Monday 21st August
In the evening papers, there were one story and one headline which caught the eye. The first was a story about the Boss –
‘New English First Division club Coventry City are said to be ready to offer Jock Stein a salary of £10,000 a year to manage their club in succession to Jimmy Hill, who resigned the Coventry job last week.
Will he? Won’t he?
I have the feeling that there is no need for panic in the streets of the east end of Glasgow.
Mr Stein is a happy man these days. He has made Celtic. He has taken them to victory in every tournament in Scottish and European football in a year. He does not consider that his job is finished – and that it is time that he took up a new challenge. Mr Stein has taken Celtic to the top – and his aim is to keep them there and win further honours for Scottish and British football’.
And there was just a hint that there would be some new faces making an appearance against Thistle in the Glasgow Cup tie –
Celtic New Boys in Line for Cup Debut
The names mentioned were Chris Shevlane, Pat McMahon, Lou Macari and Hugh McKellar.
On that Monday evening, the players had all met at the new Celtic Supporters’ Club in London Road for the official opening. The supporters put on a house-warming for the Celtic players, the management, the directors and some guests. The new club was opened by the club chairman Bob Kelly.
22nd August
There was no pre-match meal before this one. We all merely reported at the appropriate time and a bus took us across the city to Firhill, where after a quick look at the pitch, we were ushered back into the dressing-room to hear the team. As has been suggested in the press, it turned out that there were debuts for some new boys;
Teams
Partick Thistle
Taylor
Gibb, Muir
Cunningham, McParland, Walters
McLindon,Rae, Coulson, Flanagan, Duncan.
Sub: O’Neill
Celtic
Simpson
Shevlane, Gemmell
Clark, McNeill, O’Neill
Johnstone, McMahon, Wallace, Gallagher, Lennox.
Sub: McKellar
The Play
This was rather brutally summed up in a comment in one of the following day’s papers –
‘Without four of their European Cup-winning team for the entire game and a fifth, Johnstone, for the second half, Celtic, just as they had done in last year’s final, completely demoralized a Partick Thistle team uncertain in defence and pathetically inept in attack. Indeed the second half last night came perilously close to being shooting practice for the Celtic forwards’.
Brutal, indeed! Watching from the stand, I would have described the occasion as a ‘rout’, with the goals coming as follows –
10 minutes:
Wispy side-stepped the on-rushing Thistle keeper and swept the ball high into the roof of the net. 1-0 Celtic
25 minutes:
Pat McMahon rammed home a lob from Jinky. 2-0 Celtic
46 minutes:
Charlie Gallagher’s free-kick was slipped to Wispy, who drove home from 25 yards. 3-0 Celtic
53 minutes:
Pat McMahon raced forward and coolly rounded the keeper before slipping the ball into the empty net. 4-0 Celtic
77 minutes:
nice cross from Charlie Gallagher, an even better header from Wispy.
Final Score Partick Thistle 0 Celtic 5
And that scoreline put Celtic into the semi-final of the Glasgow Cup, where they would face Rangers.
In the papers the next morning, just under a report of the match with this headline;
Celtic Demoralise Partick Thistle’s Uncertain Defence
There was one comment that would have pleased any Jags fans.-
‘Thistle’s one moment of glory came when Rae hit the post in the first half’.
Well, if you get beaten 5-0 then you have to be grateful for small mercies!
It was also mentioned that ex-Celt Pat Crerand, by then at Manchester United, who was reported for spitting at a Stoke City player at Old Trafford in May, was ordered to give a written undertaking within seven days not to repeat the offence in the future, the Football Association disciplinary committee announced yesterday.