In pictures: Glasgow football stadiums in the 60s

GLASGOW remains one of the few cities in the world with three football stadiums able to accommodate more than 50,000 spectators.

Glasgow Lord Provost John Johnston shakes hands with the Scotland team before a game against England in April 1966. Picture: TSPL

Hampden Park, Ibrox and Celtic Park have all been comprehensively redeveloped in the last 30 years. The vast terraces have gone, replaced by modern all-seater stands.

The homes of Queen’s Park, Rangers and Celtic respectively, they look very different to the grounds that football fans would have known 50 years ago.

The 1960s were a comparatively golden age for football across Scotland but Glasgow in particular.

The old Celtic Park main stand is packed for an Old Firm match in August 1963. Picture: TSPL

Celtic would become the first British club to win the European Cup in 1967 and their city rivals Rangers would twice reach the final of the European Cup Winners’ Cup.

Attendances for cup finals and major international matches at Hampden regularly broke the 100,000 barrier.

The early years of the decade were a successful time for Third Lanark. The club, based at Cathkin Park in the southside of the city, finished third in the top flight in 1961 and scored 100 league goals in the process.

Yet by 1967 the Hi-Hi had been liquidated, the result of mismanagement off the pitch, and their fans were forced to look elsewhere for football.

Members of the public listen to a speech by Christian evangelist Billy Graham at Ibrox in 1961. Picture: TSPL

The once well-maintained Cathkin Park, with a capacity of 50,000, fell into disrepair and its grandstand was eventually demolished.

The pitch is still used for amateur games while the surrounding terraces are consumed by nature.

Clyde, meanwhile, were still considered a Glasgow club in the 1960s even if their Shawfield stadium straddled the city boundary with Rutherglen.

The Bully Wee would depart the ground in 1986 and eventually settled at Broadwood Stadium in the new town of Cumbernauld.

Celtic players celebrate during their 4-0 Scottish Cup final victory at Hampden Park in 1969 in front of a crowd of 133,000. Picture: TSPL

In the north of the city, Partick Thistle enjoyed a third place finish in 1962-63 and consistent top flight football ensured good-sized attendances at their Firhill stadium throughout the decade.

Despite their name, the Jags have not played in Partick since 1908 and have instead been based on the edge of Maryhill, close to Woodside, ever since.