Celtic Underground

Saturday 9 November marked 35 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, seen as the symbolic end of the Cold War. The Bhoys had various experiences playing behind the Iron Curtain, but only one trip to East Germany. The story of this game is the latest tale from Hail Hail History Enjoy… This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, v...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit thecelticunderground.substack.com The 3rd season of the second 9iar chronicles would end up being the last season of Neil Lennon...for a while. It was one of the least memorable of the 9. We romp the league losing just 1 game and achieving 99 points but that would be the only silverware. We reached the group stages of the Champions leag...

Willie Maley nicknamed Willie Lyon “Celtic’s Bayard - the Knight without fear and beyond reproach.” Willie Lyon is widely regarded as one of the finest captains in the rich history of Celtic.  He was of that generation whose life was turned upside by the war, suffering a serious leg injury at Normandy and his football career ended at the age of 32. Here’s the story. For more on our history go to ...

This podcast is released on the 137th birthday of the hoops. The basic elements of our formation are known by all fans…or are they? A club formed for the dinner tables of the porr of the East End, everyone knows that charity was at the core of our creation but the part played in this story by Brother Walfrid (an Irish Marist Brother) and John Glass (prominent in Scotland’s Irish community circles,...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit thecelticunderground.substack.com This was our 125th birthday season and for the first time in our history, there was no Rangers FC to compete against, that club had died with a new team being wished all the best by the old emerging from behind the Brechin Hedge. How would we fare in this brave new world? Domestically we would win a dou...

McKeown Ghost Story In this Halloween week, here a spooky tale from Celtic’s history. It’s the true story of how a dead footballer came to face the Bhoys, and come to Celtic Park. This is the latest podcast from @hailhailhistory. Read on. If you dare… The Celtic Underground Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subsc...

No Kelly No Keltic Another tale from the CU archives and the home of Tales from The Celtic Wiki To fans of our generation, the name of Kelly sparks memories of Michael and Kevin and the early 90s battle for the future of the club.  But whilsy these battles for the future resulted in the end of their tenure at Celtic, it should be remembered that the name of Kelly resonated throughout our history....

Back in the dark days of the Covid lockdowns, we recorded the 9 in a row chronciles - a fan recollection of those 9 amazing seasons. We always knew there’d be a second series but what period would it cover? We soon found out! We got the gang back together (well, almost - Lachie was on his boat so subbed out to Andrew H) and have recorded the second 9iar chronicles. The first one is an incredible s...

Celtic and 1974 Another story from Hail Hail History Saturday 26th October 2024 is the 50th anniversary of the 6-3 final versus Hibs. This podcast tells that that story, and all of 1974 too. Celtic have played in some momentous cup finals. However, when it comes to goals, few can match the 1974 League Cup final, when the Bhoys beat Hibs 6-3. It was another remarkable day in a calendar year that sa...

19 October is a notable Celtic anniversary. On this day in 1957, the Bhoys recorded one of their most famous scorelines: Celtic 7 Rangers 1 This is the full story of that remarkable day, another great tale from @hailhailhistory. Enjoy... This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecelticunderground.substack.com/subscribe

Younger listeners will be stunned(!) to know that the BBC used to have quite and anti-Celtic stance and coverage.  Under the authority of Peter Thompson, they really didn’t seem to like Celtic at all.  Under Thompson, BBC Scotland’s Sports Department employed a sectarian recruitment policy akin to Rangers.  Prejudice seeped into  every aspect of BBC Sport coverage in Scotland but Jock Stein would...

Celtic & Sligo Another story from Hail Hail History This week, Brendan will take a Celtic XI to play in Sligo, and in many ways he’s taking a team to the spiritual birthplace of the club.   This will not be the first time Celtic take a team across the sea to Sligo, with Celtic playing there back in 1975 with a team managed by Sligo man Sean Fallon. For more information on Celtic’s history or t...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit thecelticunderground.substack.com Lee Dornan is a Celtic devotee who works in international affairs for SCIAF, a charity he sees with so many parallels to his beloved football club. And tying the two together is his claim that he has set up the first Celtic supporters' club in South Sudan. He tells all about that and, with an accountant...

Straight after the 7-1 humbling to Dortmund, Lawrence Donegan and I sat down to review the game (and to discuss his substack daily blog about his travels across America). The game was a tough watch but we tried to remove the rawness of the moment and discuss in the reality of the way the team plays week-in, week-out and and the players available. After the trauma of the game, we then went on to ta...

Judas Part 2 Another tale from the Celtic Wiki Last time we told the tale of the striker’s arrival at Celtic and his performances that contributed to the dramatic last day title win over Hearts.  Today we hear about the story that led so many Celts to simply call Maurice Johnstone Judas. Enjoy… This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus ep...

The Celts are off to Germany this week on Champions League duty. The Bhoys will hope to build on their fantastic 5-1 start with another good performance. It's far from Celtic's first visit to Germany. For that, you have to go back almost 120 years. It's a tale of boats, trains, big wins and even the death of an iconic Celt. For more, follow Hail Hail History on twitter. Enjoy… This is a public epi...

Judas Part 1 Another tale from the Celtic Wiki For Celts of a certain age, there is not a name that illicits greater emotion than Mo Johnston.  Signed in a record deal in October 1984 he was part of a Celtic forward line that should have achieved even more than it did and during that spell.  He completed perhaps the greatest team goal in Celtic’s history in the 5-0 title triumph at Love Street. He...

When Celtic take on St Johnstone tomorrow they will be going for a remarkable league clean sheet record. Matthew from Hail Hail History tells us more. Enjoy… This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecelticunderground.substack.com/subscribe

Celtic fans will still be dreaming of the 5 goals we scored last midweek against slovan Bratislava and looking forward to the rest of the European campaign with renewed ethusiasm and a sense of expectation of what could be. Following that marvellous result, Matthew of HAILHAILHISTORY decided to look back on previous big Celtic European results. Enjoy… This is a public episode. If you’d like to dis...

Subscribers to The Celtic Underground podcast will have getting their weekly free 10 minute Celtic history hits on their podcast feed and substack emails. You may have noticed that interspersed in among the human torpedo re-runs of the tales from The Celtic Wiki that we’ve had some new history hits. These Hail Hail History hits have been proving very popular and se we thought we should hear more f...

This is the remarkable story of when the Chief Executive of the Scottish Football association actively engaged in preventing Celtic from fielding their new star striker signing.  Fergus want to war with Farry and eventually won. Here’s the story. For more on our history go to  https://www.thecelticwiki.com/ Enjoy… This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or ge...

Tonight Celtic face Slovan Bratislava 60 years on from the two clubs first meeting. That previous encounter was in the quarter final of the Cup Winners Cup. The home leg came first. It played in February 1964 in front of 53,000 expectant fans. This is the story of that game. Enjoy… The Celtic Underground Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, conside...

This week Celtic kick off our 13th UCL campaign and do so in the new UCL league format, we shall see what that brings. The boys, with the help of a scouting report from Ross Hall, preview the game and discuss the UCL in general. The boys also discuss the forthcoming subscriber vote on the greatest Celtic UCL XI. Enjoy Thanks for reading The Celtic Underground Substack! This podcast is public so fe...

This Saturday sees the first visit to Glasgow this season by the team from Midlothian. We don’t have an especially warm relationship with the team often referred to as the lesser version of a certain Glasgow team and the obvious question - has it always been thus? Well, listen to this tale from Matthew of Hail Hail History to find out. Enjoy… The Celtic Underground Substack is a reader-supported p...

Robert Austin Thomson played for Celtic from 1929 into the 1930s alongside club legend Jimmy McGrory.  His finest year in a Celtic jersey came in 1931 when he was the star of the cup final against Motherwell.  Thomson lived a life of excess and died suddenly at the age of just 30 leaving a wife and two young children. Here’s the story. For more on our history go to  https://www.thecelticwiki.com/...