1979 dawned with Celtic in sixth place but still within touching distance of League leaders Dundee United. In a sense, the League season had not really started yet, and indeed it would not really start until the month of March for there was an enforced “winter shut down” – the worst since 1963 – because of bad weather.
Celtic’s first League game of 1979 was against Aberdeen at Celtic Park on 3 March, although they had managed to play a couple of games in the Scottish Cup against Montrose and Berwick Rangers, two grounds which because of their proximity to the East coast evaded the worst of the weather.
The lay-off was probably a good thing, for it gave McNeill time to work with his hitherto underperforming squad and to introduce the new players, Provan and MacLeod, to the Celtic ethos. There was also the considerable, even the vital, added bonus of the return of Danny McGrain to the right back spot.
It was a sunny, but windy day when Aberdeen came on 3 March. The pitch was far from ideal, but Alfie Conn scored the only goal of the game. It was a good start, but the same opponents put Celtic out of the Scottish Cup eleven days later. A couple of League victories followed but then the last day of March saw Celtic back to square one when, on the same depressing day that Rangers were winning the League Cup, Celtic went down to Hibs. When asked if Celtic looked like League winners, the BBC commentator answered baldly “No”.
And yet there were still 14 games to go, and Celtic had no other commitments.
“The Celts of old would have done it” said the veteran supporters, but frankly, the Celtic of 1979 was far from a vintage side. There was a further defeat at Tannadice on Wednesday 11 April, but this was a defeat that inspired Celtic, for it was a moral victory, and although Celtic fans left the ground fearing the worst about their League chances, there was, nevertheless, a feeling that things were slowly moving in the right direction.
By this time the League challengers had been whittled down to three – Celtic, Rangers and Dundee United with United in the lead but having played more games than the other two. The games now came thick and fast in April, and a key game came on 28 April at Celtic Park against Dundee United. As a footballing spectacle, this was poor but Celtic edged home 2-1 with a flukey header from Johnny Doyle and a penalty from Andy Lynch. This game effectively ended Dundee United’s stuttering title challenge, but there was still Rangers whom Celtic had to play twice.
The first game was at Hampden (Ibrox was under reconstruction) but it was a major disappointment, almost as bad as the victory of the Conservatives of Margaret Thatcher a couple of days previously in the 1979 General Election. The 0-1 defeat was feckless and totally unpredictable following a very good 3-1 win over Hibs in midweek.
This result gave Rangers a one point advantage but it was still not the end of the world. Four games remained including the one against Rangers at Celtic Park, but shrewder supporters pointed out that the “other” games against Partick Thistle, St Mirren and Hearts were just as important.
Each one of these games was tight and tense (the St Mirren game was played at Ibrox on the Friday night before the Scottish Cup final) but when the final whistle went after the 1-0 game over relegated Hearts (a truly awful game of football enlivened only by Mike Conroy’s goal), Celtic knew that a win over Rangers on Monday 21 May would win the League.
Any other result would give the advantage to Rangers.
The stage was thus set for what is probably Celtic’s third most famous game in our history (behind Lisbon and the 7-1) when ten men won the League.
The details are well known. Celtic were 0-1 down when Johnny Doyle was sent off for kicking a Rangers player who he thought was time wasting and faking an injury. It did not look good, but what this Celtic side lacked in skill, it made up for in spirit, and it was now that Roy Aitken took a grip of the game.
Aitken scored, then crossed for McCluskey to put Celtic ahead. Rangers then equalised, but then came a piece of fortune when a ball bounced off defender Colin Jackson into the net. With time now running out, Murdo MacLeod then added a fourth with a shot that he reckoned would go into the Celtic End and time would be wasted before it came back. But he scored, and bedlam and mayhem took over Celtic Park.
What a shame that the game was not televised or on the radio!
It was however a glorious triumph for Billy McNeill in his first year of management. Classy football was not seen very often that season, but there was no lack of passion or determination to fight back from adversity.
David Potter
Extract from David Potter’s book, Celtic How the League was Won 49 Times.
