LIAM KELLY

TAKE ME TO YOUR PARADISE: A history of Celtic-related incidents & events

BOOK REVIEW (By Brendan Doyle)

 

Anyone who has read Liam Kelly’s first book, Our Stories & Our Songs: The Celtic Support, will already know how good an author he is. His first book was enjoyable, informative and very unique. Liam has pulled out all the stops again here with his second Celtic book, Take Me To Your Paradise: A history of Celtic-related incidents & events.

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The book is again, very unique and unusual, which makes for really interesting reading. The focus is on two themes throughout – individual incidents and organised events. It is a simply brilliant idea to look at the history of our club from a new angle like this, especially when you consider how many Celtic books have been done before.

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I found the events from the early years to be very informative and highly fascinating; from detailed histories about the club’s sports day opening the new Celtic Park, to the hosting of the World Cycling Championships in 1897. There are stories about Paradise hosting World Title Boxing fights and one of the first Speedway meetings in Britain, but above all I loved the first event in the book ‘Football Fundraiser’, in which Brother Walfrid holds a Charity Exhibition match at Barrowfield Park in 1886. The backdrop to this charity match, explained entertainingly and in great detail, makes you realise just how important these little know historical tales are to the very existence of Celtic!

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As the book progresses through the decades, Liam takes us to WW1 and an exhibition of trench warfare at the stadium… but as ever there is more to this event than meets the eye and it is gripping how Liam provides all the facts of parallel events such as meetings between Celtic and the Irish Parliamentary Party at this time. A particular favourite event for me, was the story of the 1979 Celtic Supporters Association Rally that was dedicated to James McGrory. This piece not only covers the highlights, dedication and mistreatment during McGrory’s career, but it also evokes great memories for me with reliving the Rally itself, as this was the first Celtic Rally I ever attended.

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The events advance, educating us all the way up to the night that the Lisbon Lions played against the 1968 Manchester United team to “Blow away the blues,” and say goodbye to the Jungle one last time. There are also amusing memories relived with the Baird’s Bar press conference under Kenny Dalglish and very modern events such as Celtic Park hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

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The in-depth history and the range of events researched and included by Liam, sum him up as an incredible young author of Celtic books, who thinks outside the box. Yet mixed among these events, is the other theme of the book – incidents!

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The opening incident is a story that every Celtic fan should know, and I’m stunned that I had never came across it before. It is an incident whereby an IRB member is on the run after the 1867 Fenian Uprising and he seeks to escape to Glasgow. While attempting to board a boat in Dublin, the man in question is stopped by an Irishman serving in the British Army. Owing to this fact, the soldier lets him go and the pair keep in touch. Years later, this man on the run would become a founding father of Celtic Football Club and the encounter between himself and the soldier would directly lead to Celtic signing a certain Willie Maley!

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Beyond that stunning beginning, incidents cover everything from a Vigilante Committee being set up in Johnstone in a bid to stop English agents signing Celtic players, to young John Millsopp losing his life after a burst appendix in the 1950s. From such tragedy there is also laughter at incidents such as Willie Maley punishing a player for showboating by putting him in goal during a tour of Denmark and the time that DJ Tiger Tim was sacked for holding a cheeky minute’s silence after Rangers were knocked out of the Champion’s League in 1993. There is even room for unusual politics, with Bob Kelly refusing to play against Hungarian opposition in the 1968 European Cup due to Hungary’s part in the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia!

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To summarise and review this book in words is difficult. ‘Must-read’ and ‘outstanding’ spring to mind. It is a very detailed book at 372 pages, with a lot of little-known history. That history often has massive implications on the direction of Celtic and is equally as important as the main stories that every fan knows. It’s testament to Liam Kelly that he manages to mix light-hearted, funny pieces in amongst the weightier topics and tragedy (the story of Efe Ambrose forgetting his passport before the Barcelona game in 2012 exemplifies this).

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I got a copy direct, through Liam’s website: liamkelly1967.wixsite.com/celticauthor/books. I’d recommend this route, as Liam signed the book with a personal message to me which was a nice touch.

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To Celtic fans with an interest in the club’s history, I would say look no further than this book. I genuinely hope that it sells the copies it deserves.

 

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