Celtic On This Day – 5th September – David Potter’s Celtic Diary

Month 2, Day 5 of Celtic Historian David Potter’s new diary on The Celtic Star which will run throughout the new season and will highlight key Celtic-related events relevant to each day, today covering 5 September…

SATURDAY 5 SEPTEMBER 1891

At Old Celtic Park, 8,000 see Celtic beat Renton 3-0 with a hat-trick of goals scored by Johnny Campbell. The play is very impressive and the crowd are very appreciative of the way that the left-wing pairing of Sandy McMahon and Johnny Campbell link up together.

SATURDAY 5 SEPTEMBER 1925

A thrilling Glasgow Cup tie at Firhill before 31,000 see Celtic looking as if they were about to be eliminated by Partick Thistle but they were indebted to Alec Thomson for a late equaliser.

SATURDAY 5 SEPTEMBER 1931

Celtic’s saddest day as John Thomson meets his death following an accidental collision with Sam English of Rangers at Ibrox. The accident occurs soon after the start of the second half. English is slightly injured and immediately hobbles over to see to Thomson whose head knock looks to be serious. Behind the goal a crowd of morons cheer and demand that the game should continue but they are stilled by an appeal from Rangers’ captain Davie Meiklejohn. John dies just before 9.30 p.m that evening in the Victoria Infirmary, and his funeral is held a few days later in his home village of Cardenden in Fife.

SATURDAY 5 SEPTEMBER 1964

Celtic enjoy a great day in the rain at Parkhead as they beat Rangers 3-1, 58,000 watching Steve Chalmers score two goals and John Hughes one. In truth, it should have been a lot more for Charlie Gallagher misses a penalty and John Hughes has a great goal chalked off mysteriously by referee Hugh Phillips. It is Celtic’s first victory over Rangers in a national competition since 1960.

SATURDAY 5 SEPTEMBER 1981

Celtic are already out of the League Cup, but their League challenge had begun well. Last week they beat Airdrie at home, and today they travel to Pittodrie to beat Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen 3-1 with two good goals from Frank McGarvey and one from Tommy Burns.

David Potter

David Potter’s new book, Willie Fernie – Putting on the Style is featured in the new edition of the Celtic View which is out now and available from the Celtic Stores. You can also pick up the Willie Fernie book there too or order direct from Celtic Star Books, link below…

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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