Caeser's last stand

50 years on, St Anthony recalls Billy's last game

I was a huge programme collector in my younger days, and without trying particularly hard, I found myself able to remember dates of Celtic games very easily. In later years this evolved into adult life when I would ask people what date their birthday was then tell them what day they were born. March 10 1980, I hear you say ? That would be a Monday, all calculated by knowing that Celtic beat Morton 2-0 on Saturday March 8 in a Scottish Cup tie. Look it up if you don’t believe me. A neat wee trick at parties and get-togethers when people have a drink in them and willing to be easily amused.

May 3 is a date which will strike a chord with me in this year. That’s because it will be exactly 50 years since Celtic beat Airdrie 3-1 in the Scottish Cup final at Hampden in 1975. I’m now at an age where time is a most curious thing. When someone says to me, do you remember 30 years ago, I still think they are referring to the 1980’s. There appears to be 10 years in my life of which I can’t account for. It may be 50 years, but I can remember that cup final day of 1975 vividly. I was nine years old and football mad. Each week I would ask my dad if we were going to the Celtic game at the weekend and, more often than not, his reply was ‘we’ll see.’ As I got older, I learned that ‘we’ll see’ actually meant yes, whilst a ‘no’ meant there was definitely no chance of going.