Sign in or
1971-10-23: Celtic 1-4 Partick Thistle, League Cup
|Match Pictures | Matches: 1971 - 1972 | 1971-72 Pictures|
- Partick Thistle cause one of the greatest cup final shocks of all time.
- Celtic lose despite being over-whelming favourites. Bookies in Glasgow had Thistle at 8/1 om morning of the game.
- 'In Scotland it's League Cup final day at Hampden Park, where Celtic meet Partick Thistle, who have no chance.''
Those were Sam Leitch's closing words on the BBC's Grandstand's Football Focus on Saturday, Oct 23, 1971.
- Partick chairman William Reid praises Celtic's fans who stayed on to the end to applaud the Thistle team receiving the cup
- Jock Stein said he was proud of fans' reaction in defeat.
- There are stories/urban myths of Rangers fans leaving Ibrox at half time to get to Hampden to see Thistle lift the cup ! Only they know if this is true.
ReviewCeltic badly missed the presence of their injured captain Billy McNeill in central defence and Thistle attacked from the start with confidence.
Another blow came when Glavin injured Johnstone and he had to withdraw to be replaced by defender Jim Craig. It was unusual for Stein not to have a forward as substitute and he was caught out this time as he had no forward replacement and this affected the shape of the Celtic team.
Thistle had shown the courage to attack and were deserving of their lead.
Despite the incredible 4-0 deficit at half time, Celtic were urged on by captain Bobby Murdoch and only Rough's fine goalkeeping and bad luck prevented them levelling the tie.
When Thistle received the cup thousands of Celtic fans stayed to sportingly applaud them.
After this match Stein moved quickly to sign both Denis Connaghan and Dixie Deans to bolster his squad.
TeamsPartick Thistle: Rough, Hansen, Forsyth, Glavin (Gibson), Campbell, Strachan, McQuade, Coulston, Bone, Rae, Lawrie
Goals: Rae (10), Lawrie (15), McQuade (28), Bone (36)
Celtic: Williams, Hay, Gemmell, Murdoch, Connelly, Brogan, Johnstone (Craig 20), Dalglish, Hood, Callaghan, Macari
Goal: Dalglish (70)
Referee: W.J. Mullan (Dalkeith)
- Match Report (see below)
The day Hansen and Thistle were a thorn in Celtic's side (Interview)
''IN SCOTLAND, it's League Cup final day at Hampden Park, where Celtic meet Partick Thistle, who have no chance.''
Those were Sam Leitch's closing words on Grandstand's Football Focus on Saturday, Oct 23, 1971.
Not a single voice across the nation was raised in dissent. Who could argue with such a pronouncement? Managed by the great Jock Stein, Celtic were in the midst of a reign which would bring them nine successive League championships, a team bristling with internationals such as Jimmy Johnstone, Kenny Dalglish, Bobby Murdoch, Tommy Gemmell, Lou Macari and Davie Hay. The previous season they had demolished Don Revie's Leeds United on their swaggering adventure to the European Cup final against Feyenoord.
Oh, yes, Sam was right, Thistle had no chance. Newly-promoted from the second division and with an average age of under 22, the club had been the butt of every music hall comedian for the best part of a century ("I grew up thinking they were called Partick Thistle Nil'' - Billy Connolly), their only claim to fame a Scottish Cup victory in 1921.
And then the teleprinter in the BBC studio began to chicka-chicka-chicka . . .
Celtic 0, Partick 1 (Alex Rae 9 minutes) . . .
Celtic 0, Partick 2 (Bobby Lawrie 15) . . .
Celtic 0 Partick 3 (Denis McQuade 27) . . .
Celtic 0, Partick 4 (Jimmy Bone 37).
The official attendance at kick-off had been 62,470 but by the second half the crowd had swelled as many thousands of Rangers' fans - alerted to the extraordinary happenings at Hampden - departed Ibrox by car, taxi, bus and train to witness their bitter rivals' humiliation in what was turning out to be the greatest cup final upset of all time.
Among the stunned faces in the grandstand was 16-year-old Alan Hansen, on the Thistle books as a provisional schoolboy signing, but there in the front row to cheer on his older brother, John, playing at right-back. "It was unbelievable then and do you know what, 35 years on, it's still as unbelievable today,'' recalls Hansen the elder with a fond smile.
''This was Celtic, the best team in Britain. Even without Billy McNeill who was injured, they were frightening. We didn't even want to go out on the pitch to take a look round before the game because they were out there. When we did venture out, Lou Macari came over to wish me well and say, 'At least you'll be going home with a runners-up medal'. He wasn't being mischievous, he was being kind. Of course, we'd no chance. Some of us were full-timers, but goalie Alan Rough had just qualified as an electrician, centre-half Jackie Campbell was a draughtsman, striker Frank Coulston was a PE teacher, and teenage winger Denis McQuade was studying Classics at Glasgow Uni. The year before most of us had been playing for Thistle reserves against Glasgow Police and Glasgow Transport.
''The whole thing was surreal. We didn't stay in a hotel overnight as every cup final team now does, so, because I didn't have car, I caught a bus from my home in Tullibody to Stirling on the morning of the game, the train from Stirling to Glasgow Queen Street, then another bus up to Firhill to board the team coach. On the journey to Hampden our manager, Davie McParland, told us we could win because he was paid to say that kind of thing, but nothing he could say was going to convince us that we stood any hope at all. I mean, how could I even be thinking about winning the cup when I had the job of marking wee Jinky Johnstone? What a player and such a nice guy you could never bring yourself to kick him. Whenever you played against Jimmy he kept up a running conversation. 'OK, big yin, try harder to get the ball this time' he'd say. 'Jimmy,' I'd plead, 'just go past me and cross the ball, will you?' But no, he'd go past, then double back to beat you again . . . and just maybe a third time.''
But Thistle, who played a cavalier 4-2-4 formation, were a team of emerging talents; goalkeeper Alan Rough would make 53 appearances for Scotland - ''Brilliant shot-stopper,'' remembers Hansen, "but not so good on crosses. 'My ball' he'd shout, followed a few seconds later by, 'I've changed my mind'.'' Alex Forsyth (later of Manchester United) and Hansen snr, would become international full-backs, Ronnie Glavin was the thinking man's Rivelino in midfield, strikers Bone and Coulston had a telepathic understanding and while left-winger Bobby Lawrie was the 'Human Bullet', on the left-touchline 'Daft' Denis McQuade could be Pele or Basil Fawlty, depending on his whim.
''We'd beaten Motherwell 7-2 earlier in the season but lost 8-3 at Pittodrie, so you never really know which Thistle would show up. Throughout history the club had been known as the 'great unpredictables', but we made unpredictability into an art form. That's why even at half-time, the general consensus in the dressing room was that though we'd probably lose 5-4, at least we weren't going to get gubbed. When did the realisation dawn that we might actually win the cup? With about 10 minutes to go when we were leading 4-1 (Dalglish having scored in the 67th minute) and the Thistle fans suddenly began singing.''
Hansen describes the closing minutes and the subsequent trophy presentation 'as a blur, though I do remember spotting young Al in the crowd') before it was back to Firhill to change into their finery for the celebration party in the Buchanan Hotel. "Typical Thistle, when we got back to the ground, no one could find a key to the front door. With all the TV cameras there to film our jubilant home-coming, it was all highly embarrassing.''
The following season brought the first of five knee operations which would scupper a move to Manchester United and eventually end Hansen's playing days six years later at the age of 27. Although he would then enjoy a highly successful career as a retail director with the Abbey National, he still regrets what might have been. "Alan's fabulous career with Liverpool provided compensation of sorts but, yes, it was heart-breaking when I was told 'that's it, you'll never kick a ball again','' he said. "But I have some wonderful memories and hilarious interludes.''
Memories such as his Scotland inter-national debut in a 1-0 victory over Belgium in a European Nations' Cup qualifier in 1971 and his visit to Brazil the following summer for a four-team tournament. In the 2-2 draw against Yugoslavia in Belo Horizonte, Hansen came off the victor in his personal duel against the great Dragan Dzajic and though his dicky knee prevented him from playing against Brazil, he did experience the thrill of warming up in the Maracana stadium alongside Denis Law, Billy Bremner and Asa Hartford preparing to meet World Cup winners Rivelino, Jairzinho, Clodoaldo, Gerson and Tostao.
But what of those 'hilarious interludes'? Hansen recalled: "The spring after the cup final, an old England international arranged for us to go on a pre-season tour to the Far East, either for a share of the gate receipts or first class all the way. Thinking Thistle wouldn't be much of a draw in Indonesia or Malaysia, David McParland grabbed the first-class option and to be fair, it was Krug champagne and luxury all the way. In Jakarta we were due to play Lokomotiv Plovdiv, or someone like that, which we imagined would attract a crowd of about 200, so it came as something of a surprise when we arrived at the stadium to be greeted by 60,000 Indonesian fitba' fans. Our 'benfactor' had billed the game as Scotland versus Bulgaria.
''We then played the Indonesian and Malaysian national teams before stopping off in Athens, where we played Olympiakos and where, when our tour organiser was stopped at customs and had to open his suitcase, we found it stuffed with readies. There must have been pounds 30,000 stashed away. Not many people put one over on Davie McParland.''
After McParland left the club to join Celtic as Stein's assistant, came the arrival of his successor, ex-Lisbon Lion Bertie Auld, a man with a great sense of humour, except when it came to football. "There was no one quite like Bertie,'' Hansen said. "We'd been beaten 7-0 and 8-0 in successive games, so Bertie called in for training on the Saturday morning before the next game, announced the team and explained, 'We're bottom of the League, you're confidence is gone, so we're going to have a practice game against invisible opponents'.
''Now it's really difficult playing against nobody. Bertie was an intimidating presence and poor John Kennedy, the left-back, who was supposed to ping the ball down the touchline to the winger, hoofed the ball into the terraces four times in a row. Eventually, when John did succeed in finding the winger, he had to cross it to the near post for striker Joe Craig. Three times in a row he headed wide. After 30 minutes it was still 0-0, at which point four of the players who had been included in the team were promptly dropped.
''Someone, and I think it might even have been Alan, said that when he was growing up he didn't know whether he wanted to be a footballer or to run away and join the circus. At Thistle, we got to do both.''
(c) 2006 Telegraph Group Limited, London
The Daily Telegraph
Latest page update: made by st.anthony
, Jun 2 2012, 1:47 PM EDT
(about this update
About This Update
Edited by st.anthony
2 words added
2 words deleted
- complete history)
Keyword tags: Cup Final
More Info: links to this page