10th December 1966: Celtic v Motherwell League – Part Two

  Morning of the match It was a busy lunchtime at Celtic Park that day. The guys in the reserve team had come in early, ready for the trip to Fir Park; while the first-team players arrived in dribs and drabs a bit later. Every single player, like myself, loved the atmosphere round the place …

24th December 1966 Aberdeen v Celtic League – Part One

19th December There was a very interesting piece in one of the dailies, under the heading –  Flaw in Celtic Perfection ‘Cautious Celtic supporters are beginning to show slight signs of worry, despite the fact that no team in Britain – or in Europe – has been able to beat the Jock Stein boys this …

24th December 1966 Aberdeen v Celtic League – Part Two

Morning of the Match I might have been imagining things but I felt that there had been a fair bit of caution regarding this match in the days leading up to it. The team had come through a good spell – in the last few weeks victories over Dunfermline, Nantes (twice), Hearts, Motherwell, Partick Thistle …

Christmas Tale

It was Boxing Day, in the year 1970. In the country of the elves, everyone was resting, trying to recover from their efforts over Christmas Day and the days before. All over the land, elves were sleeping, lying on their beds or slumped in chairs, just glad that the heavy work was over for another …

31st December 1966: Dundee United v Celtic League – Part One

In the days following the 1-1 draw with Aberdeen at Pittodrie, both the morning and evening papers were full of varied and interesting stories. 26th December Johnstone in Training Jimmy Johnstone trained alone at Parkhead today – and that adds up to some first-class Boxing Day news for the already happy Celtic supporters! On Saturday, …

31st December 1966: Dundee United v Celtic League – Part Two

Pre-match I was quite heartened by the first team’s draw with Aberdeen as every drop in level of performance by the guys went towards helping my claims for a first team spot. And a draw at that time had to be considered in that vein. I had also been very pleased with my own performance …

7th January 1967: Celtic v Dundee League – Part One

31st December 1966. The atmosphere on the bus coming back from Tannadice on Hogmanay was, to put it bluntly, awful. The 3-2 defeat to Dundee United had been the first loss of the season and naturally, that was a major blow to everyone. Normally, every player was a noisy beggar, especially on that particular day, …

7th January 1967: Celtic v Dundee League – Part Two

Morning of the Match While most of the guys, like myself, were tucked up in bed in the early morning hours, there some activity at Parkhead. Referee William Elliott of Barrhead was at the ground first thing and by 8.45am, he had declared the pitch playable. This was announced to the press by Jock Stein, …