Parcel

 

Parcel

It is said that modern technology has shrunk the work and allowed people from all over to interact. Social media, for all of its inherent flaws, has also allowed people to exchange views on every topic under the sun and introduced me personally to some great people. One then was the irrepressible ‘Parcel 0  Rogues’ otherwise known as David Brown. His online persona could be brash, funny and often caustic but he challenged the haters and hypocrites wherever he found them. His avatar, an image of Fagan as played by Ron Moody in the movie ‘Oliver’ was familiar to thousands of us on twitter.

David and I share a love of Celtic Football Club and our early interactions on Twitter were all about the ups and downs of our team. He encouraged me to follow fans of other teams on Twitter as is helped counteract the tendency of social media to become an echo chamber of like-minded people. He loved his team and told me he had first seen them in action in April 1977 in a match against Aberdeen and was smitten. Those of you who have that emotional bond with your team will know how strong that can be and despite David’s life taking his to the USA, he never lost that affinity with Celtic. He could be withering in his assessment of them if they played poorly but loved the ideals the club stood for. Inclusion, charity and of course good football were the values he saw in his team and, like so many of us, his moods could be influenced by their results.

Our late-night conversations would focus on the things he loved most in life; his family and Celtic. It was very much in that order with him as Siobhan and his boys were his pride and joy. He knew pain in his life as well as joy and was philosophical about it most of the time although some things he carried with him on his journey. Dave was a generous guy and first to support my annual charity fundraiser. Last year he won a beautiful signed and  framed portrait of Odsonne Edouard in one of my lottery style draws and immediately contacted me to say I should give it to the group I was supporting. That’s the sort of man he was.

Our last conversation in January was a poignant one. He was discussing his views on religion and spirituality and said to me…

‘Like all of us, I’ve been through heartbreak my friend. But my ma taught me I’m no better or worse than anyone else. Every single day I thank God, because I’ve had so many days since then knowing just how much people love me. When it’s my time, I’ll go to face the music.’

We’ll all miss David and his alter-ego, ‘Parcel.’ Life can be fickle and at times cruel. He was just 56 when his journey ended and  it may be of some comfort to his family in these dark days for them to know that many people enjoyed his humour, his wit and his humanity. Like us all, he was a complex human being but his decency shone through and he touched the lives of many.

Rest easy, pal and thanks for the laughs, the advice, the honesty and kindness.

 

David Brown (Parcel O’Rogues)

Family man, Celtic fan and a good guy.

 

All Aboard

 

All Aboard

Walking along the Gallowgate towards the bright lights of Celtic Park on Wednesday night, you could feel that old electricity in the air. Man and boy I’ve walked that walk, and in days long gone it would be the tall pylon, standing like a lighthouse in the darkness, that would guide us to the old stadium. As the rivers of green clad humanity flowed towards the new place, their songs rising into the dark Glasgow sky, you could feel something was afoot. There was hope in their hearts that at last the ghost of last season could be exorcised. Yes, Celtic were missing key players and had a poor record in derbies in the past couple of years but this was a new Celtic side, full of heart and running. Ange Postecoglou also has them playing a brand of fast, attacking football which if not always getting the rewards it deserves, at least promised to give Celtic a fighting chance.

The decision of Rangers to deny Celtic any tickets for Ibrox this season meant Celtic reciprocated. Their players would therefore be entering a noisy bear pit at Celtic Park as 60,000 of the noisiest fans in Europe were arrayed against them. Not since the legendary Barcelona game of 2012 have I seen the stadium as animated and raucous. The players came out to a wall of noise and Rangers on loan ‘wonder kid’ Amad Diallo looked visibly nervous at the assault on his senses he was experiencing. From those first moments when the whole stadium roared out ‘You’ll never walk alone,’ the fans kept up an incessant racket which cascaded onto the pitch and had the desired effect of driving Celtic on from the very first moment of the game.

They played at a high tempo throughout and harried and hounded their opponents into errors. This was exemplified when Croatian internationalist, Borna Barisic tried to start an attack down Celtic’s right flank. He was met by a turbo charged Callum McGregor who forced him back into his own half, before the experienced Rangers player passed the ball back towards his own goal keeper as McGregor audibly snarled ‘shite-bag!’ at him. Celtic were up for this game and every single player in the famous old hooped shirts demonstrated a degree of hunger and desire to win that had been lacking at times last season.

Abada, the hero with a late winner against a Dundee United side, which in truth offered more resistance at Celtic Park than Rangers did, ran Barisic ragged.  With Jota on the other flank and supporting full backs joining in attacks at every opportunity, Celtic carried threat with every attack. The 3-0 half-time lead could easily have been 5 or 6 but the game was effectively over when the ever-alert Abada raced past the flat-footed Barisic to score the third goal. This though, was a team performance, typified by Joe Hart racing from goal to snatch the ball from the feet of Arfield and immediately look to begin an attack. A moment later Hatate was curling the ball past McGregor at the other end. It was as solid a team performance as we’ve seen in Ange’s time and as he explained after the game, the team is improving week by week but still has a lot of developing to do. Hatate is still not fully fit and will be an even more impressive player when he is.  

Their emphatic 3-0 win over their rivals puts Celtic at the top of the table and perhaps ahead of where many thought they would be at this point in the team’s restructuring. The fact that they destroyed Rangers with key men like Rogic, Turnbull and Kyogo missing augurs well for the future. No one is fooling themselves that it is any more than a big win as there are still many twists and turns to come this season. It is however a major bursting of the Ibrox bubble as they now know they have a real fight on their hands. Last season’s meek surrender of the title hurt a lot of Celtic fans, but the class of 2022 won’t be brushed aside so easily.

When the season was in its infancy, Ange Postecoglou castigated a journalist for suggesting the league was over after Celtic lost their first three away games. Celtic were six points off the pace and sitting in sixth spot in the table, having collected just ten points from the first seven matches. He shook his head and commented…

 ‘It’s a weird league, you call things early here, don’t you? It’s remarkable that seven games in people are calling the title already. It’s just not how I work. I’m not pulling up stumps after seven games just because other people think there is some sort of insurmountable challenge for us. I know people are wanting to push me onto some kind of ledge somewhere but that’s not going to happen. I know what this club is all about and what the expectations are.’

His words are as true after Wednesday’s stirring victory as they were back in September. Nothing is settled in the league. Celtic is in a good position, playing well and full of confidence, but no more than that. There are almost 50 points still to be fought for so it’s one game at a time. Postecoglou said…

"Our end goal was not to be on top spot in February. Being where we are at the moment means that we've progressed, we've improved and we're a step closer to the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is to be successful at the end of the year. I haven't sensed any change in mood or atmosphere amongst the players. They've come in today ready to work hard and to get ready for what's going to be a difficult game on Sunday."

The Eddie Howe saga now seems a distant dream as Celtic fans take their new boss to their hearts. Some have spoken of ‘dodging a bullet’ with Howe although we’ll never know how he would have fared in Scotland. What we do know is that the man in the manager’s chair has done a tremendous job in building a team in just six short months. When Postecoglou’s Yokohama F Marinos side played Manchester City in a very competitive friendly in 2019. Pep Guardiola raved about the style of play the Japanese side adopted. They gave a full-strength City a real fight before losing 3-1; City’s third coming in the 94^th minute of a game in which the J League side had 58% possession. Guardiola said…

"Yokohama played some incredible football and they were an incredible test for us. I knew how good they were and it was tough for us,"

Raheem Sterling was also suitably impressed by how Postecoglou’s side played and said after the game…

"They’re probably one of the best teams I’ve seen play out from the back and they played some great football so it was a great test for us.’

That is the measure of what Postecoglou wants to achieve at Celtic. He wants the Hoops to be competitive not only in Scotland but also in the European arena. That journey has only just begun and there are exciting times ahead.

All aboard the Ange Express! It’s going to be quite a ride!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope

 

Watching a much-depleted Celtic fight out a creditable win on that ploughed field of a pitch at Perth a few days ago, it struck me that it was the last match the club would play in 2021. The year began with a 1-0 loss at Ibrox in a match Celtic dominated. Indeed, the home side didn’t have a single shot on target in the game but such was Celtic’s ineptitude in front of goal, they let them off the hook and kissed their title hopes goodbye.

The Celtic side that day was Barkas, Frimpong, Ajer, Bitton, Laxalt, Soro, Christie, Turnbull, McGregor, Griffiths and Edouard. Of that eleven, six are no longer at the club and only McGregor, Bitton and Turnbull would be considered first team choices a year on. Neil Lennon hung on until February but a 1-0 defeat at Ross County coupled with a collapse in the standard of play the team was producing sealed his fate. Players get managers sacked and often don’t have to deal with the vitriol they endure.

The arrival of Ange Postecoglou wasn’t greeted with universal acclaim by the support though most were happy to give him a chance. The Scottish media in their own inept way began by asking him how it felt to be second choice for the job. We warmed to Ange instantly when he took them to task in his own inimitable way. Here was a man who’d hold his own in press conferences and call out their bullshit when he hears it. He has demonstrated on several occasions since that he can see through their baloney and will skewer them with his straight talking and caustic wit.

The turnover in players at Celtic has been relentless and was perhaps undermined initially by the ridiculous  hanging on the club did for Eddie Howe. At a critical point in the club’s history, we should not be waiting over a hundred days for a manager to agree to come and take the reins. Postecoglou brought with him a knowledge of the J League in Japan and a clear blueprint of how he wants Celtic to play. His relentless brand of high press, possession-based attacking football was not initially fully successful. The first three away games in the SPFL were lost and Celtic were knocked out of the Champions League by a team with a fraction of the resources the Hoops have at their command. Still the fans were patient though, as they knew progress was being made and the new boss required time.

The consensus that Postecoglou needed time to develop the side and bring in new players was pretty general among Celtic fans. Few who saw the wreckage left behind by the previous administration thought he would build a side capable of challenging for the title in his first season. However, as players like Kyogo, Abada, Carter-Vickers and Juranovic settled into the side and old hands like Rogic, McGregor and even Nir Bitton, rediscovered form and confidence, it was clear that real progress has been made.

The Manager’s style of playing the game has slowly been taken on board by the players and when it clicks it can be joyful to watch. There remains though, a fragility about the team’s defence at times which is exploited by more streetwise teams, especially in Europe, but supporters generally feel that once the right personnel are in place that will lessen. Another concern is the failure to kill teams off when Celtic is clearly on top in games and a noticeable number of games have been won by just one goal this season. In mitigation, the injury list has been a long one this season and some of the key absentees have been goal-scorers like Kyogo, Jota and the as yet untested Giakoumakis.

The two great arts of football are scoring goals and stopping the opposition doing likewise. If Celtic are to put in a real challenge for the title after the winter break, then they need to up their game in both those areas. Ange knows this and is already looking to strengthen the depth and quality of the squad. His brand of attacking football is inviting lesser sides in Scotland to ‘park the bus,’ and hope for a goal on the break. His tactical thinking will need to evolve to counter this. Watching Celtic have 80% of the ball, 30 attempts on goal and still need to rely on a 97^th minute winner at Ross County should signal to him that he needs to consider alternatives in some games.

That being said, the guy stepped off a plane six months ago, adopted a coaching staff left by his predecessor and a team totally lacking in confidence and direction. He reinvigorated the team, brought in some very useful additions and gave them a pattern of play which is already proving successful. The League cup is in the trophy cabinet and while the team are six points adrift in the title race, there is renewed hope for the second half of the season.

Most Celtic supporters realise that Ange Postecoglou is only at the beginning of his journey with Celtic and his team is far from the finished article. Given time and backing it’s exciting to imagine where he will take the club in the next few years. Yes, he has given the team shape, confidence and the freedom to express themselves, but more importantly, he has given the supporters back their hope and that is a precious gift indeed.

 

 

Remembering Bertie Auld

 

Remembering Bertie Auld

Bertie Auld approached life with a smile on his face and was one of the great characters of Scottish football. He learned his trade in the rough street games of Glasgow’s working-class community and was steeled further playing in the Junior league with Maryhill. There was no doubt he was a tough cookie on the field of play but he could play the game too.

The boy from Panmure street in Maryhill wasn’t from a traditional Celtic family but from the day in 1955 when he returned home from Celtic Park clutching a £20 signing on fee given to him by Jimmy McGrory, he was Celtic to the core. His fiery temperament and lippy nature ruffled a few feathers in the stuffy days of the 1950s and  after less than a hundred games for Celtic, the club sold him to Birmingham City where he won the League Cup in 1962-63 and appeared in the Inter-Cities Fairs cup final. (A forerunner of the UEFA Cup)

One of football’s great raconteurs, the stories Bertie told are the stuff of legend. He recalled playing for Birmingham in a European tie and noticing the referee was fellow Scot, Tiny Wharton. He approached Wharton and said before kick-off, ‘You know, we’re the only two Scots on this field so any chance you could do us a wee turn tonight? Tiny ignored him until later in the game when Bertie clattered an opponent. The six-foot four referee approached him saying, ‘Remember you said there were the only two Scots on the field? Well, there’s only one now. Off!’

Bertie had some measure of revenge when he returned to Celtic in the mid-1960s. He asked Wharton what would happen if he called him a bastard. Wharton replied that he’d send him off. He then asked, ‘what if I just think you’re a bastard?’ Wharton replied, ‘I can’t do anything if you just think it.’ To which Bertie replied, ‘well I think you’re a bastard!’

His time at Birmingham also saw him lay out the golden boy of English football, Johnny Haynes of Fulham. He recalls in his book the incident in the following words…

‘As we trotted back Haynes was giving as good as he got, ‘I’ll get you the next time you little Scottish bastard.’ I snapped as we reached the centre circle and thought it would be a good idea to give him a dull one. I whacked him. Our pitch was hard as flint and he went down like a sack of spuds. His head thudded off the surface and he just lay there.’

Bertie was sent off and as he trotted from the field, Fulham’s hulking centre half Maurice Cooke approached him to extract some revenge. To the astonishment of all, the little Scot clocked him too and left him on his back on the turf.

Bertie’s brand of tough, incisive football, combined with a certain gallusness, made him a mainstay in the Celtic side Jock Stein constructed in the years after 1965. That side had an alchemy, a magic which made it more than the sum of its parts. From their experienced old goalkeeper, Ronnie Simpson to a defence in which the full backs were expected to attack as much as they defended and the imperious McNeill was backed up by that great reader of the game, John Clark. The midfield comprised of the dynamic Bobby Murdoch ably assisted by Bertie Auld. These two could tackle, run and pass with an accuracy which suited the pace of Lennox and the virtuoso ball playing genius of Jimmy Johnstone. Up front Wallace and Chalmers posed a threat to any defence.

It is recorded that as Celtic lined up in the tunnel beside the tanned athletes of Inter Milan on that hot day in Lisbon in 1967, Bertie sensed they needed a spur. He began to sing the Celtic Song as the bemused Italians looked on. Soon every Celtic player was belting it out, and Inter knew they had a real game on their hands. The eleven pale Scots proceeded to tutor Inter on the art of attacking football and the 2-1 score line barely registers Celtic’s mastery that day.

Bertie Auld was a man of his time and never forgot his roots. He’d be seen standing chatting to fans, posing for photos with them or signing autographs for far longer than modern professionals would. He epitomised the spirit of the Lisbon Lions and took huge pride in what they had achieved. Above this he was also a lifelong friend to all the players he played with at Celtic and he simply loved their company. So many video clips exist showing him happy and at ease among his old comrades, his infectious laughter echoing around the room. It was obvious that that band of brothers had great love for each other.

As the old brigade leave us one by one, we are left with memories and thankfully a video record of their brilliance to show the young who never saw them play. For me Bertie will be the man holding the ball in the air after defeating Leeds United at Hampden in 1970. He will be the gallus Maryhill lad winding up Herrera’s Inter in the tunnel in Lisbon. He will also be the man who took such pride in wearing that hooped shirt and in entertaining the fans. Above all he was one of us and he loved Celtic with a passion that so many of us share. That shone through in his interactions with the fans, his tales, his jokes and his willingness to attend supporters’ functions from Lanarkshire to Las Vegas.

His great rival at Rangers, John Greig, once stood in the tunnel at Ibrox before a game with Bertie nearby. ‘How much is your win bonus today?’ Greig enquired. Bertie replied, ‘we’re on a fiver each if we win.’ Greig smiled, ‘Really, we’re on ten quid win bonus.’ ‘Aye,’ said Bertie, ‘but we’re guaranteed it. You’re getting nothing.’ That was Bertie, a sharp wit, a sharp footballer and a man forever recognised as Bertie Auld; Celtic legend.

He'd like that.   

Bertie Auld (1938-2021) 

It’s in the blood

 

It’s in the blood

I have spent the last few of days on the beautiful island of Arran having a wee break from city life and social media. I took a stroll up Goat Fell, well, I say a stroll; a nine-mile hike up and down a 2867 ft high granite Corbett is more challenging than a mere stroll. It was one of those bright, clear October days you get now and then and once on the summit, the view was stunning. Scotland on a sunny day is world class in its beauty and grandeur.

Of course, when match day comes along you feel that strange urge to find out how your team is doing. I sat in a quiet corner of the hotel Bar with my trusty iPad in front of me and found one of those free online streams that seem to offer a better-quality service than Celtic TV. A chap at the opposite table smiled and nodded at me in that way a desperate footy fans nods to a fellow traveller. Being Scotland, there’s always that moments hesitation before contact where folk fret that the person they’re about to talk football with might a fan of their greatest rivals. Celtic and Rangers fans are like Sherlock Holmes when sussing out which side a random stranger supports. Even wearing the club shirt of a completely different team is a clue. St Pauli or Dortmund is 90% certain to be a Celt whilst a Chelsea or even England top would suggest not. Tattoos are another giveaway and, as I know to well, so are certain names.

The chap in the bar played his cards well though; ‘Are you watching the Motherwell game?’ he asked. A skilful opening ploy because if I had said, ‘No, Rangers and Hearts,’ he still hadn’t declared his allegiance. His luck was in though and I said, ‘Yeh, fancy watching it?’ He needed no second invitation and in two minutes flat we were two Celts engrossed in watching our team’s comfortable win over the steelmen.

He told me about his life in selling golfing holidays and how it had taken him all over the world. He had watched Celtic games at 6am in Australia, 10am in New York and at midnight in Kuala Lumpur. ‘It’s in the blood,’ he smiled. ‘No matter where I am, I always try and watch Celtic. I even keep a clock on my phone at Celtic Park Time.’ It struck me that there will have been Celtic supporters in all parts of the globe enjoying Tom Rogic’s defence splitting pass for Jota’s opener and David Turnbull’s rocket for the second goal. Once the green and white bug gets you, it can be mighty hard to shake it off.

Celtic looked comfortable today and in the past couple of games at Pittodrie and Fir Park have managed to find a way to win. That ability to knock the ball about and play intricate passes works well on the wide spaces of the bowling green that is Celtic Park but in these difficult and often physical away matches, the ability to grind out results is what pays dividends in May. Postecoglou’s team is capable of great movement and passing but has had a couple of bruising reminders that nice guys get nothing in the physical world of Scottish football. You need to dig in and fight for every ball in the SPFL and our latest recruits are learning that.

Today’s match struck me as odd in that Motherwell closed a section of the away stand as Celtic changed there and came wandering down the stairs of the stand in an incongruous way we might never see again. These Covid days have thrown up so many odd sights, not least an entire season played in empty stadiums which I still maintain affected Celtic more than most sides. Few clubs are as well backed by their fans and I think their absence showed in the end.

One aspect of the game I was too enamoured with was the songbook adopted by a section of the Celtic support. At a time when various sections of Scottish society are waking up to the anti-Irish racism in our midst and anti-Catholic prejudice, do we really need Celtic fans singing about the IRA? I’d also be total hypocrite calling out Rangers fans for their ‘famine song’ and Billy Boys’ antics and say nothing about what we heard today. That ‘roamin’ in the gloamin’ tosh should be nowhere near a Celtic game and I’m glad the majority at the match seemed to ignore it totally. The brief airing of the song which mentions Davie Cooper, albeit sung by a very small minority, was tasteless and moronic. We could so easily inhabit the moral high ground on this subject, yet an unthinking minority seem to be happy dragging us down to the level of the very thing we claim to despise?

A lot of folk who write about Celtic don’t touch this subject with a barge pole as they feel the inevitable flak they get isn’t worth the hassle. Folk will tell you there is no equivalence between an Irish Republican song and the racist bile we hear from others. That is absolutely true, songs about a nation's struggle for independence from a larger neighbour who oppressed it for centuries can't be classed in the same category as blatant racist ditties like the famine song. But it’s 2021, will we ever move on from this stuff being heard at Scottish football matches? Of course, you pay your money and you make your own choices but when folk outside the Glasgow bubble talk about Celtic and Rangers as ‘two cheeks of the same arse’ annoying as it is to most Celtic fans, it isn't hard to see how they arrive that impression. That being said, Rangers using the tune from the Famine song on an advert on their official media channels demonstrates either breath taking insensitivity or arrogant disreguard for the thoughts of others. Motherwell fans chanting about child abuse today, not for the first time either, discredits the 'family club' identity they seek to portray and is as tedious as it is insensitive to anyone affected by abuse.

I know we tend to mellow as we get older and I freely admit to having sung plenty of political songs in the old Jungle and beyond.  I know that when boyhood’s fire is in the blood, there is a tendency to enjoy a bevy and the ‘Rebs’ and there’s nothing wrong with that, apart from maybe the time and place? It maybe an unpopular opinion but it is nonetheless how I feel about it. Celtic is a broad church these days with fans from various walks of life. There will be various opinions about what constitutes a Celtic song and we can agree to differ and still be as equally fervent in our backing of the team we all hold dear.

Celtic face a trip to Easter Rd soon and when that is past will have played all of our top rivals away from home in the first quarter of the season. Rangers have faced Celtic, Hibs, Hearts, Aberdeen and Motherwell at Ibrox in the first round of games and will face them all away in the second quarter of the campaign so we are not without hope going into the autumn.

Ange is making progress with the team and Julien, Forrest and Juranovic are edging towards fitness again. The next couple of months is going to be very interesting indeed.

 

 

Rome wasn't built in a day

 

Rome wasn't built in a day

Watching Celtic lose 4-3 to Real Betis in the Benito Villamarín Stadium, Seville on Thursday reminded me that much as the club has made progress this season there is a way to go before the team is where the fans or indeed Ange Postecoglou want it to be. That fragility in the back line remains an Achilles’ heel and prompted my brother to say that Celtic today reminds him of the Celtic of the Tommy Burns era. Burns’ Celtic side, as you no doubt remember, was capable of some blistering attacking football but when faced with higher quality and more street wise opposition, was often undone in crunch matches. Tommy would play the game in the best traditions of Celtic and signed some outstanding attacking talent but defence never seemed to be a priority area for him and in the end it cost him his job.

Postecoglou’s Celtic have excited the fans with some fine attacking play and even in tough away matches like those at Betis, Rangers and AZ Alkmaar the team fashioned chances and matched or bettered the opposition in ball possession and attempts on goal. However, it is telling that those teams all did their homework and hurt Celtic by exposing their continuing defensive frailties. Real Betis had far too much space in wide areas and their creative players fashioned chance after chance. AZ Alkmaar targeted our full backs with long balls over the top and gave Celtic’s defence a torrid time. Rangers, in a tight encounter, took their chance from a corner kick when the Celtic defence lost 6 feet 2 Felip Helander in the box. Celtic lost each of the above matches.

Postecoglou is a clever man and a good coach and he’ll see the issues with the defensive side of Celtic’s game. By committing his side to a high pressing, attacking style of play he will entertain and win most of the matches he plays in Scotland. The best teams in Europe adopt this approach but they are able to quickly fold back into a solid defensive block when possession is lost. Too often Celtic have been caught out by counter attacks after losing the ball. A good example came against Betis when the Hoops were pressing with 6 or 7 players in attacking positions. Tom Rogic ran into traffic in the D and lost the ball. Within 5 seconds Betis had raced up the field and created a good chance.

Of course, Celtic won’t face teams as capable as Betis every week but when facing Celtic on their home turf, teams are more willing to attack and as we discovered at Tynecastle, Midtjlland and Ibrox, they will force errors from Celtic’s defence. The Hoops only away win in a competitive match so far this season came in the Champions League qualifier against Jablonec. They dominated possession (66%) and yet allowed very moderate opposition to have 15 attempts on goal. Celtic’s own match report on their website stated…

‘Two up with just 16 minutes on the clock, Celtic went in search of a third but left themselves exposed at the back. The home side took full advantage and caught the Hoops’ backline out with a long high ball over the top which Pilar coolly converted.’

Celtic’s commitment to attacking play is laudable but it has to be accompanied by a more street wise and adaptable approach to defending. As the team gels, those costly personal errors will hopefully lessen and the side will defend more as a unit. When the game lengthened in the second half against Betis and space was more available, it was noticeable how much space there was in front of the Celtic back four. It takes a very high level of fitness to attack with the vigour Celtic do and then transition into defence when possession is lost.

Some have criticised Ange Postecoglou’s lack of a ‘plan B’ when facing higher class opposition. He would doubtless say in his laid-back Australian way that, ‘Plan B is to do Plan A better.’ We all recall Brendan Rodgers holding similar beliefs and sticking to his attacking principles when playing away at PSG and Barcelona. Celtic lost 7-1 and 7-0 in those games and many fans suggested that you can’t go toe to toe with the best in the world and expect to win. A more pragmatic approach is required. Ange’s attacking principles mean that he won’t alter course; he wants Celtic to be a team which is relentless in its hounding of opponents, committed to attacking football and playing a high paced modern game. He needs time to achieve that and there is a residue of good will among the supporters who can see progress.

Celtic will soon face away trips to Aberdeen and Hibs and those sides will provide a test for the Hoops. It is imperative that Celtic defend as a unit, transition into attack with the pace and movement we have seen so far this season and cut out those basic errors which will have cost us dearly this season. If the team stays in contention in the SPFL as we enter the new year, we will face the second half of the season with a side more used to playing together and more adept at the defensive side of the game.

I’m excited by the start Postecoglou has made at Celtic and the improvements we have seen in the few months he has been here. He deserves time, patience and two or three transfer windows to transform Celtic into the side we all want them to be. Rome wasn’t built in day and good football teams are nurtured and built over several seasons and not a few months. Give Ange the tools he needs and I remain convinced he’ll do the job well.

 

Moving on

 

Moving on

This week has been thoroughly depressing for those of us who enjoy Scottish football. The end of the transfer window is normally a time of discussing the players in and out as well as our teams’ prospects for the season ahead. Instead, we’re mired in a bitter slanging match about racist songs, bigotry and conflicting narratives. We had the Daily Record trawling the social media accounts of people involved in a podcast linked to Rangers FC and finding the usual comments about ‘bead rattlers, tarriers,’ etc. Much as this unpleasant terminology needs to end, that particular newspaper would drag any of us through the mud to sell more copies.

The media has had something of a feeding frenzy on all of this with a few hardy souls prepared to call out the racism and bigotry we have seen of late, despite the fact that they know this will bring the unhinged down on them. Others have fallen back on the old tropes that Rangers and Celtic fans are as bad as each other and Catholic schools are to blame. One reporter, writing in the times said…

 ‘Celtic and Rangers fans are as bad as each other but the Famine song should be seen as a kind of theatrical performance not an invitation to ethnic cleansing.’

I wonder if that song was targeting Jews or Muslims, the reporter would take the same slant? The song is offensive and racist and as such is to be abhorred by all right-thinking people. The Times also ran a story with the tired old narrative that Catholic schools cause sectarianism. As a teacher, I know that Catholic schools in Scotland are integrated, mixed and work hard to create an ethos where those of all faiths and none are welcome. They do fine work in some of our most deprived communities and teach charity, respect and tolerance. It’s a feature of bigotry, be it racial or religious, that the perpetrator’s blame the victims. The reality is that anti-Catholic and anti-Irish sentiment are far older in Scotland than denominational schools.

Some Rangers supporters are feeling somewhat under siege at the moment as the unacceptable side of their fan culture is being called out by a wider variety of bodies. I’m old enough to remember the fury among some when the Church of Scotland’s magazine, The Bush, criticized Rangers for not signing Catholic players in the 1970s. The General assembly passed the motion but over 200 ministers and elders abstained from voting while others were critical of those picking on Rangers. Think that over for a moment; some of the followers of Jesus, the friend of the poor and marginalised, were actually unable to call out a blatant piece of bigotry. In fairness, many more Church members did call it out but it emphasises the problem; we are all more comfortable pointing out the faults in others than contemplating our own. As Jesus said in the good book…

‘Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while there is still a beam in your own eye?’

Of course, the warning not to judge others harshly must make us consider our own conduct. There are many in Scotland, and not just bigots, who dislike the singing of Irish Republican songs by followers of Celtic. Nationalist songs can’t be considered ‘sectarian’ but those who remember the trouble will remember some awful things being done by all sides and a generation after the guns fell silent do we really need these songs being aired at Celtic matches, often by folk too young to remember the horrors of the past? As Jock Stein once said, ‘there are plenty of good Celtic songs without bringing politics or religion into it.’ That remains a debate the Celtic support needs to have with itself.

Those of you who live in the Glasgow area will know too that a tedious graffiti war has been going on too. From the concrete pillars of the M8 to the side walls of factories and other buildings we have seen the childish and trite slogans of small minds scrawled and painted. It makes Glasgow look backward and out of time. Do we really need ‘KAT’ or ‘KAH’ on our walls in 2021?

Despite the denial and claims of video editing, the fact that the police have now arrested eight of those involved in chanting the Famine song in Glasgow last week suggests they feel there is enough evidence to proceed with prosecutions. All of those arrested are young men in their 20s and I genuinely hope that they have time to reflect on their actions. They now risk their future job prospects as well as the possibility of having criminal records. I would much rather our society offered them education and the chance to think about their behaviour. We have all done stupid things in our youth and looking back, I know I have. The group dynamic can sweep you along and wisdom sometimes only comes with reflection and maturity.

Some Rangers fan groups have jumped to their defence but they are in reality defending the indefensible. There is no context or occasion where singing that song is acceptable. It really is that simple.

Such is the sensitivity around this subject, some will take from my words what they want to take. Some will see it as another attack on Rangers and their fans; it isn’t as the club is to be commended for swiftly banning those found to be sullying its name. They also condemned racism in all its forms. This is about the bigoted element which attaches itself to Rangers like barnacles on the bottom of a ship not the decent fans who hate this nonsense which swirls around their club.

There will be some who think my mentioning of Rebel songs or dumb graffiti is somehow creating a false equivalence between the behaviour of sections of both supports. It isn’t; Rangers have a major issue with bigotry and racism. That is partly historical baggage left over from a past which saw the club choose an exclusivist and bigoted path. Their petty apartheid went on for decades and gave tacit approval to the more hateful elements in their support. It would be appropriate if they recognised that and offered some form of regret but I doubt that’ll happen.

Those who express an opinion which criticises the bigotry and racism in Scottish society are portrayed as having an agenda or being biased one way or another but that is playing the man and not the ball. Racism needs calling out wherever it raises its ugly head. It’s a matter of being a decent human being not what club you follow or how you vote.

Sections of Scottish football and society really need to drag themselves into the 21^st century and ditch all of this outdated and embarrassing nonsense. We do it by working together and respecting each other. By remembering that we are all football fans who love the game, all human beings of equal worth and all capable of building a better future for our children. It’s time we were moving on.

Those who wish to stay stuck in the past should be left there. Their day is coming to a close anyway.