Heart of Midlothian – Celtic’s April Fools

In partnership with

The Celtic Star

·1 aprile 2025

Heart of Midlothian – Celtic’s April Fools

WEDNESDAY 1st APRIL 1981 – ‘Doomed Hearts are thrashed at Parkhead 6-0 by a rampant Celtic team with the Championship clearly in their sights. George McCluskey scores twice (one is a penalty) as does Murdo MacLeod while Frank McGarvey and Davie Provan score the others in front of a paltry 13,300 (cough) crowd. Hearts are but a shade of their great teams of the past and are an eloquent testimony to the folly of incompetent management and stewardship,’ the late, great David Potter writing in his diary on The Celtic Star.

George McCluskey scored twice against Hearts on 1 April 1981. Photo The Celtic Wiki

OneFootball Video

“April Fools, April Fools, April Fools”

Well I was one of the 13,300 inside the old Celtic Park that night and while Celtic were excellent the relegation bound Hearts were awful and I remember being in the Jungle as we chanted “April Fools, April Fools, April Fools.”

Watch the video below and re-live a special memory if you were there or if you’re not quite of that vintage enjoy the football from a very fine Celtic team that was managed by Mr Celtic Billy McNeill. Incidentally at that time Cesar was the FIFTH highest paid manager in the league! The old Celtic Board eh? And that attendance figure above? Maybe my mind is playing tricks but the Jungle was reasonably full! Or should that be fool?

The Celtic team on April Fools Day 1981

The Celtic team on April Fools Day (it was a midweek evening) was as follows– Pat Bonner, Danny McGrain, Mark Reid, Dom Sullivan, Tom McAdam, Roy Aitken, Davie Provan, Murdo MacLeod, Frank McGarvey, Tommy Burns and George McCluskey. The two Celtic substitutes were – Mike Conroy and the young Charlie Nicholas.

Celtic 1980/81. Photo courtesy of The Celtic Wiki

Celtic Scorers – McCluskey 23 pen, 48, Provan 24, McGarvey 29, MacLeod 62, 75.

Even the Referee – R.B. Valentine (Dundee) was unable to do anything about THAT Celtic team in THAT mood. A brilliant evening in Paradise and how we lapped up calling the wee cousins “April Fools, April Fools, April Fools.”

And there was a nice wee £100 bonus for Danny McGrain together with an engraved decanter (see below).

Great memories of a brilliant April Fools evening in Paradise…

Help raise funds for Celtic Youth Academy by playing the Celtic Pools Weekly Lottery and you could win up to £25,000. The lottery is £1 per week. Click on image to join.