Three days before Christmas, an under-fire Billy McNeill, now in the difficult post-Centenary period of his second spell in charge at Parkhead, took his struggling Celtic side to McDiarmid. Dad had been invited to hospitality by one of the suppliers to the social club and, wonderfully as I thought at the time, was encouraged to bring his son along. More alcohol was probably the last thing I needed the morning after the office Christmas party but sometimes duty calls, so suited and booted, I sat quietly in the back seat as we made our way to Perth.
After a nice lunch and some “squaring-up” beers, the afternoon went rapidly downhill. Saints striker Steve Maskrey scored in the first minute and they were 2-0 up within a further five, Harry Curran’s fierce 25-yard shot beating Pat Bonner all ends up as Celtic faced a third successive League defeat and, incredibly, a sixth loss in nine games. John Collins’ strike early in the second half provided some brief hopes of a comeback before a third home goal from Tommy Turner just after the hour killed us off. Tommy Coyne, as he so often did, then netted to pull it back to 3-2 from a Peter Grant through ball as we approached the last 15 minutes of the game but that was as good as it got.
Cesar and I would return to Perth for the final fixture of that dreadful 1990/91 season, Celtic twice coming from behind to gain a degree of revenge by edging a five-goal thriller. As in the December match, the home side were ahead straight from the kick-off, through Roddy Grant, before Charlie Nicholas levelled things in the 17th minute.
And Saints made a similarly blistering start to the second period, David Bingham making it 2-1 from Grant’s knockdown before most of the 9,500 spectators had retaken their seats. Mike Galloway’s cute lob on the hour-mark levelled things again then with just 11 minutes remaining, Coyne was fouled in the box. The striker dusted himself down before blasting home his 18th and final goal of the season, securing the two points for Celtic.
The 3-2 victory in Perth, combined with a stoppage-time Dunfermline Athletic winner against Dundee United, ironically scored by ex-Celt David Moyes, enabled McNeill’s Celtic to finish two goals ahead of the Tannadice club in third place, despite losing 12 of their 36 League games, thus claiming an unlikely UEFA Cup slot. However, my memories of that game are that the focus for most Celts was on events at Ibrox, where two Mark Hateley goals handed Rangers a third successive title.
Their opponents that day, Alex Smith’s Aberdeen, had arrived in Govan needing just a single point to clinch the flag. Cesar’s Centenary champions of just three years earlier had gone two seasons without silverware and were now depending on others to prevent their traditional rivals from stacking up the domestic trophies. It had been a swift, painful decline and it would prove the downfall of one of our favourite sons. Within days, Billy McNeill had left the manager’s office at Parkhead for the second and final time.
McDiarmid Park would also prove to be the graveyard of McNeill’s successor, Liam Brady, just over two years later. Another two seasons without a trophy – if you discount the Tennent’s Sixes victory in January 1993, the first time my then five-year-old son had witnessed green-and-white ribbons on silverware of any kind – and no sign of an 11-a-side version arriving anytime soon, had left the Irishman a dead man walking.
On a wild night in Perth, in October of that year, his Celtic side went down to a 2-1 defeat, a third loss in the opening 10 League games. With only two wins in a dismal opening to the do-or-die campaign, Brady resigned the following morning, before the axe came down.
Interesting team St Johnstone. They possibly share with Rangers the distinction of having more Tory voters than Labour one in their support, but unlike the other ones, their supporters are usually quite pleasant, if a little sparse on occasion!
Both Bobby Murdoch and Jock Stein are on record as saying that St Johnstone were the team, next to Rangers, who gave Celtic the most bother in the 1960s and 1970s. My memories include two mid week games at Muirton Park – one a 6-1 display of devastating football in 1968 when we were chasing the League and needed to score goals. And the other was the following year when we came back from 0-2 down to win 3-2. There are a few less happy memories as well!