After Celtic’s first four matches in the tour had all taken place on the east coast, the party travelled west to St Louis for the next game, against an All-Stars eleven.
The encounter was played at Roosevelt High School – which unlike the pitch for the Bologna game, looked in reasonably god condition – on a Sunday evening and Jock Stein put out an unusual team of;
Ronnie, Ian Young, Tam, Chopper, Luggy, Pumper, Stevie, Bobby L, Ten-Therty, Joe and Yogi.
Cesar was rested, having received two stitches in an eye wound after the Bologna game, Frank McCarron and Wilbur Cushley were out with injuries, so the number of available players was reaching critical proportions.
Fortunately for the squad, the match turned out to be something of a romp ;-
CELTS MAKE IT 41-2!
After the brawl with Bologna, it was a swing-time in St Louis for Celtic when Jock Stein’s storm troops shattered the C.Y.M. All-Stars to the tune of 6-1 last night. In the end all the blues were being sung by the locals.
The All-stars proved no test for the Scots in a match which developed into a game of change-partners between manager Stein and the St Louis coach. Before the 90 had run, no fewer than 18 All-Stars had taken to the field and Celtic had fielded 14 players.
The Celtic goal-machine has now netted 41 goals in seven tour matches and lost only two. Inside two minutes Celtic took the twinkle out of the All- Stars with a one-two punch from Joe and Bobby.
Minutes later the St Louis coach decided that some of his players needed a rest and from then onwards he kept sending on a troop of substitutes. Celtic’s third goal came from Bertie in 23 minutes…and four minutes later, Terry Knox became a real All-Star by pulling one back.
By the interval, Joe and Yogi had brought the score to 5-1 and Stevie, who played part of the match at right-back, notched the sixth in the 68th minute.
Just before the game, John Clark got word that he had been included in the Scotland pool for the matches against Portugal and Brazil ; and after the contest, news reached the camp from Jersey City that Spurs had been beaten 1-0 by Bologna.
It was a happy crew that arrived back in their hotel that night, although the nervous fliers were a bit on edge. The following morning, they would be back in the air again, this time heading for California.