| Matches: 1961 – 1962 | 1961-1962 Pictures | League Table | Statistics |
Definite Progress – but still no major trophies.
- League Position – 3rd
- League Cup – Failed to qualify from group sections
- Scottish Cup – Losing Semi-Finalist
- Others: Glasgow Cup – Winners
- Charities Cup – No Charities Cup this year.
The year started with the League Cup and the usual under-performance losing both games to St Johnstone who had just been promoted to the First Division. Going into the last game Celtic needed Partick Thistle to beat St Johnstone and to win their own game against Hibernian. They duly beat Hibs but St Johnstone after being behind rallied to go through as group winners to the quarter finals.
In the Scottish Cup Celtic had their usual good run despite needing a replay to overcome Third Lanark. And following the emphatic League defeat of St Mirren Celtic found themselves established as Cup favourites. At Ibrox in the semi-final they found themselves up against a determined St Mirren who out-fought and out-competed Celtic and masterminded by an ex-Celt, Willie Fernie, that Celtic had let go earlier in the season.
In the League the season was surprising in a number of ways. For the first time for ages Celtic were able to play an unchanged side for a large chunk of the season and this no doubt helped with the consistency of the football. They were lucky in that there were few injuries in the period between the end of September '61 and the beginning of February '62. The line-up of Haffey, MacKay, Kennedy, Crerand, McNeill, Price, Chalmers, Jackson, Hughes, Divers, Carroll was seen on no less than 15 games and represented a remarkable run. That line-up achieved results and allowed Celtic to climb to third in the table and at least establish the semblance of challenging for a League title. Unfortunately Dundee and Rangers were locked in their own battle and the gap to them never really shortened. There is a hint of there being less tinkering in team selection from outside, though that no doubt still happened behind the scenes. At the start of the season Crerand was sent off in an international and that fed through into a suspension at the start of the season for the League Cup and incurred the wrath of Chairman Kelly. Crerand's value to this team cannot be understated. He had the ability and vision to be able to start attacks by feeding his forwards passes with pin-point accuracy. With the unshakeable Billy McNeill at centre half and Willie Price and later John Clark at left half Celtic had yet another great half back line. With MacKay and Kennedy behind them there was a solid defense structure in front of Haffey. And to a certain extent there needed to be. Haffey could go from brilliant to distracted quickly. Generally he was a great shot-stopper and could pull off some really dramatic saves. But he could also let in some howlers and was slow to come out and cut out crosses.
Up front, the season also showed a consistency and Celtic scored more goals this season than they had for some time. But they also missed so many more goals, with a tendency to over-elaborate and also miss simple chances. Divers had perhaps his best season so far at Celtic not only in scoring but also in bringing others into play. Hughes was even trickier but could have off days. Chalmers, Jackson and Carroll all did well even with part-timer (he actually turned full time during this season) Mike Jackson playing most of the season with a cartilage injury.
It actually felt that some of the predictions made in the past – that Celtic were a young developing team – were starting to come through. And though there was no major trophy, the general increase in consistency and the better quality of play on view was to be welcomed and applauded. Only two home games were lost all season – 1 in the League (the last game of the season against Raith Rovers) – and 1 in the League Cup at the start of the season against St Johnstone. This in itself was progress.To move forward the team needed to up its performance away from home and to simply score more goals.
Back: Kennedy, MacKay, Haffey, Crerand, McNeill, Clark
Front: Rooney (trainer) Carroll, Chalmers, Hughes, Divers, Byrne.