This led to accusations that Celtic players were being deliberately overlooked and by the 1960’s things were to worsen. My Father reckons that the Crerand-McNeill-Baxter Scottish half back line of the early 60’s was the best he’s ever seen. They had some noticeable results during that period but inexplicably McNeill was dropped for Ian Ure and the conspiracy theorists amongst the Celtic support were out in force again. Perhaps because of their success under Jock Stein Celtic players then became targets of a section of the Scots support congregated in the Rangers end of the ground who gave terrible abuse to several Celtic players of the period, coincidentally from a big newly erected covered enclosure which gave them more volume. Jimmy Johnstone suffered particularly from this as well as Davie Hay and Tommy Gemmell. It is said that Jock Stein had to be physically restrained in 1970 after the then Scotland manager Bobby Brown withdrew Hay for Rangers’ Sandy Jardine to the glee of the Mount Florida end of Hampden who had been singing for Jardine’s appearance for the entire game. Happily, there were some in the press corps such as Ian Archer who were by this time printing their contempt of such behaviour though, incidentally, Jinky always maintained that his finest performance for Scotland came at Pittodrie against Belgium where the neutral Aberdonians cheered him to the rafters.  The Tartan Army these days have their faults but it’s unlikely that a Celtic player would suffer a similar experience in the current era.

In May 1976 Celtic captain Kenny Dalglish was one game away from equalling ex Rangers captain George Young’s long held record of consecutive games for Scotland.  The game was a low key home international game at Hampden and unaccountably Dalglish was kept on the bench for the entire game and lost the chance to create a new record. Mind you Willie Ormond felt it necessary to recall Kenny for the big game against England the following week and the Celtic man showed he was the biggest talent in Britain by playing superbly and scoring the winning goal. It is because of these reasons that a generation of Celtic fans grew up with suspicion of the SFA, the Scottish team and its supporters. It’s also worth pointing out that around this time neither Jimmy Johnstone nor Kenny Dalglish was ever deemed worthy of winning the player of the year award whilst John Greig won it twice. Try working that one out.

Celtic fans always highlight the dearth of caps that the Lisbon Lions received as anti-Celtic prejudice and yet that is an unfair accusation. Scotland had a remarkable amount of talent at its disposal in those days. Jinky for example had to vie with Willie Henderson, Charlie Cooke, Willie Morgan, Peter Lorimer and Eddie Gray, all remarkable talents and Bobby Murdoch had to compete with Pat Crerand, Dave Mackay, John Greig, Billy Bremner and Pat Stanton, quite an abundance of competition most people will agree.

There were certainly high spots for Celts in Scotland’s blue. My own favourite was the night in September 1973 when Scotland defeated Czechoslovakia to qualify for their first World Cup for 16 years. My Father was always keen to see Scotland win but although he never showed as much emotion as when he followed Celtic I recall his delight that night as Joe Jordan headed Scotland’s winner and his joy was doubled three weeks later when ‘The Poles knocked England out the cup…Gertcha !’ (c. Chas and Dave 1980). That night Celtic provided Hunter, McGrain, Connelly, Hay and Dalglish for Scotland, a remarkable record in view of the talent Scotland then had at its disposal and the fact that England didn’t qualify made it all the sweeter.

And so to the fans. When I was a youngster growing up in Govan I recall someone telling me that ‘This is no’ your country’. Was I annoyed by such an attitude ? No. Was I perplexed ? Absolutely. At such a young age I knew nothing of the act of settlement with regards to Catholic restriction to being Monarchs or Prime Minister or reputedly Home Secretary also. It was George Galloway who a few years ago said that you could fell proud being Scots, British, of Irish heritage and European and that all of them where compatible. Well said that man. The same Rangers fans who excluded me from their ‘country’ now have sons and grandsons who run around in England shirts and maintain a preference for the English over the Scots, presumably to show their ‘Britishness’. There must be a few cemeteries with overturned graves because Rangers and their fans had always prided themselves with their ‘Aye Ready’ Scots identity. Rangers always boasted of their record of providing a record number of players for the Scots team and rightly so. They regarded themselves as the establishment club though perhaps the rise of Scottish nationalism in political circles in recent times has created something of an identity crisis amongst the Rangers support.

 Celtic fans have remained fairly constant. Yes we want Scotland to win and a great number of Celtic supporters follow Scotland avidly but because of our Irish heritage we have always looked fondly on the Republic of Ireland side, sometimes perhaps too fondly. In 1987 when Scotland faced the Republic at Hampden in a European Championship qualifier the Celtic end of the ground was segregated between Scots and Irish fans and yet when Mark Lawrenson scored the winner a huge cheer came from both sections of the same end. In 1988 when Ireland were in Germany for the European championships the SFA secretary Ernie Walker was astonished to find that a number of Irish fans thought he was Andy Walker’s uncle and presumed that was his reason for being at Ireland’s games. This brings us on to the controversial decision by Aiden McGeady to choose Ireland in front of his native country of Scotland. I wish Aiden had chosen Scotland but I also wish that Scotland hadn’t picked the likes of Don Hutchinson, James Morrison, Kris Commons and Jay McEveley who don’t have one ounce of Scottishness in them. Aiden broke no rules and yet the same hypocrites who jeer him all over Scotland will cheer the afore mentioned players to the rafters and will also entertain the notion of Nacho Novo pulling on Scotland’s blue.

And yet we should keep this simple ; we all want Scotland to win. During the years Celtic players have served up some magic moments. From Delaney’s last minute winner against in 1946 which reputedly started the Hampden roar, to Lennox’s goal in ’67 when Ramsey’s World Champions were humbled at Wembley ; Murdoch’s pile driver against West Germany in 1969 on the night he outshone Beckenbauer ; Jinky’s magnificent performance at Hampden in the 2-0 win over the English in 1974 to Dalglish’s shot through Clemence’s legs in ’76 ; Nicholas’s lob against the Swiss at Hampden in 1983, Paul McStay’s thunderbolt against Iceland in 1984, the magnificent displays from Davie Hay in 1974 in West Germany which earned him a record transfer to Chelsea that summer ; The performance of Danny McGrain throughout the 1970’s when he was rated the best right back in European football. In recent times Tom Boyd, John Collins, Jackie McNamara and Paul Lambert all represented their country with distinction. Celtic can be rightly proud of its contribution to the Scottish team throughout the years…and by the way never forget that it’s our country as well.


Image 1 shows Bobby Murdoch taking the field in 1969, Tommy McLean behind him.

Image 2 shows a young Lou Macari who perhaps was sponsored by Clearosil in those days. As you can see the close up photos are not always flattering.

Image 3 is a montage from the great night in ’73 when the Scots beat the Czechs to qualify for West Germany 1974.

Image 4 shows Danny McGrain at Wembley 1981.

Image 5 shows Kenny Dalglish in action from 1975.

Remember to click on the images to see the larger picture.