The Long And Winding Road

Celtic’s European adventures began with a hard day’s night in Valencia.

- Joe Sullivan

BACK in October 1962, a group of unknowns from Liverpool called The Beatles stalled at the heady heights of No.17 in the charts with a ditty called Love Me Do.

That same month another group of unknowns from a similarly grim west-coast seaport were preparing for the second leg of a Fairs Cities Cup tie against the glamour and might of Valencia.

Both attempts at success were debut outings and the fact that both stuttered at the first hurdle would give very little indication of what was to transpire for the young Moptops and the Celtic side who were dipping their toes into the waters of a European tide for the very first time.

The first tie was played in Valencia and John Clark was part of the traveling party that went down 4-2 to the Spanish giants despite claims for two penalties late in the game, and the current Celtic kit controller turned the clock back to recall the background to that initial foray

“In the afternoon of the game, Frank Haffey called off ill,” said Clark, “and John Fallon was drafted in at the last minute.

“If I remember correctly it was raining that night and they had an excellent forward called

Waldo from Brazil, but Celtic gave a good account of themselves even though we lost 4-2.