Celtic had had a poor time at the New Year period of 1964, falling 1-0 to Rangers at home, then drawing 1-all with Third Lanark, both Jim Brogan and John Cushley getting rare run-outs in that game at Cathkin.
So, on this day in 1964, the 16,000 who turned up at Parkhead for the meeting with Falkirk were expecting something better.
At inside-forward in the Falkirk side was Hugh Maxwell, set to join the club later that year.
On that day, though, he made little impact, as Celtic took control almost from the start.
Jimmy Johnstone, in his first full season, opened the scoring in the 8th minute. Stevie Chalmers got the second in 11 minutes, going on to score two more, in 26 and 72 minutes.
John Hughes, at outside-left that day, was on target in 28 minutes and John Divers picked up a couple, in 32 and 36 minutes.
The 7-0 win must have come as a relief to manager Jimmy McGrory, as his side was due to play a Cup-Winners’ Cup quarter-final tie against Slovan Bratislava only a few weeks later.
Jim Craig
