Celtic today head to Tannadice for what is a must win match for the defending Champions. At stake are three points and the chance to again pressure Hearts at the top of table…
Celtic this morning trail Hearts by FIVE points after their 1-0 win over Dundee at Tynecastle yesterday afternoon and the Hoops also have a two points deficit on the Rangers after their 4-1 win at Ibrox over Aberdeen last night.
The remarkable story of Celtic at Tannadice
Dundee United’s ground was one that offered little success for the Celts in its early years. It took the club decades to win a league game there!
Tannadice was originally called Clepington Park. It was used by various teams, including Dundee Wanderers. Celtic did actually play at Clepington Park in an 1894 friendly against the appropriately named Dundonians.
Dundee Hibernian used it from 1909 – amid some controversy – then in 1923 they changed their name to Dundee United.
Celtic did not go to Tannadice to play Dundee Hibernian. The Bhoys first visit was to meet Dundee United in 1925. Playing in a League game, the Celts lost 1-0 before a crowd of around 20,000, then a ground record.
For Celtic’s next Tannadice visit (in April 1927) they did at least avoid defeat. In another league game, fans were hugely entertained by a 3-3 draw. The Bhoys had been two goals down but fought back to equalise.
It took Celtic until 1931 to finally win at Tannadice. That match was a February Scottish Cup fixture. On a snowy day, the Celts came from behind to win 3-2 with Peter Scarff scoring twice and Charlie Napier getting the other Celtic goal – and then went on to win the Scottish Cup (beating Motherwell in the final).
However, Celtic still didn’t have a League win at Tannadice, despite other attempts. Changing that took until 1962, almost 40 years after first visiting! Admittedly United were not in the top league for much of that time, but it was clearly still something of a bogey ground for the Bhoys.
In January 1962, it was another hugely entertaining fixture as the Celts won 5-4, although they had been 5-1 up at one point! Afterwards, manager Jimmy McGrory was angered by Celtic’s complacency.
Tannadice has one unique claim during Celtic’s greatest season – it was the only Scottish venue where the Celts lost in 1966-67. In fact, Dundee United were the only team that Celtic failed to beat at least once. They actually won BOTH matches against the side that would soon sit atop the European pile (in this days teams played each other once at home and once away in the league).
Since then, Tannadice has been a very positive venue for Celtic. Apart from Rugby Park (with five), it’s the away ground where the Hoops have most commonly won the title. This has happened four times, in: 1981, 2008, 2022 and most recently in 2025.
And there was a special afternoon at Tannadcie under Ange Postecoglou when his Angeball football really clicked. Watch that one below.
Dundee United 0-9 Celtic – 2022 ☘️☘️☘️ pic.twitter.com/MF9WuTPs4Q
— Willie Collow (@CollowWillie) March 21, 2026
Hopefully today is another step on the road to another Celtic league win. C’mon the Hoops!
Matthew Marr
Introducing The Celtic Star App and our new ad-free Premium Service...
Go ad-free on The Celtic Star, get a FREE trial period to try it out. Also download our new App – available for both Apple and Android – and get the best Celtic content on your phone without fighting through pop-up ads and being forced to watch videos.
Our new PREMIUM service comes with a free seven-day trial so you can look before you book. If you are happy to continue the price will be just 99p per month or £9.99 for the year. For that you get an AD-FREE SITE plus access to our premium content, and you’ll also help us make The Celtic Star even better and less reliant on advertising revenues, allowing us to be more focused on publishing the best Celtic features on the internet.
Click HERE to access your FREE trial. We think you’ll like it! We’re Obsessed with Celtic and we think you are too! Join us hand in hand...
