27th February – Five Memorable Celtic Moments on This Day

Five memorable Celtic moments, with a nod to the late Celtic Historian and Celtic Star legend David Potter, on this day starting in 1904…

Celtic FC circa 1920J Young, Loney & J Hay. (Photo by Daily Record/Daily Record/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)

ONE – SATURDAY 27 FEBRUARY 1904 – For the first time, the immortal half-back line of Young, Loney and Hay are actually chosen to play together (they had played together once before, but only because of injuries). This decision will eventually revolutionise Scottish football, but today it is an unspectacular 0-0 draw on a barely playable pitch in a Scottish Cup replay at Dens Park, Dundee in front of 27,000 fans.

TWO – SATURDAY 27 FEBRUARY 1965 – Celtic play Kilmarnock today at Parkhead in what is seen as a “rehearsal” for next week’s Scottish Cup game, but it would be wrong to think that Celtic are taking it easy. The feeling is that Celtic “owe them one” for two distressing events that happened last autumn at Rugby Park. One was when Billy McNeill and Bobby Murdoch were carried off (McNeill quite seriously injured) and the other was a dreadful Celtic performance when they lost 2-5 in the game immediately after the defeat in the Scottish League Cup final. Today however the much improved Celtic team win 2-0 with goals from John Hughes and Steve Chalmers.

THREE – WEDNESDAY 27 FEBRUARY 1974 – It is the eve of the General Election in Great Britain, but in Switzerland, Celtic are taking on Basle in the first leg of the European Cup quarter final. They make it difficult for themselves by losing 2-3 against a team who have improved beyond all measure since Celtic last played them in 1963. Paul Wilson and Kenny Dalglish score Celtic’s goals.

FOUR – THURSDAY 27 FEBRUARY 2003 – Celtic look a little vulnerable at the end when VFB Stuttgart score a couple of late goals to make the aggregate score 5-4, but Celtic have already done all the hard work with early away goals from Alan Thompson and John Hartson, both coming from the excellent work of Didier Agathe. Celtic won 3-1 at Parkhead a week earlier in the first leg.

FIVE – SUNDAY 27 FEBRUARY 2011 – A shocking Celtic performance at Motherwell sees a 0-2 defeat with both goals coming from John Sutton (brother of Chris). The only possible excuse is the awful Motherwell pitch. As the TV commentator put it, “the groundsman has ruled himself out of the Groundsman of the Year Award”, but it is all the more distressing as Celtic defeated Rangers last week, and worrying because they face them again on Wednesday night.