| Matches: 1978 – 1979 | 1978-1979 Pictures | League Table | Statistics |
Success in the first year for Billy McNeill – Ten Men Win the League!
- League Position – Champions. Finished 3 points ahead of Rangers
- League Cup –Semi Finalist
- Scottish Cup – Quarter Round
- Anglo-Scottish Cup – Quarter Finalists
- Glasgow Cup – Losing Finalists
With Billy McNeill newly installed as manager it might be thought that a quiet season and a retaking of stock might be in order. This was quickly achieved however, and in the League a tight battle ensued at the top of the table which went right down to the wire to last game of the season against Rangers. The League season was much affected by disruption of the fixture list due to severe weather in Scotland.
It could be said that the enforced break due to the bad weather in January and February came to help Celtic repatch the team. The first half of the seadson had been poor with only 7 wins out of 18 matches. After the break they only dropped 7 points out of 36. McNeill's assessment of the team saw Paul Wilson and Joe Craig depart and Celtic spend to bring in Davie Provan for £125,000, a club record at the time. Provan provided the width and quality of delivery required to win goals.
A further six figure sum arrival was Murdo MacLeod who proved to be an outstanding attacking midfielder with fire and the will to win. The return to fitness of Danny McGrain was also a major plus towards the success of the second half of the season. It had taken a long tiime for his heel injury to mend and many thought that he would never be the same player displaying the world class he had shown before his injury.
Daniel Fergus proved them wrong reassuming the captain's armband at the end of January and every game saw him fitter, sharper and back to his old self.
The culmination of the season would be the last game against Rangers on 21st May in an extended-through-congestion season. Now in the pages of Celtic history as the 'Ten Men win the League' game, it looked bleak for Celtic with Johnny Doyle sent off after 51 minutes when Celtic were down to an early Rangers goal. It was with set determination that the team all upped their game and it saw an outrageous goal from Murdo Macleod to put the icing on the cake in the 90th minute. Celtic won their 31st League Championship in the first season with a new manager against the odds and after a poor start.;
The League Cup saw Celtic fall at the semi final stage and thus ended a record of 155 matches without being eliminated from the competition, a record which went back all the way to the 1964-65 season.
The Scottish Cup saw Celtic go out to Aberdeen at the quarter final stage after a replay following a 1-1 draw at Aberdeen, a game Celtic should have and deserved to win.
All in all this was a tight season but it showed that there was a will to win about the team, to styruggle against adversity and to win through to success.