Behind Enemy Lines The Thornton Suite was busy as kick off time approached. Danny Swan finished his food, feeling a little bit awkward as his boss had vanished to the toilet, leaving him on his own at a table of strangers. He hadn’t expected the invite to the game, especially as there were no Celtic fans officially allowed into Ibrox on this bright April day. His boss had warned him to remain incognito and to tell no one he was a Celtic fan. ‘Don’t be fooled by the suits,’ he had said, ‘some of these guys are crackpots.’  As the taxi had pulled up at the stadium two hours earlier ..read more

  Welcome to the future The winter of 1964-65 was tough one in Scotland as snow and frost brought the usual chaos to the roads and sporting fixture lists. For Celtic fans it was a frustrating time as their talented crop of young players seemed to lack the consistency required to make a challenge for the honours. Manager McGrory had been at the helm for 20 years and had delivered just one league title. For a club of Celtic’s stature, that was unacceptable. In his defence, he had a domineering chairman in Bob Kelly who often interfered in team selection and would sell stars like Pat Crera ..read more

  A beautiful distraction The dream was always the same; he’d be walking with his father by the river on a warm summer’s day, when out of the vaulted blue sky the jets would scream towards them. The noise was deafening as they roared overhead just above the top of the trees which lined the banks of the Bug River. He knew the distinctive triangular shape of the SU57s and that they were Russian. He pressed his face to the black earth as they passed and the noise diminished. When he sat up to look for his father, he was gone. Lexi awoke with a start and sat up in bed, reaching for his wate ..read more

  Where there’s a will Glasgow 1972 ‘Face it, John,’ his younger brother said in a frustrated voice, ‘we’ve nae chance of getting a ticket for this match. We should have lined up with everybody else when they were on sale.’ The taller of the two straightened his tie in the mirror and replied, ‘Frankie boy, ye give up too easily. Where there’s a will there’s a way.’ He turned to face his brother, ‘I’ve got a plan but first we get tae Fife and see the Celts wrap up this title.’ Frankie shrugged, ‘aye,  at least we can see that cos I doubt we’ll be getting intae the Inter game.’ John ..read more

  They’re not all like that Paul sat on the couch as his brother turned up the volume on the radio. The Sunday night chart show was a tradition in the Doherty household and both he and his older brother had listened to it for as long as they could remember. As the dulcet tones of Simple Minds sang ‘don’t you forget about me,’ Paul looked at his brother, ‘ye gonnae ask her the night?’ Tony Doherty, three years older than fourteen-year-old Paul, looked at him, ‘aye, but don’t build yer hopes up. You know what she’s like when Celtic play Rangers.’ Paul smiled, ‘aye, but you can persuade he ..read more

                                             Beyond the Banter Years The controversy over the refereeing decisions in the derby match in late December rumble on. Like most of you, I don’t take myself to seriously and enjoy a bit of light hearted football banter, but some of the online content this week can only be classified as unhinged. Some supporters of Rangers, a club who conceded their first SPFL penalty in two years this last week, are gunning for the referees of Scotland ..read more

  Dutchie A hard frost settled on Sauchiehall Street as Dutchie shivered in his hoody. The best spots for begging a few quid were jealously guarded by those who wouldn’t hesitate to use violence to keep them, so he was forced further down towards the Glasgow Film Theatre. He sat on a cold, hard step and held his paper cup in front of him, his breath visible on the cold December air. The winter weather meant the centre of town wasn’t as busy and some nights pickings could be slim. He glanced above the smart buildings at a clear, cold sky. A voice made him refocus on the street. Two youn ..read more

  Nemesis I had one of those conversations this week which demonstrates how people construct reality based on their own innate desires and prejudices, rather than the facts. I was in Tibo, a nice café on Glasgow’s Duke Street, with a couple of friends when a ‘friend of a friend’ joined us. The topic got round to football and the chap commented that, Celtic’s current dominance is built on the fact that they conspired with others to ‘kick Rangers when they were down and get them relegated down the leagues.’ All of this was caused, in his mind, by jealousy and hatred for the Ibrox club. Th ..read more

  Sitting in the incessant autumn rain watching Celtic struggle but ultimately prevail over a well drilled St Mirren side this week, it was obvious that something was missing. The drum beat of the Green Brigade, like traffic noise to city dwellers, is often only noticed when it stops. Celtic, in their wisdom, had decided to suspend the season tickets of some 250 of the ultras and their absence was noticed. Celtic’s reasoning was that there had been…‘increasingly serious escalation in unacceptable behaviours and non-compliance with applicable regulations.’ Celtic’s communique also spoke ..read more

  Familiarity breeds contempt The coming week will see the resumption of the Champions League Group Stages and all Celtic supporters will be hoping for a positive result against Lazio. The Italian club have had an indifferent start in the league, winning two of their first six matches and currently lying eleventh in the table. They have a tough match on Sunday away to high flying AC Milan and hopefully that takes a bit out of their legs before the trip to Glasgow. They lost 2-1 home and away to Celtic in the Europa League in 2019 so will know to expect a tough match at Celtic Park. The ..read more