As Celtic’s iconic manager who revolutionised the game, Jock Stein, once famously stated, the game of football really is nothing without the supporters.
Sure, you need the players, the refs, the infrastructure and then some, but these are merely mechanical cogs in the machine – and this machine, the game of football, requires an engine akin to a heartbeat and it is here where the supporter plays the key role.
Just like an engine or a heart, treat them well and they’ll return the favour right back by the pumping of the lifeblood of the game by way of lifetime support, gate receipts, merchandise, consumerism and most significantly, by producing a spine tingling matchday atmosphere of award winning capabilities.
At least this is the way which I view the vast majority of fans who belong to Celtic, and for this edition of the Green and White of Govan, it is a section of these amazing fans who will be the focus.
Govan Tim Buses
One of the Supporters buses of Govan, the Govan Emerald, will be focussed on for this piece. However, the reader should be made aware of the sheer scale of Celtic buses in general which have left from Govan over the years.
For example, even within less than a mile from Ibrox, there has existed no fewer than 8 Celtic Supporters buses over the decades. For example, The Windsor which was convened by Alex Ferguson’s father, the Dava, the Brighton, the Neptune, the All Saints, the Welcome Inn and the current day Old Govan Arms (TOGA) and previously mentioned Govan Emerald bus.
If you know of anymore, please do get in touch.
At a point in the near future the extent to which the core of Govan has never been a Rangers area as measured by volumes of supporters buses or Rangers pubs will be examined in greater depth.
But for now the focus lies on a Celtic bus.
The Govan Emerald Bus
Est. 1984
Enter the Govan Emerald Supporters bus as convened by Tony Ford and other founder members since 1984.
The bus currently begins their home and away day haulages from the Tall Cranes pub just down from where Craigton Rd meets Crossloan Rd as positioned in the greater Govan area south of Elder Park.
The Emerald is a very successful Celtic bus which catered for no less than 73 Tim souls of mostly Govanite stock for Seville in 2003.
The Emerald is also the occasional home of a man of local legend who ought to be more well known to the wider Celtic community, Tam Joyce, a Winey bhoy who in the early 1990s popularised the Pete St. John tune, ‘Fields of Athenrye’, amongst the Celtic support whilst at a function in Dortmund with the Emerald.
After he began to belt it out the rest of the attending fans joined in and it was brought back to Celtic Park where the rest is obviously history.
The song was of course well known by the Celtic support but had never been one which was popularly sung from the terraces until that time. Over the years there have been numerous fan forums which have also stated this and there was even a 1996 article in the Herald confirming it…
Sean McDon
As usual this is an extract from the longer piece published this morning by Sean on his own blog which you can continue reading HERE. Sean’s earlier articles on Green White and Govan can also be accessed on his new blog – https://seanmcdon.org
The next instalment will be featured on The Celtic Star next Monday morning as usual…
Have your say on this and all other Celtic related stories happening today on the new fans forum – Celtic Noise…
