Flying winger meant Tam found Fife far from friendly
IN my playing career I had conflicting thoughts about pre-season friendlies.
Like most of my team-mates I was a great fan of the prestigious friendlies, the ones against the big names, with a full house in the stadium creating a great atmosphere. Those were wonderful afternoons or evenings.
On the other hand many friendlies, especially at the start of the season, were against teams from a lower division to increase levels of fitness and bring a sense of togetherness.
In the late 1960s, if we had a free midweek The Boss, Jock Stein, would organise a match against one of these teams. It was a magnanimous gesture by our manager as the presence of the 1967 European champions would attract a good crowd and bring in some much-needed income to the host club.
Things did not always go to plan, of course, as my great pal and fellow defender Tommy Gemmell found out one night in the Kingdom of Fife.
The ground was packed and once the referee got the game under way it turned into a very competitive encounter. I was at centre-half that night and my immediate opponent was another experienced pro, who put the match in context at the start.
He said: “Now, remember Jim, there are no medals for tonight’s contest so let’s make sure we don’t get injured!” I was in complete agreement. Unfortunately Tam Gemmell was up against a quick young winger, very keen to show what he could do.
At the interval TG asked me if I fancied a swap of positions. I nearly burst out laughing but settled for a no. And unfortunately the young fellow was even better in the second half.
Anyway, the friendlies are now over and the league campaign gets under way today. Tomorrow, the Hoops start with a home match against Hamilton, who were second bottom last season.
Now, even trying to be as neutral as possible, there is just no way I can imagine this match ending in anything other than a Celtic win – and possibly a convincing one at that.
This lunchtime two clubs that might also be pushing for the title, Aberdeen and Rangers, meet at Pittodrie and whatever the result, the outcome will be very much in Celtic’s favour as someone will drop points.
If Celtic pull off a 10 in a row it would be a great achievement but not a European record. That belongs jointly to Skonta Riga of Latvia and Lincoln Red Imps from Gibraltar, with 14.
For the world record we have to travel all the way to the South Pacific and Tafea in the Vanuatu league.
From 1996 to 2009 they won 15 on the trot. Now beat that.
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