After ending the Lions’run, Hainey hitched a lift home
BRENDAN RODGER’S Celtic team are out to make a bit of history today.
The Hoops need a victory over Hearts to overtake the Lisbon Lions’ run of 26 domestic games without defeat.
But their opponents won’t give two hoots about a packed Parkhead crowd willing their favourites to break a record that has stood for 50 years.
Hearts have their own ambitions, with new boss Ian Cathro looking for his first big result.
It was the same scenario when Dundee United ended Celtic’s winning streak in 1966.
The Tangerines had only won once in nine league games when Jock Stein’s men came to Tannadice on Hogmanay.
And that didn’t look like changing when the visitors were 2-1 ahead at half-time.
Then two goals in two minutes saw the Celts stopped in their tracks.
There was no hard feelings towards the man who set up the two hugely significant strikes – he ended up heading back to Glasgow on the Celtic team bus!
Dundee United’s Billy Hainey was a man for the big occasion. Earlier in the season, he’d scored the club’s first-ever goal in Europe at Barcelona’s Nou Camp.
The second leg saw him smashing home a 30-yarder to send the Spanish giants tumbling out of the Fairs Cup.
Hainey was the provider when it came to United ending Celtic’s unbeaten run.
First he set up Dennis Gillespie to hammer the ball past Ronnie Simpson.
Then, with the visitors still reeling from conceding an equaliser, he bundled John Clark off the ball and delivered a perfect pass for Ian Mitchell to hit the winner.
Billy recalled: “I don’t remember us being especially determined to end their run 50 years ago.
“I had a soft spot for Celtic, but I always wanted to do well for the club I was with.
“We were behind at half-time at Tannadice (Bobby Lennox and Willie Wallace scored either side of Finn Dossing) but there was no way we’d go down without a fight.
“There was a really good bunch of guys with a great team spirit.
“The manager, Jerry Kerr, could wind you up for the second half, but senior players like Doug Smith and Jimmy Briggs were also great motivators.
“They were part of the old guard. They’d been at the club for a long time and hated losing.
“The games against Celtic and Rangers were always big occasions for the supporters. You didn’t necessarily play any better, but the atmosphere always made them memorable.
“I didn’t stay in Dundee for New Year after we’d beaten Celtic.
“I was friendly with Joe McBride from our time together at Partick Thistle, and before the match he’d asked if I wanted a lift back to Glasgow on the team bus.
“Fortunately, they didn’t change their mind after we ended their record!
“Maybe it actually lifted a bit of pressure from their shoulders.”
The Celts who went home to celebrate New Year might have watched the main film on ITV – They Died With Their Boots On. It was no omen for their season. They played for five trophies, won them all, and became the first British team to win the European Cup.
There was only one more defeat after that game at Tannadice.
Dundee United did the domestic double by winning 3-2 at Celtic Park the following May.
The scorers were Billy Hainey, Dennis Gillespie and Jackie Graham for United, Tommy Gemmell with a penalty and Willie Wallace for the hosts.