History of Celtic F.C. (1887–1994)

John Glass, a Scottish builder with Donegal family connections and Pat Welsh, a tailor who had left Ireland 20 years previously, observed the coming of professionalism in England in 1885 and correctly assumed that Scotland would follow.

[32] 'Sunny' Jim Young was at the peak of his powers and captain of the side,[33] whilst the slightly built Patsy Gallacher belied his frail appearance with exhilarating skill on the wing.

[104] Tully became hugely popular with the Celtic support, and 'Tullymania' resulted in Glasgow cafes selling 'Tully ice cream', bars serving 'Tully cocktails' and drapers producing 'Tully ties'.

[108][109][110] On 19 October 1957, Celtic trounced Rangers a record 7–1 in the final of the Scottish League Cup at Hampden Park in Glasgow, retaining the trophy they had won for only the first time the previous year.

Celtic belied their recent mediocre domestic achievements in Scotland by reaching the semi-final of the tournament, eliminating FC Basel, Dinamo Zagreb and Slovan Bratislava on the way.

Stein is also famous for guiding Celtic to nine straight Scottish League wins from 1966 to 1974, equalling a world record held at the time by MTK Budapest and CSKA Sofia.

[161] The return match in Buenos Aires was a torrid affair; goalkeeper Ronnie Simpson was struck by a missile thrown by the Racing Club fans as the teams prepared for kick-off and had to be replaced by stand-in, John Fallon.

[162] A Tommy Gemmell penalty put Celtic ahead in the first half but Racing Club rallied and goals from Norberto Raffo and Juan Carlos Cárdenas either side of half-time clinched a 2–1 for the South American champions.

[171][172] The return match was played at Hampden Park on 15 April 1970 in front of a 136,505 crowd,[173] a record attendance for a competitive European club tie that stands to this day.

[173] Jimmy Johnstone had a particularly outstanding match[173][174] and his mazy run set up Bobby Murdoch to score with a powerful shot,[174] sealing a 2–1 win for Celtic on the night and their progression to the final.

This group included Danny McGrain, Kenny Dalglish, Davie Hay, Lou Macari and George Connelly; all of whom won major honours at Celtic and were capped by Scotland.

This emerging group of players helped Celtic reach the semi-finals of the European Cup on a further two occasions, losing on penalties to Inter Milan in 1972[175] and 2–0 on aggregate to Spanish side Atlético Madrid in 1974.

[176][177] In the buildup for the second leg in Spain, Jimmy Johnstone received a death threat over the hotel phone[177] and a hate campaign from the Spanish media prevented the Celtic players from relaxing or training effectively.

During this period only Kenny Dalglish and Danny McGrain remained of the so-called Quality Street Kids, but other very promising players such as midfielder Tommy Burns, defender Roy Aitken and striker George McCluskey were emerging from the reserves.

The return from injury of Danny McGrain and shrewd signings such as winger Davie Provan and midfielder Murdo MacLeod helped McNeill strengthen a Celtic side that had finished fifth in the league previous season.

[203] In the final minute Murdo MacLeod put the matter beyond doubt when he hammered home a powerful 20 yard strike to secure a 4–2 win on the night and clinch the title in the most dramatic of circumstances.

[208] McNeill led Celtic to another two league titles in 1981 and 1982, and oversaw the emergence of another crop of promising young players such as Charlie Nicholas, Paul McStay and Irish goalkeeper Pat Bonner.

[215] However, an inability to gel with the then Chairman Desmond White, and dispute over the transfer funds from the sale of Charlie Nicholas to Arsenal saw relations between the manager and the Celtic Board deteriorate.

[217] Desmond White issued a press release stating "Mr McNeill's request for a contract and wages increase have been unanimously rejected by the Celtic board of directors.

[231][232] The same season saw Celtic taking up shirt sponsorship for the first time, with Fife-based double glazing firm CR Smith having their logo emblazoned on the front of the team jersey.

McNeill signed three players over the summer; right-back Chris Morris from Sheffield Wednesday, goalscoring midfielder Billy Stark from Aberdeen and striker Andy Walker from Motherwell.

[247] This new-look Celtic side, captained by Roy Aitken, quickly gelled and embarked on a 31-game unbeaten run,[248] culminating in a historic League Championship and Scottish Cup double win in the club's centenary season.

Walker and McAvennie forged a successful partnership up front whilst Paul McStay enjoyed his finest season, winning both the SPFA and Scottish Football Writers player of the year awards.

A replay looked certain until in injury time, Smith under pressure from McGhee failed to deal with another ball into the box, with Andy Walker scoring the winner from close range.

[273] However, Gillespie struggled to adapt to the more robust style of play in Scotland, so Brady signed Middlesbrough's Tony Mowbray a few months later in a £1 million deal to add steel to a light-weight central defence.

[282] Chief Executive Terry Cassidy continued to stir controversy,[283] and was finally sacked on 26 October 1992, with club announcing they had no immediate plans to fill the post.

[284] Brady made several more personnel changes to the Celtic side for 1992–93, selling defenders Derek Whyte and Chris Morris whilst bringing in forwards Stuart Slater (for a then record fee of £1.5m)[285] and Andy Payton from England, and right-back Rudi Vata, the first Albanian to play in British football.

[288] Europe provided a brief respite for Brady, Celtic recovering from a 2–0 first leg defeat away at Cologne in the UEFA Cup to win the return match in Glasgow 3–0, midfielder John Collins scoring the decisive third goal seven minutes from time.

However, later that day Gefinor denied that funding had been agreed for the project,[citation needed] and that same evening the proposed plans were being ridiculed by the Scottish television and radio media.

[306] Brian Dempsey, former director and heavily involved in the campaign for change, pledged £1 million of his own money to assist the McCann takeover,[306] and stated "the rebels have won".