Sportsocracy - 8th Edition - The Celtic Tour - Part 2

The tunnel was dark, the hair on my neck was standing up and the feeling was electric. I got goose bumps as I started to think about the players that had walked out of this very tunnel in recent years. Lubomir Moravcik, Paul Lambert, Chris Sutton, Tom Boyd, Henrik Larsson and the like.

I strolled out near the dugout where legend after legend has sat. I looked around the astounding ground and then took a deep breath. This was paradise and I was pitch side with the consecrated turf a matter of a few small feet away from me.

The grass blowing in the slight breeze, the emerald green pitch it was that flat and well looked after it looked like a billiard table. The white outline of the pitch was bright as though it was applied that very day. It was a good feeling knowing this pitch was the SPL champions territory.

A sly pigeon scathed the sky above Celtic Park, I watched it as it swooped over and around the stadium, over the pitch and then it disappeared from sight above the stanchion of the Jock Stein Stand. I was drawn to the thousands of seats and the layout of the inside of the stadium.

Its beauty like no other, yet silent, tranquil at this very moment with me knowing very well come match day this place was a fortress far from serenity with an army of green and white hooped fans willing to cheer their team to the very last second, until the very last breath. This is the definition of what football fanaticism is.

The comfort of the Celtic dugout gave me a feeling of fulfilment, a feeling as if I was a child again. To see what the manager see's to even grace the Celtic bench was pure exhilaration. Every step I took here I knew I was etching another milestone on my short life.

After Soaking in the view from the dugout It was time to then briskly move onwards towards the "fancy" seats up in the stand behind the dugout. The tour group scaled the steps up to no other than Billy Connolly's match day seat.

It was absoloutely astonishing to see the "Big Yins" seat. One of the all time great comedians, in my eyes the best stand up comedian ever and I was stood next to his seat. The windswept and interesting character that is Billy Connolly had this seat attributed to him by Fergus McCann on the 3rd of August 1996.

A couple of rows up from Billy Connolly's seat was Rod Stewarts settling spot. Rod, a music legend, is well known for his love of football and as facts go he also has a premier standard football pitch next to his house. He is a regular visitor to paradise to watch the hoops play.

In the rock star style Rods chair was broke, 'typical' but ironic as some would presume of the rock star "Throw your TV from your hotel window" stereotype. My focus did not wane as I tried not to become dis-illusioned with this surrealist moment inside Celtic Park.

Moving away from Rods seat, we climbed a shade higher up the stairs until we reached an opening and a set of steps back down into the depths of the background of Celtic Park. We followed a slight corridor towards another room on entry it looked like a small home cinema.

Around six rows of dark green chairs each row with ten or so seats. With a big screen around 6 foot by 5 foot and small entertainment system below it. Spaced around the room on the walls to my amazement was shirt upon shirt from masses of Celtic legends.

Each shirt framed in polished authentic mahogany and shimmering finely glistened glass. What a spectacle this was, again I was in awe and disbelief, framed shirts from generations of legends ranging from the consummate Billy McNeill to the goal scoring machine Henrik Larsson to the temperamental Italian Paulo Di Canio and 'Champagne' Charlie Nicholas. The wow factor was overwhelming.

I sat in the front row of seats, just a matter of a couple of feet away from Henrik Larssons shirt hanging on the wall. I chose my seat wisely so I could soak up the monumental moment of being sat in this room. Then the lights dimmed as the tour guide played a short video about Celtic and its history.

The show was a historic Celtic timeline showing video clips and images from 1888 to present day. The short entertaining documentary covered everything Celtic from Brother Walfrid finding the club to the days when 100,000 people attending old firm matches was a regular thing.

The entertaining video covered the days when Jock Stein held the managerial reigns at Parkhead, to the dark days when Rangers ruled year after year, then the act of god in 1997 Wim Jansen stopped the rot and won the title which stopped Rangers gaining ten titles in a row.

In this same squad Wim Jansen had a player which was signed from Feyenoord for £650,000, a dreadlocked Swedish unknown striker, his name Henrik Larsson. The video presentation went on through the Martin O'Neill years the triple, the UEFA Cup Final and to present day events at the club.

Then finally the conclusion of the video meant the conclusion of the tour. It was then time to take any last photographs in this memorable room, afterwards we followed our tour guide out of the room and back to the club reception area situated just inside the main entrance.

We gave our farewells and that officially concluded the tour itself. Back outside the ground in the cold but fresh Glasgow air, I said to myself what a day to remember. I will never forget this moment for so many reasons, a pure un-forgettable tour full of cherishable moments.

Sportsocracy - 8th Edition - Back from Glasgow Celtic Tour Edition - Part 1

Since the 10th of April I have been away in Bonny Scotland, as the Clichéd saying goes. I think the tourist board should take note of this one "Scotland - It’s more than bonny and it has the Clyde".


Scotland is brilliant place to stay in, the people are more than welcome and the pound shops have souvenirs worth buying. Glasgow was my habitat for my trip away and the architecture is astounding mainly thanks to Charles Rennie Mackintosh.


Glasgow’s historic 'mr art nouveau' had imagineered some of Glasgow’s most beautiful buildings. One of relevance possibly being the stylistic hotel looking building situated off Renfrew Street which now has a Tesco lying in its base. This structure in particular is a visually eye opening building which catches the eye and gives you the definition of what Mackintosh was all about.


Charles Rennie may have had some great architecture ideas but he did not put down the blue prints for Celtic Park. The Paradise ground tour experience was well worth the money paid. The tour all kicked off outside the Celtic Superstore when our tour guide greeted us.


A group of no more than 15 of us then followed our guide and mazed our way through the small car park, which the statue of Celtic founder, Brother Walfrid watches over until we got to the main reception entrance and entered history.


It was a milestone in my short life as this was the first time I have graced behind the scenes at Celtic Park, and my first time back in Celtic Park since I watched Celtic run out 2-0 winners against Inverness Caledonian Thistle in November 2006.


As we entered the building the group was initially led to a side room on the left with a small corridor which looked so fancy it could have been the inside of a palace. The walls of all covered with a shining ebony coloured timber with a pulchritudinous varnished wooden door.


Then as these doors opened a sightful boardroom-wooden table and chairs faced me and then to my left a small bronze statue of Brother Walfrids head and shoulders on a marble plinth and I then glazed to my right and history shone in my face.


The epitome of excellence gleaming and shining in the natural light of the room. Silverware, trophy after trophy in a cabinet the length of a double decker bus. The glimmer of Celtic success was breathtaking.


I soaked up the moment of seeing the 1967 European cup with my own eyes for the first time. The most historic and important piece in the whole Celtic cabinet. The light twinkled off its curved silver contours, a piece raised high in the air by 'Cesar' himself.


The trophy which Billy McNeill held aloft in Lisbon was sat inches from my gaze, a moment to treasure. The cabinet had a range of pieces stemming from the first trophy won to present day accomplishments.


Present day trophies included Japanese internationalist, Shunsuke Nakamuras PFA player of the season award (06/07) to Gordon Strachans manager of the year award (06/07) as well as the swoop of last seasons 06/07 trophies.


After this visioning of Celtics victorious history we went onwards to a corridor off he end of the room. In the dead centre of this corridor was a glass case with the late Phil O’Donnell’s Motherwell and Celtic shirt.


To the right encased in a glass cabinet was legendary Celtic goalkeeper John Thompson’s shirt, who died tragically in an old firm game. Then towards the far left end and the way out of the room was a special edition shirt encapsulating a cup competition which all that where involved had a colour on the shirt.


On exiting this room we headed onwards and towards the nitty gritty, the inside heart of Celtic Park. The place in which the finely tuned athletic machines prepare for battle, where matches are tactically won and mid-match encouragement is given, the changing rooms.


At first glance the dressing room was quite compact with a variable mixture of cases of sports drinks and Lucozade placed around the room. A bench made its way round the square outer edge of the room in front of the lockers.


The room was only about 20ft by 20ft to my estimation but you got the idea of closeness and team ethic that courses from the manager through to the Celtic squad. I was in awe and dis-belief with the match shirts hung up on display in front of the lockers, Georgios Samaras, Shunsuke Nakamura and Jan Vennegoor Of Hesselink.


The tour guide insisted we take a look inside a few of the lockers and I obliged in doing so. It was a bit surreal as I delved into lockers of some of Scottish football and the world’s biggest footballing icons.


Every Locker looked different. To ponder a few, Nakamuras was full of Adidas sports items, Jean Joel Perrier Doumbe’s locker was set perfect, some lockers had not much in at all but chewing gum packets.


After a few photographs of the changing facilities we moved onwards following the guide towards the pitch. We walked passed a big sign on the wall, "Celtic jerseys are not for second best...It won’t shrink to fit an inferior player". A quote from the legendary Jock Stein reminding us of the high standards of professionalism at Celtic Park.


Onward we passed this sign and we went through a small side door and into the tunnel. The tunnel which hundreds of Celtic players have walked through before matches.
To Be Continued