Originally Posted by
JDT
What is the connection between Celtic and liverpool? Only thing I know of is celtic nicked there song,
The Hail batters the windscreen as the bus ploughs on through the darkness of the M6, back down to Merseyside. The passengers have been up since early morning, but the mood is buoyant having just seen Celtic sweep aside Kilmarnock 3-1. To the jocular annoyance of the Evertonian on board, intermittent outbursts of Roberto Firmino’s ditty accompany Celtic anthems, old and new, as the soundtrack to the journey home. Half and half scarves are acceptable today.
The season looks set to be the first one since 1988 in which Celtic and Liverpool have both won their respective leagues.
As we roll towards a traditional away day meeting point, The Rocket pub, members of the party wave brief goodbyes as they’ll meet again in less than 24 hours. This time though, it will be at Anfield for the arrival of West Ham United.
The driver of the said bus is Peter Carney, a lifelong Liverpool fan who survived Hillsborough. He has followed Celtic since he was a boy. “Celtic started as my Scottish team; everyone had one. I was born into a Catholic family so Celtic was hereditary to me. When they won the European Cup in 1967 it was massive. That team was one of the best in the world.
The more I learned about Celtic, the better they were. Everything I got to know about them reinforced my love for the club.”
Embed from Getty Images
The clubs lie nearly 220 miles apart, are located in different countries and play in different leagues, yet there is something that brings together fans of Liverpool and Celtic.
Each had very different beginnings and upon first glance, the pairing seems unlikely. Liverpool were founded by John Houlding, a businessman and member of the Orange Order, whereas Glasgow Celtic were born out of charity for Irish immigrants in the East End of Glasgow. Liverpool FC’s link to the Orange Order was never really sustained and Merseyside clubs have become irreligious.
The same can’t be said in Glasgow. A lot of the younger generation of Celtic supporters identify as Catholic but don’t particularly follow the religion. Although belief in God is definitely waning, a sense of belonging and everything that comes with Irish Catholicism can be what draws the younger generation.
Countless intertwining factors have come together to culminate in the relationship present today, however, the roots of most of them are entrenched in the cities’ ports.
As a result of deep poverty and the potato famine of 1845-1849, around one and a half million Irish, made up of both Catholics and Protestants, travelled to Liverpool. Many went on to make the perilous journey to America, but it’s estimated that up to a quarter of them remained on Merseyside instead. Such a large volume stayed that it’s thought up to 75% of Liverpool’s population today could have some form of Irish ancestry.
Embed from Getty Images
At the same time, Irish proletariat were also flocking to the west coast of Scotland, with many of them taking up residence in Glasgow. Ghetto-like areas came about and sectarianism started to kick off in both cities.
By percentage, the Archdiocese of Liverpool is the by far the most Catholic part of England, Scotland or Wales, even dwarfing Glasgow’s numbers. It’s only a small part of it, but the strong Irish Catholic presence on Merseyside has fed into the disdain that some right-winger factions seem to have for Liverpool.
The older generation can still remember sectarianist incidents in Liverpool. Margaret Millne comes from a Catholic family and lived in the city centre after the Second World War. She said: “There were always things going on. The Orange Lodge used to throw stones up at St Patrick’s church.” On 12th July, an Ulster protestant celebration day, things would often rise to a crescendo. “My grandmother would tell me I wasn’t allowed out on the 12th.”
As time went by, the lines between Catholic and Protestant areas of both cities became blurred, and by the mid-50s sectarianism was dying down for good in Liverpool, largely down to post-war planning decisions. In Glasgow though, sectarianism is still rife in the 21st century.
The clearing of Liverpool’s inner-city slums led to the displacement of communities. When people arrived at their new homes, they had been deliberately placed amongst one another, Catholic and Protestant. With being forced to co-exist, the hostilities eventually came to an end. Instead of identifying as one religion or another, people now started to feel civic pride more intensely. They were red or blue, not Catholic or Protestant. The pressing issue was no longer of sectarianism, but rather growing social inequality.
Embed from Getty Images
Years of decline, culminating under Thatcher’s government, transformed Merseyside from what was once a mixed political area, into one of the biggest left-wing hotbeds in the whole of Europe.
Most of Glasgow, especially in the green and white half, feels similarly. The Celtic Football Club is an embodiment of the Irish Glaswegian community, which has long been on the wrong end of British imperialism throughout history. This, alongside Glasgow’s working-class background, has sent The Bhoys to the left also.
Although it may manifest itself in different ways, the sentiment today is just as vehement as in the 1980s. There are regularly anti-Tory banners held up on The Kop at Anfield or by the Green Brigade at Parkhead. On numerous occasions, the two sets of supporters have felt isolated, particularly around Hillsborough and systems of government. Many Liverpudlians don’t necessarily identify with ‘Englishness’ and the London-centric state. In 1999, Glaswegian activist, Margaret Simey, even said: “The magic of Liverpool is that it isn’t England,” a tendency shared by those who are cynical of the establishment.
When Labour’s long-established ‘red wall’ fell in the 2019 General Election, it only added to the detachment. The North’s major cities still voted labour, but they were surrounded by a sea of blue, which flooded former mill towns and mining communities.
The aforementioned, Peter Carney, remembers the first time he went to Celtic Park, a day which encapsulated working-class life in Glasgow and Liverpool at the time. “The first time I saw them live was in 1981. I went to Glasgow for an unemployment march and went from the march to the match on the bus. The bus was genuinely rocking all the way to the ground. It was against Rangers and I got a ticket outside. When I got in the ground it was saintly and strange. The noise and passion were incredible.”
Celtic were 1-0 down at half-time when he had to leave, to catch the train back to Liverpool. “When we got back to Lime Street, I learned Celtic had come back to win 3-1. When I think back to that day, I laugh at the thought of being in two 50,000-strong crowds; one taking on the Tories and the other taking on Rangers.”
Embed from Getty Images
Celtic and Liverpool’s connection isn’t solely political though.
Several players and managers have a place in their hearts for the corresponding club, and Liverpool’s Scottish connection goes back a long way. LFC’s past is littered with great Scots, of Rangers and Celtic persuasions. From Billy Liddell through to Andy Robertson, they seem to fit in with the community ethos of the city and its clubs.
Bill Shankly and Jock Stein, the men behind the clubs’ rise to international fame, were good friends. Both worked in coal mines before they got their break into the football world.
The words Shankly allegedly said to his friend in the changing room after Stein had won the European Cup, have gone down in Celtic legend. “John, you’re immortal now.” Jock just laughed, but the Liverpool manager was right. He was immortal in the minds of Hoops supporters.
The two of them, along with the great Matt Busby, who had played for Liverpool and managed Manchester United, all came from a Scottish mining background. They instilled similar ethics into their teams, those of hard work and desire. Shankly and Stein’s teams were built for the people. The latter’s European Cup-winning side consisted almost entirely of players from Glasgow.
During Shankly’s tenure came a key moment that would be the catalyst for friendship between the clubs’ supporters. Ian St John, born in Motherwell, scored the goal which won Liverpool their first ever FA Cup in 1965 against Don Revie’s formidable Leeds. The trophy success meant that The Reds qualified for the next season’s Cup Winner’s Cup.
Liverpool had beaten Standard Liège, Budapest Honvéd and a strong Juventus team to reach the semis. They would be facing Celtic for the first time in the club’s history. A solitary home goal, scored by the legendary outside left, Bobby Lennox, left Shankly’s side with work to do in the return leg at Anfield.
Five days later, Tommy Smith and Geoff Strong were the scorers as Liverpool overturned the one-goal deficit but the night was marred by crowd trouble amongst a section of the travelling Celtic contingent. Beer bottles were brought into the stadium and thrown towards the pitch, forcing Liverpool keeper, Tommy Lawrence, to move to the edge of his penalty area. One of the flying glass bottles hit a young Liverpool fan, who was stood on the front row. He was badly injured.
Liverpool would go on to play Borussia Dortmund in their first European final and, as fate would have it, the decider was up at Hampden Park in Glasgow. This provided the perfect opportunity for Celtic supporters to repent to their visitors. That night, the relationship between the sets of fans changed forever.
Every gimmick hungry yob,
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks