Buying for a Celtic fan is easy if all you want is a scarf. They'll have three. The harder bit is finding something they'll still care about next year, and with Celtic that usually means going back in time. Next May it'll be sixty years since Lisbon, so if there's a big birthday or a Christmas coming, history is on your side.
The tour
Start with Celtic Park itself. The tour gets you into the dressing room and down the tunnel to the edge of the pitch, and for a fan who moved away years ago that walk does something to them. But get there early and go round the outside first, because the statues are half the point. Brother Walfrid, Jimmy Johnstone and Jock Stein stand outside the main stand, and Billy McNeill is there holding the European Cup. Tours change on match days, so check before you book. Most of them still call it Paradise without a hint of irony, and the tour is how you find out why.
Lisbon or Seville?
The big trip, for a 50th or a 60th, is Lisbon. The Estádio Nacional, where the Lions beat Inter 2-1 on 25 May 1967, is out at Jamor, west of the city. Celtic fans still go just to stand in it. Sixty years on, next May is going to be busy.
I'd go against the grain, though. If the person you're buying for was born after about 1990, take them to Seville instead. Lisbon is their grandad's night. Seville in May 2003 was theirs, or their dad's. Around 80,000 Celtic fans went to the UEFA Cup final, Larsson scored two headers, and we still lost 3-2 to Porto after extra time. It hurts to this day. That's sort of why it makes a good trip. You go to the Estadio Olímpico with someone who was there and let them tell it.
A Celtic Women game
I'd put this near the top for kids, or for an older fan who hasn't been to a match in years, because tickets are far easier to get than for the men. And they get a good story with it. On the last day of 2023-24 Celtic were level on points with Rangers, ahead only on goal difference, and needed to win. Amy Gallacher scored in the 90th minute against Hibs at Celtic Park, 1-0, and that was their first league title.
For the one who says they want nothing
A donation to the Celtic FC Foundation, in their name, with the receipt in a card. Brother Walfrid started Celtic in 1887 to feed poor kids in the East End, and the Foundation still does that sort of work.
Books
If you only buy one, make it The Glory and the Dream by Tom Campbell and Pat Woods, the first hundred years from 1887 to 1986. It's unofficial and doesn't skip the bad bits, which is why fans trust it, and the same pair wrote a follow-up, Dreams and Songs to Sing, if it's already on the shelf. Jinky by Jim Black is the better read but the sadder one. It came out in 2007, the year after Johnstone died of motor neurone disease (supporters had voted him the club's greatest ever player in 2002), and the end of it is hard going. For anyone whose Celtic is 1997 to 2004 it has to be Larsson, the 242 goals, the leg snapped in Lyon in 1999, and the two headers in Seville that still weren't enough. There are a few Larsson books about, mostly second-hand, so have a look at what they've got before you pick one.
A shirt from their era
Ask yourself when they started going, then get the shirt from that season. Celtic didn't put numbers on the backs of their league shirts until 1994-95. For 34 years they went on the shorts. So for anyone who grew up on Dalglish, McStay or the 1988 centenary side, the right shirt has a plain back, and putting a name and number on it would be wrong.
The new home shirt is fine for younger fans. Check the size is in stock before you promise it.
Old programmes and signed bits
A programme from their first game is probably the best value thing here. Get the date out of a parent or an old pal without making it obvious. Second-hand Celtic programmes turn up for most seasons and a 70s or 80s one won't cost much. Frame it or just put it in a card.
Signed Lions photos are lovely to own, and with most of that side gone they mean more. That also means fakes. Buy only from a seller you can trace, with a certificate.
A framed team sheet
This is the one we make. The obvious pick is the side Stein sent out in Lisbon, in a 4-2-4:
Simpson; Craig, McNeill, Clark, Gemmell; Murdoch, Auld; Johnstone, Wallace, Chalmers, Lennox.
All eleven were born within about 30 miles of Celtic Park, and Bobby Lennox from Saltcoats was the furthest away. That's a Lisbon Lions print from £69. For anyone under 40 I'd honestly go for the 2016-17 Invincibles instead, Brendan Rodgers' side that went the whole domestic season unbeaten and won the treble, also £69. If they'd argue with both, build their own Celtic XI: Larsson with Dalglish behind him, or their Saturday team in the hoops with a line from you along the bottom. It's £99 or £149 in a black or white frame, and we email a proof before anything is printed, so order early for Christmas. The rest are in our Celtic prints.
Quick answers
What's a good Celtic gift under £50? Any of the books, a Women's match ticket, the stadium tour or an old programme.
Leaving it late for Christmas? Book the tour online and print the confirmation.