Halfway between Lisbon and the Centenary season Celtic enjoyed one of their greatest ever successes.
The lack of media coverage may have nudged the 4-2 match towards the fringes of Celtic history but thanks to ‘Ten Men Won The League’ the events of the 1978/79 season have a reference point that no Celtic supporter will want to miss.
To say that four second half goals from Roy Aitken, George McCluskey, Colin Jackson and Murdo MacLeod earned Celtic a 4-2 win over Rangers after John Doyle was sent off to clinch the title doesn’t begin to tell the drama of the night- or the season.
Only some fading ‘home-made’ coverage on YouTube is there for new generation supporters to enjoy but within the 309 pages of ‘Ten Men Won The League’ every incident of the season is relived spiced up by some great recollections from the men involved in delivering the title on 21 May 1979.
A labour of love from author Stephen Murray brings together the full story of what went on during a 12 month period that saw Jock Stein hand power over to Billy McNeill with the team recovering from a winter of discontent to claim the championship with the last kick of the ball- denying Rangers (IL) a debut season treble under John Greig.
It’s not recommended to read a book from back to front but the chapter Recollections was where I kicked off with Davie Provan, Mick Conroy, Peter Latchford and others giving the inside track on a night that no-one present will ever forget.
Tapping into those memories Provan said: “I remember Desmond White coming into the dressing room after the game, you couldn’t move in it, there was Jink Johnstone, Bobby Murdoch and it was mayhem. Desmond asked for silence, and said that it was the club’s finest hour since Lisbon which was a phenomenal compliment. We could have won the European Cup after that and the euphoria wouldn’t have matched the feeling of that night when we won the title.
“Doylie said afterwards if we hadn’t won then he would have just got dressed and headed down London Road because big Billy would have had him. He was a bit sheepish but all the boys were brilliant with him.
Provan’s driving companion Conroy said: “My Mum and Dad were there and they had friends over from America and they had no idea about football, they wanted to go to the ‘ball game’ that was on that night so I managed to scrape up some more tickets again at short notice. They couldn’t believe what they were seeing with all the madness going on all around them. The dressing room afterwards was chaos, just chaos. My Mum and Dad ended up where the pies and sandwiches were and George McCluskey’s Dad was in the dressing room singing like mad, some of the Lisbon Lions were in there and it was just mayhem.”
Lisbon Lion Lennox said: “After the game I was delighted to see my old pals Jimmy Johnstone and Bobby Murdoch in the dressing room and they were overjoyed for me getting another medal at this stage in my career.
“That game is easily one of the highlights of my career and I had only signed to the end of the season, but after the St Mirren game at Ibrox in early May, Billy had confided in me that he was keeping me on.
“That made the success of the 4-2 game all the better as I knew I was staying on. That team had great camaraderie and there was a great spirit among all the boys.”
Captain Danny McGrain said: “I can still remember looking up and seeing Murdo letting rip for the fourth goal. I know he’ll claim he meant it but I wonder if he meant it the way it went in because it was so spectacular. I was fortunate enough to play in a lot of great games but there’s no doubt that the night of the 4-2 game is right up there with the best of them, and I am tremendously proud of that game because that was my first success as a Celtic captain.”
Manager Billy McNeill said: “When the final whistle went it was absolutely amazing. The number of former players at the game was incredible and they were in the dressing room at the end of the game, it was astonishing. The crowd’s reaction was absolutely fantastic and I remember Tommy Burns, who was out injured dancing about in his shirt and tie in front of the supporters. That also just showed you what a great team effort it was and their attitude was perfect.
From the terraces reserve team player Danny Crainie said: “Neilly Mochan was the kit man, and when he went for his lunch I knew where he kept the sets of strips for the team, so I grabbed five jerseys for us (Charlie Nicholas, Willie McStay, Gerry Crawley and Hugh Ferry) to wear to the game, I put them in a bag and then later on we all went to my house in Kilsyth for a bit of dinner.
“We got the local supporters bus to Parkhead but kept the jerseys in the bag until we got to the turnstiles and then we put them on. We were getting funny looks from the fans as these were real Celtic jerseys, with the embroidered badge and the fashion of adults wearing replica strips hadn’t really taken off yet. We walked through the Celtic end to the corner of the Jungle and kept getting admiring looks for our jerseys.
Ten Men Won The League brings the facts and figures to life through the eyes of a supporter with feelings and emotion- CLICK HERE to buy a Christmas treat for yourself.
