CELTIC HERO
FIVE years ago, a smiling and heavily pregnant woman stood by the gates of a football stadium with two very young children shaking a bucket.
The collection bucket was covered with the picture of a boy fighting cancer and they were helping to raise money for an expensive operation in the US.
That was Scotland’s first encounter with the Commons family, as star Celtic player Kris, his partner Lisa Hague and their kids joined the campaign to support four-year-old Oscar Knox, who was fighting neuroblastoma.
Since then, 32-year-old Lisa has become one of the best-known and hardest-working charity fundraisers in the country, backing a raft of good causes.
The family also set up the Lola Commons Fund in tribute to the couple’s first child, who was stillborn in 2008, raising an amazing £142,741.45 for charity SiMBA.
With Kris, 33, now bidding an emotional farewell to the club after six successful and medal-laden seasons, it’s been an emotional week for the couple, who have been reflecting on a career move that changed their lives.
Their youngest son Jax, four, will this year join older siblings William, six, and April, seven, at school.
And no matter what happens in former Scotland midfielder Kris’s professional life, they have confirmed they are staying here to raise their family in the Glasgow suburbs.
Lisa said: “When the move first came up, I didn’t know who Celtic were.
“I didn’t follow football – I’m a big Celtic fan now – but I asked where they played, and when Kris said Scotland I was excited.
“Very quickly, I realised how different it was at Celtic and he did really well straight away.
“Player Gary Hooper’s missus Lucy sent us a message, saying it’d be nice to see us.
“Ruby, Joe Ledley’s partner, took me under their wing when I first moved up here – and there were others, like Adam Matthews’s girlfriend Hollie, who were lovely.
“At that time, there were a lot of girls all from different parts of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, and we all socialised off the pitch, with Easter parties, Halloween and all that kind of thing.”
Lisa went on to lead a glamorous gang of Celtic WAG pals at fun events and nights out. But now she and Kris are the last couple of that era to move on.
Lisa said: “The problem with football – as we are now finding out – is that you come and you go. You make such good friendships and then often don’t even get to say goodbye.”
Her first moment in the public eye came in September 2012, when Lisa joined the campaign to support little Oscar from Belfast.
She posed for pictures with her kids, while pregnant with Jax, for a story in the Daily Record – and then rallied the rest of the WAGs into action for a high-profile bucket collection.
Sadly, Oscar lost his fight two years