Celtic are on course to clinch yet another Title, our 53rd to be exact. I’ve followed Celtic all my life and think myself to be very knowledgeable about the club, but found myself having to look at Wikipedia to find out the exact number. I knew it was in the fifties but just didn’t know the exact number.
Is that bad? No I don’t think so, as keeping score of our titles is not really our thing. That’s for the other mob across the city. 55 was that number, sorry did I say 55? Evidently When they first arrived in the top flight for the first time in 2016 they shouted from the rooftops about going for ‘55’ They even made a Tifo about it. That’s all they talked about. 55 this 55 that blah, blah. It’s overused as much as the now defunct Old Firm.
So when ‘55’ did eventually arrive it was on banners , t – shirts, mugs, you name it. All you hear from them is “when we won 55” I suppose winning 55 titles in nine years was some accomplishment to be honest, so we can cut them some slack. 55 must be the most frequently used bonus ball number when it comes to the blue half of Glasgow in the national lottery
Now it’s talk of going for 56 and 57 and so on blah blah, they seem to have a strange fascination with numbers, even when announcing their managers they do it, for example when Michael Beale was unveiled he was proclaimed as the 18th manager of Rangers football clubs.
Yet again I had to Google how many Celtic managers there have been. Apparently Ange Postecoglou is our 19th manager. Who knew?
It’s crazy, you don’t here about Arsenal going for number 14 or Man City going for number 9. Same with Bayern Munich going for 33 or Real Madrid going for 36. Let alone Mikel Arteta being the 20th manager of Arsenal or Pep Guardiola being the 20th manager of Man City.
Of course it’s all down to their insecurity of their past, the events of 2012 to be exact. When after being placed at the edge of a cliff by David Murray, in came Craig Whyte to push the original club to its death. That was it, finito, gone in the blink of an eye.
Of course in came shoddy salesman Charles Green who formed a new company who in turn claimed he had ‘bought’ the history of the old club. Like dolling a woman up in your dead wife’s clothes and proclaiming her to be the same wife.
So he proclaimed to have ‘saved’ the club and as all good salesman do he worked his charm and had them eating out the palm of his hand. He promised them the world and persuaded them that everything was rosey and they were still the same club and in turn had the same honours. He even persuaded the SFA to allow them into the Scottish leagues.
That’s when all the number nonsense started, don’t let them kid you otherwise. Do you ever remember oldco proclaiming to be going for 51, 52, 53, or 54? Nope me neither. Or Ally McCoist being unveiled as the 13th manager of Rangers football club? Nope me neither.
We all know the reason why they play The Numbers Game, they are insecure about their history. They know it was broken in 2012 and they had to start over. They know fine well ‘55’ is really only one. They know fine well Michael Beale is the sixth manager of the club. We know, everyone knows and that’s what bothers them. No matter how much they try to kid themselves on with phantom figures it will always be there. Always.
JustAnOrdinaryBhoy – follow on Twitter @ordinarybhoy
Whilst I agree in the whole, I do remember them proclaiming 54 on a tifo claiming it as a world record when they won it. Also can you imagine the incoming meltdown when we surpass them.
That’s what the Huns really fear, Iain. Us overtaking their, cough, cough, ‘world record’.
All the ’55’ pish, is part of the survival lie, the continuity myth, and the victim lie.
Hail Hail.
No great fan of the numbers game myself, but even if we accept the old method of counting things, the number 55 is still a lie. Technically it should be 54 and a half, because in 1891 the League was shared between Rangers and Dumbarton. Not that it really matters, of course! So why am I bothering to post this Comment?