FIFTY years ago, Celtic and their fans
were still celebrating an improbable triumph: victory in the Coronation Cup final.
On May 20, 1953, the Parkhead club, captained by Jock Stein, beat Hibernian 2-0 at Hampden to lift the trophy which had been struck to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth.
Eight sides, four from Scotland and four from England, were invited to take part, but it was arguable, in Celtic's case at least, whether the sides taking part represented the cream of British football.
The Parkhead club had finished the season eighth in the league, behind Rangers, Hibs, East Fife, Hearts, Clyde, St Mirren, and Dundee, and had gone out of the Scottish Cup in the fourth round.
They had also failed to qualify for the later stages of the League Cup, finishing second in a qualfying section won by Hibs and which also included St Mirren and Partick Thistle.
The one moment of cheer that season came just a few days before the start of the Coronation Cup when, with new signing Neil Mochan in the side, they beat Queen's Park 3-1 in the Glasgow Charity Cup final.
Others in the one-off event were Rangers, Hearts, Hibs, Arsenal, Manchester United, Newcastle United, and Tottenham Hotspur. Celtic were rank outsiders, but optimists pointed out that this had also been the case in the Exhibition Cup, a similar competition which the Parkhead club won in 1938.
Celtic's first-round match in the Coronation Cup was against Arsenal, the English champions, on May 11. Almost 60,000 fans made their way to Hampden and saw the Scots win 1-0 with a first-half goal from Bobby Collins.
The scoreline does little justice to Celtic's superiority on the day, when only a first-class display by the Arsenal goalkeeper, George Swindin, kept the Londoners in the hunt. In the other first-round matches, Manchester United beat Rangers, Hibs beat Tottenham, and Newcastle saw off Hearts.
Some 73,000 turned out at Hampden for the semi-finals, which paired Celtic with Manchester United. Celtic failed to produce the form they had shown against Arsenal, but dug in and were two goals to the good through Bertie Peacock (he was Celtic's top league scorer that season with a mere eight goals) and Mochan, before Arthur Rowley pulled one back to make the final score 2-1. Hibs thrashed Newcastle 4-0 in the other semi, and the stage was set for an all-Scottish final on May 20, with the Edinburgh club clear favourites.
A crowd of 117,000 attended Hampden and Mochan, who had joined the club from Middlesbrough, scored a magnificent goal from long range after 28 minutes.
For almost the entire second half, Hibs laid siege to the Celtic goal, with the Easter Road Famous Five in full flow.
Only keeper Johnny Bonnar stood between Hibs and victory. He broke the hearts of the Hibs players with a series of magnificent saves, especially from Bobby Johnstone and Eddie Turnbull. With just three minutes remaining, Jimmy Walsh struck to secure Celtic a 2-0 win.
Celtic Bonnar; Haughney, Rollo; Evans, Stein, McPhail; Collins, Walsh, Mochan, Peacock, Fernie
Hibs Younger; Govan, Paterson; Buchanan, Howie Combe; Smith, Johnstone, Reilly, Turnbull, Ormond
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