50 Years On

18th September 1965: Rangers v Celtic

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Oh! What a Beautiful Morning!

On the morning after the Old Firm reserve game, I was lying in my bed in my parents’ house, enjoying the feeling of reliving the important moments of the night before while well aware of a little soreness and bruising in the muscles round my hips and legs. Suddenly, the phone rang!

Now, for you younger guys and gals, let me tell you that it was a different world back in those days. There were obviously no mobile phones and the only phone available was attached to a fixed point. In my parents’ house, it was in the hall and my Mother would have had to go out from the kitchen or sitting-room to answer it. A few minutes later, I could hear her voice calling up the stairs; “Jim, there’s a Mr Fallon on the phone for you”. Read More →

17th September 1965: Rangers next …

There is nothing quite like a meeting of the Old Firm to focus and stimulate the minds of Scottish football fans and the first one of that season of 1965-66 was coming up on the 18^th September 1965.

The sporting press on the previous day had some comment about the match, with one story from each side of the divide receiving some attention;- Read More →

15th September 1965: Raith Rovers v Celtic League Cup QF 1st Leg

15th September 1965: Raith Rovers 1 Celtic 8                McBride (3), Lennox, Johnstone, Hughes (3)

Celtic: Fallon; Young, Gemmell; Murdoch, McNeill, Clark; Johnstone, Gallacher, McBride, Lennox, Hughes.

A Big Night in Kircaldy

There was a crowd of some 15,000 inside Stark’s Park on the night of 15^th September 1965 for the League Cup quarter-final first leg tie between Raith Rovers and Celtic, with the Celtic fans in particular very keen to hear the team news. And when the sides were read out over the loudspeaker system, they would have heard that Jock Stein had indeed made some changes in the forward line, replacing the previous right-wing combination of Stevie Chalmers and John Divers with Jimmy Johnstone and Charlie Gallagher, so the side was Fallon, Young, Gemmell, Murdoch, McNeill, Clark, Johnstone, Gallagher, McBride, Lennox, Hughes. Read More →

15th September 1965: The Boss says no!

On the Tuesday night prior to this match, I pushed my luck to the limit. What I did is going to sound very arrogant and perhaps even big-headed but sometimes you have to take a chance in football – or indeed any walk of life. Admittedly, there were a number of my colleagues who would not have had the gall – or was it stupidity? – to do what I did that evening but my natural Glaswegian ‘gallusness’ pushed me to the fore. I took a deep breath and entered the lion’s den. What did I do?….well, I’ll come to that later but first I want to review the League Cup quarter-final coming up. Read More →

11th September 1965: Celtic v Clyde

11 September 1965 – League:     Celtic  2  –  1  Clyde  Att: 26,500                 Young (pen), Gemmell

The team’s form in the previous match – the win over Dundee in the League Cup by 3 goals to one – had obviously made a decided impression on Jock Stein, as he picked the same side for the next game, a league match against Clyde. The chosen eleven therefore were;

Fallon, Young, Gemmell, Murdoch, McNeill, Clark, Chalmers, Divers, McBride, Lennox and Hughes.

By contrast, Clyde had made changes in all departments, apart from goalkeeper. Read More →

10th September 1965: Getting ready for Clyde

Celtic’s second league match of the campaign in 1965/66 was against Clyde at Parkhead. The Bully Wee had finished 7^th in the league championship of the previous season – 3 points ahead of Celtic – but had got off a bad start in the new season by failing to qualify from their section in the League Cup, a really tough one involving Rangers, Hearts and Aberdeen;

Unfortunately, the first match in the league did not Clyde’s way either, Dundee winning 2-0 at Shawfield. Read More →

8-9 September 1965: League Meets League

The first of the season’s inter-League matches was played on the 8^th September 1965, when the Scottish League met the Irish League at Ibrox. Normally, this was not an encounter to set the pulses racing – with the Scots record by far the superior – but on this occasion, there were extenuating circumstances to make the game more interesting, as one of our national dailies pointed out that morning;-

IRISH   MATCH   WITH   A   DIFFERENCE   AT   IBROX

For every man Jack in the Scots line-up, which already includes 6 full internationals, is playing with the prospect of 4 international caps to be picked up before the end of the year. Jock Stein, along with the League selectors, has chosen a ‘form’ side for the occasion.

Read More →

4 September 1965: Dundee v Celtic & Season Update

There was a crowd of 27,000 inside Dens Park on 4^th September for the final – and crucial – sectional League Cup match. For this vital game, Jock Stein had done a little bit of tinkering with the forward line, which read Chalmers, Divers, McBride, Lennox and Hughes. From their results so far, the teams would appear to have been well-matched but Celtic got off to the perfect start;- Read More →

4 September 1965: Final League Cup Section Match Preview

This was a great day for the editors of the sports press. Both halves of the Old Firm were in action and neither was a certainty to qualify from their respective sections. With one game left, the positions were;-

Read More →

2nd September 1965 : Fifth League Cup Match– Report

Both the first team and the second team were in action on this day in 1965. As might have been expected, it was a full house for the first team version at Fir Park but the reserve team encounter at Parkhead also proved to be popular. Indeed, what a crowd was there to see it! Read More →