Celtic (Scotland)

Celtic FC is a professional football club from Glasgow in Scotland who were formally founded in St. Mary's Church Hall on East Rose Street in Calton, Glasgow, by Brother Walfrid, an Irish Marist brother from Sligo, on 6 November 1887. Brother Walfrid's move to establish the club as a means of fund raising for his charity, The Poor Children's Dinner Table.

Brother Walfrid had been inspired by Hibernian FC in Edinburgh who had earlier formed for the Irish immigrant population. Walfrid's own suggestion of the name Celtic was intended to reflect the club's Irish and Scottish origins, and was adopted at the same meeting.

Scottish builder John Glass had signed eight of Hibernian’s best players with cash inducements without Brother Walfrid’s knowledge, as ‘The Bhoys’ played their first ever game at Celtic Park (or Parkhead after the district it's in) in 1888, defeating Rangers 5-2 and setting up the fiercest of rivalries in the process.

‘The Old Firm’ as the two clubs are called, have massive supports around the country. Celtic’s support is predominantly from Irish extraction whereas Rangers' are mainly from Protestant and Loyalist persuasions.

The Bhoys lifted the Scottish Cup for the first time in 1892 following victory over Queen’s Park before moving into their Celtic Park home in Parkhead and going on to secure the first league titles in 1892–93, 1893-94, 1895–96 and 1897–98. A further Cup was added before the end of the 1800’s in 1899 by virtue of a win against Rangers with Willie Maley being appointed as the clubs first secretary/manager.

The new century saw the Celts retain the Scottish Cup against Queen’s Park before the club adopted their famous green and white hooped shirts for the first time in 1903. The following year the team head to Hampden Park to defeat Rangers in the Cup final.

The rest of the decade saw Celtic dominate as they lifted the league crown in 1904-05 and 1905-06 before completing the league and cup double in 1906–07 and 1907–08, with Heart of Midlothian and then St Mirren the beaten Cup finalists.

Celtic were on course for a third consecutive double after winning the league in 1908-09. However the Cup Final was abandoned because of crowd violence against Rangers. The competition was declared void with both clubs having to pay damages to Queen’s Park.

The following decade saw Celtic stamp its authority with its dominance of Scottish football. The Scottish League title was won on six occasions; 1909–10, 1913–14, 1914–15, 1915–16, 1916–17 and  1918–19.

Scottish Cup wins were added against Hamilton Academical in 1911, Clyde in 1912 and Hibernian after a replay in 1914 with ‘Sunny’ Jim Young and Patsy Gallacher the star players of the day.  Celtic were champions once again in 1921-22 before lifting the Cup the following season against Hibernian.

Further Cup successes came against Dundee in 1925 and East Fife in 1927 with the league title of 1925-26 sandwiched in between. The period saw the rise of Jimmy McGrory, who would go on to become one of the greatest forwards produced by Scotland.

Celtic defeated Motherwell to win the Scottish Cup in 1931 before tragedy hit the club. In September 1931, following an accidental collision with Rangers forward, Sam English, the Celts keeper John Thomson suffered terrible head injuries. Despite urgent medical attention, he passed away later that evening.

Celtic recovered with the club lifting further league titles in 1935–36 and 1937–38 as well as winning the Cup in with victories over Motherwell and then Aberdeen in 1937 in front of a crowd of 146,433 which still remains a European record.

In January 1940 the seventy one year old Willie Maley announced his retirement, with Jimmy McStay taking over as manager. He resigned after a barren few seasons to be replaced by record scorer McGrory in 1945. Another significant appointment was made in 1947 when Robert Kelly became chairman.  It was alleged that Kelly had a big say in team selection.

This was a difficult time for Celtic as bitter rivals Rangers were enjoying great success under their manager Bill Struth. The Cup was won in 1951 with victory over Motherwell once again before The Hoops brought in the experienced Jimmy Hogan to assist with coaching. The low key signing of centre back Jock Stein from Llanelli was made in December 1951.

The league and cup double was completed in 1953-54 as Aberdeen were seen off at Hampden Park thanks to a Sean Fallon goal as Stein captained the side with Bobby Collins and Charlie Tully being favourites of the Parkhead faithful. The team hammered Rangers 7-1 to win the League Cup of 1957.

Promising players such as Billy McNeill, Paddy Crerand, Bertie Auld and Jimmy Johnstone were given a chance as experienced stars moved on. Stein and Fallon were both forced into retirement through injury. Fallon remained on the coaching staff while Stein became the manager of Dunfermline Ahletic.

At this time shirt numbering had only just become compulsory in Scotland. Celtic chairman Kelly refused to have the hooped shirts disfigured, so the players wore their numbers on their shorts. The team struggled as provincial sides such as Dundee, Dunfermline Athletic and Kilmarnock overtook the club.

In March 1965 Jock Stein was appointed to replace McGrory while the club also launched its weekly newspaper, The Celtic View, for the first time and the team lifted the Scottish Cup with a win against Dunfermline Athletic.

Stein’s side won the Scottish League in 1965-66 before they took part in the greatest season in the clubs history. In 1966-67 Celtic won the Glasgow Cup, the Scottish League, League Cup, Scottish Cup with victory against  Aberdeen and the greatest prize of all; the European Cup.

FC Zurich, Nantes, Vojvodina and Dukla Prague were defeated to set up a final against red hot favourites Internazionale of Milan at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon. Celtic trailed to a Sandro Mazzola penalty before Tommy Gemmell scored with a powerful twenty five yard shot after sustained pressure. With just minutes remaining a shot from Bobby Murdoch was diverted by Stevie Chalmers past Sarti in the Inter net.

Celtic were the first British champions of Europe. All eleven players were born within thirty miles of Celtic Park. The team became known as the Lisbon Lions. The heroes were; Ronnie Simpson, Jim Craig, Tommy Gemmell, Bobby Murdoch, Billy McNeil, John Clark, Jimmy Johnstone, Willie Wallace, Stevie Chalmers, Bertie Auld and Bobby Lennox.

To have a look at the venue of the triumph from my visit click here

Celtic went on to lift a third successive league title in 1967-68 before completing a double the following campaign with the Cup being secured after a win over Rangers with another championship arriving at Parkhead in 1969–70; a season that also saw another major triumph.

Celtic had already defeated Benfica before playing Leeds United in the semi-final of the European Cup. The home tie was switched to Hampden Park to allow 136,505 spectators to attend the match. Celtic won through to face  Feyenoord  in Milan’s San Siro.

The Bhoys would go on to complete nine league titles in a row with further titles coming in, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73 and 1973–74. Cup triumphs also came thanks to wins against Rangers in 1971, Hibernian in 1972, Dundee United in 1974 and Airdrieonians in 1975 as younger stars Danny McGrain, Kenny Dalglish, Davie Hay, Lou Macari and George Connelly came to the fore.

Celtic reached the semi-final of the European Cup in 1972 and then 1974 but lost out to Internazionale and Atlético Madrid. Tommy Burns, Roy Aitken and George McCluskey emerged from the reserves as the Celts won another league and cup double in the 1976-77 season.

Dalglish departed to Liverpool in the summer of 1977 with Stein going a year later to be replaced by former skipper Billy McNeill. In his first season at the helm he led the team to another Scottish Premier League title.

In 1980 Celtic defeated Rangers to lift the Scottish Cup in a final that was marred by serious crowd trouble and a resultant ban of alcohol inside Scottish football grounds.

McNeill oversaw the introduction of star youngsters Paul McStay, Charlie Nicholas and Packie Bonner into the team and took the side to the Premier League crown in 1980–81 and 1981–82.  In June 1983 McNeill left the club to join Manchester City after a fall out with club chairman Desmond White.

Former full back Davie Hay was appointed as the new manager with new signings Brian McClair and Alan McInally making significant impacts. The Scottish Cup of 1985 was lifted after a win against Dundee United before the league was won in remarkable circumstances on the final day of the 1985-86 season.

The following season drew a blank and with Rangers splashing the cash at Ibrox, the Celtic board dismissed Hay with McNeill returning in his place. Frank McAvennie was signed to play with team mates Mick McCarthy and Chris Morris. The team won the league and cup double as Dundee United were beaten in the Hampden showpiece.

Celtic returned twelve months later to defeat Rangers and to retain the Scottish Cup. Despite the goals of  Dariusz Dziekanowski the following campaign didn’t yield any honours. The club hit a period of boardroom upheaval not helped by the announcement of a plan to relocate the club to a new site at Robroyston.

A new abrasive Chief Executive; Terry Cassidy didn’t help to calm matters. McNeill eventually left the club at the completion of the 1990-91 season after Cassidy had made public the strategy to dismiss the manager should the need arise.

Liam Brady became Celtic’s only eighth manager when he was appointed in the summer of 1991. He made several signings including Tony Cascarino, Tom Boyd, Tony Mowbray and Gary Gillespie but the side did not perform.

Cassidy was sacked in October 1992 while on the pitch John Collins put in some fine performances. In the summer of 1993 Fergus McCann led a consortium to try and become the new club owners as attendances were dropping to terrible levels and finances were in a poor state.

Brady was dismissed in Octoner 1993, with former player Lou Macari coming in to replace him. Macari failed to make an impact in his first season in charge. Most of the action took place off the field. The board announced that they had funding in place to build a new stadium at Cambuslang; only for the alleged investors denying any deal had been done.

Things got worse for the board when The Bank of Scotland made it public that a guarantee £1M was required within twenty four hours or they would begin winding up the clubs affairs. The following day Fergus McCann became the new owner of Celtic.

He immediately sacked Macari and replaced him with another former star player; Tommy Burns. A deal had been done for Celtic to play their home games at Hampden Park while the rapidly dilapidating Celtic Park was redeveloped.

Pierre van Hooijdonk scored the goal to win Celtic the 1995 Scottish Cup against Airdrieonians. The following pre-season Mowbray encouraged his team mates to take part in a huddle on the pitch just before kick off. This soon became a club tradition.

The team began to gel with Jackie McNamara and Simon Donnelly playing their parts. The signing of Paolo Di Canio in 1996 proved to be very popular with the supporters who were desperate to halt the run of Rangers in the league. 

Van Hooijdonk, Jorge Cadete and Di Canio all departed under a cloud as McCann refused to buckle to player demands, while manager Burns was also sacked at the end of the 1996-97 season.

Wim Jansen was appointed as the new head coach rather than manager in the summer of 1997. Jansen made what would be some excellent signings in Darren Jackson, Craig Burley, Regi Blinker, Marc Rieper, Jonathan Gould and Henrik Larsson alongside Alan Stubbs, while the veteran former skipper McStay retired.

Celtic went on to win the league in 1997-98, their first triumph for ten years, but the celebrations were marred as Jansen resigned. The Slovakian, Jozef Vengloš arrived as Jansen’s replacement. Johan Mjällby, Ľubomír Moravčík and Mark Viduka were signed to boost the playing staff.

After a decent debut season, Vengloš resigned owing to ill health. The redevelopment of Celtic Park was complete and McCann was as good as his word as he departed after five years, with Dermot Desmond becoming the major shareholder.

The 1999-00 season saw Kenny Dalglish appointed as general manager with John Barnes arriving as head coach. The season was considered a disaster, with the nadir being the home Cup defeat to relative league newcomers Inverness Caledonian Thistle which spurned the newspaper headlines of "Super Caley Go Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious". Barnes was sacked the next day.

Martin O’Neill was made the new Celtic manager in June 2000 following a highly successful stint in charge at Leicester City. O’Neill made some wise signings; Chris Sutton, Rab Douglas, Alan Thompson and Neil Lennon  joining up with Larsson and young starlet Stiliyan Petrov.

The change was instant with Celtic going on to complete the league and Cup double in 2000-01 with Hibernian the beaten side in the Hampden final. The Premier League title was retained as Larsson ran amok with new signings Bobo Baldé and John Hartson proving their worth as Celtic reached the group stages of the Champions League for the first time.

In 2002-03 Celtic were denied for the title as Rangers came out on top on goal difference but consolation came through an outstanding season in Europe. After dropping out of the Champions League at an early stage, the Hoops went on a fantastic UEFA Cup run.

FK Sūduva, Blackburn Rovers, Liverpool and Boavista were defeated for Celtic to reach the final against Jose Mourinho’s FC Porto side in Seville. Around 80,000 fans travelled to Spain but their team couldn’t bring back the trophy as they were defeated 3-2 after extra time.

Celtic regained the Premier League in 2003-04 before going on to lift the Cup with a win against Dunfermline Athletic. O’Neil stepped down as manager after a remarkable period in charge as he was replaced by Gordon Strachan, whose side went on to retain the Cup the following year as Dundee United were beaten.

Strachan failed to replace some departing players, particularly Larsson, although Shunsuke Nakamura fitted the bill at Parkhead as Celtic won the Premier League in 2005–06. The following season Dunfermline Athletic were defeated once again as the Cup was won to complete another domestic double.

Strachan also took the team to the last sixteen of the Champions League before Stephen McManus became team captain for the 2007-08 campaign while Scott Brown was signed as a replacement for midfielder Lennon. The changes worked as Celtic lifted the Premier League crown once again.

At this point Rangers hit a rich period making things difficult across the city with Strachan resigning from his post in May 2009 to be replaced by Tony Mowbray but his reign lasted only until March the following year when he was dismissed, with Neil Lennon stepping into the managers position.

Celtic won the Cup with a victory over Motherwell with new signings Gary Hooper, Emilio Izaguirre and Beram Kayal making their mark along with goalkeeper Fraser Forster.

Despite the Cup triumph controversy blighted the manager’s first season in charge, as sectarianism raised its ugly head with Lennon and other associates being targeted. The Scottish Cup tie with Rangers saw ugly scenes on the touchline and in and outside the stadium.

Celtic regained the Premier League title in 2011-12, aided by the financial meltdown at Rangers who were deducted ten points. The double was secured the following season as nearest rivals Rangers were placed in the fourth tier as Hibernian were defeated in the Scottish Cup Final.

Following Rangers demotions, Celtic grabbed their opportunity. Celebrating the clubs 125th anniversary in November 2012 they had further celebration as FC Barcelona were defeated in the Champions League.

Celtic side went on to lift title number forty five in the 2013-14 season with Kris Commons and Victor Wanyama playing prominent roles, before Lennon handed in his resignation. Reliable keeper Fraser Forster departed for Southampton at the same time.

Lennon’s replacement was the Norwegian Ronny Deila, whose side went on to lift the League Cup with victory over Dundee United and then lifted their fourth successive league title in May 2015 after a shaky start to the campaign.

The 2015-16 season saw Celtic defeated in the Champions League qualifiers as they went down to Malmö FF, meaning a drop down to the Europa League, placing the manager under greater scrutiny. Scottish players were playing a more pivotal role with Leigh Griffiths leading the forward line.

The team went on to lift the Scottish Premier League but Celtic were defeated in both the Scottish Cup and League Cup semi-finals to Rangers and Ross County leading to Deila’s departure despite delivering the title.

In May 2016 Brendan Rogers became the new manager of Celtic. He made some wise signings and created a quality side that was easy on the eye. The club introduced a safe standing area at Parkhead as the team romped to the League Cup and Scottish Cup with victories over Aberdeen before romping to their forty eighth Scottish League title.

Craig Gordon, Mikael Lustig, Kieran Tierney, Scott Brown, Scott Sinclair, Patrick Roberts, Callum McGregor, James Forrest laid the foundations for the goals of Griffiths and Moussa Dembélé to fire the Bhoys to their triumphs.

The treble was completed for a second successive season in 2017-18 with Motherwell defeated in both the finals of the League and Scottish Cups as the fire power of Frenchman Odsonne Édouard was added to the forwards and Tom Rogic to midfield.

Celtic lifted the League Cup once again in 2018-19, with a win against Aberdeen prior to going on to lift the Scottish Cup with a 2-1 win against Heart of Midlothian as well as the league title after Neil Lennon came back to take over, initially on an interim basis from Rogers who departed for Leicester City. 

The Bhoys were crowned as champions again in 2019-20 to make it nine in a row after the season was ended early owing to the outbreak of Coronavirus. The team had already retained the League Cup with a win against Rangers while the Cup was suspended with the Celts in the semi-finals.

Celtic FC will play in the Scottish Premiership in the 2020-21 season.

My visits

Celtic 1 Hibernian 2 (Wednesday 27th January 2010) Scottish Premier League (att: 41,000)

I went to a converted stadium that once had a track and only one seated stand, but is now one of Europe’s greatest venues in contrast to some of the Junior grounds I had called in on during groundhop. I took the train to Bellgrove where lots of other green and white clad fans were heading to Parkhead to watch Celtic v Hibernian. I was more than a little wary walking down Gallowgate. My allegiances are towards the blue half of Glasgow and I didn’t want to be found out as a fraud for obvious reasons.

Instead of loitering about outside I went in out of the wind. My seat was for the front row of the top tier of the Lisbon Lions Stand behind the goal. It was an excellent view which I considered reasonable for £28.

Celtic Park had changed out of all recognition since 1994. Before then it was a big oval shaped stadium designed by Archibald Leitch. It had three sides of big banked terracing with one Main Stand. They all recieved roofs in time with the most vocal of The Celts congrigating in The Jungle opposite the Main Stand. 

The Main Stand had a new spectacular roof fitted to celebrate the European Cup win. Since 1994 only that structure remains albeit with another new roof, as three joined up stands encircle the pitch a lot closer than ever before before joining up with the new roof. The new stands (North Stand, Jock Stein Stand and The Lisbon Lions Stand) are two tiered with a huge lower section. No wonder the amazing stadium was chosen to host the opening ceremony of the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

I managed to have a bet on the concourses but no beer was available. I had a tea before going in to take in the atmosphere. Gates had been dropping in a worrying state to the club and this was no different with only 41,000 turning out (20,000 below capacity when once tickets were difficult to obtain). 

The build up was good but slightly stage managed. I felt like I was at an Irish folk festival with martyrs sinning about how downtrodden their history had been. I probably had it wrong, but that’s how it felt. The people around me were pleasant, especially after Fortune put The Hoops one up early on. They played some nice stuff without really penetrating, while Hibs played their way back into the game before equalising. 

The Celts were not happy and gave out a massive cheer when Samaras was replaced. He had one of those games that had me wondering if I should maybe plan a comeback. Frustration grew and then boiled over as the Hi Bees scored an injury time winner to send the 800 or so away fans crazy. They were just to the left of us so I got the best of the atmosphere. The home fans threw scarves, hats and season tickets onto the pitchside track, with some failed hopelessly from the top tiers!

 

I walked through the crowds as quickly as possible to Dalmarnock station as I was cold and I wanted a pint in a warm pub. It took longer than expected to reach the city centre and I quickly realised that celebrating Rangers fans would be arriving back from Paisley at roughly the same time. I made sure I sneaked out of a side entrance and made my way to the excellent Horseshoe Bar as well as other friendly establishments.

Wednesday 1^st March 2017

I found myself in Glasgow on a Wednesday morning with my original plan to head to a Dumbarton home game which had been re-arranged since I had booked the flight. Instead I’d be heading to Rangers v St Johnstone that evening.

With time to kill before I could book into my room I decided to head into the city’s East End. My aim was to hopefully get inside Shawfield Stadium, the former home of Clyde FC, which was now only used for greyhound racing.

The whole area was midway through regeneration, with the stadium gates firmly locked. As a second prize I decided to kill two birds with one stone and have a much needed walk and head to Parkhead for a look around Celtic Park in daylight.

Police Scotland came to rescue as I required a convenience break and was panicking. The guy on the desk could not have been more friendly and helpful. I was now ready for the thirty minute or so walk.

On my previous visit I’d walked back to Dalmarnock for a train, but the whole area and landscape seemed to have changed since the construction of the new Clyde Gateway duel carriageway. I could see the stadium up ahead with the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, which had been constructed for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

While I didn’t expect access inside the stadium, I had a feeling that there would be enough to photograph outside, and so it proved. Whatever your particular preference to the Old Firm in Glasgow, nobody could deny just how proud Celtic were of their heritage and heroes.

The Celtic Way, a new thoroughfare led up to the stadium from London Road. A statue of Lisbon Lions skipper Billy McNeil stood at the entrance. Further up towards the Main Stand were statues for Jimmy Johnstone, Jock Stein and the club founder Brother Walfrid.

At the rear of either end stand were fine murals to former players reflecting former glories. I was able to see slight views through the gates of the inside of the stadium, but no gates were open for a proper look.

Instead I satisfied myself by looking all the way around and under the stands. It was good to see the plaque on the wall by the Eastern Necropolis, which was wear the original Celtic Park stood.

After a proper look and resigned to not getting inside I headed up Springfield Road to Gallowgate where I caught a bus back to Argyle Street for a bite to eat before catching another service to my Ibis Hotel at Springfield Quay.

The old pictures of Parkhead on this page have been taken from the internet.