Introducing our next special guest for the Kerrydale – We’ve got…our Superstar from Cowdenbeath, Tommy Callaghan! .

My cousin just sent me this. On you go Tommy Bhoy 😂🍀 @erincallaghanx @elliedixoon pic.twitter.com/aKZC6c6IHn

— Sean McDonald (@seanmcdonald01) April 8, 2023

And check out these incredible Celtic photographs from the mid-1970s courtesy of former Celtic Director Tom Grant and digitalised this summer by The Celtic Star…

We’re delighted to announce that the latest Celtic legend to join The Celtic Star at our unique event in the Kerrydale Suite at Celtic Park next Thursday, 19 October is a gentleman who played 300 times in his beloved Hoops. The only player to be signed twice by Jock Stein, Tommy Callaghan will be paying tribute to his old friends Harry Hood and Johnny Doyle, the latter whose 42nd anniversary of his passing occurs the same evening.

Tommy joins John Hartson and Stephen McManus on the line-up for the launch of Matt’s new book Majic, Stan and the King of Japan and we’ve plenty more to come! Tickets and tables are available now HERE.

Tommy kindly provided a foreword for Harry’s official biography, Twice As Good, published by Celtic Star Books in November 2021. Tonight, we publish some extracts from Matt Corr’s biography which covers the time back in March 1976 when Harry and Tommy were joined at Celtic Park by record signing Johnny. It’s a fascinating read over three parts, so here we go…

Tommy Callaghan at Barrowfield. Photo courtesy of Tom Grant.

Part 1 – A first meeting with the mysterious men from the East

March 1976 would commence with Celtic’s first-ever European tie against German opposition. Having faced Portugal’s Boavista in November, there was a sense of disappointment as the Hoops were paired with unknowns Sachsenring Zwickau in the quarter-final of the Cup Winners’ Cup, rather than one of the bigger continental names, such as Eintracht Frankfurt or Anderlecht, or easy travel options – the Welsh Cup-holders Wrexham or Brother Walfrid’s other favourite Eastenders, West Ham United.

The club from the motor city of Zwickau had enjoyed occasional success in the post-war world of East German football in its various guises, with names often changed and clubs rebranded or merged to suit the needs of individuals or organisations as they were used, quite literally, in the very definition of political footballs.

On May Day 1968, exactly five years after that first East German Cup success, Motor Zwickau was renamed as BSG Sachsenring Zwickau, in line with the major club sponsor, who in turn had adopted the name from the Saxony racing track (literally the ring or circuit of Saxony). It was as Sachsenring Zwickau that they would win their third FDGB-Pokal in East Berlin on 14 May 1975, against favourites and fierce rivals Dynamo Dresden.

This was the first national cup final to be decided by a penalty shootout, with goalkeeper Jurgen Croy the name on the lips of the 55,000 spectators at the end. Twice Sachsenring had denied Dresden the trophy by fighting back to equalise, Peter Nestler’s goal in the last minute of extra-time tying things up at 2-2. Croy saved two Dynamo shootout attempts before switching roles to take the final kick himself, the big keeper converting to win the cup for the Swans.

Born in Zwickau on 19 October 1946, Jurgen Croy joined his local club as a teenager in 1963 before making his senior debut two years later. In May 1967, Croy celebrated a personal double as Motor Zwickau won the FDGB-Pokal and he earned a first international cap against Sweden, in Henrik’s home city of Helsingborg. In 1972, he was named East Germany’s Player of the Year – a feat he would repeat in 1976 and 1978 – and by summer 1974, Croy was the automatic first-choice goalkeeper for East Germany and well on his way to completing a total of 86 caps between the sticks for his country.

Those would include an appearance against Scotland at Hampden on Wednesday, 30 October 1974, the international debut of Dixie Deans. Neither Deans nor his pal Jimmy Johnstone, both in unstoppable form domestically at that time, would manage to score that night, although the 40,000 spectators would witness Kenny Dalglish beating Jurgen Croy to score Scotland’s third in a 3-0 victory.

That 1974/75 season saw Sachsenring Zwickau finish in their normal mid-table position in the DDR-Oberliga, however, their shootout victory over Dynamo Dresden in the FDGB-Pokal allowed the Swans a third entry into the European Cup Winners’ Cup. Their first-round opponents were Panathanaikos, European Cup-finalists just four years earlier, a goalless draw in Athens followed by a 2-0 victory in Zwickau, the club thus winning its first competitive tie in Europe.

The next round produced another tough task, Coppa Italia holders Fiorentina, the first leg ending in a 1-0 defeat for Sachsenring in Florence. With that result matched in Zwickau, there was a real sense of deja-vu as the tie went to a shootout, this time Jurgen Croy saving from legendary Italian midfielder Giancarlo Antognoni, before once again successfully scoring with the final kick to take the East Germans into the last-eight. Next up would be former European champions Celtic, Sachsenring looking to emulate current East German title-holders FC Magdeburg, who had defeated AC Milan to win the competition two years earlier.

The flu bug which had spread through Parkhead at the end of February now added Ronnie Glavin to its list of casualties ahead of the first leg in Glasgow on Wednesday, 3 March 1976. The big pre-match news was that Harry Hood would come in to replace him for his first start in three months, as Alan Davidson of The Evening Times recorded.

“Harry Hood, the man who has come in from the cold of reserve football to the white-hot atmosphere of European competition, will have a vital role to play at Parkhead tonight as Celtic attempt to build up a decisive lead against Sachsenring Zwickau. Hood has been unhappy playing second team football recently and hasn’t been slow to say so. But with flu victim Ronnie Glavin ruled out of caretaker manager Sean Fallon’s match plans, the experienced, subtle Hood returns to the top team. He could hardly wish for a bigger occasion on which to display his undoubted skills. Celtic are going for a place in the semi-finals of the Cup Winners’ Cup, with all the prestige which that entails.”

“The ball is at Harry’s feet now,” Fallon said from Celtic’s training headquarters at Seamill today. “He’s back in the top side and it’s a great game for him in which to return.”

“Hood will slot into the midfield tonight and will be asked to help supply the ammunition with which Celtic hope to cut down the East Germans.”

Celtic lined up as follows before 46,000 spectators.

Peter Latchford; Danny McGrain & Andy Lynch; Pat McCluskey, Roy Aitken & Johannes Edvaldsson;
Paul Wilson, Kenny Dalglish, Dixie Deans, Harry Hood & Bobby Lennox.

Substitutes; Ally Hunter, Roddie MacDonald, Jackie McNamara & Tommy Callaghan.

That crowd would not include an extremely unhappy yours truly, who at that point would be midway through an ‘outward bound’ school break with another 40 or so victims from the Garngad at Faskally House on the shores of Loch Tummel, near Pitlochry in Perthshire. Orienteering rather than football was the order of the day that week, so I would miss out as Celts laid siege to Jurgen Croy’s goal on what would prove an ultimately disappointing night for the Hoops.

Not that they didn’t have chances, none better than midway through the first half when a foul on Kenny Dalglish gave Bobby Lennox an opportunity from the spot. With Celtic’s record from 12 yards combined with the heroics of Croy, any 1976 analyst worth his salt would probably have predicted the outcome, the big keeper leaping high to stop the Lion’s shot and keep his side level. He was finally beaten, just before the break, and just as at Hampden some 18 months earlier it would be the King who would do the damage, Danny McGrain finding Dalglish who slammed the ball home for 1-0.

Kenny was one of several Celts guilty of passing up chances in the second half, and with seconds remaining it looked like they would travel to East Germany with the slimmest of leads. Then disaster struck. Sachsenring had drawn a blank all night in terms of being an attacking threat, until they…er…drew a Blank, Ludwig Blank. The Zwickau striker found himself in a race for the ball with Euro debutant Roy Aitken, his pace proving too much for the teenage defender before he beat Peter Latchford for the unlikeliest of equalisers, to turn the tie on its head.

That would not be the only problem facing Fallon and Celtic over the days ahead, as the flu epidemic spread to affect Paul Wilson, Peter Latchford, Dixie Deans and Kenny Dalglish, causing the cancellation of the scheduled League fixture with struggling Ayr United at Somerset Park three days later, on an afternoon when Rangers were on Scottish Cup duty and the potential for a three-point lead was there for the taking. By midweek, Danny McGrain, Andy Lynch and Tommy Callaghan were also ill, and plans to play the Ayr match in midweek were abandoned. The flu virus then struck at Ibrox, meaning a postponement of Celtic’s vital home clash with Rangers the following Saturday, 13 March 1976.

As we have seen many times since then, timing is often everything in football, where a match which could have significant implications is deferred to a date when it is no longer relevant. Celts were on a run of six successive League victories when these postponements kicked in and wins over Ayr United and the Ibrox club would have extended their lead at the top of the table and piled all the pressure across the city.

Sadly, we will never know what may have transpired that season. It was a cruel break indeed.

Matt Corr

Part 2 to follow.

A note on the exclusive photographs featured in this article were given to The Celtic Star this summer in slide format and within a huge bundle in the possession of former Celtic Director Tom Grant.

These photographs were taken at Barrowfields (date uncertain but around the time of this European match) and many of the players mentioned by Matt Corr in this extract from Twice as Good are included in this Celtic photoshoot, which as far as Tom Grant knows has never been publicly available before. If you are sharing them please credit The Celtic Star as we incurred quite a considerable cost in getting around 800 Celtic prints and slides digitalised over the summer so that they can be seen by the Celtic support.

And remember Tommy Callaghan will be joining us at the Kerrydale on Thursday 19 October alongside John Hartson, Stephen McManus and many other guests as we officially launch Matt’s new book ‘Majic, Stan and the King of Japan. We’ll also have the trophies Celtic won in that 2005/06 season on display and one or two other very special items. And Boolavogue is playing live! Tables are selling fast, get a table or book some tickets using the link below….