The 1972 Scottish Cup Final finished Celtic 6 Hibernian 1 but don’t be fooled because this was far from the pre-match prediction. Hibs had a very good team back then and certainly on a par with the team that finished fourth in the Premiership this season, if not better infact!
Celtic had a great team, too: five Lisbon Lions plus Kenny Dalglish, Lou Macari, George Connelly, Tom Callaghan and Hibee nemesis Dixie Deans (18 goals in 13 games against them). “We were lucky back then,” says goalie Evan Williams of Celtic. “Well, not lucky, but we had Jinky Johnstone who could beat the opposition on his own and Dixie who on that day couldn’t stop scoring.” For one of his goals Deans seemed to have been fired from a circus cannon to connect with a wayward Johnstone shot with his head. His next trick was impossible but – rounding goalie Jim Herriot twice and dumping three international defenders on their backsides – he pulled it off.
The somersault celebration which was part of the Deans Hat-Trick on the day of that famous 6-1 win was less Olga Korbut, more Harry H. Corbett. At Hibs’ post-final dinner, Hibby boss EddieTurnbull took the blame for the defeat through his gung-ho tactics and vowed Turnbull’s Tornadoes would be back; they were. At Celtic there was no real celebration, as was customary. Williams again: “The club won so much at that time and Jock didn’t want us getting blasé. I won four league championships but never once got to hold the trophy and my four medals were given to me in a oner. Maybe that’s why, until recently, every one I won was kept in a Safeway bag. Sorry to Hibs fans for that!” What’s in a name? Evan Williams was christened Samuel. Dixie Deans is really John.