| Match Pictures | Matches: 1918 – 1919 | Pictures: 1918 Pics – 1919 Pics |
Trivia
- Pivotal league match that in retrospect likely is the one that decided the league title that season.
- On this Ne'erday Wednesday Celtic have David Taylor making his debut against a Rangers side who have another David, Celtic old-bhoy David Prophet McLean, in their ranks.
- The Glasgow Herald reports the tragic sinking off Lewis of the Admiralty yacht Iolaire with the loss of 200 lives. LINK
- The Herald also reports the capture by the Royal Navy of a Bolshevik cargo ship and to Russian destroyers.
- On Davie McLean: Celtic won the league by just the 1pt above Rangers, and his contribution could have swayed the title either way. He'd scored 8 goals in three league matches just prior to the pivotal New Years derby game, so likely a surprise that he didn't perform v Celtic. He didn't score in any of five league games in January 1919 for Rangers, and you could argue his underperformance in this month likely cost Rangers the title. Celtic fans will have been thankful at least.
Review
Teams
RANGERS:
Scorer: Bowie
CELTIC:
Referee: J. Black (Falkirk)
Attendance: 65,000
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
- Match Pictures
Articles
The Glasgow Herald – Jan 2, 1919
HOLIDAY MATCHES
The New Year’s Day meeting of Rangers and Celtic makes Ibrox and Parkhead alternatively the Mecca of the football enthusiast in city and country, and as attendance of 60,000 has come to be regarded as a fixed quantity. The fact of Rangers having twice beaten their redoubtable rivals this season in no way ensured their third attempt being successful. It has been the painful experience of both clubs to find recent form flouted at holiday season and the popular fancy gives way to the outsider. This uncertainty was reflected in the enormous attendance, and also in the attempts made by both clubs to make the rival defences more stable and the attacks more effective. Success attended the inclusion of Taylor (Burnley) on the visiting side, but it cannot be said that Cassidy, Archibald, or Brown were improvements on the players supplanted. Neither as individuals nor as links in combination did the players mentioned justify their selection and the game was spectacularly the poorer as the result of their ill-timed experiments. Rather peculiarly, each side scored when least expected and deserved, Celtic after sustaining a long spell of pressure, Rangers at a period when the odds favoured their opponents adding to their total. Their was a striking similarity in other aspects that made a drawn game a faithful reflex of a keen contest. Both sides missed excellent chances; both were well served in defence – the home team by their half-backs, the visitors by the magnificent rearguard tactics of Taylor and the incomparable McNair.