Celticunderground:the Celtic Football Fan Podcast

In 2012 our greatest rivals, Rangers Football Club entered administration, they never exited it.  They limped along, finished the season and died.  The story of that death is a decades long story of cheating in the vain attempt to compete with Celtic.  This is a podcast about that cheating. As most of you will know, the blame for the death of Rangers was laid at the door of Craig Whyte by the fans of the that club and the media.  Such was the reach of the established order that when poor business practices led to the clubs death, fans git the courts to chase after Whyte.  His case was damning on that decision with no need for a defence case.  He won just from the evidence of the prosecution, but we don’t really care about that. Pertinent to Celtic was the confirmation during the trial that people within Rangers pursued an active policy to defraud all of our game.    So desperate were those in charge to keep their club going with largess rather than living within their means that they cheated and defrauded to

his week Saint Anthony returns with another reflection on a Celtic life in former left back Mark Reid.  When I was growing up the Celtic full back pairing was Andy Lynch at left back and Danny McGrain at Right Back.  This then changed to see Alan Sneddon come in with Danny moving over to the left.  Again that changed and our guest arrived allowing the world’s best right back into his natural position.   Over the years left back has been a challenging position for the hoops with younger fans spoiled by the likes of Tierney and Emilio.  Fans of my generation will no doubt have a soft spot for Mark Reid who was rather an unsung hero of the ‘80s.   For it was then that he made nearly 200 appearances for the club, winning several trophies including two league championships in an exciting and talented Hoops side.   However, with his first-team chances becoming more limited, the full-back elected to leave and join Charlton Athletic. As someone who had spent his entire career in Paradise, emerging from the club’s you

It’s summer time so we have something a wee bit different on this week’s podcast…basketball.  Now don’t worry we haven’t chucked our principles, our sport and and our game in the bin.  This is the Celtic Underground Podcast so obviously there has to be a Celtic angle to this and there is (thank goodness I hear you say).   This week Harry is joined by part owner of the Glasgow Rocks basketball team Duncan Smillie.  Duncan is in business with David Low running the Glasgow basketball franchise.  The team play on our doorstep and both men are massive hoops fans (that’s hoops of the green and white variety) so why not have a chat about our near neighbours?   There’ll be more podcasts along soon - old players, Res 12, The Lions of Lisbon play, the CU Season Review and the CU Top 10.  The close season isn’t long enough!   Enjoy… This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecelticunderground.substack.com/subscribe

The WORLD FAMOUS Celtic Underground Top Ten is here.  It’s time to vote!   Yes the Top Ten is back again and it’s your opportunity to cast your vote for the Celtic elite.  The podcast gives you a reminder of the runners and riders and also a reminder of past glory days and those more forgetable seasons.   This year we also have a new award - the Samaras Award for that unforgaetable moment in the season that just made it perfect to be a Celtic fan - the final whistle in Israel, the Lustig Goal at Ibrox, the Simunovic tackle on Miller, the Senderos slide or that Rogic winner.   All votes count, this is not a first past the post election.  Our STV methodology means that the best rise to the victory podium.   Enjoy and get voting podcasts@CelticUnderground.net This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecelticunderground.substack.com/subscribe

The InVIncibles have their final game - the final chapter in a remarkable season.  Celtic Football Club are just 90 minutes away from finishing an emotional year with an incredible achievement - completing an entire season unbeaten domestically and in the process picking up all possible domestic trophies - a treble of senior honours and matching the Lions on the domestic front by also bagging the Glasgow Cup.   Harry is joined by Hullbhoy to preview the final and discuss the fantastic year.  We also have chat with Boyatta, Gordon and Roberts before closing out with some audio from the Hydro.   Enjoy… This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecelticunderground.substack.com/subscribe

It’s the night before and what else could we possibly do but release a podcast in tribute to one of the most remarkable achievement in all of Scottish sport.  25th May 1967 is a date written into the folklore of our club but for those of us under 50 it is only something we have read about or watched on video.  Our older fans were lucky enough to experience it so we thought it essential that we ask our own Lachie Mor for his memories.   Fresh faced and rosey cheeked, the 19 year old Lachie was at college down in Manchester but he made the treck back to Glasgow to watch the game at home.  And this is that story.   With one or two other bits of audio you might recognise (including a posh Archie) Enjoy… This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecelticunderground.substack.com/subscribe

inVIncible   You will tell your grandchildren that you were there, that you saw Celtic win the league without loosing a game.  Wonderful.   This week we hear from Brendan Rodgers and Leigh Griffiths immediately after the Hearts victory.  Leigh still had the mud on his boots at the press conference whereas Brendan had spent quite some time on the park before the press conference commenced but it was all good.  Brendan talked a lot about being invincible, infrangible and Leigh talked about which boss is the best kisser!  As for Mark and I?  We just meander and ramble this way and that.   Enjoy... This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecelticunderground.substack.com/subscribe

This week Harry is joined by St Anthony, fresh from his trip to the hospital.  Many have wondered what part of his body Saint had enhanced...we couldn't possibly comment!  After discussing how difficult it was to have a hospital visit sandwiched between two humpings of a team from Ibrox, Harry & Saint then go on to discuss the victory over Aberdeen before a more mundane discussion around the parking proposals at Celtic Park, the lack of thought that surrounds the proposal and the possible impact.   After this chat the bhoys revert back to football and the forthcoming Thistle game.   Enjoy... This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecelticunderground.substack.com/subscribe

This week the guests (nearly) are all Celtic. Following from the victory over St Johnstone when Celtic’s starting outfield 10 had a combined age of just 22, we hear from one of those young stars Patrick Roberts.  We also have 10 minutes from the manager where he discusses the performances of Ralston and Johnstone, the chances of keeping Paddy and his general thoughts on the victory.   Also this past week we had the launch of the new strip and at that event myself and a few other Celtic websites were able to have a chat with Stuart Armstrong, Callum McGregor and Kieran Tierney, so we have the 10 minutes per player exclusive chat also.  At the end we hear from St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright who confesses that we were just too good for his team.   Enjoy… This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecelticunderground.substack.com/subscribe

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE!   In the darkest days of the 1990’s, pre Fergus McCann, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would stand at Ibrox and witness such an imperious performance.  They may be a new club but it’s the same ground with the same fans and we absolutely thumped them.  Destroyed them.  Ground them into the ground.   From almost the first goal there was an air of menace, a thought that at any time their end could flip and go bonkers.  Brown’s attack, monkey taunts and Directors fighting.  This was THEIR Dallas Game, their Mars Bar game…except they have no Fergus coming!   So en-route home I was joined by gentle Jim to discuss the game.  We wanted a raw and fresh podcast that captured how we felt immediately post game.  It’s recorded on the journey home so please accept our apologies on the sound quality.   Enjoy…! This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecelticunderground.substack.com/subscribe

This week Harry is back and joined by Hullbhoy to discuss the fabulous walk in the park victory of the Rangers. Fresh from taking off his lycra blue/green body suit, Hullbhoy discusses with Harry how good Celtic were, how bad Rangers are and how a ref getting red card decisions wrong will be seen as having a good day!  The bhoys wax lyrical about the team and then at the end Harry reminds everyone that being Celtic is not just on the park performances but off the park charity. Oh and good luck to Saint with his impending galbladder op. Enjoy… This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecelticunderground.substack.com/subscribe

This Sunday, the Celtic Graves Society will host a special event to commemorate the final resting place of James Kelly, Celtic's first ever captain.  And it's appropriate that the event falls on the 125th anniversary of Celtic's first ever Scottish Cup triumph - a 5-1 victory over Queen's Park on April 9, 1892 - when James Kelly led the Celts to the first of the 101 major trophies that the club has won in its long and illustrious history.   The commemoration ceremony will take place at St Patrick's Cemetery, 29 King's Drive, New Stevenston on Sunday, April 9, starting at 2pm.    Following this latest Tale From The Wiki we have audio from Brendan, James Forrest & Elbows.   Enjoy... This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecelticunderground.substack.com/subscribe

This weeks podcast revisits the Celtic Graves Society event that took place last week in Prague.  The work of the Celtic Graves Society in keeping the memory of former Hoops Heroes alive is amazing and never more evident than this past week with the guys travelling to the Czech Republic to commemorate a former Celt.  Jim takes us through the events of that weekend with audio in three parts from the Johnny Madden celebration and commemoration.  An early Celt Johnny was also the father of Czech football. If you can listen to last weeks podcast extra and then this.   Enjoy… This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecelticunderground.substack.com/subscribe

This is is a trip that the Celtic Graves Society have been looking forward to for a very long time, commemorating the "Father of Czech Football", Johnny Madden. The Celtic Graves Society and Odbor přátel have been working hard on various different aspects of this commemoration and we would like to extend the hand of friendship to all Slavia fans as we prepare to arrive in the beautiful city of Prague. Any Celtic Supporters in the Prague area are invited to attend to the commemoration on Saturday. Alongside the committee they have 3 Supporters of the Society travelling with us to Prague. The Garves Society would a special thanks for the commitment shown to be able to join us. Your support will never be taken for granted. They also have members of Johnny Maddens family arriving from Belfast for the commemoration. A friendship formed through a common bond. Johnny Madden.   Enjoy… This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecelticundergr

This week we have the return of the Saint.  Fresh from his trip to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital St Anthony delivers and excellent podcast about Nutmeg magazine.   We can all be guilty of trotting out the lazy Scottish Mainstream Media label as a catch-all for bad journalism but to be fair we shouldn’t tar them all with the same brush.  There are some very good journalists out there covering the Scottish game and Nutmeg is one of the publications providing a platform those good journalists.   It’s a periodical which promotes itself by saying “It’s not a book, it’s not a magazine.  It’s somewhere in between, and something completely new in Scotland; a quarterly subscription-only long-form publication filled with top quality writers, great articles and fascinating stories.  And it’s all about Scottish Football.”   Enjoy… This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecelticunderground.substack.com/subscribe

This week we have a bumper guest filled podcast. In no particular order you will hear; Harry Brady, a Pearson child, a member of the brady Bunch, Lachie Mor, Craig Gordon, Lewis, Robin & Robert! Value for money if I do say so. It’s a podcast of two halves. The meat and bones of the podcast is a chat between Lachie and Harry. The two bhoys discuss the recent St Mirren game and the “furore” around Brendan’s comment that St Mirren were quite good. We then hear from Craig Gordon after he signed his new contract and then it’s on to the Glasgow Derby. Lachie and Harry discuss this game before we get a very brief preview from 3 Celts, two of whom have come all the way from Singapore and Hong Kong to see the hoops triumph (Hopefully). Enjoy… This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecelticunderground.substack.com/subscribe

This week the podcast was put together on the anniversary of Fergus McCann saving Celtic.  Celtic fans can rightly be proud of that period when the club was in difficulty.  A board built around family history and hereditory rights rather than business acuumen had been caught out by the arrival of brash big spenders at Ibrox.  This compounded with the need for massive infrastructure spend on the stadium had Celtic on its knees.  But when Celtic were in trouble  the fans didn’t wait around for a white knight.  They rallied around and created a solution.   Celts for Change galvanised the support behind a common cause and when the moment came the likes of Brian Dempsey, John Keane and Fergus McCann stepped forward, prevented the ignominy of administration and paid the bills.  From there Fergus oversaw the building of a new stadium, the stopping of the 10 and a fan investment programme which now sees 28,000 of us owning a bit of our club.   Fergus also re-established the clubs heritable foundations.  He created th

By the time you are listening to this you will have heard the sad news about the passing of Celtic legend and Lisbon Lion Tommy Gemmell.  In his career Tommy played for Celtic, Nottingham Forrest, Miami Toros and Dundee.  whilst I was not old enough to have seen the Lions I was fortunate to to have caught a glimpse of one or two of them at the end of their careers to say “I saw them play” with my last recollection of Tommy as player manager at Dundee, the final place he won a trophy.   Tommy spent 10 years in total at Celtic, making 418 appearances and scoring 63 goals, two of those goals being in European Cup Finals.   “They never die who live in the hearts they leave behind” This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecelticunderground.substack.com/subscribe

This week we are bringing you some very special guests - the Celtic management team.  Mainly we have  a sit down interview with Chris Davies, an insightful chat into his time at Celtic so far, his level of expectation for players and the high standards he and Brendan set.    Myself, Celtic Quicknews and ByTheMinCeltic were fortunate enough to get a 45 minute one:one with Chris at Lennoxtown this week.  After our chat we were able to sneak into the Brendan press conference for the Inverness game on Wednesday and get some really intersting stuff from the manager.   Hopefully you find this as interesting as we did.   Enjoy… This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecelticunderground.substack.com/subscribe

On Saturday the 25th of February at St Kentigern's Cemetery Glasgow (prior to the Hamilton Academical fixture)  Celtic Graves will be commemorating one of the men who was a member of the team who lifted our first ever Scottish Cup, Joseph Cullen.    This Podcast Extra is a tribute to that man.   Cullen was in goals for Celtic’s first Scottish Cup triumph in April 1892 and in August that year he played in the first match to be staged at the then new – and present Celtic Park. The great Dan McArthur would eventually oust Joe from his starting spot and after 73 games for Celtic he moved to London to Tottenham Hotspur in May 1897.  Sadly he would die prematurely from pneumonia in 1905. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecelticunderground.substack.com/subscribe