4^th May

A headline in one of the dailies after the loss to Dundee United summed up the situation precisely and succinctly;

Vital  Points Surrendered by Celtic

And that summed up the feeling running through players, management, directors and fans; the loss to the Tangerines was a real blow to the guts.

In another paper, though, the result was considered from another aspect;

A Kiss of Life For The League Race

As you can probably realize, the atmosphere in the dressing-room the following morning was low. Nobody felt like talking and we just got ready for training as quickly as possible, instead of taking time while we chatted, as was the norm. Continue reading →

Following the Scottish Cup Final

We did not come into training on the Sunday morning, as the Boss had just been winding us up about the Dundee United match. We only found this out on the trip back to Celtic Park from Hampden after the final, which was something special. The streets from the National Stadium to Celtic Park were lined with fans and they gave us a wonderful reception. Then when we arrived at Parkhead, the noise level increased and we almost took a bow on the front step as we made our way inside. Continue reading →

26th April 1967  (Days to Hampden: 3)

We came back to Glasgow to find that other football matters than our success had also made the headlines.

The first was that Third Lanark was in danger of folding. On the day that we played Dukla in Prague, they had met Queen of the South at Cathkin, a match which would eventually turn out to be the last one at that ground (their last-ever game last would be the forthcoming Saturday against Dumbarton at Boghead). Continue reading →

The Morning of the Match

After breakfast, we had gone for a little walk round the area in which our hotel was situated. I was back a couple of years ago and found that it was not the International any more but was now the Crowne Plaza, although the original layout inside seemed to be much the same. I took a number of photos at the time but later on the trip, someone lifted my camera out of a bag I was carrying so these shots are from the official website. Continue reading →

20^th April

On the Thursday following the goalless draw against Aberdeen in the league, it was a fairly reserved group of players who boarded a bus at Celtic Park and headed for Seamill. The Boss was noticeably quiet and his aides – Sean, Neilly and Bob – took their cue from him, so the normal banter and good humour was quieter than it usually was. Continue reading →

On the day following the win over Dukla Prague, the press was unanimous in its thoughts that we were on the road to the biggest occasion of the European season;

Wallace’s Goals Put Celtic on Road to Final

‘Celtic wrote the first chapter of a new ‘Lisbon Story’ last night when they beat Dukla Prague 3-1 and in my mind, made certain of a European Cup Final appearance in the Portuguese capital on May 25.

Dukla are the Czechoslovakia army team but to blast Celtic out of the cup in Prague a week on Tuesday they will need to call up a regiment of artillery, rocket-firing squads and a fair supply of napalm bombs.

To come back from the brink of football death they must win by three goals and no doubt Celtic manager Jock Stein is saying to his players tonight – “If we flop badly we’ll deserve to forfeit our place in the final.

The two goal lead is enough – to me it looks like the ideal advantage to take to a foreign land”

Continue reading →

10^th April
Apart from the injured ones – which at this time included Chopper (ankle), Jinky ( a touch of flu) and Charlie (instep problem), all of whom stayed behind for treatment – the squad left by bus for Seamill on the Monday morning. Once the rooms had been allocated, we headed for the golf course and put in a few holes. That was followed by some lunch in the dining room then we were told to rest for a few hours before a training session in the late afternoon. Continue reading →

6^th April

The morning papers were quite clear about the Scottish Cup replay the previous evening –

 Celtic Storm Stunned Poor Clyde

And the report went on to say that we dominated the play and that the Bully Wee just could not get into the match. I would call that a fair reflection of the play.

The problem with matches on a Wednesday – presuming that there is another game on the following Saturday – is the time factor. Thursday becomes a day when the players are recovering from the exertions – and possible knocks – from the night before and of course, you are not asked to do much too much on a Friday as there another match on the Saturday. You don’t feel much sympathy? Ah! come on…you don’t want to make the wee boys work too much, surely! Continue reading →

3^rd April

There was an interesting start to the week. The first –team pool was told to get changed then stay in the dressing-room, the others were directed to go ahead up to Barrowfield. Those of us in the first group looked at each other, a bit bemused but did as we were told, sitting there like little schoolboys expecting a volley from the head teacher or, in this case, the Boss. Continue reading →