Celtic on New Year’s Day – First foot victories to savour at Ibrox and Tynecastle…
1 January 1983
Rangers 1-2 Celtic. Billy McNeill’s side kickstarted 1983 with a victory at Ibrox courtesy of Frank McGarvey and Tommy Burns’ second half strikes. Tommy McLean was in charge for the Ibrox club as caretaker boss following John Greig’s resignation. Unlike today, Rangers sent Celtic more tickets on the Friday for the Govan Stand meaning Celtic fans were in three sides of Ibrox.
McNeill was given a huge blow early on in the match when David Provan was taken off with an ankle injury. Notably, Willie McStay was excellent filling in for the suspended Roy Aitken. The Hoops made it three wins from three over their rivals in the 1982/1983 season and this one was just as sweet as the 1982 Scottish League Cup final in which Celtic were victorious with the same scoreline.
1 January 2006
Hearts 2-3 Celtic. From 2-0 down, Celtic staged a dramatic second-half comeback to seal a memorable victory at Tynecastle. The Jambos were two up inside eight minutes through Janakauskas and Presley stunning the visitors. Inspired by the unlikely hero Stephen Pearson, Pearson admirably led Strachan’s men onto victory with Stephen McManus grabbing an unlikely double at the death. McManus’ last minute swivel and finish extended the Hoops’ lead at the top of the Scottish Premier League to seven points. Eventually winning the title by a country mile, this was undoubtedly one of the games of the 2005/2006 campaign.
1 January 2014
Celtic 1-0 Partick Thistle. Joe Ledley’s fourth goal of the season was enough to give Celtic the three points on a rare New Years’ Day Glasgow Derby. Neil Lennon’s side were strolling the league and went 11 clear of Motherwell with a game in hand. Admirably, the club laid on free bus service for all supporters which increased the attendance in the days of a much-dwindling capacity at Celtic Park following the demise of Rangers and there being next to no competition in the league.
Conor Spence
