GALLAGHER’S CHAMPIONSHIP…
Things did not look good for either Celtic or Gallagher at the beginning on February 1968. The season already had the look of anti-climax about it, with only the Scottish League Cup won in October to show for their efforts in stark contrast to last season’s heroics. South America had been an unmitigated disaster which Charlie had done well to be on the edges of and not in the middle.
The European Cup had been surrendered, again without Charlie, at the first time of asking to Dinamo Kiev – admittedly with bad luck in the Ukraine but with little excuse for a supine, substandard performance at Parkhead in which some heads seemed to have swollen to an unwarranted extent. That was all in the autumn, and then at the New Year two goalkeeping errors seemed to have given the advantage to Rangers in the Scottish League.
And now on the last weekend of January another disaster had struck. A half-hearted, disorganised sort of Celtic side had deservedly gone out of the Scottish Cup to a professional and clinical Dunfermline Athletic. Celtic had been devoid of luck, but it had been 2-0 and the Press and Jock Stein himself had been under no illusions about things. The team were struggling and as The Sunday Express was not slow to say, “It’s a long way from Lisbon”.
To a certain extent, there was something inevitable about this. It is difficult to retain momentum at such a high level as Celtic had been at. Maybe a mistake was made in standing still in summer 1967. Maybe another big signing or two was called for to “ginger” up the squad, yet it was hard to even think about replacing any of that great side.
For whatever reason the hopes expressed that Celtic might dominate European football for several years in the same way that Real Madrid had done a decade before were dashed. Even in Scotland, Rangers were now clear favourites to win the League. They were undefeated, were two points ahead (and even that was assuming that Celtic won their games in hand) and did not have to play Celtic again in the League. It was almost like going back to the pre-Stein era. Reflecting a change of Manager, Rangers were playing with youthful enthusiasm – and annoyingly, with luck.
They had never, for example, deserved their draw at Celtic Park at the New Year. It had been John Fallon’s nightmare – and Charlie was distressed at this, for he was a friend of John – but it meant that Rangers retained their advantage. All Celtic could do was hope that someone else could beat them, for teams only played each other twice in 1967/68.
And were was Charlie Gallagher in all this? He had played only a handful of games this season, and was in danger of being forgotten about. Being the unofficial deputy to Bertie Auld was not a great place to be, but he stayed where he was. His normal phlegmatic self would not allow him to throw tantrums and demand transfers, and he had played for no-one other than Celtic, but he must have wondered, yet again, what this future was going to be.
To someone other than Gallagher, the thought of a transfer to another club would have been attractive. His skills were appreciated by other clubs, and even Rangers supporters frequently wondered why in this dark hour of Celtic’s season he was not given more of a run. He could not of course have played for Rangers, but many other Scottish clubs admired him. England too possessed many clubs who had been aware of his skills, and in 1968 it was often said that when an English club was in trouble, they merely looked north and came back with someone.
Yet would he have wanted to go anywhere else? Celtic through and through, Glasgow through and through, and now with a wife and baby to think about, he would have been reluctant to move. Besides, he may well have felt that his opportunity might yet come at Parkhead.
Certainly in early 1968 the depression around Parkhead was tangible and the disillusion was obvious among the support who found it difficult to accept that, having had an all too brief taste of the good life, we had to go back to the mundane mediocrity that seemed to be facing us. Yet Stein was not called a great Manager without cause, and there would be no dismal surrender, as we had seen all too often in the early 1960s.
So February dawned with Celtic generally reckoned to be in decline. The usual cliches like “one season wonders” were being trotted out with annoying predictability by those who thought they were being stunningly original, but even the most loyal of Celtic fans had to reckon with the possibility that the Scottish League Cup would be all that Celtic would win in the first post-Lisbon season. Perhaps, some of us reckoned, it would be no bad thing if Celtic did not win the League this season. Celtic could then re-group, bring on some of these impressive youngsters that we had heard about with names like Dalglish, Macari, McGrain and Hay, possibly even buy a player from England and come back fighting next year. This might mean curtains for the career of several players, not least Charlie Gallagher.
Charlie was in danger of becoming one of these players who, when one looks at photographs 20 years down the line, one asks “Who was he?”
Yet the perceptive of the support had recognised his worth, and Stein, for all his sometimes boorish and unpleasant treatment of some of his fringe players, (not only Gallagher) obviously agreed, for there had been no attempt to unload him at this stage. In particular, he was recalled with pleasure by fans for his two famous corner kicks against Dunfermline in 1965 and Vojvodina in 1967 – both of which were highly significant in the history of Celtic. But good and important as these corner kicks were, there was more to Charlie Gallagher as a player than his ability to find the head of Billy McNeill from a set piece.
But for this year, the thought of Rangers being champions was a painful one. Rangers had a few months previously staggered the world by sacking their Manager Scot Symon when they were actually top of the League! This had happened when Celtic were in South America in early November, and seemed to be an indication of panic. It certainly lacked any common sense or clear thinking, and appeared to have been brought about by a combination of a bad result against Dunfermline and Celtic winning the Scottish League Cup the Saturday before!
Symon’s replacement was David White, until recently the very successful manager of Clyde but a man with little pedigree of coping with football at this level. Yet as January turned into February, Rangers were not only top of
the League but were also still in the Scottish Cup and in Europe. That could not have been said about Celtic.
In the run-up to the game against Partick Thistle on 3 February, Gair Henderson in The Evening Times said that a win for Celtic was a “must”, for the players had been told that there might soon be new faces at Parkhead, and “there is nothing like a pistol at the temple to get rapid action – and there will certainly be more effort and more spirit in the green and white jerseys for weeks to come”. This message, which seemed to contain some inside information, was backed up in a strongly worded statement in the programme written by Jock Stein himself.
New energy was certainly evident in the Partick Thistle game, for Celtic won convincingly 4-1, but there was still no Charlie Gallagher. Fans were a little happier with this performance, but there was still the depressing news that Rangers had narrowly beaten Clyde 1-0. It would be an all too familiar scenario in weeks to come.
The following week saw Celtic beat Motherwell at Fir Park, but none too convincingly. John Hughes scored the only goal of the game, but was then injured and replaced by Steve Chalmers. This was significant for, with only one substitute allowed in those days, Bertie Auld had to limp back on when he was injured – something that did him few favours and led to serious trouble as he aggravated his injury. Charlie was playing for the reserves that day at, of all places, Ibrox in a gloomy 2-0 defeat.Even more dispiriting was the news that Rangers first team had won at Dundee that day.
Legend has it that a meeting with all the players in the table tennis room on Tuesday 13 February changed it all. Stein spoke eloquently, telling the players that they were man for man better than Rangers “but you know that anyway”, and there were two other advantages. One was that Rangers were involved in two other major competitions, and the other was that their new Manager was inexperienced. It was Stein’s belief that Rangers could yet be “psyched out” and, as it were, compelled to lose the League – as long as Celtic won their games and won them well. There was no margin for error.
Bertie Auld’s injury ruled him out for the time being – effectively he would not play again the rest of the season – and thus Charlie made his low key return to the team on the night of Wednesday 14 February for a home game against Stirling Albion, postponed a month previously in the bad weather of January. The weather was still not great, and the disappointing crowd of 17,000 perhaps gave an indication of how highly the support rated Celtic’s chances of winning the League Championship.
It turned out to be a mundane, regulation and unimpressive Celtic victory by 2-0 with a penalty from Tommy Gemmell and a lob over the goalkeeper by Willie Wallace. Charlie played quite well but his performance was not highlighted in any newspaper reports. Still, the victory narrowed the gap to four points behind Rangers with a game in hand. (There were only two points given for a victory in 1968).
Thus was launched Gallagher’s finest hour. There are those who believe that “ilka doggie has his day” or that everyone has his brief moment in the sun. The heroes in the Iliad of Homer all had what was called their “aristeia” when they charged up and down the battlefield killing all and sundry of the opposition who happened to be in their way. Destiny was now calling to Charlie Gallagher.
Tom Campbell in Jock Stein – The Celtic Years has this to say of Gallagher in spring 1968…
“…Auld was injured…in came Charlie Gallagher as a direct replacement, fitting into the midfield role which he relished. It was another reminder of the previous regime’s in competence as Gallagher, never particularly fast, frequently had been played out of position (as a centre forward or a right winger for example) while the chairman indulged his own version of Fantasy Football. Like Auld, Gallagher could read a game and organise strategies to break down defences. In addition and perhaps surprisingly for one of such a slight build, Gallagher was an excellent striker of the ball and possessed a lethal shot. Those supporters who felt uncomfortable in remembering the barracking Gallagher had received previously from the less tolerant were delighted to see him take full advantage of the recall. From the deep lying position he spread passes all over the field and, more importantly, was the ideal link man with forwards now running freely and steadily into dangerous positions. Bobby Murdoch stated that one key to Celtic’s success went largely unnoticed: ‘For years nobody twigged that what we were doing – and looking for – was creating space”.
All this was in the future however because for the next two weeks Celtic took a back seat. Being out of the Scottish Cup, they had no game on 17 February, although they arranged a friendly at St James Park against
Newcastle United which they lost narrowly. Charlie did not play in that game, his place going to young George Connolly.
Then all of Great Britain turned their attention to the Scotland v England game on 24 February at Hampden (a disappointing 1-1 draw which suited England rather than Scotland), the weather was unpleasant and saw the postponement of a game against Aberdeen in the following midweek and it was Saturday 2 March before Celtic played again.
By this time Gallagher was well prepared for his key role in the 1967/68 season.
David Potter
To be continued…
