Celtic On This Day – 17th September – David Potter’s Celtic Diary

SATURDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 1966

Latecomers miss all the action at Celtic Park in the first Old Firm League game of the season! By the end of the fourth minute, Bertie Auld and Bobby Murdoch have put Celtic two up, and a demoralised Rangers team fail to trouble the Celtic defence for the remaining 86 minutes with the full back combination of Tommy Gemmell and Willie O’Neill particularly impressive. The huge Celtic support in the 65,000 crowd is in full voice throughout and the players on the field are completely in control of the situation.

SATURDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 1977

Celtic’s woes continue with the folly of selling Kenny Dalglish now becoming more and more apparent. Dalglish scores again for Liverpool today, while Celtic go down 1-2 to Billy McNeill’s Aberdeen at Pittodrie, and even the goal that Celtic get is an own goal! Jock Stein reveals signs of irritability even in dealing with the media, an area in which he previously excelled while the Celtic fans in the 25,800 crowd are plunged into despair. If Dalglish had to go, why hasn’t the £440.000 been used to buy more players? It is a valid question.

SATURDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 1988

Celtic’s problems continue with a 1-3 defeat by Aberdeen at Parkhead before 37,769 fans who all wish they had gone to the Glasgow Garden Festival instead in the fine autumnal weather. Joe Miller scores a penalty for Celtic but there is little else to cheer about. The team has yet to recover from the psychological effects of the 1-5 defeat by Rangers three weeks previously. It will never do so.

THURSDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 2009

In a performance that is sadly typical of Celtic in Europe, the team are 1-0 up against Hapoel Tel Aviv in Israel in the Europa League with a goal from Georgios Samaras, but fail to score again to kill off the Israelis, then defensive frailties lose two goals within the last twenty minutes.

David Potter