You might think that, after winning the league title on 7th May, the players would have done their stint for the season and training would be wound down. Nothing could be further from the truth! There was a tour of North America coming up and everyone needed to be ready. Apart from me, that is.
I was still in my final year at the Dental Hospital and, as my next exams were coming up in June, I had to, with some reluctance, forego the trip.
Pre-Match
In some ways, the pressure was off. Unless we had some kind of disastrous performance against Motherwell and lost heavily, the League was ours. We all knew that was the case but no one was thinking along those lines ; the Boss had already reminded us that he expected us to end the campaign on a high and that meant a victory that afternoon. Continue reading
Press Reaction
On the Thursday after the Dunfermline match, the main story in nearly all the papers was that Celtic were now almost certain winners of the league title. On this particular topic, there were no dissenters among the press corps but manager Jock Stein was not as convinced as others : “what if Motherwell beat us 4-0” he told the journalists. But for probably the first time ever, comments from the Boss were treated with a little bit of scepticism!
The Build-up
On the morning of the match against Dunfermline, I was at the Dental Hospital for a few hours, then got ready to push off home for a rest and a bite to eat.
The Dental Hospital at that time was in Renfrew Street, one road up from – and parallel to – Sauchiehall Street, so my route home took me down Renfield Street and across the River Clyde. There were some puzzling pedestrians that day in the centre of town, guys – and gals – wearing red scarves and sweaters. There was a crest on the jerseys but, with driving the car, I could not read it clearly and I was getting annoyed that I could not work it out. Continue reading
Tension
As a part-timer, I was in the slightly awkward position of only seeing my first-team colleagues on a match day, so I was unable to say with any certainty how they were feeling about Celtic’s drive for the league title.
From my own point of view, though, I was very definitely aware of the situation; in fact, it would be quite safe to say that I was pretty nervous about the whole thing.
This was surprising, as I have always been one of those – probably annoying – people who cope well with stress. As I have explained before, my most nervous time before a match was at the run-through of the tactics, when the Boss explained how he wanted us to play and I sat there think to myself ‘that won’t work!’ or ‘he can’t do that!’ depending on the details.
However, with two matches left in the league race and me back in the side, I was feeling it and I suspect became a bit short with everyone, for which, after all these years, I humbly apologise.
The Build-Up
As there was a reserve match on the Friday night against Rangers (see Preview), training on the Thursday evening was pretty light, although all the guys wanted to know the inside story of the defeat and I had to talk for most of the night. It was hard work! I was only getting over the loss myself, having gone through a similar confession with Mum and Dad, my Uncles, my colleagues and even my patients, all desperate to know why Celtic had not won when they had so much of the play. Continue reading
Reserve Match
I know it seems hard to believe but on the evening of the Scottish Cup final replay, the Celtic reserves had a match at Celtic Park. They played St Mirren in the league and had a convincing 7-0 win, the team being Fallon, Halpin, McCarron, Cattenach, Cushley, O’Neill, H Quinn, Sweeney, J Quinn, Gallagher and Taylor. The goals came from Jimmy Quinn (3), Tony Taylor (2), Charlie Gallagher (pen) and an OG.
Build-up
I did as I had been told – something my wife says I am not very good at – had a long lie, a light lunch then reported at Celtic Park early afternoon for a wee session, some light running, a few sprints, nae sign of a ball at all!
The atmosphere was quite relaxed and the banter just as boisterous as normal. It was a slightly surreal feeling to be doing some running in a huge empty stadium when in a few hours time, the next bit of running would be in another large arena with a possible six-figure crowd watching!
Press Reaction
Over the weekend following the 0-0 draw in the Scottish Cup final, the headlines in the press blasted out various thoughts ;-
It Must Still Be Celtic
Seamill
On the Thursday morning, two days before the Cup Final, a Celtic squad – including myself – headed for Seamill and preparation for the big day. The atmosphere was good, there was a lot of banter and the boys especially enjoyed the fine weather, absolutely perfect for the first paddle in the sea of the summer season, even if we only went in up to our ankles!
There was also a head tennis competition on the grass at the back of the hotel, facing the sea. Curiously enough, I can recall that the final was between a pairing of wee Jimmy and Ronnie up against Cesar and Joe but I can never remember who won the blasted thing. If ever I asked one of the players involved, they always said that they won!…but can you trust a competitive football player at a time like that? Continue reading