When I was a child and first starting to show a real interest in football. I found myself having a real soft spot for Partick Thistle.
There were four reasons for this:
1. Loved their kit
2. Idolised Alan Rough
3. Kinda liked the name
4. Their mad magnificent mental manager
I was too young to connect the dots and didn't have the knowledge of Celtic history at this point, I just remembered this swaggering, stogie-smoking fella in his sheepskin jacket and laughing laughing laughing.
I remember my Da' taking me to Tannadice to watch Thistle play United. It was rare for my Da' to venture into either Dens or Tannadice unless Celtic were playing, but he was a regular at Dens whilst Big Tam was the boss there. Tannadice wasn't really for him, but this day he took me into the enclosure right by the Thistle dug-out.
My Da' was mesmerised by the performance that Bertie Auld put on and he wasn't even playing. He was holding court in the dug-out while the game was raging on around him and I just remember the laughter laughter laughter.
Great things come in small packages. When a Lion was in trouble - Bertie would be the first one there to pick them up and dust them off.
That's not a team-mate - that is love and that is family.
The Lions were treated abysmally by the Celtic board prior to Fergus taking over. Successive boards have done much better to honour the Greatest Celtic team of all-time.
I hope we celebrate a unique genius and a unique human being in the weeks to come.
I hope we sing The Celtic Song in tribute to the man who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Milanese elite and belted it oot in true gallus Glaswegian style.
There are many Celtic heroes, but not quite so many Celtic icons.
Bertie Auld is/was/and will forever be an iconic hero and the folk who run our club better pull out all the stops to celebrate the legend of Bertie Auld.
YNWA
