An Gorta Mor and Celtic FC

 

An Gorta Mor and Celtic FC 

The event which most British historians erroneously call the ‘Great Irish Famine’ has left an indelible mark upon the psyche of the Irish and their progeny. It led to the death of at least a million people although the true number is likely higher. It also led to the scattering of up to 2 million Irish to every corner of the globe and played a significant role in the birth of Celtic FC.  It signalled in the minds of many Irish people that the British didn’t give a damn about the them and that Ireland would do well to be well rid of their historical oppressors. 

A friend had long recommended that I look out for an old book which he claims was the best history of An Gorta Mor (The Great Hunger) ever written.  I had wanted to find a good book which looked at the human suffering involved in the famine and not just bland statistics or biased political point scoring.  Despite keeping an eye on the book stores and charity shops and I didn’t find the said ancient and fabled book entitled ‘The Great Hunger’ by Cecil Woodham-Smith and first printed in 1962. Then in one of those serendipitous moments I saw two in a charity shop in St Andrews!  £3 changed hands and they both came home with me. It made sobering and grim reading but it was an excellent read. It also made me angry that people could allow such horrors to unfold and perversely claim it was ‘God’s judgement on a lazy and indolent people.’  The opening paragraph sums up Ireland’s plight in a straight talking style which augured well for the rest of the book…

‘At the beginning of the year 1845 the state of Ireland was, as it had been for nearly seven hundred years, a source of grave anxiety to England. Ireland had first been invaded in 1169; it was now 1845, yet she had been neither assimilated nor subdued. The country had been conquered not once but several times, the land had been confiscated and redistributed over and over again, the population had been brought to the verge of extinction—after Cromwell's conquest and settlement only some half million Irish survived—yet an Irish nation still existed, separate, numerous and hostile.’

Despite the unification of Ireland and Britain in 1801, an act which followed the brutal suppression of the United Irishmen Rebellion of 1798, Ireland was disdainfully treated as a colony and not an equal partner in the United Kingdom. The majority of the Irish population were poor, dispossessed and Catholic. Many harboured resentment that their once proud nation was under the heel of an uncaring ruling class who, with a few noble exceptions, only wanted to exploit the country for their own personal benefit. When the potato harvest failed in 1845 it was the only crop to fail. The barley, wheat and oats thrived. The cattle, pigs and sheep were plentiful too. Ireland exported food throughout the famine period, often under armed guard to stop the ‘starving wretches’ stealing the food they needed to live. One heart-wrenching description from 1847 describes a desperate people watching the old and young wither and die as food was exported before they could take no more…

‘The Irish watched with increasing anger as boatloads of homegrown oats and grain departed on schedule from their shores for shipment to England. Food riots erupted in ports such as Youghal, near Cork, where people tried unsuccessfully to confiscate a boatload of oats. At Dungarvan, in County Waterford, British troops were pelted with stones and fired 26 shots into the crowd, killing two people and wounding several others. British naval escorts were then provided for the riverboats.’

Charles Trevelyan was appointed by the UK Government to oversee the relief of distress in Ireland. His actions continue to cause debate among historians but certain things are clear; Trevelyan didn’t like his posting or the Irish and dragged his feet when it came to intervening in the crisis. The form of ‘Laissez Faire’ Capitalism he supported did not allow for Government money to distort trade by buying food to feed starving Irish peasants. Businessmen and Land Owners had to be free to maximise their profits after all. His slow response condemned countless thousands to death. He wrote to a friend in a letter which still survives, stating that the famine was an…

‘effective mechanism for reducing surplus population" as well as "the judgement of God", sent to teach the selfish, perverse and turbulent Irish people a lesson’

Little wonder with such men in charge that the growing disaster of An Gorta Mor became a catastrophe which saw the population of Ireland fall by 25%. In 1848 Trevelyan was made a Knight of Bath, one of the highest orders the British crown can bestow. Simultaneously the Irish were dying in their thousands.  In that same period Historian and author of the children’s book ‘The Water Babies’ Charles Kingsley visited Ireland. He saw the horrors unfolding and reacted with cold racism by stating…

"I am daunted by the human chimpanzees I saw along the hundred miles of that horrible country. I don't believe they are our fault, But to see the white chimpanzees is dreadful; if they were black, one would not feel it so much, but their skins, except where tanned by exposure, are as white as ours."

And so it was that the Irish in their hour of need were viewed as indolent, lazy, white chimpanzees and abandoned by God. Those who could fled the horrors of Ireland to places such as Liverpool, London, Glasgow or America. They continued to die on the coffin ships, in the fever sheds of the New World and in the slums of Britain and America. They faced prejudice, discrimination and ridicule. It is a credit to the fighting spirit of the surviving Irish that despite the barriers they faced they established themselves in these places and eventually thrived.

 

In 1840, just a few short years before the catastrophe of An Gorta Mor hit Ireland, John and Elizabeth Kerins struggled to keep their family going in a small rural cottage in Ballymote, County Sligo. That year a baby boy was born to them and they called him Andrew. By the time Andrew was 7 or 8 years old he would have seen the awful effects of the starvation on County Sligo. The County was severely affected and its population dropped by around 30% in the black years of hunger. Somehow John and Elizabeth managed to keep Andrew and his brother Bernard alive and Andrew entered training for the Marist teaching order when he was a young man. It must have been bitter indeed when his work took him to Glasgow and he saw the immigrant Irish and their children still suffering deprivation and hunger in a city which described itself as the ‘Second City of the Empire.’ It is of course history that this child of the famine decided to act in a more humane way than Charles Trevelyan had forty years earlier. He declared in a statement all who love Celtic know well…

"A football club will be formed for the maintenance of dinner tables for the children and the unemployed."

That is why Celtic came into being and why we still rightly remember today the catastrophe which so afflicted Ireland during An Gorta Mor. Had there been no mass starvation in Ireland there would have been a much reduced flow of migrants to cities like Glasgow and Celtic may well have never been born.

 

And those countless souls cast into mass graves, often without coffin or shroud, they should be remembered too. Not as ‘white Chimpanzees’ or ‘selfish and perverse’ but as the victims they were. They were born into a cruel and hard time with the added complication of being despised by many of those who ruled over them. Their children, cast like wind-blown seeds all over the world, overcame hardship and difficulty to make better lives for themselves. Perhaps there is small consolation in that, that the Irish, so beaten down, but never enough to stop them rising up again. That is a lesson for us all in courage and tenacity.

Rest in Peace all victims of An Gorta Mor. Born into a heartless time.

''Oh God that bread should be so dear and human flesh so cheap.''

Never Again!

 

 

 

 

Why we follow Celtic

It’s no secret that this heart of mine

Is coloured white and green

But let me tell you why my friend

I follow Walfrid’s team

 

They were born among the destitute

They were raised on people’s toil

They fought so that the Shamrock

Might yet bloom on Scottish soil

 

They fed the poor and hungry

They gave the people pride

They welcomed all who chose to play

For Walfrid’s famous side

 

They played the game the Celtic way

Brought Irish flair and fire

Then tempered it with Scottish steel

To greatness they aspired

 

From the St Mary’s Hall to Lisbon's sun

What a journey they have made!

And Walfrid’s team is now renowned

Wherever football’s played

 

 

From Maley, Doyle and Thompson

To McGrory and Jock Stein

 Dalglish, McStay and Larsson

Great men have worn the green!

 

And the people who gave this great club life

Who built it from the start

Still come each week to feel that pride

Which swells their Celtic hearts

 

‘Football without fans is nothing’

A wise man once did say

As he led our Bhoys to glory

And made them play the Celtic way

 

So why have we followed Walfrid’s team

Across these many years?

Perhaps because they made us dream

As we shared the joys and tears

 

Today he sits,  cast in bronze

To watch us come and go

Those eyes which saw such suffering

As few of us could know

 

He’d smile to know we still revere

His famous Celtic team

Still reach out to those in need

Still proud to wear the green!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John, you're a Celtic man...

 

John, You’re a Celtic Man…

You may not be familiar with the name John Batters but we of the Celtic persuasion may owe the 98 year old a quiet word of thanks. In the 1950s and 60s Mr Batters was the Doctor at Hibernian Football Club when a certain John Stein was mulling over an offer from Bob Kelly to become Celtic Manager. He asked John Batters what he thought he should do. He could stick it out for a few years yet at Hibs who were starting to play some excellent football or take a chance and return to Celtic where he made his name as a player? Dr Batters was quite clear on the course of action Stein should take and replied…’ John you’re a Celtic man, you should go or you’ll regret it.’ Stein’s wife Jean was less sure but the good Doctor persuaded her too that it was right for Stein to head west to the club he had served so well as a player and which he clearly still had great affection for. Once Jock had made his terms clear to Bob Kelly and the Chairman had agreed to Stein having complete control over the team, Stein agreed to take over at Celtic Park and the rest is history.

Jock Stein was not a man to be trifled with. His hard life in the Lanarkshire coal mines taught his self-reliance, loyalty but also the need to put his trust in others.  He once said…’

 "You go down that pit shaft, a mile underground. You can’t see a thing. The guy next to you, you don’t know who he is. Yet he is the best friend you will ever have."

Alex Ferguson recalled that during the miners’ strike of 1984 Stein saw lorry loads of ‘Scab’ coal on the move and stopped them with the withering words…’I hope you’re proud of yourselves, you’re doing people out of a living.’ Solidarity was important to a man who knew the hardships involved in the mining industry. He went out of his way to donate to the miners’ hardship fund as that bitter strike of 1984 dragged on and Thatcher stopped any welfare relief to the families of struggling miners.  Jock’s whole working life had been mining and football and both demanded teamwork and loyalty. He also knew the pain of being snubbed as a younger man by people he had known for years in Burnbank because they saw his playing for Celtic in the 1950s as akin to treason.  This increased when he became Celtic manager and shattered Rangers domination of Scottish football. He would shake his head at any pettiness or bigotry he endured and would mumble to Sean Fallon his lifelong friend, ‘Fuck them!’ Jock had no time for bigotry, recognising that the miners who trusted each other with their lives each day didn’t question your faith or politics. They were all comrades and that’s what mattered if they were going to safely finish their shift a mile underground and get home in one piece.

 

Jock was bringing all of those life experiences and attitudes to Celtic Park in the early spring of 1965 at a time when Celtic needed it. Billy McNeil, upon hearing that Stein was returning said, ‘Oh, that’s fantastic! Let’s see how this will change now!’ Change it did as Stein made every player aware that second best was no longer good enough. Unlike the gentlemanly Jimmy McGrory, Stein was often in his track suit at training barking out orders, working with the ball, demonstrating new routines for free kicks and new tactical approaches. He was always inventive, always looking to improve the tactical approach to the game. He had travelled to Wembley in 1953 to watch the brilliant Hungarians destroy England 6-3 and his eyes were opened. Such brilliant attacking play was the way the game should be played. Individual flair and skill was blended into a flexible but essentially attacking team plan to great effect. The stunned English team, convinced the Wembley drubbing was a fluke, headed to Budapest the following year to seek revenge and were again destroyed. This time by a score that would in later years have made Jock smile, it was 7-1. Stein had also watched Real Madrid rout an excellent Eintracht Frankfurt team at Hampden by 7-3 in 1960 and again saw that the future of football lay in attack. He once said that while it’s important to win a match, what was equally important was the manner in which you win.’

 As he looked around the Celtic dressing room in the spring of 1965 he would have seen keen young students such as McNeil, Chalmers, Auld, Murdoch and Johnstone ready to learn from the master. What heights could he attain with this raw young team? How far could he implement his dream of dominating the game by the application of attacking play?  The next decade was to prove that Stein to be the greatest manager in the history of the Scottish game. Not only did his team sweep all opposition in Scotland aside with verve and skill, they also competed at the highest level in European football for a decade reaching 4 European Cup semi-finals and two finals. If the zenith of his achievement was that stunning destruction of the ultra-defensive Inter Milan in Lisbon, it cannot be disguised that such displays from Celtic were commonplace in that golden era. His mantra was clear as he spoke to the team before that historic final in Lisbon….

"If you're ever going to win the European Cup, then this is the day and this is the place. But we don't just want to win this cup, we want to do it playing good football - to make neutrals glad we've won it, glad to remember how we did it. We must play as if there are no more games, no more tomorrows…’’

By God they did play as if there were no more games. Inter were destroyed that golden day and Stein’s approach to the game vindicated.  Astute football fans the world over remember the great teams because they played the game in the correct manner. Stein’s team stands tall among them. He said in the afterglow of his Lisbon triumph…

"There is not a prouder man on God's Earth than me at this moment. Winning was important, aye, but it was the way that we have won that has filled me with satisfaction. We did it by playing football. Pure, beautiful, inventive football. There was not a negative thought in our heads. Inter played right into our hands; it's so sad to see such gifted players shackled by a system that restricts their freedom to think and to act. Our fans would never accept that sort of sterile approach. Our objective is always to try to win with style."

 

Stein was right of course, there has been since the earliest history of the club a definable ‘Celtic way’ of playing the game. His team played football in the best traditions of the club and McGrory, Tully, Patsy Gallagher or Willie Maley would have approved. Jock Stein, the boyhood Rangers fan made the modern Celtic. He forged the club an identity beyond Scotland which endures to this day. It could be argued that along with Brother Walfrid and Willie Maley, Jock is the most important figure in the club’s history. I leave the last words of this blog to two men who wore the blue of our great rivals. Alex Ferguson, a man who learned a huge amount from Jock Stein, said of him…

"I am proud to say that I knew Jock Stein as a manager, as a colleague and as a friend... he was the greatest manager in British football... men like Jock will live forever in the memory."

Jock Wallace, a man steeped in the traditions of Rangers FC, was also a man who recognised Stein’s greatness. He had no doubt watched the Celtic manager help the dead and dying after the dreadful disaster at Ibrox in 1971 and recognised his common decency and humanity. He also had respect for Stein’s achievements on the field and said of big Jock...

"Jock Stein was the greatest manager ever to draw breath. There was no one who came anywhere close to him."

Stein would no doubt smile at such praise and point to the players who achieved the victories as the people due the praise, but for all his modesty this astute and intelligent football manager was worthy of all the praise heaped on him. The people who mattered to him were the ordinary Celtic fans and he once said of them…’ "I'm happy where I am, I like the people I work with, I like the players and the directors of this club but most of all I like the fans and to see them happy makes me happy."  No one in the history of Celtic FC made the fans as happy as Jock Stein did. The big Miner from Burnbank dragged the club he loved from mediocrity and restored it to greatness. He did so without compromising the principles of attractive attacking football the club had been renowned for. Indeed, he took Celtic to new heights of brilliance and success and for that we will be eternally grateful.

Doctor Batters had urged Jock Stein to go to Celtic in early 1965 with the words… ’ John you’re a Celtic man, you should go or you’ll regret it.’ Every Celtic fan is delighted that Mr Stein listened to him and followed his dream of changing football forever. He changed Celtic forever too and said once to Archie McPherson, ‘We all end up yesterday’s men in this business, all end up forgotten.’

 

 

Trust me Jock, as long as Celtic Football Club exists no one will ever forget you and your magnificent team.

 

 

 

 

 

Maestro

The queue at the Asda was full of the usual screaming weans demanding sweets, stressed mums and bored looking men.  The guy behind me mumbled ‘busy today eh?’ I turned and nodded, ‘Aye, not my idea of a good time.’ In that split second I realised I was talking to a Celtic legend. After that I didn’t care if the queue took an hour to clear. There’s an old saying which runs ‘Never meet your heroes.’ The perceived wisdom is that they usually disappoint you when you do. Not this guy. Once I’d thanked him for his contribution to Celtic and shook his hand we reminisced about moments which in a way we shared, me on the terraces and him on the pitch. I recalled his spin and turn in the centre circle at Parkhead which left two Rangers midfielders lost before his perfect pass to the overlapping Chris Morris opened up their defence. Morris swept the ball across goal and McAvennie smashed it home but that goal was made by the man they called the ‘Maestro,’ the one and only Paul McStay. That game played in January 1988 showed a young player at the very peak of his game.

 Way back in 1980 a team of 15 year old Scots showed up at Wembley to take on an England team who all looked at least 6 inches taller than the Scottish team. Men against boys the commentator quipped as big Paul Rideout stood beside the young McStay. 90 minutes later Scotland had beaten England 5-4 and McStay had hit two. The commentator changed his tune and the watching Tims were glad this young McStay was on Celtic’s books. Two years later the bulk of this talented crop of young Scots were European Champions at under 18 level and McStay excelled. It was no surprise that he was a first team regular at a very young age. His ability to tackle, pass and control the game from midfield marked him out as an excellent player. His combination play with Tommy Burns and Murdo McLeod exemplified one of the best balanced midfields the club has had, combining as it did power, pace and left/right footed players. Early success in his career came at a time Aberdeen and Dundee United were the main contenders for honours. The 1980s saw 4 different clubs win the SPL but the arrival of Souness at Ibrox led to the playing field being tilted in their favour, mostly by the application of money. Football was about to change and not for the better.

Paul McStay became Captain of Celtic in 1990 as the club was in turmoil. He was clearly the best the best player in a struggling team and few could have blamed him had he chosen to play elsewhere. Indeed he threw his boots into the Jungle after the last game of the season in May 1992 and many thought this was his goodbye. However, this Celtic man from a Celtic family stuck it out. There was to be more bitter disappointment ahead as Celtic went on a six year trophy drought. Ironically, it was McStay, Celtic’s best player, who had the bad luck to miss the deciding penalty in the 1994 League cup final which the team lost in a shoot-out with Raith Rovers.  The forwards who failed to score with the dozen or so chances which came their way that day were more to blame than the tireless McStay but his anguish was clear for all to see. In 1995 he led Celtic to the Scottish cup final against Airdrie and in a tense, messy game Pierre Van Hoojidonk’s header earned the Hoops their first trophy since 1989. McStay was ecstatic and his Manager Tommy Burns raced onto the field to embrace his inspirational captain. It was an emotional moment for all who saw it. Celtic were back and the pain of those barren years was over.

 

Paul McStay led Celtic during some of the darkest days of the club’s recent history but his dogged determination and ability kept the fans believing that things could get better, that the good days would return. He turned in some brilliant performances, even in the midst of poor seasons. His wonderful goal at Ibrox in 1994 brought Celtic an unexpected victory. His last minute equaliser against Hearts in a game which looked lost in the centenary year typified the never say die spirit of that team. His part in one of Celtic’s great European nights when they destroyed Sporting Lisbon 5-0 was crucial. His scintillating passes which opened defences or switched play in a heartbeat were a joy to watch. Those of you too young to have seen McStay play can at least look at footage of him and surely judge him to be among the finest players to have graced the Hoops. Only Billy McNeil has played more games for Celtic than Paul McStay and that tells you all you need to know about the Maestro. He wore those Hoops 678 times and never gave less than 100% for the club loved as much as any fan.

I met Paul McStay on one other occasion apart from our chat in the supermarket queue. He was signing autographs and posing for pictures with fans outside Celtic park in 1997. It was that tense year when Rangers made it 9 in a row and his season had been hampered by injury. That dramatic season turned on some pretty brutal Old Firm games and the old war horse was nearing the end of a great career. I shook his hand and thanked him for all he had done for Celtic. He smiled, ‘Don’t thank me,’ he replied, ‘I’ve made a living doing something I love. It’s been incredible playing for Celtic.’ I asked him before we parted if we could stop the ‘ten.’ ‘We will because we need to!’ he replied emphatically.  He was right and we did.

Paul McStay’s time at Celtic was turbulent to say the least. He won three titles, three Scottish Cups and a league cup. Further recognition of his ability lies in his 76 Scotland caps from an era when there were more good Scottish players around. He had been footballer of the year and young footballer of the year. His career can be split into two halves, the successful 1980s when Celtic competed well and won their share of honours and the traumatic early 1990s when we all suffered so much before the phoenix finally rose again. He was inducted into the Scottish Football Hall of Fame and voted by Celtic fans into their all-time greatest Celtic team. Leaving Celtic Park must have been a wrench for a man who had spent 16 years there but all players, no matter how gifted, know when it’s time to call a halt. It was a time of change when he left Celtic. The ending of an era in some senses but he would have looked on in satisfaction as new players such as the young Swede with the dreadlocks arrived to fight for Celtic and lead the club to an overdue renaissance.

 Paul McStay deserves to be remembered as one of the great Celtic players. The fact that he often played in Celtic teams which couldn’t match his level of ability is no slight on this excellent footballer. David Potter, Celtic historian and author, said of him…

‘He is a lovely man and those of us who were privileged to watch him in his prime will never doubt that we saw a great player. But oh, what a player he would have been if he had come twenty years earlier or ten years later!’

 The thought of Paul McStay playing with the Lisbon Lions or with Martin O’Neil’s Celtic side is mouth-watering indeed but he was of his era and was an exceptional talent then. He was a brilliant player in good times and a beacon in darker times. Twice in my life I was privileged to shake his hand and thank him for his contribution to Celtic. This short blog is my homage to a Celtic great and an opportunity to express the gratitude of many Celtic fans who loved the Maestro.

 Thank you Paul. You’ll never walk alone!

 

 

The Bhoy from Kilrea

Those of you familiar with the north of Ireland will perhaps know the village of Kilrea. It sits close to the River Bann which marks the boundary between County Derry and Antrim and is a fairly quiet home to around 1500 people. It was not untouched by the troubles but the local population is robust, friendly and for the most part reasonable. It can boast a few notable inhabitants such as Hannah Shields who was only the second Irish woman to scale Mount Everest. The local Gaelic athletic club, the ‘Padraig Pearse’s GAC’ have had mixed fortunes over the years. Their under 16 team won the inaugural Championship in 1966 and the team contained a skinny lad who was to be a major figure in modern Celtic history. Coming from a family of nine was perhaps the initial grounding in teamwork which taught him that the whole is often more than the sum of its parts. Being the sixth  child of nine and having four brothers and four sisters might also have taught him the skills required to get on with a group of diverse people. I speak of course of Martin Hugh Michael O’Neil.

 

Martin O’Neil came to Celtic in the Summer of 2000. The club had just finished a dismal season 21 points behind Rangers as the managerial reign of John Barnes and Kenny Dalglish ended in disappointment and some acrimony. His previous managerial record at Wycombe, Norwich and Leicester suggested that he was a Manager who got the best out of players and possessed the sort of man management skills not seen at Celtic Park since Jock Stein’s day. O’Neil quickly removed the dead wood and uncommitted players such as Viduka and brought in players who combined pace, power and ability. These included Sutton, Thompson, Valgaeren, Agathe, Douglas and of course Neil Lennon. This pool of talent was blended with the best players still at Celtic Park when Dalglish and Barnes departed and this included men like Larsson, Petrov and Lambert. The Celtic support sensed a revival was afoot and flocked to Celtic Park to see if O’Neil’s team could challenge Advocaat’s Rangers side for the title. The first test was the Old Firm game of August 2000. Sutton had told the press that it was time for Celtic to ‘Put Rangers in their place.’ Was he talking nonsense or did O’Neil’s Celtic have what it took?

Some moments in Celtic games live forever in the memory. That astonishing Old Firm game of August 2000 provided me with one of those moments. Celtic had stormed into Rangers from the kick off and Sutton and Petrov had them 2 goals up in the opening 8 minutes. Celtic Park seethed and roared as Rangers teetered on the edge of a total collapse. From my seat in the North Stand I could see Moravcik twist and turn in the Rangers box, leaving the hopelessly lost Ricksen on the grass. The astute little Slovakian looked up for a team mate to pass to. I could see Lambert arrive like a train at the edge of the box and roared ‘Lambert, Lubo!’ Of course the gifted little playmaker couldn’t hear me amid the din but he cushioned the ball to Lambert nonetheless and the Celtic number 14 duly smashed a low shot through a crowd of players and into the net. It was astonishing, Celtic were 3-0 ahead after just 11 minutes and mild hysteria gripped the Celtic support. History tells us that Rangers lost 6-2 that hot August day but they lost more than 3 points, that day. They lost ascendancy in Scottish football. O’Neil’s Celtic were now the top dogs and in that incredible 2000-2001 season blasted all opposition away as they secured the club’s first Treble since 1969. In so many games that season O’Neil is pictured leaping into the air as Celtic score a goal. The man from Kilrea clearly saw his stint at Celtic as more than a job. Like those of us who followed the club all our lives, O’Neil was at heart a Celtic man.

Far superior writers than I have tried to sum up O’Neil’s talent for blending talented individuals into a team. His previous management jobs had seen him achieve success with modest clubs. At Celtic his record was the best since Jock Stein. 3 titles out of 5 were won with the other 2 lost by 1 goal and 1 point respectively. This astonishing consistency saw O’Neil’s Celtic win 213 games, draw 29 and lose just 40 in all competitions. His record of 25 consecutive league victories remains as does his incredible 7 match winning sequence in Old Firm games. In 5 seasons, he won 16, drew 3 and lost just 8 of his 27 Old Firm games. He re-established Celtic’s reputation in Europe and led the team through that memorable run to Seville in 2003. After that cruel loss under the hot Spanish sun and the equally cruel end to the league season at Kilmarnock a few days later, O’Neil addressed his players in the Rugby Park dressing room…

‘Lads, I’m proud of every one of you. I couldn’t ask you to give any more than you have. You’re a great bunch of players and we will roar back and regain this title next season by 20 points!’

He wasn’t far off as his team won the SPL by 17 points the following year. Craig Bellamy spoke of O’Neil’s ability to build team spirit and get the best out of his players in his book ‘Goodfella.’ Bellamy said…

‘I knew there was an aura about him and something that made players want to play for him. Sure, he was nice but if you weren’t doing your job properly, he would be scathing and if you ever answered back, he would never forget it. He gave some of the biggest rollickings I had ever seen. But when you played well you felt brilliant because he told you how good you were. And he told you in front of everyone so that everyone else could hear. He made you feel like you were the best player in the world. The spirit he fostered at the club was the best I’ve ever seen. Not just among the players but among the entire staff. If you got fined for being late, you didn’t put it in a kitty. You had to go and give the laundry woman or the cook £500.’

 

 

 

Of course we all respected Martin O’Neil’s decision to leave Celtic in 2005 after his wife Geraldine was found to have a very serious illness. Some things are more important than football. But he left us a great legacy. Before his arrival only Wim Jansen’s solitary title had been won by Celtic out of the previous 12. Celtic under O’Neil announced that they were back and back to stay. Yes there would be disappointing years but the club would never again sink into the mediocrity which so hurt its legions of fans in the 1990s. They would also taste relative success in Europe and compete with some of the biggest names in football. Since O’Neil’s arrival at Celtic Park in the year 2000 teams of the calibre of Juventus, AC Milan, Barcelona, Manchester United, Liverpool, Lyon and Valencia have all been defeated by Celtic. It’s as if O’Neil made us believe in ourselves again.

Martin O’Neil led Celtic for the last time in May 2005. The Scottish Cup Final that season saw his team defeat Dundee United to win his seventh domestic trophy in five wonderful years at Celtic. He had endured some of the treatment our current manager has had to put up in Scotland, such as  moronic bigotry from the less enlightened members of our society. He also endured much ridicule from sections of a hostile and frankly discredited Scottish Sporting media. He spoke up with courage and conviction about the disgraceful racism and bigotry Neil Lennon endured in a game at Ibrox saying it was akin to the monkey noises aimed at black players by some moronic fans at a Spain v England game. Few in the Scottish press pack backed up his claim which was and remains accurate. Few will forget him placing his arm around Lennon after that game and giving the clenched fist salute to the Celtic fans packing the Broomloan stand. It was typical O’Neil defiance. The bigots would never win with him.

 

 And so it was for five wonderful years. We hoped it wouldn’t end but alas it had to one day. The skinny lad who helped the Padraig Pearse’s to their title in 1966 and had gone on to achieve wonderful things in another sport left Celtic to care for his wife in 2005. We at Celtic will always honour him as one of our own. He gave us memories which will endure for a lifetime and Celtic was immensely improved during his 5 year tenure. It could be argued that the wild spending which in the end killed Rangers was partially undertaken to try to compete with this excellent Celtic Manager.  For me, Martin O’Neil can stand proudly with the Celtic greats.

 

Not bad for a bhoy from Kilrea.  Hail Hail and thank you Martin.

 

Mo Bangura and the man who never was

During World War 2 as the Allies were preparing to invade Sicily they needed a scheme to get some of the German forces out of the areas around the invasion beaches. They came up with operation ‘Mincemeat’ which involved dressing a body as a British Officer and handcuffing a briefcase to his wrist containing bogus plans for an invasion of Greece. The body was dumped at sea off the coast of fascist Spain where the Germans or their supporters could find it. In due time the Germans did indeed find it and thinking the Allies were going to invade Greece moved significant forces there. It was a text book example of propaganda and black ops and was celebrated in the movie ‘The man who never was.’

Very interesting, I hear you say, but what exactly has this to do with football? Well over the past couple of weeks we have seen attempts to blacken the name of the Celtic Support by cowards who hide behind the so called anonymity of the internet. Last month we had some disgraceful and morally bankrupt person spread an unfounded rumour online which alleged Celtic supporters sang a distasteful song about murdered Soldier Lee Rigby. No evidence of this scurrilous claim has ever been forthcoming but nonetheless twitter’s court of public opinion had our fans tried, convicted and found guilty. I noted fans from Sevco, (no surprises there), Sheffield Wednesday, Chelsea, Liverpool and six or seven other clubs condemn Celtic fans on nothing but a wicked lie. I was reminded of the  Philosopher Bertrand Russell who asked…

‘Why is propaganda so much more successful when it stirs up hatred than when it stirs up friendly feeling?’

Of course it is successful if people want to accept the lie as truth as it somehow legitimises their own prejudice or dislike. As with the ludicrous misreading of the ‘Achill Island CSC’ Banner at the Cup final, which miraculously morphed in the minds of those with an anti-Celtic bias into ‘Achill Islam CSC’ we see that people seeking to legitimise their own prejudice will swallow the lie more easily. Indeed, such propaganda does not really deceive people, rather it helps them deceive themselves. Yet again more internet condemnation came the way of Celtic and their fans based on a myopic and probably deliberate misreading of an inoffensive banner.

Last night Mo Bangura turned out for Elfsborg at Celtic Park. It was predictable that he’d get some stick from a section of the home crowd as he is still a Celtic player and they had asked him to consider not playing against the club which pay him a lot of money.  As the game progressed, a clearly hyped up Bangura clattered into challenges and at one point feigned injury in an attempt to have a Celtic defender sent off. Make no bones about it, if the referee thought Wilson had hit him the Wilson would have been red carded. This blatant ‘simulation’ infuriated many of the home crowd who rightly asked why a Celtic player was cheating in a game against what is still his own club! Bangura then received more jeers from sections of the home support. Not appreciated by most of the support but understandable. Today much to the astonishment of the Twitter Celtic family we saw a new account emerge called ‘@CelticRacial’ which claimed that some of the abuse Bangura received was racial in nature. Not one Celtic fan who was at the game has come forward to support this claim and the account was suspended by Twitter within a few hours of its opening. The Trolls were at work again. ‘Throw enough mud and some of it will stick’ seems to be their motto. Of course all big clubs have their share of idiots following them, and Celtic are no different, but it takes a pretty low level of morality to spread deliberate and unfounded lies about innocent people in this manner. Football rivalries can be fierce but some things are just plain wicked.

Of course we in the Celtic family are well aware of the use of propaganda and lies by those who hate the club. We have seen it over the years in the pages of agenda ridden tabloids. We hear it on poor quality Radio phone in shows which happily promote the lie that Rangers never died. Whole websites are dedicated to spreading negativity about Celtic. No attempt is made to assess the veracity of the stories they pass off as ‘truth.’ No balance is sought and no mention made of the long list of shameful episodes involving fans of the now defunct Oldco. As long as the lies help legitimise their hatred, they spread it and the unthinking swallow it.  No depths are too low for the mud-slingers. They will rant about paedophilia, terrorism, foul songs and hooliganism with no real basis for their ire. What matters to them is that they cause dissention, ill feeling and confusion. That, at the end of the day, is the purpose of propaganda.

What is to be done about the mud-slinging haters out there?  Firstly, always look for verifiable, impartial confirmation of their claims. Most lies are easily exposed at the first stage. Secondly don’t swallow it and retweet or pass on the lies. In doing so you unwittingly help spread it like the virus it is. Lastly just use your judgement and ask as the Romans did when they heard any interesting news…’Cui Bono?’ Who gains from this? Usually it is those who hate Celtic or their supporters.  Above all think for yourself and be discriminating in what you choose to believe. The internet is a wonderful environment full of information and knowledge but, like all aspects of modern life, it has its share of low types who think nothing of spreading lies and disinformation. Indeed, the only thing more frustrating than liars and deceivers are those foolish enough to believe them.

If you want to see a more overt form of propaganda which truly is racist don’t waste your time looking for the lies told about  Celtic fans and Mo Bangura. Look instead at the cartoon below. It may surprise you to learn that it wasn’t drawn in the 19^th Century but appeared in a British newspaper in the 1980s. It totally exonerates British responsibility for any crimes in Ireland and passes it all off as the fault of the ‘Psycho Irish.’ That  is propaganda in its purest form and sadly some are so foolish they still fall for such nonsense.