Perhaps signifying the transition in place at Celtic Park, only five of the Lisbon Lions started the Scottish Cup final against Rangers at Hampden on Saturday, 8 May 1971, Jim Craig and Billy McNeill in defence plus the attacking trio of Jimmy Johnstone, Willie Wallace and Bobby Lennox.
And it was the evergreen Lennox who put Celts ahead just before the interval, in front of 120,000 spectators. They would hold that lead until three minutes from time, when Derek Johnstone once again popped up to put the champagne in ice.
Four nights later, Willie found himself on the bench, young Lou Macari thrust on for his first senior cup appearance, in the only change from Jock Stein’s weekend line-up. Macari would seize his opportunity, opening the scoring with a cute flick from a corner-kick midway through the first half, Harry Hood then cementing Celtic’s name on the cup with a penalty, 60 seconds later, after Jimmy Johnstone, having one of his greatest games in the Hoops, teased Ronnie McKinnon into a rash challenge.
Wallace would replace Hood for the final 15 minutes, after a Jim Craig own goal had allowed the Ibrox men a glimmer of hope, however, the flags would be flying in triumph from the Kings Park end of Hampden at the end of that glorious sunny evening, a wonderful sight I will never forget, whilst watching the highlights later that evening on television in Springburn.
The Parkhead turnaround in personnel would take a further leap with the incredible scoring introduction of the 20-year-old Kenny Dalglish in the Hoops in July 1971. This would have particular implications for two key players in the Stein era, John Hughes and Willie Wallace, who would now find themselves in the final throes of their Parkhead careers. They would be on the periphery as Kenny scored in all three Ibrox victories achieved in a 28-day period, as would Steve Chalmers, who finalised a transfer to Morton after the third of those successes.
On Wednesday, 29 September 1971, Hughes and Wallace featured in a Hoops team together for the final time, Willie starting and scoring twice against BK1903 Copenhagen to turn a 2-1 first-leg deficit around, whilst Yogi replaced Bobby Lennox at half-time. That would be the last appearance for John Hughes and those the last goals scored by Willie Wallace at Celtic.
Willie would get a final run-out, appropriately at Hampden, as a late substitute for Tommy Callaghan, with Celtic leading St Mirren 3-0 on Wednesday, 6 October 1971 in the League Cup semi-final, setting up the ultimately disastrous meeting with Partick Thistle later that month. By that time, both Hughes and Wallace were Crystal Palace players, sold to the Surrey club on the eve of Celtic’s next European tie, with Maltese outfit Sliema Wanderers, on 19 October.
