| Match Pictures | Matches: 1975 – 1976 | 1975-1976 Pictures |
Trivia
- This was Celtic's first ever Premier League game.An all-ticket game.
- Rangers unfurled their League flag before the game but only after a storm of protest from Celtic fans and authorities who feared trouble at the game.
- Willie Waddell's wife Hilda unfurls the flag.
- An unchanged side for Celtic with Glavin fit but Harry Hood still out with injuries. Pat McCluskey had treatment for a leg injury after the Aberdeen game in midweek but was fit for the game.
- At half time Glen Daly hosts a fun version of It's a Knockout with Rangers and Celtic fans. Trouble broke out at the Rangers end of the ground and police had to move in to restore order.
- 84 arrests made during the game in which warm weather and alchohol is said to have been a troublesome mixture.
- The attendance of 69,594 was a Premier League record which held until 1988 when 72,000 watched Celtic v Dundee.
- Highlights shown that night on Sportscene.
- In the Reserve League Celtic defeated Rangers 3 -1 at Celtic Park. The Celtic team was Hunter, Gourlay, Baillie, Hannah, Aitken, Innes, Casey, Glavin, McCluskey, Little, McLean Subs Welsh and Newman. The Celtic scorers were McCluskey, Glavin and Newman (Billy Gray).
Review
Celtic did not deserve to lose this game and only slack defending cost them. At 1-0 they were in control and should have killed the game and even when they went 2-1 down they rallied at the end and had chances to equalise. Danny McGrain was in truly inspirational form.
With five minutes left sub Andy Ritchie sent a powerful header at goal and the ball stuck between McCloy's legs. It was that kind of day.
Alex MacDonald was sent off for Rangers in the 66th minute in a game that was full of niggle, shirt pulling, high and late tackles as well as numerous off-the-ball incidents.
The pre-match, during the match and post-match violence was beginning to be seen as endemic now in the game. UEFA called it 'the English disease' after the riot between Bayern Munich and Leeds Utd fans at the European Cup final in Paris in May. The new season had not been good in terms of crowd behaviour either south or north of the border with numerous pitch invasions and fighting breaking out.
This game saw the Press go to town on the aftermath as shown in Ian Archer's article below. The Evening Times went even further calling for the SFA to intervene and future 'Old Firm' (an annoying epithet) be played behind closed doors. Considering that this was the first of the Glasgow Derbies this season and under the new Premier League there would be a further three meetings then things did not look good. It was a return to previous times when there had been constant outbreaks of violence between the two groups of supporters which had seen the Glasgow Baillies call for football grounds to be licensed so that they could withdraw their licenses in the event of serious misdemeanours and violence.
Teams
Rangers: McCloy, Forsyth, Greig, Jardine (O'Hara), Jackson, McKean, McLean, MacDonald, Stein, Johnstone, Young Sub: Miller
Scorers: Johnstone (56), Young (68)
Celtic:
Latchford, McGrain, Lynch, Edvaldsson, MacDonald, P McCluskey, McNamara (Connelly), Callaghan, Dalglish, Wilson, Lennox (Ritchie)
Scorers: Dalglish (42)
Referee: I M D Foote (Glasgow)
Attendance: 69,594
Articles
- Match Report (see end of page below)
Pictures
Articles
