Birthday Bhoy Charlie Gallagher’s European Adventure Begins

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Part 3 – The European adventure begins

If the previous season had been a major step forward for Charlie in his Celtic career, then the 1961/62 would see him take two large paces backwards, Gallagher not even an automatic pick for the reserves.

Despite the sale of Bertie Auld to Birmingham City, and the transfers of veterans Bertie Peacock and Willie Fernie to Coleraine and St Mirren respectively, Jimmy McGrory or Bob Kelly would consistently choose a combination of Bobby Carroll, John Divers, Mike Jackson, Stevie Chalmers, Frank Brogan, Alec Byrne and even a teenage Bobby Lennox in the various forward positions Charlie had previously occupied.

Even a disastrous Scottish Cup semi-final defeat by St Mirren at Ibrox in March, when Fernie had come back to haunt Celtic, would not see his return to first-team action. Indeed, it would be the final League match of the season, at Fir Park, Motherwell on Monday, 23 April 1962, fully 12 months after his appearance at Hampden in the previous season’s Scottish Cup final replay, before we would see Charlie Gallagher in the line-up. Celts would win 4-0 that evening to finish in third position, eight points behind champions Dundee and three ahead of Jock Stein’s Dunfermline Athletic.

But football can be a strange game indeed. Charlie Gallagher would then feature in the Glasgow Cup final ties against Third Lanark, firstly in the 1-1 drawn match at Hampden, on Friday, 4 May 1962, then in the replay played at a waterlogged Celtic Park seven days later (pic below).

More than that, he would be the best player on that sodden Parkhead pitch, scoring twice from outside the box including a late free-kick winner, as the Bhoys fought back from 2-1 down with 15 minutes remaining to edge a five-goal thriller. So, Charlie Gallagher’s record for the 1961/62 campaign was two goals from three matches and a first cup-winner’s medal! Oh, and meeting a future wife, the lovely Mary capturing his heart after they chatted at a church function in Ayrshire.

Charlie would find himself drafted into the first-team at the last-minute for the opening game of the 1962/63 season, after John Divers had left home without his football boots! The League Cup tie with Hearts at Celtic Park on Saturday, 11 August 1962 would see the evolution of the Lisbon Lions take another leap forward, a first game as captain of Celtic for Billy McNeill, a debut for Bobby Murdoch and Bobby Lennox appearing at outside-right.

Hearts included Willie Wallace in their forward line, as goals from Murdoch, Gallagher and Hughes secured a 3-1 for Celtic in front of over 40,000 supporters. Celts would battle well in a tough section which also included champions Dundee and neighbours United, losing out by a point to Hearts after a goalless draw in the final fixture at Tannadice, in a game where they struck the crossbar no less than four times and had a goal disallowed with the ball clearly well over the line.

Still, on a personal level, things had gone well for Charlie Gallagher, playing in all six games and adding goals against both Dundee and Dundee United at Celtic Park to his initial strike against Hearts.

The following month would see the beginning of a great adventure for Celtic. On Monday, 10 September 1962, Charlie and his youthful teammates faced the original Galacticos of Real Madrid at Celtic Park in front of 72,000, Di Stefano, Puskas and co enthralling the supporters as they had two years earlier at Hampden in THAT European Cup final. The Bhoys performed well in a 3-1 defeat, useful preparation before they travelled to Valencia two weeks later to play the holders of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in the club’s first-ever European tie. Having missed the home defeat to Aberdeen the previous weekend, Charlie would find himself one of the five changes as the Hoops lined up for the historic night in the Mestalla on Wednesday, 26 September 1962, as follows;

John Fallon;
Dunky MacKay & Jim Kennedy;
Paddy Crerand, Billy McNeill & Willie O’Neill;
Stevie Chalmers, Mike Jackson, Bobby Carroll, Charlie Gallagher & Alec Byrne.