As mentioned previously, several players had left the club either during the previous season of 1963-64 or at the end of the campaign, names like John MacNamee, Billy Price, Frank Brogan and Paddy Turner. The only arrival was Bobby Young from St Johnstone, in an early season swap deal for Bobby Craig
So that meant Celtic went into season 1964-65 with the following pool of players;-
| Name | Last Club | Joined |
| Jim Brogan | St Roch’s | 1963 |
| Davie Cattenach | Stirling Albion FC | 1963 |
| Steve Chalmers | Ashfield Juniors | 1959 |
| John Clark | Larkhall Thistle | 1958 |
| Charles Cullen | St Roch’s | 1963 |
| John Cushley | Blantyre Celtic | 1960 |
| John Divers | Renfrew Juniors | 1957 |
| John Fallon | Fauldhouse Utd | 1958 |
| Charlie Gallagher | Yoker Athletic | 1959 |
| Tommy Gemmell | Coltness Utd | 1962 |
| Gerard Gillan | St Anthony’s | 1963 |
| John Halpin | Our Lady’s High School | 1963 |
| Samuel Henderson | Ashfield Juniors | 1962 |
| John Hughes | Shotts Bon Accord | 1959 |
| James Johnstone | Blantyre Celtic | 1962 |
| James Kennedy | Duntocher Hibs | 1955 |
| Robert Lennox | Ardeer Recreation | 1961 |
| Richard Madden | Blantyre Celtic | 1963 |
| Robert Murdoch | Cambuslang Rangers | 1961 |
| John McCallum | Lochgelly Albert | 1963 |
| Frank McCarron | Parkhead Juniors | 1962 |
| Duncan McKay | Maryhill Harp | 1956 |
| William McNeill | Blantyre Victoria | 1958 |
| William O’Neill | St Anthony’s | 1960 |
| John Young | Rob Roy | 1961 |
| Bobby Young | St Johnstone | 1963 |
The season started, as was the norm in those days, with the League Cup sectional matches. Teams were drawn in groups of four, there were home and away ties, then the leading side in the group went into the quarter finals. Celtic’s section was a tough one. The Hoops had finished 3rd in the league campaign of the previous season and their sectional opponents would be Kilmarnock (2nd), Hearts (4th) and Partick Thistle (7th). However, this time round, the players rose to the challenge, the matches being played from 8th August 1964 to 29th and by the end, Celtic sat proudly at the top of the table;-
League Cup Section Results
| 8th August | League Cup | Celtic 0 Partick Thistle 0 | 29,000 |
| 12th August | League Cup | Hearts 0 Celtic 3 | 20,000 |
| 15th August | League Cup | Celtic 4 Kilmarnock 1 | 23,000 |
| 22nd August | League Cup | Partick Thistle 1 Celtic 5 | 28,000 |
| 26th August | League Cup | Celtic 6 Hearts 1 | 28,000 |
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The scorer of the Hearts goal was a certain Willie Wallace |
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| 29th August | League Cup | Kilmarnock 2 Celtic 0 | 18,000 |
Scorers for Celtic in the round-robin section were – Chalmers (5), Gallagher (5), Murdoch (5), Johnstone (2) and Kennedy.
League Cup Section: Final Table
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Celtic | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 5 | 9 |
| Kilmarnock | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 8 |
| Partick Th | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 14 | 4 |
| Hearts | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 16 | 3 |
The league campaign also started during the month of August, with Celtic playing just the one match at Fir Park;
19th August
League: Motherwell 1 Celtic 3 Att: 13,000 Murdoch, Chalmers, Lennox
September 1964 was a very varied month for Celtic, with league matches, league cup games and an opening tie in the Fairs Cities Cup. However, right at the start of the month there occurred what was to be a most crucial signing in the history of the club.
3rd September
Ronnie Simpson joins Celtic after 4 years with Hibs.
4th September
The Forth Road Bridge is opened by the Queen.
5th September
League: Celtic 3 Rangers 1 Att: 58,000 Chalmers (2); Hughes
Billy McNeill a rare absentee through injury. John Cushley wore the no. 5 shirt. Incessant rain made the pitch difficult but John Hughes and Jimmy Johnstone shone in the conditions.
9th September
League Cup QF (1st Leg) East Fife 2 Celtic 0
12th September
League Clyde 1 Celtic 1 Att: 22,000 Chalmers
After breaking his leg in December 1963, Dave McKay made a return to the Tottenham Hotspur side in September 1964. Almost unbelievably, in a match against Shrewsbury reserves, he broke the same leg again.
16th September
League Cup QF (2nd Leg) Celtic 6 East Fife 0 Att: 32,000 Chalmers (5) Kennedy
19th September
League Celtic 1 Dundee Utd 1 Att: 26,500 Chalmers
23rd September
Fairs Cities Cup Leixoes 1 Celtic 1 Murdoch
Celtic started their European campaign for the season in Portugal. The headlines in the press on the morning of the game read –
CELTS MUST STOP THIS DANGER MAN
This was a reference to the Brazilian star Camutilno, who could certainly play but in the end missed the tie through injury. But Celtic stuck to their task after Leixoes took the lead in 6 minutes and got an equaliser on the half-hour mark through Bobby Murdoch. The tackling then became a bit fierce and Ian Young and Steve Chalmers were sent off.
26th September
League Hearts 4 Celtic 2 Att: 22,000 Murdoch; Lennox
On the 26th September, the Scots entertainer Robert Wilson died at the age of 57
27th September
Republic of Ireland winger Joe Haverty of Millwall joined Celtic for a month’s trial
29th September
League Cup SF Ibrox Celtic 2 Morton 0 Att: 60,000 Lennox ; Gallagher
Celtic went through to the final of the League Cup for the first time since 1957. The goals came from Lennox (54) and Gallagher (88).
In the press the following day, however, one headline read ;-
JIMMY THE ONE
‘A flash of brilliance from Jimmy Johnstone, the wee red knight of Parkhead, put Celtic on the way to victory in a clanging joust of a League Cup semi-final at Ibrox last night’.
7th October
Fairs Cities Cup Celtic 3 Leixoes 0 Att: 33,000 Chalmers (2) ; Murdoch
Goals from Chalmers (2) and Murdoch, who also missed a penalty. As in the first leg, the tackling sometimes was pretty fierce and the manager was glad to go through without any injuries.
9th October
Frank Haffey decided against a transfer to Third Lanark and joined Swindon Town instead.
10th October
League Aberdeen 1 Celtic 3 Att: 12,000 Murdoch, Chalmers, Hughes
Partick Thistle made an attempt to sign John Divers and John Hughes
12th October
League Celtic 1 Morton 0 Att: 35,000 Divers
14th October
Harold Wilson becomes Prime Minister
17th October
League Celtic 4 St Mirren 1 Att: 23,000 Hughes, Murdoch, Divers (2)
League Table
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Kilmarnock | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 3 | 15 |
| Hearts | 9 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 29 | 11 | 15 |
| Hibs | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 22 | 14 | 14 |
| Dunfermline | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 22 | 10 | 12 |
| Morton | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 13 | 7 | 12 |
| Celtic | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 18 | 11 | 12 |
24th October
League Cup Final Hampden Celtic 1 Rangers 2 Att: 91,423 Johnstone
In the press, this match had been thought of as too close to call. Celtic certainly had gone through a few difficult periods in the last few years but Rangers were not on song this season either. As the play went on, one man made all the difference. Jim Baxter was captain that day for Rangers and when he saw that Jimmy Johnstone and John Hughes were making life difficult for their immediate opponents –Davie Provan and Eric Caldow – he switched the full-backs over to solve the problem.
Jim Baxter controlled the match for Rangers, who were two ahead after 62 minutes. A goal by Jimmy Johnstone 7 minutes later gave Celtic hope and they threw everything at Rangers in the last 20 minutes but could not get the crucial second. As the Celtic fans left the ground, more than a few were wondering why no one in Celtic’s colours seemed to have been told to stay tight on Jim Baxter.
28th October
League Kilmarnock 5 Celtic 2 Att: 16,000 Gemmell; Gallagher
31st October
League Celtic 2 Airdrie 1 Att: 12,000 Chalmers (2)
4th November
Lyndon B Johnson elected President of the USA.
6th November
After 236 appearances and 7 goals, Dunky MacKay transferred to Third Lanark
7th November
League St Johnstone 3 Celtic 0 Att: 11,000
13th November
Hugh Maxwell signed from Falkirk for £15,000
14th November
League Celtic 0 Dundee 2 Att: 14,500
18th November
Fairs Cities Cup Barcelona 3 Celtic 1 Att: 25,000 Hughes
This was a crucial tie for Celtic in the Camp Nou and the big news before the match was that Ronnie Simpson would be making his debut. There was a come-back for Billy McNeil but a poor first half for Celtic, who lost two goals and were struck by an injury to John Clark, who was a virtual passenger in the second half. Celtic pulled seven players back to form a screen in front of their goal but Barcelona still got another seven minutes from the end. John Hughes was the Celtic scorer. On the following day a rather strange paragraph appeared in one of the national dailies ;
‘Celtic flew into Renfrew Airport last night a happy confident team despite their 3-1 Fair Cities Cup defeat – because the Parkhead boys have Barcelona very worried about the second leg on 2nd December at Celtic Park’.
One must ask the question ‘Why?’
21st November
League Celtic 3 Falkirk 0 Att: 16,000 Maxwell; Hughes (2)
28th November
League Third Lanark 0 Celtic 3 Att: 11,000 Hughes, Murdoch plus o.g.
2nd December
It was announced that Glasgow would have parking meters in place by March 1965.
2nd December
Fairs Cities Cup Celtic 0 Barcelona 0 Att: 43,000
Celtic never got a chance against a very disciplined Catalan side and were looking ragged even before they lost Steve Chalmers to injury 15 minutes from time. Barcelona won 3-1 on aggregate. On the following day, the situation was summed up perfectly in one of the daily newspapers;-
CELTIC OUT OF FAIRS CITIES CUP – BARCELONA TOO CLEVER
12th December
League Partick Thistle 2 Celtic 4 Hughes (2), Maxwell, Gallagher
19th December
League Celtic 1 Dunfermline 2 Att: 15,000 Gallagher
League Table
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | |
| Hearts | 18 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 56 | 23 | 30 |
| Kilmarnock | 18 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 35 | 15 | 30 |
| Hibs | 17 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 39 | 22 | 26 |
| Dunfermline | 16 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 35 | 18 | 22 |
| Celtic | 17 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 35 | 25 | 22 |
21st December
The House of Commons votes to end Capital Punishment.
26th December
League Celtic 2 Motherwell 0 Att: 9,500 Hughes (2)
On an icy pitch, John Hughes played in training shoes and got both goals
1st January
League Rangers 1 Celtic 0 Att: 64,400
A day of woe for Celtic. Jimmy Johnstone was ordered off and Bobby Murdoch missed a penalty 6 minutes from time, blasting the ball over the bar. Neither side was in form but Jim Forrest got the crucial goal in 32 minutes.
1st January
Stanley Matthews becomes the first footballer to be knighted.
2nd January
League Celtic 1 Clyde 1 Att: 13,500 Hughes
7th January
A most important day in my Celtic career as I sign professional terms. I will deal with the details in a separate section. By the time I signed, Celtic had dropped another place in the league table and were now lying 6th. As I travelled to Dental School each day, every Celtic fan I met was a worried man. The same thought was in all our minds;
‘Would we ever get back to the top again and win something!’