Celtic On This Day – 25th October – David Potter’s Celtic Diary

The late, great Celtic Historian David Potter’s Celtic diary highlights key Celtic-related events relevant to each day, today covering 25th October…

SATURDAY 25 OCTOBER 1924

Having lost heavily 1-4 to Rangers in the Glasgow Cup final three weeks ago, Celtic could hardly have been looking forward to the visit of Rangers today, but there was at least more of a fight as they went down 0-1, and were generally considered to be unlucky. Adam McLean was out injured and he was badly missed. The crowd was a disappointing 38,000, and they were assailed by political activists outside the ground, for there was a General Election on Wednesday 29 October.

SATURDAY 25 OCTOBER 1958

Bertie Auld scores two penalties as Celtic beat Third Lanark 3-1 at Celtic Park after Third Lanark had scored first. Neil Mochan scores the other goal. 18,000 attend but the big game of the day is at Hampden Park where Hearts win the Scottish League Cup by beating Partick Thistle 5-1.

SATURDAY 25 OCTOBER 1969

St. Johnstone, playing in their first ever major Cup final, put up a great show in the Scottish League Cup final at Hampden, but are beaten 1-0 by a confident Celtic side for whom Bertie Auld scores early on and goalkeeper John Fallon has one or two very fine saves. This is Celtic’s seventh Scottish League Cup victory and their fifth in a row. Before the game, Jock Stein springs a surprise by dropping Tommy Gemmell and introducing young Davie Hay instead. This is because Gemmell had let himself and his country down by being sent off in the World Cup qualifying tie in Hamburg against West Germany on Wednesday night. Relations between Gemmell and Stein will never quite be the same again.

WEDNESDAY 25 OCTOBER 1972

Kenny Dalglish scores twice as Celtic win the First Leg of their European Cup tie at Celtic Park against Ujpest Dozsa 2-1 before a crowd of 51,000. The problem was the goal scored by Bene for the Hungarians. It was generally agreed to have been a great game of football, but Celtic’s lead is a slender one.

SATURDAY 25 OCTOBER 1980

A good win for Celtic as they beat Kilmarnock 4-1 before a slightly disappointing crowd of 18,000. New boy Charlie Nicholas who has had a good few months since arriving on the scene took two penalties and scored them, while Frank McGarvey notched a brace as well.

David Potter

Out now! We have a limited number of copies signed by both John Hartson and the author Matt Corr – click on the image to order….

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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