Celtic On This Day – 16th December – David Potter’s Celtic Diary

The late, great Celtic Historian David Potter’s Celtic Diary each morning on The Celtic Star looks back at key Celtic events and matches on this day starting on 16th December 1893…

Born on this day in 1956, Tommy Burns. 💚 pic.twitter.com/G3B3JYjpam

— Li’l Ze (@LilZe785) December 16, 2023

Happy Birthday Tom Rogic. pic.twitter.com/HnEuOA8oRU

— Li’l Ze (@LilZe785) December 16, 2023

SATURDAY 16 DECEMBER 1893 – Only 1,500 attend in vile weather to see Celtic beat Albion Rovers 7-0 in the Scottish Cup. Joe Cassidy scores four, Johnny Madden two and Jimmy Blessington one in a very one-sided game, made more so when an Albion Rovers player is carried off with a broken leg within the first ten minutes.

Patsy Gallacher – “easily the most useful and outstanding forward of them all”

SATURDAY 16 DECEMBER 1922 – Form has been inconsistent of late, but today at least in the midwinter Edinburgh gloom sees a fine Celtic performance as they travel to Tynecastle to beat Hearts 3-0 with goals from Adam McLean, “Jean” McFarlane and Pasty Gallacher. Patsy Gallacher was “easily the most useful and outstanding forward of them all” according to The Sunday Post.

SATURDAY 16 DECEMBER 1944 – Celtic’s form is fast improving, and today at Celtic Park, 10,000 fans are thoroughly entertained in a 5-3 victory over Hamilton Accies. Joe McLaughlin scores twice and the others are scored by John Divers, Jimmy Delaney and Jackie Gallacher. The crowd as usual contains a fair smattering of men in uniform, and quite a few curious American servicemen curious to know what the Scottish game of football is all about.

SATURDAY 16 DECEMBER 1961 – 28,000 see and enjoy a great game of football at Parkhead as Celtic confirm their title credentials with a 4-3 win over Hibs to whom they were twice behind. A draw might have been a fair result until John Divers scores the winner with a diving header to finish off a John Hughes cross. This completes Divers’ hat-trick, with John Hughes scoring the other goal. In Hibs goal, Ronnie Simpson does well to prevent Hughes in particular scoring more goals.

SATURDAY 16 DECEMBER 2000 – Henrik Larsson bags a brilliant hat-trick, Ramon Vega scores two and Jamie Smith notches the other one as poor Aberdeen are hammered 6-0 before a virtually capacity crowd of 59,677 at Celtic Park. Celtic supporters are now beginning to realise that Martin O’Neill is creating a really special team for the fans to appreciate.