| Match Pictures | Matches: 1962 – 1963 | 1962-63 Pictures |
Trivia
- Celtic's first ever competitive European game. A Wednesday night game. There had been no rain in Valencia for three months but on the Tuesday the heavens opened and it continued right up to the game.
- There were precursors but this one of the first official major UEFA competitions. It was a pre-runner of what became the UEFA cup.
- Not exactly the best time to re-jig the forward line – again! – for your first European away game, but that's pretty much what Celtic did, though the players had very little say in that. Out went Hughes and Murdoch; back in came Charlie Gallacher and Alec Byrne; also sacrificed was Johnny Divers and in came Mike Jackson. The thinking behind it was to play the team that had done so well in the second half against Real Madrid in the Friendly at Celtic Park. In a surprise move Willie O'Neill came in at left half for Billy Price. Perhaps the biggest shock was replacing Frank Haffey in goal with John Fallon – this tends to get overlooked. Haffey had played in the last game against Aberdeen and done well though lost two goals, and he had been a constant in the team so far. One can only presume he took ill and Fallon had to deputise. Strangely none of the newspaper reports mention this, what would surely have seemed a major change – yet all the records show Fallon as goalkeeper, and though photographs show Fallon in the line-up. It later transpired that Haffey was out withy 'flu.
- Celtic left for Spain on the Monday, flying from Renfrew, taking 21 players with them. Dundee were also playing their European Cup away leg the same night and Rangers were also in Seville playing their away leg of the Cup Winners Cup. Dundee lost 4-0 but went through on an aggregate of 8-5, and Rangers lost 2-0 on the night but went through on a 4-2 aggregate. Both games were described as roughhouses and the Rangers game had to be stopped when an all-out brawl developed between all 22 players.
Review
Celtic started well in their first ever Euro tie but Coll scored twice in 9 and 26 minutes, the second from a fine free kick.
Celtic had a bit of fortune when Mestre diverted a shot into his won net but Valencia went 3-1 before half time through Guillot.
Guillot made it 4-1 before Chalmers had a goal disallowed for offside and the Celtic players protested bitterly at this decisison. Celtic pressed and gained five successive corners before Carroll scored in 73 minutes.
As the game wore on Celtic looked the fitter side but their finishing did not match their build up play.
In laters years John Fallon was to comment that Celtic could have won 5-4, as Stevie Chalmers had a perfect goal disallowed and 2 stone wall penalties were denied.
Bobby Carroll has since claimed he scored what was Celtic's first Euro goal, the ball was deflected in by Mestre who was 2 yards from the line, and some still argue that it was an own goal. On this site we will credit Bobby with his goal.
Teams
Valencia:
Zamora Piquer Guincola Mestre Sistre Chicao Fasha Ribewes Urtiaja Guillot Coll
Scorers: Coll 2( 9,26), Guillot 2 (39, 51)
Celtic:
Fallon; MacKay, Kennedy; Crerand, McNeill, O'Neill; Chalmers, Jackson, Carroll, Gallacher, Byrne.
Scorers: Carroll 2 (35, 73)
Referee:
Attendance: 25,000
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Articles
Evening Times 27th September 1962
Football Memories – Celtic’s first ever European tie
9 December 2013 9.42am.
http://www.sundaypost.com/sport/sporting-memories/football-memories-celtic-s-first-ever-european-tie-1.163010
Celtic's Charlie Gallagher in actionSNS Group
Celtic’s first-ever European tie in 1962 was always going to be an occasion to remember for all the players involved.
For Charlie Gallagher, however, it isn’t a moment from the match that still looms large.
Instead, it’s the scenes the night before their Inter-Cities Fairs Cup tie away to Valencia which the Parkhead legend can still recall.
As Celtic prepare to fly to Spain this week for their Champions League encounter with Barcelona, it’s fair to say their preparations will be completely different to what it was like for Gallagher and Co. over 50 years ago.
“For some reason, we were staying in what I can only describe as beach huts or cabins down next to the beach,” recalls Gallagher.
“The night before the game, there was quite a bad storm and the entire place was flooded.
“I don’t know why we were staying where we were, but we were effectively evacuated in the middle of the night.
“We had to change accommodation and, to this day, I don’t actually know if it was a bit of gamesmanship from the locals or not.
“Put it this way, the weather conditions must have been forecast so why we were based there I just don’t know.
“I’d say I probably remember all of that more than the game itself.”
Celtic found themselves two goals behind against Valencia after just 26 minutes, and although they improved thereafter, they still found themselves going down 4-2 on the night.
Bobby Carroll netted Celtic’s two goals but the intimidating atmosphere made it a difficult 90 minutes for the Parkhead players.
“It was a big, round stadium, like a bullring actually,” said Gallagher. “And we were the bulls being taunted by the matadors. It was a really intimidating venue.
“In fairness, we weren’t used to it. It was obviously our first European tie and we really didn’t know what to expect. It was like an adventure for us.”
In the return at Celtic Park four weeks later, John Clark missed a penalty before a Verdu own goal three minutes into the second half gave the Hoops hope.
But Valencia hit back twice and Pat Crerand got Celtic’s equaliser for the tie to finish 6-4 on aggregate to the visitors.
“Valencia went on to win the competition that year, so it wasn’t that bad to lose to the team that went all the way,” Charlie points out.
“And it was nice to go into the history books as part of the team that played Celtic’s first-ever European tie.”
Gallagher spent 11 years at Celtic Park between 1959 and 1970, helping the club win five League titles, five League Cups, three Scottish Cups and the European Cup in 1967.
He finished his career at Dumbarton before returning to Celtic as a scout and Charlie remains a regular at matches and club functions.
“We still talk about the games we were involved in from our playing days, and Bobby Carroll has a great memory for the matches,” says Charlie.
“He scored our two goals in that first-ever European tie, but he also recalls us going out for a walk along a country lane the day before the game.
“That was obviously before the storm and the evacuation!”
History Bhoy reflects on his golden Euro goal
Official site, Celticfc.net By: Mark Henderson on 26 Sep, 2012 12:31
BOBBY Carroll may not be a household name among Celtic supporters but he will forever hold a special place in the club´s history.
It was on this day 50 years ago that the winger scored the Hoops´ first-ever goal in European competition. This was the opening gambit in the club´s incredible continental caper, a spellbinding story comprising instances of both sheer joy and despair.
It was back on September 26, 1962, just before the onset of the Cuban Missile Crisis, that Celtic travelled to Valencia for the first-leg of a Fairs Cities´ Cup (which became the UEFA Cup and is now the Europa League) tie against the Spanish side.
The Hoops couldn’t have asked for a more formidable opponent for their first foray into European football. Valencia were holders of the cup and would go on to retain the trophy that season.
Still, Jimmy McGrory´s side were certainly not disgraced over in Spain, putting in a spirited display before going down to a 4-2 defeat.
Both of the visitors´ goals came from Carroll as he etched his name in Celtic history.
At the time, the more pedantic Spanish press declared his opening strike as an own goal, simply because it touched a Valencia player on the way in. That was their practice in those days.
However, by any measure, and certainly by modern standards, it was Carroll´s goal. And it remains vivid in his memory.
Like so many of his contemporaries who donned the Hoops, the 74-year-old is a self-effacing character, but as he spoke to official website for the 50th anniversary his golden goal, he did admit to feeling proud of his achievement.
"It makes me feel good that I´ve got a wee bit of history," saidCarroll."It does mean a lot. They are claiming the first one was an own goal but it wasn´t, as it beat the goalkeeper.
"He was out of his six-yard box and I was just in front of him. Mike Jackson cut it back to me and I put it in past him. The defender came running in and tried to stop it but he couldn’t.
"The Spanish press said it was anown goalbut I would only say it was an own goal if it was going past the post and he had deflected it in. But he couldn’t stop it.
"If it had been the goalkeeper on the line and he had put his hand on it and it had went in, it would have been a goal for me so that´s the way how I look at it.
"The other goal I scored was quite similar. Mike Jackson cut it back from the byline and I hit it past the goalkeeper."
Only three years earlier, Carroll had been helping Irvine Meadow lift the Scottish Junior Cup, the team he would join Celtic from. Now he was starring on the big stage within the imposing surroundings of the Mestalla Stadium.
Armed with straw hats to block out the sun and a new club blazer, it was all an exciting adventure for the players- although it was a more dampening experience for the Celtic directors…
"It was an amazing stadium," recalled Caroll"From what I can remember, it was similar to Celtic Park now. The crowd were away up high and towering over you. It was the first ground I had played in which was like that. It was a bit intimidating.
"We arrived at the park and we couldn’t believe it, the terracing as the stands were away above us.
"They were a good team as well. It is the same as the Spaniards do now, they played a good passing game.
"It was an exciting experience. It was the first time we had played in Europe. We were all given hats to wear if we went out into the sun. I don´t know where that is now but I still have my blazer that I wore.
"When we arrived , there was thunder and lightning and it was like a river running past the hotel the next morning.
"Bob Kelly and the rest of the directors were in a wee kind of annex down near the beach and when they got up in the morning they stepped into a foot of water!"
After making 78 appearances for the Hoops, scoring 27 goals, he had spells with St Mirren and Dundee United before eventually ending his playing days back at Irvine Meadow.
Despite his brace in the first-leg, Carroll wasn´t picked for the return game in Glasgow – another example of the erratic selection policy at the time – which ended in a 2-2 draw, giving the Spaniards a 6-4 aggregate victory.
Celtic were out, but Carroll, who now resides in Calderwood, near East Kilbride, had lain the first step on the road which would lead to European Cup glory in Lisbon five years later.
"It doesn´t feel like 50 years have passed," he added. "I couldn’t believe when I was told. I didn´t realise it was that long.
"I suppose I was lucky that it was me that put it away! But at least I managed to do it.
"I never gave it a thought at the time until someone told me a couple of years later that it was the first one. But it makes me feel good now – it keeps me a bit in limelight!
"It´s been in the papers quite a few times. I play bowls out here and people do come up to me in the bowling club. And it also a question at a quiz that I was at a few years ago."
Carroll´s pivotal part in the Celtic story will never be forgotten.