Celtic F.C. - History

History

Celtic Football Club was formally constituted at a meeting in St. Mary's church hall in East Rose Street (now Forbes Street), Calton, Glasgow, by Irish Marist Brother Walfrid on 6 November 1887, with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the East End of Glasgow by raising money for the charity Walfrid had instituted, the Poor Children's Dinner Table. Walfrid's move to establish the club as a means of fund-raising was largely inspired by the example of Hibernian who were formed out of the immigrant Irish population a few years earlier in Edinburgh. Walfrid's own suggestion of the name 'Celtic' (pronounced Seltik), was intended to reflect the club's Irish and Scottish roots, and was adopted at the same meeting. The club has the official nickname, "The Bhoys". However, according to the Celtic press office, the newly established club was known to many as "the bold boys". A postcard from the early 20th century that pictured the team, and read "The Bould Bhoys", is the first known example of the unique spelling. The extra h imitates the spelling system of Gaelic, where the letter b is often accompanied by the letter y.

On 28 May 1888, Celtic played their first official match against Rangers and won 5–2 in what was described as a "friendly encounter". Neil McCallum scored Celtic's first ever goal. The squad that played that day was largely composed of players signed from Hibernian.

Celtic's first kit consisted of a white shirt with a green collar, black shorts, and emerald green socks. The original club crest was a simple green cross on a red oval background.

In 1889 Celtic reached the final of the Scottish Cup, this was their first season in the competition, but lost 2–1 in the final. Celtic again reached the final of the Scottish Cup in 1892, but this time were victorious after defeating Queen's Park 5–2 in the final. Several months later the club moved to its new ground, Celtic Park, and in the following season won the Scottish League Championship for the first ever time. In 1895, Celtic set the League record for the highest home score when they beat Dundee 11–0.

In 1897, the club became a Private limited company and Willie Maley was appointed as the first 'secretary-manager'. Between 1905 and 1910, Celtic won the Scottish League Championship six times in a row. In both 1907 and 1908 Celtic also won the Scottish Cup, this was the first time a Scottish club had ever won the Double. During World War I, Celtic won the league four times in a row, including 62 matches unbeaten between November 1915 and April 1917.

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

On 19 October 1957, Celtic defeated Rangers a record 7–1 in the final of the Scottish League Cup at Hampden Park in Glasgow, retaining the trophy they had won for only the first time the previous year. The scoreline remains a record win in a British domestic cup final.

Former Celtic captain Jock Stein succeeded McGrory in 1965. Stein guided Celtic to nine straight Scottish League wins from 1966 to 1974, establishing a world record which was not equalled until 1997.

1967 was Celtic's annus mirabilis. The club won every competition they entered: the Scottish League, the Scottish Cup, the Scottish League Cup, the Glasgow Cup, and the European Cup. Under the leadership of Stein, the club defeated Inter Milan 2–1 at the Estádio Nacional in Lisbon, on 25 May 1967. Celtic thus became the first British team, and the first from outside Spain, Portugal and Italy to win the competition. They remain the only Scottish team to have reached the final. The players that day subsequently became known as the "Lisbon Lions". Jimmy Johnstone, Bobby Lennox and Bobby Murdoch formed part of that famous team, and now rank among the greatest ever Celtic players. The following year Celtic lost to Racing Club of Argentina in the Intercontinental Cup.

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

Despite further domestic success in the 1980s, the Bank of Scotland informed Celtic that it was calling in the receivers on 3 March 1994 as a result of the club exceeding a £5 million overdraft. However, expatriate businessman Fergus McCann wrested control of the club, and ousted the family dynasties which had controlled Celtic since its foundation. According to media reports, McCann took over the club minutes before it was to be declared bankrupt. McCann reconstituted the club business as a public limited company – Celtic PLC – and oversaw the redevelopment of Celtic Park into a 60,832 all-seater stadium. In 1998, under Dutchman Wim Jansen Celtic won the title again and prevented Rangers from beating Celtic's 9-in-a-row record.

Martin O'Neill, a former European Cup winner with Nottingham Forest, took charge of the club in June 2000. Under his leadership, Celtic won three SPL championships out of five and in his first season in charge, the club also won the domestic treble, making O'Neill only the second Celtic manager to do so after Jock Stein.

In 2003, around 80,000 Celtic fans travelled to watch the club compete in the UEFA Cup Final in Seville. Celtic lost 3–2 to FC Porto after extra time, despite two goals from Henrik Larsson during normal time. The exemplary conduct of the thousands of travelling Celtic supporters received widespread praise from the people of Seville (not one supporter was arrested) and the fans were awarded prestigious Fair Play Awards from both FIFA and UEFA "for their extraordinarily loyal and sporting behaviour".

Gordon Strachan was announced as O'Neill's replacement in June 2005 and after winning the SPL title in his first year in charge, he became only the third Celtic manager to win three titles in a row. He also guided Celtic to their first UEFA Champions League knockout stage in 2006–07 and repeated the feat in 2007–08 before departing the club in May 2009, after failing to win the SPL title. Tony Mowbray took charge of the club in June 2009, and he was succeeded a year later by Neil Lennon. In November 2010, Celtic set a Scottish Premier League record for the biggest win in SPL history defeating Aberdeen 9–0 at Celtic Park.