THE BIRTH OF THE KING

It was 52 years ago this week that Kenny Dalglish made his Celtic debut

- Joe Sullivan

HISTORY was made on September 25, 1968 at Douglas Park in Hamilton as both Bobby Wraith and John Gorman made their Celtic debuts… oh, and some other guy named Kenny Dalglish managed to come off the bench and pilfer some of the limelight.

The occasion was a League Cup quarter-final second leg against Hamilton Accies and the Celts had all-but assured their place in the Hampden semi with a crushing 10-0 first-leg decimation of the Lanarkshire side with Stevie Chalmers and Bobby Lennox sharing the haul with five goals apiece.

That paved the way for Jock Stein to make wholesale changes with only Jim Craig, John Clark and Joe McBride remaining from the first game at Celtic Park.

The young Celts won 4-2 for a 14-2 aggregate score but the young Dalglish, who replaced Charlie Gallagher during the game, wasn’t destined to immediately burst on to the scene.

He only made sporadic appearances over the next few years before finally becoming a regular in season 1971/72 – keeper Wraith and future England No.2 Gorman never appeared for the first team again.

FUTURE VIEW

JOCK STEIN gave some indication that there may be the odd debut or two being made against Accies and a couple of eager Celts would have been scanning that week’s View.

In that morning’s edition the manager said: “Celtic fans will have the opportunity of seeing a few of our young players in action. I know officialdom will criticise me for playing so many of my youngsters – pointing out that it is my duty to field a full strength side. It is also my duty to see that Celtic maintain their high standard and position in Scottish football.