Celticunderground:The Celtic Football Fan Podcast

And so after 17 years in the job Peter is leaving. 

Peter Lawwell was first employed by Celtic as the club's Financial Controller from 1990 to 1991 under then Chief Executive Terry Cassidy. In September 2003, he returned to Celtic succeeding Ian McLeod as Chief Executive. The job title was changed for Lawwell to Executive Director, Head of Operations as many of the previous Chief Executives had performed poorly in that role.  Arsenal were interested in appointing Lawwell as their chief executive in 2008, but Lawwell rejected their approach.  Lawwell has been credited with increasing revenue, reducing debt and is considered a tough transfer negotiator. He has attracted criticism since 2008, however, as Rangers had won three championships in a row. In particular, Celtic fans cite the club's refusal to increase their offer for steven Fletcher in January 2009, after which Rangers overhauled Celtic to win the 2008/09 SPL. In 2010 it was reported that Lawwell earned a wage of more than £700,000 a year, after receiving a 25% rise from his previous contract for the 2008–09 season.

Everything at Celtic changed in 2012 when Rangers went to the wall and this saw the club commence an incredible period of dominance, winning trophies and building cash in the bank for a rainy day,  We had the Brendan era followed by the appointment of Neil Lennon in the showers and for many, the diasters of the current season were sewn on that day.

Peter leaves and Hullbhoy and I assess his legacy.

Enjoy…

The Game Ep2 - Palm Sunday

This week marks the 30th anniversary of the Palm Sunday gubbing of Rangers, a game that holds special memories for our guest Kevin Schofield as it was his first Glasgow Derby.  It was dark times for the club and these victories were smal glimpses of light.

We had beaten Rangers the week before for what became known as the ST Patrick’s Day Massacre.  That was a game that saw Rangers receive 3 red cards and so for this match, Not The View gave out red cards and Nisbet duly obliged by getting himself sent off and leaving the pitch to a sea of aforementioned red cards from the crowd.  Anton Rogan was the star of the day, scoring the opener in the 3-0 victory over Rangers in March 1991, his first against them (just day before his birthday), but he also set up the second and cleared a goal off the line.

Enjoy…

The Game Episode 1 - Shame Game

10 years ago this month was The Shame Game.  A silly title for a game that saw no shame apart from the terrible behaviour of the soon to be defunct Rangers players and assistant manager.  But with its notoriety and coming to the fore we thought  we’d kick off the new series with a review of that game.

Here’s how the Celtic Wiki describes it:

As one-side a match against the Huns you'll ever see. Celtic were on top throughout this game, and despite the Huns being able to break well at points, they were simply playing for penalties from early on. With injuries/resting players like Lafferty & Jelavic, the Huns were relying on some rough tactics with heavy tackling on the menu. Luckily, Celtic's pressing on fairer referees has paid off with Murray officiating well and taking to half measures. He allowed around 20-25 mins before dishing out yellow cards, and Whittaker was first to be ordered off with two yellows. Harsh the first card may have been but it wasn't for that challenged alone (he had committed a few bad tackles before hand).

From then on, Celtic took control (in particular in the midfield) however we weren't makign enough of our advantages. Wilson was exceptional and has been on a bit of a goal glut of late (3 goals in 6 games) and he scored with his second chance today just after half-time to send the support into raptures. From then in, there was only one team in it. Rangers had a late burst but their runs were cut short..... and Rangers were out the cup!!!

YESSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More important is the rammies that occurred. Diouf was in everyone's' face, with match offs with Brown and then inexcusably with the Celtic bench. He should have been sent off early but the referee was too soft. Next there was a rammy with Mjallby for Djouf in the tunnel at half-time! It was comical.

The unbookable Bhougeira was sent off! Amazing! Daft tackles were the cause, he's scum like Diouf.

Diouf was sent off after the final whistle for not keeping control of his senses (not possible for him). A farce and scumbag.

The home support were in his face and we all laughed. The worse he is on the pitch, the worse his antics are...

Match ended with a spat between Lennon & Ally McCoist (Hun assistant manager). McCoist approaced Lennon in our dugout, Lennon politley held out his hand, then McCoist whispered something in his ear, Lennon retorted, then it blew with some shoves and people jumping in to separate the two. McCoist should be hammered for it.

Anyhow, we won, it's great to be a Celtic.

Crazy: The match has been criticised by the First Minister as a disgrace with head police officer calling for possibly stopping all games v Rangers or play them behind close doors! Absolute joke, total mock outrage.

Enjoy…

Podcast Xtra - John Kennedy & David Turnbull

Celtic are looking to engage better with the fan media and this was the first step in 2021 of that new engagement with a specially organised fan media press conference.  To be fair to the club, bringing this together is slightly more complicated than it seems.  As I’ve joked recently, there are now a plethora of podcasts and how do the club make sure everyone gets access, how do they balance this with those fans who do excellent written work but not the spoken word - do they let on every podcast and website (not matter the numbers of listeners readers).  Do they have a cut off and how do they measure that cut-off? etc etc.

Regular listeners and readers will know that we have been fortunate enough to have engagement before but it is good to have some further engagement after a little bit of a hiatus.

We have David Turnbull and John Kennedy first up, John being especially generous with his time and providing very full answers.  I have met with John before and found him a very impressive and engaging man.  I have yet to meet a football person who isn’t impressed by John.  I hope you are too.

Enjoy…

Pieces of Eight

Yes, it’s the pirate podcast (you’ll understand when you listen) and we are reviewing the tenure of Neil Lennon as Celtic manager.  We look at his departure last time, his re-appointment and assess whether this was some catastrophic turn of unlucky events for Neil or the inevitable outcome of appointing someone not qualified for the job and I would suggest that the panel have a range of opinions along that spectrum.

A change is gonna come at Celtic and we suspect that it will have an alpine look to it but whatever it is, there are always grounds for omptimism when you support Celtic so we (mainly) agree that next season is going to be very exciting.

Saint Anthony, Sean and Antony all discuss.

Also, we’re pulling together a series on Celtic matches, key games that might now have mythical status among the support.  We’ll be starting with The Shame Game.  Email your memories of this and also let us know hat games you would like us to feature.

Podcasts@celticunderground.net

Enjoy…

Celts on The Rocks

This week I am joined by Lachie Mor and Duncan Smillie of Glasgow Rocks to discuss the current situation at Celtic.

We review the inept Ross County performance and then go on to discuss the nature of the vitriol against senior people at the club (manager CEO) and question if that is the “Celtic Way” - can we not disagree with the board’s decision on Lennon without being so disagreeable?  Duncan has a go at me for the agressive language of the Ferencvaros podcast.  Lachie is taken aback and patently didn’t listen to it!

We review the need to get more young players coming through the academy into the first team and generally wish this season would just go away.

Enjoy…

Marketing Celtic

I know, I know, all we want is a succesful team on the pitch and you have no time for all this marketing and “brand” chat that revolves around modern football and if that’s the sum total of your thoughts on marketing a football club then this podcast is not for you.  If, however, you see maximising income as the way of getting the best players in the pitch then hopefully you will find this of interest.

I look at our club as failing to communicate well with the supporters.  I therefore wonder if we are so poor at speaking with the fans, are we even worse at communicating with a wider audience, and is that poor communication impacting on the business as a whole? 

Whilst I can have a view, I always think it best to ask an expert and so I asked the Managing Direcor of Sporst Marketing experts Fuse for some input.  It does help that not only is Stephen an expert on sports marketing, he’s also a huge Celtic fan.  We therefore have a marketing expert talking specifically about our club and how we might get those marginal benefits that allow us to get better players on the park.

Enjoy…

Dear Dr Jo

This past week saw the passing of Big Shuggie Edvaldsson and formerCeltic manager Dr Jozef Venglos.

Jóhannes Eðvaldsson signed for Celtic in 1975 and made 127 appearances for the club.  He scored 24 goals for Celtic playing in defence, midfield and attack but made his name mainly as a central defender.

Dr Jozef Venglos was the first foreign born & raised manager of a club in the English top tier league(now it's the EPL): Aston Villa.  He won the European Championships at under 23 level, and then his finest moment in coaching, the full European Championship with Czechoslovakia in 1976, beating Netherlands in the semi-finals and West Germany in the Final, as well as reaching the quarter-finals of the Italia 1990 World Cup.  Appointed President of the European Coaches Union in 1995 as well as being chosen to coach European and World select teams in the 1980's and 1990's.  AT Celtic he signed the great players Lubo & Mjallby for Celtic. Truthfully, he never made a bad signing.  Disgracefully treated by the local press whilst in Scotland (quite petty patronising racism in some cases).

Enjoy…

Tell me when it’s over

And the hits just keep on coming… This past week Celtic have dropped points to Livingston twice (once to a team made up of their fringe players) and still the management team remains unchanged.  On the podcast we discuss the possible rational behind this, the issues with the players, the Livi game and of course that press conference.

As a podcast that has (at times) been very aggitated with the team - coaches and players, we try our best to take a step back and assess how and why.  We discuss the board and what we should be doing.  Tanks on the lawn with a firm statement of intent that this will never happen again.

Enjoy…

What’s going on?

Who could have predicted, that going to Dubai, in the middle of the world’s worst pandemic in 100 years could end up being a PR disaster…?

Sunday night the news broke that we had a player with Covid. Then it started to come out that, due to the nature of everyone being in close proximity, 13 players and 3 coaches would be unavailable for the game against Hibs.  With perhaps a 5% chance still left of winning the league, we needed to win every game left this season and this wouldn’t give us the best chance of starting that run, yet we nearly achieved it.

Antony Murray and I discuss the game, the trip and basically ask - Celtic - What’s going on?!?

Enjoy…

2020 - A Year in Review

Twenty Twenty vision was hard work - a year of two halves.  We ran away with the league until Covid came and we were robbed of the 9iar celebrations.  When won a quadruple treble and again robbed of the celebrations.  In the grand scheme of things it will be just one year of missing going to games and there are worse things happening in the world however it hurt to miss them all the same.

It WAS supposed to be a review with @antonymurray25 and @hullbhoy @stephen4_2 and myself but for a variety of reasons it was just Saint & I but we still managed to ramble on for 2 hours reviewing the seasons past and present in 2020.

Hullbhoy and Antony will be on again soon.

Meantime, please enjoy…

I don’t want to talk about it!

The maltesers edition.

And there it was - in the 62nd minute the final flickers of the 10iar dream were snuffed out when Nir Bitton climbed all over the back of Alfredo Morelos and Madden was presented with the opportunity to reduce us to 10 men and any chnce of clawing back the huge deficit went.

It wasn’t the Bitton sending off that killed the chances of winning the league and securing the 10.  The seeds of this defeat were sowed long ago with a various key points since February 2012 when, presented with an opportunity, Celtic made the wrong choice.  The key to losing the ten was when the club decided to focus on demoestic rather than European dominance.  Set your standards low and and you achieve low.

Antony Murray and I review a game which, for the first hour, was dominated by Celtic.

Enjoy…

Quadruple Treble

No illiterative headlines name for the podcast - it’s a simple history making name.  The remarkable dominance of Celtic over Scottish football continues as the third and final trophyof the 2019/20 season is secured and Celtic become world beaters by securing a fourth consecutive treble.

After a first 45 mins where we looked like we would go on to score 4 or 5 it was squeaky bum time and penalties were required.

I am joined by Antony Murray and Saint Anthony to discuss why that might have been, to review the game, the players, and the unique achievement of 4 trebles.  We also (briefly) preview the Ross County game.

Enjoy…

Custer’s Last Stand

And the hits just keep on coming…..this week it was St Johnstone.  Where do we go from here?  Is it down to the lake I fear?

After the Ferencvaros game Antnony Murray and I were very critical of the manager and after 30 mins I got St Anthony on to be the voice of reason and calm us all down.  Since then there has been no discernible improvement in performances and so we thought we’d get Saint back on.

We review the St Johnstone game, discuss the Cektic statement, try and think why the board are thinking as they are and then discussing whether we believe that 10iar can be saved.

After the analogies of Julius Ceaser, this week it’s Cowboys and Indians.

Enjoy…(if you can)

No longer surprising

Sorry to have such long breaks between podcasts, honestly, we’re not just waiting for defeats but I know many will be in the working every hour God sends boat at the moment and getting an hour to do a podcast is challenging.

Enough of that negativity - onto the hoops!  As you’ll hear on the podcast, Antony Murray has just been teaching Julius Ceaser and one quote from that came to mind that our coaches and board would do well to think about;

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.”

Something has to change, new coaches, new attitudes, I don’t know, but something.

Here’s hoping it’s soon.

Enjoy…

Count The Trophies

Following the Scottish Cup Semi-Final victory Celtic are on course for another treble - 4 in a row would be quite incredible and you would assume that everything in the garden is rosy…but it’s not.  Thursday night saw another abysmal European result for the club and another performance were body language was dreadful on and off the pitch and it was hard to believe that this is a team coached to play together.

After the Feroncvaros defeat we had an immediate post game review (more of a rant) with myself and Antony Murray, later joined by the voice of reason Aint Anthony.  This time we decided to hold off for a few days for a more taional debate.

We discuss everything and go back 8 years in reviewing where we are just now.

Enjoy…

Don’t forget that antony can be found on twitter @antonymurray25

Success in mind

Saturday’s result and performance could have been better…!

Rather than have a knee jerk rant, I thought it would be more appropriate to have some positive thinking on the podcast and who better than the guru of Scottish positive thinking, Mr Jack Black.

I first came across Jack around 1997 when my then boss handed me some audio tapes and said - I think this will be right up your street.  The days before Apple Car Play or even in car CDs, these tapes were of Jack’s Mindstore lectures and they were a huge eye opener.  At the time he was working with Rangers and it came as a revelation to me that he is actually a Celtic fan.  Even more of a revelation was that he was a fan of our podcast and so when I discovered this I knew I had to get him on.

Work, work and more work have got in the way of late and so it’s simply a coincidence that he is on straight after THAT Rangers performance.

If you want to know more about Jack after listening you can log onto https://www.mindstore.com/

He’s also on twitter @jack_mindstore

Enjoy…

Antony Murray brings us episode 7 of the lifetime XI series.

Celtic in the Black & White Era

There’s a new book out and St Anthony chats with the author, Steve Finan

This brand new book features hundreds of previously unseen classic Celtic photos from the glory days.

Even if you know the history . . . have you seen it like this? These photos have lain hidden in archives for 40, 50 or even 60 years. They show the great events such as the European Cup triumph of 1967, Hampden in the sun, Gil Heron’s debut, the John Thomson tragedy, and the Leeds United European tie of 1970. There are also scores of behind-the-scenes photos, images of Celtic heroes of the past as you’ve never seen them, and “new” old photos of the great games.

It is the ideal gift for any Celtic-minded person — nostalgia for those who remember, a chance to experience the halcyon days for those who don’t.

There’s never been a Celtic book like this!

Enjoy...

Garbage

Tonight Celtic played a team who are vastly inferior to us.  They had three attempts on goal and scored with two of them.  Meantime our manager picked a starting 11 with no striker and didn’t bring one on until the 78th minute.  I get that Ajeti may not quite be fully fit and I fear Klimala not starting is because the manager doesn’t rate him.  what a shit show

We wanted to get a podcast out and to your ears as quickly as possible and so we start with just Antony Murray and after 25 mins are joined by St Anthony.  We discuss what to do and don’t come up with solutions, just moans.

If you can, enjoy…

Viva Espana

We have had a very eventful time of things both on and off the park at Celtic since our last podcast discussing the current squad.  In that last podcast Juco James disected the pros and cons (minus the pros) of continuing to play Scott Brown.  we then had the Killie game which was the usual purgatory on plastic.  We lack creativity and gave away a stupid goal and many fingers pointed at Jullien and Brown.  After that we had the Boli 24 hour Spanish holiday jaunt.  In between we signed Ajeti.

With all this going on we needed a podcast and we needed some calm heads and so we have Hullbhoy and Duncan to discuss all this and more.

Enjoy…

Antony Murray returns to discuss the all time Celtic XI of another hoops fan.  This week Paul Rutherford picks his favourite Celtic XI with some alternative options from the norm.

Enjoy...

The first game of the new season has just finished with a 5-1 victory over Hamilton so if you're looking for Celtic chat, we have episode 5 of the Lifetime XI podcasts.  It's the first official podcast of our 15th season and features our old friend Lawrence Donegan.

He's had plenty of time to get the pronunciations correct so hopefully no mangling.

It's Antony Murray with Lawrence Donegan's best XI.

Enjoy...

Big Data, The Squad and Brown

Data and statistics are increasingly playing a big part in sport but our guest today suggests that football remains largely in the dark ages in this field.  His belief is that this is changing, and rapidly and those clubs that are late adopters will find themselves at a long term disadvantage.

For those who follow him on twitter, @Jucojames has been at the forefront of detailing the numbers behind Celtic performances and, once we get past how he ended up being a Celtic numbers fanatic, we use the data to discuss the elephant in the room - at his age should Brown be playing so much football? 

I’ll not do a spoiler but your head will tell you what your heart denies on that one.

Hope you enjoy the podcast - all 2 hours!

Enjoy…

This week we continue with Antony Murray discussing with guests their all time Celtic XI.  This week the guest is our very own Lachie Mor.  Regular listeners will know that Lachie has been attending games since before Stein and so with an array of talent to choose from including the Lions, the first 9iar team and the Seville team his all time XI will be an interesting listen.

Enjoy...

It's a simple concept, get a guest on and ask them to choose their favourite/best all time Celtic eleven but sometimes the simplest things are the best things and today we bring you episode 3.  Hosted by Antony Murray listen and decide if you agree. 

If you don't tweet myself or Antony or email podcasts@celticunderground.net and we'll get you on.

Transfers and season books

Most of our output during these past few footballless months have been our specialist series - the 9iar chronicles and the new Lifetime 11 podcast series.  There has been little else going on bar the season-book stooshie but far more important things going on in wider life and therefore we haven’t been as prolific as usual on the podcasts.  We decided that needed to change!

We contacted Lawrence Donegan and Antony Murray and had a chat about all that is going on at our club - transfer gossip, season book sales and preparation for the new season.  It’s all here in spades.

Sponsored by Ask Jeeves and My Space

Enjoy…

It's like buses, you wait for ages and then they come along with the frequency of, well, buses!  It's episode two of the Celtic Lifetime XI podcast from Antony Murray.  This week his guest is Kes Devaal.

Both guys can be found on Twitter @KesDevaal and @antonymurray25

This is the first in a series of Celtic Underground podcast where Antony Murray discusses with guests their lifetime Celtic XI.

This week Antony chats with Gregg Kennedy to review his Lifetime XI.

The 9iar Chronicles - Season not the ten 1974/75

Two Cups - but no Ten-in-a-Row

• League Position – 3rd - finishing 11pts behind Rangers who won the League and 4pts behind Hibernian
  
• League Cup – Winners
  
• Scottish Cup – Winners
  
• Drybrough Cup - Winners
  
• European Cup - First Round
•  

Celtic were to miss out on a world record of ten consecutive League championships this season and had to be content with the two domestic cups and the Drybrough Cup in it's last year. This season saw the retirement of Billy McNeill and the departure on free transfers at the end of the season of the last true veterans of the golden age with the release of Jimmy Johnstone and Jim Brogan. The only remaining Lisbon Lion at the end of the season was Bobby Lennox.

Celtic did not travel abroad for any pre-season games this season but used the Drybrough Cup and domestic friendlies to sort the team out. There was an embarrassing one-off trip to West Germany to play Schalke 04 in Gelsenkirchen which ended in the joint highest defeat under Jock Stein so far. Interest in the Drybrough Cup was faintly raised when the final threw Rangers and Celtic together with the game ending in a draw and Celtic winning the rights to the Cup 4-2 on penalties. This was the last season this Cup would be played though it would return in 1979. The performances were somewhat jaded and lacking in enthusiasm one normally expected from a Celtic team but this was put down to a short inter-season lay-off period with the World Cup and Scotland's involvement in that also taking place during the shut down. Added to this would be that Danny McGrain had returned from the World Cup having been diagnosed diabetic.

The League Cup saw Celtic in Group 4 with Motherwell, Dundee Utd and Ayr Utd. The format had been changed with one team qualifying from each group for the Quarter finals and the rather silly offside rule used in the Drybrough - only being offside beyond the 18 yard box - persisted with even though it was disliked by all. In the second game Celtic received a shock losing to Ayr Utd. The jaded performances were for real and Jock Stein found himself with three immediate problems :- a goalkeeping crisis, a vulnerable defense and the strike force misfiring. These all needed to be addressed. None could be addressed with immediate effect. Celtic, however, duly put the results together to qualify for the quarter finals with a game in hand in the Group Satge and were drawn against Hamilton Academicals managed by ex-Celt Eric Smith. A 2-0 win at home followed by a 4-2 away win saw them comfortably through to face Airdrie in the semi final. This was a turgid affair settled by a single goal from Stevie Murray in the second half. Hibernian had also made it through all the way and the final was a classic Celtic performance with Dixie Deans scoring a hatrick as well as Joe Harper also getting a hatrick and ending on the losing side.

That was one Cup in the bag done and dusted by the end of October. Already Celtic had seen George Connelly walk out and state that he was quitting football. He did relent and returned to train and eventually win a starting place again in November and December. But the assessment of the team had seen Jimmy Quinn, Vic Davidson, Jimmy Bone and Andy Lynch all told that they could leave on frees. Also by this time Celtic found themselves out of the European Cup at the first hurdle. A 1-1 draw at home achieved after the sending off of an Olympiakos player was not enough and in the flare and smoke of the Athens game Celtic went down 2-0.Olympiakos were an unfancied side and they duly made their own exit at the next round. Was this an indication of European fragility? The side that had won the big cup, made the semi final twice and had been described as European attack masters looked woefully out of sorts.

What happened in the League to lose the tenth successive title is really a continuation of the faults that had been seen at the start of the season being cruelly exposed in the second half in the New Year. By that point Ronnie Glavin had been signed after much beating around the fee from Partick Thistle. At the age of 23 he had been the Jags captain and leading player as well as a Scotland U-23 cap. Signed in November for a club record of £80,000, Glavin had been a target for a number of clubs and Partick Thistle, under manager and ex-Celt Bertie Auld were looking to cash in. Glavin arrived to add extra firepower and to help Dalglish who was turning out to be easily the most competent and rounded player in Scotland. After a successful scoring debut he found it not as easy as first thought to fit into the team and in January he found himself dropped as Stein wrestled to find a winning formula again.

The catalyst that started to bring the house tumbling down was the 3-0 loss to Rangers at Ibrox in January. Celtic did not play too badly but there were too many first team players that failed to hit form and this was worrying. With a further 4 points dropped in the next five games which included dispiriting draws away to Arbroath and at home to Dumbarton. With the goalkeeping crisis much in evidence Peter Latchford was recruited from West Bromwich Albion. Latchford came up and played in a Friendly and in wizard time he was duly signed on an initial loan deal and saw out the rest of the season as first choice keeper. At times the support and Jock Stein must have thought what they had taken on as Latchford was prone to the occasional howler and soft goal. But he would develop substantially from this his first season at Celtic. Despite trying everything the crisis could not be averted and Celtic would drop a further 13 points in 10 games to finish third behind Rangers and Hibernian. Needless to say this was a shock to the supporters who had come to see over the last 10 years the Championship as a permanent feature at Celtic Park and the League programme kicking off each season with the raising of a new Championship flag.

The reality was that the flow of players coming through had dried up. Though Dalglish was without doubt the most accomplished footballer in Scotland he could not do it all by himself. The midfield lacked a David Hay type player. George Connelly, whilst a gifted sweeper and defender as well as having exquisite skill, was now emotionally fragile. McNeill was reaching the end of his career as too was Jim Brogan. Add to that a lack of bite upfront, despite Paul Wilson having his best season ever, it was more a collective malaise within the strike force that saw them missing chances and playing underpar when before they had been the Green Machine.

The retrieval of the season came with the Scottish Cup winning 3-1 against Airdrie who were in their first Cup Final since 1928. By this point the League had already been lost so it was with absolute faith that Jock Stein sent them out onto the Hampden pitch knowing that they would return with the cup. At the end of that game Billy McNeill announced his retirement.

If the club felt low at having to bear the loss of the tenth successive League title then they could console themselves with two trophies at least. Things could not get worse. Could they?

Enjoy…

The Rugby League Podcast!

Welcome to the Celtic Underground Rugby League podcast.  Listeners will be wondering why a Celtic fans podcast is talking about rubgy league - because we want to.

Although born in Scotland, all my relatives are from Cumbria and specifically, for those who know the area they are from an area steeped in rubgy league history - Whitehaven, Cleator Moor and into Workington.

When I grew up my mum’s dad was in to horse racing and Rugby League, Working Town Rugby League to be precise.  He obviously entertained football chat with his Celtic daft grandkids, but for this man from the mines, League was the sport for him.  It ingrained in me the concept that league was proper rugby and as I grew older and saw Union as the Toffs sport but arrogantly referred to as Rugby I retained that soft spot. 

I’m not an avid watcher but I’ll look in when it’s on and will watch the Grand Final every year.  I have always felt League and the towns where it is based have a close affinity of the central belt of Scotland where football is so strong and so I thought I’d do a podcast with an expert, providing a bit more detail on what the sport is, why it is different (and better) than Union and what better time than now in lockdown with limited sport but the Australian NRL starting up this weekend.

Enjoy…

A Double and Nine-in-a-Row

• League Position – 1st - Ninth League title in a row - a record
  
• League Cup – Losing Finalists
• Scottish Cup – Winners
  
• Drybrough Cup - Losing Finalists
  
• European Cup - Losing Semi-Finalists

The most outstanding accolade of the season was the completion of nine League championship titles in a row closely followed by reaching the semi-finals of the European Cup for a fourth time they had reached that stage or beyond since 1967. For a club the size of Celtic in a nation the size of Scotland this was exceptional. That they never went on to the final was down to the cheating aspects of their semi-final opponents, Atletico Madrid, and the left-over taste of the nature of the games with them has remained with the club and supporters ever since 1974.

The season began slowly with Jock Stein saying that he wanted to see the team play differently. The early Friendly games saw Celtic playing a one-touch game where the team endeavoured to control the ball and maintain possession. The early season Friendlies in Ireland saw this style of game unfold. These games were followed by the what looked to be annual performance of the Drybrough Cup, a trophy which seemed to challenge everyone to accept it as a legitimate enterprise but, although the teams taking part played out the games fully, there was always the feeling that it was a somewhat half-hearted affair as shown by the willingness to change the rules of the game. This was the first season that two substitutes were allowed in all matches and the Drybrough Cup continued with a half-baked moderation of the offside rule. This experiment continued through the League Cup and was a reflection of views of change within the world of football at the time. Celtic again failed to win the Drybrough losing in the final to Hibernian for the second year running .

The League Cup followed with the bastardised offside rule continuing, Celtic qualifying from the seeded Group Stage behind Rangers who they would meet again and defeat at the semi-final stage. Between that game there were wins against Motherwell after a replay, and Aberdeen. The semi final saw a comprehensive 3-1 win for Celtic with Harry Hood scoring a hatrick. The final against Dundee played at Hampden with a 1:30 kick off due to anti-floodlighting measures imposed under the state of emergency regulations, was a game that neither side wanted to play with the Hampden pitch frozen and rugged. Referee Bobby Davidson had other ideas and the game went ahead. Celtic duly lost to a single goal thus losing the fourth League Cup final in a row.

In the League the Celtic green machine rolled on with generally the expectation that Celtic would win every game they undertook. That might have been the supporters and the pundits expectations but the other teams in the League had other ideas. It was Hibernian that provided the challenge mainly, along with the Tayside clubs and a rejuvenated Motherwell under the new managership of Ian St. John. The games against Rangers saw Celtic win well with 1-0 wins which neither reflected the overrall domination over the blue horde nor told the full story. But a comprehensive lead in the league was established and Celtic lead the table for the greater part of the season. The losses were instructive.

A home game was lost to Dundee in February, the first Sunday game, with McNeill and Hay recovering from 'flu and George Connelly only just restored to the first team after his voluntary absence from Celtic Park. In fact the problem for Celtic with David Hay and George Connelly tainted the whole of the early season. Hay was one of the few people that George Connelly, an enigma in the minds of many but a potential footballing superstar who had it all, trusted and called a friend at Celtic. When Hay wanted more in his contract he was transfer listed and when he threatened to go on strike he was suspended. Celtic handled the complete situation badly. Hay was wanted by other teams, but what Davie wanted was to stay but not at the terms that Celtic were offering. Celtic wanted the best they could get in allowing a valuable player to leave. George Connelly reacted in solidarity to his great mate, and saw himself dropped for a long period to the Reserves. These were two great players whose ball playing and passing skills were missed.

Eventually it got sorted out and Davie went on to a good season but George broke his ankle in the home leg against Basel and was out for the rest of the season. Their importance as footballers could be gauged by the fact that both were included in the Scotland World Cup squad. The League was won with three games to spare, against Falkirk with a draw. Celtic finished with a four point cushion to Hibernian in the runners-up spot.

The European Cup started with the usual high aggregate thrashing of some unknowns. This year it was Finnish side TPS Turku with 6-1 away and 3-0 home wins. In the second round Celtic were draw against Danish champions Vejle. These were no pushovers and Celtic underestimated them at home with a 0-0 draw badly missing the leadership of Billy McNeill. They got out of jail free in Denmark with a 1-0 win playing a holding game after going ahead. This brought Celtic to face Swiss champions FC Basel in the quarter finals. Basel had grown and moved on immeasurably since the team that Celtic had overcome in 1969. They were well organised and confident. The away leg was first and Celtic lost 3-2 with Evan Williams losing two goals he should have saved and sealing his fate for the taxi at the end of the season.

With Scotland keeper Ally Hunter injured Stein had to resort to Denis Connaghan, the No. 3 in the blind spot position for the return. It was a tense game not helped when George Connelly broke his ankle after only five minutes. But Kenny Dalglish and Dixie Deans, who was rapidly turning into the ace scorer of the season, had Celtic 2-0 up and Tommy Callaghan got the aggregate equaliser taking it to extra time. Barely into the first period Steve Murray, who played a major part in the season, lobbed a beautiful ball over the goalkeeper and Celtic were through. That brought Atletico Madrid and a return of Argentinians to Celtic Park. So much has been written about the game. The home leg was a travesty of football and the 0-0 draw saw the Spanish side celebrating like they were already into the final. The away leg which UEFA insisted had to be played, was pure intimidation. Celtic took their collective eyes off the ball and dulty lost 2-0. So another year and through to the semi and undone by bad sportsmanship. The feeling still lingers with any mention of Atletico Madrid.

Celtic won back the Scottish Cup with a 3-0 win over Dundee Utd. The run had started with two 6-1 wins over Clydebank and Stirling Albion. Motherwell proved harder opposition requiring a replay after a 2-2 draw at home. The 1-0 semi final win against Dundee bore no relation to the domination Celtic showed over Dundee throughout the game. And two goals in 25 minutes saw Celtic kill the final.

Of the players so far unmentioned Danny McGrain made his mark this season establishing himself as an overlapping defender of exceptional quality. Billy McNeill led from the front at the back (so to speak...) Everyone wanted to know how long he would go on playing and it looked as if he would think about retirement. The next season would see his Testimonial and his final season. Bobby Murdoch went on a free transfer in September to Middlesbrough where he would have a second career. Pat McCluskey established himself in the team and vied for a starting role with George Connelly. If anything Jimmy Johnstone faded from sight at the start of the season and Stein told him to buck his ideas up and screw the nut. Jinky duly applied himself and he was back to his best for the latter half of the season going on to be kicked black-and-blue by the goths of Madrid. Brian McLaughlin who had been seen as the up-and-coming new 'wunderkind' suffered a serious knee injury which saw him miss much of the season. And the forwards just rolled on. Deans was top scorer in Scotland,; Harry Hood continued to confound people; Dalglish was the best Scottish product since Macari left; Paul Wilson had a supersub tag; and Bobby Lennox, now over 30, confounded everyone with his bursts of speed. If there was a failure it was the inability of Jimmy Bone to fit in and Andy Lynch languishing in the Reserves.

But the team worked well as a unit. There were young players coming through (a certain Tommy Burns was called up at the end of the season from Maryhill Juniors where he had been farmed out) and there was no reason to believe that the following season would again see Celtic challenging.

The Celtic Underground Top Ten season 2017-18

A topical podcast this week as we review the top ten players for the 7th season of the current 9iar….but don’t worry, the first 20 mins are disccusing the fact that tonight, as we record the podcast, Celtic are officially champions of Scotland AGAIN and have officially achieved 9iar AGAIN.

First up we have a very special message from the manager to all our listeners (yes, we actually do) and then we have a 20 minute chat about achieving 9iar and how it is better than expected.  From there we get to the meat and bones of the podcast and discuss your votes for the 2017-18 CU Top Ten.

You may wonder why it is season 2017-18.  Well, we collated the votes but unfortunately I was too busy with work and nevergot around to actually recording the podcast.  We must have a complet record and so the podcast is recorded.  We will be doing 2018-19 and  voting is open now (until midnight on 10th June) for the 2019-20 season Top Ten and Samars moment.  You can email podcasts@celticunderground.net

The voting was as follows;

Enjoy…

The 9iar Chronicles - Season 8 1972/73

(Courtesy of The Celtic Wiki)

The New to the Fore.

• League Position – 1st - Eighth League title in a row - a record
  
• League Cup – Losing Finalists
  
• Scottish Cup – Losing Finalists
  
• Glasgow Cup - Not played this season
• Drybrough Cup - Losing Finalists
  
• European Cup - Second Round

So close to being a Double; so close to being a Treble! And in the end a record consecutive eighth League Championship title. Season 1972-73 should have been the season when the club-developed players of the Quality Street Gang became the new Lions. It was the best season so far for them, with Kenny Dalglish showing himself as the most exciting footballer in Scotland at the age of 22; where George Connelly had it all and was very nearly an ever present in the side; where Davie Hay showed what a great utility player he could be,the emergence of Danny McGrain as a great overlapping full back.

But it was also the season of the wayward youth, with Lou Macari - spotted and developed by the club - demanding more and then heading south when he didn't get his way. Suppoprters opinions of Macari tend to be tainted by the later period when he returned to the club as manager between 1993 to 1994. As a player for Celtic, Macari was a superb goal scorer and poacher. But he was a very different kind of beast from players of the Lions era. Macari had not only quickly endeared himself to the Celtic support but had made the full Scotland international team early and had been on international tour to the States and to Brazil. He had married in St Patrick's Cathedral, New York, and it was very clear he did not like the fishbowl life of football in Scotland. In the closed season he had played in Brazil for Scotland with Tommy Docherty as Scotland manager and Docherty had woven him tales of football south of the border. At the start of the season when he returned to Celtic he began or continued to make demands for better terms. As the season wore on towards 1973 these demands continued and unrest began to ferment in the dressing room. Finally Jock Stein and the Board had enough in December. He'd been injured through much of November and came back for the away game against Dumbarton in early December and then he was out with 'flu and a 'stomach upset' and out over the Christmas period. This coincided with a crisis period at the club with Jock Stein taken into hospital with a cardiac scare. By the New Year Macari was on the transfer list. It was no longer a question of 'if' he would go but 'when' and 'where' and 'for how much'. Would it be Liverpool where he was a guest at their home match after inspecting the club facilities. But it was to team up again with Tommy Docherty, now manager at Manchester Utd, that he always wanted and there he went for £200,000. (There is a very good appraisal by St Anthony of Macari's playing time at Celtic here.)

Such was the surfeit of riches at the club at the time that it could be argued that his departure was barely missed. And the £200,000 his transfer brought in allowed the purchase of Ally Hunter, Andy Lynch and Steve Murray.

The season had begun with the sterile competition that was the Drybrough Cup, with altered offside rules, with Celtic losing to Hibs in the final, the game going to extra time after Celtic pulled back three goals to level the match at the 90. But Hibs found the gaps in extra time and lifted the trophy.The League Cup also had changed format somewhat with teams now seeded in the Group stage and winners and runners up going through to a home-and-away second round before the quarter finals. Everything went well till Celtic met Dundee in the quarter finals. In the away leg Dundee had scored after 20 minutes and then withstood strong Celtic pressure to carry a single goal advantage to Celtic Park. There, a weak linesman and referee Bobby Davidson contrived a 3-2 scoreline which saw a replay on a Monday night at Hampden. The Bhoys made no mistake here and ran out 4-1 winners. A semi-final win over Aberdeen set up the final against Hibernian. And on the day Celtic ran up against Stanton in great form. Two Cups played. Losing finalists twice!

And the third Cup would go the same way. It began well with 4-1 and 4-0 wins against East Fife and Motherwell respectively. At the quarter final Celtic played Aberdeen who came to bore everybody to death. On top of that Jimmy Johnstone lost the place and was sent off. The replay at Pittodrie was nearly as boring - except on 86 minutes up came Big Billy and the ball was headed in the back of the net. Dundee, as in the League Cup but this time at semi final stage, and for some reason Aberdeen's defensive tactics caught on and Dundee bored everyone to death with a 0-0 draw. The replay saw a continuation of dull football but a tactical switch which saw Hay switched to defense and Connelly to midfield resulted in Jinky receiving the ball and scoring two good goals and Dalglish getting one. And so.... on to the final against the auld enemy in their centenary year. A cut-n-thrust game in which Connelly scored a penalty (in the light of a succession of missed penalties in previous games from other Celtic spot-kick takers) saw Forsyth on the goal line where Brogan, who had just been subbed, would normally have been, steal in and nip the ball into the net. Celtic tried to get back the goal but it was Rangers cup. Three Cups played. Losing finalists thrice!

The League was tighter than it had been for a while with Celtic topping out by just the one point but a huge goal difference margin.Throughout the season there were periods when the team played less well as a unit and that aweful sin of profligacy in front of goal raised it's ugly head again. All this contributed to the punditry and journos doubting Celtic's ability to take the title this season and continue with the Green Machine the following season.

In Europe, Celtic ran up against one of last season's teams - Ujpesti Dosza of Hungary. Last season they had met when the Hungarians were only starting their season. This time they were well warmed up and Celtic found them too good in Budapest. A 2-1 win at Celtic Park was countered by a 3-0 loss in Hungary and Celtic were out at the Second Round.

Dalglish, Hay, Connelly, McGrain and Macari have already been mentioned. The veterans also had their part to play. Big Billy was Captain Dependable as ever. Jim Brogan was missing more games through injury but when he was in he made the perfect left back to Danny McGrain's right. Bobby Lennox might see a good few sub spots this season but he still had lethal speed and his knowledge of the game was special in a forward. And Bobby Murdoch was noted when missing and his cool head made for reflection on the game when he played. The goalkeeper crisis was 'real' till the arrival of Ally Hunter from Kilmarnock who would have an outstanding first season between the sticks. His sureness inspired confidence in those in front of him. Jinky had off and on periods throughout the season and for his off periods he paid for by being dropped. The luxury of the team with so many good players was that it could and was tailored for conditions and teams.

At the end of the season there were those who asked if Celtic could go on and do it again the next season or if the newly resurgent Hibernian or Dundee or, god forbid, Rangers would make a serious challenge next season.

Enjoy…

SPFL TO RFC - WTF?

It’s here, the dossier that everyone (well everyone in scottish football) was waiting for.  The evidence, the whistle blower, the reports of bullying, the substantiation, the smoking guns, deep throat, the bombshells that would lead to the resignation of the CEO were all…well NOT there.

Unfortunately RFC seem to confuse questions with evidence and fact with opinion.

Following it’s publication, their CEO (who sits on the SPFL board that is so useless) appeared on Radio Clyde.  after his appearance I’m even more confused as to what it is they want an inquiry into.

Anyway, we set about trying to disect it the whole mess.  I am joined by Anthony Murray and David Low to look at this as objectively as Celtic fans can.

Enjoy…

The 9iar Chronicles - Season Seven, 1971/72

A Blend of Old and New

• League Position – 1st - Seventh League title in a row - a record
  
• League Cup – Losing Finalists
  
• Scottish Cup – Winners
  
• Glasgow Cup - Not played this season
• Drybrough Cup - Losing Finalists
  
• European Cup - Semi Finalists
  

Season 1971-72 was a significant season as it really marked the start of a new chapter for the club, of players that had begun to appear the previous season but made their true marks this season. It also marked in truth the end of the Lisbon Lions era (but not the memory of that great team) with the departure of so many that had made up that team. The Main Stand had been substantially rebuilt and upgraded during the closed season and was formally opened by Jimmy McGrory on the 1st September 1971 with a game against South American Champions Nacional of Uruguay, Celtic running out 3-0 winners.

By this point Celtic had already lost the inaugural Drybrough Cup to Aberdeen. This was an interesting competition historically as it marked the first time that outside private sponsorship was seen in the professional game in Scotland. In the League Cup, Celtic qualified from the Group stage of Rangers, Morton and Ayr Utd. with resounding wins over Rangers home and away. The 'home' leg which was actually played at Ibrox because of the final work on the new Main Stand at Celtic Park, was significant in marking Kenny Dalglish's first first team goal. There would be many more. In the away game Celtic thoroughly demoralised a Rangers team that thought they had the beating of Celtic after an even first half. Quarter final and Semi final wins over Clydebank (marked by Brian McLaughlin's debut) and St Mirren followed to give a final at Hampden against a newly promoted and envigorated Partick Thistle. The result was not expected. With Billy McNeill absent, the Jags went 4-0 up by half time. Thistle were on fire and the 4-1 result and loss would mark a turn at Celtic and bring about arrivals and departures.

The days of the Lions were gone. The emerging talent was the Quality Street Gang and the prime examples were Kenny Dalglish, Lou Macari, Davie Hay, George Connelly and Danny McGrain. Out had gone John Clark - a crisp and reliant reader and thinker of the game who had become the sweeper - and Steve Chalmers at 35 years old. After the League Cup Final loss they would be followed by John Hughes and Willie Wallace to Crystal Palace and Tommy Gemmell in December with John Fallon going to Motherwell in 1972 and Jim Craig heading for South Africa at the end of the season. In came new buys Dixie Deans, regarded as a steal of a buy from Motherwell at £17,500, and for the perpetual blind-spot of goalkeeper came Denis Connaghan from St Mirren. But it was the young gang, recruited and developed through the lean years who Sir Robert Kelly had asked the fans to be patient for who took on the new mantle of Celtic and won the Double of League and Scottish Cup this season.

Jock Stein had the team playing a fluid system this season with as ever, everyone ready to both attack and defend so that players could switch and everyone to a greater or lesser extent could be a 'utility' player. No one exemplified this so much as Davie Hay and Dalglish. Both could play anywhere on the park, were elegant and confident on the ball, could pass accurately over distance to supply the killer ball and could shoot and score goals. Davie Hay had emerged earlier and would play anywhere in the team. Dalglish really became THE player this season, at home up front or supporting in a withdrawn midfield role. To be able to release an international full back of the stature of Tommy Gemmell meant that Jock Stein was confident in the resources that he had at Celtic Park. Jim Brogan continued to play well and was a veteran giving advice and support. Jim Craig's final season saw him make 28 first team starts and he would probably have continued to be picked for the first team had he chosen to stay. Furthering his career in dentistry, the warmer climate of South Africa and new challenges called, however. Jimmy Quinn had been at the club since he was 16 and had first been used as an out-and-out striker but the previous season had seen him turned into a fast overlapping defender and this was further developed this season. He did well. Danny McGrain looked like he was ready to step up and but for an unfortunate clash of heads and the resulting fractured skull would have become a stand out this season. He had to wait but he was clearly going to be the business.

The two supreme veterans that held it together were Billy McNeill and Bobby Murdoch. Cesar impressed so much this season that he won his Scotland place back under the new international manager Tommy Docherty. His cool head in the centre of defense and his power were rarely beaten and if he did have an off-day then the team suffered. Bobby Murdoch was as important as a playmaker as McNeill was as a defender. These two knitted the younger players into a unit and continued the Celtic tradition built up over seven League titles of what was required from a Celtic team and a Celtic player.

Worth mentioning too is Tommy Callaghan. He had probably his best ever season for the club in 1971-72 and ran his heart out as a water carrier and attacker as well as being a tireless midfield player. Never a fans favourite, he sometimes found himself the brunt of the terraces' ire but his performances this season were collosal and his hard work allowed the finesse of Dalglish, Macari, Hood, Lennox and Johnstone to shine.

In the goalkeeping stakes things were still as obscure as ever in the blind-spotted Stein's mind. Not since the glory days of Ronnie Simpson had he felt so uncertain about the feller in front of the onion bag. Evan Williams had started as first choice, but Gordon Marshall and Denis Connaghan were brought in to challenge, and rejected. A young keeper Tom Lally had been brought over from Sligo Rovers but had played more games for Morton on loan than at Celtic. Lally would leave the following season. Both Marshall and John Fallon left to fill spots at Aberdeen and Motherwell when those teams experienced injury crises. Added to these can be the youths that were picked up during the season. - Neil Carr from Maryhill Juniors; Stefan Gryzska from Whitehill Welfare; Leif Neilsen - an experienced Danish keeper who was in dispute with Morton and released by them on a free; and Tom Livingstone who had been a youth international keeper and was released when he lost his first team spot with Cumbernauld Utd. To these would be added more and it would remain a troublesome position for some time - till the Big Man made his final club signing.

This was a very interesting season - the blend of youth and vigour and experience; A Double Season; so nearly into another European Cup Final; players competing for positions and keen to show what they could do; a wealth of talent that had been developed by hard training who were fit, confident, competent and keen.

It would be interesting to see how the club would develop.

The 9iar Chronciles - Season Six 1970/71

Merely Champions? Merely a Double? The End of an Era?

• League Position – 1st - Sixth League title in a row
  
• League Cup – Losing Finalists
  
• Scottish Cup – Winners
  
• Glasgow Cup - Semi-Final
  
• European Cup - Quarter Final

Celtic won their sixth successive League Championship and the League and Scottish Cup Double - the 7th time they had achieved this. But many folk were now shaking their heads and saying that the team was not what it was. The problem appeared to be less in what was on display but how the team achieved it's wins and the manner of those wins.

Celtic had invested heavily in youth in the past and in the development of players through from youths and Juniors through to first team players. Sir Robert Kelly had warned Celtic supporters in the fallow years to be patient and to wait for the youngsters coming through. That wait had resulted in the Lisbon Lions and the years of fat which preceded this season. Further investment in youth saw the emergence of the Kelly Kids and the Quality Street Gang and these were the players that were breaking through throughout this season and who would take the club forward. The problem was that these young players were seen in performance against the ageing Lisbon Lions squad and the games were judged by Lisbon Lions standards. Time had not stood still for the Lions. Though Ronnie Simpson, the oldest of the Lisbon Lions, had retired at the end of the previous season, it was at the end of this season that the major departures of the Lions began. Bertie Auld, Stevie Chalmers and John Clark all moved on - a situation that would have been thought impossible back two seasons past - and they would soon be joined by others. But their time had come they needed to and had to move on for the team's sake. Jock Stein realised this and throughout the season he carefully assessed all the playing staff at the club - who was in, who was available, who was coming through. And change was inevitable to preserve the talent of the club and to continue to move forward and to challenge for glory.

Enjoy…

Covid or Novid

As you will hear, this is not our usual Celtic Underground guest - for a start she doesn’t go to games…  More importantly that attending Celtic games however, she is working to save lives.  Haley (my niece) is a nirse currently working in A&E, sometimes in general accodent & emergency, other times (liek this past week) on the Covid19 ward.  To use the hospital jargon, she is either Covd or Novid.

Don’t worry, the content won’t unnerve (it might even put your mind at rest) for example A&E’s are quieter than normal.

She talks through what you might find if you go to hospital for whatever reason, what some of the symptoms are to look out for, how here and her colleagues are coping and, of course, the situation with PPE.

Enjoy…

The 9iar Chronicles - Season Five 1969/70

A brilliant season that was nearly incredible!

• League Position – 1st - Fifth League title in a row
  
• League Cup – Winners
  
• Scottish Cup – Losing finalists
  
• Glasgow Cup -
  
• European Cup - Losing finalists

When you look at that list of season accomplishments above you would have to conclude that it was so close to being a very successful season. The Double was very nearly a treble and close to a European quadruple. The truth is in the detail.

The one word that many people use when describing this season is 'complacency' The League was won by a clear 12 points from second placed (again) Rangers. Four league games were lost, three of them at home to Hibernian, Hearts and Aberdeen with the one away loss to Dunfermiline. The team played for the most part 'within' themselves and this led a number of observers to state that at times the team were over-confident and complacent in their handling of the game.

However, as the podcast confirms, this was somewhat unfair

Enjoy…

The 9iar Chronicles - Season Four 1968/69

TREBLES ALL ROUND!

• League Position – 1st - Fourth League title in a row
  
• League Cup – Winners
  
• Scottish Cup – Winners
  
• Glasgow Cup - Semi-Final
  
• European Cup - Quarter Final

An extremely successful season, the second treble season and the 6th League and Cup double. Only two blips dotted the horizon. Those were the quarter final loss to AC Milan, who went on to win the European Cup this season, and losses home and away to Rangers in the League. They still finished five points behind in second place in the league, a result that again prompted whole scale changes across the river. The other loss in the league was at home to Morton at the end of the season. A total of 29 games were won with 89 goals for and 32 against and the points total was 55. The previous season had seen 30 wins with a massive 106 goals for and 24 against and 63 points.

Celtic had been one of the first clubs to protest against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. This led to the eastern Bloc teams pulling out of the competition and led to a redraw of the First Round. Celtic faced St Etienne who were beginning to come to prominence in Europe. Missing Bobby Murdoch and Tommy Gemmell they lost 2-0 away which was a major fright. A furious Stein vowed to go for all-out attack in the return game and the Celts gave no quarter running out 4-0 winners at Celtic Park to go through to face Red Star Belgrade who had failed to withdraw with the rest of the Eastern Bloc teams. They won 5-1 at home with Jimmy Johnstone running riot in the second half when told he might not have to travel if Celtic got a four goal advantage and then Johnstone-less held out with a 1-1 draw in Belgrade. and so on to the Quarter finals against AC Milan. The away leg in the San Siro was played in a snow storm in atrocious conditions and ended 0-0. Celtic were now being feted to go on to a final against Manchester Utd. But it was not to be, when Billy McNeill blundered early to allow Prati to score. Manchester Utd, by the way, lost to AC Milan 2-1 in the semi final.

In the League Cup Celtic qualified easily from the group stage winning all their games in a group with Morton, Partick Thistle and Rangers and were the best performing qualifier from all the groups. The Quarter final saw Hamilton Accies put to the sword with an aggregate score of 14-2. With a 10-0 win in the first leg Jock Stein felt confident enough to give many of the younger staff a run out with the average team age being 22. Onto the semi against Clyde which proved to be a hard fought match which was only settled by a goal from George Connelly, on as a substitute for Joe McBride. The final at Hampden was delayed due to a fire and when finally played in April Celtic destroyed Hibernian 6-2. Six goals up in 75 minutes they took their foot off the pedal for the last quarter of an hour allowing Hibs to score two goals.

The Scottish Cup started with the first round proper against Partick Thistle away and Celtic let a comfortable 3-1 lead slip away to a 3-3 draw. The Big Man wasn't happy in the least and conducted an in-depth investigation demanding more from the players. The replay was never in doubt with every forward scoring in a 8-1 win. The second round saw Celtic drawn away again against Clyde. In a match that probably should not have been played Celtic drew 0-0 with Ronnie Simpson carried off with a dislocated shoulder which would see him out for the rest of the season. The replay was won 3-0 on a heavy and muddy pitch. The quarter final saw them drawn at home against Willie Ormond's St Johnstone. This proved to be an excellent game where the Bhoys showed all their fighting spirit to come back when St Johnstone equalised. The semi was against Morton who scored first but then had no answer to the brilliance of Jimmy Johnstone. And so onto the final against Rangers. This was Jock Stein at his best outwitting Rangers and out-thinking Davie White.

Throughout the season Jimmy Johnstone and John Hughes were outstanding on either wing both proving themselves to be world class players. Jimmy managed to get himself suspended by the club for shouting at the bench and throwing his shirt when he was substituted in the League game against Dundee Utd. The story still leads to much hilarity when told but was serious at the time. Jock Stein would regularly throw the curve ball at the opposition by having John Hughes run out in the number 11 shirt and then play him at centre forward. Bobby Murdoch won the Scottish Player of the Year award, Willie Wallace finished top scorer. And finally Robert Kelly was given and accepted a knighthood on behalf of the club.

All seemed good at the club with the lack of knighthood for Jock Stein transferred to one for the Chairman and on the field a vivacious, attack-minded Celtic team and more quality youngsters coming through.

Enjoy…

Aitch is retired!

I love having guests on the podcast. Most of the time we have myself and the usual team of guys discussing the events of the day affecting our cub however every so ogten we get guests on to provide us with a little something extra. What makes the guest so great is that they give up, what usually ends up being 2 hours+ of their day to be “interviewed” by a complete amatuer and they do so willingly and for free. What is also great is when the guest has so many stories that I run out of time to ask all the questions that pop into my head and that was the case with Andrew.

A great guest who was at Celtic during an incredible time, Andrew has some brilliant stories to tell. so many in fact that we will need him back on again because, after 90 minutes I ran out of time.

I hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed recording this.

Enjoy…

The 9iar chronicles - Season Three 1967/68

The Second Greatest Season EVER in the History of the Club - and a Double season.

• League Position – 1st - Third League title in a row
  
• League Cup – Winners
  
• Scottish Cup – First Round
  
• Glasgow Cup - Winners
  
• European Cup - First Round
  

After the highs of 1967-68 it would be difficult to know how to go forward with the club. That Jock Stein had a vision of where the club should be was without doubt. He had clearly shown that the club could move forward with suitable backing and one voice. That direction was most clearly in Europe and to be recognised as a great and formidable club. And for this reason Europe and the participation in European competitions was THE most important thing. That is not to say that the other games were non-important. If Jock Stein was anything, he was competitive and aspirational. Having done it once, he wanted to do it again.

It seems almost inevitable as nemesis follows hubris that having won the competition at the first time of asking that the following season the team should fall at the first hurdle. But that's what happened. In Dynamo Kiev, they met a team as well prepared and ready to fight as Celtic were. At home in the first leg, they lost an early goal and then a second, both from errors made by Celtic players and though the effort was all-out in the second half they could only find the one goal. Stein had been looking for a win and by a clear three goals to give him the margin for the return leg. As a master of 'attack being the best form of defense' the away leg would have to be all-out attack. What happened was that though Celtic charged, the game was sorely affected by the pernickety refereeing of an Italian and the Bhoys never got a good clear run to build up the constant pressure of 9 men capable of scoring. And then on 59 minutes Bobby Murdoch was sent off for a second yellow card. A seemingly decent goal was then disallowed and Celtic found themselves knocked out.

With an abrupt termination of European competition this season, the necessity to qualify for next season was paramount. The League HAD to be one. There was just no two ways about this. The team embarked on a winning streak which lasted till the 2nd January and the game against Rangers at Celtic Park. Rangers were two points ahead in the League. The stage was set and no one was more keen than Jock Stein to put Celtic back where they belonged. What happened was to haunt John Fallon for the rest of his career. Two goalkeeping errors allowed Rangers to draw 2-2 and the nip-and-tuck would go on right to the end of the season. In the end it was Rangers that blinked. It was for them to lose the title which they duly did, missing out in crucial games allowing Celtic to continue to maintain their League win record and take the title with a rousing performance at Dunfermiline.

The drive for the League Championship this season established records. The team produced a post-war record of 63 points to win, 5 more than the previous season, and in doing so they lost only one League game. They did not score as many goals with 106 as opposed to 111 the previous but they conceded less - 24 against 33 in 66/67.

In the face of this success it might therefore be thought churlish to complain but there was something different about the performance this season. Despite the number of games won the team appeared to be less imperious than it had the year previously. Jock Stein recognised that no team could stand still and measures had been taken to bring new players through. There was a good crop of youngsters developing but this would take a little time. In the mean time Celtic still had a team capable of attacking with 9 men and defending in depth when required.

Of the other three competitions, Celtic were knocked out of the Scottish Cup at the First Round - something that had not happened since 1952 - by the team that would go on to win the trophy - Dunfermiline. Celtic retained the League Cup after qualifying from a group containing Rangers, Dundee Utd and Aberdeen - another nose rubbed in the dirt. And when Rangers withdrew from the Glasgow Cup citing fixture congestion the word everywhere was that Rangers were afeared to face an in-form Celtic. Celtic duly retained the Glasgow Cup.

Perhaps this last excuse needs bearing in mind when considering the Intercontinental Club Championship games against Racing. There is no doubt that Jock Stein wanted to win this. Even in the face of the debacle after the second leg in Buenos Aires It was Jock that insisted on playing the replay in Montevideo. Robert Kelly was all for returning home. But how would the public have seen a statement like that? In the end it was probably the players view that they could beat Racing which turned opinion to playing the replay and what happened made Jock Stein regret his decision to go ahead with the replay. In the face of the film of the incidents being shown around the world the club had no choice but to censure the players. But what people throughout had failed o see was the utter intimidation and dirty behaviour that Celtic had faced from the Argentine side throughout the three games. And the patience and fair play of the team finally broke and led to the incidents.

So what we have then is a great season in many ways, but flawed and not perfect as say 1967-68 had been. It still represented a phenomenal achievement. Celtic were playing total football with local players all from within 20 miles of Celtic Park long before the phrase became popular and in relation to the Dutch.

The next season as always would present new challenges.

Enjoy…

Tale from the Celtic Wiki plus the radio commentary of the goals

There is little introduction required for Celtic fans of this game - 25th May 1967. Celtic 2-1 Inter Milan.

This 9iar extra features a return of The Human Torpedo and a Tale from The Celtic Wiki and the radio commentary of the goals from the game.

Enjoy...

The 9iar chronicles - Season Two 1966/67

This is the second in our nine in a row diaries and it is the story of the most remarkable season - The greatest season ever in the history of the club and one of the greatest seasons of any football club anywhere.

• League Position – 1st - Second League title in a row

• League Cup – Winners
  
• Scottish Cup – Winners
• Glasgow Cup - Winners
  
• European Cup - Winners

Every competition that the club entered it won. There can be no better season than 1967. The first North European club to win the European Cup since the competition started in 1955. The FIRST BRITISH TEAM TO DO SO.

The previous season had been good but this season was outstanding. Jock Stein deservedly won the title of Best British Manager for the second successive season. If other teams had sat up and looked at Celtic and their manager during the previous season, then with the win in Lisbon the whole of the world became aware of Jock Stein and Celtic.

The foundations for this outstanding success had already been laid the previous season. At the start of 1966-67 the final touches were put in place with the purchase of Joe McBride from Motherwell. Joe went on to have an outstanding goal scoring run before knee trouble put pay to his further appearance at the turn of the year. This pushed Celtic into the transfer market again and Jock Stein identified Willie Wallace as the man who could take over where McBride had left off and continue the goal scoring progress that Celtic had made.

The key to ALL the success of the season stood firmly with the belief and clear vision that Stein laid out. This was a team. It played together as a talented team, not just eleven talented individuals but a cohesion that came from trust and acceptance of fellow players and belief in the greatest manager. Jock Stein thought deeply about the game. He analysed every team that Celtic played and had a plan for every game and every opponent. The players were told to listen and to follow that plan and woe betide those that did not do what the Big Man said. But the Big Man's analysis was generally spot on and with his back room staff they prepared a fit lean playing machine that could hang together, knew how to fight back and knew what was needed. Never before had this been seen in football. And the world recognised it when Celtic beat Inter in Lisbon. It was a win for the future of football.

The names of Jock Stein, Simpson, Craig, Gemmell, Murdock, McNeill, Clark, Johnstone, Auld, Chalmers, Wallace and Lennox will never be forgotten.

Enjoy…

The UK (and most of Europe) lockdown continues but that never stops the Celtic chat.  This week I am joined by someone who I have met many times at post game Celtic press conferences and someone I have been meaning to get on for some time - John Gallagher.

John is a former professional footballer who played and coached at a level below the top flight but far above the standard most of us could only dream of however the main reason I have John on the pod is because John generates the Opta stats at Celtic home games.

In this pod John explains exactly how those stats are created and gives an insight into how that makes you see things a little differently.

I am joined from Bratislava by @antonymurray25 and we quiz John on his time in the lower leagues and his time at Opta.

Enjoy…

On Thursday night Celtic played Copenhagen and during the game we decided to give them a little thank you for being such good hosts the previous week.  So we took 3 goals, tied them up in a parcel, put on a lovely bow a gift wrapped the best present we could…

Yes we are so generous that we gifted them safe passage to the last 16 of the Europa League by making an absolute pigs ear of the home leg following the 1-1 draw in Denmark.

In this podcast we pick over the bones of Thursday night’s game and discuss team selection and the system we played.  I provide my descriptions of the goals after being at the game and refusing to watch any highlights and Antony (who braved that job) gives me his review of my description.

Enjoy…(if you can)

Podcast Xtra - Celtic 5 Hearts 0

Tonight Celtic thumped Hearts by 5 goals at Celtic Park with the atmosphere greatly enhanced with some late goals just down the M77 at Kilmarnock meaning that the lead at the top of the table is now 10 points.

After the game Neil Lennon, Jozo, the Hearts manager and a Hearts player spoke with the press.  The Hearts manager rambled and I’m not sure he’ll be their answer.  It was a great night.

Enjoy…

It wasn’t until nearly the 80th minute today against Hamilton that Celtic fans could start to relax today and had we not achieved that win and capitalised upon RFC dropping points at home to Aberdeen then the recriminations over the (lack of) activity in the January window would have been unbearable on scoial media however the manager made key substitutions in the second half and we went on to score 4 goals and continue our 3+ goals a game since the return to league activity following the winter break, but the main chat in this podcast is about the January window.

We are top of the league.  We have won 10 out of the last 10 trophies available and we have the best squad in the country.  Despite all of this fans were anxious in the last few weeks following the Dec 29th defeat and there were strong calls for some experienced players joining the team and that didn’t happen and so Antony Murray joined Harry for a chat about the window.

Enjoy…

Celtic have returned to SPFL action in positive fashion, scoring 9 goals by knocking three past each of Kilmarnock, Ross County and St Johnstone. We have scored more goals and gained more points than all but 4 of the seasons this century after the equivalent number of games and with our progress in Europe and already a domestic trophy in the cabinet we remain on course for another remarkable season.

With all of this the angst and frustration among many in our support is difficult to understand and so I called up @antonymurray25 to review the last 2 domestic games and preview this Sunday’s game against Hamilton.

We don’t discuss the transfer window because that’s for another podcast which will be out very soon.

Enjoy…

2010 – 2019 was the Celtic decade.  It started in an inauspicious manner with us limping along through the season with a failing manager and, 3 months in, a 4-0 thumping by St Mirren meant enough was enough and a change was made.  Neil Lennon took over the reigns on a temporary basis, won 8 league games in a row and was given the job full time.  The decade ended with a manager leaving, Neil Lennon being given the job on a temporary basis, seeing us through to the 8th title in a row and getting the job full time.

In between all of this we has some amazing times, our rivals died, we won 8 titles in a row, we had an invincible season and we have won the last 10 domestic trophies – quite a decade.

With the last ten years being such an amazing time in our history, we decided that we would have a podcast looking back and we’d try to pick out 10 key games/moments/events that really defined the times or were a unique event that set in motion the events to follow but we need your help…

I am joined on the podcast by to experienced Tims who, to paraphrase the song, know their history (Robert and Alan).  Between the 3 of us we come up with roughly 20 defining Celtic moments but we need to compile a list of THE top ten.   

You may love all our proposals but you may have your own ideas.  Whatever, we need your votes so please email podcasts@celticunderground.net or tweet me @harrybradycu ; Eddie @Celticrumours ; or post on Facebook

Enjoy…

We’re still in the limbo-land of the winter break and whilst the players are training in the hotbed of the birth of World Ward III we here at CU Towers thought there needed to be a half year report card for the hoops.  We therefore decided we needed a panel of esteemed football experts to review the season so far and in the best Juke Box Jury fashion ascribe whether it had been a hot or a miss.

After getting various knock backs we dialled up Duncan and Lachie to review the season so far.  It’s broken down into the chunks of transfer window, Europe, League Cup and League.

After we review these the conversation gets into quite a ramble about the transfer window, the players who may move on and the positions the guys think we need to strengthen.

Enjoy…

Happy New Year!

The Celtic Underground podcast will now be entering our THIRD decade of podcasting, we may be getting old and we may be Celtic Da’s but who cares?!?

We have set the pace for football fans podcasts in Scotland and will continue to do so into the 2020s and although our final recorded podcast of 2019 covers one of those exceptionally rare things of the last 10 years (a defeat) it is only one loss in a decade of complete domestic dominance and in a period of winning  domestic trophy after domestic trophy.  The noisy neighbours from the South Side may have one a game for the first time ever at Celtic Park but since they arrived in the top flight we have won EVERY single trophy and here’s to 3 more in 2020.

With our place as the oldest football fans podcast I thought I’d get an old guest who’d not been on for a while - so long he set up a rival podcast…yes it’s Lawrence Donegan.

Lawrence and I review the derby defeat and some of the post game social media nonsense.

Happy New Year and Enjoy…

What a game and what a week.  We have had the over dramatic descriptions of how well they played and how on another day blah, Blah BLAH…the scores on the doors is Celtic 1 - 0 Rangers.  Celtic have won 10 trophies in a row.  The Celtic X Men!

We now know - they had umpteen booked and could have been worse.  The “offside” Celtic goal was either marginally on or marginally off - ie too close to call and Morelos cannot score against us.  What we also know for certain is that Celtic are the dominant force of Scottish football and hype alone will not remove us.

After the game I contacted @LachieMor1 and chatted about the game.  Oh my days.

Enjoy…

The world’s longest running football fans podcast is back with a same day match review following our 4-1 victory away at Ross County.

Following the midweek triumph over Rennes, these are the types of games that have seen us trip up over the years - after a thrilling and successful midweek European tie in front of a full house at Celtic Park it must be quite a come down to go to Dingwall and play ‘County’.  Despite this the current squad showed all their professionalism and romped to a comfortable 4-1 with with a Christie double supported by goals from Rogic and Johnston.

Within an hour of the final whistle I was on Skype with @antonymurray25 to review.

Enjoy…

Today Celtic defeated Livingston by 4 goals to nil. That’s twice I’ve seen them play - they are not a football team, but a bunch of cloggers. A hard physical side who do their best to stop Celtic playing aided and abetted by sympathy reffing. Fair play to Gary Holt, his job is to have Livingstone playing at the highest standard they can and use the rules and refs as they are to achieve this and there will be a number of clubs in Scotland with much higher budgets who aren’t even in the same league as them.

From time wasting inside the first minute to kicking and fouling all game they are awful. From their style of play to their pitch and lack of fans - they sum up all that is wrong with Scottish football.

Anyway - we won and the managers and the enthusiastic Frimpong were available after the game.

Enjoy…

The day after the night before…

Following the historic victory in Rome over Lazio, Neil Lennon had his pre-Motherwell match press conference at Celtic Park today.  It wasn’t much of a pre-Motherwell press conference and more of a post Lazio one.

Neil reflected on the magnitude of the victory and the positive impact he believes it will make on the club, the team and the relationship between the players and the fans.  There is mention of the January window, his thoughts on the draw being far away and a wee bit about playing Motherwell on Sunday.

Enjoy…

Tonight saw Celtic secure a hard won victory over an excellent Lazio team to move top of the Europea League Group at the half way point.

After the game we got the views of Neil Lennon, the Lazio manager and Kris Ajer.

Enjoy…

This week we are joined by Glasgow sport entrepreneur Duncan Smillie.  Owner of the Glasgow Rocks Basketball team, Duncan is also a big Tim and se he again joins us to discuss Celtic and a wee bit about his team.

The bhoys review the Livingston game before quickly moving on to the victory over Ross County.  They discuss plastic pitches, Tom Rogic and injury time before moving on to a preview of the Lazio game on Thursday.  After all of that the guys still find time to discuss The Rocks and Duncan makes the prediction that they will win a trophy this season!

Enjoy…

This week saw the return of European action and a packed Celtic Park witnessed an excellent performance as Celtic beat Cluj an exacted some revenge for the defeat that took us out of Champions League Football this term.

The game saw another goal for Scotland’s premier striker Odsonne Edouard and Mohamed Elyounoussi join Larsson, Brattback and Cadete as people who have scored for and against Celtic in European football.

After such a great performance I called up @hullbhoy and we reviewed the fixture and also has a (very) brief chat about the Livingston game.

Enjoy…

Celtic had to come from behind today in their victory over Kilmarnock.  A well organised Killie team took the lead with their first chance of the game but an Edouard double either side of half time and a Christie goal made sure of the points.

There was still time for what looked like an odd penalty decision for Killie that Fraser Forster saved.

After the game we got the comments from the Celtic and Kilmarnock managers (with Massimo Donatti doing some translating).

Enjoy…

On the first Sunday in September Celtic once again visited Ibrox and as per the bulk of the last few years since the new club arrived in the league, we won.

There had been quite a bit of hype around this game with Rangers having won the pre-season cup of hype and many in the media and among their fans were confidently saying (the same thing as the last 3 years) that this time they really were back and 55 is coming blah blah blah.  Celtic did their talking on the pitch and blew away the hype with a comfortable 2-0 win.

With the need for a podcast I dusted down the mic that hadn’t been used since at least Saturday and got two regulars on - @Hullbhoy and @Antonymurray25 to review the game.

In addition to the game we also discuss whether the summer window was good, bad or middling and we have a brief review of the Europa League Group.

Enjoy….

Friday evening (30th Aug) Celtic confirmed the signing of Mohamed Elyounoussi on a 1 year loan from Southampton.  Signed in June 2018 by Southampton for £16m from Basel, he plays mainly as a winger or number 10.

He has 22 caps for Norway and has played 216 games as a professional scoring 67 goals (2 against Celtic!). 

Whether he features in the Glasgow Derby we shall see however my guess is that he’ll make the bench.

Anyway, here’s another articulate foreign player joining the hoops - here’s hoping he’s part of the famous names who took us to 9, 10 and beyond.

Enjoy…

The last podcast was recorded two domestic league games ago.  Since then we have;

SOLD KT

Scored 12 league goals

got knocked out of UCL

Required extra time to get past Dunfermline

It’s been quite a couple of weeks so we get Antony Murray onto the podcast to review these events and preview AIK Stockholm

Enjoy…

Whilst the international campaign commenced the domestic season commences this weekend against St Johnstone and so it’s time for the Celtic Underground 2019/20 season.

This is our 14th season podcasting to the Celtic faithful and thanks to everyone who listens to and downloads our drivel, whether you’ve been doing it for 14 years (heaven help you) or a new listener.

This week’s podcast features @Harrybradycu @lachiemor1 and @S_J_H1978 as they discuss the successful European campaign to date, the current state of the squad and the chances of attaining a quadruple treble.

Enjoy…

This week the 219/2020 season officially commenced with our first competitive game. As usual it was a UCL qualifier against a team we should, and did, beat comfortably.  It’s frustrating that we need to return to competitive action so quickly however this is principally down to the abysmal performances of the other Scottish teams in Europe over the last 25 years or so.

Anyway, with the 14th season of the CU podcast now officially underway, I dialled up a man who has attended some of the pre-season games to get his impression of the teams start to the season where we hope to equal the 9 - Mr Antony Murray.

Not only can you listen to his views on the podcast, you can tweet him to tell him how much you agree/disagree with his chat @antonymurray25

Enjoy…

That was the season that was and what a season, European football past Christmas, a manager going from hero to zero and a unique treble treble and off the park we saw the passing of two legends of European Football.

With such a momentous season we had to have a multi-guest podcast and Harry was joined by Stephen Wray, Sean Huddleston and Duncan Smillie with apologies from Lawrence Donegan, Kevin Schoefield, St Anthony and Lachie Mor.

On the podcast the bhoys discuss all the key footballing events of the history making season from the end of the previous season’s open top bus tour all the way through to the start of the most recent one.  The transfer windows, the briefings against the board, the briefings against the manager, the players in, the players out, the dropped points and the trophies won…and of course the end of the Brendan Era and the start of the Lenny II era.

It’s two hours of Celtic chat, and it could have been more!

Enjoy…

This week saw Celtic deliver one the most remarkable achievements in our history and certainly perhaps the most amazing domestic achievement of our modern history in attaining a holy trinity of trebles and this was immediately followed by the appointment of Neil Lennon as the new permanent manager at our great club, following on from Brendan Rodgers and returning to the club 5 years after he and the hierarchy parted ways, mutually deciding that enough was enough.

The Trinity of trebles is an amazing feet but the final itself could have been better.  The appointment of Lenny as manager was also not met with much enthusiasm by large sections of the support and that therefore made recording this podcast a challenge.

The podcast commenced with an idea that some like minded Celtic fans would record the type of chat we were having socially, like it and listen.  Don’t like it?  Switch off.  It was never designed to be a formal media although as modern technology has changed so has some people’s attitude to pods like this.  Not us however and therefore the chat is what it is.  Antony and I would prefer we’d picked a different candidate so we discuss our thoughts, express our concerns and state our hopes that we’re wrong and Lenny succeeds.  We shall see.

Enjoy…

So we lost a game of football, and not just any game of football but a game against THEM.  With this defeat there was no option for it but to get Mark Cooper on and put the world to rights.

First up Mark and I discuss the game.  We launch straight into the way the team plays under Lennon and the differences between his and a Brendan team.  That leads into a discussion about the challenges Lennon has running someone elses’ team with their players.

After all the sympathy to Neil we then go head first into the changes that are needed to bring Celtic into the 21st Century in terms of football set-up

Enjoy…

Hail Hail The Celts are here! This is a football fans podcast of the 8, yes EIGHT in a row Scottish champions who are now just 90 minutes from a treble. Yes we’re on our way to Gr8ness and one win away from a Holy Trinity of domestic dominance.

Before we get there we need to do some podcasts so I am joined this week by a man who recalls the last 8 in a row slightly better than me, young St Anthony.

We discuss the Aberdeen game and how after the first goal we knew the title was ours before moving on to team selection for Saturday, managerial chat and a review of the concept of Colts/B Teams being admitted to the lower leagues.

Enjoy…

This week was an emotional one at Celtic Park with the passing of Big Billy and today’s game was never going to be easy.  We also have a team who have been playing since July and a new temporary manager who doesn’t know whether he’ll be in post next season.

Despite the managerial changes amazingly we started today with 6 players who were at the club when Lennon was last here.  A point which perhps highlights the one failing of Brendan - his signing policies.

Anyway we eventually won and it was amazing that the winning goal was scored by our Number 5 when the clock was showing 67 minutes - As someone once said “There’s a fairy tale about this club”

Enjoy…

Today saw the passing of Celtic’s greatest ever Captain, Billy McNeill.  The grandchild of Irish and Lithuanian immigrants Billy forged a unique career and a unique position in the folklore of Celtic and world football.

A one man club as a player from 1957 - 1975 he captained the club in each and every one of the 9 in a row seasons.  He captained Celtic in 2 European Cup finals and in two semi finals.  He managed the team to a European Cup quarter final and to an incredible double in the Centenary Season.  In 132 seasons, the club have one 106 trophies.  Billy McNeil has picked up 31 of them.

In world sport, few athletes are part of iconic moments with fewer still fortunate enough to have one simple image that encapsulates all that they have achieved.   In the moment when Big Billy lifted that trophy; the first Scot, the first Briton representing the first non-Latin side to achieve that accolade a moment was captured that will live with us forever.

Billy McNeill - Goodnight and God Bless

This week saw Celtic snatch victory from the jaws of a bore draw with the late late  LATE show at Dens Park as Edouard scored in the 96th minute to stretch our lead at the top to 10 points and edge us closer still to Gr8ness.

With the title all but in the bag we decided to get Stephen Wray back on the podcast to discuss that Dens victory and then have a review of whether we think Lennon will be the man next season.  In short, mibees aye, mibees naw.

Enjoy…

“Once you’ve played for the Celtic, you’ll always be Celtic.”

This week we move away from the Brendan gossip and back to the usual business.  The team is marching towards Gr8ness with Lennon in charge and we have a podcast featuring 2 Celtic legends - Neil Lennon (with his pre-Dons game press conference) and John ‘Yogi’ Hughes.

Yogi was at Celtic from 1959 to 1971 before moving on to Crystal Palace and the Sunderland.  He was at the club to experience the transformation that took place under Jock Stein and Sean Fallon and his comments on these two are very interesting… not to be missed!

In the last week we’ve had the podcast with ALL the Brendan gossip we first told you about back in August (but few wanted to believe) and then we re-tweeted the links to the 20th Anniversary Fergus podcast (because 4th March this week was the 25th anniversary of Fergus and co sweeping way the old board and commencing the building works for this period or unequalled dominance of the domestic game.

We hope you enjoy our podcasts and find this one as good as all the others.

Enjoy…

What a week!

The last podcast was recorded on Monday night as the Brendan rumours were starting the surface and came out when he’d gone.  During that recording I decided to chat with Lachie about the possibility of Brdoge leaving and was concerned that I sounded too negative…in hindsight I was too positive!

He’s gone and his timing is awful however I seem to be not quite as angry as many fellow Tims.  I think this is down to my resignation last August that he would not be here next season and the expectation that he may not even see out the season (although once he was here past Christmas that fear had evaporated…what do I know?)

Anyway, on the “what do I know” theme I decided to take the audio of Lenny yesterday and then have a wee monologue about what I did know (or at least what I was told by people that I have every faith know), the stuff I discussed on a rival podcast!

I hope it’s not noo boring and that we can start putting this anger to bed.  He may have left like a self centred arsehole but he still won us 7 trophies in a row, filled us with hopes and dreams and had some great football and results.

Enjoy…

This podcast was recorded the night before the day of departure, so we discuss the Motherwell game, preview the Hearts game and in the middle discuss the increasing rumours coming through by text, DM and Whatsapp that something was afoot.  Despite getting the rumours we still couldn’t believe he’d actually go.

We knew he would be leaving in the summer, but couldn’t believe he would leave this close to the end of the season but unfortunately the only thing that matters to Brendan Rodgers is Brendan Rodgers.

No point wasting energy over him, he’s gone.

Here’s to the title and here’s to the treble

Enjoy…

The podcast is back following a momentous week of statements and games.  We’ve had the last-minute Kilmarnock victory which led to the Ayrshire club’s statement on Boyd and seats.  When then had the return tie with the black bat of Valencia and we have the upcoming Sunday fixture against Motherwell.

Interspersed into all of the Celtic stuff, we’ve had the Rangers Killie game where, once again, one club got fortunate decisions which were subsequently overturned once the game was completed and that club had won.  Hmmmm.

Following the Kilmarnock cup replay at Ibrox, Steve Clarke had an “astonishing” rant where he stated the obvious - people who obsess with religious related abuse at football are Neanderthals and Scotland still has a major problem… “astonishing!”  This was then followed up an interview with Barry Ferguson about the questions his kids asked when he was verbally abused.  This was accompanied with a tear jerking picture of his poor kids wearing scarves with anti-Catholic and Ulster Terrorist slogans.  It really hit the right note(!)

Anyway, to mark this auspicious week in Scottish football, we have a new section on the podcast - Statement of the week…

Enjoy

The podcast is back with Hull’s proudest proponent, Hullbhoy himself.  On this week’s podcast we review the Valencia game and preview the Kilmarnock league match.  We discuss how much human error impacted on the Celtic and Valencia performances - that basically Celtic played well for 20 mins and then a series of human errors seemed to spread fear and trepidation through the Celtic ranks.  That when the Valencia goal hit the back of the net, you got the impression the ref could have blow the final whistle there and then and both sets of players would have been quite happy.

The bhoys then move on to the Killie game and the impact of a plastic pitch and a Kilmarnock Cup replay may have on the attitudes of both sets of players.  Consequently both bhoys go for a 2-0 victory to the hoops.  Here’s hoping.

Enjoy

After the last podcast I promised that our audio output would start to return to normal levels and, if I hadn’t had a broken pipe resulting in sh1t ending up all over my hall this podcast would have been out a lot sooner and I’d have had time to go and pick up the St Mirren post game chat. But there’s no point crying over spilt sh1t3 and the podcast is here for your enjoyment.

This week we have St ANthony chatting all things Celtic with St Jnr.

Anyone who follows Saint on twitter will know that when it comes to reviewing the future for the modern team, every silver lining has a cloud but as you can hear, despite his best efforts, such pessimism isn’t quite rubbing off on Saint jnr!

Enjoy…

We’re back!

After some intermittent coverage this season, the podcast is back with a bang for 2019 and like a middle aged man put on a prune diet by his doctor we’ll be more regular than ever through the rest of the season.

MArk and I pick up where we left off, discussing the AEK game and criticising the club for have a poor signing strategy….but this time it’s different.

This time Mark has some facts and stats to back up his position that we should be performing MUCH better in the transfer market.

Mark has done his homework and reviewed our peers across European football and the results are quite stark.   Celtic have the second highest revenue of our peers, Celtic have the second highest wage bill of our European peers.  Unfortunately Celtic have the second worse coefficient of our peers.

Enjoy…

There can be few areas outside the Calton and East End of Glasgow more synonymous with the club than The Gorbals.  Situated just on the south of the Clyde it has been home yo legions of Celtic fans for the 130 years of our club and if you follow @Evergreencsc on twitter you will know that he is THE man to go to when looking to discuss Celtic and the Gorbals. 

Following on from the last podcast with St Anthony discussing Celtic and Govan, he follows it up with a chat about Celtic and The Gorbals with Gordon Cowan.  A fascinating listen I am sure all Celtic fans, whether from The Gorbals or not will have an interest in this podcast.

Enjoy…

It’s podcast time again and this week it is St Anthony who brings along a special guest when he is joined by Sean McDonagh. Sean has been writing online about the history of Celtic fans in Govan after a brake club banner was found from the early 1900s.  Obviouslythis is a topic close to the heart of Govanite Saint however it will no doubt of interest to all Celtic fans who take an interest in the history of our club.

This podcast has been recorded during the best run of domestic form since the Invincible season.  Tonight, as I pull this together, we have thumped Dundee, fresh on the heels of thumping of Hearts at Murrayfield on Sunday.  I don’t know who came up with this forward passing lark but it’s ceryainly transformed the fortunes of the team.

Enjoy…

This week the podcast returns with a guest from long long ago on a podcast far far away….Sean Huddleston,, author of Celtic In The 1980’s - The Lost Decade and sometime academic and sometime football conference organiser.

The bhoys start with reference to Sean’s book about Celtic in the ’80’s and this leads on to a ramble about how our away European form has (in general) never been that good.  From there it somehow moves on to a discussion about social media and it’s uselessness before somehow the bhoys drag the chat back around to Celtic in Europe via anti-Irish bigotry.

It is a truly remarkable ramble that also covers the forthcoming Football Collective Conference which has about 5 tickets left!

Enjoy…

Celtic have now scored 10 goals in just two games after struggling in the early part of the campaign and also at the end of last season. Noticeable by its absence in those two games has been the passing for passing’s sake along the back line and the obvious desire of the players to try and find the forward pass. This more front foot thinking was typified in the first goal when Lustig harried by a Hibs player on the touchline, turned and then turned back to play the ball forward to Forrest. Last month and for the preceding 10 months that would have gone backwards to a centre half.

Hibs looked like scoring twice and scored twice. Celtic looked like scoring 8 times and did so 4. Like most Hibs games from my memories, this was an excellent domestic game of football because Hibs came to win the game which then creates the space for us. It was a really enjoyable game. Here’s to many more like that this season as we march towards title no8.

After the game we had Brendan, Lenny, Eddy and a Hobs player (whose name escapes me).

Enjoy…

This week it is once again St aNthony at the helm and in discussion with a guest.  Following on from the succesful debut of St Anthony jnr on the podcast, Saint decides to go through the generations of Celtic fans to a slightly older contributor.

St Anthony this week is joined by Matt McGlone.  The pair discuss all current Celtic gossip as well as reviewing the two games since the last podcast.  Saint & Matt discuss the 6-0 thumping of St Johnstone and the 3-1 humbling away at Salzburg.  The bhoys also discuss the Brendan to Villa rumour that was going around as well as Brendan’s comments about squad size.

Enjoy…

This week we have a very special new guest.  I’m not going to ruin the surprise in the pre-amble but a clue is that it’s two for the price of one.

Anyway, we have been a bit sparse with the podcasts this season, due in part to having a very busy real life and also because it’s much more fun doing podcasts when the football is fun and it’s fair to say fun has been in short supply since mid summer.  We won against St Johnstone and we won against Aberdeen so hopefully, domestically at least, we’re on an upwards trend.

Anyway I keep promising and it will come - the CU Top Ten podcast will hit iTunes before the end of the season…I promise.

Enjoy…

This week we once again won a Glasgow Derby playing the opposition off the park…it never gets boring, so on the podcast we have the postgame chat from Brendan, Broony, Gerrard and a Rangers player, we also have music from Daniel Boone and Public Enemy - Don’t Believe The Hype AND we have the opinion on Saturday’s game from Celtic legend Stiliyan Petrov.

In addition to the game on Sunday past, Stan also talks about the game this Saturday between his side and a James Milner 11. 

A Match for Cancer' will take place at Celtic Park on Saturday, September 8 with a 2pm kick-off, and it promises to be a special day in Paradise. Every penny raised will be devoted to tackling cancer through three equal beneficiary charities - Celtic FC Foundation, the Stiliyan Petrov Foundation and the James Milner Foundation.

Tickets are priced at £14 for adults and £6 for children and can be purchased online and from the ticket office.

http://www.celticfc.net/news/14810

Celtic thumped Rangers today with a performance that was every bit as convincing as the 5-0 victory last season.  The game was everything that could be expected for those who’ve watched brief bits of Rangers games this season; they concede pocession and look to score on the counter or from hoof’s up the park by McGregor.  They conceded pocession in spades today and the first time they constructed an attack in the game resulted in our goal as they became streteched and their lack of pace at the back was cruelly exposed.

After the game, Brendan spoke with the press and also gave his final word on the Dembele debacle.

Enjoy…

The new season is upon us and the 13th season of the Celtic Underground podcast is also here. 

We’ve had a summer break and the CU Top Ten podcast will be up soon along with a review of the omnishables transfer window, meantime we need to get going and thump The Huns so we have St Anthony and Average Joe Miller review the life and times of Not The View and also discuss the first game against them of the new season.

Enjoy…

This week saw the return of domestic competitive football and Celtic hosted Livingston on Flag Day.  We saw the return of the usual stuff - sympathetic refereeinginside the first 5 mins when Celtic were denied a stonewall penalty, an opposition side sitting in stretching 6 - 7 men across the edge of the 18 yard box and Leigh Griffiths trying just too hard when he came on as a sub…oh and there was the switch off by Jozo to allow the opposition to score.

After the game we heard from Brendan, Kenny Miller and then Tom Rogic.

Enjoy…

The season is over but the talking never stops and of course how can we not stop talking about a double treble season?  In order to fill the void of the summer we have the special guests, season reviews and player ratings to go through and so first up is the Celtic Underground End of Season Review and with such a season we need all hands on deck to discuss it and so joining Harry are Mark Cooper, Stephen Wray, St Anthony and Antony Murray.

The bhoys chat starts with the transfer window and we have review of who we signed and whether it was good bad or indifferent.  From there we move to the European campaign, reliving both the highs and the lows and the bhoys agree that the positives outstrip the negatives and that sometimes we have to be realistic about our position in modern football and from there we review the domestic season.

We round off with your questions and then a chat about what unique thing we’ll achieve next season.

After this podcast we will have the Celtic Underground Top Ten and voting has now opened and you can submit your vote by emailing podcasts@Celticunderground.net

Enjoy…

This week we are joined by the Celtic CEO.  Yes big Pedro himself sat down on the joint CU & ByTheMin Couch to discuss all things Celtic.  The chat is wide ranging and we could have covered one hundred and one subjects, but you know that you’ve got 30 minutes with Peter so you have to be selective so Paul & I from ByTheMinCeltic decided we should focus on the future and specifically those matters that impact most on our quality of football enjoyment.

The chat was originally organised for February but circumstances got in the way so it was opportune that the reorganised date was after we had created history with our Back to Back treble.

We enjoyed the chat, we hope you do.

Enjoy…

This week we have a podcast guest returning after 6 years!  You will recall the days of Eddie Pearosn presenting when I was just a regular guest along with many others including one Antony Murray.   The problem was when Eddie wandered off to his cave after taking his vows of abstenance and austerity, he took his roladex with him and the contact details of many guests were lost forever…or so I thought.

Stumbling around Europe I recently unearthed Antony begging on the streets of Bratislava and (for a not so small sum) agreed to reappear on the podcast.

Antony last appeared just around the time that the old Rangers died and so we start with a bit of memory lane stuff and that leads us on to a brief review of the bonkers world of Them before getting back onto the meat and bones of the hoops.

In addition to our chat, we also have Brendan, Jack Hendry and Stephen O’Donnel from post the Killie game.  I would also have had Stevie Clarke but for some reason the audio was rubbish.

Enjoy…

This week we celebrate the 7 in a row champions - we didn’t just win it, we won it in style!

Celtic today were absolutely bloody brilliant.  From the very first minute we were up for the challenge, forcing 3 corners inside the first 5 minutes or so and anyone at the game (whatever team they support) would have known at that point that we were going home as Champions however few could have expected the utter destruction we wrought on our opponents.  We destroyed them and were it not for their keeper (and us naturally taking our foot off the gas later in the game) it would have been 7 or 8.

There are so many things that can be discussed about this match in the context of the season and there are loads of things that could be said out the self denial of our opponents but the former is for another day and the latter is of no concern to us.

We were brilliant today and the team gave the fans a title party to remember.  Harry chats this over with Stephen Wray (@CelticRockRoars) and we also hear from Brown, Edouard (and his translator) Callum McGregor and the Blessed Brendan.

Enjoy…

This week I am joined by Stephen Wray to discuss the Hibs game and preview the game against New Rangers.  The diea behind the podcast was to keep it to just those two gmes but with the end approaching and the type of season we’ve had it’s difficult to not meander into a discussion about some of the performances this term and what players will have a “could do better” on their report card.

Despite this discussion on the frustrations of the season we do ove on to preview the game at the weekend and to give out the very latest gossip on McGinn, Gerrard, Clarke, McInnes and anything else we can think of.

We end on our upbeat predictions of scoring 3 or more in a trumphant perfomance that brings home the titel again for Scotland’s most decorated living club.

Enjoy…

This week is a little self-indulgent. It is 15 minutes short of two hours long because we just wanted to revel in the glory of Sunday. Sunday wasn’t just about the score; it was about the manner of our victory. An imperious performance of a team at the top of their game who knew that we were vastly superior to our rivals.

Following last week’s rather somber and critical podcast we had to get Mark Cooper back on to expound on his love of Tom Rogic and we got Hullbhoy also on to assist Mark and I with our Callum McGregor and Olivier Ntcham love-in. In addition we also take a sneaky peak into the other to marvel out how utter crap they are. To quote Hullbhoy, they are just rotten!

This podcast talks through Sunday, wonders at their ineptitude and looks forward to the Hibs game and hopefully becoming champions.

Enjoy…

This week regulars Harry & Mark Cooper are joined by a man who is no stranger to the Celtic podcast world but is a debutant on The Celtic Underground podcast, Mr Stephen Wray.

We went into the podcast to discuss the lesser quality performances of the team this season and admitted that, considering we are just 3 wins from completing a double treble that it may seem a little negative however hopefully it’s just honest analysis.

Following on from this we have a brief chat about the SPFL fixture farce and a quick preview of the game against Them.

Enjoy…

Today Celtic came up against Ross County and in front of a sold out Celtic Park (bar some empty seats of non attending season book holders) they ran out comfortable 3-0 victors.

It was not Ross County’s day.  They gave away a silly penalty, their captain jumped on Scott Browns balls and gpt sent off and their keepr had a back spasm which resulted in him having to leave the park.

From a Celtic perspective the main players are coming back.  Armstrong had a great game and was deserved man of the match, Bain was solid on the few occassions he was called upon and Dedryck Boyatta was subbed at Half Time when not injured.

It was all good fun and here is the post match chat.

Enjoy…

This week Saint Anthony is joined by a very special guest - Rosemary Burns.  Rosemary discusses her work with the Tommy Burns Skin Cancer Trust and of course life and football with Tommy.  The Tommy Burns Skin Cancer Trust was founded in 2009 by the Burns family after the Celtic legend lost his battle with skin cancer on 15th May 2008.

This year will be the 10th anniversary of Tommy’s passing and the Celtic Graves Society will also be marking his passing with a ceremony to celebrate his life and all supporters are invited along to Linn Cemetery on Saturday 12th May.  That will be trophy weekend so the details will be released in due course.

Enjoy…

This week I am joined by two of the best football coaches working in Scottish football today - Mr Stevie Woods and Mr John Kennedy.

The two gents were generous enough to set aside an hour of their time at Lennoxtown to discuss all things football.  They start with a review of their careers, their earliest memories of Celtic and what it felt like to make their pro debuts.  We then move on to their current roles as coaches.  John dispells the myth that he is just a defensive coach (the team defends and attacks as one unit so apparently there’s no such thing) and Stevie provides an insight into what value a goalkeeping coach adds.

The podcast could have lasted another hour so if I didn’t ask your burning question apologies but time ran out.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, so did they and i hope you will too.

Enjoy…

Sunday sees another Glasgow Derby game and this one is againts the newets Glasgow team in top flight football, the one who have never beaten us over 90 minutes.   Their recent status might explain why, despite having a large support, they cheer getting the cup draw against the giants of Scottish football.

Brendan also has quite a good record against this team with 8 games played, 6 victories and two draws.  I ronically the two draws have come at home however he was twice managed to have a team score 5 goals in a game aganist Them.

We were hoping for a longer podcast this week however work, life and cancellations curtailed the planned podcast.  That was followed by the hope of a 20 minute chat with St Anthony but as you will hear, we were at the Glasgow Harp 30th Anniversary dinner and stepped outside for a chat, then two drunk people decided to stand 10 feet apart and have a shouted coversation.  Then we went outside and it was f’n freezing.  It basically turned into - what would you’re team be and what will the score be.

In the end we have a 20 minute pod, with Brendan and me asking my first ever question at a press conference (because I was fed up with Rangers chat).

Enjoy…

Celtic defeated Morton 3-0 on Saturday to progress to the Semi-finals of the Scottish Cup.  Apart from a sprightly first 15 minutes the game was all Celtic however the first half may have had dominance, but it was pretty dull and passive football.  I’m not sure it comes across in the audio but it was clear in the press conference that Brendan was very unhappy with the first half performance and I understand he made that pretty clear in the dressing room at half-time.

He made changes to the side and once again, with Edouard playing just off Dembele, the team suddenly looked a lot more threatening. 

Following the tie Compper, Brendan and Jim Duffy were the people at the post game press conference (Marvin being honest enough to admit he was rusty for the first part of the game).  As this is uploaded we know that we will once again take on Scottish football’s newest top flight club.  Hopefully Brendan will continue his semi-final record against that club.

Enjoy…

Following the postponement of the Dundee game midweek and the freezing temperatures across the central belt, there had been an expectation among many that the Morton cup game this Saturday would be off.  But it isn’t so we needed a podcast.

There has been quite a bit of debate online about whether the game should proceed and I was in that camp however the roads and pavements around Celtic Park have been much worse this season for other games and the police, SFA and Celtic have agreed the game should be played so here we are.  We have my wee ramble followed by chat from Brendan and Kristopher Ajer

Enjoy…

This week we have another Podcast Xtra with the thoughts of Brendan and the St Johnstone guys following the borefest at Celtic Park this Sunday.

We have the Brendan post match thoughts along with the comments of the St Johnstone manager and a player who I’ve no Idea who he is.  The fact that ST Johnstone have players and I don’t know who they are, that not one of them would get a starting game for us and that every player in our team would start for them says A LOT more about pur performance that anything I could say on this podcast.

What I do do on the pod is have a little rant about sympathy reffing of wee teams in Scotland.  We were crap today and the ref was not the reason however I am getting fed up with fouls being given but cards not and the consequences of this bad refereeing habit.

Anyway, here’s hoping Thursday night makes today’s bore worthwhile.

Enjoy…

This past Tuesday saw one of the most sparkling performances of the team over the past few months.  A young team with 5 Brendan signings starting and 7 Brendan signings playing at some point, we had a host of players 23 and under and I’m sure at one point the most spoken language on the park was French!  Having won the game by half-time the second half wasn’t quite  as exciting but if it was a foretaste of the remainder of the campaign…bring it on.

Following that Hearts game, the following night was the end of the January window and for a change we were involved right up until the final moments with the completion of the Hendry move and the Bain 6 month loan for goalkeeping cover.  With all that exciteent we just had to produce a podcast and of course it had to be with our go-to guy in South America Mark Cooper.

Mark Cooper and I discuss the weather in South America, the performance against Hearts, the January window and just where in the world we could shop to obtain best value.

Enjoy…

Regular followers of me on social media will know that I have been trying to get a memebr of the SNP to come on the podcast to provide a counter position on the OBFA.  We have had James Kelly MSP who is proposing the repeal of the Act and we’ve had people from FAC on a couple of times but depsite a couple of fallen through promises no-one from the SNP…until now.

Anyone with a passing interest in the legislation and online will be aware of John.  He’s an abrassive character online but was not at all like that when I met with him. 

As you will hear on the podcast I decided to keep with my regular conversational style on the pod to get to the motivation behind the act and I found John far more conciliatory in accepting the faults than expected.  Indeed I was never going to have a chat where he would have a St Paul moment and suddenly see that those against the act have been right all along but his acceptance that the Act was rushed, is ambiguous, has may faults and doesn’t embrace all aspects of prejudice in Scotland - espcially walks, suprised me.  What frustrated me was that despite accepting ALL of that he will still be voting to keep it.

Enjoy…

The Offensive Behaviour At Football act - a more useless piece of legislation I’ve yet to come across, but that’s not my opinion, that’s the view of lawyers, judges, civil liberty campaigners, minority rights groups and of course the evidence of our own eyes and ears and the evidence of government statistics.  If it was meant to stop a problem it has completely failed. 

Regular listeners will know my issues with OBFA - one is that the legislation was not needed - we had laws for dealing with racism and sectarianism and behaviour likely to cause trouble.

It’s not very good - we’ve had to train the police what is and isn’t offensive so that they can arrest people and they are the only people being offended.

It tries to wrap up societies ills - if we have offensive behaviour at football it will exist in society as a whole so why try to wrap it up in a nice bundle and say the issues are all a football one.

I could go on but surely better to have someone at the heart of matters discuss so we have Paul Quigley from Fans Against Criminalisation.

Enjoy and then please take action… www.celtictrust.net

It’s January and the winter break so sureley we’ve got nothing to talk about….DON’T YOU BELEIVE IT!  We’ve got loads and loads so who better to get on than the man who could start a fight in a telephone box Mr Lawrence Donegan. 

Lawrence is a man of many talents  and many of you will know him from his role as the argumentative host of the ByTheMinCeltic podcast whilst others will know him simply as the guru of the ByTheMin empire.  For some he’s a great golfing journalist and for others he’s the basist who made Lloyd Cole and the Commotions and the Bluebells were never the same after he left.  For others he’s just that Celtic guy on twitter.

Whatever you know him as, I know him as a guy passionate about the hoops and so I thought it was about time he came back on the podcast for a state of the nation discussion so between us we take 90 minutes to discuss the Rangers game, the season so far, the transfer rumours we’ve heard (which are mainly about sales) and then our expectations for the rest of the campaign, oh and there is a bit of “In my day” but it’s in an ironic fashion…honest.

Enjoy…

Today, Friday 5th January, Celtic completed their second signing of the January transfer window with the capture of Lewis Morgan.  The 21 year old former Rangers youth player has signed on a 4.5 year contract and will stay at St Mirren for the remainder of this season under the guidance of Jack Ross.

A two footed winger, Celtic have high hopes for the youngster who becomes the first Scottish player to sign for Brendan Rodgers.

Enjoy…

On Saturday 23rd December Celtic defeated the second best team in Scotland 3-0.  The first half was tight but once Celtic scored there was only ever going to be one winner.

After the game Kristopher Ajer, Brendan Rodgers, Mark Reynolds and Derek McInnes spoke to the press.

Enjoy…

Following the 2 goal victory over Partick Thistle the Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers spoke with the press.  He gave his opinion on the game, the way the players improved through the match and also gave some post match comments about the Thistle player who thumped the ball into the crowd.

Following Brendan Alan Archibald gave his post game thoughts and then finally there was the well groomed and lovely haired Stuart Armstrong.

That will be our final podcast out before Christmas so may all of us at Celtic Underground wish you and your loved ones a very merry Christmas.

Enjoy…

The past week has seen Celtic lose a two goal defecit to Hibs (a game we should have won by 5 or 6) followed by the Europa League Draw, followed by a FREEZING victory over Hamilton and then all rounded off with a lovely Christmas letter to all season book holders from the club.

With such an action packed week we’ve already squeezed a podcast extra in but have also decided to get @LachieMor1 back on to review the week.

Just before uploading the podcast I asked for cover versions or great intro’s on Twitter and was bombarded.  I have noted all and will get to them all.  Meantime I picked the request from @Hullbhoy for a Sinead O’Connor song and went for her cover of Don’t Cry For Me Argentina (should have saved for @markocooper) and Los Colorados cover of Katie Perry.  It’s quite unique!

Enjoy…

The slump continues as Celtic reach 69 games unbeaten in domestic football.  At this rate we’ll be slumping ourselves to back to back trebles!  Following on from completely dominating the game against Hibs but losinga  2 goal lead we had the visit of Hamilton.  An excellent strike and a Jozo gift almost lead to Hamilton getting two goals in this game too but in truth this was a game that would only ever have one winner.  Ntcham was excellent again and Edouard had some good chances that he just couldn’t quite convert.

After the game we had Brendan Rodgers, James Forrest and Martin Canning chat in the media conference.

For music we have Morcombe and Wise and a cover of Kings of Leon.

Enjoy…

Tuesday night was a pivotal game in our season.  Provided we didn’t lose by 3 or more goals we could enjoy European football after Christmas and this was achieved but perhaps not in the way we would have liked…but we’re there.

Following the complaint by Mark Cooper that he always gets the graveyard shift of a post Euro defeat I decided to get another guest on this weeks podcast and so we have Lachie Mor.  As the podcast was recorded we received breaking news about the basket case of another Glasgow Club and so we have a wee laugh for a minute or two at that too!

Music this week is from The Life of Brian and Madness.

Enjoy….

Well that was the PSG double header then…12-1.

We all knew we would get beaten by the most expensive team ever and whilst none of us like heavy defeats, to channel my inner half glass full guy, there were some positives to take from that game…not many, but more than the home leg.

Immediately following the game i decided to ring up my pal Mark in Argentina in an attempt to pick the bones out of the performance.  We both decided that there was no point in analysing the game on a goal by goal basis and trying to pick out who was at fault.  we lost, let’s move on, learn what lessons we can and win on Sunday.

The music this week in, at the front end, expected - it’s Atmic Kitten with their cover of the Lustig song.  At the end of the podcast it’s the Nirvana cover of the Bowie classic The Man Who Sold The World.

Enjoy…

This week I am joined by St Anthony in a chat that was supposed to be about our marvellous 100 yr record breaking achievement but in typical Celtic Underground Podcast fashion it went on a meander.

We started with the Anfield Wrap (neither of us could remember the name) briefly touched on the winning run and then got onto the meat and bones of the team and the challenges of team building.  It finished with Saints Ross County preview and has a few mentions of Lawrence Donegan in between.

In recognition of this weeks Country Music Awards the covers have a country fell and also are two generations  apart.  We have Harry Styles covering Girl Crush and Ray Stevens from 1975 covering Misty in a Country Music style.

Enjoy…

This week Harry is joined by Guardian Football and Golf correspondent Ewan Murray.  If you pick up your copy of the Guardian at the local paper you will be aware of Ewan for his coverage of the major games in Scottish football and perhaps have worked out that he is a Jambo.  If you’re aware of Ewan from his online presence you will either like him or loathe him or see him simply as a “hurting Hun”.

I normally can’t be bothered with people who occassionally take to trolling on twitter but in Ewan’s case I make an exception and must admit I find his interaction with many quite amusing.  Ewan and I have a very long ramble through his career and then onto Scottish football.  We recorded this just after the loss at home to Bayern so that performance is covered as is Hearts, their new stadium, Pedro, SEVCO coverage and…Airdrie.  It’s all explained when you listen.

The music this week is cover versions of a Bee Gees 1971 song and a Stevie Wonder classic.  We have the Rev Al Green version of How Can You Mend A Broken Heart and As by George Michael and Mary J Blige.

Enjoy…

Celtic have fanzines older than some top flight clubs - Not The View is 30!

For fans under the age of 40 it’s always been there but for those of us of a certain age it was an essential part of Celtic culture growing up.  Perhaps it was the arrival of Souness at Rangers that spawned it or perhaps it was just luck but with everything that happened at Celtic in the first 7 years of its existance NTV was essential reading.

Without NTV perhaps Celts For Change may not have happened.  Certainly without NTV you wouldn’t be listening to this.  It is an essential part of our modern history and St ANthony met up with some of the guys to discuss the 30 years of history.

Prior to the NTV chat we have Brendan pre-Bayern game and Dedryck post Bayern.  Enjoy…

This weeks podcast extra is Brendantastic.  We start off with a brief chat before Brendan went on stage for his book launch at the Armadillo in Glasgow and then we have both Brendan and Leigh in fine fettle after the 1-1 home draw against Kilmarnock.

There is irritation in from Leigh about the failure to get a win and frustration in Brendan’s body language but none of us will complain if we get another treble but more importantly if resting players for ushc games facilitates Europe past Christmas.

Enjoy…

Sorry for the break for the past few weeks but we’ve been busy but we’re back.  A football fans podcast from the guys behind The Celtic Underground and now in our 12th season possibly the greatest time in those 12 years to be a fans of the hoops and maybe longer.  Officially the best football fans in the world, we support a great team that is also in a different league to the rest of Scottish football.

Since the last podcast we’ve defeated Hibs to reach the first final of the season, bossed the 2nd best team in Scotland on their own patch and moved close to European football after Christmas.  With all of this (and the sacking of Pedro and construction of a 1960’s office block by Hearts) there was so much to chat about we needed two guests - Mark Cooper and Hullbhoy.

The music this week is Scott Bradlee’s Post Modern Jukebox with a cover of Shake it Off and Morcombe and Wise.  Ohh and it’s the Basque Atletic Bilboa and not the Castillian Athletico Madrid.

Enjoy…

Following the comfortable 2-0 victory in our second Glasgow Derby of the season (after a more tightly contested game against Glasgow’s second club at Firhill) we now have perhaps our most important Champions League game of the season coming up.  With such an important fixture I thought I’d continue our new podcast guests with a foreign based journalist, from Airdie, working for a French news agency.

New music comes from Tuvband and Mark Sharp.

Enjoy…

We Battered Them

Make no mistake, whilst this wasn’tanother 5-1 victory we once again showed, on their patch, that the newest version of Rangers Football Club are a million miles away from competing with Celtic.  Not only are they a million miles away from competing with Celtic but as today’s league table shows, they’re quite a way from being the second or even 3rd best team in Scotland.

Audio was recorded at the game to try and capture the emotion of the day and then I dialled up Henrik Vegetable on the way home to try and capture the joy of the supporters in the immeidate aftermath of the game (so excuse the audio as the podcast is recorded in the car on the way back).

Rangers couldn’t cope with our movement in the first 15 minutes and were nothing after the 2nd goal - their heads went down and our superior fitness told.  Yes, we are 35 - 40 minutes fitter than them.  That is a huge gulf.

Enjoy…

This week Michael McCourt of The Celtic FC Foundation joined us to discuss the new fund raising initiative the Hail Hail Trail.  Time to coincide with our 130th Birthday on 6th November, Michael explains how everyone, everywhere can get involved in this 130 mile walk over a 6 week window - listen in and see what you can do (already 2 sistsers in San Francisco have signed up).  Prior to Michael we have Brendan’s press conference following the Ross County game.

The Covers this week are Mayssa Karaa covering the Jefferson Airplae classic White Rabbit and then we have Adele’s cover of Steeldrivers If It Hadn’t been For Love.

Enjoy…

The Champions League is returning to Celtic Park and we will have a team with over £800m worth of talent gracing the green green grass of home… and PSG are not too bad either (boom boom).

Prior to the UCL first group stage game, there was the usual round of press conferences and we managed to get the audio from Brendan and Olivier Ntcham pre-game.  There is a wee bit of the translators in there and also if it sounds like Olivier is answering some questions with a French accent & some with a Scots one, it’s because when asked a question in French he replied in French and therefore we have the translator answer only.

With regards to the music covers this week, the first one is from @Joebloggscity with the Flying Lizards and Money (which I thought was apt) and the second is from Derek McLean suggesting Elvis Costello & The Attractions ‘(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace Love & Understanding - a Nick Lowe cover.  Apparently it’s Derek’s wife’s favourite all time song.

Enjoy…

With the wonderful nature of modern social media and without any overhyping from the club, fans have managed the make the return of Patrick Roberts the signing coup of the last few seasons.  That’s not to say it’s a bad thing, just a wonderful way the fans have whipped up the fervour on this.  As we pull this audio together it’s looking like another French translator may be required at the club, but we’ll see.

This is the audio from the #PR7 press conference and some exclusive chat we were able to grab with him at the end.

Enjoy…

The end of summer is signaled by the Champions League Draw.  It is the moment when Europe’s elite are drawn together for nights of excitement under the lights and today we got glamour and and possible hope for Europe past Christmas.

Harry spoke with Hullbhoy and the two discuss the draw and how we got there with the victory over Astana.  we also hear from assistant boss Chris Davies and Kieran Tierney and Olivier Ntcham.

Cover versions were suggested by Sean Hamilton and Derek McLean with Waterloo sunset by The Jam and I Saw Her Standing There by Elton John.

Enjoy…

So close you can almost touch it.

Wasn’t Wednesday fantastic?  Reaching this round of Champions League qualification is very special.  We know we have European football until Christmas but these two games will determine whether that in the Champions League or the Europa League.  The anthem starts, the nerves jangle and the game gets going for a crucial double header.  There was much debate on whether the sigings had been enough but Brendan had faith that the Invincibles squad is good enough and in Brendan we trust - a 5-0 hammering!

For music we had to have something that recognised the UCL atmosphere so Cum on Feel The Noize (Oasis cover of the Slade song) and I am The Walrus (again Oasis covering, this time the Beatles).

It’s Harry chatting with Hullbhoy - Enjoy…

CU Xtra - Brendan & Astana Manager

If you thought only Colonel Gaddafi held press conferences in a tent then you’ve not been to Celtic Park on a Champions League night.

Following the stunning 5-goal victory we had the press conferences.  I expected the defeated coach to say a few words and go.  Unfortunately he was first in and he talked.  And the transaltions were long!

To avoid the pain I swapped around the order and we have Brendan followed by the Astana Manager.  as best possible I edited out the translations.

Enjoy…

This weeks podcast features Danny wilson, Franz Ferdinand St Anthony and Harry Brady - quite a collective!

St joins Harry to discuss the great start the the campaing with the thumping of Hearts in the league and then Kilmarnock in the league cup.  we discuss who played well and our thoughts on various players but are stunned mid podcast as we discover the startling news that Rangers have been drawn AWAY in the League Cup…

The cover versions this week are from Franz Ferdinand with Bowie’s Sound & Vision and the some more Danny Wilson with the Abba classice Knowing Me Knowing You.

Enjoy…

Saturday saw the opening game of the new season with the league flag unfurled for the 6th consecutive year and the umpteenth year if we discount the cheating years.  After the game Jon Daly, Leigh Griffiths, Christophe Berra and Brendan Rodgers spoke with the press.  We couldn't be arsed getting in to hear Daly and therefore missed the newsworthy chat!

Anyway, here's the others who took part.  PS - The hearts media guy has a weird haircut.  It looks like he cut the fringe himself after a night on the lash!

This weeks podcast is all about the finances of Celtic - is there scope for growth or are we all maxed out?

We know that the only thing that matters in football is winning on the pitch but that is determined by the quality of player and quality of manager at the club and THAT is largely determined by the money you have to spend, specifically when it comes to the Champions League and European Football in general. With the draw for Europe pending I therefore wanted to speak with two Tims who could give an insight to the finacial climate within which we operate and to ascertain if we could squeeze an extra £10m or so that might push us over the edge and into regular UCL last 16 territory.

Alan and Robin know their finances and are worldly wise so who better to have this chat with?

Enjoy…

There is nothing better after a nail biting game to be able to listen to some Celtic chat, whoever is producing it.  There is nothing worse after a defeat than recording said Celtic chat so my night was on a knife edge.  Not only with the Celtic game but whether I would be having an enjoyable or frustrating podcast chat with Mark Cooper.  Fortunately it was the former.

Mark Cooper and I discuss the victory over Rosenborg that guarantees European football to Christmas and we discuss the possibility that that football will take place in the Champions League - we hope and expect it will.

The music is - for intro A Forest by The Cure and for play out the cover version of The Patriot Game by The Bluebells.

Enjoy…

This past week has seen the feel good factor kicked the the baws at Celtic Park with the stramash over the Green Brigade followed by the Rangers Fraud whitewash and then the lack lustre home performance against Rosenborg.  The Rosenborg game was played after this podcast was recorded and this is actually part 2 of the long chat Hullbhoy and I had about all things Celtic earlier in the week.

Part 1 has already been uploaded and covers the football and the supreme court decision.  This podcast is all about the Green Brigade, their banner and their subsequent ban.  We tried to not make this adversarial and discuss the issues at hand.

Enjoy…

So, what do we have to talk about….Harry and Hullbhoy pondered that question and the chat quicker meandered into 2 hours of Celtic chat so we’ve decided that this should be cut down into two podcast - one mainly football and one mainly banners.  This is mainly football, with a bit of what to do with cheats.

The bhoys discuss the recent Linfield victory and the forthcoming tie against Rosenborg but as this podcast was being recorded the SPFL made some more noises about letting cheats go free so Hullbhoy and Harry also discuss that.  If you want banners, bans and brigades discussions - along the corridor, third door on the left.

The cover songs this week are Oasis Cum on Feel The Noize and Scott Bradley’s Post Modern Jukebox covering Creep.

Enjoy…

Tonight (as we record this) Celtic were on the reciving end of a 5-0 defeat to PSG.  I expected to lose so I’m not too down because I believed that this group would always come down to the head to heads between ourselves and Anderlecht for European football after Christmas.

Mark & I therefore discuss the game and highlight our flaws, but hopefully in not a too negative way.  Personally my biggest fear is the consequences of the idiot who came onto the park and the hope that this doesn’t result in a stand closure or worse.  Here’s hoping.

We have two new music tracks for you.  My Green Machine and Ecletic Electric by Bluevale St.

Enjoy…

The world famous Celtic Underground Top Ten is finally here.

Celtic are about to kick off in the first competitive game in season 2017-18 and so we thought it about time that we finally unveil who you, the Celtic Underground podcast public voted for in the top 10 players of season 2016-17.

We pulled together some of the team and we all sat around a Skype mic and ran through that ten. Lachie Mor, Mark Cooper, Saint Anthony and Harry reviewed and discussed the ten along with the Samaras Award for top moment. So who won?
No spoilers here, you’ll need to listen all the way through.

Enjoy…

David Friel is a former journalist at The Celtic View and has previously written a Celtic Book - The Century Bhoys.  If that wasn’t enough to put him off David has taken the bravery pills and dived into the world of football authors again to write about the Invincibles.  We have a copy of the next book to give away and the question is at the end of the podcast.

David tells us about the book and that leads into a discussion about the marvellous past 12 months and specifically what makes Brendan so special.

The music is a tribute to Tony Hadley leaving 80’s band Spandau Ballet and also following my comments on the intro to Superstition last week, Andy Gronneberg suggested Waterfront - so there you go Andy.

Enjoy…

The big talking point in Scottish football is the Supreme Court decision which confirms the scale of the Rangers cheating during the latter half of the calamitous David Murray era.  We will no doubt have a detailed podcast on that soon but one key point to know - The top clubs DO have a large say in the actions of the football authorities.  Pressure from Celtic, Aberdeen and perhaps Hibs & Hearts would result in a judicial review of the LNS decision.  Celtic have made an important statement on this.  The silence of those other clubs is deafening.

The role of fans will now be vital.  We await fans of clubs like Aberdeen, Hibs and Hearts making sure their clubs follow Celtic lead.  Meantime we have our chat on BBC GMS with Graeme Spiers.

Enjoy...

This week Harry is joined by Martin McCardie…you may not know his name but you will be aware of his work.  A writer and producer on River City, Martin has also starred in, written and produced many well know works on Scottish TV and also written and starred in Scottish plays.  Martin is here because he has also re-written the ply Lions of Lisbon, 25 years on from its debut to fit for its 50th anniversary.

This is a fascinating podcast for anyone who loves Celtic and anyone who’s thinking of getting into play writting or acting.  Oh and also tells a wee story that left me speachless about Mo Johnstone still being a Celtic fan…!

Enjoy…

When Brendan arrived we knew that season 2016/17 was going to be something special, but no-one could have foreseen just how wonderful it was.  Few if any of us will ever see a team go the entire domestic season in Scotland unbeaten and in the process pick up every domestic trophy with the youths chipping in too.

The Celtic Underground team always peruse the key moments from seasons past and this year is no different so Harry is joined by Hullbhoy and Mark Cooper to discuss the key games from last season that saw us start and finish the domestic campaign with thrilling 2-1 victories away from Celtic Park.

Of course we do not discuss whether, having only drawn 4 games domestically and beating the 2 best team in Scotland on 6 occasions we should be further ahead than we are over a team we thumped 5-1 in two games because that would be silly!

Enjoy...

In 2012 our greatest rivals, Rangers Football Club entered administration, they never exited it.  They limped along, finished the season and died.  The story of that death is a decades long story of cheating in the vain attempt to compete with Celtic.  This is a podcast about that cheating.

As most of you will know, the blame for the death of Rangers was laid at the door of Craig Whyte by the fans of the that club and the media.  Such was the reach of the established order that when poor business practices led to the clubs death, fans git the courts to chase after Whyte.  His case was damning on that decision with no need for a defence case.  He won just from the evidence of the prosecution, but we don’t really care about that. Pertinent to Celtic was the confirmation during the trial that people within Rangers pursued an active policy to defraud all of our game. 

So desperate were those in charge to keep their club going with largess rather than living within their means that they cheated and defrauded to obtain a European license.  They nearly got away with it too.

This podcast sets out where we are now that the fraud has been confirmed and is about what could happen next.

Enjoy…

his week Saint Anthony returns with another reflection on a Celtic life in former left back Mark Reid.  When I was growing up the Celtic full back pairing was Andy Lynch at left back and Danny McGrain at Right Back.  This then changed to see Alan Sneddon come in with Danny moving over to the left.  Again that changed and our guest arrived allowing the world’s best right back into his natural position.

Over the years left back has been a challenging position for the hoops with younger fans spoiled by the likes of Tierney and Emilio.  Fans of my generation will no doubt have a soft spot for Mark Reid who was rather an unsung hero of the ‘80s.

For it was then that he made nearly 200 appearances for the club, winning several trophies including two league championships in an exciting and talented Hoops side.

However, with his first-team chances becoming more limited, the full-back elected to leave and join Charlton Athletic. As someone who had spent his entire career in Paradise, emerging from the club’s youth set-up, this was a difficult decision but one which he would ultimately reap the rewards from.

Reid helped the London side reach the old First Division and he got the opportunity to face some of the top teams and players in England of that era, staying there for six years before returning to Scotland in 1991.

After an injury-plagued two seasons with St Mirren, he decided to call time on his playing days and he has since carved out a successful career as a driving instructor.

Enjoy…

It’s summer time so we have something a wee bit different on this week’s podcast…basketball.  Now don’t worry we haven’t chucked our principles, our sport and and our game in the bin.  This is the Celtic Underground Podcast so obviously there has to be a Celtic angle to this and there is (thank goodness I hear you say).

This week Harry is joined by part owner of the Glasgow Rocks basketball team Duncan Smillie.  Duncan is in business with David Low running the Glasgow basketball franchise.  The team play on our doorstep and both men are massive hoops fans (that’s hoops of the green and white variety) so why not have a chat about our near neighbours?

There’ll be more podcasts along soon - old players, Res 12, The Lions of Lisbon play, the CU Season Review and the CU Top 10.  The close season isn’t long enough!

Enjoy…

The WORLD FAMOUS Celtic Underground Top Ten is here.  It’s time to vote!

Yes the Top Ten is back again and it’s your opportunity to cast your vote for the Celtic elite.  The podcast gives you a reminder of the runners and riders and also a reminder of past glory days and those more forgetable seasons.

This year we also have a new award - the Samaras Award for that unforgaetable moment in the season that just made it perfect to be a Celtic fan - the final whistle in Israel, the Lustig Goal at Ibrox, the Simunovic tackle on Miller, the Senderos slide or that Rogic winner.

All votes count, this is not a first past the post election.  Our STV methodology means that the best rise to the victory podium.

Enjoy and get voting podcasts@CelticUnderground.net

The InVIncibles have their final game - the final chapter in a remarkable season.  Celtic Football Club are just 90 minutes away from finishing an emotional year with an incredible achievement - completing an entire season unbeaten domestically and in the process picking up all possible domestic trophies - a treble of senior honours and matching the Lions on the domestic front by also bagging the Glasgow Cup.

Harry is joined by Hullbhoy to preview the final and discuss the fantastic year.  We also have chat with Boyatta, Gordon and Roberts before closing out with some audio from the Hydro.

Enjoy…

It’s the night before and what else could we possibly do but release a podcast in tribute to one of the most remarkable achievement in all of Scottish sport.  25th May 1967 is a date written into the folklore of our club but for those of us under 50 it is only something we have read about or watched on video.  Our older fans were lucky enough to experience it so we thought it essential that we ask our own Lachie Mor for his memories.

Fresh faced and rosey cheeked, the 19 year old Lachie was at college down in Manchester but he made the treck back to Glasgow to watch the game at home.  And this is that story.

With one or two other bits of audio you might recognise (including a posh Archie) Enjoy…

inVIncible

You will tell your grandchildren that you were there, that you saw Celtic win the league without loosing a game.  Wonderful.

This week we hear from Brendan Rodgers and Leigh Griffiths immediately after the Hearts victory.  Leigh still had the mud on his boots at the press conference whereas Brendan had spent quite some time on the park before the press conference commenced but it was all good.  Brendan talked a lot about being invincible, infrangible and Leigh talked about which boss is the best kisser!  As for Mark and I?  We just meander and ramble this way and that.

Enjoy...

This week Harry is joined by St Anthony, fresh from his trip to the hospital.  Many have wondered what part of his body Saint had enhanced...we couldn't possibly comment!  After discussing how difficult it was to have a hospital visit sandwiched between two humpings of a team from Ibrox, Harry & Saint then go on to discuss the victory over Aberdeen before a more mundane discussion around the parking proposals at Celtic Park, the lack of thought that surrounds the proposal and the possible impact.

After this chat the bhoys revert back to football and the forthcoming Thistle game.

Enjoy...

This week the guests (nearly) are all Celtic.

Following from the victory over St Johnstone when Celtic’s starting outfield 10 had a combined age of just 22, we hear from one of those young stars Patrick Roberts.  We also have 10 minutes from the manager where he discusses the performances of Ralston and Johnstone, the chances of keeping Paddy and his general thoughts on the victory.

Also this past week we had the launch of the new strip and at that event myself and a few other Celtic websites were able to have a chat with Stuart Armstrong, Callum McGregor and Kieran Tierney, so we have the 10 minutes per player exclusive chat also.  At the end we hear from St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright who confesses that we were just too good for his team.

Enjoy…

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE!

In the darkest days of the 1990’s, pre Fergus McCann, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would stand at Ibrox and witness such an imperious performance.  They may be a new club but it’s the same ground with the same fans and we absolutely thumped them.  Destroyed them.  Ground them into the ground.

From almost the first goal there was an air of menace, a thought that at any time their end could flip and go bonkers.  Brown’s attack, monkey taunts and Directors fighting.  This was THEIR Dallas Game, their Mars Bar game…except they have no Fergus coming!

So en-route home I was joined by gentle Jim to discuss the game.  We wanted a raw and fresh podcast that captured how we felt immediately post game.  It’s recorded on the journey home so please accept our apologies on the sound quality.

Enjoy…!

This week Harry is back and joined by Hullbhoy to discuss the fabulous walk in the park victory of the Rangers.

Fresh from taking off his lycra blue/green body suit, Hullbhoy discusses with Harry how good Celtic were, how bad Rangers are and how a ref getting red card decisions wrong will be seen as having a good day!  The bhoys wax lyrical about the team and then at the end Harry reminds everyone that being Celtic is not just on the park performances but off the park charity.

Oh and good luck to Saint with his impending galbladder op.

Enjoy…

This Sunday, the Celtic Graves Society will host a special event to commemorate the final resting place of James Kelly, Celtic's first ever captain.  And it's appropriate that the event falls on the 125th anniversary of Celtic's first ever Scottish Cup triumph - a 5-1 victory over Queen's Park on April 9, 1892 - when James Kelly led the Celts to the first of the 101 major trophies that the club has won in its long and illustrious history.

The commemoration ceremony will take place at St Patrick's Cemetery, 29 King's Drive, New Stevenston on Sunday, April 9, starting at 2pm. 

Following this latest Tale From The Wiki we have audio from Brendan, James Forrest & Elbows.

Enjoy...

This weeks podcast revisits the Celtic Graves Society event that took place last week in Prague.  The work of the Celtic Graves Society in keeping the memory of former Hoops Heroes alive is amazing and never more evident than this past week with the guys travelling to the Czech Republic to commemorate a former Celt.  Jim takes us through the events of that weekend with audio in three parts from the Johnny Madden celebration and commemoration.  An early Celt Johnny was also the father of Czech football.

If you can listen to last weeks podcast extra and then this.

Enjoy…

This is is a trip that the Celtic Graves Society have been looking forward to for a very long time, commemorating the "Father of Czech Football", Johnny Madden.

The Celtic Graves Society and Odbor přátel have been working hard on various different aspects of this commemoration and we would like to extend the hand of friendship to all Slavia fans as we prepare to arrive in the beautiful city of Prague. Any Celtic Supporters in the Prague area are invited to attend to the commemoration on Saturday.

Alongside the committee they have 3 Supporters of the Society travelling with us to Prague. The Garves Society would a special thanks for the commitment shown to be able to join us. Your support will never be taken for granted.
They also have members of Johnny Maddens family arriving from Belfast for the commemoration.

A friendship formed through a common bond. Johnny Madden.

Enjoy…

This week we have the return of the Saint.  Fresh from his trip to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital St Anthony delivers and excellent podcast about Nutmeg magazine.

We can all be guilty of trotting out the lazy Scottish Mainstream Media label as a catch-all for bad journalism but to be fair we shouldn’t tar them all with the same brush.  There are some very good journalists out there covering the Scottish game and Nutmeg is one of the publications providing a platform those good journalists.

It’s a periodical which promotes itself by saying “It’s not a book, it’s not a magazine.  It’s somewhere in between, and something completely new in Scotland; a quarterly subscription-only long-form publication filled with top quality writers, great articles and fascinating stories.  And it’s all about Scottish Football.”

Enjoy…

This week we have a bumper guest filled podcast. In no particular order you will hear;
Harry Brady, a Pearson child, a member of the brady Bunch, Lachie Mor, Craig Gordon, Lewis, Robin & Robert!

Value for money if I do say so.

It’s a podcast of two halves. The meat and bones of the podcast is a chat between Lachie and Harry. The two bhoys discuss the recent St Mirren game and the “furore” around Brendan’s comment that St Mirren were quite good. We then hear from Craig Gordon after he signed his new contract and then it’s on to the Glasgow Derby. Lachie and Harry discuss this game before we get a very brief preview from 3 Celts, two of whom have come all the way from Singapore and Hong Kong to see the hoops triumph (Hopefully).

Enjoy…

This week the podcast was put together on the anniversary of Fergus McCann saving Celtic.  Celtic fans can rightly be proud of that period when the club was in difficulty.  A board built around family history and hereditory rights rather than business acuumen had been caught out by the arrival of brash big spenders at Ibrox.  This compounded with the need for massive infrastructure spend on the stadium had Celtic on its knees.  But when Celtic were in trouble  the fans didn’t wait around for a white knight.  They rallied around and created a solution.

Celts for Change galvanised the support behind a common cause and when the moment came the likes of Brian Dempsey, John Keane and Fergus McCann stepped forward, prevented the ignominy of administration and paid the bills.  From there Fergus oversaw the building of a new stadium, the stopping of the 10 and a fan investment programme which now sees 28,000 of us owning a bit of our club.

Fergus also re-established the clubs heritable foundations.  He created the Celtic Charity which has now become the Celtic FC Foundation and we have Magan Fallan providing an overview of her role and an insight into how the Foundation chnages lives.

So a wiki tale and Megan Fallan.

Enjoy…

By the time you are listening to this you will have heard the sad news about the passing of Celtic legend and Lisbon Lion Tommy Gemmell.  In his career Tommy played for Celtic, Nottingham Forrest, Miami Toros and Dundee.  whilst I was not old enough to have seen the Lions I was fortunate to to have caught a glimpse of one or two of them at the end of their careers to say “I saw them play” with my last recollection of Tommy as player manager at Dundee, the final place he won a trophy.

Tommy spent 10 years in total at Celtic, making 418 appearances and scoring 63 goals, two of those goals being in European Cup Finals.

“They never die who live in the hearts they leave behind”

This week we are bringing you some very special guests - the Celtic management team.  Mainly we have  a sit down interview with Chris Davies, an insightful chat into his time at Celtic so far, his level of expectation for players and the high standards he and Brendan set. 

Myself, Celtic Quicknews and ByTheMinCeltic were fortunate enough to get a 45 minute one:one with Chris at Lennoxtown this week.  After our chat we were able to sneak into the Brendan press conference for the Inverness game on Wednesday and get some really intersting stuff from the manager.

Hopefully you find this as interesting as we did.

Enjoy…

On Saturday the 25th of February at St Kentigern's Cemetery Glasgow (prior to the Hamilton Academical fixture)  Celtic Graves will be commemorating one of the men who was a member of the team who lifted our first ever Scottish Cup, Joseph Cullen. 

This Podcast Extra is a tribute to that man.

Cullen was in goals for Celtic’s first Scottish Cup triumph in April 1892 and in August that year he played in the first match to be staged at the then new – and present Celtic Park. The great Dan McArthur would eventually oust Joe from his starting spot and after 73 games for Celtic he moved to London to Tottenham Hotspur in May 1897. 

Sadly he would die prematurely from pneumonia in 1905.

This week Harry is joined by Mark Cooper from warm and humid Buenos Aires to discuss the state of play at Celtic and Scottish football.  Trying hard to not sound as sycophantic as Graham Hunter the bhoys meander through a discussion of the last two games, Brendan’s comments on the state of the pitch before somehow getting to discuss how good Maloney was/could have been!  Oh and they also find time to giggle at New Huns.

Prior to the bhoys chatting we have all the audio from the Brendan post Motherwell press conference and then we have the return of the Celtic Wiki with the tale of Jospeh Cullen who will be remembered at St Kentigerns Cemeterym Glasgow at noon on 25th February prior to the Hamilton Fixture. 

It’s a bumper filled podcast so Enjoy…

This podcast contains audio first created as part of the Fergus 20 yr Anthology, covering the RFC omnishambles.  It also has audio from Brendan and Mousa after the ICT thumping.

When consuming my football it's always through the optics of Celtic.  Even when reviewing the success or failure of Cathro at Hearts, McInnes at Aberdeen or Lennon at Hibs it's viewed through the spectrum of the impact on Celtic or Celtic people.

It is with this in mind that I approach the anniversary of RFC Administration Day.  They are no longer relevant to us except in one way.  Until we get the myth that they somehow survived death, I will always celebrate and remind others of their demise.

This week it is St Anthony who is back on interview duties and his guest is a man well known to those listeners based in Scotland but may also be known to those further afield - STV Political Editor and big Celtic Man Bernard Ponsonby.

Bernard joined STV in 1990 and has gone on to be one of the heavyweights of political reporting in Scotland.  Journalist of the Year in 2015 he has covered some of the most momentous events in the last 100 years from the formation of a Scottish Parliament, the resignation of a sitting Speaker of the House of Commons and of course the Scottish and EU Referendum.  But is Bernard happiest of all when he’s watching the hoops…?

Enjoy.

This week sees the return of a man of culture…oh sorry a man from the City of Culture, Hullbhoy. Hullbhoy joins Harry to discuss the marvellous football under Brendan and specifically to review the Hearts and Aberdeen games along with the sales that we didn’t make in the transfer window.

In the process of the meandering chat Harry & Hullbhoy also touch on the runners and riders for 2nd spot. How the Dons would be a better team with a better manager, has Cathro started getting the Jambos playing his way and do Rangers fans sit listening to their manager playing Football Bullshit Bingo?

Enjoy…

Last night Celtic continued their master class of dominance in Scottish football with a 1-0 win over the country’s second best side. This is despite Celtic being without 4 of the top 5 scorers this season and fielding no recognised striker. This on top of the fact that Aberdeen had played on Friday evening and Celtic on Sunday. This gap of days would mean that the Dons players could have a day off following their victory over Dundee and still have 3 days to prepare. Celtic on the other hand would have had one day (Monday) off and trained Tuesday and more than likely no-one who played Sunday would have trained Tuesday. In effect we had zero days prep.

We saw the consequences of this prep as the game unfolded. Aberdeen did NOTHING productive across the 90 minutes. Their tactic was to stop us playing – something they did well in the first half. We had changed our shape to a back three but they had 3 men press when Gordon had the ball to minimise our ability to play out easily from the back. Superior fitness told in the end however. Despite needing to chase the game, the Dons were unable to press high in the final 20 minutes and Celtic saw out a victory.

Below is some post match audio with Dedryck Boyata, Brendan Rodgers and Derek McInnes. All have something interesting to say. Boyata comments on the challenges of motivating yourself when very far out of the first team picture. He discusses being on the treadmill at midnight to 1am. I am sure it is that will to succeed and get back that has prompted Brendan to work with him towards his first team return.

Brendan discusses the game and then makes a few light-hearted comments. One about how the team could do better – we dropped 2 points away in Inverness and the other about how Tim Williamson was asked to mark Dembele in London like Franco Baresi.

Finally we have McInnes and we learn that the Aberdeen manager wasn’t even at the game! He was sitting watching some other game on the TV where Aberdeen played well!

We have uploaded a podcast extra with audio from the Hearts and Aberdeen press conferences along with a clip from the STV Facebook Live transfer window chat.

Enjoy…

This week Harry is joined by a guest from Ireland, living in Canada who loves Celtic.  The guest this week is journalist and one of the two stars of the new film Celtic Soul - Mr Eoin O'Callaghan.

Celtic Soul follows Canadian actor and funny man Jay Baruchel on an epic road trip through Canada, Ireland and Scotland with his new friend, well-known Irish soccer journalist Eoin O’Callaghan. It’s a story that spans 200 years of colorful history and that will take the duo eastward from Montreal to Westport, Ireland – where Jay’s ancestors set sail for Canada, like so many others – and finally Glasgow, where Jay will fulfill a lifelong dream: to watch a match at Celtic Park, one of the wildest and most hallowed grounds in world football.

Enjoy...

This week St Anthony returns to the podcast to interview Celtic Non-executive Director Brian Wilson.

Brian is well known to all in Scottish society and Celtic fandom for his numerous high profile roles.  A famous Labour politician, Brian was an MP for over 20 years, serving as a Minister under Tony Blair and was a we ll kent voice during the independence referendum.  Brian is also known for his roles as a journalist and commentator in addition to his numerous business roles.  In Celtic land Brian has been a Non Executive Director for some time and is a well known Celtic historian.  It is his latter role as a historian that interested St Anthony the most.

Enjoy…

This week I am re-joined by old favourite Lachie Mor.  Regular listeners may recall that Lachie was something of a doubting Thomas when it came to the appointment of Brendan…”what’s he won?” and “He’s not done anything in Europe” were two criticisms I recall.  With the halfway point of the first season under our belts I thought the season review and forward projections after the break would be the opportune time to revisit Lachie.  I don’t think I’m giving away too many spoilers when I say he’s changed his position on this.

Once this is established we review the Brendan first 11, discuss the window and the forthcoming 4 games.

Enjoy…

Happy New Year.  We cannot believe it’s 2017 and Mark Cooper and Harry Brady cannot believe that our terrestrial highlights on TV are not as good as they were 30 years ago.

Mark Cooper is now safely tucked up in Argentina with all the warmth that the southern hemisphere brings at this time of year however he is only just home having popped back up North for the festive season.  During that time he attended the Rangers game and gives us a perspective of a man who’s been away from this dear green place for most of the last 10 years.  He reviews the game, the atmosphere and the TV coverage.

After all this we touch on the continued development of the team by Brendan and what players may come next.

Enjoy…

Seasons Greetings to you one and old and speaking of  auld, if you’re a supporter with memories of the early to mid 70’s you will recall that it was a changing time for goalkeepers at Celtic.  Faither time Ronnie Simpson had retired and Jock was chopping and changing keepers more often than new Rangers change owners.  For me I can recall seeing Ally Hunter, Patrick Barclay, Roy Baines and Denis Connaghan all vying for the Number 1 jersey before Big Peter Latchford secured the first choice position and it’s Denis that we turn to for this Christmas Podcast edition.

Enjoy…

To quote Noddy Holder “It’s Christmaaaaaaasss!”  It’s the season of goodwill to all men and times when we all deserve a little treat so hopefully my treat to you is worthwhile and one you actually want.  I’ve had a chat with Lawrence Donegan and with his regular invites over to the @bytheminCeltic podcasts I thought it only right to return the favour so we have Lawrence and his regular guest Mr Remy McSwain nipping across to The Celtic Underground for a chat.

The bhoys review the Motherwell game, chat about how wonderful it is that even our worst domestic performance garners 3 points and then we turn our sights onto BBC Sportsound and the radio punditry in Scotland.

Enjoy…

The Celtic Underground - Kenny, Brendan and St Anthony of The Celtic

We pride ourselves on the quality of guests here on Celtic Underground and of late we’ve been to Australia and back with the world of Sport and Japan and back with music, but sometimes great guests can be found on your doorstep and this week we speak to someone of this Parish to discuss Celtic…our very own St Anthony and if you’re a fan of Celtic books you’ll know him as author of Kenny of The Celtic Mr Stephen Murray.

Stephen and I start by having a brief review of our final Champions League game of this season, the 1-1 draw with Man City, before moving on to the meat and bones of the podcast which is his latest book on Kenny Dalglish.

Stephen gives us some idea of what we may come across in the book before discussing the perfect Celtic team of the Kenny years and the “what could have been team” of the 10 years after he left.  After that trip down memory lane we then fast forwardto the Rodgers Revolution and discuss just how enjoyable times are.

Enjoy

You can buy the book;

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kenny-Celtic-Stephen-Murray/dp/0993436080/ref=sr_1_1/254-0445536-2030263?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481235440&sr=1-1&keywords=kenny+of+the+celtic

There are fewer games bigger in football than Champions League matches and in Glasgow these don't come much bigger than Celtic v Barca.  We are only in the embryonic stages of the Rodgers revolution but already we can all see that the club is taking it's first steps on what looks like it will be a wonderful journey and the podcast starts off with chat from Brendan giving an insight into his vision for this club.  He does this whilst interweaving chat about Barca and the forthcoming Cup Final.

After the Brendan chat Jack Lyons and I have a brief conversation about how the two teams may set up before the podcast returns to the main pre-Barca press conference with chat from Broony and more from the manager.  If you wonder why the main conference occasionally jumps from one topic to the next it's where I've chopped out the Spanish translation and just missed the start of the next question.

Enjoy...

Continuing our series of interviews with celebrity Hoops fans, this week we are joined by a man plying his trade in another form of "football", that is Rugby Football. This week we are joined by Leeds Rhino forward and MASSIVE Celtic fan Keith Galloway.

Keith, son of a Dundonian, was born in Sydney and played for the Leeds Rhinos. A New South Wales State of Origin and Australian international representative forward, he previously played for the Wests Tigers and Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks. Keith is also an ambassador for 3 charities.

Enjoy...

The joys of this podcast are the many occasions when we get to chat with Celtic fans who are experts in another field and this week I had the pleasure to sit down and chat Celtic and music with the gentleman James Grant.

Brought up in Bridgeton then Castlemilk, James was part of that group of Scottish musicians that was so prominent in the 1980's.  His career commenced with the band Friends Again but James really came into his own as the front man of Love & Money.  Hopefully you find this chat as fascinating as I did.

Naturally the podcast makes reference to The Celtic FC Foundation Christmas appeal and there'll be links on the site.  Also St Anthony (Stephen Murray) has a new book coming out just in time for Christmas.  It follows on from his book about the 4-2 season Ten Men won The League and is about his (and many other's) first Celtic hero.  The book is Kenny of The Celtic and is launched this coming week;

http://cqnbookstore.co.uk/shop.php?p=75

Enjoy...

This week on the podcast we have a respected journalist and a blast from the past.

Harry is joined by Hugh MacDonald to discuss all things Celtic and journalistic. Hugh's discussion of his earliest games and heroes moves quickly to the the modern club and the job being done by Brendan.

Following from this long ranging discussion we then have the return of an old favourite with the dusting down of the Tales From The Celtic Wiki. In conjunction with the Celtic Graves Society we bring you Patrick Gallacher.

So don't forget;
Sat 5th 12 Noon - St Kentigerns Balmore Rd
Sat 5th pre game - GB Foodbank Collection
Sun 6th 3pm - St Marys Mass
Sun 6th all day - Founding Fathers Fast

Enjoy...

This week Harry is joined by Matt Clark, manager of Australia's first world heavyweight champion...for 3 weeks. Matt is also a Celtic man and the podcast is a fascinating meander explaining a second generation Australian, who's Grandad questioned Rudolph Hess ('with Whiskey on his breath") came to be such an avid Celtic fan. It jumps from the Hess story to being his fighter being punched by the Chechen President, being secretly drugged and then cleared through to predictions for Celtic Playing in Aberdeen and Germany.

A joyride of a podcast it also includes new music from Glasgow band The Snuts.

Enjoy...

Oh Hampden in the Sun, Rodgers skelped Mark Warburton..

This week Harry is joined by Jack Lyons to discuss and dissect the League Cup Semi Final victory over the Zombies. The bhoys review the tactical changes both managers made before and during the game and decide the Brendan is of course best. The briefly touch on the performance of the clown Thompson before switching attention back to a brief review of the loss midweek to The German Team.

Following ALL of this we get a quick prediction from Jack for the scoreline in the forthcoming Ross County and Aberdeen games which are the last bit of proper football before Scotland get beaten at Wembley and the media get all agnsty for a couple of days about the state of our game.

Enjoy!

This week Mark Cooper joins Harry to discuss the fantastic coverage that the club received following the dramatic 3-3 draw with Manchester City in the Champions League. Following on from that the bhoys then have a preview of the forthcoming tia against the Germans and then the Cup Semi Final against the former Huns and in previewing realise that victory on Wednesday all but provides for European football beyond Christmas and victory on Sunday all but guarantees the resignation of a manager!

It wouldn't be a South American podcast without discussion on why Celtic don't fish in that pond - an interesting debate considering the departure of John Park the day after this was recorded.

There is new music as usual (links on the site) podcast recommendations and the Foundation.

Enjoy.

We are in the desert of international football and out of that desert comes the oasis of a Celtic Underground Podcast. Following on from the close season podcast with James Kelly MSP on his process of trying to repeal OBFA Harry has a catch up with Jeanette Findlay of Fans Against Criminalisation on the act, its consequences and how YOU can help with its repeal.

Jeanette is joined by Jim to provide us with how this act is being implimented by the police and fiscal.

If, like us, you find this act rediculous, illiberal and not fit for purpose then you can write to your MSP, attend a surgery or complete the Parliament survey;

http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/S/FootballActRepealBill/
http://fansagainstcriminalisation.com/

Also, sadly, a name familiar to many of us online, @Napoleon_Celtic died suddenly at the end of September. For those who'd been on The Big Lhist or just kicking around Celtic supporters groups will also have come across and know him by his real name of Iain Tarbet. Iain's funeral is this Friday (14th Oct) in Ardrossan and his family have organised a collection for the Celtic FC Foundation;

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/iaintarbet

Enjoy.

This week we have a very VERY special guest on the podcast - Brendan Rodgers!

We chat with Brendan one to one to discuss his first few months at Celtic, how he's settling in and a bit about his thoughts and ideas on football. This is a fans podcast by the fans so we follow up the Brendan chat with a preview of the game and St Anthony is joined by his mate Chris Kenny who hails from the Blue Moon side of Manchester. The two lads discuss both clubs and Chris ends with a 2-0 Man City win - booo!

New Music this week comes from The Island Dwellers;
Jayce - https://soundcloud.com/theislanddwellers/jayce
Ania - https://soundcloud.com/theislanddwellers/ania

We also have podcast recommendations of;
http://www.apoliticalpodcast.com
http://www.bytheminute.co/podcasts/bytheminuspolitics/375
http://fivethirtyeight.com/
http://www.politico.com/news/off-message
http://www.mattersofstate.org/

Enjoy.

This week's podcast is an eclectic mix of analysing the past, discussing the future and hearing about the present. Harry Brady is joined by Jack Lyons for a tactical review of the last three Celtic games prior to the podcast which were;
The 5 - 1 thrashing of Scotland's newest club
The 7 - 0 Humping in Catalonia
The 2 - 2 Draw in The Highlands

The boys also touch on the predictions for the Killie game on Saturday and what Celtic might do to combat the might of Barca in the return game.

Mixed in with all of that we have the post match interviews from the Alloa game including the press guys laughing at a colleagues inability to pronounce a Latin American name. Oh, and whilst this was being recorded we drew a diddy team in the League Cup.

New music is from The Label https://listentothelabel.bandcamp.com/album/vodka-and-lemonade

There are also podcast recommendations for Tim Podcasts;
20MinuteTims
90MinuteCynic
bhoysabroad
CelticRockRoars
HomeBhoys
ByTheMinCeltic

Enjoy.

This is the audio from the 5-1 game. I picked up celebrations of both the 4th & 5th goals and sandwiched between is my prediction of 5 goals on Sportsound and interviews with Brendan and Dembele.

Enjoy...!

This week Harry is joined by Hullbhoy to discuss the first New Glasgow Derby in the league. The bhoys discuss what we all know - it's the same fans, supporting a team wearing the same colours in the same stadium but that it's NOT the same club...it can't be because THE OLD ONE WENT BUST! Harry regails a tale from his starring role on Sportsound but is then taken down a peg or two by being reminded that St ANthony was in the New York Times.

After this bit of banter the bhoys get get down to brass tacks and review what the team for the New Derby will be before Harry grans a bit of audio from the archives and plays and Omnishables Special

There is new music as usual (links on the site) no new podcast recommendations (as Harry needs to get himself organised) and of course the Foundation.

Enjoy.

This week Mark Cooper joins Harry to discuss the summer transfer window which, in the usual fashion, closed without much Celtic business being done on the last day. The boys discuss whether it was good bad or indifferent and decide it was pretty good. It could have been better with perhaps one more signing but all in all we have a better squad than we started it with.

In addition to the transfer window the bhoys briefly touch on the Aberdeen game and the changes to the Champions League.

There is new music as usual (links on the site) podcast recommendations and the Foundation.

Enjoy.

This week Jack Lyons returns to analyse the behind the sofa game in Isreal and look forward to the Champions League.

Harry and Jack discuss the fearful game that was the final qualifier away leg and try to understand why we were so bad, but also take the positive that no matter how bad we were we went through. The guys then go on to dicsuss our Champions League Group. Current standings;
Celtic v Barca - Played 12, won w and drawn 3
Celtic v Man City - Played zero
Celtic v Munchengladbach - Played zero

Upon final analysis, the bhoys work out that we'll go to Manchester on 9 points....!

Podcast recommendations are in;
Cambridge Election Podcast
Guardian Politics Podcast
Off Message Podcast

No new music this week as it's all about the Champions League.

This week Harry is joined by our South american correspondent Mark Cooper to discuss the marvellous events at Celtic Park, when a fantastic atmosphere urged on a wonderful game that delivered 7 goals - Five for Celtic.

Mark and Harry review the goals, the team and the performances and come to the conclusion that Celtic will go through. At the end of the podcast they briefly review Scottish football medai people asking diddy questions and Mark predicts a 5-0 v St Johnstone. It's all very pleasant...oh and is it Sin -Clair or Sinclur?

Enjoy.

PS Harry has a wee sweary word in when discussing the diddy question and this weeks new music comes from Jargo
Photograph The Feeling - Dropbox

Jargo - At Night When The Wind Calms Down

The season is about to start but before that happens we need closure on the Ronnie Deila years and what better way to have that closure than for the world's longest running football fans podcast to analyse the players and how they performed in Ronnies last season.

Normally the voting is from the closed shop of the exclusive Celtic Undergroud Panel however this term we opened it up to you, the podcast family. The first 2 places were as you'd expect but thereafter there were some interesting players in interesting positions in our top ten. You will hear on the podcast but perhaps of note were the absence of players - Scott Brown the club captain and two of our higher profile summer signings (not in money but in being dtalked about) Scott Allan and Nadir Ciftci.

The full list was;
1 Griffiths 2 Tierney 3 Sviachenko 4 Rogic 5 Roberts 6 McGregor 7 Gordon 8 Lustig 9 Bitton 10 Johansen

New music is from Misha Non Penguin;
https://soundcloud.com/misha-non-penguin

Get your new Music on NOW.
Email - podcasts@celticunderground.net

This week Jack Lyons once again joins Harry to discuss a Celtic away performance in Europe, but a more successful one than last time.

Celtic travelled over 3,000 miles and played a makeshift central defensive pairing and achieved a credible away draw and now have an excellent chance of progressing to the final knock out round of the pre-group stages.

New music this week comes in the form of Easy Signals;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAIJOicL1Ls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAVolLU2ZHc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMxBIUiVaaA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDITe5cinUU

https://www.facebook.com/Easysignals

Football's back and I wish it wasn't.

What a remarkable first game for Brendan. Some of the worst moments of the last 18 months were revisted...and then some! It's the first game under Brendan and so time is on his side and these are aspects that are discussed between Harry Brady and Jack Lyons on this weeks podcast.

Don't forget to get your new music on the podcast then just email us;
podcasts@Celticunderground.net
If you want to get your Celtic story in to us also email at the same address.

This week the new music is from Room 42 who consist of Grade A from Dallas, TX and Freeky L. from Las Vegas. "Say My Name" is produced by Krush Kaprice.

@WeAreRoom42
@JlyonsFootball

https://soundcloud.com/weareroom42/room-42-say-my-name-prod-by-krush-kaprice

This week St Anthony is joined by a legend of Celtic Park Mr Tom Boyd. Tom is well known to all as a former Celtic player who (unlike many) has refused to take the Kings shilling and has remained a Celtic fan and defender and advocate of our club after retirement.

Tom began his career at Motherwell and famously led the team to their 1991 Scottish Cup Final From there he moved to Chelsea for 12 months before arriving at Paradise in a swap for Tony Cascarino. At the hoops Boyd made 304 appearances, socring just twice but significantly was part of the team that stopped the ten and was also part of Martin's treble winning side. Tom also made 72 appearances for Scotland and is in the Hall of Fame.

New music comes from Ghost Dance Collective, an Edinburgh band who emailed podcasts@Celticunderground.net If you want your new music or Celtic story on the podcast just email a file or link to a file and it'll be used - we have no editorial line here.

The two songs are Byrd-Man https://soundcloud.com/ghost-dance-collective-256761231/byrd-man

and

Something's Happening https://soundcloud.com/ghost-dance-collective-256761231/somethings-happening?in=ghost-dance-collective-256761231/sets/ghost-dance-collective

Enjoy.

The Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012 was introduced by the SNP and passed by MSPs by 64 votes to 57 without any opposition support. Labour, the Tories, Lib Dems and the Scottish Greens said the bill was "railroaded" and the Scottish Government has since faced calls for an early review into how the legislation is working. It has been challenged on the grounds that it compromises the principle of free speech. In June 2013, The Herald described it as "knee-jerk legislation" which needed to be revisited, arguing that "Scotland cannot arrest its way out of sectarianism". Fans groups have also raised concerns about the law.

Following the loss of an overall SNP majority in May Labour stated their intention to repeal the act and the man leading the charge is James Kelly MSP.

If you are interested in the repeal of this act, contact your MSP or James by email, letter or at a surgery. James can be found on twitter - @JameskellyLab

ALSO, last week we stated our intention to get your music and your Celtic stories on the podcast and the first band to contact us were The Urchins and this is their YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5j4SO6FnnZp_NtPOGEt3ig

Enjoy...

This week Saint Anthony is in conversation with Jim Delahunt. Fed up with all the criticism of interviewing people in a Greek Restaurant, this week decides to interview the guest via a transistor radio...! The guys speak football and then Harry moves on to boxing with a wee 5 minute tribute to The Greatest.

Also on this weeks podcast Harry gives an insight into changes coming for next season. If you have your own band or create your own music and would like it featured on the podcast, email us on Podcasts@CelticUnderground.net and get an audio file over to us.

Also we'd like to hear from you. We want to know about a Celtic event that had particular resonance with you. So whether it was your first game, a memorable game or a poignant game, record a 10 minute audio and send the file (or a link to the file) to podcasts@Celticunderground.net.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Enjoy..

What can I say? What a week?!

Friday 20th May, mid afternoon I was given a clue to stand by my bed as confirmation of the new manager was pending...Brodgers was coming!

Even as news started to spread that we had got our man, there were still those who doubted Celtic could attract someone of Brendan Rodgers caliber but attract him we did and if he had any doubt that he'd made the right decision I'm sure these were swept away by the avalanche of goodwill which greeted his arrival on Monday with 13,000 fans pouring into Celtic Park to meet him.

Brendan, welcome to Paradise.

The podcast contains exclusive chat with Brendan, The Anfield Wrap Liverpool Podcast, the Celtic Fans Liaison Officer John Paul Taylor and Uber fan Paul The Tim.

Enjoy.

What a weekend!

At around 3pm on Friday 20th May I was told to stand by my bad, THE announcement was imminent. Just after 5pm Celtic announced that Brendan Rodgers was coming to his spiritual home and taking over the reigns at Celtic Park.

After such a wonderful and joyous appointment how could we not have a quick podcast so I texted Hullbhoy who was most abliging...

Enjoy

This week, with all the managerial rumours there was only one thing to do, get on Skype, get on to Lachie and discuss the rumoured cadidates. Surprisingly Lachie seems less than excited about the two leading candidates and discusses what he wants. Harry tries to suggest that Lachie wants Ronny version 2, a claim Lachie shoots down.

Lachie discusses his desire to get in a quality manager who wins the key games and the bhoys agree that whoever they get, this is what we all want.

Enjoy

@LachieMor1

@Harrybradycu

@celticrumours

This week Harry is joined by the editor of the influential website Politics Home to discuss Celtic, Holyrood, Westminster and more Celtic.

Kevin sets out his credentials detailing his early time as a Celtic fan before getting onto how this young hoops fan ended up being one of the most recognised journalistic faces around the Palace of Westminster. Through this ramble the bhoys manage to touch on the forthcoming Holyrood elections, the EU referendum, the Hillsborough Inquiry and all the fallout from each of these events before getting back to the future of the hoops.

Enjoy.

@PolHomeEditor

https://www.politicshome.com/

May 3 1986: Heart of Midlothian travel to Dundee in need of a single point on the final day of the season to secure their first Scottish League title in 26 years. In Paisley closest challengers Celtic face St Mirren in need of a miracle. With seven minutes of the season to play the miracle comes from the boots of a Dundee substitute by the name of Albert Kidd...

This week Harry is joined by author of Heartbreaakers: Celtic, Albert Kidd and 1986 - Mr Stephen McGowan the Cheif Football writer at The Scottish Daily Mail.

Enjoy the book - here;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Heartbreakers-Celtic-Albert-Kidd-1986-ebook/dp/B01E8ZYLRA

@Heartbreakers86
@mcgowan_stephen
@harrybradycu

This week is a rather sad podcast. I am sure, like me, whenever someone walks through the door of Celtic Park you are desperate for them to succeed and therefore when it doesn't work out, that person's departure is always tinged with a little sadness.

St Anthony joins Harry to discuss the cup semi final defeat and the confirmed departure of Ronny Deila. Since around February everyone has been aware that Ronny would be leaving in the summer but the nature of the defeat to the Zombies and then the subsequent leaks to the Norwegian media made an announcement before season end inevitable. St Anthony and Harry review the cup final and that discussion meanders onto a review of Ronny's tenure.

Enjoy (if you can)

This week Harry is joined by a man who played for 18 clubs and although he only managed 3 games at Celtic, one of those was truly memorable - Mr Tony Warner.

Tony has very fond memories of his brief spell at Celtic and we have fond memories of him! His second game was the 5-1 game where Dr Jo showed he could managed, Lubo showed he could play and Mjalby showed he could put Jorge Albertz up in the air. Tony tells tales of his time at various clubs, tells us how just one day of paper reading in Glasgow let him know that there was too much bias and puts two Celtic players in his all time top 4.

A great guy who had a great life in football...Mr Tony Warner.

@Bonus1_TW

This week we are joined by our South American correspondent, Mark Cooper. Mark is based in Argentina and now works for a company to seeks out footballing talent across South America but principally in Argentina and Uruguay.

The bhoys discuss the Motherwell game before a more generic discussion on the clubs transfer stategy and how it appears to have lost its way a little, being neither one thing nor another. After the signing strategy they then discuss the management strategy and review what Celtic might do in the summer on the position of manager/first team coach before going on to both agree that they know little of our cup semi opponents apart from the fact that we'll win.

Find both bhoys on twitter;
@markocooper
@harrybradycu

This week to prove St Anthony's ecumenical drive at CU towers we have an interview with Chick Young. Chick has been reporting on football from Glasgow for circa 40 years and certainly has a tale or two to tell.

Ignore the caricature on only excuse, sit back, listen to The Silencers, Rod Stewart and St Anthony in conversation with Chick.

Enjoy.

This week St Anthony is joined by John Fallon and his guest doesn't miss and hit the wall when discussing all things Celtic! This is a must listen - and apologies, we ran out of bleeps!

Fallon signed for Celtic from junior football team Fauldhouse United in 1959 to understudy for Frank Haffey and made his debut that same year against Clyde. He replaced Haffey as first choice goalkeeper in 1963 and played his part in the UEFA Cup Winners Cup run of 1964, where they lost out to the Hungarian team MTK Budapest 4–3 in the semi-finals, after holding a 3–0 lead from the first leg at Celtic Park. He remained first choice goalkeeper until the signing of veteran keeper Ronnie Simpson from Hibernian in 1965.

John was the unused sub in Lisbon, played in the Wrold Club Championship when Simpson was hit by a bribk (or iron bar) before the game in South America and would have played in the 1970 European Cup Final were it not for illness.

His views on Stein's "dreadful" man-management skills are not to be missed...

Enjoy

This week St Anthony and Harry have a bit of a ding dong following the Hampden defeat at the hands of Ross County. The boys discuss numbers and positions and all that rubbish to debate the rights, wrongs and whatevers. I'm not sure a any agreement is reached.

Following a discussion of the past the bhoys discuss the present of the last day of the January transfer window.

Finally the bhoys move on to the future of the Aberdeen game. Saint thinks a 2-0 Celtic victory is on the cards. Here's hoping.

Enjoy.

This week St Anthony is joined by a Celtic star whom Saint would put into a list of potential all time great Celtic strikers - Mr Frank McGarvey.

Most will know that Frank began his career very succesfully at St Mirren before, in May 1979, McGarvey signed for Liverpool for £270,000. However, his tenure with the club lasted only 10 months. Unable to breakthrough into the first team, McGarvey sought a transfer. Liverpool accepted a bid of £270,000 by Celtic in March 1980, and for a short time McGarvey became Scotland's most expensive footballer.

McGarvey played 245 times for Celtic over five years, scoring 113 goals. In that time he won two League Championships, two Scottish Cups and a Scottish League Cup. However, Celtic manager David Hay decided Mo Johnston and Brian McClair would be his forward line for the 1985–86 season and declined to offer McGarvey an extended contract. His final, and perhaps most notable act as a Celtic player, was to score the winning goal six minutes from the end of the 1985 Scottish Cup Final.

In June 1985 McGarvey rejoined St. Mirren for £80,000. Two years later, he won a third Scottish Cup with them. In total he played 387 times for St Mirren, scoring 125 goals. Later in his career, McGarvey had spells with Queen of the South (where he was player-manager), Clyde (with which he won a Second Division Championship title at the age of 37) and Shotts Bon Accord.

Having retired from the game before footballers began earning high salaries (he notes that he "took home £190 a week after tax" while playing for Celtic) McGarvey now works as a joiner. In 2008, McGarvey wrote an autobiography called Totally Frank in which he described the highs and lows of his career and revealed how he overcame a long-time gambling addiction

This week Harry catches up with St Anthony to discuss the events of the past few weeks.  There has been little football since the pre-Christmas podcast but the guys manage to stretch out the discussion on the Stranraer and Partick Thistle games to such an extent that you'd think they were exciting matches.  

The chat about Stranraer however leads to a discussion on flares (pyro not trousers). Finally the bhoys discuss Anthony Stokes and the club's inability to sign a decent striker...enjoy the ramble.

This week Harry and St Anthony join up on a podcast to discuss the burning question - Ronnie Deila: Stick or Twist.

Harry starts by comparing the league position with this time last year. Celtic are 3 points and 11 goals scored better off than after 18 points last year - surely sign of progress, but the bhoys go on and outline their concerns. After a few heated debating points along the way the agreed position is stick...for now. We shall see if this was the right thing to do.

Have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Enjoy

This week St Anthony is joined by Pat McGinlay. Pat grew up in Partick, Glasgow and was an outstanding schoolboy player captaining St Peter's Boys School in Partick and playing for St Thomas Aquinas Secondary in Jordanhill and Bearsden Boys Club. Though many Scottish clubs were watching his star performances as a schoolboy centre forward, he began his career as an apprentice with English club Blackpool but returned to Scotland to join Hibernian in 1987. He soon became an important part of Alex Miller's side who played Pat as a midfielder instead of forward/winger and he was part of the winning Scottish League Cup in 1991 Hibs side and went on to make over 150 appearances for the club in his first stint at Easter Road.

In 1993 he was signed by Celtic for a fee of £525,000 after he impressed then boss Liam Brady. He made his debut on 7 August 1993 as a substitute in a 2–2 draw away to Motherwell. However, after just over fifteen months at Celtic Park, he was on the move again as he was not part of Tommy Burns' plans. It was a strange move as McGinlay had been Celtic's top goalscorer in the previous season. At the time, Celtic were in the rebuilding process under Fergus McCann; McGinlay was part of the Celtic side that played at Hampden Park whilst Celtic Park was being rebuilt. With the cash raised from selling McGinlay, Tommy Burns bought Tosh McKinlay from Hearts. Ironically, Tosh was one of Pat's old St Peters Boys School teammates.

McGinlay rejoined Hibs for a fee of £420,000 on 1 November 1994. He remained at Easter Road for six seasons before moving to Ayr United. Whilst at Ayr, McGinlay enjoyed a cup run which ended with him being on the losing side in the 2002 Scottish League Cup Final. He made 74 appearances for the 'Honest Men' and scored 23 goals before retiring in 2005.

This week we have the second part of the aduio from the Celtic History night which took place in the Admiral Bar on Thursday 19th November. Hosted by Paul Cuddihy the evening was a chance for Celtic chat with authors who have all apeared on this podcast;
Paul Dykes - The Quality Street Gang
Stephen Sullivan - Celtic's Iron Man
Stephen Murray - Ten Men Won The League

This is thesecond part of audio from the evening. If you've not caught the first go to www.celticunderground.net to pick it up from the usual places.

Enjoy

This week we have some audio from the Celtic History night which took place in the Admiral Bar on Thursday 19th November. Hosted by Paul Cuddihy the evening was a chance for Celtic chat with authors who have all apeared on this podcast;
Paul Dykes - The Quality Street Gang
Stephen Sullivan - Celtic's Iron Man
Stephen Murray - Ten Men Won The League

This is the first part of audio from the evening with part two up over the weekend.

Enjoy

This week St Anthony is joined by a legend of Scottish Football, Pat Stanton. In these modern times of high wages, as we have seen, players like Pat would never have stayed at Hibs for so long but...well he goes into all of that on the podcast.

Stanton is the great-great nephew of Michael Whelahan, one of the founders of Hibernian FC and its first captain.[3] He signed for the club in 1963 and made his professional debut later that year.[4] He established himself in the Hibs first team, playing either in defence or midfield.[4] Stanton captained Hibs when they won the 1972 Scottish League Cup Final.[4]

Stanton left Hibs in 1976 when he was transferred to Celtic in a swap deal for Jackie McNamara, Sr.[4] Jock Stein, who had briefly managed Stanton at Hibs in the 1960s, identified Stanton as the man to stop Celtic conceding soft goals.[4][5] This was an apparent success, as Celtic won the Scottish Cup and the Scottish league championship in 1976–77.[4][5] Stanton suffered a bad injury early in the 1977–78 season, which eventually forced his retirement from playing.[4] Hibs and Celtic played a testimonial match for Stanton on 30 April 1978.

Enjoy

This week the Celtic Underground team discuss cheating - wholescale, industrial cheating with the clear intent to defraud Scottish football, masterminded by a man hailed as business hero, but who was nothing of the sort. Knighted for services to business David Murray stacked up debts of £1bn with a £20m shortfall in his group's pension fund. And when this guy could no longer use his friends and contacts at HBoS to paper over the cracks of his business failures he then used the money of you and I to fund his ego.

Yes this podcast is about the illegal actions of David Murray and Rangers Football Club (In Liquidation). The podcast is long...but then again so was the period of time over which Rangers cheated. They died, but we now need to decide what we do with the legacy of that corpse.

Enjoy

This week St Anthony is joined by a man who does not look to court the limelight yet has been an essential part of the Celtic fan story for over 20 years - Mr Brendan Sweeney. Many will have known of Brendan since his time at Celts For Change when he was a key member of the group which helped galvanise the fans into a movement which led to the transformation of our club. More recently Brendan has been part of The Celtic Graves Society and has just written a book entitled Celtic THE EARLY YEARS 1887-1892.

If you are interested in Celtic books, the Admiral Bar will be hosting a book evening on Thursday 19th November. More details can be found here - http://celticunderground.net/celtic-history-discussion-and-book-night-admiral-bar-19th-november/

Enjoy

This week Harry meets up with Tony Hamilton (CEO) to discuss the fantastic work of the Celtic FC Foundation.

Tony and Harry firt spoke about the work of the Foundation 2 years ago on the podcast and so Harry thought it was about time to catch up and get insight into the work being done by the foundation and specifically the forthcoming Christmas appeal.

To learn more about the work of the Foundation log on to http://charity.celticfc.net/

The bhoys can be found on Twitter;
@polishtunstile
@Harrybradycu

This week St Anthony brings us another guest from the world of the Scottish Mainstream Media - Mr Gerry McCulloch.

Viewers of STV and listeners to Clyde will be familiar with young Gerry as the the fresh voiced host of the long running radio football phone-in and occassional face of football on STV.

Before Saint discusses all things football and media with Gerry we get a chance to wish Willie Keane all the best for his wedding on Saturday 24th October and also at the end is a wee clip celebrating the time when a host like Gerry would have quality journalists as pundits and also celebrating a time when Only an Excuse was on the radio...AND FUNNY.

Enjoy!

This week Harry is joined by Celtic Legend Packie Bonner.

Packie has a book coming out called The Last Line and Harry discusses is "lucky" career and the influences on him which led to making nearly 500 appearnaces for Celtic in 20 years.

He was Jock Stein's last signing for the club when he left his native Donegal for the city of Glasgow in 1978, where Packie evolved from being a shy, homesick teenager into a confident, world-class talent and first-choice goalkeeper. Billy McNeill handed him a debut on St Patrick's Day in 1979, and Packie went on to provide the last line of defence a record 641 times for the club. A seasoned Irish internationalist, Packie was a vital component in the most-celebrated Irish national squad ever, playing in a golden era under the tutelage of the inimitable Jack Charlton.

The podcast could have covered so much more but as you will hear, from a quiet start the noise from the kids playing nearby meant we eventually had to bring the interview to a close.

To get to know more you can;

Buy the book - http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Last-Line-My-Autobiography/dp/1785031848

Attend An Evening with Packie and Friends - http://tickets-scotland.com/ane22

Or win a book by answering the question and emailing Harrybradycu@gmail.com

The Old Rangers cheated and then went bust. We all know this, but what the press have not gone into are the final desperate attempts made by that old club to stave off liquidation and use all means, fair or foul, to cobble together enough cash to trade through the season. When they ran out of tax avoidance and evasion schemes, they simply gambled everything on achieving Champions League football. With the acquiescence or ignorance of the SFA they nearly succeeded.

At the Celtic AGM of 2013 a group of supporters tabled "Resolution 12" which asked the club to take steps to ascertain how the old Rangers had obtained and kept the UEFA licence. Following dialogue with the club, that resolution was adjourned but that did not mean it had gone away. This podcast with Auldheid seeks to provide more information on the latest piece about Res 12 on the CU site and provide an overview of where they are.

If you have specific questions following the podcast please contact @Auldheid on twitter.

Last week we had Derek Rae on the podcast.  We talked about his technique, love for the game and influences.  His start had been via David Francy but there was one man who is perhaps, the most important sports broadcaster in Scottish sport history.  I am of course talking about the legendary Archie MacPherson.

Those of us of a certain age grew up with the luxury of football highlights of games by tea time Sunday with Sportscene on BBC1 and Scotsport on ITV, which Archie on the Beeb and Arthur Montford on STV.  We may not have got all the games and all the goals, but what we got was far superior than the current fare.  Archie has been mocked for his come over, his sports jackets and his "swept away" turn of phrase, but all of that is done with the type of humour reserved only for those whom we truly admire.  This is no-one better than Archie so...Enjoy.

After the loss to Malmo in midweek, everything online with Celtic got a bit hectic and frenzied with lots of gnashing of teeth and searching for a villain to pin the blame onto.

With such a critical online atmosphere Harry decided that a more calming and measured perspective was required and therefore asked Hullbhoy, with his calming Hull tones to provide his overview.  The bhoys started by discussing the Europa League draw and then moved on to review Tuesday.  Harry asked who was to blame and what could be done.  Hullbhoys responses were interesting...

Enjoy

@Hullbhoy

@Harrybradycu

This week Harry is joined by leading sports commentator Mr Derek Rae.  This was recorded the morning after the night before and the first topic of conversation is the Malmo game, but the chat soon moves on to wider topics covering Derek's varied (by location) broadcast career.

Derek started broadcasting for hospital radio at just 15 and as he goes onto explain, got a lucky break at 19 which resulted in becoming a lead commentator at Radio Scotland.

Since then Derek has established himself in Scotland, left, established himself in the United States and now, again, finds himself back in Scotland covering the game he clearly loves.

Enjoy

The boys can be found on twitter;

@RaeComm

@HarryBradyCu

Scott Allen - Welcome to Celtic!

Celtic have signed another Scottish talent and in the process managed to get three of their targets into one.

Scott started his career at Dundee Utd - Tick

Scott has been signed from Hibs - Tick

Rangers fans were singing his name as they thought THEY were signing him - Tick and Ha ha ha ha ha

With Celtic playing in Europe (West Asia Region) this past week Harry thought he should speak with some of the globe trotting Celts to get a feel for what is what like.  Paul The Tim was otherwise engaged hunting down Scott Allen for his selfie pic so that left only a handful of others and Mark Cameron (@leftybhoy) fitted the bill.

The bhoys chat about Qarabag, Killie and have a little chuckle at the expense of the fans formerly known as huns.  New club, same old fannies!

Anyway - it's late and we want Celtic chat when we make a new signing so here you go...

Enjoy.

This week, fresh from getting 1 step closer to the Champions League we have St Anthony in conversation with another former Celtic hero - Joe Craig.

Craig, a striker, joined Partick Thistle in 1972 from Sauchie Juniors. After an impressive start, scoring seven goals in his first twenty games, he helped the club to the First Division title in season 1975-76. Joe signed for Celtic in September 1976 for £60,000 where he won the Scottish Cup and League Championship in his first season. He moved to Blackburn Rovers in September 1978 where he remained until 1981 when he joined Hamilton Academical. He retired in 1983.

Whilst at Celtic, he earned his only international cap against Sweden in April 1977. He started the match as a substitute and came on after 75 minutes and famously scored before having even kicked the ball, scoring a header just two minutes after replacing Kenny Burns.

Enjoy

The domestic season starts on Saturday so there is one VERY important job to be undertaken before this begins and that is the unveiling of the Celtic Underground Committee's choice of top ten players for Celtic in Season 2014/15.

Starting with a new manager with new systems and new ideas on players it was a challenging time for our election committee with few players feature as first team stand outs all term.  A common point made by the voters was that the first 3 or 4 was easy, but after that everyone was much of a muchness.  So settle down and see if you agree with the voting panel which ended up with the following Top Ten;

1Johansen

2=Brown

2=Gordon

4Deneyar

5VVD

6Bitton

7Griffiths

8=Commons

8=Izaguirre

10GMS

Enjoy

As we approach the start of a new season, St Anthony has a guest who reminds us that sometimes just one or two signings can be the difference for a team - Mr Billy Stark.

Billy was your typical "good honest pro" in the Scottish game so hardly had the fans flocking to the front door when he signed for the hoops yet for many he became one of THE reasons Celtic won the double in our Centenary Season.

Player at St Mirren, Aberdeen and Celtic among others, he also was famously part of the Tommy Burns management team at Celtic.  Stark therefore has some interesting tales to tell about Tommy, Fergie...and Any Townsend.

Enjoy.

Just in time for the schools breaking up, the world's longest running football fans podcast brings you another feast of football chat to get you through the dearth of quality chat in a tournamentless summer (yes I know there's the women's thing but that doesn't count).

This week Harry is joined by Grant Russell of STV, known to those on twitter as @STV Grant.  The boys discuss Grant  credentials as a real fan of a lesser team before getting on to the meat of the discussion...how they'd cover the game if they ruled the world.

Enjoy

@STVGrant

@HarryBradyCU

You may be all just about to embark on your summer holidays with the prevailing sports of golf, cricket and tennis on the tv but football never goes away and neither does the worlds' longest running fan podcast!

The last Scotland game was just a week ago but the Celtic players are back in training, the fixtures are out and the Champions League draw has been made so we know you want some football chat so your quest is fulfilled here with St Anthony in conversation with Graham Spiers, the man who proves Scotland's deference to authority by getting all the respect in the world just by dressing like a teacher.

Enjoy.

On twitter;

@GrahamSpiers

@Stephen62572390

It's milestone in more ways than one.  We have now reached the end of the first season of the Ronny Deila era and it's also the end of the first 250 podcasts from Celtic Underground.  Eddie may be still living in a cave but we still have enough regulars from the podcast to have a multi-cast review of Ronny's first term.

Hullbhoy & Lachie passed on their apologies but we Harry was still joined by St Anthony, Mak Cooper, Mark Cameron and Lawrence Donegan to doscuss season 2014-15.

The bhoys start with the departure of Lenny and the fact that they weren't really surprised (not that they didn't appreciate the work Lenny had done, just that there seemed to be a natural ending to his time).  The rambling chat rolls along from there through the preparation of the squad for Cahmpions league and then onto the "challenge" from the Dons, stopping off for a discussion on youth before a quick look over the fence at next term.

Enjoy

@Leftybhoy

@Lawrencedonegan

@Markocooper

@Stephen62572930

@HarryBradyCU

Steven Purcell has is a Celtic fan with a unique insight into the dramtic events in Glasgow and Scotland over these past 12 months.  Steven got into politics during the turbulent times of the 1980's and became a Glasgow City councillor at 22 and leader of the City just 10 years later at 32.  Close to Donald Dewar, steven was tipped to become the leader of Labour in Scotland before his high profile resignation and departure from public life.  Before leaving the City council, Steven was the man who led the team which brought the Commonwealth Games here in 2014 and remains close to the movers and shakers of Scottish politics.

Steven talks of his love of Celtic and the Labour Party and the challenges facing the second of those two - he identifies the 5 challenges he sees facing the Labour Party UK wide and how the simple use of the single name "Nicola" could spell real problems for Labour in Scotland.

In a wide ranging conversation which covers Sectarianism, Gasgow's uncomfortable relationship with football and the OBFA, the boys round up by discussing the joy of watching Celtic under Ronny Deila.

Enjoy

Following the jolly discussions of the Aberdeen game and the remaining fixtures this term, guest Mark Cameron shows his ruthless side by discussing the big changes he envisages for the first team squad.  Some of his proposals are enforced with expected sales, whilst others are end of contract or fringe players whose disappearance tomorrow wouldn't be noticed.

See if you agree with @leftybhoy on who will come and go...

Enjoy

On Twitter;

@Leftybhoy

@Harrybradycu

This week Celtic Globetrotter Mark Cameron drops in for a chat with Harry.  Their wide ranging discussion covers the joy of being champions at Pittodrie, how the manager will deal with the squad for the last two games and what the squad may or may not be after the (brief) summer break.

It's such a long and wide ranging chat that Harry has decided to split the podcasts up into two bite sized chunks.  Podcast 248a is about this season and part b will be along in a few days time where we look at next.  Oh and don't forget it's Lisa Hague's birthday bash at Celtic Park this week - funds to Marie Curie.

Enjoy

@Leftybhoy

Last week we uploaded part I of the conversation between St Anthony and Andy Ritchie.  Since that upload, both sides with whom Andy is synonymous (Celtic & Morton) have secured their respective league titles...magic!

If you've not listened to 247(a) it's available from all the usual places.  If you have then please enjoy the 2nd part...

I pondered for a little while as to whether to call this a My Celtic Life podcast after all, Andy is a Morton Legend and only played a handful of games for the hoops but for those of us of a certain age you cannot think of players like Andy or Chcik Charnley and not think of the hoops they could have been.

Andy had talent but he was also more in the Griffiths Tunnock Teacake world of fitness than the John Collins multi sit-up one.  Whetever the reason he left Celtic early in his career and became a legend down Greenock way.

The man has more than a few stories and St Anthony and he enjoy a good 1 and a half chat over all things football.  As a consequence I thought it best to create two managable podcasts from the conversation which should give you something else to listen to until after May 7th.

Enjoy.

This week Harry has just about calmed down enough to do a podcast dissecting the ICT fall-out.  With more unsighted people in Scottish football than you'd find at a Ray Charles convention, Harry hops on Skype and chats with a man 8,000 miles away in Argentina - even he saw it - HANDBALL.

The guys naturally discuss what happened and Harry TRIES to come up with a valid defence for 5 unsighted officials.  After this the guys have a wider discussion on the team performance on the day before moving into the challenges we'll face with the squad before Mark gives us a run-down of who we won't sign from South America but will eventually sign for Arsenal for £10m or some other silly amount.

Between the football chat the boys also discuss hotel rooms in London and coffins in Kinning Park!

Enjoy

This week Harry is joined by a man familiar with listeners to BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound and formerly readers of the Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday - Mr Tom English.  Tom is a Limerick man and was a Limerick Utd and Liverpool fan growing up who pretty much stumbled across Scottish football when posted here in by the Sunday Times in the early 1990's.  

Over the course of a rambling hour and a half, the boys manage to fit in;

Limerick Utd, Liverpool, the glory of your first game, lush green grass, Fergus McCann, Ronny Deila, TV deals and the future of journamlism among many other things.

Both gents can be found on twitter;

@TomEnglishSport

@HarryBradyCU

Enjoy

A REAL St Mirren fan in the media - yes apparently there IS one and St Anthony has found him!

This week St Anthony is joined by The Scottish Sun's Chief Football Writer Mr Robert Grieve to talk football AND Saint provides the bombshell right at the start that Robert IS actually a ST Mirren fan - yes a real live one - although a thought did occur that maybe that's why St Mirren's average attendance is so low, all the St Mirren fans are busy reporting at other grounds across Scotland....

I hope you enjoy and please don't forget your food parcels to mark 100th year of Brother Walfrid's passing.

The hiatus of international football is over and so it's time to talk Celtic.  Lachie Mor joins Harry to discuss the shooty-in exercise of the final Dundee Utd game and the squad in general.  In addition to discovering that Lachie's best 11 contains a minumum of 12 players, the pair discuss the forthcoming triple and summer squad changes including Liam Henderson's loan move to Norway.  There is a brief mention of the Ibrox lunacy before Lachie picks his starting 12 for the St Mirren game.

Enjoy

With it being an international week our listeners will be thirsty for Celtic content and this week St Anthony returns with another My Celtic Life.  This week Saint is joined by Charlie Gallagher.  

Charlie is one of those Celts who's career spanned a dramatic chnage in the club.  Starting in the dark pre-Stein days he was fortunate enough to play alongside his hero, the late great Willie Fernie and played with the club through the start of the Stein era before finishing his career during the days of colour TV at Dumbarton.  Charlie's other claim was to be the first Irish Republic International born in Glasgow.

As I write I'm about to head off to the Celtic FC Foundation Zip Wire and it's VERY windy.  If I'm not heard of for a while can someone check to see if I landed in Norway?

Enjoy

Why would anyone not be excited about going to watch Celtic at the moment?  Bombing on full backs, pace speed, ability - even centre halves scoring goals by playing a 1-2 in the opposition 6 yard box.  To quote Chris Tarrant on TISWAS - This Is What They Want!  Yes, this is sexy football.  Ronny Deila is bringing sexy back to Celtic Park!

This week Mark Cameron joins Harry to discuss attacking football being played the Glasgow Celtic way and Dundee Utd leaving the boot in.  That's right, we review the latest instalment in the Celtic v Dundee Utd saga and discuss how enjoyable supporting Celtic is.

The enjoyment of supporting a great team on the park is only added to by knowing that Celtic are a club like no other and Mark talks about his work with the Celtic FC Foundation.

The two contributors are on twitter;

@Leftiebhoy

@Harrybradycu

Enjoy

Jim Spence in conversation with St Anthony

Since the speculate to accumulate concept came crashing down in Scottish football, few journalists have provided a fairer and more bullish assement and commentary on our game than Jim Spence.  With 3 Dundee Utd games coming up St aNthony has dusted down his mic once again to meet up with Jim Spence and have a good football natter with a proper football fan.

Both gents can be found on twitter;

@Stephen62572390 

@BBCJimSpence

This week St Anthony is joined by author of The First Game With My Father, Michael Tierney.  They discuss all things Celtic including Sean Connery, Gerard Butler, Ben Bradley et al.

Also the Celtic FC Foundation have just a few team places left for their first golf day which is taking place on World Autism Day - 2nd April, at Renfrew Golf Club.

CELTIC FC FOUNDATION GOLF DAY TO TAKE PLACE ON WORLD AUTISM AWARENESS DAY

CELTIC FC Foundation’s inaugural Golf Day will coincide with World Autism Awareness Day on Thursday, April 2.

World Autism Awareness Day is an initiative launched by the United Nations General Assembly to promote awareness and understanding of people with autism.

Celtic FC Foundation’s first Golf Day is scheduled to take place at Renfrew Golf Club with all proceeds raised going towards a project  that will help children and young people with autism. In collaboration with the University of Strathclyde, Celtic FC Foundation intend to create a project which will offer an opportunity to enhance each child’s wellbeing through supported physical activity such as football and dance with a focus on fun.

Celtic FC Foundation’s inaugural Golf Day, please email cfcfoundation@celticfc.co.uk or call 0141 551 4291.

After Harry updates on the Celtic Graves Event of Saturday 28th Feb in Kilsyth and the forthcoming CFC Foundation events we have the meet of the podcast with St Anthony.

St Anthony meets up with Andy Lynch.  In February 1973, Jock Stein paid £30,000 to sign Lynch for Celtic and, although Lynch was initially a winger, Stein successfully converted him into a left back. While with Celtic he won three Scottish league titles and the Scottish Cup twice. He scored the only goal in the 1977 Scottish Cup final.

There will be more podcasts to come so please enjoy.

This week Harry gets in from the Internazionale game at Celtic Park and has almost lost his voice.  There is just enough left to have a skype chat with our man in Argentina Mr Mak Cooper.

The two discuss the wonderful game at Celtic Park and conclude that this is wondeful but the best is yet to come.  Mark also provides an insight into what Celtic COULD be doing to get young South American talent.

Please enjoy the podcast and the goals

The two can be found on twitter;

@Harrybradycu

@Markocooper

This week st Anthony is joined by famous Celtic author and historian Pat Woods.

With the forthcoming tie with Inter Milan memories are bviously transported back to European joys and tears of the past, of ost note the 1967 Final and then there was the heartache of the 1972 European Cup Semi Final and the boys discuss these past times at length.

Also this past week I was fortunate enough to see the launch of the Celtic Foundation partnership with Poplar Harca Housing Association in a 3 year programme aimed at getting kids involved in positive activities.  When the English Premier League has just signed a £5bn tv contract it's heartening to see that our club, without these riches, is working in communities to improve the lives of others.

For more info visit - http://charity.celticfc.net/

Enjoy

This week former host of Celtic TV Ally Beg and author of Begg To Differ joins Harry to discuss Scottish Football.  As Ally is a Dons fan & former Celtic TV man they discuss the two cup semi finals and also discuss the Dons in the league - can they hold onto 2nd with the challenge from ICT?

They discuss teh dreadful Hampden pitch, the Scottish transfer market and touch on the Inter Milan game.

Enjoy

I decided to keep the title to this weeks podcast brief because mention the name Michael Kelly to many Celtcs and just stand back.  A man who certainly generates comment, his Celtic heritage goes back to the forming of the club.  The Kelly family and Celtic and the Kelly family and Glasgow are pretty interwined.

A man credited with halting the terminal decline of a once great City with the Glasgow's Miles Better campaign his arrival on the board with Brian Dempsey seemed to Herald the change many of us were praying for, but quickly his presence on the board became a point of much anger.

History is written by the victors and in the battle for the soul of our club, as we know unlike like other clubs the Celtic fans stepped up to the plate and saved it and Michael was one of the losers.

We've had Brian Dempsey on, now you can hear Michael Kelly who is joined by St Anthony.

Enjoy.

Celtic have a league cup semi final coming up over the weekend and we have brought Hullbhoy in from out of cold storage to give us his insight.

First up Hullbhoy and Harry discuss the performance of the team under Ronny and the changes and development of the playing style witnessed.  The boys then go on to discuss wider issues in Scottish football like how crap our refs are before finally looking at the weekend league cup semi games and Hullbhoy sets out what his starting 11 on Sunday would be.

The bhoys can be found on twitter;

@Hullbhoy

@HarrybradyCU

ALSO - Wee request...look into sponsoring this guy please;

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/briangilmour

This week St Anthony is back at the reigns for a chat with a man with 6 decades plus of Celtic and Scottish football memories.  Journalist and editor of the fabulous Playing for Celtic series of books.  One indicator of the difference in player/journalist relationship in past times - Rodger was Jim Baxter's best man.

Remember St Anthony can be found on twitter -

@Stephen62572390 

Did you have a good New Year?  As they say may your best of 2014 be the worst of 2015.

Following on from Ally Begg on podcast No230, once again Harry brings a new voice to the CU Podcast in the Norwegian based in Glasgow, Christian Wulff or, @aHellofaBeating as many followers on twitter will know him.

Christian's interest in Scottish football began when his father established the Norwegian Stenhousmuir Supporters club and this Osloite who has recently been feeding insatiable demand for Norwegian football in Scotland since the arrival of Ronny Deila, writing for The Herald & SoS, as well as blethering on BBC & STV.

So hopefuly this year Ronny will save us from tears and deliver the football Christian reminds us he was famous for in Norway.

The contributors can be followed on twitter;

@aHellofaBeating

and

@HarryBradyCU

This week Harry has a long range podcast with a guest who's packed more into the last 25 years than many would pack into 2 lifetimes - former ... well former many things including;

Wannabe footballer, Model, Boy Band Star, Host of MUTV, Celtic TV, Setanta Sports, Sky Sports, ESPN and currently beIN Sport based in Doha, Qatar.

A fascinating guest, Ally's ability to bounceback from adversity and move on to bigger and better things is clear in this podcast.

Ally & I spoke for an hour and a half and could have gone on for the same again.

If interested in more his book Begg to Differ can be bought online;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Begg-Differ-Ally/dp/0956276040

Ally can also be followed on twitter @ally_begg

Lachie Mor is back in the house and Harry & Lachie discuss the ghost of Celtic Past, Present & Future and conclude that it's always good to support the hoops.

The bhoys discuss the recent performances where a total of 20 goals could have been scored against Motherwell & St Mirren (but weren't).

At almost the halfway stage in the season Harry tries to get Lachie's best Celtic 11 for this crop and the bhoys also discuss the upcoming visit of Inter from Milan.  Oh and they also wonder what the heck is going on at Ibrox...then decide who knows and who cares.

Merry Christmas and God Bless Us All.

1978-79 was a season like no other, marking the end of an era and transition to a different world in more ways than one.  Jock Stein had managed Celtic for the final time and his European Cup winning captain was to take over the reigns.  The Rangers team which had been succesful in the post 9 in a row years were ageing and two clubs from the North East were starting to show how they would come briefly challenge the perceived order of Scottish Football.

Off the field season 1978-79 started with a song from the film of the summer at number 1 You're The One That I Want from Grease was there for 9 weeks, with 3 Times a Lady replacing it and in politics too we saw major transition.

The Labour goverment had lost its majority in parliament and despite being ahead in the polls, Jim Callaghan saw no need to call an election.  Over the course of the season we would see that lead of the old order be lost, the winter of discontent and the season ended with a woman prime minister.  Changing days indeed.

With all of this going on Celtic came from mid table oblivion to a final game showdown to face Rangers.  Only a victory would allow the Celts to secure another title and in 58 minutes at 1-0 down Johnny Doyle was sent off.  Things did not look good but the players rallied around and TEN MEN WON THE LEAGUE.

Stephen Murray has written a book about that almost mythical season and this podcast finds out more.

Listen to the end to find out how you could win asigned copy.  If you can't win one, buy one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ten-Men-Won-The-League/dp/1503109747

The podcast this week sees St Anthony join Harry Brady to discuss the patience of fans past and presence. The bhoys start off by discussing a very exciting new book - St Anthony's review of the remarkable 1978/79 season which culminated in the game which has entered the folklore of the Celtic support, the famous 4-2 game when 10 men won the league.  From this the bhoys find a way to weave the patience of the Celtic fans for a new manager to the slightly less mellow fans of today.

The bhoys discuss the pro's and cons of Ronny's team selections and their hope that the run of 6 wins in the last 7 games points to the new dawn we all hope for.

Enjoy

Both gents are on twitter;

@Stephen62572390

&

@harrybradycu

The old sage of Celtic Underground returns.  With the feast or famine nature of modern football fans, couple with the desire of the Scottish media to pounce on any negitivity at Celtic, the changes at Celtic have resulted in pressure on Ronny Deila.  Lachie Mor and Harry Brady therefore decide to look beyond the easy "it's no working" comments that abound to see if there are indications that it is working...and they do.

Lachie and Harry discuss the challanges of creating change and how this doesn't happen overnight.  They also talk about fitness and diet and how, to think debate on this is taking place at the club not set in the context of how it improves football ability is ludicrous.

Enjoy

The contributors can be found on twitter;

@LachieMor1

@HarryBradyCU

Lachie Mor is back.  Whilst his convalescing continues Lachie finds time to discuss Celtic with Harry Brady with a more considered approach.  The pair discuss the fortunes of the team to date, the challenges of changing the culture of the club and how the internet provides an outlet for the less tolerant fans.

In view of Peter Lawwells comments following the clubs exit from Champions league football about the lack of domestic talent, the pair also discuss the problems here and the fact that, with our own academy, we are as much part of the problem with regards domestic talent.

The participants can be found on twitter;

@lachiemor1

@HarryBradycu

Enjoy

This week Harry is joined by St Anthony to discuss the Maribor disaster analysing the many areas where things went wrong and looking for any positives which there may be to take from it - the guys don't think there were any.

After discussing what wasn't good about the game, the guys also discuss their hopes that Ronnie will get things right, some fears he may not but mainly criticism of the board for not adequately supporting him.

After this, the boys decide that now we're in the Europa League we may as well enjoy it and they look forward to who we may get in the group stages of that competition. With the games ongoing as the lads speak they make it up as they go along but decide it will be fun to see something different.

Please do your best to enjoy!

The bhoys can be found on twitter;

@Stephen62572390

and

@Harrybradycu

With all the shenanigans of the last few weeks, in fact with everything that has gone on at Celtic since the departure of Neil Lennon Harry decided it was time for a podcast discussing the breif season so far.  Who better to join him than man in the know, musical expert, golf aficionado and @bythemin mogul Lawrence Donegan?

Lawrence and Harry discuss Lennon, Deila, Iceland, Warsaw, Perth and all things in between - and there has been a lot in between.

Also on the podcast is music from the Bluebells and Gary Bird.  The Bluebells track is a special one - it was written by Lawrence MANY years ago, when he was a fresh faced lad of 19.

Enjoy

The two contributors can be found on twitter;

@lawrencedonegan

and 

@Harrybradycu

This week St Anthony returns with another former hero as his guest.  Danny Crainie got his big chance at Celtic due to a big break - the leg breaks of Nicholas and McGarvey and he grabbed it with both hands.  The return of Nicholas and McGarvey limited his game time and then with a change of manager from McNeil to Hay and the arrival of McClair and Melrose it became time for Danny to move on.

Danny was at the club in that time when the challenge to us came not from the south of the city but the North East of Scotland...imagine that!  

Enjoy!

St Ant and I are on twitter

@Stephen62572390

@Harrybradycu

and of course the long serving presenter is still noising people up

@celticrumours

This week St Anthony is joined by another star of the hoops from the late 70's and early 80's, Davie Provan.  For the 40 somethings and upwards Davie was an excellent winger who (along with Murdo McLeod)  was able to fire in the odd spectacular free kick the most famous of which gets a wee airing on this podcast.

Davie was perhaps unforunate to come up against John Robertson and Davie Cooper otherwise he may have won more caps for Scotland and his career was cut short by ME, an illness which some 30 years later is still not that well understood.  His impact on the team and the way the fans thought of him perhaps reflected in circa 42,000 turning up for his testimonial on a cold November night in 1987 (these were the days when a big crowd was 35,000 against Hibs or Aberdeen).  For younger fans Davie is a media pundit.

The first song is from the chart when he signed, the last when he scored THAT free kick. 

Enjoy.

This week St Anthony is joined by another star of the hoops from the late 70's and early 80's, Davie Provan.  For the 40 somethings and upwards Davie was an excellent winger who (along with Murdo McLeod)  was able to fire in the odd spectacular free kick the most famous of which gets a wee airing on this podcast.

Davie was perhaps unforunate to come up against John Robertson and Davie Cooper otherwise he may have won more caps for Scotland and his career was cut short by ME, an illness which some 30 years later is still not that well understood.  His impact on the team and the way the fans thought of him perhaps reflected in circa 42,000 turning up for his testimonial on a cold November night in 1987 (these were the days when a big crowd was 35,000 against Hibs or Aberdeen).  For younger fans Davie is a media pundit.

The first song is from the chart when he signed, the last when he scored THAT free kick. 

Enjoy.

This week St Anthony returns with another former Celtic star from many of our youths - Mike Conroy.

Mike signed for Celtic in 1978 and scored on his debut - unfortunately that was a 4-1 defeat to Hibs.  Mike was at Celtic at a time when the middle of the park had good young talent and competed for a starting place with the likes of Tommy Burns, Mudro McLeod, Davie Provan, Johnny Doyle, Dom Sullivan and Paul McStay.  These were the days before squad rotation and when teams won leagues using the same 11 starting players week after week.  Like our previous guest Sullivam, Mike eventually moved on to find regular first team football.  A man with Celtic heritage, Mike gave his all for the jersey.

Enjoy.

This week St Anthony joins Harry Brady to discuss all things Celtic, the season past, manager past and the manager future.

At the time of recording the two gents had a good idea that Ronny Deila would be the next Celtic manager, but nothing was confirmed.  This didn't stop them from doing what all good Celtic fans have been doing online and extrapalate from the 3 online articles in English about Deila into a full and detailed review of the "potential" new guy.

In addition to the new guy, the pair also take time to discuss the best signing strategy and Harry decides to play the awkward bugger and play devils advocate to every idea St Anthony proposes - ENJOY!

Contibutors are on twitter;

 @stephen62572930

@Harrybradycu

This week Harry is joined by a non-Celtic guest - Richard Gordon of BBC Sportsound fame.  Richard discusses his love for Aberdeen, but more importantly his passion about Scottish football and his career covering the game and some of the challenges covering the Dons (strangely enough 9-0 at Celtic Park sprang to mind!)

Richard has a book coming out covering the first World Cup he has a memory of; West Germany 1974.  The book is out on May 12th.

http://www.blackandwhitepublishing.com/index.php/books/view/scotland_74_a_world_cup_story

This week Harry is joined by financial whizzkid Hullbhoy to discuss Celtic, Lee Griffiths  and the implications of Scotland's newest club joining the ranks of Third Lanark, Gretna and Rangers as deceased clubs.

Before all of that discussion, Harry has a brief chat with Mark from the Celtic foundation about how to get involved in assisting the club raise funds for homeless charities in Glasgow.  The last game of the season special Celtic Foundation "Football For Good" badges will be available to buy with minimum donation of £1.  Helpers are required to rattle the buckets and sell the badges.  We often talk about what makes us different and the foundation of the club around charitable aims.  That charitable function disappeared for most of the 20th century but was re-instigated by Fergus.  As we know, March was the 20th anniversary of Fergus saving our club from the embarrassment of administration and how fitting that whilst other clubs use their charitable arm to stay trading (allegedly) our charity is going from strength to strength.

If you want to put something back and help our charity with deeds as well as money, email cfcfvolunteer@ceticfc.co.uk

Contributors to this weeks podcast can be found on twitter;

@hullbhoy

@leftbhoy

@harrybradycu

This week St Anthony is joined by former Celtic midfielder Dom Sullivan.

Dom signed for Celtic in 1979 from Aberdeen for the not too triffling amount of £80,000, following the road taken by his former manager Billy McNeil.  This was a time when squads were small, typically championship winning teams could have as few as 15 or 16 players making first team appearances through the season therefore when a young Paul McStay broke into the side, eventually Dom moved on in 1983.  

In his time at the club Dom made 113 appearances scoring 15 goals.

More podcasts are to come but meantime if your making your plans for the last game of the season, don't forget the badge day for the Celtic Foundation;

http://www.celticfc.net/charity/

PODIUM!

Sorry but how could I possibly have someone on discussing a CQN Book and not make one podium reference?  Anyway, this week I am joined by Brogan Rogan Trevino & Hogan to discuss the latest output from the Celtic conglomerate CQN - Seville: The Celtic Movement.

BRTH sets explains that at times many of us (especially the online Celtic community over the last 2 -3 years) can get too hung up on all the politics surrounding the Scottish game and forget that going to the football with your mates or family is a fun social event, none more so than Seville.  The book therefore is a celebration of that communal fan spirit that was never more evident than around that game.  The book therefore is a fans book telling the fans tails of the game - or more importantly getting to and from the game rather than accounts of the match itself.

Like all good book sellers BRTH refuses to divulge any of the stories (you need to read the book) but the lads do a little reminicing whilst discussing everything around the game.

Both gentlemen are on twitter;

@broganrogantrev

@harrybradycu

The book can be purchased "in all good book stores" inc;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seville-Celtic-Movement-McGinley-Jim/dp/0957617127

This is our first podcast since becoming the champions again and cenemting ourselves as the most succesful living club in Scotland.  No matter how succesful we become we must savour every success and one man who knew that was Sean Fallon.  A Celtic great for decades, Sean saw many good and bad times and his biographer, Stephen Sullivan is the guest for this weeks podcast.

Stephen, formerly of The Celtic View and Celtic website joins St Anthony to dicsuss all things Celtic and specifically his biography of the great Sean Fallon - Celtic's Iron Man.

St Anthony and Stephen Sullivan can both be found on twitter;

@SullivanSK

@Beverlyhill90210 sorry I meant @stephen62572390

You can buy the book in various places inc;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sean-Fallon-Celtics-Iron-Man/dp/1909430013

This week St Anthony returns with another fantastic guest able to provide an insight into the history of the club - a man with a very famous name in the club's history: Neil Mochan.

Neil Mochan Jnr discusses his fathers 40 years plus association with the club and also the fothcoming book.  An excellent listen.

St Anthony can be found on twitter  @Stephen62572390

This week Harry Brady managed to sneak back into Celtic Park for another interview with fan liaison officer John Paul Taylor.

JP was on a podcast at the start of the season outlining the purpose of his new position back at Celtic Park and after 8 months Harry re-visits to see if it's all going to plan.  JP is his usual open and honest self, providing an overview of his work to date and also where the club are with the Green Brigade, safe standing, kick off times and other matters.  Also the recent fans forum meeting is discussed and JP outlines the club's thinking on this.

John Paul can be contacted by email, letter or telephone at Celtic Park and also on twitter;

@Celticfcslo

"The Game Is Over, The Rebels Have Won"

These words are burned into my soul, won of the most defining moments for our club in my lifetime.  Our club was miandering towards oblivion, caught in the headlights of the Ibrox juggernought.  Following the Ibrox disaster, Rangers had created the most modern stadium in Scotland.  Complete with commercial revnue streams available to no-one else they had then taken advantage of thefreezing out from European football of English clubs to hoover up the best of British talent.  Our club had neither the facilities nor the people to compete.  We were heading towards administration.

Thanks to the work of the guys at Celts for Change and business people with the the support was galvanised future of Celtic their only concern, the bills were paid and Celtic stayed in business.

There then followed the most amazing transformation of our club.  Rangers couldn't compete and turned to cheating to stay on our coat tails, eventually going bust under the burden of competing with Celtic.

This podcast focusses on that time with archive from Matt McGlone, Brian Dempsey, two tales from the Celtic Wiki and a brief audio history of some of our heroes.

Enjoy

This is the second of our two podcasts with forner General Manager Jock Brown where he discusses his time at Celtic.  This week there is more on his relationship with Wim Jansen and Murdo McLoed, how he would do anything to ensure there was no 10 in a row and his sadness at the leaks coming from the lesser member of that management duo.  Brown alos talks of his respect for Dr Jo and the excitement when Dr Jo took him to see Lubo.

If you've not listened to 210 (a) I would suggest doing that first, this one will then make more sense.

Any ideas for a podcast?

Email Harrybradycu@gmail.com

This week Harry is joined by another man from Celtic's recent history, but this time it is one of the more controversial figures - former general manager Jock Brown.

At the club for just for 17 months, his tenure coincided with the final push of the failed Murray regime to achieve ten in a row and consequently this period also saw the hight of the media campaign to unsettle Celtic.  Many would argue Fergus assisted that campaign by dismissing Tommy Burns and then appointing Brown along with "the worst thing to hit Japan since Hiroshima" in a very different structure to anything else in British football.

Those around at the time will recall the events and will have their own recollections - this is Jocks.

This week St Anthony is joined by the ever young Joe Miller.  For me Joe was the start of the realisation that I may never ever get to play for Celtic.  Born in the year of the lisbon success, I was studying for my O Grades when this young lad, the same age as my brother burst onto the scene at Aberdeen.  I began to realise I may be too late...

After 60 first team games for the Dons young Joe signed for his bhoyhood heroes and graced the hoops for 6 years.  Joe returned to the Dons and appeared a further 149 times for them.

St Ant & Joe discuss his career and his role in setting up the Celtic former players association.

St Anthony can be found on twitter;

@Stephen62572930

January 1994 and Celtic football club is approaching its lowest ebb. Whilst the new owner of Rangers decides to accelerate the south side's clubs splash the cash philosophy, over at Celtic the club lurches ever closer to oblivion. In a desperate attempt to hide the reality, the Celtic board provide manager Macari with some limited funds to spend on players to appease the fans. In come the likes of Martin, Biggins and Miggleton.

History has not judged that Celtic team well but were all the players THAT bad? It wasn't until Carl Muggleton's 7th league game for Celtci that he conceeded his first goal and on this weeks podcast Harry Brady is joined by Carl to discuss that time and his career in general. What comes through is a guy who, despite everything, remembers his brief time at the hoops fondly and more than anything is a guy who just loved playing football.

Both can be found on twitter;

@carlmuggleton

and

@harrybradycu

Once again this week Harry makes way for the professionals as St ANthony talks with author of Paradise road, Mr Stephen O'Donnell.

Paradise Road tells the story of Kevin ‘Garra’ McGarry and his assortment of Celtic fan mates from Kirkintilloch as they struggle to get by in their mundane lives which are only brightened by the existence of their favourite football team.

Both authors can be found on twitter;

@StephenODauthor
and
@Stephen62572390

I know, you wait for ages for a podcast then two come along at once however you don't have to suffer Harry Brady twice as (apart from a wee intro) this week it is St Anthony who takes the reigns and he is joined by Pual Dykes, author of the book The Quality Street Gang.

This book details the story of a bygone age when a collection of promising youngsters joined Celtic in the 1960's and became the most talented reserve side that Scottish football has ever had the privilage of witnessing.  Today's podcast contributors can be found on twitter;

@pauldykes

@stephen62572390

This week marks the first podcast of 2014, and first footing Harry is Lachie Mor. Armed with his lump of coal and hawf, Lachie discusses the performance at Motherwell and again the pair discuss the point of many fans - they're not fussed about a winning run if it is replaced by a run of games for some of our younger players.

After discussing this and just how good VVD is, the pair also touch on where the club was 20 years ago because we have a very special anniversary looming.

The contributors can be found on twitter;

@Lachiemor1

@Harrybradycu

After a week when the online chat has been about pyro, seats and signing policies, Harry Brady is joined by St Anthony to discuss... football!

The initial concept of the bhoys is to talk about the great performances of Hearts and Motherwell and the inglorious display in Barcelona.  Instead the bhoys discuss a bit of the good displays in Edinburgh and Motherwell and then move onto the challenge of how to move the best youths in Scotland into becoming the best first team players in Scotland, and don't really reach a solution apart from just playing them.

The participants on this weeks podcast can be found on twitter;

@Harrybradycu

@stephen62572390

This week Harry is joined by Dr Clifford Stott - one of the world's leading experts on crowd management and specifically policing of football supporters.  For once Harry's chat is limited as he listens to a real expert talk about crowd control and policing at football and what should and shouldn't happen.  In a Celtic context, the guys specifically discuss the recent issues in Amsterdam where Dr Stott identifies that there MUST have been a breakdown in communication and decision making over the course of the run up to and night of trouble in Dam Square.  The guys also then go on to discuss the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act.  Stott discusses it's validity in the context of the Human Rights Act and also whether it has actually set back policing of football in Scotland - Overall a quite fascinating listen.

Dr & Professor Clifford Stott  joined the University of Leeds in September 2012 as a Visiting Professor to the Socio-Technical Centre. He then took up a full time post as Principal Research Fellow to the Security and Justice Research Group in September 2013. He previously held positions at the Universities of Liverpool, Abertay Dundee and Bath as well as running his own consultancy company.

This week Harry is once again joined by Hullbhoy and discuss the appalling behaviour of the Dutch police along with some football - and the pleasant sight of 4 Celtic goals being scored in one game against Ross County.

The situation with regards to Amsterdam is continually evolving.  since recording Peter Lawwell has confirmed that Celtic have engaged the services of a leading Dutch football lawyer and will meet head on anyone who causes a problem for the Celtic support and as this podcast is published, John Paul Taylor is currently out in Amsterdam on behalf of the club.

More on this in subsequent podcasts

For more information follow @Celticresearch, @Theceltictrust, @celticfcslo

The contributors to this podcast can be found;

@hullbhoy

@harrybradycu

This week, the guys move off the subject of the Celtic Champions League XI and move onto business matters - The 2013 Celtic AGM.

Harry & Hullbhoy share their business expertise to come up with the perfect preview of a plc AGM - The guy with the deepest pockets gets his way!  Whilst it's not quite like that, the Harry & Hullbhoy preview the meeting by agreeing that the first 9 resolutions are the board's and will be passed by upwards of 96% of the vote.  They agree that non board resolutions have a challenge being passed but that the board do listen to the pressure of many hands at the AGM.

The three non board resolutions (10,11 & 12) are;

10 - A more robust structure around the fan liaison officer

11 - The living wage proposal

12 - The SFA are crap and cheated on Rangers.

Next week we will discuss the Dam Square debacle and the football v Ajax and Ross County.  Then there will be a review of the AGM.

If interested get yourself along to the AGM at 10:30 on Friday 15th November.  If you can't, @HarrybradyCU, @Celticrumours, @CelticAGM and @Theceltictrust and others will all be tweeting live - follow #ticagm and (clubs one) #cfcagm and decide which version of the truth is real!

Enjoy

After a brief brake caused by IT malfunctions and diary challenges, we're back to finalise our review of the ultimate Celtic Champions League XI.  This week Harry is joined by Hullbhoy to discuss the guys who win games - the strikers.  Very quickly Harry & Hullbhoy establish that the striking duo is Larsson and A.N.Other.  Also very quickly they whittle the candidates of that A.N. Other role to just 4 viable candidates, without overly criticising the others.

To vote on the ultimate Celtic Champions League 11, Email;

Harrybradycu@gmai.com

tweet - @Harrybradycu

post on the site - www.celticunderground.net

Walk around shouting your nominations very loudly and hope one of the team her you.

Next up - the Celtic AGM podcast.

This weeks podcast participants can be found on twitter;

@Harrybradycu

@Hullbhoy

With the midfield such an important part of the team, it was decided that Harry needed two experienced hands to help him discuss the selection challenges and so he has been joined by two well known members of the Celtic Underground selection panel, St Anthony and Lachie Mor.  Straight away St Anthony puts his cards on the table to say Charlie Mulgrew would not get in his midfield, but says it in a nice way!.  The group then discuss the pros and cons of many and agree that they would prefer to see as many flair payers as possible in a Celtic CL XI.

In discussing the flair, Harry once again visits his Aiden McGeady arguments.  This time he is pleased to note that others have come to that particular party...

Podcast 200 (c) is part of a series of podcasts hoping to arrive at the best eleven players to have donned the hoops in Champions League Group stages or last 16.  To have your say, email Harrybradycu@gmail.com.  Tweet to @Harrybradycu or leave a comment on the site.

This weeks contributors are all on twitter;

@Harrybradycu

@LachieMor

@stephen62572390

Mark Cooper joins Harry Brady this week to discuss the men who stood in front of last weeks keeprs, the defenders.  Historically known as the sieve for its porous attributes Mark and Harry review the famous MoN back three before moving on to a general discussion of the full backs and centre halves in the more traditional back 4's which followed.

Mark's affection for Izzy and MacNamara are not hidden well, nor is his indifference to Paul Telfer.

Once again, this is a review of the 67 players who started in Champions League games for Celtic (prior to this season) with the aim of picking Celtic's best Champions League XI.  To vote you can tweet @HarrybradyCU, scroll down and comment on the site or email Harrybradycu@gmail.com.

This weeks contributors were @harrybradycu and @markocooper

With Celtic commencing their next campaign in a Group of Champions, and Celtic Underground reaching the milestone of 200 podcasts, this week Harry is joined by The Human Torpedo as they start the process of The Celtic Underground Celtic Champions League XI.  This week it is the no1 spot - The Keepers.

Harry and The Human Torpedo manage to make a discussion about 5 players last an hour and at the end it's pretty clear who they think the No1 is out of

Douglas, Hedman, Marshall, Boruc and Forster.

Next week's podcast 200(b) will be the defenders and chosing might be slightly more difficult.

To get involved email your players to;

HarrybradyCU@Gmail.com

Put comments on the site or tweet - @Harrybradycu or @Thehumantorpedo.

This week sees the long awaited (about 3 weeks) return of Lawrence Donegan to the podcast for the heavily trailed discussion about his @bythemin empire. Lawrence joins Harry to discuss how @bythemin started on twitter and his aim that it might one day be the bastion of proper sports journalism. From this they go on to discuss the Stiliyan Petrov game last week and then the recent Ian Black betting scandal which hasn't been too scandalous and the obvious issues this leads to around gambling and the issues around match fixing.

After that jaunt into non-Celtic stuff the guys then turn their attention to the forthcoming competitive games - Saturday football at Tynecastle and of ccourse the Milan game. After this discussion Harry gives a teaser on the forthcoming 200 podcast series when Celticundergorund.net will venture into picking our best Champions League 11. More to come on that next week.

PS - On the sound turned up, but first time recording a Google+ chat so gie us a bit of slack!

This week Harry is joined by a very special guest - Mr Stiliyan Petrov.

Stiliyan very kindly took time out of his hectic schedule organising the Stiliyan Petrov game at Celtic Park this Sunday to discuss football with a fauning fan.  They obviously discuss the forthcoming charity match at Celtic Park where some of the greatest Celts of the last 20 years (and more) will return to once again grace the hallowed grounds.  Additionally Stiliyan gives an insight into his time at Celtic and more oimportantly discusses the drive and motivation required for a young footballer to make it at the top level.  Once listening I'm sure you'll agree stiliyan is a very compelling speaker - putting us all to shame by being SO articulate in a foreign tongue!

As this podcast is uploaded, a few thousand tickets (max) are still available at £10 & £5.  The beneficiaries are the Stiliyan Petrov Foundation and the Trussell Trust.  Yes in the 21st Century of one of the worlds richest countries we're playing a game to put food on tables of the poor in our city!

At the end of the podcast, Harry indactes that there may be some special podcasts coming up to mark 200 Celtic Underground podcasts.

Hot on the heels of reviewing Kazakhstan and previewing Inverness with Lawrence Donegan, Harry has got his act together and has pulled together a podcast reviewing Inverness and previewing the Shaktar 2nd leg.  Harry is joined by Hullbhoy who provides his insight into these two games, past and present and assures us all that Celtic will win 3-0 AND will sign some players before the end of the transfer window, whenever the SFA decide that is.

Mixed in with all of this, Harry adds some audio which hopefully will get you in the right frame of mind for Wednesday night.

Since the podcast Celtic have confirmed that one of those young 1 Direction lads will be playing in the Stan Petrov game.  I'm sure that news means anyone who has not yet purchased their ticket will need to get their skates on.

This week Harry is joined by musician, journalist, golfer, Celtic fan and alround good guy Lawrence Donegan.  They start with the good intentions of discussing Celtic, football and @bytheminsport and @bytheminCeltic but focuss so much on customer service (or lack thereof) at football that they run out of time for the twitter stuff and postpone that for Lawrence Donegan podcast part II.

After discussions Celtic and football with Lawrence, the recent tweets by new(?) to twitterland @theCelticNo1 remind Harry of his format pre-cup final and the idea to preview the next game with a run down on charts and cinema of a previous clash between Celtic and their forthcoming opponents.

So the podcast has been put together by Harry Brady who can be found writing on www.celticunderground.net and or course on twitter @Harrybradycu.

The guest is Mr Lawrence Donegan who can be found on many places INCLUDING @LAWRENCEDONEGAN and @bytheminCeltic; @bytheminsport and many many other @bythemin... you can think of.

Return of The Pod!  The podcast soundtracks are dusted down after a summer of golf, cricket and not very much else.  Harry Brady cranks up the machine, puts the needle on the records and off we go.

This week Harry if joined by John Paul Taylor, formerly of the ticket office Parsih who, after an 8 year sabatical is now our fan liaison officer.  John Paul justifies himself as a true Celt before going on to explain the wide remit he now has.

Harry also reminds all of the very special place we should have for our flag hero, John Keane - a living Celtic legend!

This week Harry is joined by....well actually he's Johnny nae mates as he singulalrly undertakes a betting and historical preview of playing Hibs at Hampden.  No podcast is truly complete with some music and the Human Torpedo and so this weeks podcast has some appropriate sounds of games gone past and a wiki piece entitled The Hammer of The Hibs - who ese but John (Dixie) Deans.

Hopefully you donwload before the game and get some decent betting form and odds and we all have a lovely Hampden double to toast.

Enjoy

TRhis week the podcast returns after an absence of 6 weeks, enforced only by laziness.  Harry is joined by St anthony where they discuss the ongoing issue of 2013 - what excuse can we provide as to why the away from is useless.  The duo also praise the board for the season book pricing strategy for next season and then find time to discuss Moyes to Man Utd and who may or MAY NOT succedd him at Everton.

Some semblence of order is restored at the end when the Human Torpedo provides another slice of Celtic history with a tale from the Celtic Wiki entitled Celtic's Prince Charlie

Enjoy

This week Harry is invited into the very heart of the club for a conversation with Tony Hamilton.  Tony discusses his role and time at Celtic to date and then provides an insight into the new post he will have from 1st April this year, taking forward the Celtic charity.

Tony's passion for Celtic and the belief that our charitable aims are as relevant today as they were when the club was funded are clear for all.

We then have the return of The Human Torpedo with another tale from the wiki.  This week - Return to Greatness.  Enjoy

This week Harry is joined by Mark Cameron of the Celtic Chairty fund.  The guys discuss the marvelous evening at Celtic Park on Friday 1st March The Lions Roar Again, an event compared by Archie MacPherson and where all in attendnace were privilaged to meet the living legends of the 1967 team.

Harry & Marck talk about the fact that this evening and the work of the Celtic Charity fund, after a difficult week, restored Harry's faith in Celtic.

The bhoys then briefly touch on Juve game.

There is audio from the night with some of the Q&A'S.  This comes and goes a bit so be patient.

We are a wonderful club

This week, I'm Mad As Hell and I'm Not Going to Take It Anymore.  I'm joined initially by Mark Cameron and we talk briefly about the Lions Roar Again as a taster for some changes which will see the celtic Charity and Celtic Foundation become one with Tony Hamilton becoming the new CEO.

I then discuss a raft of issues with Lachie Mor before the sound goes wonky and wetie matters up on Celtic, cheats and other matters.

This week I'm joined by Hullbhoy and we discuss the only game in town - Celtic.

Reserves thumping Celtic.

Figures that spell show we're on the best financial footing.

Juve in last 16 Champions league.

If Carling did football clubs…we know what the Juve result would be!!

Enjoy

And the podcast returns!  Just as you thought I'd done a bunk and joined Eddie as a monk in his cave, after a 6 week absence the podcast is back!

This week I am joined by St Anthony of CU, KDS and Celtic Wiki fame.  We discuss the 4 goals a game enjoyment of SPL home games, the disaster at Hampden v St Mirren, league reconstruction and have a brief look forward to Juve.  Hope you enjoy.

Oh and at the end we have a musical tribute to raving Loony Charlie Green.

Estadio Nacionale joins Harry Brady to discuss the challenges of supporting Celtic from afar along with the challenges of Doha traffic and getting a decent roll and bacon.  Harry then rambles on about the last 16 draw against Juve and then The Human Torpedo presents another tale from the Celtic Wiki - A Rapid Exit.

The music this week are two charity tracks to be downloaded from iTunes - Rod Stewart and the Justice Collective and with our inevitable run to Wembley, Estadio chose Nothing Can Stop Us Now to close.

This week, Harry Brady is joined by Lachie Mor and we also have the return of The Human Torpedo.

Lachie joins Harry to discuss the last three games - Good, Nervous and Ugly.  They discuss getting through to the last 16 and how the atmosphere through the game was tempered by events in Spain.  Then then move on to domestic matters and the pleasing Killie performance and only breifly discuss Arbroath - we won, that's about it!

There is then a new Celtic Wiki bit - Ten Twinkle Toes, narrated as usual by the Human Torpedo

After the car crash podcast number 184 where Harry Brady tinkered about to see how the controls all worked, this week he has been released to do a full podcast.  Harry starts off by explaining that Michael Dolan has crossed the stream but that his history has been taken forward by the special guest Hullbhoy.

Harry tries to start the new era in controversial fashion by talking about the disapointing nature of home domestic form, but the two lads quickly get onto the wonderful European run.  Oh and at the end there is some Jim Traynor bashing just for old times sake.

Harry begins with an explanation as to why there has been no podcast for so long and explains where Eddie has gone.  After this 2 minute review he then tries (and fails) to explain that this is just a wee podcast to allow him to find his feet.

This will NOT be in the UK's top 100 podcasts of 2012, so please take it in the manner it's intended!