9th May 1968 The players apparently had the day off for training. I was at work at the dental practice and then, in late afternoon, when everyone else was at their dinner, I did a bit of running in the park near my parents’ house. I wasn’t killing myself but it felt quite good. …
12th May 1968 I dropped into the park around lunchtime and found the guys just winding down after training. Had a chat with Jinky, who, like me, was going to miss the tour to North America and Mexico. Instead, he was organising a motoring holiday for himself and his wife Agnes on the Costa Brava. …
27th May 1968 The day after the initial match against AC Milan was spent in New York, with the boys out and about sight-seeing and generally enjoying the atmosphere in this most fascinating of cities. 28th May 1968 The Celtic party headed for the airport and caught a flight to Toronto, where they booked …
16th – 23rd May 1968 According to the chats I had with the guys after they returned from the North American tour of 1968, a good time was had by all when on holiday at the beginning of the tour in Florida. After the journey across the Atlantic from Prestwick to New York, there had …
It was an interesting summer. Initially, while the playing party was in North America, I did the occasional training session in Bellahouston Park, just along from my parents’ house. It was quiet and I could get on with my work without any outside interference.
21st July 1968 A Sunday, which meant that I had to run the gauntlet of Celtic fans after Mass. It was getting to the ridiculous stage where even grannies who had never been to a game of football in their lives were asking questions about what was going on at training, what was Jock Stein …
Read more “3rd August 1968: Celtic v Leeds United – Friendly”
5th August 1968 In the days after the defeat by Leeds United at Hampden, the comments in the press were still fairly uncomplimentary about Celtic’s loss while at the same time recognising the quality of the English side. One headline singled out the visiting keeper for a special mention – Celtic KO’d by Super Sprake
7th August 1968 We were all back in for training this morning and did a pretty strong session. Even the guys who had played at Hamilton the previous evening had been told to turn up. Sean Fallon was in charge of affairs as the Boss had travelled down to Leeds who that same evening were …
12th August 1968 On the Monday after the Old Firm match, the press was still going on about the happenings off the pitch rather than those on it. This headline caught the mood – Bigotry at Big Match Sickening and the comments below matched the headline –
15th August 1968 The headlines in the press offered great praise to the boys on the field – Sizzling Celts