1960-08-06: Sedan 3-0 Celtic, Friendly

Match Pictures | Matches: 19601961 | 1960-1961 Pictures

Trivia

  • This, the Anglo-Franco-Scottish Friendship Cup competition, had been set up in late April. Initially Hearts, Kilmarnock, Rangers and Dundee had been invited to represent Scotland. Hearts and Kilmarnock were immediately involved in tours of America and pulled out. Rangers declined to be involved. Clyde and Motherwell were then invited and accepted. Hibernian were offered the place that Rangers declined, but they also declined. Celtic were then offered the final place.
  • Celtic wore numbers (yellow) on the back of the hoops for the first time in this match.
  • The following ties were set up: Toulouse v Motherwell (originally it had been Rheims); Lens v Clyde; Valenciennes v Dundee; Sedan v Celtic. The English half of the competition would see Racing Club de Paris v Newcastle Utd; Le Havre against Bolton Wanderers; Nantes v Liverpool; Lille v Middlesbrough.
  • A party of 15 travelled to France on the 14th, with Jim Conway and John Clark as non-players as well as manager McGrory and Trainer.
  • At the Annual General meeting at Celtic Park on 1st July Robert Kelly announced that Celtic made a profit in the previous season of £6402. A 20% dividend was paid to shareholders. The previous season’s ‘leftover’ profits had been £14,117. This would be around £750,000 at 2010 values very approximately. This made Celtic a rich club by Scottish standards.
  • John Colrain had been on and off and back on the books since the end of the last season. He asked to leave the club at the end of the 1959-60 season but in early June was told that the directors would not let him leave. In mid June he signed the recontracting form.
  • Nottingham Forest made a bid of £12,000 to take Bertie Auld south.

Review

All three Sedan goals came in the first half with Celtic looking defensively frail. Tghe first goal was made and scored by winger Lion. The second came after Haffey saved but dropped a Lion corner and Lebert was there to head home and the third came after the ball ricocheted off of Duncan MacKay’s shins and into the net. Sedan shut up shop in the second half and Celtic could not break down the defense.

MELLOW YELLOW

While the Boavista game (1975) may have been the first official game with numbered Hoops, it wasn’t the first time numbers were worn on the jerseys, Celtic actually tried it in 1960 in the Anglo-Franco-Scottish Friendship Cup. In a match against Sedan, in France, the players wore yellow numbers, but in a horrible clash with the green and white hoops, especially under the floodlights, it was virtually impossible to read them. Its lack of success gave the club even more reason to stick to their numbered shorts, a trend they were to become famous for. Indeed, one of the many distinguishing features that made Celtic such a unique institution in football was the fact that, until the early 1990s, numbers were only worn on the shorts.

Teams

No team listing has been found but the likely team was given in the list of travelling players.

Sedan:

Scorers: Lion (21), Lebert (25), MacKay o.g. (27)

Celtic:

Haffey; MacKay, Kennedy; Crerand, McNeill, Peacock; Carroll, Chalmers, Mochan, Kelly, Auld.
Scorers:

Referee:
Attendance:

Articles

  • Match Report (see end of page below)

Pictures

Articles

Match Report, Sedan v Celtic 6/8/60