FOUR STRAIGHT HOME DEFEATS FOR CELTIC…here’s what happened the last time Celtic lost four games on the bounce at Celtic Park…
Score: Celtic 2 Partick Thistle 3 – Date: 21 December 1957
Score: Celtic 1 Queen of the South 2 – Date: 25 December 1957 (12,00 noon kick-off)
Score: Celtic 0 Hearts 2 – Date: 28 December 1957
Score: Celtic 0 Rangers 1 – Date: 1 January 1958
“Another time, another four in a row,” Celtic Historian David Potter
This was the last time that Celtic lost four home games in a row, Funnily enough, they got off with it, even though it devastated the League challenge which had been going reasonably well up to now. But the supporters, although unhappy and miserable, nevertheless did not throw anything at policemen or demand the sacking of the Manager. There were at least four extenuating circumstances.
1. The support was still on a high after the 7-1 League Cup final on 19 October 1957. Bad results were therefore forgiven for a while.
2. The week before (14 December 1957 and a 6-3 victory) had seen a terrible disaster at Shawfield when a wall had collapsed. A man had been killed and about 50 were injured, some seriously. To say that players must be professional about that and “rise above it” is, frankly, naive. It is also callous.
3. The team was decimated by injuries. No Willie Fernie, no Charlie Tully, no Billy McPhail and no Bobby Collins in at least some of the games. Fernie in particular was a big loss.
4. In three of the games, the team played well and genuinely deserved more. That was certainly true of the New Year’s Day game against Rangers. The best game was against Hearts (who would go on and win the League that season) in which we managed to miss a penalty kick, and the Partick Thistle game was an absolute thriller which could have gone the other way.
5. Who ever thought that a game against Queen of the South on Christmas Day at mid-day was a good idea? Admittedly it was the first year that Christmas Day was a public holiday in Scotland, but train drivers and bus drivers had a holiday as well! How do you get to Glasgow from places like Dundee and Oban before 12.00 noon? On Christmas Day! Even if wives and children agreed! The 8,000 crowd was a lot more than Celtic deserved for such a mad decision. The players looked unhappy as well, and played like it!
6. The team rallied in the New Year, and even as late as 14 March when they lost to Hearts 3-5 in a game at Tynecastle played eccentrically on a Friday night, they still had a chance of the League.
7. Yes, number SEVEN. Any sneers about poor form from other supporters were easily answered by the number SEVEN. There would not have been very many sneers from the lads in blue anyway, because in 1957-58, they were a lot worse. Hearts won the Scottish League, Clyde won the Scottish Cup and we all know who won the League Cup! Rangers won hee-haw!
David Potter
