A fairytale – with an unhappy ending for me!
Fifty years ago this weekend, Partick Thistle defeated Celtic 4-1 in the League Cup Final.
Everybody in football was in a state of shock, and very few could believe that incredible scoreline.
I played for Celtic that day and scored our goal in the second half, but by then it was too late.
We were 4-0 down after 37 minutes. I’m often asked if I can remember what Jock Stein said to us at half-time that afternoon, or at full-time.
Well, I tried to erase it from my memory as quickly as possible as it was just too painful. Now my recollection of it has gone, but it wouldn’t have been pleasant, that’s for sure.
That said, Partick Thistle thoroughly deserved their win that day. Credit to them as they played well and scored really good goals.
When the other teams play better than you on the day, there are times you have to take a step back and accept it in the best possible manner.
In Tommy Gemmell, Bobby Murdoch and Jimmy Johnstone, we had three European Cup winners in our starting line-up that afternoon, and another, Jim Craig, was on the bench.
But it still wasn’t enough.
That shows you how well the Jags played, and their manager, Davie Mcparland, got his tactics and team selection spot on.
As much as I was very disappointed to lose, football does need to have its own fairytales and that was definitely one of them.
Scottish football has had other big upsets, such as Berwick Rangers defeating Rangers, Raith Rovers winning the League Cup in 1994-95 and St Johnstone doing the Cup double last season.
In this millennium, Ross County, Inverness Caley Thistle, Livingston, Hibs, Hearts, Dundee United, Aberdeen, Kilmarnock and St Mirren have also won silverware, and that is great.
It needs to be spread around Scottish football, and it can’t always be about Rangers and Celtic winning everything in sight, year in and year out.
That said, it’s never easy being on the receiving end of a shock at the time, and that was the case when we lost to Thistle.
But, thankfully, time does allow you to move on.