| Season Review | Matches: 1972 – 1973 | 1972-1973 Pictures |
Appearances (Goals in brackets)'
+' sign indicates the number of substitute appearances by that player
* – left Celtic during season 1972/73
† – left Celtic at the end of season 1972/73
| League | League Cup | Scottish Cup | European Cup | Total | |
| Williams | 15 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 25 |
| Connaghan | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
| Hunter | 15 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 22 |
| Brogan | 20 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 31 |
| Quinn | 9+1 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 18+1 |
| Murdoch | 24 (4) | 7 (3) | 7 | 2 | 40 (7) |
| Hay | 21 (3) | 8 | 6 | 2 | 37 (3) |
| Lynch | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 |
| McNeill | 30 (1) | 10 | 7 (1) | 4 | 51 (2) |
| Connelly | 32 | 12 | 7 (1) | 4 | 55 (1) |
| Johnstone | 21+1 (7) | 7 (1) | 6+1 (2) | 3 | 37+2 (10) |
| Macari * | 10+1 (3) | 6 (4) | 0 | 3 (2) | 19+1 (9) |
| Lennox | 15+8 (11) | 7 (5) | 5+1 (1) | 1+2 | 28+11 (17) |
| Hood | 22+7 (12) | 8+1 (3) | 1+3 | 3+1 (1) | 34+12 (16) |
| Callaghan | 27 (2) | 9+1 (1) | 4 | 4 | 44+1 (3) |
| Deans | 30+1 (21) | 10 (6) | 7 (4) | 2+1 (1) | 49+2 (32) |
| Dalglish | 32 (22) | 11 (10) | 6 (5) | 4 (3) | 53 (40) |
| McGrain | 30 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 51 |
| McLaughlin | 0+2 | 2+2 | 0 | 0 | 2+4 |
| Davidson | 1+1 | 3+1 (2) | 0+1 | 0 | 4+3 (2) |
| Wilson | 2+2 (1) | 2+2 | 0 | 1 | 5+4 (1) |
| McCluskey | 14+1 (3) | 6+2 | 0 | 2+1 | 22+4 (3) |
| Own Goals | (4) | (1) | 0 | 0 | (5) |
Most Appearances – George Connelly with 55 appearances
Top Scorer – Kenny Dalglish with 40 goals
New Arrivals, Debuts and Departures.
Season 1972-73 saw one major departure and three arrivals, doubtless funded by the major departure.
The major departure was of course Lou Macari to Manchester Utd for a Celtic record sale of £200,000. Macari was a different breed of footballer to what had been seen up to that time. He shunned publicity and was married to an American. Convinced of his own worth, when he started to become troublesome he was quickly moved on to Manchester Utd joining up with manager Tommy Docherty there.
That £200,000 allowed other players to be brought in. The first to arrive was a goalkeeper. Jock Stein was blind-sighted on the position. He was far from convinced on both Evan Williams and even though Denis Connaghan had been bought from St Mirren at the end of the previous season he proved not to be the answer. Aly Hunter, a proven U-23 internationalist with a good reputation was bought from Kilmarnock on the 4th January 1973 for a fee of between £40-60,000. He went straight into the first team and held the position to the end of the season.
Looking for a replacement for the ageing Bobby Murdoch, Stein cast around and found Andy Lynch available at Hearts. He was brought in somewhat unexpectedly in early February 1973 and made his debut as a sub in the League against Partick Thistle on the 10th February.
The final major signing of the season only arrived right at the end after the League had been won. That was Steve Murray, a stylish midfielder who had graced the Aberdeen ranks for the last few seasons. Murray was a hard worker and a good playmaker who had declared his intention to leave Aberdeen. They had no trouble letting him go for £50,000.
So that was three quarters of the Macari money used to augment the playing staff. The rest of the arrivals and departures were all minor. Billy Mitchell who had been brought in cheaply from Raith Rovers the previous season and not played a senior game, left for Dunfermiline in August '72. The only other departure of note from the books was a young goalkeeper Neil Carr who had been picked up from Maryhill Juniors and was allowed to leave for Clyde where he immediately went into the first team.
Of the other youths, juniors and S-Formers that were brought in only one would go on to have a first team career. Roddie MacDonald was brought in from Brora Rangers of the Highland League on the recommendation of ex-Celt Sammy Wilson and after a trial went straight into the Reserves where he played the whole season before making his debut in season 1973-74.