ON A BRIGHT, sunny afternoon on Saturday April 27 1968, Jock Stein, with Celtic obliged to have a day off, took his seat in the stand at Hampden Park for the Scottish Cup Final to watch Dunfermline against Hearts.
His former club had knocked out his Celtic team at the first hurdle of the competition at Parkhead in January. The Fife team were favourites to lift the silverware against the Edinburgh outfit, who had, coincidentally, overcome the other half of the Old Firm in a quarter-final replay at Tynecastle.
Stein was an interested spectator along with another 56,364 onlookers at the national stadium.
READ ALL ABOUT IT…how the leagues were won.
Across the city at Ibrox, Rangers were allowed to complete their First Division fixtures on the same afternoon against Aberdeen with an identical kick-off time.
The Govan club, therefore, had the opportunity to go two points ahead of the champions at the top of the table. Celtic’s last league encounter had been rearranged for the following Tuesday evening at East End Park against a team that had the chance to go into the match as newly-acclaimed winners of the Scottish Cup.
The pressure to succeed in Fife and lift the title on goal average would have been awesome. Assuming, of course, Rangers, who had gone through the previous 33 outings without defeat, winning 28 and drawing five, actually chalked up a triumph over a Pittodrie side managed by Eddie Turnbull.
In the years before the enlightenment of advanced technology, Stein had been blissfully unaware of happenings at Ibrox as he watched Dunfermline win 3-1 with two goals from Pat Gardner and a penalty-kick by Ian Lister.
VIEW FROM THE TOP…Jock Stein at East End Park on April 30 1968 – with Celtic fans looking down from the roof of the enclosure.
He was actually wending his way down the steep stairs at Hampden when a reporter, who had been in contact with his office, spotted him.
“Mr Stein,” he yelled across the throng. “Have you heard the score with Rangers?”
The Celtic manager motioned he hadn’t. “They lost 3-2,” he was informed. Stein couldn’t prevent a bright smile from dominating his craggy features.
Eyewitness reports insist he simply made a fist and said: “This has been a good day!” He then turned to continue on his downward trek when he stumbled and just managed to correct his balance. The ankle injury that ended his playing career had almost struck again.
So, the scene was set. Rangers had faltered in front of a packed home audience after leading twice, with Alex Ferguson claiming one of the goals. With the game entering injury time and tied at 2-2, the Dons sped forward in a classic counter-attack, Billy Little set up Ian Taylor and he rolled the ball beyond the stranded Erik Sorensen.
At that moment, Celtic were virtually assured their third successive championship. Only a defeat of monumental and inconceivable proportions could have prevented them lifting the flag.
NET GAIN…Bobby Lennox celebrates one of his double against Dunfermline to clinch the 1968 crown.
The season’s conclusion arrived amid chaotic crowd scenes at the Fife venue on April 30 on a fine, bright evening in Fife. The action was interrupted twice with fans spilling over onto the trackside and others preferred to get a better view of proceedings from the top of the enclosure and a few clung to the floodlight pylons.
Pat Gardner, the Fife club’s centre-forward, scored a spectacular effort to give his team the advantage at the interval.
Big John ‘Yogi’ Hughes remembered someone in the dressing room – “it might have been Big Billy” – saying: “Hey, Lennox, is it not about time you scored a goal?”
A reply came back: “Give me a couple of minutes.”
Lennox tucked away the equaliser behind former Celtic keeper Bent Martin two minutes after the turnaround and the wee man from Saltcoats claimed the silverware winner in the 72nd minute.
Celtic had lifted their hat-trick of titles – and 23rd in their history – with a record amount of sixty-eight points.
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