Inside Track: South American team’s thuggery marred Celtic’s great year

Today, 4th November, should have Celtic fans feeling better than they were this time last week. Back then, Brendan Rodgers had just resigned, and the club’s part-owner, Dermot Desmond, had some harsh words to say on his fellow Irishman’s departure.

Martin O’Neill, with Shaun Maloney as his sidekick, stepped into the breach, O’Neill back on the Parkhead line where he had been before, enjoying success that almost goes hand in hand with the job.

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First game up and Celtic get back on winning ways. The 4-0 league win over Falkirk came after a few weeks that can only be described as sticky.

Rodgers chose to apportion blame for the bad results on the club’s board, protect the players at his disposal and exempt himself from all blame.

Desmond, criticised by a commentator when the crisis was at its height for only turning for European games, was in the directors’ box to view the win over Falkirk.

If it hasn’t happened already, you’d imagine he’ll be moving to name O’Neill as the one to succeed Rodgers on a full-time basis.

Another from the northern part of this country, Kieran McKenna, is said to be – or have been – in the mix, along with our friend from last week’s Inside Track, Ange Postecoglou.

Let’s revisit this date, 58 years ago. This was 1967, a year that will forever be etched in Celts’ minds, and written large in the club’s history.

A second successive league title had been tucked away – seven more would follow in as many years – along with all others on offer; but more than that, the mighty European Cup, in every sense, was on the sideboard.

Fielding a team comprised entirely of players from in and around Glasgow, Celtic, under the astute guidance of Jock Stein, became the first British club to win a competition that had, in its infancy, been dominated by Real Madrid.

After that, Benfica got a run, followed by the two Milan clubs. In the first 11 years of the competition, not once was a final contested by a British club.

When given their chance to put the record straight, Celtic took it with open arms. Wins over Zurich, Nantes, Serbia team Vojodina and, in the semi-final, Dukla Prague, Celtic qualified for the final.

Lisbon’s National Stadium staged the decider, with Inter Milan, winners in two of the three previous years, in the opposite corner to Celtic.

It finished 2-1, Tommy Gemmill and Steve Chalmers scoring for the Scots. It was a victory acclaimed way beyond Glasgow, but not entirely in the city itself.

As events proved, it would have been grand had it been left at that, Celtic allowed to concentrate on retaining all the trophies they had won in the 1966/’67 domestic season, and also take a second European Cup.

But there was a comparatively new trophy on show – the Intercontinental Cup. Introduced four years previously, this had the European champions taking on their South American counterparts.

The signs were ominous before Celtic went out against Argentina’s Racing Club. In the first staging of the two-legged affair, in 1963, AC Milan came away from their meeting with Santos with some very sore bodies.

(We can only assume the great Pele wasn’t one of the Santos player responsible for the thuggery. One of the world’s greatest was renowned not only for his genius, but also fair play. There was outrage over the way he was targeted when he came to England to play in the 1966 World Cup.)

The first of Celtic’s matches with Racing was played at Hampden Park, and though far away from home and playing in front of a most partisan crowd, Racing were in no way inhibited.

They meted out the rough stuff in bucketfuls, probably the smallest player on the field, Jimmy Johnstone, their main target. It was so bad that the normally placid Jock Stein went on to the field to complain.

Celtic won 1-0, and immediately, thoughts turned to the away leg. Fears that this could be even worse than Hampton were realised before the Buenos Aires game even started, when Tommy Simpson was struck by a missile thrown from the crowd.

That done it for the goalkeeper – he had to be replaced, Sligo-born John Fallon, who later in his career would become Stein’s second-in-command, coming in to replace him.

Once again, Johnstone came in for attention, and after being hacked down in the area, a penalty was awarded, which Tommy Gemmill put away.

Racing, however, came in with two goals, and that meant there had to a third game, which Stein didn’t want to play, but felt he had to.

It took place three days later, on November 4th. What had gone before was a garden party compared to what unfolded in this game. Fists flayed and boots were used not only to kick the ball. In short, it was a liability to be in possession.

Bobby Lennox and a Racing player were sent off, to be followed by Johnstone, who, having soaked up more punishment than he could take, retaliated. Bertie Auld and another Racing player were also shown the line, but refused to leave the pitch.

Having lost all control, the referee, amazingly, allowed the pair to play on, adding farce to an already chaotic situation. For the record, Racing won 1-0. Their reward? A sullied Intercontinental Cup.