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Date:Saturday May 3rd 1986
Venue: St Mirren Park (aka Love Street), Paisley
Match: St Mirren v Celtic – Premier League (Match Page | Match Pictures)
Occasion: It's the last day of the league season. To win the title Celtic had to defeat the Buddies by at least four goals and hope that leaders Hearts lost at Dundee.
Result: 0-5
Attendance: 17,575
Celtic Team: Bonner, McGrain, Whyte, Aitken, McGugan, MacLeod, McClair, P McStay, Johnstone, Burns, Archdeacon
In The Big Wide World: Just days before the game the Soviet authorities admitted that on April 26th there had been a major accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukraine.
On the day of the match 21 people were killed and 41 injured after a bomb exploded in an airliner at Colombo airport in Sri Lanka. Tamil groups would claim responsibility.
A Bit of Culture: On the day of the match George Michael was No1 in the singles chart with 'A Different Corner'. Also in the charts that day were the Grange Hill cast with 'Just Say No', Sam Fox with 'Touch Me', Cliff Richards and The Young Ones with 'Living Doll' and 'Rock Me Amadaus' by Falco.
Films released in 1986 included Top Gun and Crocodile Dundee.
Who Was There?: Mr Arsene Parcelie
What do you remember about the build up in the week prior to the game?
I do remember a feeling that it was all about Hearts, and that because they had been on such a good run they wouldn't lose at Dundee therefore it was in the bag. This made me feel that there was only a minuscule chance of winning the league and therefore wasn't holding much hope. After all, Hearts were actually pretty good that season, in comparison to us and others.
I have no idea if Davie Hay would have survived if we hadn't won. Hundom was changing with Souness in charge at the helm and Scottish football was never going to be the same after that.
I suppose I was swept up in the general acceptance that it was continuing the "good thing for Scottish football" run the likes of Aberdeen and Dundee Utd had provided in the preceding 5 or six years, and to be honest at that time, the state of our game was such that we did not expect to win every single game. There was a more even distribution of decent Scottish players about the game in Scotland, and most of the teams could give the rest a game on any given Saturday at 3pm.
So how did you spend the hours leading up to kick-off?
The hours to kick off were pretty much the same as any other Saturday. I had no car then, so I had to plan a wee bit more in advance. The soon-to-be Mrs P had gone somewhere shopping, so I was on medium-to-light house duties, ie bread and milk, get the washing on the line, tidy up etc etc ("…and don't forget to bring the washing in because it's going to rain this afternoon!")
Anyhow, I had to decide what I was doing.
The choice was between the pub and wait for the results, or get the service bus up to Paisley and go to the game. Well, the logical choice was the pub, but the "once-in-a-lifetime-chance-and-I'll-regret-it-if-it-happens" argument won the day and I caught the 2pm bus to Paisley, and just as I got on the bus, the heavens opened, and naturally the washing was still on the line!
I had recently acquired a personal radio which was tuned to one of the sports stations (probably Clyde, Richard Park et al) but wouldn't swear to it) so the tension was mounting… "We can do it?"… "We CAN do it!"… "We can DO it!"… "NAW, we canny"…
Can you remember how you were feeling as you finally reached the turnstiles?
Can't really remember too much. It was raining a bit, and I was just carried along with the rest. Walked down from Paisley Cross, went in the Caledonia St. entrance, no fuss I can remember. Both Celtic and Rangers had been pretty rubbish that year so it was a bit muted…probably!
Can you describe the scene as you took your place on the terrace?
I found somewhere decent to stand where I could see. I seem to remember it was near the floodlight, but that could just have been a peripheral vision thing.
Still raining! Not too cramped at that time, and there seemed to be more Celtic fans in the St Mirren enclosures than Saints fans.
To be honest I can't remember anything about the warm ups. Just the usual, I would suspect. At that time I was probably listening to the radio intently, but to be honest I don't think many expected what was to come, so it was more an eerie hush I seem to remember.
What are your memories of the first half?
The first half was a canter. once McClair scored I knew we would win, and then Johnston scored the second, and the magnificent third we were in easy street, and McStays' rocket was the icing on a perfect first half cake.
With Celtic so comfortably ahead at the break was it then just a case of turning your attention to the radio and the game at Dens?
Half time was buzzing and a few guys I knew spotted me and I moved in with them thus guaranteeing my lift home!!
I hoped that we could keep the momentum going, but inevitably the game died a death after McClair's lovely knee-in from 10 yards, and it was all about Dens Park. The crowd was beginning to get excited now, 30 minutes to go, no news from Dens.
As both games entered the final 10 minutes Hearts were still top on course to take the league title. Was hope beginning to fade?
About 15 minutes to go, my FECKIN RADIO PACKED IN. Paaaaaniiiicccccc.
What was happening? Aaarrrghhhhhh… nooooooo… pleasssse, something happen.,. of all the stinking times to have your batteries fail…
Something… happen… pleeeeeeeeasssssseee
Then it did happen – can you describe the Love Street terraces when Albert Kidd scored?
"Kidd's scored!"
"What?"
"Kidd's scored!"
"Ach FFS!"
"Naw, ALBERT Ki…."
Absofeckinglute bedfeckinglam!
Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
With a wonderful and unlikely triumph now just minutes away did you start to fear the unbearable cruelty of a Hearts equaliser?
Not a feckin chance – it was ours, just a matter of time, wee bit of nervousness just in case, but all the same it was a clock watching exercise.
Then Kidd did it again – how did that feel!?
Championees!
It felt fantastic. More so because it was sort of out of our hands. We needed Dundee to do the business, and it happened, the planets aligned in favour of all of Timdom and I was so glad that I had abandoned the washing out on the line!
The final whistle. What was the party like?
The final whistle was just the official end to what had been 5 minutes of noise and jumping and everything we all know that happens when we win something, but this was one of the unexpected ones, so it was just a wee bit sweeter.
After the lap of honour and the pitch invasions and all of the usual celebratory nonsense, the time came to go home, so we had to walk back into Paisley to get to the car, and as we were walking up the High Street we passed the Wee Howff, well, actually we didn't…! I had acquired a lift home after all and it would have been rude not to have a small tipple in celebration.
When I got home, it was the Hearts game on Sportscene, and I suspect we have all seen the picture of the dejected Jambos in their moment of sadness, and that's all I remember about that day. Our game was on Scotsport the next day and I still have the VHS somewhere.