In November 1981, Celtic travelled to Ipswich to take part in Alan Hunter’s Testimonial. Tickets cost a meagre £1.50 and the match was a thrilling encounter. However, the Celtic support stole the headlines for the incredible atmosphere that they provided. As part of Our Stories & Our Songs project , Fred McNeill, sent me a story detailing his experience of that day.
“I love away days,” Fred said. “The journey, the craic, the bevy, the singing… the bus makes it. I went down to Ipswich on a Tuesday night in November 1981 for Alan Hunter’s Testimonial. I went down with the Johnny Thompson bus and we used to do a pick-up in Renfrew, so the bus was also known as the Renfrew Rebel bus as well. It was crazy.”
There was some laugh that night, but the main source of chaos was at the game itself. The floodlights conked out due to a flood of weak bladders at the Celtic end. Everybody had been doing their thing at the foot of the lights and it caused a power cut. At that point, somehow, The Wolfe Tone flute band from Wishaw blagged their way onto the pitch and were providing the entertainment. They were parading about in the dark for ages whilst the second half was delayed!
Wolfe Tone RFB parade on the pitch at Portman Road Stadium
Celtic won the match 3-2 with a Frank McGarvey goal in the 88th minute, having conceded in the 87th! Ipswich were UEFA Cup champions at the time, so the 5,000 Celtic fans were delirious. The police wrote a letter to Billy McNeill to compliment the Celtic fans on their behaviour and the following quotes were also said about the Celtic support:
“Those Celtic fans are bloody marvellous people!” – Sir Bobby Robson (manger of Ipswich at the time).
“Down here they talk about Liverpool but they are not in the same class as those from Glasgow. Celtic have the best support in the world.” – Alan Hunter.
