This was something which had not happened since May 1967, when Jinky cut in from the wing to blast his second goal of the day in off the crossbar, the ball then sticking in the mud in one of those iconic Celtic moments, in front of the watching Herrera.
So it was with great excitement that we left the Celtic club in Springburn and boarded the Cairn bus for Govan, to watch the Celts do the business. There were 36,000 packed into the three-sided stadium, on our left the old Centenary Stand steadily being replaced by a new structure.
It was party time in the Free Broomloan, as early in the second half, the best move of the game, involving Provan, Nicholas and McGarvey, ended with Charlie burying the ball behind Jim Stewart for the winning goal. As the players took a well-earned bow at the end in front of the delirious support, manager McNeill correctly maintained his position that a further point was required before he would accept the title as won.
Again, the peculiarities of the fixture list dictated that recent Cup conquerors Dundee United would provide the opposition for the official title clinching-game. A huge travelling support headed to Tayside on the Wednesday night and they were rewarded early, as MacLeod headed the champions-elect in front after three minutes.
On the half-hour there was a setback, as poacher-supreme Willie Pettigrew snatched an equaliser. Back came Celtic, with that man McGarvey restoring the lead just five minutes later from a Provan corner and Celts went down the tunnel at the interval with the job half-done. The title-winning moment most of us remember came on the hour mark. We watched from high up on the old uncovered terracing, facing the main stand, as Tommy Burns lived up to his name, twisting and turning away from defenders to smash a beautiful left-foot shot past McAlpine and the title was ours.
The scenes at the end will live with me forever, a sea of green and white scarves around the ground as ‘Walk On’ echoed into the night air. The Celtic players joined in, scarves held aloft in triumph, before raising first Danny McGrain then Billy McNeill shoulder-high, in a flashback to another era. After the bitter taste of a final-day title loss the previous season, this particular championship felt very special, earned the Celtic way with an incredible winning run from Ne-erday, which blew the opposition away.
We funnelled out onto Tannadice Street on Cloud Nine, to the strains of a well-known BA advert of the time, the words amended to reflect the achievement of Cesar’s young lions…
…“We’ve won the League again, fly the flag, fly the flag”.
Matt Corr
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