Lets Make Some Noise For The Bhoys

As a Celtic fan, I feel special. I feel special that over 120 years ago the people who carried my family name then bought into Brother Walfrid’s plans and started to support Celtic. I have absolutely no doubts whatsoever, and extensive family background research backs up this view, that my family in those days, were exactly the right people Brother Walfrid was looking to help, both sides of my family. We were not the only ones of course, the whole Scots Irish population faced lives of struggle and poverty, as well as sneering faces from the apparent ‘better off’ protestant population. Brother Walfrid didn’t just start a footballing team, he started a way of life, a way of life that, to my utmost delight, is still in existence today.

As a 1993 birth I have no recollection of the early 90s, I do remember Paul McStay being my favourite player in the whole wide world, and my sister plumped for Peter Grant. My first real recollection of a Celtic season was when i was 4 going on 5 – the 1997/1998 season, what a first season to remember.

As a Primary 1 pupil , I can fully remember going to school Monday through to Friday then listening to the games on the radio on the Saturday. What stood out for me every week, you could hear the Celtic support in full voice, no matter what the score was, but especially, it was at away games, when the Celtic support were supposed to be outnumbered, always out sang their opposition fans, with maybe the exception of Ibrox where we lost twice that season. I remember my dad telling me ‘When Di Canio and Cadete and Pierre were here, we went top of the league against Aberdeen but despite Rangers having 4 games in hand, it was the first time we were top of the league for about 3 years and the radio transmitter bust’.

Also the day Celtic won 1-0 at Easter Road in the snow and Rangers scored late on to snatch a 2-2 draw at home to Hearts, Amazingly the Celtic fans cheered the goal, and it ensured an even better night was in store afterwards!

The day 10 in a row was stopped, as a 5 Year old amazingly i was at a birthday party, but couldn’t enjoy myself as i kept asking the Celtic supporting worker, who was absolutely gutted to be working my i add, “Whats the score mate, is it 5-0 to Celtic yet? I bet ye any money Darren Jackson will score, hes pure quality btw, who cares what the Rangers score is, Celtic only need to win, keep the faith big chap!” ….Now theres people who miss games and couldn’t care less what the score is, I’m still like that 5 year old today if I’m not in someway connected to a Celtic game, I canceled a driving lesson so it wouldn’t clash with Old Firm games, where as you ask some people now if they watched the game and you get a straight face reply saying ‘nah, couldn’t be bothered watching it, bad result but, Strachans gottae go, Naylor is awful, so is Samaras, and why is big Jan still at Celtic park?!!’ Also the introduction of Manchester United fans and Liverpool fans, who are obviously Celtic fans but just can’t be bothered making an effort to support Celtic because they’re not winning, if Celtic lose 1-0 and at the same time Liverpool win 6-0, you can rest assured theres people changing their allegiances for one night only…”nah am a Liverpool fan mate, you know i am, Stevie G all the way”

At least my good mate Cavan, a long life Arsenal fan, hasn’t jumped on the bandwagon despite his side going 5 years without a trophy, he wasn’t a Celtic fan from 2005-2008 then a Rangers fan for the past two seasons. Credit to him for that, its a sign of commitment and dedication some of these Celtic ‘fans’ need to add into their personality.

Its that sort of atmosphere that should still be at Celtic Park today.

Its as if people now abuse the right to be a Celtic fan, theres people who are now ‘fans’ who use the now famous line ‘well i don’t really follow football, but i like to see Celtic do well’. Where as when O’Neill was in Charge, they had season tickets, they were at Seville soaking up one of Celtic’s biggest occasions since that night in Lisbon.

Now i welcome increased numbers in the support, but that support that filled Celtic Park everyweek had seen less and less core Celtic fans, the ones who’re there home, away and abroad. When the the going got tough, and for the first time in 10 years Rangers won the league before the last day of the season, it was only the core Celtic supporters who turned up, remember at Tannadice? the day Rangers won the league title at Hibs, the singing and support the team received on its way to a 2-0 Victory was tremendous, a week previous, when Rangers weren’t on the verge of league Success, under 29,000 turned up to see Celtic come back from 2-1 down and win 3-2 against Hibs at Celtic Park, and its the fans who didn’t turn up, who posted on message boards complaining about Celtic’s performance and how its still Strachan’s fault or how Lennon shouldn’t be allowed to continue his management career at Celtic. Or just to complain that its the boards fault for not going out and singing Ronaldo, Messi and Pirlo, when the funds were most definitely there.

The board have a lot to answer for in this, the introduction of season tickets did bring much needed stability short term to the club, however in the long term, the end of sitting with most of your pals, or even better, standing singing all day long with your pals, now you face an anxious scramble to meet your pals outside the ground after the game to catch the train or get a much needed pint down you!!

Celtic Park on match days as i know it, is not what i wanted it to be, its not how it was described to me by my Dad, Grandads, Uncles, Cousins etc, Fair play to those sections who do like a good sing song, but they’re too far apart from each other in the ground, we need one big support supporting the team every week, due to other commitments I don’t get to every single Celtic game, so I don’t claim to be the worlds best Celtic fan, but i certainly feel entitled to my opinion and entitled to a right to be able to back myself up in an argument, against people who go ‘Well, you don’t have a season ticket, so your not a real Celtic fan’ these are the people who are now the ones claiming not to be interested in football, and only go to Celtic Park for something to do, if they’re not moaning about whats on the pitch, they’re moaning about the bhoys and ghirls who turn up every week to sing their hearts off, “Embarrassing themselves again” and sit and refuse to back the team, unless they’ve scored a goal, then maybe they stand up and applaud and look pleased for 5 minutes, then if we’re 1-0 down with 20 minutes they go and thats whats wrong with Celtic at the moment because don’t tell me for one moment that the team doesn’t respond to a good sing song in the crowd and a good bit of backing from the terraces.

My biggest gripe with the board is their ‘quantity of quality’ mentality, when being a football fan, especially a Celtic fan, its about ‘Quality Over Quantity’ every day of the week. It may look bad on TV, and the media love nothing more than to stick the boot in, but 30,000 singing Celtic fans who are giving their all for their team for 90 minutes on a Saturday is by far much better than a packed Celtic park where 30,000 fans are there with suits on, I swear to God I’ve heard more talk about the economy at Celtic Park than i have on Newsnight, what annoys me is that Celtic Park on a match day has become for some, a social event, rather than an obligation.

I know there are a majority of decent Celtic fans out there who are like myself, very much in the hardcore die hard category, where Celtic and nothing but Celtic, is their life. However it seems these days that either the numbers are going down, or people are just too embarrassed to admit that they’re a Celtic fan during the bad times, when its then, we need all the support we can get.

I’ll leave you this week with the very disheartening but very true words of my fellow Blogger and good friend Harper, who hits the nail right on the head when he states:

“We’re losing what makes me proud to call myself a Celtic fan.”

Brucehillbhoy