Thirty years ago today, Fergus McCann was on the cusp of saving the club he loved.
Once the old board had been ousted, Celtic was safe.
There would be no insolvency event and no need to pretend it never happened.
Celtic and their history had been saved.
The first club from Northern Europe to win the European Cup would survive and endure.
History was made that day in Lisbon.
As a nine-year-old, I danced in front of our wee black and white TV in Baillieston as Stevie Chalmers expertly diverted the ball past Giuliano Sarti in Stadio Nacional.
It was an immortal moment for the club, which had been founded only 79 years earlier to feed the hungry in Victorian Glasgow.
Then, 27 years after Ceasar lifted the Big Cup, standing before Celtic Park’s main door, Brian Dempsey grabbed his fifteen minutes of fame with a perfectly measured sound bite.
I was only a few feet from him when he said those immortal words.
The politician’s son from Coatbridge certainly had the chutzpah to characterise the result, but it was McCann’s triumph…
However, the Bunnet wasn’t just a saviour; he knew that the Parkhead club operated in a hostile cultural environment involving officialdom and the media.
Moreover, he was willing to act if there was a prima facie case of anyone hurting his business.
That’s why McCann got lawyered up when the late Jim Farry delayed the registration of Portuguese striker Jorge Cadete.
Three was no labyrinthine conspiracy; the Scot was acting within his culture’s mores.
It was, well, cultural for him to hinder and Celtic and ipso facto assist Glasgow’s nativist bulwark against the Fenians.
Of course, Farry did not factor in that he was no longer dealing with the old regime, who were comfortable in the best seats at the back of the bus.
Now, he had to deal with a litigious North American businessman.
It was a miscalculation that would cost Farry his job at the SFA.
I will leave it to others in the Celtic Fifth Estate to forensically dissect the officiating shitshow at the John Wilson Arena yesterday.
Suffice it to say that such a smorgasbord of entirely honest errors could deny Celtic £60 million in UEFA revenues next season.
For the avoidance of doubt, I’m sure that John Beaton on VAR was doing his best yesterday.
His very best.
The brethren at Hampden should be grateful that they’re not dealing with Fergus McCann today.
Very grateful indeed.
Discover more from Phil Mac Giolla Bháin
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
I don’t agree with some of the Celtic supporters saying that the penalty awarded to us wasn’t a penalty. Celtic have had numerous similar penalties awarded against them in recent years. On Saturday St Mirren were awarded a penalty late in the game against Aberdeen which was more or less under the same circumstances, An attacking player managing to get his body in front of the defender who then fouls the opposing player from behind in the act of kicking the ball, it might be a cheap penalty but referees nearly always award it these days.
As far as Beaton goes, this guy has made a career out of cheating Celtic and benefitting his beloved The Rangers, along with his mates in the Lanarkshire Referees Association. Who can forget the two handed save by Goldson missed by Beaton in an old firm game, and McLean and Muir missing the clear handball on the line at Hampden in a Scottish Cup Semi- Final.
These were standout moments of cheating , but there have been many others over the years.
To take the Scottish Football Association to court over refereeing is nearly impossible, the changes needed have to come from the member clubs, and as we know most of the people who run the other clubs have no love for Celtic. For Celtic to go it alone and go to court would result in sanctions from the SFA, UEFA and FIFA.
The case that Fergus won was an administrative one, and it was proved that Farry had broken his own Associations rules.
We can only call out incompetence, inconsistency and just plain cheating by referees whenever it occurs and try to wear the Barstewards down, the board having the backbone to do this consistently, is questionable.
You, me, as well as many other Celtic fans. Deserve to know why exactly. The Celtic board bend over and take it?
Nothing to do with Beaton and all on Robertson; Cochrane should’ve walked early in the game.
I’m not sure if the penalty is an obligatory yellow-card but forbye that, in quick succession he made 2 ‘stop the attack’ fouls, neither of which were punished yet Johnston was shortly before.
He was eventually booked (persistent fouling?) but late in the game after the outcome was settled. Yep, that old ‘balancing it up’ trick when its too late to make a difference.
Celtic need a new structure where like a modern democracy , office bearers can only hold office for a set number of years. Complacency has set in with the success of the last 12-15 years due to ‘rangers’ in their various forms have been unable to challenge on a regular basis due to lacking funds.
PL has had an illustrious era of success but it has been overshadowed by severe mistakes and penny pinching foresight in the transfer arena. Many signings have been kyboshed by him and his negotiating faux pas.
A new revolution , a new Fergus needs to be found.
Celtic need to grow a set and tear up the sleeveen 5 Way Agreement,get the academy,player signings sorted and concentrate on European football and in the process tell the SFA/SPL to go *uck themselves.
Unfortunately the suits that currently hide in the boardroom today, don’t have the balls to do the same as Fergus from 30 years ago. They are happy to get their pound without rocking the boat. They should all be ousted as they do nothing for our club. It’s time they were all put on gardening leave.
It’s crazy that was 30 years ago already. I feel old😂😂.
On the VAR decisions yesterday. It was toss a coin on the sending off(I personally don’t think it should have been a red) and the penalty was an absolute joke.
With all that said if we had have scored our penalty(which was also never a penalty) things might have been different.
Also if we had splashed some cash in January who the hell knows how things would have turned out!
It would be interesting if the Proxy shares held by The Celtic Trust were used to challenge this culture through crowdfunding a Class Action. Let’s go all in on this one.
I’d be there HH ☘️☘️
Chris Sutton was correct when he said their was a few hands shaking in the VAR room today