“DID WE think we were going to win it? We KNEW we were going to win it,” was the emphatic answer from Bertie Auld when asked about taking on Italian giants Inter Milan 50 years ago today.
“I’m not big-headed about it in any way, but if you had a look at the team, out of the 11 nine of them were match winners,” he says.
“I’m not taking anything away from John Clark because he was the most magnificent defender out of us all. “Billy was majestic in the air, John was dictating to everybody that got beyond us.
“Ronnie Simpson and John were really the only two you were not expecting to score.”
Anyone who has watched the final will surely agree with Auld that Celtic’s confidence was fully justified that warm evening in May.
It was a confidence borne out of hard work and encouragement from a manager who knew just how good his team was and made sure they knew it.
“The great thing about Jock was that he himself believed in us,” recalls Auld.
“We worked from Monday to Friday and Saturday was our day off. He knew that we were good and could put on a performance.”
So great players, a great manager way ahead of his time and great supporters. The perfect mix according to Auld.
“The support was the most important thing of all because whenever we were having a slack time their singing and their passion on the terraces...there were no substitutes in those days other than the goalkeeper. They lifted us. That’s what we needed.”
For that reason Bertie has no complaints about the chaotic scenes which ensued after the final whistle of the 2-1 win, when the pitch was engulfed with hordes of green and white bedecked supporters.
“I would not have changed that for anything in the world,” he said.
“The game was a show of total football and the Celtic supporters and the Portuguese supporters who were there loved it.
“There was no violence or anything like that. Those scenes will live with me until the day I die. It was as big an honour for the supporters as it was for us.”
But for a certain period of time it looked like the Italian side might just win it. Bertie had no doubts that the Bhoys would prevail, as he explained: “In a way the timing of them getting a penalty was fortunate (seventh minute), although Jim Craig said it was not a penalty. I did not realise he was a liar,” he quipped.
“But because it happened early in the game they started to be what everyone thought an Italian side would be.
“They started to sit back and try to keep possession in their own half, leaving only one man up.
“But we had nine potential goalscorers and we had people who were magnificent as far as I am concerned.
“They were off-the-ball players. We had Chalmers, Wallace, Lennox, we had Johnston who liked the ball at his feet but that day they played someone on him simply to nullify him, but Jinky decided to take him for wee walks and created space for others.”
And so the chances came and eventually the equaliser (64 minutes), from a rare breed in those days, attacking wing backs.
“Tommy Gemmell was one of the best in Europe,” said Auld.
“He could shoot with his left foot or his right foot. The Milan players began to realise that and tried to
get closer to him because they he knew he could let fly from 20 or 25 yards. But so it came to pass that the equaliser came from the two full backs. Craig cut the ball across and Tommy came in with his right foot and oh what a screamer it was.”
But Auld says it didn’t just happen by chance and, like the winner, was a move practised through the season: “We worked on things like that at training. The last 15 or 20 minutes was on movements and set pieces.
“The winner started way back in our half. Gemmell eventually cut it back near enough to the byline on the left and Murdoch hit it across ahead of the 18-yard box and he hit it low and hard across the box for one of the two forwards to get a touch on.”
Chalmers did just that and his 84th minute strike cemented a special team in the hearts of a special club for all time.
