| Match Pictures | Matches: 1963 – 1964 | Pictures: 1963-64 Pictures |
Trivia
- Celtic took a party of 18 players and eight officials to Switzerland. Along with the team that played went John Fallon, Jim Kennedy, Willie O'Neill, Billy Price and Jim Brogan, Paddy Turner and Charlie Gallacher. The officials that went were Jimmy McGrory, Sean fallon, Bob Rooney, the club doctor (John Fitzsimmonds) and the directors.
- It looked like Paddy Turner would be out of the running. He had picked up an ankle injury against Third Lanark in the previous game and failed to train in Basle with the others. With Turner out space was made for John Hughes to come back into the forward line up at centre forward, and John McNamee was prefereed at half back.
- City of Basle was experiencing a heatwave and Celtic players were confined to their rooms in the afternoon before the game.
- Basle goalkeeper Stettler had lost eight goals during Switzerland v England game in the previous June.Their other two internationalists were Weber and Odermatt.
- First Celtic visit to Basle since their European tour of 1911 when they had also won by 5-1.
- This was a Tuesday game and the St Jakob pitch they played on was not regularly used and described as 'heavy'.
Review
Celtic were far superior in every area to their opponents in the picturesque St Jakob stadium.
Although Hughes struck a hat trick he was criticised in the press for missing too many chances and Basle score their consolation goal when Celts were 5-0 up. The quality of opposition was not great and Celtic were warned not to get carried away with this result.
The experience was good for their young players Gemmell, McNamee and Lennox. Celtic's pace and stamina were too strong for Basle.
The second leg at Parkhead was now academic and there was not much interest in the return leg.
Teams
Basle:
Stettler; Furi, Michaud; Stocker, Weber, Porlezza; Simonet, Odermatt, Pfirter, Blumer, Baumann.
Scorer: Blumer (78)
Celtic:
Haffey; MacKay, Gemmell; McNamee, McNeill, Clark; Lennox, Divers, Hughes, Chalmers, Brogan
Scorers: Divers (21), Hughes 3 (43, 65, 77), Lennox (52)
Referee: M Gomez (Spain)
Attendance: 15,000
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
Pictures
Articles
Evening Times 18th September 1963
