AWAY DAYS 1970 – A West End Treat

Just glancing through another Celtic webpage online and noticed this article about a night Celtic took London by storm 54 years ago today, November 1970. The Hoops were in town to take part in Bobby Moore’s testimonial, the celebrated World Cup winning captain was a hero in the East End but not where I came from and I’m sure not where most of the 10,000 Celtic fans in attendance that night were from.

I was just 16 and had attended my first game at Paradise a year earlier when Celtic put the Eagles of Lisbon – Benfica to the sword in a 3-0 victory. I was also at the Fiorentina game in March another 3-0 win and then the iconic semi v Leeds at Hampden as part of the 136505 crowd. So this was my fourth game across the water; and my sixth in total as I had seen Celtic in Dublin v Shamrock Rovers in a friendly and Celtic v Waterford a month earlier in a 7-0 romp in front of 50,000. But the chance of a flying visit to London was attractive for a 16 year old and I booked flights which were cheap.

We left Aldergrove at 23:00 and arrived in Heathrow at midnight, unfortunately there were no buses till 6am to Buckinghamshire where my Mum’s sister was domiciled with her husband, both from Donegal. I found myself a corner and a few seats to spread eagle myself but the next thing an airport cop landed and said I couldn’t sleep there.

I told him my predicament and he was sympathetic and said just keep out of the way and I got a few hours nap before the early bus to my aunts. I spent the day with the Aunt and Uncle at their little council house on the edge of the thriving metropolis, another uncle stayed with them and worked with Massey Ferguson making Combine Harvesters as a welder. As the conflict had started in the 6 counties my Aunt tried her best to get me to stay with them and not go back to Belfast, the little moments in life when one decision could change your life path.

In the evening Uncle Mick and I headed into London on the train and then got a tube out to Upton Park or the Boelyn ground as it was also known. Being 16 the uncle didn’t offer me a beer but had a few ‘aperitifs’ himself in a local cockney pub long before the days of Peggy Mitchell in Eastenders.

It was a wet cold Monday night in London but almost 25,000 filled the neat little stadium with 10,000 Celtic fans in attendance, a great atmosphere. The match itself was played at a frantic pace with Celtic showing the English just why they were European champions 3 years earlier.

Both teams were filled with stars, the ‘Hammers’ had Geoff Hurst and Moore himself, Clyde Best, Frank Lampard’s Dad and Peter Eustace while Celtic had 8 of the Lisbon Lions and 10 of the team which lost to Feyenoord 6 months previously; 2 World Cup winners and 8 European Cup winners, plus subs like George Connelly and recently deceased Tommy Callaghan and sub goalie in both finals John Fallon, it was an eclectic mix of star studded exponents of the beautiful game. The game finished 3-3 with Celtic taking the lead each time to be clawed back by a tenacious West Ham with the big Clyde Best having a stormer.

My own personal recollection was the appearance of Jimmy Greaves in a West Ham shirt after his transfer from Spurs. The great goal scorer was my first footballing hero when I got interested in the beautiful game 5 years earlier, a trendsetter in Italy with Milan, the first £100,000 player (-£1!), denied a place in the world cup winning team by injury which gave his teammate that night Hurst the chance to let Ken Wolstenholme utter the iconic words, ‘it’s not over yet, it is now’ as he completed his hat trick.

Interestingly Greaves scored 2 at Hampden for Spurs when they played Celtic a few months after Lisbon in front of 90,000, a game coincidentally ended 3-3 as well. The atmosphere at the match that night in Upton Park was electric and the Celtic fans of course played their part, we were talking to some West Ham fans and they said they couldn’t bring that many fans across London to play Arsenal.

The display by Celtic just copper fastened their position as European elite at the time and the equal of anything in the English league as there was always some doubters south of Hadrian’s Wall but the English press really praised Celtic for their performance.  After two European finals in 3 years Celtic went out in the quarter final to Ajax as they began their 3 in a row, but a 6^th title in a row came to Parkhead and within a year they would be back in a Euro semi losing to Inter, it was still a team to be reckoned with.

Après match at West Ham my uncle and I crossed London on a tube and he directed me on the right train to Heathrow, he was part of the Donegal diaspora who made their way to London after WW2, the other 3 sisters to Clydebank, economic migrants, worked hard and made a life, all migrants should be embraced similar in the modern era, the Celtic family were all migrants in time.

My flight back from Heathrow was at 23:00 and I was back in Belfast at midnight, it was a bit of a hectic 24 hour visit, I wasn’t back again until the mid 1990’s but after the Birmingham 6 and Guildford 4 experience maybe it was a good decision, on the other hand it might have opened up a whole new experience, the little decisions which shape our lives.

The following May I was over at the Scottish Cup final which Celtic won 2-1 in a replay with goals by Harry Hood and a young Lou Macari in front of 103,000 and 120,000 at the first game. My first 10 games or so as a Celt left an indelible memory which stays to the present day. After that final I wasn’t at Paradise for over a decade until the early 1980’s but that’s another story.

Paddy McMenamin was born in Belfast with Donegal and Tyrone parents. He spent the 70’s in Long Kesh. He has been going to Paradise since the Benfica game in Nov. 1969. He lived in Donegal for 30 years but now lives in Galway. He returned to University at 50 and became a secondary school teacher of history and English.