Jungle Days: Supporting Celtic in the 1980s 
John Wight, Pitch Publishing, £18.99

I first came across the writing of John Wight with his Morning Star columns about boxing, a sport in which I am minimally interested in if not often quite hostile towards.

However, Wight’s writing quickly won me over in that I found not only someone with an evident knowledge, love and enthusiasm for the sport, but also someone willing to explore personal themes, overall social context and left-wing progressive ideas and movements. What was not to like!

On this occasion, Wight has moved away from boxing but brings across the same outlook to explore his own passionate relationship to the football of Celtic throughout the 1980s.

Often referred to as the “lost decade,” I didn’t necessarily get that impression from Wight’s experiences during those years. His account details many an exciting victory, and journeys across Scotland and further afield. The club weren’t completely trophyless and Celtic effectively continued to dominate Scottish football alongside arch-rivals Rangers.

As part of this, there’s a detailed and relevant focus on the players coaches and managers of the period which more informed commentators will no doubt have a considered opinion on. Finally, an unlikely meeting with Graeme Sounness makes for a nice aside.

What I particularly enjoyed was Wight’s ability to recreate the culture of the years from a supporter’s perspective. The emphasis on travel, banter, songs and humour makes for an entertaining read. It is good to see a text which, as well as not shying away from hooliganism, particularly during old firm matches, doesn’t make fighting the central focus. Wight understands completely why supporting a side is so addictive and celebrates this in the years when the middle class and much of the left were so disparaging of supporters in general.

Largely football but also autobiography, Jungle Days often concentrates on his negotiation of the world of friends, relationships and work in a manner that is to the point, unsentimental, comedic and often moving. This was a time of immense change involving Thatcherism, the miners’ strike, deindustrialisation and massive cuts to services, and John makes continuous reference to all of this, as well as setting the context to each year by less gloomy factors like the price of a pint, what singles were in the charts, and what were the most popular TV series and films.

Celtic has a strong working-class support base that makes no secret of its identification with the politics of Irish republicanism and anti-fascism. Current attempts to criminalise, for example, mass displays of Palestine flags at fixtures are completely ineffective because of a widespread defiance. Wight identifies with this 100 per cent  and includes many a note on Celtic’s historical roots and on the hunger strikes throughout.

However, as a supporter himself, and one who is unashamedly partisan, he doesn’t fall into the trap of seeing every Celtic supporter as some Glasgow-style Che Guevara, and is aware  of the fact that not only do many Celtic supporters have zilch political interest, but they can often voice racist and sectarian beliefs.

At the end of the day, whether you are interested in either Celtic and football or not, this is a fantastic read and undoubtedly one to kick off the new year.