11 September 1965 – League:     Celtic  2  –  1  Clyde  Att: 26,500                 Young (pen), Gemmell

The team’s form in the previous match – the win over Dundee in the League Cup by 3 goals to one – had obviously made a decided impression on Jock Stein, as he picked the same side for the next game, a league match against Clyde. The chosen eleven therefore were;

Fallon, Young, Gemmell, Murdoch, McNeill, Clark, Chalmers, Divers, McBride, Lennox and Hughes.

By contrast, Clyde had made changes in all departments, apart from goalkeeper.

Right from the kick-off, it was all Celtic, who made chances galore in the opening minutes. Clyde keeper Wright just tipped away a Bobby Lennox cross bound for the head of Steve Chalmers; a cross by Tommy Gemmell was touched towards goal by Lennox but left-back Mulheron was on the line to knock it away; and Wright saved his team once more when he dived at the feet of a rampaging John Hughes.

Lennox in particular was in sparkling form and he provided the passes from which Joe McBride and Bobby Murdoch sent in powerful drives. Again and again, though, keeper Wright kept Clyde in the game.

At the other end, the Clyde forwards were having difficulty in piercing the Celtic defence but in the 30^th minute, they nearly made the breakthrough. A cross from outside-left Hastings was deflected by Murdoch and it needed some quick thinking by John Fallon to keep the ball out.

 

Half-time 0 – 0

 

After the interval, Celtic kept the pressure on but Clyde also raised their game and were moving better in attack. Some of Celtic’s efforts were now becoming desperate and a section of the crowd even started a slow handclap. However, in the 72^nd minute, those same fans were given a boost when Celtic took the lead from the penalty spot.

Right-back Glasgow had been deemed guilty of bringing down McBride. The Bully Wee players protested. The general consensus of opinion in the crowd – even among the Celtic fans – was that it was a soft award but Ian Young had to keep such thoughts out of his mind and he did so, slamming the spot kick into the roof of the net.

That brought the inevitable headline in the evening paper;

YOUNG   SPOT-ON   FOR   CELTIC

Five minutes later, Tommy Gemmell got the second with a real cracker. Hughes chipped a corner back to the full-back and he fairly hammered his shot into the net. And that was the game virtually over. Clyde did pull one back through inside-left Stewart six minutes from time but they lacked the finesse to get any more and Celtic left the field happy with both points.

 

Was My Mother Right?

When I was a teenager, two of the big names on the pop scene were the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. One day, when a Beatles hit was playing on the radio, Mum told me, in all seriousness, that she thought they were quite a nice bunch of boys and probably changed their underwear more often than those rougher Stones! Was she right? Well, a report in the papers on this day in 1965 might have tilted the odds in her favour;-

The West German agents of the Rolling Stones said yesterday that they were considering legal action against a West Berlin Hotel which had cancelled a booking for the group.

A spokesman for the Berlin Hilton Hotel said “After all the things we have heard about these young men and their admirers, we prefer not to jeopardize peace and order in our hotel. We have to consider our other guests”.

 

While the first-team was finding the going a little tough at Shawfield, the reserves were having a field day down at Kilbowie Park against Clydebank. It was a long time ago but my recollection is that we were right on song, none more so than a certain small red-haired right winger.

 

Perhaps the Wee Man was annoyed that the Brazilians got all the publicity after the previous match but whatever the reason, he really put on a show that day, showing all his considerable talents. And, of course, the team benefited as a result. The team that day was;

John Kennedy, Jim Craig, Frank McCarron, Sammy Henderson, John Cushley, Willie O’Neill, Jimmy Johnstone, Henry Quinn, Marco di Sousa, Ayrton Inacio and Tony Taylor.

When Cushley got injured in the second period, I took over at centre-half and, as it was a friendly, we were able to bring on a substitute – John Halpin – at right back.

 

It was a fine performance and we won 7-1, the goals coming from Jimmy J (2), Ayrton Inacio (2), with the others coming from Henry Quinn, Marco di Sousa and Jimmy Quinn, who had come on for di Sousa late in the match

As Clydebank was fairly close to Glasgow and easily accessible, the usual coterie of second –team supporters had managed to get there, one of whom asked me, after the match, if it was true that some scouts from English clubs were watching Jimmy Johnstone?

I was quite taken aback at the time but, when I discussed the idea with the boys in Tony Taylor’s car later on the run into town, we were all of the opinion that talent like that possessed by Jimmy Johnstone deserved to be displayed in somebody’s first-team and if Celtic were not picking him, it was only natural that other clubs might be interested.

We all hoped that he would stay. The little man was courtesy personified to all the boys and a very popular member of our team. That day he had been something special and brought me into the match in my overlapping capacity on a regular basis. Maybe we could both push for a place in the first team?

 

In the first year of operation that ended last Saturday, the Forth Road Bridge carried 4,725,418 vehicles. The revenue taken in was £581,090 5s.