Book description
'Clutching in my hand my seven copper pennies, I ran down the two
flights of stone stairs from our tenement flat and through the East
End to Kinloch Street, where, puffing a bit, I joined the queue of
other wee boys lining up to place their coins on the brass plate above
the iron turnstile, push hard against it, then climb up onto the dirt
terracing and into Paradise. The rest of the world called it Celtic Park.'
This is a story seen through green-and-white spectacles. It begins
when nine-year-old Glaswegian John Cairney walks through the boys'
gate at Celtic Park and embarks on a series of adventures that, over
the years, take him all over Scotland and beyond.
The Sevenpenny Gate is about a search for heroes, Celtic
heroes. It is also the tale of an East End club of humble Irish
origins that has developed into a worldwide brand and continues to
command the devotion of its fans, even with the Celtic diaspora now
spread across the globe.
John Cairney was brought up in the East End of Glasgow and enjoyed a
long career as an actor in film, television and theatre. He has written
two volumes of autobiography and a dozen other books, including
A
Scottish Football Hall of Fame
and
Heroes Are Forever: The Life and Times of Celtic Legend Jimmy McGrory
.
