1966-67 in Scottish football

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The 1966–67 season was the 70th season of Scottish League football.

1 Overview
2 Scottish League Division One
- 2.1 Top scorer
3 Scottish League Division Two
4 Other honours
- 4.1 Cup honours
  - 4.1.1 Scottish Cup
  - 4.1.2 League Cup
- 4.2 Individual Honours
5 Scottish clubs in Europe
6 Scotland national team
7 Notes and references

[edit] Overview

A number of significant events occurred during the season. The domestic campaign was dominated by Celtic, who along with winning all 5 tournaments they entered, became the first British team to win the European Cup; the great Celtic team who achieved this were later nicknamed the Lisbon Lions.

1966–67 was arguably Scottish football's best ever season in European football, with Rangers reaching the final of the Cup Winners Cup and Kilmarnock reaching the Fairs Cup semi-finals. In addition, Dundee United marked their European debut by eliminating Fairs Cup holders Barcelona.

It was also a season in which the Scottish national team recorded one of their most celebrated victories, beating greatest rivals and World Cup holders England 3–2 at Wembley in the British Home Championship.

The season also marked the final appearance of Third Lanark, one of the founder members of both the SFA and Scottish League, who went out of business in the summer of 1967, and the league debut of Clydebank.

[edit] Scottish League Division One

Celtic were champions for the second season running, losing only two matches, both to Dundee United; these were Celtic's only defeats against Scottish opposition during the entire season.

Clyde finished third, which is their highest ever league placing as of 2008. Clyde did not qualify for Europe, however, because Rangers finished second and took the Fairs Cup place.

St. Mirren and Ayr United were relegated, meaning the former would be outside the top flight for the first time since 1936. Ayr managed only one league win during the whole campaign, and had to wait until April to record it.

P	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Celtic	34	26	6	2	111	33	78	58
2	Rangers	34	24	7	3	92	31	61	55
3	Clyde	34	20	6	8	64	48	16	46
4	Aberdeen	34	17	8	9	72	38	34	42
5	Hibernian	34	19	4	11	72	49	23	42
6	Dundee	34	16	9	9	74	51	23	41
7	Kilmarnock	34	16	8	10	59	46	13	40
8	Dunfermline Athletic	34	14	10	10	72	52	20	38
9	Dundee United	34	14	9	11	68	62	6	37
10	Motherwell	34	10	11	13	59	60	-1	31
11	Heart of Midlothian	34	11	8	15	39	48	-9	30
12	Partick Thistle	34	9	12	13	49	68	-19	30
13	Airdrieonians	34	11	6	17	41	53	-12	28
14	Falkirk	34	11	4	19	33	70	-37	26
15	St. Johnstone	34	10	5	19	53	73	-20	25
16	Stirling Albion	34	5	9	20	31	85	-54	19
17	St. Mirren	34	4	7	23	25	81	-56	15
18	Ayr United	34	1	7	26	20	86	-66	9

[edit] Top scorer

Stevie Chalmers (Celtic) 21

[edit] Scottish League Division Two

Morton, relegated the previous year, made an immediated return to Division One. They won the title by an eleven point margin from Raith Rovers, who were also promoted.

Clydebank, who had been established as a separate senior club in 1965 following their ill-fated merger with East Stirlingshire, were elected to the Scottish League in 1966, and finished third from bottom in their inaugural season.

Financially troubled Third Lanark finished in mid-table but would not be reappearing in the Scottish League for the following season, going into liquidation in the summer. What subsequently proved to be their final league match was a 5–1 defeat at Dumbarton in April.

Brechin City finished bottom of the league for the fourth time in six seasons.

P	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Greenock Morton	38	33	3	2	113	20	93	69
2	Raith Rovers	38	27	4	7	95	44	51	58
3	Arbroath	38	25	7	6	75	32	43	57
4	Hamilton Academical	38	18	8	12	74	60	14	44
5	East Fife	38	19	4	15	70	63	7	42
6	Cowdenbeath	38	16	8	14	70	55	15	40
7	Queen's Park	38	15	10	13	78	68	10	40
8	Albion Rovers	38	17	6	15	66	62	4	40
9	Queen of the South	38	15	9	14	84	76	8	39
10	Berwick Rangers	38	16	6	16	63	55	8	38
11	Third Lanark	38	13	8	17	67	78	-11	34
12	Montrose	38	13	8	17	63	77	-14	34
13	Alloa	38	15	4	19	55	74	-19	34
14	Dumbarton	38	12	9	17	56	64	-8	33
15	Stranraer	38	13	7	18	57	73	-16	33
16	Forfar Athletic	38	12	3	23	74	106	-32	27
17	Stenhousemuir	38	9	9	20	62	104	-42	27
18	Clydebank	38	8	8	22	59	92	-33	24
19	East Stirlingshire	38	7	10	21	44	87	-43	24
20	Brechin City	38	8	7	23	58	93	-35	23

[edit] Other honours

[edit] Cup honours

[edit] Scottish Cup

Main article: Scottish Cup 1966-67

The first round produced one of the most famous giant killing results in the history of the competition when Division Two outfit Berwick Rangers eliminated holders Rangers 1–0 at Shielfield, Sammy Reid scoring the game's only goal.

That result meant Celtic became clear favourites to lift the trophy, and they began with comfortable victories over Arbroath, Elgin City and Queen's Park. They then overcame Clyde in a replayed semi-final to set up a final meeting with Aberdeen, who had eliminated Dundee United at the penultimate stage. A 2–0 victory in the final saw Celtic lift the Cup for the 19th time, equalling Rangers' record in the competition.

Scottish Cup Final

29 April 1967	Celtic	2 – 0	Aberdeen	Hampden Park Attendance: 127,117 Referee: W Syme, Glasgow
	Wallace			Hampden Park Attendance: 127,117 Referee: W Syme, Glasgow

[edit] League Cup

Celtic picked up their first trophy of the season courtesy of a 1–0 win against oldest rivals Rangers in the final. After winning all six matches in a section including Hearts, Clyde and St. Mirren, Celtic also eliminated Dunfermline and, in the semi-finals, Airdrieonians on their way to the final. The other semi saw Rangers beat Aberdeen in a replay.

League Cup Final

29 October 1966	Celtic	1 – 0	Rangers	Hampden Park Attendance: 94,532 Referee: T Wharton, Glasgow
	Lennox			Hampden Park Attendance: 94,532 Referee: T Wharton, Glasgow

[edit] Individual Honours

Award	Winner	Club
Footballer of the Year	Ronnie Simpson	Celtic

[edit] Scottish clubs in Europe

Celtic made their debut in the European Cup and exceeded all expectations by lifting the trophy with a memorable victory over Inter Milan in the final in Lisbon, thanks to goals from Tommy Gemmell and Stevie Chalmers. Their achievement ended the strangehold which Latin teams had hitherto exerted on the competition, as Celtic became not only the first Scottish champions of Europe, but indeed the first British and Northern European ones also. The Lisbon Lions, as they became known, remain the only Scottish side to have won the European Cup.

In a notably successful season for Scottish clubs in Europe, Rangers had the chance to win Glasgow's second continental trophy within a week after reaching the Cup Winners Cup final for the second time, only to narrowly lose out to Bayern Munich in Nuremberg. Earlier in May there had been the possibility of Scottish involvement in the final of all three European tournaments, but Kilmarnock lost out to Leeds United in their Fairs Cup semi-final meeting. Nevertheless, it remains the club's best European run.

Dundee United had a remarkable introduction to European football; drawn against Fairs Cup holders Barcelona, United eliminated the Spaniards with vlctories in both legs. Of Scotland's five representatives, only Dunfermline failed to make any great impact, losing to Dinamo Zagreb in the Fairs Cup second round.

[edit] Celtic

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score^[1]	Competition	Celtic scorer(s)
September 28, 1966	Celtic Park, Glasgow (H)	FC Zürich	2–0	EC1	Gemmell, McBride
October 5, 1966	Letzigrund, Zurich (A)	FC Zürich	3–0	EC1	Gemmell (2 (1 pen)), Chalmers
November 30, 1966	Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes (A)	FC Nantes	3–1	EC2	McBride, Lennox, Chalmers
December 7, 1966	Celtic Park, Glasgow (H)	FC Nantes	3–1	EC2	Johnstone, Chalmers, Lennox
March 1, 1967	Stadium of Vojvodina, Novi Sad (A)	FK Vojvodina	0–1	ECQF
March 8, 1967	Celtic Park, Glasgow (H)	FK Vojvodina	2–0	ECQF	Chalmers, McNeill
April 12, 1967	Celtic Park, Glasgow (H)	Dukla Praha	3–1	ECSF	Johnstone, Wallace (2)
April 25, 1967	Na Julisce Stadion, Prague (A)	Dukla Praha	0–0	ECSF
May 25, 1967	Estádio Nacional, Oeiras (N)	Inter Milan	2–1	EC Final	Gemmell, Chalmers

[edit] Rangers

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score^[1]	Competition	Rangers scorer(s)
September 27, 1966	The Oval, Belfast (A)	Glentoran	1–1	CWC1	McLean
October 5, 1966	Ibrox Park, Glasgow (H)	Glentoran	4–0	CWC1	McLean, Johnston, D. Smith, Setterington
November 23, 1966	Ibrox Park, Glasgow (H)	Borussia Dortmund	2–1	CWC2	Johansen, A. Smith
December 6, 1966	Rote Erde Stadion, Dortmund (A)	Borussia Dortmund	0–0	CWC2
March 1, 1967	Ibrox Park, Glasgow (H)	Real Zaragoza	2–0	CWCQF	D. Smith, Willoughby
March 22, 1967	La Romareda, Zaragoza (A)	Real Zaragoza	0–2 *	CWCQF
April 19, 1967	Ovcha Kupel Stadium, Sofia (A)	Slavia Sofia	1–0	CWCSF	D. Smith
May 3, 1967	Ibrox Park, Glasgow (H)	Slavia Sofia	1–0	CWCSF	Henderson
May 31, 1967	Frankenstadion, Nuremberg (N)	Bayern Munich	0–1 (a.e.t.)	CWC Final

* Rangers progressed on a coin flip.

[edit] Dundee United

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score^[1]	Competition	Dundee United scorer(s)
October 25, 1966	Camp Nou, Barcelona (A)	Barcelona	2–1	FC2	Hainey, Seemann
November 16, 1966	Tannadice Park, Dundee (H)	Barcelona	2–0	FC2	Mitchell, Hainey
February 8, 1967	Stadio Comunale, Turin (A)	Juventus	0–3	FC3
March 8, 1967	Tannadice Park, Dundee (H)	Juventus	1–0	FC3	Døssing

[edit] Dunfermline Athletic

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score^[1]	Competition	Dunfermline scorer(s)
August 24, 1966	Unknown, Oslo (A)	Frigg Oslo	3–1	FC1	Fleming (2), T. Callaghan
September 28, 1966	East End Park, Dunfermline (H)	Frigg Oslo	3–1	FC1	Delaney (2), T. Callaghan
October 26, 1966	East End Park, Dunfermline (H)	Dinamo Zagreb	4–2	FC2	Delaney, Edwards (pen.), Ferguson (2)
November 2, 1966	Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb (A)	Dinamo Zagreb	0–2	FC2

[edit] Kilmarnock

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score^[1]	Competition	Kilmarnock scorer(s)
October 25, 1966	Bosuilstadion, Antwerp (A)	Royal Antwerp	1–0	FC2	Mclnally
November 2, 1966	Rugby Park, Kilmarnock (H)	Royal Antwerp	7–2	FC2	Mclnally (2) Queen (2, 2 pens) McLean (2, 1 pen.), C. Watson
December 14, 1966	Rugby Park, Kilmarnock (H)	AA Gent	1–0	FC3	Murray
December 21, 1966	Jules Ottenstadion, Ghent (A)	AA Gent	2–1 (a.e.t.)	FC3	McInally, McLean
April 19, 1967	Bruno-Plache-Stadion, Leipzig (A)	Lokomotive Leipzig	0–1	FCQF
April 26, 1967	Rugby Park, Kilmarnock (H)	Lokomotive Leipzig	2–0	FCQF	McFadzean, McIlroy
May 19, 1967	Elland Road, Leeds (A)	Leeds United	2–4	FCSM	McIlroy (2)
May 25, 1967	Rugby Park, Kilmarnock (H)	Leeds United	0–0	FCSM

[edit] Scotland national team

Main article: Scotland national football team results and fixtures

Unbeaten Scotland became outright British champions for the first time in four years. Following a draw in Cardiff and victory at home to Northern Ireland, Scotland travelled to Wembley needing to beat England, who had won both their matches, to take the title. This was secured with a 3–2 win which has become legendary in Scottish football, not only because it was England's first defeat since becoming world champions the previous year, but due to Scotland's assured performance and the skillful arrogance of Jim Baxter, who at various times juggled the ball by himself.

At the same time, Scotland's Home Championship win got Scotland off to a good start in their first attempt to qualify for the European Championships, with this and the following season's tourney doubling as qualifying matches for the 1968 finals.

Scotland had begun the season with Kilmarnock manager Malcolm McDonald in temporary charge for the games against Wales and Northern Ireland. Bobby Brown was then appointed as the national team's first full-time manager, with the England match proving to be a memorable start to his tenure.

Date	Venue	Opponents	Score^[2]	Competition	Scotland scorer(s)
October 22, 1966	Ninian Park, Cardiff (A)	Wales	1–1	BHC / ECQ	Denis Law
November 16, 1966	Hampden Park, Glasgow (H)	Northern Ireland	2–1	BHC / ECQ	Bobby Murdoch, Bobby Lennox
April 15, 1967	Wembley Stadium, London (A)	England	3–2	BHC / ECQ	Denis Law, Bobby Lennox, Jim McCalliog
May 10, 1967	Hampden Park, Glasgow (H)	USSR	0–2	F