The first leg of the Cup Winners’ Cup 2nd round tie between Rapid Vienna and Celtic – held in the Austrian capital – resulted in a fine 3-1 victory for Rapid, with Brian McClair getting the Hoops’ only goal.
Two weeks later came the return at Celtic Park, which attracted a crowd of 48,613. It started brightly enough as a contest but soon descended into a shambles, with one Rapid player sent off, another leaving the field with his head swathed in bandages and the whole Austrian team, plus those on the touchlines, complaining about decisions made by the referee.
Celtic won 3-0, ostensibly taking the tie 4-3 on aggregate but Rapid took their case to the ultimate authority and UEFA ordered that the game be replayed at a ground more than 100 miles from Celtic Park.
Old Trafford was the chosen venue and the two sides ran out at Manchester on this day in 1984 for the deciding tie. It was a very emotional occasion and the Celtic players could not find the form they had previously shown.
Rapid left-winger Pacult broke away in the 17th minute to slam the ball past Pat Bonner and that proved to be the only goal of the game. Even more disastrously for Celtic, a ‘supposed’ fan raced on to the pitch to attack the goal-scorer, an incident which once again brought the club to the attention of UEFA.
Jimmy Hay – born on this day in 1880 – joined Celtic in 1902 and over the following 8 seasons, made 255 appearances at either left-back or left-half, with 17 goals to his name, before moving on to other clubs both in Scotland and in England.
Jimmy Hay died on 4 April 1940.
Jim Craig
