Celts would then immediately head out to South America for the ill-fated clashes with Racing Club, a real low point in our history. Having worked so hard to reach the pinnacle of world club football, it was a crying shame how events would pan out there. Ronnie Simpson would be felled by a missile BEFORE the second leg kicked off in Buenos Aires, on Wednesday, 1 November 1967, Celts losing 2-1 despite taking the lead through a Tommy Gemmell penalty midway through the first half, as the football became secondary to a series of shocking fouls.
With no ‘away goals’ rule in force, it would then all kick-off in the play-off, three days later in neutral Montevideo, with a number of scores being settled throughout a torrid 90 minutes. The Paraguayan referee would send off four players from Celtic and two from Racing Club, although Bertie Auld refused to leave the pitch as, bizarrely, what play there was, continued. Ironically, the only goal of the match was an absolute screamer from Cardenas, which flew past John Fallon into the top corner of the net. Repercussions would be costly and prolonged.
Whilst Willie had remained on the field throughout all three Racing Club bouts, he was not so fortunate at Celtic Park on Saturday, 2 December 1967. Six minutes from time, he got involved in some ‘handbags’ with Dundee United’s Davie Wilson, the former Rangers winger sinking to the turf after Wallace had raised his hands towards him. To this day, Willie insists that he made no contact whatsoever with the player, albeit recalling with a wry smile that Jock Stein told him that he had deserved to go anyway, for making such a poor attempt at a punch!
January 1968 saw the Ghost of Scottish Cup past come back to haunt Celtic, as Dunfermline Athletic returned from Glasgow having knocked the holders out of the cup following a 2-0 victory, a degree of revenge for their defeat in the final three years earlier. The Pars would go on to lift the Scottish Cup in April, beating a Hearts side containing many of the players who had been recent colleagues of both Willie Wallace and the Fifers captain, Roy Barry. This would be the second such success for Athletic, having beaten Celtic in 1961 under Jock Stein.
Saturday, 2 March 1968 was a red-letter day for two Celtic players. Captain Billy McNeill was celebrating his 28th birthday, whilst Willie Wallace would score four goals in the Hoops for the first time, as the Bhoys beat Kilmarnock 6-0 at Rugby Park, Bobby Lennox and substitute Jimmy Quinn adding the others. Almost exactly five years earlier, high-flying Killie had dished out that same punishment to a Celtic side giving a teenage Jimmy Johnstone his senior debut.
March would turn out to be an incredible month for Wallace, the striker grabbing 16 goals in that period. This included hat-tricks against Airdrieonians and Raith Rovers at Celtic Park plus a brace in the St Patrick’s weekend friendly with Shamrock Rovers at Dalymount Park, Dublin. That was the occasion when Jock Stein visited Eamonn de Valera with the European Cup.
Those goals would go a long way towards securing Celtic’s third successive championship, clinched the midweek after Dunfermline Athletic won the Scottish Cup with a 2-1 victory over the Pars, on Wednesday, 30 April 1968, in front of a record crowd of 27,000 at East End Park.
