Not Certain Yet On the morning of the Motherwell match, the forthcoming game against Dynamo Kiev was still making most of the headlines in the press; – ‘Celtic’s victory over the Russians in the wrangle over travel arrangements was not so overwhelming as we thought. The flight to Tbilisi will not be direct. The Celtic …
Read more “22nd January 1966: Celtic v Motherwell – Part Two”
Reaction to the Defeat By Aberdeen Celtic’s loss to Aberdeen at Pittodrie was very definitely a surprise to the press corps and they gave the story a lot of coverage. It was surprising that few gave much publicity to the conditions, especially the state of the pitch, which at training in the days that followed, …
Read more “22nd January 1966: Celtic v Motherwell – Part One”
Sunday 23rd January 1966 At 9.15am, the touring party arrived at Celtic Park to be taken by bus for the first leg of the trip to Tbilisi. The group consisted of ;- Directors Bob Kelly, Desmond White, Jimmy Farrell, Tom Devlin.
The Day of the Game The morning of a match like this is always a difficult time for any player. We had breakfast, then Neilly Mochan took us on one of his usual pre-match ‘walks’, which over the years put us in some difficult situations. Although brought up in Falkirk, Neilly was used to Glasgow, …
Read more “26th January 1966 : Dynamo Kiev v Celtic ECWC – Part Two”
The Morning of the Match I felt hung-over on the Saturday morning yet I had not touched a drop all week. It was all that travelling and getting on and off planes was the cause. As I made my way downstairs, a gentle snoring told me that my brother Denis was still in bed but …
Shock at Tynecastle…..For Me! From lunch at the Norton Hotel, we travelled by coach to Tynecastle, where we did all the pre-match activities which were pertinent at all football grounds before a match ; check the pitch to see if there any doubtful areas, have a word with our opponents who were doing the same, …
Free Week After the travel and tribulations of the previous week, it was something of a relief to get back to training on the Tuesday night, where all the guys not involved in the first team wanted to know the details of the trip to Kiev and I was brought up-to-date with events back home. …
Read more “5th February 1966: Celtic v Stranraer Scottish Cup – Part One”
Problem All week, I had been struggling with a problem and so far, had not done anything about it. You may remember that, thanks to the Kiev match in Tbilisi having been eventually switched to the 26th January, I missed the Final Year Dinner of my dental year, held that evening in the Royal …
Read more “5th February 1966: Celtic v Stranraer Scottish Cup – Part Two”
The Draw On the Monday after the win over Stranraer, the morning papers were lukewarm in their appreciation of Celtic’s victory, more than one commentator pointing out that there was a considerable gulf in ability between the sides, as well as a decided difference in league position.
Great News I was suddenly about to join the ranks of the car-driving set! It was all down to my Uncle Philip, my Mother’s brother and my Godfather. He had bought his first car a couple of years ago – a Volkswagen ‘Beetle’ – and was now wanting to change it for a Wolseley, so …
Read more “12th February 1966 : Celtic v Falkirk – League – Part Two”