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The problem for many of my generation is simple to articulate.
The pedestal is too high! We actually believed in "more than just a club".
Each of us is different but many think this is really the parting of the ways.
Really is Paradise Lost.
It is for me.
Goodbye
https://twitter.com/McNallyMirror/status/1356314342078226432
The pedestal is too high! We actually believed in "more than just a club".
Each of us is different but many think this is really the parting of the ways.
Really is Paradise Lost.
It is for me.
Goodbye
https://twitter.com/McNallyMirror/status/1356314342078226432
Born in the early mid 60s into a Scottish Catholic family had a certain commonality. Immigrants, outsiders, keep your head low. Watching your father's frustration at not being able to follow dreams, coz that stuff was not for his ilk. Catholics need not apply. Different schools.
We were too young yet to comprehend all that pain and we never really had to like they did, for one reason. We all had a cloth football strip of green and white hoops. Utterly beautiful in its simplicity. Like a suit of armour. A garment that said one thing: you're not inferior.
Coz that really is what "more than a club " represents. It said to a whole generation, my generation, that the chains were off. That if 11 local blokes could dominate the Scottish establishment so easily, and also swagger across borders with the same success, then so could we.
This was the coming of Age of Celtic. Before that, we were humbly a refuge for the downtrodden. Full of dignity, charity, sure; but still a comfort blanket for second class citizens. All knew where the power lay, on the field and crucially off it. Then came along one of them.
Yes thats the truth. For all our catholic worthiness and romantic moments of rebellion, we were losers before Stein. Most of the Lions were drifting there when he arrived. He did one simple thing; he changed mentality. A Protestant told us how to stop being losers and victims.
All of my generation grew up knowing nothing but the certainty of being part of a community of success and excellence. That gave the confidence that fueled so many of us. That is why Celtic is more than just a club. It gave us a vision of ambition, and competing on a level field.
Today I recognise none of those values, and why it's time to close the book and put it in the attic. There is no ambition to swagger across borders; only the aim to be less woeful than our neighbours. This is no pride in standards: our strips DO shrink for lessor players now!
There is not even the sense of "local". We haven't produced a proper talent in 40 years. Tragic to see the procession of unknown journeymen players who don't care. And off the field the club has never been further from its roots. This isn't the community ownership Fergus wanted
Instead we have this absent feudal landlord ; some kind of Dick Dasterly figure, clearly totally superior to the peasants. Never speaks but you feel the disdain anyway. Christ, that is exactly how the Orangemen treated us. Rubbish under their feet. We've come full circle IMHO
I get why it easier for me to close the book. I'm not there so the local bragging rights thing doesn't touch me. My son isn't interested. There IS a tomorrow with a proper vision as "more than just a club" but not on this road. It needs a new vision and mentality that I don't see
It likely resembles the community approach of @packers, that is branded by a legendary coach and a tight community. Owned by the fans. Celtic have wasted the years since they liquidated. We downsized to be just bigger than a newco club. Wr are now not the team of that old strip.
