There are a few Albion fans who will remember the days when we frequently used to compete against Celtic in the old First Division. From 1949 until 1968 our yo-yo existence used to bring us into competition with the Glasgow giants on a regular basis. Indeed, in season 1966/7 when Celtic swept all before them winning every trophy in sight, they were unable to win at Annfield against the mighty Stirling Albion. On February 25th 1967, a mere three months before their European Cup winning triumph, 15358 fans saw Albion hold Celtic to a 1-1 draw in Stirling. In November 1966 we managed to score three goals against Celtic at Parkhead, but unfortunately we also conceded seven.

Most of our current fans will not remember those heady days. Many more, however, will remember the seven Cup ties between the sides played in the 1970s and early 1980s—a time when the teams always seemed to be pitted against each other.

The League Cup ties of 1972/3 were brought into sharp focus with the recent fuss about Celtic and their stance a pro pos sectarian bigotry. When he was asked what he could personally do about bigotry, Martin O’Neill lost his customary aplomb and ended up in an unseemly confrontation with BBC new reporter Forbes McFall. O’Neill is probably unaware of the events that unfolded at Annfield on August 12th 1972. Celtic manager Jock Stein had been angered by the sectarian chanting by a section of the Celtic support during the first half of the League Cup sectional tie at Annfield. He was also displeased by the fighting that had broken out between Celtic fans and Albion supporters in the covered enclosure at Annfield. At half time, instead of heading for the dressing room, Stein marched down to the covered terrace, vaulted the barrier and proceeded to give the Celtic fans involved a severe dressing down. Celtic won the game 3-0 but Stein made the headlines for his direct intervention with the warring fans.

Two weeks later the teams met at Parkhead in the return tie—Celtic again ran out 3-0 winners. Arbroath and East Fife were the other teams in this particular League Cup section.

The following season, 1973/4, the teams were drawn together in Round Four of the Scottish Cup. Albion had drawn with Montrose in Round Three in our first-ever Sunday match, precipitated by the national emergency surrounding the miner’s strike and power crisis. In those dark days of January and February 1974 electricity was switched off for a minimum of 6 hours every day as the ‘triple alliance’ of the coal, steel and electricity workers took on the Tory government of Ted Heath. Power cuts, petrol rationing, the three-day week, a ban on floodlights . . . It was all happening. Following the draw at Montrose the ballot for Round Four paired the winners with Celtic at Parkhead. This gave the Annfield replay added spice—it was played on a Wednesday afternoon and the Programme editor wonders how many others ‘plugged’ school to attend. Albion won 3-1, setting up another Sunday encounter against Celtic at Parkhead. A crowd of just over 20,000 saw Celtic win 6-1 but it was still a great day out for the Albion faithful.

Albion and Celtic clashed again in the League Cup in 1977/8. By now the competitioon was played on a two-leg knock out basis. The first leg at Annfield saw Celtic win 2-1 with goals by Doyle and Sitken. Jim Clark scored for Albion. In the second leg at Parkhead John Kennedy put through his own goal to put Celtic further ahead, but Matt McPhee equalised. The final score was 1-1 and Albion gave the Glasgow side a good run for their money.

Two years later and the sticky balls brought the clubs out together—again in the Third Round of the League Cup. Again the first leg was at Annfield. Goalless at half time, Graeme Armstrong shot Albion ahead from the penalty spot but following the sending off of Allan Moffat Celtic came back. Tom McAdam and John Doyle scored to give them another 2-1 win. In the return match at Parkhead Murdo McLeod and John Doyle scored to give the Celts a 2-0 win.

And so to 1980/1—when we met no fewer than three times. Again the League Cup draw paired us with Celtic; again the first leg was at Annfield. Unbelievably a single goal from Lloyd Irvine gave us a 1-0 win—the goal was captured on video by a few Albion fans when it was featured on Scotsport in old-fashioned ‘film camera’ style. The second leg at Parkhead was played on a Saturday and was the main feature on Sportscene. The programme Editor is ashamed to say that he still watches the video of him and a few others dancing about like loonies in the Parkhead front stand when Matt McPhee gave us the lead to put Albion 2-0 up on aggregate. The BBC cameras homed in on the only Albion fans they could see (there were a few more in the dark recesses of the Rangers end). Celtic pulled a goal back but Albion seemed to be holding on for a memorable victory. Gordon Arthur defied Celtic on numerous occasions but they eventually scored with three minutes to go—taking the game to extra time. Davie Steedman was sent off and we collapsed to a 6-1 defeat. Part of extra-time was shown live on ‘5 O’Clock Sportscene’ or whatever it was called in those days. Charlie Nicholas scored several.

Later that season, in the Scottish Cup, the teams were paired again. Albion had just beaten Buckie Thistle 3-1 at Victoria Park and the same intrepid fans as had been on tv at Parkhead were now in the car on the way out of the Banffshire fish metroplis. The Fourth Round draw was live on radio and the reaction to getting Celtic again was one of disappointment. We had hoped for a good Cup run but a game at Parkhead meant likely defeat and a possible reaming. We actually played quite well but still lost 3-0. That was the first match of our 14-game run without scoring a single goal, ended only the following August by a 1-4 defeat at Falkirk.