Celtic On This Day – 26th December – 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 26th December 1925. 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.

SATURDAY 26 DECEMBER 1925 – Cowdenbeath earn their moment of glory when, at a very wintry Central Park with an inch or two of snow on the pitch, they earn a 1-1 draw against this very good Celtic side. Celtic’s goal comes after a fine move involving the left wing pair of Adam McLean and Tommy McInally, but then the “miners” earn a penalty. In spite of this, it is a good day for Celtic because Rangers lose their ninth League game of the season by going down to St Johnstone at Ibrox.

MONDAY 26 DECEMBER 1955 – Boxing Day is an unusual day to have a Glasgow Cup final, but this is a replay following a 1-1 draw in September. 39,000 are at Hampden to see the Old Firm serve up an eight goal thriller which Celtic win 5-3. Bobby Collins scores twice as does Jim Sharkey and Willie Fernie notches the other goal, as Celtic win their 21st Glasgow Cup.

SATURDAY 26 DECEMBER 1964 – At a frozen Parkhead and with the team struggling, only 9,500 fans turn up to see visit of Motherwell. But the fans, some of whom light fires on the terracing to keep warm, were rewarded with an honest 2-0 victory with both goals coming from John Hughes who was wearing trainers or sandshoes as they were then called.

SATURDAY 26 DECEMBER 1987 A last minute goal by Joe Miller earns Celtic a 2-1 victory at Tannadice in a Boxing Day thriller before 18,458 fans. Earlier Andy Walker had scored a penalty. Much excitement is engendered by the appearance of Murdo MacLeod in the stand. Murdo now plays his football in Germany but is back home on his midwinter break.

TUESDAY 26 DECEMBER 2000 – The Boxing Day fixture at Tannadice is a very one-sided one with Celtic winning comfortably 4-0 over Dundee United. Two goals come from Chris Sutton, one from Henrik Larsson and the other from Stiliyan Petrov.

David Potter

About Author

I am Celtic author and historian and write for The Celtic Star. I live in Kirkcaldy and have followed Celtic all my life, having seen them first at Dundee in March 1958. I am a retired teacher and my other interests are cricket, drama and the poetry of Robert Burns.

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