CELTIC have won the Scottish League – fair and square – on 49 occasions, beginning in 1893. We have won 9-in-a-row, 6-in-a-row and in May this year achieved for the second time 7-in-a-row and who is to say where this run will end? The Celtic support certainly have our focus on achieving 10-in-row and have every faith in Brendan Rodgers to deliver it.
By next May we should be celebrating 8-in-a-row, barring a complete disaster, and that will be our 50th fair and square League win.
David Potter, the Celtic historian and author and valuable contributor to this site, next month publishes the first new Celtic book of 2018, titled ‘Celtic – ‘How the League was Won 49 Times’ and we have some advance copies available now for The Celtic Star Bookstore.
And if you order David’s brilliant new book over the next few days you will receive a FREE copy of That Season in Paradise – Ten Months of Celtic Heaven signed by non other than Lisbon Lion Bertie Auld!
David Potter’s new book – ‘Celtic – How the League was Won 49 Times’ – is packed with stories about Celtic greats from Dan Doyle to Sandy McMahon, Jimmy McMenemy, Jimmy Quinn, Patsy Gallacher, Jimmy McGrory, Billy McNeill, Jimmy Johnstone, Roy Aitken, Henrik Larsson, Shunsuke Nakamura and right up to Broony.
The circumstances in which the League was won were sometimes quite remarkable – Celtic have won it with ten men in the final game, they once played TWO games in the same day to win the League and the club even played 8 games in 12 days to win it.
We very occasionally got a little help from our friends in the shape of guys like Barney Battles and Albert Kidd.
All of this an much more are detailed in this entertaining new Celtic book by David Potter. And remember if you want an advance copy go to The Celtic Star Bookstore to order (or click on the book cover below to take you there).
Meanwhile here’s a quick Q&A with David Potter, author of ‘Celtic – How the League was Won 49 Times’…
THE CELTIC STAR: David, why 49? Why not wait for 50?
DAVID POTTER: Well. I hope I am wrong about this, but there is no guarantee that 50 will be achieved next year or indeed for a few years yet! The important thing is to retain our “appetite” for “10 in a row” or even further. The biggest enemy is complacency, as perhaps we have already discovered this season.
THE CELTIC STAR: How many of these 49 have you yourself seen?
DAVID POTTER: I vaguely remember 1954, but when you are five year old “Celtic have won the League” doesn’t necessarily mean very much! I have vivid recollections of them all from 1966 onwards.
THE CELTIC STAR: What is your favourite?
DAVID POTTER: 1968, actually. And this is mainly because everyone said “We can’t do it” because after New Year we had played all our games against Rangers, and were behind them. But we kept winning, and Rangers cracked under the psychological pressure of us doing so well. The power of propaganda is tremendous and we must always be aware of this happening in reverse to us. I suspect there was an element of this in 2009 and 2011. Another great favourite is Albert Kidd in 1986, again because we didn’t seem to have an earthly!
THE CELTIC STAR: Was there anything that surprised you in your researches?
DAVID POTTER: Several things actually – how little regarded the Scottish League was in the early days – far below the Scottish Cup and even the Glasgow Cup in importance! And how badly teams other than Celtic and Rangers do in the Scottish League e.g. Aberdeen, Hearts and Hibs have each won it 4 times each, which is not really very often since 1890! And another thing was just how badly Celtic did in some years – the immediate post-Second World War years, for example, and the inability to put up a meaningful challenge in the early 1990s when our club was in the hands of feckless nobodies. (This must not be allowed to happen again!)
THE CELTIC STAR: What are the most remarkable winnings of the League by Celtic?
DAVID POTTER: Two stand out. In 1909 Celtic had to play 8 games in 12 days to win the League, and in 1916 (because of war-time circumstances) we had to play two games on the one day to win the League! Can’t imagine that happening today! There was also, of course, the tragic/comic circumstances of 1959 when Celtic actually won the League – for Rangers! On the last day Rangers were booed off the field for throwing away the League and losing to Aberdeen at Ibrox, while at Celtic Park, Celtic beat Hearts thereby giving the League back to Rangers! No-one knew whether to laugh or cry!
THE CELTIC STAR: You have now done books on all three domestic trophies, but you are a bit shy of doing anything on Europe. Why?
DAVID POTTER: Isn’t the answer obvious? Apart from 1967 and a few years after that, and a few years in the early part of the 21st century, our record is a disgrace and really should be condemned to oblivion (give or take the odd isolated success) for a club with our support. A major tactical error was made in 1977 with the selling of Kenny Dalglish, and this effectively crippled us in Europe until Martin O’Neill led us to a partial recovery.
THE CELTIC STAR: Thanks David! Remember folks, ‘Celtic – How the League was Won 49 Times,’ by David Potter is published in September. However we have some advance copies available now the cover price of £14.99 plus p&p and we will include FREE OF CHARGE a copy of ‘That Season in Paradise – Ten Months of Celtic Heaven’ which is SIGNED by Lisbon Lion Bertie Auld. Limited numbers are available and we will remove the book from sale when it has sold out. Order by clicking on the book cover.
