Exciting Days
These were great times for everyone connected with Celtic, only the second time the club had got to the semi-final stage of a European competition. It was a particularly good time for the players and management, who were at the sharp edge of the venture. Obviously, though, the players actually involved in the first team were feeling the best of all, revelling in the press coverage of the forthcoming match and excited at being involved. Which, of course, did not involve me!
And I could not even get a match in the reserve team game the night before the big one, when Celtic went through to Brockville to play Falkirk in a league match. The team that night was Martin, Halpin, O’Neill, Henderson, McCarron, Brogan, Connelly, Cattenach, H Quinn, Sweeney, Taylor; the result was a 6-1 for Celtic; and the scorers were Henry Quinn (2), Jim Brogan (2, both pens), John Halpin and Davie Cattenach.
However, things were not as bad as all that. The Boss had spoken to me earlier and told me that, although I would not be involved, he wanted me to be part of the squad for the Liverpool tie. So, I got a lift down to Seamill the day before the match with Doc Fitzsimmons to join the rest of the guys, took part in the training and so on, then on the day of the match, light training, the pre-match meal and the journey up to the ground.
It was wonderful; the trip up from Seamill through the fields of Ayrshire, the meeting with the two police motor cyclists who took us through the traffic to the ground and the hordes of fans lining the route through town. That was my first experience of that and I loved it…and all through my Celtic career, it remained a memorable experience.
Press Coverage
The papers led the coverage with this comment ;-
‘Celtic have had second thoughts about revealing their final line-up for the tie against Liverpool tomorrow night and may keep it a secret until the last minute, although the players will be told today’.
This might have been a wee bit of waffling, as an earlier comment from the manager seemed to be more positive. Jock Stein said
“There are no doubts about any player. Hughes, Lennox and Murdoch all did a good days’ training today’.
Shanks – in the dark!
As the paper pointed out, it might have been just a case of the Celtic Boss deciding to keep Bill Shankly and his assistant Reuben Bennett in the dark as long as possible.
Watching
It was reported in one of the daily papers that Celtic had been watched on 5 occasions by assistant manager Reuben Bennett.
Break-in
Five Liverpool fans broke into Celtic Park on the eve of the game and were found playing football on the pitch. Police were called and they were ejected
Out
Liverpool were having their own difficulties, as the press pointed out ;-
‘Liverpool are not without their own problems. Inside-forward Roger Hunt looks likely to miss the match and Ian St John had three stitches inserted in a head injury against Northampton.
Queueing
Thousands of supporters queued outside Anfield yesterday for tickets for the European Cup Winner’s second leg clash between Liverpool and Celtic on Tuesday April 19.
Half-a-dozen Celtic supporters, who had travelled down from Glasgow to make sure of their tickets, were at the head of the queue, which started to form at midnight, and other Celtic supporters joined it later.
Hundreds of fans started to arrive after dawn and before the sales started at 10am, there was a mile-long queue round Stanley Park as far as the Everton ground.
Question
Last time round, I asked which club Bill Shankly had managed before joining Liverpool. The answer was Huddersfield Town.
This week’s query is about the European Cup Winner’s Cup. By 1966, which two English clubs had won the competition?
You Can’t Keep Queenie Waiting!
For 20 years a horse pulled a milk float around the streets of Sheffield and every day finished promptly at one o’clock.
When the day came the milkman, Eric Carr, of Walden Street, was 10 minutes late, the horse, called Queenie, set off without him.
This led to Carr being in court yesterday charged with negligence, being at such a distance from the cart as not to have control over it. He pleaded not guilty and the case was dismissed.
Easy Money
Daring bank robbers in Glasgow made off with a total of £28,000 – from two separate daylight robberies.
While detectives were investigating the first haul, in which two bank employees were shot as the gangsters made off with £20,000 from a bank in Pollokshields, another robbery involving £8,000 was reported from the opposite end of the city.
Telescope Satellite Fails
America’s ‘telescope in the sky’ designed to give man his first view of the universe from above the distorting effect of the Earth’s atmosphere, was declared a fake yesterday.
Space agency officials said problems with the spacecraft’s battery supply turned off the power.