Frank McGarvey recalls very well the rare time when Celtic conceded two goals at home in a European tie but still went through on aggregate. “We were no hopers, people said we didn’t have a prayer,” says the former Celtic striker, who will watch his old club with a keen interest in Malmo tonight.
The night of Wednesday, September 29, 1982 in Amsterdam remains etched in the memories of older generations of Celtic fans. Billy McNeill’s team had already faced an Ajax of Johan Cruyff, Soren Lerby, Jan Molby, Wim Kieft and others in Glasgow and drawn 2-2 in a pulsating European Cup first round, first-leg. The task then facing Celtic was to somehow go to Amsterdam’s old Olympic Stadium – then used by Ajax for European ties – and win to go through.
“We went over there and played with three strikers – me, Charlie Nicholas and Davie Provan. Can you imagine anyone doing that today?” asks McGarvey. “It was one of the greatest nights we ever had at Celtic.” Celtic won 2-1 on the night, and 4-3 on aggregate, thanks to George McCluskey’s late winner. Hours later, in an Amsterdam hotel, McGarvey and co were still ordering up Champagne at 3am in celebration.
“You have to put it in context,” he says. “Ajax not so long ago had lifted three European Cups. Johan Cruyff was also a guy I had watched playing in World Cups and was totally in awe of. Suddenly, there I was standing on the same pitch as him, and about to beat him.
“I never played in a better 45 minutes in my life than that first leg in Glasgow. It was already 2-2 by half-time and this Ajax team was packed with great players. To be honest Celtic were just thankful to get to the final whistle in Glasgow still level. And no-one gave us a hope for the return leg in Amsterdam.
“But we had a great passing Celtic team at that time: Murdo MacLeod, Paul McStay, Davie Provan, Charlie and others. And by the time the second leg got underway in Amsterdam, Ajax knew they had a game on their hands.”
You can still watch a Dutch TV five-minute edit of this remarkable evening on YouTube. Ajax suddenly found their comfort zone being undone by an exquisite Celtic goal, with a range of intricate passing ending in McGarvey slipping the ball to Nicholas for the game’s opener after 33 minutes. Suddenly, Celtic found themselves 3-2 up on the tie.
“I think we played four or five one-twos in the build up to Charlie’s opener,” says McGarvey. “I slipped the ball to him and he chipped it high into the goalkeeper’s right-hand corner.
“Charlie and I had already scored 40 goals between us in a previous season. That season [1982-83] we got something like 70 between us. At that time just about every club in Europe was looking at Charlie. When he scored in Amsterdam we suddenly thought, “jeez, we’ve got a chance here.”
On a chaotic night, Gerald Vanenburg equalised for Ajax to make it 3-3 on aggregate, but the Dutch champions were already unnerved by Celtic’s willingness to attack them with panache.
“You just needed to look at the relief on the Ajax players faces when they equalised – they were hugging, rolling on the floor, cuddling, everything,” says McGarvey. “They thought they’d got the job done, 3-3 on aggregate, with their two goals in Glasgow counting. But we stung them.”
McGarvey had already pranged a header against the Ajax bar late on, with McNeill and Celtic believing that the two goals conceded in Glasgow would cost them dearly. But then something farcical and near-miraculous occurred.
With the game ebbing away, and Celtic on the floor with effort, Danny McGrain decided to try a long-range effort. “I had said to Danny McGrain for years, ‘Danny, you cannae shoot’,” says McGarvey. “Anyway, Danny attempts one from 30 yards in Amsterdam, but it’s a sclaff. I mean, Danny wouldn’t score from there in a million years.”
McGrain’s sclaff ultimately fell to Roy Aitken, who slipped the ball to Nicholas, who in turn fed McCluskey, a late substitute. The Celtic striker struck low and accurately to bury the shot behind goalkeeper Sjaak Storm and take Celtic through.
“We went crazy in celebration,” says McGarvey. “It was an incredible night, with a great Celtic support over there. We stayed up late, as did Big Billy [McNeill], to celebrate, but that’s another story. In football terms, it was a magnificent Celtic achievement.”
The usual Celtic melodrama – predictably involving money – befell many of the participants from that night. McCluskey left the club soon after, fed up with Celtic’s tight-fistedness, and signed for Leeds United. McNeill himself would soon leave to manage Manchester City, also citing Celtic’s miserly remuneration policy. And McGarvey, infamously, was offered an “insulting” new one-year deal, 24 hours after scoring the winner in the 1985 Scottish Cup final against Dundee United, and duly quit the club.
That night, though, Celtic had three strikers in Nicholas, McGarvey and McCluskey who had goals pouring out of them.
“I went from £475 a week playing in Liverpool’s reserves to £300 a week playing for Celtic when I signed in 1980,” says McGarvey. “And I was the top-paid player in Scotland at that time. But some of these guys at Celtic who played that night were on £150 a week.
“Billy McNeill never had to waste a single second worrying about forwards – he had three of us who were full of goals. Me, Charlie and George were there and, in the main, it was me and Charlie who got the nod.
“But George came on a lot and changed games, none more so than that night in Amsterdam. I just hope Celtic can do something similar in their return tie in Malmo.”
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