Fear poist arrived up the bóithrín today with an important reminder for me of how we got to where we are on Plant Fitba.
It isn’t the money that’s important. It’s what it represents.
Celtic fans are living in the post-Bunnet paradigm.
That share issue, which is still paying out, was the initial one that built the stadium.
It was a Get-Rich-Slow scheme for the club that he had saved in 1994.
At the start of every new football season, the brethren in the Blue Room must work out how they overcome that 10,000 extra seat advantage at Celtic Park.
In the first decade, it was by Employee Benefit Trusts.
Well, you know how the EBT thing worked out for the Rainjurrz.
On Sunday, Fergus was in the Blue Room.
He was watching Celtic win the classic six-pointer in the league title race.
When it comes to a 38-match season, the resource landscape is crucial.
What the wee man put in place almost guarantees that, if there is good governance in the game, then Celtic will remain the pre-eminent power in the land.
I’m sure that the Transcendental Chairman was entirely Zenlike while in the presence of the wee man who had made the Ibrox brand simply the second best.
There isn’t any reason why Sevco cannot lift the Viaplay Cup in December.
Celtic’s dominance can be best gauged by looking at league title wins on a decade-by-decade basis since Parkhead was re-built.
Only boardroom incompetence at Kerrydale Street and baffling officiating errors can alter that trajectory.
The howls of outrage emanating from Planet Ibrox regarding the foul on Gustaf Lagerbielke are the product of a sense of entitlement that has been generations in the making.
If there is, finally, a level playing field, then that will seem like institutional bias to The People.
Even without away fans, any gathering of the Ibrox klanbase can produce such scenes of Unsurpassed Dignity.
I’m told that at least one of the pixilated pugilists in this Caravaggio is from the Northeast of this country.
Dear reader, this is why there is a need for Operation Soothe, as the seethe is never far from the surface.
Some of the more sentient souls at Ibrox are starting to look to the horizon, and all they can see is second place in perpetuity.
That cannot be easy when you’ve been socialised to think in terms of supremacism.
Thankfully, the material reality in the ground utterly subverts that toxic subculture.
Thanks, Fergus!
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That he didn’t splurge cash to stop Rangers (as they were then) equalling our cherished 9-in-a-row annoyed me at the time, but it wouldn’t have garaunteed it happening anyway (Farry and Dallas and co. skulduggery notwithstanding) and in the cold light of day seeing the Media pictures and headlines of June 2012 regarding the death of Rangers he was probably correct. (How graphic and beautifully truthful was The Scottish Sun one) !
It is worth taking a screenshot of these headlines and pics – they’re are plenty available – and getting them printed on A4 firm paper and some are quarter sized just perfect for the pockets, and if I’ve been in debate with Sevco fans about this New Club / One Club debate, just whip out The Headlines and pics from The Record, The Scottish Sun, The Evening Times and The Herald and it hits them on the face like an exorcist missile and shuts them up in a heartbeat !
Thank You Fergus !
Looking back, Sombrero Day and Beachball Sunday were a hoot, possibly time for a Bunnet Dhay next game against sevco at Glagow’s Celtic Park?
The passing of time allows us to see with greater understanding how important Fergus was to our club and I will be forever thankful he stepped in. What is in place today can be traced back to Fergus. What a man.
In terms of last Sunday, we finished the game with the following
Second choice left back
Second choice right back
Sixth choice centre half
Fourth choice centre half
Fith choice midfielder
Second choice right winger
Second choice centre forward
Four first team first choice players in Hart, McGregor, O’Riley and Maeda
And we still won and could have won by more if not for their keeper and taking better options in their box
Now let that sink in….
“Everyone, Anyone”
can join the rage and frustration at Ibrox!
🙂
Fergus at Ayebrokes, on a day when ( some of the Rules of The Game) were applied properly….coincidence?
Have ” Lanarkshire Refs” been told that there may be consequences ahead…?
If we ever get a level playing field, the klan might even learn the R oTG….and ..
Well done Liam Scales
Fergus at Ayebrokes, on a day when ( some of the Rules of The Game) were applied properly….coincidence?
Have ” Lanarkshire Refs” been told that there may be consequences ahead…?
If we ever get a level playing field, the klan might even learn the R oTG….and ..
Well done Liam Scales
Still getting the cheque Phil? I managed to get Celtic to convert my dividend from a cheque to additional ordinary shares sometime in the 2000s, from the original 10 shares (since diluted twice by 10 to be 1000) I have since been given an additional 600 via dividend over just short of 20 years. It was only 14 this year but it all adds up.
As far as naming something after Fergus goes I personally would agree, but my information is that Fergus is not interested. Indeed the reason it took so long for him to come back to unfurl another league flag wasn’t because we didn’t invite him (he was asked every year), it was simply that he never considered it to be about him, the spotlight isn’t something he ever craved. Very on brand from a guy who hired his exec team and board with the aim of ensuring that he wasn’t the smartest guy in the room.
I suggested to a senior Celtic employee at an AGM a number of years ago,
that the the North Stand should be named after the man who built it – Fergus McCann. I was shrugged off with,”Everyone has their own heroes”.
Do we wait until the man is dead before acknowledging the recognition he is due?
G61 Bhoy
I remember driving past the stadium when it was a pile of rubble and they were calling us Cambuslang Celtic. I was desperately hoping the Fergus wasn’t just going to sell the site and walk off with a bunch of cash. Just shows his honesty and foresight, god bless him!
The Ibrox fraternity might be feeling a bit buoyant about a potential league cup. The Champion’s League, though, is on a different stratosphere. Losing out on that financially is what’s truly vexing them.
Incidentally, the ‘goal’ was rightly disallowed last Sunday. A foul is a foul.
Having witnessed the way Fergus went after the SFA re the Cadette affair I honestly believe Sevco have a lot to be thankful for.
With Fergus In charge he would have ensured that company law would have been followed to the letter.
Like Gretna, Clydebank, Airdrie and Third Lanark before them, I believe ( as John Brown said on the steps of Ibrokes) that an entity initially called Sevco would have started their history at the very bottom of the Scottish ladder and playing on Sunday afternoons at Glasgow Green.
Proper accountancy laws would have been followed ( eg obtain maximum amount of money for creditors NOT , as Duff and Phelps stated, ensure a football continued to play from Ibrox).
Ibrox would have been sold and the face painter etc would have received a damn sight more p in the £ than D&P/ BDO are acquiring.
Engine room subsidiary and oldco/ newco would not have became part of our or the Sports desk Vocabulary. Fergus would have made sure of it and ensured that the rules were followed and the argument would have been put to bed before it even surfaced.
TompoL.
how about “The Fergus McCann Training Ground” at Lennoxtown?
Nice read again
“I’m Told the at least one of the pixelated pugilists is from the north east of this country” Christy Moore?
time fergus had a stand named after him or the whole ground
About time for a statue of Fergus on the Celtic Way.
A bronze bunnet on the wall of the main stand would honour his contribution and his humility.
Carravaggio! Brilliant! 🤣🤣
Thanks Fergus! can’t be said often enough!
We owe a great deal to Fergus McCann
I don’t think we would have built the stadium we have today without him .
He left a legacy for future generations
Both in terms of the stadium and the clubs financial future .
If he had not come in when he did we may have been in a different place
Don’t forget too he was the man who also took the SFA to court regards the Cadette scandal and saw Jimmy Farry sacked