Jock Stein was both much relieved and furious with his own men for their lacklustre performance. He ignored his own team – even though they were now in their seventh consecutive Scottish League Cup final – and made a beeline for the Dumbarton dressing room to congratulate the gallant Sons of the Rock for their brave and unlucky performance.
It is, of course, easy to be magnanimous and charming when your team have won, but it would have been interesting to know what exactly he said to Charlie Gallagher whose legs he had wanted broken at the start of the first game!
Dumbarton had less success in the Scottish Cup with an early exit before Christmas at Stranraer. Indeed, apart from the League Cup run, Dumbarton’s form before the New Year had been nothing to get anyone too excited about with away form particularly poor.
New Year 1971 saw Scottish football in shock because of the Ibrox disaster when 66 Rangers fans were crushed to death at the end of the Old Firm match on 2 January. In truth, it was no real surprise given the lack of any real concern (as distinct from repeated pious platitudes about safety being paramount etc.) about the welfare of spectators at football matches. Anyone who was ever at an International or a Cup final, for example in the boom years of the 1960s, will testify to the appalling dangers of overcrowding. Nevertheless, it was a dreadful tragedy, and had its effect on everyone.
As far as Dumbarton were concerned, things improved after the New Year, for there was a carrot held out for those who finished in the first four of the Second Division in the shape of a sponsored pre-season tournament called the Dryburgh Cup. Quite a lot of people disapproved of this kind of sponsorship particularly when it came from a firm which brewed beer (a beverage which caused a great deal of bother to so many football fans!) but it did provide money for the poorer teams, giving them something to play for. The top four of the Second Division would play the top four of the First Division in the quarter finals of a tournament which would be held in the two weeks before the start of the 1971/72 season in late July and early August.
There was even more to it than that. The top goalscorers in each Division would play each other in the quarter final. The top goalscorers in the First Division would clearly be Celtic, (who won the League for the 26th time in 1971) so if Dumbarton could reach fourth spot and be the top goalscorers of the top four, another game against Celtic beckoned. The last four games yielded 20 goals as the Sons went for it. First Stirling Albion were hammered 7-0, then Arbroath were defeated 3-0 in heavy rain, both of these games being at Boghead, and then the Sons went to Albion Rovers on Tuesday 27 April to win 6-2 and then, two days later in the last game of the season at Boghead, Dumbarton won 4-0 over Queen’s Park.
In each of these games Gallagher’s contribution had been crucial. The team finished fourth and but for their poor form before Christmas, they might well have won the League. But they had scored the most goals, so a trip to Celtic Park beckoned.
Peter Coleman, Kenny Wilson and Roy McCormack were the men who attracted the attention with their goal scoring, but Charlie Gallagher was the man who made it all happen. The pace was a little slower in the Second Division and this suited Gallagher all the more, for he was thus better able to judge his inch perfect passes. He himself scored nine goals, and enjoyed himself all the more for he was under less pressure to produce the goods.
He knew that, barring injury, he was guaranteed his place every week, and this made a huge difference. He was also enjoying playing his football in a more relaxed atmosphere away from Celtic’s demanding fans, and the constant, overwhelming and stifling presence of Jock Stein!
