Ten things you might not have known about Celtic, Hearts and the League Cup

10 things you might not have known about Celtic, Hearts and the Scottish League Cup…

1. Celtic are not the record winners of the SLC with only 19 victories but they have won it 5-in-a-row from 1965/66 – 1969/70 and 4-in-a-row from 2016/17 – 2019/2020.

2. Hearts have won the trophy four times, all between 1954 and 1962 when they had, one has to admit, a good team. Their last League Cup winning team in 1962 contained Willie Wallace who joined Celtic in 1966, went on to play for the Lisbon Lions, and had a monument erected to him near Stirling (Eh? Oh sorry, that is another Willie Wallace, apparently!)

25.05.1967 Photo: imago/Kicker/Metelmann Willie Wallace (Celtic) gegen Aristide Guarneri (Inter Milan);

3. When Hearts won the Scottish League Cup in 1954, it was the first honour they had won since 1906. In 1906 such had been the rejoicing in Edinburgh that Mary Queen of Scots ordered a half day holiday for the workmen building the Castle.

4. The late, Celtic great  Charlie Gallagher scored a goal at Tannadice against Dundee United in September 1962, but it was disallowed although it was clearly about a yard over the line. As a result of this, Hearts qualified and went on to win the League Cup. Not that I am bitter about it or anything, you understand!

5. Still on about 1962 – Frank Beattie of Kilmarnock scored a late equalising goal in the League Cup final, but it was disallowed to the disbelief of the Press. I’m not bitter about that either. Mind you after Hearts won the Scottish League Cup in 1962 they did not win anything else until 1998, so it was difficult to be jealous – bankruptcy, relegation, getting put out of the Scottish Cup by Forfar Athletic (no kidding! I was there!), and Albert Kidd would wreak a terrible revenge on the Jambos.

6. Enough about 1962! Celtic’s first ever Scottish League Cup match was on 21 September 1946, a 2-4 defeat by Hibs at Easter Road.

7. Celtic did not win the Scottish League Cup until the 11th year of the trophy’s existence, during which time East Fife had won the trophy three times. Celtic broke their duck, beating Partick Thistle 3-0 on Hallowe’en 1956 with a Third World War imminent about Britain invading Egypt. Funnily enough, Hearts’ win against Kilmarnock in 1962 (yes, yes, I know I said I wouldn’t go on about it, but this is important!) was also played with nuclear apocalypse threatening because of some missiles that the Americans had found in Cuba.

8. Four Celtic players have scored hat-tricks in Scottish League Cup Finals – Billy McPhail, Bobby Lennox, Dixie Deans and Henrik Larsson.

9. Celtic and Hearts have never met in a Scottish League Cup Final, and obviously won’t this season either.

10. Oh, and Celtic once won a Scottish League Cup Final 7-1! Forget who they played that day, but I don’t think it was Hearts! Maybe someone can remind me?

David Potter

About Author

David was a distinguished Celtic author and historian and writer for The Celtic Star. He lived in Kirkcaldy and followed Celtic all my life, having seen them first at Dundee in March 1958. He was a retired teacher and his other interests were cricket, drama and the poetry of Robert Burns. David Potter passed away on 29 July 2023 after a short illness. He was posthumously awarded a Special Recognition award by Celtic FC at the club's Player of the Year awards in May 2024. David's widow Rosemary accepted the award to huge applause from the Celtic Supporters in the Hydro.

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