‘You Always Remember The First Time,’ David Potter on Celtic’s European Debut

NOT many of the crowd who make their way to see Celtic play the French Champions PSG in at the Parc des Princes in Paris on Tuesday night will have been at the first ever European tie played by the club. It is fair to say that quite a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then, the main difference being that European football was considered to be of a great deal less importance than domestic football.

The important, indeed the all consuming importance, was beating Rangers in the domestic competitions. Has that changed? Well, perhaps not, come to think about it.

However that may be, it is often said that you always remember the first time you do or attempt to do anything – and yes, they mean “that” as well! But no bungling, clumsy adolescent could ever have made as much a mess of his first attempt at “that” than Celtic did at their first attempt at European football.

They had of course played many games against foreign opposition on tours in the past – Eintracht Frankfurt, Ferncvaros, Lazio and a couple of years previously in 1960 they had played Sparta Rotterdam in a friendly wearing numbers on their pants! “It will never catch on” everyone said.

They had even arranged a high profile friendly against Real Madrid a month previously, but their first entry into the competitive European scene was 26 September 1962 when they travelled to Valencia to play in what was then called the Inter Cities Fairs Cup, the equivalent more or less of the Europa League.

In 1962, it was Dundee who represented Scotland in the European Cup, Rangers did the honours in the European Cup Winners Cup and Celtic who had come third in the League in 1962 (their best achievement since coming second in 1955) squeezed into the third European competition.

That same night, Rangers and Dundee who were playing their second legs both qualified for the next round. Both were defeated, but both had scored more goals in Scotland and thus qualified. Both games were characterised by riotous behaviour of opposition fans and players, but they got through.

There was also one sad note that night for Celtic fans, for Arthur Rowley the player-manager of Shrewsbury Town scored against Millwall in the English League Division Three. “So?” I hear you ask. Well, it was his 411th League goal of his lengthy career, and it beat the record of Jimmy McGrory. Aye, the times they were a changing in 1962. There was nothing sacred.

But meanwhile back in Spain, Celtic were taking on Valencia. Recent form had not been great – they had lost their last game at home to Aberdeen – and the management has reacted to that in the same way as they usually did, by messing around with the forward line. You felt that one day they might suddenly hit upon the correct line-up, but it wasn’t to be tonight – and yet perhaps it could have been.

The forward line was without John Hughes or Bobby Murdoch, and read Chalmers, Jackson, Carroll, Gallagher and Byrne. Billy Price the left half was surprisingly dropped and replaced by reserve left back Willie O’Neill, and Frank Haffey went down with flu (or perhaps a reaction to the heat) and John Fallon was given a game in goal.

Spain had experienced a summer which was hot, even by Spanish standards, but the night before the game the storm broke. In the North-east of the country serious damage was done, including the loss of many lives as bridges, roads and houses were all swept away in the torrential downpour. Valencia was not as bad as that, but the pitch had a good soaking. Celtic actually played quite well, but lost 2-4.

John Fallon in the goal reported that this was the first time he had ever seen a ball swing in the air, and that was the cause of the loss of a few goals, but he also claimed that Celtic had a good goal by Steve Chalmers disallowed, and a couple of penalties were also denied. Bobby Carroll scored twice for Celtic, although some claim that the first was an own goal in that it was a deflection, and this was actually one of Celtic’s better performances of the season so far.

The second leg was played a month later on 24 October when the world was in the grip of what has been described as the Cuban Missile Crisis. Fortunately after a considerable amount of threats and sabre-rattling, both the US and the USSR came to an agreement, but it was tense as the 45,000 crowd made their way to Celtic Park that night.

Celtic had actually signed a player that very day. This was Bobby Craig, well known to Glasgow fans for this days with Third Lanark, but now with Blackburn Rovers. He arrived at Glasgow Central Station at 4.30pm and ran out with his new team three hours later! Incredible, but true. The move was hardly a success, but once again it was a case of what could have been, if Craig had been signed earlier or if someone else like John Hughes had been put in the forward line that night.

Celtic were without Billy NcNeill and Jim Kennedy, but really played very well with Pat Crerand outstanding. They got the benefit of a soft penalty. For some reason, young John Clark was allowed to take it and blasted wide after some blatant gamesmanship from the Spaniards and at least three Valencia men standing inside the box as the kick was taken.

Celtic then went ahead in the second half through an own goal, but conceded soon after. Two great goals finished the game, one by the Brazilian Waldo and the other by Pat Crerand, but the 2-2 scoreline, respectable though it was, was not enough to cancel the 4-2 deficit from Spain.

Well, you have to start somewhere, I suppose. But the annoying thing was that, although Celtic were up against a very good team who were actually the current holders of the competition and went on to win the competition again in 1963, we were not outclassed.

We played well enough to win in both games – but were hampered by sheer naivety sometimes. Better management would have meant a different story … but then again that was a constant refrain of Celtic in the early 1960s.

David Potter

About Author

I am Celtic author and historian and write for The Celtic Star. I live in Kirkcaldy and have followed Celtic all my life, having seen them first at Dundee in March 1958. I am a retired teacher and my other interests are cricket, drama and the poetry of Robert Burns.

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