Was für eine stimmung im Legendenspiel zwischen Celtic und Manchester United. Henke, Sutton, Hartson, Lubo und viele andere sind back. Und der Celtic Park mit über 45000 Zuschauern gefüllt.
Season 2016/17 Treble Winner Season 2017/18 Treble Winner Season 2018/19 Treble Winner Season 2019/20 SPL Champion, League Cup Winner
Lob von allen Seiten für unseren Verein samt Support. Und einigen Legenden hat man angemerkt, daß ihnen das ganze nicht ganz geheuer war, was sich im CP abgespielt hat.
Season 2016/17 Treble Winner Season 2017/18 Treble Winner Season 2018/19 Treble Winner Season 2019/20 SPL Champion, League Cup Winner
I was truly amazed at the crowd at the game last night. As a fervent fan of Manchester United for many a year, I have seen the Celtic supporters up close a few times down the years - yet I’m always gob smacked by their devotion and involvement in their club. I watched in awe last night as over 55,000 of them turned up for what was simply a kick about between former players and celebrities, and yet they created an atmosphere that I reckon must be un-rivaled anywhere else in the world. As a season ticket holder at Old Trafford, I would love if we could create the noise and passion at our ‘real’ matches that those folk created last night. I salute each and every one of them for their support for their club and such a worthy cause. Also a special word of praise to John Kennedy, whose testimonial it was. I never saw the lad play, but to donate his monies from the gate receipts says a lot about the lad. Good luck to him, to Celtic and its wonderful support for the future. A Manc!!
Season 2016/17 Treble Winner Season 2017/18 Treble Winner Season 2018/19 Treble Winner Season 2019/20 SPL Champion, League Cup Winner
EIGHTY years ago today, on Saturday, September 5, 1931, Celtic goalkeeper John Thomson received a serious head injury while playing against Rangers at Ibrox. He died later that evening in hospital, having never regained consciousness after the accident. The death of a footballer in his prime is thankfully rare, and even rarer on the field of play. Even after this length of time, John Thomson's untimely death at the age of just 22 remains one of football's great tragedies. His memory, however, has been kept alive by the Celtic Family, the people of Fife and genuine football fans of all persuasion, who acknowledge the talent John Thomson had, and the tragedy of his death. Over 40 supporters took part in the John Thomson Pilgrimage over the weekend, setting out from Celtic Park on Friday morning to walk the 55 miles to Cardenden where the Celtic legend is buried. They completed the journey on Sunday, a day which began with the annual John Thomson Memorial Football Tournament for primary school children in the local area, and ended with a short but moving ceremony at John Thomson's graveside. And tonight sees the opening of a stage play, The Prince - The Johnny Thomson Story, at the King's Theatre, Glasgow, an occasion that is sure to be a poignant one, given today's anniversary. This evening’s opening night will be attended by a number of famous former Celtic goalkeepers including John Fallon, Peter Latchford and Frank Connor, while Wednesday’s show will be a night for the Lions – with the members of the 1967 European Cup-winning side attending. John Thomson was a young goalkeeper who had already established himself as the first choice for his club and country, and with a long and distinguished career seemingly ahead of him, when he died. He was renowned for his bravery and fearlessness, and his dive at the feet of the Rangers forward Sam English as the player went to shoot was visible evidence of those virtues. As English shot, John Thomson's head took the full impact of the Rangers player's knee, leaving the goalkeeper unconscious and his head bleeding. He died later that same evening in hospital. Thomson's death stunned football, and was particularly hard-felt by everyone connected with Celtic. Some 40,000 people attended the funeral in Cardenden, including thousands who had travelled through from Glasgow, many walking the 55 miles to the Fife village, and Thomson's coffin was carried by his devastated team-mates. James Hanley, in his book The Celtic Story (1960) wrote: "It is hard for those who did not know him to appreciate the power of the spell he cast on all who watched him regularly in action. 'A man who has not read Homer,' wrote Bagehot, 'is like a man who has not seen the ocean. There is a great object of which he has no idea.' "In like manner, a generation that did not see John Thomson has missed a touch of greatness in sport, for which he was a brilliant virtuoso, as Gigli was and Menuhin is. One artiste employs the voice as his instrument, another the violin or cello. For Thomson it was a handful of leather. We shall not look upon his like again." Thomson was born in Kirkcaldy, Fife on January 28, 1909, and like many of his contemporaries, had started his working life as a teenager down the pits. He signed for Celtic in 1926 at the age of 17, having been spotted playing for Wellesley Juniors by Celtic scout Steve Callaghan, who had also alerted the club to the talents of a certain Jimmy McGrory. Celtic paid £10 for the young man who would go on to become known as the Prince of Goalkeepers, and by the age of 18 he had already made his first-team debut against Dundee at Dens Park in a 2-1 win for Celtic. During his short time as Celtic goalkeeper, he won two Scottish Cup medals - in 1927 when East Fife were defeated 3-1 and in 1931, when Celtic beat Motherwell 4-2 in a replay, having drawn the first game 2-2. International recognition followed on the back of his impressive displays for Celtic, and Thomson gained four caps for Scotland and four for the Scottish League. A quiet and unassuming character off the park, once on the field of play Thomson had a natural athleticism aligned to a brave spirit and impressed all who had the privilege to see him play. In his book, The Story of the Celtic; 1888-1938, Willie Maley, manager of the club at the time of the tragedy, wrote: "Among the galaxy of talented goalkeepers whom Celtic have had, the late lamented John Thomson was the greatest. A Fifeshire friend recommended him to the club. We watched him play. We were impressed so much that we signed him when he was still in his teens. That was in 1926. Next year he became our regular goalkeeper, and was soon regarded as one of the finest goalkeepers in the country. "But, alas, his career was to be short. In September, 1931, playing against Rangers at Ibrox Park, he met with a fatal accident. Yet he had played long enough to gain the highest honours football had to give. A most likeable lad, modest and unassuming, he was popular wherever he went. "His merit as a goalkeeper shone superbly in his play. Never was there a keeper who caught and held the fastest shots with such grace and ease. In all he did there was the balance and beauty of movement wonderful to watch. Among the great Celts who have passed over, he has an honoured place." Certainly the death of John Thomson hit the club - the officials, players and the supporters - hard and had an understandably adverse effect on subsequent performances over the next couple of seasons. Indeed further tragedy was to hit the club just two years later when Peter Scarff, who had played in that fateful game, died from tuberculosis at the age of just 24. John Thomson's memory has lived on with Celtic supporters over the past 80 years in story and song, and fans still visit his graveside in Fife to pay their own respects. And the John Thomson Memorial Committee hold an annual football tournament when children of all denominations in the Cardenden and Kinglassie areas play for the 'The John Thomson Trophy'. The final thought on the tragic events of 80 years ago today, on September 5, 1931, is to remember the epitaph on John Thomson's gravestone, which reads: "They never die who live in the hearts they leave behind."
R.I.P. Prince of Goalkeepers, you're always in our hearts!
TODAY marks anniversary of the passing of Jock Stein, as it was on September 10, 1985 that the great man suffered a fatal heart attack while managing Scotland in a World Cup qualifier against Wales in Ninian Park, Cardiff. He was, of course, the first manager of a British side to win the European Cup in 1967 and he enjoyed a glittering domestic career, winning 10 Scottish League Championships, nine Scottish Cups (one with Dunfermline) and six Scottish League cups. Jock Stein is synonymous with Celtic Football Club, but he also managed Dunfermline Athletic, Hibernian and, briefly, Leeds United before going on to manage the Scottish national team from 1978 until his tragic death in 1985. Lisbon Lions captain and Celtic Ambassador Billy McNeill added: “Jock Stein is a true great within the world of football. He was one of the finest men and the greatest manager I ever worked with. "He made us what we were as a team and he was the major factor in the club's success during his reign as manager - without him, none of it would have been possible and every Celtic supporter holds Jock Stein in equally high esteem.” Today, the Celtic Family remembers a great man who did so much for the club and whose Celtic team achieved worldwide success, in the words of Jock himself: “...playing football. Pure, beautiful, inventive football.”
von McCeltic » Di 9. Aug 2011, 20:52 
Celtic 1-2 King Larsson
