Bertie Auld is interviewed for Celtic’s Matchday Programme for Sunday’s Scottish Premiership match against theRangers at Celtic Park. And after the season we’ve all had to endure, the Lisbon Lion reckons it’s time that the current crop of Celtic players went out and put on a show and deliver a morale boosting victory.
“The fans have been missed, they give so much to the players and the players get so much from them,” Bertie said in his interview with the official match programme. “They always have everything to play for. All the Celtic fans will be watching them and encouraging them on and they’ll want to deliver for the fans. They’ll want to put on a show and give the fans good performances.
“As big Jock used to say, go and entertain! They have the ability to do that, they wouldn’t be at Celtic if they didn’t,” Bertie Auld.
“This is a game that you must read very quickly and the first quarter of an hour is always so important. Momentum is so important but so are those 50/50 balls. Big Jock would always tell us to win those and that helps you get a hold of the game.
“We had 11 players on the park and they all wanted to entertain the fans. When you walked out there wearing that green and white jersey you felt as if you were 16 feet high, it didn’t matter who you were playing.
“I loved playing in front of the Celtic fans. I played inside-left and outside-left and when I was playing out wide I loved it! You felt as if you were in The Jungle. The fans were right there beside you, encouraging you and applauding you and they’re still the very same to this day.”
Auld points to the experienced players in the Celtic side to stand up and show the way to their less experienced teammates.
“The players coming through now have some great experienced players around them to guide them just as I did when I came through,” said Auld. “I was so fortunate to play with some incredible players. The Tullys the Collins’ the McPhails, the Mochans, the Peacocks. I could go on and on about the players I encountered in my time.
“They were the first-team pull of players I met when I first came into the first-team and you immediately realised the quality there. You also quickly realised just how hard they worked. You had to work at every part of your game because the players around you were all marvellous. The most important thing was that they all helped each other.”
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