The family would like to thank everyone for their huge support and request privacy during this difficult time.<\/em><\/p>\n Bertie is being well cared for at his own home, surrounded by all the family.<\/em><\/p>\n Everyone at Celtic would like to add their best wishes to Bertie and his family. Bertie is a true Celtic icon, one of our greatest sons and someone the Club and our supporters love and respect dearly.<\/em><\/p>\n We will continue to give Bertie and his family all our love, care and our ongoing full support at this hugely challenging time.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n One of the greatest players, perhaps even the most complete footballer, to wear the hoops, we wish him and his family the strength and courage they need to fight this disease.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the meantime, let’s talk about the man.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Let’s show him why he is held in such regard.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n As a player he returned to Celtic from Birmingham to form a midfield partnership with Bobby Murdoch that would provide the steel and the guile for the success the club had.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n They say you should never go back in football, but Bertie was the exception to that rule. He left, came back, left again and then came back to stay.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Then again, he is the exception to most rules.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Not only did he live the dream of playing for the club he loved, he surpassed it , and he loved every minute of it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When his playing career ended, he moved into management, but like so many of the lions, his heart could never be sent out on loan, and so he contented himself with supporting Celtic, and became arguably an even better supporter than he was a player.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Here we see him in quiet acknowledgement of a Celtic goal, offering polite applause…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n https:\/\/twitter.com\/i\/status\/1405592291499298822<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n But it was outwith the public eye where really shone…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I met him twice, the first time just before the game against Dundee united when john Hartson finally broke his scoring duck in the hoops.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I’d taken my three boys to their first game, and was browsing in the club shop, looking for scarves and hats to get them into the mood.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Over comes Bertie, to help us look.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now, I’m of a generation that grew up in complete awe of the lions, and especially the players with character, such as Gemmell, Johnstone and Bertie, so if he had thrown everything on the shelves into the basket I’d have bought it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n He pretty much did.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Telling the boys they’d look great in them. I just trundled along in his slipstream….<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n On the way into the ground, I told the boys they had just met one of the greatest Celts of all time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Suitably impressed, they then managed to skank a couple of burgers and cokes out of me.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A few years later, at Lisbon airport, ahead of the 2007 game against Benfica, the Lennon CSC were talking amongst themselves when the official club airplane landed, and as the players trooped through, the lions appeared as well.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We knew that they were planning to visit the famed ground the following day, but didn;t know when.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I was propelled forward to ask Bertie…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n All of a sudden I was a five year old Celtic fan faced with his hero.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I spluttered out a “Bertie, do you have a minute ? ”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ” Aye, sure son ” …my regression to age five clearly obvious at this point, “what’s up ? ”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “What time are you and the others down at the ground tomorrow ? ”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n “I don’t know…hang on… Haw Billy ! ”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n He was shouting over another icon to ask him what time they were due at the ground, and dragged me over to him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n By then I had gone from being a five year old to a twinkle in my fathers eye.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n For a few memorable moments two of the greatest men on earth were discussing what time it would be best for me to meet them the following day.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And although I was a quivering wreck, it was all of my own making. Bertie was talking to me in the same way he speaks to any fan who takes the time to talk to him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We weren’t legend and cabbage out there that day…we were two Celtic fans.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thats how he makes you feel.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I’d like to return the favour now, if I may, by asking you to add your favouritie Bertie story, it may be that he reads them and perhaps even realises how highly he is thought of.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Maybe some of the stories will put a smile on the faces of his family and close friends.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Let’s talk about Bertie.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bertie Auld is suffering from dementia. Bertie Auld`s family would like all Celtic fans and football fans in general to keep Bertie in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":10669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/etims.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/motivational-business-quotes-3.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2J7If-4pR","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16979"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16979"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16980,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16979\/revisions\/16980"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etims.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Bertie](\"https:\/\/img.allfootballapp.com\/www\/M00\/74\/A0\/720x-\/-\/-\/rB8ApF6WPE-ACd4YAAHl2XDHZ6k218.jpg.webp\")
<\/p>\n