A third extract from The East as Green and this time we’re looking at the miserable time of it Celtic had in the early 1960s and the massive financial bonanza that the old Rangers squandered. If you want a copy of The East is Green booklet details are provided below…

When the Ba’ Was at Their Feet…

In ten games from September to October 1957, 608,000 people had watched Rangers play. Two gates of 85,000 against St. Etienne and AC Milan, a crowd of 74,000 against Kilmarnock and a 65,000 against Clyde, the league game against Celtic in 1967 attendance was down to a measly 74,000 due to heavy rain.

1967-08-16: Rangers 1-1 Celtic, League Cup a midweek game an incredible crowd of 94,168 packed into Ibrox to watch this game. The boy who sells papers outside the Govan subway is shouting…

“Sensation! Sensation! European Cup champions held by local team”.

The ba’ was at their feet on and off the park in the sixties. They had the biggest pools probably anywhere, 635,000 participants each week paying for a ticket, ex-pats sending money over from the US, Australia, Canada and South Africa. Some people might have called themselves a St. Mirren, Killie or Falkirk fan but didn’t mind handing over a silly wee shilling for their mother club.

In those days the country revolved around Rangers. You either supported them or had a bit of a soft spot for them or considered them a great Scottish institution. If you went to a Scotland international game it seemed like half the crowd were wearing Rangers scarves, there was even some games when Celtic players received abuse Tam Gemmell and Davie Hay for some reason.

02.04.1966 Photo: imago/Kicker/Metelmann Tommy Gemmell (Scotland)

Celtic and most clubs in England had their own pools but they were like a tuppence halfpenny works raffle by comparison to Rangers pools. I can remember at work, whether it was a factory in West Lothian, an office in Edinburgh town centre or a works hut on a building site, there it was that little blue and white coupon pinned on the wall and I’m thinking does the whole country support them and this a period when Celtic doing well in Europe and winning almost everything in Scotland.

Where did it all go? After the Ibrox disaster Willie Waddell made it his life’s ambition that nothing like that would ever happen again, a very noble ambition and he used the pools money to build a new Ibrox based on Borussia Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion. But surely limiting it to 44,000 was another self-inflicted mistake? Admittedly the attendances were down all over at this time but knowing what it could be if they ever got it right, this was a mistake as they can see now.

When the Lottery was introduced the betting and gaming board capped football pools at £20,000 this signalled the end of this enormous source of income to the club, not self-inflicted but serious boot in the Henry Halls. I dread to think of what it would have been like if they if they had carried on churning out that amount of cash, top prize of £100,000 in 1970 around the same time they spoke to Eddie Turnbull about the manager’s job.

It never happened mainly due to Turnbull’s insistence that he would have full control of singings and team selection with no interference from the board, Turnbull managing them with loads of cash would have been a serious challenge to Stein, yet again another self-infliction.

Legendary Aberdeen boss Eddie Turnbull who ended Pittodrie trophy drought, was appointed manager on 28 February 1965

Eddie Turnbull was old school no doubt a very good manager who used to speak English in between swear words. He also used some psychology now and again. Stein had a limp from his playing days when one foot hit the floor it made a different sound from the other one. Turnbull wanted his Aberdeen players to have no fear of Celtic. On hearing Big Jock coming down the corridor, Turnbull said to his players here he comes now “Auld Flappy Fit’ flight over here, we’ve got buns by the thousand could dae wi’ a good blessing.

The early sixties were tortuous period for Celtic. Rangers were winning trebles the Ritchie, Shearer, Caldow era, again speaking to one of the older guys Eddie Kelly he recalled the 1963 SCF replay Rangers were 3-0 up and Baxter was lording it all over the park some of their fans who had been at the 7-1 humiliation were not happy with him as they wanted some recompense and more goals.

In the middle of the main stand both sets of fans were close to each other and they were near a large woman who had a face like Grouch Marx, was wearing a huge purple cardigan and a Purple Star Lodge sash thing screaming at Baxter “ C’moan Slim Jim git intae them’‘n git mair goals’’.

Slim Jim this and Slim Jim that the irony being she was the size of two fat ladies. Eddie’s mate whispered to him “She’s got some mouth on her, Eddie replies “Aye … It goes without saying”.

Slim Jim was picked to play for the World XI against England, the fans were so proud “ One of Our Own” said the Govanhill Gub a well known bluenose columnist, Baxter left us at the same time Jock Stein arrived at Celtic and life as we knew it would never be the same again he lamented.

Yes my friend end of an era and start of a new one.

A third extract from The East is Green by Brian McAuley

READ OUR FIRST EXTRACT…Celtic Supporters – The East is Green

The East is Green is a self published booklet written by life-long Celtic supporter Brian McAuley, who has also personally designed so many Celtic Supporters Club badges and many of them will be shown on The Celtic Star as we serialise this brilliant little book. Running to just over 100 pages it’s a great insight into supporting Celtic and attending games stretching as far back as the 1950s to the modern day.

As we have done previously with Jerry Woods’ brilliant To Lisbon and Back on a Fiver, we’re happy to put any reader in touch with Brian and he’s post and package you a copy of The East is Green for the very reasonable cost of £5 including postage. Just drop an email to editor@thecelticstar.co.uk and we’ll make the necessary introductions.

Thanks to everyone who has been in touch looking for a copy of The East is Green, everyone has now been contacted and Brian will be posting out your copy. Here are some of Brian’s other designs for Celtic Supporters Clubs banners and flags.