It’s hard to believe that after winning a ninth consecutive title and reaching the European Cup semi-final, Celtic suffered nine defeats and finished 3rd in the 1974/75 season. Needless to say there was no 10 in a row, but the Bhoys did get off to a flyer against Kilmarnock on the opening day.

There was a party atmosphere at Paradise as the league championship flag was unveiled amid chants of “It’s Magic You Know, It’s Gonna Be 10 In A Row.”

Celtic legend, Willie Fernie, was in the opposing dugout as Kilmarnock’s manager. Meanwhile, Celtic wore an unusual change of colours in the form of a yellow shirt, with green cuffs.

The Celts lined up as follows:

Connaghan, McGrain, McCluskey, Connelly, McNeill, Callaghan, Johnstone, Murray, Dalglish, Davidson, Wilson, Subs: Brogan, Lennox.

The Bhoys took a first half lead, then compounded the Ayrshire side’s misery with four goals in the last ten minutes.

Scorers: Davidson (37), Johnstone (80), Dalglish (84), Wilson (88), Murray (pen 89)

Danny McGrain took the man of the match award for a string of late assists, manufactured after some lung busting runs up the right wing.

Interestingly, Jock Stein was not present at the game! He had gone on a short break to England after lambasting the behaviour of some drunken Celtic fans in recent games (League Cup matches began before League games) in the match programme. He made a stop-it-or-I-quit statement which was taken seriously and applauded by the media.