Celtic Park’s 110,000 capacity development plans costing £100k from 1954

Date: 29 April 1954…Below are the proposed development changes to Celtic Park. It was thought at this point that Celtic had finally turned a corner having gone a generation with little of note, only to win the Coronation Cup, and then winning the league and Scottish Cup double.

Only a few days later, The Daily Record posted an article for a mega-project to be started at Celtic for 110,000 spectator capacity renovation of Celtic Park, with 80,000 under cover, with a now unbelievable costing of £100,000 (admittedly pricing of the time).

The Jungle in 1954, note the tricolour proudly flying towards the Celtic end…

Unsurprisingly, the Celtic board did little, and only in the 1970s with the rebuild of the main stand was there much modern development done at Celtic Park. The development of the terracing ends was not exactly spectacular work.

It was not until 1994 that Celtic finally began a proper modernisation of the ground. Generations of time, investment and foresight lost before Fergus McCann arrived to build our new Paradise.

Here’s Celtic bringing in the New Year of 1954 by beating Rangers at Parkhead, where you can see the late Neil ‘Smiler’ Mochan’s winner and also plenty of shots of the old stadium…

Thanks to Davy at the wonderful @celticbars for the scans and The Celtic Wiki for the heads up.

About Author

The Celtic Star founder and editor David Faulds has edited numerous Celtic books over the past decade or so including several from Lisbon Lions, Willie Wallace, Tommy Gemmell and Jim Craig. Earliest Celtic memories include a win over East Fife at Celtic Park and the 4-1 League Cup loss to Partick Thistle as a 6 year old. Best game? Easy 4-2, 1979 when Ten Men Won the League. Email editor@thecelticstar.co.uk

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