Part 3: A moment of magic from Willie and Sean sees Celts land a first double in 40 years…
In circumstances of the greatest excitement and anticipation, the city of Aberdeen virtually emptied itself that weekend with buses leaving as early as Thursday night in some cases. The Dons had won the Scottish Cup once in 1947, and there were still many people around with vivid memories of the previous time Celtic had played Aberdeen in a Scottish Cup final in 1937 when Celts had won 2-1.
Aberdeen had changed colours since then. They had then played in black and gold stripes, but now they played in red, and what a nice scene they made as they poured out of Buchanan Street Station, and in the concourse of Hampden where they mingled happily and harmoniously with those wearing the green and white of Celtic.
READ PART 1…Celts at the Double as Willie Fernie puts on the style
Celtic and Aberdeen supporters had traditionally got on well together. Aberdeen is far enough away from the awful sectarianism and religious divide of Glasgow to be almost living in a different world, and traditional Glasgow hospitality and friendship meant that the red men and women (a huge number of women as always in the red army of the north) were made welcome, and of course this year there was another point of contact as both sets of supporters loved Joe O’Neill and his hat-trick in the 6-0 demolition of Rangers a fortnight ago!
Joe of course was not playing and was replaced by Jim Clunie, a centre half rather than an inside forward, but that was curiously balanced by Sean Fallon, a tough, rugged full back playing in the centre forward position for Celtic. The weather was pleasant without being too sunny, and the pitch was in fine condition as the crowd of just over 130,000 made their way to Hampden Park to see a game which was generally regarded as one of the best Scottish Cup finals of them all.
READ PART 2…1954: The road to Hampden ends in joy for Celtic but a 6-0 humiliation for Rangers
The teams were:
Celtic: John Bonnar, Mike Haughney and Frank Meechan; Bobby Evans, Jock Stein and Bertie Peacock;
John Higgins, Willie Fernie, Sean Fallon, Charlie Tully and Neil Mochan.Aberdeen: Fred Martin, Jimmy Mitchell and Dave Caldwell; Jack Allister, Alec Young and Archie Glen;
Graham Leggat, George Hamilton, Paddy Buckley, Jim Clunie and Jack Hather.Referee: Mr Charles Faultless, Glasgow
The first half saw Celtic playing to the King’s Park end of the ground. One is tempted to say towards “where their own supporters were standing” but that would not be true because the crowd was agreeably mixed with red rosettes and favours mingling with green ones. Scarves were not yet a major feature of supporters’ gear as they would become a few years later (it was in any case a day which hardly lent itself to such winter clothing) but rosettes were common and a particular manifestation of one’s affections in 1954 came in headgear with bowler type hats, lum hats, tammies and bonnets all made out in either green or red depending on one’s preference, and frequently knitted by one’s grandmother.
The crowd was about equally divided, but there was also, as often in the 1950s, a considerable contingent of neutrals, people who would normally support Clyde or St Mirren, perhaps, but who made it their business to attend the Scottish Cup final, no matter who was playing.
For Willie Fernie, this must have been the greatest moment of his footballing life. The meeting at a hotel, the light and early lunch, the usual banter on the bus going to Hampden tempered by nerves, last minute fitness checks, arrival at the ground through masses and masses of fans, having a walk on the pitch and talking nervously to the Aberdeen players who were going through the same emotions, looking to the stand to see if the family had arrived yet, then back to the dressing room to get ready.
The absurd superstitious rituals of putting your left boot on before your right, the thrill even more pronounced on a day like this of pulling the green and white jersey over your head and realising just exactly what this meant to so many people, then the best wishes from Chairman Bob Kelly and Manager Jimmy McGrory before the final pep talk from the man who was clearly the leader of the party, captain Jock Stein.
Willie had grown to like big Jock. An occasionally abrasive exterior and certainly not a man to get on the wrong side of, Jock with his encyclopaedic knowledge of the game, his instant recall of players, his awareness of tactics and above all his love of football and desire to win games and trophies made everyone listen to him, even potential mavericks like Charlie Tully who had needed some time before warming to his captain.
As far as Fernie was concerned, the tactics were simple. Play your own game, let them see your dribbling skills but recognise that dribbling would not in itself score goals. Dribbling bought time for teammates to get into position for the eventual pass, and that had to be a good one. Fernie nodded sagely to what McGrory and Stein said, everyone wished each other “good luck,” shook hands, the religious made their devotions, and a knock came to the door with the referee saying “Right, lads.”
The wall of noise as they entered the arena, more handshakes, the best wishes (the teams ran out separately in 1954) to teammates – all this passed in flash, and the game started. The first half similarly passed in a flash, and it was difficult for Fernie to recall much about those 45 minutes. The radio commentator said that “there was not a piece of paper between the two sides.”
Both teams had had chances, but no clear-cut ones. The standard of entertainment and sportsmanship had been high but everyone knew that the second half would decide it all.
It was Celtic who went ahead soon after half time, and the goal had a large slice of fortune about it. Neil Mochan shot from the right, the ball deflected off the luckless Alec Young and went into the net. It was lucky, but possibly not undeserved on the balance of play, but then within a minute the scales were balanced again when a long ball found Paddy Buckley who for once got to the ball before his “shadow” Jock Stein, and Aberdeen were level.
It was now clear that something special was going to be needed to settle this tie, and it came from Willie Fernie.
He had not done anything wrong so far in the game but had always been well marked and hadn’t really asserted himself either, but now he picked up a loose ball, made space down his inside right channel, dribbled past a defender, looked up, saw Sean Fallon in a little space and immediately sent him an inch perfect pass which the “Iron Man” in the greatest moment of his career shot home past Fred Martin in the Aberdeen goal.
It was a good goal, and it was tempting for supporters to look back on that goal as if it decided the Scottish Cup. And so it did, but there were still another 15 minutes to go and Aberdeen inspired by their talented inside right George Hamilton threw everything at the Celtic goal. But the same men who had done so well against Hibs in the Coronation Cup final of less than a year ago – Bonnar, Evans and Stein in particular – held out. Fernie’s role in all this was to help the defence and if the ball came to him, to hold on to it as long as he could. Nothing fancy or dangerous – just simple ball retention.
Life was tense both inside the ground and in Scottish living-rooms as the radio was listened to with avidity. One of your writers, not yet six years old, heard the commentator say something about “Johnnie Bonnar in the Celtic goal slides across his line to save” and promptly showed his father how it was done – only to be rebuked for so doing, for the moment was far from conducive to levity at this point.
The 15 minutes passed, referee Charles Faultless (well named to-day for he was spot on) allowed a minute or two of injury time, and then blew for time up to indicate that Celtic had won a League and Cup double, had won the Scottish Cup for the 17th time and that Willie Fernie had now won a Scottish Cup medal. Life could not get much better for the man from Kinglassie!
Life could not get much better either for the five-year-old who was presented with the silver teapot (which did indeed have a passable resemblance to the Scottish Cup) by his mother at just about the same time that Jock Stein was lifting the real thing, while his relieved father, with tears in his eyes, clapped, cheered and talked about Willie Fernie and Patsy Gallacher.
*An extract from David Potter’s forthcoming book Willie Fernie Putting on the Style, published on 6 May 2022 by Celtic Star Books. This official biography is supported by the Fernie family who have been outstanding in their support and cooperation. Putting on the Style is co-written by David Potter, covering Willie Fernie’s spells at Celtic and his career after hanging up his boots while John McCue writes about Willie Fernie’s spell at Middlesbrough. You can order a signed copy using the link below this short video…
