Chapter Two
Early Days: A Taste of Things to Come
SEASON 1966/67
began in earnest for Celtic at Tynecastle, where they played their opening League Cup
sectional match against Hearts in miserable, rainy weather more suited to late November
than mid August, the 13th to be exact. Hearts chose to mark the occasion by
increasing admission prices to the terracing, hoping, no doubt, to cash in on
Celtic’s even greater-than-usual drawing power as ‘born-again’ Champions of
Scotland. The plan backfired, however, with the bad weather and inflated costs conspiring
to persuade many supporters to stay at home. The game actually drew the smallest crowd for
many years to see Celtic at Tynecastle.
Those stay-at-home fans missed out on the start of a burst of
goalscoring by a Celtic player such as had not been witnessed since Jimmy McGrory’s
heyday. Joe McBride scored both goals in Celtic’s 2-0 win, then followed up with a
‘hat-trick’, including a penalty, in the 6-0 rout of Clyde the following midweek
at Celtic Park, with Bobby Lennox (2) and Steve Chalmers also netting. The bustling
centre, so reminiscent of his great predecessors in that position, grabbed four more as St
Mirren were put to the sword 8-2 at Parkhead on Saturday 20th August. Lennox
and Chalmers repeated their respective midweek performances and Bertie Auld opened his
account for good measure.
The following Monday, 22nd August, threw up Rangers at Ibrox
in a first-round Glasgow Cup tie. Celtic’s early play exemplified their blossoming
confidence and the support sensed that Rangers’ long-standing psychological edge had
been blunted at last. Captain Billy McNeill shot Celtic ahead in the eighth minute,
scoring uncharacteristically with a low left-footer under Billy Ritchie’s body when
the ball broke to him following a free-kick on the left-hand edge of the six-yard box.
Thereafter, wee Bobby Lennox took control, making the match his own.
…… A truly memorable night for Celtic, a magnificent individual triumph
for the ‘Buzz-Bomb’ and assuredly the altered shape of things for some time to
come!
………………………
And so to Europe. Celtic had been drawn against F.C. Zurich, of
Switzerland, in the first round of the Champions’ Cup. The first leg was played at
Celtic Park on Wednesday, 28th September, 1966 and the following eleven
players became the first to represent Celtic in Europe’s premier club competition:
Simpson; Gemmell & O’Neill; Murdoch, McNeill
& Clark; Johnstone, McBride, Chalmers, Auld & Hughes.
………………………….
With that the stage was set for the third ‘Old Firm’
confrontation of the season and the most vital to date, the League Cup showdown in a
Hampden final before 94,532 fevered fans. ......
Jock Stein’s summing up was terse and concise: ‘We did not
play as well as we can. We have often played better against Rangers and lost. We did just
enough to win this one.’
…………………………
Meanwhile Celtic had been drawn to play French Champions, Nantes, in the
second round of the Champions’ Cup, with the first leg away from home on Wednesday,
30th November. ......
So far, so good!
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