ON the morning of a League Cup semi-final replay with Dumbarton, on October 12, 1970, Celtic stars David Hay and Jimmy Johnstone went to Glasgow’s Central Hotel to receive awards.
The right-back and the outside-right had been voted the best players in their respective positions by Rothman’s, publishers of a popular football yearbook. Hay and Johnstone are shown here with their awards alongside their admiring team-mate, Tommy Gemmell.
Hay and Johnstone played in the replay at Hampden that night; Celtic won 4-3 to reach their seventh consecutive League Cup final, Lou Macari scoring a disputed winner eight minutes from the end of extra time.
It was a pulsating match, with the part-timers of Dumbarton causing Celtic considerable problems. Not that Celtic fans, or neutrals, were complaining at the result.
Malcolm Munro’s report in the Evening Times the following morning began: “Fabulous, fantastic, phenomenal ... add your own superlatives ... they will all fit Celtic’s .... win .... last night. In a long career of reporting football I would say this one beat the lot.” The headline: “This game was the greatest!”
Off the field, Celtic were being kept busy, too.
The first-team squad had just recorded a seven-inch single, entitled ‘Celtic Are Here’. On the flipside, Jimmy Johnstone, no less, gave a solo rendition of another song, ‘Passing Time’.
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