The walk to pitchside takes one past Marks & Spencer down through a food hall and into a hallway.
It is hardly Ray Liotta’s entrance to the Copacabana in Goodfellas. But there were wiseguys in Braehead Arena.
The great and very good of football past slip past one to enter the fray. This is the fabled Tennent’s Sixes. This is where former players show they are still present players. Or attempt to.
There are those who have walked on to the pitch for European finals. Step forward Kirk Broadfoot.
There are those who have played in European finals for their country. Step forward Aiden McGeady.
There are those who have placed themselves in the greatest moment of their club’s history. Step forward Frazer Wright, but do so carefully.
Celtic celebrate winning the Tennent’s Sixes after beating Old Firm rivals Rangers in the final
The St Johnstone centre-half placed himself very firmly in an opponent’s path becoming, as the young ones say, an internet sensation in a weekend of strains, sighs, goals, laughs and nostalgia reheated to a warming brew.
But we will come to that.
The most urgent matter is to report Celtic won the Sixes. The 12 Premiership teams signed up. The final was, to the surprise of few, contested by Rangers and Celtic.
Rangers had won 7-1 against their rivals in the group stages. This was a turnaround of Mo Johnston proportions.
Rangers were so fluent and fast in the previous matches that one opponent opined before the final: ‘Geez, they have brought their academy squad’.
They hadn’t, of course. But they had brought the darting Daniel Candeias, the swaggering Charlie Adam and the lethal Martyn Waghorn. They also had such as Andy Halliday and Dean Shiels. And Broadfoot who has played in a Europa League final (Manchester 2008) and for Kelty Hearts.
Celtic had McGeady, Charlie Mulgrew, Joe Ledley and Gary Hooper. They could have had the massed ranks of the Red Army in Stalingrad mode and they would not have held out against Barry Ferguson’s troops in the early exchanges.
An almost immediate 2-0 lead was neutralised early in the second half but Rangers drew away to 4-2. Celtic again came back. At 4-4 this was a match that was genuinely thrilling in a family atmosphere. And Hooper scored. It was enough to take the cup.
A ghost of 1984 wanders into the recesses of the arena. Ian Durrant, the great Ranger, has spent his weekend standing at the side of Barry Ferguson. He was once centre stage and not just in Champions League ties. ‘I played in the first Tennent’s Sixes,’ he said. ‘We won it.’
The date of this triumph was January 17, 1984, at Coasters in Falkirk. The Rangers side included Durrant, Ally McCoist, Ally Dawson and Davie Cooper. The tournament, of course, was knitted for a gifted player such as the tragic Coops who died, dreadfully prematurely, in 1995, aged only 35.
‘He was just outstanding as you can imagine, absolutely sensational. He won player of the tournament in the first two Sixes.’
In those days, clubs had to play a strong side. ‘The sponsors demanded it,’ said Durrant. ‘It was highly competitive and I loved it. It was a marvellous spectacle with top players.’ The tournament winners then shared about £5000.
Ian Durrant enjoys a return to the tournament he won with Rangers as a player in 1984
Durrant added with a smile: ‘Now it’s the creaky joints game but that is great too. It’s terrific for the young kids to see players of the past.’
There is an air of wistfulness in Durrant’s words. ‘It’s strange for me because this is where you realise you miss it. I am on the sidelines with Barry (Ferguson, Rangers Sixes coach) and I enjoy it because you see how it entertains people.’
Jose Quitongo, at 51, continues to do just that. His career arc spans Benfica and Muirkirk so he is an exotic species even in Sixes history.
‘I like to keep fit,’ he said after starring for St Mirren but failing to take his team into the knockout stages. His every movement was met with a murmur of expectation from the crowd. ‘I go to the gym every day. I enjoy this because it is ball to feet but I rarely play. I am too busy coaching.’
His boys, Jai and Rico, are still playing but father admits this is a one-off for him. ‘It is wonderful to play in front of people too. This is an entertainment.’
It certainly was when Jose was on.
Old footballers do not die they just hack away. More than 20 matches were played at the Sixes. The moment that produced a strain on the internet occurred yesterday when Frazer Wright of St Johnstone was involved in a difference of opinion with Morgaro Gomis of Dundee United.
Wright was red-carded for a tackle that was so late it started at the beginning of his career. It showed that the last thing to go for a footballer is the competitive spirit.
‘It never leaves you, everybody out there has it,’ he said.
Asked if that applied to board games and other frivolities, he said: ‘Everything in life you want to win.’
He emphasised the point by adding: ‘My daughter was at a gymnastic competition yesterday and when she turned up, I asked: ”How did you get on?”
‘She replied: ”I won’.’ That’s what you want. You don’t want to get medals for being fourth.’
It is an opinion shared by his former manager Tommy Wright. One of the first texts he received after his tackle came from the Northern Irishman. ‘Good work was his message,’ said Frazer.
‘We won our other game on Saturday 1-0 – he’d have been happy with that scoreline.’
The ice rink at Braehead Arena was converted so that it could host football’s golden oldies
Wright, of course, was one of the Saints side that made history by winning the Scottish Cup in 2014. He also scored a vital goal against Rosenborg in the Europa League of 2013. Yet a rumpus in a shopping centre just outside of Glasgow may now be a dubious claim to fame. By late last night the clip had earned more than three million views.
‘That clip going viral just shows you how things have changed over the years,’ said Wright. ‘It’s all about social media these days.’
It is, but the hefty tackle is a reminder of simpler times.
Cillian Sheridan, his team mate, has wandered the world only to retire and end up on an ice rink for the weekend. The Glasgow Clan surface was, of course, covered in bespoke artificial pitch but Sheridan, lately of Brechin and sometime of many teams in Europe, admitted he initially found the surroundings difficult to embrace but warmed to the tournament. ‘At first, you can hear the announcers and the surface is unusual but you get into it quick enough,’ he said.
He admitted his strangest playing experience was in Bulgaria with CSKA Sofia. ‘It was my first adventure abroad,’ he said harking back to 2010 when he signed for the club. ‘Everything was strange and I had to adapt to a new world,’ he said. ‘It was great for me, though. I learned quickly what to do and what not to do.’
This experience stood him in good stead. He went on to play in Poland, Cyprus, Israel and New Zealand. But there are constants.
‘You arrive at this and think it will be good fun but suddenly you progress and then you really, really want to win it. That’s true of all the players.’
But amid the jinking, the strained breathing, and those deft moments of skill that the best can still conjure up, the truth of winning could only be spoken by Celtic.
