Celtic On This Day – 20th January – 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 20th January 1906. David’s latest bestseller The Celtic Rising ~ 1965: The Year Jock Stein Changed Everything SOLD OUT on Celtic Star Books but the good news is that it is now back in stock! You can place an order here and we’ll post your order immediately. The Celtic Rising is also now available on Amazon Kindle, link below.

Alec Bennet scored twice

SATURDAY 20 JANUARY 1906 – Things are very upbeat at Celtic Park at the moment. Celtic win their 12th game in a row by beating Partick Thistle 4-2 with two goals from Alec Bennett and one each from Jimmy McMenemy and Alec McNair. The clear and obvious success of the Liberals in the General Election means that Irish Home Rule is now once again back on the political agenda. It also means that something might now be done about Glasgow’s appalling poverty.

Johnny Crum scored four goals

SATURDAY 20 JANUARY 1934 – Celtic pay their first and only visit to the home of Dalbeattie Star to beat them 6-0 in the Scottish Cup. Johnny Crum scores four and Frank O’Donnell two. It could have been a lot more but Celtic visibly ease up. It may have been that Celtic might have “co-operated” in a Dalbeattie goal near the end, but Maley is seen to stand up and shout “No nonsense” at his defenders. 2,376 local people will remember this day all their lives.

SATURDAY 20 JANUARY 1968 – The last two games have been off because of bad weather but today Celtic travel to Easter Road to beat Hibs 2-0. The goals are scored by Bobby Lennox and an own goal. Poor Arthur Duncan of Hibs scored the own goal and then is carried off with a broken leg after an unfortunate clash with John Hughes. The game is punctuated with crowd trouble leading to eight arrests.

SATURDAY 20 JANUARY 1990 – Celtic, in the middle of a poor run of form, pay a rare visit to Station Park, Forfar on Scottish Cup business, and it is a far from easy day with Forfar scoring first through a Craig Brewster free-kick. But Chris Morris sinks a penalty, before Jackie Dziekanowski scores a classic winner. It says a great deal for both teams that Paddy Bonner was the best man on the field. 8,388 are at this game.

SATURDAY 20 JANUARY 2007 – Gordon Strachan’s Celtic side win their fourth game since the New Year with a fine 5-1 win over St Mirren at Celtic Park. Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink scores a hat trick (one is a penalty) and Aiden McGeady and Liam Miller score the other two.

David Potter

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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