Now that I had “discovered” Celtic I found out that other members of my family knew about them too! My father, uncles and aunts would talk about them when we met at granny Ryan’s prefab in Newarthill. I must have had my ears closed all those years! My uncle Peter Monaghan and his sons John and Brendan were the ones I enjoyed hearing the most as they actually went to most of the games.
My other uncles on my mother’s side of the family were only occasional attenders in those day. I once asked my uncle James Ryan why he did not go to see the Celtic – His reply was that “they did not come to see me when I was sick!”
Obviously Celtic’s performances in those days left a lot to be desired! My father’s brother John was a regular attender at Celtic Park as were his two sons, my cousins Michael and Johnny. Anyway my family’s attendance at games did not matter to me by this time. I just wanted to experience it myself.
The 1960 festive season was an important one in terms of my football development. On Christmas morning I discovered my parents (or Santa Claus!) had got me the Scottish Football Book by Hugh Taylor. That book was to be a Christmas ritual for another 20 years.
On 31 December Celtic beat Kilmarnock 3-2 after being 2 goals down. I recall reading the newspaper report detailing how a new youngster – Charlie Gallagher – had scored the late winner. I was excited as Kilmarnock was a top team and challenging for the League title. (Later on I was not as thrilled as Killie lost out on Championship by 1 point to Rangers).
On the Monday 2 January I had my first experience of an Old Firm game. With 1 January being a Sunday the traditional Ne’erday game was played the following day. No live TV coverage in those days so as the family gathered round the TV set at granny Ryan’s that evening to watch the highlights we already knew Rangers had won 2-1.
The game was typical of Old Firm games of that period. Celtic would pour into attack and due to poor finishing had to be satisfied with only a 1 goal lead at the break. Celtic then had a goal disallowed and Rangers scored twice to win the game. I had yet to find out about the full background to such games but I realised then how much it meant to my family.
Complaints were made about the refereeing and my aunt Mary said that Celtic should put in a protest. At that time I thought that such an idea was quite feasible and that the match might get replayed!
Celtic 2 Third Lanark 3
I was in some despair after that game but a few days later came the moment I had been so looking forward to. Saturday 7 January was a cold day in the West of Scotland. I am not sure if the St Bridget’s Boys Guild team had a game scheduled or not but whatever when I went up to Peter Dickson’s that day his father told us there was no game on. He then asked us if we would like to go to Celtic Park to see the match between Celtic and Third Lanark. To say I was excited was an understatement!
I said I would have to let my parents know and raced back to my house to inform them. When I got there no one was home. I hastily scribbled a note saying I was going to see Celtic with Peter’s dad and left it proudly on the sideboard.
Peter’s uncle had a car and took us to Parkhead – I think there were 4 of us – myself and Peter and his father and uncle although Peter’s cousin may also have come along. I cannot remember how we got in although I suspect we were “lifted over” the turnstiles as was common in those days.
Anyway I was at last into Celtic Park and soaked up the entire atmosphere as we made our way to a position beside the fence at the side of the “Rangers End” beside the Jungle. My literary abilities are too limited to fully describe my emotions but I can still feel the atmosphere. The main thing that struck me was the colour especially under the floodlights. In those days there was no colour TV and newspaper photos were in black and white.
I knew Celtic played in green and white and Third Lanark wore red. But the colours were more vivid than that in real life. Celtic’s hoops were a brilliant emerald and Third’s shirts were a dazzling scarlet.
After 13 minutes John Divers scored the first goal I saw live. Thirds equalised a few moments later. Stevie Chalmers put Celtic ahead but Thirds equalised before half time. In the second half Jimmy Goodfellow got the winner for the visitors. (Many years later I wondered if any of the 22,000 crowd that was at that game could possibly have considered that in little more than 6 years Celtic would be champions of Europe and Third Lanark would be out of business!).
