Articles

“I have the utmost admiration for Big Billy… He had been a colossus of a centre-back… A marvellous man!” – Paul Elliott on Billy McNeill

In this ACSOM podcast with Paul John Dykes the former Celtic centre-half Paul Elliott comes across as a very positive character (despite suffering vicious racial abuse throughout his football career in England, Italy and Scotland). He was unstinting in his praise for Celtic supporters, midfielder Paul McStay

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“I loved Big Billy; he was a great inspiration to me.” – Paul Elliott with A Celtic State of Mind

“It means so much to me, the Celtic people mean so much to me, but if I’m honest with you, not just Celtic supporters but the quality of their human race – their honour, their love, their generosity, their compassion, their empathy. These are great human qualities

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“It was brilliant, especially as a winger, being coached by Jimmy Johnstone and Davie Provan.” – David Elliot with A Celtic State of Mind

  “You’ve gone from the under 14s, 15s, 16s, then to the Celtic youth team at 17 and 18, we played in the youth league. By that time you’re coached by Davie Provan, Jimmy Johnstone and Bobby Murdoch! Bobby didn’t get involved in the games much but

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Brian & Mark Gillan with A Celtic State of Mind

If you grew up in Govanhill then you will know the Gillan brothers – Brian and Mark. Brian from his football coaching of local teams, and Mark from his decades of involvement with Charlie Kerr’s Boxing Gym. Glasgow has a reputation as being a ‘No Mean City’

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A Moment in Time with A Celtic State of Mind: Craig Gordon drops to his knees as Celtic clinch an invincible treble

“It’s as iconic as Billy McNeill lifting the cup in Lisbon.” Yes. This is the podcast that makes that statement as Paul John Dykes and Colin Watt discuss A Moment in Time: When Celtic clinched the only invincible treble ever… and it created the most-viewed GIF in

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Smarticus Osadolor with A Celtic State of Mind

Smarticus Osadolor knew that Partick Thistle trained in a park close to his home. He knew that he wanted to play football, so he turned up in Bermuda shorts carrying his football boots and asked if he could join in… This brazenness led to him at one

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Kevin Graham with A Celtic State of Mind – Fergus McCann’s Homecoming

If you happened to be looking through the results of Celtic’s 1994/95 season, this 1-0 home defeat against Motherwell would hardly jump out as one of the most momentous results of modern-day Celtic. More likely it would appear to be yet another dismal defeat in a dismal

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Declan McConville with A Celtic State of Mind – Another Invincible departs…

After being out of the professional game for two years, free agent Craig Gordon was brought into Celtic when the club knew definitely that Fraser Forster was about to depart for Southampton. This allowed Gordon to cement his place as first-choice goalkeeper under the new Celtic manager

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Tom Campbell with A Celtic State of Mind – A Very Different Paradise (Part 2)

During the six years of World War II organised football in Scotland was ‘unofficial’. Most clubs utilised the services of guest players, usually footballers in Scotland on military service. One such man was Matt Busby, a Scottish internationalist and a Liverpool player; born in Lanarkshire, he volunteered

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Kevin Graham with A Celtic State of Mind – The Story Of The Jersey: Bobby Lennox v Fiorentina 1970

On Monday 16th March 1970, Celtic flew from Prestwick to historic Pisa with the aim of reaching their second European Cup semi-final within three years. To do so they would need to become the first British side to beat an Italian side over two legs in European

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