Yesterday wasn’t the day any of us wanted at all. The opening hour promised so much, but a couple of rash moments proved to be Celtic’s downfall. The less said about it the better, really. We’re going to take your mind off it with a previous meeting from back in the 1980’s, in a title-winning season.
All things considered in the 1980/81 season, Celtic had been on a strangely inconsistent run of form by the time Morton came to visit Paradise at the turn of the year. For some reason, the Bhoys’ just couldn’t get their heads around the idea of beating Aberdeen; having already played them three times in the league by 1981, they’d lost two and drawn one, whilst also falling short to theRangers twice, St. Mirren once and even drew with Airdrieonians. This left them two points behind the Dons’, having played a game more and with a much worse goal difference; yet despite Alex Ferguson’s side having stolen a march in the title race, it was the improvement of Billy McNeill’s side following New Years’ Day that ended up with Celtic winning the title – starting with a 3-0 demolition of Morton.
Only 15,190 fans attended Paradise that day, as two goals from the prolific Frank McGarvey – who was signed that summer from Liverpool for a then-Scottish record fee – and a Davie Provan goal sandwiched in between meant Celtic raced into a 3-0 lead by the interval, and although they couldn’t add to their lead in the second half, the damage was already done for the Inverclyde side. In what was Celtic’s finest attacking performance of the season, those in the ground said that it was a surprise that it even took fifteen minutes to score two, such was the proficiency at which McNeill’s side were working at.
And Celtic didn’t show any signs of stopping; dropping just four more points from a possible 28 as they went on to win the league by a comfortable seven points following an Aberdeen collapse.
The Celtic team that day was: Bonner, McGrain, Reid, Sullivan, McAdam, Aitken, Provan, Weir, McGarvey, Burns, Nicholas.
