Earlier today Conor Spence focused on the Bobby Moore testimonial between West Ham and Celtic on this day in 1970 and we promised to follow this up with an earlier article from Mike Maher who was at the game. Here’s his view from the Celtic end…
Nowadays very few footballers, especially at the top level of the game, stay at one club for a lengthy period. With the opportunity for players and agents to make money in transfers, loyalty to a club is rare.
That was not always the case of course. There are many examples in previous years of players staying at a club for all, or virtually all of their careers – Billy McNeill, Willie Miller for example.
READ THIS…‘Stupendous’ Celtic play West Ham in Bobby Moore Testimonial
Because of this, testimonials are now much less common, certainly in the case of top stars. However, there was a time, when players wages were not as high as now, when the testimonial was seen as almost necessary to assist many players with funds for retirement. Even World Cup Winners.
As a Celtic fan I was privileged to witness Celtic play testimonials for Jackie Charlton, Bobby Charlton and Bobby Moore. Celtic were a very popular choice for games like these as they would field an experienced team of regulars who wanted to win, and of course because they brought a large following to help swell the coffers of the testimonial recipient.
Unlike many testimonials featuring “celebrity” guests these games featured top players and were genuinely contested. All three were great games but for me the best trip overall was in November 1970 – down to London to play West Ham in a benefit for the England World Cup winning captain.
Earlier in that year Celtic had won their 5th League title in a row. We had reached the European Cup Final and although we had lost to Feyenoord, we had beaten Leeds Utd in both legs of the semi-final so even the sceptical English were aware of our strengths. It was considered a great honour to be selected to play in such a game and I really fancied making the occasion as I could not imagine there would be many chances to see Celtic play in London.
There was the financial concern though. The previous month I had gone to the European Cup tie against Waterford. My regular travelling companion, Brian McHenery and I had decided to make a bit of an event of that game. Rather than just going for a couple of days we had made a week of it and accommodation and beer had taken a good deal of our cash resources.
And holidays too. Less than a month after the Dublin trip I would need more time off to get to London. Brian decided he would not go – part of his reasoning was the fact that he would need to keep some savings so he could get to the European Cup Final (in those days that was a genuinely realistic consideration). None of the rest of my usual match day crew were interested so I thought I might just give it a miss.
Then one morning I saw an ad in the paper that a trip to the Booby Moore game was being organised by the Straw House Pub at Parkhead. I had never been in that bar, and whether deserved or not the feeling among my mates was that it was not the most salubrious of establishments. Nevertheless, I decided to give it a go and the next Saturday before heading to the game at Celtic Park I called in to the pub, paid my money and got my travel plans.
The game was to take place on Monday 16 November. On the previous Saturday we beat Kilmarnock 3-0 at home. We played well and should have scored more but it put me in a good mood for the relatively early rise the next day.
Being a Sunday I went to an early Mass and after a quick breakfast headed to Bellshill Cross to get a bus that would get me to Glasgow Central. It was there I was to meet the rest of the party before getting the train to London.
After waiting at the bus stop for a considerable time I was getting concerned that no bus had turned up. Indeed I hadn’t seen a bus going in any direction.
Even on a Sunday there were generally buses going through the Cross in one direction or another. A passer-by mentioned that he had heard something about industrial action limiting the services. I now had visions of being stuck in Bellshill while the train was on its way south.
I started to walk back towards the direction of my house. I’d maybe need to see if someone would give me lift. Then hopes were raised as I caught a glimpse of a bus turning the corner. Then dashed again as I realised it was a private coach. MacPhails. Then as it got nearer hopes were on the up again. In the front window was a notice “On hire to Central SMT” I happily climbed aboard and as there was not much traffic about i got to the Station just in time.
