The Afternoon of the Match

We – and I include myself in this, as I was one of the squad – all reported to Celtic Park in the afternoon for a loosening-up session. We then headed for the Cathkin Hotel for the pre-match meal. It must have been a big match (QF of League Cup); we did not normally get fed before a home match?

All through my years in football, the range of choices by players for that particular meal was frankly amazing. At that time, the advice on nutrition that is the norm today was never provided, so the players ate what they liked rather than food which would have proved helpful or advantageous in the match which followed.

The most common choices were steak or chicken. A few wanted eggs of some sort, scrambled, poached or in an omelette. Then there were the more unusual ones, like cornflakes and milk (sometimes with peaches on top) bananas on toast or porridge.

I was a traditional man, devouring a couple of slices of toast with scrambled eggs on top, accompanied by a cup of tea.

 

The Opposition

Dunfermline – the Pars – had qualified for the quarter-final stages of the League Cup by topping a section that included Motherwell, Partick Thistle and Falkirk. They had also started the league campaign with a 0-0 draw against Ayr United at Somerset Park. Jock Stein had been the manager there for the first few years of the 60s and had resurrected the club, even taking them into Europe. Now, that good work was being continued by Willie Cunningham.

 

The Teams

As I expected, I was not in the side that night ; the teams were –

Celtic; Simpson, Gemmell, O’Neill, Murdoch, McNeill, Clark, Johnstone, McBride, Chalmers, Auld, Hughes.  Sub: Lennox

Dunfermline; Anderson, W Callaghan, Lunn, Delaney, McLean, Thomson, Fleming, Ferguson, Hunter, T Callaghan, Robertson.  Sub: Paton

 

 

That ‘T Callaghan’ listed in the Pars side was Tommy Callaghan, later to come to Celtic Park and give a good account of himself in the late 60s and early to middle 70s. And ‘Ferguson’ was Alex Ferguson, later to join Rangers then embark on a stellar career in management, rewarded with a knighthood.

 

 

 

 

The Play

We had just settled ourselves in our seats in the stand when Celtic took the lead ;

30 seconds
corner taken by wee Jimmy and Billy McNeill out-jumped everyone else to head home.  1-0 Celtic

And it wasn’t long before we got another;

4 minutes
this time a shot from all of 30 yards from out on the left by John Hughes made it 2-0 Celtic

And before long another arrived;

11 minutes
a long pass from John Clark found Bertie Auld and he steered it neatly past the Pars keeper. 3-0 Celtic.

 

Seven minutes later, Alex Ferguson pulled one back when he headed in a cross from Tommy Callaghan. But only two minutes after that, Celtic scored again;

20 minutes
Centre-half McLean handled in the box and Joe McBride made no mistake from the spot. 4-1 Celtic

 

Another soon arrived;

23 minutes
Steve Chalmers slid a perfect pass to Wee Jimmy who made no mistake 5-1 Celtic

As a contest, the match was over but after half-time, Celtic rather took their foot off the pedal – not unexpectedly – allowing the Pars to notch another one through centre-forward Hunter.

60 minutes
Bertie Auld hammered home another for Celtic from a pass by Steve Chalmers to make it 6-2, then Alex Ferguson got his second with five minutes left.

Celtic  6  Dunfermline Athletic  3

 

Most papers the day after the match had no trouble in finding a suitable headline. Probably the most accurate was this one –

Celtic’s Fastest Five

Other Results

The final scores in the other three quarter-finals were –

Ayr United 1  Rangers 1
Montrose 3  Airdrie 3
Morton  3  Aberdeen 1

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Legacy

Prince Aly Khan left £100,000 to Bettina, the former Paris model who had been his constant companion in recent years and who was with him when he died in a road crash in France in May.

He left estate in England valued at £189,621 (£135,178 net). Details of the duty are not available.

Very Precise

American astronauts Pete Conrad and Richard Gordon, in their Gemini 11 spacecraft, splashed down safely in the Atlantic today.

After its three-day flight, the spacecraft landed 700 miles east of Cape Kennedy within sight of the recovery aircraft carrier Guam. This was the most accurate landing yet on the American space programme.

Launch

Protesters stood with placards as the Queen Mother launched Britain’s first ballistic missile submarine, H.M.S. Resolution, at Barrow-on- Furness.

The demonstration was an orderly one. The posters carried such messages as ‘Work for Peace, not War’ and ‘Arms Race over Human Race’.

The huge submarine – about 7000 tons – slid down the slipway to a perfect launch, leaving behind – on a neighbouring berth – sections of another Polaris submarine, the Repulse, still being built.