| Match Pictures | Matches: 1968 – 1969 | 1968-69 Pictures |
Trivia
- Celtic appointed Jim Kennedy as Supporters Liaison Officer at the club.. He st kept up his player registration and he led a young Celtic side in a Friendly against Morton on 19th August.
- In order to decrease any potential clashes between supporters the Club planned to entertain the punters with a three mile invitation race before kick off and a 1 mile race at half time. This was an all-ticket game.
- Celtic went with an unchanged team again announced on the Friday.
- Norrie Martin saved a Tommy Gemmell penalty.
- Rangers field new signings Dave Smith and Alex Smith (no relation). Celtic fans sing:
#Oh they paid a hundred thoosand for the Smiths
Oh they paid a hundred thoosand for the Smiths
Oh they paid a hundred thoosand
And the b******s kept on losin'
Oh they paid a hundred thoosand for the Smiths.#
- On the same day Celtic lost 5-2 to Rangers in a Reserve League Cup game at Ibrox. The Celtic team was Fallon, Craig, Gorman, Cattanach, Hay, McGrain, Chalmers, McMahon, McBride, Auld, Macari. Sub Quinn (Cattanach). The Celtic scorers were McBride and Gorman.
Outside of football, the Prague Spring of Alexander Dubchek reached it's height and the world was shocked as Moscow sent in Russian tanks and troops on the 21st August – Celtic were one of the first clubs to react to this political event and sent a telegram to UEFA saying that no western European club should be forced to play a tie against a club from either the USSR or the |Eastern Bloc. This would have a direct action for Celtic as their first round European Cup tie was against Ferencvaros.
Review
From the minute the game started it was clear that Rangers were all set to win by any means possible – they had to in order to keep any hope of qualification. Their tackling was crunching and brutal as Bobby Lennox found out. Three players were booked within a quarter of an hour – Murdoch and Hughes for Celtic, and Ferguson for Rangers. Celtic played the better and sweeter football by far and but for Martin in the Rangers goal the scoreline would have been even better in Celtic's favour. Martin even saved a penalty from Tommy Gemmell on 73 minutes. Celtic were far from at their best for the game but they were better than Rangers by a country mile.
With two games left to go Celtic had already qualified for the quarter finals. Other than with a sensational collapse they could not be overtaken in their League Cup group.
Partick Thistle 2-0 Morton
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| Celtic | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 8 |
| Rangers | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 4 |
| Partick Thistle | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 4 |
| Morton | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 0 |
Teams
Celtic
Simpson Gemmell, O'Neill, Murdoch, McNeill, Brogan, Johnstone, Connelly, Wallace, Lennox, Hughes. Substitute: Clark
Scorer Wallace (55)
Rangers
Martin, Jackson, Mathieson, Greig, McKinnon, Hynd, Penman, Ferguson, Johnston, D. Smith, Persson. Sub A. Smith
Scorers:
Referee: W. Anderson (East Kilbride)
Attendance: 75,000
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
Pictures
Articles
Evening Times 26th August 1968
