2. CORONATION CUP
This was a competition held in Glasgow to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. It was decided by both the English and the Scottish authorities that four teams from each country should be invited to take part. Newcastle United, Arsenal (English league champions), Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur accepted the invitation, as did Hibernian, Rangers (Scottish League and Scottish Cup winners), Celtic and Aberdeen. Blackpool, the winners of the FA Cup, did not take part, nor did Preston North End or Wolves, who finished second and third respectively in the English league.
The Glasgow grounds of Hampden Park and Ibrox were chosen because it was felt that London would be too busy with the coronation itself. Celtic Park would have been big enough but in 1953 the facilities lagged behind those of the other two Glasgow grounds.
The teams chosen were considered to be the best available crowd pullers and Celtic, who had had a poor season, finishing eighth in the Scottish League, were invited to take part only because of the size of their following and the fact that all games were to be played in Glasgow.
Yet they ended up the winners in an epic final against Hibs, in which Johnnie Bonnar, the Celtic goalkeeper, aided by captain Jock Stein, famously defied Hibs ‘Famous Five’ forward line. The whole competition was a pleasant surprise for Scottish teams, particularly Hibs and Celtic, and was well attended throughout. The irony, however, of the Coronation Cup final being played on an occasion when ‘all Hampden was covered in green, white and gold’ rather than the red, white and blue which one might have expected, was not lost on supporters of Celtic and Hibernian. The triumph was celebrated with street parties and “dancing in the streets of the Gorbals”.
Celtic beat Arsenal in the quarter-final at Hampden on 11 May before 59,538 fans through a Bobby Collins goal, while in the other games, Hibs beat Tottenham Hostspur, Manchester United beat Rangers and Newcastle United beat Aberdeen. 73,466 then came to Hampden to see Celtic, with goals from Bertie Peacock and Neil Mochan, beat Manchester United 2-1 while in the other semi-final, Hibs’ “famous five” forward line put Newcastle United to the sword and beat them 4-0.
The final was played on a very pleasant summer evening before a crowd given as 117,060, but with many more locked out of Hampden when the gates were closed, as the east terracing was dangerously over-crowded. Hibs, the form team, who had only narrowly lost the Scottish League on goal average, were expected to win. In addition Hibs had demolished Newcastle United in the semi-final with a breathtaking display of attacking football – but Celtic, strengthened by new signing Neil Mochan, who compensated for the absence of the injured Tully, scored first, then resisted the intense onslaught of the Hibs forward line throughout the second half until a breakaway led to another and decisive goal for Celtic.
And alas for the hopes of our true royal blues
The Celtic beat Manchester and Arsenal too
The Hibs in the final, all lo and behold!
All Hampden was covered in green, white and gold!
The teams were:
Celtic: Bonnar, Haughney, Rollo, Evans, Stein, McPhail, Collins, Walsh, Mochan, Peacock, Fernie
Hibs: Younger, Govan, Paterson, Buchanan, Howie, Combe, Smith, Johnstone, Reilly, Turnbull, Ormond.
Referee – H. Phillips, Wishaw
