They were laid out gently but thankfully by their friends on the banking at the back of the terracing, and lay there, presumably, for the duration of the game! I counted about 12 such people and wondered how it was possible for anyone to get themselves more or less comatose with drink on a day like this! And what would have happened to them if it had been raining?
And the other thing I saw was a sight that excited both pity and envy. Behind Hampden at the Celtic End in 1965 were allotments for those of the horticultural persuasion. I looked down and I saw a man who was planting potatoes, or whatever one does with allotments.
My contempt for this man – how could anyone work in a garden a hundred yards away from this? – soon changed to jealousy when I considered the state I was in, quivering like a jelly, perpetually needing the toilet and finding it difficult to resist the temptation to be sick. This man on the other hand, with his braces holding up his trousers and his old jacket and bonnet hanging from a post, was working away in total relaxation although it must have been difficult with all the noise around him.
But now the ground was filling up. We knew that the crowd becomes less condensed the further down you go, and the late arrivals are often crushed so we tried to descend the mighty terracing which was becoming more congested by the minute. A group with no scruples pushed its way through singing the song about the lorry load of volunteers who approached the border town on New Year’s Eve eight years ago. We grabbed a hold of one of their flags, followed them down and got a good view.
The tension was palpable. Apparently, the radio at lunchtime had mentioned a rumour about an unexpected injury in the Celtic camp. This was discussed at length, but when the team was announced it was as expected. I had a look at the supporters near me, some clearly veterans of the Cup finals of Jimmy McGrory and Patsy Gallacher, many now approaching middle age who recalled Charlie Tully, many like me who had not yet had any clear recollection of them ever having won anything, and some even younger.
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