THE CORONATION CUP
1953

Eight teams took part - Aberdeen, Celtic, Hibernian and Rangers from Scotland and Arsenal, Manchester United, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur represented England. All matches were played between Hampden and Ibrox with the final at Hampden. Four programmes were issued for the tournament, only three of these are of interest to Celtic Collectors.

Celtic beat Arsenal 1-0 on the 11th of May 1953, Bobby Collins scoring the only goal of the match direct from a corner kick in the 23rd minute. Arsenal were the newly-crowned Champions of England but were swept aside as the Arsenal goalkeeper played the game of his life to keep the score to 1-0. On the Saturday, Celtic beat Manchester United 2-1 in front of 73,000 fans to advance to the final. Charlie Tully made both goals, one for Neil Mochan and the other for Bertie Peacock.

In the final, having seen off the best that England had to offer, Celtic now had to beat the best in Scotland. Hibs made it to the final through the genius of their Famous Five forward line of Smith, Johnstone, Reilly, Turnbull and Ormond.

117,060 fans watched as Celtic took the lead in 28 minutes through a Neilly Mochan 35 yard rocket. Celtic held out until 3 minutes from time when Jimmy Walsh scored a second goal and the cup was won.

Celtic: Bonnar, Haughney, Meechan, Evans, Stein, McPhail (J.), Collins, Walsh, Mochan, Peacock, Fernie.

Hibernian: Younger, Govan, Paterson, Buchanan, Howie, Combe, Smith, Johnstone, Reilly, Turnbull, Ormond.

This tournament and the programmes produced for it were the subject of a recent article (circa 2001) called "The Coronation Cup Tournament 1953" that appeared in the August 2001 edition of Programme Monthly (No 245). You can order back copies of this mag at the Programme Monthly Web site. All four programmes are included in the table below.