Celtic on this Day – Early European joy for Celtic provides a tantalising taste of what is to come…
12 January 1966
Celtic 3-0 Dinamo Kiev. 1966 was home to the first year Soviet Union teams competed in European competition — the expectation was that they’d perform well. A positive for Celtic was that Kiev had been in the middle of a winter shutdown and had not played since November, therefore the Hoops were fresher heading into this European Cup Winners Cup quarter-final first leg. A bulk of this Kiev side would go onto win USSR titles on three occasions. Having comfortably dispatched Go Ahead Eagles and Danish side Aarhus in the earlier rounds, this would be a massive barometer of how far Jock Stein’s side had come in a short period of time. It was also the biggest crowd [64,000] to attend a European game at Celtic Park in the history of the club until this point. Despite missing influential skipper Billy McNeill, John Cushley filled in excellently alongside John Clark. Amongst the Kiev ranks were Bannikov and their star man Bazilevitch. Tommy Gemmell and stand-in skipper Bobby Murdoch’s brace gave Celtic a cushion heading into the second leg two weeks later. John Hughes also missed a penalty. It was evident that Stein and his team were creating something special both on the domestic and European front.
12 January 2008
Celtic 3-0 Stirling Albion. Gordon Strachan’s side eased their way through to the Scottish Cup fifth round with a 3-0 victory over Stirling Albion. It was Celtic’s first match of 2008 due to the New Years Derby being postponed after the sad passing of Phil O’Donnell. A minute’s applause was held prior to the game on an emotional day at Celtic Park. Andres Hinkel made his Hoops debut versus the part-timers. Strachan also faced huge criticism from the support after dropping Bobo Balde from the team. On the scoresheet were Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Scott McDonald and Shunsuke Nakamura. Celtic would breeze past Kilmarnock at Rugby Park in the fifth round of the competition with a 5-1 win but would be beaten by Aberdeen 1-0 in a quarter-final replay at Celtic Park to seal a disappointing early exit from the Scottish Cup.
12 January 2002
Kilmarnock 0-2 Celtic. A stubborn Killie side failed to stop the SPL’s runaway leaders. John Hartson opened the scoring after Stilian Petrov had been bundled down in the box by Peter Canero. 10 minutes later, Paul Lambert put the game out of the hosts reach to retain Martin O’Neill’s side’s significant 13-point lead at the top of the table. The Hoops had now won 21 league matches from a possible 23. Nobody came close to stopping Celtic during the 2001/2002 campaign.
Conor Spence
The Late, great Celtic Historian David Potter’s Celtic Diary each morning on The Celtic Star looked back at key Celtic events and matches on this day starting on 12th January 1907…
SATURDAY 12 JANUARY 1907 – Jimmy Bauchop, playing one of his rare games for Celtic in place of the unjustly suspended Jimmy Quinn, scores today against Clyde at Shawfield. Peter Somers scores the other in the 2-0 victory and Celtic remain on course to be the first team to lift the Scottish League and the Scottish Cup in the same season.
SATURDAY 12 JANUARY 1946 – In poor weather, Celtic beat Third Lanark 3-2 at Celtic Park with goals from Tommy Kiernan, Joe Rae and Jackie Gallacher. It is a rather uninspiring time in Celtic history, and rumours abound that Jimmy Delaney wishes to move on.
WEDNESDAY 12 JANUARY 1966 – On a cold January night, Celtic beat Dinamo Kiev 3-0 in the first leg of their European Cup Winners’ Cup quarter final with one goal from Jimmy Johnstone and two from Bobby Murdoch. At half-time the 64,000 crowd are entertained by a display of ball control given by young Celtic reserve George Connelly.
12th January 1966, Celtic beat Dynamo Kiev 3:0 in the Cup Winners Cup Quarter-Finals.
Tommy Gemmell and Bobby Murdoch(2) with the goals. pic.twitter.com/g2QU0AQ0G5
— Li’l Ze (@LilZe_7) January 12, 2023
SATURDAY 12 JANUARY 1980 – A hard fought game at Easter Road today ends in a 1-1 draw. Hibs went ahead with what can only be described as a brilliant goal by George Best, but then Celtic fight back and Roy Aitken gets an equaliser. Possibly Celtic deserved a winner as well, but it never came and a draw was a fair result.
WEDNESDAY 12 JANUARY 2011 – Celtic’s feelings about referees are by no means mollified by tonight’s performance of Willie Collum, but this cannot hide the deficiencies of the team who need a 90th minute penalty from Anthony Stokes to earn a draw against a plucky Hamilton Accies side at New Douglas Park.
David Potter
READ THIS…Sandman’s Definitive Ratings – Celtic v Ice Station Zebra
Celtic in the Thirties
