Wednesday, June 15, 2011




And perhaps there was not any comfort at all – 8 clubs departed top football, moved down to the new Division 1 (formerly, Second Division). Airdrieonians, Kilmarnock, Partick Thistle, Dumbarton, Dumferline Athletic, Clyde, Greenock Morton, Arbroath were gone and some of them were even to go deeper down soon. Money is the name… if you wonder about reasons. Celtic was hardly great either – they finished 3rd in the championship, 11 points behind Rangers, but probably more alarming was the difference with the 2nd placed team: Celtic were 4 points behind Hibernian (we are still in the years of classic 2 points for a win and 1 for a tie). At the end even Rangers had little to show for actual supremacy: they won only the title. Celtic won both Scottish Cups; Rangers did not succeed to reach even a final in either cup tournament.
Back Row, left to right: Pat McCluskey, Ronnie Glavin, Roddie MacDonald, Peter Latchfortd, Billy McNeill, Tom Callaghan, Andy Lynch.
First row: Jimmy Johnstone, Steve Murray, Danny McGrain, Paul Wilson, Harry Hood, Kenny Dalglish, Jim Brogan, Bobby Lennox.
Not a really great team… only 3 of the ‘Lisbon Lions’ remained – McNeill, Johnstone, and Lennox – to tell the story of winning the European Champions Cup. Among the rest Kenny Dalglish was by far the best player, although his big fame was still in the future and would be unrelated to Celtic anyway. So far, locally spectacular:
Dalglish scoring with a header. Looks like Glasgow Rangers is the opponent, but soon Kenny will not torment the old foe – and he will score for Liverpool.
However, there was something unique about Celtic in 1975: they were perhaps the last club in the world to play without numbers on their jerseys. The only numbers they had were on their shorts.
Victorious Cup winners in eternal green and white hoops and no numbers. Their victims – Airdrieonians – were peculiar as well: they used numbers, but so small and hidden between the sides of their traditional red V, almost invisible. Last days for such antics, though. Endearing outdated.