Morning of the match

It was a busy lunchtime at Celtic Park that day. The guys in the reserve team had come in early, ready for the trip to Fir Park; while the first-team players arrived in dribs and drabs a bit later. Every single player, like myself, loved the atmosphere round the place at a time like that, a combination of excitement and anticipation. And, of course, no matter how early we came in, there were always a few fans gathered outside, who also liked the atmosphere round the ground at a time like that…..and wanted an autograph or two (no selfies in those days). Continue reading →

8^th December

Celtic had not only beaten the champions of France the previous evening but also received plaudits from the manager and directors ;

Nantes Praise Celtic
‘Les Canaris’ (The Canaries) of Nantes flew back to France today with their European Cup hopes shattered by a Celtic side which showed no mercy at a windswept Celtic Park last night’.

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Afternoon of the Match

These were difficult matches for someone like me, who was trying to get my place back in the first team. As far as I was concerned, the victory over in Nantes had effectively sealed the tie, so unless our guys screwed up badly in the second leg and did not play at all or Nantes had an ‘A’ game that they had not shown in France, then Celtic were through to the next round. Continue reading →

3^rd December

On the Saturday evening, the papers were happy to report a poor day for the Old Firm;- Continue reading →

Morning of the Match
As the reserve match had been cancelled because of the heavy pitch at Parkhead (Celtic were due to play Nantes on it the following Wednesday and the Boss did not want it to be cut up) I decided that I would go along with the first team to see this match.
When I arrived at Celtic Park in the late morning, the atmosphere was tremendous, as you might imagine. Coming away from Nantes with a 3-1 lead was precisely what everyone at Celtic Park had wanted, so the guys were in great form, the laughing and joking even more boisterous than usual.
I had already arranged to travel with the team, so no one was surprised at my presence. Yogi was also there, as was Ian Young and eventually the three of us, who had not been in the side which played Nantes, eventually became as euphoric as the rest.
The journey down to Ayrshire passed without any problems but once we came off the main road, the traffic started to build up and we could only make our way to the ground very slowly. A big crowd had eventually gathered (it was eventually listed as 27,000) and as made our way into the ground, we could sense the excitement from both sets of fans. Continue reading →

Murdoch: “Fit”!
© Daily Record

1st December
When a Scottish side has travelled to an away match in Europe and come away with a 3-1 victory, it is an excellent result. So, everyone connected with the club was highly delighted and the press was fulsome in its praise on the Monday after the game;-

So Cool Celtic Made It Look Easy

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Pre-Match
From what I was told later, the boys did lie in bed till around 10am, then had a late breakfast before heading off to town for a little shopping. Meanwhile, around 500 fans on two planes had arrived from Glasgow for the match and by mid-afternoon the centre of Nantes was a busy and bustling place. There had been heavy rain in and around the city for a few days but on the day of the match it was overcast but dry. Typical Glasgow conditions, in fact.

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28th November
The match against Hearts received very large coverage in the Monday morning and evening papers, with this headline and comment typical of the reactions ;-

Ruthless Celtic

‘Celtic raised their goal-scoring total for the season to 101
McBride was the hero of the terracings but for my money the star of the match was Jimmy Johnstone. He has taken his punishment of being banished for 2 games like a man. He has stopped trying to baffle 3 players in a row when a swerve round one will do the job equally well.
All the others played magnificently and, on this showing, their trip to France should definitely make it a case of ‘French with Tears’ for Nantes’.

Two hours before they flew to France today, Celtic’s 15 European Cup players were hard at work at Parkhead.
The scene at Celtic Park looked a ‘ business as usual’ one. The players were at the ground around 9.30am. At 10 o’clock they were in tracksuits and out on the field training.
Then the hustle started. It was a case of into a bath, into a bus, and off to Glasgow Airport for a noon take-off to Nantes.
Explanation from manager Jock Stein for the early morning training– “We are going to make a 3-hour flight. We did no training yesterday and muscles always stiffen up slightly over the weekend All we were concerned with today was betting the 15 men loosened up.We will do our usual hard training in the Nantes stadium tomorrow morning”.

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Morning of the Match

As you might imagine, the Boss had been none too pleased with the performance of the reserve team the previous evening and made his displeasure clear when a few of us turned up at Celtic Park for the first –team match against Hearts. So, like little boys always do when they are under the cosh from their teacher, we kept out the road. I, for one, went back out to my car and sat there for a while, coming back in just before the start of the game. Childish, perhaps, but it served a purpose.

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21^st November

In the Monday morning papers, Celtic’s feat of coming back twice from a two-goal deficit to Dunfermline and then actually winning the match was the main topic in all the coverage;- Continue reading →