the start of an era
part 6

Concluding our look back at the 65-66 season Manfred Lurker recounts the final chapter in what was to be the start of Celtic's historic nine-in-a-row title winning sequnce.

The 5:1 drubbing of Rangers on January 3rd 1966 had convinced the fans that Celtic's twelve year championship drought was about to come to a long-overdue end. Jock Stein was being hailed as the new messiah among the Timmites while in the land of Oz Munchkins were wandering around the yellow brick road singing "Hail hail the Huns are dead!"

It was all a bit premature. Like Arnie's evil robot in The Terminator, just when everyone thought they were down and out for good Rangers emerged from the wreckage and with dour determination set about giving chase again.

By the end of January Celtic's title challenge was looking decidedly fragile following defeats at Aberdeen (1:3) and Hearts (2:3). The frozen Pittodrie pitch was more suited to a kickabout with Pingu the penguin and his mates. Despite this, Celtic took an early lead through the inevitable Joe McBride goal after just 6 minutes. Alas, the hardy Aberdonians, more accustomed to life in the barren tundra north of Perth, made short work of their chittering Glaswegian opponents, scoring the third with 20 minutes to go. The Celtic fans trooped south, half suffering from hypothermia and the rest simply affronted at the various shades of blue they had turned.

The excuse for the Tynecastle defeat is easier to swallow. The Cup-Winners Cup tie against Dynamo Kiev necessitated a switch to Tblisi owing to the fact that Kiev is icebound in January. In fact the only games Dynamo could arrange to tide them over during the winter were friendlies against Aberdeen. Celtic's subsequent trip to Tblisi was a success on the field, but a combination of bad weather and a Stalinist beaurocracy which put the SFA to shame meant that the team arrived back in Glasgow on the Friday night before the game against Hearts. Rather than seek a postponement of the match, big Jock had the players out at Parkhead for a midnight training session. The following afternoon's result was surprising only in that the players - many of whom were resplendant in bedsocks and nightcaps - were able to turn in a creditable perfomance against a team featuring a galaxy of star (singular). Willie Wallace was his name and he scored two that day. Little did we know that he would soon be doing the same with monotonous regularity for the hoops.

If there were mitigating circumstances for these setbacks it was difficult to find any excuses for Celtic's third away defeat in a row on February 26th. A 1:0 reverse against mighty Stirling Albion was bad enough. The fact that the Binos played for 85 minutes with ten men just added insult to injury.

By the end of February the Huns had clawed their way back into the lead in the championship, albeit on goal difference:

	P W D L F A Pts
1. Rangers	23 18 3 2 70 20 39
2. CELTIC	24 19 1 4 79 24 39
3. Kilmarnock	25 16 2 7 60 35 34
4. Dunfermline	22 14 5 3 65 29 33
5. Hearts	23 11 8 4 42 32 30

It was time for big Jock to steady the ship and set about applying pressure on the 'Gers. The early season flamboyance gave way to a more methodical and professional approach. And, like most of the strategy Stein employed, it worked, although the season still had a few twists and turns to take before the final act of the drama was played out.

As the Celts began to relentlessly steamroller their way through what was left of their league programme the Rangers bottle hit the deck with a resounding crash. They lost at Brockville and dropped more points to Kilmarnock, Hearts and Dundee United. But the young Celtic side had also dropped points themselves in edgy matches at Firhill and Easter Road.

Success in Europe and in the Scottish Cup had caused a fixture pile-up. On April 19th the Celts lost in the Cup Winners Cup semi-final against Liverpool thanks to a lunatic French referee. By the following Wednesday Rangers had drawn level in the league and had won the Old Firm cup final of 1966 after a replay. The usually free-scoring hoops had failed to hit the net in their last four games. For a few horrible days it looked as if the Huns were going to have a very nasty sting in their pointy tails.

In the end the collective nerve held. When Celtic beat Morton at Cappielow (2:0) after surviving an early Morton penalty then Dunfermline at Parkhead (2:1) having gone a goal behind, Rangers finally conceded, despite the fact that Celtic still needed a point at Motherwell to make sure.

20,000 jammed into Fir Park on May 7th, with another 5,000 sitting on the roof of the enclosure. The bare facts are that Bobby Lennox scored against Peter McCloy (something else we would get used to over the years) in the last minute of the match and Celtic were confirmed as champions for the first time since 1954. Little did we know that it was only a starter for nine and that the best was yet to come.

As usual, the last word goes to Campbell and Woods; for the fans it was a green and white festival and their joyful day was complete when Bobby Lennox scrambled home the only goal in the last minute. For 20 minutes they stayed in their places, chanting each players name, cheering and singing and insisting that Jock Stein join his men on the field...The supporters, players and directors were ecstatic about the triumph in the championship, but the manager remained calm amid the euphoria. He was already planning for an even brighter future. (The Glory And The Dream)

 

part one
part two
part three
part four
part five
season stats