1968-04-30: Dunfermline Athletic 1-2 Celtic, League

Match Pictures \| Matches: 1967 – 1968 \| 1967-68 Pictures

Match Pictures | Matches: 1967 – 1968 | 1967-68 Pictures

Trivia

Celtic win the league!
Dunfermline's record attendance of 27,000 at East End Park although estimates say 30,000 plus in stadium.
Estimated 50,000 Celtic fans travel to Dunfermline. Police estimate that up to 25,000 Celtic fans were locked out and missed game.
Thousands more locked out and several gates are knocked down to allow fans entry. 49 people injured and treated for their injuries.Crush barriers and railings were all bent into fantastic shapes from the overcrowding.
Gates were closed 15 minutes before kick off.
Game stopped twice to allow fans to come down from enclosure roof. Jock Stein and George Farm appealed for fans to come down from floodlights.
Procurator Fiscal orders an enquiry after overcrowding and injuries.One man was taken to Edinburgh Infirmary and 14 others treated for injuries in Dunfermiline.
Dunfermline had won the Scottish Cup three days previously against Hearts and proudly paraded the cup at half time. On that day also Rangers had lost their last league game to Aberdeen thus cedeing the title to Celtic. Dunfermiline's ex-Celtic and Danish goalkeeper Bent Martin had just handed in a transfer request which Dunfermiline were considering in the hope that he would change his mind.
George Connelly makes first team debut as a substitute.
The title was already in the bag with Rangers loss to Aberdeen on the Saturday. However a win was important to prove beyond doubt that Celtic were the worthy holders of the title and give Jock Stein his 3rd successive League title.
Celtic's 63 points haul from a possible 68 is a Scottish record.
Bobby Lennox two goals means he has scored 20 goals in Celtic's last 12 league games.
On the same day Celtic drew 1-1 with Dunfermline at Celtic Park in the Reserve League. The Celtic team was Wraith, Cattanach, Gorman, McGrain, Young, O'Neill, Clarke, Chalmers, McBride, Hay and Macari. The Celtic scorer was Macari.

Review

Celtic's victory gives Stein's side 3 Leagues in a row although the over crowding in the crowd makes the headlines. Aberdeen's victory at Ibrox the previous Saturday meant Celtic had to lose by a ridiculous margin to lose title.

"The nearest either team (Celtic or Rangers) has come since to an unbeaten season was Rangers's near miss of 1967-68. Davie White's team's only defeat of the season came in their last match, at home against Aberdeen, a 3-2 reverse that saw them hand the title to Jock Stein's Celtic. After the game the Rangers striker Alex Ferguson – the club's leading scorer that season with 23 goals – was approached by a frustrated fan who toe-punted him viciously in the shin before wandering off. "I couldn't really blame him," said Ferguson. "I felt as sick as he did.""
Guardian Dec 2011