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Celtic F.C.

The Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the east end of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. Celtic are the champions of Scotland, having completed a hat-trick of titles on 22 May 2008, the final day of the 2007-08 season. Since its formation in 1888, Celtic has won the Scottish crown on 42 occasions and the Scottish Cup 34 times (a record), and is the only Scottish team, and first British team, to have won Europe's premier football competition, the European Cup, in 1967.

Celtic's home stadium is Celtic Park (commonly referred to as Parkhead after the area of Glasgow in which it is situated) which has a capacity of 60,832, making it the largest football stadium in Scotland. Together with their Glasgow rivals, Rangers, they form the Old Firm which is one of the most famous and most fierce rivalries in sport. The club's traditional playing colours are green and white hooped shirts with white shorts and white socks.

In 1967, Celtic became the first British team to win the European Cup/Champions League, and are one of only two clubs ever to win the European Cup with a team composed entirely of home-grown talent, along with FC Steaua Bucureşti of Romania in 1986.. All of the players, subsequently known as the Lisbon Lions, were born within a 30-mile radius of Celtic Park. Celtic won every competition that they entered that season: the Scottish League Championship, the Scottish Cup, the Scottish League Cup, the European Cup/Champions League and the Glasgow Cup, to become the first, and so far only, team to win the Quadruple. Celtic reached the European Cup final again in 1970, but were beaten by Feyenoord in extra time.

In 2003 Celtic reached the UEFA Cup final, where they lost 3-2 to FC Porto in extra time. Approximately 80,000 Celtic supporters travelled to Seville for this game, the largest foreign travelling support in history at the time. The fans also received awards from UEFA and FIFA for their behaviour throughout the tournament. Celtic have an estimated fan base of nine million, including one million in North America.

Name

In 1994 the full name of the club was changed to The Celtic Football Club, having previously been The Celtic Football and Athletic Company Ltd. Within Britain and Ireland the club is generally referred to simply as Celtic, though it is sometimes incorrectly called Glasgow Celtic and, usually by non-English speakers, Celtic Glasgow.

Formation and history

Celtic Football Club was formally founded at a meeting in St. Mary's Church Hall on East Rose Street (now Forbes Street), Calton, Glasgow, by Brother Walfrid, an Irish Marist brother, on 6 November 1887. The purpose stated in the official club records as "being to alleviate poverty in Glasgow's East End parishes".

Walfrid's move to establish the club as a means of fund raising for his charity, The Poor Children's Dinner Table, was largely inspired by the example of Hibernian F.C. who were formed out of the immigrant Irish population thirteen 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.

On 28 May 1888, Celtic played their first official match against Rangers and won 5-2 in what was described as a "friendly encounter". Celtic had 8 'guest' players from Hibernian playing that day. The club's first ever goal was scored by Neil McCallum in this match. During these formative years, Celtic played in a white shirt with a green collar and a red Celtic cross on the breast, then switched to green and white vertical stripes around 1890. They made the switch to their iconic green-and-white hoops in 1903.

Celtic and the media

In 1965 Celtic began publishing The Celtic View, the oldest club magazine in football .

In 2004 Celtic launched its own digital TV channel Celtic TV available in the UK through Setanta Sports on satellite and cable platforms. Since 2002 Celtic's Internet TV channel, Channel67 (previously known as Celtic Replay), has broadcast Celtic's own content worldwide, offers live match coverage to subscribers outside the UK, and now provides 3 online channels.

Old Firm and sectarianism

Celtic have a historic association with the people of Ireland and Scots of Irish extraction, who are both predominantly Catholic. Fans of rivals Rangers tended to come from Protestant backgrounds and were supporters of Anti-Catholicism and of British Unionism. As a result both clubs became linked to the opposing factions in the political difficulties of Northern Ireland, which intensified the rivalry in Scotland.

In recent times both clubs have taken measures to combat sectarianism. Working alongside the Scottish Parliament, church groups and community organisations, the Old Firm has clamped down on sectarian songs, inflammatory flag-waving, and troublesome supporters, using increased levels of policing and surveillance. In 1996, for instance, Celtic launched their Bhoys Against Bigotry campaign, later followed by Youth Against Bigotry to "educate the young on having ... respect for all aspects of the community - all races, all colours, all creeds", according to then chief executive Ian McLeod.

Recent seasons

2005-06

Celtic began the 2005-06 season with a new manager: Gordon Strachan, the former Scotland, Aberdeen and Manchester United midfielder took over from Martin O'Neill. Garry Pendrey was appointed as Strachan's assistant manager.

Before his first game, he was already getting criticized by the press for signing unknown players such as Japanese midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura from relegation battlers Reggina of Serie A and Polish goalkeeper Artur Boruc from Legia Warsaw. In Celtic's first competitive game under Strachan, they lost 5-0 in a UEFA Champions League qualifier to Slovakian minnows Artmedia Bratislava. Strachan was under more pressure after the first SPL game of the season after his side lost a 3-1 lead away to Motherwell and only escaped with a point after grabbing a late equaliser in a 4-4 draw. The shoots of recovery started to grow with a 4-0 win in the home leg of the Champions League tie with Artmedia and although Celtic lost 3-1 to Rangers in the first Glasgow derby of the season, the team went on a 13 game unbeaten run, winning 12 of those games before losing to Dunfermline.

Celtic showed their Championship credentials on New Year's Day 2006, after staging a late comeback to beat rivals Hearts 3-2 in a top-of-the-table clash at Tynecastle thanks to two late goals from centre-half Stephen McManus.

After signing Roy Keane from Manchester United in January 2006, Celtic lost to Clyde 2-1 in the Scottish Cup. Their impressive league form continued however and on 19 February 2006 Celtic set a new scoring record for the SPL, an 8-1 victory at East End Park against Dunfermline, where Polish striker Maciej Żurawski scored 4 goals and assisted in 2 others.

On 19 March 2006, Gordon Strachan won his first trophy for Celtic with a 3-0 win over Dunfermline in the final of the CIS Cup.

On 5 April, Celtic clinched their 40th league title thanks to a goal from John Hartson in a 1-0 win against Hearts at Celtic Park. The title was Celtic's fourth title in six years. This feat was achieved with six games remaining until the end of the season and before the SPL split. The Bhoys lifted the SPL trophy on Easter Sunday 2006 at home to Hibernian, after a 1-1 draw.

In April 2006, Celtic's reserve and Under-19 teams also won their championships, completing a clean sweep of Scotland's league competitions. Celtic's reserve team had won their league 5 years in a row and the Under-19s had won their league 4 years in a row.

2006-07

Such was the good form of Celtic and the lack of a clear rival in the early stages of the 2006-07 season, that bookmakers Paddy Power took the unprecedented step of paying out on Celtic as the winners of the SPL on 4th November, 2006, only 13 games into the season. By mid-November Celtic were 15 points clear of their nearest challengers.

Having qualified automatically for the group stage of the Champions League, Celtic were drawn with Benfica, FC Copenhagen, and Manchester United. Although Celtic lost their 3 away games, a 100% record at home earned them qualification to the knockout stage for the first time since the format was altered in 1993. Their opponents in the last 16 were AC Milan. After both legs of the tie ended 0-0, Celtic's Champions League run was ended by a solitary Milan goal in extra-time by Kaka.

During the January 2007 transfer window Celtic signed Scotland internationals and former Hearts players Steven Pressley and Paul Hartley, full-back Jean-Joël Perrier-Doumbé from Rennes on loan and goalkeeper Mark Brown from Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

On 22nd April, 2007 Celtic won their 41st league championship, and second in a row. The title was won by an injury-time free-kick from Shunsuke Nakamura in a 2-1 victory against Kilmarnock. The result left Celtic 13 points clear of Rangers with four matches remaining. They finished the season 12 points above Rangers.

On 26th May 2007 Celtic won the Scottish Cup for a record 34th time after beating Dunfermline 1-0. The winner was scored by Jean-Joël Perrier-Doumbé in the 84th minute.

2007-08

Celtic bolstered their side for the 2007-08 season, signing Scott Brown, Chris Killen, Scott McDonald and Massimo Donati. Skipper Neil Lennon left for Nottingham Forest after seven years with the club, with Stephen McManus taking over the club captaincy. However Lennon returned to the club later in the season as a coach.

Celtic were drawn against Russian side Spartak Moscow in the third round of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League 2007-08. The tie ended in a penalty shootout, with Artur Boruc saving twice to ensure Celtic's passage to the next round. This was Celtic's first European penalty shootout victory. They competed against AC Milan, Benfica and FC Shakhtar Donetsk in the group stages, who they beat 2-1, 1-0, and 2-1 respectively at home, but losing all their away matches. They finished second in their group, ensuring qualification to the knockout stage for the second year in succession. Celtic were drawn against FC Barcelona in the last 16 of the Champions League. The first leg, played at Celtic Park, saw them defeated 3-2, after being ahead 1-0 and 2-1. In the second leg Barcelona grabbed an early goal through Xavi and held on for a 1-0 win on the night and 4-2 win overall.

The club's first signing of the winter transfer window was Andreas Hinkel. They followed up by signing Japanese youngster Koki Mizuno, Barry Robson from Dundee Utd as well as young striker Ben Hutchinson from Middlesbrough.

Although leading for the early part of the season, Celtic found themselves 7 points behind Rangers having played a game more with only seven weeks of the season left, because of this the manager was badly criticised and there was speculation that he might be sacked or resign. However, the club made a remarkable comeback, winning their last 7 games, including two victories over rivals Rangers at Celtic Park 2-1 and 3-2, and won the league on 22nd May 2008, the last day of the season with a 1-0 win over Dundee United. Meanwhile Rangers lost to Aberdeen at Pittodrie. The victory was dedicated to the memory of Tommy Burns, former player and manager, who had died the previous Thursday. The result also meant Gordon Strachan became only the third Celtic manager to win three consecutive league championships.

2008-09

Celtic signed winger Pat McCourt from League of Ireland side Derry City on a 3 year contract on 19th June. Greek international striker Georgios Samaras, who had spent the 2nd half of the 2007-08 season on loan from Manchester City signed on a permanent basis on 14 July after agreeing a 3 year contract. Celtic have already qualified for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League after winning a 3rd consecutive SPL title. Celtic were drawn in Group E where they will take on Manchester United, Villarreal, and Danish Champions AaB Aalborg.

Their first SPL game of the season was at home to St Mirren on Sunday 10th August finishing 1-0 thanks to a Barry Robson penalty. Before the start of the match Celtic paraded their latest signing Marc Crosas who had signed from Barcelona the previous day. Celtic released Thomas Gravesen from his contract, and on 21 August confirmed the return of former player Shaun Maloney from Aston Villa.

Records

The Scottish Cup final win against Aberdeen in 1937 was attended by a crowd of 146,433 (sometimes listed as 147,365) at Hampden Park in Glasgow, which remains a record for a club match in European football
Celtic currently hold the UK record for an unbeaten run in professional football: 62 games (49 won, 13 drawn), from 13 November 1915 until 21 April 1917 - a total of 17 months and four days in all (they lost at home to Kilmarnock on the penultimate day of the season)
Celtic also hold the SPL record for an unbeaten run of home matches (77), spanning from 2001 to 2004 (this run was ended by a 2-1 defeat to Aberdeen on 21 April 2004), and the record for the longest run of consecutive wins in a single season (25 matches)
Record victory: 11-0, against Dundee on 26 October 1895
Record defeat: 0-8 against Motherwell on 30 April 1937
Record home defeat: 0-5 against Hearts on 14 September 1895
Record post war home defeat 1-5 against Aberdeen on 2 January 1947
Record European victory 9-0 KPV Kokkola (Finland), on 16 September 1970 (European Champions Cup)
Record European defeat: 0-5 against FC Artmedia Bratislava on 27 July 2005
Record victory against Rangers: 7-1 1957 Scottish league cup final (the biggest win for either side in an old firm match)
Complete record v Rangers P-371 W-133 D-91 L-147 F-508 A-529
Record points earned in a season: 72 (Premier Division, 1987/88, 2 points for a win); 103 (Scottish Premier League, 2001/02, 3 points for a win), also the SPL points tally record
Record home attendance: 92,000 against Rangers on 1 January 1938. A 3-0 victory for Celtic
Most capped player: 80, Pat Bonner: Republic of Ireland.
Most capped player (Scotland): 76, Paul McStay
Record appearances: Billy McNeill, 790 from 1957 - 1975
Most goals in a season (all competitions): Henrik Larsson, 53 (2000/01)
Most goals in a season (league only): Jimmy McGrory, 50 (1935/36)
Record scorer: Jimmy McGrory, 468 (1922/23 - 1937/38)
Most goals scored in one Scottish top-flight league match by one player: 8 goals by Jimmy McGrory against Dunfermline in 9-0 win on 14 January 1928
First British club to reach the final of the European Cup
First Scottish, British and Northern Europe team to win the European Cup
Only club in history to have won the European Cup with a team comprised entirely of home-grown players (all born and bred within a 30 mile radius of the stadium)
Hold the record for the highest score in a domestic cup final: Celtic 7 - 1 Rangers, Scottish League Cup Final 1957
Hold the record for the highest attendance for a European club competition match: Celtic v Leeds United in the European Cup semi-final, 15 April 1970 at Hampden Park, Glasgow. Official attendance 136,505
Fastest hat-trick in European Club Football - Mark Burchill vs Jeunesse Esch, Luxembourg in 2000
Earliest SPL Championship won. Won with 6 games to go against Kilmarnock on 18 April 2004 and Hearts on 5 April 2006
First weekly club publication in the UK, The Celtic View.
Biggest margin of victory in the SPL. 8-1 against Dunfermline, February 2006
First stadium in the UK to stage motorcycle speedway racing on 28 April 1928.
Celtic and Hibernian hold the record for the biggest transfer fee between two Scottish clubs. Celtic bought Scott Brown from Hibernian on 16 May 2007 for £4.4m
First club in the world to win their domestic league in their centenary season (1987/88)
Appeared in 14 consecutive league cup finals, from season 1964/65 to 1977/78 inclusive, a world record for successive appearances in the final of a major football competition
Won the league cup a record 5 times in succession, from season 1965/66 to 1969/70 inclusive

National honours

International club honours

Minor honours

* 1975 trophy shared with Rangers after a 2-2 draw

Special honours

Individual

All players are from Scotland unless otherwise stated.

Top Goalscorers
#	Name	Career	Goals
1	James McGrory	1922-1937	468
2	Bobby Lennox	1961-1978 1979-1980	273
3	Henrik Larsson	1997-2004	242
4	Stevie Chalmers	1958-1971	231
5	Jimmy Quinn	1900-1917	217
6	Patsy Gallacher	1911-1926	192
7	John Hughes	1960-1971	189
8	Sandy McMahon	1891-1903	171
9	Jimmy McMenemy	1902-1920	168
10	Kenny Dalglish	1969-1977	167

Most Appearances
#	Name	Career	Apps
1	Billy McNeill	1957-1975	790
2	Paul McStay	1981-1997	678
3	Roy Aitken	1976-1990	669
4	Danny McGrain	1970-1987	661
5	Pat Bonner	1978-1995	642
6	Bobby Lennox	1961-1978 1979-1980	587
7	Bobby Evans	1944-1960	548
8	Jimmy Johnstone	1962-1975	515
9	Jimmy McMenemy	1902-1920	515
10	Tommy Burns	1975-1989	504

Managers

Name	Scottish League	Scottish Cup	Scottish League Cup	European Cup	Total
1897-1940	16	14	-	-	30
1940-1945	0	0	-	-	0
1945-1965	1	2	2	-	5
1965-1978	10	8	6	1	25
1978-1983 and 1987-1991	4	3	1	0	8
1983-1987	1	1	0	0	2
1991-1993	0	0	0	0	0
1993-1994	0	0	0	0	0
1994-1997	0	1	0	0	1
1997-1998	1	0	1	0	2
1998-1999	0	0	0	0	0
1999-2000	0	0	0	0	0
2000	0	0	1	0	1
2000-2005	3	3	1	0	7
2005-	3	1	1	0	5

Players

As of 22 August 2008.

Current squad

Players out on loan

Reserve and youth squads

2008-09 transfers

Click here for a list of Celtic transfers in season 2008-09.

Non-playing staff

Board of Directors

Position	Name
Chairman	Dr John Reid
Chief Executive	Peter Lawwell
Director of Finance	Eric J. Riley
Non-Executive Director	Ian Livingston
Non-Executive Director	Dermot Desmond
Non-Executive Director	Eric Hagman
Non-Executive Director	Thomas E. Allison
Non-Executive Director	Brian McBride
Non-Executive Director	Brian Wilson
Commercial Director	Adrian Filby
Director of International Developments	Jason Hughes

Management

Position	Name
Manager	Gordon Strachan OBE
Assistant Manager	Garry Pendrey
First Team Coach	Neil Lennon
Reserve Team Coach	Willie McStay
Reserve Assistant Team Coach	Danny McGrain
Head of Youth Development	Chris McCart
Youth Team Coach	John McLaughlan
Under 17's Coach	Joe McBride
Goalkeeping Coach	Jim Blyth
Goalkeeping Coach	Chris Hannah
Goalkeeping Coach	Stevie Woods
Club Doctor	Derek McCormack
Head of Sports Science	Gregory Dupont
Physiotherapist	Graham Parsons
Physiotherapist	Gavin McCarthy
Kit Controller	John Clark
Football Development Manager	John Park
Chief Scout	Ray Clarke
Scout	Tommy O'Neill

Notable former players

See List of Celtic F.C. players for players with over 100 appearances, List of Celtic F.C. international footballers and Celtic F.C. players.

William Angus VC - A World War I hero who was awarded the Victoria Cross
Neil Clarke - First foreigner (outside UK) to play for Celtic
Mohammed Salim - First Asian player to play in Europe
John Thomson - Died in a collision while playing against Rangers
Gil Heron - Jamaican footballer, an early black player in British football and father of noted poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron