Celebrity fans | Legends & Supporters
Eddie Reader (Fairground Attraction)
Johnny Marr (The Smiths)
Teenage Fanclub
Paul Carlin (Dananananaykroyd)
Hello. I am Paul from Dananananaykroyd and I support Celtic. My career as a Celtic fan is one often tainted by glorious failure. Having had to sit through nine seasons of our arch-rivals winning the league during the ’90s, you think Celtic fans would be used to feeling low, right? Well, on the 21st of May, 2003, I experienced my most gut-wrenching episode as a Hoops fan: The UEFA Cup Final. FC Porto, then managed by Jose Mourinho, had a pretty big reputation but had progressed to the final by beating pretty easy opposition (except for Lazio who, ironically, they absolutely pumped) whereas Celtic had defeated Blackburn (back then a mighty team), Celta Vigo, Stuttgart and, incredibly, Liverpool before edging Boavista in the semi-final. A lot of my pals travelled to Seville for the match. My dad and I did the next best thing: flew to Dublin to watch it with my die-hard Celtic-supporting uncle. Porto looked good. They had Deco, Maniche, Ferreira, Carvalho and Derlei. Didn’t matter. We had Henrik Larsson. I honestly thought we could do it. So did thousands of others. The match itself was constantly on a knife edge. Porto, cheating arseholes BTW, took the lead right on half time. Unbelievable. We’d pretty much matched them thus far. Didn’t matter. 2 minutes into the second half, Larsson headed us back into the game. Porto took the lead again a few minutes later, but King Henrik scored a second equaliser. It ended 2-2 and we faced extra time. I can’t dwell on this because it still hurts! Our much-maligned centre back Bobo Balde recieved his marching orders which effectively killed the game. Derlei scored his second goal and Porto’s winner. We couldn’t pick ourselves up after that. To make matters worse, Rangers won the league that season by a single goal. Tears, misery, gloom, doom and disbelief. I’d personally like to thank Gareth for reawakening these dreadful memories.
http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4138951-gareth-los-campesinos-every-defeat-a-divorce.
Mike Scott of The Waterboys
Legendary folk rock band lead singer & songwriter…
Susan Boyle
Ronan Keating
Status Quo
(love them or loathe them, you got to love this picture… likely on tour and met up with Celtic player Jonny Doyle)
Big Crosby (1950)
There’s a cracking story to go with this picture.
Celtic were on our way to Rome to play Lazio in 1950 by train (we left Glasgow on May 24th and arrived in Rome 4 days later) when Bing Crosby was on the same sailing from Dover to Ostend on May 25th on board the Royal Albert.
He proved a very pleasant travelling companion posing for many pictures and signing hundreds of autographs and even singing his version of “I belong to Glasgow”!
Bing Crosby CSC (CelticIreland of KDS forum)
Luciano Pavarotti (1992)
He may have been a Juventus fan rather than a follower of the Hoops but in 1992 the world famous Italian tenor met up with then Celtic boss Liam Brady – who had a succesful playing career in Italy with Juve, Sampdoria and Inter – and star players Paul McStay and Charlie Nicholas. The meeting was to promote a Multiple Sclerosis charity.
Bob Marley
(acc to Dixie Deans, see below!)
‘So Bob Marley asked me… Are you the Dixie Deans who used to play for Celtic?’
By RUSSELL LEADBETTER
Evening Times
7 Oct 2011
REGGAE superstar Bob Marley’s secret ambition was to visit Celtic Park – and play on its turf.
And Marley was such a fan of the club that he could even recite its 1967 European Cup-winning team in full.
Marley, who died in 1981, stunned Celtic legend Dixie Deans when the pair met in Australia.
But Deans, who was playing for Adelaide City as his career wound down, didn’t know who Marley was.
Writing in his new autobiography, which starts an exclusive three-day serialisation in the Evening Times today, Deans says he was introduced to Marley during a training session.
Says Dixie: “I didn’t know him from Adam. Our manager said he was a musician and a keen footballer but the name didn’t register. I remember he was quiet-spoken, almost shy, and his hair was long and looked, frankly, as if it was matted together and needed a good wash.”
But Marley floored him when they got talking about Celtic, saying: “Oh, you know I’m a big Celtic fan. I would love to go to Scotland to see Celtic Park and maybe even kick a few balls there. I know all about Jock Stein.
He added: “I love reading about British football teams and Celtic has always been my team. And now it is my son Rohan’s team. He’s only six but he loves Celtic. I can’t tell you how much I envy you having played at Celtic Park.”
Added Dixie: “We had a chat about all things Celtic and I was greatly impressed by the great man’s football knowledge. And when we got down to training, I was just as impressed by his football ability.”
Bob Geldof
Bob Geldof backs Celtic and Concern
By: Newsroom Staff on 11 Aug, 2012 18:02Celticfc.net
BOB Geldof is today throwing his weight behind Celtic’s fundraising effort in support of Concern Worldwide. The club will today raise funds and awareness for the charity during its match with Real Madrid in Philadelphia as part of the 2012 Herbalife World Football Challenge.
Bob said: “Congratulations to Concern and Celtic for getting together on this. Hunger is something which can be stopped but we’ve got to keep working against it.”
Bob was recently involved in Celtic’s fundraising efforts for Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Dublin.
The match kicks off at 7pm Celtic Park Time and will be broadcast on ITV 4 within the UK and online at Celtic TV throughout the world.
Lana Del Rey
US Singer, on tour to Scotland said whilst here she’d support us…
Evan Dando (1990’s Indie Muso)
Coolio (US Rap Star)
Guest of honour at Celtic Park on 30 Sep 2017 2-2 game v Hibernian
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![[Untitled]](https://wikifoundryimages.s3.amazonaws.com/cd4e77a73b24514a7cb2fc4c6b461afc "[Untitled]")
![[Untitled]](https://wikifoundryimages.s3.amazonaws.com/89fa8b395f1d72830c04528c5cac7469 "[Untitled]")
The Who – Keith Moon
Fontaines
Irish rock band Fontaines DC don the Celtic colours before Barrowlands gig
https://www.67hailhail.com/news/irish-rock-band-fontaines-dc-don-the-celtic-colours-before-barrowlands-gig/
By Euan Davidson25 Oct 2021
Dublin rock band Fontaines DC donned the Green and White of Celtic before their headline gig at the Barrowlands last night.
The band, who were playing mid-sized venues like Bloc in Glasgow in 2018, have exploded in popularity since releasing first album ‘Dogrel’ in 2019. The LP was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, before even more acclaim greeted their follow-up. 2020’s ‘A Hero’s Death’ was Grammy nominated.
Fontaines DC, who have never been shy about their love of football, donned the Hoops before a sold-out show at Glasgow’s famous Barrowlands. Prior to delighting their fans on the Gallowgate, they were snapped by DF Concerts promoter Chris Beltran.
Blending a caustic brand of post-punk with a love of Irish poetry, the band’s abrasive style has connected with fans worldwide. It’s little surprise then, just three years after playing smaller rooms, they’re able to headline such famous venues.
And while on the Gallowgate, the football-loving band wasted no time in getting the right colours on.
Clearly, they’re a band that knows their stuff when it comes to football.
Early press shots have included the band sitting at Dalymount Park in Dublin.
Lewis Capaldi
Celtic-daft Lewis Capaldi performs sold-out European gig wearing a Hoops shirt
By
BLOGDADY.COM –
November 3, 2022
https://www.blogdady.com/celtic-daft-lewis-capaldi-performs-sold-out-european-gig-wearing-a-hoops-shirt/
SCOTS singing superstar Lewis Capaldi has certainly never hidden his love for Celtic.
And while the crooner couldn’t take in the Hoops’ Champions League clash against Real Madrid, he still made sure he was backing his team.
Lewis Capaldi was spotted performing in a Celtic shirt
2
Lewis Capaldi was spotted performing in a Celtic shirtCredit: EPA
He belted out his biggest hits in the Hoops top in Basel, Switzerland
2
He belted out his biggest hits in the Hoops top in Basel, SwitzerlandCredit: EPA
As Ange Postecoglou’s men were taking on the Spanish giants in the Bernabeu – ultimately falling to a heavy 5-1 defeat – Lewis, 26, was taking to the stage in Switzerland.
He was headlining a night of the Baloise Session Festival in the Swiss city of Basel, on a bill that also included Eurovision star Sam Ryder.
And the chart-topper will no doubt have delighted Hoops fans as he took to the stage wearing a Celtic top.
He performed hie biggest hits wearing a black Adidas Celtic training sweatshirt.
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It certainly ins’t the first time that Lewis has delighted Hoops fans by showcasing his love for the Parkhead club during a gig.
Back in September, he drove fans wild by performing a well-known Celtic song at a sold-out London venue.
The ‘Someone You Loved’ star belted out a rendition of “It’s a grand old team” to a 20,000-strong crowd at the world renowned O2 Arena.
The track commonly heard at Parkhead sees the fans roar: “Hail hail, the Celts are here, what the hell do we care, what the hell do we care, Hail Hail, the Celts are here, What the hell do we care now.
“For its a grand old team to play for, For its a grand old team to see,
And if you know the history, Its enough to make your heart go,
go-oh-oh-oh!”
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Capaldi, who recently chopped the charts with hit single ‘Forget Me,’ was also spotted alongside Celtic icon Scott Brown during the summer.
Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream)
“You can be a Rangers fan and not bigoted. Bobby Gillespie is Celtic, Noel Gallagher is Celtic. I signed a load of Celtic fans.” (Alan McGee)
see: https://www.thecelticwiki.com/2022-11-09-motherwell-1-2-celtic-sp-pictures/
CELTIC SPARK Bobby Gillespie on IRA and anti-monarchy songs at Celtic games and ‘Tory football’
David Fowler
14:12, 12 Oct 2021Updated: 16:47, 20 Oct 2022
David Fowler
https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/7834421/bobby-gillespie-ira-anti-monarchy-celtic-tory/
PRIMAL SCREAM singer Bobby Gillespie has described Celtic legend Jock Stein as a “punk” football manager and opened up on how IRA songs at Parkhead shaped his attitude to music.
Hoops-daft Gillespie was hugely influenced by legendary Parkhead boss Stein and compared his style of football to high energy rock ‘n roll.
Bobby Gillespie from Primal Scream has discussed his new book ‘Tenement Kid’
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Bobby Gillespie from Primal Scream has discussed his new book ‘Tenement Kid’Credit: PA
Legendary Celtic boss Jock Stein with the European Cup
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Legendary Celtic boss Jock Stein with the European CupCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
The Glasgow-born star also explains why the IRA and anti-monarchy chants heard at Celtic Park when he was growing up gave him a natural affinity for the Sex Pistols when punk rock exploded in the late 1970s.
Speaking on Chris Evans’ Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio UK in October 2021, Gillespie said: “Jock Stein was a progressive football manager – fast, attacking football.
“There was a great interview with him before the European Cup Final in Lisbon in 1967.
“Stein said what’s important is not to win but to win in such a style that the neutral who is watching the match sees beauty in the way that we’re playing and they can see that this is how the game should be played.
“It should be entertaining, it should be high energy, intelligent and it should be fun.
“Celtic were up against Inter Milan who played catenaccio style which was developed by the great Italian clubs, it was defensive football. It was like a war of attrition.
“You wear the opponents down and it’s kinda dull. But it works – it’s kinda like I would say Tory football.
“That whole idea of attacking football to me it was like the MC5 or the Clash – high energy rock ‘n roll.
“You come out all guns blazing and you thrill the audience, it’s transcendant and it’s fun.
“And that’s what Jock Stein’s football philosophy was.
“And I know that both Bill Shankly and Alex Ferguson learned from Stein.”
As a school kid Gillespie remembers being instantly drawn to the Sex Pistol’s ‘God Save the Queen’ album when he saw the front cover in a music newspaper.
A fellow pupil on the desk next to him was flicking through a magazine and the image struck a chord with him.
Gillespie labelled the cover as the “greatest thing ever” but in his mind he felt he was “going to get arrested” for going to the record shop to purchase the album.
Opening up on the attraction of punk and the connection with IRA and anti-monarchy chants at Parkhead, he said: “I had been going to Celtic games and people were singing anti-monarchy songs and songs about the IRA and stuff.
“Very seditious chants and there was also a war. The British and Ireland. There was a war there.
“Bombs in the mainland, bombs in Northern Ireland.
“Glasgow is a very sectarian city so that stuff was kind of prevalent back then and still is actually.
“It just felt that anybody who had written a rock and roll song that was critical of the monarchy – which had god like status back then – was dangerous, and I was attracted to that danger.”
The chat moved on to performing on stage as Gillespie discussed playing with The Jesus and Mary Chain and experiencing violent attacks from audience members who went to the gigs just to abuse them.
Brighton, London and Norwich were particularly bad with his girlfriend once bottled and seriously injured at the side of the stage.
The Scot says eventually the amount of missiles being aimed at the band would make it impossible to play as he compared it to being at an Old Firm showdown in the 1970s.
He said: “People came out to Jesus and Mary Chain gigs just to attack the band.
“It was mostly in London we had riots, or like ultra-violence at the gigs.
“Brighton, London and Norwich.
“My girlfriend got bottled [in Brighton] , that was horrible.
“We would literally come on and we were getting stuck into the songs, I would be loving it.
“You would be playing the drums and start to feel bottles whizzing past your head, cans of beer, pint glasses.
“Eventually it would be too much – a torrent of missiles and it would be impossible to play.
“It was like being at a Celtic v Rangers match in the 1970s – except we didn’t have anything to throw back. It was horrible.”
Siobhan Fahey (Bananarama, Shakespear’s Sister)
Celtic Park will ‘flash before my eyes on deathbed’ says Shakespears Sister star
Siobhan Fahey, who used to attend Hoops games as a child, says her biggest achievement was supporting Prince at his 1992 gig in Parkhead.
by Rick Fulton
04:30, 16 May 2019Updated21:04, 15 May 2019
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/entertainment/music/music-news/celtic-park-gig-always-stand-16055593.amp
Shakespears Sister will heading to Glasgow later in the year for a gig(Image: Daily Record)
When Bananarama and Shakespears Sister star Siobhan Fahey is on her death bed, she’ll be thinking of Paradise. Not heaven. The other one – Celtic Park.
The Dublin-born singer, 60, used to go to Celtic games as a kid with her dad Joseph and one of her proudest memories was when Shakespears Sister were chosen by Prince to support him at his gig in 1992.
Siobhan, who has teamed up again with Marcella Detroit after a three-decade-long fallout, said:
“Celtic Park was a massive stand-out memory for both of us.
“When I’m on my death bed and my life is flashing before my eyes, that will be one of them.
“My dad used to take me to see Celtic when I was at a convent school in Edinburgh. I used to watch them all the time so going back to actually play it was a double whammy for me.
“He was super-proud of me playing Celtic Park.”
Sadly, Siobhan’s dad has passed on, as has Prince, but Marcella, 66, who co-wrote Eric Clapton’s hit Lay Down Sally and sang Shakespears Sister’s biggest hit Stay, which was No1 for nine weeks in 1992, reckons the Celtic Park gig was her biggest achievement – even though they never got to meet the Purple One.
She said: “I think the biggest honour was when we were summoned by Prince to support him at Celtic Park. He watched us from the wings but we never made it into his private party, unfortunately.”
Last week, they stunned the music industry with the announcement of their reunion which includes a new single All The Queen’s Horses, out tomorrow, a single collection and a tour, Shakespears Sister Ride Again, which sees them returning to Glasgow in November.
Now living in Los Angeles, as is Marcella, Siobhan said: “I love Scotland. I have such fond memories. I went to a convent school there from 12 for a couple of years. It was like a Jean Brodie kind of place.”
In the 80s, Siobhan was a third of Bananarama before she quit in 1988 at the height of their success and formed Shakespears Sister – first as a solo exercise, with Marcella as a hired hand.
But David A Stewart, Siobhan’s then husband and the father of her two kids (and half of Eurythmics), suggested they should team up and, as well as Stay – which still holds the record for longest run at No1 by a UK girl band – had top 10 hits with You’re History and I Don’t Care, while debut album Sacred Heart and follow-up Hormonally Yours both went top 10.
But Stay’s video of the two of them battling on the Moon for an unconscious man’s earthly soul leaked into real life and the pals fell out. Marcella was publicly axed from the band at the Ivor Novello Awards in 1993.
Siobhan carried on, teaming up with Scot Bobby Bluebell, who she’d co-written Bluebells No1 Young at Heart with – but without Marcella the spark wasn’t there.
The ice melted after Siobhan reunited with Bananarama in 2017. Her friendships with Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward mended, Siobhan’s thoughts turned to Marcella.
Siobhan said: “Going back into Bananarama and celebrating what we meant to each other and what we’d achieved together was the beginning of the whole journey. That had to happen for this to happen.”
Siobhan and Marcella agreed to meet for a coffee and, after some initial awkwardness, rekindled the relationship – as friends and musicians.
But Siobhan said: “The first meet-up was airing the awful grievances left to fester for 26 years. We realised it was time to make our peace with each other and our past, not drag it all to the grave.
They booked into an Airbnb out in the desert to patch up the friendship through music and five days later had two tracks, new single All the Queen’s Horses and C U Next Tuesday both of which will be on their singles collection.
Going back on the road holds no fear. Siobhan said: “It’s a very different feeling. All the misunderstandings, paranoia and misconstruing have been settled.”
Siobhan seems more at peace after years of depression which saw her check herself into a psychiatric unit in the 90s.
She said: “I think as you get older, you try to work on your demons and evolve so you can mend things that might have been broken earlier.
“And finally, a year ago, I was ready to face it. Marcy had reached out a few times over the years but I hadn’t been able to deal with it.”
In the 90s, Shakespears Sister were women in a male-dominated industry. Siobhan said: “I think we were pioneering women. We’ve never seen ourselves as any different or lesser than men.”
The Bluebells
Oh The Bluebells are Green! Against a backdrop of the Celtic Park pitch, Ken McCluskey and Robert Hodgens are performing two acoustic songs
Oh The Bluebells are Green!
By Paul Cuddihy, Celtic View Editor
https://www.celticfc.com/news/2023/march/26/oh-the-bluebells-are-green-/
Against a backdrop of the Celtic Park pitch, Ken McCluskey and Robert Hodgens are performing two acoustic songs for the Celtic View.
The songs – Stonehouse Violets and Daddy Was An Engineer – are both new tunes but at the same time, are instantly recognisable, given that they are being performed two of the founding members of the famous Scottish band, The Bluebells, along with Ken’s brother, David.
The band are back with a new album – The Bluebells: in the 21st Century – along with a number of live gigs to support its release on April 28.
And while fans of the band have had to wait nearly 40 years for a follow-up to their superb Sisters debut album, the new release is certainly worth the wait.
As well as the two aforementioned songs, there are other new tracks available now on streaming platforms.
However, it’s not as though the band have laboured for four decades to produce this new album. They might have called time on their efforts as a band in the mid-1980s – although there have been various reformings for one reason or another – but Ken, Robert and David have still continued to write songs and perform together over the years.
And given their lifelong affection for the green and white Hoops, Celtic Park seemed an appropriate setting to talk about the next stage in The Bluebells’ journey, in between talking about the football, of course!
Robert Hodgens explains: “That the best bit of it for us – the songwriting and the recording. Luckily, me, Ken and David have always wrote songs since The Bluebells finished and we’ve been involved in various other projects, but there have always been songs, particularly in my case and in Ken’s case, that we’ve always thought – this would be a Bluebells song.
‘So that’s why we got together. Sisters did really well on its re-release and Ian, who runs the record company, was very keen for us to do a new album and we were very keen to do it too.’
The new Bluebells album is being released by Last Night From Glasgow, a not-for-profit independent label based in Glasgow. Members can subscribe to the label in return for so many albums a year, and the money is re-invested, benefiting both new bands and, in the words of Ken McCluskey, ‘old codgers like ourselves!’
Ken continues: “We’d started playing gigs again about five or six years ago as The Bluebells because there was this sort of nostalgia thing, and we did a few festivals, but there were a wee bit tedious actually. You’re only on for five or 10 minutes, and then someone else comes on.
“We wanted a bit more than that, so we started playing full gigs with full sets to really amazing crowds. We thought there was a market for it and people wanted to hear new stuff, not just our album again, so it was a good impetus for us to start writing again as The Bluebells.”
As for favourite Celtic memories, there are so many, both past and present.
Ken explains: “I was thinking about this recently because I saw a picture from it, but my earliest memory was a game from 1971 and I was about nine at the time. It was when the main stand was being build.
My dad, who was a brickie, knew a brickie called Jim Mulholland from Bothwell, where I’m from, and he was working at Celtic Park. It was still a building site because the foundations were still getting down, and he gave us access to the game.
“It was against Clyde (May 1, 1971), and we won 6-1. I remember Bertie Auld sat on the ball during the game. It was also the last time the Lisbon Lions ever played together. Ronnie Simpson just came on with them before the game, and then Evan Williams took over in goal.
‘The team now is fantastic and there’s a great buzz. We don’t go to every game because we work a lot on a Saturday, doing gigs and things like that, but we do get to quite a few games and the buzz at the park is amazing.’
“And watching the League Cup final in the pub was really quite something. It’s really exciting and they look really great.”
Robert adds: “My Dad was a Rangers supporter and he did bring me to Celtic Park once, but after it he said if I wanted to come back I was on my own! So I came along with my friends from school.
“But my memories of this place are really simple at that age – it was walking from one end of the ground to the other when Celtic changed ends, which I think is a big miss. When you were a wee guy, it was an adventure and you’d meet so many people and make so many friends when you could wander about.”
Macklemore (American Rapper)
Kate Deegan @Katiedee8 · 15h Macklemore – Ben Haggerty – came out on stage in NY the the Celtic football jersey we (myself & my husband) got for him with his name on the back & the year he was born. I was stunned, shaking and could not believe what I was seeing. By the way it looked so good on him too
Celtic fans delighted as rapper Macklemore wears football top during gig
Story by Kaitlin Easton • September 2023
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/newsscotland/celtic-fans-delighted-as-rapper-macklemore-wears-football-top-during-gig/ar-AA1hbqHr
Celtic fans have been left delighted after American rapper Macklemore was spotted wearing the club’s football top during a gig.
A video of the hitmaker, known for songs such as Thrift Shop and Can’t Hold Us, has been widely shared across social media as he donned a Hoops top at a New York gig.
Macklemore – real name Benjamin Hammond Haggerty – was performing in the city as part of his BEN tour.
He could be seen dancing around on the stage wearing the top with his name and the number 83 on the back, even jumping into the crowd to interact with screaming fans at one point.
The footage has been viewed thousands of time on TikTok and reposted on Twitter.
One fan named Johnny said: “The shirt of champions.” While another wrote: “Not a clue who this dude is, but he’ll dae for me Celtic top having it large.”
And one joked: “All Rangers fans hate him now haha.”