1966-08-06: Celtic 4-1 Man Utd, Friendly

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Trivia

• No one knew at the time, but those attending were witnessing a match between the next 2 (and the first 2 British) Champions of Europe (European Cup)
• Team reported to start pre-season on 21st July. John Hughes was the only player not to have accepted the new signing on terms. When they could not come to terms he was put on the transfer list. Newcastle Utd were the most interested team in signing the disaffected outside left. He finally signed the offered terms on the Friday before this game but was not included in the squad for the game.
• 27th July – Celtic are linked to signing Hearts striker Willie Wallace who puts in a transfer request which is rejected by the Hearts management.
• Celtic destroy the much vaunted Manchester United and give warning of the season to come.
• Man U team included the legendary George Best.
• Ex Celt Pat Crerand captained United on the day.
• On the same day Celtic Reserves played Stranraer at Stair Park in a challenge match and were defeated 3-2. The Celtic team was Martin, Young, Henderson, Brogan, Halpin, Hay, Taggart, Gallagher, Clark, Macari, Taylor. The Celtic scorers were Macari and Taggart.

A week before England had just won the World Cup and we would get to hear about it now and again…… and again……… and again………

Review

The fans were queuing from 2pm at the turnstiles in anticipation after Jock Stein informed the public that the game would start at 3pm regardless. This was because Man Utd had to leave immediately after the game for Europe.
There was a breathtaking opening 15 minutes when four goals were scored to the joy of the huge crowd.
Celtic impressed their fans with their intelligent running up front and the pace of their forwards.
Some of Nobby Stiles' tackling was fierce to say the least and this did not endear him to the Parkhead crowd.

Celtic did not have a failure in their side and gave notice of the fine football that was to come for thr rest of the season.

Teams

Simpson; Gemmell, O'Neill; Murdoch, McNeill, Clark; Johnstone, McBride, Chalmers, Auld, Lennox.
Scorers: Lennox (7), Murdoch (10), McBride (15), Foulkes (OG 61)

Man Utd:
Gregg Brennan Dunne Crerand Foulkes Stiles Best Sadler (Cantwell) Charlton Law Connelly
Scorer: Sadler 12

Referee: W Anderson
Attendance: 60,000

Articles

• Match Report (see end of page below)

Pictures

• Match Pictures

Articles

Evening Times 8th August 1966

Celtic 4-1 Manchester United

United's team included some of England's Word Cup winners from just a few months previously, such as Nobby Stiles, and that was enough to get any Scotsman's blood boiling.

Added to that the genius of George Best, Denis Law's brilliance and the return 'home' of Pat Crerand and it's no wonder that, just like this evening, Celtic weren't given a hope in hell.

But it was Jock Stein's side who gave their English opponents a football lesson at the start of a season which was to lead to Lisbon and the European Cup.

A 4-1 victory, thanks to goals from Joe McBride, Bobby Murdoch, a Bill Foulkes own goal and, would you believe it, one from Lennox, could easily have been more convincing such was Celtic's dominance of the match.

Bobby Lennox:

"We played really well that night. The crowd were really up for the game and they roared us on. It was a Manchester United side full of stars and had Sir Matt Busby as their manager.

"I always thought that win helped to kick-start what would end up being a wonderful season.

"That was a fantastic United team but we over-ran them from the word go. It might only have been a friendly but people still talk about that game.

"We got ourselves up for the match because it was such a test to play against the likes of Denis [Law].