Brother Walfrid’s move to establish the club as a means of fund raising for his charity, The Poor Children’s Dinner Table, was largely inspired by the example of Hibernian who were formed out of the immigrant Irish population thirteen years earlier in Edinburgh, with 7 of Celtic’s first eleven players signing from Hibs. Walfrid’s own suggestion of the name Celtic was intended to reflect the club’s Irish and Scottish origins, and was adopted at the very same meeting
The Celtic strip is “instantly recognizable” throughout the world of football, and an estimated 9 million people throughout the world are fans of “The Bhoys.”
The club also boasts the largest Stadium in Scotland with an official capacity of 60,832.
1967 was Celtic’s most successful ever year. The club won every competition they entered: the Scottish League, the Scottish Cup, the Scottish League Cup, the Glasgow Cup, and the European Cup. Managed by Jock Stein, and captained by Billy McNeill, the club defeated Inter Milan 2–1 in Lisbon, Portugal on 25 May 1967.
Celtic thus became the first British team, and the first from outside Spain, Portugal and Italy to win the competition. They remain the only Scottish team to have reached the final. The winning players subsequently became known as the “Lisbon Lions”. The East Stand at Celtic Park is dedicated to the Lisbon Lions, and the West Stand to Jock Stein.
The “jungle” was where the celtic fan of the 60’s 70’s and most of the 80’s served his “apprentiship.” The north enclosure of “Paradise” was the heart beat of Glasgow Celtic.
Celtic reached the European Cup Final again in 1970, but were beaten 2–1 by Feyenoord at the San Siro in Milan. Which heralded the “golden Years” of Dutch football.
In 1994 the club found itself close to closure (13 minutes is the time the club had) Enter “Fergus McCann” “the saviour” Acting as a guarantor for the club’s £7 million debt, he injected additional finance and oversaw an extensive redevelopment of Celtic Park.
In 1999, Fergus sold his shares, leaving Irish entrepreneur Dermot Desmond as the largest shareholder, with a 19.8% holding. McCann offered an interest-free payment plan to encourage individuals, rather than financial institutions, to purchase shares. The result was that small shareholders – principally supporters of the club – owned 63% of the stock at the time of fergus departing the club he loved.
The Celtic support will be eternally grateful to the “Bunnet” and I’m sure he will be honoured by the Celtic support with a statue in the future.
In 2003 Celtic reached the UEFA Cup Final, where they lost 3–2 to FC Porto. An estimated 85,000 Celtic supporters travelled to Seville, despite many lacking match tickets.
Celtic fans received awards from UEFA and FIFA for their behaviour at the match, another 1st in football,for the Fans of the Hoops.
In 1965 Celtic began publishing “The Celtic View”, the oldest club magazine in football.
In 2004 Celtic launched its own digital TV channel Celtic TV
Thanks to Jacky Campbell for writing this bio.
