THE 1970s were reasonably successful for Celtic generally, but not as far as the Scottish League Cup was concerned. We have never suffered relegation or bankruptcy which, I presume, are far worse, but certainly the pain of losing a Cup final must rank high in the agony stakes.
Celtic reached 8 League Cup finals in a row between 1970/71 and 1977/78 – and lost 7 of them!
They were lost sometimes through sheer hard luck, sometimes through inadequate preparation and complacency, sometimes through meeting a team which, on the day, was better than we were – but all of these League Cup finals caused pain. The exception – and it was a great exception was 1974/75 when Celtic won their 8th Scottish League Cup.
Autumn 1974 was a difficult time for most people. True, the Labour Government of Harold Wilson had been returned, but inflation was still a major problem and showed every sign of getting out of hand altogether with major strikes in sections of the workforce not normally associated with militancy – namely dust bin men and school teachers. It was not a happy time.
Celtic were in the same section as Dundee United, Ayr United and Motherwell. They lost to Ayr United (and it is not often that happens!) at Somerset Park on the first Wednesday of the season and then dropped a point to Motherwell in the last game of the section, but their other victories were enough to win them the section even though many of the supporters were far from impressed.
It was indeed an unsettled unhappy time for the supporters. Davie Hay had gone to Chelsea. George Connelly walked out of the club for personal reasons. The team had lost to Rangers at Parkhead and had exited from Europe to a little known Greek team and the defeat of Hamilton Academical over the two legs of the League Cup quarter final was not all that impressive.
The semi-final on 9 October was uniformly described as “drab” by the newspapers, but it was a 1-0 win over Airdrie, the goal being scored by Steve Murray one of the few bright spots around Celtic Park at that moment.
Things did not look good for Celtic but then things suddenly changed with two wins over Hibs. One was a 5-0 win in the League with Dixie Deans scoring a hat-trick, and then he proceeded to do the very same thing in the League Cup final.
Hibs deserve sympathy and indeed praise for their part in the 6-3 game, which was played on 26 October 1974. Joe Harper managed to score a hat-trick – but still lost!
In any case his hat-trick was overshadowed by that of Dixie Deans, one of whose goals almost defies rational analysis. From a corner kick, Jimmy Johnstone drove for goal, the ball ricocheted off a defender, and Dixie Deans dived forward and headed the rebound. It was either a total fluke or one of the best goals ever – and I tend to favour the latter!
The other goals were scored by Jimmy Johnstone, Paul Wilson and Steve Murray. It was a great game and a great day, but in the context of the rest of Celtic’s League Cup misery around this time, it was like an outbreak of laughter at a funeral.
Celtic’s team was Hunter, McGrain, Brogan, Murray, McNeill, McCluskey, Johnstone, Dalglish, Deans, Hood and Wilson.
David Potter
Check out David’s articles on all the earlier League Cup triumphs that Celtic enjoyed below. Win number 9 will be featured tomorrow on The Celtic Star…
Bertie Auld the hero as Celtic win the League Cup for the 7th time…see HERE.
‘It was simply superb, scintillating stuff,’ The Celtic team of 1969 was Something Special…see HERE.
League Cup won, ‘that very evening Celtic were airborne en route to South America,’ David Potter…see HERE.
Celtic’s first win in the League Cup was in 1956, with a 3-0 win in a replay against Partick Thistle. You can read David’s review of that triumph HERE.
Then after a decade wait to with the thing, the League Cup was successfully defended the following season, and it has to be said in pretty spectacular style! This remains Celtic’s greatest ever day at Hampden when on 19 October 1957 the League Cup Final finished Celtic 7 Rangers 1…read David’s article on this match HERE.
It was back to waiting for The Celtic support after that and it would be the mid sixties before Celtic hands were lifting the League Cup again. The 1965 win over Rangers was significant in that it proved that the Scottish Cup win earlier in the year against Dunfermline was no one-off fluke. It had been a tough old start to the 1960s for Celtic but things were getting better. David Potter’s look back to the 1965 is HERE.
And having won the League Cup for the first time in the 1960s, just as they had done in the 1950s, Celtic went on to defend and retain the trophy by beating Rangers in the final the next season. There was no 7-1 thrashing this time as Celtic won a hard fought match 2-1 to collect the one of the five trophies won that season, the Glasgow Cup, Scottish Cup, League Title and European Cup were the
others – we know you know that, but it’s nice to mention as often as we can! David’s take on the 1966 League Cup win over Rangers can be enjoyed HERE.
