League Champs At Love Street Poem by Daniel McDonagh

Glasgow’s clouds were grey and gave warning
That the rain would start and never stop pouring,
And I pulled over my head a green & white jersey
As I got set to make my way to Paisley.

Today was the last day of the League campaign,
As the famous Glasgow Celtic were to face St.Mirren,
And as the Hearts travelled north to play Dundee,
It would take them a point to secure the league.

A prayer was said as I went to Central station,
As Love Street was my destination,
A rebel song was sang with a few Celtic hymns
As the platform was full of hopeful Tims.

On the train there was no party atmosphere,
No bottles of cider, no cargo of beer,
As the train pulled into Paisley station,
We had 90 minutes to see who’d be League Champions.

No ray of sunshine could be found
As Celtic fans gathered at St.Mirren’s ground,
And onto the pitch, the bhoys in green ran out
As Celtic voices began to shout.

Celtic’s style was direct to attack,
As fans listened for news at Dens Park,
And as Brian McClair scored the first of the day,
The confidence in Hearts started to fray.

Johnston made it two and then he made it three,
It was still nothing each up at Dundee,
Then when Paul McStay made it number four,
The League Trophy would be sitting at Parkhead’s door.

At half-time we sang for Celtic & Ireland,
Not caring about the weather or the rain,
We waited for Celtic to re-emerge from the tunnel
As Hearts were ready to fall & stumble.

In the second half Love Street was very quiet
Until a goal at Dundee was scored by Kidd,
And we felt the party was about to start
As Dundee had taken the lead over Hearts.

And the Hearts fans must’ve started to cry
When Brian McClair put away number five,
But the biggest cheer that Love Street heard,
Was that Albert Kidd had scored again.

We shouted for Celtic, we jumped for joy,
We raised our scarves to the Timaloys,
And when the ref blew his whistle, time was up,
Celtic were celebrating their 34th Championship.

As the rain stopped falling, we invaded the park
To get to our heroes in green shirts,
Who came out from the tunnel for a lap of honour
As they danced & sang with their Celtic supporters.

We left Love Street with a song in our hearts
And boarded our train that bounced home on the tracks,
Celtic songs filled Central Station
As we celebrated the day that Celtic were champions.

Feb'26th 2003