8th October 1966: Hibs v Celtic League – Part One

6th October The Celtic party returned from Switzerland with only Bertie and Chopper carrying injuries, although they seemed to be slight ones. The press were keen to carry on with the story about Jock Stein’s 43rd birthday present, with one paper describing it as – Stein’s Super Present While those who had travelled for the …

8th October 1966: Hibs v Celtic League – Part Two

  Morning of the Match Celtic Park was a busy place that morning. The first-team with the manager, coach and physio were all getting ready to leave for Edinburgh and they would have a bite for lunch somewhere on the outskirts of the capital, like the Norton Hotel just along from the airport. Their bus …

10th October 1966: Celtic v Queen’s Park Glasgow Cup SF – Part One

  10th October This match was played only two days after Celtic had thrashed Hibs in the league at Easter Road, a feat recognised in the headlines and acknowledged in the reports ;-   Celtic Take Clear Lead in League  Celtic’s Superb Display You Have to Hand it to Stein ‘This was magnificent Celtic – …

10th October 1966: Celtic v Queen’s Park Glasgow Cup SF – Part Two

There were 17,000 at Celtic Park on a Monday night for this semi-final of the Glasgow Cup. The Boss had asked all the first-team pool to report for the match – we did not get fed on such a night- but in the end, he made very few changes to the side which had beaten …

 17th October 1966: Celtic v Airdrie  League Cup SF – Part Two

Pre-match This was a difficult match for the Airdrie manager to assess, particularly in his choice of tactics. On the previous Saturday, when the teams had met in a league match at Parkhead, Archie Wright had set up his team to play a defensive set-up, trying to frustrate Celtic and hoping to catch them out …

15th October 1966: Celtic v Airdrie League – Part One

11th October As the first team prepared for the first of two games in quick succession against Airdrie, first in the league at Celtic Park and then in the semi-final of the League Cup, reflections in the press were about how comfortable the win over Queen’s Park in the Glasgow Cup semi-final had been, with two-goal Joe …

15th October 1966: Celtic v Airdrie League – Part Two

  The Opposition Airdrie were doing well this particular season. They were sitting second in the league and would be up against Celtic twice in a few days, on this Saturday –in the league – and again on the Monday evening in the League Cup semi-final. Manager Archie Wright had put together a good squad …