Upstairs in his small, mid-terrace house, the box room is a shrine. Well ordered shelves are filled with books and videos on Celtic – his one true love. A comfortable chair sits facing a tv and video, as Murdoch, Lennox and Johnstone look down from the walls. This is the home of Jimmy Overend – a Celtic fan for all of his 85 years. He is a mine of information, blessed with a memory as clear as Caribbean seawater and an archive the Museum of Ireland would relish. Pictures, clippings, posters, autographs, banners, ribbons – all lovingly kept and cared for.

Ask him if he remembers when Kennedy was shot – he’ll tell you he’ll never forget it. He was on his way to Glasgow with 16 youngsters when he heard the news (we beat Killie 5-0 the day after). Ask him about any player from the 1950’s until now – he’s seen them all. His love for Celtic was kindled on the slopes of Celtic Park in Belfast – razed to the ground in the early 1980’s to make way for a modern shopping complex, the object of Jimmy’s affections long since gone and only old ghosts strike Mitre’s on the spot now.

When he talks of Glasgow Celtic, his eyes dance. When he talks of Belfast Celtic, his eyes darken, as the pall of loss and emptiness falls over him. Belfast Celtic were the top of the Irish sporting tree and when they were forced off football’s stage in 1949, tens of thousands of supporters like Jimmy Overend were left clubless. A Belfast Celtic supporters club had been established many years before in the St Peter’s Parish of the Pound Loney area and the decision was taken in 1952 to reform the club as a CSC – with Glasgow Celtic now the sole object of their affections.

The two ‘Celtics’ were no strangers – in May that year they met in Belfast – the teams captained by Charlie Tully and Jackie Vernon – and this three years after Belfast Celtic had left football forever. On the terraces they sang ‘Will ye no come back again?’ Fifty men are pictured on St Peter’s first trip to Glasgow – all long coats, shirts, ties and green and white rosettes, standing on the slopes at Hampden in March 1953, where they watched Celtic slump to a two-nil defeat by Rangers in the cup. In the front row stands a man with a bannerette hanging proudly from his neck – Belfast Celtic Supporters Club, St Peter’s Branch – the old club banner travelling on new journeys. Near the back of the group, Jimmy stands proudly, hooped scarf around his neck. w

A supporter’s club travel card from March 1954 charts a trip in the days long before Stelios and Easyjet. An overnight sail into Glasgow, a tour of Loch Lomond, breakfast, dinner, the match and back to Belfast by 6.30am on Sunday morning. The result? Celtic 4 East Fife 1. What about the cattle boats? You could smell them long before you saw them, says Jimmy. Hand to hand fighting with Huns on similar journeys was commonplace in the old days – no comfortable catamarans with in-sail movies or Burger Kings. hi

An old black and white pic throws up great questions. Jimmy provides the answers – there he is with another supporter’s club official, with Simpson, Auld and McNeill – its 1967, at St Mary’s Hall in Belfast city centre. The players were guests at a supporter’s rally, when your heroes were touchable, not like the spoilt millionaire wasters on the scene today. A more modern picture, taken in 2000 (below), shows Jimmy proudly beside McNeill once again, a guest of the Association of Irish Celtic Supporters in Dublin, the caption reminding everyone that Jimmy Overend was the Celtic Supporters Associations first Irish Secretary, in 1966.

Jimmy is delighted that a new Belfast Celtic exhibition space will soon grace the Park Centre – in fact he has provided massive amounts of content for it, including his own bannerette for the Barleycorn CSC, which he founded when he moved to a different part of Belfast in the late 50’s. Mentions of Tully, Jones, Scott, Walker and Bonnar almost seem to draw tears from his eyes. He’ll be there when it opens – the actual spot of the exhibit almost exactly where the famous Willowbank Stand, Belfast’s equivalent of the Jungle, once stood.

Former Beirut Hostage Brian Kennan signs Jimmy's programme at the Belfast Celtic anniversary banquet in 1991 George Hazlett does the same. One of the players to play for both Belfast Celtic and Celtic - he lives in Paisley.

His love for Celtic is undiminished – his sadness at the loss of Belfast Celtic, the same. But at least he’ll have somewhere to go now to relive the glory days of sport in Belfast, where a Celtic team walked the world stage, before being beaten to death by bigotry. And he can take pride in the knowledge that his own priceless treasure trove helped bring the glorious past to life for another generation of Celtic fans. To learn more about Belfast Celtic, or to join the Belfast Celtic Society, please visit the website.

bition will be unveiled at the Pak Centre in Belfast on Saturday July12 noon. All are welcome to attend.