“One Day in Lisbon” “Scusi, Signori … Ma Ba’, Boys!” “Is it a Bird? … Is it a Plane?”

WELL, not sorry at all, actually – albeit ‘Cesar’ is historically correct, it seems to me altogether more appropriate to align the Lisbon Lions figurehead with an all-conquering Roman Emperor than a bit-part, Hollywood Rat Pack chauffeur: “Caesar” First among equals, for class unsurpassed; the true stuff of legend, in sculpt bronze now cast.  …

TRIBUTES will be many and fulsome today, as the Celtic-minded in particular remember a true legend and giant of our beloved club. It is well-nigh impossible to say anything new and meaningful about Jock Stein. Thousands upon thousands of eloquent words have been written extolling his abilities, charisma and achievements, both as player-captain in the…

THE ACQUISITION this weekend of Scott Allan triggered the notion in my fevered brain that the current Celtic first-team squad is arguably now more reflective of Scottish football’s historical indebtedness to Irish immigration than it has ever been. The nineteenth-century exodus from the Emerald Isle sparked by An Gorta Mor sowed the seeds of Irish re-settlement…

THE RECENT and ongoing speculation surrounding the possible signing by Celtic of former NAC Breda hit-man, Nadir Ciftci, has had me reminiscing about our acquisition twenty years ago of another striker from that unfashionable Dutch club. Forget the controversy that dogged big Pierre van Hooijdonk’s brief and sometimes turbulent career in the Hoops … focus…

NO-ONE who witnessed panelist David Wierd’s shell-shocked visage and wildly OTT comments during and after the recent Scottish Championship play-off final second leg at Fir Park will be surprised at the unveiling today of the latest Sevco management team – or, in the “wake” of the stunning outcome of that encounter … in another way,…

Dateline Lisbon, Portugal, 25th May 1967 …                                                      THE END OF A PERFECT DAY IN PARADISE … THE CULMINATION OF WALFRID’S DREAM … A      BEACON ON THE HIGH…

ANYONE intrigued by our previous snippet about the early-twentieth-century liner that bore Celtic’s name and was a White Star Line forerunner and stablemate of the Titanic, as well as being a contemporary of the equally ill-fated Lusitania, might find some of the following links interesting: http://www.whitestarhistory.com/celtic https://www.nmni.com/titanic/Design-Build/Harland—Wolff/Launch-of-RMS-Celtic-1901.aspx http://www.greatships.net/celtic2.html Johnbhoy