Scottish League Cup Final 1971

Scottish League Cup Final 1971

Partick Thistle 4 Celtic 1

Occasionally the eyes of the football world are widened with astonishment by a particular result or performance which, thankfully, reinforces the theory that anything can happen when eleven men face eleven men. Whilst, over an arduous League campaign, the cream invariably rises to the top, the fascination of cup competitions undoubtedly encourages the supporters of the so called lesser teams to think that this might just be their day. This theory has particular credence north of the border where the names of Celtic and Rangers are etched over much of the silverware. And so it proved in spectacular style on October 23rd 1971 for the die-hards of Partick Thistle - for in a sensational Scottish League Cup final this, in the words of Churchill, was to prove their finest hour.

Thistle were - some say still are - the great enigmas of Scottish football. That they started season 1971-72 rather tentatively was no great surprise - after all they had been newly-promoted from the Second Division where only a few months before they had sampled the delights of travelling to Brechin, Stranraer and Stenhousemuir. Now that they were back in the big time, there was the usual optimism at Firhill but, if the truth be told, consolidation would be the main objective. The League Cup draw for the new season, however, had created a stir because in the opening sectional round Celtic and Rangers had been drawn in the same group - and with only one team qualifying for the knock-out stages the opportunity was there for a provincial club to reach a Hampden Cup final. Partick Thistle were drawn with Arbroath, East Fife and Raith Rovers but, as unpredictable as ever, the Glasgow side stumbled across the finishing line rather than with the expected sprint.

Indeed Thistle had to beat Alloa Athletic in a play-off to claim their place in the last eight. When they lost the first leg of the quarter final 2-0 to an impressive St. Johnstone side -who had reached the final themselves two years earlier - it seemed the end of the road. But the fiery passion of the Maryhill club's support was rekindled again as the Jags won the return leg 5-1 to claim their place in the semi-finals. It was an odd looking last four in what had already been a remarkable League Cup - the semi-finalists were Thistle, Celtic, St Mirren and Falkirk.

Thistle manager Davie McParland knew if his side could avoid the green machine in the draw there may never be a greater chance of glory. His prayers were answered when Thistle's name came out of the hat with Falkirk and the Jags duly claimed their first cup final appearance for thirteen years by winning the Hampden semi-final 2-0.Predictably their opponents in the final were to be Celtic - League champions since 1965 and competing in a remarkable eighth successive League Cup final.

Not surprisingly the bookmakers made Celtic odds on while you could have named any price you wished for Thistle. It seemed that Jock Stein's men needed only to turn up at the national stadium to collect yet another trophy - but as the teams ran out before a crowd of nearly 63,000 on that late autumn day Thistle had other plans.

Celtic: Williams, Hay, Gemmell, Murdoch, Connelly, Brogan, Johnstone, Dalglish, Hood, Callaghan and Macari.

Partick Thistle: Rough, Hansen, Forsyth, Glavin, Campbell, Strachan, McQuade, Coulston, Bone, Rae and Lawrie.

The loss through injury of captain Billy McNeill was a blow to Celtic and his absence seemed to instill an uncertainty in the Parkhead defence. Jimmy Bone went close for Thistle in the opening minutes and this seemed to signal to the men from Maryhill that Celtic were there for the taking. In the ninth minute the Celtic defence failed to clear a corner and the ball fell to Thistle captain Alex Rae who struck a right foot shot from eighteen yards which screamed past goalkeeper Williams. 1-0 to Thistle! A start no one predicted but surely Celtic would wake up from their lethargy and strike back? Six minutes later there was another goal - and it was 2-0 to Thistle!

Bobby Lawrie collected the ball from Bone, ghosted past Davie Hay as if he was not there, and cracked a tremendous angled shot beyond Williams. Barely quarter of an hour gone and the crowd began to sense something remarkable was about to happen. Even more so when Celtic's mercurial winger Jimmy Johnstone had to leave the field with an ankle injury, to be replaced by full-back Jim Craig. This meant switching Davie Hay into midfield, and while Celtic were still sorting themselves out Thistle, remarkably, were launching wave after wave of attacks. When the ball swung into the box the Celtic defence staged their own version of "after you Claude". Dennis McQuade did not hang about and poked the ball home from six yards. 3-0 to Thistle!

The Hampden crowd were stunned. The Celtic players looked on in disbelief and their torment was not over yet. Six minutes later Thistle were awarded a free kick midway inside the Celtic half. Bobby Lawrie took it quickly and passed to Jimmy Bone. The big centre forward couldn't believe his luck as he was allowed the freedom of Hampden to direct the ball past an equally disbelieving Evan Williams. 4-0 to Thistle!

When the half time whistle sounded, the Thistle players marched off to a tumultuous reception from their outnumbered but vociferous support. The Celtic end stood in stunned silence as if collectively in a bad dream. Public address announcers at grounds throughout Scotland were the subject of ridicule as they read out the half-time score to supporters attending various League fixtures around the country. Partick Thistle 4 Celtic 0 was greeted with undisguised derision. When the second half kicked off, there -was only one option left for Celtic.

The rollicking they received from manager Jock Stein at the interval may -well have registered on the Richter Scale and they set about trying to repair the damage. Murdoch, Dalglish and Macari all had excellent chances - but a combination of bad luck and inspired goalkeeping from young Alan Rough kept the Celts out until the 70th minute when Kenny Dalglish finally found the net. The Celtic onslaught grew even more ferocious in the last twenty minutes but Thistle held on for a famous 4-1 victory over a side who were not only Scottish champions but also amongst the best in Europe.

Jock Stein was magnanimous in defeat afterwards. While admitting Celtic committed some shocking errors in defence, he acknowledged that, on the day, Thistle were the better team and played some sparkling football.Thistle's jubilant manager, Davie McParland, paid tribute to every one of his players and said it was the greatest day of his life. The Maryhill area of Glasgow came to a standstill that Saturday night as thousands of red and yellow bedecked Thistle fans thronged the streets to see their heroes come home with the cup - Partick's first major honour for precisely fifty years. In keeping with the clubs rather slapstick image, when the officials got back to the Firhill ground proudly clasping the League Cup there were a few minutes delay before they could enter the club offices. Someone, it transpired, had misplaced the key! Once the triumphant players gained admission to their own ground the celebrations went on well into the night.Indeed one wonders if the party lasted for seven nights - the following Saturday Thistle lost a League game 7-2 to Aberdeen...

The Thistle team that overwhelmed Celtic made such an impression that Alan Rough, John Hansen, Alex Forsyth, Ronnie Glavin and Jimmy Bone were all to make future appearances for Scotland, albeit that most of them had moved on to other clubs before international duty was to call. However Alan Rough was to become Thistle's most capped player of all time and John Hansen's younger brother was about to make his debut in Thistle colours - Alan Hansen esquire would certainly go on to make a name for himself. Jimmy Bone and Ronnie Glavin would, in time, sign for Celtic but no matter what else those eleven players would do with their careers, they would forever be remembered for that incredible day when Partick Thistle, butt of many a music hall joke, got the last laugh on the biggest stage of all...