Celtic On This Day – 1st April – David Potter’s Celtic Diary

Celtic Historian David Potter each morning on The Celtic Star looks back at key Celtic events and matches on this day starting on 1st April 1907. David’s latest bestseller The Celtic Rising ~ 1965: The Year Jock Stein Changed Everything is available now in print on Celtic Star Books, and also on Amazon kindle, links below…

Jimmy Quinn scored

MONDAY 1st APRIL 1907 – Holiday Monday at Celtic Park and Celtic’s two points against Queen’s Park take them to the verge of the Scottish League Championship. The goals are scored by Jimmy Quinn and Davie Hamilton, and speculation is now growing that Celtic can be the first team to win the Double of the Scottish League and the Scottish Cup in the one season.

SATURDAY 1st APRIL 1967 –  “Ach, ye never get a good gemme atween thae two” is the conventional wisdom of the East End, and to-day’s Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden between Celtic and Clyde proves that point as the game finished in a 0-0 draw. Most spectators however think that Clyde are lucky not to concede a penalty kick for hand-ball late in the game.

TUESDAY 1st APRIL 1969 – It is the stuff that champions are made of! Celtic, two down at half-time to Willie Ormond’s strong St.Johnstone side at Muirton Park, come back to win 3-2 at the death with goals from Willie Wallace, Tommy Gemmell and Harry Hood.

George McCluskey scored twice
Frank McGarvey scored as the Jungle chanted ‘April Fools’ to the Hearts players

WEDNESDAY 1st APRIL 1981 – Doomed Hearts are thrashed at Parkhead 6-0 by a rampant Celtic team with the Championship clearly in their sights. George McCluskey scores twice (one is a penalty) as does Murdo MacLeod while McGarvey and Provan score the others in front of a paltry 13,300 crowd. Hearts are but a shade of their great teams of the past and are an eloquent testimony to the folly of incompetent management and stewardship.

Samaras scored

SUNDAY 1st APRIL 2012 – Celtic move to within one point of the SPL title with a 2-0 win over St Johnstone before 57,848 fans at Celtic Park. They are hardly at their best, but Georgios Samaras scores with a good header from a Kris Commons free kick halfway through the second half, then Celtic get the benefit of an own goal a few minutes later to seal the points.

David Potter

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About Author

David was a distinguished Celtic author and historian and writer for The Celtic Star. He lived in Kirkcaldy and followed Celtic all my life, having seen them first at Dundee in March 1958. He was a retired teacher and his other interests were cricket, drama and the poetry of Robert Burns. David Potter passed away on 29 July 2023 after a short illness. He was posthumously awarded a Special Recognition award by Celtic FC at the club's Player of the Year awards in May 2024. David's widow Rosemary accepted the award to huge applause from the Celtic Supporters in the Hydro.

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