SOCIAL - Celtic legend Dalglish honours Bertie Auld

Speaking up on Celtic Glasgow official website, Scottish club legend Kenny Dalglish (in the pic above) homaged former teammate of his Bertie Auld, who recently passed:

“Bertie was bought up quite close to where I was brought up, on the north side of Glasgow, so whether he thought that a wee boy from up there needed a bit of help, or whether it was out of the generosity of his heart, I don’t know, but certainly myself, and all the young boys at that time, he always had time for you. He was always there if you needed something. If it wasn’t serious he would crack a joke and have a laugh and a chuckle. And as well as being what he was on the pitch, off the pitch he was well worth the value in the dressing room.

He was a fantastic character as well as a fantastic player, and that is pretty synonymous with the Lions team, because it’s not a co-incidence that the Lions educated a lot of the younger boys that were there at the same time. Because they were that good on the pitch, it didn’t necessarily follow that they would be good to others, but as far as I experienced, every one of them was as good as gold – and Bertie maybe more so because he came back down to play a few games with the reserves when we were there, and he was nothing but helpful.

It was important to have the people at the top who led by example – Jock Stein, Sean Fallon, Neilly Mochan, Willie Fernie – obviously in the footballing world, it was brilliant for us, but as people, that can only come from your education through life and your education through your football team, they were brilliant as well.

And the wee man was 100 per cent street-wise. On the pitch he was like an old fox, and as good a player as he was, he was also playing into a lot of other people’s minds and we got the benefit of that. The Celtic supporters revered him, they knew how good he was, and he knew how much the success of the club meant to them.

I think the punters always need people that can relate to them, and they can relate to as well. And the wee man – 100 per cent, everybody could relate to him, and he had a great relationship with the punters. And for us as young boys playing with him, it was a fantastic education, both in the footballing world, and also life itself.

He was just a fantastic character, I’m sure the people that visited the lounges at Celtic Park and went to the supporters’ dinners to hear him speak, they loved him as well”.