CELTIC’S SCOTTISH CUP FINALS – Number 24…CELTIC 3-1 AIRDRIE – HAMPDEN, 3 MAY 1975 – By the time that Celtic came back for the Scottish Cup final of 1975, they had lost the Scottish League. Admittedly they had won the League Cup, but the Scottish Cup now assumed greater importance.
Their opponents were Airdrie, a team who had not been in the final of the Scottish Cup since their halcyon days of Bob McPhail and Hughie Gallacher in 1924, and they were not really expected to do much against Celtic, however tarnished Celtic had been by their miserable performances in the League.
Paul Wilson had lost his mother at the start of the week, but he and Stein decided he should play, and it was a good decision, for Paul scored two goals while Pat McCluskey scored a penalty. Airdrie put up a good fight and held Celtic for a spell at 2-1. At the end of the game, Billy McNeill announced his retirement from the game. He had won 7 Scottish Cup medals and Celtic had won the Scottish Cup 24 times.
The Celtic team was: Latchford, McGrain, Lynch, Murray, McNeill, McCluskey, Hood, Glavin, Dalglish, Lennox, Wilson.
Many more Scottish Cup triumphs still to come…
David Potter
