28 September 1966

A win in the European Cup tonight against Zurich. 2-0. I thought it was 3-0 for a while. Joe McBride put the ball in the night right at the end. Some people did say the ref blew for time up first and when I got home and saw it on TV it was confirmed. Big Tam scored a screamer for the first – he was just over the halfway line when he thumped it.

There was a big squad from St Pat’s there. A couple of years ago it was just Peter and me but more coming now. Singing good too. The Holy Ground song getting belted out now. Not too keen on “when the Celts go marching in”- I think that is just copying other teams.

Like that “You’ll Never Walk Alone” stuff. I heard a few guys singing that at Fir Park last season. Why would they want to sing a Liverpool song? Thankfully haven’t heard it since.

15 October 1966

League Flag was unfurled today – On the new Jungle roof at the Rangers End.  The Irish tricolour is always at the Celtic End. Bob Kelly’s wife did the unfurling and got lots of cheers. Not like a few years ago – Then the cheers would have been for hanging Bob Kelly!  Roddy McKenzie had another good game against us but we were all over them so we deserved to win. That is their first defeat but I don’t think they will be up at the top of the table for long.

29 October 1966

League Cup Winners again! A bit different from last year. Rangers actually played not too bad and I thought they were going to score just before Willie O’Neill cleared it off the line. We did not attack much but we scored. Dad thought it was a cracker. Joe McBride headed down and Wee Bobby onto it like a flash and lashed it into the net.  John’s cousin calls him Spencer Davis because he Keeps On Runnin.  Weather not like last year either and the bus was a wee bit quieter. Last year John Daisley started the singing with “Kelly the Boy from Killeen” with its “Hymn for the Dawn of the Free.” This year it was “We shall not be moved.” Maybe we know we can beat them now.

That’s 3 games against them at Ibrox, Celtic Park and Hampden. 3 wins and they have not even scored.

20 November 1966

That was one of the best games I have ever seen yesterday. Beating Dunfermline 5-4 with a last minute goal after being 4-2 down.  We were at the far end so I did not know why we got that penalty but there was good photo in the Sunday Mail today of Roy Barry punching the ball.

It would have to have been blatant for Wharton to give us a penalty.

East End Park looks a lot better now. Good idea to have cover running all the way from behind the goal down the side. If they joined it up it’d be like some of the English grounds I have seen on TV. We stood at the uncovered end right enough – we’d have missed the start if they had not held up the kick off again.

John now living in the Whifflet and in the St Mary’s club so we went on that bus. Happy bus on the way back. John’s da reckons Rangers would be sickened when they heard the actual score. They would have got the half time score of 3-2 to Dunfermline then would have heard the full time scores being read out – “Dunfermline 4” they’d be thinking “great”  then they would hear  – “Celtic 5”.

Told dad and Gerry and Jim all about it before we saw it on Scotsport. We played football with a wee ball in the hall – Me against the 2 of them. I let them go 4-2 up so I could come back and win 5-4 but we broke a light so had to stop.

3 December 1966

It was freezing the day! Rugby Park was packed.  We were on the open terracing behind the goals and it was tight but the big covered enclosure was mobbed. After about five minutes there was a big sway and a barrier collapsed. People fell onto the ground – Neilly Mochan and the Kilmarnock trainer came to help the ambulance men.  A lot of people must have got hurt. I saw Peter Dickson walking round the pitch to get to another spot. He looked all right.

We did not score today – Bobby Ferguson had some game. But on the bus we got the other scores and Dunfermline beat Rangers 3-2 so we are a point better off. I knew Dunfermline could beat them after the way they played against us the other week.

7 December 1966

Not much of an atmosphere tonight. It was wet and hardly any of the boys from school went. I think they all thought we would have no problem as we were already 3-1 up. As Joe McCormick said they were only a French team and it would be unlikely that a French team could ever beat a Scottish team.

They scored right enough. It went really quiet then. First time a European team scored at Parkhead since Valencia. Rangers put out Borussia Dortmund in the Cup Winners Cup. We should have won that last season. That goal being disallowed against Liverpool was never right. Willie Wallace signed from Hearts. Dad reckons that is a good buy. Says he is a real professional type who will also get goals for us.