On this day in 1984, a pre-season challenge match took place at Celtic Park between Celtic and Arsenal.
The Celtic side was Bonner, McGrain, Sinclair, Aitken, Macadam, Reid, Provan, McStay, McGarvey, Burns, and McClair; while in the striking role for the Gunners was Charlie Nicholas, who, on the day, received some pretty hefty heckling from the Celtic support.
A crowd of 25,000 was present to see the action and they were quite happy at half-time, as Brian McClair had put Celtic ahead in the 20th minute. They were a bit surprised, though, to see manager Davie Hay make some alterations to the side in the second half.
Off went Tom Macadam, to be replaced by Willie McStay, and then he pulled off Frank McGarvey and Davie Provan, bringing on Jim Melrose and John Colquhoun.
The changes might have surprised the home support but they proved extremely effective, Celtic scoring two further goals through Melrose in 74 minutes – a header – and Colquhoun in 76 minutes with a curling shot. These efforts gave Celtic a 3-2 win.
Many Happy Returns to David Hannah, born on this day in Coatbridge in 1973.
Jim Craig
