnstone joined Rangers in the Souness era. Scottish society and indeed the League and SFA should have had the moral courage to challenge Rangers on this blatant bigotry but instead they ignored it and in doing so gave it tacit approval. In discriminating in this manner, Rangers were mirroring what went on in other spheres of Scottish life at the time but it soon became a millstone around their necks as once the club attracted the more strident bigots to their support, it became impossible to get rid of them when more liberal days dawned.

The Church of Scotland debated the expulsion of Irish Catholics from Scotland in the 1920s and by the 1930s serious rioting occurred in Edinburgh when a Catholic Eucharistic Conference was being held in the city. Priests were assaulted and Catholic churches vandalised before the Provost sent in the Police to break a few heads and make arrests. He said at the time…

‘The sectarian spirit is a heady thing and some people seem to have lost their moral and mental balance over this subject. Every honest minded British citizen deplores Jew baiting in Nazi Germany, we want no baiting of Roman Catholics here. There is enough ill will in the world, even in our own country, without adding the fires of religious fanaticism to it.’

Nothing occurs in a vacuum and the situation we find ourselves in today is simply the next phase of a deep rooted problem that is, despite all the chatter, receding with every passing year. Many of those posturing and chanting at football matches are not particularly religious rather they are engaging in tribalism and empty gestures. A more dangerous minority does exist though and the sort of virulent hatred they have been taught needs to be rooted out. Education is part of the answer but when this fails the full force of the law should be brought to bear on those who go too far. Some zealots may be beyond redemption but the new generation must be taught a better way.

It is the task of everyone involved in Scottish football to help educate those who behave poorly at football matches to see that they not only damage the game but also the reputation of the clubs they claim to love. I accept that everyone has the right to believe in whatever political or religious ideology they want but there should be no scope for the expression of hatred or bigotry in a public arena like a football stadium. If it does rear its ugly head then the sporting and governmental authorities have a duty to act. For far too long we have accepted behaviour in football grounds which would be considered out of order anywhere else. I’m all for rivalry and passion at football but I’m also for leaving the politics, prejudice and other baggage at the door. We can be so much better than this. It’s up to the decent fans at all clubs to speak up and tell the bigots and racists that they belong in the dustbin of history.

Steve Clarke held up a mirror to the face of Scottish football and it wasn’t a pretty sight. We can wring our hands and then when things die down allow it all to go on as before or we can try to be an influence for change in our society and tell the bigots their time is up.

It’s better to light a candle than curse the darkness.

The Screamer

The Screamer

Have you ever had a screamer behind you at the match? You know what I mean; someone who spends 90 minutes screaming out utterly inane drivel in the general direction of the playing field in a high pitched, screeching voice? Sometimes it’s a man and sometimes it’s a lady but always it’s annoying. I and those around me had to endure a fairly inebriated female screamer during the Celtic v Valencia match and it didn’t improve our mood as the hoops stuttered to a deserved defeat. ‘Hit the fuckin’ baw!’ she shrieked early in the first half in a voice akin to someone drawing their nails down a blackboard. ‘McGregor, fuckin’ deck him,’ she screamed from just behind me as she advised our midfield General on his next move. It would be fair to say this lady had more shots than Celtic on Thursday night as this tirade of bizarre advice continued. ‘Get Rogic oan!’ she demanded of Brendan Rodgers despite the fact the Aussie is injured and sitting in the stand. ‘Ref, that was a corner, ya blue nosed bastard,’ she called in the general direction of Romanian Referee Ovidiu Hatigan.

All of this can be a bit wearing as it goes on minute after minute throughout the game although some of the folk around me found some of it amusing. One mumbled to his friend, ‘Find a woman who loves you like she loves Buckfast.’ Another said, ‘I’m off tae the snack bar, anybody want anything?’ To which his companion replied, ‘Aye see if they’ve got ear plugs.’ The screaming was one thing; the solo singing was quite something else. She was 20 minutes early with, ‘In the heat of Lisbon,’ and gave a bizarre rendition of ‘The fields of Athenry’ containing words she must have written herself. It all added to a challenging night in the North stand as the team faltered yet again in Europe.

There was a feeling of déjà vu in the air as Valencia defeated a Celtic side which seem determined to play the passing game Rodgers likes so much. I don’t fault the manager for sticking to his footballing principles as all the successful European teams play keep ball but then most of the successful teams in Europe are much better at it than Celtic. It’s to be expected that the elite teams from the rich leagues who roam the world in search of the best players will be too potent for Celtic to handle. Yes, the occasional victory over one of the big boys is possible but in general the gulf between the top teams in the big leagues and Celtic is a big one.

That being said, financially Celtic have in recent years been on a par with teams like Valencia and Red Bull Salzburg,  who have built solid, efficient teams who play with assurance and pace. Why then have both of these sides defeated Celtic without much trouble?  It’s down to more than money as Celtic turned over more than both clubs last year. Perhaps it is the footballing culture in countries like Spain which seems to develop players who are technically gifted and very comfortable on the ball. They also play the same way from the time they are coached as children, through the various youth ranks and on to the senior game. It is also easier to attract good footballers to La Liga than to the SPFL and it remains the top league in Europe despite what our English cousins think. The high standard in Spain demands that clubs such as Valencia play at a high level of competition every week. Celtic on the other hand is not tested in the same way, especially at home.

That being said, Celtic could have and should have been much better against Valencia. It’s the same story every year, sloppy defending, poor ball retention at key times and a lack of concentration. Both Valencia goals were soft; the first- a half arsed attempt at an offside trap- was really poor. The second saw a player run virtually unchallenged into the six yard box where he volleyed home with depressing ease. These goals had nothing to do with money, nothing to do with superior technique but everything to do with poor concentration and dreadful positional defending.

There is a school of thought which suggests that supporters should accept that Celtic will succeed domestically but generally fail in the group stages or knockout rounds of Europe’s elite competitions. One fan commented to me at the match, ‘This is all a bonus; I just want to do 10 in a row.’ We all want to see the ten done but you can’t help feeling Celtic should be so much better in Europe. Gordon Strachan’s side of a decade before were defeating top teams at Celtic Park and doing so with players which were, with a few exceptions like Nakamura, not superior to today’s side. He did it by being pragmatic about the tactics he used. He wouldn’t go toe to toe with a side which was clearly superior, he’d work out tactics to get behind them and make it difficult for them. Rodgers side seem averse to playing the odd long ball to turn the opposition defence and get our faster players running into space. Celtic had 62% possession against Valencia but most of it in areas which didn’t hurt the Spaniards. They simply waited for Celtic’s passing to break down and hit them with fast counter attacks. It wasn’t tactical genius, it was simply a case of looking at how Celtic play and setting out a game plan to nullify it. It worked as their goalkeeper hardly had a save to make all night and their forwards had twice the amount of attempts at goal on 38% possession than Celtic managed with 62%. It was never going to be easy against a Valencia side that held Barcelona to a 2-2 draw recently but you did troop out of the stadium feeling Celtic remain an enigma in Europe. The team is capable of more than we saw in that match but for whatever reason just didn’t play well.

Unless we see a minor miracle in Spain next week Celtic will be left to deal with domestic matters in the final phase of the season. We’ll all be delighted of course should they manage to win more honours this season. Rodgers’ domestic success is enough for some fans though, who sense that European football has moved on so much in recent years that teams like Celtic will likely always struggle against decent European sides. I tend to think we can and should be putting together a side capable of at least giving the better European sides a game. Too often we have gifted cheap goals in Europe and convinced ourselves the opposition was just too good. Sure, sides like PSG, Barcelona or Bayern will usually be too strong for Celtic but teams like Valencia, Zenit St Petersburg and a host of others who haven’t had to work too hard to beat Celtic in recent years should not be unbeatable.

It’s about adopting more pragmatic tactics, concentration, avoiding stupid mistakes and above all showing up and doing a good job on the night. Too many players were below par and seemingly lacking confidence as the game panned out and that is a recipe for defeat. This isn’t inevitable and we have seen Celtic build decent teams which competed well with top European sides in recent decades. We should never settle for just making up the numbers and a ‘happy to just be here’ attitude to European competition. 

A club like Celtic should be ambitious and able to field a team capable of doing better than we currently are. Even the ‘screamer’ would agree with that.

The Echo Chamber

The Echo Chamber

Objectivity is often conspicuous by its absence in the clannish and suspicious world of Scottish football. I recall an incident in a Celtic v Rangers match in which Jorge Albertz clashed with a Celtic player in the midfield. It was a straight forward foul, no more than that but the two Celtic fans beside me got into a heated debate about it before one said angrily, ‘Alright, if you were the Ref what would you have given?’ His erstwhile friend replied with a straight face, ’If I was the Ref? I’d have sent three of those ugly bastards off and given a penalty to Celtic!’  They both laughed at that. He may have been speaking in jest but it gives a glimpse into the mind-set of some Scottish supporters who will happily deny evidence and logic if necessary to back their team’s position. A read through social media and newspaper sites demonstrates that there are many out there who would happily throw objectivity under a bus if it suited their agenda.

There’s an old adage which states that an ‘Ambassador is someone sent abroad to lie for their country.’ It came to mind today watching Gary McAllister defending Alfredo Morelos’ latest misdemeanour by basically saying his red card at Aberdeen was unjustified as it was all really an accident. Gary is an old pro and knows the game well enough to see that the talented Columbian is ill disciplined and in danger of costing his team dearly as suspension looms. It was a little embarrassing watching a worldly ex-player trot out what was in effect, a standard denial of what occurred. McAllister didn’t actually look as if he believed it himself as he said it. It would be refreshing to see a manager simply say of a player, ‘Yeh, he was silly and needs to grow up,’ instead of a knee jerk and basically meaningless attempt to justify his poor behaviour. McAllister said of Morelos’ tackle on McKenna, ‘He did everything he could to avoid contact.’ Anyone who has seen the video footage can see this for the risible nonsense it is and I suspect Gary knows it.

All managers do it to a degree and save their true feelings for behind closed doors where you can be sure players like Morelos will be told in no uncertain terms that he’s no use to his club sitting in the stand. Arsene Wenger was the master of this game and usually said ‘I didn’t see the incident’ when asked about one of his players diving or misbehaving. Never criticise your club’s players in public has become an unwritten rule in football. Perhaps that’s why it was refreshing to see Steve Clarke of Kilmarnock speak so frankly about the lack of consistency in refereeing decisions in the SPFL. Predictably the reaction of Steven Gerrard to this was to jump to the defence of his club and players without actually addressing issue Clarke raised.

The reaction of supporters to these various incidents often suffers from the same lack of objectivity. Online debate tends to be within groups with a like-minded view of things and this can lead to what social scientists call ‘Confirmation bias.’ This theory suggests that once we have formed a view, we embrace information that confirms that view while ignoring, or rejecting, information that casts doubt on it.  We pick out those bits of information that confirm our bias or prejudices. In this way aspects of social media become an echo chamber where people form and share a common opinion which is often at odds with the opinion held in other ‘echo chambers’ occupied by fans of other teams. Those who are on social media a lot know that to offer an alternative opinion can sometimes lead to more zealous fellow fans descending on them like a pack of wolves. Thus former players who criticise Celtic are branded ‘soup takers’ for deviating from the group narrative.

It’s a natural and very human trait to seek out like minded individuals to interact with but is also necessary to hear contrary opinions and form a view based on facts rather than, our often biased, opinion. In football, as in politics though, the game is often about point scoring and showing the other lot in a poor light rather than objectively looking at the issues. This has been most apparent in the despicable online ‘debates’ about child abuse in football. This issue is being investigate by the FA in England and by the SFA in Scotland and the English body has received reports suggesting over 300 clubs at all levels of the game have been affected. It is a scourge on society which knows no boundaries and thankfully many of the perpetrators are being brought to justice. For supporters of any club to pontificate on the events at other clubs with the sole intention of mud-slinging is just plain wrong. To chant about such events at a football match is beyond what constitutes decent behaviour.

Football wouldn’t be the same without the rivalries and gladiatorial aspect to both the game on the field and from the fans in the stands. We’ll probably always be biased towards our clubs but even if we are it does no harm at all to listen to other points of view.

The clannishness and mistrust in Scottish football holds the game here back. We have a better product than for some times and a competitive league perhaps that is why decisions are scrutinised over and over. I would hate a major trophy being won or lost on a refereeing error so I’m all for anything which helps them get it right even if that includes VAR. Football is a fast, fluid game where the referee is the arbiter of the rules. Fans keep the game afloat with their hard earned money and deserve some transparency and openness when it comes to explaining decisions. They deserve well trained referees who call it without fear or favour which isn’t always easy with thousands of supporters trying to influence your every decision.

So the next time a Celtic player goes down in a tackle in the box will I be screaming for a penalty? You bet I will but I still want the ref to call it correctly otherwise the game isn’t worth the money we pay to watch it. Supporters will always exhibit a bit of bias, that’s their nature. Officials on the other hand must be above reproach, that’s their challenge.

The old Celtic Magic

The old Celtic Magic

Ritchie McLaughlan looked around bowl of Hampden Park as they grey Glasgow sky threatened more rain. Half of the stadium was predominantly filled with the red clad supporters of Aberdeen and the other half with Celtic fans like him. It could still be an impressive sight when the old place was full but it wasn’t a patch on the old place when crowds of over 100,000 would turn up for cup finals. The songs were beginning to crank up from both sets of fans as kick off time approached. Ritchie could feel the same excitement building in his stomach as he had at his first cup final many years before.  ‘What was your first cup final?’ he asked turning to his long-time friend Tam Sweeney. Tam, a couple of years older than Ritchie, glanced at him, ‘Actually it was against Aberdeen in 1970. Refereeing was shocking and we got gubbed 3-1. Hope we do a bit better today’ Ritchie nodded, ‘Brendan hasn’t lost a domestic game this season, the treble, the invincible season all hang on this game so I’ve no fears today. It’ll be hard but there’s a bit of the old Celtic magic hanging around this season.’ Tam smiled, ‘I hope you’re right. We’re so close to an amazing bit of history. What was your first final?’ Ritchie  smiled, his mind drifting back 45 years to a blustery day in Govan…

Govan, Glasgow 1972

‘The 6^th of May?’ said Ritchie’s old man with a look of incredulity on his face, ‘they cannae organise a Communion on cup final day!’ His mother shrugged ‘well they did and Dominic’s communion is more important than the fitbaw so you’ll be at St Saviours wi the rest of us.’ Ritchie McLaughlin looked at his young brother and whispered, ‘Here, Dom, whit time is it at?’ His seven year old brother shrugged, ‘the letter said the Mass is at 12 o’clock.’ Ritchie did a quick calculation in his head, Communion masses take well over an hour then there’re all the photographs and no doubt his mother would be laying on a tea for all the relatives. There was a very slim chance they could get to Hampden by 3 o’clock. To the football mad 11 year old this was a disaster, he had looked forward to the cup final since the moment the final whistle had sounded at Celtic’s 3-1 win over Kilmarnock in the semi-final. There had to be a way he, his old man and Dominic could make the final.

Later that day Ritchie wandered up Orkney Street past the Police station to the home of his best pal Derek. He ran up the tenement stairs counting them until he reached the top floor where his friend lived. He knocked on the big front door and waited. Inside he could hear Derek’s mother shouting, ‘Derek could ye answer the door?’ Derek did and grinned to see his pal, ‘Aw right Ritchie, mon in.’ The two friends headed for the living room although Ritchie could hardly fail to notice the strange smell in the house which reminded him of paint stripper. Derek read his thoughts, ‘My Maw’s dyeing her hair, thinks she’s Sandie Shaw.’ They sat on the living room couch as Derek’s twin sisters played with their dolls on the floor near the coal fire which was giving off a steady heat. Ritchie explained his predicament regarding the upcoming cup final as Derek listened in silence, his face a study in concentration. ‘That’s terrible, who the hell organises a Communion on cup final day? If it was me, I’d just slip oot and head tae the match.’ Ritchie shook his head, ‘My Da’s got the tickets, if he disnae go then me and Dom can’t go.’ Derek thought for a moment, ‘You can get a lift, you don’t need a ticket?’  Ritchie shrugged, ‘if it was just the Communion we could make it but it’s all the pictures folk take at the altar in St Saviours after the Mass. My ma took mine there and my sister’s tae, she’d want Dominic’s at the same place and there will be dozens waiting after the mass tae dae that. It’ll take forever.’  Derek thought for a minute, ‘When are ye getting the kilt oot the hire shop?’ Ritchie looked at him a little mystified, ‘Friday, why?’ Derek regarded him, ’I’ve got an idea,’

Later that night, Ritchie waited for his old man to return from his work at Fairfields. Work in the shipyards was hard and he was usually tired when he got in but this night he looked a bit down too. The cup final was three days away the prospect of missing it was affecting him as much as Ritchie. He waited until his old man had finished his supper before sitting on the couch beside him. ‘Da, I’ve got an idea about how we can make it tae Hampden on Saturday and no miss the communion.’ His old man shook his head, ‘It’s not so much the communion Ritchie, it’s all the waiting about for pictures with Father Mac at the altar. Face it son, we’re no gonnae make it.’ Ritchie was having none of it and filled his old man in on how it could be done. As his father listened a glint of hope appeared in his eyes, ‘I’ll need tae square that wi yer Maw and phone Father Mac but it’s a good idea.’ With that he got up from his seat and wandered into the kitchen putting on that voice he used when he wanted to ask a favour of his wife. It wasn’t a trip to the Govan Arms he was after this night though and Ritchie smiled as he heard his old man, normally so gruff in his speech say to her in a soft voice, ‘All right darling, got a wee favour tae ask of ye.’

Dominic stood in his kilt looking very smart but not entirely happy as his mother dragged a hair brush through his mop of dark hair. Ritchie was in his freshly pressed school uniform and his old man in what he called his ‘births, deaths and marriages’ suit. As he had put on his jacket, Ritchie noticed he’s removed a funeral card from the inside pocket from the last time he had worn it. Once they were ready they headed out the door into a brisk May night and headed for St Saviours. They entered the deserted Church, their footsteps echoing in the darkness. The lights flickered on as old Father Mac came out of the vestry dressed in his flowing robes as if ready for mass. With him was one of those old chaps who were always helping out around the church. He was a pass keeper on a Sunday, sometimes gardener and odd job man too.  ‘Good evening to you all he smiled, a very unusual occasion we have tonight.’ Ritchie’s father, looking a little embarrassed returned his smile, ‘aw right fadder, good of ye tae let us dae this.’ The old Pass keeper took a camera from Ritchie’s mother and Ritchie and his family stood by the altar with Father Mac as he snapped away. ‘Most unusual having Communion photos the night before the actual communion,’ the Priest said with a smile. ‘Aye, father. We just thought it would be pretty hectic tomorrow, family coming, a hundred things tae dae’ Richie’s old man smiled.

The old Priest nodded and said with a straight face, ‘Yes, hectic indeed. I must look at the calendar next year. Make sure the first communions don’t clash with the cup final.’ Ritchie saw his old man’s face redden and it was all he could do not to laugh out loud. ‘Busted!’ he thought to himself.

Hampden Park 2017

Ritchie smiled at the thoughts of his first cup final so long ago. Celtic had smashed a very good Hibs team 6-1 and he, Dominic and his old man had stood in the Celtic end watching it all unfold. Dominic was still in his kilt and made a few quid from folk slipping him money when they saw it was his communion day. It was a magical time to be a Celtic fan. A huge roar told him the teams were coming out for the 2017 cup final though and he focused on the game at hand. 

Would the old Celtic magic be in evidence today as it was in 1972 when he first saw them lift the cup? He sure hoped so.