In the Scottish Cup final of April 1969, Celtic scored two goals just before half time and these two goals added to a brilliant Billy McNeill corner kick meant that Celtic went in 3-0 ahead. A deathly ominous silence had settled over the Mount Florida end of the ground, but the Celtic half of Hampden was nothing short of delirious with total strangers hugging each other, slapping each other on the back and calling each other “Big Man” “Jum” or “Mac” as they offered each other drinks (still legal at football matches in 1969, although technically frowned upon at this particular game). One wise old Celt, however, was cooler with his celebrations and reminded everyone that 45 minutes remained, and that “Ah hoap big Jock keeps their feet on the grund”…
We needn’t have worried. He did, and Celtic duly won 4-0. But I feel today that the advice of the sage in 1969 is also relevant in 2021. No doubt about it, Sunday was one of the best games that Celtic have played for some considerable time, and the contrast with Sunday and the fecklessness of last season could hardly be exaggerated. It was great stuff, and Sunday night’s TV programmes and Monday’s Press were compelled, some of them through gritted teeth, to concede that this was football of a type that one has seldom seen recently either from Celtic or anyone else.
But the problem with Celtic supporters sometimes is that, in the same way that a narrow, unlucky defeat is often seen as the end of the world, so too a great victory like Sunday is often looked upon as the start of a great new era of Celtic showing the world just how the game should be played. Well, I hope they are right, and they have certainly proved that there is some potential there, but it was only one game against a team who will struggle to avoid relegation. There remain another 36 League games to be played, and that is before we start thinking of Europe and the two other Scottish tournaments. “Keep yer feet on the grund, Celtic”…
A calm, reasoned approach is now called for. Every game must be approached professionally and the fans must support the team in an enthusiastic, but realistic way. Not every game will be 6-0, our new Japanese star may not always score a hat-trick in every game he plays, and yes, there will inevitably be the odd misplaced pass, a defensive error or two and the occasional fluffing of a “gilt-edged” chance (What does that “gilt edged” nonsense mean in this context, by the way? It is one of the more obscure of football metaphors, along with “he only has one thing on his mind”.)…
But we must remain focussed with indeed “only one thing on our minds” and that is winning football matches. Our friends from Central Europe will fight desperately on Thursday but it is definitely advantage Celtic, and then we have Hearts. Oh yes, we owe them one, do we not, and this time we simply have to beat them if we want to return to our treble-winning habits of not so long ago.
A lot to play for and we look to Ange (he looks like everyone’s favourite uncle with that unpretentious pullover) to guide us through. He has already learned what Celtic is all about. But in the meantime, it is time for us to be happy again, and let’s hope the smiles can stay on our faces until May.
Apart from anything else, it is incumbent upon us to save George Square from another pasting of the kind it received at the hands of these Vandals and Goths (there’s another word as well, isn’t there, which has just slipped my memory for the moment!) anyway from these Horrors-, er, these horrible people who ravaged the place yon night. The return of a sullen, unhappy face with a blue scarf is a necessity.
David Potter
