My defining Celtic moment – the Scottish Cup final of 1988

Frustratingly, the crowd in the main stand seemed more interested in waving for the benefit of the TV cameras (Hello Mum!) than in watching the action any time the ball was on our side of the pitch. This got on my nerves no end. Just watch the match!

Three days later, we were off to Easter Road for the replay. I had joined any old line in the queue for tickets at Celtic Park prior to the replayed fixture, not really paying attention to the fact that I was in the queue for enclosure tickets. Not the most comfortable area of the Edinburgh side’s stadium but at least we weren’t sitting down again!

It was with some hesitation that we travelled over to Edinburgh that evening. My previous visit back in November 1987 had been filled with fear as the match – not designated as all-ticket – attracted a huge crowd, and way more than capacity was inside the stadium that day, in my view.

The frightening experience was further compounded by trouble on the terraces and the throwing of a CS gas bomb into the crowd, resulting in people spilling on to the pitch and a general sense of panic. For a 15-year-old, who was “looking after” my younger cousin Kevin that day, it was pretty terrifying but, of course, I played it all down. It was no big deal, and, in any case, Celtic came away with a 1-0 victory thanks to a goal from Frank McAvennie.

It was a similar kind of evening again, in front of an all-ticket 24,000 crowd, but without the overcrowding and the crowd trouble this time. Billy Stark’s late winner sending Celtic into the quarter-final against Partick Thistle at Firhill, scheduled for Saturday, 12 March 1988.

I was looking forward to that match. I don’t think I’d ever been to Firhill by that point in time and, of course, the benefit of playing an “away” game in Glasgow was quite appealing. I recall the news reports before the game focused on the suitability of the home team’s stadium and whether or not the match could be played at Firhill, there was even talk of moving the tie to Hampden.