November saw an early exit from the European Cup, at the hands of Wacker Innsbruck. Three goals within the first half-hour in Salzburg easily overturned a slender 2-1 lead from the first leg. A late sending-off for Andy Lynch, following a bizarre off-the-ball scuffle with a substitute, pretty much summed up the season to date.
Celtic did rally in the last couple of months of 1977, with a series of good results pushing us up the table to the lofty position of fifth, some eight points behind Jock Wallace’s Rangers, in the days of ‘two points for a win’. However, a Hogmanay defeat at Somerset, our second that season and featuring a last-minute winner from yet another ex-Celt, the late Brian McLaughlin, saw normal service resuming in time for the Bells.
If we thought 1978 could not possibly get off to a worse start, then the football gods obviously chose to differ. Four straight league defeats, at home to Motherwell, followed by visits to Ibrox and Pittodrie then again at home to St Mirren, killed any previous momentum in its tracks.
The Ibrox clash featured one of the most controversial goals I have ever witnessed. At 1-0 down, Celtic were denied a blatant penalty at the Copland Road end, when Joe Craig was pushed to the ground as he shaped to header into an empty net. Referee John Gordon thought otherwise and was immediately surrounded by Celtic players.
However, play continued and Rangers literally walked the ball up the park for Greig to tap in a second goal. Bedlam ensued, with players threatening to walk off the park and Jock again pleading with fans in the Broomloan terracing to remain calm. Despite a second-half fightback, the game finished 3-1 to the home team.
Watch the incident below and judge for yourselves.
The Pittodrie game featured a rare double from yet another future Celt, Dom Sullivan, and despite a fightback to 2-1, a late Andy Lynch penalty miss perfectly highlighted the turnaround between this and the previous season.
The weather then forced a six-week break in league fixtures before the visit of St Mirren. True to script, the Ghosts of Celtic Past and Future turned up again, as goals from Jimmy Bone and Frank McGarvey saw the Buddies, like Motherwell, complete a Parkhead league double.
There had been some light relief in early February in the Scottish Cup, when Tommy Gemmell’s Dundee were sent packing with that famous Celtic scoreline of 7-1. A young George McCluskey hit a hat-trick to take the holders through to a home tie with Kilmarnock, like Dundee, at that time a Division One (Championship) team.
However, for once the cup cheer would be short-lived, as Celtic firstly scraped a Rugby Park replay, thanks to a late goal from Roddy MacDonald in a game dominated by young Killie winger Davie Provan, then lost their grip on the cup following an equally-late winner from defender Derrick McDicken.
Kilmarnock would finish in mid-table in their Division, a distant eighteen points behind champions Morton and below both Stirling Albion and Dumbarton. It was an indication of how far we had fallen so quickly.
Celtic’s first Scottish Cup defeat to a lower-league side since Dundee in 1947, prevented a meeting with Rangers in the next round and meant that only a victory against them in the forthcoming League Cup Final would realistically prevent Wallace’s second treble in three seasons. Celtic had disposed of Motherwell, Stirling Albion and St Mirren in an unusual two-leg tournament format, before beating Hearts at Hampden in the Semi-final, and so hopes were high that some salvation would be forthcoming.
However, in keeping with the season’s trend, the League Cup Final provided only more misery. A late Johannes Edvaldsson header took the game to extra-time, where in the dying moments, Latchford dropped a cross and this time ‘Smith did score’, despite protests for a foul on our goalkeeper.
This would be the last in a world record run of fourteen successive League Cup Finals, thirteen of them under Jock Stein, with only 1974’s 6-3 victory over Hibs preventing eight defeats in a row. More significantly, it would be Jock’s last major final as the manager of Celtic.
The end of this particular season frankly could not come quickly enough and it petered out in much the same way as the previous months, with occasional wins outnumbered by defeats. There was a final victory for Jock over Rangers, just one week after the League Cup defeat, when goals from Glavin and MacDonald salvaged a sliver of pride for supporters and a home draw with leaders Aberdeen, with Sullivan again on the scoresheet for the Dons.
In the negative column, both Motherwell and St Mirren, our League Cup conquests, picked up third league victories over Celtic with home wins in this most bizarre of seasons. There was also the embarrassment of a first-ever defeat to already-relegated Clydebank at Kilbowie, where again a half-time lead was lost, and a 4-1 hammering at Easter Road on Mike Conroy’s debut, where all hope of a UEFA Cup place evaporated amongst a pitch invasion, following a Kung Fu attack on striker Tom McAdam by the Hibs goalkeeper, which went unpunished.
The Paisley defeat on the last day of the season sealed Celtic’s fate, as Hibs snatched fourth spot and the European place that went with that. It was Celtic’s first failure to qualify for European football since 1961 and our lowest league finish since 1965, essentially prior to Jock’s arrival. It was a sad way for the big man to finish a career which delivered so much joy to so many.
Billy McNeill had joined Aberdeen as manager in 1977, following a short spell with Clyde at Shawfield. In his first season, he had taken the title to the last day and his young Dons side to the Cup Final, where they would narrowly lose to Rangers.
There was increasing speculation that he would replace his great friend and mentor at Celtic Park during the close season. Jock had one final say as the manager of Celtic, as he signed a young goalkeeper from Donegal called Pat Bonner. However, in the meantime, Celtic fans dreamt of better days and the focus of the nation turned to Argentina and the chances of Ally MacLeod’s squad in the forthcoming World Cup.
Matt Corr
Follow Matt on Twitter @Boola_vogue
Matt Corr’s debut Celtic book is titled INVINCIBLE and is published by The Celtic Star on 15 May 2020. You can order a signed copy at thecelticstarbookstore.co.uk
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