Celtic on this Day – Paul McStay makes his competitive debut for the Hoops

The Celtic Star

·23 gennaio 2025

Celtic on this Day – Paul McStay makes his competitive debut for the Hoops

Celtic on this Day – Paul McStay makes his competitive debut for the Hoops…

Celtic legend Paul McStay poses with the league championship trophy prior to the Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Hearts at Celtic Park on May 19, 2019.(Photo by Mark Runnacles/Getty Images)

23 January 1957

Dumbarton v Celtic, first ever floodlit game at Boghead, 23 January 1957.

OneFootball Video

Dumbarton 2-3 Celtic. This friendly encounter was the first match ever played under floodlights at Boghead Park in Dumbarton. The new lights costing £5000 were thought to be the best in the West of Scotland. Celtic manager Jimmy McGrory said, “the lights are very good for the size of the ground, but I think they would have better effect if they were a little higher.”

23 January 1965

Morton 3-3 Celtic, 23 January 1965. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Morton 3-3 Celtic. Morton came from 3-0 down with 10 minutes to play to earn a point as Celtic had now gone five matches in January without a win. Carl Bertelsen scored on full-time for the hosts, but controversially the referee had blown his whistle to deny Morton a famous win and the unlikeliest of comebacks in their history. Celtic needed new recruits quick, and there had been rumours circulating McGrory had been back to Ireland scouting players.

23 January 1982

Celtic 4-0 Queen of the South, 23 January 1982. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Celtic 4-0 Queen of the South.Celtic on this Day – Paul McStay makes his competitive debut for the Hoops in a Scottish Cup fourth round tie. Alongside a young McStay, John Haplin made his debut scoring the game’s fourth goal. Billy McNeill’s side would be agonisingly knocked out in the fourth round of the competition following a 1-0 defeat to Aberdeen at Pittodrie.

23 January 1993

Tommy Coyne scored the only goal of the game as Celtic won 1-0 at Airdrie on 23 January 1993. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Airdrieonians 0-1 Celtic. Tommy Coyne nets the solitary goal as Frank McAvennie makes his second debut for the club following a move back to his boyhood club from South China AA.

23 January 2016

Gary Mackay-Steven scored twice in Celtic’s 3-1 win over St Johnstone at Celtic Park on 23 January 2016. Photo Big Lens.

Celtic 3-1 St Johnstone. Celtic moved six points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership table with an assured victory over St Johnstone. Confidence had been high after the resounding 8-1 victory midweek against Hamilton. Gary Mackay-Steven grabbed a brace and Stuart Armstrong scored on the stroke of half-time. Not sure the meaning behind it but the Green Brigade unveiled a banner saying prior to the match saying, “Fans Not Criminals, Recognise Fans Rights, No To Facial Recognition!”

23 January 1999

Celtic 3-1 Airdrieonians. Phil O’Donnell had rejected Celtic’s latest contract offer and it looked certain he would leave the club. However, he was professional about his business on the pitch as it was his strike that made it 3-1 to cement a place in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup for Celtic.

23 January 2018

Leigh Griffiths scores the winner for Celtic at Firhill against Partick Thistle on 23 January 2018. Photo The Celtic Wiki

Partick Thistle 1-2 Celtic. Leigh Griffiths came off the bench to spark some belief into Brendan Rodgers’ side who had to come from 1-0 down to recover and win 2-1. Griffiths’ introduction immediately increased the tempo, and the Hoops courtesy of Scott Sinclair from the penalty spot, and the former Hibs striker sealed three crucial points.

23 January 2019

Celtic 4-0 St Mirren. Rodgers criticised the club for their transfer policy prior to the game questioning why Celtic had signed another winger [Maryan Shved]. Of course, it would be only a month later the Irishman would leave Celtic for Leicester City. On the game itself, there were debut goals for Oliver Burke, and another for on-loan forward Timo Weah who injected an extra dynamic in the attacking areas of the pitch for Celtic heading into the second half of the season. Rodgers’ men were now three points ahead of theRangers following their 2-1 defeat to Kilmarnock at Rugby Park, and their rivals had also played a game more.

Conor Spence

The late, great Celtic Historian David Potter’s Celtic Diary each morning on The Celtic Star looked back at key Celtic events and matches on this day starting on 23rd January 1909…

Jimmy Quinn scored a hat-trick

SATURDAY 23 JANUARY 1909 – Celtic begin their quest for the Scottish Cup at Logie Green in Edinburgh with a 4-2 win over Leith Athletic. Jimmy Hay scores early on, and the other three are scored almost inevitably by Jimmy Quinn. Leith, now in the Second Division, fight well and twice equalise, but the speed and the class of the Celts are too much for them.

Neil Mochan scored twice

SATURDAY 23 JANUARY 1954 – Last week’s game at Raith Rovers was a shocker, but today is a lot better as Celtic beat Queen of the South 3-1 at Parkhead with two goals from Neil Mochan and one from John McPhail.

SATURDAY 23 JANUARY 1965 – A remarkable game at Cappielow today in which Celtic are 3-0 up and coasting with goals from John Hughes, Bobby Lennox and Tommy Gemmell and with Bertie Auld now back from Birmingham and looking the part. But then Morton come back, bring it back to 3-3 and seem to have scored at the end, but the referee had blown for time as the ball was in mid air.

Mark Viduka scored

SUNDAY 23 JANUARY 2000 – Not everyone is in favour of a midwinter shutdown, and tonight’s terrible performance by Celtic against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park in the first game after the restart of normal footballing activities adds fuel to the discussion, for, although Celtic earn a 1-1 draw through a Mark Viduka goal, the performance is shocking in the opinion of most of the 14,126 crowd and the large Sunday night TV audience.

23rd January 2000, Kilmarnock 1:1 Celtic. Viduka.
– martedì 23 gennaio 2024

WEDNESDAY 23 JANUARY 2002 – Another fine performance from Celtic as they beat Hearts 2-0 at Parkhead with a couple of goals from Henrik Larsson before 57,177 spectators (for a League game on a cold January night!). Celtic are so far ahead in the League race that Rangers supporters are privately conceding that they cannot now catch Celtic.