SENTINELCELTS

Mags is my mate. Great company and not what you expect.

Would I choose his exact words? No. Can I understand why he does? Aye.

The PLC at the time treated these guys terribly, completely dishonorably.It left a bitter taste in many mouths.

Whether you know it or not he and people close to him were part of the actions and pushback against the PLC since the Lazarus event. Not many were closer to the action.

Clearly Mags is still bitter, very bitter about events. I was in the same boat for a long stretch but a little one has helped bring me patience and I felt ultimately rather than remain bitter it’s best to help prepare for the next big split between support and club by gathering a collective under one roof, one hand on heart honest roof with no hidden agenda, with the aim of garnering opinions, maybe votes and funds if needed. More on the votes aspect next week.

I mention bitterness with the PLC, but it would be remiss of me not to mention the Tims were also a source at the time.

I fully expected a severe backlash against any titles being awarded to a club that died, for starters. From then unto this point, I’ve learned a lot. 

To put it bluntly, the Tims were placed in a terrible position, between a rock and a hard place. Our club is imperfect, money orientated, and now we know for definite. The world famous support had their allegiance taken advantage of.

Incredibly one was manhandled out the door of Parkhead on one of the board’s orders, peasant be gone with your gripes. I’ll repeat that, the world famous Glasgow Celtic flung one of its own concerned supporters out on the street during a period of them acting shamefully. How could one not be bitter?

Hand on heart I’m no longer bitter at any supporter, especially the natives. With football in their blood and the life and soul of the community, going cold turkey and walking away would be harder than Roy Keane. I posit the Tims simply lacked leadership at the time, collective guidance through well kent names who wouldn’t have yelled ‘Boycott’ but instead met some board members with the aim of influencing decisions so all parties can walk away content, the ultimate aim of any negotiation. More on this subject next week.

I speak only for myself, but I think the majority if not all posters would admit the previous decade has been a bad one for Scottish football, and neither Glasgow giant covered themselves in glory. Now if you accept that, you’ll accept the right of a Tim to be bitter.

Do we collectively need reminding of our boards mask slipping off? Well it can’t hurt as we should all know what we are getting into bed with. I say what but realistically it’s who,,Dermot and Peter,,the Untrustables.

The word Sentinel suggests watching, and that’s exactly how I felt at the time of me and Bobby creating this house I’m proud of, these sumbitches really need watching. They still do. If a self sufficient manager is driven out the door,,,watch this space.

Mags shares my views on the boards actions or non-actions as the case might be, but the clear gripe is language surrounding the Tims. On this we differ.

As a man who believes all opinions are equal, by all means voice yours, I bloody demand it! No matter who you are or where you are for all opinions are equal, any every man, woman, and child has right to air theirs.

However Mags,,,,You’ve gotta admit being an expat is different. You’ve felt the buzz of the buildup midweek then the raucous gathering of the faithful in the bats before the park, character after character grabs your eye and ear. Familiar faces catch your attention, your handshake and your best wishes. You’ve smelt those chippy vans and been tempted, passed by the DelBoy t-shirt and scarf stands on the walk up to that turf.

Those days are gone my friend, or few and far between. That priceless interaction, cementing of relationships and community bonding, is lost to us far flung. 

And as such we are left with expectations. McCaff often states it’s the expats who demand action and that’s because it’s true. We hold the club to a sporting and moral standard from afar while forgoing the emotional attachment of attendance, and when those morals are breached (in our opinion) we expect the faithful to react.

Forgetting this that dad’s special time with his daughter, or this poor blokes main release from a shitty life, it’s that old legendary supporter and well kent face last year of making it after a lifetime of attendance, a fella fae Belfast finally got himself and his Italian best friend tickets and the night off work. Japanese tourists, a Polish guys stag-do,,there’s plenty of different reasons for folk to be getting off their asses to go to Parkhead. Especially these days.

So with all the above in mind how about this Mags. The Celtic support are going to need representatives going forward. We have the SPL whistlers out of control, the board need watching, and pressure needs placed upon the SFA to implement the Independent Regulator role once England introduces theirs. It’s not fingers pointing at past failures we need now, it’s fingers pointing to future representatives, and at some stage a man must place faith in others.

Times change, and they have. I view the Res12 legal fees donation as a hand reached out across the table by the new man,,which took a decade of distrust to initiate.

They let us (SC) join the forums and Zoom chats once Dom came in, I doubt Peter would have, the archives are scathing of the board at the time.

What I’m getting at, is that we need to look forward and not back. Found structureless before, it’s imperative that doesn’t happen again.

Spokespeople will be needed, infact legislated of things pan out, and that my wise friend is where you could play a part.

Hand the battle over. Give it to the next generation. They will be representing you anyway, representing us all actually, so perhaps it’s best to get behind them.

The boards ‘Meh’ attitude to title stripping clearly lead the Tims, so it could be said the board are leading the Tims, whereas you and I agree it should be the other way around.

There’s only one way to change that my man. True Tim voices, right there, right then.

While echoes of the past shall always ring in our ears, the future arrives with every breaking sunrise, and destiny awaits. The proposed ‘Golden Ticket’ for supporters means WE are the bottom line, at last. It’s around the corner.

So don’t hit out, help out. Cajole rather than criticize, promote rather than provoke. Because some of these names you’re looking at might just actually achieve bettering our beloved club to some degree or other, and that my friend is priceless.

You’re more than welcome here pal but bring your wit, not your whip. Don’t be condescending, be corresponding. Organizing, not antagonizing, is the pertinent move here, so ‘we’ never create another Maggie McGill. Bitterness and Celtic should never be involved in the same sentence ever again.

Mags, make your peace with the blog, and say your piece on the blog. Blame the board, not the bampots. What say ye?

By Mahe

sentinelcelts@gmail.com