Celts at the Double as Willie Fernie puts on the style…catch up with Part 1 below before going onto the second extract as David Potter takes us back to Celtic’s Double winning season of 1954 as Willie Fernie leads the way as Celtic enjoy putting on the style…
READ THIS: Part 1: “Someone pressed a switch…but the switch was called Willie Fernie
Now here’s Part 2: The road to Hampden ends in joy for Celtic but humiliation for Rangers…an extract from David Potter’s new book Willie Fernie – Putting on the Style, out on 6 May 2022 on Celtic Star Books…
But the League title was only half of it. If anything, the Scottish Cup this season was even more thrilling, and now Celtic supporters after so many years of hunger, suddenly found themselves at a feast. The road to Hampden consisted of three difficult away fixtures at Falkirk, Stirling Albion and Hamilton Academical. They did not sound all that difficult, but all these teams had caused trouble in League games to Celtic and other “bigger” teams, and in each one of them, Celtic eased home by the odd goal 2-1 at Brockville, 4-3 at Annfield and 2-1 at Douglas Park.
The game at Falkirk ought to have been played on Saturday, 13 February but was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch and played on the Wednesday afternoon. (Floodlights had not as yet arrived at Brockville in 1954.) This did not in the slightest lessen the tension or the large crowd and they were rewarded by a great game of football in the tradition of games between these two clubs. Willie Fernie opened the scoring for Celtic when the goalkeeper could only parry a free-kick and played well throughout.
Stirling Albion were next up on 27 February. The clubs had not met very often (Stirling Albion had only been founded in 1945) but amazingly it was a ground on which Celtic had never won before! The sequence of goal scoring was odd. 2-0 for Stirling Albion became 4-2 for Celtic but then the Albion pulled one back and Celtic had to defend desperately.
It was a similar story at Douglas Park on 13 March. This time, there was evidence of serious overcrowding – such was the enthusiasm of the Celtic crowd – and at one point a crush barrier collapsed. Willie Fernie was brought down in the penalty box and Mike Haughney converted, then Fernie himself scored late in the game to seal the tie, apparently. But Hamilton pulled one back and once again Celtic were glad to hear the final whistle.
The other quarter-final winners were Rangers, Aberdeen and eventually after a replay, Second Division Motherwell, who struggled to beat Partick Thistle. It was Celtic’s good fortune to draw Motherwell, but it did not really look that way in the semi-final on 27 March when Charlie Aitken headed an equaliser just at the very death after Celtic, with Fernie totally dominant, had failed to put the game to bed.
102,424 spectators had watched that match and the replay, which was played on Monday, 5 April (the Glasgow Holiday Monday) attracted 92,662. It was a tight game, 1-1 at half-time, but then Fernie scored with a goal that Motherwell thought was offside. Celtic then took control to reach the Scottish Cup final for the second time since the war and the 25th time overall. They had won the Scottish Cup 16 times, twice oftener than Rangers.
The other semi-final was between Aberdeen and Rangers. Celtic had no game that Saturday, 10 April (other than a friendly with Kilmarnock), so Celtic Chairman Bob Kelly and Captain Jock Stein turned up to see the semi-final. It was generally agreed that this was not one of Rangers better seasons, but no-one could possibly have predicted this score line of Rangers 0 Aberdeen 6 – and it should have been more! Aberdeen’s hero who scored a hat-trick was a Celtic-supporting youngster from Bridgeton called Joseph O’Neill. Amazingly, it was the first time that Aberdeen had beaten Rangers in a Scottish Cup tie and they certainly made a good job of it this time!
This was an earth-shattering experience for everyone, and although Celtic fans rejoiced in the humiliating discomfiture of their rivals, their joy was tempered by the thought that they were now up against a good Aberdeen team who knew how to win in Glasgow. Willie Fernie and others might have even preferred to have been playing Rangers in the final, for the Ibrox club were not having a good season, whereas the fast-developing Aberdeen were very efficient, and indeed had given Celtic a great deal of trouble in League and League Cup games.
But the week before the Scottish Cup final, Celtic had won the Scottish League and the momentum was with them. It was an astonishing statistic that the last time Celtic had won the Scottish Cup and League double was 1914, some 40 years and a couple of dreadful world wars ago when Alec McNair, Sunny Jim Young and Patsy Gallacher were all around.
Celtic were looked upon as marginal favourites because they were League champions and had in Willie Fernie and Charlie Tully two of the genuinely artistic ballplayers of the season, but Aberdeen also had some great players in Graham Leggat, George Hamilton and Paddy Buckley. They did however suffer one blow when it was announced that Joe O’Neill, their hero of the semi-final, was injured and out of the final. This did at least solve a problem for Joe and his family. Joe, naturally, had to keep his mouth shut, but his family now had no doubts or inhibitions. They were supporting Celtic!
To be continued….
David Potter
*An extract from David Potter’s forthcoming book Willie Fernie Putting on the Style, published on 6 May 2022 by Celtic Star Books. This official biography is supported by the Fernie family who have been outstanding in their support and cooperation. Putting on the Style is co-written by David Potter, covering Willie Fernie’s spells at Celtic and his career after hanging up his boots while John McCue writes about Willie Fernie’s spell at Middlesbrough. You can order a signed copy using the link below this short video…
