Dundee first footers at Paradise in Celtic’s Golden Year of 1967

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The Celtic Star

·07 de janeiro de 2025

Dundee first footers at Paradise in Celtic’s Golden Year of 1967

Celtic on this Day in 1967 played the first competitive match of what turned out to be the most memorable, enjoyable and historic year in the club’s incredible and unbroken history…

Celtic 5 Dundee 1 – 7th January 1967. Photo The Celtic Wiki

7 January 1967

Celtic 5 Dundee 1 – 7th January 1967. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Vídeos OneFootball

Celtic 5-1 Dundee. Jock Stein’s men kickstarted the wonderful calendar year of 1967 with an emphatic victory at Celtic Park over Dundee. Celtic’s fixtures against Clyde and Rangers at the start of the year had been postponed due to frozen pitches — and the Dundee game was lucky to be on. The pitch was playable but was frozen in some places which led to Celtic players wearing rubber soled footwear. Typically, Stein’s side which had 10 of the 11 Lisbon Lions starting the game played remarkably scintillating football despite the conditions. Goalscorers on the day were: Willie Wallace double, Jinky, Charlie Gallagher and an own goal.

7 January 1995

Phil O’Donnell, John Collins and Paul McStay. Celtic v Dundee Utd, 7th January 1995. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Celtic 1-1 Dundee United. Speculation had been brewing prior to the match over whether Celtic would confirm the signing of NAC Breda striker Pierre van Hooijdonk for a rumoured fee of £1 million. Arriving with stature, Van Hooijdonk had been deprived of top-goalscorer in the Dutch top-flight by Ajax’s very own Jari Litmanen. The game versus Dundee United was a familiar tale. Another draw. An eighth draw in the league in nine games. Praised for their display at Ibrox on the Wednesday, Tommy Burns’ men couldn’t back it up with a victory at Paradise. John Collins netted an equaliser late on to secure a point for the Hoops. Celtic remained unbeaten in the league since their last defeat against Rangers on 30 October 1994.

7 January 1984

Paul McStay in action at Fir Park for Celtic against Motherwell on 7th January 1984. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Motherwell 2-2 Celtic. A draw was the least Bobby Watson’s Motherwell side deserved in this fiercely contested battle. Celtic fought back from one down early on after Stuart Rafferty’s opener. McGarvey’s thunderous strike brought the game back to all-square. Inter Milan linked Paul McStay thought he had scored the encounters winning goal with 10 to play, but Andy Dornan secured a well-deserved point for the hosts. It was a sore one for Davie Hay’s side who failed to find any rhythm throughout the 1983/1984 campaign which saw Celtic fall short of winning the league title.

7 January 1989

Andy Walker heads for goal. Celtic v Hamilton. 7th January 1989. Photo The Celtic Wiki.

Celtic 2-0 Hamilton. The Hoops responded to a 4-1 hammering at Ibrox four days earlier with an underwhelming home performance against a struggling Accies side. Hamilton seemed like the perfect opponents for Celtic following an Old Firm defeat considering Billy McNeill’s side had scored 17 goals against their opponents in the last three meetings between the two sides. This included a famous 8-0 victory for Celtic versus Hamilton in November. It was two points for Celtic courtesy of Andy Walker and Joe Miller, but the Celtic supporters really did deserve better.

Conor Spence

Willie Fernie – Putting on the Style. Available at celticstarbooks.com