KILMARNOCK FLAG DAY 1974 STYLE
St Anthony recalls a previous time when Killie were the flag day guests
I can still vividly remember the day in 1974, when at the age of 8 I opened the door of our wee house in Govan, to find several men standing there with blue and white scarves on. ‘Is yer Da’ in, son?’ was the request and my first inclination, even at such a tender age, was to say that they must have the wrong door given the nature of their attire. However, it turned out that my Dad had arranged to meet workmates from the Hunterston power station in Ayrshire, who were all Kilmarnock fans to attend the Celtic v Kilmarnock game that afternoon. They then proceeded to the local hostelry for a pre-match libation with me left outside the boozers with the obligatory can of Irn Bru and packet of salt and vinegar.
The date was 31 August 1974 and Celtic were to play Kilmarnock at Parkhead in the opening league fixture of the 1974-75 season. For me, there was exciting prospect of seeing the League flag raised at Celtic Park for the ninth successive season. This was always a pleasant occasion and the honour of raising the flag to tumultuous cheers from the Celtic fans was given to Celtic director Tom Devlin’s wife.
This was the first time I was ever in the upper stand at Parkhead. Dad had decided to go to that section of the ground as there was no segregation at Parkhead in those days. The 1970’s was a very violent decade within football stadiums due to hooliganism, so he erred on the side of caution to take his Killie mates to the part of the stadium which was always recognised as being more civilised. In later years I discovered this was also the most expensive part of the ground although I was given the traditional schoolboy ‘lift’ over the turnstiles. Celtic were sportingly clapped on to the park by the Kilmarnock players to recognise their achievement of winning the title and there was some surprise when the Celts turned out in their change strips of all yellow.
Scottish football was still in a state of some excitement following the exploits of Willie Ormond’s Scotland team in the World Cup finals in West Germany that summer, when the Scots had given a fine account of themselves, particularly in the game against Brazil when they drew 0-0 and should really have won. Celtic’s David Hay had been exceptional during that tournament and there was much disappointment in July when Celtic chose to sell him to Chelsea for a Scottish record fee of £250,000. There had been no direct replacement signed as Jock Stein indicated he was happy with his squad for the new season.
Three of Celtic’s legendary Lisbon Lions side remained in 1974 and all three of them – Billy McNeill, Jimmy Johnstone, and Bobby Lennox – were named in the team lines (note: Lennox was a substitute). For several years now, George Connelly, Danny McGrain, and Kenny Dalglish had been the backbone of Stein’s new Celtic team. Vic Davidson was now reckoned to be the next special talent to break through to the first team from Celtic’s talented reserve side. Vic was now 23 and was given the opportunity of making his mark and he did this by giving Celtic the lead against a Killie side who were newly promoted to the top league under ex Celt, Willie Fernie. Davidson was a very talented footballer who everyone had high hopes for. This was said to be a period of transition for Celtic with the Lisbon Lions side being gradually replaced by a younger element, and it’s to Jock Stein’s credit that he was still able to keep Celtic at the very top of Scottish football during this process.
Kilmarnock’s young goalkeeper, Jim Stewart, had been named in Scotland’s 22 man squad for the World Cup finals and he had an exceptional game on the day against Celtic. He performed heroically and Kilmarnock had defended well but they capitulated in the last ten minutes when goals from Jimmy Johnstone, Kenny Dalglish, Paul Wilson, and Steve Murray gave Celtic a convincing 5-0 win much to my delight high up in the stand. The only disappointment for me on the day was that the game wasn’t televised so the highlights couldn’t be watched again and enjoyed over the weekend.
Much was made in the media about Celtic now going for their ten-in-a-row league title bid. Celtic had equalled the Bulgarian side, CSKA Sofia’s record, of having won nine consecutive league titles in the 1950’s and were now out to create a new world record of winning ten leagues in succession. That afternoon in August 1974, Celtic fans in the old Jungle enclosure, had loudly acclaimed. ‘It’s magic you know, it’s gonnae be ten in a row!’ on the back of the tune of the popular chart record og the time by Pilot, titled Magic.
Everything seemed so optimistic on that sunny August afternoon in 1974, but after a fateful league campaign, Celtic were not to achieve the magical figure of winning the ‘ten’. Davie Hay’s talents were sorely missed, Vic Davidson did not materialise into the player we all hoped he would be and was given a free transfer to Motherwell. And, at the end of that season, only Bobby Lennox remained from Celtic’s legendary Lisbon side as both Billy McNeill and Jimmy Johnstone both the left the club after many years of exemplary service.
The Kilmarnock guys kindly invited me and my Dad down to Rugby Park for Celtic’s reciprocal visit later that season. But like Celtic’s ten-in-a-row bid this was not to materialise. However, that’s another story.