John Clark, goal by goal…
As we prepare to say a final farewell to that wonderful Celt John Clark tomorrow, here is a slightly different perspective on his glittering Parkhead career – a story set against a profile of his goals for the club.
Earlier this morning I took a call from legendary Celtic historian Pat Woods. As some of you may know, Pat has been in hospital since late February, and this morning’s call was to check on a fact about a game he often talks about, a Scottish Cup quarter-final replay on Wednesday, 15 March 1961 when Celts beat Hibernian 1-0 at Easter Road. A teenage Pat was there with his dad, and he clearly recalls the events of that evening, travelling through to Leith after attending school at St Mungo’s in Townhead, and the combination of a near-40,000 crowd and the late opening of the turnstiles which caused a few problems.
Of course, the main highlight from that evening was the extra-time winning goal scored by John Clark, the young Celtic wing-half deputising for injured skipper Bertie Peacock. Not a bad way to belatedly celebrate your 20th birthday of two days earlier! In the last minute of the first period of extra-time, John took a short corner-kick from Alec Byrne to beat the Hibernian keeper low at his near post and send Celts through to a last-four tie with Airdrieonians.
Pat, not for the first time, quizzed me on the name of the goalkeeper John beat to score and at which end the goal was scored. It was, of course, future fellow Lion Ronnie Simpson, a fact John himself later commented on, as per The Celtic Wiki.
“I always say that I scored the best goal ever.
It was in a Scottish Cup replay at Easter Road against Hibs and I beat a defender at the byeline, cut in and poked the ball through Ronnie Simpson’s legs and said to him: “You couldn’t get any better than that, could you?”
It was a vital goal in a 1-0 victory, although sadly we lost in the final to [Jock Stein’s] Dunfermline that season.”
Match reporter Cyril Horne commented:
“That goal, scored by the reserve left-half, who deputised most capably for Peacock, the Celtic captain, who withdrew because of a knee injury, came during a spell of intensive pressure by Celtic, far the better team in extra-time.”
What would not be known at that time was that sadly Bertie Peacock would not play again in the Hoops, his final match being the 1-1 draw with Hibernian at Celtic Park four days earlier. It had taken a late Steve Chalmers equaliser to keep Celtic in the Scottish Cup that afternoon in front of 56,000 spectators.
Bertie Peacock left Parkhead two months later, the Celtic skipper moving to hometown club Coleraine as player-manager after almost 500 games for the club. And that same month, young Hoops winger Bertie Auld was sold to Birmingham City.
The Celtic team which beat Hibernian that night at Easter Road in March 1961 was as follows.
Frank Haffey; Dunky MacKay & Jim Kennedy;
Pat Crerand, Billy McNeill & John Clark;
Charlie Gallagher, Willie Fernie, John Hughes, Steve Chalmers & Alec Byrne.
As well as Ronnie Simpson, the Hibs side featured England’s centre-forward Joe Baker, who would move to Italian football that summer with Torino and team up there with Denis Law. Baker had scored nine of the Hibs goals in a 15-1 route of Peebles Rovers in the second round of the Scottish Cup the previous month. The Borders side would perhaps not regard the Baker boys as ‘Fabulous,’ Joe’s elder brother Gerry having netted four times against them in St Mirren’s 10-0 win as they marched to secure the famous old trophy in 1959!
Anyway, a wee aside which Pat might enjoy…
Hibs had defeated defending Inter-Cities Fairs Cup-holders Barcelona in the quarter-final, just three weeks before that match with Celtic, and the Easter Road men were 3-1 up in the Stadio Olimpico and 25 minutes from reaching the final the following month before AS Roma secured a play-off at the same venue, which the Italians won comfortably in late May, with Hibs now effectively in their close-season and missing Joe Baker. In the other semi-final, Bertie Auld set up both goals as his new club Birmingham City repeated their 2-1 first-leg win over Helenio Herrera’s Inter Milan in the San Siro. So that late fightback in Rome prevented Ronnie Simpson and Bertie Auld lining up against one another in a European final in the autumn of 1961, Hibernian v Birmingham City!
Bertie and Herrera would of course be in opposition again six years later in Lisbon with the same outcome, as he, John, Ronnie and the other immortal Lions created history. That would be Bertie’s second European final, as he played in the first leg of that Inter-Cities Fairs Cup finale at St Andrew’s on 27 September 1961, Birmingham City drawing 2-2 with AS Roma in a match refereed by a man known to Celtic supporters of a certain vintage, Bobby Davidson of Airdrie. Neither Scot was then involved in Rome two weeks later, as the hosts secured the trophy with a 2-0 win in the second leg of the final.
Like so many other great Celtic defenders – such as Danny McGrain, Alec McNair and Bobby Hogg, another legend signed from junior football in Larkhall, immediately spring to mind – John Clark was not known for his goalscoring exploits. Indeed, in a glorious Hoops career spanning over 300 games, 12 seasons and a wagonload of honours, John managed just four goals. But there is a story behind all of those.
That vital strike at Easter Road in March 1961 was his first goal for the club, the second coming along almost three years later. On that occasion, Motherwell were the visitors to Celtic Park for a League fixture on Saturday, 21 December 1963.
Just under 24,000 hardy supporters braved the elements as a Celtic team which had recently progressed to the quarter-final of the European Cup Winners’ Cup by defeating Dinamo Zagreb, and which would later be immortalised in song, lined up against the Steelmen.
John Fallon; Ian Young & Tommy Gemmell;
John Clark, Billy McNeill & Jim Kennedy;
Jimmy Johnstone, Bobby Murdoch, Steve Chalmers John Divers & John Hughes.
The Motherwell side featured Pat Delaney, son of former Celtic genius Jimmy, at centre-half, whilst their attack was led by another man who would later grace the Hoops, Joe McBride. John Divers gave Celts a 1-0 interval lead but in the 67th minute – of course – came John’s moment of glory, the wing-half again taking a short corner – this time from Jimmy Johnstone – to rifle a shot from just outside the box past Alan Wylie in the visiting goal. That would turn out to be a point-winning strike, as despite limping on the wing as a passenger for the entire second half, the prolific McBride beat John Fallon with a low 30-yard shot to reduce the deficit to 2-1 with eight minutes remaining. There would be no further scoring, John Hughes coming closest in the final minute when he blasted a shot off Wylie’s crossbar, Celts extending their unbeaten run of League matches to a round dozen.
One newspaper reporter states that “Clark had an outstanding match, giving a generous and precise service forward.”
Having waited the best part of three years for a goal, like Corporation buses John’s next would come along immediately, well 48 hours later to be precise. This was a replayed first-round tie in the Glasgow Cup, Partick Thistle the visitors to Celtic Park on Monday, 23 December 1963.
The event-filled first match had ended 1-1 at Firhill on Monday, 11 November 1963, just 11 days before the shot that rung across the world ended the life of John F Kennedy in Dallas. An ankle injury to goalkeeper Frank Haffey meant that the 20-year-old Tommy Gemmell played the entire second half between the Celtic posts – not the last time he would do that, notably to cover for Ronnie Simpson later that decade – and with 20 minutes remaining, wingers Jimmy Johnstone and Ian Cowan were ordered off after coming to blows. At that stage Celts were 1-0 down, so in the circumstances the 1-1 draw secured for the nine-man Hoops by John Divers late equaliser when he chased down a ‘lost cause’ was a creditable result.
Celts would again find themselves 1-0 down in the final quarter of the replay, before John Clark stepped into save the day. His 20-yard free-kick on 74 minutes slipped through the grasp of Thistle keeper Jim Gray to draw the Hoops level. And with just seven minutes remaining, Steve Chalmers scored the winner to set up a semi-final with cup-holders Third Lanark.
Jimmy McGrory’s men would go on to lift the trophy that season, beating Thirds after a replay in January 1964 before a 2-0 win over Clyde at Celtic Park on Wednesday, 25 March gave John Clark his first winner’s medal and Billy McNeill his first trophy as Celtic’s captain. Cesar’s direct opponent that night? A teenage Harry Hood, who had scored Second Division Clyde’s winner in the semi-final victory over Rangers at Ibrox and who was being widely tipped as a Celtic signing. It would be five long years before that transfer would come to fruition.
There would be another long gap before John scored his fourth and final Celtic goal, and once again the circumstances are worth noting.
John was part of the Celtic side which beat Hamilton Academical 10-0 at Celtic Park in the first leg of the League Cup quarter-final on Wednesday, 11 September 1968. That was the remarkable night when both Steve Chalmers and Bobby Lennox scored five goals apiece, surely a record in top-flight competitive football.
Celts would then go on a highly unusual run without victories, losing to Rangers and St Etienne before drawing with Dunfermline Athletic before the second leg of the Hamilton tie. John had dropped to the bench at East End Park, Jim Brogan starting there, but the Lisbon Lion was back to captain the team at Douglas Park on Wednesday, 25 September 1968, one of few regulars in this highly unusual Celtic side.
Bobby Wraith; Jim Craig & John Gorman;
George Connelly, Davie Hay & John Clark;
Pat McMahon, Joe McBride, Jimmy Quinn, Charlie Gallagher & Lou Macari.
Substitute: Kenny Dalglish.
Bertie Auld had been due to make his first-team return after injury but hurt himself in training earlier that day. Goalkeeper Bobby Wraith and full-back John Gorman both made what would prove to be their only appearances for Celtic, whilst David Hay and Jimmy Quinn started for the first time, having just three substitute outings collectively under their belts. Lou Macari received his second start, having played in the first leg with man-of-the-match Pat McMahon a virtual veteran of five starting slots by those standards.
At the other end of the spectrum, Joe McBride was making just his fifth appearance of the calendar year, and he would pull on those beloved Hoops only five more times before joining Hibernian in November. And Charlie Gallagher had been in sensational form as Celtic won the League title in the last game just a few months earlier. This would be Charlie’s final 45 minutes of football for Celtic after nine years at the club.
By half-time, Celtic were 2-1 up, McBride and McMahon on target. Jock Stein then introduced yet another youngster for Charlie Gallagher at the interval, 17-year-old Kenny Dalglish. Kenny would later joke that 12-1 up on aggregate, Stein clearly wasn’t for taking any chances bringing him on! John Clark’s big moment would arrive just five minutes after the Dalglish debut, his 30-yard drive screaming high past Accies keeper Billy Lamont for 3-1. McBride added a fourth shortly afterwards before Tom Halpin – brother of former Celtic reserve defender John – ended the scoring at 4-2 late on.
So four Celtic goals for John, all in different competitions…but it could have been five in five!
In Celtic’s first-ever venture into European football, in the autumn of 1962, we were drawn against holders Valencia in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. The Spanish cracks had won the first leg by 4-2 before they visited Glasgow for the return on Wednesday, 24 October 1962, a debut for inside-right Bobby Craig who had signed from Blackburn Rovers earlier that day.
With the match still goalless after 17 minutes, Celtic were awarded a penalty kick when John Divers was fouled in the box. Up bravely stepped 21-year-old wing-half John to convert, and by doing so become the first Celt to score in a European match at Celtic Park. Sadly, John’s shot beat the goalkeeper but also the crossbar, and the honour would pass to Pat Crerand, who scored Celtic’s late equaliser in the 2-2 draw after an own goal from Valencia full-back Verdu had given the Hoops a second-half lead.
So only a missed penalty against Valencia prevented a fifth goal in the only area missing from John’s CV, European football, on which John was a student and expert.
Still, that gold medal won by John in Lisbon on 25 May 1967 maybe made up for that.
God bless you, John.
A life and career so wonderfully well lived.
And get well soon, Pat.
Our wee Celtic community is not the same without you.
Hail, Hail!
Matt Corr
Follow Matt on X/Twitter @Boola_vogue
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