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Celtic F.C.

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Celtic F.C. (pronounced 'seltic', not 'keltic') is a Scottish football club based in the city of Glasgow, nicknamed the Bhoys. Together with their arch-rivals Rangers they dominate Scottish football as the Old Firm. Their kit is green and white hooped jerseys, white shorts and white socks. They play at the 60,830 seater stadium Celtic Park, known as 'Paradise' by Celtic supporters.

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History

Celtic was founded in 1888 by the Marist Brother Walfrid as a way to raise funds to help impoverished members of Glasgow's Irish community, winning their first league title in 1893.

Under their first manager, Willie Maley, the Bhoys won 30 major trophies in 43 years. Celtic played Aberdeen in the 1937 Scottish Cup final at Hampden Park, Glasgow in front of a crowd of 146,433 (sometimes counted as 147,365), a record for the largest attendance for a European club match. Two years later, Celtic defeated Everton 1-0 at Ibrox for the Empire Exhibition Trophy.

Former player Jimmy McStay was manager of the club during the war years of 1940-1945. There was no official competitve league football during these years and McStay was seen as something of an interim manger during these troubled times.

Ex-player and captain Jimmy McGrory became Celtic's manager in 1945. Under McGrory, Celtic defeated Arsenal, Manchester United and Hibernian to win the Coronation Cup, a tournament held in May 1953 to commemorate the coronation of Elizabeth II.

On October 10, 1957, Celtic produced one of the more famous scorelines in football when they defeated Rangers 7-1 in the Scottish League Cup final played at Hampden Park, retaining the trophy they won for the first time the previous year.

Jock Stein succeeded McGrory in 1965. A former player and team captain, Stein gained most of his fame as Celtic's manager, and is acknowledged as one of the greatest football managers of all time. He managed Celtic to its nine straight Scottish League wins from 1966 to 1974- a Scottish record, which has, to this date, never been beaten (although it was equalled by the Rangers team of the 1996-97 season)

1967 was to be Celtic's best ever year. Celtic won every competition it entered: the Scottish League, the Scottish Cup, the Scottish League Cup, the Glasgow Cup, and the Bhoys became the first non-latin side to win the European Cup. The "Lisbon Lions", managed by Jock Stein and captained by Billy McNeill, defeated Inter Milan 2-1 in Lisbon, Portugal.

Celtic reached the European Cup Final again in 1970 but were beaten 2-1 by Feyenoord in the San Siro Stadium, Milan.

In 1994, expatriate businessman and Fergus McCann took control of the club, ousting the family dynasties which controlled the club since its foundation. To alleviate the club's financial strain, Celtic was reconstituted as a public limited company, resulting in one of the most successful share flotations in British history. The club netted £14 million towards the refinancing of the club.

Although the fans of both Old Firm clubs have a reputation for sectarianism, Celtic and eternal rival Rangers were radically different in one key respect. Fairly early in its history, Celtic decided to sign non-Catholic players, and has frequently had a substantial number of non-Catholics on its roster. On the other hand, Rangers would not sign a Catholic player until 1989. Indeed, the dictum in the West of Scotland (frequently attributed to Jock Stein) was that, given the choice between a Catholic and a Protestant player of equal skill, Celtic would sign the latter as they knew that Rangers would not then sign the Catholic player. Today, the playing rosters of both Old Firm sides are multinational, multiracial, and represent both sides of the sectarian divide.

Recent Achievements

The current manager, as of August 2004 is the Irishman Martin O'Neill from Kilrea, County Derry. In O'Neill's first season in 2000, Celtic won the domestic treble of the Scottish Premier League, the Scottish Cup, and the CIS Insurance Cup (the former Scottish League Cup). Celtic also recorded another memorable scoreline in the "Demolition Derby" match against Rangers, winning 6-2.

In 2003 they reached the UEFA Cup final but lost at the hands of an extra-time goal by Porto, marking the first use of the new silver goal rule in competition. The final score in Seville was Porto 3 - Celtic 2. At the game Celtic brought with them the biggest travelling army of fans ever seen in a European tournament. or possibly the world. Over 75,000 Celtic fans from throughout the world travelled to the city, and their spirit earned them a Fair Play award from FIFA

In 2004 they continued to prosper in the UEFA Cup, beating FC Barcelona 1-0 at Parkhead, on March 11th 2004, in what may prove to be one of their most famous victories. Two weeks later, under intense pressure they managed to hold Barcelona in the famous Camp Nou stadium to a 0-0 draw thus ensuring qualification to the quarterfinals. However, the Bhoys lost in the quarterfinals to another Spanish side, Villarreal CF (3-1 on aggregate). Celtic made up for this loss by winning their 39th League title and 32nd Scottish Cup.

Honours

  • European Champions Cup (1): 1967.
  • Scottish League Champions (39): 1893, 1894, 1896, 1898, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1919, 1922, 1926, 1936, 1938, 1954, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1988, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004.
  • Scottish Cup (32): 1892, 1899, 1900, 1904, 1907, 1908, 1911, 1912, 1914, 1923, 1925, 1927, 1931, 1933, 1937, 1951, 1954, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1980, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1995, 2001, 2004.
  • Scottish League Cup (12): 1957, 1958, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1975, 1983, 1998, 2000, 2001.

Celtic Managers

  • Willie Maley (1897-1940)
  • Jimmy McStay (1940-1945)
  • Jimmy McGrory (1945-1965)
  • Jock Stein (1965-1978)
  • Billy McNeill (1978-1983)
  • David Hay (1983-1987)
  • Billy McNeill (1987-1991)
  • Liam Brady (1991-1993)
  • Lou Macari (1993-1994)
  • Tommy Burns (1994-1997)
  • Wim Jansen (1997-1998)
  • Josef Venglos (1998-1999)
  • John Barnes (1999-2000)
  • Kenny Dalglish (2000)
  • Martin O'Neill (2000-)

Famous Celts

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