Battle of Britain

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Reference: Matches against English top tier champions (or in certain rare occasions any other British sides) 

When Celtic took on the might of England

“As a Celtic player we took great pleasure in walloping the teams from down south.”
Celtic player & Englishman Chris Sutton

This title – Battle of Britain – has become a clichéd label stamped onto any match that has been between a team from Scotland and England. Strictly it should be only about matches between the champions of the respective top leagues, but it makes for easy ‘sensational’ journalism to slap the label to any fixtures possible. The death of the old annual Scotland v England Rous Cup match means the club matches have a greater significance to some for testing our steel in these games.

However, rivalry is part of life and sporting challenges are a way to celebrate our differences, and matches between Scottish sides v English sides has been an intriguing neighbourhood battle. With the disparity of resources in recent years, David v Goliath might be a more appropriate tag.

In Scottish football the most celebrated ‘Battle of Britain‘ was the 1970 semi-final matches between Celtic and Leeds Utd in the European Cup. Leeds were marked as favourites for the match but things didn’t go to plan for them as Celtic out fought and out played them in both legs to record a famous set of victories, which are as celebrated today as ever before. It was a real kick in the crotch for the English media, where one said beforehand he wouldn’t want to be in Glasgow after our defeat to come.

There have been various other great matches & tournaments involving Celtic and English sides which some may not be as celebrated and need mentioned.

One of the earliest challenges was the match between Celtic (League & Cup winners) & Burnley (FA Cup winners) in May 1914 for the Budapest Cup, the match being played in Hungary. As the UK was seen as the top of the sport, the battle between the respective Scottish and English sides was seen as a major championship. First match was drawn but Celtic triumphed in the replay back in Burnley (5 months later!) and received a commemorative vase for the victory in 1988 (the original trophy was raffled off to raise funds for the Red Cross at the beginning of the First World War, although other stories say it was lost).

One supposed ‘friendly’ from 1912 even brought out on the pitch one of the finest retorts from a Celtic player during a match:

The game [Celtic 1-1 Barnsley 3 Sep 1912] was anything but ‘friendly’ with Barnsley from Yorkshire were (where they still boast about breeding them tough with chips on both shoulders) attacking Celtic rather than tackling them in the relentless rain. McMenemy, who normally never said a great deal on the field or afterwards complained to Utley about the constant fouling. Utley said: “In English football, this team of yours wouldn’t last a month”, McMenemy replied by saying “In Scottish football, yours wouldn’t last a match”.

Possibly the most cross-British (& British Isles) encounter came in October 1927, when Celtic faced FA Cup holders Cardiff and won 4-1 with all four goals by the legendary Jimmy McGrory. So the Welsh champions of English cup football defeated by the Scottish football champions who have an Irish heritage (North & South).

As for other tournaments, the Exhibition Cup (1938) and Coronation Cup (1953) were specially staged as unofficial British championships as much as anything else, and Celtic gallantly triumphed in both. The Coronation Cup gave the club a fillip after many years in the doldrums. It’s an irony, that it was Celtic that were crowned British champions of these tournaments, as the culture and supporters have been anything but sympathisers for the now defunct empire or royalty. It was a nice shot at the British jingoists with these victories.

Celtic winning the Dubai Cup v Liverpool in 1989 was a good moment but seeing as the rest of the season was so poor in 1988-89, (as against the sublime 1987-88 centenary season) the game has been much forgotten. In truth this match isn’t deemed as having been as competitively fought as should have been by some, so it isn’t as well regarded as could be. The Dubai Cup and the like have always been derided by some but it had its charms. Celtic being the last winners, as it was disbanded straight after the club’s win, still hold the cup.

Various other encounters have been marked incorrectly as Battle of Britain games. When Celtic faced Blackburn Rovers in the UEFA Cup in 2002-03, we might have been champions but Blackburn certainly weren’t (far from it). It was a corny way for journos to hype the matches, but as Scottish sides (inc Celtic) had slipped so far behind in European tournaments this was thought by many (even in the Celtic support) as a major set of matches. The latter games v Liverpool in the same cup run were far more of a challenge, but again not really ‘Battle of Britain‘.

The Anglo-Scottish Dryborough Cup in the 1970s which saw uninterested Scottish clubs & second rate English clubs compete in a KO tournament was better known for its trouble making potential off the pitch by various supporters and was never taken seriously at all as a competition (on-field at least). Very short-lived and most were to be thankful for that.

In reflection, as clubs have become more cosmopolitan since the nineties in their composition of players, the whole thing has been diluted. Many of the squads now (including that of Celtic’s) are like a league of nations. The irony is then that it’s possible that there could be more English born in the Celtic line up than in the English teams. Another reason is the group impact, for example if Celtic face say Manchester Utd in a group stage then results are valid only in the context of how Celtic do in the other group matches. If Celtic beat Manchester Utd but then lose to the rest, Celtic don’t qualify and the Battle of Britain ‘title’ is really of token value.

These changes have meant the whole ‘Battle of Britain’ tag is now more about SPL v English Premiership supremacy, a supposed benchmark to measure the ability of Scottish sides to compete with their megalithic English counterparts. Although does add an edge and interest in the knock-out games. Really it should be more for how Celtic alone stand against the the mettle of the EPL. No point trying to kid on the current merits of the rest of the SPL relative to the EPL.

It can be a fun part of the sporting game, and parochialism, history and childish fun will mean that this tag & neighbourly rivalry will live on.

Quotes

“As a Celtic player we took great pleasure in walloping the teams from down south.”
Celtic player & Englishman Chris Sutton

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