Interview with a Celtic Fan

By: Ahmed | July 7th, 2009

So Matt Rhein, the blogger on The Offisde for Celtic FC emails me and asks if he can ask me a few questions ahead of the Celtic and Brisbane Roar clash this Sunday in the annual Roars Against Racism match. So i say yes and decide to ask a few questions mysefl. So below are all the questions and answers, uncut too, so the swearing hasnt been cut out.

First, brief history of Celtic, I know it’s got a long one, but for the fans who don’t know?

Celtic’s history started as a result of the Great Potato Famine in Ireland. Numerous poor, Irish Catholic migrated to East Glasgow as a result of the famine. For the most part, the rest of Glasgow saw these new residents as second class citizens, so jobs were scarce and poverty was a common place for these Irish Catholics. In 1888, an Irish Marist Priest, Brother Walfrid decided to do something about this. He saw the Hibernian Football Club in Edinburgh (still in existence today) which started as a way to raise money for the poor in Edinburgh and decided to start something similar in Glasgow. Thus the Celtic Football Club was born. They played Rangers in their first match ever, winning 5-2, though the hostilities that exist in the rivalry today were not there. Celtic grew to be the club today with these humble beginnings, including a European Cup win, numerous titles, and one of the most well known clubs in the world today.

Famous Players?

Where to begin here, perhaps the most well known player, and the player that Celtic fans voted as the best Celtic player ever is James “Jinky” Johnstone. Jinky was a key part of the Lisbon Lions who won the European Cup in 1967. Jinky’s nickname was Lord of the Wing and the wee man could glide down the wings with ease, dipping and dodging past defenders. Jinky passed away a few years ago, and his death brought out a huge wave of emotion, showing that Jinky was more than a wonderful player; he was a wonderful human being. His death was just a few weeks before Celtic competed in the CIS Cup final and seeing Celtic win that cup and half of Hampden Park sing for a great man like that was one of the most emotional moments in sports I’ve ever seen.

The most famous player recently from Celtic would easily be Henrik Larsson. Larsson came to Celtic at the end of one of the worst eras in Celtic history. Rangers had won a record eight in a row league titles and were about to break the record for consecutive leagues that Celtic had set in the past. Larsson’s arrival saw the end of these bad times and the King of Kings propelled Celtic to the title that year. After that Henke continued to lead Celtic to greatness, becoming arguably the greatest striker in Celtic history. When Larsson was sold and moved onto both Barcelona and Man U, you could see the genuine emotion and sadness that he felt leaving Celtic. Theirry Henry described Larsson after Arsenal’s loss in the Champions League finals to Barcelona by saying “People always talk about Ronaldinho, Eto’O, Giuly and everything, but I didn’t see them today, I saw Henrik Larsson. He came on; he changed the game, that is what killed the game. Sometimes you talk about Ronaldinho and Eto’o and people like that; you need to talk about the proper footballer who made the difference, and that was Henrik Larsson tonight.”

Greatest Accomplishments?

No doubt it was the 1967 Celtic team, aka the “Lisbon Lions”, winning the European Cup over Inter Milan, to become the first “British” team to win the highest European honor. Before Manchester United, Nottingham Forest, Leeds, etc. But not only were Jock Stein’s men the Champions of Europe, but they won every competition they entered that year.

What are the thoughts on Tony Mowbray and his plan for the club?

I am excited for the Mowbray era to begin. ToMo, as I like to call him, was known for his attacking style at West Brom and Hibs. Most Celtic fans seem to feel that anyone but Gordon Strachan will lead Celtic to glory, but I honestly think Mowbray will be good for the Bhoys. Celtic midfielder Scott Brown thrived under Mowbray at Hibs, earning him the biggest transfer fee from two Scottish teams. Brown has struggled at Celtic a bit, partly due to being forced to play a holding midfield role under Strachan. I must admit that I am a sucker for a tough midfielder with some attack prowess, and Brown fits that bill, so I am hopeful to see some great attacking football under Mowbray.

Is there a sense that Celtic is punching below its weight in Europe?

I don’t think any Celtic supporter is naive enough to think it is 1967. The Man U’s, Chelsea’s, Real Madrid’s will operate on another financial playing field as Celtic, or at least until their debt laden clubs come crashing down (fight the power, row row!). However, Celtic has good European scalps against Man U, AC Milan, Benfica, Villareal, and Shaktar Donestsk in the last three years and qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League. We see teams with similar budgets like Porto (cheating bastards…still bitter about 2003) making even more significant progress last year in the Champions League. Celtic are in a good financial position, they have minimal debt, unlike Rangers and the EPL, and should be at least making progress in Europe. Do I expect us to be the final every year? No, but progress should be expected.

What are you thoughts on the idea of Celtic and Rangers joining the EPL or even a European Super League? Does it not all sound like a money grabbing opportunity?

While joining the EPL or a European Super League would be partly a financial based decision, the knock on Celtic and Rangers the last few years has been that they face inferior competition in the SPL. Hell, a team went into administration then folded all together two seasons ago! Would I like to see Celtic take on better competition week in and week out? Sure, but I don’t think going to the EPL is a good idea. The EPL has its own set of problems, and to point out the most obvious thing, Celtic is not in England and isn’t too well liked by many down South. However, if I was Celtic’s chairman and I was offered the chance at a European Super League, I’d sign up instantly. Whether Rangers has the squad or the finances to join Celtic is another question. I am also an ardent advocate of Celtic trying to distance themselves from Rangers. I despise being considered in the same breath as the bigotry and the mob that follows them (see, Manchester 2008) and would hope that if such a Super League opportunity presented itself, Celtic would tell Rangers to bugger off and fend for themselves.

What do you think is the best way for the other clubs in the SPL to catch up to Rangers and Celtic so that it is not always a two horse race every year, as it is always seen as?

Rangers are in a hairy financial situation and this is probably the best situation that another club has to try and poke their head for a long time in the top two. Unfortunately, finances aren’t too great all around the SPL. Kilmarnock is facing possible administration. Other clubs still seem to try and buy young players to sell to Celtic or Rangers eventually. Hearts might have the best chance to crack the top two, but while Vladimir Romanov might have stacks of money (maybe not as much as originally thought, as last year, Hearts couldn’t pay players at one point), he seems to be bat-shit crazy and too much of a negative force to ever create a stable situation.

What are the fans view on Scott McDonald? What are the views on other Australian players as well and would you love to see some at Celtic and which ones?

Fans seem to be torn on Scott McDonald. Of course, there was the whole scoring for Motherwell against Celtic to lose Celtic the title and then dance around like he won the World Cup in 2004 thing, but after netting 30 goals, including big ones in the Champions League, in his first year of Celtic, that Black Sunday was forgotten. This year, Skippy struggled and only got about half of the goals and loud murmurs about McDonald’s training regiment and weight were heard. I see Skoosh as a poor man’s Pipo Inzagi, always fighting a battle with the offsides line and seeming to be in the right place at the right time. It will be interesting to see how McDonald plays under Mowbray’s likely 4-3-3. I think he’ll prosper under it.

Who are players to watch out for this Sunday when the team take on the Roar? What are the expectations from the match?

Most Celtic fans will be looking at new signing Marc Antoine Fortune’s first performance. He is not the most popular signing with the fans, so most will want to see positive things from the Frenchman’s debut. I am interested to see how Scott Brown does back under Mowbray. Finally, I am hoping to see if a year on loan helped youngster’s Paul Caddis and Cillian Sherridan.

Does Celtic see this as a great opportunity to grow the Celtic brand and will it just end with this game this weekend, or do you want to see Celtic do more to get the name out there?

Celtic is definitely looking to expand the team’s image down under. There is already a pretty solid population of Celtic (and Rangers) fans down under, but with the huge success Celtic had in marketing to Japan with Shunsuke Nakamura, an attempt to do so in Australia would only make sense.

Any new signings and which ones, what are the expectations from them? If none, which positions are vital to fill and who should Mowbray look at?

Mowbray’s first signing came recently with striker Marc Antoine Fortune coming from French club Nancy. Mowbray worked with Fortune at West Brom, where the Frenchman was on loan. It was refreshing to see Fortune turn down more money from the likes of Hull and Portsmouth for the quality of football that he thinks he’ll get at Celtic. Celtic needed another striker, but many are not sure if Fortune is good enough. If you were to ask any Celtic supporter what Celtic’s number one need will be, I can guarantee 9 out of 10 would say “Leftback.” Lee Naylor has been Terrible with a capital “T” for years now, but this glaring need has not been met yet. Hopefully Mowbray can get a solid leftback sometime soon. There’s talk that ToMo will be after Real Sociedad left back Xabi Castillo this offseason, so I’ll cross my fingers.

What are the predictions for next season? Where do you want Celtic to be at the end of May?

I predict Celtic bringing the SPL title home. To be honest with you, Rangers is not a good team right now. Celtic was mismanaged horribly last year by Strachan, which lead to their downfall. Rangers are in huge financial problems right now, which mean they are not looking to buy this offseason. Celtic should be able to win the league next year. As far as Europe, last year’s disappointing end of the season means that Celtic will have to go through qualifying rounds for the Champions League. Getting through these is the first step, but if they can’t, I’d expect a good Europa League run.

Time to look forward to the game this Sunday and may the best team win……………we all know its Brisbane Roar, right, thats good, just checking.