The late David Potter’s Celtic diary highlight key Celtic related events relevant to each day, today covering 3 August…
MONDAY 3 AUGUST 1914
Britain has now mobilised, and war now seems inevitable, but 2,500 turn up in wretched weather conditions to see the end of the Rangers Sports at Ibrox. In the Five-A-Side tournament, Celtic convincingly defeated Rangers in the semi-final but then disappointed their supporters by losing by one goal and one corner to Clyde.
WEDNESDAY 3 AUGUST 1939
Willie Maley’s book “The Story of the Celtic” is published and on sale for 3 shillings and 6 pence.
He has been working on the book for several years. It is the first book ever published on Celtic, and remains an invaluable source for the early days of the club. (Soccer Books have recently released a limited edition re-print on this book) Meanwhile the prospect of war draws ever closer.
TUESDAY 3 AUGUST 1965
Celtic delight their many fans in the 13,000 crowd by defeating Shamrock Rovers 7-0 in Dalymount Park, Dublin. The newly signed Joe McBride scores a hat-trick, Lennox two and Hughes and Gallagher one each.
SATURDAY 3 AUGUST 1974
Celtic win the Dryburgh Cup for the first and only time by beating Rangers 4-2 on penalties after the score was 2-2 after extra time with Celtic’s goals coming from Steve Murray and Paul Wilson. 57,558 attend this game on a nice warm day. The Dryburgh Cup, a fairly obvious and naked attempt at advertising and money making, will not last long, for the season is already overcrowded.
SATURDAY 3 AUGUST 2019
It could be described as opening the season in style as Celtic walloped St Johnstone 7-0 before 58,000 at Celtic Park. Ryan Christie scored a hat-trick and the other goals were scored by Olivier Ntcham, Odsonne Edouard, Mikey Johnston and Leigh Griffiths. Two famous widows – Liz McNeill and Sadie Chalmers unfurl last year’s League flag before the start.
David Potter
