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The Bhoys from Seville
I’d bet the majority of you would remember 2003 with relative ease. I was only 11 years old when the football season came to an end, but it was one of my most vivid memories of that year. I started secondary school in 2003, the same year as the start of the war in Iraq and when Australia won the Cricket World Cup.
Living in the west coast of Scotland I was brought up supporting Celtic Football Club and 2003 was a successful year for the club, in European terms at least. They missed out on the SPL title to bitter rivals Rangers by just one goal. The Ibrox side also clinched the League and Scottish Cups. They defeated Celtic 2-1 in the first Cup Final of the season, with first-half goals from Claudio Caniggia and Peter Lovenkrands before Henrik Larsson’s effort after 57 minutes. They then clinched a famous treble following a 1-0 victory over Dundee thanks to a goal from defensive stalwart, Lorenzo Amoruso.
So Celtic, domestically, had a season to forget, but the UEFA Cup run that the squad put together was simply fantastic. We actually got knocked out of the Champions League Qualifying Round by FC Basel, on away goals I might add. But this turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Sir Barinold Winston-Smythe on… Le Pen, Lennon and the LSE
Sectarianism in the small village of Glasgow. Fascism in the former colony of France. Children of warmongering despots engaging in the tutelage of England’s future finest. A ruddy disgrace in the opinion of this simple travelling nobleman. During one’s travels athwart the globe, the pleasure to meet abhorrent blatherers espousing their preposterous manifestoes and ridiculous policies has proven a regularly commonplace travail. Many a whisky has been supped, heavily digesting the sordid opinions of those thankfully unable to act upon their twitching prejudices – we of course, always provided the stiff back, the stern frown and solid handshake of English disapproval and these transgressors would know, Her Majesty’s Royal Union looked determinedly down upon such outrage.
