Gavin netted after dash from Paris to Parkhead
There’s long been a debate about the time teams should get between playing a European tie and returning to domestic action.
But few sides have had as hectic a schedule as the planes, trains and automobiles adventure undertaken by Third Lanark.
On this day in 1962, they were on the way home after playing Rouen in the Friendship Cup, a short-lived tournament played between clubs from Britain and France
The following evening they were to play Celtic in a replay of the Glasgow Cup Final.
As former Thirds striker Gavin Fletcher recalls, it was far from a straightforward journey back to Scotland.
He said: “Our manager, George Young, took me to get a passport and managed to get the whole process done in a few minutes.
“We were in Paris for a few days, staying in a big hotel on the Champs-elysees.
“We didn’t see the manager for a couple of days. There was a rumour that he was so well connected, he was staying as the guest of the President of France.
“The players had a night out in the Montmartre area – that was quite lively.
“We were then up and off to play Rouen, having had hardly any sleep.
“They had won the first leg in Glasgow 2- 1, and it was the same score in France.
“We were then delayed getting a flight from
Orly Airport to London, and industrial action stopped us getting a plane onwards to Glasgow.
“We had to dash across London to catch a train and got back just a couple of hours before we kicked-off at Celtic Park.
“It was a night of terrible rain.
“We were 2- 1 up with 15 minutes to go after I had scored and then Matt Gray put us ahead.
“But then Celtic scored twice to win 3- 2. We were exhausted and just ran out of steam.”
It was a successful and happy time for Third Lanark, but that was all about to change.
Gavin went on: “I joined Thirds from Partick Thistle in 1961.
“They’d finished third in Scotland and scored 100 goals. It was the place to be.
“I had a good season, but we came back from a 10-mile run one day and were asked to gather round a man I’d never seen before.
“He told us he was our new boss. ‘I own you lot,’ he said.
“This was Bill Hiddleston, the man who would later put the club out of business.
“Our goalkeeper, wee Jocky Robertson, recognised him and told us all about him.
“Jocky was my table tennis partner. We used to win all the competitions.
“Within a short time, George Young and two directors had resigned.
“I was given a free transfer and went to try my luck in England with Bradford City.”
Gavin was a star of the Scotland youth side that won the Home Internationals in 1960, and he was on the books of Queen’s Park.
“I could have joined Stoke City or Coventry,” he said. “Rangers were also interested.
“But my uncle, who was a professor, talked me in to signing for Partick Thistle.
“When I left Queen’s Park, I got a three-page letter from my team-mate, Alex Ferguson.
“He knew where every player was going and what their qualities were.
“As the years have gone by, I realised he was a manager in the making back then.
“He could see things in others at a time when most of us were only interested in ourselves.”
Gavin played two league matches for Thistle but then suffered a severe ankle injury.
He added: “I was told George Young wanted to sign me and asked Thistle for a free transfer. They knocked him back six or seven times.
“Eventually I was released when I said I was prepared to give up football.”
Gavin, now 78, later swapped balls for books, earning a BSC Honours degree and becoming chief engineer at Honeywell Computers.